Go to the church

"Fran, I'm going to the church on California Street. Here, this is my new number. Call me if anything happens." You wrote your number on a note and gave it to Fran, "Be careful."

"Uh... Okay." Fran, properly dressed, grabbed the note and went out of the room, "See you later, James."

"Yeah."

Dec 27th. It's bright outside and you felt like your skin was burning in the sunlight. It's getting worse. You had to find a way to deal with your condition before there was no return. And going to the church was your best bet.

You arrived at the church early. The more closer you got to the door, the hotter you felt. But you managed to reach it and knocked anxiously. Several seconds later, a mid-aged man wearing a black suit answered the door. He seemed to be shocked to see you.

"Mr. Wilson! I thought you're long gone. Please, come inside." After the initial hesitation he opened the door and led you in. His voice sounds familiar, you thought.

"You must be Brandon. Are you a priest here?" You asked curiously while following him. You felt your strength was losing as you went deeper into the church.

"Yes. But I'm afraid that we don't have much time to chat right now." Brandon guided you to a room and indicated that you should rest on the bed, "The vampire blood is still inside your body and it's being rejected by the holy ground. It's killing you. Please wait for a minute."

You sat on the bed as you couldn't keep standing anymore. The heat in your body was spreading so fast that you felt like you're burning. You twitched and slightly groaned in pain. Seconds later Brandon returned with a cup of water - at least you thought it was water - in his hands.

"What is this?" You felt like you're afraid of it and stayed back for a bit.

"Holy water. You must drink it to cure yourself, otherwise you'll turn or die in a few minutes." Brandon stepped closer.

You managed to suppress the unreasonable fear and drank up all the water in the cup. As soon as the cool water flowed through your throat, you felt like there were thousands of knives stabbing you at the same time. You screamed with the **** pain and immediately fell ****.

You slowly opened your eyes. The light was still hurting them but you already felt better. The heat and the pain were gone.

"Congratulations, Mr. Wilson." The man was sitting by the bed. He greeted you with a smile, "I didn't think you're going to make it."

"I feel better... Thank you." You stood up from the bed and shook hands with him, "Could you please explain what's going on?"

"Just like what I've mentioned to you before, you've drunk vampire blood and you're turning into one." Brandon spoke calmly, "Normally the time required for a victim to turn varies from minutes to hours, a day tops, based on how much they've drunk and how much blood they've lost prior. You lasted for more than a day. It's a miracle."

"So... the holy water actually works."

"Yes. Holy water can cleanse the vampire blood in your body before you turn." Brandon continued to explain and led you outside, "It works only in the church. That's why I must ask you to come here."

"Only in the church?" You couldn't believe what you heard, "How?"

"The blessing expires in 3 minutes outside the church. Since the moment the veil of corruption began to lift, all divine blessings on subjects will diminish quickly outside the holy ground." Brandon helplessly shook his head, "I can perform a ritual to bless the water outside, if necessary, but it takes about 10 minutes and I can't be disturbed."

"The veil of corruption? What is that?" You wondered.

"It's just a myth. We don't know what exactly happened, but after some point of time in the past, all kinds of monsters became real and came to our world. Vampires are just one of them."

"There are... more of them?" Fictional images of werewolves, ghosts and many other monsters flashed in your mind.

"So, Mr. Wilson. I have some questions, too, if you don't mind." Brandon led you to another room where he usually lived, "A vampire sneaked into the city about a week ago. He was responsible for the cases you were investigating. I killed him when he was feeding on a victim, and I'm sure he hasn't turned any fledgling yet. So, where did that vampire who bit you come from?"

"The police found some blood on the last victim." You thought for a second and continued, "It's probably from when you killed the vampire, but we didn't know back then. So I asked Olivia to examine the blood sample. And... Olivia told me that there was a voice in her head telling her to drink it..."

"That... that's impossible..." Brandon was shocked, "A drop of vampire blood couldn't do that..."

"Okay, so how do we kill vampires?" You anxiously asked. You couldn't just wait for Olivia to show up again. You needed to be prepared.

"Decapitate them, stake their heart and burn them with sunlight. I think that basically sums up." Brandon replied and frowned, "But I'm afraid that neither of us could deal with that vampire alone. And we don't know how many vampires she has turned since last night."

"What do you suggest, then?"

"I've contacted Vatican and asked for reinforcement last night. Elite vampire hunters of the United States will be coming tonight and taking over my position." Brandon began to pack his things, "Let the professionals do their work."

"That's... comforting..." You felt relived.

"No, it's not. The most conservative plan for you would be leaving the city with your loved ones before the war started, while you still can." Brandon sighed, "I'm leaving tonight, you're welcomed to come with me."

"Thank you. I'll think about it." You nodded in respect.

You left the church and began to think about your next step. The most conservative plan, of course, was to go get Fran and leave the city with Brandon. But at least you should warn Sergeant Ashton about the vampire situation, so that she could be more prepared.

However, before you decided, you grabbed your cellphone and noticed that there was a missed call. It was Fran's number. It must be coming from when you were out. Suddenly you felt anxious and you feared that something bad has happened to her. You quickly called back, and it was picked up soon.

"Hello?" It was a male voice on the other end.

"Who's this? Where is Fran?" You didn't recognize the voice and asked cautiously.

"You mean Miss Evans, right? Are you a friend of hers? She's badly hurt and still **** right now." The man replied calmly, "I'm Officer Jack Freeman of the O.P.D.. We found her lying in an alley and I took her to central hospital. You should come and take care of her immediately. Room 408."

"Thank you, Officer Freeman. I'm coming right away." You were so worried about Fran's safety that you rushed to the main road and hailed a cab.

As you hung up the call, you prayed that Fran's injury had nothing to do with vampires. But you intuition said otherwise.