Her confirmation jewelry had become comfort items. One was a looped cross ring while the other was a necklace with a flying dove centered within a heart. Both items of jewelry were made of sterling silver and would not rust from water exposure. She never took them off. Any time she found them missing, she fell into a panic until they were located and wore them once more.
Both items had been blessed with the sacred chrism oil at confirmation and later touched to second class relics of various saints at a Wholeness of Truth conference. As such, these pieces of jewelry were third class relics and evil spirits would react to them as if the saint of the relics touched to them were there in person. The necklace and ring were both third class relics for the Virgin Mary after touching a piece of her veil. The ring alone included eleven of the apostles along with the Virgin Mary; Saint John was missing since he had no relics discovered and had likely been taken up body and soul.
This information was being recited in Erica’s mind as she walked down the sidewalk alone in the heat of the day. There were a handful of other pedestrians walking around and several cars drove past. No one looked particularly threatening to her, yet her mind told her that she was in danger. Her mind told her this on a regular occurrence, even when she was home alone, so she recited the information in her head in an attempt to soothe her paranoia.
If a robber were to approach her, she would refuse to give him anything. She would start praying in her mind and trust that she would be protected. If her jewelry was demanded she would explain that they were not worth anything he could consider valuable and that they were merely comfort items for her, not bothering to mention that they were also relics since he likely would not understand unless she explained. Even if a gun was pointed at her, she decided she would tell the robber no and continue walking away. If he demanded money, she would point out that she was currently a college student and that she had no money. If he pointed out the grocery bag in her hand, she would tell him she had spent the last of her money on the contents.
If he insisted, she would try to scare him off by telling him she was a vampire and the pills in the bag she had just picked up from the convenience store were the only thing keeping her from murdering him on the spot so he should run before she did something to him. If he claimed she was lying, she would start listing off traits she shared with vampires and say anything to contradict his claims.
She was pale skinned and anemic, so she already had a few traits in common to use. If he asked how she could stand the sunlight she would point out how she easily burned under sunlight but that it would not be as quick as it was in movies. If he asked why she wasn’t jumping him and sucking his blood on the spot she would say that she already had her blood supplement for the day, which was technically true since she had already taken her iron supplement that morning, and that she would never openly do so unless she was truly desperate for blood. If he said she was too young she would claim to be four hundred fifty-three years old and that she had stopped aging forever ago.
This scenario played out in her mind as she crossed the street.