Chapter Text
“Here we are!” Sang Barbara as she hopped out of the van. They had pulled up in front of a massive gothic cathedral, twin spires kissing the sky. As Dahlia moved to get out, Jean stopped him.
“Here, this should help cover your skin.” Oh, right. He was still dressed in only the white ritual tunic from earlier, and he was now apparently a vampire.
Oh, and he could hear the voice of Barbatos in his head now too. How wonderful.
He took the umbrella from Jean and opened it up. It was bright pink with cartoon cats playing with balls of yarn. How cute.
The gravel of the walkway didn't bother his bare feet as much as he thought it would and soon enough they reached the entrance of the cathedral. Barbara waited for them to approach before swinging the grand oak doors open.
Inside was a beautifully decorated chapel room with intricately carved wooden pews and stained glass images of a figure in white.
Me. Although, more modest than I would prefer.
Dahlia was still ignoring the god in his head.
I know I said to ignore me, but you can stop now.
It sounded like it was pouting.
He. Or they. I have no preference between the two.
Dahlia was still ignoring it. Maybe if he ignored it enough it would go away.
I will sing off-tune sea shanties. The best musicians know exactly how to ruin a song.
“Dahlia, this way. I'm sure Seamus would like to speak with you.” Jean motioned for him to follow.
He started following her though the various stone hallways, each adorned in candles, painting of various figures, and more depictions of that figure in white.
OooOoOHhH WhaaTt Doo YouUu DooO Within Aa DrunKEennN SaIilORr-
“Shut up!” Dahlia practically screamed, shoving his hands on his ears. The god went silent, unfortunately most likely not a result of his hands now covering his ears.
“Are… you ok?” He looked up to see Jean looking at him, concern reflected in her eyes. After a deep breath Dahlia removed his hands from his ears. This day has been so overwhelming.
“Yeah, I just… need some time to adjust.” He responded. Jean nodded solemnly.
“I understand this must be very overwhelming for you. Don't worry, after we talk with Seamus, I'll show you to one of the guest rooms where you can relax.”
“Thanks.” Dahlia muttered.
They continued down the various hallways until they reached a fancy wooden door. Jean knocked twice and a tired voice called out.
“Come in.”
She opened the door to reveal an older man dressed in fine robes and hunched over a desk of paperwork. At the sound of the door opening, he sat up to face them.
“Ah, Jean, welcome back. And this is…” He trailed off looking at Dahlia, no doubt doing a double take at his forced fashion. “Oh dear, there's some blood around your mouth. Are you doing alright? Do you need to go to the infirmary?”
Wait what.
He immediately brought his hand up to his mouth. Sure enough, he could feel something crusty around the edges.
“Sorry.” Jean winced. “It felt a little inappropriate to bring up.”
“Generally, it's considered nice to let someone know if they've got something on their mouth.” Seamus frowned. “Is everything alright?”
“Well apparently I'm a vampire now.” Dahlia said. This immediately caused Seamus to lock onto him.
“What?”
“I burn in the sun, I need to eat blood. All that fun stuff. And all it took was being murdered in a ritual to become a vessel for a god!”
…
Dahlia, are you alright?
Dahlia was perfectly fine, thank you very much.
“Umm-”
“He was the Ordnung's latest victim.” Jean explained.
“And… he survived?” Seamus gasped.
“Yes, although, as he mentioned, he now shares some traits of… what we would call vampires.”
“I still have a reflection for some reason. The whole bat thing and superhuman abilities are still up in the air though.” He mumbled.
“Facinating...”
You can't see your reflection in iron mirrors. Actually, the whole iron thing is just a no go, stay away from iron. The bat thing's not real, you'll have to watch out for the superhuman abilities though.
Well, at least the god could be somewhat helpful.
I'm very helpful!
“I can also apparently hear Barbatos in my head. Or at least, the new voice in my head is claiming to be Barbatos.”
“I’m… sorry?” Seamus was looking at him, completely baffled.
“Uhhm, after the whole… blood thing…” He didn't want to think about the lifeless man lying on the floor, “I started hearing this voice inside my head. They said they're Barbatos.”
Actually, I've been around since you were reborn. I'm the reason you were able to come back.
So the god was also the reason he was a vampire?
Yes…ish? The physical changes were necessary to support me, however they could've manifested in a variety of ways.
“Is that so…”
The room went quiet.
“Well, if you can really hear the Lord, then what's the weather going to be like tomorrow? As precise as you can get it.”
Was the god going to answer, or was he going to make an utter fool out of Dahlia?
Ehe~ Don't worry about that. I rather like you. The forecast for tomorrow calls for temperatures in the mid twenties (mid-late seventies °F) all day. From noon till dusk don't expect a cloud in the sky! A terrible day to go outside for you Dahlia. A wonderful day for anyone else though!
Dahlia relayed the information back to Jean and Seamus who wrote it down. He left out the part where he was told to stay indoors.
“Alright, an easy enough thing to guess if you've looked at the weather at all for tomorrow, how about something a little harder.” Seamus sat back and adjusted his glasses.
“Ok…” He was unsure of what he meant by ‘harder’. Hopefully it wasn't some sort of riddle.
Ooh, I'd like to see how good you are at riddles~
“During the aristocracy era, 3000 years ago, how did the Lord help Lady Vanessa escape from her jail cell after being arrested during Ludi? Oh, and why did the Lord make the decision he did?
Dahlia had no idea what this man was talking about, although the name Vanessa did ring a bell. Maybe someone he learned about in history class, then subsequently forgot.
How disappointing.
Dahlia could feel the god's dissatisfaction in him. Not that either of them could do much about it.
Anyway, I set up the means for an escape and she refused. Does freedom truly mean anything when it's offered to you on a silver platter? How about when it's offered only to you and not those you care about?
I have learned a lot from humans since then. Vanessa taught me a lot. Frankly it seemed at times she was better at this whole freedom thing than I am…
The god trailed off leaving Dahlia sitting in awkward silence, Seamus and Jean still watching him. Seamus with a look of expectancy, and Jean with doubt.
She didn't believe him.
Although, frankly, if Dahlia were in her position, he didn't think he would believe himself either.
“He said he set up her escape, but she refused to go through with it. Then… something about freedom on a silver platter only offered to you isn't true freedom?” Seamus cocked his head slightly to the left.
“I see…” He took a deep breath before continuing, “Alright, last question. Yesterday night I had a problem and I prayed to the Lord for guidance in fixing it. What was the problem?”
Yeah, there was no way Dahlia would be able to guess that.
Uhh, the toilet in his bathroom was leaking last night and he wanted to fix it quickly so he didn't have to use the communal one.
Yeah, there was no way Dahlia would have been able to guess that.
Dahlia repeated the god's words back to Seamus, who sat up in attentive surprise, eyes wide.
“Holy… Barbatos… How did you..? Wow, oh wow, that's… haaa.” He looked off to the side, eyes still wide, and covered his mouth with his hand.
“Brother Silas would have been able to fix it, he's good at fixing things like that.” Jean supplied. Seamus waved her off.
“Yes, yes, I know, but it was late at night and I didn't want to bother him. Regardless, that's not the point.” Pulling himself together, Seamus once again turned to Dahlia. “How would you like to work for the church? You can relay the Lord's word to his people. You could be his harold. We could set you up here so you wouldn't need to worry about housing or food!”
Oooh, a harold~ I like the sound of that. What do you say, dear Dahlia?
Dahlia wanted to go back to his crappy apartment, wake up at six, then go to his low paying internship again. This was way out of his league. He wants to be a news reporter, not a cult leader.
Just because it's a religious group doesn't make it a cult. Besides, the church was established by Vanessa herself! I think you'd like it here.
Dahlia was pretty sure the god knew nothing about him.
And, if you really want, you can see if you can sit in on people's confessions~ help them through their problems…
Get all the good gossip…
Nevermind, this god knew exactly what motivated him.
“What would being a harold include?” He asked, slowly.
“Ahh, well, umm… you would tell the people the word of the Lord. If they have any questions or prayers needing answering, they could come to you and you could help them. Along with that, you could also help clear up some misconceptions within church doctrine, and you can help by accurately predicting when and when not to do certain activities, like planting!” Seamus' voice raised at the end, doing nothing to hide his excitement.
“That would certainly be of great help to the church.” Jean nodded, “What do you think, Dahlia?”
“I think…” He trailed off. Quitting his internship and suddenly deciding to work for a church was a dramatic job change. His parents would be baffled by his decision, and he did enjoy interning at Mondnews.
However, there was the vampirism which would be hard to explain, he still wasn't sure what exactly it fully entailed. Unfortunately, he was aware that being unable to go out in the daytime would mark the end of any reporting jobs, let alone trying to explain any of this to his parents.
You don't have to make the decision right now, you can wait if you need.
Also, he could hear a god in his head. The god this church happened to worship.
“I think…” He looked up at Seamus, “What's the pay?”
“How's 3000 mora an hour with free meals and lodging.”
“Oh, absolutely!”
“Wonderful.” He clasped his hands together before turning to Jean.
“How about you give Dahlia a tour and some proper clothing, I'll get some of the brothers to prepare a room in the abbey.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Dahlia interjected, “right away? I was thinking maybe I could have like… I dunno, a week before moving in? I'm still kinda dealing with…” He motioned both towards the general room and himself.
“How about we just start off with a tour and clothes?” Jean supplied.
“Alright, yeah, sounds good.”
Jean walked over to the door, opening it before motioning for Dahlia to follow. Soon, the two had left Seamus behind to start on the tour.
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You seem overwhelmed.
Of course he was overwhelmed. He was also still mildly convinced he was dreaming.
He was riding the city bus back to his apartment after the tour and dinner, now sporting actual clothing Jean had pulled out of the goodwill pile. Fortunately, it was now dark out so he didn't have to worry about spontaneously combusting.
I know it's a lot, but don't worry, you've got this!
He had a feeling that if the god had a physical body, he would be giving him a thumbs up.
Do you have anything you want to ask me? Anything I can do to help ease the transition?
Yes actually, many questions. Dahlia had so many questions.
Like what?
Like first off, could the god hear everything Dahlia thought.
Yep, pretty much! Ahh, don't worry, I don't judge, I know sometimes intrusive thoughts come in. As well as… more unsavory ones as well. I promise I won't be too weird about it.
Well that was terrifying.
What about the vampire thing, could he just no longer go out in the daytime?
It's the UV rays which get to you, basically giving you the equivalent of a bad sunburn. They're generally negated by windows. If you really want, if you find an incredibly strong sunscreen and are very meticulous in applying it, you should be able to stand the sun's rays too. That being said, the best method is shade, just get yourself a nice sun umbrella and you'll be fine.
Alright, that at least gave him a way to hide it from his parents. Unfortunately, very strong sunscreens weren't the easiest to come across and they tended to be pretty expensive, so maybe one for emergencies, then a shade umbrella for most other times.
But what about the blood drinking? How often would he need to… feed…. How much would he need?
About once twice a week should be good, and only a few hundred milliliters. You were just incredibly starved after your transformation. If you go for a long while without drinking, you could seriously harm someone, so be sure to feed regularly.
Could he still eat regular human food? Could he still have spicy chili noodles??
Ew, but yes, you still need to eat normal people food and drink normal water as regularly as you used to. It's just… you also need blood.
So along with being allergic to the sun and needing to drink other people's blood, what else did Dahlia gain from being a vampire? Anything cool?
Definitely, but I think it will be funnier for you to figure it out yourself~
Dahlia would rather the god just tell him.
Ehe~
Fine. Then how about the religious group? From what Dahlia could remember, religious groups fell pretty much into obscurity after the advent of universal technology. While some people would still pray to Rex Lapis for wealth or the Lesser Lord for wisdom, he wasn't aware that organized religion was still around.
There's actually still quite a few active groups, they just… prefer to operate in the shadows.
Do groups exist for all the gods? What exactly is a god? Are all the gods still around?
Most of them and uhh… that's a bit hard to explain.
The cult that… why were they so invested in trying to talk to the god?
Y'know, you can call me Barbatos, Not just ‘the god’.
Dahlia still had trouble believing that he could hear a god in his head, let alone Barbatos himself.
How are you still in denial?
Dahlia couldn't wait to fall asleep in his bed and wake up and for everything to be normal. He always wanted a little more action in his life and now that he's got it he just wants his life to go back to normal.
A pity. That's one prayer I am unable to solve.
The god sounded somewhat amused.
You aren't getting rid of me that easily, Dahlia!~
Oh no.
Oh no indeed!~