The crystal chandelier in the auditorium was replaced with a floating wolf skull lamp, with a piece of bloody amber stuffed in each eye socket. As Elvira adjusted the straps of the mask, she found that the black satin lining was embroidered with silver runes - exactly the same as the thorn pattern on the back of Lucas' neck.
"It's time for the valedictorian to do the opening dance." The principal read mechanically, the laser pointer reflecting on Selina's wedding ring, "Welcome the special advisor of Neumann Group."
Selena's red skirt swept over Elvira's canvas shoes, and the broken diamonds on the fox mask formed a miniature version of the family crest. When she stepped onto the dance floor holding Lucas' hand, her high heels crushed the silver leaf bookmark that Elvira had just dropped.
"Your necklace is crying." Lila suddenly leaned closer, the rim of the cocktail glass stained with fluorescent blue lips. "Look at the reflection of the third piece of amber."
When Elvira looked up, the amber in the right eye of the wolf skull lamp suddenly melted. Blood dripped onto her collarbone, and smoke burst out the moment it came into contact with the necklace. The smell of burning skin mixed with Selina's perfume, forming a sickening sweetness.
Lucas's dance steps were as precise as a machine, and Selina's nails dug into the silver lines on the back of his neck: "My fiancé's heartbeat is too fast." She suddenly ripped open the buttons of his shirt, revealing the crescent-shaped brand on his collarbone - a mirror image of Elvira's scar.
The moment the waltz turned into a tango, all the wolf skull lamps began to rotate clockwise. When Elvira staggered under the light, a boy wearing a crow mask slipped a note: "Go to the locker room and look at the third mirror."
On the back of the mirror, a warning in the vampire language was written in lipstick. Elvira used a silver leaf bookmark to pry open the interlayer and found a micro projector embedded inside. The moment she pressed the switch, Lucas' voice mixed with electromagnetic noise sounded: "...The necklace is a locator...destroy it before the end of the dance..."
The locker room door was suddenly locked. Selena's perfume poured in from the vents, and a bloody timer appeared on the mirror: 00:15:00. When Elvira smashed the glass with a fire axe, she found a glass tube buried in the wall - Lucas's mechanical right hand was soaked in it, with a wedding ring on his ring finger.
Suddenly, screams erupted from the dance floor. When Elvira rushed back to the scene, she saw Selena lying in Lucas' arms, with a knife stuck in her red dress. Blood dripped down his mechanical skeleton, forming a crescent pattern on the ground.
"Murderer!" Lady Audrey's voice shattered three wolf skull lamps. The security robot shot infrared rays at Elvira, "She is jealous of Selina's engagement!"
Lucas dragged Elvira into the underground wine cellar during the commotion. Behind the rows of oak barrels was a secret door, with a combination lock stained with dried fluorescent blue blood. When Elvira's birthday was entered, the roar of gears turning could be heard from the gate.
"Give me the necklace." Lucas crushed the vial in the freezer with his robotic hand. "They put nano-tracking in it—"
Elvira backed up and bumped into the wine rack, her skirt soaked with Bordeaux red wine. She touched the laser gun on Lucas's back, with Selena's initials engraved on the handle: "This is too old-fashioned."
Amid the alarm, the secret door opened automatically. Two crystal coffins were placed side by side in the cold storage, with clones of Selina and Elvira lying in them. Selina's electrocardiogram showed brain death, while Elvira's clone had silver thorns on its neck.
Lucas suddenly twitched and knelt on the ground, and the silver lines on the back of his neck oozed out liquid that smelled like engine oil. He tore open the skin on his left chest to reveal the mechanical heart, and the chip was playing Audrey's instructions: "...complete the final transformation at the graduation dance..."
When Elvira used a laser gun to shatter the ceiling light of the cold storage, she saw her clone's eyelids trembling. The combination lock of the escape passage suddenly unlocked automatically, and Lila's intermittent warning came from the loudspeaker: "Don't touch... the clone's necklace..."
The heavy rain washed away the graffiti walls in the back alley. Elvira fell down in front of the spray painting of "Daughter of the Eclipse" and found that the crescent pendant of the necklace was cracked. The fluorescent blue liquid gathered into an arrow on the ground, pointing to the sewer outlet behind the trash can.
As she climbed down the ladder, she kicked Lucas's leather diary. The latest page contained a genetic map, with her and Selena's DNA strands entangled in a double helix by red lines. The water-soaked handwriting only had half a sentence left: "... they must be allowed to touch each other at the ball to activate..."
There was an oil lamp at the end of the tunnel. When Elvira saw what was under the lamp, she received a text message from Audrey on her phone - Lucas was holding Selena's body and walking towards the altar, with the message: "Guess who he chose as the sacrifice this time?"
The lamp suddenly burst into flames, engulfing the vines on the tunnel walls. In the heat, Elvira saw the burning vines forming a sentence: "The Daughter of the Eclipse Belongs to the Throne of Thorns Forever."