#thedevilsbckbone; 009

[amomentxofhappiness]

@thedevilsbckbone THA THING

Father Ben had had a rough couple of months. People in the congregation have brought it up once or twice, offering them their doctor nephew or specialist daughter since he was losing weight, had dark eyes, he was generally quiet--when not upset and seemed weak. Only if an illness were his problem.

In a certain way it had been. His hubris. He had been called out, again and again regarding his pride--it was a mortal sin, one that had led him to believe he was right about helping people, Luke in particular. Luke whom he had known since he was a tiny scout, who had been attending church every Saturday until he was 13, Lukd who had talked to him about becoming a priest himself until he had met that horrible men that had led him astray.

At first, like the congregation, Ben thought Lukd had taken to drugs but it was far, far worse. The old man had lured his boy with promises of having everything he always wanted and Luke had fallen for it, hard.

It wasn't easy to understand either--years in the seminar and his friendship with Andrew Kiernan had taught him that evil walked the earth in many shapes and forms but he had mostly thought it was figure of speech. That it was the drugs, the manipulation--not cold ones.

Until he felt Luke's fangs on his neck, the strange pull to let him continue, the unspeakable, unthinkable desire the fangs on his neck, draining the life out of him had brought to his senses he wouldn't have believed his old friend. Until he was laying practically dead and Lukd shoved his own bloodied wrist to his mouth with promises of making everything better, of wanting to share that gift with him that had given him so, he hadn't believed it.

Not until the next morning, when he woke up with what felt like the worst hangover of his life and a bite in his neck that he lied to himself, had been out of more carnal pursuits. But it wasn't. Nothing was the same.

He could hear more, see further away, things tasted--odd and the craving, the craving was the worst part.

He didn't think he was going to make it through the first mass, so many pulsating necks, long, short, plump, thin--it didn't matter.

But he was going to overcome this, there had to be a way.

It had been months and he was still looking for one, having rejected luke's help and the old man's--wanting nothing than to kill Shiev from bringing this plague into their lives. He had thought of hunting animals and he had gone well so far--or as good as it could be when a meat eater was given tofu. He loathed the comparison since he had never been a fan of red meat and the irony did not escape him. But he couldn't eat cooked meat and to do... to go for what he ached for it was unthinkable.

Even if he didn't finish his prey as Luke had taught him, even if it was just a taste--what made Luke think he'd be able to control himself?

So off he went and found a poor deer and made it back to church, heading into it through the back entrance--it was late, it was terribly late and no one should be here. And yet he could hear it, the rapid heartbeat.

Quickly, he looked at his barely cleaned bloodied hands and figured his face wasn't much better--his coat was dark and so were his trousers but he smelt of dead.

"Who's there?"

[amomentxofhappiness]

Ben breathed her in as he continued to deepen her kiss, trying to consume her one bite and lick at a time. She was intoxicating and he couldn't stop. Her hands on him were sending shocks through his body. He wasn't sure if it was the beast inside him or just Ben but he wasn't going to let her go; he couldn't. He wanted her here, body melted against his. She was soft and warm and tasted like Heaven was supposed to--not that he'll ever see it, not being cursed as he was.

His hands had gripped at her hipbone, bringing her closer to his. He hadn't done this in way too long but his body remembered. And his body needed more of hers. His lips moved from hers and trailed slow, soft kisses over her jaw, little nibbles and sucking in turns, while his hands found the helm of her t-shirt and painfully slow started to undo her buttons, down trailing upwards, while his mouth trailed over her neck. Her pulse was right under his lips, his fangs dangerously ready to dig in but he wouldn't. He had the beast inside him yes, but he could--he could control it. He wouldn't feed from her; he just wanted to feel her, feel human. Taking a deep breath against her neck he did suck on skin, groaning against it and leaving a trail of marks over her neck and collarbone, as his hands slowly dragged her t-shirt over her arms and started trailing down her chest.

Despite her words, Evie made no move to leave. She remained trapped under his intense gaze, her chest rising and falling as the air grew thick and heavy around them. Even after he finished bandaging her finger, Ben made no attempt to move away from her, nor did he say anything. Her mind seemed to grow more and more hazy as she felt that pull beckoning her closer to him. Then he was reaching out to her, fingertips brushing over her collarbone and up her neck, causing her to shutter beneath his touch. "Father? W-What are you...." she muttered, breathy and horse but her words were lost on her before she could fishing asking what he was doing. All she knew was that his touch seemed to light a fire beneath her skin whenever he touched and she didn't want it to stop.

The look in his eyes as she stared into them was something akin to a predator, stirring something treacherous and wicked from deep inside of her. He looked at her like he wanted to completely devour her and it brought out this dark primal urge within her to let him. She wanted to know what it would feel like, to let herself surrender to him even when she knew she shouldn't - no, couldn't. Her brows knit together, her expression torn between unyielding desire and tormented restraint.

Then his lips were on hers and any remaining protests, any remaining convictions, were gone out the window -- completely forgotten at the feel of his mouth on hers. She gasped into his kiss. It had been so long since she'd been kissed and even then nothing had ever felt as sinfully good as this. Her grip against the edge of the sink softly loosened, her body melting against his as he pressed himself closer to her. He was warm and solid and still very much a man despite how off limits she knew he was. Her hands began to explore, the urge to touch him growing far too great to be able to resist. Delicate hands slowly slide up his arms, over his shoulders until she was wrapping one around the back of his neck, pulling him even closer.

As his tongue ran over her lip, Evie gave no hesitation as she parted them for him, moaning into the kiss as it grew deeper. She could taste the slight copper tang of her blood on his tongue and it only seemed to turn her on even more, making her more desperate for him. Clinging to him to keep steady. she felt her knees growing weak, threatening to give out under her as she got lost in his intoxicating touch. | @amomentxofhappiness

[amomentxofhappiness]

Benjamin was genuinely trying to snap out of it but the pull was far too great. He wasn't sure if it was the blood, her neck or her entire swlf. He was old enpugh not to lie to himself and know he had always found her attractive but intkmate physical contact was something he had given up after the seminar. He almost didn't miss it, only in very particular moments and he had, 2 times fallen pray to it. But that had been years ago and he had know her for a while. So why now? It had to be the blood pulling him, the beat as andrew called it temoting him to take her--all of her, get in touch with the darkest part of it all, give in, fall entirely.

He couldn't do that. He was a solider of God. He was a soldier of God. Soldiers of God did not indulge. Yes they did. Not all soldiers of God took the chastity vow. But he had. But he had broken it before. He was a soldier of God. She had the most beautiful eyes. She made thr most beautiful sounds. He wanted to hear her moan. He wanted to make her scream his name. He wanted her.

She thanked him in such an odd tone, and he was unable to look away from her eyes, even as he set a bandage over her injured finger. The smell of blood a little dimmer now but he could still savour it--savour her in his tongue. And he wanted more. He needed more. He couldn't find the right words to speak. He should probably agree with her, send her away, let her go but he was still not moving, still dangerously close to her and her beautiful neck, and he only realized what he was doing when he saw his free hand reaching for her neck, back of his fingers trailing up from her breastbone, her throat, under her chin tilting it a little upwards before he cupppedher jaw, thumb brushing over skin before he crushed his mouth to hers, lips and teeth catching her bottom lip for a moment before his tongue ran over it, wanting to deepen their kiss. His body leaning closer to hers, pinning her to the sink--she wouldn't be able to escape him even if she tried and the beast he knew she wouldn't try. He had more moans to steal from her.

The pain of her injury had been such a sudden shock to the blonde, that Evie hadn't even noticed how the priest had been able to get the wardrobe into the van with relative ease all on his own. She'd been temporarily blinded to anything other than the throbbing feeling in her finger as her body pumped blood through the wound, holding tighter with her other hand to try and staunch the blood flow. She recovered pretty quickly though, the initial sharp arch that came with the tearing of flesh, subsided into a dull throb.

After showing him her injury, Evie's grip returned to cover her finger, trying to keep from dripping blood on the floor as she followed Ben back into the church to get it taken care of. "Thank you very much, father. Sorry to cut into more of your time," she responded with an apologetic but grateful expression. As they entered his room, Evie's eyes couldn't help but curiously glance around for a moment. She couldn't help the feeling that it felt almost intrusive of her to be in here, as she was sure it was probably against some kind of rule. Or at least that's what she had always assumed. Still, she continued to follow him into the bathroom, following his direction by running her finger under the tap to try and clear the blood away as he prepped the band-aid.

The issue though was that the cut ended up being quite deep so the moment she pulled her hand from under the water, the blood would flow down the side of her finger and drip into the sink. She was about to mention that it was okay and would just make it work, but before she could get the words out, Ben had spoke, whispering about trying to see if something would work. She didn't even have time to speculate what he had in mind, not that it would have mattered because she never in a million years would have guessed what he did next. As he brought her injured finger to his lips and wrapped them around it, Evie's eyes went wide. A gasp falling from her parted lips and she froze in her spot, eyes transfixed on his mouth.

She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, but even more alarming was how it made her feel. Evie could feel her entire body begin to heat up. It was a natural instinct to put her finger into her mouth to stanch the bleeding whenever she got a cut but never had anyone done it for her, and never had it made her feel like this before. Her breathing grew heavy the warmer she became and her lashes fluttered as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Alarm bells were firing rapidly in her head as she couldn't help but feel that this was wrong, and yet she couldn't bring herself to do anything other than watch. It was as if she was being hypnotized, drawn to him in a way she'd never felt before.

It was as frightening as it was exciting. Or maybe it was the fact that it excited her that was so frightening.

The feel of his tongue sliding over her cut had the blonde feeling weak in the knees, a small moan slipping from her lips and she gripped the edge of the sink that she realized was now pressed up against her back. Somehow he'd moved closer to her she realized, towering over her, eyes fixed on her own and it was the look of pure bliss in his darkened gaze that had affected her the most. She squirmed under his intense gaze, gasping softly as she found herself growing aroused at the sight, inappropriate thoughts about the priest suddenly invading her mind. She began to blush, subconsciously she was filled with shame, knowing how wrong it was to feel this way, especially for a man of the cloth, and yet the feeling had come like an intense wave, drowning her before she could pull away.

As if seeming to snap out of his own reverie, Ben released her hand and finally spoke, his own voice rough and hoarse. Evie couldn't move still, blinking a few times. Her breathing was labored and her cheeks were burning wildly. "t-thank you." she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes remained on his, watching as his own seemed to drop down to her lips and she felt another wave of heat wash over her. She should leave, she thought to herself. Just thank him and go before she condemns her soul. "I-I should probably go.... it's late. I don't want to take any more of your time." she finally managed to squeak out, looking up at him through heavy lids, licking her dry lips softly. She felt like she needed some fresh air to straighten her mind out. | @amomentxofhappiness

[amomentxofhappiness]

Thankfully the injuries in his face seemed to have been convincing enough for her, he'd need to tell Andrew about this once his friend came to town, he didn't trust phones or emails (he knew better than to trust any of that now). "It is no problem, truly. I told you, it looks far worse than it feels," Ben helped with carrying the heavy wardrobe into the dolly--it wasn't heavy at all, not for him now but he had to act as if it were. He also wanted to make most of the force but had to be careful not to break it and make himself even more suspicious.

He heard her scream and smelled it a moment later--blood, fresh, alive, tempting to taste, to drink, to---even having feed not an hour ago this little slip of hers was driving his senses in overdrive. The beast, Andrew had called it and Ben had been too afraid to ask what would happen if he let the beast take over. He wouldn't; he was a soldier of God even if his soul had been cursed and he would not harm another human, specially not one as kind and thoughtful as Evie.

He did manage to catch the wardrobe as she let it slip and focused on quickly setting it on her truck, trying not to move too fast and still pretend it was heavy. Looking down at her hand for a moment he pursed his lips together in a pained expression, for both her and his sake. "That looks like a nasty cut. Come with me, we'll get it sorted out in no time," he offered gesturing with his hand back to the church. Setting the dolly inside and closing the door of the van behind it he led her to his room and the bathroom he had been in a while ago. Thankfully his dirty clothes were neatly covered and the bathroom was clean--he liked to have an organized place. Also, focusing on her pain and the steps kept his mind from the thirst. Get her to the bathroom, get her hand under running water, get the bandages. All ready. But the blood kept flowing and his hand was holding hers and the temptation was great, was far too great.

"This isn't working," he huffed out, frustrated not only because she kept bleeding but because his focus was on drinking from her. "Let's see if this helps," he whispered taking her hand and sucking on her finger--in reality that's the way people cured little cuts when he was a kid, though he had ulterior motives right now.

The taste of her blood in his tongue though--he hadn't tasted human blood before and he vaguely remembered when he had been turned but he had seen the back room of the shooting range, with all the humans offering themselves to feed cursed ones--what it did to the humans and vampires alike and he could feel it in every inch of his body. His skin burnt, a burning feeling crawling from his guts to have her--not to eat her but to drink from her, to suck on skin, to hear her moan, to sit her on the sink and take her slow and deep, to hear her moan his name as the came. He hadn't felt that in what felt like decades, not since joining the seminary.

He also noticed his body had moved inches closer to her and his eyes were staring at her mouth, tongue licking her wound in his mouth. Snap out of it. Snap out of it, a voice told him and he blinked a few times, letting go of her finger. "Uhm, that should help," he said in a hoarse tone, reaching for one of the bandages with his free hand but without looking away from her--her lips, her eyes, her pulsating neck.

Evie forced a small smile to her lips as he tried to reassure her that he was okay. She assumed he probably felt bad about alarming her or maybe he was embarrassed for her to have seen him this way. She didn't want to make him feel any worse so she bit her tongue and tried to quell the sickening concern that had crept into her thoughts the moment her eyes laid up on his blood-soaked appearance. "As long as you're sure...." she said softly, still sounding a bit conflicted. There was the pull to reach out and offer a comforting hand gnawing at her but she held back, knowing it was probably inappropriate.

Instead focusing on getting the donated wardrobe ready to take back to the truck. She'd brought a dolly to help but even then the piece was rather heavy for her petite frame so Evie had to take a lot of precaution to move it, tilting it carefully inch by inch just enough for her to slide the dolly underneath it for support. It turned out to be such a task that she barely finished getting it on by the time Father Ben returned.

She glanced up at the older man as he entered the room, now clean and changed. Her eyes fell upon the bruises that had formed along his face, noticing the bandage above his brow, and she frowned softly. It painted her to see such a kind and generous man hurt like this, especially when he'd already seemed to be going through something lately. At the very least he didn't seem to be in too much pain, or if he were, he was doing an oscar worthy performance of hiding it from the blonde. At his question, Evie blinked at him for a moment, debating her answer. On one hand she didn't want him to strain himself if he was injured but on the other hand it was very heavy and knew it would be a lot safer if she let him help. "It would be nice —but only if you're sure you're not too hurt or anything." she prefaced with a small frown that after a few seconds turned into a small appreciative smile.

Once they finished securing the wardrobe, Evie moved in front of it to steer in the direction of her van while Ben helped from behind. She grasped the corner of the wardrobe and as she began to lift it, her grip slipped, hand sliding down and causing her index finger to catch on a jagged edge of the rusted hinge, a sharp pain ripping through her hand. Evie yelped in surprised agony and let go on instinct, her other hand wrapping around her throbbing finger.

"Sorry! sorry! there was - oww!" She sucked in a breath, wincing as she glanced down at her hand, unwrapping her clutching fingers from around her index, seeing blood begin to seep from the small gash there. "Shoot - now I'm the one getting beat up," she said with a small sheepish laugh as she glanced up towards Ben. "Would you happen to have an extra bandage I could use?" she asked, holding her hand up so he could see that she was in need. | @amomentxofhappiness

[amomentxofhappiness]

"Oh yes I'm fine, it looks worse than it is really," father Ben began. "You should see the other guy," he attempted--it was clearly the high talking, he would normally not make such jokes with parishioners, maybe with Andrew since they had known one another since Ben was a hot headed, full of himself little shite.

Right, the donations. She was that sweet and giving to the community. "Oh you didn't disturb me. I'm sorry that I--I didn't mean to scare you. I... It's been one of those days," more like months, and it didn't seem that it'd ever be better. Andrew was coming soon--as soon as his job would allow him to and hopefully he'd have some ideas as to what to do with this thing he had now. Luke hadn't been entirely wrong, there had to be a good side to this.

There was the temptation of going out at night and hunt evil men, the r*pists, the kill.ers of the world but that would make him the same as they and he was better-he had to be, not just for himself but for the congregation. He had to help. He had to help.

"I'll be right back and help you, alright?" he reassured her and slipped inside his room, tossing his bloodied clothes to the washer with color bleach to hopefully remove the stains. Then he went to the bathroom and took a long, hard look in the mirror. He healed quickly if someone else injured him--he had tried--so, he breathed out closing his eyes and noticed his index finger's nail was suddenly longer as if he had wished it. With it, he made a small cut over his right eyebrow. "Now, if I punch my own eye maybe it'll look--" he muttered and was about to hit himself when he noticed a light purple and red color crawling to his upper chin. Was he doing that? Could he change the way he appeared? Shaking his head he took a deep breath and washed his face thoroughly, putting some butterfly bandaid over his cut eyebrow and opening and closing his hand so that claw? would hide. It did. His right eye did look as if he had been hit but not too hard still. Huh.

Heading back to his room, he grabbed a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, his regular clothes under the black cassock--which he saved for the daily meetings.

Heading back to the office looking slightly more put together he breathed out. "Hello again, need help with getting that to your truck?"

Evie held her phone tightly in her hand, pressed up against her chest as she stared at the priest with wide eyes. She was concerned but also caught by such a shock at the sight of him covered in blood that her body remained frozen like a statue even as he began to speak. Her watched him as he stuttered over his words, seemingly as shocked as she was. Evelina had been noticing some strange behaviors in the older man of late, along with others in the congregation. He'd always been so kind and ready to lend a helping hand to those in need of it or a few words to lift and encourage his faithful parishioners. Lately he'd seem more exhausted, cathartic and to the blonde a bit sad. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but something about it felt off. And not here he stood covered in blood in the middle of the night.

Her brows knit together when he mentioned someone jumping him. It was then that she seemed to snap out of her freeze and took a concerned step forward, her conscious prompting her offer help despite her lingering fear. "Oh gosh, are you okay?" She asked, her voice dripping with worry. "Maybe we should c-call the police." She offered, stopping in her tracks once more when he told her that it wasn't as bad as it looked and to give him some time to take care of it. She wasn't sure what to say or think, the whole situation just feeling extremely odd.

Still, she didn't want to make things more tense so she ultimately settled on nodding her head slowly in agreement. "Yeah.. sure - I will, uh... just be in the back office." She began before he asked if they'd had an appointment. Strange again, considering how late it was. "Oh no - I was just picking up a donation and I didn't have any time until now.... I'm sorry if I've disturbed you." She added nervously. | @amomentxofhappiness

[amomentxofhappiness]

Father Ben did not expect anyone to be here, otherwise he would've found a way to get cleaned up before coming in. What was he going to do? How was he going to explain this? And to Evelina of all people? She was one of the most effective and kind parishioners they had. He did not want to scare her--not after scaring himself.

He was also pushing down the high after the hunt, the animal within had been satiated only barely with the animal and she had such a perfect neck--one to bury his teeth in. He craved for it but his soul--according to his friend he still had one but Ben wasn't quite sure--his soul or his rules would not allow it. She was a person, she was young and alive and he could not, he would not take a life.

"I---I was..." Think. Think fast. "I was helping some... I was at the shooting range, trying to help one of our folk not to fall off the wagon and I wasn't--I got reckless and someone jumped me. It looks worse than it is, I promise," he offered pursing his lips in the weakest less menacing smile he could muster. "Could you give me five minutes to sort this mess and I'll be right back with you Evelina. Are you--" he paused for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows. "Did we have an appointment? It must've slipped my mind, I apologize."

Evelina had not been raised very religious growing up. Sure her parents claimed to be Christians but they'd never gone to church a single day in her childhood and they each took the Lord's name in vein more times than she could count while hurling vicious words and insults at one another. It wasn't until after her parents passed that the blonde had sought it out herself - needing someone or something to make her feel like she wasn't alone in such a cruel world.

She'd just decided one day to step foot into her local cathedral for mass and had begun attending regularly since. She found a community that felt more like a home and a family to her than her own ever had. God had turned her life around for the better and six years down the line she was still attending.

On occasions, Evie would drop off as well as take donations to and from the church in terms of furniture and vintage religious artifacts for her shop. She'd done it a handful of times before so she really thought nothing of it at first when she showed up after hours to the church, using the key's the program director had loaned her to be able to pick up the old cabinet the congregation no longer needed but it was a beautiful vintage piece that they had graciously gifted the blonde.

Humming softly to herself, she unlocked the door closest to the parking lot where she had her work van pulled up. Stepping inside, she was scrolling through a few messages on her phone, hardly paying any attention to her surroundings but a noise drew Evie's attention down the hall when she heard a nice. It was late and she didn't expect anyone to be there so it was safe to say she felt herself grow a bit on edge, her heart starting to beat rapidly in her chest.

Brows furrowed, she carefully tiptoed past the office the cabinet was at going further into the cathedral, cautious but curious. There was a light on further up ahead and Evelina timidly approached. Then she heard Father Kenobi's voice call out and for a brief moment Evie felt relief was over her, feeling a small smile tip the corners of her lips as she allowed herself to step over towards his voice.

"Oh Father, it's just me - it's Evie." She made her prescense known, sure he must have also been wondering who was there so late. "I'm just stopping by to pick up a-" before she could finish her words, the man in question came into view and the blonde was struck with shock as she saw the state of him. She let out a cocerned gasp, stumbling slightly as she came to a sudden halt.

The blood that covered his face and hands was the first thing she noticed and for a split second she was taken back to that awful day with her parents but just as quickly she tried to will the images away, glancing back up to meet his gaze with a more wide and frantic one of her own. "Oh my god..." she said with a shuttering breath, too stunned to even notice how she took the Lord's name in vein right in front of the priest. "Father...wha-what happened? Are you okay?" She was concerned for the man but there was a feeling that kept her rooted in her spot - an instinct not unlike an animal coming face to face with a predator. | @amomentxofhappiness