PERSONA NON GRATA || A CODMW AU

Distrust at First Sight

"You're going to be there too, right?" Vladimir asks for the second time since being told of the events that would happen today. "I don't have to meet him alone?"

Apparently, he has to speak to the head priest or whatever; Vladimir's not familiar with church hierarchy. But from what Yuri has said, Price is... intimidating, to say the least, and Yuri's body language and expressions only confirmed that.

"I'll be right there with you," Yuri patiently reassures him once more, "and I can talk if you need me to." It's clear the priest is nervous as well.

Vladimir kisses his cheek as a thank-you. This human is still so inexplicably kind, and so sincere in every gesture. His summoners were never like that; he'd never even seen their faces due to those odd masks they wore... Yuri's the first one to actually kiss him, too.

At that moment, Vladimir decides the priest can be completely trusted.

Yuri's gentle voice breaks the Incubus out of his thoughts. "Wait, how will we hide your horns?"

"I'm a bit stronger thanks to your help," Vladimir responds with a little smile. "So I should be able to disguise myself a bit. Here goes."

He closes his eyes and concentrates, and the markings on his arms briefly glow green before fading slightly back to black and resembling tattoos. His horns disappear as well, and now Vladimir appears as nothing more than a sickly human. He's breathing heavily afterwards; it took a lot more of his energy than he thought...

Yuri looks amazed, then worried. He pulls the demon to him. "Are you alright?" The priest asks worriedly. "It's extremely convincing, but..."

"I'll be fine," Vladimir answers, holding onto Yuri as his breathing steadies. "Let's... just get this over with."
———————
The atmosphere around Father Price is atrocious.

It's controlling. Domineering. Had the bastard's face been hidden as well, Vladimir would've thought it was one of his summoners coming back for him.

But the Incubus knows Yuri wouldn't do that to him. Vladimir grabs onto his hand for comfort, unable to look at Price anymore. The Russian gently squeezes it as he sits the two down across from the Brit.

"Vladimir, this is Father Price," Yuri starts, having to stop himself from using Vladimir's nickname just in case.  "And Father, this is Vladimir Makarov. You... wanted to get to know him?"

Price nods, studying Vladimir a little too intensely. "That's right," the Brit answers Yuri, then looks at Vladimir. "How did you end up here at the church?"

It's a fairly standard question, but Vladimir can't give the full truth. He hesitates to answer regardless. "I was... abandoned."

"By whom?"

"A group that took me in. They left me here after growing tired of me." The Incubus tenses as he bitterly recalls the events, and Yuri subtly wraps an arm around him. It helps, given Vladimir's almost having flashbacks. Focusing on the Russian keeps them at bay.

Price's eyes almost narrow. Either the man doesn't believe it, or he's... what is the Brit thinking exactly?

"So they gave you to the church, and Yuri found you," Price replies after a second. "Why?"

"'Why', what?" Vladimir can't help but sound a little defensive. He doesn't feel safe around this man...

Price sighs, like it should have been obvious. "Why did they leave you here, of all places? Why not a hospital?"

"Aren't churches supposed to help people, too?" Vladimir retorts. Granted, he has no way of knowing if that's true or not beyond his own experience with Yuri, but it has to be true to some degree.

Yuri steps in now to mediate. "I think what he means is how unwell you were when I first brought you in," he gently says to Vladimir. "You were even paler, and you had a nosebleed..."

"He did?" Price's eyebrow raises, and something in his face changes as he hears that. Somehow he looks colder as he looks at Vladimir. "So you're an addict or something? Is that why your group left you?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Seeing Yuri flinch at what the Brit says makes Vladimir even angrier. Before the demon can stop himself, he reveals some of the truth: "If it's that important to you, they were hoping you would kill me and get rid of their little problem."

The room goes silent.

Yuri wraps his arm tighter around Vladimir the second he feels the demon start trembling. Vladimir's panicking now, and Price's face still being so fucking unreadable is only making it worse, sending the Incubus' mind into overdrive.

Does he know? Is he going to kill me? Is he going to send me back to them? Is Yuri going to be taken away from me? What's going to happen to us?

"... Why would they send you to a church to be killed?" Price asks slowly after a while.

It's obvious he knows. He's known this whole time, Vladimir realizes.

When he stands up to leave, he almost collapses, and Yuri wastes no time in picking Vladimir up and carrying him back to Yuri's room. The demon is running out of energy already due to the stress.

Aside from an apology to Price from Yuri, the two don't say a single word until they're safe again.