Lying to Ourselves

20.Something just like this

**There may be a slight delay on the next chapter due to work commitments. Thanks for reading <3**

Showering was good, the hot water washing away both the last vestiges of her minor hangover as well as her doubt, filling Beatrice with a renewed sense of determination.

She was ready.

Ready to face Ava and tell her to pull her goddamn head in, ready to inform her, in no uncertain terms, that they were going to find another way through this, together.

What Beatrice wasn't ready for was to push open the door to the Halo bearer's room and find Ava lying unconscious on the bed, blood slowly trickling down her temples from the thorns of the crown embedded into her skin...

What the FUCK?

"Sister Beatrice." Vincent greeted, "I'm glad to see you are...oof."

Beatrice was across the room with her hand around the priest's throat before he could finish his sentence. She was going to kill him.

"Beatrice, wait!"

In her periphery, the sister warrior could see both Michael and Sister Dora moving towards her. She tightened her grip, the little gagging noise that Vincent made forcing them to keep their distance.

"What the fuck is this?" Beatrice demanded, her eyes never leaving the man in front of her.

"Ava chose this. She asked to put the crown on, Beatrice. I heard her." Sister Dora answered quietly, taking a small step closer.

"Why?"

"The key to Adriel's destruction may be found in his realm." Vincent somehow choked out despite the fingernails digging into his windpipe.

"So this was your idea?" She growled, eyes narrowing on the priest.

"Ava asked for his help. She's trying to find another way to stop this." Michael piped up.

That got Beatrice's attention.

She looked away from Vincent for the first time since pinning him to the wall, studying the blonde carefully. He returned her gaze without flinching. It was then that Beatrice realized he knew that she knew.

She slackened her grip, letting her hand drop back to her side. Vincent slumped in relief, rubbing at his neck as he gasped in air. The sister warrior scowled at him, she wanted nothing more than to rush to Ava's side and pull the damn crown from her head, her hands twitched with that need, but she held back...for now.

"Why should we trust anything you say?" Beatrice directed towards her ex-mentor.

"Good point. What happened to your devotion to Eurotrash Jesus?" Sister Dora added, folding her arms over her chest just a tad menacingly.

"It died when he killed Duretti." Vincent replied hoarsely, "I don't expect forgiveness, I don't deserve forgiveness. But trust me when I say we must let this run its course." He nodded towards Ava.

Beatrice eyed the unconscious Halo bearer, frowning deeply. She didn't like this, not at all. Her instincts were screaming at her to ignore Vincent's input entirely and end this fucked up experiment now.

"Be that as it may..." The sister warrior said, turning back to the priest, "Ava cannot take off the crown by herself, how are we supposed to know if it has 'run its course'?"

Vincent's eyes slid past her as she was talking, his eyes widening, "Ava?"

Beatrice spun around to see the Halo bearer sitting up, lifting her hands to slowly remove the crown of thorns from her head. Deep circles marred the pale skin of her cheeks, making her appear skeletal in the soft orange glow of the lamp on the bedside table.