Church Boys † Brendon Urie

21✝ Believers Never Die

I watched as Ab began to pull the thin board out of the box, discarding the lid and bottom inside of the larger, original box along with all of the drug remnants and the bottle of wine.

Dani scooted the glass of red liquid slowly into the center of the circle, careful not to spill it as it was filled to the brim.

"Before we start, we are going to bless this drink to protect ourselves," she informed, causing me to involuntarily roll my eyes.

"How ironic," I muttered under my breath. To my right, Brendon dug his elbow into my arm in a type of warning. I'm sure that was his way of telling me that I needed to lay low on the sarcastic comments as I may upset the girls. I heeded his counsel, positive that pissing off the girls would cause all Hell to break loose... literally.

I watch as Dani closes her eyes and grabs Ab and Lindsay's hands causing Brendon and I to follow suit. Although this obviously wasn't the time to be worrying about these kinds of things, I couldn't get my brain past focusing on the way Brendon's hand felt in mine. It was comfortingly warm and did a good job of calming a bit of the nerves that were going berserk inside of me...and for the slightest second I forgot how pissed off I was at him.

"Dear heavenly father," Dani began, speaking at an unnecessary volume, "we ask you to assist us today in the blessing of this wine, this group, and this church. May you be here now to protect us as we call forth the spirits of the underworld. Please watch over us and make sure that we are brought no harm. May we all make it out of this alive."

My eyes spring open at her last statement which instilled more terror in me, if possible, than what had already manifested previously. A second later I feel Brendon squeeze my hand in a way of telling me not to be frightened. I turn my head to look at him and find him with one eye open to look at me and a small comforting smile resting on his face. I give a small smile back as the rest of the group begins to open their eyes and look around, not yet detaching from each other's grip.

"I thought you didn't believe in God," Lindsay questioned, furrowing her eyebrows at Dani.

"I don't," she replies, laughing dryly, "but any protection is better than none."

My mouth drops open as I'm left to stare at them completely baffled. I had no clue exactly what to think, but all I knew was that I was angry. I tightened my grip on Brendon's hand to keep from opening my mouth because I knew that if I did it regret it completely soon after.

"Now, we all need to take a drink from the blessed wine glass," she mocks, doing a terrible job trying to bring the overflowing cup to her lips without spilling it. Instead she ends up sloshing a puddle of the deep red liquid onto the floor before she takes a mouthful of it and downs it with a large gulp.

Ab reaches for it next, unsurprisingly taking two large drinks of it instead of one.

"Sometimes you gotta be extra blessed," she laughs, handing the now half empty glass over to Lindsay who slurps on it for too long before loudly smacking her lips.

Soon, with an extended arm and four pairs of eyes trained on me, I'm forced to take the glass into my own hands and drink from it. Slowly, I bring the edge of the cool surface to my lips, shutting them tightly so that no liquid could pass through before tipping the glass upwards and pretending to swallow.

Through the clear side of the glass I see a hand come into view for a split second before quickly moving upward in an attempt to tip the glass forward, trying to cause me to spill it all over myself. But before the hand ever reaches the end of the glass Brendon grabs it tightly, stopping it right before it makes contact. Instantly I move the glass away from my face and look between a seething Brendon and an already partially intoxicated Lindsay.