Control • Benny Weir [1] (#wattys2016)

☾ e i g h t; d u s k p r e m i e r e ☾

"Fera bat sententium neophoetus,"

Grace groaned the moment Benny finished reciting the spell that would, apparently, get rid of the vampires, knowing he had pronounced it wrong when his spell book disappeared. She sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples and she tried to, mentally, prepare herself for what was about to happen. They would be fighting vampires. They would be fighting supernatural creatures that could end their human lives with just a single bite. These supernatural creatures could, even, kill them if they don't kill them first.

It wasn't until someone grabbed her arm did Grace notice that Ethan and Sarah had split up with herself and Benny. Benny glanced down at her, concerned, wanting nothing more than to calm the girl down. He just wanted to hold her close but he felt too nervous to do so; the girl he had been crushing on for months was putting her faith into him to keep himself safe, not even caring about herself. He had heard the brunette mumble under her breath about how she had to keep everyone safe because they were more important than she was.

Grace sighed and linked her arm with Benny's, finding some comfort in it. Benny felt his heart pick up but felt it drop the moment he remembered that Grace had a strong, emotional attachment, love or something close to love, to someone that wasn't him. However, he couldn't bring himself to push the girl off; he wanted nothing more than to keep her by his side for the entire night, in order for him to know that she was safe. After hearing her mumblings to herself, he didn't, quite, trust her to leave his side in case she decided to throw herself in front of someone in order to save them, getting herself killed in the process. As selfish as it sounded, Benny couldn't afford to lose his best friend and crush.

"Hey, can I get you something?" The girl behind the counter asked the two of them.

"Uh, n-no thank you," Grace stuttered the slightest bit, causing Benny and herself to be surprised at the fact that she hardly stuttered at all. Grace smiled, slightly, a light blush spreading across her cheeks.

"No, I, uh. . . meh, a bag. Get me an extra large jumbo bucket of popcorn with extra salt, extra butter, and extra popcorn," Benny told her, which the girl nodded in response to. Grace, who suddenly noticed that her arm was still linked with Benny's, frowned at Benny, a playful glint in her eye, "What? Life's short!" Benny defended himself before his phone started ringing. He answered it with his free hand, his other one tucked away in his pocket as Grace had her arm linked with that same arm, "Plan B is set," Benny told Grace, who nodded and unlinked her arm, a plummeting feeling in her stomach when she realised that she no longer felt safe now that her arm was free from Benny's. She felt vulnerable.

Grace's breathing grew heavier when she noticed people rushing out of the theater screen that Dusk III was showing in, which lead her to squeeze her eyes closed and took in a deep breath, mustering up all of the confidence she had so that she wouldn't shy away from the battle. Grace plugged in Benny's makeshift light saber when told to and felt herself get pushed behind her crush by the boy himself, causing her cheeks to tint pink at the fact that Benny was trying to protect her again.

"Much better than batteries!" Benny called, which Grace would have giggled at had they not been in a dangerous situation. Grace turned to see if the girl could help them out, only to see her running away, not wanting to be apart of the situation they were in. Grace let out a shaky sigh before she knew what she had to do, "Oh, evil you are. Toast you shall be!" Grace heard Benny shout as he attacked, causing her to roll her eyes and run around the counter to get a Nerf gun or a stake. However, she was stopped in her tracks by a blonde, female vampire, who snarled at her.

"Oh, I'm not in the mood for this," Grace growled, the heat in her hands building up like she wanted it to. She didn't know how she had managed to control it but she did. After a mere second, the girl shot an orange light out of her hands, knocking the vampire back long enough for her to collect her choice of weapon. Grace shoved a couple of stakes into her bag before picking up a Nerf gun and running back to Benny, "How, in the holy hell, are we going to stop this?! We need to go and find Sarah and Ethan!" Grace squealed as a vampire lunged at her, being pushed behind Benny again.