Priest

Agreements

Sleep was nothing more than a cruel dream at that point. Blu lay staring at the ceiling, listening to the darkness around her, the sound of the Priest's steady breathing and the fear hammering in her heart mixing together to create a unsettling song.
Why?
"Why what?"
Why did you do it? All those years ago. Why?
Tears stung the edges of her eyes.
"I had no choice."
Liar.
"I wish I had a choice. That was the first time I'd ever..."
Killed?
"Can we really call it killing?"
She's not here anymore is she?
"She wasn't exactly here then either."
She was to us.
The quiet pressed in around her, bearing down on her as she sat silently on the couch staring at the ornate ceiling. The world she had been dropped into was one she was still learning to navigate even after nearly a decade.
"She was dangerous..."
So are you.
They had her there.
"You should know, I've never done anything like that since. That was the first, and last time I would ever agree to that."

An eerie silence followed, but what Blu hadn't been expecting was the sense of calm that suddenly washed over her. In all the years that she'd been travelling, healing, exorcising never had she anticipated feeling a sense of calm in that hotel. Truth be told she hadn't anticipated ever spending time with a Priest, let alone sleeping in the same room as one. For whatever reason, unbeknownst to her though, she was there, with him, and for the first time in far too long she felt peaceful in the middle of one of the worst storms Arizona had ever witnessed. She watched as the world outside raged, storm clouds darkening the already pitch-black surroundings. Blu looked down to the thick sludge of black coating her fingertips. Sometimes, she hated what she was.

She was our daughter.

The words were whispered, so gentle, so soft in that expanse. Her gut told her to apologise. Her head told her to stay quiet.
"Losing family is never easy."
You would know wouldn't you?
The smell of burning hair assaulted her nose, her stomach roiling with the intensity of it.
"Don't."
Why not. You come in here and dredge up memories for us, we should be allowed to do the same.
"It's not the same though is it?"
How so?
She ran a hand absently over the scarring on her thighs. It had been years since she'd felt that boulder sinking into her chest. Years since she'd wanted to remember that night.
"Because, that was something out of my control. That was..."
A horrible accident?
Blu nodded.
What happened with Orelia was an accident as well.
A flinch at the mention of that name.
"She murdered a hundred innocent souls. Burned them to death. She..."
Revenge wasn't payment.
Blu swiped at the already fallen tear on her cheek.
"It wasn't revenge."
What was it then?
"Justice."

There had been lost souls and pain at every turn in that hotel. Every space was filled with a harrowing story and yet no one else seemed to see it, no one else was privy to the hellish memories that haunted the earth. Blu sat staring once more at the slowly lightening room, the night was almost through, physically she was still intact, save for the marks on her neck and the pounding in her head. Mentally, well. Mentally was a whole other ball game. Blu hadn't given Canyon Hotel much thought since she walked away from it all that time ago, she couldn't afford to give it much thought.
You may choose not to apologise seer.
Another tear.
But we will.

A new voice this time, one Blu had never anticipated hearing again.
What happened to you was heinous, a crime that no person should endure, especially not one so young.
There was a sudden muffled sound, a hint of voices arguing before a deathly silence filling the room once more.
I speak for all here when I say I am truly sorry.
Tears were suddenly falling freely as Blu clutched at the blanket swamping her.
It took courage to come here after such an ordeal.
"No," she croaked, "courage had nothing to do with it."
Across the room the Priest lay impossibly still, his heart racing inside of his chest as another much more gravelly, terrifyingly soft voice sounded in the early morning light.
You can believe what you want, but to set foot once more in a place that holds such torture takes guts.
Blu could feel her shoulders shaking as she buried her head into the warmth of the fur lined blanket.
"Please, just leave me alone."
She was tired of begging.
Thinking about that night is not...
"Enough!"
A heartbeat of silence followed.
We can never forget what happened with Orelia, but, if we can find it in ourbeing to express our regrets it is my hope that someday you will do the same. 
Every ounce of her was holding on that that memory, the smell of burningflesh, the crackling of hair in the heat that flooded those rooms. She curled tighterinto herself as the memory of sifting through charred remains came screamingback with a vengeance. How could she ever forgive that. Who ever would?

After today seer, you will not need to set foot in this place again. Shouldyou ever come back here, you will not be met with resistance.
"Thank you."
Oh, and Priest...
His whole body tingled.
Tell that companion of yours we will review the terms and give our answerwithin the hour.
Horrified blue eyes met red rimmed green ones across the room and then thetwo were alone. Painfully, peacefully, perfectly alone.