The Last Vicar

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Screaming. Burning. The smell of smoke filled her lungs, and her skin burned. And burned, and burned some more. A loud shriek came from her left, like a hurt animal, terrified groans escaping its throat. Then there was a loud...knock?

Her brows furrowed, her mouth twitching in her sleep, until it came again. This time it was more frantic, a consistent tapping on the wooden barrier between her and whatever may lie behind it.

Sitting up from her small bed, the white linen sheet slipping from her chest, her brows furrowed again. Swinging her legs over the side of the wooden frames, and stepping onto the cold floor of the small living space she padded over. Wrapping her thin fingers around the brass knob, she yanked it back to be met with a familiar face.

"Finally you answer Annie! I had been knocking for five minutes at least." Laurence spoke.

His jaw set, impatient, as he pushed through to her room.

"Please come in."

Annie spoke with sarcasm, her skinny arm extending in faux invitation, as her green eyes watched him move to her desk.

"Might I ask what I could have done to deserve your presence at..."

Pausing as she looked towards the clock next to her bed, the pocket watch ticking down the seconds.

"..4 in the morning?"

A grimace set in her pale lips as she shifted her long, golden locks over her shoulders.

Would Laurence have an answer? Most likely not. He was impulsive in his young age, though, older than Annie by five or so years they had grown close. She balanced out his lack of thinking before acting, and thus a friendship blossomed.

Master Whilhelm appreciated it; she was sure of that. Where Laurence was abrasive and quick to react, she was a voice of reason, and perhaps that was why he was in her room currently at the ass crack of dawn.

"I had to be sure you hadn't backed out of helping me later!"

He spoke, dark eyes set in Annie's lithe figure. She leveled him with the same stare as her lighter orbs fixed to that of confusion.

"When have I-"

She began speaking, shutting her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief at the man in front of her only to be interrupted.

"I just wanted to check!"

Laurence snapped as his lips pursed and he shuffled the thick journal in his hands. The brown leather had worn down, and the seams were coming undone at the binds where loose, stained papers poked out from every which way. She had supposed that would happen, the gift she had given him made the man ecstatic, and he used it almost everyday of his life in classes.

"What is it that's so important, you need me with you when you tell him? I mean I'm in the dark here Laurence."

Annie spoke as her arms crossed over her chest, dark brown brows furrowed in disbelief as she awaited his next big speech. The room creaked quietly around them, the wood shifting and she noticed something. Hesitation in Laurence's demeanor.

"It is so wonderful!," he began, amazement in his voice as he turned to look at Annie, facing his whole body to hers.

"We can transcend! See what the old gods see, become them!" A laugh escaped his throat as he shifted in the chair, the wood groaning.

Once settling and relaxed, he took in her small form, no meat on her just bones it would seem. They were the same height, 5'8 and some odd numbers in the mix, Annie furrowed her brows as she turned her eyes to look at the ground before looking back at Laurence.

"As great as this is.... Master Whilhelm will be quite unsettled with this information. He's been trying for years and years to figure this out, safely, might I add."

Her accent was thick as she spoke. Annie could tell that Laurence was not having it, his mouth turned down into a deep frown and his dark, thick brows lowered on his face.

"You promised Annie,"

He spoke with grit teeth, his jaw tense and his darker eyes staring holes into her.

Did Annie promise anything? She did not believe so, but then again, if she didn't find it important she didn't keep it in her mind for too long. Her green orbs watched Laurence's jaw tense and then relaxed as he breathed out a sigh.

With a harsh sigh, Annie rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in defeat.

"Fine!"

She exclaimed as her arms rushed down and clapped at her sides.

"Fine Laurence, I'll come. But this better not bite you in the ass and get us all in trouble, or so help me Old Ones I will get you for it."

The threat hung in the air as he smirked at her, a relaxed posture on his figure as he laid his head in his palm.

"I don't doubt you for a second Annie."

With that he stood, gathering any loose papers that fell from his journal and standing at his full height. His nightshirt hung loosely against his broad form as she moseyed over to where Annie stood, her weight on her right leg as she crossed her arms over her chest. Laurence turned to stand directly in front of her, dark eyes softening as he took in her facial expressions. He brought one hand up, squeezing her shoulders tightly before turning.

"Goodnight Annie."

His voice sing song like as he opened her heavy door and headed out. His silhouette disappeared into the dark hallway as Annie moved to close her door to her bedroom. Her neat teeth gnawed as her bottom lip, resting her forehead on the ornamental wood once it clicked shut.

A heavy sigh fell from her lungs, light eyes opening as she stared at the floor. Something in her heart said this felt wrong, that there were beings at work she didn't understand, and that there would be lasting consequences.

As always, though, the sun rose with a new day in Byrgenwerth and she would face it with a straight face.