DelilahSaint

Chapter 2 part 5
          
          Her eyes softened as she spoke of the boy.
          Handing Elias a steaming cup, he accepted with a graceful incline of his head in thanks. Careful to keep his fingers from touching hers.
          
          “That boy has been holding this whole town together on his shoulders, just praying for someone to come and take the lead.” 
          
          Miss Ruth held out the sugar in offering to Elias. He declined politely without saying a word.
          
          
          “Daniel is our trainee” She continued without missing a beat
          “He’s been filling in all of the duties since Father Walsh left us - God rest his soul. He’s very devoted and has been keeping everything just so, but he’s been anxious to have a new priest here to guide him.”
          
          Elias listened with the focus of a predator as Miss Ruth mapped out his existence for the next few weeks, until it’s time to move on again. 
          
          She walked him through the rectory and the church and spoke to him about the members of his new congregation. Names and histories he had no intention of learning.
          Finally, she offered him a respectful good night
          
          When the door clicked shut, the silence returned. Elias let it soak into his marrow as he stood in the dim hallway, unmoving. 
          He was a wolf dressed as the shepherd and had been handed the key to the pasture.
          For one night, at least, he could breathe peacefully. 
          The ghosts had not got him yet. 
          
          
          

Chapter 2 part 4 
          
          This close, the woman's heartbeat was an intrusive, uneven noise. She smelled of soap and incense and a life devoted to scrubbing away the sins of others. 
          
          “I’m miss Ruth”
          She said, closing the door behind them and letting the latch seal them in.
          
          “I keep the church and the rectory, and have for the last 35 years. God help me.”
          Miss Ruth walked towards the back of the rectory without taking a breath or checking to see who was following her.
          
          “Father Walsh - may he rest in peace- kept insisting that I retire and I kept refusing. Now look. The Lord saw fit to take him first.”
          She huffed out a breath and straightened her apron.
          “And now he’s seen fit to send us you”
          
          Yes. Elias thought.
          So he has. 
          
          He gave her a measured smile. A practiced movement that offered warmth where there was none.
          
          “You are very kind Miss Ruth”
          
          “Well” 
          Elias could hear her uneven heart flutter harder in her chest at his unwavering gaze.
          “It’s a blessing to have you home Father.”
          
          
          Miss Ruth turned from him then to make the tea, a slight tremble to her hands as she moved, but her voice betrayed nothing. 
          
          “I hope you don’t mind me sayin’ Father, but we weren’t expecting you to have an accent. Where are you from?”
          
          “England”
          Elias replied with no intention to elaborate further.
          
          “England?”
          She turned to him then, eyes wide. As if stunned at the exotic land he hailed from.
          
          “The Lord sent you to us all the way from England?”
          “Well don't worry Father, the people in this town are very welcoming. They are going to be so pleased to see you. Especially Daniel. I’m sure he won't mind me saying that he’s been counting the days until you arrive.”
          

Chapter 2 part 3 
          
          Relief flooded her features.
          
          “Well praise the Lord you made it!”
          
          Elias paused. 
          Interesting
          
          “You’re early mind you, so I haven’t got everything quite ready, but it’ll be good enough for tonight”
          
          
          The woman stepped back to usher him in with a motherly insistence.
          
          “Father Reed, you must be exhausted! Come in, come in. You’ll want to sit. I’ll put the kettle on”
          
          Father Reed
          
          The name hung heavy between them. A stolen garment waiting for an owner.
          
          Elias felt, for a brief instant, the shape of something forming. 
          A perfect disguise. Not created by his own hand, but by the desperation of another.
          
          He did not correct her. Instead he inclined his head gently.
          
          “Thank you”
          He said, stepping into the rectory behind her.
          

Chapter 2 part 2 
          
          He walked further, passing houses with darkened windows that watched him back like empty glass eyes. 
          A cafe stood shuttered. A board outside offering a breakfast special that Elias had no intention of seeing.
          He slowed as he approached a whitewashed building. It's steeple modest but the sharp point poking the belly of the sky. Next to it, half veiled by trees, huddled the rectory. A small wooden building in a weathered grey colour that suggested the slow rotting of the building that was once painted white.
          
          The air was thick with candle wax and held the stale sweetness of old flowers and incense.
          Elias inhaled the rich scent of wine they blessed to be the ‘blood’ of Christ. The hypocrisy curled his lip. They could never appreciate the opulence of real blood spilling down their throats. That was something worthy of devotion. Not the cheap wine and cheaper lies that humans told themselves to fight off the dark.
          
          Gravel crunched underfoot as he continued his walk, intending to continue on his search for somewhere more anonymous he could stay.
          But as he approached, the door opened on squeaking hinges. 
          
          A spill of yellow poured into the night, highlighting dust motes and the silhouette of the short, round woman.
          She stood framed in the foyer, lit from behind. Skin, a deep rich mahogany mapped the years of a life in the sun along her face. Her grey hair was pinned tightly to her head, an apron tied at her waist. Her eyes caught his face and widened, she inhaled sharply.
          
          “Oh”
          

Thank you all for your patience with me! 
          
          Here is Chapter 2, part 1 of the MM Vampire/Priest romance! 
          
          The town of Ashcroft slept quietly under a thick blanket of starry sky, offering little light for shadows to dance.
          
          A single main street cut through the center of the town, lined with clapboard storefronts introduced by sunfaded signs.
          Buildings that were once painted in vibrant colours now look like they’re decaying, peeling back the decoration to reveal the rot within. 
          
          Beyond the leaning porches, a vast green forest leans into the town from all sides. This stagnant pocket in time has become its own little world, isolated from the rest of humanity. 
          
          That is exactly what he needed.
          
          Even from here, Elias could sense them. The threads of human life behind the windows that are covered in cobwebs and dust.
          He could hear their heartbeats, feel their breaths. They drifted out to him on the warm air. 
          

Girl I’m invested post more!

Part 3
          
          And there it was. 
          
          Silence.
          
          Not the absence of sound in the world around him. No. 
          He could still hear the rustling of rodents as they moved on the ground, the wet swallow of his own throat, the rumble of the bus engine. 
          
          The silence was in his head.
          The internal quiet that swept through him with each mouthful, spreading and growing, stretching roots through each and every inch of him until all was peaceful and the sharp edges had dulled and smoothed. 
          
          For some time at least. 
          
          The body sagged.
          
          Elias licked the wounds to capture the very last drop before letting the body go.
          The driver collapsed against the wheel and slid down between it and the window, making a screeching sound as his dry skin dragged along the glass.
          
          Using a gloved thumb to wipe at his mouth before straightening his clothes, Elias stepped off of the bus he hit a wall of impossible heat.
          He stood for a moment, letting strength return to his body, one limb at a time as he observed the area. 
          
          Then he began to walk.
          

Part 2 
          
          
          
          The doors hissed open before him.
          
          
          Hot, humid air bled into the aisle, carrying the scent of the town. Melting asphalt and rotten wood.
          
          
          Elias paused at the top step, one gloved hand gently resting on the rail.
          
          The driver's eyes still clung to him, fingers trying not to tremble on the wheel. 
          
          
          For a moment, they remained that way, watching the other while the streetlamps outside buzzed.
          
          
          The town around them slept. Store fronts were shuttered, homes locked up for the night. The inhabitants cosy in their beds.
          
          No one watching. 
          
          No disruptions.
          
          
          Elias's head dipped in a nod towards the man
          
          “Thank you” he said softly 
          
          
          He moved before the man could respond. One hand shot forward. Impossibly fast. Stronger than any man ought to be.
          
          He reached through the partition and grabbed the driver by the back of the neck.
          Elias pulled him by his sweat slicked hair bending him back over the seat. 
          The driver let out a sound that landed somewhere between a scream and a prayer.
          
          Elias leaned in and inhaled deeply. When fear spikes the bloodstream, it becomes spiced with an exquisite sharpness. 
          
          
          Yes.
          
          
          It had been too long.
          
          His mouth pressed to the driver's throat. He had no patience left to take his time and savour the moment.
          
          The skin parted with little resistance against sharp teeth. 
          
          A soft yielding that felt like home.
          Heat flooded his tongue and he groaned at the burst of flavour.
          The whole world narrowed to the rushing river of life that poured into him.
          
          
          The driver convulsed.
          
          His hands clawed uselessly at Elias’s arms. Attempting to dig nails into his skin, to pry him off, but as the struggle went on, his fight became weaker. 
          
          
          Elias continued to drink, deep and steady, eyes half closed in something near to rapture.
          
          
          And there it was. 
          
          
          Silence.
          
          Continue to Part 3 
          
          

As promised, 
          Here is a first draft of chapter 1 for my Southern Gothic M/M PriestXVampire story.
          As always feedback is appreciated! 
          
          
          The blood roaring through the bus driver's veins set Elias alight with anticipation.
          
          Every choreographed drumbeat of the man's heart sent a warm rush of sweet liquid below his skin. It was almost enough to drown out the groaning rumble of the bus's engine, the tires crunching on the gravel, the sound of bats flying over head. 
          
          Almost.
          
          The sound made Elias's tongue dart out briefly to lick his lips.
          
          He sat alone, at the back of the dark vehicle surrounded by the scent of stale heat and pine trees as it pulled into Ashcroft, NorthGeorgia. 
          
          Population: 1500.
          Now: 1501.
          
          He hoped this is where he would remain.
          At least for a while. He was tired-so very tired of being constantly on the move. Of slipping from town to town under the dark cloak of night.
          Of running from ghosts he knew would catch up with him eventually.
          
          But not yet. 
          
          They wouldn't come looking for him here, buried in the hills of North Georgia.
          
          The bus shuddered to a stop with a goan.
          The driver's eyes flicked to Elias's through the rear-view mirror.
          ‘End of the line’ he said.
          
          Elias unfurled from his seat. Taking his time to straighten the cuffs of his black shirt and smooth the fabric that had creased against his chest during the long journey.
          
          “Yes” Elias answered “I thought as much,”
          
          He drifted down the aisle to the front of the bus at an unhurried pace, holding the driver's gaze as he approached.
          The man's eyes blew wide as he neared. Elias noticed every small vein webbing across the whites. His pupils so huge there was hardly any of the blue iris remaining. The dreambeat of his pulse quickening the closer Elias got, insistent under fragile skin.
          
          The doors hissed open before him.
          
          (Continue to part 2)

@DelilahSaint if I ever get around to publishing it that'd be amazing!