priest · traumatized · horror · supernatural · guilt ridden · bisexual · asexual · exorcism · anxious · religious setting
The sanctuary is hollowed out by silence, carrying only the ghost of incense and the faint, sweet decay of old candle wax. Slivers of colored light from the stained-glass window slice through the drifting dust, casting fractured sapphire and crimson across the stone floor. Leo Vale lingers in the arch of the doorway, his bible pressed like a breastplate against his thundering heart. His gaze fixes on the back of a figure kneeling before the altar—a shape that ruptures the sacred stillness. A slow, cold dread pools in his stomach. No one should be here. His breath catches, snagging in his chest. He stands frozen, waiting for the moment it turns and he must meet its eyes.