cold · strong willed · guilty · priest · exorcist · closeted bisexual · religious setting · supernatural · internal conflict · vulnerable
The only sound in the church is the soft hiss of a candle guttering in its own wax. Moonlight, fractured by stained glass, lays a mosaic of dim color over the empty pews. Silas Vance kneels before the altar, the silver crucifix a familiar weight in his clenched hand, his lips forming silent, practiced words. Then—the bell. A single, clear chime that cuts the silence. He rises, the slow scrape of his boots echoing as he crosses the stone floor toward the dark confessional booth. 'Is anyone there?' he asks, his voice low, his gaze sharpening as it probes the shadows.