Hearts of the Lonely (Reader x Mountain Ghoul)

3- Cara Mia

"Like I said, Mou-my friend wanted to lead you today, but he was tasked with setting up the stage for tonight's Ritual. He took on this task as to not frighten you. He also did not want to anger Sister. My friend is special, and there are a few more like him. Do you know about any non-human creatures, Y/N?"

"So you are saying that. . ."

"Mountain is a ghoul summoned from Hell," Copia ripped off the bandaid.

You felt lightheaded and nauseated. A ghoul? From Hell no less.

"Y/N, he is one of the sweetest ghouls at the church. None of the ghouls have records of harming any humans, but we still have to be careful. I just wanted to let you know this before you meet them all."

It seemed that Copia was trying to kill you. Your heart was pounding against your ribcage. Well, you can't turn back now. You took a few deep breaths to calm down. "Copia, do the ghouls have fangs and claws?" You already knew the answer, but you wanted to be certain.

"Yes; like I previously mentioned, you saw him before, so you would've noticed. Also, we are close to the barrier. It would be wise to cover your ears."

You walked with Copia to a large gate near the fallen tree. He was attached to any type of fencing, but it might have been a long time ago. He opened it and motioned for you to put your hands over your ears. You did, handed the camping supplies to Copia, and passed through the gate.

The sheer amount of noise made your eyes water. It wasn't even that loud; you just haven't heard things in the forest, so this was quite loud. You heard birds chirping, rushing water, and peals of laughter in the distance. You stood still for a while and got used to the noise.

Copia shut the gate, and led you to an old cobblestone path. You let your hands fall to your sides and Copia gave the gear back to you. He took off his scarf and draped it over his shoulders. His hair was brown and looked like it was cut recently. It was a bit shaggy, but looked good. Copia had a mustache and lines around his eyes from smiling. In a way to put it, he was attractive. Copia gave you a sheepish smile and led the way. You thought it was cute how he wanted to keep you safe.

After a while, the forest turned into a few trees on the sides of the path, and you could see the spire of the church. Hell, you could even see the sky. You entered a small village that surrounded a large church. People were all around, and said hello to Copia as you two passed. Every nook and cranny in the village seemed like a new world to explore.

"Why is everyone here? Doesn't anyone work?" You asked.

"We like to take Sundays off. We kind of took inspiration from other religions," Copia laughed.

Copia led you to a large building that looked like the city hall back home. The big sign outside the door said it was "Clergy Property."

The interior of the building was dark and smelled like cigarette smoke. As your eyes adjusted, you saw a man in a black and white suit sitting behind a desk with a woman on his lap. His hands were all over her, and she dragged her hands down his chest. She was dressed like a nun, and as far as you knew, nuns did not passionately kiss people.

"TERZO!" Copia yelled.

The man broke the kiss and mumbled something to the woman, which made her giggle. She gave the man one last kiss before stroking his face.

"He's all yours," she told to no one in particular as she kept intense eye contact with the man.

The woman slid off of the man's lap, adjusted her outfit, and left the room as the man stood up. He walked around to the front of the desk and dragged his gloved fingers along the desk, looking for dust.

"What? Can't I have a little fun? The old man won't yell at me. You both know it's my last day as band leader before retiring to the land of paperwork," he responded.

"Terzo, we have a guest."

The woman returned with a cigarette, and linked her arm in Terzo's. He pulled a lighter out of his pants pocket and lit the cigarette for the woman, and set it on the desk. His skull face paint was momentarily illuminated by the flame. The woman took a long drag of the cigarette and stayed at his arm.

"Hello. I am Terzo, or Papa Emeritus the Third, although this is the last day I will be called that," he reached for your hand, "Your name is?"

"Y/N."

"Beautiful, Cara Mia," he said. Terzo kissed the back of your hand.

The people you met seemed very open about everything. Copia was willing to tell you about his church. Terzo was open to showing affection. Everyone was quite polite to you.

"Sister Ash, we have an appointment with Sister Imperator," Copia told the woman. You decided that she must be the secretary.

You noticed that Sister Ash had a necklace with an upside down cross. Her black dress went down to her knees. Other than that, she wore black boots with a small heel, a habit, and had black eyeliner with red lipstick. Some of it was smeared on Terzo's neck. It somewhat accented his black and white suit, black pants, white gloves, black dress shoes, skull paint, and slicked-back black hair. He had an upside down cross embroidered on his suit. You noticed that he had one white eye. You would have to ask Copia about that later.

"Right this way," Sister Ash said. She unlinked her arm from Terzo's, and led you and Copia to Sister Imperator's office.