AWAKEN ; benny weir [2]

twenty

As they cowered beneath the council building's shadow, Ethan and Benny couldn't help but shudder at the thought of entering it again. The street alone could've sent Ethan into a spiral, leading his brain to remember that fateful awakening of lonesome that he experienced, but he was forced to sit it aside.

"Why this building... of ALL BUILDINGS?!" Benny complained. "It couldn't have been an arcade...?"
"Focus, dude," Ethan tried, swallowing his need to run for the larger need for his vampire soulmate and his witch companion. "We need to get in there, find Sarah and Ellie, then bolt."

"I'm lucky I have long legs," Benny teased, lightening the mood. "You, on the other hand..."
"Shut up, man."

The towering doors of the abandoned cathedral creaked open to Ethan's push against them, unveiling the treacherous hallway that was bestowed upon the boys. They couldn't help but swallow hard at the familiar corridor, its walls taking them back to the explosion that almost cost them their lives.

As they crept through the hall, Ethan and Benny were finally met with a blind corner. Trying to shimmy their way around it to spot any intruders, they were met with the sight of two vampiric guardsmen patrolling one singular door. The vampires stood with their arms crossed in front of them, ready for any potential attack.
"Good thing they're vamps, because I've got a new spell to try," Benny smirked.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets, circling them into a ball and creating a magenta field that swirled around his fingers. "Lamia evanescunt ex hoc aedificium!"

At the sound of Benny's words, his magenta rays balled themselves into a sphere before he quickly shot the spinning sphere down the hallway. Immediately, the sphere acted like a dodgeball, quickly ricocheting off every wall and into the vampire guards. The monsters cowered down to dodge the sphere, but it was no use. Once Ethan and Benny finally turned the corner, the vampires had been reduced to only ash.
"That was sweet."

Racing down to the now unoccupied door, the boys shoved their ears against the decaying wood, hoping to hear the sounds of their friends.

The violent sound of a punch made Ethan and Benny flinch as they widened their eyes at the door, hearing the groans of Sarah trying her hardest to speak.
"Please..." they heard from the other side of the door. "Just let... let Ellie go..."

"They're both in there," Ethan gasped.
Hearing the sound of his girlfriend's weakened coughs, Benny wasted no time. Ellie was in there, and he needed to save her.

Ethan's jaw dropped as he watched Benny back away from the door, knowing he was going to do something stupid.
"No, Benny, wait—!"
Before he could stop him, Benny led his entire weight into the door. His shoulder kept banging against the blighted wood until the door swung open, revealing the disturbing contents that were laid out before them.

"Well, well, well."
A lanky man smirked with elongated fangs at the boys, sending a bloodied hand up to his chin to stroke it in awe. "These are the boyfriends, I presume..."

"—Ellie!"
Benny stared wide-eyed at the back of his girlfriend's head, unknowing of the gruesome reality that was Ellie's face.
"Oh, Ellie, dear..." the scrawny man cooed. "Say hi to your partner, don't be rude."

A burly behemoth of a vampire spun Ellie's chair on its leg, revealing to Ethan and Benny what they had done to her.
Ellie's braided hair was in tatters, blood sticking to her mouth as her eyes tried their hardest to stay awake. Her throat was badly bruised, along with her swollen jaw and permanently magenta'd eyeball.

Benny's spine could have left his body in that moment. Seeing someone so near and dear to him be so ripped apart made him want to split these monsters in two.
"Now, gentlemen..." the lanky vampire began. "Why don't we start with—!"