previously titled beserk
A young gay witch with deadly powers on the fringe is traveling the U.S. in search of a substitute for suppressing his magic and a way to control his powers. Ezra Pierce was born into a religiously strict family with no one...
"there is a half-empty ache in your soul." w o r d c o u n t : 1,040
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Slim fingers flew across the sunset painted keyboard, chipping paint clear on the keys. Jordan worked at the speed of light, a divot developing between their thick dark brows. Their eyes narrowed onto the screen, scanning with a fierce intensity as the rhythmic tapping of the keys kept them company.
"Give me some parameters." Jordan requested gruffly, their voice quiet compared to the roar of the cafe goers in business meetings, on dates, studying, and stopping in before work.
Ezra took a large gulp of his frozen drink, allowing the iced coffee to slide smoothly down his throat before he answered. "Look only for kids from fifteen to seventeen, surrendered at safe havens, firehouses, hospitals, churches, things like that. Their mom is black so they're mixed at the very least. They were most likely surrendered in one of the Southern states."
As the witch talked, Jorden typed furiously until the list began to load. They cracked their knuckles, small pops sounding as they went down their fingers until reaching the last pinkie. They allowed their hands to settle in their lap before they spoke again. "I have hundreds of names here." They pointed out wearily. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? That'd help a lot."
Ezra couldn't help the sinking in his stomach. "No. But they wouldn't have been adopted. They would have been in a negligent foster home or an orphanage. Look for places that were reported for negligence in some degree."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ilan shift uncomfortably. She never did like to talk about such things, especially when she had faced very similar conditions as a child.
It had to have taken a lot for her to be comfortable in her own skin. In fact, it was something Ezra still struggled immensely with. You can't just turn off those self-loathing thoughts. It took decades to learn so he would now have to take decades to unlearn.
It was one of the things they shared. Never talking about their past before they knew what they were. Because no matter how happy Ilan always seemed, he could hear her, late at night when he couldn't bring himself to sleep, crying as silently as she could.
They were just a couple of fucked up kids.
"Well here." Jordan flipped the laptop around to them. "I can email everything to you and you'll only be able to unencrypt them with a password. Who wants the password?"
Ezra and Ilan exchanged a look before Ezra placed his elbows on the table. "Me," he requested, leaning forward
"Alright," Jordan leaned forward to meet Ezra, their lips almost brushing his ear as he whispered a single word. "Make sure you remember it, there's no second chance." They pointed out, taking a large drink of their hibiscus tea. Jordan's nose wrinkled and they dipped their tongue into the scalding liquid. As they retracted it a look of worry consumed their strong features. "Anyone else's drink taste weird?"
Ezra went white and he glanced over at Ilan who was already on her second cup. He knocked it out of her hand, exploding the slush onto the floor.
Ezra mistook his grogginess for lack of sleep and now the three of them would be paying the price.
Jordan's fingers flew to wipe their hard drive, growing more sluggish as the seconds ticked by. "Go!" He slurred and Ezra wrapped a hand around Ilan's wrist, pulling her along with him.
Ilan could barely move, slumping onto Ezra with a quiet mumble. "It didn't feel right." She slurred. "This place didn't feel right."
The moment he stood the entire room swayed dangerously under his feet, his eyesight going blurry.
Ilan attempted to speak but her words came out a garbled mess as Jordan slammed their laptop onto the table and shattered it.
The barista grinned, making her way over to the drugged trio.
Ezra could feel his knees buckling and his grip loosening as he struggled to keep Ilan within his grasp.
Jordan crumpled like an old napkin, banging their head against the shattered remains of their laptop. Blood bubbled from the cut as Jordan's grip loosened and they dropped fully to the floor.
No one made a move to help, watching them as they all, one by one, succumb to the effects of whatever was in those drinks.
"There's no escape this time, Ezra Pierce."
Ezra struggled to summon his energy but all that came from his palms was a small static shock that made the woman's hair jump before falling flat against her head.
A laugh bubbled from her lips, nothing but sinister in its nature as she glanced around.
The entire population of the coffee shop stood, shedding hats and coats as their features began to melt away, one by one, revealing much younger faces underneath the facade.
He thought back, for a moment, to Ilan. She was uncomfortable the minute they walked in. She had to have sensed it and not known what it was. She had used her powers recently, she didn't have the same jumpiness Ezra did.
The barista tugged off her hat and apron and tossed it to the ground with obvious distaste, letting her tousled dark hair fall from its captivity.
Her face melted away from its rosy cheeks and grey eyes to a whole new being in its entirety.
The barista now bore a diamond-shaped face, acne scars mixing with various battle scars but one stood out the most. A jagged scar with bright pink tissue dragged through her right eye and down through her lips. It seemed to have rendered her blind in that eye, judging by its milky color compared to her caramel eye.
She sneered at Ezra as his knees buckled and he hit the ground. As she stepped forward her sneakers entered his view. The girl kicked him hard in the shoulder, knocking him flat onto his back.
