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...
"all your ballads are doused in agony, the edges of tempests meet and even the chorus melts." w o r d c o u n t : 1,138
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Padfoot looked just as pretty as she used to, having started to regrow the clumps of hair she lost in the fire and not a scratch remained. She curled beside Ezra on the couch, sleeping comfortably as the two witches and their human companion flipped mindlessly through the T.V. channels on their rare off day.
The Cullens and the pack had patrol covered for the first few days and Zephyr was still waiting on their contacts to get back to them with information on one of the many things they were looking for. Maddox, Aloysius, or anything alluding to the vampire toying with Bella.
"Oh my god," Zephyr breathed suddenly, leaning forward in the armchair he inhabited. In sync, Ilan and Ezra turned to them curiously, watching their fingers fly like lightning on the keyboard of their laptop.
After a beat of expectant silence, the duo realized Zeph was going to say nothing and Ilan spoke. "What's going on?"
Zeph's hands seemed to be working faster than their mind when they finally grasped an answer. "I found someone."
"Oh, good for you. I never saw you as the relationship type though." Momentarily Zeph's hands stopped and they looked at Ezra in utter disbelief.
"I found a lead." They clarified with dark furrowed brows. "I was talking to some different online communities and one of them was talking about this girl, Taina, who owns her own tailor and I was thinking that her name sounded weirdly familiar. So I back searched her name through every site I had visited in the last three weeks and I found it. Taina Osiris posted an ad to Craigslist with a code. When I decoded it, she was asking if they had found the Chosen yet."
Ezra was sitting up now, the blankets on his lap having been discarded. "This could easily be unrelated."
"I know, I know. But I found her store's website and it's based in Salem Oregon, the city that you told me yourself has a lot of witchy activity. I say we check it out and if it doesn't pan out it doesn't pan out." Zeph offered and Ezra glanced to Ilan for her opinion.
"They're right, you know. Salem is close so even if it doesn't work out we only lost a day that we would have just spent sitting outside Bella Swan's house. Now we can at least check out a lead." Ilan offered, leaping up to move into the kitchen. "We could leave tomorrow morning and get back in time to do a night shift for Bella."
Ezra's eyes fell to his scarred hands, anxiety swarming him. "I can't leave."
"What?" Ilan let the coffee pot fall back into its slot. "Why? We need to recruit others, we can't fight Elyse just the three of us."
The reason was so simple it could be summed up in one word. Paul. He couldn't leave again, even for a day without making amends to the man. "You two can go. It should take about ten hours or so to get there and take five to find Taina. Just call me when you get there and call me when you leave."
Ilan began the coffee maker, it's soft noise soon filling the room. "We will, Ez. Just take care of yourself, alright. And don't forget you have guard duty tonight."
"Be careful," He warned. "And tell me before you leave." He stood, tucking his hand under Pads' stomach and slipping her in his pocket. "I need to get changed. I love you guys."
"We love you too, Ez."
Anxiety had been building in his stomach from the very moment Ezra parked his car out of sight from Bella's house and walked to where they agreed their impromptu guards would sit. Edward had gone hunting so Ezra and Paul would be there for a while.
The wolf trotted up and the moment Paul felt his presence, he paused, letting out a harsh breath as his caramel gaze burned him like fire.
"Paul," the sight of him stole away Ezra's breath, anchoring him to the spot. After all this time, he imagined reunited a bit different but to see him satiated all his desires, everything he wanted from their reunion. "You haven't been answering my calls."
He wasn't sure why he expected a response so after a heavy beat of silence he continued. "I missed you."
At this, the beast turned back into a man. Paul stood there, tugging on a pair of cargo shorts that had been tied around his leg with a piece of thin rope.
"You don't get to do this."
His chest tightened painfully. "I'm sorry I left. I shouldn't have. But I was hurting, I was in so much pain with Nik and being in a place that I thought I didn't belong. I thought the only place I could belong was in a coven. I was wrong to leave I was wrong to ditch my phone."
Paul didn't speak for a while and the two were forced to stare at each other in silence, Ezra taking the chance to observe him. Dark bags sat prominently under his eyes and he looked thinner. His beautiful russet skin seemed to have paled a bit from his lack of eating and his thick coal hair was a disastrous mop on his head.
"You don't get to leave me for months and come back bloody and unconscious! What the hell happened while you were gone?" His worry betrayed him and Paul's lips carved into a deep frown, trembling at the corners.
So Ezra told him everything. Joining Diarmuid's coven, getting a job, finding Ilan, Elyse Maddox, and his ceremony. And much to his surprise, Paul didn't seem upset at Ezra's new lack of aging. He just seemed sad in general.
"I'd take a hundred years of torture if it meant you could be around me and I'd take a thousand more if you could love me. I'll do whatever it takes, whatever you need." Ezra promised and Paul's eyes widened abruptly, his lips curling with anger.
Ezra thought he said something wrong until Paul locked him in such a tight embrace he couldn't even breathe.
"Don't fucking say that. You left because I was an asshole and you got hurt. Don't fucking say you'll take more for me because I'm such a piece of shit for making you think I could ever stop loving you even if I wanted to. And making you think you don't belong. Because there is one place you will always belong. Right here, right with me."
