The Interrogation

"Can I help you?" Maya asked, her voice raspy and devoid of enthusiasm. She didn't look up from the damp rag moving over the chrome.

"Black coffee," Elias said. His voice was gravelly, taut with absolute tension.

He stepped up to the counter. As Maya turned her back to grab a paper cup, Elias moved with practiced, desperate speed. He drew a small glass vial from his sleeve, flicked the cork off with his thumb, and sprinkled a thick line of fine, dark gray powder across the stainless steel countertop. It was iron-infused ash, blessed in a salt circle. If the parasite tried to abandon its host and cross the counter, the ash would tear its ethereal form to shreds.

Maya turned back around, placing the steaming cup near the register. "That'll be three dollars and—"

She stopped. She noticed the line of ash. Then she looked up and finally met Elias’s eyes.

Whatever she saw in his manic, bloodshot stare made her take a sudden step backward. Her back hit the pastry display case.

"I know what's inside you," Elias whispered. He pulled his hand from his pocket and slammed the exorcism device onto the counter. It resembled a modified stun gun, bristling with copper coils and blinking LED indicators.

Maya gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth. "Please," she whimpered, her voice trembling. "Take the money. The register is open. Just don't hurt me."

"Drop the act," Elias sneered, leaning over the counter, careful not to break the line of ash. His heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against his sternum. "You think you can hide behind a terrified girl? I've tracked your psychic footprint across three boroughs. I know you've been hollowed out. I'm here to purge the Hive."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Maya cried out, genuine, unadulterated terror spilling down her face in the form of hot tears. "I'm just a barista! Please, my phone is in the back, I haven't called the cops, just take the cash!"

Elias gritted his teeth. The parasite was good. The emotional mimicry was nearly flawless. He reached across the counter, his hand hovering over the EMP trigger. "Force it out, or I will fry your nervous system along with the entity. I have nothing left to lose. Show yourself!"

Suddenly, the quiet, looping lo-fi beats playing through the café’s speakers stuttered.

The bass dropped out entirely. The gentle piano melody warped, stretching into a sickening, low-frequency static that vibrated in Elias’s dental work. The harsh fluorescent lights overhead flickered, dimming to a sickly, buzzing gray.

On his left wrist, Elias’s smartwatch let out a high-pitched, continuous squeal. The glass face of the watch cracked cleanly down the center, the display flashing violently before dying out completely in a burst of sparks that singed his skin.

Elias ripped his arm back, hissing in pain. The supernatural interference was off the charts. It was a localized manifestation of immense power. He gripped the EMP device tighter, aiming it squarely at Maya's chest.

"Last warning!" he shouted over the rising, deafening static.

But Maya was just sobbing, sliding down the front of the pastry case until she was huddled on the floor, her arms wrapped protectively over her head. She wasn't glowing. She wasn't shifting. She was just a girl having the worst night of her life.