William "Liam" Draycott
Born William Draycott from Durham England, he moved to a small town in the southern United States when he was only six years old. He has a younger brother named Richard Draycott who goes by "Lock" for various reasons, and an older sister named Lia who he doesn't talk to often.
Growing up Liam was a popular kid, charming, had good grades, you know the type. He had a lot of people around him, but only two people he truly trusted and cared for outside of his family. Niles Forte, and Riza Fuan. Niles was his childhood best friend, a health nut who encouraged Liam to play basketball with him in highschool. And someone he dated in middle school, though only for a short time. Riza was another story. The love of his whole life, the light to his soul. He began to date her in late middle school after meeting her a few years prior. What was puppy love at first eventually bloomed into a deep romantic connection and a bond the two couldn't break. One her sister Vie hated. Vie always had a crush on Liam, and would actively bully her sister when he was around.
Truthfully, he couldn’t explain what she was, not really, only that there was always something about her. Riza carried herself with a quiet presence that drew every eye in the room without trying. Her beauty was ethereal in a way that bordered on uncanny, as though she belonged to someplace softer, calmer, more magical then their silly little highschool.
But none of that mattered to him.
She was kind, clever, funny. Made him forget his own thoughts and worries. Being near her felt easy and natural, like breathing. Little compared to the simple truth that Liam wanted nothing more than her by his side.
By the time he turned eighteen, Liam felt like he’d finally grown into himself. Life was the best it had ever been. He was an A/B honor student with a high GPA, a college scholarship just within reach, it was good.
He’d shot up to six feet tall, gotten his first tattoo, and a piercing he absolutely adored. He and Niles spent afternoons at the gym together, pushing each other harder every week, and they all had jobs now. Everything felt like it was moving forward. Like he was finally thriving instead of just surviving.
And through all of it, there was Riza.
So on prom night, beneath dim lights and cheap decorations that somehow still felt magical, Liam got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes.
Only months later his life took a dark turn he never expected. After the proposal, Riza was involved in a tragic hit-and-run that resulted in her death. A drunk driver hit her late at night and fled the scene before anyone could stop him. By the time help arrived, it was already too late. Worst of all, Liam and Riza had been in the middle of a fight when it happened, something Liam has never forgiven himself for and likely never will.
The cops ruled it a hit and run, but there was never enough evidence to convict a suspect. That wasn’t good enough for Liam.
What came next was inevitable. Grief turned into obsession, and obsession turned into self destruction. His grades slipped, he lost his scholarship, stopped answering calls from friends. Some days he wouldn't even leave his apartment. Other nights he disappeared into clubs, trap houses, and filthy bathrooms just looking for anything strong enough to shut his brain off for a few hours.
The drugs started small.
Painkillers. Xanax. Anything to sleep.
Then came cocaine to keep himself awake during the day, opioids to numb the nights, and eventually heroin when nothing else worked anymore. He developed a brutal cycle of uppers and downers that nearly killed him more than once. There were overdoses nobody knows about except him. Bloody noses. Tremors. Hallucinations from sleep deprivation and withdrawal. Sometimes he swore he could hear Riza speaking to him from empty rooms or see her standing in crowds before she vanished again.
His mental state only worsened over time. Severe depression, paranoia, insomnia, and drug-induced hallucinations started blending together until he could barely tell what was real and what wasn’t. He still functioned just enough to appear “normal” in short bursts, but it was a mask more than anything. Around other people, he could force himself into something stable, even polite, even calm in a way that didn’t quite feel natural. But the moment he was alone, it all cracked right back open.
He got angry easily. Got into fights constantly. Pushed away anyone who tried to stay close. Eventually, that fixation on Riza pushed him in one direction: the man who killed her.
For nearly a year, he hunted down every lead himself. He learned how to track people, how to threaten information out of addicts and criminals, how to navigate places most decent people avoided. In the end it paid off, as he found the man responsible. Turned out he'd hurt a lot of other people too. Liam dragged him out behind a bar in the middle of winter and beat him until his body stopped moving. Not cleanly. Not quickly. By the end, Liam’s hands were shattered and covered in blood, and the man beneath him was barely recognizable as human anymore. Witnesses later claimed Liam looked almost detached while doing it, like all the grief and fury inside him had finally found somewhere to go.
He of served time for the assault and suspected homicide, though not nearly enough to match what he’d done.
After prison, legitimate work wasn’t really an option anymore. His record, his violence, and the reputation that followed him made sure of that. So he drifted into bounty work, then recovery jobs, that kind of thing.
That’s how they found him.
It started as quiet contracts, off the record retrieval work tied to classified cases. Things that didn’t officially exist. One job turned into another, then another, until he stopped working for random clients entirely and was being funneled through a single system. A well paying system. A lab-backed government organization that studied supernatural phenomena and needed people who could handle situations that couldn’t be explained, reported, or cleaned up normally.
Liam, learned how to play their game. He shows up when he’s needed, gets the job done, and keeps the mask on when he’s around the others. Controlled, steady, almost unnervingly put together. The kind of calm that feels rehearsed. Like if he stops performing it, everything underneath might spill out. On the surface, he’s still functional. Easy laughs, shameless flirting with anything that gives him attention, always down for a round of drinks or a night that doesn’t require thinking too hard. He still keeps up with Niles, still goes on runs when he can force himself into it. He’s even dated over the years.
But something about him feels off in a way most people can’t quite name or place. He’s quieter in the moments between words. Colder when no one’s looking. He's joyous and loud personality no longer fills the room, rooms he once commanded with his sunlight. The mask he wears is good enough that people accept it without too many questions, but it doesn’t sit naturally on him anymore. And nobody really pushes it. Most people just chalk it up to grief. Something heavy he never fully came back from.
And that's Liam now.
