In Exchange for Magic

Ez woke around ten. He smacked his lips, yawning and wiggling his ears. He stretched with his hands above his head.

Thickly, he said through a yawn: "Hey Ro-Ro-Rose. Good morning!"

I stared at him. I could practically feel the swollen skin under my eyes...

"Woah, Rose..." he commented, "You look terrible!"
"Thanks," I replied scathingly.
"No... I mean... Did you get any sleep last night?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, pursing my lips into a line of disapproval.

"What?" he asked, scratching his belly and wrinkling his nose.
"You honestly don't remember?" I spat.

Suddenly, he became very alert.
"Oh no... What did I do?" he asked, worried.
"You had a nightmare..." I reminded him slowly, hoping I would jog his memory.
"Oh, shit," he breathed. His gaze flitted to my neck. "Did I...?"

"No."
"Thank God!" he cried, relieved.
I continued to glare.
"Okay... I'm a little lost here. If I didn't bite you... Then why the hell are you so grumpy?"

"Ez," I asked, putting on an air of fake politeness. "Tell me something..."
"Yeah?"
"How do you feel?"

He paused and thought about it for a moment.
"I feel.... Good. Really good, actually! Just happy and sort of chatty. To tell the truth, it's quite like when I was human..."
I set my teeth and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, no."
"Oh, yes."
"I kissed you?"
"That's right, Merv the perv."

"Uh..." he struggled for a way to place the blame on me. "Why... Why didn't you stop me?"
"I tried!" I shouted. "You pinned me down!"
He blushed, a rarity. "Well, I'm sure it was some sort of misunderstanding-"
"Oh, no! I don't think so! You definitely intended to do something to follow up your wistful sighs of, 'Rose! Oh, Rose!'"

He suddenly sat up straight and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. He remembered.

"Did I..." he stammered. "Well, that is... I seem to remember... After the nightmare, was I..."

His eyes searched the floor of the tent, as if his words could be found there.

"Crying?" I finished for him. "Yeah."

He blushed even deeper and cleared his throat in an overly-manly way. He tried to meet my gaze, but his eyes quickly drifted to the middle of my forehead - a habit of his when he felt uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," he muttered to my forehead and strode briskly out of the tent.

I followed him and took hold of his arm, spinning him around to face me.

"Ez, tell me what's going on."
"No!" he said stubbornly. "If you're going to insist on making fun of me-"
"Hey!" I shouted. "I just want to know what's happening to you!"

He sighed. "Okay... If we're going to be dealing with this nightmare thing every night, I guess I don't really have any other choice."
"Hell no, you don't."

He took a deep breath, bracing himself.

"They're not nightmares."
"But-"
"They're not nightmares... But rather, visions."
"Of the future?" I gasped, horrified.
He shook his head sadly. "No. The past. My past."
"Oh."

"Elves can see things happening in the future, things happening elsewhere in the present, and things that have already happened in the past. Ever since... Ever since my parents were killed by the Shades, all I've been able to see is their death."

"What?" I croaked, stunned by the immense emotional scarring that must have done.

Imagine... Every night, before going to bed... Knowing that you were going to relive the worst moment of your life in a matter of minutes... I shuddered.

Ez continued, a grave sort of determination settling into his mouth.

"It was in a clearing in Juthea's Wood, the forest where my parents and I hid while I grew up. Then, one day, we were somehow found out... The Shades were instructed to kill my parents for mixing breeds, and then to kill me... They succeeded in their first task. That's what I see in the visions..."

He trailed off, evidently remembering the experience. A wry smile wrung out his lips.

"But I escaped. Actually, that was the day I discovered I could manipulate the oxygen from the trees, a gift passed down to me from my mother. I hid in a cloud until the Shades passed me, and then I just flew until I couldn't anymore. I landed here."

"Ez... I didn't know-"
"Well, now you do," he said curtly, signaling that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"And... If you don't mind me asking," I said hesitantly. "But... How do the... visions result in bloodlust?"
He sighed and shrugged his shoulders a bit. "I don't really know. But, I do have a theory."
"Let's hear it."
" During the night, I become a vampire. Visions are an elven thing... When the visions are over, I have to over compensate with an extra surge of Vampire-y... ness."

I giggled slightly.

He hesitated a bit before allowing himself a small smile.

"I... I really am sorry, Rose."
"You always are, Ez," I told him, trying to comfort him.

He tensed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It just means that... Well, you can be unpredictable sometimes...."
He rubbed his forehead with his palm.
"Not that I'm afraid of you!" I reassured him. "I know not to be in moonlight and to stand clear after a vision. See! I'm learning!"

He sighed like he normally does when he's stressed. "This happens a lot, doesn't it?"
"What, bloodlust?"
"Me being generally, all-around dangerous."
I shrugged. "I can handle it."

He sighed once more and muttered something about going back in the tent to think.

I swear... Ez is one of a kind.

-_-_-_-_-

"Ez! Ezekiel!" I screeched, pointing up to the star-filled sky.

He rushed back into the campsite, dropping the armload of firewood he'd been collecting.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" he demanded, stumbling over his own feet.
"The sky!" I squealed, throwing an accusing finger towards the Heavens.

He scowled and followed my index finger... Only to let out a small gasp.

"No moon!" we both breathed in unison.

"Oh, let's sleep outside tonight!" I yelled. "Please, please, please?"
He stooped down and began picking up the firewood.
"Ez!" I pleaded. "The entire time I've been here, I haven't slept outside! What fun is camping when you can't sleep outside?"
"We aren't camping, sweet. We're living."
"Whatever. Please?"

He dumped the branches and logs into the large fire pit and sighed.

"Well..."
I crossed my fingers.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt... As long as there's no moon and-"
"YES!"
"And we're very careful!" he finished, but I wasn't listening.

"Sleepin' outside, oh yeah!" I sang. "Sleepin' outside! Uh huh! Sleepin' outside!"
Ez rolled his eyes and dragged a bundle of blankets out of the tent. He placed them near enough to the fire pit so that we'd be warm through the night.

Happily, I plopped down in the middle of the blankets and stretched out like a lazy cat. Ez soon joined me.

There was an awkward silence between us.

"So..." Ez mumbled.
"So," I replied.
"Uh..." he said with the airs of a person who was struggling to say something.
"Yeah?"
"So... You ask me a lot of questions about my past... Can I... Can I ask questions about yours?"

I snorted in laughter.

Ez, fearing that he'd committed some sort of obscure social faux pas, immediately became defensive.

"What did I do?" he moaned. "I only asked-"
"No! No, you didn't do anything," I reassured him. "It's just funny that you want to know about me."
"Oh."

Another short, awkward silence.

"So... What do you want to know?"
He fidgeted. "Your parents?"
"I never knew them," I said airily. "I was the result of a drunken night in Las Vegas. Nine months later, I was dropped off at the Geller Home for Girls."
A serene look passed over his face.
"You know, we're a lot alike."
"Whatever," I muttered.

"No, I'm serious!" he protested. "We're... Well, we're just... Alike. That's all."

I decided to ignore him, and tossed and turned on the blankets.

"I need a pillow," I stated.

I searched for one in the immediate vicinity, and gave up almost instantly. Shrugging in indifference, I scrambled over to Ez, who was on the other side of the make-shift bed, and placed my head on his chest.

He tensed in a split second. His fingers clenched into crescent fists, and I could hear him suck in his breath.

I laughed.
"Relax, Ez," I ordered.
"Uh..." he stuttered thickly, breathing rapidly. "Uh..."

His arm muscles bunched up, and his stomach tightened. I could tell that a lump had risen in his throat by the way he was moving his head and swallowing.

"Bloodlust?" I asked calmly, not moving away from his chest.
"Yes," he choked. "Get off me."

He started spazzing, biting his lips and digging his nails into his palms.

"Hey!" I barked sternly. "Stop."
He squeezed his eyes shut, curling his toes and fingers... He was still stiff as a board, but he had stopped freaking out.

"Okay..." I instructed slowly. "First, relax your toes."
He did nothing.
"Get off me, Rose," he said through gritted teeth.
"No," I answered simply. "I'm weaning you off your bloodlust. Relax your toes."
"Rose-"
"Just do it!"

Slowly, ever so slowly, and with the utmost concentration... Ez was able to uncurl his toes.

"Okay," I said. "Legs..."
He obeyed, his eyes still squeezed shut.
"Stomach..."
He obeyed again.
"Now your arms," I said.

He found this a little harder to do. He was really trying hard, I could tell. He wanted this sudden onset of his increased thirst for blood to be over just as much as I did.

"I'm... Trying..." he muttered, still concentrating on relaxing his arms.

I reached out and touched his left forearm, meaning to steady his shaking body... But it didn't go over too well.

The second my fingers met his skin, he flipped out. Immediately, all the relaxed muscles tensed again, and he leapt up off of the pile of blankets. My head fell off his chest and landed with a muffled thump onto the blankets.

"Ez-" I began protesting, but he wouldn't listen.
"Sorry, Rose," he said, looking over my shoulder instead of in my eyes. "Something's wrong... You'll have to go in the tent."

I picked up a blanket and made my way towards the shelter, dejected.

"The moon's not even out!" I whined.
"I know," Ez said, shaking his head. "I know... Something's gone wrong..."

Ez slept outside next to the fire pit that night. I heard him mumble in his sleep, and he had to endure his nightmare alone.

I fell asleep with Ez's words in my ear...

"Something's gone wrong..."