In Exchange for Magic

"Rose! Rose, wake up! I've got it! I've got it!"
"Mmm?" I asked sleepily.
"You'll never believe it! Oh, man, I'm a genius!"
"What's wrong with you?" I muttered. "It's too early for-"
He just laughed, stormed in to the tent, and yanked me to my feet.

"I know what's gone wrong!" he declared proudly. "I know why my bloodlust has been so out of whack for the past couple of weeks!"
"Okay, I'll humor you. What's the hype with the pipes?"
"You're the hype!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "Or, rather, your blood is the hype."

I raised a confused eyebrow.

He pulled me outside into the bright sunlight.

"Ever since I very first tasted your blood on the day you crash-landed into Attannia, my brain has subconsciously wanted more."
I wrinkled my nose, but he ignored my disgust and continued.
"Human blood is like heroin to magical creatures..." he grinned slightly. "You're my drug, Rose."

I shook my head to clear it. "So you mean... You're addicted to my blood?"
He nodded proudly.

I fumbled for something to say, but failed at conjuring a reply to the information that had just been presented to me.

"Think about it!" he cried, overjoyed. "It all makes sense! I am so smart!"
"Ok, well, Ez-" I began stumbling, but I was interrupted.

"But there's a catch. I'm only addicted when I'm a vampire. Right now, in the daylight, I can only access small parts of my vampire essence... And, when you had kissed me-"
I scowled at him.
"Or when I had kissed you," he complied sheepishly. "I was a human and, therefore, was supplied with my own blood! You see! That's why I was getting weird blood-cravings! I was coming down off a high dosage, and I was going through withdrawals!"

"I... I..."
"Isn't this great?" he cried. "Now all I have to do is have a regular taste of your blood and I'll be-"
At this, I found my voice. "What?"
"Oh, it shouldn't be too bad," he reassured me. "Only about once a week."
"What?" I repeated. "No!"

He looked as if he'd just been slapped. "No?"
"No!"
"But... But... Without it, I'm unpredictable! I'll be putting you in danger!"
"I don't care! You're not... biting me once a week! That's gross!"

His gaze settled on my neck. "But Roooose!"
"No! Absolutely not!"
He huffed and folded his arms.
"There has to be another way of fixing this," I decided.
Ez's gaze shifted to the floor.
"Ez!" I barked knowingly. "There's another way, isn't there?"
"Yes..." he mumbled.

I slapped his shoulder. "All you wanted to do was drink my blood!"
He stuck out his bottom lip like whiny five-year-old. "Please?"
"No!"
He furrowed his eyebrows and turned his gaze to the side, setting his jaw angrily.

"What's the other way?"
Ez sniffed indifferently.
"Ez, don't be a baby! How else can we fix it?"
"I'll tell you if I can-"
"No!"
He grunted in frustration and threw his arms out wide. "Look at me, Rose! I'm an addict!"

It was then that I really did look at him. He looked slightly green. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he was rapidly tapping his foot.

I laughed lightly. "Are you serious? I'm doing this to you?"
He frowned, evidently not thinking it was funny, like I did. "Your blood is, yes."
"Okay," I said, shrugging.
"Okay...?"
"Okay."
"You mean...?"
"Come over here and get your drug."

He was at my side in a matter of seconds. He snatched my wrist in his hand and had it at his mouth before I could blink.

"Ez!" I squealed. "I was only kidding!"

He glared at me.
"Sorry," I said with a nervous laugh, trying to wrestle my arm away from him. "I didn't know you were just going to get up and-"
"Well," he interrupted grumpily, keeping his hold on my forearm. "Now that you've teased me, I want your blood even more."

"Ez..." I warmed.
"I'm going to do it anyway," he informed me with a shrug and lifted my wrist...

"EZEKIEL!" I shouted with a voice so fierce, it sounded more like a lion than a skinny white girl.

He looked at me balefully, my wrist half way in his widely opened mouth.

"Drop the wrist."
Guiltily, he did so.

He plopped down on the ground, rubbing his forehead in anxiety.

"We need to fix this," he sighed. "I can't take this any more... And it's just going to get worse..."
"Tell me how," I said, massaging my wrist and scowling. "I'll do anything to get you off my back... Or, you know... Neck."

He scowled at my bad joke.

Then, something occurred to him. He swallowed hard and looked as if he were struggling with something inside himself. Then, after a few moments of deliberation, he stood suddenly and looked me straight in the eyes.

"It's going to take a lot of power to get over my... erm... addiction."
I nodded slowly. "Okay... And where do you suppose we find said power? No! Wait! Let me guess... It involves a lot of danger, hard work, and walking, doesn't it?"
Solemnly, he nodded.
"What else is new?" I grumbled.

"Rose..." Ez said, fighting to get the words out. "I'm... I'm... Well, I was... No... I'm going to be... Wait... Can I start over?"
"Sure. Should I be sitting?"
"Yeah."

We trudged over to the log by the fire pit, the heavy secret hanging in the air between us like a great toxic bubble, ready to burst.

"Okay," I said, my hands on my knees. "We're sitting."

Ez took a deep breath, raised his head... And then let the breath out. He tried to start again, but he ended up staring at his hands, which were folded in his lap. I could see he was having a lot of trouble so I tried to help him out. As usual, my gentle ways and heart-melting words coaxed his troubles out of him as easily as a butterfly flutters through the breeze...

"Spit it out, Legolas."
He scowled. "Cut me a break, okay? I've never told anyone this before..."

My heart froze up. Horrified, I asked:
"Ez... Are you trying to tell me that you..."
"What?" he asked, confused. Then he got it. "Oh, no, not that! Ew! No!"
My demeanor changed immediately. "Ew?"
He smacked his forehead. "Sorry! No, I didn't mean it like... Just... No."
"Okay. Good. What's on your mind, then?"

He closed his eyes and addressed the floor.
"Rose... I'm... I'm..." he chickened out at the last moment. "I'm very young."

Utterly confused, I cocked my head to the side.

"No... No, vampires are supposed to be-"
"Hundreds of years old? No." He shook his head. "If you're a vampire by way of being bitten, your age freezes right then and there. Years pass and you never get any older. Technically, a vampire could have been living for thousands of years... But they'd always remain the same age."

"Oookaaay..." I replied slowly. "And this pertains to you... How?"

"Well, if you're born a vampire... Like me... Then you grow at the rate of a regular child until the age of eighteen. Then they'd just stay eighteen for the rest of their lives."

"Alright," I said slowly. "So... What are you? Fifty? Seventy? What's young for a vampire?"

I took his hand as a sign of encouragement, but Ez doesn't do physical contact. He resisted, pulling away slightly, but, after a second thought, he let me hang on to him... However uncomfortable he may be.

"Come on, Ez!" I coaxed.
He shook his hand from mine and sighed. "I'm seventeen."
My jaw didn't just drop, it plummeted. I had no idea he was that young!
"I'll be eighteen a month from tomorrow."

I swallowed the large, confused lump in my throat and choked, "And what will happen on the day you turn eighteen?"
"I don't really know," he said gravely. "Something big. Something involving a lot of power."

"Okay," I persisted impatiently. "Like what?"

"Well, upon turning eighteen, both elves and vampires receive their powers."
I perked up at this. "Powers? Cool! What sort of powers do you think you'll have?"

He laughed slightly. "Um... Do you know me at all? Have I not been flying your scrawny butt all over Attannia?"
"You already have your powers?"
"Yeah..." he said. "Flying is my elven power, and Running is my vampire power."

"Running?" I snorted. "All vampires can run really fast!"
"What?" he said, confused. "No. It's a special thing. Where did you hear that all vampires can run?"
"Twili-" I began, but stopped. If Ez had laughed in the face of Harry Potter... Well, frankly, I'd be quite embarrassed to have to explain all the inaccuracies of Twilight.

"So... You really have no clue what's going to happen when you turn eighteen?"
"Well, since I already have both my elven and vampire powers... No. Not a clue in the world." He paused. "And since my parents aren't exactly around to help me out on this one..."

There was a brief silence between us. I decided to try and lighten the mood.

"So... How does this help you in getting over your blood addiction?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes at my attempt to mock him. "All I know is that I'm a special case. No other half-breed has lived past the age of fifteen. There's going to be a terrible amount of power involved. I'm thinking that we could somehow channel it and get over this unfortunate addiction of mine."

"Okay," I said, getting down to business. "So how are we going to channel the power?"
Ez's eyes sparkled. "There's a magnificent library that I know about... It has every subject you can imagine! There are bound to be books written about half-breeds!"

I smiled. Somehow, Ez just knew everything.

I leapt up from the log.
"Okay then! Let's get going!"
"Erm..."
"What now?" I sighed.
"There's just one problem..."
"What?"
"The library..."
"Yeah? Yeah?"
"It's in the Palace."