Chapter 16: Moonsong
Moonsong, Adrian von Ziegler
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His eyes had always been that colour. Ezio remembered when they first met, back at France, and he’d turned a corner and nearly smacked into Drake. The first thing Ezio had noticed was how beautiful his eyes were. They were the same colour as Jean’s, but Drake’s were different. Somehow, they seemed warmer. Jean’s were like ice, but Drake’s had always been more like the midday sky, bright and almost too much.
Ezio smiled a little to himself, settling down on the couch next to him. Drake was reading something, unsurprisingly, but Ezio didn’t mind. Just being around him was enough.
After a moment, though, Drake turned to look at him, and smiled. Ezio couldn’t help but smile back, a little brighter than before.
“Do you have a minute?” Ezio asked.
“Of course,” was Drake’s response.
Any time Ezio asked for his time, Drake always had the time to give, no matter how busy he was. It was such a constant that Ezio hadn’t ever really thought about it too deeply, maybe because he was afraid to. Maybe Morgyn was right, and Drake did feel the same. That thought was scary, too, and there were so many reasons as to why, he didn’t know what to do with them all. It was one thing to know those reasons, but it was another thing to make some semblance of sense of them. To go through them in your head, and filter out which ones couldn’t possibly be right, and which were possible, which were likely.
He’d come for a reason. Ezio went quiet, looking down at his lap.
“Is something wrong?” Drake asked.
“No,” Ezio answered, glancing up at him. “No, I just… I’m not as good at words as you are.”
“I’m not really good at words either,” Drake said. “In stories, maybe, but stories and reality are two different things. What’s easy on paper isn’t easy in person, most of the time.”
Ezio snorted. He could say that again. He wasn’t sure how to word this. That was one of the hard things about talking about things like this. Even if you knew, in your head, what you should say, it was sometimes difficult to get the words to come out.
“I love you,” Ezio said, abruptly. “I have for a long time. Probably since France, if I had to guess.” Drake wasn’t the first person to be kind to him, just the first in that house, at a time when Ezio needed the kindness the most. Sometimes, he wondered if he really loved Drake, or if he just loved the idea of him.
Maybe the answer was both.
Drake looked surprised, and then smiled. “I love you too, you know. Probably about as long.”
Ezio wasn’t surprised by that. Somewhere in his heart, he’d always known. Maybe that was why Ezio continued to run from it. Because he didn’t know a love that wasn’t broken or painful, and he didn’t want that for him and Drake.
“I don’t know how to love,” he said. “And I don’t want to hurt you because I don’t know how to love.” What if things didn’t work out? Meaning well and trying to do things the right way, it didn’t always mean that things turned out okay. That was the most painful kind of hurt, even. To know that you were trying your best, and find that your best still isn’t good enough.
Drake reached over and took his hands, gentle as he always did, softly pressing a kiss to his fingers. “I know things won’t be perfect,” Drake said. “But love can conquer anything. You’re still the best thing that’s ever happened to me, the only good thing in my life. I don’t imagine that will change.”
Ezio released a puff of air, closing the bathroom cabinet door, and turning back around to face the mirror. “That’s part of the problem,” he mumbled under his breath. Love can conquer anything, huh? And how many fairy-tales had Ezio been reading recently, anyway? He didn’t have time for silly daydreams, anyway, he reminded himself, glancing up at the bathroom mirror. His hair was a post-shower mess, but his lip had fully healed, finally.
He straightened up a little, looking at himself in the mirror. Fortunately, he hadn’t hallucinated anything recently, and it was just himself staring back. For some reason, however, he didn’t feel right today. The more time he spent learning black tiger, the fatter he got. (Morgyn and Drake would tell him he isn’t fat, it’s muscle, and there’s a difference, but he didn’t have the build to be too muscular; he just looked fat if one asked him.)
As he stared in the mirror, though, he couldn’t say what it was that felt wrong. One hand raised, a finger trailing down his nose. He really did look so much like Morgyn. It was hard to imagine they weren’t identical, for how similar they looked. If Morgyn was more masculine, Ezio wondered if they’d look even more alike. He supposed they’d never really know. Sometimes, he looked in the mirror, and he saw Morgyn. Other times, he wasn’t sure what he saw.
That poor imitation of Morgyn that he was, he guessed.
Ezio drew a breath in, turning away from the mirror. He had things to be doing today, and he could spend the time on neither silly daydreams, nor comparing himself to Morgyn in the mirror. He moved around and got his shirt on, but then set his hand on the bathroom counter. His finger pushed against something, and a wooden clatter sounded.
Ezio looked down to find, once again, several of Morgyn’s eyeliner sticks on the floor. He’d meant to give those back, and had forgotten. If they were still here, though, and the blond hadn’t asked about them, it was unlikely Morgyn really missed them. He wondered, though… barely, he remembered the vision, what he’d seen in the mirror that day. It wasn’t like Ezio could replicate that, exactly. But he could get kind of close.
Gently, Ezio set his glasses back onto the counter, and uncapped the eyeliner.
No one said anything about the single line of eyeliner over either upper eyelid. Ezio didn’t expect anyone to, save perhaps L, but she seemed more amused than anything. Of course, anymore, L seemed amused by essentially everything. Ezio tried not to think too much about it, because L was an enigma to him, and he was already trying to figure out the leather-bound book. He didn’t need to be trying to figure out a girl, which he’d never had much chance of understanding in the first place, too.
Ezio was flopped over on a couch, reading as always he was. Drake was in the chair across from him, Morgyn not far, both also reading something. For Morgyn, this seemed less like a need to read something, though certainly that was welcome enough, and more of an interest in taking a break from trying to teach. Overall, Morgyn wasn’t a bad teacher. As time went on, the blond got better at it, as well. Morgyn was learning. Ezio thought that those Morgyn was meant to be teaching were also teaching the blond a thing or two, about patience, perhaps.
There was a comfortable silence in the room. No one said much, but none of them needed to. Ezio could feel one or the other of them glancing at him from time to time, though.
“What?” he finally asked.
Morgyn glanced up, and then looked at Drake for a moment. Drake looked notably confused.
“Nothing?” Morgyn said, sounding as confused as Drake looked.
“I can sense it,” Ezio said. “You want to say something. So say it.”
Morgyn sighed, closing the book the blond was reading and setting it on the table. “I’m worried.”
“About what?” Ezio asked.
“You know as well as I do,” Morgyn said, “someone doesn’t just get over something like what happened with Jackson. But you’ve said absolutely nothing about it.”
Ezio notably stiffened. “There’s nothing to say.”
Morgyn released a sigh, looking a little upset. “Ezio, you don’t have to pretend you’re fine with us.”
Yes, he did. Ezio knew what Morgyn meant, but things were more complicated than that. He couldn’t stop. By now, maybe a large part of him had forgotten how to stop, because he’d hit the ground running from it all, and if he slowed down, then it’d all catch up.
And maybe he’d never figure out how to pull himself back together again, because he wasn’t sure how he was together in the first place. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he just looked like he was.
‘I’m fine’ was the biggest lie Ezio had ever told.
Even in realising that, he also knew that he couldn’t afford to be anything else. When you lived your whole life running, it was hard to know how to do anything else, and for Ezio, it was hard to care much. He did what he had to do to survive. To hell with anyone that judged him for it.
“I am fine, though,” Ezio said.
“Ezio, no one walks away from a fight like that completely emotionally unscathed,” Morgyn said.
“Maybe I did,” Ezio argued.
“Then how do you feel about it?” Morgyn asked.
Ezio snorted. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“If it was fine and it didn’t hurt you, you wouldn’t refuse to talk about it.”
“Morgyn,” Drake said. It was meant as a warning.
Morgyn sighed, looking away at the wall. “You drive me crazy, you know that?”
Ezio snorted. “I figured that out, yes.”
“I worry about you,” Morgyn said. “Because even as you scream you’re fine and everything’s okay, your eyes whisper that you’re drowning.” Morgyn had figured that one out a long time ago. The blond worked the same way.
“You’re seeing things,” Ezio said. “And maybe projecting a little bit. Honest, I’m fine. Things went badly, and I wish they hadn’t, but they did. It’s not like being upset about it is going to change anything, and Jackson was right. I don’t have forever. I can’t be spending the time on things like this, being upset over things I can’t change.”
Morgyn frowned. “Ezio, that’s not how it works.”
“Isn’t it? It works for me,” Ezio said. “And maybe that’s what really matters. I know you don’t like it. But I wasn’t asking you to like it.”
“You can’t expect me to be okay with you destroying yourself,” Morgyn said.
“How is ensuring I can stay functional and not turn into a blubbering useless mess destroying myself?” Ezio asked.
“You guys,” Drake said, releasing a quiet sigh, “calm down. The last thing anyone needs is you two getting into a fight. Morgyn’s not saying how you deal with things is wrong. Just that maybe it’s not the best for a long-term solution. Yes, you keep yourself functioning, but at what cost, Ezio?”
Ezio went quiet, glancing down at his lap. Then, he stood up, and walked away, out to the hall and presumably, the staircase.
Morgyn released a sigh, sliding down in the chair. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“Ezio is just as stubborn as you are,” Drake said.
Morgyn snorted. “I know,” the blond replied. “I get it from him.” Ezio was always the stubborn one. He was the immovable object. Morgyn learnt how to be stronger and tougher from him. Neither of them ever figured out how to be weak, though. Morgyn never figured it out, and Ezio never had a chance to.
Maybe that was something they’d have to fix eventually. As it was, if they ended up being too strong for too long, eventually, they’d break.
Morgyn had no more idea where to start than Ezio did.
“I can’t stop him,” Morgyn said. “I can’t stop him from locking all that pain in there. He doesn’t talk to me, when it matters, about things that matter. He still sees me as Rose. I don’t think he ever stopped.”
“I don’t think that’s right,” Drake said quietly. “I think he’s just decided that, you’re more precious to him than he is to himself. Sometimes it’s like he’s trying to save himself, by saving you.”
“That isn’t how it works,” Morgyn said.
“I know that,” Drake answered. “I’m sure even he knows that.”
Morgyn released another sigh, fingers fidgeting slightly. “He’s always saving me, Drake,” the blond said quietly. “Why can’t I save him?”
Drake didn’t answer immediately. Then, he tilted his head. “Because,” Drake said. “He doesn’t want you to.”
He’d done this routine so many times by now, that he thought he could do it in his sleep. Not far away, Glenn watched, his face expressionless as Ezio ran through the motions.
As tough as it was, Ezio had taken to black tiger very easily. It was, in many ways, like dancing to him, and there was a time when he loved to dance, too. Black tiger would soon enough be no different, and when his body could handle it again, maybe he’d go back to dancing. Even if only to remember what it was to feel free again, though this was certainly very close.
Ezio came to the end of the routine, and Glenn smiled. “You’re getting very good at this,” he said.
“Am I?” Ezio asked, breathing.
“You are,” Glenn said. “How do you feel?”
Ezio thought about it, and then took a breath in. “Stronger, I think,” he said. “My heart doesn’t flutter as much anymore. Walking down the stairs doesn’t wind me occasionally anymore.”
“That’s a definite improvement,” Glenn said. “I don’t think you’ll ever be able to fight with black tiger, but you’re sure doing a great job of looking like you can beat somebody’s ass.”
Ezio snorted. “Should I be glad for that?”
“Sure,” Glenn said. “I have noticed you have a slight problem with trying to too strictly command where the energy goes. Your job is merely to be a receptacle for it. Don’t fight with it so hard. Follow it, instead, go where it guides you.”
Ezio looked puzzled.
Glenn snorted. “Watch,” he said, and then he moved into stance, and started to go through the same sets Ezio just did. Immediately, Ezio saw the difference. Glenn’s sets were more fluid, moving from one to another like they were all part of the same chain of movements. Ezio’s were stiffer, and he had a notable pause between each set. As if he was thinking about it too hard.
As Ezio watched, though, he eventually started to move in time with Glenn.
Glenn glanced at him as they went, from time to time. “Loosen your shoulder muscles,” he said. So Ezio did. Then, Glenn gave him another tip, and Ezio listened. As they went, Ezio’s movements became more and more fluid, like Glenn’s were, and took less effort. He could certainly make his life a lot easier if he learnt to follow the flow and use his momentum to an advantage.
“When we are done,” Glenn said, “and I have taught you all I can teach you, you will not have learnt black tiger. You will have learnt something like it, but not quite. Something more tailored to you. I suppose, we will have invented something of a new style together.”
Ezio snorted. “We can call it mock black tiger.”
Glenn laughed. “No,” he said. “I will call it tiger heart. Huxinquan has a nice sound to it.”
Ezio arched an eyebrow. It did have a nice ring to it, he had to admit. It was weird to think that they were essentially developing an entirely new style just for him. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Mostly, he tried to put it out of his mind.
As they went along through the sets together, Ezio eventually frowned slightly. “Is there a way to let things pass through you, like the energy does, without it hurting?”
Glenn seemed surprised by that question. He didn’t respond right away, and they went back to going through the sets together in relative silence. Ezio began to wonder, after a few minutes, if he should’ve kept that question to himself. Glenn didn’t seem to have an answer.
And then he took a breath in. “Many things in life will hurt in some way,” he said. “That is the way of things. That is the way of life. It isn’t the things that hurt that matter, it is what we do with the hurt.”
Ezio looked confused again, but he didn’t ask.
Glenn smiled. “Turn it into something else, Ezio,” he said. “Emotional energy isn’t some mystic thing. We’ve known what to do with it our entire lives. You can’t destroy anger, or pain, or sorrow, but you can turn that anger and pain and sorrow into something else. Channel it into willpower, into something constructive, into growing beyond it.”
Ezio was quiet for a few moments, thinking that over. He had a point. Ezio knew, probably better than most because of the emotional transfer between himself and spirits, but he knew that emotions had energy. Like most energy, it wasn’t inherently one thing or another. It could be turned into something else. That was how magic worked, even.
“I don’t know if I can ever grow beyond it,” Ezio said. “Sometimes, there’s so much, I can’t think straight. Figuring out how to channel it into something else when I barely know who I am in the middle of it may be harder than it sounds.”
Glenn snorted. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you?” he asked. “Your mind is your most powerful tool. What you think can either make or break your ability to do anything at all. You can’t think to yourself, I don’t know if I can do this. Of course you can’t, when you’re thinking like that. Everything can be overcome, in time, and the pain is there to teach you something. Learn from it, don’t shut it out, and turn it into something else.”
Ezio wondered what his pain was there to teach him. If he had to guess, not to trust annoying, French barons that spoke through their nose. Ezio tried not to think about that time, too. It was easier not to, easier to keep moving, and yet every time he turned around, he was making the same mistakes and ending up in the same situations, and maybe there was a reason why. Maybe he hadn’t learnt whatever it was he was meant to learn.
“What if you don’t know where to start?” Ezio asked.
Glenn glanced at him, and then turned back away. “You should be asking your heart that,” he said. “The heart always knows, what to do, what’s right for you, even if the head doesn’t know.”
Ezio frowned a little. As much as he made fun of Morgyn for not knowing how to listen to the heart, Ezio wasn’t so good at it either, sometimes. He was used to ignoring it, at the very least, suppressing it at worst, to make sure he was always standing when Morgyn couldn’t. It went back to that not knowing any other way of operating, not knowing how to be weak. Maybe he’d never figure that out, but he had a feeling he needed to learn how.
Jean had broken the boy in him, and if Ezio didn’t figure it out, he’d break the man he’d become, too.
“Come on,” Glenn said. “Let’s start on the new sets.” Glenn went quiet, as they slowed to a stop, and faced each other. “Ezio,” he said, “if you want something to change, you’ve got to want to change it.”
And that was the crux of the problem, wasn’t it?
Ezio did not want to change.
Despite having gone outside magic realm many times since Morgyn had been hit with that potion, Ezio still had yet to run into that vampire. It was beginning to get a bit grating, but he should have imagined things like this wouldn’t be easy. If he wanted this vampire, it was looking more and more like he had to go hunt them down. Ezio wasn’t quite up for hunting. On the other hand, since when did that ever stop him?
Ezio made his way into headquarters, nodding at Simeon as he passed the sage by on the way up the stairs. Morgyn was up on the balcony, he’d seen that coming in. He nudged the door open, shuffling out. Morgyn was reading something, sitting in a chair. Apparently, Ezio had good timing, because no one was bothering Morgyn at that exact moment.
Morgyn looked up at him. “Hi,” the blond said quietly.
Ezio didn’t answer, instead moving over to Morgyn, sitting down on the wood floor, and rested his head in Morgyn’s lap.
Morgyn looked surprised, but put a bookmark in the book, and set it down. “Are you okay?”
Was he okay? The real question was, had Ezio ever been okay? Because it was looking, more and more, like the answer to that was no, he’d never been okay. Simply, he was very good at pretending he was, but he was getting terrible at that, too.
“I don’t think I am,” he said quietly.
Morgyn’s hands gently rested on Ezio’s hair. “Do you want to talk about it?” the blond asked.
“No,” Ezio said. “Yes. I don’t know. Maybe.”
Part of the problem, of course, was Ezio still didn’t know where to start. And there were some things Ezio never said, not to Morgyn, because those were things that, if the blond knew them, would break Morgyn’s heart. Ezio never said any of them to Drake, either, because Drake was there for most of them, and really didn’t need to be dealing with Ezio’s pain over it this long after.
Or maybe they were just excuses that he kept telling himself to justify never facing it. As if that was some way to live. Like if he ignored those things long enough, maybe they’d go away, and yet here they were, 200 some odd years later, and it all still hurt, every time this happened and he was reminded of how stupid he was.
That was what he did, though. He cut pieces of himself out when they became too painful, smothered them until they didn’t make any noise anymore, and then pretended they were never there at all.
But maybe you couldn’t live by killing bits and pieces of yourself.
Morgyn didn’t say anything. Instead, the blond gently ran fingers through Ezio’s hair. There were pains in him that Morgyn couldn’t fix. Pains that, maybe, would always be there to some extent, scars that would never fade. Morgyn had accepted that a long time ago.
It didn’t make it any easier, to watch him slowly falling apart, knowing there was nothing to do about it. And maybe, Ezio needed to fall apart, to understand that he couldn’t keep living this way.
“I’ll always listen,” Morgyn said, “no matter what it is you want to say. You’re always here when I need you. I want to be here when you need me.”
Ezio didn’t respond, but then he made a strange noise, and Morgyn leaned over to find him crying.
“Oh, Ezio,” the blond said, sliding off the chair to sit on the wood with him. Ezio moved, clinging to Morgyn like the blond was the only thing that mattered.
“I just want it to stop,” he said.
“Want what to stop?” Morgyn asked.
“Everything,” Ezio answered. “The pain, the doubt, the voices in my head that aren’t me but sound like me, and yet never have anything nice to say, I want to be able to think and breathe again, I want to do things without being afraid of anything. I don’t want to live like this anymore.” He’d told himself no one was ever going to make him feel like Jean did again.
And yet so many had, over the years. Jackson had gotten rough with him, and for just a moment, Ezio was that sixteen year old helpless boy again.
Morgyn didn’t answer, just yet, instead the blond’s arms wrapped around him, and rocked just slightly. Very softly, Ezio could hear Morgyn humming, a song their mother used to sing them, when they were very young and the wolves howled too loudly at night. Those were so much simpler times, and Ezio missed them.
Strangely, the melody helped. Ezio started to calm down, after a few moments, and then a little while later, he hiccuped, reached up, and brushed away the tears.
Morgyn smiled quietly, reaching up and helping. “I’m proud of you,” the blond said.
“What for?” Ezio asked.
“I know it’s not easy to talk about that. And you did,” Morgyn answered. “Thank you.”
Ezio snorted. “I don’t know why you’re thanking me.”
“Ezio,” Morgyn said, “I’ve been out here, hoping you’ll let me in, even just a little bit, for over a hundred years. I want to know these things. I want to know this you.”
Ezio looked down at the floor.
“You said it yourself,” Morgyn went on. “Everything you’ve ever done was for me. It’s my turn. I’m not going to judge you. I won’t see you differently.”
“That isn’t why,” Ezio said.
“Then why?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ezio explained. “Because everything I’ve ever done was for you. And I don’t want you to think that it’s your fault somehow.”
Morgyn sighed, reaching over and taking Ezio’s hands. “You don’t think watching you fall apart this way, and being unable to fix it, hurts too? I don’t need you to protect me anymore, Ezio. I need you to be here with me. And I definitely don’t need you to protect me from you.”
Ezio’s eyes met Morgyn’s, for a moment, and then he looked back down at the wood.
“I went to see a doctor,” he said, rather abruptly.
“Wait, what?” Morgyn asked. “A doctor? Like, a doctor-doctor?”
Ezio snorted softly. “I don’t know any other kind.”
“Ezio, you know doctors sell poison and pretend they’re remedies -“
“Things are different now,” Ezio interrupted. “A few hundred years ago, yes, that was how it was, but now they’ve learnt more, they understand things better. They know what’s wrong with me. And maybe they also know how to fix it.”
Morgyn’s gaze narrowed in uncertainty. “Maybe how to fix it?” the blond asked.
“It’s experimental,” Ezio said. “In a way, it always is, because everyone reacts to medicine in different ways. Everyone’s body chemistry and whatnot is different. It may not work for me, but maybe it will work for someone else. I’ve got a small number of medicines I’m trying, and we’ll go from there.”
Morgyn eyed Ezio for a few moments longer. “And when were you going to tell me?”
“I’m telling you now,” Ezio said. He hadn’t meant to tell Morgyn that anytime soon, actually. It seemed somewhat important, and maybe Morgyn was right, and shoving the blond out of his life wasn’t going to help anything, unless he wanted to feel isolated. It would certainly help with that.
“What’s that thing you’re doing?” Morgyn asked. “In the mornings.”
“Black tiger,” Ezio answered. “It’s a combat style, learning from someone else. Dr. Sommer suggested I find a physical activity, to get myself back into better physical shape. Glenn’s changing it a little, as we go, so that it’s less strenuous. I’m doing better, Morgyn. I haven’t had an episode in several weeks now, that’s a record.”
“I know it,” Morgyn said.
“I think this may actually help,” Ezio said. “I’m not asking permission. I’m just telling you.”
Morgyn drew an uncertain breath in. “Okay,” the blond said. “If you believe in it, I’ll believe in you.”
Ezio smiled. Things really were that simple, weren’t they? If he believed, so could Morgyn.
After going through the new morning sets outside by the water, Ezio had come back upstairs, and meant to be going through his mystery book. Today, however, seemed to be a terrible day for focusing on anything, because he didn’t seem to be able to do it. Every time he tried to focus, his mind wandered off to something else.
It was just as well. The book was silent, just like it’d been for the last several weeks, and Ezio wasn’t any closer to discovering its secrets than he’d been before. At this rate, it felt like he’d never figure it out. Maybe he wasn’t meant to. Maybe he was just meant to be interested in the chase.
He sat in bed, his arms on the headboard, his chin resting on his hands. Sometimes, there were little sparkles of light in the sky, that he thought might be the moving star cluster that he kept seeing. He hadn’t seen it recently. He still wondered if it was even there at all, or if what he was seeing was a mere trick of the light.
Who knew how anything in this place worked?
He was debating going downstairs and playing chess or something. Usually, that helped his mind start focusing, but maybe he needed a break, too. He probably did, really. He’d probably spent a little too much time researching this or that thing, and he was still hurting over Jackson and his little stunt.
It was funny, how he told Jackson that it didn’t matter, and they could figure it out, but it did matter, and they probably couldn’t. Ezio didn’t tend to like it when people made him feel like that. It was a difficult feeling to describe, but most of them were.
As he debated the chess game, he felt something shift. It was interesting to him, how he always felt it when Lilith or Caleb came here. He wondered if Morgyn felt it, too. Morgyn was the sage, after all.
He stood up, shuffling out the door and down the stairs. He met Lilith in the entryway.
She seemed different, somehow. Maybe a little stronger.
“Ezio, it’s nice to see you,” she said, holding her arms out.
Ezio smiled, taking the offered hug. Lilith was like their sister, sometimes. But she had to be so active a sister for Caleb, it made sense most of what she did had a sister-like streak to it. “It’s nice to see you too,” he said. “How have you been?”
“Alright,” Lilith answered. “Vladislaus and I are training a lot. I got so busy, I don’t even know what day it is.”
Ezio snorted. “That makes two of us,” he said. It was December. That was all he knew.
“How are you?” Lilith asked.
“Alive,” Ezio answered.
Lilith gave him a look.
Ezio sighed. “Jackson and I broke up,” he said.
“Oh… Oh I’m sorry,” Lilith said.
“Nah,” Ezio said, shrugging. “It was for the best, I think. Drake threatened to kill him anyway, and I think it was less of a threat and more of a promise.”
Lilith went nearly cross-eyed. “Wait, Drake threatened him?”
“Yep,” Ezio said.
“Oh gosh, what’d he do?” For Drake to threaten you, it had to be something pretty terrible. Actually, Lilith could only imagine… “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Ezio didn’t answer, but the way his eyebrows rose and he shuffled slightly uncomfortably answered for him.
Lilith released a breath. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m better,” Ezio said. “But I don’t think I’m going to be okay for a little while longer.”
“That’s understandable,” Lilith said.
“He said that he was frustrated, because I’m dying. At the time I thought it was something we could’ve worked through, but in hindsight, that was probably just wishful thinking.”
“Yes, probably,” Lilith said. “That was for him to figure out how to work through, not you to work through for him.”
“I know,” Ezio said. “I went to a doctor, though.”
“Did you?” Lilith asked. “How did that go?”
Ezio smiled. “I’m on medication now. On the way home, I found someone practising martial arts, and now I’m learning it, mostly for the exercise, but it’s fun too. Oh, hey, what’s a phone call?”
Lilith blinked. “Um, a phone is like a box with numbers on it, and there’s a part at the top that comes off,” she explained. “Then you press some numbers, and it connects to another phone, it’s called a phone call. You talk through the part that comes off at the top, and the person on the other phone can hear you.”
Ezio’s eyes went a little wide. Lilith laughed slightly. “Humans have learnt sorcery,” he said.
“Not quite,” Lilith said. “It’s technology. It turns what you say into an electrical signal, and then sends that electrical signal across phone cables. Then on the other end, the phone picks up the electrical signal, and turns it back into sound you can understand.”
“That’s actually really cool,” Ezio said. “Technology is weird, but cool.”
Lilith laughed. “It is. For such short-lived idiots, they sure can get weirdly innovative.”
“Hey, out of curiosity,” Ezio said, “Morgyn was attacked and killed by a vampire, and I’m wondering if you know this vampire.”
Lilith looked concerned. “Killed?”
“Oh, I brought Morgyn back to life with a resurrection potion,” Ezio said. “Morgyn’s okay.”
That was good then. Lilith looked a bit relieved, and then shrugged. “What’s this vampire look like?” she asked.
“Morgyn said they’re female, black hair, dark skin, and white eyes,” Ezio said.
Lilith made a noise. “Sounds like someone I know,” she said. “But no one’s seen her in… well, a good long time, actually. Her name’s Kat Cave, and the last I heard of her, she and her friends got caught up in a little misfortune and Kat didn’t make it out of it.”
Ezio’s eyes narrowed, his head tilting to one side. “That implies she died,” he said.
“I know it did,” Lilith answered. “Because I’m fairly certain she did.”
“Then what is she doing throwing potions around?” Ezio asked.
“Isn’t that a question,” Lilith replied. “Wait, potions?”
Ezio nodded. “Morgyn was hit with a potion,” he explained. “It sent the idiot into magic overload. Well, not exactly. The semantics of how the damn thing worked don’t matter here. The point is, it was a potion.”
“Vampires don’t do potions,” Lilith said. “It sounds like there’s someone else involved in this, and it seems like it’s probably a spellcaster.”
“Hybrids exist,” Ezio said.
“Of course they do,” Lilith replied. “But they already feel segregated and judged, do you really think one would want to pit the vampires and spellcasters against each other like this has the potential to do?”
“Sure,” Ezio said. “If one of them became angry enough, I can see them blaming both sides for their own misfortune. And if I say so myself, they wouldn’t entirely be wrong.”
Lilith released a sigh, glancing away. “This could be a serious problem,” Lilith said. “It almost sounds like there’s a spellcaster raising dead vampires for… some reason.” Lilith’s words trailed off. As Ezio looked at her, he could see something clicking in her head, but whatever conclusion she came to, she didn’t share.
“I have to go,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later, Ezio, and be careful.”
Ezio barely had the chance to answer, before she turned around and went back through the portal to Glimmerbrook. What did she just realise? He did wish she’d given him something a little more substantial to work with, but, he had a name. By itself, that name probably wasn’t going to help him any, but he’d been surprised before.
Lilith was right, though. If this Kat Cave was dead before, and suddenly wasn’t, and happened to have a potion on-hand that proved to be very deadly to spellcasters, then someone was fucking with something they shouldn’t be.
Even if he didn’t already want to find this vampire, he’d certainly want to now, even if only merely to find some answers. He was right, and this was very likely to be much, much bigger than just Morgyn.
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