Chapter 40: You Make Me Wanna

Come Thru; Summer Walker, Usher

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Everything was going a little better. Ezio still occasionally had to endure a nasty migraine for a few days, the whispering was still there off and on, but he could think, and, thanks to the necklace Cassandra had left him, he could sleep, too. The effects would wear off sooner or later, he should think, when what magic she’d incidentally imparted to it faded, but he’d worry about it then. Maybe he’d trade her necklaces, give her this one and one of his own in exchange for one of hers.

It was all only until they had all moved into Spire, and the more the subject came up, the more excited everyone became at the prospect of moving out of the Spice Market. Ezio would probably go back from time to time, just to visit, and it’d seem that Morgyn had made friends at the Casa di Colori, but moving on to other things had its own draw.

Cassandra had brought up the initial payment on the apartment, and pooling together their money, they’d come up with the first rent payment, as well. Spire was theirs, for all intents and purposes. All that was left was the finalisations and making the move.

What Ezio didn’t know is whether or not he could remain on financial assistance for his heart condition and prescriptions while they were living in a nearly 200,000 dollar apartment. They could afford the apartment, but barely, and mostly only because Cassandra had a sizable savings. There wasn’t anything in her savings allowance for ‘boyfriend with an expensive heart condition.’ He still hadn’t even told her, and now he was even more afraid to.

He didn’t really want to go without Mayor, either, but the cat was still wandering around Granite Falls, judging by the flickers and flashes Ezio occasionally got from him. At least Mayor Whiskers was still okay. But he wasn’t headed home yet, and Ezio was starting to worry a little.

“I got the paperwork sent in yesterday,” Cassandra said. She’d come by with the papers on the apartment and all the legal junk. “It should be approved in another week or two, and then we can start moving in.”

“Have you met the landlord?” Ezio asked. It was more out of curiosity.

“Yeah… about that,” Cassandra said, tapping the papers for a moment. “Um, my mother bought it a few years ago.”

Ezio blinked, and then looked over at her. “Your mother is our landlord?”

“Yes,” Cassandra said. “I’m sorry, I know that might be a little bit awkward.”

No, now that Ezio was thinking about it, that made sense. Bella probably wanted to keep tabs on Cassandra anyway and make sure she wasn’t getting into anything terribly dangerous. That was most likely the aversion to her moving out on her own to begin with. It made sense.

It still make his eye twitch.

“It’s fine,” he said, stirring his tea, and leaning against the counter. “I suppose since we’re dating, I’ll have to meet them eventually, right?”

Cassandra blinked, looking like this hadn’t crossed her mind at any point. “I… well I suppose so,” she said. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

“It’s fine,” Ezio said again. “I guess it wouldn’t really be important.”

“No it is,” Cassandra said. “I’m just so used to people already knowing my parents, it got lost somewhere in there. I’m sorry. I can talk to them and see if they’ll have time this weekend, or maybe the week after, if you’re not up for it anytime soon.”

Ezio went quiet, and shrugged. The whispering got louder, but he was trying to ignore it. He didn’t know what it was, but it was wrong.

Does she love you, though? a voice asked.

And why did it matter if she did?

“We’ll see,” he said.
Cassandra frowned a little, but she let it go. She reached over, taking a drink of her lemonade. Ezio stirred his tea in silence.

“So, I was wondering if the um, the binding on my magic will come undone on its own someday?” Cassandra said.

Ezio snorted. “If whoever cast it dies, yeah, I said that.”

“I mean, before that?”

Ezio shook his head. “Unlikely,” he said. “Unless whoever cast it purposely put a time limit on it, sometimes they’ll do that, but I don’t think they would’ve.”

“What makes you say that?” Cassandra asked.

Ezio took a breath in. “I just do,” he said. “You wouldn’t want it undoing itself at a bad time.”

“There can be a bad time for it to undo itself?” Cassandra asked.

Ezio released a breath and slammed his teacup onto the counter. “Drop it!” he snapped. “It’ll come undone when it comes undone!”

Cassandra looked surprised, and a little hurt in those dark eyes, but she didn’t say anything else.

Damn it. Ezio closed his eyes, took a breath in, and released it. “Sorry, just, the magic world isn’t all rainbows and roses, that’s all.”

Cassandra was quiet for a moment, and then tilted her head. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“Fine,” he said. “I just have a headache, again.”

“You’re still getting sleep, right?” Cassandra asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Just less of it than I’d like I guess.” He wouldn’t consider it an emergency or anything, not yet. He’d survive.

“If you want me to swap necklaces with you-” Cassandra started.

“No,” Ezio interrupted. “It’s fine, I’ll-” And then something changed, in his head, and he didn’t know what that was. The sense of other in his head got stronger, and he raised a hand to his head.

“Ezio?” Cassandra asked, standing up.

“Fine, m’f-” His heart suddenly squeezed in his chest, painfully, and Ezio unleashed a pained shriek, and he hit the counter and then the floor.

The only thing he could think was, Drake wasn’t here, and Cassandra had no idea what to do.

Cassandra unleashed a squeal of her own, immediately scrambling over to him on the floor, pulling him into her lap.

“Ezio,” she called, shaking him and patting his cheek. “Ezio come on, what happened? I don’t know what to do, Ezio-“

“Cassandra,” a voice called. Cassandra startled, looking around the room. It sounded very distorted, like she was hearing it through water, or something, but she could hear it. “Cassandra,” the voice called again, louder. It sounded feminine.

“Who’s there?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Can you see me?” the woman asked.

Cassandra looked around, trying to figure out who or what was talking to her.

“No, in front of you,” the woman said. “I’m right beside Ezio.”

Cassandra turned to look in front of her. Just so, she could almost make out a shadow, just there. The longer she stared at it, the more it looked like the vague shape of a woman.

“Kind of,” Cassandra said. “I can kind of see you.”

“Your magic is very strong to make it through the binding,” the woman said. “I need you to let him go, you need to go in the other room.”

“What?” Cassandra asked.

“We don’t have time,” the woman said. “He doesn’t have time, Cassandra, his heart is fluttering too quickly, if you don’t get his medication into him and fast he’s going to go into cardiac arrest.”

“Cardiac arrest?” Cassandra repeated.

“Focus,” the woman said. Cassandra could see her eyes, dark pools of brown, framed in dusky skin, and strange coloured hair. It looked like there were stars in the strands, sparkling in the light through the haze. “Go into the bedroom, in the right side table, there’s a black mesh makeup bag full of medication. There’s only one bottle that says it is to be injected. The syringe should be in there too. Fill it to the .5 line and inject it into his butt.”

Cassandra squinted. “Is that really necessary?” she asked.

“No,” the woman answered. “I’m just a jerk, and his butt’s a decent sized target anyway, but his arm is fine too. Now go, go, quickly, I’ll try to keep it calm as long as I can.”

Cassandra gently set Ezio back onto the floor, and then stood up and rushed into the bedroom, pulling the side drawer open. The makeup bag wasn’t hard to find, and Cassandra just unceremoniously dumped the bottles onto the bed. She immediately found the syringe, at least, and then went to reading over the labels, finding the one that was an injection. It wasn’t the only one that was a liquid, but there weren’t many of them.

Then, once she found it, she shoved the other bottles back into the bag, took the syringe and bottle out to the kitchen where Ezio was and fell beside him. As she took the cap off, she could see the bottle top was different, intended for a syringe needle.

“.5 line,” the woman reminded her. She was getting a little less hazy as time went on.

Cassandra nodded, filled the syringe, and then squeezed her eyes closed and shoved it into Ezio’s arm.

“There, see, not so bad,” the woman said.

“What happened?” Cassandra asked.

“It’ll take a minute for it to work, here,” the woman said, her hand gently hovering over Ezio’s hair like she was petting it.

“What happened?” Cassandra asked again.

“That’s for him to tell you, dear,” the woman answered. “Ah, there we go, it’s levelling out now. He’ll be okay. You did very well.”

“Who are you?” Cassandra asked instead.

The woman smiled. “That’s for him to tell you, too,” she said, and when Cassandra blinked, she was gone.

* * *

Consciousness came to him seemingly filtered through molasses. He heard the sounds of the cars, the traffic on the bridge, smelled the slightly smoggy air, and then, smelled Cassandra’s perfume. For a moment, it didn’t register what that meant, but then he remembered she was here, and his eyes snapped open.

“Hi there,” she said, looking down at him.

Ezio looked up at her. “Hi,” he said softly. “What happened?”

Cassandra snorted. “I was kind of hoping you could tell me. We were talking, and then you shrieked and passed out. Should I get used to this?”

Ezio looked away, his head turning to the side.

“I’m not judging you,” Cassandra said. “I just want to understand.”

“How did you know what to do?” he asked. “I felt it, before I went down, there’s a specific medication you would’ve had to give me to fix that short of taking me to a hospital.” And it was still just them.

“A hazy, dark-skinned lady with stars in her hair told me,” Cassandra answered.

Ezio looked back up at her. Makana. Cassandra could see Makana. But of course she could. Bachelors were often mediums and seers; in Cassandra, those traits would be stronger, she’d be a stronger medium than her mother.

Cassandra would be a necromancer, just like he was, and Ezio had even more reason to protect her from her own fucking magic. It was almost too much for him, he didn’t want her going through it, too.

“I see,” he said quietly. He sat up, slowly, making sure he wasn’t going to get dizzy. He could feel where she’d stabbed him with a needle. That wasn’t terribly gentle, apparently, but she’d gotten it in him, so whatever.

He couldn’t run from it forever, and he’d known it all along.

Ezio took a breath in, staring at his hands in his lap. “I have a heart condition,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t born with it, I developed it over time. I’ve lived with it a long time, but for longer than is ideal, I wasn’t on medication for it. Didn’t even have a doctor or anything, we just made do with what Drake and Morgyn could do with magic. Some days are easier than others. But someday, it’s going to kill me. I’ve already lived ten years longer than I should’ve. I don’t know how long I have left.”

By the time he’d stopped talking, his hands were shaking.

Cassandra took a breath in, glancing down at his hands, and then she scooted across the floor to kneel in front of him, gently taking his face in her hands and nudging it up to look at her. Her eyes searched his for a moment. And then she smiled. “I’m not leaving, Ezio,” she said. “I’m not leaving you over this, I would never leave you over this. I want to stay even more than I did before now.”

Ezio looked sad. “You say that now,” he said. “It’s like this all the time. It just gets harder.”

Cassandra went quiet. Then, she asked, “What would’ve happened, if you were alone, if the lady didn’t tell me what to do?”

Ezio looked up at her. “If I was lucky?” he asked. “Spent a week in the hospital. If I was very unlucky? I’d have died.”

Cassandra was quiet again, seemingly digesting that response. And then, to his utter befuddlement, she started to cry. And Ezio had no idea what to do about it, except reach out to dry her tears and tell her it’ll be okay, because it was always him telling everyone that it’d be okay.

She smacked his hands out of the way, reached out, pulled him against her, and clung to him. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“What?” Okay, now he was confused.

“I never want you to be alone when that happens again,” Cassandra said. “I’m sorry if you ever have been. I’m not going anywhere. I want someone to always be here when you need them, so I will be, between me and Drake, you’ll never be alone again, and the chances of losing you because there wasn’t anyone else here will be zero. I’m not accepting that as a matter of course. I’m staying.”

That was not the response he was expecting whatsoever. Ezio had no idea what to say to that. Drake had almost said the same thing, except, not exactly.

“Cassandra I-” he paused a moment, thinking. “I don’t-I don’t want anything to change, don’t change because of this, it’s not worth-“

“You’re worth it,” Cassandra said. “You are worth it, Ezio, I want to. I wanted to stay with you anyway, and now I just have more reason.”

“No, Cassie, think about it,” Ezio said. “This isn’t-it just-it’s all downhill from here, this was one of the easy times, okay, it only gets worse.”

“And that’s okay,” Cassandra answered. “Ezio, I don’t have some silly idea in my head that I can fix everything just by being around, but if I can make a difference, even a small one, and make any of this easier on you, I want that. I care. I care about you. I care about this. I’m not changing, I’d do this for anyone I care about, you just happen to be more immediately pressing.”

Ezio closed his eyes, breathing out. Arguing with her was very difficult sometimes, and he was remembering how difficult it could be, about now. And some part of him didn’t want to argue. Some part of him wanted her to stay.

“It’s okay,” Cassandra whispered against his hair. “I’m not them, Ezio. I’m not the ones that left you before. I won’t say I never will. But it will never be because of this. This isn’t too much for me. You’re not too much for me.”

Ezio snorted softly. “You’re awfully stubborn,” he said quietly.

“I have to be,” Cassandra said. “Or I’d have never gotten anywhere with you. I won’t hurt you like that, Ezio. Please, don’t push me away. I don’t want to give up on you. On us.”

Ezio didn’t say anything, raising his head slightly to rest against hers. In hindsight, neither of them would later be able to say for sure which one of them moved first, but whichever one of them it was, their lips met, and neither wanted to let go.

He stood up, and her body moved to wrap around his, so she didn’t fall. Lightning shot down his fingers at the feeling of her pressed against him, and he didn’t have to ask her to open the bedroom door when her back gently bumped against it. He kicked it closed behind them, leaning against it for a moment. Her hand rested against his jaw, and she took the hint when his lips parted just slightly. Hers did too, and then all he tasted was her.

She didn’t let go, as his shin bumped into the mattress, and he knelt down on it. Finally, her legs dropped off from around his waist, as they lowered onto the sheets, and his kisses trailed across her jaw, down her neck, his body pulsing with want so strong it was almost startling.

Wait-what the fuck was he doing losing his sense like that-

“Wait,” he said, breathless, sitting up over her. Her eyes met his, glossy with desire, and unbelievably beautiful. “Shouldn’t rush into this. We don’t have to.”

Cassandra breathed heavily, for a moment, watching him in slight confusion, and then she pushed up off the bed. She was a bit off, but her lips met his again, gently. “I want you,” she said. “I have for a while, I just, didn’t know how to ask for you.”

It was awfully difficult to hear that and not respond to it, Ezio found, his eyes squeezing closed at the sudden jolt of desire.

“Is it going to hurt you?” she asked, reaching up and resting a hand against his cheek.

“No,” Ezio said, taking her hand and kissing the palm. No one had ever asked that before, either. She was full of firsts. “You’ve never done this before, have you?”

Cassandra shook her head. He wasn’t surprised.

“Are you sure you want me?” he asked.

She thought about it, for a moment, their fingers interlacing, and then she nodded.

“Okay,” he whispered, catching her lips with his again. He’d have to trust her, because he couldn’t tell her what she did and didn’t want. “I’ll go slow. If you want me to stop, if it hurts, just tell me.”

Cassandra looked a bit surprised, but she nodded, hesitantly moving up towards him, and then backing away.

Ezio smiled, leaning down, their lips meeting again. She parted her lips first, and when he did, too, her tongue darted into his mouth in hesitant curiosity, her body moving around his as they pressed together.

There was so much want in him, but he didn’t want to hurt her. She was so much smaller than he was, delicate and fragile, and unbelievably precious to him, he was so afraid of hurting her he was almost afraid to do anything at all. All the same, she never shied away from him, moving with him, trying to half copy what he did. In all likelihood, she wasn’t as small as she seemed like; he was just bigger than he remembered being, and it was more that she seemed smaller under him.

His hands slid under fabric, gently moving it out of his way, seeking her skin underneath. It was gentle and steady, in no particular hurry. She shuddered under his touch slightly, a soft breath releasing.

Cassandra had always been beautiful to him, but before, it was distantly, more an aesthetic appreciation than what it felt like now, more insistent. Like he’d fallen in love with what was in her heart, and that made her body attractive to him.

He didn’t know when it’d changed. It sounded stupid in his head.

Gently, he slid her shirt over her head, and she did the same with his. Her fingers gently slid down his chest, vaguely following the scars that were still faintly visible on his skin. The question was in her eyes, as they met his, but she didn’t ask. He reached over and gently pulled her glasses off, folding them and setting them on the side table, then his own.

He pulled her up with him, into his lap. It’d hurt less this way, and she could stop him easier if she needed to. On her own, she pushed against him, her hips almost flush against his, her hands raising, fingers resting against his jaw, her hips shifting against him.

He loosed a grunt, and she looked surprised. And the next time her hips shifted against him, it was more deliberate; she must’ve figured it out, because realisation flickered across her face. It was awfully cute and Ezio huffed softly. Her cheeks flushed pink, and he leaned over, burying kisses against her neck, one hand sliding up her back and unhooking her bra.

A soft surprised noise escaped her throat, and then she stared at him as his teeth caught her bra strap and pulled. It slid off her wrists, and she was still staring at him. He raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged.

“I spend too much time around vampires,” he said softly, kissing down her arm. “I can try not to do that again.”

“It was hot,” she whispered, raising his head to kiss him. “Absolutely do that again.”

Ezio smirked, kissing her lips, her jaw, her fingers, and then down her side. He had to let her go to make it, but he caught the edge of her skirt with his teeth and pulled that too, and she released a loud breath, watching him slide her skirt down her legs in his teeth. Then, he went back, catching the edge of her underwear in his teeth, and pulling those down, too.

Judging by that whimper, she definitely did like that.

He pulled only a little way, his hands getting them the rest of it, as he trailed kisses across her hip, over her abdomen. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair, and then pulled his arm, her breath coming in frantic pants. He moved up, and the moment she could reach, she pulled his belt apart, tugging his jeans out of the way.

“Ezio, please,” she whispered.

“Shhh… I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

He said he’d go slow, and he meant it.

* * *

It was debatable, if it was fortunate that he didn’t have anything to break this time around, when he woke up screaming yet again. It didn’t even matter what the dream was about this time; Cassandra’s magic had worn off, and once again, Ezio was faced with his demons.

He expected Drake, but the blur of blond in front of him was different. Even through the blur of tears and the frantic haze of panic, he could recognise Morgyn.

“Ezio, it’s okay,” the blond said.

No, it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t, but he knew that Morgyn meant well by it. It wasn’t a lie, not as Morgyn understood it. Ezio drew in a breath, looking up at the ceiling.

Morgyn reached out and took his hands. Ezio jerked away.

“Ezio, please, it’s just me,” Morgyn murmured, and then sat down. Drake always seemed to wait for Ezio to come to him, maybe that was what Morgyn was doing wrong.

Ezio shook his head frantically. No it wasn’t. Why was Morgyn here, anyway? Everything was Morgyn’s fault, everything, without intending to, Morgyn had taken everything away from him. He’d take Cassandra, too. What? No. Ezio raised his hands, pressing them against his temples. Go away, he thought. Leave me alone.

I will never leave you, something answered.

“Ezio, talk to me,” Morgyn said. “What do you need?”

You know it’s true, the voice went on. Everything wrong with your life is Morgyn’s fault. It’s always all about Morgyn, Morgyn, Morgyn, isn’t it? Hardly anyone remembers Morgyn wouldn’t be half as great as she is without you.

Ezio squeezed his eyes closed, rocking back and forth, trying to ignore it, to block the voice in his head out, because it was wrong.

“Ezio?” Morgyn murmured.

You could’ve lived a better life if it weren’t for Morgyn, the voice said. If Morgyn had never existed, if Morgyn didn’t exist now, imagine how much better your life would be. It’d stop the pain, Ezio. If Morgyn was gone, the pain would go with her.

That wasn’t true. If Morgyn was gone Ezio had no reason to live anymore.

And why should you live for someone that’s done everything in her power to ruin your life, anyway? the voice asked.

“Shut up!” Ezio snapped, and before he knew what he was doing, his arm flung out instinctively, a loud slap sounding.

Morgyn hit the floor.

Ezio sucked in a breath, vision suddenly blurring even worse than it already was. “I’m sorry!” he spluttered, scooting over to Morgyn. He was afraid to touch the blond, but he was worried all the same, Ezio didn’t exactly hit lightly. “Morgyn, I’m sorry, are you okay? I didn’t-why did I do that-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it!”

Morgyn sat up, jaw flexing, and then looked at Ezio. “I wonder…” the blond said, and then reached out with both hands, fingers alighting with magic.

Ezio hissed in pain, as he suddenly had a splitting migraine, and then it stopped. The other he was sensing, it was gone with it.

Morgyn’s hands dropped. “Vampire,” the blond said.

Ezio frowned. “Vampire?” he asked.

“You had a vampire messing with your head,” Morgyn explained. “Or at least, someone using vampire abilities to do it with.”

Ezio didn’t have any vampiric enemies, that he knew of. He frowned a little deeper, thinking it over. Morgyn rubbed the blond’s jaw.

“You hit hard, you know that?” Morgyn asked.

“Sorry,” Ezio said, somewhat sheepish. And he wondered, if this had anything to do with what had happened in magic realm. He still had no answers for what had happened in magic realm, but he also hadn’t been thinking about it. Maybe because whoever had been in his head didn’t want him to.

The other day, when he’d collapsed… he wondered if that was because of their guest, too. Now he had to wonder what all he’d thought himself, and what all had been the intrusion. Fuck, what all had he said?

“It’s okay,” Morgyn said, reaching over and taking one of his hands. “It’s okay now.”

“I don’t know what I’ve thought and what’s been a plant and how long this other person’s been in my head, it’s-“

“It’s okay,” Morgyn repeated. “They’re gone now.” The blond reached over, taking Ezio’s crystal necklace in one hand, and casting a spell into it. “It’ll stop that from happening again. Ezio, where’s Mayor Whiskers?”

Ezio thought for a moment, and then sighed. “Newcrest,” he said.

“The hell is he doing in Newcrest?” Morgyn asked.

Ezio shook his head. “I sent him looking for Keisha.”

Morgyn frowned. “Why?”

“I had a feeling something was going on, and I figured if anyone would be able to help, Keisha might be useful about now,” Ezio said. “But I don’t know if he found her or not. He spent a lot of time in Granite Falls, though. He sure found something.”

Morgyn released a sigh. “Alright,” the blond said. “Well, I guess we wait and see if Mayor comes home. You should try and get some more sleep.”

Ezio shook his head. “I can’t yet,” he said. “I’ll just read until I can.”

“Okay,” Morgyn said. “I’ll be across the hall.”

“Drake’s not here, is he?” Ezio asked.

“No,” Morgyn said. “Lilith wanted to talk to him about something, not sure what. They went to a bar or something.”

Oh. “Okay,” Ezio said.

“Hey,” Morgyn said, taking his hand again, “he’ll be back before dawn.”

Before dawn wasn’t soon enough.

* * *

He did and did not feel better this morning, but the good news was, he hadn’t woken up screaming again. The sense of something dark looming just over his shoulder was gone now, too, and he only recognised it was there when it was gone. Ezio had to wonder how long it’d been there in the back of his head.

Cassandra had sent him a good morning text, and they’d talked off and on all morning so far. For once, he felt a lot better than he had in a long time, and his thoughts weren’t so dark anymore either.

In between making breakfast, and sitting down to eat it, he sensed something in the air shift. It felt like…

Mayor!

Ezio immediately stood up, rushing to the door, and pulling it open. The cat had just barely made it to the top of the stairs as he did. Ezio unleashed a squeal and ran over, scooping the cat up in his arms. Mayor either didn’t mind it much, or was too tired to bother fighting him, either or. Ezio held him up, looking him over. He was a bit dirty, could use a bath and a good brushing, but he looked okay. There was something hanging from his collar that wasn’t there before, though.

Ezio carried Mayor into the apartment, setting him down and pulling some of his food out of the fridge, putting it on the floor for him. Mayor’s food was specially made for him. Not because he had any dietary requirements, just because Ezio didn’t like to give him cheap dry food.

Besides, he did have a little penchant towards getting bladder crystals.

As Mayor went to eat, Ezio knelt down and pulled the new dangling thing off Mayor’s collar. It was a small metal tube, it turned out. The lid came off easily enough, with some twisting, and inside was a rolled up piece of paper.

Ezio sat down at the dining room table, pulling the paper out.

The All will defend itself when the barrier is threatened, the paper read, and the sages’ fates are tied to the All.

Ezio tilted his head, reading and re-reading it. What did that mean? The All itself had chased them out of magic realm? Because of a threat to the barrier, if this was implying what he thought it was. That meant there was a threat outside of it, not necessarily in it. Was that what was causing the memory issues he was seeing in Simeon and Morgen?

Wait, mind control. Why hadn’t that ever crossed his mind as within the realm of possibility? No, he must’ve been exposed to it when he went to magic realm in the first place. Come to think of it, that was when his nightmares started, too. The only thing that didn’t answer was how exactly the star creature had gotten out of magic realm with it on lock down like this.

Ezio released a sigh, setting the note down on the table and slid down in his seat. Idly, he reached over and scratched around Mayor’s collar as he ate.

Then, he wondered if the All was what was causing Morgyn’s issues. That was certainly within the realm of possibility, and quite frankly, made him an idiot, because if he’d just interfered with the bond between the All and one of its sages, it was unlikely to be terribly pleased with him. He was almost afraid to do magic, he thought, eyeing his hand warily.

That was weird, though, because if that was the All, it didn’t feel like the source of all magic, it felt like it was created by magic, many, many spells woven and interlaced together over centuries, and he wasn’t talking recent centuries, either.

Nah. He was probably just sensing it wrong in his panic.

Ezio reached over, folding the note up, and slipped it into a pocket. Then, he slid out of his chair, lying down on the floor to pet Mayor as he ate.

The door opened a few moments later, and Morgyn wandered in.

“Oh hey,” the blond said. “Look who’s home.”

“Yeah,” Ezio said. “He just came home a few minutes ago.”

“Nice to see you,” Morgyn said, reaching down to pat Mayor’s head, and then sat in a chair.

“Hey Morgyn?” Ezio asked.

“Hm?”

“What do you know about the All?”

Morgyn looked surprised by the question, and then shrugged. “It’s somewhat sentient, I know that,” Morgyn said. “The sages are tied to it in a strange way. The light that chooses the sages, it doesn’t just look nice and signal to everyone else the All’s made a choice, it forms a bond between the sage and the All. I can hear it in my head, sometimes. It’s been weirdly quiet recently.”

Ezio snorted. Yeah, he uh, wondered why. “It talks?” he asked.

“Yes,” Morgyn said, idly petting Mayor. “And no. It doesn’t really use words, you know. Thoughts and things, abstract ideas, feelings, colours sometimes. There are memories there, I think, it’s hard to tell and make any sense of them. It drove Aine insane.”

Ezio sat up. “Aine drove Aine insane,” he said.

“No,” Morgyn said, head shaking. “Aine heard it differently. Louder? I don’t know. She said it would give her headaches. Always said it sounded like a screeching in her head that she couldn’t shut off, but sometimes it was a melodic song, too.”

A song or screeching, huh? “If you say so,” Ezio said.

“I say so,” Morgyn answered.

Ezio wouldn’t tell Morgyn that he heard it, too, even before he apparently interfered with Morgyn’s bond with the All. He wondered what that meant.

He figured he was finding out sooner or later, whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

A soft little whistling in the back of his head sounded. In the distance, he could hear the screeching in his head, too, like the sound of chainsaws grinding against each other. Softly, so softly, voices murmured and whispered, so soft he couldn’t make out the words. The whispering grew louder, but he couldn’t make the words out any easier, and then he jerked awake.

It was still dark, and the birds hadn’t begun to sing yet. Ezio sat up, listening. The chiming and the screeching were both there, but notably quieter. He could hear Drake typing in the other room. Quietly, Ezio got up out of bed, soft footfalls leading to the door. He turned the doorknob before closing the door again behind him, and then went out the apartment door into the entryway. It was awfully bright out there, but he didn’t care much, heading for the elevator.

It let out on the ground floor, and Ezio scurried out of the front door and into the street.

It was almost dead silent, the soft buzzing hum of the street lamps audible, the soft tinking of bugs smacking into the glass around the lights breaking the monotony. He followed the sense of wrong, down the street. As he reached the end of the street, he turned a corner and almost ran smack into Morgyn.

“What are you doing here?” Ezio asked.

“Following the wrongness,” Morgyn answered. “What are you doing here?”

“Also following the wrongness,” Ezio answered.

Morgyn sighed. “I’ll go that way,” the blond said, pointing. “You go that way.”

“Fine,” Ezio said. “And be careful,” he warned, as he went.

“Yeah, yeah,” Morgyn grumbled along the way.

Ezio shook his head, but he just went the direction Morgyn had decided he was going. And who said Morgyn was the lead of this expedition, anyway? Whatever. Because Morgyn was lead of every expedition, that was why. Well, Morgyn had always been a leader type. Ezio wasn’t, really, not anymore. Any sense of a leader that used to be in him had died when Ezio de Lorraine did.

There was a question Ezio had never answered; why the fuck was his name Italian, anyway? One of those great mysteries of life, he supposed. Maybe they had Italian ancestry or something, it seemed right. Probably everyone did, the Romans had conquered just about everything anyway.

The wrongness shifted, and Ezio changed direction, following it. It took a few redirections before he realised that it was leading him in circles, and he stopped where he was, sensing. Morgyn’s magic flared in the distance. Ezio turned that way, and bolted.

Strangely, or not, Ezio skittered to a stop just outside Morgyn’s firing range. He wasn’t interested in getting caught up in that, but so far, Morgyn was holding the other off just fine. A woman Ezio didn’t recognise fired off bolts of psychic energy. Vampire, then, and from the looks of it she was a powerful one. Morgyn unleashed a stream of fire, but she dodged every single one, rapidly firing bolts off as she went.

She was good.

Ezio stayed where he was, watching. Morgyn fired another stream of flame, and as the vampire jumped up, Morgyn stamped a foot down and flooded the street with fire. She had no choice but to land in it, at least, Ezio figured, but she disappeared mid-fall, instead. Ezio sucked in a breath of surprise. It took a lot of control to be able to do that, so few of them had actually pulled it off.

She reappeared behind Morgyn, and threw a psychic bolt. It hit before Morgyn could dodge it, throwing the blond right into the fire Morgyn had put there. Ezio disappeared, reappearing behind her, and threw a barrage of ice shards.

She dodged it, and then glanced between the two of them. Ezio started forming a larger ice spear, but she disappeared again, and this time, didn’t come back. The sense of wrongness went with her.

Morgyn stood up, brushing the dust off the blond’s clothes. “The heck was that?” the blond asked.

But Ezio knew. She was what he was sensing, the wrongness. She was the one that set the All on edge. If Keisha would mention specifically the barrier, then it probably implied that this vampire was attacking the barrier around magic realm trying to break it. Vampires couldn’t go through it normally. Drake and the Vatores were exceptions, not the rule, because they had spellcaster blood, and the All recognised them as belonging.

What exactly a stray vampire would want into magic realm for, that he didn’t know, but then the answer to that was pretty fucking obvious, too, wasn’t it?

She wanted the All. For some reason. She already had so much power, it was hard to imagine she’d have any need of any more. But then, she didn’t seem surprised Morgyn was that powerful, and even seemed to have been looking for the blond, and yet be surprised Ezio was there. It stood to reason she wasn’t looking for Morgyn, but a sage.

“Is that the vampire that was messing with my head?” Ezio asked.

Morgyn started to answer, and then head tilted, thinking. “Yeah, I think so,” the blond said after a moment.

“Be careful,” Ezio said. “She’ll be back eventually, and I don’t think she’ll be so easy to scare off the second time.”

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