More than Magic: Semester Aboard (14 page)

"Got it." Dani pulled out his key and handed
it to Charlie. "See you in five."

Charlie took the key, but grabbed Dani's
wrist before he could pull away. "Dan," he said softly. His eyes
had gone from flames to smoldering coals. "Be careful." Definitely
more than a crush. I wondered if Dani knew.

"I'll be back in no time," Dani said.

TS, Charlie, and I hurried down the stairs to
Dani and Mariana's room. Mariana was there studying.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"A vampire has been feeding on the ship," TS
answered.

"What do we do?" Mariana gasped

"Well, I'm getting Danio. If you're here,
there's no reason for him to be out there," Charlie said.

He started for the door but TS blocked his
path. "He'll be here in less than five minutes. Nobody's
leaving."

Charlie stormed over to the couch and sat
down, eyes flaring. It reminded me of what he had said about fire
elementals. I sat down on the bed by Mariana. She smiled, but I
could tell she was worried. I still had dozens of unanswered
questions, but Charlie looked too angry to ask and from the way TS
was pacing I didn't think he was in the mood either. Mariana seemed
like my best bet, but I had a feeling that asking her about
vampires would only worry her more. After all, Dani was still out
on the ship somewhere. Mariana must have been really worried about
him.

"Mariana?" I went for a question that she
could probably answer without getting more worked up. "Charlie said
something earlier about...I'm not sure. Something about fire
elementals and overreacting? He sort of freaked out and said he
couldn't help it."

"Oh, yeah." I was glad I had asked; she knew
exactly what I was talking about. "Fire elementals are sort of like
fire," she said with a weak giggle. "Their emotions can just 'flare
up,' if you will. They take speaking before you think to a whole
new level. My friend Ember, she's a fire elemental, told me that
sometimes she won't even realize that she's said something out loud
until somebody reacts. We were out once and some drunk jerk was
getting flirty and kind of annoying, and she just slapped him
across the face! No warning at all! She was so mortified
after."

She half-heartedly laughed at the memory.
Before I could ask anything else someone knocked on the door. TS
opened it. Thomas and Dani came in. Mariana jumped up and gave Dani
a hug. Dani sat down on the arm of the couch with a sigh, while
Mariana rejoined me. Thomas sagged into a chair. For a moment
nobody spoke.

"Ok, Char," Thomas said. "What else do we
know?"

Charlie told him the entire conversation we
had had with Beth. I hadn't noticed bite marks on her neck like he
had, but I shivered at the thought. As he spoke it reminded me of
my conversation with Carrie this morning. Had she been bitten
too?

"That's it?" TS asked.

"Actually," I said, as Charlie nodded.
Everyone turned to look at me. I swallowed nervously. "A girl in my
class was sick yesterday. This morning she told me the doctor said
it's a bug that's been going around since Panama. Ten people have
had it."

"He's fed from ten people then," TS said.
"Plus the girl this afternoon."

"And her roommate," Charlie said.

"LA History was cancelled because the
professor was sick," Mariana added.

"And my friend Natalie was sick yesterday," I
said. "I think it was the same symptoms."

"That sounds like a lot of people. Do you
think there's more than one?" Charlie asked.

"It's possible," Thomas said.

"Here's what we do," TS said. "If we're
lucky, he's catching a free ride and will get off tomorrow in
Ecuador. He's leaving the bite, so he must not know we're here.
Char, I want you in your room for the rest of the night. If it
comes to a fight, I don't want him to know we've got a fire
elemental on our side. I'm heading back to my room and making some
calls. I'll see if I can get the authorities in Ecuador to search
the docks and maybe the ship too. Worst case, he stays and we have
a problem when we leave Ecuador." He paused and vigorously
scratched his head. It was so dog-like I nearly laughed in spite of
the situation. "Danio, I want you to go up to the Pool Deck and see
if that Greek bloke is working the bar. If he is I want you to find
out if there are any new crewmembers that got on in Panama. If this
biter stays through Ecuador we need to be prepared."

"What if the biter sees me?" Dani asked.

"That's fine. I'm hoping he won't see a water
elemental as a threat; he doesn't know what you're capable of. If
he sees you it might be enough to make him want to leave the ship
quietly. I'd also like to see if you can figure out if there's a
list somewhere of what cabins are occupied."

"Can't I just use the computer?" Mariana
asked. They all turned to look at her. She sighed. "MES gave me
full access. I can find the crew manifesto, the room list,
everything. I can even see if any files have been added since we
left Panama."

"You sure?" TS asked.

"Yes!" Mariana snapped. "And I can check all
the student information too."

"Right," TS said. "Danio, protect her while
she does that. Forget your Greek man." He turned to me. "Jen, I
know there's a lot going on, but we need to get this done before
sunset. I need you to go back to your room and stay there."

"Can't you explain anything?" I demanded.

"We need to hurry," he said. "Vampires can
only enter a room where someone sleeps if they're invited. Do not
let anyone in. Got that?"

"I guess..."

Dani, Charlie, and Mariana got me to my room
and before I knew it I was there alone. It didn't take long before
I was started to feel insane. I was tempted a dozen times to leave
the room, find one of them, and demand some answers. I didn't. I
may have been confused and in the dark, but I knew one thing: this
was bad. Wasn't part of the MES job description protecting humans
or something? I would have thought fighting vampires was something
they did. Everyone had seemed really worked up and freaked out. TS'
comment about bad history had me worried too. This was obviously a
really big deal. I hated to admit it, but I was scared. I ended up
packing for Ecuador. When I was done I still hadn't heard from
them. I was checking my bag for the third time when my cell phone
rang. I almost had a heart attack.

"Hello?"

"Jen." Thomas.

"What the hell is going on?" I snapped. "I've
been alone in my room for three freaking hours! Is anybody going to
explain things?"

"I'm sorry, Jen," Thomas said. "I know you
must be scared."

"Duh! Not to mention confused and pissed! You
can't just-"

"Listen, are you packed for Ecuador?"

"Yeah. What else was I going to do for three
hours?"

There was a pause and then Thomas said, "You
might not be safe in your room."

I nearly dropped the phone as a chill ran up
my spine. "What?"

"Your roommate could have invited the biter
in already," Thomas said. "Get everything you need, stay on the
phone with me, and run to Mariana and Danio's room. You're spending
the night there."

"Are they back?"

"Yes."

Glad that I had already packed, I grabbed my
bag. "Ok. What do I do?"

"Check the hall. If it's empty, run for their
room and knock."

I sprinted down the hall and banged on the
door. It opened almost immediately. Mariana pulled me in and
slammed the door behind me.

"I'm in," I said.

"Good. Don't worry, everything will be ok."
Thomas hung up.

For a moment, I just stood there. This was
insane and it was starting to get a bit terrifying. I really didn't
like everyone acting worried. I had a feeling we really weren't
equipped to deal with a vampire. Mariana sat on the bed, looking
scared
,
and I sat down next to her. Dani
was sitting on the couch, which still had a sheet from when Charlie
had slept there, flipping his knife around. He looked worried and
when he glanced at me I saw that his eyes were pale blue, but the
way they were churning reminded me of angry rapids.

"Jen," he said. "You doing ok?"

"I guess. I mean, you guys did sort of freak
out and then ditch me for three hours."

Dani sighed. "I know...this is...not a good
situation." He gave me a weak smile. "I'm sorry, we won't do that
again, but we needed to get everything done before sunset."

"We got food too," Mariana said.

I was so nervous I hadn't felt hungry, even
though I had missed dinner. "Thanks."

"What are we going to do?" Mariana whispered.
I glanced at her; she looked really worried.

Dani flipped his knife around again and then
tucked it away. "Don't worry. We'll take care of it."

"I still don't know what's going on," I
admitted. "I've read vampire books and seen movies and stuff
but...is it really as bad as it seems?"

Dani sighed heavily. "It's...pretty bad.
Honestly, it's the worst scenario I can think of."

"Didn't Thomas say MES people handle this
sort of thing?"

"Well, yes. The problem is we're unprepared,"
Dani admitted. "MES typically sends out at least half a dozen
agents when there's a vampire. They like to play it safe. On the
other hand, we're lucky. We've got four highly qualified,
experienced agents. I'd say any two of us could take down a vampire
together. And with the four of us, it should be no problem."

"But, there are five of you."

"I'm just an intern," Mariana said softly. "I
wouldn't be much good anyway, even if I was an agent. There's
nothing I can do out of the water."

"Nah, you'll be a great agent," Dani said.
"You've got it in you. Water or no water."

Mariana flashed him an embarrassed smile.
"Thanks."

"So, you can take care of it?" I asked.

Dani sighed. "I hope so. Still, this has
caught us a bit off guard. We'd be better prepared back home.
Drought, we don't even have a stake."

"It's really that serious then?"

He nodded.

"Why? I mean..." I blushed. "I don't know
anything about vampires."

Dani hummed thoughtfully. It was one of those
lyrical ones and I made a mental note to ask if it was some sort of
language. "I suppose you don't. They're bad news. They're strong
and they're fast. And they're hard to kill. Extremely hard."

He'd mentioned stakes. "Do you really have to
stake them? Like in the movies?"

Dani chuckled. "Yeah, like in the
movies."

I tried to ask a better question. "Is that
the only way to kill them?"

He shook his head. "Fire. Out of all of us,
Charlie's got the best advantage, especially at night."

"You keep saying at night, but Charlie said
they don't sleep during the day."

Dani laughed again. "You've seen way too many
movies. True, they don't sleep, but they get weaker. If it comes to
a fight and the sun is up, we'd have a much better chance."

"Do we have to fight?" I asked. "I mean, all
he's doing is drinking blood, right?"

"He's breaking the law," Dani said.

"It's illegal to drink blood? What do
vampires do then?"

Dani shook his head. "It's illegal to feed
from someone without permission."

I sighed. I felt like an idiot for asking so
many questions. "So, couldn't you just arrest him or
something?"

"Maybe I should back up." Dani sighed and sat
quietly for a few moments. "Vampires," he said at last, "are not
born like the rest of us, they're made. They didn't start out as
vampires and probably never wanted to be turned in the first place.
Turning someone is illegal too."

"Then why does it happen?"

"Who knows? People do strange things
sometimes," Dani said softly. "This guy is probably dangerous and
he knows he's breaking the law. If he realizes that there are
magics on board who can turn him in...well, he might not be so
willing to go quietly."

"Didn't TS want him to see you?"

"Me, specifically. I'm a water elemental, we
usually aren't much of a threat. If we're lucky, he saw me and
decided to leave when we dock tomorrow. If he had seen me and tried
to attack he would've gotten a surprise. Since it was before sunset
I might even have taken him down."

"How?"

Dani grinned. "I'm not your average water. I
study martial arts."

"Like tae kwon do?"

"Yeah, that's one of the many I've dabbled
in."

Mariana giggled. "He's being modest. When he
says 'dabbled' he means 'has a black belt.'"

Dani rolled his eyes fondly and turned back
to me. "As I was saying, we don't want the vampire to know how many
of us there are. If he feels too threatened he might end up staying
and trying to fight instead of running. And..." Dani sighed. "That
could get ugly."

"You just said any
two
of you could
beat him. And there are four of you."

"Just because we can, doesn't mean we will.
It's not something we want to just dive in to. If it's a vampire we
don't want to take any unnecessary chances."

"You've said
if
it's a vampire a few
times. Isn't it?" I asked.

"It could be a dhampir. If we're very, very
lucky, it's just one dhampir and nothing else."

"What's a dhampir?"

Dani laughed. "God, you're like my niece. So
many questions."

"I'm telling her you said that," Mariana
said.

"Go ahead, I was talking about Catalina,"
Dani said.

"So, what's a dhampir?" I asked before they
could start arguing.

"Vampires can only turn humans, both magic
and non-magic. A magic who gets turned becomes a vampire and a
non-magic becomes a dhampir. Dhampirs drink blood and all that, but
they don't have the speed or strength of a true vampire. I could
take out a dhampir during the day with my eyes closed. You'd be
able to at least hold one off until help came."