More than Magic: Semester Aboard (23 page)

"Ok. Where can we talk?"

"My room I suppose," Thomas said.

"Let's go."

He reluctantly led me to the door. "We'll be
right back."

"Be careful," TS said.

Thomas and I hurried in silence down to his
room. We got there without incident and sat down on the two beds,
facing each other. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to start.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "Thought it was for the best, I
guess." He leaned back until he was resting against the wall and
sighed. I was about to ask for a better response, when he started
talking. "You're not the first person I've seen find out about
magics. And some people don't handle it like you have. Some
people..." Thomas shook his head. "They freak. Knowing you like I
do now, I realize that we could have told you everything,
everything
, that night in Panama and you would have been
just fine. But I've seen people who...get a little crazy. So, I
thought it was for the best. I figured we'd let you go slowly. Not
lay too much on you at once." He smiled. "I'm sorry. You're a lot
tougher than I thought. You can handle it."

"I see," I said. I wondered if I would have
freaked out hearing everything at once and decided that an
abbreviated version had probably been a good thing. I wouldn't have
gone crazy, but I probably would have been a bit overwhelmed. I
felt a bit overwhelmed sometimes anyway.

"And then...well, vampires aren't exactly
popular." I could just hear a slightly bitter note in his voice.
"To be honest, this wasn't just for your benefit. I rarely mention
it. If magics can't tell on their own then I won't go out of my way
to tell them."

"
Is
there a way to tell?" That would
be handy.

"It depends on what you are. A werewolf, for
example, can smell it. As can another vampire. I'm afraid that the
only way you'd be able to tell is...well, after you've seen the
fangs. And then it's probably too late."

"That's the
only
way to tell?"

He nodded.

"So, when people can tell, they give you a
hard time just for being a vampire?"

"Not many people are stupid enough to give a
vampire a hard time," he said with a half-hearted laugh. "But most
don't go out of their way to make life easier either."

"Just because you're a vampire?"

He smiled grimly. "That's reason enough."

"That's hardly fair." No wonder he hadn't
told me. It would have been horrible enough to just lose his
parents and familiar. To be turned into a vampire and have people
judge for you it on top of that must have been just awful.

"I find life rarely is." Thomas sighed. "I'm
sorry, that came out pessimistic. It's...just not always easy.
Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner...and then after the
biter showed up I wasn't sure when to tell you."

I nodded. "I understand. You could have told
me though; I would've felt safer knowing you could fight him."

Thomas sighed. "Don't feel too safe.
Everything that happened last night was my fault."

"I don't see how."

"I should have staked him and I couldn't do
it."

He'd said that before and Charlie had said he
didn't blame Thomas. I thought about why he'd blame himself for a
moment and then figured it out. "That's hardly your fault. You
can't help if you hesitated. I'm sure it's hard to stake another
vampire."

"That's not it. When I was turned I...I lost
everything. I would happily stake every other vampire in the world
if it meant I could spare just one kid the pain of what I went
through."

"I'm sorry." I wasn't sure what else to
say.

He smiled sadly. "Don't be. It took a few
years to get used to, but I'll admit there are perks to being a
vampire."

"How long has it been since you were turned?"
It couldn't have been that long ago.

"About forty years."

My jaw dropped and I stared at him, trying to
figure out if he was joking or not.

He grinned sheepishly. "Oh...yeah...I guess
nobody's mentioned that yet."

Forty years
? I'd been trying not to
think about vampire books, but that thought brought one particular
fact to mind. "You're not immortal, are you?" I gasped.

His grin widened. "Yeah."

My jaw dropped. "Y-you..."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm only
sixty-two."

I opened my mouth and closed it again. I just
stared at him. Sixty-two. He didn't look a day older than me. He
was dressed like a normal college student, in jeans and a band tee.
My eyes locked onto his shirt; a faded Rolling Stones shirt to be
exact. "Is that vintage?" I managed to whisper.

He looked down at his shirt and laughed. "I
guess. It wasn't when I bought it, if that's what you mean."

Oh my God. No wonder he'd left that part out
initially, it was a bit hard to accept. Actually, he hadn't brought
his age up.
I
had.

"Were you planning on telling me that?"

"Of course. Actually...while we're on the
subject-"

"I'm really getting sick of these
secrets!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I really am. It's...a lot
to think about. I promise though, the fact that I'm a vampire was
the last thing we were deliberately keeping from you. From now on,
anything you ask, I'll answer. But, before you-"

Finally. It seemed like ever since I'd seen
Dani fall overboard it had been one secret after another. Wait,
they still hadn't told me what was wrong with TS! "And what about
TS?"

He looked surprised. "Ah, you've noticed
that?" I could just see a flicker of worry. He knew exactly what I
was talking about!

I glared. "What's wrong with him?"

"What? Nothing is wrong with him." He sounded
infuriatingly honest. But now I knew that he'd had a few decades to
practice lying.

"Come on, Thomas! You said you were going to
be honest."

"I am!"

"Then tell me why TS is sick. Is it a magical
disease?"

He frowned in confusion. "He isn't sick."

Now I was just mad. "Remember when I said I'm
not stupid? He's sick almost every night after sunset. Not only
that, but he's always perfectly fine the next morning. Plus, he was
fine last night during the new moon when he was human! Are you
seriously going to sit there and tell me he isn't sick?"

Thomas hung his head and looked ashamed.
"That's...blood loss."

My brain screeched to a halt.
Blood
loss
? I looked at Thomas in horror as I realized it.
"From...y-you drink his blood?" Thomas nodded. I couldn't help but
inch further back on the bed away from him. He was a good vampire!
He wasn't supposed to drink blood! "Why?" I blurted.

"I don't have a choice." He sighed heavily.
"I'd die."

"So, you
have
to drink blood."

He nodded.

"Do you only drink from TS?"

"Just on the ship. I've made arrangements for
when we're in port." He studied me for a moment and then sighed.
"You don't have to worry...I won't feed from you."

"I'm not worried," I said. I was a little
freaked out now that I knew he drank blood. And even though I had
been insisting that I wasn't an idiot I felt a bit dumb for
assuming that a vampire wouldn't. But, compared to the other
vampire, a single person didn't seem like much of a meal. "How much
blood do you need?"

Thomas shrugged. "More than I'm getting."

Now I did feel a bit worried. "Are you
hungry?"

He hesitated. "A little." He glanced at me
and quickly added, "But it's no big deal. I'm not going to suddenly
start biting people or anything."

We were quiet for a moment. I felt bad that I
had been scared. It was still Thomas. I'd had all night to think
about the fact he was a vampire. It seemed a bit hypocritical of me
to say it wasn't fair of people to judge him for being a vampire if
I did the same thing. When my brain finally started working again
it struck me as odd that TS was the only one he drank from.

"Why don't you drink from anyone else on the
ship?"

"It's illegal to feed without
permission."

"I know. I meant, like Dani and Charlie.
Wouldn't they let you?"

He sighed. "I'm sure they would. But they
aren't human. Their blood is no good to me."

"TS isn't human either."

"He's human during the day. That's why you
noticed he's sick at night. I feed right before sunset. He's still
human, but starts rapidly recovering as soon as the sun goes
down."

The slightly cryptic conversation from
earlier came back to me. "That's what Mariana offered, isn't it?
You're going to start drink-I mean feeding from her."

He nodded.

"And the phone call you had to make?"

For a moment I wasn't sure if he was going to
answer. "I had to apply for a permit," he finally said. I waited
expectantly for him to continue. "To feed without permission." He
sighed heavily. "I never have. Not ever. I'm...really not happy
about it."

"Then why do it?"

"I have to."

"Because you're not getting enough
blood?"

There was another long silence. Thomas chewed
absently on his fingernails and I had a slightly crazy urge to ask
to see his fangs. Before I could ask, he answered my previous
question. "Because of last night." With another depressed sigh, he
continued, "Blood is not just blood. There are different types. Not
just A or B, but different ages, genders, diets, and so on. Feeding
from just one person for days at a time isn't good enough, even if
I was getting enough. I'm...not as strong as I should be. That's
why I couldn't stake him last night. If I had been feeding properly
I would have staked him with no problem. Char probably would never
have gone overboard and Danio wouldn't have been hurt. We wouldn't
be in this mess."

So, that was why he blamed himself. "It's
hardly your fault."

He shook his head. "It is. I knew going into
this that I was going to get weaker. It wouldn't have been a
problem if this biter hadn't turned up. As soon as we found out I
should have started feeding. I didn't."

I wasn't sure what to say. I took a moment to
mull it all over. "Can you ever get as much blood as you need? You
made it sound like most people don't even like vampires. How can
you even find enough people to give you permission?"

"There are a few around. Not many, but there
are some."

"Is it enough variety?"

He nodded. "A lot of the blood I consume back
home is from blood drives, so there's a lot of variety."

"Wait, wait, wait. You can drink blood
without
biting people?"

"Yes." He answered my next question before I
asked it. "I drink bagged as often as possible. But once in a while
it
has
to be...well, fresh. About a third of it
actually."

"Oh." Then I had another idea. "But if you
can drink it from bags, can't you just bring a bunch on the ship?
Then, you'd be getting enough, right?"

He smiled grimly. "If only. It starts to go
bad as soon as it leaves the body. There's maybe...three hours or
so before it's useless. It would be bad long before I needed it."
He sighed and stood. "We should probably get back. Was there
anything else you wanted to know?"

"I don't think so. I've got a lot to think
about now."

He eyed me nervously. "You ok?"

"Yeah...just...overwhelmed?" I said with a
nervous giggle.

Thomas smiled. "I'll try not to throw any
more curveballs your way."

"Thanks."

We were halfway back to Dani and Mariana's
room when I thought of Laurie. "Thomas? Can we check on my
roommate?"

"Sure," he said with a nervous glance behind
us.

Laurie, thankfully, was awake and watching
TV. "Hey," she called hoarsely.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Blah," she said. "Stay back, I think it's
that bug."

"I'm sure it is."

She looked at Thomas and then grinned at me.
"Is that why you haven't been sleeping here?"

I was about to deny it when Thomas put his
arm around me. "You don't mind not sharing with a roommate all the
time, right?" he asked Laurie with a grin.

Laurie smirked. "Not at all, she's all
yours."

"We should get going," I said. Thomas’ arm
was disturbingly comfortable around my shoulders. "Feel
better."

"Yeah, I will. Be good."

The second we were out of the room Thomas
removed his arm. "What was
that
?" I demanded.

"A very good excuse. You can't exactly say
you're sharing a room with Mr. and Mrs. Pelagos, now can you?"

"I guess not." We walked to Dani and
Mariana's room and I felt a chill as I remembered the frantic dash
the night before. "What are we going to do?"

He put his arm around my shoulders again.
"You aren't going to do a thing. You are just going to enjoy your
cruise as best as you can. We are going to protect you, ok?"

I nodded.

"I mean it," he said softly. "I won't let
anything happen to you."

The rest of the day was tense. Nobody left
the room. Charlie and I spent a little time doing homework from our
Plants class. It was strange to think that all over the ship people
were going about their day as usual. Everyone else was wandering
the ship, sitting in class
,
or lounging on
deck. The fact that we couldn't leave the room made it harder to
stay put. The afternoon announcements came and went with no hint
that something out of the ordinary was happening. Then again, the
six of us, and the vampire, were the only ones who knew what was
going on. Shortly before sunset Thomas and TS volunteered to get
dinner. I felt bad that they were risking themselves to get me
food, but realized that both TS and Mariana had to eat real food
too. But the minutes ticked by and they didn't return. I started to
get worried. Thomas came back alone and set a tray of food on the
desk.