More than Magic: Semester Aboard (36 page)

Thomas did. "Forget that," he said. "It's
over and everyone's ok." He turned to Mariana and smiled. "That was
quick thinking, using your cell phone."

Mariana blushed. "I landed on it when he
dropped me and I realized I could reach it."

I realized that Mark was still where he had
fallen. "Is Mark ok?" I gasped.

TS walked over and sniffed him. "Still alive.
Looks like just a bad fall. Why is he in here?"

"He tried to help us," Mariana said. "I
thought he was an idiot, but maybe he's not so bad."

Thomas bent and scooped up Laurie. "Laurie's
fine too. Looks like he just sedated her." He leaned down and
sniffed her neck, so close that his nose brushed her skin. I felt a
little pang of jealousy as he did. He adjusted his grip on her and
turned to me. "I think it's wearing off. Let's get her back to your
room before she wakes up."

TS turned back into a human and grabbed
Thomas’ discarded stake. "Just in case," he said, handing it to
Thomas. Thomas tucked it back into his waistband and I retrieved my
wand.

"Let's go," I said.

We took the outside stairs again, just to be
fast and made it safely to my room. Thomas carefully tucked Laurie
into bed and I felt another ridiculous stab of jealously.

Thomas sighed. "Well, you're probably safe in
here now. But, I'd like to be careful for one more night. We can
get the ship searched in Peru. It's been useless so far, but
there's no reason to be careless now."

"Yeah."

"Need anything?"

I shook my head. "I'm ready to go back when
you are."

Thomas started for the door, then abruptly
whirled around and hugged me. "I was worried about you. When
Mariana called and didn't say anything..." He looked at me for a
moment and then smiled. "Come on then."

We headed out and up the stairs. A guy in a
Semester Aboard
shirt was leaning against the rails near the
top of the stairs. Thomas froze before we reached the top. The guy
turned and looked at us with a smile.

"Good evening," he said pleasantly. "You're
both looking well."

Thomas put a protective arm in front of me
and moved down a step.

The guy was blonde and could have been
handsome, but there was something about his expression that gave me
the creeps. He sighed and shook his head. "I did tell Hugh not to
be hasty, but no, he was out for blood. I suppose you staked him? A
pity."

Thomas pulled out his stake and the blonde
laughed. "Nathaniel I presume?"

"Ah, my reputation precedes me? I suppose my
dhampir talked. Fool. And let me guess..." He studied us with a
dark smirk. "The weak vampire and the baby witch?"

Thomas pushed his arm into me. "Go, run for
your room. Don't argue."

I turned to run and froze. There was a woman
standing on the stairs below us. She was smiling and I could see
the light glinting off her fangs. She looked young and her fangs
looked big.

"Thomas," I said, terrified. "There's
another!"

He glanced over his shoulder and pulled me
closer.

"Dear me, what are we to do?" Nathaniel
laughed.

"You're the one who turned the dhampirs
then?" Thomas said.

"Yes."

"And who was Hugh? Have you been on the ship
this entire time?"

"Curious are you? Buying time for your
friends maybe?" Nathaniel laughed. "Don't bother, we saw you leave
your room. You haven't been gone nearly long enough for them to
worry." He smiled. "Hugh was an idiot with a rather brilliant idea:
board a cruise ship, feed, and get off at the next port. But the
fool encountered you and decided that it would be a challenge.
Francesca was taking me on a tour of Chile. Seeing the sights,
sampling the wines... sampling the locals."

"We made nice with the local magics and they
warned us about a feeder on the ship," the woman said. She laughed
and I felt a chill. "We found him and he told us all about you and
it did sound fun."

"So, Hugh showed you one of our roommates and
you turned him?"

Nathaniel sneered. "The fool wanted to keep
you to himself.
I'm
the one who found the human and turned
him. Hugh thought dhampirs were useless after you killed his first,
but I know better."

Suddenly Thomas grabbed me and yanked me
down. TS took a flying leap and slammed both front paws into
Nathaniel's chest. The two sailed right over our heads and crashed
into the deck below. Francesca dove off of the stairs and out of
the way. TS clamped his jaws around Nathaniel's neck and shook him
like a dog with a toy. I hadn't seen him fight a vampire as a wolf
before and I felt a surge of hope; surely our chances were better
than they had been when he was human. TS yelped as Nathaniel
started to fight back, but he didn't let go. Francesca raced toward
them, but stopped short. I could tell she was trying to figure out
how to rescue Nathaniel without hurting him more.

"Get to the room, go!" Thomas cried to me,
then he flew down the stairs.

He didn't even hesitate, but brought his
stake right down at Francesca's back. She dodged, but screamed in
pain as the stake scraped a deep gash in her back. Mariana's fears
of being a distraction came back to me and I turned to run back to
my room. If I lingered on the stairs they'd come after me the first
chance they got and I'd only get in the way. I reached the top of
the stairs and froze in horror. Dani, Charlie, Mariana, and Mark
were all on the deck. But they were facing off with three other
people! If they were all vampires we were as good as dead. With
nowhere to run I pulled out my wand and held it ready.

Fireballs flared up in Charlie's hands and
two of the vampires gasped in shock and backed away. I felt a
little bit of hope rise up. If the two of them were dhampirs then
maybe we had a chance after all. I noticed with relief I didn't
recognize either of them. They hadn't turned anyone else on our
ship. There was a woman who looked a lot older than us. Good, at
least one was a dhampir. The guy looked like an average college
student. And the third was a blonde girl. She hadn't reacted to
Charlie's fireballs. She snarled and I got a good look at her
fangs. The guy recovered from his shock and snarled too. His fangs
were remarkably shorter and stubbier than hers. But I couldn't be
very relieved that he was a dhampir, not when I could tell because
I was comparing him to a vampire.

Chapter 21

The blonde girl was just as surprised as I
was when Dani launched himself at her. She twisted aside and dodged
his stake, but not his knife. She backed away, snarling, with a
deep gash in her upper arm. She was so focused on Dani that she
didn't notice Charlie until he grabbed her from behind. The two
burst into flames and for a moment I thought it was already over.
Then she flipped Charlie onto his back on the deck and sprinted
away. Charlie was up like a shot and he and Dani moved until she
was trapped between them and the rails. She eyed Charlie's
fireballs warily. They hadn't been exaggerating when they had said
the first fight would have gone differently if they had been
prepared. It looked like they had also been right that any two of
them could take on a vampire. Dani's fighting skills and Charlie's
fire had the vampire at bay. She already looked seriously
burned.

"Help me you fools!" she screamed.

The two dhampirs looked at each other and
then inched forward. Mariana had a stake, but I knew she was as
helpless as I was. Mark was staring with what looked like morbid
fascination. If the dhampirs joined in, then Charlie and Dani would
be outnumbered. Even if they were only dhampirs and not vampires, I
didn't like the odds. The two dhampirs took another step forward as
Dani and Charlie pressed closer to the vampire. I gripped my wand
tightly, wishing I were strong enough to help. Then it struck me; I
could help! If the dhampirs were new like Mark then they didn't
know much about magic either. I boldly pointed my wand at them and
took a step closer.

"Stay there or I'll burn you to a crisp!" I
yelled.

They both looked at my wand with wide eyes
and I could tell they were considering my threat.

"What are you, a witch or something?" the
female dhampir asked. I couldn't believe my luck. If Nathaniel
hadn't told her about witches then she'd probably believe anything
I said. The other dhampir and Mark looked equally curious.

Dani attacked again and the girl just barely
dodged. The two dhampirs took another cautious step. I couldn't
keep bluffing without a little magic. For all they knew I was just
pointing a stick at them. In fact, even though my wand was starting
to look a bit more polished, it still looked like a stick.

"
Mar
!" Tiny flames, bigger than I had
ever cast, burst into life in the air in front of the dhampirs and
they both cried out in shock. But then they smiled and my heart
sank.

"She can't set us both on fire," the guy
said.

Then they both moved. The woman sprinted
straight for me and I had to scramble away. It was an accident, but
I dodged in the direction of Mariana and Mark. The girl backed up,
hissing furiously as Mariana raised her stake threateningly. I
regained my balance and soon the dhampir found herself facing both
of us. Mark hissed back at her and I got an awful feeling that he
was enjoying this. I glanced to the side and saw, to my horror,
that the guy had launched himself at Dani. He seemed more worried
about Dani's knife than his stake and was latched on to Dani's
back, trying to disarm him. The vampire took advantage of the
distraction to launch herself at Dani, fangs bared. Charlie met her
halfway and the two crashed to the deck in a fiery tangle of arms
and legs.

The dhampir woman considered the three of us
and smiled. She met my eyes and I knew that she had figured out my
bluff. If I hadn't set her on fire yet, I wasn't going to. She
turned and raced across the deck to join the fight. Mariana dropped
her stake and tackled the dhampir before she reached Dani. For a
moment they struggled. Mariana was taller and had a longer reach,
but the dhampir was stronger and faster. I knew it wouldn't last
long before Mariana was overpowered. Their struggle took them
closer and closer to the rails and I realized Mariana's plan just
before she braced a foot on the bottom rail and hauled the dhampir
over the side with her. I ran to the rails and looked over just in
time to see them both hit the water and disappear beneath it.
Surely Mariana had the advantage once they were in the water, but I
was afraid for her anyway. Nobody but Dani was capable of helping
her.

I looked to see if Dani had seen Mariana go
overboard and gasped in horror. The dhampir had wrestled Dani's
knife and stake away and was between the weapons and Dani! Just as
I turned the dhampir attacked again and pinned Dani's arms behind
his back. As Dani struggled to free himself the vampire hurled
Charlie halfway across the deck. I had only a moment of relief that
she hadn't thrown him overboard, but then she went for Dani.
Charlie was too far away to help and there was nothing I could do
but watch. I don't know how he did it, but suddenly Dani dropped to
his knees and freed his arms. In the same moment he grabbed the
dhampir, yanked him over his back, and sent him crashing into the
vampire. They both fell and Dani half-rolled, half-flipped
backward, grabbed his knife, and lunged forward again. It wasn't
the right time, but I was awed. I'd known that Dani studied martial
arts and I thought that I had seen him in action, but it seemed
like I had only gotten a sample of what he was capable of. There
was an awful scream of pain and the dhampir staggered away from
Dani, blood gushing from his knee.

The vampire recovered quickly and raced for
the railing. Dani followed and for a moment I thought the vampire
was trapped. A screeching, ear-splitting sound echoed across the
deck. The vampire spun away from the rails and swung something at
Dani. It felt like my heart was in my throat as Dani dodged what I
was sure would have been a fatal blow. But he wasn't fast enough.
The vampire's weapon looked like it only clipped Dani's shoulder,
but the force knocked him off his feet. He was up quickly, but it
was obvious that the vampire had hurt him. The vampire gave her
weapon a threatening swing and I realized in shock that it was part
of the ship's rail. She had snapped a part of the metal railing
completely off the rails. There was a gap with twisted metal on
either side where she had broken it. I had known that vampires were
frighteningly strong, but this was insane. Dani rolled his shoulder
with a grimace of pain and switched his knife to his other hand.
The vampire took a step closer to him took another swing. Dani
backed away and the vampire smiled. We didn't have a chance if we
couldn't get close to her.

"Jen," Charlie called, "set her on fire!"

I looked at him in confusion. He knew that
sparks were all I could make. Why didn't he just do it? In fact,
he'd had plenty of chances to set the vampire on fire when they had
been facing off. But here wasn't time for questions. I aimed my
wand at the vampire and tried to envision an inferno. As I had
expected, a few weak sparks flickered into life on her shirt. The
vampire had looked worried, but immediately laughed at my pitiful
attack. Then my sparks burst into life and the vampire was engulfed
in flames in seconds. She shrieked in pain and I heard the railing
clang to the ground. I looked back at Charlie in surprise. His hand
was raised toward the vampire and he was frowning in concentration.
He'd turned my sparks into flames! I'd only ever seen him
controlling fire from close range. He must not have been able to
make it spring into life wherever he wanted.

Then the vampire was moving. I hardly had
enough time to register that she was running in my direction. Then
she was on me. It all happened so fast I was on the ground before I
knew it. She grinned triumphantly at me, but then Charlie grabbed
her from behind and the flames roared until I couldn't see either
of them. It was only then that I realized I didn't have my wand.
The vampire had taken it. I scooted away until my back hit the
rail, feeling even more helpless. Something about having the wand,
even though I knew I wasn't very powerful, had been comforting. As
the vampire screamed and thrashed in the flames Dani grabbed a
stake and rushed toward her. He slammed the stake down, ignoring
the flames, and suddenly the screaming stopped. The fire died down
and the vampire collapsed to the deck. I heaved a sigh and my
entire body relaxed; she was dead.