More than Magic: Semester Aboard (38 page)

Once we were inside TS turned back into a
wolf, staggered to the nearest bed, and collapsed to the floor.
Dani and I helped Thomas onto the same bed and he lay back with a
pained sigh. For a long moment nobody spoke.

"How is it," TS said, "that we killed two
vampires and a dhampir-"

"Three vampires and two dhampirs," Dani
corrected grimly.

"Bloody hell, that's even worse. Three
vampires and two dhampirs and we're right back where we started!
There's still a vampire who wants to kill us roaming the ship!"

"There's nothing we can do tonight," Charlie
said. "We all need to rest and we'll figure things out in the
morning."

"Right," TS said. He put his chin down on his
paws and sighed heavily. "We'll work it out in the morning."

I sat down on the bed, still keeping pressure
on Thomas’ wound. I pushed my hair back off my neck. "How
um..."

"Give me your wrist," he said.

"Ok." I held my wrist out and he gently took
my hand and started licking my wrist. I wondered if licking was
better than just spitting. Or maybe he wanted to lick me. I
couldn't decide if that was nice or just gross. After a few licks
his fangs slid down and he sank them into my wrist. It looked like
it should have hurt like hell, but it just felt like fingers
pushing down on my skin. A moment later his grip on my hand
tightened and he made a sound somewhere between a relieved sigh and
a hungry whimper. He had needed blood badly. I wondered if I should
have insisted he drink sooner. I was pretty sure I could actually
see the tension and pain leaving his face as he fed. But it was
different being able to watch him doing it. I could actually see a
bit of blood oozing out of where his fangs pierced my skin. After a
moment I felt a little nauseous watching and looked away.

Mariana was sitting on the other bed looking
sort of overwhelmed. Mark was next to her, watching Thomas with
fascination. I felt uncomfortable. Charlie was sitting on the table
while Dani tenderly wiped the blood off his face and examined his
nose.

"I'm sorry we don't have any wood," Dani said
softly.

"I'll be alright. There's paper in the other
room. Might as well grab it now." Charlie got up and went into the
living room.

"You should be careful there, Dani. He'll
think you're coming on to him," Mark said.

Dani gave him a look of pure disgust. "Excuse
me?" As he turned I spotted what looked like a small tattoo over
his heart, but couldn't make it out.

Mark laughed weakly. "I'm just joking
around." He nodded his head at the door to the living room. "We
were roommates. I'm pretty sure that he's...you know."

Dani turned to Mark and crossed his arms over
his chest. It gave me a clear view of his tattoo and I realized
that it was a simple "CS." For a fraction of a second I thought it
was sweet, then the sight of it reminded me that Mark must have
still thought Dani and Mariana were married. "No, I don't know,"
Dani growled, eyes churning.

"Danio," TS said.

"No, I'm curious. What is he, Mark?" Dani
lowered his voice threateningly. "And choose your words very
carefully."

"God, you really don't like me, do you?" Mark
said.

"Attacking my boyfriend wasn't the best way
to get on my good side!"

"Your..." Mark's jaw dropped. "I thought you
were with the hot chick!"

I glanced at Mariana, who looked torn between
being disgusted and being flattered. Thankfully, Charlie picked
that moment to hurry out of the other room. He quickly stepped
between Dani and Mark. He said something softly to Dani. Mark
looked stunned.

"Mark, let's go talk," Charlie said. The two
of them went into the living room and shut the door.

Dani still looked irritated. He walked over
and sat down on the bed next to me with a sigh.

"I am in such a shitty mood," he groaned.
"You doing ok, Jen?"

"Yeah."

I felt a slight tug on my wrist and looked
down. Thomas was done. I winced at the sight of blood welling up in
the two punctures in my wrist, but couldn't feel it. He gently
licked the wound. He'd been lying when he'd said he didn't taste my
blood before. There wasn't much, but he had just licked up some and
he must have been able to taste it. I was sure my neck had bled a
bit too.

"Thank you," Thomas said. It may have been my
imagination, but his voice sounded stronger.

"Let me know if you need more."

He didn't let go of my hand, but pulled it
away from his mouth and then rested it on his chest. I could feel
the strange rhythm of his hearts beating. I couldn't tell if they
seemed weaker or slower. I felt myself blushing and turned away.
Dani caught my eye. Even though he still looked close to snapping,
he managed a small smirk. I blushed more.

Then Dani sighed. "Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"I know we're dealing with things tomorrow,
but I'm not sure if this can wait." He sounded worried.

"What?"

Dani lowered his voice. "Mark staked the
dhampir tonight."

Thomas sagged and cursed. I didn't understand
why that was so bad.

"I'm sorry," Dani said. "Things were too
chaotic, if I'd seen him I would've stopped him."

Thomas shook his head. "Nothing we can do
now. We'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Can we? This Nathaniel is bad news, Tom. I
didn't see much of him, but I got a bad feeling. He's not like the
first biter. He's smart. He knows what he's doing. We're going to
have our hands full. I don't think we can fight him and watch Mark
at the same time." He looked over at the room where Mark and
Charlie were talking. "I think Mark's an idiot. And I can't tell if
I'm just too worked up to give him a chance or if I actually don't
like him but..." Dani sighed heavily. "But, he doesn't deserve
this. I already feel guilty for letting him get that kill. I don't
want to risk the poor kid's sanity because we're too distracted to
keep an eye on him."

Thomas sighed. "Neither do I. Ok, we need
to..." He sighed again. "God, I can't think right now."

"Do you need more blood?" I offered. It was
the only thing I felt like I could contribute to the
conversation.

"No, it's not that. I'm..." Thomas forced a
brave smile. "This kind of hurts. I really...can't gather my
thoughts."

Dani rested a hand on his shoulder. "You just
take it easy then. Char and I will talk a bit and we'll see what we
come up with." His eyes widened. "I'm so stupid! Hang on!" He got
up and went into the bathroom. A moment later he came back and held
out something to Thomas. It looked like a cross between a bouillon
cube and a pill. "Here."

Thomas picked it up and examined it. He
looked concerned. "You still take these?"

Dani shook his head. "No, but I like to be
prepared. I should warn you though, it'll knock you on your ass for
a few hours."

"Already there," Thomas said. He popped the
pill into his mouth and then sighed. "How long does it take to kick
in?"

"Not long." Dani leaned over the bed. "You
want one too, TS?"

"Why not."

"What is it? Painkillers?" I asked.

"Exactly. One of the stronger painkiller
potions out there. Sleep-aid too," Dani said.

"A potion?" I was intrigued.

Dani grinned. "Yep. You'll be able to whip
some together someday."

"Really?" I couldn't help but picture a
bubbling cauldron. But he'd given Thomas a pill. "I thought potions
were liquids."

Dani laughed and ruffled my hair. "Initially.
And I do hate to say it, but sometimes it's easier to just tow them
around in solid form."

"Oh." I looked down at Thomas and to my
surprise he looked like he was already asleep.

Charlie came back out and sat down on the
other bed. "Well, I think reality is setting in," he said
grimly.

Dani nodded. "Poor kid."

"I explained typhooning and apologized on
your behalf."

"Thanks." Dani patted my knee, then got up
and joined Charlie and Mariana. "Guess that's your bed
tonight."

"Dani!" I cried. "I can't-" I looked
nervously at Thomas, who still had my hand, and then back to Dani.
He looked amused. In fact, all three of them were enjoying my
situation. I sighed in defeat. "Let me just wash up."

The lights were off when I got out of the
bathroom and once again I missed my wand. I couldn't believe how
dependent I already was on it. I carefully settled in on the bed by
Thomas. His breathing sounded more even and less strained than it
had before. I lay there, eyes wide. I couldn't imagine having to
fight Nathaniel again. Tonight's horrors had yet to fully sink
in.

"Dani?" Mariana said suddenly. I wasn't the
only one awake.

"Yeah?"

"Did I do the right thing?"

I heard Dani sigh. "We were in a bad
situation and you picked the best solution."

"But...so, I shouldn't have killed her?"

Mariana had killed the dhampir. I had a
feeling she'd never killed anyone before. I wondered if I could
have in her place.

"You didn't have a choice," Dani said
softly.

"She was just a dhampir. It wasn't her fault.
Maybe I could have...I dunno."

"Listen, Mariana, you have to remember that
everyone is fighting for something and the other guy is just as
scared and desperate as you are. But if you don't pull the trigger,
he will."

"What if she hadn't killed anyone yet?"
Mariana asked.

"What if you let her go and we all got
killed? Trust me, asking 'what if' only drives you crazy. Killing
somebody isn't supposed to be easy and it doesn't feel good. But
sometimes it's the only solution you have. Don't beat yourself up,
calf. You did the best you could."

"Does it ever get easier?"

"No." Dani sighed. "And you don't want it to.
Once you stop caring, that's it. If taking a life stops bothering
you then the reason you did it doesn't matter. You're no better
than the sick freaks who do it for fun." There was a long silence
and I heard a rustle of sheets. "Come on, let's go for a swim."

"Now?"

"We need one. Come on." I heard them get up
and slide the door open. "We'll be back."

"Take your time," Charlie said. "Be
careful."

"You too. Get some sleep."

Charlie sighed. "Jen?"

"Yes?"

"Try to go to sleep."

"Ok."

I rolled over and tried to get comfortable
without touching Thomas. And somehow, I fell asleep.

Chapter 22

The first thing I heard when I woke up was
whispering. I sat up and looked around. Dani, Charlie, Mariana, and
TS were all sitting at the table talking. Charlie's nose looked
completely better and so did Dani's arm. TS still had a large
bruise on his face, but it looked like it was mostly healed.
Judging from the way he was sitting his leg was still injured, if
not broken. I looked out the window and saw cranes and container
ships. We were docked in Peru. I thought I would have been happier,
but I was still too shaken from the fight. Oh
G
od, I had fallen asleep with Thomas! I turned quickly.
He was, thankfully, still asleep. I started to ease out of bed,
hoping to escape before I woke him up, but couldn't resist stopping
to study him. It looked like there was more color in his cheeks,
which wasn't saying much considering he was normally fairly pale,
but he looked less gray than he had before. I was also relieved to
see that he didn't look like he was pain. He really was handsome
though. I felt a blush creep over my cheeks as I looked at him. His
bangs were just barely falling over his eyes and I resisted the
urge to brush them off his face. Of all the people to have a crush
on, why did I pick Thomas?

I started to get up again when something else
caught my eye. Thomas’ skin was perfect. Everyone's was for that
matter. I had assumed that if you healed as fast as they did you'd
never get a scar. But there, on the base of Thomas’ neck, right
over the artery, were two tiny scars. I glanced at my wrist. The
bite from the night before was almost gone. I put my fingers over
it, measuring it, and then held them against Thomas’ scar, just to
be sure. They lined up too perfectly to be coincidence. It must
have been the bite that turned him.

"That kind of tickles," he muttered.

I jerked my hand back, feeling horribly
embarrassed. "Sorry!"

Thomas smiled weakly. "That's ok." He groaned
and stretched a bit. "Man, that really did knock me out." He pushed
himself up onto his elbows and yawned.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"A lot better." He started prodding at the
wound on his stomach and I studied it.

The wound looked almost completely closed. It
was mostly scabbed over and the edges were scarring. Just hours ago
it had been a huge, deep puncture that surely would have killed a
human. I couldn't believe how quickly it was healing.

Dani dropped down on the bed next to us.
"Damn, that still looks pretty bad."

To my surprise, Thomas agreed. "Yeah, I
should be healing a lot faster." He spat into his hand and gingerly
rubbed it over the wound. Even as I watched some of the scabs
flaked off, leaving fresh scars behind. "So, what are we going to
do?"

"Ships getting searched again." Dani rolled
his eyes. "Not that it's helped yet. We've also made arrangements
for Mark. He'll be staying in Callao for a while."

"How'd he take it?"

Dani shrugged. "He wasn't happy at first, but
I told him he's going to learn about magic and how to do dhampir
things. I think he was a bit more onboard after that."

Thomas nodded. "Ok. Have we figured out what
we're doing?"

"We've got half an hour before the buses
leave, so there's still time to decide. But we're all thinking
go."

TS stood up and limped over to the other bed.
Thomas groaned in sympathy as TS sat heavily down on the other
bed.