More than Magic: Semester Aboard (52 page)

The thought of it made my stomach twist.
Starving to death? I wanted Thomas to deny it. But he didn't. "It's
better than being like you," he said.

I knew that he wasn't getting enough blood,
but I had never thought of him as sick or starving to death. I
didn't know how much vampires needed, just that Thomas wasn't
getting it. Maybe it was because I had nothing to compare his blood
intake to. Or maybe it was because he ate so much normal food it
was hard for me to think of him as not eating enough. Then again,
maybe I just hadn't wanted to see it. Even the thought of Thomas
being sick was upsetting. But starving to death? It was awful. I
looked at him. Really looked at him. He was dreadfully thin, but I
had chalked that up to the fact he was a vampire. The same for his
pale skin, hollow cheeks, and dull eyes. But I had seen enough
vampires now to know that wasn't the case. None of the others were
pale and their eyes were bright and clear. I'd even asked if there
was a way to tell a vampire on sight, aside from fangs. Nobody had
ever mentioned that they were pale or thin. Soaked with rain,
Thomas' shirt hung off of him like a tent. But Nathaniel's clung to
him, almost too tight. I could see the contours of muscles through
his shirt and on his arms. I had been close enough to Thomas to
feel his stomach. He hardly felt like he had abs, much less
accentuated ones, and his arms looked toneless.

Nathaniel just laughed. And then he lunged.
As they fought, I forced myself to accept reality. Not just that
Thomas was starving to death, but that he was too weak to win. He
was strong and he was fast, compared to humans at least.
Unfortunately, he was no match for another, healthy, vampire. I
knew now that Nathaniel was just toying with him, and Thomas knew
it too. As they fought I grabbed another stack of plates for
Charlie. He was still shivering and in no condition to fight.

I stood, clutching my wand. I couldn't keep
hiding here. I was sick of being helpless. Sick of watching people
get hurt, and maybe killed, because I wasn't strong enough to
fight. Dani still hadn't gotten up and Mariana was about as useless
as me. But we both had stakes. And maybe, just maybe, the dhampirs
were too busy watching TS to notice me. So, I ran. I pulled out my
stake and ran right for the nearest dhampir. TS had already hurt
her leg. She must have heard me coming, but was slow in turning. I
slammed my stake into her shoulder. I had missed her hearts by a
mile, but had still hit her. I didn't even have time to process
that I had just stabbed someone. She screamed and lunged at me.

"
Mar
!"

The sparks were enough to distract her. She
cried out and swatted at them in terror. TS dove for the other
dhampir and Mariana jumped over Dani and swung her own stake at the
dhampir girl. She didn't miss. The dhampir girl fell with a gasp
and Mariana drove her stake in all the way. We both stood back,
shocked that we had done it. Without having to worry about guarding
Dani and Mariana, TS knocked the other dhampir down and pinned
him.

"Stake!" he snapped. Mariana and I both
looked at him, frozen. "Stake! Now!"

Mariana rushed over to him and held hers out.
TS turned into a human, grabbed it, and plunged it into the dhampir
before the dhampir could react. At the same instant I heard an
awful, screeching sound. Thomas and Nathaniel were by the rails. I
realized what the sound was; it was the sound of a vampire breaking
the metal railing. For a moment I was worried that he'd swing it at
Thomas, but he stepped away. Thomas didn't move from the rails. I
squinted through the rain in confusion. It was growing dark. And
then Thomas started yelling.

"Damn you!" he screamed. "This is what you
call a fight? What are you, a coward?"

"
Mar
," I said frantically, recasting
my night vision spell.

It was even stronger than before. I could see
easily across the deck. My jaw dropped and I gasped in horror as I
got a better look. Nathaniel had broken the railing, but he hadn't
used it as a weapon. He had wound it around one of Thomas' arms,
trapping him. Thomas jerked and struggled as he cursed at
Nathaniel, but couldn't free himself.

Nathaniel laughed. "I simply like to keep the
odds in my favor." Then, with a smile, he turned and advanced on
us.

Chapter 29

TS growled and planted himself in front of us
as Nathaniel came toward us. I clutched my stake and my wand,
watching in terror. As soon as he was finished with TS, Nathaniel
would kill Mariana and Dani. And me. I looked past Nathaniel to
where Thomas was still trying to free himself. Nathaniel would kill
him too. Charlie was in no shape to fight or even run. I was
shaking, but I couldn't stop myself. We were all going to die.

"Jen," Mariana gasped. "Help me!"

She had Dani halfway up off of the deck and
on the rails. She was going to throw him overboard! I rushed
forward to help and together we managed to get him up and over.

Nathaniel hissed in rage and lunged for us,
but TS slammed into him and they tumbled across the deck.

"Jump!" I yelled to Mariana.

She hesitated and looked at Nathaniel and TS,
then back to me with tears in her eyes. "Jen, come with me! I can
keep you above the water!"

The storm was starting to let up. The rain
was lighter and then wind had died down, but the waves below us
still raged. Mariana wouldn't be able to help me for long,
especially if she was busy with Dani. And if Dani...I knew the
water was too cold and too rough for me to stay in it for an
extended amount of time. Even with Mariana's help I'd have to get
back on the ship quickly.

"You go," I said. I'd rather stay and try
something than sit helplessly in the water, waiting to drown. Maybe
I could get Thomas free or help Charlie.

Mariana hugged me and then dove off of the
ship. I hoped that, if nothing else, Dani was alive and healing.
The two of them would survive at least. And maybe, if we were very,
very lucky, Dani would heal fast enough to come back before we were
all killed.

TS and Nathaniel were still fighting, so I
ran to Thomas. Nathaniel had twisted the rails around Thomas' arm
as easily as if they were just ropes. Thomas was desperately
tugging on it with his free hand, but it was hardly bending. He had
obviously been using his weight against it too; his arm was raw and
bruised where it was trapped by the rail. I grabbed the rail with
both hands and started yanking, but I wasn't strong enough
either.

"Jen, get out of here!" Thomas cried.
"There's nothing you can do! Get back to the room while you still
can!"

I ignored him and tried to move the rail from
a different angle. He grabbed me and pulled me in front of him.

"You only have a couple of minutes before..."
He trailed off and looked behind me.

I turned to follow his gaze and my breath
caught in horror. The horizon was getting brighter. The sun was
rising. Thomas would get even weaker and TS would become human.
Nathaniel would be weaker too, but I knew that neither one would be
a match for him, even during the day. I stared at Thomas and felt a
tear fall. I didn't know what to do or what to say. How could I
possibly just run away and leave him here to die? And then he
pulled me closer and kissed me. For a moment my brain screeched to
a halt. This couldn't be happening. This was the wrong time, the
worst possible time, for a kiss. The guy I had been trying to keep
from developing a huge crush on was kissing me and we were both
about to die. It was a firm, chaste, desperate kiss. And all too
soon Thomas pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.

"
Please
, Jen. Go," he whispered. I
heard a yelp of pain and Thomas shoved me away from him. "Go!" he
screamed.

I stumbled and rushed away from him, turning
to see TS and Nathaniel as I did. They were circling each other. TS
was limping and Nathaniel was laughing. I flung myself down next to
Charlie and started trying to get him to his feet. I couldn't save
Thomas or TS, but I wasn't going to run away and only save myself.
Charlie felt abnormally cold and was still shivering. He couldn't
hold himself up and collapsed before he was fully standing.

"Come on! Get up!" I pleaded.

"C-can't. Just go." He gave me a weak push.
"Save y-yourself."

"Charlie, please!"

"Oh God..." he whispered, looking past
me.

The sun was up. TS stood facing Nathaniel,
stake in hand. He snarled and bared his teeth, but it wasn't nearly
as threatening as it was when he was a wolf. Nathaniel just
laughed. And then, he sighed.

"I think I've had about as much fun as you'll
give me." Then Nathaniel smiled. A chill went up my spine at the
sight. "Then again, I think there might be one more little game we
can play. Drop the stake and get on your knees."

"Make me," TS said. He readied his stake and
snarled again.

"Drop the stake. And get on your knees,"
Nathaniel repeated. His grin widened and he nodded in Thomas'
direction. "Or I kill
him
."

TS went rigid.

Nathaniel laughed. "I thought so."

Thomas froze and stared at Nathaniel, eyes
wide with horror. I probably had the same expression. Nathaniel
knew that Thomas was TS' soul-packmate. I could hardly breathe as I
waited for TS to react. My heart pounded as his voice echoed in my
head, telling me about soul-packmates. He had to have been
exaggerating about the lengths werewolves were compelled to go for
their soul-packmates. He
had
to. Nobody moved, not even
Nathaniel. TS clutched his stake so tightly that his knuckles
turned white. It looked like he was shaking.

"Very well," Nathaniel said, breaking the
awful, tense silence. He casually crossed the deck toward
Thomas.

"Fine!" The word burst form TS like an
anguished bark. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was
doing as he dropped the stake. He lowered his head and choked out a
second, defeated, "Fine."

"No!" Thomas' cry came out a cross between a
scream and the loudest, fiercest hiss I had ever heard. Somehow it
chilled my blood more than any other vampire hiss had. "You
bastard! Your fight is with me!"

He started throwing himself against the
rails, screaming taunts and curses at Nathaniel. But Nathaniel
ignored him and started back to TS. I still had trouble thinking of
Thomas as a true vampire. He was so different from Nathaniel and
the others, that it was hard to believe they were all vampires. But
I would never make that mistake again. There was a gut-wrenching,
positively inhuman quality in Thomas' screams of rage.

Nathaniel stopped a few feet away from TS
with a grin. "I believe I said on your knees." I could hardly hear
him over the sound of Thomas cursing.

TS looked like he was ready to lunge and tear
Nathaniel's throat out. For one brief second I thought that he
would. Maybe he had been exaggerating. TS couldn't possibly be
compelled to completely give up just because the life of his
soul-packmate was threatened. How could a bond that cruel possibly
exist?

"If I have to bother walking over there
again, he's dead. He's getting irritating anyway."

A look of pure anguish crossed over TS' face
and he dropped onto his knees with a growl that sounded like, "Fuck
you."

Nathaniel laughed. This couldn't be
happening. Against all odds, we'd taken out almost all of them. It
was four against one and the only one of us capable of fighting was
being forced to give up. My legs gave out and I sank down next to
Charlie. I was too overwhelmed to even cry. I just stared, waiting
with growing dread.

"I do have fun with werewolves and
soul-packmates," Nathaniel said. "It's amazing what you beasts can
be forced to do." As he spoke he circled around behind TS. "You do
realize that I'll just kill him after you're dead, right?"

TS didn't answer, but it was clear that he
had already known. Apparently it didn't matter. The instinct or
whatever it was controlling him was too strong to fight. He winced
in pain and rolled his shoulders. I looked over at Thomas and my
breath caught. He was still hurling himself against the rails and
blood was running freely down his trapped arm.

"Sometimes I wish I had a pet werewolf,"
Nathaniel continued. "Well, you can't always get what you want." He
reached up and picked at a scab on his arm from where he'd been hit
with a stake. "Dear, but I am a bit bruised. Nothing a bit of blood
won't fix." Without another word he lunged forward and sank his
fangs into TS' neck.

TS screamed in agony and Thomas echoed him.
Now, I was crying. TS thrashed and Nathaniel locked an arm around
his shoulders and held him still. Thomas' curses turned into almost
incoherent sobs. He sagged against the rails, helpless. Nathaniel
had pinned his arm just high enough that Thomas' knees couldn't
quite reach the ground. Using his arm to support his weight must
have been painful, but Thomas hung there anyway.

Nathaniel lifted his head and TS cried out
again. I gasped in horror. Instead of two neat punctures there were
two rips in TS' neck. Blood started to trickle out of them.

"You taste pretty good for an animal,"
Nathaniel said. He looked over at Thomas and smiled. "Relax, enjoy
the show." He sank in fangs back into TS, but bit into a different
place.

There was still time for me to run. Maybe.
But for all I knew, Nathaniel would catch me before I got far
enough to be safe. But I couldn't sit here and watch TS die. And I
couldn't leave. I knew I was helpless, useless, but I stood anyway
and aimed my wand at Nathaniel.

"
Mar
!" I screamed.

The tiny sparks flickered and then,
miraculously, burst into flames. Nathaniel hissed in shock and
looked at me. But, before I could dare to hope, the flames died
out. Charlie dropped his hand and slumped down onto the deck,
gasping and trembling. He'd hardly had the strength to sit up, I
knew he wouldn't be strong enough to do it again.