More than Magic: Semester Aboard (20 page)

Then Dani's eyes churned and blackened, and
he started to fight back. Mariana had been right when she had said
that Dani was downplaying his martial arts skills. He grabbed the
vampire's arm with his free hand, pulled himself up, and slammed
both knees into the vampire's stomach. The vampire gasped in pain
and his grip loosened enough for Dani to wrench his other hand
free. He slammed the knife down toward the vampire's chest. The
vampire dodged, but Dani was free. He was still hanging on to the
vampire's arm and he yanked the vampire off balance, and then
slammed his elbow into the vampire's throat. The vampire gagged,
Dani's hand shot out, and I heard a crack. Blood spattered from the
vampire's broken nose and he staggered back.

I couldn't believe it, maybe we actually had
a chance! Dani tried to stab the vampire again. This time, the
vampire caught his wrist. For one awful second they seemed
motionless. Then it was over. I didn't even see the vampire move,
but I heard a snap. Dani gasped in pain and dropped his knife. The
vampire hissed and I felt a chill. Then he grabbed Dani by the neck
with one hand and, even though he was much shorter than Dani,
effortlessly lifted him completely off of the ground. Dani kicked
desperately at the vampire, but even though the blows had to be
hurting him, the vampire didn't flinch. Dani's fist slammed into
the vampire's broken nose, but still the vampire didn't let go.
Instead, he hissed again and tightened his grip. Dani kept
fighting, but his breathing had turned into short, choked
gasps.

I had never felt so helpless in my life. The
vampire was going to kill Dani and there was nothing I could do.
No, there was! God, I was such an idiot! I had a wand, didn't I? I
knew I couldn't cast a spell strong enough to hurt the vampire, but
maybe I could at least distract him.

"
Mar
!" I cried.

A couple of weak sparks appeared on the
vampire's shirt. He looked worried for a moment, but when nothing
else happened he laughed and patted them out.

"Not very strong are you, little witch?"

Useless. I wanted to cry, but didn't want to
give the vampire the satisfaction. I watched in terror as Dani's
attacks started to slow.

"Let him go!" I screamed. "You can drink my
blood, just let him go!"

The vampire turned to look at me, avoiding a
weak punch from Dani as he did. "That's tempting," he said. "Then
again, I'll drink it either way."

I tried to set him on fire again, this time I
aimed for his hair. Maybe it was a better target, or maybe my fear
and desperation made my magic stronger, but this time a small flame
caught. The vampire jerked in surprise and snarled. He swatted at
his hair until the flame went out, but didn't let go of Dani. He
glared at me; I hadn't done anything but make him mad. And then,
with one last feeble gasp, Dani went limp. The vampire chuckled and
smiled at me. But, to my horror, he made no move to loosen his
grasp. A stupid, naive part of me had hoped that he was just going
to knock Dani out to get him out of the way, drink my blood, and
then go. We'd both be hurt, but we'd be ok. I couldn't stop my
tears from falling as that hope faded.

"Please, stop," I sobbed. "You'll kill
him!"

The vampire laughed. "Lose the wand and I'll
let him go."

What choice did I have? I obediently tossed
my wand away. The vampire smiled in satisfaction and started to
lower Dani to the floor. Then he paused and his smile widened.

"You set my hair on fire." Then he turned and
slammed Dani's head against the corner of my desk. There was an
awful crack and then he let go.

"No!" I screamed as Dani fell limply to the
floor. He didn't move and it didn't look like he was breathing.
Dark blue blood started to pool up by his temple and run down his
face.

A split second later I was on my back on the
bed, with the vampire on top of me. I smacked and punched
frantically, hoping maybe I could hit his broken nose or something.
He only laughed and pinned my arms down.

"Settle down," he whispered. "This can hurt
or I can make it painless. Your choice."

I didn't believe it would be painless, but I
stopped struggling. He licked his lips and bared his fangs, before
lowering his head to my neck. I closed my eyes and shook in fear as
he brushed his nose against my throat, taunting me. How much would
it hurt? Would he kill me? I was so afraid and helpless I could
hardly breathe. The fight on the deck had been frightening, but
Thomas, TS, Charlie, and Dani had all been there, helping each
other. There was nobody to help me now. Charlie was still
unconscious, TS and Thomas had no idea what was happening. And
Dani... My tears fell harder.

The only other person I had cared about whose
death I could remember was my father. His death had been upsetting,
but it was different. It was an accident and I hadn't been there.
Dani had been killed, slowly, right in front of me while I was
helpless to stop it. Now I was probably going to die, maybe
painfully. And what after he killed me? I couldn't imagine the
vampire leaving the other's alone. God, Charlie. He'd lose it when
he found out about Dani. Wait, what if he wasn't unconscious? What
if he was recovering? In one last desperate attempt, I screamed. I
knew it wouldn't matter; the walls were so thick the people right
next to us probably couldn't hear me. The vampire's hand clamped
over my mouth in an instant. His grip was so tight it hurt.

"Not in my ear," he snarled. His fangs grazed
painfully across my neck. "I don't get witch blood often and I want
to enjoy this in peace. But one more sound and it
will
hurt."

He removed his hand and I stayed quiet, but
my thoughts were racing. His hand over my mouth had reminded me of
when he had first grabbed Dani. I was pretty sure he hadn't wanted
Dani to finish what he had been saying to me, but why? Dani knew
that I had already been told the invitation thing, why tell me
again? It didn't matter once the vampire was already invited,
right? Oh my god. What if vampires could be
uninvited
?
That's what he had been trying to say! He'd specifically said that
it was
my
room. He couldn't uninvite the vampire, but I
could.

"Get out!" I gasped. If this didn't
work...

The vampire pulled back and looked at me,
eyes wide. He was shaking!

I gathered my confidence and yelled. "Get out
of my room!"

He groaned like he was in pain and jumped off
of my bed. He staggered away, closer to the door. I sat up,
half-afraid he was just pretending.

"Get out and don't come back! I don't want
you in my room!"

He snarled furiously and clutched at his
head, then yanked my door open and threw himself out the room. As
it swung shut behind him he turned back and glared at me. "You'll
pay for this," he growled just as the door slammed.

I slumped back against the wall, trembling. I
couldn't believe he was actually gone and I was unhurt. Then guilt
racked me. If only I had realized it sooner, I could have uninvited
him the moment he came in. I had just sat there like an idiot while
he strangled Dani and all along I could have done something. I felt
like throwing up. I could have saved Dani...even as I thought it I
heard a sound. A cough. Hardly daring to hope, I flung myself off
of my bed and dropped to my knees next to him.

"Dani?"

He was breathing! It was shallow and raspy,
but he was breathing. He coughed again and I gave his shoulder a
gentle shake.

"Dani? Wake up, come on!"

He was still bleeding and I couldn't tell how
big the gash in his forehead was. He needed a doctor. But I
couldn't get him there alone. I could call Thomas and TS, but if
the vampire was outside my door he'd attack them and he'd probably
kill them this time. Mariana would come, but she'd be as
defenseless as I was. I doubted Charlie would be strong enough,
even if he was awake. And if we did get him to the ship's doctor,
would he be able to help? Dani looked human, but what if he was too
different? What if the doctor couldn't treat a water elemental? I
gasped. Dani was a
water elemental
! On the island he had put
water on a cut and it had healed! Would it work for more serious
wounds? I had to try.

I managed to drag him to the bathroom. He was
pretty heavy and I had never been so thankful that the cabins were
small. I heaved him into the shower and turned on the water. Cold
water hadn't seemed to bother him and Charlie had said something
about water being too hot for Dani, so I left it cold. There was
nothing more I could do. I sat back and studied him, wondering how
fast the water would work. His wrist was badly swollen and probably
broken. There were horrible, dark bruises all over his neck and
around the wound on his forehead. Tears slid down my cheeks again.
He'd been hurt because of me. Everything that had happened tonight
was my fault. I had been blissfully ignorant; learning things like
night vision spells instead of worrying about the vampire. I should
have asked about how inviting a vampire in worked. I should have
practiced the fire spell as soon as I found out that fire could
kill vampires.

How could I have considered them my friends
when I knew so little about them? Charlie and I had just been
talking about him not going into cold water, yet I hadn't given it
a second thought. I had been swimming around the Galapagos with
Dani, thinking of him almost like an older brother and I hadn't
even known his blood was blue. I had never once asked him about the
physical differences between humans and elementals. What if the
water wasn't good enough? What if it had to be salt water? They
were simple questions I could have asked and the answers I didn't
have might save his life now. I wiped at my tears and looked at
Dani. The blood had washed away and the gash by his temple didn't
look nearly as bad as I had thought. I leaned closer and sucked in
a hopeful breath; the edges were scarred over. It was healing. His
wrist didn't look as swollen and I was sure the bruises on his neck
had faded. His breathing was still weak, but it sounded more even
and less raspy. The minutes ticked by like hours and I waited
nervously for Dani to heal. All of a sudden his eyes flew open and
he jerked upright. He looked around, confused, and then looked at
me and relaxed.

"Are you ok?" His voice was weak and
hoarse.

I sagged in relief. "I'm fine. Are
you
ok?"

He gingerly touched his neck, then the mostly
healed cut on his forehead. "Yeah..." He looked pretty shaken.
"Yeah." He slowly flexed his broken wrist and winced. Then he
closed his eyes, sighed heavily, and leaned back against the shower
wall.

We sat in silence for a moment. I noticed
that he was holding his wrist right under the water and was glad
that I had thought to put him in the shower. But if it hadn't been
for me we wouldn't have been in this situation.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "It's my
fault."

"No, it's not."

"It is! Everything that happened tonight was
my
fault! I went down to Deck Three alone and I didn't have
my wand. I didn't even realize the vampire had my ID and the only
reason we're here in my room was to get my stuff. And I..." My eyes
started to sting. "I never thought to ask if vampires could be
uninvited. You almost died and it was all my fault."

"No, don't blame yourself." His voice already
sounded stronger. He sat up and put a hand on my knee. "First of
all, the ship had been cleared. You had no reason to be cautious
tonight. If the vampire hadn't gotten your ID, he would have found
you another way and there might not have been somebody around to
protect you. Not that I did a good job of it. And we're here
because
I
wanted to get your wand and your things, it wasn't
your idea."

"But if I had my wand before-"

"You've had your wand for a week," he said,
"you can't blame yourself for not being in the habit of carrying it
around. Besides, what could you have done? Your magic isn't nearly
strong enough to hurt a vampire."

"But-"

"And more importantly," he gave my knee a
squeeze, "I didn't die. You just saved my life, Jen. Don't worry
about what could have happened."

"If I had uninvited him sooner you wouldn't
have been hurt," I protested.

"How is that your fault? You didn't know.
This is my job. Our job. We all know better and we made some really
stupid, rookie mistakes tonight. We knew there could be a vampire
on board. We could have explained things to you. We weren't
cautious enough and it almost got all of us killed." Dani sighed
and patted my knee. "This is not your fault, Jen, not by any
stretch. You shouldn't even be involved and I'm sorry you got towed
into this."

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"I..." He hesitated and hung his head like he
couldn't meet my eyes. "I want to get back to my room."

That wasn't what I had expected to hear.
"What if the vampire is still out there?"

"It's possible. I know that I was just saying
we made a lot of stupid mistakes tonight and leaving a safe room is
going to top that list, but...I can't sit here while Char is over
there in his condition. It's stupid, but I need to be with
him."

"It's not stupid." Dani was probably worried
sick about Charlie. Plus, he still looked freaked out about what
had just happened. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to be with
Charlie for his own comfort.

He smiled weakly at me and rested his head
against the wall. "Thank you. Not just for understanding, but for
saving my life too." He rubbed his neck and sighed. "Get your
stuff, we're going soon."

I went into the main room and retrieved my
wand and Dani's knife, then threw some spare clothes into a bag. My
ID card was lying on the floor and I felt another stab of guilt as
I picked it up. The vampire probably wouldn't have known where my
room was if he hadn't gotten it. I grabbed my pillow and caught
sight of Laurie as I turned away from my bed. The fight hadn't
woken her up. She didn't even look like she had moved. She was
breathing, but had to be unconscious.