More than Magic: Semester Aboard (31 page)

"What about me?" Considering what I was
offering, I was proud that I kept my voice steady.

Everyone looked confused.

"What about you?" Charlie finally asked.

"Thomas can feed from me." This time I heard
a slight tremor in my voice. Was I crazy? Had I seriously just
offered my blood to a vampire?

"Absolutely not," Thomas said
immediately.

Dani and TS both exchanged a look and I knew
they had come to the same conclusion that I had:
I
was the
perfect solution.

"And why not?" I demanded. "You have my
permission!" Thomas looked like he was about to protest again, so I
continued, "You feed from Mariana and TS!"

"That's...they're..." Thomas began.

"What? Your friends? They know what they're
getting into? That's no different from me! And don't you dare say
they're older than me! Unless all this 'age doesn't matter' stuff
has just been a lie."

"It's hasn't," Thomas said, "but..."

"I'm a witch. My blood's better, isn't it?"
If my blood really was worth three then he wouldn't need anybody
else. "You can just feed from me, with permission, and it'll be
enough."

TS' phone started to ring, but before he
could answer it Thomas grabbed it from him. "I got it," Thomas
said. He hurried out onto the balcony and shut the door behind him.
TS started to follow him, then stopped. Instead, he walked over to
me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you sure, Jen? You don't have to do
this."

"Yes, I do! You think he needs blood from
three people and mine is just as good
and
he has my
permission. It's the obvious solution. I mean...things are hard
enough for him, aren't they? It's the least I can do."

He looked at me for a long moment. He
squeezed my shoulders and smiled. "Thank you." Then his eyes
widened a bit and he started laughing. "Bloody hell," he muttered.
He gave my shoulders another squeeze then sat back down at the
table.

Dani came over to me too. "Hey," he said
softly. "I know I was teasing you earlier, but if you aren't
absolutely sure about this..."

"I am," I said firmly.

He smiled, one of his rare ones without a
smirk in it, and ruffled my hair gently. "You're a good kid."

I didn't mind being called a kid; it made a
lot more sense when I knew that Dani wasn't just a few months older
than me. I protested anyway. "I'm not a kid."

"No, you're not," Dani said. "You're a good
friend, then." He grinned and gave my hair a more vigorous
tussle.

Thomas came back in and sat down heavily.
"Well, I've been assured that no vampires entered the port or got
on the ship."

"But they didn't catch him," Charlie said,
"which means he could still be here."

"Exactly," Thomas said. He looked at me and
smiled. "By the way, welcome to the pack." Before I could ask what
he meant he turned back to TS and Dani. "So, are we still on for
classes?"

"I've decided I'd rather skip," Dani
said.

Charlie looked at him in surprise. "Didn't
you say earlier that you're sick of 'cowering in the room and
letting some biter ruin your vacation’?"

"Yeah, but I realized that if I don't go to
class then I don't have to finish my essay."

Thomas smacked him in the arm. "Idiot."

Dani grinned, then his eyes darkened and his
expression grew serious. "I say why not go. We don't know for a
fact that he's back on the ship. Given how he's been sneaking
around he's not eager to fight us again, especially not during the
day. As long as we don't do anything stupid, we'll be fine."

"Agreed," TS said.

"Class it is then," Thomas said. "Dani, you
said you have a map of the ship, right? Let's take a look at
that."

Thomas and Dani spent the next hour muttering
to each other and looking at the map. I started reviewing my class
notes and it looked like the others did the same. When he and
Thomas were done Dani picked up his notebook and returned to his
essay. It wasn't until we were all getting ready for bed that I
realized Thomas had never said whether or not he was going to bite
me. Mariana was already snuggled into our shared bed and Charlie
was getting comfortable in his. I set my alarm on my phone and then
went into the other room where Thomas and TS were. TS had already
transformed and was sprawled out on the floor by the couch. The
light was off, but Thomas had a book open.

"Thomas?"

He glanced up at me. The light from the
bedroom was enough to see that he looked nervous.

"Are you going to..."

He looked back down at his book and sighed.
"Tomorrow night. If you're still willing."

"I will be." When it looked like he wasn't
going to say more I added, "Goodnight."

"Night."

TS lifted his head, tongue lolling out
comically. "Night, Jen."

"Goodnight, TS."

I closed the door and went back into the
bedroom. The door to the balcony was open and a nice breeze was
coming in. Dani had moved the deck furniture to the side and was
settling in with a pillow. I walked over to the door and watched
him fluff his pillow before lying down on the bare wood.

"Are you sleeping out here?" I asked.

He nodded. ""It occurred to me that the biter
could go all Spiderman on us and climb onto the balcony. So, I'm
crashing out here tonight to claim it."

"Claim it?"

"Sorry, I guess nobody really explained
that." He smiled sadly. "Would've helped the other night, huh? A
vampire can't enter a room where somebody sleeps. But, you have to
sleep there first. If I sleep out here tonight, then it is off
limits to any vampire I haven't invited for a couple of weeks."

I looked around nervously. "But he could
still come here tonight while you're sleeping?"

"It is a risk. But, I'm keeping the door
open. Don't you worry." He glanced behind me, then beckoned me
closer. "Come here and close the door."

I stepped out onto the balcony, slid the door
shut, and knelt down next to him. He beckoned again and propped
himself up on his elbows. I moved a little closer and eyed him
skeptically. "You're not going to mess up my hair or kiss me or
something, are you?"

He laughed. "I'm sure you're very pretty, but
you aren't quite my type." He grabbed the back of my neck and
pulled me off balance. For a moment, I thought he was going to be a
jerk and kiss me anyway. Before I could escape he whispered in my
ear. "Besides, I'll leave kissing you for Tom."

"Dani! What if he heard that?" I hissed.

"His hearing is good, but not this good," he
breathed softly.

He loosened his grip enough for me to pull
back. I paused when I caught sight of his eyes; they were turning
gray and churning slowly.

"Look, Jen." His voice was so soft I could
hardly hear him. "Tom's never happy about having to feed,
especially from friends. I think your offer is still sinking in; it
sort of surprised all of us. Tom isn't the most...eloquent. I'm not
sure if he'll say anything or not, but even if he did I don't think
words can describe how grateful he is. We all are actually. You
didn't have to. I meant it earlier when I said you're a good
friend."

I wasn't sure what to say so I nodded.

Dani smiled and then gave me a gentle push
toward the door. "Get to bed, hm? We have to pretend to be college
students tomorrow."

I smiled back and couldn't resist teasing
him, since he frequently did it to me. "Done with your essay?"

He grinned. "I'll finish it in the
morning."

I opened the door and then looked back. "Do
you want a blanket?"

Dani shook his head. "I'm a water
elemental."

I took that as a 'no'. "What about to sleep
on?"

He shook his head again. "I've slept in worse
conditions than the deck of a cruise ship. I'll be fine."

I stayed awake long after settling into bed.
I wasn't having second thoughts about offering to let Thomas drink
my blood. The idea made perfect sense and really was, in my
opinion, the best solution. But the idea of being bitten by a
vampire was a little freaky. I didn't even like having my blood
drawn at doctor's appointments. I figured that if Mariana and TS
both did it then I'd be fine. Even so, I felt slightly insane as I
drifted off to sleep. It was bad enough that I was starting to
develop a serious crush on a vampire, now I was going to let him
feed from me.

The next morning, when my alarm went off, I
got up and took turns with Mariana in the bathroom. Charlie and
Thomas had gone up to get breakfast for everyone and we passed
around bagels and donuts while getting ready for class. Dani was
still writing his essay, looking increasingly panicked as the
minutes ticked by. It seemed like any morning for a normal college
student, but there was tension in the air. Nobody seemed completely
happy with what we were about to do. At the same time, nobody
wanted to stay stuck in the room. Even though I was terrified of
encountering the vampire again I felt the same way. What if we
never knew for sure if the vampire was still on the ship? How much
longer would we stay in our room? Everyone else seemed sure that as
long as we were cautious, it would be safe to venture out. I tucked
my stake and my wand in my purse before I left and knew that the
others had stakes as well. When it was time for Latin American
History we walked together up to the classroom and all sat down
near the door. The class was uneventful and when it was over it was
time for the real challenge: splitting up. We stopped by the
computer lab so Dani could print the essay he had spent typing in
LA History, and then he and Thomas explained the plan they had come
up with the night before. They'd worked out a route from classroom
to classroom that kept us together for as long as possible. At
first it seemed like we were spending more time in the halls than
necessary, but then I realized that we were splitting up in a way
that left Mariana and I with someone who could protect us.

Even though I felt safe alone with Charlie, I
was nervous after our class while we waited for the others. The six
of us walked to lunch without incident and settled in. Partway
through lunch Charlie pulled out his cell phone to call his
niece.

"Hey sweetie," he said when she answered.
"Happy Birthday!" He talked with her for a while and I couldn't
help but listen to the conversation. I had been thinking of his
niece as a little girl, but that was back when I thought Charlie
was my age. But as he talked I remembered him saying he had a niece
who was thirty. "Want to talk to Dani?" he asked after a few
minutes. He looked up at Dani in surprise. "He what? When?"
Charlie's eyes widened and he put a hand over his phone. "You
called her at
midnight
?" Dani laughed and Charlie shook his
head in amusement. He ended up handing the phone to Mariana.

"Hey, Ember! Happy Birthday!" She got up and
walked a few feet away to talk.

Ember
. My jaw nearly dropped and I
gave myself a mental kick. Mariana's friend Ember and Charlie's
niece were the same person. I couldn't believe I hadn't caught it
before.

"You said Ember is thirty?" I asked.

"Thirty-one," Dani and Charlie chorused.

I could only laugh. This really was going to
take getting used to. Mariana had been talking to Ember for a
couple of minutes when Thomas suddenly laughed and looked in her
direction.

"What did she say?" Charlie demanded.

Thomas shrugged, looking amused. "Nothing
important."

Charlie and Dani exchanged a skeptical look
and glared at Thomas. Thomas merely shrugged again. The warning
bell for afternoon classes chimed and we gathered our things and
headed off. My next two classes flew by and soon we were all back
in the room. The few short hours that we'd been able to move around
and concentrate on classes instead of the vampire had been
refreshing. Spending the rest of the day in the room seemed a lot
less daunting to me than it had before. I was glad Charlie had won
a room with a balcony. Dani and Mariana's old room didn't have any
windows at all. The room would have seemed a lot more crowded if
we'd all been stuck in it without windows. The fact we could open
the door and let the sun and the wind in the room made it even
better. Then the announcement chimes sounded.

"Excuse the interruption. The Behind the
Scenes Tour will begin at 1600 hours today. If you are one of the
lucky winners of this trip, please be in Purser's Square with your
ID ready to go at 1600. If you don't know what time that
is...tough, you've had a month to figure it out."

"Drought, I forgot about that," Dani said.
"It would've been fun."

"I think we should go," TS said.

"Really?" Dani said in surprise.

TS shrugged. "If it turns out the biter isn't
onboard, I'll be sorry we missed it. But, more importantly, we'll
get to see the crew-only parts of the ship. If that's where the
biter is hiding it might work in our favor if we get to scout it
out."

"Good idea," Dani said. "Guess we'll get
ready."

"If you run into trouble I'll be there in a
flash," Thomas promised. "But make sure you're armed."

Dani grinned. "I went shopping and now have
two significantly better knives, not to mention I've got two
stakes."

"Good," Thomas said.

The tour only took an hour, but everyone was
uneasy until TS and Dani got back. They each had a smoothie, which
they stuck into the fridge, before telling us about the tour. They
hadn't encountered the biter, or any evidence of him, but said it
would be extremely easy for him to hide from the crew. There had
been a whole stack of crew uniforms in the laundry room, which
would have been easy for the biter to grab. TS had ranted about lax
security until Charlie reminded him that the non-magics didn't
expect a hungry vampire to sneak around. By then it was almost
sunset. Thomas and TS went into the other room so that Thomas could
feed. I tried to act calm, but got increasingly nervous. I knew
that Thomas would be feeding from me when he was done. But when the
door opened Thomas grabbed one of the smoothies from the fridge and
went back in. A few more minutes went by before TS, already a wolf,
walked out and flopped down onto the floor. Without a word to me,
Thomas sat down and started reading. He didn't look very happy and
I had a feeling he was putting it off. Just when I thought I was
going to snap Thomas closed his book and stood.