Vampire Addiction (4 page)

“They’re tramps,” she whispered. “They just want to take advantage of you.”

“How can you tell?” Gertie asked.

The boy and girl making their way up toward them didn’t look much different from anyone else. They wore summer tanks and blue jeans and had dark, wavy hair. They looked like brother and sister, but were thicker and taller in stature than the Angelis kids.

As the two hikers climbed closer, Gertie’s brows shot up even higher. She recognized one of them. He was the boy from the bus.

The boy noticed her, too, and smiled.

“The girl from the bus,” he said. “The vampire lover.”

“Vampire lover?” the girl beside him asked.

Hector helped Gertie and Nikita to their feet. Then he positioned himself between them and the newcomers. Klaus stood beside him.

“This is my sister, Calandra,” the boy said, ignoring Hector. “Calandra, this is…sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Don’t answer,” Hector muttered. “Xasoy apo ta matia moy.”

“It’s okay,” Gertie said. “I’ve talked with him before.”

“But you don’t understand, Gertie,” Klaus said.

Hector turned to Klaus. “Way to go.”

“Gertie? Nice to meet you. I’m Jeno.”

He gave her his brilliant smile, and she was suddenly reminded of the dream she’d had on the bus, of him looming over her with his mouth full of fangs and blood. She shuddered, but, out of habit, said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“We were just leaving,” Hector said, pulling the girls down the hill in the opposite direction.

Klaus followed closely behind.

“I hope we meet again!” Jeno called after them.

Gertie couldn’t understand how the friendliest people on the planet could be so rude, but she waited until they were at the bottom of the hillside, on the street, walking back toward the car, to bring it up.

“They seemed nice,” she said. “I don’t understand why we had to leave.”

“We need to get to the ferry anyway,” Nikita said.

Hector stopped abruptly and turned, looking down at her with his face fierce and close to hers. “Never talk to them again, okay?”

“But why?” she asked.

“Trust me,” Hector said, his breath washing against her face.

“But I’ve just met you.” She narrowed her eyes. “In fact, I met Jeno before I met you. That means I’ve known him longer. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t talk to him.”

“Because he’s dangerous,” Klaus said.

The muscles of Hector’s jaw tightened. “Dangerous and selfish. He’ll try to hurt you.”

Chapter Five: Close Quarters

“So you four take that one,” Babá said in the hallway of the ferry, “and Phoebe and Mamá and I will sleep here.”

“Girls on top, boys on bottom,” Mamá added, which caused all four teens to snicker.

Babá’s face turned bright red, and he smiled sheepishly, but Mamá just bent her brows and asked, “What?”

The four-bed cabin had no window, and the beds were like coffins with no more than two feet between them. The top bunks were bolted onto the wall and folded up when they weren’t being used. Since the teens weren’t sleepy, they left the top beds folded and sat across from one another—girls on one bed and boys on another—utterly awkward and bored until Nikita begged Hector to play his ukulele.

“What if I didn’t pack it?” Hector asked.

“No way,” Nikita challenged. “You never go on journeys without it.”

“You got me there,” he said with a smile. He pulled a bag out from under one of the beds. “Let me just unzip this here and get out the ol’ instrument then.”

The other three broke into hysterical laughter.

“You’re worse than Mamá!” Klaus cried. Tears had come to his eyes from laughing so hard.

Gertie fell back on the bed, forgetting how narrow it was, and hit her head on the cabin wall. This brought more laughter from the bunch, including Gertie, who didn’t mind the brief smart to her skull.

Hector played traditional songs that all of them knew, except Gertie. She listened to them sing in Greek. Then they taught her some of the words. It was all rubbish to her, until they translated it, and even then, it was still rubbish.

“What does that mean, ‘four winds took them on a promenade’?” she asked them.

They laughed and shrugged, until Hector said, “Chance was dancing with them. See?”

“But none of it makes sense when you put it all together,” Gertie said. “Gilded words for the next generation, going down to Hades. I don’t get it.”

“You’ll get it someday,” Klaus said sagely.

“My young padawan,” Nikita giggled.

As much as Gertie laughed at them, she had to admit that all three of them had lovely voices. It was obvious they sang together often, because they were able to harmonize. When Gertie asked if they were in choir or a band, they said no, not yet.

“We will be,” Nikita said. “In school this year.”

Around midnight, Babá knocked on the door and told them all to go to bed, so they did. They took turns using the toilet in the tiny closet. Gertie couldn’t stop giggling as she lay on her bunk thinking how she was “sleeping on top of Hector.” She cupped her hand to her mouth and tried to stop.

Eventually, she pulled her e-reader from her bag and read the last chapters of
Interview with a Vampire
as the others snored.

At some point, after she had finished the book and had nearly dozed off, she heard Hector get up and leave the cabin. She looked at the time on her phone. Four in the morning? Where would he be going at four in the morning?

She left her phone and e-reader beneath her pillow and climbed from her bed to follow him.

In her bare feet, she crept along the narrow hallway. Hector was nowhere in sight. Worried she might be sleep walking, she pinched herself. No. She was definitely not asleep.

When she reached the top of the steps leading to the deck, the wind railed against her, sending her hair in all directions. Despite the wind, the night sky was clear and full of stars. The moon was full, bathing the deck in light.

She glanced around and finally saw Hector twenty feet away, leaning against the rail, looking out to sea. His pale skin, blond hair, and white t-shirt and boxers made him easy to spot in the moonlight. Gertie realized her own blonde hair, white night shirt, and purple shorts made her equally conspicuous, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was learning what had prompted Hector to come. Had he needed fresh air? Maybe he couldn’t sleep.

The sea air was amazingly refreshing. For a moment, Gertie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she clutched the rail and looked out at the ocean and the distant land, both twinkling with lights. The reflection of the stars on the sea resembled flittering fireflies, and the lights on the land in the distance a fireworks show. Gertie was grateful to see it.

She was startled by a couple making out in the corner—at least she hoped they were just making out. She crept past them and headed toward Hector.

The wind made it impossible to hear anything, so there was no use calling his name. She glanced up to the bridge and couldn’t see anyone manning the ferry—though she was sure someone had to be there steering it. She continued toward Hector and was about four feet behind him when he did something that completely shocked her: He climbed over the railing and flung himself into the sea.

Gertie’s mouth dropped open and she ran to the rail, searching the waters for his pale head. It emerged but was many yards away by now as the ferry rolled onward. She glanced back up at the bridge, hoping an adult had seen him jump, but no horn blasted, no voice shouted, nothing.

Not knowing what to do, she hollered out for help. “Man overboard!”

Maybe the couple would hear her. She even looked for them. They were no longer on deck. Not knowing what else to do, she climbed onto the rail and jumped in after Hector.

The water was ice cold! And she immediately regretted her stupid, stupid decision to jump. What could
she
do? She was at least a hundred yards away from Hector. She’d never find him in this enormous sea, and the boat was disappearing fast.

Plus the waves were much bigger than they had appeared from on board the ferry. From the bottom of a swell, she could see nothing but a wall of water in front of her, and then she was lifted up, higher and higher, and could see the signs of land and of civilization by their twinkling lights. But then she was down, deep, at the bottom of another swell, hopelessly treading water and getting nowhere.

All she could think was what a stupid, stupid girl she was.

“I panicked,” she muttered. “They’ll come back for us. Eventually.”

It might be hours before anyone would wake up and notice, but she tried to think optimistically. She and Hector would be found. They
would
be. They
had
to be.

Maybe Hector didn’t want to be found. Why else would he jump? He hadn’t seemed depressed or suicidal. Gertie’s mind reeled.

Then she began to think of all the creatures in the water below her and was seized by terror. In all the
Discovery
and
Animal Planet
shows she had ever watched, getting attacked by sharks was never a pleasant experience.

Once she awoke from the shock, she screamed, “Hector! Hector!”

She knew he was too far away to hear her, but what else could she do alone in the middle of the dark sea with creatures swimming beneath her, ready to eat her alive?

“Hector!”

Then she noticed something moving toward her in the water—something big and fast. She saw no dorsal fin, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a shark.

She screamed.

The thing stopped, and a pale head surfaced. It flung wet hair back from its face and looked at her with bright blue eyes.

“Gertie?”

She stared at the creature for several seconds before she realized it was Hector.

“Gertie, what are you doing out here? Are you crazy?”

She opened and closed her chattering jaw several times, but couldn’t find the words. Did he realize what he was saying?

He moved closer and put his arms around her. “You’re going to be okay.”

“You jumped,” she finally said.

“I didn’t know anyone was following me.”

“But why?”

He used his body to attempt to warm her trembling limbs. “I, um, was in the mood for a swim.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

Chapter Six: The Crane

“What do you mean you were in the mood for a swim? You’re the one who’s crazy,” she said.

He smiled and pulled her close. Now that more of the shock had worn off, she was aware of his strong, hard body against hers.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“I’m a fast swimmer,” he said. “I would have caught up with the boat.”

She pushed away from him. “Are you insane?”

He laughed and turned a little red. “No. I’m not. But I don’t think I can catch up to it towing you.”

He pulled her close, turned her back to him, and then wrapped an arm across her chest, like a beauty pageant sash. She flailed her arms, fighting him, but it did no good. Before she could say one word, he took off swimming, as fast as a dolphin, with her back against his chest.

The ocean swells continued to lift them up and set them down in the night sky, but now they were moving as fast as a tug boat toward the island of Crete.

This did not gel with anything Gertie knew about the universe, and within seconds she was totally freaked out. The only thing she could think to do was to scream.

Hector stopped. “What’s wrong?”

Where could she begin?

“I think I
am
the one who’s crazy,” she muttered through chattering lips.

He turned her around to face him.

“I’m having some kind of hallucination,” she said. “Maybe someone drugged me.”

She touched his face, to see if it felt real. It did. She cupped his face in both of her hands and studied him. “Are you real?”

He wasn’t smiling anymore. His face took on a serious expression as his gaze fell upon her mouth.

“Yes, I am,” he whispered as he covered her lips with his.

What a strange night, Gertie thought, as she closed her eyes and sank into his arms. She kissed him back, with the attitude that if she was going to have a hallucination, it may as well be a good one. If this had been real, she would have pulled away, out of respect for Nikita’s obvious feelings, but it wasn’t. Although she didn’t know how to kiss, he seemed to be doing just fine with her inexperience as he slid his soft, wet, luscious lips across hers.

“I’m sorry,” he said, lifting his head and avoiding her eyes. “I…”

“I’m not,” she said bravely—it was a hallucination, so what did it matter what she said? “I liked it.”

He smiled at her. “Look at you. You’re freezing. I’ll call my dad for help.”

Of course, there was no way he could do such a thing. First, even if he
did
have a phone on him somewhere (and where exactly would that be? In his boxers?), it would be ruined by now. Second, what could his father do to help them? Fly a copter overhead and launch a rope ladder down to them?

“This is such a strange hallucination,” she muttered. “But okay, call your dad.”

Hector closed his eyes and lifted his face toward the stars.

She studied the fine lines of his forehead, cheeks, nose, and jaw. She wanted to reach out and trace her finger along his solid neck, Adam’s apple, and chest. “And why shouldn’t I?” she whispered to herself as she shivered with the cold water splashing against her. So she touched his jaw and felt the skin along his neck. She felt the pectoral muscles of his chest beneath the t-shirt. He opened his eyes and looked at her, as though he, too, were in a trance. She moved her hands to his hard abs and encircled his waist. She was about to continue her hands’ journey down his backside, when he grabbed her arms, cleared his throat, and pointed to the sky.

An enormous white bird flew toward them, its long neck outstretched, its wings moving gracefully through the wind. It swooped down and grasped hold of each of them—one in each of its claws, wrapped firmly around their waists.

Gertie screamed and flailed wildly through the air.

“Gertie, it’s okay!” Hector shouted. “Relax! Relax and enjoy the ride!”

She stopped flailing and looked around.

They sailed twenty feet above the sea, side by side in the claws of the giant crane. The bird carried them in the direction of the ferry and the island of Crete. Gertie shook her head, wondering what she had ingested, and who had given it to her. She’d never experienced anything like this before.

Hector reached out and held her hand. She returned his smile and began to laugh. This was so crazy. She was so crazy. But it was also amazing. She may as well enjoy.

Within minutes, the ferry came into view. Gertie glanced over at Hector and laughed.

“Woo-hoo!” he shouted. “Isn’t this great?”

“It’s amazing!” she shouted. “Incredible!”

The crane hovered over the deck. Gertie looked through the windows of the bridge for sign of a captain. She thought she saw someone bent over a control panel. She couldn’t be sure.

“Get ready!” Hector shouted. “We’ll have to jump.”

“What? Are you serious?” Then she laughed, because she kept forgetting none of this was real. “Okay! Just say when!”

“Don’t forget to roll!” he said, squeezing her hand. “On the count of three.”

She nodded, waiting, as the bird hovered over the deck.

“One, two, three!” Hector cried, and the bird released them.

Their hands fell apart as they landed on the deck. Her hip and shoulder hit hard against the boat. She forgot to roll. She hadn’t thought it mattered, but now she was in pain.

Hector looked down at her, where she lay sprawled on the back of the boat. “Are you okay?”

Gertie closed her eyes. Everything hurt. This must be where the hangover would begin.

She blinked to find herself in Hector’s arms as he maneuvered down the steps below deck and through the narrow hallway to their cabin. Except for the heat from his body, she was colder now than she’d been in the sea, and she shivered uncontrollably. Hector opened the door of their cabin and laid her down on his bottom bunk. He helped her from her wet clothes and wrapped her tightly in the blankets. She was so sleepy, tired, and dazed, that she went through the motions, only partially aware.

Then he climbed out of his own wet clothes, slipped on dry ones, and crawled in beside her. He held her in his arms, and whispered, “Try to get some sleep. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”

Her body rejoiced at the warmth and coziness enfolding it, so she did as Hector said and closed her eyes. Behind her lids, she saw the big, beautiful, white crane flying across the dark night.