"A vampire? Bloody hell," TS groaned.

"I don't suppose..." Dani said softly.

TS shook his head. "No." He slumped against the wall and sighed. "This isn't good. Right, here's what —"

"We need to find Thomas and Mariana," Dani said. His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them. "Then, we need to figure out if this is a vampire or just a dhampir and how many there are. If we're lucky, it's just a single dhampir."

TS cleared his throat. "Actually..."

"Hang on. I'm thinking. Where is Thomas? You can get him, and I'll try to find Mariana. Then —"

"You know what would be keen?" TS growled.

"If you'd let me think?" Dani snapped.

"It would be keen," TS continued. "If MES had sent a Field Agent with us. ‘Cause now we have a situation in the field! In fact, it would have been even better if we had a Senior Field Agent! An SFA would, by nature of the whole being in the field thing, outrank you in this situation. And! Again, since we're in the field, an SFA would probably have a good idea of what we should be doing right now, which, by the way, isn't standing in a corridor like bloody idiots! So, can you shut it a tick or do you want to keep doing my job for me?"

"Sarcasm isn't going to help," Dani hissed, literally right in TS’s face.

"Neither is overreacting," TS said.

If anything, that seemed to make Dani even angrier. His eyes were practically black, and for a moment, I was pretty sure he was going to hit TS.

"Do not," TS whispered, nose an inch from Dani's, "forget you're not the only one who has a bad history with vampires. We're in a school for God's sake, Danio. Think how I feel!" His tone sent a shiver up my spine.

Dani's shoulders slumped, and he shut his eyes. "Sorry. Just typhooning." Charlie put a hand on his shoulder, and Dani sighed heavily. I couldn't help but notice Charlie let his hand linger there.

"I know," TS said. "I'm sorry, too. I'm a bit on edge, seeing as I'm human right now."

Dani jerked his head up, eyes wide. "Oh god, Mariana's human, too."

TS made a sound like a dog whimpering and cursed. "Right," he said, looking back and forth between Dani and Charlie. "You armed, Dani?"

Dani's hand flashed. In one smooth motion, he tugged a knife out of his pocket and flipped it open. The blade was a good five inches long and jagged. "Just this."

"That'll do," TS said. Dani snapped it shut, and it vanished just as quickly as he had produced it. "Your room is closer, so that's where the three of us will go. With any luck, Mariana's already there. If you don't find her, come down to your room and check in."

"Wait, wait," Charlie said. "If one of us is alone, it should be me."

TS shook his head. "Much as I hate to admit it, I'll be useless until sunset. If this biter shows up, Jen and I might both need protection. Fire's better for that. You'll be fine on your own, right?"

Dani nodded. "At least until sunset."

"You've got five minutes to meet back with us," TS said.

"Got it." Dani pulled out his key and handed it to Charlie. "See you in five."

Charlie took the key, but grabbed Dani's wrist before he could pull away. "Dan," he said softly. His eyes had gone from flames to smoldering coals. "Be careful." Definitely more than a crush. I wondered if Dani knew.

"I'll be back in no time," Dani said.

TS, Charlie, and I hurried down the stairs to Dani and Mariana's room. Mariana was there studying.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"A vampire has been feeding on the ship," TS answered.

"What do we do?" Mariana gasped.

"Well, I'm getting Danio. If you're here, there's no reason for him to be out there," Charlie said.

He started for the door, but TS blocked his path. "He'll be here in less than five minutes. Nobody's leaving."

Charlie stormed over to the couch and sat down, eyes flaring. It reminded me of what he had said about fire elementals. I sat down on the bed by Mariana. She smiled, but I could tell she was worried. I still had dozens of unanswered questions, but Charlie looked too angry to ask, and from the way TS was pacing, I didn't think he was in the mood either. Mariana seemed like my best bet, but I had a feeling that asking her about vampires would only worry her more. After all, Dani was still out on the ship somewhere. Mariana must have been really worried about him.

"Mariana?" I went for a question that she could probably answer without getting more worked up. "Charlie said something earlier about... I'm not sure. Something about fire elementals and overreacting? He sort of freaked out and said he couldn't help it."

"Oh, yeah." I was glad I had asked; she knew exactly what I was talking about. "Fire elementals are sort of like fire," she said with a weak giggle. "Their emotions can just 'flare up,' if you will. They take speaking before you think to a whole new level. My friend Ember, she's a fire elemental, told me that sometimes she won't even realize that she's said something out loud until somebody reacts. We were out once, and some drunk jerk was getting flirty and kind of annoying, and she just slapped him across the face! No warning at all! She was so mortified after."

She half-heartedly laughed at the memory. Before I could ask anything else, someone knocked on the door. TS opened it. Thomas and Dani came in. Mariana jumped up and gave Dani a hug. Dani sat down on the arm of the couch with a sigh, while Mariana rejoined me. Thomas sagged into a chair. For a moment nobody spoke.

"Okay, Char," Thomas said. "What else do we know?"

Charlie told him the entire conversation we had had with Beth. I hadn't noticed bite marks on her neck like he had, but I shivered at the thought. As he spoke, it reminded me of my conversation with Carrie this morning. Had she been bitten too?

"That's it?" TS asked.

"Actually," I said, as Charlie nodded. Everyone turned to look at me. I swallowed nervously. "A girl in my class was sick yesterday. This morning she told me the doctor said it's a bug that's been going around since Panama. Ten people have had it."

"He's fed from ten people then," TS said. "Plus the girl this afternoon."

"And her roommate," Charlie said.

"LA History was cancelled because the professor was sick," Mariana added.

"And my friend Natalie was sick yesterday," I said. "I think it was the same symptoms."

"That sounds like a lot of people. Do you think there's more than one?" Charlie asked.

"It's possible," Thomas said.

"Here's what we do," TS said. "If we're lucky, he's catching a free ride and will get off tomorrow in Ecuador. He's leaving the bite, so he must not know we're here. Char, I want you in your room for the rest of the night. If it comes to a fight, I don't want him to know we've got a fire elemental on our side. I'm heading back to my room and making some calls. I'll see if I can get the authorities in Ecuador to search the docks and maybe the ship, too. Worst case, he stays, and we have a problem when we leave Ecuador." He paused and vigorously scratched his head. It was so dog-like I nearly laughed in spite of the situation. "Danio, I want you to go up to the Pool Deck and see if that Greek bloke is working the bar. If he is, I want you to find out if there are any new crewmembers that got on in Panama. If this biter stays through Ecuador, we need to be prepared."

"What if the biter sees me?" Dani asked.

"That's fine. I'm hoping he won't see a water elemental as a threat; he doesn't know what you're capable of. If he sees you, it might be enough to make him want to leave the ship quietly. I'd also like to see if you can figure out if there's a list somewhere of what cabins are occupied."

"Can't I just use the computer?" Mariana asked. They all turned to look at her. She sighed. "MES gave me full access. I can find the crew manifesto, the room list, everything. I can even see if any files have been added since we left Panama."

"You sure?" TS asked.

"Yes!" Mariana snapped. "And I can check all the student information, too."

"Right," TS said. "Danio, protect her while she does that. Forget your Greek man." He turned to me. "Jen, I know there's a lot going on, but we need to get this done before sunset. I need you to go back to your room and stay there."

"Can't you explain anything?" I demanded.

"We need to hurry," he said. "Vampires can only enter a room where someone sleeps if they're invited. Do not let anyone in. Got that?"

"I guess..."

Dani, Charlie, and Mariana got me to my room, and before I knew it, I was there alone. It didn't take long before I started to feel insane. I was tempted a dozen times to leave the room, find one of them, and demand some answers. I didn't. I may have been confused and in the dark, but I knew one thing: this was bad. Wasn't part of the MES job description protecting humans or something? I would have thought fighting vampires was something they did. Everyone seemed really worked up and freaked out. TS’s comment about bad history had me worried, too. This was obviously a really big deal. I hated to admit it, but I was scared. I ended up packing for Ecuador. When I was done, I still hadn't heard from them. I was checking my bag for the third time, when my cell phone rang. I almost had a heart attack.

"Hello?"

"Jen." Thomas.

"What the hell is going on?" I snapped. "I've been alone in my room for three freaking hours! Is anybody going to explain things?"

"I'm sorry, Jen," Thomas said. "I know you must be scared."

"Duh! Not to mention confused and pissed! You can't just —"

"Listen, are you packed for Ecuador?"

"Yeah. What else was I going to do for three hours?"

There was a pause, and Thomas said, "You might not be safe in your room."