I nearly dropped the phone as a chill ran up my spine. "What?"

"Your roommate could have invited the biter in already," Thomas said. "Get everything you need, stay on the phone with me, and run to Mariana and Danio's room. You're spending the night there."

"Are they back?"

"Yes."

Glad that I had already packed, I grabbed my bag. "Okay. What do I do?"

"Check the hall. If it's empty, run for their room and knock."

I sprinted down the hall and banged on the door. It opened almost immediately. Mariana pulled me in and slammed the door behind me.

"I'm in," I said.

"Good. Don't worry, everything will be okay." Thomas hung up.

For a moment, I just stood there. This was insane, and it was starting to get a bit terrifying. I really didn't like everyone acting worried. I had a feeling we really weren't equipped to deal with a vampire. Mariana sat on the bed, looking scared, and I sat down next to her. Dani sat on the couch, which still had a sheet from when Charlie slept there, flipping his knife around. He looked worried. When he glanced at me, I saw that his eyes were pale blue, but the way they churned reminded me of angry rapids.

"Jen," he said. "You doing okay?"

"I guess. I mean, you guys did sort of freak out and then ditch me for three hours."

Dani sighed. "I know... This is... not a good situation." He gave me a weak smile. "I'm sorry, we won't do that again, but we needed to get everything done before sunset."

"We got food, too," Mariana said.

I was so nervous I hadn't felt hungry, even though I had missed dinner. "Thanks."

"What are we going to do?" Mariana whispered. I glanced at her; she looked really worried.

Dani flipped his knife around again and tucked it away. "Don't worry. We'll take care of it."

"I still don't know what's going on," I admitted. "I've read vampire books and seen movies and stuff, but... is it really as bad as it seems?"

Dani sighed heavily. "It's... pretty bad. Honestly, it's the worst scenario I can think of."

"Didn't Thomas say MES people handle this sort of thing?"

"Well, yes. The problem is we're unprepared," Dani admitted. "MES typically sends out at least half a dozen agents when there's a vampire. They like to play it safe. On the other hand, we're lucky. We've got four highly-qualified, experienced agents. I'd say any two of us could take down a vampire together. And with the four of us, it should be no problem."

"But, there are five of you."

"I'm just an intern," Mariana said softly. "I wouldn't be much good anyway, even if I was an agent. There's nothing I can do out of the water."

"Nah, you'll be a great agent," Dani said. "You've got it in you. Water or no water."

Mariana flashed him an embarrassed smile. "Thanks."

"So, you can take care of it?" I asked.

Dani sighed. "I hope so. Still, this has caught us a bit off-guard. We'd be better prepared back home. Drought, we don't even have a stake."

"It's really that serious then?"

He nodded.

"Why? I mean..." I blushed. "I don't know anything about vampires."

Dani hummed thoughtfully. It was one of those lyrical ones, and I made a mental note to ask if it was some sort of language. "I suppose you don't. They're bad news. They're strong, and they're fast. And they're hard to kill. Extremely hard."

He'd mentioned stakes. "Do you really have to stake them? Like in the movies?"

Dani chuckled. "Yeah, like in the movies."

I tried to ask a better question. "Is that the only way to kill them?"

He shook his head. "Fire. Out of all of us, Charlie's got the best advantage, especially at night."

"You keep saying at night, but Charlie said they don't sleep during the day."

Dani laughed again. "You've seen way too many movies. True, they don't sleep, but they get weaker. If it comes to a fight, and the sun is up, we'd have a much better chance."

"Do we have to fight?" I asked. "I mean, all he's doing is drinking blood, right?"

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"He's breaking the law," Dani said.

"It's illegal to drink blood? What do vampires do then?"

Dani shook his head. "It's illegal to feed from someone without permission."

I sighed. I felt like an idiot for asking so many questions. "So, couldn't you just arrest him or something?"

"Maybe I should back up." Dani sighed and sat quietly for a few moments. "Vampires," he said at last, "are not born like the rest of us. They’re made. They didn't start out as vampires and probably never wanted to be turned in the first place. Turning someone is illegal too."

"Then why does it happen?"

"Who knows? People do strange things, sometimes," Dani said softly. "This guy is probably dangerous, and he knows he's breaking the law. If he realizes that there are magics on board who can turn him in... Well, he might not be so willing to go quietly."

"Didn't TS want him to see you?"

"Me, specifically. I'm a water elemental, we usually aren't much of a threat. If we're lucky, he saw me and decided to leave when we dock tomorrow. If he had seen me and tried to attack, he would've gotten a surprise. Since it was before sunset, I might even have taken him down."

"How?"

Dani grinned. "I'm not your average water. I study martial arts."

"Like tae kwon do?"

"Yeah, that's one of the many I've dabbled in."

Mariana giggled. "He's being modest. When he says 'dabbled' he means 'has a black belt.'"

Dani rolled his eyes fondly and turned back to me. "As I was saying, we don't want the vampire to know how many of us there are. If he feels too threatened, he might end up staying and trying to fight instead of running. And..." Dani sighed. "That could get ugly."

"You just said any two of you could beat him. And there are four of you."

"Just because we can, doesn't mean we will. It's not something we want to just dive in to. If it's a vampire, we don't want to take any unnecessary chances."

"You've said if it's a vampire a few times. Isn't it?" I asked.

"It could be a dhampir. If we're very, very lucky, it's just one dhampir and nothing else."

"What's a dhampir?"

Dani laughed. "God, you're like my niece. So many questions."

"I'm telling her you said that," Mariana said.

"Go ahead. I was talking about Catalina," Dani said.

"So, what's a dhampir?" I asked before they could start arguing.

"Vampires can only turn humans, both magic and non-magic. A magic who gets turned becomes a vampire, and a non-magic becomes a dhampir. Dhampirs drink blood and all that, but they don't have the speed or strength of a true vampire. I could take out a dhampir during the day with my eyes closed. You'd be able to at least hold one off until help came."

That sounded a lot better than a vampire. "Could it just be a dhampir?"

"Maybe," Dani said. "There's usually a vampire pulling the strings, when there's a dhampir in the picture." This time, he didn't wait for me to ask; he just went ahead and explained. "The ones who go out turning people have a nasty habit of going after non-magics. They're easier to manipulate, because they don't know anything about magic. It's useful for a vampire to have a dhampir around. A scapegoat, if you will. If, say, MES is after the vampire, then a dhampir or two in the way might be enough for the vampire to get away." He sighed. "Well, with any luck he'll get off in Ecuador, whatever he is." Dani stood and stretched. "Speaking of Ecuador, I think it's about time to get ready for bed. You and I have got a long swim tomorrow. And I imagine your trip leaves early, too, Jen."

"Yeah."

Mariana went into the bathroom, first. While I waited, I nibbled on the food they had been able to sneak out of the dining room. The phone rang, and Dani picked it up.

"Hello? Hi, Thomas." My jaw nearly dropped; he answered in a flawless impersonation of Mariana. "Everything's fine. Mm hmm... We will... Oh, hey, have I ever told you I think you're handsome?" I could hear Thomas yelling on the other end. Dani switched back to his normal voice without any visible effort. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just adding some levity... Well, what's the point of joking if it isn't at your expense?... Fair enough... No, I haven't... We're going to." Dani glanced my way, and I saw that his eyes were an angry blue. "Tom, we're going to tell... Yeah, well what about you?... Mm hm... Well, I'll be sure to let the kettle know you feel that way. How black?... I am being serious, Thomas," Dani snapped. "Get off my back, and I'll stay off yours." With that, he slammed the phone down. He let out an annoyed sounding hum.

"Dani?"

He sat down onto the couch. "Yeah?" He sounded wary, and I wondered if he thought I was going to ask about the phone call with Thomas.

"You hum a lot. Is it..." I hesitated. Suddenly "are you talking?" sounded like sort of a dumb question.

"Panthalassish," he said. "I'm sorry. I never explained that, did I? That's our language. Water elementals, I mean. Mermaids, too."

"So, when you're humming, you're actually talking?"

He chuckled, and his cheeks looked slightly blue. "More like mumbling to myself, really." He sounded embarrassed, and I realized that he was blushing.

"Oh." I laughed. It sounded really neat. "Can anyone learn it?"

"Never fluently. Panth is really complicated." He said the first part in an incredibly deep voice and effortlessly switched to a nearly ear-splitting high one. "You can't speak it properly without the right vocal chords." This time, he used both voices at the same time. It was like hearing two different people speak in perfect unison.

"Whoa! Is that how you impersonated Mariana earlier?"

He nodded. I heard a whistle and saw that Mariana had just stepped out of the bathroom.

Dani chuckled. "Sorry, didn't catch that."

"I said, ‘Stop showing off,’" she grumbled. Mariana turned to me and shrugged. "I can't speak it very well when I’m human."

Dani pursed his lips like he was whistling, but didn't make a sound. Mariana glared at him.

"Just because I can't hear you, doesn't mean I can't guess what you said." They both laughed, and Mariana climbed into bed. "Goodnight, Jen."

"Goodnight," I said.

"I'll be quick in the bathroom. Then, you can take all the time you like," Dani said to me.

I sat on the couch while I waited for him. It wasn't the most comfortable couch, but it would do for the night. True to his word, Dani only took a few minutes. He came out and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Doing okay?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Well, bathroom is all yours. You get the bed, by the way, when you come out."

"Oh! No, I don't want to kick you out of your bed!"

Dani laughed. "It's fine. I'm certainly not going to make you sleep on the couch."

I started for the bathroom and heard Mariana call Dani's name.

"Hm?"

I paused by the bathroom door and saw him sit down on the edge of the bed next to her.

"What if the vampire doesn't leave?" she whispered. "What if he's still here when we leave Ecuador?"

"Then we'll deal with it."

"What if he tries to feed from me?" I could hear the fear in her voice.

"He won't."

"But —"

Dani cut her off. "He won't. Don't worry. You know I won't let anything happen to you." He stroked her hair, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep, calf."

"Don't call me that," she muttered.

I didn't want to keep spying on a private moment, so I hurried into the bathroom. As excited as I was about going to Ecuador, I couldn't help but worry about the vampire. I had just finished brushing my teeth when I heard someone knock on the door to the room. I froze. Did vampires knock?