Everyone was half asleep on the long bus ride to the airport. I dozed on and off, but tried to stay awake to watch the scenery I had missed on the dark ride when we had arrived. I had the letter from Jon in my pocket and peeked at it several times; I still couldn't quite believe it. I slept for most of the flight back, as well. Late in the afternoon, we got on the bus to go from the airport to the ship. As we rolled into the city, I looked out of the window at the colorful buildings and admired the coastline. The city was so mountainous that I never knew what the view would look like next. One moment, it was ocean with houses scattered precariously on the cliffs. Then, all of the houses were neatly in a row right next to the bus. We paused on a corner, and I looked down the steep cliff that sloped away from the road. I had a perfect view of a street down below us.

The vampire.

My breath caught in my throat, as I stared at him in horror. He was casually walking down the street. I looked frantically around the bus and spotted Charlie's fiery hair several rows away. And then the bus started moving again. I leaned back against my seat and tried to breathe evenly; looking out of the window had lost its appeal. It only took a couple of minutes before the bus stopped by the entrance to the dock. I was relieved, until I realized how close to the ship the vampire still was. It seemed to take forever to get off the bus, grab my suitcase, and find Charlie.

"How are—" he began.

"Charlie, I saw him!" I lowered my voice so nobody else would hear. "The vampire!"

Charlie's eyes flared bright red and then dimmed to worried coals. "Where?"

"Back there, when the bus stopped a few minutes ago. He wasn't that far away."

"Ashes." He looked in the direction the bus had come. "Straight back to the ship, then. You ready?"

I nodded. The two of us hurried down the sidewalk and soon boarded the ship. We stopped by my room, and I quickly got some clean clothes and my textbooks. Then, we went straight to Charlie’s. It felt like I didn’t breathe until we were safely inside. Dani was sprawled on one of the beds surrounded by books and papers.

"Hey," he said as he scribbled something.

"Hey," Charlie said.

Dani looked up and frowned in concern. "Everything okay?"

For a moment, I was surprised that Dani could already tell something was wrong, but realized that it wasn't that impressive considering they'd been dating for twenty-four years.

"The biter's in the city," Charlie said.

Dani cursed and got up. He tossed his notebook onto the bed and hugged Charlie.

"You sure it was him?" he asked, kissing Charlie on the top of the head.

"Jen saw him. Not very far from here."

Dani hummed under his breath. It sounded melodic, but I had a feeling it translated to something vulgar.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked.

"Tom and TS are in some office getting the report on our biter. Although, I suspect we know more than they do," Dani added grimly. "And Mariana is either still on the plane from Easter Island or on the way to the port." He frowned, and his eyes lightened and grayed. "I really don't like the idea of her on her own, now that I know the biter is so close to us."

"When are Tom and TS getting back?" Charlie asked.

"Not sure. In fact, I'm not entirely sure where they are, which I don't like, considering that they don't know that the biter is roaming the streets as we speak."

"We could call them and tell them," I suggested.

Dani and Charlie exchanged a look, and to my surprise, they both chuckled. Charlie handed his cell phone to Dani, who went out onto the balcony.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Thanks for that," Charlie said to me, still looking rather amused.

"You weren't going to call them?"

He actually blushed a little. "Despite the fact that I've spent the past few days trying to convince you that age doesn't matter... Well, you do have to remember that I'm sixty. Using a cell phone every time I need to get in touch with somebody still isn't my first instinct. Back when I was your age," he said with a grin, "I had to walk fifty miles to school barefoot, and we didn't have cell phones. That being said, don't get the wrong idea," he added quickly. "I'm pretty tech savvy. I can text as fast as your average college student, and I'm pretty handy with computers and such, in general. I'm just taking a bit of time to adjust to the convenience."

I laughed. "So, if I ever need help with my computer, I should call you?"

Dani walked back in. "If you do, he'll just give me the phone. If I can't fix it, it can't be fixed."

"Good with computers?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Water elementals pick up everything easily. It's rather irritating, sometimes."

Dani tossed Charlie his cell phone and laughed. "Don't complain, it makes your life easier."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to unpack," Charlie said. He went into the little living room where our suitcases were. "What were you working on?" he called.

"Big essay for my Latin American Politics class." Dani went over to the bed and picked his notebook up.

"The one that's due tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

I heard Charlie laugh from the other room. Dani looked at the bed for a moment, grabbed his textbook, and went back out on the balcony. I couldn't resist following partway. It was weird to think that he and Charlie had been dating for longer than I'd been alive.

Dani dropped his things on the table, but instead of sitting down, he leaned against the railing and looked out over the water. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said, assuming he was talking to me. "How was skiing?"

"Fun." He looked over his shoulder at me with a wry grin. "Snowy. How was Atacama?"

I matched his grin and joined him by the railing. "Fun. Dry."

He laughed and ruffled my hair. "I find deserts usually are. Well, the dry part anyway."

"It was fun, too. Although skiing in the Andes would have been neat. I can ski at home, though."

"I can too. But Char was set on the desert, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to go be reckless. Plus, this was the only port where Tom, TS, and I all wanted the same trip."

"I honestly couldn't tell if you and Thomas get along," I admitted. Even if I didn't say anything, Charlie would probably tell him.

Dani laughed. "Can't imagine what gave you that impression."

I laughed, too. "But Charlie said you and Thomas are really close."

He nodded. "I love him like my own brother. Don't tell him I said that." Despite the fact he chuckled as he spoke, his eyes were just a little grayer than usual.

"I'm sure he knows."

"Maybe," Dani said with a smirk. "Tom isn't the most observant guy."

"Even if he doesn't, I bet he feels the same way about you."

"Oh, I know he does," Dani said. He looked down at the water and spoke again after a long moment. "Tom's one of the very few people I'd trust with my life, no questions asked. He's a damn good friend." Dani's eyes suddenly splashed from gray to bright blue, and he arched an eyebrow at me. "He's a good catch too."

He didn't mean... No. "What?"

Dani grinned. "Like I said, he's not observant." His grin widened. "But I am."

I felt myself blushing, as Dani laughed. "It's not... I mean..." Even if I protested, Dani had already figured it out. I knew he wouldn't believe me if I said he was wrong. "It wouldn't work."

"Why not?"

I glared, hoping he'd withdraw the question. Instead, he looked at me expectantly. I sighed. "Well... we're too different."

Dani pointed at himself. "Water elemental." He pointed into the room. "Fire elemental. Try again."

"He's a vampire?"

Dani shrugged. "There are a lot of people in the world who would consider that a valid reason, and I know you aren't one of them."

I was tempted to argue that I had started crushing on Thomas before I knew he was a vampire, but Dani was right; finding out hadn't changed my mind. But there was one real problem. "He's older than me."

"So?"

I looked at Dani incredulously. "He's forty years older than me!"

"So?"

"Th-that's a huge difference!"

Dani shrugged. "Honestly thirty, maybe forty years is about average."

“Are you serious?"

He grinned and ruffled my hair. "We gotta get you thinking like a magic. A few decades here and there don't matter. Hey, C!" Charlie came over to the door. "What's the average age difference for a couple?"

"Uh... thirty years, maybe? Thirty-five?"

"See?" Dani said turning back to me. "Honestly, you'd be lucky to fall in love with someone within a decade of your age."

"I wouldn't say lucky," Charlie said. "That implies it matters."

"Easy for you to say! You two aren't..." I trailed off. I assumed that if Charlie and Thomas were both in their early sixties that Dani would be, too. "How far apart are you two?"

"Couple of decades," Dani said.

At the same moment Charlie said, "Twenty-two years."

Dani chuckled and elbowed him. "To be exact."

I looked from one to the other. Once again, the fact magics, we, didn't age was a little hard to take in. Neither looked any older than me, but one of them was twenty-two years older than the other. I studied them and honestly couldn't tell who it was. Then, I did a little more math and my heart skipped a beat. If Charlie was sixty, then Dani had to be either forty or...

"Dani? How old are you?"