"Good evening," he said with a positively evil smirk. "May I come in?"

"No!" Mariana and I said boldly.

His smile widened, and he gave Laurie a little shake. "Let me rephrase that. If you don't invite me in, right now, then I'll turn her."

I swallowed nervously. He wasn't bluffing.

Mark couldn't stick his head into the room to see what was happening. "What's going on?"

The biter sniffed and then snarled. "Damn him! I told him that I'm..." He shook his head and growled. "Let me in."

"No."

"Then I guess I'll just kill her instead of turning her." He turned Laurie in his arms, and his fangs snapped out.

"No!" I cried.

He paused, fangs a fraction of an inch from her neck. "Invite me in. You have five seconds. Then, I kill her, and I go find another. And then I'll be back. And if you still refuse to let me in, you'll have two dead bodies by your door." His smile widened. "I'll kill everyone on the ship if I have to."

My mind raced. Mariana and I had both slept in this room. If we let him in, we'd have a chance to uninvite him. If he came in with Laurie, she'd be safe, too. But it was a big risk. I didn't know what to do. If we let him in, there was no telling what he'd do. He could kill me, Mariana, and Laurie. If we didn't, he'd kill Laurie and maybe more people. Mariana and I looked at each other in horror.

"Five, four, three..." the vampire snarled.

"Fine!" Mariana cried. She looked at me helplessly. "Jen, I don't think we have a choice."

"No," I said weakly. "We don't."

Mariana took a deep breath and whispered, "Come in."

The vampire smiled and took a step forward. I had hoped he'd come inside, drop Laurie, and give us a chance to uninvite him. Instead, he threw Laurie at us! Mariana and I both cried out as we were knocked backward. We landed with Laurie on top of us. Before we could recover, the biter rushed forward and grabbed Mariana. He stepped away, hand clamped over her mouth.

"If you uninvite me, I'll take her with me," he promised.

He grabbed Laurie by the hair and dragged her farther into the room. I watched, feeling stupid, helpless, and confused. What should we have done? We couldn't have let him kill Laurie, but there had to have been a better option than letting him in. He threw Laurie into the adjoining room. Mark looked shocked, but caught her before she hit the ground. Then, to my horror, the biter pulled out a rope and lashed Mariana's hands behind her back. He stuffed something into her mouth as a makeshift gag and tied it in place.

"Now," he said to me, looking satisfied, "we can pick up where we left off."

He dropped Mariana and lunged at me. I didn't have time to even uninvite him, much less raise my wand. In an instant, I was flat on my bed with him on top of me, one hand clamped over my mouth. He knocked my wand out of my hand and pinned my wrists down. Mark was freaking out in the other room and pacing frantically. I tried to kick the biter, and he loosened his grip enough for me to pull my mouth away from his hand. Mariana was between him and the door. If I uninvited him, there was still a chance he could grab Mariana on the way out.

"Mark! Come in!" I screamed. The biter was about to feed from me, and probably kill me, anyway. If Mark wouldn't help, he certainly wouldn't make things worse.

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"Bitch!" the biter spat. He slapped me across the face so hard my ears rang. I was so dazed from the blow, I hardly noticed when Mark flew into the room and tackled him.

I tried to open my mouth to uninvite the biter and gasped when pain shot through my jaw. Then, it was too late. The biter easily overpowered Mark and slammed him into the wall. Mark cried out in pain and hit the ground, unmoving. Then, the biter was on me again.

"Think you're clever, do you?" he snarled. "You'll pay for that, stupid girl."

He grabbed my chin, holding my mouth shut, and forced my head to the side to expose my neck. I shut my eyes, hoping it would be over, soon. He hissed furiously and grabbed me. He yanked me to my feet and held me, one arm pinning me to his chest and the other hand over my mouth. In the doorway, Thomas, TS, and Charlie inched forward.

"Any closer, and I'll kill her," the biter snarled.

Thomas raised his stake, but didn't take another step. TS bared his teeth and growled, and small fireballs erupted in Charlie's hands. My heart leapt with fear. Not because the biter had me, I knew that somehow they'd protect me, but where was Dani?

"Let her go," Thomas hissed. His fangs were extended, and this time, they looked more intimidating than neat.

The biter only laughed. He tightened his grip on me. "Move aside. If you let me leave safely, I might release her."

They all glanced at each other, and I knew as well as they did that he was lying. We'd hurt him before, and he wanted revenge. Not to mention, I was the only witch on the ship, and he wanted my blood. This was his best chance.

TS growled and took a single step forward. Charlie's fireballs flared, and Thomas tensed like he was ready to lunge.

"I said, stay where you-" The biter's command turned into a gasp of pain and his entire body went rigid.

His grip loosened, and I jerked forward and away from him. I spun around just in time to see Dani vault over the edge of our balcony and dash into the room. He raised a stake and brought it down into the biter's back. The biter screamed in pain, as blood splattered everywhere. He fell to the ground, and I spotted a knife embedded in his back. Dani snarled something in Greek before driving the stake the rest of the way in. Then hands grabbed my shoulders, and I nearly screamed before realizing it was Thomas.

He hugged me so tightly it almost hurt. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah."

He turned me to face him and almost tenderly brushed my hair out of my face. "You're sure?"

I nodded. As Thomas stared into my eyes, I had the absurd feeling that he was about to kiss me. Light flared to my left, and I saw that Charlie had burned through the ropes holding Mariana. She staggered to her feet, pale as a ghost. Dani hugged her and sighed heavily. His eyes slowly swirled from black to gray, and he sagged against Charlie. He muttered something I couldn't hear.

Thomas did. "Forget that," he said. "It's over, and everyone's okay." He turned to Mariana and smiled. "That was quick thinking, using your cell phone."

Mariana blushed. "I landed on it when he dropped me, and I realized I could reach it."

I realized that Mark was still where he had fallen. "Is Mark okay?" I gasped.

TS walked over and sniffed him. "Still alive. Looks like just a bad fall. Why is he in here?"

"He tried to help us," Mariana said. "I thought he was an idiot, but maybe he's not so bad."

Thomas bent and scooped up Laurie. "Laurie's fine too. Looks like he just sedated her." He leaned down and sniffed her neck, so close that his nose brushed her skin. I felt a little pang of jealousy as he did. He adjusted his grip on her and turned to me. "I think it's wearing off. Let's get her back to your room before she wakes up."

TS turned back into a human and grabbed Thomas’ discarded stake. "Just in case," he said, handing it to Thomas. Thomas tucked it back into his waistband, and I retrieved my wand.

"Let's go," I said.

We took the outside stairs again, just to be fast, and made it safely to my room. Thomas carefully tucked Laurie into bed, and I felt another ridiculous stab of jealously.

Thomas sighed. "Well, you're probably safe in here, now. But, I'd like to be careful for one more night. We can get the ship searched in Peru. It's been useless so far, but there's no reason to be careless now."

"Yeah."

"Need anything?"

I shook my head. "I'm ready to go back when you are."

Thomas started for the door, then abruptly whirled around, and hugged me. "I was worried about you. When Mariana called and didn't say anything..." He looked at me for a moment and then smiled. "Come on, then."

We headed out and up the stairs. A guy in a Semester Aboard shirt was leaning against the rails near the top of the stairs. Thomas froze before we reached the top. The guy turned and looked at us with a smile.

"Good evening," he said pleasantly. "You're both looking well."

Thomas put a protective arm in front of me and moved down a step.

The guy was blonde and could have been handsome, but there was something about his expression that gave me the creeps. He sighed and shook his head. "I did tell Hugh not to be hasty, but no, he was out for blood. I suppose you staked him? A pity."

Thomas pulled out his stake, and the blonde laughed. "Nathaniel I presume?"