Nathaniel cried out in pain and dropped the stake! A knife had stabbed completely through his wrist. Nathaniel jumped to his feet and dodged Dani's stake by a fraction of an inch. He backed away, blood dripping from his wrist. He sagged a little to one side. Whatever Thomas had done to his knee hadn't healed yet. Nathaniel curled back his upper lip and snarled in fury. He looked around at all of us, and I knew he was worried about his odds. Dani stood protectively over Thomas, stake ready.

"What's wrong?" he growled. "Not having fun, anymore?" He flipped out his second knife. "Come on, you piece of shit. Show me what you've got."

And then Nathaniel turned and bolted. Even though his leg was injured, he moved so fast he was a blur. I thought for sure that Dani would chase him, and he looked like he was seriously considering it. Then, Nathaniel vaulted over the railing and down onto Deck Four. Dani cursed and dropped to his knees by Thomas. My legs felt almost too weak to hold me up. I just wanted to sink to the ground and stay there. I felt an almost overwhelming urge to sob and couldn't tell if it was from fear or relief. Instead, I rushed over to Thomas and Dani. It was even worse up close. Thomas’ face was almost gray, and his eyes were squeezed tight. He looked like he was in terrible pain. The awful sound of his ragged breathing was all I could hear. Dani ripped open Thomas’ shirt, and I clapped a hand over my mouth in horror. There was blood everywhere.

"Oh my God, is he okay?" Mariana cried. I turned and saw, to my relief, that she looked unhurt. She rushed across the deck toward us, dripping wet.

Dani barely glanced at her. Instead, he whistled, and Mariana turned and ran to TS, instead. Dani started cleaning blood out of Thomas’ wound. I got a good, sickening look at the huge hole in Thomas’ stomach. It was only clean for a second, before it started filling with blood again. Without hesitating, Dani stuck his fingers a good two or three inches into the wound. I nearly threw up from the sight and had to turn away.

"Man, he got you good," Dani said softly. He held his hand out in front of Thomas’ face. "Let me have some of that healing stuff." Thomas spat into his hand, and Dani put his fingers back in the wound. "Char!"

A moment later, Charlie sagged down to the deck next to us. It looked like the bleeding had stopped, but a huge bruise had spread across his face. His nose looked broken. Dani glanced in his direction, then did a double-take.

"That bastard."

"I'm alright," Charlie said.

Dani nodded and said, "Can you get this?"

"Yeah." Charlie slid his fingers into the wound, and Dani pulled his out. "This is going to hurt. Sorry, Thomas."

I wasn't sure what he meant, but suddenly Thomas stiffened and gasped in pain. Dani grabbed his hand and held it. I noticed that Dani's burned arm looked much better. It was already scarred and looked more like weeks old instead of just minutes. His dip in the ocean had sped up the healing. At least somebody was recovering.

"This won't take long," he said. "Get that one, too, Char."

Thomas gasped again. Then, to my horror, I smelled burning flesh.

"You don't have to cauterize it," Thomas gasped. His voice was weak and strained. "It'll stop bleeding on its own."

"Not fast enough," Dani said. "You've already lost a lot of blood. Right here," he added to Charlie. He turned and looked over his shoulder. "Mariana! How's he doing?"

Mariana kneeled next to TS. It looked like she was petting him. "I think he'll be okay!"

"I'll check on him," Charlie said. He went and sat down by TS and Mariana.

"Wow, look at all that blood!" Mark had joined us. He inched closer, staring at Thomas in fascination.

"Get back," Dani snapped. "You're close enough."

"I just wanna see," Mark said, taking another step.

Dani actually picked up his knife with his free hand. "I said you're close enough. Go sit on the stairs over there."

"But-"

"That was an order, not a suggestion!" I could see a touch of black splashing in Dani's eyes.

"Hey! You can't just-"

"Mark!" Mariana called. She stood and walked toward us. "Come help me throw the body overboard."

It looked like Mark practically had to force himself to turn away, but he went over to her.

"Go easy on Mark," Thomas said weakly. "He can't help it right now."

"I know," Dani said softly. "I just don't want to take any chances." He laughed, a hollow attempt at his usual chuckle. "Considering that I'm one drop away from typhooning, I think I'm doing pretty well."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I'll be alright. Go help Tethys."

Dani patted his shoulder. "I'll take care of him, Tom." He pulled off his shirt, balled it up, and pressed it against Thomas’ stomach. Then, he took my hand and held it firmly against the shirt. "Put pressure on it, okay?"

I nodded. Now that his shirt was off, I could see a huge bruise on his shoulder, where the ship's railing had hit him. I was surprised it hadn't been broken, if not at least dislocated. Then again, the water had healed his burned arm. His shoulder must have been much worse before he dove into the ocean.

"And hold this." He grabbed my other hand and put Thomas’ hand in it. Then he got up and hurried over to TS.

"Are you okay?" I asked. It was lame, but I couldn't think of anything better.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Thomas gave my hand what was meant to be a reassuring squeeze, but his grip was so weak that it only worried me more.

"Do you need blood?"

Even with how hurt he was, he looked reluctant. "Yes," he whispered, not meeting my eyes.

"Now?"

"When we get inside." He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes.

Dani returned and knelt down. "Let's go." He slid an arm around Thomas’ back and helped him sit up. He started to put his other arm under Thomas’ knees.

"Don't you dare pick me up like that," Thomas grumbled.

Dani chuckled. "I have a feeling you'll be just fine."

He pulled Thomas’ arm over his shoulders, and the two of them slowly stood. Thomas clearly tried to keep from crying out in pain. He leaned heavily against Dani, and I quickly tucked myself under his other arm. We slowly started for the stairs. Going up them seemed to take forever. At last, we reached the top.

Dani cursed. "We still have to get rid of the..." he trailed off." Jen, did you stake the dhampir?"

I looked across the deck. The dhampir was lying on the deck with a stake in his chest. He was clearly dead.

"No," I said.

Dani frowned in concern. "Well, we have to take care of the bodies. Wait here."

He helped Thomas rest his weight half on me and half on the railing. He went over to the dhampir and started dragging him to the side of the ship. Mark hurried over and helped. Together, they threw the dhampir over the side and went over to the female vampire. I heard a soft whine and looked over at TS. He was human and leaning heavily on Mariana and Charlie. In addition to shattering his leg, it looked like the vampire had hit him in the face. One eye was nearly swollen shut, and that entire side of his face was black and blue. Dani returned, and we slowly made our way inside and to the room.

Once we were inside, TS turned back into a wolf, staggered to the nearest bed, and collapsed to the floor. Dani and I helped Thomas onto the same bed, and he lay back with a pained sigh. For a long moment nobody spoke.

"How is it," TS said, "that we killed two vampires and a dhampir, but—"

"Three vampires and two dhampirs," Dani corrected grimly.

"Bloody hell, that's even worse. Three vampires and two dhampirs, and we're right back where we started! There's still a vampire who wants to kill us roaming the ship!"

"There's nothing we can do, tonight," Charlie said. "We all need to rest, and we'll figure things out in the morning."

"Right," TS said. He put his chin down on his paws and sighed heavily. "We'll work it out in the morning."

I sat down on the bed, still keeping pressure on Thomas’ wound. I pushed my hair back off my neck. "How, um..."

"Give me your wrist," he said.

"Okay." I held my wrist out, and he gently took my hand and started licking my wrist. I wondered if licking was better than just spitting. Or maybe he wanted to lick me. I couldn't decide if that was nice or just gross. After a few licks, his fangs slid down, and he sank them into my wrist. It looked like it should have hurt like hell, but it just felt like fingers pushing down on my skin. A moment later, his grip on my hand tightened, and he made a sound somewhere between a relieved sigh and a hungry whimper. He had needed blood badly. I wondered if I should have insisted he drink sooner. I was pretty sure I could actually see the tension and pain leaving his face as he fed. But it was different being able to watch him doing it. I could actually see a bit of blood oozing out of where his fangs pierced my skin. After a moment, I felt a little nauseous watching and looked away.

Mariana sat on the other bed, looking sort of overwhelmed. Mark was next to her, watching Thomas with fascination. I felt uncomfortable. Charlie sat on the table, while Dani tenderly wiped the blood off his face and examined his nose.

"I'm sorry we don't have any wood," Dani said softly.

"I'll be alright. There's paper in the other room. Might as well grab it, now." Charlie got up and went into the living room.

"You should be careful there, Dani. He'll think you're coming on to him," Mark said.

Dani gave him a look of pure disgust. "Excuse me?" As he turned, I spotted what looked like a small tattoo over his heart, but couldn't make it out.

Mark laughed weakly. "I'm just joking around." He nodded his head at the door to the living room. "We were roommates. I'm pretty sure that he's... you know."

Dani turned to Mark and crossed his arms over his chest. It gave me a clear view of his tattoo, and I realized that it was a simple "CS." For a fraction of a second, I thought it was sweet. Then, the sight of it reminded me that Mark must have still thought Dani and Mariana were married. "No, I don't know," Dani growled, eyes churning.

"Danio," TS said.

"No, I'm curious. What is he, Mark?" Dani lowered his voice threateningly. "And choose your words very carefully."

"God, you really don't like me, do you?" Mark said.

"Attacking my boyfriend wasn't the best way to get on my good side!"

"Your..." Mark's jaw dropped. "I thought you were with the hot chick!"

I glanced at Mariana, who looked torn between being disgusted and flattered. Thankfully, Charlie picked that moment to hurry out of the other room. He quickly stepped between Dani and Mark. He said something softly to Dani. Mark looked stunned.

"Mark, let's go talk," Charlie said. The two of them went into the living room and shut the door.

Dani still looked irritated. He walked over and sat down on the bed next to me with a sigh.

"I am in such a shitty mood," he groaned. "You doing okay, Jen?"

"Yeah."

I felt a slight tug on my wrist and looked down. Thomas was done. I winced at the sight of blood welling up in the two punctures in my wrist, but couldn't feel it. He gently licked the wound. He lied when he said he didn't taste my blood, before. There wasn't much, but he had just licked up some, and he must have been able to taste it. I was sure my neck had bled a bit, too.

"Thank you," Thomas said. It may have been my imagination, but his voice sounded stronger.

"Let me know if you need more."

He didn't let go of my hand, but pulled it away from his mouth and rested it on his chest. I could feel the strange rhythm of his hearts beating. I couldn't tell if they seemed weaker or slower. I felt myself blushing and turned away. Dani caught my eye. Even though he still looked close to snapping, he managed a small smirk. I blushed more.

Then Dani sighed. "Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"I know we're dealing with things tomorrow, but I'm not sure if this can wait." He sounded worried.