Another hour passed. The professors decided that we needed sleep and turned off the lights. It was very strange looking around with night vision and knowing that nobody else could see. Bright pinpoints of light, cell phones, appeared, as people tried to keep reading or playing cards. It was almost comical watching people stumbling around, as they tried to find a place to lie down. Dani and I were in a corner near the door. I was getting tired and was sure that he was, too, but neither of us slept. The engines still weren't back online, and the ship rocked so much I couldn't believe I wasn't sick. I was glad I had taken that potion. After the third hour went by, I started to fidget.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just nervous sitting here like this."

"Look on the bright side, after three hours, I highly doubt that the ship is in danger of sinking, anymore."

That did cheer me up a little. "That's true."

Not long after our conversation, a crewmember came over and sat down near us. "We've almost got things sorted out. Are you both alright?"

We both nodded. I studied her nervously; she looked a bit young to be a crewmember. In fact, she looked like she was in her early twenties.

She held out her hand. "I'm Sandra."

"Jen," I said, shaking her hand. A vampire wouldn't be this friendly, right?

Sandra looked at Dani and smiled. "And you are?"

"Dani. Nice to—" He stopped mid-sentence and pulled his hand back before she could shake it. "Well, shit."

Sandra laughed. "That was impressive. What gave me away?"

She was a vampire. Or maybe, if we were lucky, a dhampir. Dani opened his mouth to answer, then his eyes widened in shock. "Oh, you clever bitch." He adjusted how he was sitting and put himself between Sandra and me.

She laughed, and my breath caught in shock. She had fangs, long ones. In fact, too long to be a dhampir. Then, I realized what Dani must have; we hadn't slept in here yet. We couldn't uninvite her.

"Now," Sandra said with a smug grin, "let's go for a walk."

"We'll stay here, thanks," Dani said.

"I insist."

"If you try to make either of us go with you, we'll cause a commotion. And I'm sure you don't want all of these people to wake up."

Sandra considered it with a frown. Then, my heart sank, as she smiled. "Did you realize that every single person on this ship has just been locked out of the rooms they've claimed? Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to barricade those doors and kill everyone in here? Or we could turn everyone on the ship and then see what hundreds of hungry dhampirs are capable of. It would be very entertaining. Or you come with me, right now, and don't cause a fuss."

I had no idea how I had thought of her as friendly before. Her cheerful smile was too sadistic and cruel to ever mistake for friendly. Dani and I looked at each other hopelessly. Then, Dani slowly got to his feet. I started to stand, but he held his hand out.

"Stay put."

"What?" I asked. Sandra echoed my question.

"I'm going, and she's staying," Dani said, jerking his head in my direction.

"Both of you," Sandra snarled, "or everyone."

Seeing no other choice, I stood. We started walking toward one of the doors.

"If either of you calls attention to us, I'll still kill everyone in here," Sandra promised.

The two of us grimly followed her across the room. For a moment, I thought that the professor by the door would stop us, but Sandra just smiled sweetly.

"Their room’s flooded. We're making sure nothing was damaged," she told the professor.

Disappointment rushed through me, as the professor stepped aside. She flashed us a sympathetic smile and waved us on. Sandra led us up a stairway to Deck Seven. As we walked up, Dani nudged me with his elbow.

"Hey, don't look so worried," he whispered. "I'll protect you, okay?"

"Okay."

He gave my hair a weak fluff and continued up the stairs ahead of me. When we got to the top, Sandra turned to a door that led outside.

"Go." She opened the door and gestured for us to go out.

Dani yanked the door out of her hand and let it swing shut. "Changed my mind," he said with a smirk.

My first thought was that Dani had snapped. He'd been on edge all day, and this was exactly the sort of situation where I'd expect him to typhoon. But except for a couple of black splashes in his eyes, he looked perfectly calm.

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Sandra curled back her upper lip and hissed at him. She had to stand on her tiptoes to look him in the eye, but she did. "I suggest you cooperate," she snarled in his face.

Then, I realized that Dani was deliberately provoking her. Sandra was so distracted by trying to stare him down that she didn't see him pull out a stake. She never even saw it until he'd already started slamming it into her chest. But she was just a little too fast. I couldn't believe it. Somehow, she'd seen the stake with just a fraction of a second left to dodge. The stake must have gone a good inch or two into her chest, but she caught Dani's wrist with her hands and struggled to keep him from driving it farther in.

"Jen, run!" Dani yelled.

For a moment, I hesitated. I couldn't leave him alone with a vampire, even though I knew there was nothing I could do. Then, I realized that if I could get back down to Deck Six, I could make it to the dining hall and find Charlie. If nothing else, I could hide long enough to call Thomas. I turned and raced down the stairs as fast as I could. I hit the landing so fast that I had to grab the railing and swing myself around to change direction. As I turned, I glanced back up the stairs. I shouldn't have. I looked just in time to see Sandra punch Dani right in the stomach. He was on his hands and knees in an instant, coughing and gasping in pain. Sandra yanked the stake out of her chest with a wince and tossed it onto the floor. Then, she turned to me and smiled sweetly.

"Come back," she said.

Dani looked at me, eyes gray with pain, and shook his head. I hesitated. There was nothing I could do to fight Sandra. I couldn't do anything more than throw a few sparks at her. But I also couldn't outrun her. I looked desperately down into the halls of Deck Six. There was nowhere safe I could go before Sandra would catch up to me.

"Now," Sandra snarled.

There was something I could do! I couldn't fight her, and I couldn't run, but I could stall! Sooner or later, Thomas would try to get in touch with us, again. If neither of us answered our phones, he'd have to assume the worst. He and the others would come looking for us. I just had to try and stall Sandra without letting her realize what I was up to. I stayed on the landing and glanced again at Deck Six, partially to fool her into thinking I was still considering running and partially out of the silly hope that I'd see someone coming to help.

"If I have to come get you, it isn't going to be pretty," Sandra promised. Suddenly, she giggled. It was a cruel, hollow sound that made me shiver. She was enjoying this. "Oh my," she said. "I must have hit you harder than I thought."

Dani was still coughing, and I gasped in shock as I realized that every painful sounding heave spattered the carpet with blood. And there was a lot of blood. Sandra's punch hadn't just knocked the wind out of him. It had really hurt him. Charlie's voice echoed in my head, Dani's got an old abdominal injury that never healed. It still bothers him sometimes. Horror filled me. Charlie had made it sound like Dani's stomach was prone to hurting for no good reason. If it was that debilitating to begin with, I couldn't imagine how much damage a direct punch, especially from a vampire, would do.

Sandra looked back at me. "If you make me wait any longer, I'll kill him. Then, I'll drag you back up here, and you'll wish you'd never run."

No choice. And no time left to stall. I climbed the stairs as slowly as I dared. The fact I was making my way back seemed enough to satisfy Sandra. I took my time, praying with every step that I'd be able to stall long enough for help to come. Every second I could gain us was precious. All too soon, I stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Now then, we can do this the easy way or we can continue doing it the painful way," Sandra said. "Get up."

Dani didn't seem in any hurry to stand. Sandra snarled in annoyance, grabbed him by the shoulder, and hauled him to his feet. Dani gasped in pain, but gritted his teeth and stayed standing.

"I hope we plan to be more cooperative, now," Sandra said. She wrinkled her nose and glared at Dani. "Your blood smells absolutely disgusting." She turned to me and sniffed. "Yours, on the other hand, smells lovely. Even when you aren't bleeding." I took a step back in fear, as she took one toward me. "I don't think Nathaniel will mind if I have a little taste."

"Hey!"

The moment Sandra turned to look at Dani, he spat a mouthful of blood directly into her face. My jaw dropped in disbelief, and I couldn't tell which of us it had shocked more. Sandra recoiled with a cry and wiped some of the blood away. She stared at the streak of blue on her fingers, clearly unable to believe what had just happened.

"How does it smell now, bitch?"

Sandra answered Dani by backhanding him across the face. She hit him so hard she knocked him completely off of his feet. I dropped to the ground next to him. I was terrified of what Sandra would do to us and even more frightened once she had mentioned Nathaniel. But the guilt I felt was almost as bad as the fear. Dani had spit on her to distract her from me.

"Are you okay?" I asked. I felt so helpless I wanted to cry.

Dani pushed himself up onto one elbow and wiped a trickle of blood off of his chin. Sandra's blow had split his lower lip, and it looked like a nasty bruise was already forming. The furious black waves in his eyes churned to worried gray ones. "You should have run and left me."

He had a good point, but I had one too. "You wouldn't have left me."

"That's because I'm an idiot," he said with a sad smile. "If you get another chance, you take it. Don't worry about me."

I glanced at Sandra. "She said she'd kill you," I whispered. Another surge of hopelessness and fear made me shiver.

"It would've been worth it if you were safe."

Sandra heaved a melodramatic sigh. "Enough talking. Get up."

I offered Dani a hand to help him up. He took it, but instead of leaning his weight on me, he pulled me to one side. I moved, even though I thought it would have been easier to help him up from my original position. Then, I realized that he had moved me into the perfect place to block Sandra's view while he picked his stake back up. As soon as it was tucked away, Dani got back to his feet. We followed Sandra out onto the deck.

"It took you long enough, Sandra."

Nathaniel's cold voice stopped me in my tracks. At first, I couldn't see him. The pool deck was dark and empty. Glass-topped tables and lounge chairs were scattered all over the deck. Some of them were still sliding and tumbling around, as the ship pitched in the storm. Rain came down in sheets. Then, I spotted several figures sitting by the pool. It was hard to see them through the storm, but one of them stood, and I knew, I just knew, that it was Nathaniel. Sandra shoved both of us forward and into the rain. The drops fell so hard they almost hurt. I had to bow my head and squint just to see. And it was cold. The bitter wind only made the sting of the raindrops worse. Dani grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"I'm sorry, Jen," he said. I wasn't sure I'd ever heard a tremor of fear in his voice, and it chilled me far more than the rain did. "You never should have gotten towed into this."

We were close enough that I could see Nathaniel clearly. There were five others with him. My mouth felt dry. Dani and I hadn't been able to fight one vampire. We already had Nathaniel and Sandra to contend with. Even if all five of the others were dhampirs, we had already lost.