We kept sitting, and the wait was agonizing. Then, suddenly, Thomas looked to the side and jumped to his feet.

Dani and Mariana were at the rails.

Dani was still pale, and Mariana had to help him climb over the rails. He leaned against them, once he was on the deck, breathing heavily and clutching his stomach with one hand. But he was alive. I was so relieved I could hardly stand. Thomas’ sigh of relief sounded like he had been holding his breath for hours.

Neither of them was in any condition to walk, but before anyone could offer to help, Dani and Charlie crossed the deck and collapsed to their knees in each other's arms. Charlie broke down and sobbed hysterically against Dani's shoulder. Dani sagged back and sat, pulling Charlie down with him. He took a moment to dry himself and Charlie off, tossed the ball of water away, and buried his face in the crook of Charlie's neck. I'd never thought of Dani as someone who cried, but I knew that the blue-tinged drops rolling down his cheeks weren't ocean water.

Mariana barreled into me and threw her arms around me. "Oh my God, you're okay! I was so scared!" She tightened her grip and gasped when she saw TS.

"He'll be alright," Thomas said.

Mariana hugged Thomas, too. "I can't believe it. I thought..."

He hugged her with his good arm. "Yeah... I did, too." He sighed and then said loudly, "Okay, we have to get off the deck. I doubt many people got to sleep last night, and they'll probably be letting them out any minute now that the storm is over."

Mariana and I were the only two in any condition to throw the bodies overboard. It was sickening, hard work, and we were both coated in blood when it was over. Nathaniel was the last.

"I staked him," I whispered as his body fell over the edge.

Mariana put a hand on my shoulder. "You had to." It helped to know that not too long ago, she'd probably felt exactly like I did. "It'll be okay."

I smiled at her, and we rejoined the others. It didn't take much to convince Dani to dive overboard again, and I knew he wouldn't have given in, unless he was still seriously hurt. Mariana and I, somehow, managed to hold TS up between us, and Charlie leaned heavily on Thomas. It was painfully slow going, and I worried someone would see us the entire time; but the halls were empty. We made it back to the room without incident. Thomas got Charlie onto a bed and helped Mariana and I heave TS onto the other one. Then, Thomas flopped down next to him with a groan. I sagged into a chair, and Mariana sat heavily down on the bed by Charlie. He pushed himself up and hugged her. She leaned against him, and I was sure I heard her sniffle softly. After a moment, Charlie lay back down.

"I'm going to stay with Dani," Mariana said. She looked down at her blood-coated clothes and looked almost like she wanted to throw up. "And get clean."

"Here." Charlie fumbled in a suitcase by the bed and pulled out a little jar. He shook out a little cube of potion. "Give him that, will you?"

"Of course." Mariana took it and dove off of the balcony.

Charlie held another out. "Thomas? Painkillers?"

"Please," Thomas groaned.

I moved over to sit by him. "Do you want blood, now?" I asked before he could take the potion.

He nodded reluctantly, and I held out my wrist. I didn't feel a thing when he bit into me, and I wondered how painful it would be without being numbed first. When he was finished, he gently pulled back and started licking the punctures shut.

"How do I taste? Honestly." He lied before, but this time I could actually see the blood that had welled up before he licked it.

Thomas hesitated. His answer was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. "Really good." Then, he popped the potion into his mouth and closed his eyes. "Get cleaned up and get some rest. You deserve it."

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It wasn't until I was literally washing blood off my hands that I realized I had killed somebody. I had actually killed somebody. Then, the floodgates opened. The adrenaline had really kept my emotions mostly at bay during the fighting. Now that it was finally over, everything hit me. I had been so scared. We had all come so close to dying, it had been beyond terrifying. I scrubbed until my skin was nearly raw. I probably would have stayed in the shower for hours. I cried and shook for a good twenty minutes and was having trouble stopping. But I was so very tired, emotionally, physically, and magically, too, if that was possible. The slight blood loss didn't help either. I threw on some clean clothes and collapsed onto the couch in the spare room. And somehow, I fell asleep.

Something woke me up. I sat up with a frown, trying to figure it out. The engines! I sighed in relief; the engines were running again. I went out into the main room. TS was still sprawled on the bed. He was still pale, but not nearly as pale as he had been. Thomas sat next to him looking significantly better. His arm was red and scarred, but didn't look broken. The other bed was empty. I looked around for Charlie in concern. I spotted Mariana out on the balcony, by herself.

"Where's Charlie?"

"In the bathroom," Thomas said. "With Dani."

"Is Dani okay?"

"Yeah, he's a lot better. He decided he'd rather soak in the tub and be near Charlie. Not as efficient as the ocean, but it'll work."

I sat down on the empty bed. "Is TS okay?"

Thomas nodded. "He woke up long enough for a drink. He'll be fine once the sun is down."

"Do you need more blood?"

"Not at the moment."

"Are you sure?" I pressed.

He inclined his head toward the balcony. "Had some."

Mariana looked a bit paler than usual. I felt a silly stab of jealousy and pushed it away. I noticed that the sky was streaked with red.

"When is sunset?" I asked.

"Half hour or so." He leaned back against the headboard and stretched.

I studied him, and Nathaniel's words came back to me. "Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you..." I hesitated, but had to know. "Are you starving to death?"

He looked surprised and frowned. "Not exactly."

It wasn't a very good answer. "You either are or you aren't."

Thomas sighed. "I guess... technically, yes." He continued before I could say anything. "But it's slow. At the rate I'm going, I probably have a good four, maybe even six, months before it becomes life-threatening."

"You aren't going to... let it get that bad, are you? I mean you won't... You're not..."

His eyes widened, when he figured out what I was getting at. He got up, sat down next to me, and put his good arm around me.

"No, no," he said firmly. "That's all... That's all way behind me. The only reason I'm doing this is because I'm too stubborn to feed from anyone on the ship. As soon I get home, I'll start feeding regularly. Believe it or not, I'm sort of looking forward to it. This isn't exactly pleasant. Not that I thought it would be. I knew what I was getting in to; at least I thought I did..." He sighed, and I saw guilt flash across his face. "If we'd been dealing with anything other than another vampire, I would've been able to take care of it. Then, none of this would have happened." He heaved another sigh. "None of this should have happened."

"It's not your fault."

He smiled at me. "You're sweet."

I glanced down and prayed I wouldn't blush. "It's true. It's not your fault."

Thomas gave my shoulder a grateful squeeze and returned to his bed. It isn't exactly pleasant. Thomas just plain didn't look healthy. I still couldn't believe I had never noticed before. He wasn't just a skinny guy; he actually looked pretty sick. I wondered if it was always this pronounced, and I was just blind, or if he looked worse because he was still healing.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not a bit. That potion was so strong I can hardly feel anything, let alone pain. And I should be better by the time it wears off."

"I meant... You said starving isn't very pleasant..."

"Oh. It doesn't hurt, but it's not... I just don't feel... right." He shrugged. "I'm tired. Achy. It sort of feels like I've had the flu for a month."

I was glad it didn't hurt, but felt awful that Thomas was that uncomfortable. "Can vampires get the flu?" I asked, hoping that he was exaggerating about how he felt.

He chuckled. "Yeah, but I've never had it." He patted TS on the back. "He's caught it couple of times, though, so I have a good idea of what it's like." He smiled at me. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, and Thomas decided to go get some food before TS woke back up. Charlie offered to join him, but I wasn't invited. I knew that they were just being cautious, so I wasn't bothered. I hadn't felt hungry until I got a whiff of the food they returned with. Then, I was absolutely starving. Neither one of them ate, and I was relieved when Mariana came back in and had some food, too. TS woke up a few minutes after sunset and was ravenous. He turned into a wolf and gulped down food without even chewing. Thomas ended up making a second trip to the dining hall, and TS ate his second round just as fast. He stayed awake long enough to make sure everyone was alive and well, then curled up into a big ball and went right back to sleep. Mariana decided to go to sleep, too, and snuggled into bed.

I was still sort of overwhelmed by the past twenty-four hours, so I decided to sit out on the balcony for a while. I cast my night vision spell and looked out over the dark water with everything we had just endured running through my mind. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the water was so calm it was hard to believe that our fight with Nathaniel was so recent. I was totally lost in thought, and I never even noticed that Dani had joined me until he spoke.