by Terry Spear
“New Age music.” Ruric smiled. “The stuff of the future.”
They sat down on big zebra-striped lounge chairs and ordered sodas. Caitlin watched the fish in the tank, and Levka wondered what she was thinking. Everyone remained quiet as they listened to the musicians for a quarter of an hour, until Alicia began to snore.
Caitlin laughed. “I guess she was really tired.”
“We’ll walk you to your room,” Stasio offered.
“Maybe you should take Levka back to his room first.”
“No,” Levka said. “We’ll take you back to yours.” He couldn’t help but worry Dylan or some of his friends might try to bother the girls. Even if Levka felt he was mostly useless, he wanted to be there to see them tucked safely inside.
After Stasio guided Alicia into their room, he said, “Sleep well and pleasant dreams.”
“We’ll have breakfast together in the morning,” Ruric said to Caitlin.
Looking at Levka, she waited for his approval. He bowed his head. “Tomorrow.”
She gave him one of her radiant smiles. “All right. Yes. All right. In the morning. Good night.” She shut the door.
Levka scowled at Ruric, who grinned back at him.
When they were safely back in their suite, Levka asked Stasio, “What was with you using mind control so much on Alicia? The others were too self-absorbed to notice, but Caitlin’s very observant.”
“Sorry. Caitlin seemed scared of the water. I wanted to help her out.”
Levka couldn’t deny he felt the same way, only they had to be careful how they dealt with Alicia and the rest of her friends. “How’d Dylan end up getting sick on the fish?”
His friends all smiled, but no one said a word.
Levka shook his head. “I thought I could get by without more blood tonight, but I’m not quite there. Can someone get me a bottle?”
Stasio looked at Ruric, then back at Levka.
“What?” Levka asked, unable to curb the irritation edging his word.
“I dropped them.”
Levka held his tongue, waiting for the rest of the story, but when it wasn’t forthcoming, he said, “And?”
“Sorry, Levka, truly I am. A porter bumped into me, and I dropped the bag. I’m afraid all the bottles broke.”
Levka couldn’t believe it. He looked at Ruric, who nodded.
Arman sat on the sofa. “We normally can go without blood for several days and just eat human food. But your body is still healing so you’ll need to feed.”
Levka groaned. “I don’t want to feed off a mortal.”
“How about Lynne?” Ruric asked. “I wouldn’t mind draining her enough so she’d have to sleep the rest of the cruise as mean as she was toward Caitlin.”
“Someone we don’t know,” Levka finally said. “I have to get out of this blasted wheelchair.”
“I’ll get someone since it was my mistake.” Stasio hurried out of the room.
“Watch him,” Levka growled at Ruric.
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Ruric saluted, then hastened after Stasio.
Arman fussed with making down the queen-sized beds, while Levka wondered what else could go wrong.
Twenty minutes later, Stasio and Ruric returned to the room with a guy in tow, his thick cologne preceding him. When they moved out of his way, Levka stared at him, then looked at Stasio.
His friend shrugged. “He was the only one who hadn’t been drinking. I know you don’t like alcohol mixed with your blood.”
Levka considered the grinning comedian standing before him. “An Irishman who doesn’t drink? Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
Chapter 5
Caitlin yanked the curtains closed to hide the glass door to the balcony in her stateroom. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, but it was enough to hear the waves pounding the ship, beating it to death. Just like the water had bashed her parents’ sailing yacht, hammering it until it sank beneath the black waters a year ago today.
Spring break, family vacation, their last.
Clenching her teeth against the memories, she sat on her bed and stared at sleeping beauty, Alicia, still fully dressed, lying on top of her made bed. Caitlin had only seen one hypnotist act before, and she figured the whole thing was staged. But not this time. Not when Stasio seemed to control Alicia’s mind before the meal and afterward. And she didn’t figure the entertainer would have planned to have someone from the audience steal his show. Thinking of Stasio’s actions made her smile. She just wished she could use her own magic on board the ship so that she didn’t feel so helpless.
Taking a deep breath, she weighed her options. She could try to sleep, or she could go up on deck and take a look at the pool. Maybe she could get her fear under control before Alicia forced the issue.
Certain Prince Charming Stasio had put Alicia under his spell for the night, Caitlin vowed to fight her own demons without Alicia’s goading. Grabbing her sweater, Caitlin left the room, her shoulders straight, her chin up. She could do this. She might not be able to look over the railing at the ocean just yet, but she could look at the stupid pool.
***
Levka had fought with his friends ever since they’d brought him the Irish comedian for a nighttime snack. Finally, winning the argument after feeding, he had them wheel him up to the railing of the upper deck. “Just leave me here,” Levka ordered. “I want to sit here for a while. Alone.”
“All right,” Ruric said. “But call us when you want us to come get you.”
Levka motioned for them to leave. He was tired of being coddled. Tired of them hanging around the invalid. And he wasn’t ready to retire for the evening.
The three hesitated, then wandered off.
Levka listened to the ship cutting through the waves, glanced up at the dark sky, not a star in sight, no glimpse of the moon behind a bank of thunderclouds. He tried to get out of the wheelchair.
“Concentrate,” he commanded himself, trying to obliterate the pain in his chest.
He grabbed the railing, his fingers gripping the metal rod, the ocean spray slapping his face. Triumphant, he stood.
“Well, well,” a familiar voice said behind him.
Dylan.
“Need some help climbing over the railing?”
Some other guys laughed.
Levka didn’t turn away from the railing, couldn’t let go for fear he’d collapse in front of them. He couldn’t gauge how many there were behind him, but as weak as he felt, even two husky male teens would be enough to overpower him.
Dylan shoved Levka’s shoulder hard. “You and your buddies better leave my girl alone, or else—”
“Too insecure to take on my friends? Have to go after the guy in the wheelchair?”
“Why, you—” Dylan said, his voice dangerously dark.
“Levka!” Caitlin called out from farther back on the deck.
Gripping the railing for dear life, Levka looked over his shoulder and saw Caitlin running across the deck, her dark hair flying, her lips parted, her eyes worried.
Four boys were backing up Dylan’s threats.
“Stop her,” Dylan ordered, motioning to her.
Two of the guys went after Caitlin. She backed away from them, her hands clenched. “Dylan, leave him alone!”
One of the guys grabbed for her arm, and she swung her fist at his cheek. The other seized her wrist.
Instantly, Levka released the railing, twisted around, and grabbed Dylan’s throat with one hand. “Have your thugs release Caitlin, now,” he growled low, his vampiric gaze locking with the mortal’s.
Dylan’s blue eyes bulged. Clawing at Levka’s hand on his throat, he couldn’t speak, but finally waved for the others to let her go.
“Levka!” Caitlin screamed and flew across the deck toward him.
“Leave us,” Levka said to Dylan.
Dylan nodded, his fingers still grappling with Levka’s hand at his throat, his eyes watering.
Levka released him and reached for the railing, but fou
nd Caitlin’s arms wrapped around him instead.
“Let me help you,” she said, embracing him hard.
She felt warm, soft, and huggable. Her jasmine perfume teased his nose, and he nuzzled his face against her neck, listened to the blood pulsing through her veins, heard her heart pounding, felt her warm breath rapid against his ear.
“Are you all right?” she asked, still hugging him with a death grip.
Cassandra came to mind and all the anguish he’d felt in losing her washed over him like a cold blue norther.
“Help me into the wheelchair,” he said, his voice rough, unfeeling, ill-tempered. He couldn’t, wouldn’t fall for another mortal girl. He wouldn’t drag another into his dark world.
Caitlin stumbled when she tried to help him into the chair. She was only about five feet-four inches tall and he, a little over six feet. She couldn’t manage, and the two of them fell to the deck. He groaned.
“Ohmigod. I’m so, so sorry, Levka.” Her small hands were all over his arms, his shoulders, his hands, trying to console him for her mistake. “I’m such an idiot. Here, let me try again.”
“No!” he snapped, unable to control his anger that he was so inept, that he’d made her feel so inadequate. “Leave me.”
She stared at him. “But what if they come back? Dylan and those creeps? What if—”
“Go!” he said, giving her a devil of a glare.
“You…you weren’t trying to jump, were you? You wouldn’t do that, would you? Please tell me you wouldn’t.” Her lip quivered.
He couldn’t bear to see her like this. “You can’t know how I feel. I was just trying to stand on my own two feet. Just leave me.”
“But what if Dylan and the others come back?”
“I can take care of myself. Just go!”
She brushed away tears dribbling down her cheeks. “You’ve got to fight for life, Levka. You can’t let anything…” She sniffled. “…anything stand in the way.” She stalked off.
All at once he felt crueler than her foster sister, Alicia, had been with her. Yet, if he let things go the way his dark heart wanted, he’d make Caitlin his, and that would be even crueler. Struggling with dwindling strength, he tried several times to get back into his wheelchair to no avail. He swore he sensed his friends nearby, but none of them came to assist him, and he was not going to call on them either.
***
Determined to practice what she preached, Caitlin headed back to the pool. She had been shocked to see Levka standing, but she could tell he was too weak to do much else. Though when he grabbed Dylan by the throat, he’d totally stunned her. But it seemed it was only a bit of reserve strength, because when she held him, he was as weak as a new sapling trembling in the breeze.
She couldn’t quit belittling herself for being unable to help him into his wheelchair. She’d humiliated him, and she hated herself for it. God, how she wished she was home. Home, she snorted. She didn’t have a home any longer. Not a home to share with her own loving family.
When she reached the swimming pool, goose bumps trailed down her arms. No one swam because it was closed for the night at this late hour. Overhead lights didn’t penetrate the dark waters of the pool that she envisioned connected in some bizarre way with the black ocean beneath the ship. The rolling of the vessel created waves in the pool as if it were a miniature sea on deck. Thunder cracked nearby, sending a shiver down her spine.
She clutched a lamppost and stared at the water. A shower of cold rainwater wetted her hair and clothes. Staring into the pool, she envisioned herself floating in her lifejacket, seat cushion flotation devices drifting around her, all that was left of the yacht. The rain poured down on her from above. The waves pulled her up one swell and down into a trough. Sharks circled underneath her, around her, playing with her until they took a bite.
“Caitlin?” Ruric asked, his voice concerned.
Turning, she saw him standing there, his face dripping with water like hers was.
He tilted his head to the side. “Are you all right?”
She broke free of her memories. “Is Levka still out in this weather?” She started back to the railing, but Ruric caught her arm.
“We’ve taken him back to his room. But, are you all right?”
Caitlin clenched her teeth against the tears. “I was such an idiot. I tried to help him into his wheelchair, and I didn’t have the strength.”
Ruric took her hand and led her back inside the building. “Levka’s angry about his injuries, but he’ll get over them. It’s not your fault.”
“How…how was he hurt?”
Ruric didn’t say anything for a moment, then he looked at Caitlin and raised his red brows. “He tried to save a girl’s life. The guy shot Levka instead. He should be better in a day or so, but he’s been sick for months. That’s made him pretty grouchy at times. We’re used to it, but anyone who doesn’t know him, wouldn’t know how to take him.”
Ruric smiled in the most devilish way. “You’re the first girl he’s been interested in, in a long time. So if you want to be his friend, don’t give up.”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t his fault. I…I just didn’t realize I couldn’t—”
Ruric lifted her chin. “You’re stronger than most girls we know. I’ll take you back to your room. We have an early breakfast call.”
“If he still even wants me to come.”
“Hmpf. We do. If he doesn’t, that’s his problem. He can return to his room and sulk.”
Envisioning Levka doing just that, she smiled. “Does Stasio do his hypnotism act a lot? I mean, like for money? Entertainment?”
Ruric smiled again. “He’s pretty good at it. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen a show like that before, but I was sure it was faked.” She looked up at Ruric. “Thanks, for making me feel better.”
“I want to take all the credit, but I have to admit Levka sent me to check on you.”
Taking a deep breath, she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’d give you the goodnight kiss he should be giving you, but he’d be pissed off. Night, Caitlin. Pleasant dreams.”
“Night, Ruric, and thanks.”
She shut the door, wondering if everything Ruric said was true, that Levka was really interested in her but couldn’t show it, maybe until he felt better about himself. The ship rolled partially on its side, and she grabbed the doorframe to the bathroom. Terror filled every inch of her, the memory of her family’s yacht rolling on its side, the way the ship lifted and fell in the rising waves, rising and crashing with a thunderous boom.
Lightning flashed outside even through the lightweight curtains. She pulled them aside, but couldn’t see the water for the dark, except for the rain streaking against the glass.
Her stomach roiled when the ship lifted again and dropped with a bang. She bit her lip, causing it to bleed. Sitting down on the mattress, she clutched at the bed frame and closed her eyes. She didn’t need her lifejacket yet. She didn’t need to panic. It wasn’t like before. Not like before.
You’ll be lower in the ship, more in the middle where you won’t feel the waves as much, her foster mother had assured her. The people who really have the ride are the ones in the bow of the ship.
Deeper in the ship. Safer.
Caitlin changed into dry clothes, then walked back to the balcony door and peered out. If the ship went under, she and Alicia could get off by way of the balcony. Unless the ship’s vacuum or whatever it was, sucked them under when it went down. She swallowed hard. The ship’s engines roared, the ship rolled, rose, and crashed.
For an hour, she tried to sleep in her jeans and T-shirt on top of her pink bedspread, but the storm grew worse. “Alicia,” she whispered.
“Hmmm.”
“Alicia, let’s get our lifejackets on.”
“Hmmm.”
She tugged at Alicia. “Come on. We’re already dressed. Let’s go up to our lifeboat deck and…” Alicia didn’t stir.
Alicia sat up on the mattress.
Caitlin shoved the lifejacket at her. “Put the lifejacket on.”
Alicia slipped her arms into the lifejacket.
Taking a deep breath, Caitlin grabbed her hand. “Come on. We’re going somewhere safe.”
Leading Alicia, Caitlin made her way to the deck where they’d conducted the lifeboat drills and found Levka sitting on a sofa playing a game of cards with his friends, his wheelchair nearby. All at once, she felt like an imbecile, wearing a lifejacket, holding Alicia’s hand and a pole to keep her footing as the ship rolled again.
Levka looked up at her, his face nearly expressionless, though she thought she saw a hint of surprise. His friends turned around to see what caught his eye, and all of them smiled. Her skin heated with chagrin.
In a flash, Ruric rose out of his cushiony chair and took Alicia’s arm. Stasio did the same for Caitlin.
“Kind of rough weather we’re having, eh?” Stasio guided Caitlin to sit beside Levka.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Caitlin clutched her lifejacket.
Alicia passed out as soon as Ruric sat her down on a sofa nearby.
“Hot chocolate?” Levka asked.
Caitlin nodded. “That would be nice.”
Arman got up to get her some.
“We couldn’t sleep either,” Ruric said. “After we got some dry clothes on, we came up here, but we didn’t think to bring our lifejackets. Smart move.”
“Paranoid is more like it,” Caitlin said, but no matter what, she couldn’t take it off.
The ship continued to rise and fall, and she wondered how high the seas were and how much pounding a ship this size could take before it succumbed like her parents' yacht had.
“Was the…was the storm really bothering you, too?” she asked.
Levka patted her shoulder. “Too rough. Decided to try and play a card game until the seas quieted.”
“Too bad you couldn’t use your hypnosis on storms, Stasio.” Caitlin tried to smile, but another bone-jarring jolt to the ship, stole her thoughts. Under her breath she added, “Too bad you couldn’t convince me to go to sleep.”