Chapter Four

Damarius walked silently down the passage watching for any sign of movement. He had waited for at least and hour when he had woken up, and had made sure that there wasn't anyone around but he still couldn't be rid of the feeling that he was being watched. He turned around for what seemed like the fiftieth time that evening to see nothing but shadows and doors. He sighed at his own paranoia and turned around to face the front. As he looked to the side he was sure he saw a black edge of some item of clothing whip out of sight. Why would someone be following him? Where they scared? He decided that they must be, either that or they were up to something. Taking advantage of the other, presumably, persons fright he crept forward. Damarius heard heavy breathing coming from one of the nearby barrels. At the last minute he pushed the barrel aside to find nothing. He shrugged and started moving down another passage towards Dianusys' cabin. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard something again. He turned around and saw, a woman in a black cloak. She had long dark hair that was down to her knees and her eyes sparkled purple in the moonlight. She was holding what looked like a ninja sword and didn't look afraid to use it. "Uh, hi?" Damarius stammered not sure what to say.

"Talk now, who are you? What are you and where do you come from?" The woman demanded, swinging the sword threateningly. "Uh, my name is Damar-Jerry" Damarius said changing his mind mid-word. "I uh, I'm a human, as far as I know and I uh, am from another ship."

"Interesting" The woman said sitting down on a pile of ropes. "So you would be a donor?" She asked curiously looking him in the eye.

"What is with that word?" Damarius shouted in reply.

"Why are you so afraid of it?" she asked quietly.

"I…" At that moment Dianusys' door flew open to reveal a very disgruntled looked Maoriven. As soon as he saw the woman he swore and backed up against the door. "Who are you? What side are you on?" He asked her coldly. Glancing over to where Damarius was still standing. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Anjita Lewin Suacrahy and I'm a black belt in karate so don't try anything" she said standing up. "Who are you to go around asking questions?"

"I've had a crap evening so I really don't care" Maoriven said angrily, fists clenched.

"Fine, but just for future reference, I'm the captains' daughter and anything he says goes. You cause any trouble and I will have you off this ship in record time" With that she walked off, disappearing as fast as she came. "I need to talk to Dianusy" Damarius said recovering first. "Well I need to talk to you" Maoriven said walking forwards.

"It can wait:" Damarius said harshly. He pushed past Maoriven and opened Dianusys' door. Maorivens eyes flashed red for a second as he walked off in search of Anjita.

"Maoriven, is that you?" Came Dianusys' voice from inside. "I want to say sorry"

"Sorry for what?" Damarius asked closing the door behind him.

"I uh, well, I can't tell you! Please understand" Dianusy asked tears rolling down her face. "You can tell me!" Damarius exclaimed. "It's not like I'm talking to Maoriven anyway" He added. At the mention of Maorivens' name, Dianusy began crying harder.
"This is about him, isn't it?" Damarius asked. "I swear, if he's done anything..."

"What's wrong" Dianusy asked.

"Aren't I the one supposed to be asking questions?" Damarius asked.

"No, I'm worried about you. You don't have, Defenses."

"Defenses?" He asked worriedly. "I'm not afraid to kill people if that what you mean"

"No, it's different with them, us"
"Us?"
"Maoriven and I are … vampires"

"What?"

"I've been this way since I was five" Dianusy said tears rolling down her cheeks.

"My parents are dead. We were going sailing and a storm came, it destroyed our ship"

"That's what happened to the Seaqueen, our ship"

"Please don't interrupt"

"Sorry, go on"

"My Mother and Father were trapped. I was trying to rescue them. There was a figure, a vampire, I know that now. It turned and saw me. My parents died and it converted me"

"Converted?"
"Changed me from a human to another creature. In this case a Vampire" Dianusy explained. "Maoriven's one too. Are you one?"

"Not as far as I know"
"You would know if you were one. It's the most horrible thing to happen to anyone." "Well besides Lycanthropy" She added reluctantly.

"Lycanthropy?"

"Werewolves. Most people go crazy from the pain alone"

"Right"
"It's just, Maoriven refused to believe that he isn't normal anymore. He isn't human. He can't go back to his other life"

"Is that why you were crying? Do you feel bad for him? What put him in such a bad mood?"

"You get mood swings. When you change, it's not instantaneous as most people believe. You don't just wake up a vampire. It takes a week at least"

"What's it like?"

"Well as I said. You have mood swings, it hurts. The only reason I'm alive right now is because of Melanie" She paused to wipe her eyes. "Melanie was a new vampire and she had to go through it all on her own. She pitied me and helped me through the transformation. It was because of her that I'm still alive, well, you know"

"What happened to her? Why are you referring to her in a past tense?"

"Melanie died. After helping me she fell ill and left me. I haven't spoken to anyone since then. I only started talking when we rescued Maoriven and you"

"Will he be ok?"

"Only if he lets me help. He might act tough but I know he's not. He needs to open up so I can help him. I know things about him you'll never know"
"How?"
"When I was born, my parents knew I was special. I have foresight and I can tell everything abut a person just by looking at them"

"What if I said I didn't believe you?"

"Then I would tell you about Snuggles and how you lost him"

"Snuggles? Where did I leave him?"

"Under the slide. When you had finished playing with Andromeda, you left him there"

"Damn. Wait how did you know that?"
"Are you seriously asking that question?"

"I guess I don't believe in fate"
"If I had suffered as much as you have and will, I would probably feel the same"

"You're freaking me out here"

"Do you want to know what happened that night? Do you want to know why you have that injury?" She asked indicating to the deep cut in his chest.

"How?"

"Damarius. There is no easy way to tell you this, you are a were wolf"

"What the hell?"

"Gehrans attacked you. He converted you"

"I really don't believe you this time"

"If you even need to talk to someone, ask for Anjita"

"That woman" Damarius breathed.

"Do you know her?"

"Not personally"

Maoriven stormed along the ships hallways in a blind rage. Stupid ship, stupid Dianusy, stupid Damarius. They were all trying to run his life for him or something! Why did he even have to get trapped on this psycho ship anyway? It was so stupid! Maybe he would have been better off if he had drowned. Yeh, then he wouldn't have to worry about anything, because he would be dead. Then his thoughts turned to Melanie. He imagined being back there with her but it wasn't the same any more. Not since he had met Dianusy. It felt as if everything he had had back in Odomisauq it had all been perfect. Now he was completely messed up. What the hell was everyone going on about vampires for anyway? There is no such thing damnit! Why couldn't they just accept that and be done with it? He frowned and turned a last corner to bump into Anjita. "Hi" She said brightly. She had gotten over everything from before and besides, Maoriven was pretty handsome. "Whatever" He grumbled.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing that is your business"

"I have a letter for you, it's from Odomisauq"

"What does it say?"
"It's addressed to you, I didn't open it"

"Well, where is it?"
"Here" She pulled out a scarlet envelope from underneath her leather jacket.

"Thanks I guess" He took the envelope from her hands and tore it open. Inside was a white sheet of paper with two doves on the top right hand corner.

Dear Mr Danuronst

We are sorry to inform you that during yesterday night, Antonia Danuronst was found dead in her study. The funeral will be in three days. We encourage you to attend, it will be held at Port Sareny on the beach, midnight.

Regretfully writing

Joyote E Furnelo (Lady Danuronsts' faithful servant)

"What does it say?" Maoriven heard Anjita ask. "Maoriven? Is everything alright?"

"No, no it's not alright"

Dianusy sat quietly in her cabin after Damarius had left. She was thinking about Maoriven and whether he was serious about her or not. She had to find out! It was killing her and she knew that it would. Once Vampires fell in love they fell hard and she knew that she would never get over Maoriven. She had to have him or…. She didn't want to think about what could happen then. Didn't want to think of all the ways a vampire could die. She didn't want to think of the possibilities that where slowly forming in her mind.