Disclaimer: I don't own LOK or POP. Elizabeth was a stock sue-type until she lost her grip on reality.
Gorged on warm blood, the vampires were content for the moment. It was rare when they received any sort of hospitality, but I always forgot what a relief it was for them to be in such a mood.
I didn't know much about boats, but the one that would take us to Nosgoth reminded me both of a descent-sized yacht and a tall ship, though the rigging didn't seem as complicated as I imagined it should be.
One of the sailors met us on the docks. "Excuse me miss, but you do remember our deal."
I turned back towards the four vampires. "They're off limits."
"You've said as much," Kain languidly reminded me.
As the vampires boarded the ship, I frowned at how relaxed they were. I imagined that they were happy to go home, but they didn't complain about having to travel over so much water. I wondered if the blood was somehow spiked.
"Not to worry, miss," the sailor said, noticing my frown. "We know better than to piss off an Author. Bad luck, that is."
I stared him hard in the eye. My presence did seem to make people temporarily and vaguely aware that their existence was tenuous, though not so much that it would seriously affect their lives. I suppose that there was a dramatic precedent for karmic retribution.
Something else nagged at me; something that I had seen. "Why were they taking apart that building?"
"It is not good to stay in one place for too long," the sailor said. "We leave places often so that disaster does not find us."
"You move your entire town?" I asked, incredulous.
The sailor nodded. "Our oldest tales teach us that something will come eventually."
"Like vampires?"
"Oh don't worry, miss. We were fixin' to move anyhow," the sailor assured me. "Vamps is the least that can happen. I don't dare guess what could be headed for us."
The space below deck had been made comfortable for the vampires, and they spent the first two days of the voyage resting there. I, too, spent much of my time napping in a sheltered space towards the stern. Even if the vampires had been drugged, I found it unlikely that the townspeople had managed to get to me. I assumed that we were all suffering the effects of exhaustion.
There were only two men manning the boat, and they worked in shifts. This left no room for distracting them, and it seemed that they wanted us to keep to ourselves anyway. Our ship was driven by surprisingly quiet engines, with a small sail kept simply as a backup.
Raziel was the first to turn from restive to restless. He staggered up the stairs from the hold as if desperate for some fresh air.
"Good morning," I greeted, though the time of day was shifting from late afternoon to early evening.
Raziel didn't comment, his inner muse telling him that it must be morning somewhere. Instead, he sighed, "I had the strangest dream."
"Prey tell," I invited.
"I was trying to find my destiny, but there was something following me," Raziel explained. "It said that it was me, but it was wearing a dress."
It only took a moment of thought before it occurred to me. "It was following you since you talked to Ariel after Moebius tricked you, and it called Kain 'Koen,'" I supplied.
"How did you know that?" Raziel accused.
"I'm not the only Author," I stated firmly.
"So it did happen to me," Raziel said.
"Another version of you," I corrected.
"I also dreamed that I was a stuffed toy," Raziel said disconcertedly.
"Oops," I hissed.
"That was your doing?" Raziel asked, his eyes flashing.
"If it was a complicated dream, then probably," I admitted. "But the Drag Reaver isn't my fault." I had been meaning to be insistent, but my voice trailed off as I realized something. "What else do you dream about?"
Raziel gave me a strange look. "I dreamed that I had adopted a human child... or was that Melchiah?"
"Okay, I see what's going on," I said, somewhat relieved. "You're dreaming about things that happened to other versions of you." At Raziel's confused look, I continued. "Other Authors have different ideas about what situations they would like to see you in. Some Authors have multiple ideas, so there are multiple copies of you wandering around in the Author's minds."
"Are all of my dreams glimpses into the exploits of my other selves?" Raziel asked. He seemed unsure of something.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. Catching his desperate look, I added, "The stranger it is, the more likely that it is someone else imposing their ideas on you." I caught on that his dreams included getting buggered by Kain, but neither of us wanted to be the one to give voice to it.
"You said that the stuffed toy dream was likely your fault," Raziel began.
"That's probably the strangest one that I'm responsible for," I interrupted.
Raziel stared silently at me, though his question burned in his eyes.
Finally, I couldn't take it any longer. "I like the 'you are an amazing chess partner' type of fic!" I yelled. I took a few calming breaths and said. "It's just innuendo."
Eventually, Raziel would learn when to drop a discussion. Unfortunately, today was not that day.
"What's just innuendo?" Vorador asked as he climbed out of the hold.
"We were talking about the skimpy armor that the lads in the cabal were wearing," I shouted at him.
Vorador laid back his ears and sneered, but that was the only action he took. I was glad that he knew when to let a matter drop.
"What do you dream about?" Raziel asked quietly.
"I dream about my real life," I murmured back. "It's usually pretty boring."
"Dreams," Kain muttered as he sat heavily on a pile of cargo nets.
"Were they weird?" I asked him. "I think you'll tend to dream about other Author's stories about you." At Kain's irritated silence, I prodded, "I'm going to keep bugging you until you give us a hint."
Kain sighed, lost deep in thought. I was about to give him a nudge when he silently ceded, his thoughts rising clear in my mind. 'I met a female version of myself.'
"Ah, good story," I said, wracking my brain for her name. "Khilia."
"No," Kain interrupted. He snarled, his embarrassment hard to see.
"Oh, that one," I said, trying to suppress a grin. "Or that other one," I added as another thought occurred to me.
"Enough," Kain barked, his fangs flashing in anger.
Janos and Vorador exchanged an uncomfortable look. It was more than likely that they had dreams of the slash variety, and so I didn't question them about it.
"By the way, Kain, thanks for not causing too much trouble in Drifton," I said.
Boredom was a constant enemy, always threatening to goad the vampires into violence.
"What is this game called again?" Kain asked as he studied the board.
"This is Chaos Chess," I grinned. It was somewhat like a chessboard, but it had a larger field and four full sets of chessmen.
Kain and Vorador were sitting to each side of me, meaning that Raziel was only my enemy if I could make it to his side of the board. After one round of moves, I noticed a strange opportunity, and moved my queen diagonally to take Kain's.
Kain frowned as he moved his king to take my queen. "That move cost you as well."
"Who cares?" I gushed. "That was cool."
The game continued with me playing the disruptor while the rest were struggling with trying to play a normal game of chess. I was the first one eliminated, so I didn't pay attention to who actually won.
"That will probably attract sharks," I mumbled around my ration bar. I didn't dare to chew it, the thing was harder than my teeth. The vampires had just flung the bags from their own meal overboard.
"There are other creatures that feed on blood?" Janos questioned, peering into the water.
"They can smell it, and they're attracted to wounded creatures," I said. "Sharks are such perfect predators that their design hasn't changed for millions of years."
"Do they eat people?" Vorador asked, amused.
"They tend to spit people out," I shrugged. "I think they like to eat seals. Humans must be relatively low-fat and low-salt."
"You don't have to eat everything to be at the top of the food chain," Vorador replied.
"Sharks taste just like any other fish," I said, letting Vorador know that, like many things, sharks weren't quite at the very top. "Then again, just about everything tastes the same when deep fried."
Kain drew an imaginary hatch mark in the air, tallying disgust at yet another of my dietary choices.
Just then, I saw a shape in the water, but it wasn't a shark. "Sea serpent!" I shrieked as I scrambled into the rigging.
The monster broke the surface with an intelligent sigh. He blinked at Kain and gargled, "Master."
Raziel gripped the railing in surprise and gasped, "Rahab? I killed you."
"Twice," Rahab confirmed.
"How is this possible?" Raziel called up to me.
"'elifino," I called back down. "Did you expect anything to make sense after Janos started eating cookies?"
"Janos Audron?" Rahab asked in confusion.
"Yes?" the angelic vampire answered.
"You too are meant to be dead," Rahab gurgled as if commenting on the weather. "We must be in the realm of the truly dead."
"Nope," I quipped as I cautiously lowered myself from the rigging. "It's just that this universe is filled with people that are so rude that they won't stay dead. I wouldn't be surprised at anyone that wanders in."
"Moebius did manage to come back after I killed him twice," Kain commented.
"I do wish that we could've caused his forth death," Raziel shot me a scathing look.
Vorador was starting at Rahab, who was placidly ducking under the water to let his blistered skin heal.
"What are you?" Vorador asked.
"I am Kain's forth vampiric childe," Rahab gurgled, "and I was one of his loyal servants."
"Was?" Kain demanded.
"No longer. My service ended when I died," Rahab sighed. "I remember what you saved us from. Two lives, both the same. It is most perplexing."
"Go then," Kain shouted. He covered it well, but I could tell that he was cut by Rahab's infidelity.
As Rahab sunk into the murky depths, Vorador asked, "You sired that creature?"
"Yes," Kain snapped.
It seemed as if Vorador was going to question Kain on how a vampire could learn how to swim, but then he thought better of it. Living in a swamp had given Vorador a high resistance to moisture, but even he had to watch where he stepped at times.
Kain was still brooding when the ship docked at Freeport. Wordlessly, he leaped onto dry land and disappeared into the night.