"Vampire." She spit the word out like it was a cuss word.
"Oh, yes," Eddie agreed. "Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate either it or its lair. The ship is quite large."
There was a buzzing sound. We all glanced around as if giant mosquitoes had suddenly invaded the storage room.
"That's me," Drago said, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. He frowned as he stared at the screen.
"What is it?" I asked. "Is Inigo okay?"
"He's fine, but I am needed back at the castle. I assume you can all carry on without me." He didn't wait for an answer, but started for the door. I stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Thank you for the lift out here."
"Of course."
Guilt was poking me in the back with a big stick. "Please watch over Inigo for me. I know I should be there, but…."
"But people are dying," he said. "You are a Hunter. It is your duty to stop the vampire responsible for this. Inigo will be fine. Just give him some time. There is nothing you can do for him right now." He gave my hand a brotherly pat and slipped out the door.
"Inigo?" I hadn't realized Kabita was standing so close.
"He's fine," I told her.
"That's good."
I gave her a look.
"That's not good?"
I sighed. "He's a bit thin and probably in need of some physical therapy to get his strength back, but physically he's fine."
"I see." There was a wealth of meaning in those two little words.
"He looks at me like I'm a stranger," I said, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. "He won't talk to me."
"I'm sorry, Morgan." She gave me a quick squeeze. "Surely Drago is right, and he just needs time."
Eddie cleared his throat. "I admit I don't know a great deal about the recovery of dragons and, as you know, Inigo is half human, which makes things a bit unusual." He polished his glasses again. "But I am quite certain he is still healing. At least mentally. It will take time. And patience. And probably a great deal more than just physical therapy."
"And in the meantime, we've got a vampire to find," I said. When in doubt, kill things. Worked for me. Besides, the faster I got this vamp business taken care of, the faster I could get back to Scotland.
Eddie showed us where on the ship he'd already searched, marking each spot with an orange highlighter. Other areas were marked with blue. "These are the areas I have not searched but which are highly unlikely to be hiding a vampire," he said, pointing to the blue marked rooms.
"Why is that?" Kabita asked. "Surely they should be checked just in case."
"Well," Eddie said with a slight smile, "this one here is a bar and all four walls are made entirely of glass."
"Ah."
"Indeed. Perfect for viewing the ocean over a tasty beverage. Not so perfect for vampires." He turned back to the blueprint and circled three places with his red marker. "These are where the bodies were found. No rhyme or reason I can see except for the obvious."
"Which is?" Kabita asked.
"They're all below decks," I said.
"Interesting. So he hasn't attacked anyone out in the open. Even at night."
"Not so far," Eddie said. "All of them have been daylight attacks."
Kabita and I glanced at each other. No regular vamp would attack a human in broad daylight. Not even below decks. They'd be holed up somewhere the sun couldn't reach them, not wandering about a busy ship where they could be easily caught. There was only one type of vampire who would risk such a thing. One type of vamp who could override their primordial fear of the sun.
"Soul vamp."
"Yes," Eddie said. "That would be my guess. For a reason unknown to us, someone has sent this vampire here for a purpose. We can only guess why."
As I stared at the blueprint, I began to see another pattern, one that confused and worried me. I had no idea what it meant. "There's one other pattern to the killings."
Kabita and Eddie stared at me. Eddie gave a slight shake of his head. "I'm afraid I can't see it."
"Can't you?" I tapped each bright red X with my forefinger. "The first body, here, was found in your shower, Eddie. The second, in the room next door to yours. And the third was right here in this very room. The room where you're trying to figure everything out." I turned back to them. "Eddie, the pattern is you."
Something ahead made a faint dripping sound, like a faucet that needed a new washer. There was a dank, metallic scent that tickled my nose and sat sharply on my tongue. A few caged lights gave off a dim glow, enough to interfere with my night vision but not enough to light the way.