Chapter 4

Caroline found that, if she had been somewhere before, getting there as a vampire took only the thought to be there again. It happened in the blink of an eye if she wanted it to, or over a span of time if she wanted to think as she went there. Basically, it took as long as she wanted it to take.

She also found that vampires can see in the dark as if it were merely a cloudy day.

The pirates were excited. They scrambled about the rusty ship, loading weapons, bragging about how brave they would be, discussing how much they might get for holding ship and crew hostage. Caroline was fascinated by how her vampire senses could detect layers in these mortals. She could sense fear in some, eagerness in others. Some seemed like decent men in the wrong occupation, but there were a number who radiated cruelty, and desire for revenge. It was clear they knew their intended victim had done nothing to them, but the feeling that they were owed something was also clear. Her thoughts flicked to some of the sporting events she’d gone to at her school. Her fellow students wanted to win and thought they should win, even though the other school had done nothing to them.

One man, in particular, wanted to kill a hostage or two. She felt his annoyance at knowing he could not do this unless they resisted. He hoped they resisted.

Her gut tightened at the “taste” of his mind, and she realized how, in the future, she would choose her victims.

“There are too many of them,” she said. “We can’t possibly bite them all.”

“You are correct,” said Bob. “We can only terrorize a few.”

“But we should stop them,” she hissed.

“It is difficult to change an event driven by so many,” said Bob. “You must choose, as your victim, one who can affect the others.”

“How?”

“Someone steers the ship,” said Bob. “If he doesn’t steer the ship correctly, it affects everyone aboard.”

“You mean the captain,” said Caroline.

“I meant the steersman,” said Bob, smiling, “but the captain is a good choice, too.”

“There will be three steersmen,” said Caroline. “One on the big boat, and one on each smaller one.”

“The small craft are crowded. We can’t just pop into existence in front of him, show our fangs and scream. We’d bump into others as we did so.”

“I have an idea,” said Caroline. “But first I have to ask a question.”

Bob waited.

“In some movies I’ve seen the vampire has a hold over the victim, like they’re hypnotized. Is that real?”

“Once bitten, some victims become malleable to suggestion,” said Bob. “But they cannot be compelled. If they could be compelled I would have swept the world clean of pirates within a year of my death at their hands.”

“Oh,” said Caroline, a note of dejection in her voice. “Explain malleable,” she said.

“Some victims, once they feel the fang, crave it. In my case it was always a woman, but perhaps you might have the same effect on a man. I know I crave to feel your fangs piercing my skin again.” He smiled.

Caroline was instantly horny. She clamped down on those emotions. She would let that loose later. Now she needed to think of a way to stop these miscreants.

It was as she marveled about how well she could see, even though she knew it was pitch black, that the idea came to her. When she broached it with Bob, he grinned and said it was a marvelous plan.

They waited until the two motor launches departed from the mother ship, and began their intended stealthy approach to their target. Bob and Caroline had flown in an ever expanding circle when they first arrived, and had located three ships within striking distance of the pirates. One was a yacht, one appeared to be a fishing boat, and one was a huge super tanker. As the pirates set out, it was obvious they had chosen the tanker as their victim. If loaded, its cargo was worth a lot. The crew, as hostages, might be worth a lot. The vessel itself was worth a lot. It could add up to millions.

Piracy had begun, years before, because the sea that had supported the Somali people for so long began to be raided by foreigners. They had no right to plunder the resources that belonged to the Somalis, but there was no one to stop them. The Somalis pled for help from the international community, but nothing happened. Little Somalia wasn’t on anybody’s radar as being of importance.

So a group of Somali men became vigilantes of a sort. The first ships and people seized and held for hostage replaced the wealth that poachers had stolen. That was the intent, back then. It wasn’t a profession, back then.

But greed knows no boundaries. And it was easy money. A lot easier than fishing.

Or, perhaps, it was simply viewed as fishing of another sort, the catch being larger, and more valuable.

More likely it was greed. What had, in the beginning, been distributed to all in need, was now mostly kept by the few men who now controlled the profession of Somali piracy. These days, most of that money was never seen by those in need. These days, the young men doing the pirating didn’t even know why it started. All they knew was that there were millions to be made, if you could pull it off. Some didn’t. Everybody knew that. Some died. Some simply disappeared, never to be seen again. A few languished in foreign jails after having been captured by foreigners who now paid a lot of attention to little Somalia. Somalia was on everybody’s radar, these days.

But it was a big sea, full of many targets, and the enforcers who could have avoided all this, had they protected Somali rights in the beginning, couldn’t be everywhere at once.

The enforcers were near, though. That was why it was important to get control of a ship quickly. It didn’t matter if they got an S.O.S. off, as long as you had the hostages under control before the enforcers got there. If you did that, you were safe.

Well ... unless the enforcer was Russian. If the gunship that arrived was Russian, you couldn’t count on anything for certain.

To be truthful, Caroline wasn’t aware of the history of Somalia, or why piracy had begun. All she knew was that it was a cancer, and that it hurt innocent people.

Her idea worked flawlessly. Well... almost flawlessly. Basically, they appeared on the bridge of the rust bucket, which was manned by two crewmen and the captain. Bob dispatched the two crewmen with lightning quick blows to the head and Caroline, trusting in her mentor, grasped the captain by the front of his dirty shirt. She lifted. Bob had told her she’d have immense strength. She expected the man to rise off the grimy deck.

All that happened was that the shirt covered his face as he flailed, shouting.

Caroline acted on instinct. Her other hand flashed to grip the crotch of the man’s pants.

She squeezed.

It’s possible that immense strength, coupled with the adrenaline rushing through Caroline’s veins, made that squeeze a bit ... intense.

The man gurgled and went limp. He was out unconscious.

“He’s out cold,” panted Caroline, after examining the limp body. “Now what do we do?”

Bob held up one finger and moved to stand beside the doorway. Caroline heard the thump of rushing feet and realized someone had heard the captain’s scream. A sailor burst into the room, a rifle in his hands.

Bob reached to grip an elbow and the rifle clattered to the floor as the man tried to scream. He couldn’t do that because his mouth was covered by Bob’s other hand, which pulled the man backwards into a tight embrace.

Bob grinned, and Caroline saw his fangs grow.

That’s all that happened, though. Bob just stared at Caroline, his eyebrows rising and falling expressively.

With a start, Caroline realized she was supposed to do something to terrorize this man.

She’d never had any acting experience, but she’d seen a lot of vampire movies. She tried to act out all of them as she approached the weakly struggling man in Bob’s arms. She made her grin wide, and willed her fangs to grow as long as possible. She didn’t know how, exactly, to make her eyes bigger, or luminous, but she thought about that and hoped it was happening.

It was somewhat disjointed. She wore no cape, but put her arm over her mouth as she put what she hoped was a scowl on her face. When she whipped her arm to one side to display her fangs, suddenly she was wearing a cape, which fluttered nicely in the air.

“I vahn ... to suck ... your blood!” she droned.

Bob laughed.

Caroline stopped, crossed her arms and stamped one foot.

“Try seduction,” said Bob, grinning.

“On him?” Caroline’s voice rose an octave as she surveyed the man. He had stopped struggling, and was just staring, slack-jawed at Caroline.

“Nice outfit,” said Bob, his voice casual.

Caroline looked down to see her Vampirella costume on her body. She grimaced, thought of something else, and suddenly looked like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

“I like that one, too,” said Bob, ogling her cleavage.

Caroline stamped her foot again and willed her normal clothes back into existence.

The pirate moaned. He sounded pretty terrorized already, and Caroline realized that what he’d seen must seem like magic to him.

It gave her confidence and she stalked across the room. She pushed her face within inches of his and smelled his dinner on his breath.

“Do you know what I am?” she asked, baring her fangs.

She got a frantic nod.