Free Maggie on the Bounty by Kate Danley Page B

she said.
    "We saw you in the pool,"
I said.  "You yelled at a woman in black."  I put up my hands.
"Wait a minute.  Are you the ghost who wrote in the soap bubbles and was
messing around with the soda machine?"
    The kid heard something behind
her.  Her eyes got as big as mine did the first time I found out there really
was a monster under my bed.  "You must help us!" she said, suddenly
hyperventilating. 
    I slowed that kid's roll.  "I
know!  That's what we're going to try and do."
    She looked over her shoulder in
fear, "She's coming.  I must go!"
    "Who is coming?"
    "Her!"
    "Tell us what you need!"
I said.
    "Watch out!" she warned
us.  "There is death all around us!"
    Jackie began shaking.  She pointed
down the promenade.  "There she is.  There she is with her friends!  They
keep killing everyone.  People go with them and then we find them with two
bite-holes in their neck, and then they are like ghosts.  And you can't do
anything to stop them.  They just want to bite you."
    Killian and I looked where she was
pointing and there was that gal in black with a couple of swells on her arm,
the same lady who had oh-so-kindly been the cruise director to those vampires I
had staked earlier. 
    Only I didn't think she had me and
Killian on her day's events list.
    The woman in black looked up, saw
us, and took off the other direction.  If her fangs hadn't given her away, her
speed sure did.  No woman should be able to run that fast in high heels. Her
fellas followed after without even breaking a sweat.
    It was on.  Killian and I broke out
in a flat sprint, getting some none-too-friendly looks from the staff.  Guess
they weren't used to seeing a girl in leather. 
    "Costumed performers coming
through!" I shouted as we pushed through the crowd. 
    Down the steps we went, deep into
the heart of the ship.  "Remind me to pack my cocktail clothes the next
time we decide to jump times," I asked Killian.
    Even though I was running full tilt
and was Killian running even faster, that vampire was gone.  Killian put his
arm out and slowed me down.  The hallway stretching in front of us was
completely empty with nothing but rows and rows of closed doors.  She could
have slipped into any one of the staterooms.
    "You take that side, I'll take
this one," I said, jiggling the handles.  It was a wasted effort.  They
were all locked.  Our lady and her boy toys gave us the slip.  We lost her.
    "Fuck," I said.
    "Once again, you and I are of
one mind," Killian said, giving the last door handle a frustrated jerk.
    "Where did that crazy vampire
go?" I asked.  "You know we can't go back to our time until we find
her."
    Killian nodded grimly. "It
appears we will be earning our vacation pay."
    "If that bastard Julio cuts
our fee in half, I'm stealing the bathrobes.  All of them.  On the entire
boat."  I jerked my thumb back up towards where we came from.  "Let's
make sure the kid is all right.  Maybe let her know her imaginary friends
aren't going to disappear on her."
    But Jackie was gone by the time we
showed up.  I was hoping that her nanny hustled her off to bed and not that
some Other Side monster had snatched her.
    I looked at Killian. "We gotta
make sure nothing ate her," I said.
    Killian paced the floor. 
"Should we even try to return to our own time?" he finally asked.
    That was the million dollar
question, wasn't it.  I wanted to escape.  Boy oh boy, I wanted to just open up
a portal and go back to our nice cozy little stateroom and enjoy some room
service on our employer's dime.  But instead, I found myself saying, "We
gotta fix this.  It is probably one of those 'entire fate of the world hangs
upon this moment' moments.  As much as I would rather be at home watching This Old (Haunted) House,
I think we've got our own renovation project right smack dab in front of our
nose."  I looked off at the spot where Jackie had her meltdown. "Vampires
are freaky, but I wonder what she saw that got her so scared?"
    "I am