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Lauren opened her eyes groggily as she heard a earsplitting shriek come from somewhere not to far from her. “Wha..” She sprung up from where she had been laying on the ground and glanced around almost hysterically. She wasn’t at home anymore that was one thing she could be sure about, and she wasn’t even sure that she was even in the United States anymore from the look of the old looking buildings around her.
‘Ok Lauren, so you’re on a street in the middle of who-knows-where and…was that screaming? Should I go check it out?? Get yourself together girl! This is what you’ve always wanted… right? It-it is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it??… Ok. I’m going to go check out that screaming. Someone may be hurt or something!’
She started walk in the direction she thought the noise had come from, “This is weird…It’s like…deserted.”
Suddenly a head busted out from one of the shut up windows, “Lady! What are you doing just wandering outside?! There are pirates about! Come in, quickly!” The head whipped back into the house and shut the windows before he rushed to his front door and opened it, motioning for her to come in quickly.
Lauren stepped through the door and then looked questioningly at the old man, “Pirates? Are they even real?? I mean…I’m not from here...I’m actually from really far away I think…I don’t really remember how I got here! One minute I was asleep in my bed in America and the next minute I’m here.” She didn’t look scared exactly, just curious, “Where is here anyways?”
“This is one of the major port cities, the wonderful- if not dangerous- city of Dargin. But where is ‘Amer-ic-a’?”
“OH…It’s not too far away from Dargin now that I think about it. It’s a very small village near the inland. It’s no surprise that you haven’t heard of it, good sir!” Lauren improvised politely. From the looks of it, all those fantasy stories she had written in the past for fun were going to come in handy. Pirates? Then…she spotted her reflection in the small mirror hanging near the front parlor. The reflection that looked back at her was of a tall young girl, maybe about 16 or 17, with a light build and light silver hair that came down to about her upper back and had small braids scattered unevenly through it. She felt strange looking into the deep violet eyes that stared back at her and she gasped.
‘Arya?? Oh my go-oodness. Great…no wonder he took me for a lady…. This isn’t funny!’ She seemed to gather herself together some before turning and smiling at the old man, “Thank you, you probably saved my life back there.” She seemed thoughtful for a moment before continuing, “My name is Arya. It is truly a pleasure to meet such a wise, kind person during my travels. Please forgive me if I seemed distant.” ‘This is sorta fun…like a real fantasy story…’
“It’s good to meet you too, Arya. My name is Krader and you’re not planning to go back out there with those pirates about, are you?”
“It may not seem like it, Krader, but I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself if worse comes to worse. They probably won’t even notice I’m out there!”
“Yes, because your violet eyes wouldn’t attract them…” he mumbled under his breath.
She looked taken aback for a moment but then replied calmly, “I have ways of keeping myself out of danger. I’m truly sorry, Krader. I really must go now. There is something of the utmost importance that I must accomplish in this city.” ‘Yeah…right…’ She smiled to reassure the old man before opening his door and walking out into the cold night.
‘So where to go now…Well, first off I think I should get out of this city before I actually do end up being captured by pirates.’ With that she starting walking in the direction she thought might lead out of the city…(When in fact she was going towards the pirate ship, not away from it…).

‘Good lord do I have a headache…God, seriously, let me go to sleep! I’ve been awake two hours more than usual! Any minute now my alarm clock for school is going to go off, ringing insanely and I still haven’t had even an hour of decent sleep! Sheesh…you’d think there was something you wanted me up for or something crazy like that…’ Thus went Brittany’s thoughts as she lay in her bed, tossing, turning and staring at the blaring red numbers of her clock, the only light in her dark room. That is, besides the white light that was suddenly appearing before her and growing to engulf her room. And of course, instead of going away from the light like a normal, scared teenager would, Brittany found it comforting and went to it’s apparent center, letting it surround her with it’s blinding pressure. And then it was over. The light was gone from her room- and it had taken her with it.
“Pretty! Shiny! Colors!” Brittany exclaimed as she went through a spiral of lights that was taking her from her own world to a totally new one. She landed gracefully on the ocean shore, looking around , trying to get her bearings. She looked down at her feet, noticing two things- her chest was bigger and she was wearing the coolest boots ever. A piece of hair fell into her face and when she started to tuck it behind her ears she saw that it was black…and in ringlets….she turned around quickly trying to see her back. Yep, she was right. It went down to her knees.
“I’m…I’m…I’m Marissa gosh darn it!” she yelled, glancing around to see if anyone had her exclamation. All she saw were people running off a ship into a town with swords raised and yelling and laughter coming from there mouths. ‘Dirty mouth? Clean it up with Orbits gum!…I wonder what’s going on?’ A man turned towards her and put his hand over his eyes, squinting from the sun. Then he pointed his sword at her and yelled something Brittany could barely make out…something like, ‘After her men! We could get good money for her!’ And when about seven of the men had all of a sudden surrounded her- even though they were at least a quarter of a mile away- she knew she had heard correctly. “How’d you do that?” she asked simply, not even thinking about the fact that she had heard them from the same distance away. “Haven’t you heard, love? We’re vampirates, of Captain Konohoe’s crew,” said one whose spiky, bright red hair stood out among them all, though they all had the same haunting but deeply mesmerizing red eyes and their clothes were an odd layered assortment of rips and rags, of eye patches and scars.
‘Konohoe? Crap…I’m in trouble, aren’t I?’ she thought, keeping herself from shaking her head in dismay. “Konohoe? Never heard of him. Sorry, gotta go.” She tried to walk nonchalantly past the circle of pirates but one of them grabbed her arm, one with shoulder length brown hair who she recognized, “Ari? You’re with that jerk Konohoe?” He looked at her strangely, squinting, “Don’t talk about the captain like that. Besides, how did you know my name?” “Umm…lucky guess?” “Wait! Your eyes! One’s red!” Ari looked taken aback by his own statement. ‘Oh…so Marissa’s- I mean I’m- a dhampir…that explains some things…’ “Well, yes, it is. Haven’t you ever heard of a dhampir? You know, half human, half vampire? Sheesh…” “Well, we’ve heard of it but it’s never been done. It’s impossible,” piped up another pirate, a different one whose blonde hair distinguished him from Ari and Red. She’d call him Blonde-y.
“Well, it’s obviously possible, Blonde-y. Look at me.”
“We are and we like what we see,” Red said, leering. “Jerk!” She slapped him across the cheek indignantly and at that moment they finally went through with their captain’s orders, grabbing her by the wrists and tying her hands behind her back before she could make a proper fuss about it. She did however manage to kick at least two of them in that certain painful place before they tied her legs as well and Ari draped her over his shoulders. “Sorry if we hurt you, miss- what’s your name?” Ari asked since he was unable to pry into her locked mind. “Marissa. My name is Marissa.” “Last name please?” Ari prodded. “You don’t need one.” “Okay then…where are you from, Marissa?” “Can’t say, Ari. Besides, I’m a captive. I refuse to speak to you people any more than absolutely necessary.” “Well, Captain Konohoe will want you to speak, Marissa.” “Leave her be, Ari. If she wants to live she’ll speak.” “Please don’t be so rude, Red,” Ari replied scornfully. (Yes, the one Marissa had called Red was really named Red…)
A young girl with short, boyish black hair and dark brown eyes had been watching this scene from a few feet away while hiding in a barrel. ‘So…Their pirates…Wha-ha! That means that there should be tons of treasure onboard their ship…right?!’ She smirked and -while making sure she was keeping to the shadows- followed the pirates to their ship.
“Captain Konohoe! We have the prisoner!” Blonde-y (whose real name was Dag) called out.
“Captain, if you’re planning on selling me to some slave trade- which I know from Dag’s poorly blocked mind you are- then you should take better care of me.”
“What are you, wench?” Konohoe asked, peering at her one red eye that had flecks of purple strung throughout it.
“My name is Marissa. Not wench. And I’m a dhampir you fool.”

Lauren had wondered around for about five minutes before huffing and leaning up against one of the deserted ally way walls in defeat.
‘I’m lost.’ She sighed, feeling slightly homesick, ’I wish Britt was here...She’d be able to get me outta this mess…Hmph! I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something about this mess! I’ve got to keep going.’
She pushed herself up off the wall and continued walking toward what looked like a town square when she heard shouts coming from that direction. Just to be safe she decided she should keep to the shadows were she most likely wouldn’t be seen.
“Great. I should have known that with my luck I would run into the pirates some time or another.” With a sigh she crept around the corner and knelt down behind a small handle as she observed a group of not so kind looking men ransacking houses. ’I’m guessing since they look pretty caught up in whatever they’re doing they won’t even notice me if I try and sneak past them.’ So looking cautiously around she stood up and started to walk very quietly across the square and practically right behind the pirates making almost no noise whatsoever.
Unfortunately for Lauren, one of them happened to hear her. These were vampirates too…
“Hey! You there! Girl! Why don’t you come over here for a second…” he said, with a smile that wasn’t as kind as it was *****…
She froze, “Heh-heh…Why in the world would I want to do that? Mother dearest told me not to talk to strangers…” She gave him a defiant look and then continued to walk away from the group at a quick pace that wasn’t quite running but wasn’t too far from it.
He was quickly in front of her in the blink of an eye- literally.
“Not so fast, love. I’m sure the Captain wouldn’t mind seeing you. Might fancy you and all that muck.”
“Love?” Lauren repeated, giving him a blank stare, “I’m not ’love’. My name’s Arya and I’d be very pleased if you would just bug off.” She took a step sideways and then tried to continue walking.
“No can do, love. Captain’s orders and all. Anything or anyone found of interest should be taken straight to the Captain. So come along nicely,” he said taking her wrist and pulling her along behind him to the Captain in that blink of an eye way of his- when he said straight to the Captain he meant it.
“What do we have here, Arch? A pretty violet eyed maiden I see?” the Captain asked.
Lauren scowled, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enough already.” She turned back to Arch, “Are you dumb or…you’re a vamp-y aren’t you? Great.” She was slightly startled as she turned back to their so called captain and realized exactly who she was dealing with.
‘Taki?!’ She took a step backwards, “Not you! This sorta stinks… you know that, right?”
“Oh, you recognize me? Of course, who hasn’t heard of the daring Captain Taki and his crew of lovable rogues?”
“Lovable? You guys are anything but lovable from what I’ve seen… Do you mind letting me go now?? I really have to be going…My mommy dearest is very…sick…yes that’s right. She’s very sick so I’ve got to go home and take care of her! Yep!”
“You’re mother? From the rumors I’ve heard, spirit, you are an orphan, the last of your kind.”
“You know me?…That’s just fine and dandy because I have no idea how I even got to this blasted town!”
“Well, come with us, we’ll help you!”
“Yeah…well…from the rumors I’ve heard about you you’re a dirty old pervert with nothing else better to do than go rob and kill innocent people.”
“I am not dirty nor old for my race thank you very much.”
“So you don’t deny being a pervert, huh?” Arya tilted her head as if confused, “That sounds off about a thousand and two warning signs in my head…”
“Well, I don’t think I’m very perverted, but if I say so too loud my first mate will come and prove me wrong.”
“I’m not a spirit.”
“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.”
“Yeah well if you’d like to know what I think…I might tell you that your obnoxious and you talk too much.”
“That’s fine, now let’s go. Come along, quickly and quietly please.”
“Umm…and if I say no?”
“We burn the whole village down and kill those who you call innocent.”
“Umm…yeah…about that. I’m starting to think that would be better than being stuck on a stupid pirate ship with a bunch of guys…”
“My ship is not stupid. And if we burned the town down you’d be the starter log.”
“Ah…Well…since you put it that way…I really don’t care.” She turned around and started to walk away…really fast. Of course, it didn’t help that she kept on forgetting what these people were and Arch grabbed a hold of her wrist.
“I’m guessing we’re still taking her with us, sir?”
“Yup. Let’s go.” And they were on the ship in a flash, “Arch, tell the men to come aboard, we’re shoving off.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give me a break here! What’s up with the whole ‘yes, sir’ this and ‘yes, sir’ that?! It’s getting really annoying…Why you’d ever want to refer to Taki as ‘sir’ escapes me in the first place.”
“He’s the Captain, I’m the subordinate. He’s ‘sir’ or ‘Captain’ or ‘Captain Taki’. Easy as that, love, easy as that.” Arch then relayed his Captain’s message and soon they were joined by the whole crew- minus Shinon, the first mate, who decided to be old fashioned and walk.
“Uh… Yeah, about this this whole coming with you…I can’t do it. It’s out of the question. I don’t like vampires- cough- or pirates -cough-. Vampies take the blood of poor weak innocent humans, like myself, and pirates just plain rock…I mean stink.”
“I think you contradicted yourself there…and not all humans- which you’re not one- are ‘poor, weak, and innocent’…” Taki pointed out and everyone around them nodded in agreement, letting out gruff ‘that’s right’s and ‘no duh’s.
She simply waved them off, “I think since we obviously disagree so much…not to mention I have morals…I should just leave.” She walked to the railing and looked over and then turned back to the crew, “Alright-y then I guess I’m not getting off that way am I?” The ship was already at least fifty feet away from the shore. She very calmly and slowly started to back up until she was almost standing on the rail, ‘Maybe I can fly…This is just a dream…right? Or maybe if I almost die I’ll wake up!’
“A dream? This isn’t a dream! Did you escape from the asylum?” Taki asked walking over and grabbing her to keep her from falling…or jumping for that matter.
“Didn’t I already go over the whole I don’t like to be touched ordeal?” She glared at him and stepped down from the rail, “Because if we didn’t go over that little fact then I’ll go ahead and tell you now. Touch me and you most defiantly will die a most slow and painful death. I will go through with my threat...somehow...even if I don‘t know how to accomplish that just yet I‘d find a way, trust me…”
“That’s okay, if you follow orders, I won’t need to touch you,” Taki explained.
“Umm…yeah, about the whole ‘following orders’ thing-y…I really don’t think that’s going to work to well.” She grinned, “But feel free to give me a call and tell me about it anytime at all…Uh, hopefully you’d be calling from very, very far away.” “If you were truly human you wouldn’t hear my call,” Taki retorted. “Which is exactly why I’m completely human.” She smiled, “The whole point was me not being able to hear you, get it?”
“The point is you’re not leaving. I’ve spent too much time trying to find you and I’m not just letting you go.”
“Found who?” Shinon asked as he came up behind Taki silently, his messy brown hair falling slightly in his eyes.
“Ach! Shinon, you scared me! So did you decide to fly over like a normal vampire?”
“No. I ran quickly over the water.”
“Well, at least you kinda used one of your skills…”
“Shinon! I’m so glad you’re here. These crazy vampies think that they can boss me around or…You’re a vamp-y too, aren’t you?…This is not funny.” Lauren glared at Taki and Shinon and at random faces in the group surrounding them. ‘This is getting really creepy. Scary-full! Wait…I’m a human…I think…I’m not...food or something am I?! Hah! Well we’ll just see about that! I’ll get them…Maybe knife them in their sleep or something…that would actually be pretty fun…’
“I am a vampire, yes. And do I even want to know how you know my name?”
“Sheesh, Shinon, if you were keeping track of her mind you’d tell her that knifing us in our sleep isn’t a good idea,” Taki said, waving his hand dismissively.
“I would never ever think something as mean as that! Ok…you can read minds can’t you?” Lauren questioned before stretching her hands in the air and yawning with boredom, “You guys have any food around here?”
“Uh…our food is humans…I don’t think we have any people food…unless it’s spoiled…there might be some water…or bilge rats you can cook up…” Taki was seriously thinking about cooking her a rat…
“Rat?! Did you even give a seconds thought to what I would need to survive here? I need food. It’s essential to my survival. How often do you guys eat anyways…? And I hope the water isn’t salt water either, because for you’re information I can’t drink that stuff!” Lauren fumed and smacked Taki -hard- on the head.
“It’s not salt water. And even if it was there are ways to get the salt out. Besides, we go to port cities all the time to plunder. We can get you some food there.” It was Shinon who’d been smart enough to think of it.
“Of course, we’d have to assign guards so you wouldn’t get away…” Taki added.
“Look, quite frankly I don’t have anywhere else to go and this appeals to my better more adventurous side… so I might be okay with staying for a while. But. Here are my ground rules: one-I’m going to make a very long list of stuff I want or need for you guys to get; two- I don’t want any of you people to decide I’m some sort of snack or something. Because I’m not; third-I get my own room or cabin or whatever because I’m not sleeping anywhere near any of you creeps; four- I get to go with you guys when you go into ports because if not I’d go out of my mind with boredom… and that’s about it besides the fact that touching is off limits. If any of you people touch me without my permission you will die.” Then she smiled almost sweetly, “Got it?”
“Sounds fair enough. Hear that men? Those are the rules concerning Miss- what’s your name, love?”
“My name’s Arya, not love.” She then stuck her tongue out at him.
“Okay then, Arya. But there are some rules for you as well. Mostly for your safety, mind you. Don’t try killing anyone in their sleep, it won’t bode well with you. And show respect for Shinon and I. Also, the rest of the pirate code applies to you except the dividing of treasure- that is unless you do your fair share.”
“First rule’s fine… Second rule’s… um no can do. Respect is earned and freely given. If you and Shinon over there want my respect then you’ve got to earn it. Got it?”
“That’s okay but that rule goes both ways, Arya,” Shinon said before he was suddenly gone, not caring to hear the rest of the conversation. He could pick it up from the others if needed.
“And the third one’s… doable.” Lauren then smiled- again. She had been doing a lot of smiling lately. Good thing she was slightly good at that.
“Alright then. Men! Off to work! You know your jobs! Arya, come with me. We need to find you a doable room.”
“Sure thing, sir-insert snicker here- Whatever you say.” She laughed softly under her breath before following.
“Uh-huh…hmm…I guess you can have Shinon’s cabin.”
“Really…? Wow. Umm… wouldn’t he get sorta mad,…? OH well, what should I do with all of his stuff?!”
“I’ll put it in storage. He can sort through it all when he gets back…from wherever he his…” ’Dumb Shinon blocks his mind so I never know what he’s doing unless he tells me…and sometimes he lies!’
“Shinon doesn’t seem like the lying kinda type… I don’t get this whole mind reading thing anyways... How do you do it?”
“You just did!”
“Did not!”
“I said nothing about Shinon lying or blocking his mind out loud!”
“Are you trying to prove that I’m a spirit or whatever you said before because it’s not working. I don’t read minds. Period.”
“Obviously not on purpose because you’re not lying…you really just don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?! There’s nothing to know!! I don’t get you.”
“That’s fine, you’ll understand someday. Especially since being a spirit you’re not gonna die from natural causes for, well, ever.” Suddenly Shinon reappeared, dropped blankets, food, and clothing he thought she might wear at their feet. “Why didn’t you think of this, dear Captain?” “Because…well we were stopping at a port anyways!” “Food! Shinon you rock!” She shouted happily and gathered up the pile of stuff at her feet into a big pile of stuff in her arms. Then she sort of swayed back and forth from not being able to see past the big pile of stuff in her arms, “Umm… could I get one of you two to grab some of this stuff?” Shinon rolled his eyes but complied, him having some manners and all that…”Where’d Taki put you?”
Lauren laughed, “Ah-hah-ha-ha-whee… we umm… I’m umm….. In your room?” She looked questioningly at Taki as if she hadn’t heard him right.
“My room?…and my stuff?” Shinon glared at Taki, knowing it was his fault.
“Taki said you’d be okay with putting it into storage….”
“Did he now?” Taki had begun to back away.
“Well, you…umm…all your stuff is a bunch of worthless junk anyways! Chests of clothes and boxes that no one can open! Papers strewn about haphazardly! I did you a favor.”
“I’m going to get my stuff. She can have my room after I’ve cleaned it out of everything I want.” He then left and slammed the door to his cabin behind him, jarring the whole ship. The crew looked up from their work, sharing looks of ‘Shinon’s mad again’.
“Umm… he sounded sorta mad.” Lauren took a step away from Taki… “You do know that a lot of rumors do call you a dirty old perverted idiot, right?”
“Right…everybody loves me! Otherwise I wouldn’t be dealt with…”
“You think highly of yourself… don’t you?” Lauren replied and rolled her eyes.
“A captain needs to have a good self-esteem. Besides, at least it wasn’t that beast Konohoe who got a hold of you, you’d be tortured just for the sake of torture if he had.”
“You do know that in another life you and Konohoe were the best of friends, ruled a kingdom together, and your kids were best friends too? Do you even have any kids??”
“Well, I think I have one that I know of…I think he went off to serve on Konohoe’s ship to spite me or what not…”
“Ah. So Rei doesn’t like you very much does he? He never really liked you, just so you know. He also falls in love with a Crimson spirit named Zariel… just so you know… well he might not but he most likely will because they’re destined to be together…. I think.”
“How do you know his name?? And another spirit! Are you sure you didn’t escape from the white, padded room?”
“Umm… yes as a matter of fact. You wouldn’t want to mess with Zariel though… she’s got a temper…. Worse than me on a guy infested ship.”
“Okay then…”

Meanwhile, Shinon was going through his room with a vengeance, looking under his mattress and in the floorboards and the walls for his most prized possessions and putting them carefully in different lockable chests. These things, mostly pieces of paper, were all he had left of his former life. Nobody- especially anyone on the ship- had ever seen what was on the papers or anything else for that matter and he’d keep it that way. Most of the chests stayed locked, they had at least three locks on them and a combination of keys were used that he kept on his person at all times, well, except for the few that were hidden in other places around the ship that no one would even think about.
He went out of the room with three large chests in hand, only one of which was filled with clothes and things like that. He glared and Taki and nodded to Arya, insinuating that she could do what she wished with the room now.
She didn’t even glance back at the two before disappearing into her room and quickly shutting the door and to add on to that she moved the small dresser in front of the door. ’Wha-ha! Time to search Shinon’s room!’ She thought checking anywhere she personally would hide a valuable possession, like under the bed or under the bad post, in the door knob… But when she finally did see a glint of silver somewhere it was in one of the most obvious places she could think of… on the window seal. She slowly picked up the silver key and examined it gleefully. ‘I wonder if this is Shinon’s…. Oh well… I’ll give it back eventually… as soon as I find out what if goes to of course! This is going to be so fun!’ And with those last thoughts she picked up one of the blankets, practically dived onto the bed, curled up into a ball and fell asleep with the key hanging on a pretty long chain she had found in the pile of clothes.


‘So she’s umm… a vampire too?’ Jinko thought as she crept onboard the ship and snuck up behind the group without them actually seeing her. When she was right up behind the group she tapped one of the pirates on the shoulder, “Umm…. I don’t know if I’m in the right place exactly…. But have you seen a girl with really long dark red hair and violet eyes??” ‘Hmm… I’m guessing we can’t just steal the treasure and leave? No, of course not. That would be too easy for her… She’s planning on staying and causing trouble isn’t she? Oh well, sounds fun.’
“No, but if there are stowaways on this ship, we can be sure to find them. How about I take you to the Captain. I’m sure he’d love to see you…” the pirate replied, grabbing her shoulder and leading her to where the Captain was talking to Marissa…Brittany…
“Sure!” Jinko grinned, “I’d love to meet your Captain or whatever…. Oh… and by the way… I wasn’t planning on stowing away on your ship…. My partner was. I just wanted to steal all your gold.”
“And you thought we’d be okay with that?!” Konohoe asked, turning away from Marissa to look at Jinko. Marissa took this time to leave their presence and investigate the Captain’s quarters…fun ness…
“You mean to tell me that you wouldn’t be okay with letting us off the ship in one piece with as much gold as we could carry?” She asked innocently.
“No, instead, since everyone’s back now and we’ve already shoved, you and your friend- wherever she may be- will stay and work.”
Jinko huffed and turned around to face the shore where she saw a very happy Zariel grinning from ear to ear with a bunch of gold and jewelry and one treasure box laying at her feet, “Bye-Bye, Jinko, my dearest most loved-not to mention slightly unlucky- friend! I’ve got the gold so if you ever get off that ship alive than I’d be more than happy to share a little!” She pinched her fingers together to demonstrate what a ‘little’ meant, “Oh, Hello Mr. Big Bad Pirate Captain! Have a great day. I hope Jinko can be of service… Bye!” She then waved.
“Men, after her,” Konohoe said simply and five of the vampirates had soon surrounded Zariel and were looking down at her maliciously- and some leeringly.
“Uh, yeah, about that. Maybe I’d better just hand all this junk back to you five for the time being….” Zariel scowled, “I don’t know why you’d want to take me on a stupid ship. I’m pretty much useless. Yep… completely useless.”
“A ship isn’t stupid. And your usefulness will be for the Captain to decide.” Two of them got on either side of her and hoisted her up, swiftly flying back to the ship (okay, so one of them wasn’t the best flyer and almost dragged them down to the sea…). The other three gathered the stolen goods and followed.
“You know… I really don’t mean to be rude or anything… but can you jerks… please put me down now? Just drop me into the sea for all I care!”
Instead they dropped her in front of Konohoe. How nice.
“Good to have you aboard, spirit. I can use you against Taki!”
“You know I’d really love to help and all Mr. Big Bad Pirate… but you see… I can’t. I’m an exceptionally good spirit.” Zariel said convincingly, smacking Jinko in the head when she snickered.
“You. Good. In the same sentence? Wow.” Jinko snickered under her breath some more, leading to another smack from Zariel, “Hey, that hurt!” She glared at Zariel. Zariel just scowled. A big difference from what she usually did- which was scowling.
“I’m a very good spirit that would never associate with pirates like Konohoe’s crew!” Zariel defended herself.
“You were a pirate, dummy!”
“I was not!”
“Was too! The only reason you’ve sunk to stealing from other captains is because the imperialists sunk your ship!”
“It was a crappy ship anyways!”
“I loved that ship, thank you very much!” Jinko stuck her tongue out.
“Ahem. We’re still here. Anyways, you’ll work like the others, you’ll sleep like the others, and unless you want to made into vampires, we’ll have to get you some real food…”
“How you figure that one out?” Zariel replied sarcastically, “I don’t take orders from Vamps. I don’t especially like vamps and I really don’t want to be here. At all. Plus, I don’t particularly like the idea of being on a ship full of… guys.” Zariel shuddered. “Oh, yeah. Just so you guys know. Zariel has guy fears.” Jinko whispered secretively as if Zariel couldn’t hear her in the first place. “I resent that!”
“It’s true!”
“Is not.”
“Is too”
“Is not I tell ya!”
“Is too!”
“Wanna bet?!”
“Only because I know I’d win!” Jinko stuck her tongue out again while Zariel was glaring daggers at her. A very happy pair, weren’t they? To think that they were best friends.
“Uh-huh…well, here’s the thing, either follow orders or be punished. And your punishment is my joy.”
“Joy. Wow. I’d always heard you were one messed up head case but I’d never realized it until now…”
“Zariel! You can’t just say that to a Captain! I never said stuff like that to you did I?”
“Umm… yeah. As a matter of fact… you did. And I’m a fellow Captain officially… so nah!” Now it was Zariel’s turn to stick her tongue out.
“A Captain without a ship? Or for that matter a crew? What kind of Captain is that?”
“Me.” She replied stubbornly, “And I do too have a crew… I’ve got Jinks.”
“Don’t call me Jinks. My name is Jinko dear Captain.”
“Oh, shut it!”
“I wouldn’t call that a crew…partially because ‘crew’ implies plural.”
“So? Do you think I really care?”
“You should. Calling yourself a captain and not having crew nor ship is like slinging that tile through the mud and then leaving it on land.”
“Oh, you can shut up too!”
“I- ,” Konohoe was cut off when he heard multiple crashes coming from his quarters, “Huh?”
“Hah-hah! I knew that kid was good news!” Jinko laughed.
A yell came from the room, “I’m not a kid!” And then more banging occurred…
At that, Zariel started laughing, “You let-snicker- her-snicker- into-snicker- your -unladylike snort- cabin! What kind of a Captain are you again?? Hah-ha-snort-ha… Wow!”
“I didn’t let her! You people had my attention and these buffoons stopped watching her! Ari! I thought I put her in your charge!”
“You never told me that, sir…”
“Well I’m saying it now!”
“Yes, sir…” Ari went after Marissa quietly.
“You’ve also got a crew of buffoons?!! Ha! That’s really funny….”
“Oh, shut up Zariel, before he decides to put someone in charge of you.” Jinko sighed, when behind her justice, goody-goody faze she was stealing from the crew left and right.
“That’s a good idea. Rei?”
An icy blue haired vampire came over from his work of repairing the mast, “Yes?”
“That’s your charge,” Konohoe said, pointing to Zariel, “She’s a spirit. Think of it as getting back at your father.”
“Gladly.” He glared at Zariel as if she was the source of his problems…she kinda was.
Zariel simply glared back, “Great. Who are you? Another one of those high and mighty jerks I’m guessing.” She then turned to Konohoe, “You know I could end up killing him in his sleep or something right?”
“No, you really couldn’t. I’m Rei, beloved son of Taki. -mumble- b*****d…-mumble-.”
“And I care why?” Zariel decided she really couldn’t care less who the jerk was. She had already decided she didn’t like the guy. What more did she need to know, “Are you sure I’m going to be… ahem… safe with this jerk?? He doesn’t seem too responsible to me.”
“He won’t violate you if that’s what you mean.”
“Umm…. No, not exactly. I was talking more like him killing me in my sleep…. No sane person would try to violate me if they liked living…. Yep….”
“One, you’re more useful to me alive. Two, I’ve never been the biggest fan of living. Just wanted to make that clear.”
“Fine… so can I just go ahead and kill you now then??”
“No, because then I couldn’t spite Taki.”
“Jerk.”
“Whatever. I’m going to finish repairing the mast now. The wood is starting to crack.”
“Plus no one in their right mind would try to do anything to me… it’s not like I’m exceptionally pretty or anything….” She mumbled under her breath.
Jinko just rolled her eyes, “Of course not…. Who would ever think that.”
“I do…” Konohoe said, sharing looks with his crew before glaring at them all and sending them back to work.
“Umm… so what do you want us to do?” Jinko asked while Zariel scowled, again.
“Zariel, help Rei and, Jinko, well…” he looked around for someone she could help and who could watch her at the same time, “Go help Dag scrub the deck.”
“Who?? And I am not a deck scrubber…. I don’t like cleaning stuff!!!!” Jinko whined childishly.
“Ha-ha! Jinko has to clean. That’s hilarious!” Zariel snickered.
“You’ll help Dag clean and that’s that. Dag! Show her how.” Dag came up behind her shyly.
“Hello…”
“Hey…” Jinko responded gloomily as Zariel started walking hesitantly over to where Rei was working.
“Gosh, you’re slow, aren’t you?” Zariel commented when she came within a few inches of the mast.
“I’m going slow so as not to miss anything. Go to the other side and start sanding down the rough patches- carefully. When your done with that, we’ll gloss it over for protection.”
“I don’t take orders from you.”
“Then think of it as a suggestion.”
“An enforced suggestion or a you can do whatever you want I don’t really care suggestion?” Zariel asked moving to the other side of the mast.
“Mostly the former.”
“Ah-ha… Which means what?” She questioned climbing to the very tip of the mast and sitting down.
“Which means do it and that’ll be great. Don’t, and it’ll take longer meaning this mast might come down, the ship would sink, and someone- most likely Konohoe- would take it into their head to torture you for the rest of eternity.”
“Ah… I guess I could pitch in a little then. Seeing as this ship is pretty cool… maybe Jinko could steal it for me…” Zariel picked up the piece of sand paper and set to work. How long it was going to take without using her powers she didn’t know… but she figured she was in for a few hours of boredom.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” Zariel said almost politely, then scowled again, “Jinko would die if this thing sunk or something….”
“So she’s the only human on here then…kinda sucks for her…”
“Yeah. She’s always been like that though… Most people think spirits are witches or possessed by demons or something…. So I was happy when she chose to stick with me.”
“So, despite the bickering you two are good friends, huh?”
“I guess you could say that.” Zariel made a face, “We’re sorta like sisters…. My mom’s second kid is her half brother.”
“So she’s basically your step-sister and your little brother is a half-spirit?”
“Thinks he’s completely human though… when they killed mother and Don…. We never told him. It was for his own safety…. Jinko and I had decided to go out pirating that day… and Shin…. We haven’t found him yet…”
“So how old would he be now?”
“Nine.” Zariel looked thoughtful for a moment, “He would be nine years old.”
“Well, who knows. We go to lots of different places, maybe you’ll find him.”
“Not while those imperialists have their dirty hands on them…. I sacrificed my crew for that kid and he chose them over us!” Zariel sighed, “Why am I talking to you again?”
“Because…I’m really not sure. I was just making conversation at first, you know, trying to pass the time. Besides, if Konohoe is going to put us together like this we should at least be on semi-good terms…”
“Right… so what’s up with you and… umm… Taki…?” She asked looking away, she had had her own problems with Taki.
“Long story short, my mother was a vampire when Taki came to town. He wooed her, made me, and when I was born he heard that spirits were showing back up. Obsessed with them he is. Anyways, he left my mom and I to go back to his crew to search for a silver-haired spirit. This was a week after he and my mom had actually decided to get married…”
“Jerk. I always knew that guy was bad news!” Zariel growled angrily, then noticed she was almost completely done, “Hey, this whole conversation thing actually worked!” ‘Wow…’
Rei actually smiled at both of her statements, “Yep,” he looked down at his own work. He was done, “I’ll go get the gloss.”
“Right…” Zariel mumbled, memories of her past flooding through her. She and Jinko hadn’t always gotten along so well. They had pretty much hated each other. But after that… happened… they were pretty much all they had…. So they were forced to work together.
When Rei came back, he had two buckets with him, one for him, one for her, “Here.”
She looked up quickly, “Oh! Right!” She exclaimed and grabbed a bucket of gloss from him. “We should be done in no time, right?”
“Right.” He got out the large paint brush that he’d stuck in the buckets and steadily started to apply the gloss to the mast.
“Whaaaaa…! Zariel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Konohoe’s making me work!!!!!!!!!!!” Jinko yelled running over with tears in her eyes. Zariel on the other was so startled she started to slip and completely let go of the ropes. She swayed back and forth, “Jinko! I’m going to kill you!”
“Ah! Sorry!?”
Rei reached up to steady her with one hand and gave her a rope to hold onto with the other, keeping his balance through flight.
“I didn’t quite need your help you know…” She then sighed, “But thanks anyways for the time being…” when she had completely steadied herself she glared down at Jinko.
“Eek! I’m leaving now!” She waved and ran back over to Dag, “I’ll work now…”

Meanwhile in the Captain’s quarters, Ari was trying to convince Marissa to stop stuffing treasure maps and other valuables in her shirt, boots, hair, and pockets.
“M-Marissa! P-please don’t!”
“Why? I won’t get in trouble. You will.”
“But, you still shouldn’t steal stuff!”
“I’ll give them back once they’re useless to me.”
“Look, you wouldn’t get to use them anyways if you’re stuck on the ship.”
“Then I’ll get off the ship. I’m sure I can fly…and the Imperialists would be sure to help!”
“You’d go to the Imperialists?!”
“Well, yes, possibly. I wouldn’t tell them about you all, and I’d simply take a ship and leave anyways. I’m sure the Imperialists have nice ships I could take.”
“Well…umm…that would be funny but the Captain still wouldn’t approve and how would you commandeer a ship on your own?”
“I wouldn’t be on my own. I’d make others help me. Maybe bring those other two girls who seem to want off. Now where am I sleeping?”
“In the crew bunks I guess.”
“…no. I refuse to sleep with the crew. I could always sleep here…”
“But…I really don’t think the Captain would like that…”
“Well, he’ll deal with it. I don’t want to sleep with the crew.”
“I guess you could bring it up with him…but if you slept here he wouldn’t leave…”
“That’s true…isn’t it? Well, umm…fine. I’ll sleep on the deck or on the mast.”
“Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”
“No…I used to sleep on the ground all the time where I come from.”
“Which is where again? Cause I feel as if I’ve heard of you…who were your parents?”
“Umm…” she paused as a mixture of Brittany’s and Marissa’s memories flooded in, showing pictures of Jennifer and Rob, and of two people she thought she should recognize but didn’t, “You wouldn’t know them.” ‘Why would Marissa have memories? I can understand my memories, but hers?’
“Can you two shut up…” A grumpy childlike voice came from the nest of covers on Konohoe’s bed, “I’m tryin’ to go to sleep over here… and that’s getting sort of hard with you two running your mouths.” A young boy -about ten or eleven- seemed to appear out of no where next to Marissa. He had messy black hair and eyes almost as dark. He scowled then almost fell over when he felt the ship rock back and forth, “Drats…”
Marissa pulled him up by his shoulder, “Excuse you?”
“What?” He asked rudely looking up at her, “It’s not my fault that I fell asleep on the blasted ship and now…. We’re not in port anymore are we?” His sensitivity to movement was getting the better of him as the ship rocked back and forth.
“I see you don’t have your sea-legs, brat,” Marissa commented, handing the kid over to Ari, expecting him to do something.
“You know, you really shouldn’t have been in the Captain’s quarters anyways…”
“Is that all you have to say?!”
“Well, you have to hand it to the little ninja, he got by us all.”
“So did Zariel.”
“Are you two going to keep talking or what?” The kid asked looking back and forth between them, “You’re giving me a head ache…”
“I guess I should take you to the Captain…but he wouldn’t be very happy…”
“Well, who are you more loyal to? Some kid you don’t know, or your Captain?”
The kid scowled, “Not helping.”
“I don’t help bratty little kids.”
“You’re a dhampir, right?” He asked suddenly curious, “That’s pretty cool.”
She smiled, flattery was a good thing, “Well yes, sheesh, Ari, the kid knew what I had to tell you.”
“There aren’t a lot of them out there. Most humans hate them and vampires don’t accept them. The ones who actually believe in them anyways.” He told her thoughtfully.
“Very true,” she said, surprising herself that she knew exactly what he was talking about, ‘I somehow knew about the Imperialists too…this is going to get confusing unless I remind myself I’m not actually from here…’
“So who’s this Captain guy?” the kid asked with a smirk, “I’d like to meet him.”
“Umm…okay,” Ari said, thinking, ‘You’re funeral…’ “Captain Konohoe! There’s someone who wants to meet you!”
“What are you talking- who are you?”
“Do you want the truth, the made up story, or what you’d like to hear?” the kid asked, “It’s up to you.”
“The truth. I don’t like being lied to…”
“Ok… I stowed away on your ship because I thought it would be very educational to meet you.”
“Educational?”
“Yeah, educational.” He smirked, “You do know what that means, right?”
“Of course I know what it means! Who do you think you are, brat?”
“I think I might leave you guessing, how about that?”
“Then you’ll just have to leave. The painful way.”
“Like you could kill me, old man.”
“I’m sure I could kill a little boy.”
“Ninja, sir.”
“I’m confident I could go up against you and win.”
“Confidence can be a killer.”
“You’re boring. I thought you’d be cooler.” He yawned, “I might as well go back to bed.” He turned to walk back into Konohoe’s cabin.
“Not so fast, kid! You’re not going to sleep in my bed.”
“He already has been sleeping in your bed. Konohoe, you really aren’t good with stowaways, are you? Me personally, I’d teach them a lesson on my ship. Well, not this kid, he’s smarter than you.” ‘Did I just say my ship? I don’t have a ship! Do I? I’m so confused…’
“Look, If you don’t have anything useful to say than I’m going back to sleep. This ship bugs me.” the kid kept on walking, then turned back to them, “You don’t care if I sleep in your room do you, old man? Because if you do I couldn’t care less… I just thought old people need a little respect.”
“I’m no one’s old man. I think…I might be that Kaname kid’s dad…but besides that I’m definitely not your old man. Am I?”
“Are you?” the kid smirked, “I wouldn’t think so.” ‘Idiot. Of course you are.’
“That’s good because I wouldn’t want such a bratty kid…unless he grew up to be like me.”
“No… I definitely wouldn’t grow up to be as pathetic a person.” the kid looked disgusted for a moment, so he could have a brother? He should have guessed.
“I’m not pathetic! Deranged, psycho, maybe. Pathetic? No.”
“I’m guessing you leave all the women you claim to love then… don’t you? And I’m also guessing they all die from heartache too, huh?”
“I don’t claim to love many women. And if they die from heartache, that’s not particularly my problem.”
The kid looked on the verge of exploding for a moment before gathering enough self control to simply snarl under his breath, “I knew someone who would abandon people who loved him would be like this.” He turned away, “You disgust me.”
“And I’m supposed to care? Look kid, I thought I loved a girl once. A human. Otherwise I would’ve just drained her. But because she was human it wouldn’t have worked out. I did it for her own good and mine.” Konohoe sounded sincere if not calloused.
“She loved you and you left. She couldn’t take it. I couldn’t get her to eat… She starved herself and it was your fault! She wouldn’t talk to anybody… she wouldn’t even take care…. She always….” He had a pained expression as if he was going to burst into tears, “You jerk. You did that to her and it was all your fault too!… She would have loved me if not for you…. I know she would have. But no. She died instead and the only person I knew of to blame was you. Just go away. I’m going back to bed….” He seemed to be sniffling when he stormed back into Konohoe’s room, piled a bunch of random stuff in front of the door, threw himself on the bed.
“Idiot. Good going, jerk,” Marissa bonked him over the head and glared at him accusingly.
“It really wasn’t bright, Captain…” Ari added, locking eyes with him to show his vast disapproval.
“Look, I told him the truth. I never knew she killed herself. I never even knew she got pregnant and had that kid! If I had known, I would’ve taken them both to sea with me. I do have a heart you know. And when I left I was saddened. But when you live forever you try not to regret things,” Konohoe said loudly, hoping the kid could hear him. ‘I at least knew my other kid’s name…I don’t know anything about this one!’
“Well maybe you should talk to him? Be a father, jerk!”
“Talk?”
“Yes, we know you can because you talk to much. This time make it mean something. Apologize for Christ’s sake!”
“Who’s Christ?”
“Oh! Forget that for a second and go talk with your son!”
“Fine…” Konohoe went to the door of his own room and knocked, feeling degraded.
“Go away.” Came a young almost whimpering sound from inside that just made you want to hug the kid.
“Please let me in…” Konohoe obviously had no clue what to say.
Behind him Marissa was mouthing, “Apologize!”
“Why me?” the kid sighed getting up off the bed and drying his eyes… He couldn’t just let all these grown ups see him upset! He slowly walked to the door, not touching any of the junk in front of it, “Give me one good reason why I should.”
“Because…I’m sorry. Sorry for leaving your mother and sorry for leaving you.”
“Umm… You actually mean that, right?” He started moving stuff out of the doorway.
“No, I’m laying down my pride because I’m a humble person. Yes I mean it.”
“Whatever.” the door slowly opened to reveal a slightly smirking boy with even messier black hair who didn’t look like he had been upset at all only three minutes ago, “I knew you’d apologize.”
“Are you serious!? You are my kid, aren’t you?!” Konohoe asked, slightly proud and angry at the same time, “Now would you tell me you’re name already?”
“Do I get a please?” He grinned.
“As Captain and father, nope.”
“Whatever. My name’s Ashe. Nice to finally meet you…even if you are… stubborn and a slight jerk….” He then mumbled under his breath, “At least I know where I get it from now….”
“Aww…happy ending-ish! How cute. Konohoe, I never knew you had a soft side. I thought you were jerk all around.”
“Marissa!” Ari exclaimed.
“Just speaking my mind…besides, we all know it’s true…”
“…that’s besides the point…” Ari said quietly.
Ashe started to laugh for the first time in what seemed forever, “I can’t wait to meet the rest of you guys! You’re hilarious!”
“Well, we do need to tell the crew who you are…” Konohoe said before going to the railing that overlooked the expansive ship. His first mate was at the wheel and he looked at Ashe strangely.
“Listen up, men! This here is my son Ashe. Treat him with the respect you give me or you’ll find consequences. Understand?”
“Don’t worry, you guys don’t have to respect me…. Just try and boss me around or whatever and see what happens.” Ashe grinned.
The crew shared glances that said, “Yep, it’s Konohoe’s kid…”
“Cute… Let’s go meet him, Rei!” Zariel jumped down from high up on the mast and was cushioned by what seemed to be a gust of wind. Jinko, of course, was already up on were Ashe was and poking him.
“You’re… his kid? CUTE!!!! You’re adorable!” Jinko laughed as Zariel walked up.
“Uh, yeah… I’m sure he really appreciates being called ‘adorable’. That’s sort of degrading for a kid like him… Aww! He is cute though!” Zariel had to smile.
“Great… Why in the world do stupid girls always think I’m ‘adorable’ or whatever!?” Ashe scowled.
Rei had walked up with Zariel and laughed at both of the girls, “I notice you aren’t so taken with him, Marissa.”
“That’s because I’ve heard him speak…” the ever-truthful Marissa commented flippantly.
“Shut up. It’s not like I care about you anyways.” He stuck his tongue out, ‘Is it ok for a grown up to stick their tongue out at a bunch of idiot girls?…’ he pondered afterwards, ‘Oh, well. They can deal with it.’
“Well, at least you come by it honestly,” she pointed to Konohoe.
“True.” He snickered.
“Hey Rei, did we ever finish?” Zariel asked suddenly.
“Uh…yeah…I think…yes, yes we did. Wanna check?”
“Nah.” She replied looking back over at Ashe, “You remind me of a little kid I used to know…”
“I do?” He looked up at her questioningly,
“Yeah, you do.” She replied.
“You’re not so bad…” He commented glancing away. ‘She’s pretty…’
“Ha. You’re not too bad either… for a little brat.”
“This love fest is getting sickening…” Marissa said, sticking out her tongue.
“Marissa? What are you doing here?!” Zariel looked stunned for a moment, “I thought you were dead. In fact… I know you were dead. So what in the world are you doing… alive?!”
“I was dead? Interesting…one of my few memories is not of me being dead…exactly…oh! I’m confusing myself!”
“You lost your memories?! Good grief… Fine. You never talked much about you but you were the leader of the rebellion. You know… against the imperialists. I was part of that rebellion because they wanted to get most of the spirits and dhampirs under their control. We decided to fight back, remember? The rebellion has scattered though… I assumed that you and Arya were dead….”
“Arya? Who’s she? The name sounds faintly familiar…”
“You’d know her better than I would… She’s fairly pretty… with silver hair and deep dark violet eyes that make you think she knows more than she really does… She was your partner… or as close as you would ever let anyone come to that title…. I’m sorry… She’s dead.”
“Oh…she is? It doesn’t feel like she’s dead…in fact…I think she’s very much alive…kinda…I can’t explain it…it has to do with some of my other memories…ones that don’t feel like mine…oh I’m so confused…”
“Memories that aren’t yours…. Tell me about them. I promise I won’t think you’re crazy or something… I need to know.” Zariel whispered thinking of something her Spirit mother had mentioned frequently during her childhood.
“Well…I remember two people…they were wearing clothing that didn’t seem of this world…they were called Rob and Jennifer…but I called them Mom and Dad…except I didn’t look like this…Oh, I don’t know! They called me Brittany…and I had a few friends there…very different people…I wrote stories with one I think…Lauren…maybe…the characters remind me of you guys…It’s all so confusing…”
“I believe you. I’ve heard of stuff like this happening. Our two worlds are connected… I’m sorry. But I’ve never heard of anyone going back. I’m really sorry. There might be a chance…. But I don’t think so,” Zariel looked serious, almost sad, “It might be better if you simply forgot your own world…. The only one you’re going to be living in for a while… or forever… is ours.”
“That’s sorta… I can’t help but pity you.” Jinko sighed,.
“Cool!” Ashe exclaimed, but then quieted down when he saw how serious all three girls were.
“But…I have a family there. And a life…a life that was just getting better…” ‘Didn’t I wish for this? What’s that old saying from my world…you get what you wish for? Yeah…poo…’
“Poor thing…it won’t be that bad being with us, will it?” Ari asked, feeling sorry for her.
“Personally, I think you’re lucky. You can be with me for eternity !” Konohoe said before backing down because of her glare.

Okay, there's more but I decided to split it up since all of it was too big for the journal...anyways, a friend (angelbread22...) and I wrote this. the title is hers...I'm going to have to say that I'm sorry for not fully describing all of the characters, even the main ones...it's just that we pulled a lot of them from other stories and so we didn't think to describe them since we already had them burned into our minds...what I really wish to say is that I'm so sad the font doesn't switch over! crying it was such a cool font too... cry anyways, comments and/or critiques would be welcomed with wreckless abandon and the rest will be in other journal entries.