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there when they got you off that floating town.'
The other nodded. 'I called you "father",' he answered. 'But I didn't mean my
father. When I was a boy we always called the clan elder "father".'
While he spoke, Trask looked him over. From what could be seen of him under
the blankets he was lanky and even bony. His high forehead and penetrating dark eyes
signalled his intelligence, but those same eyes also gave him away; along with his
wolfish looks, raven-black hair, and light brown, large-pored skin, they more than hinted
at his origins.
'You're from Romania, right?' said Lardis, but it was more a statement than a
question. 'A Gypsy, perhaps?'
'Was,' said the other. 'But when I was young my mother got married to a Greek,
from Rhodes. So I was brought up on Rhodes in the village of Lindos. We eventually
moved to Cyprus, and I got work as a deckhand on the cruise ships.'
At which point Trask came in with, 'May I speak to you?'
The other looked uneasy but shrugged his acquiescence. 'if you like.'
'You speak good English,' said Trask.
'From school, the tourists, and... and the ships.' He gave a small shudder. 'I also
speak Greek and Romanian. I even remember a little of the old secret tongue, Szgany.'
'My name is Trask,' Trask told him. 'And my friend here is called Lardis. Lardis
knows the myths of the old country, some of which aren't myths at all. I believe you
know them, too. We think that's probably why you're still alive.'
The survivor's shudders were coming faster now; his entire body was beginning
to shake under the blankets. Lardis touched Trask's shoulder, indicating that he wanted
to take over. With a nod of his head, Trask agreed. And:
'Forget about all that for now and tell me your name,' the Old Lidesci said. 'For as
you can see, you're with friends now and you're safe.'
'No one is safe!' the other gabbled. 'You didn't see you didn't hear you didn't
smell it! But the whole ship smelled of it! I saw, heard, smelled it. And I knew... right
from the time we took them on board. I knew, but I didn't speak. I...' He paused, began
to blink rapidly and uncontrollably, and gave a start when Lardis placed a gnarled hand
on his shoulder. But then he calmed down and was able to continue. 'As for my name:
it's Nicolae Rusu. I go by my real father's name. His blood is my blessing.'
'It most certainly has been!' said Lardis. 'For without it you'd never have known,
and you wouldn't be here talking to us now! And I understand why you told no one: they
wouldn't have believed, and you weren't quite ready to believe yourself. Now listen
carefully, Nicolae Rusu. These people here with me are experts in such matters. They
know and understand such things. That ship, the Evening Star, is a ship of death! You
know what happened, and we've come here to take our revenge. But we have to know
the whole story, else we won't know what we're up against. You are the only witness.'
'But I don't want to remember!' The survivor was shivering again. 'I was... I was
trying to forget when you rescued me.'
'I know,' said Lardis. 'I understand. But tell me now do you want it to happen
again, to others? For you can be sure it will, Nicolae, if we don't stop it.'
'Call me... call me Nick,' said the other. And in another feverish burst, 'You can't
stop it! You can't stop them! I saw them, and no one can stop them!'
'Easy, easy!' said Lardis. And in a moment: 'Can you give them a name,
perhaps? Do you know what we call them?'
The survivor's eyes went this way and that. 'Do you really believe?' he said. 'Or is
it that you think I'm crazy?'
'You were crazy with fear,' Lardis answered. 'For a little while, at least. But you're
safe now and sane. Yes, we believe. And more than that, we do what I said we do. We
hunt such creatures to destroy them.'
'Wampir!' said the other then, but so low they could barely hear him. 'Or obour!
The terror by night! The thing that drinks blood! Vampires . . but no one ever dreamed of
such vampires as these!'
And: 'Wamphyri!' said Lardis. 'Aye, we know. So then, will you tell us your story,
Nick? How you survived your ordeal and what... what happened to the others?'
'Yes,' Nicolae Rusu nodded. 'Yes, if only to get it out of my system. And then I
want to go away from here, and away from cruise ships. Back to Cyprus or Rhodes, or
maybe farther still. Far, far away...'
_
_
'I was doing some cleaning-up on the cabaret deck near the prow when Purser Galliard
called down to me to meet him starboard on B deck. But in fact I met him in the lift on
the way down. He had got hold of three stewards and a loud hailer and seemed very
excited. By the time we got down onto B deck that's inside the ship, you understand,
not quite the basement but just above the Plimsoll line the Star was just about dead in
the water. And that was when they opened the for'ard gang: a large, watertight hatch for
low-level loading. It forms steps when you let it down, allowing access from the docks or
in this case permitting a rescue.
'The becalmed boat just a boat, which should never have been out there in
mid-ocean was a thirteen-foot Greek caique with a wide black canopy. There were
two... people aboard her. When I saw the man at first glance, just looking at him as he
stepped from the caique to the gangway I took fright. He was tall and dark; he could
even have been one of my people... but something told me he wasn't. It was like... as if
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