Sink or Swim, That Vampire Is Going to Steal That Ship

Later that night, me and Iris quietly snuck into one of the main labs that had all the video feeds of the island. Iris managed to take a card key that we needed to get in, from one of the teachers a few months earlier.

I have to say I'm impressed with this smartass Body Stealer, despite his fucked up attitude.

We both went in without being noticed or tailed. Iris quickly hooked up his personal laptop to the computer in the room. He adjusted his glasses and got straight to cracking the security passwords.

"Amazing. How'd you even figure those out?"

"It's just a simple algorithm they used to lock it with. It's very popular for large corporations in Tokyo to use this instead of a basic alphanumeric password….and it looks like we're in!"

I glanced at Iris' screen and saw the codes glide rapidly across it. Then, all the video feeds came up instantly. We were able to see the school buildings, the courtyard, the library, the dormitory, and the sea port. Iris selected the port's feed and expanded it on the screen. He then pulled out his phone and connected it to his laptop to upload the dummy video he made to cover up the real-time video records.

"So, with this video on loop we should be able to get on the ships with no real issue, right?"

"Of course, I took a short recording of the merchants moving the cargo back and forth, which is what they usually do when they first arrive. Even though it's on loop, the scientists shouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference."

"Good! At least we got that part covered, now we just have to–"

Before I could finish, we both heard the sound of heels clicking in the outer hallway about 36 meters away. Iris grabbed his laptop and phone, while I quickly shut off the computer and the lights. We both managed to hide under one of the six clothed covered examination tables when we heard the sliding door open. We peaked carefully at the person that entered the room…

Cleo?! What's she doing here?

We watched as she turned the fluorescent lights on and walked towards the computer. She placed a few large binders on the desk, and booted the computer back up. Iris looked at me and motioned with his hands at the binders. I looked at them more carefully, and they had specific words written on them.

Vampire Blood Classes 1-66…

Vampire Case Files 407…

Vampire Classified Location Files: Prefectures 10-17…

That last one…is that how they found us?

I turned to Iris and quietly whispered to him.

"Why does Cleo have information about vampire locations? And what's she doing with them?"

"How the hell should I know? More importantly we should probably get out of here before she finds us."

"Ugh…she had to be the one to come in here."

I looked around the room, my eyes scanned a couple vents on the ceiling, when I felt a sudden cool breeze coming from behind a curtain nearby.

"There's a window. We might be able to escape from there but..."

"Shhh!"

Iris quickly cut me off because Cleo stopped typing and looked around the room. She stood up cautiously as if she realized something was off about her surroundings. She walked around to the monitors and looked carefully at the first examination table. Luckily, we were hiding under the sixth one that was further down and closest to the window.

"Shit, let's get the hell out of here, Iris."

"ACHOO!"

Iris suddenly sneezed and Cleo grabbed her gun from her coat pocket.

"Who's there?! Show yourself now or else!"

"Dammit Iris, you couldn't hold that in?"

"I'm sorry but I'm allergic to cheap perfume!"

"Now's not the time to be a smartass!"

Cleo then approached the furthest table with her gun thrusted in front of her. She looked like she was trained to use real weapons. However, as soon as she lifted the cloth from the table, we already glided our way down from the window, and vanished within the shadows.

                                                                               ☾

The next morning, I walked with Nero to the classroom. The plan was to be carried out today. We took our seats when Cleo came in and looked immediately at the empty desks that belonged to Kilu and Iris. She then looked at me with a slight glare.

"Shizu, do you happen to know where Kilu and Iris are?"

"Actually, Kilu told me he wasn't feeling well and needed to rest more. He said he'll try to come in later. As for Iris, I hardly ever talk to him, so who knows where the hell he is."

I nonchalantly answered her, and she clenched the books in her hands.

"Well, I expect Iris has some excuse, but I am quite surprised about Kilu. Besides that, everyone is to be more aware of this school’s rules. I will also remind everyone that it is forbidden to enter the laboratories at night after curfew. So please take care to keep this in mind from now on."

I barely stopped myself from glaring back at her when Reira raised her hand. Cleo placed her books down and looked towards her.

"Yes Reira?"

"May I be excused to the ladies room for a moment?"

"Class is about to start, are you sure you can't wait for a bit?"

"Ahh, but I ate something rather awful this morning, and now my stomach feels like it’s in knots…I don't believe I can wait too much longer."

"Fine, you're excused."

"Thank you, madam."

Good, Reira's part is done and now Nero will take the stage.

After a few minutes of Cleo starting her lecture on psychology, I signaled Nero. The plan was for him to create a diversion for both of us to leave the classroom. Nero stood up from his seat and pushed his desk into Lucile’s chair. Cleo turned around to see what was happening.

"Nero? What's wrong, do you need to go to the restroom too?"

"I can't take this anymore...Cleo..."

Nero looked at her as his eyes changed from pale silver to a bright crimson hue and he licked his lips.

"I was just thinking that your body is looking rather delicious today."

"Huh?!"

"Oh no! It looks like Nero is about to go berserk!"

Nero smirked showing his fangs and jumped up on his desk. Lucile fell backwards as everyone started moving away in a panic. I stood up between Nero and Cleo to make it seem like I was trying to stop him.

"Wait Nero!! Don't do this! Remember what you came here for? You wanted to be treated so you wouldn't attack anyone!"

"I don't care...I want Cleo's energy...it's calling to me! Stay out of my way Shizu!"

"No! It's not worth killing Cleo, you have to snap out of it, dammit!"

Nero was really putting on a great performance so far. I was super impressed and slightly surprised.

I've never seen this side of him before.

Cleo was actually shaking a little in shock and she moved closer to her desk. She quickly searched the drawer for her gun, which was filled with sleeping darts.

"Nero, I'm sorry but I can't allow you to devour me! Move away from him Shizu, he might attack you too!"

"I can't, he’s my friend! I won't let either of you get hurt!"

As soon as I said that, Nero took a box knife from his desk and pointed it directly at me. He growled deeply, looking towards me. Cleo aimed her gun at him.

"WAIT, DON'T SHOOT!"

"MOVE OUT THE WAY SHIZU!"

But before Cleo could do anything more, Bunny screamed with utter horror in her eyes. Nero used the box knife and slashed across his own arm. He then fell from his desk as if he fainted. The scent of his blood began to waft through the air, as the other vampires whimpered and moved further back to the far side of the room. I rushed to Nero as he fell from his desk and caught him before he hit the floor.

"Cleo, I have to get Nero to the nurse!! Please stay here and get everyone else under control!"

"Shizu, wait a minute–"

"We can't let Nero stay here too long or the others will go insane by the scent of blood. I promise we'll be back!"

She then nodded in agreement and let us leave the room. I ran outside to the courtyard, carrying Nero to a bench that was surrounded by red rose bushes. Nero opened his eyes as I shook my head in disbelief.

"Dammit Nero, you're really bleeding badly. This wasn't part of the plan!"

"I wanted to make sure it was convincing enough that I was going berserk….so I thought this would help–"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to take it that far!"

Nero jumped slightly as I yelled at him in frustration. I was really angry that he hurt himself like this. I then took his arm and licked the open wound.

"Hhh! Shizu… w-what are you doing?"

"Shut-up! It'll heal faster this way."

I continued to lap up the blood with my tongue as I heard Nero whimpering in protest.

"Stop squirming so much. It will only be a few more moments, so just bear with it. I'm aware my tongue can feel a bit rough…"

"Th-That's not it though...hhhn..."

I finally stopped and looked at Nero who was blushing fervently. I suddenly realized what I was doing and let go of his arm. He then tore some of his bandages from his other arm, and started wrapping up the wound quietly, as I looked away.

My face feels like it's on fire… what the fuck did I just do?!

I didn't really think it through much since I always thought I would cherish Nao forever but being with Nero seemed to make me feel so comfortable. That might have been why I overreacted like that.

I was trying to heal up the deep gash on his arm, but he might have misunderstood what I was doing. Ah, I shouldn't have done that... licking another vampire's blood is a very intimate gesture!

The more I thought about it the more I felt my blushing face getting redder. And then silence fell upon both of us, when my phone's ringtone went off. I checked it and saw the message from Kilu and Iris. They said they would meet us at the port. I turned to look at Nero who was nervously looking at his phone. I slowly tried to move closer to him on the bench.

"Nero…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...uh..."

He looked at me shyly and tucked his phone back in his pocket.

"It's… okay. I understand what you were trying to do…so don't worry."

Nero smiled gently and I felt a bit relieved. Nero was always a bit sensitive but still very nice. He seemed to get the gist that I was trying to help him.

"Thanks Nero. Let's go meet the others."

                                                                              ♡

We met up with Iris, Kilu and Reira just in time to see the ships approach the docks. We hid behind the trees as a couple of people started carrying the cargo to the electric carts that got them around the island. We spotted some of the guards walking around on deck. I nodded at Iris, and he started tapping in the algorithm on his phone to connect to the cameras. Then he gave me a thumbs up, to indicate the dummy video was playing. Kilu quickly dashed out of sight of the cargo loaders and knocked out the guards from behind. The rest of us snuck on the ship unnoticed.

"It worked! Now we have to get to the captain's quarters to operate the navigation. Let's make sure we knock out any other sailors as we go."

We headed on the deck and swiftly knocked out more unsuspecting cargo carriers. After walking through a few corridors, we finally reached the captain's room. However, we didn't find anyone in it. The navigator also had the location of the mainland already programmed and set for the return voyage.

"Sweet! This was a piece of cake for real!"

"Shush! There might still be some guards lurking around."

"It looks like the navigator is all set but that's rather odd, isn't it? And why is the captain not here?"

We all looked around the large room. There was a steering wheel, with a white brimmed captain's cap hanging from it. The mainland's map was displayed on the dashboard while there was another digital screen that displayed the navigation system. Besides that, there were two rotating chairs nailed to the floor, a few computers, a compass, and tinted windows. All in all, the room looked pretty empty.

"Something's not right here…"

I looked behind me as if feeling someone's eyes staring intensely at my back. Then, we all saw an elderly man in a white suit and blue necktie behind us. He seemed to have just walked in because we left the door open.

"Well, what do we have here? A couple of dumbass delinquents I presume?"

He spoke as he scratched the gray bristles under his chin, giving us a cold glare. Reira stepped forward and grinned.

"I wouldn't say that so lightly. We also happen to be Body Stealers, so I'd be careful there, grandpa."

"Look who's talking..."

Kilu snickered and Nero suddenly tapped my shoulder.

"Shizu, doesn't he look a little familiar?"

"Really?"

I looked at the guy for a moment longer. He didn't have many distinguished features besides being even shorter than Nero.

"Heh, you're very bold to call out an elder's age, young vampiress."

"Well, aren't you a distinguished gentleman? But I'm afraid we'll be taking over your ship!"

"My ship?"

The older man furrowed his brows as he looked at Reira. That's when I realized…

"Wait, Reira! Isn't that one of the scientists?!"

Nero, Iris, and Kilu looked at me as though they had the same epiphany. However, Reira turned to us and giggled.

"This old fart couldn't be one of those guys! I bet he doesn't even know what this island is—"

Reira suddenly slurred her words as she fell face forward. There was a small red dart planted in her shoulder. We gasped almost in unison.

"That guy...but it can't be... "

"He is a scientist..."

"And Reira fainted so that means...!"

"You all are fucking slow for being vampires! SHHEHEHEH!"

The man cackled and pointed two guns at us. We jumped to the ceiling as he fired more sleeping darts. We all managed to dodge them, but barely.

"Let me re-introduce myself to you. The name's Jackie, and I'm the one you need to worry about, heh!"

"EVERYONE, RUN!!"

We all dashed out of the room while Jackie fired another wave of darts after us. All of us ran with impeccable speed through the lengthy hallway. We came to a wider corridor with other connecting halls and paused for a bit feeling satisfied that we lost him.

"Good thing Jackie is pretty old. I bet it'll take him a while to catch up."

"But dammit, why the hell is even he here?! Iris, I thought none of the scientists would find out!"

"Yeah, well it's possible they anticipated we'd come here but I'm not sure who would've told him..."

"I wonder if it was because of Cleo. She seemed like she knew something was up."

We all looked at each other confused. The situation just seemed too coincidental.

"Well, let's hurry and get out of here—"

Suddenly, a small star shaped blade shot past my head and into the wall that was a few feet behind me. We all quickly saw Jackie with his pockets full of shuriken.

"Tch! Dammit, looks like I missed! Oh well, these old eyes aren't as they used to be."

"JACKIE!"

"That's impossible, there's no way he got here that fast!"

Nero looked at the shuriken with curiosity when Jackie fired two more into Nero's back.

"KHHH! I... feel…. sleepy..."

He dizzily collapsed to the floor. We all screamed and started running down the opposite hallway.

"HEHEHEHEHEE!!! THERE'S NOWHERE FOR YOU BODY STEALERS TO RUN!"

I turned slightly and Jackie was following closely behind us while throwing blades that kept missing us by a hair.

"What the fuck?! How is he running so fast?!"

"What the hell is going on?! Jackie's almost matching our speed!"

"We gotta lose him somehow!"

Then Kilu changed into a wolf at a towering height and stopped to confront Jackie.

"What are you doing you fucking idiot?!"

"Kilu! We have to get off this ship quickly!"

"Don't worry, I'll buy you both some time!"

Kilu shouted back at us, then bared his teeth facing Jackie. As long as I've known Kilu, he was a ferocious fighter so there was no doubt that he'd be able to crush Jackie with hardly any effort.

"Wait, Kilu! If you hurt Jackie, we might get into even more trouble!"

"No worries, I'm just being a distraction so you both can escape! Besides, Jackie is too fucking old to fight a Body Stealer!"

As Kilu boasted proudly, Jackie took out what looked like a long electric pole.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME YA LITTLE SHIT!!"

And with that Jackie slammed the pole onto Kilu's massive head and electric waves surged all over his body.

"AWHOOOOOOOORR!"

He howled in pain and fell backwards with his fur thoroughly singed.

"NOW I'M PISSED OFF! YOU TWO ARE DEAD MEAT!"

Jackie roared in a rage, and Iris and I hurriedly rushed out to the next central corridor. We decided to split up into different hallways to see if we could confuse him. And just my luck, he decided to come after me. He threw various sharp knives, shuriken and darts as he closed in on me. I dodged them and quickly ran along the side of the wall.

Damn this old geezer!! His movements and speed make him seem like some kind of fucking ninja!

I finally got to the deck and Iris came scrambling out at the same time. We ran to the front of the stern when we saw that Jackie was no longer behind us.

"Where'd he go?!"

"I don't fucking know!"

We frantically looked around, barely catching our breath. I felt so tired for the first time in months.

Must be because I didn't devour any people for so long…without mana energy we can't fight like this for much longer!

"Shizu!!!"

Iris pointed towards a balcony above us, and we both saw Jackie aiming a large iron arrow that was attached to a launching device.

"Is that.... a HARPOON?!"

We both shouted when Jackie pulled back on the trigger and laughed wildly.

"THAT'S RIGHT, TIME FOR SOME VAMPIRE FISHING! HAHAHAHAHAA!"

Iris and I turned on our heels as the weapon got hurled towards us. I tried ducking but the tip of the harpoon caught onto my shirt and then shot into Iris's jacket collar and we both went flying into the sea.

                                                                               ☾

Later, after being fished out, we were all brought into the laboratory building. I woke up strapped firmly to an examination table stripped of all my clothes except my pants. I quickly looked at Yuki who had his medical tools lined out beside him.

"Seems like someone has been a very naughty boy. I guess I'll be running your secondary lab tests a bit earlier than scheduled."

He raised the scalpel in his right hand and a larger knife in his left hand as he walked towards me. I shook and fidgeted about in a panic.

"WAIT YUKI…. AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

My screaming rang throughout the entire building as the moon rose into the night sky.