Maggie on the Bounty by Kate Danley Page A

hissed as she came at me all claws and nails.  She was strong.  Wicked
strong.  And the men around me seemed pretty content to sit back and watch the
catfight. 
    "Aren't any of you going to
help me?" I asked them as I struggled to get Barbara off me again.
    Now, I know that there are plenty
of men who pay good money to see two chicks battle it out, but these guys
suddenly bared their teeth and looked very upset about the fact I suggested
breaking this party up.
    And that's when I realized I was in
a swimming pool of the undead.
    "What the hell is going on
here?" I asked.
    "Just some of Uncle Sam's boys
returning home from Europe," Barbara announced as she tried to slam my
head against the pool tiles. 
    "This would go a whole lot
easier if we could sit down and discuss this like rational adults."  I
rolled away, picked up a heavy deck chair, and tossed it in her general
direction.  She danced easily out of its path as it flew by, but I took the
opportunity of that momentary distraction to get back on my feet.
    Barbara ran out of the room.  The
vampires around us just leaned back and went back to a state of droneness.
    "Why aren't you
attacking?" I asked as I walked close to one of them.  He didn't even
flinch when I staked him.
    That's when Killian and Mortimer
decided to finally show up.
    "Sorry," Killian
apologized.  "Mortimer was worried about traveling without his
toothbrush."
    Mortimer gave a shrug.  "Your
body only produces one set of adult teeth.  If you do not take care of them,
you will lose them."
    I rolled my eyes.  "I should
have left him shackled to that organ."
    "What did we miss?" asked
Killian.
    I waved at the room. "Well, we
landed in a pool filled with vampires, but they don't seem hungry."
    Killian crouched down and looked at
them.  He even reached over and opened up one of the guy's eyes, which is far
braver than I'll ever be.  He shook his head.  "They must be dying.  Or
starving.  Or in a state of suspension."
    "You are not helping at
all," I mentioned.
    Killian wiped his hand on his
porter's jacket and pointed at all the uniforms folded up and stacked around
the edges of the room.  "My guess is that they are soldiers from this time
that have been turned, for whatever reason.  They look to be in day one or two
of the three-day transformation.  Perhaps men who were in the wrong place at
the wrong time and saw too much."
    "Sucks to be them," I
said.
    "So to speak."
    I looked at them. "Well, do we
stake them now or wait for them to turn mean and stake them later?"
    "If they live to see The Other
Side of transformation, there is the possibility of future employment
opportunities if we wait for later..."
    "Are you saying why stake for
free when you could be paid?"
    "There is that whole
'survival' aspect of it to consider..."
    "Overrated."  I rubbed my
shoulder.  I was feeling beat to hell from all of this and didn't feel the need
to go for any Exceeds Expectations gold stars.  "Okay," I pointed at
the door, "she got away, which doesn't make me feel too good about life
right now.  Usually when people run away, they're running to something, and I'm
betting her destination involves dangerous things that could be used to make
our lives miserable.  Or short.  Or miserable AND short."
    "That would not be
ideal," replied Killian.
    I took Mortimer's hand and drug him
across the pool as far away from the vortex in the dressing room that I could
manage.  "We need to get Jackie, keep Mortimer safe, and destroy that
organ."
    "Sounds like a typical day at
K&M Tracking."
    "That's M&K
Tracking," I corrected.
    "We shall discuss."
    "How about whoever stakes the
woman in black gets to decide?"
    Killian put out his hand. "You
have yourself a wager."

Chapter Fifteen
    I pointed down the hallway.  The
boat in this day and age had been transformed from its state of lovely art deco
grandeur to a military wet dream.  The carpet had been ripped up in favor of
battleship linoleum.  The walls covered in