“They were,” Raffaele assured him. “Just not the kind with fins and gills.”
Santo grunted in agreement, and turned to Zanipolo. “Has Lucian returned your call yet?”
“No. I’ll call him again,” Zanipolo said, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts.
“What will you do about Jess?” Santo asked.
“Keep her safe,” Raffaele said at once.
Santo nodded and then they both glanced to Zani as he muttered under his breath and put his phone away.
“No answer,” he explained. “I’ll try again in half an hour and leave a message if he doesn’t answer then.”
Nodding, Raffaele turned to start following the path Jess had taken just moments ago.
“So, are we heading back to the restaurant?” Zanipolo asked as they rounded the building. “I still haven’t had my dinner.”
“You and Santo can go there if you like. I need to go talk to Jess, convince her that she needs protection, and assure her that we can be that protection.”
Zanipolo nodded, and then pointed out, “She probably hasn’t eaten either. Do you want us to pick her up something when we head back?”
“That’s a good idea. Thank you.”
Zanipolo nodded. “You can text us her order and her room number after you ask her what she wants.”
Raffaele stopped walking.
“What’s wrong?” Zanipolo asked.
“I don’t know her room number,” Raffaele admitted with alarm. He peered from one man to the other. “Did either of you read it from her mind?”
Both men shook their heads, and Raffaele was just starting to panic when Zanipolo said, “We can go to reception and have them look up her room number.”
“Right,” Raffaele said with relief.
“Except we do not know her last name,” Santo pointed out quietly. “Once she told us her name was Jess, I didn’t trouble to read her mind for the rest of her name.” Turning to Zanipolo, he asked, “Did you?”
Zanipolo grimaced and shook his head apologetically.
Cursing, Raffaele closed his eyes briefly and then shook his head and started walking again. “We’re going to have to search this entire resort again to find out her room number. We’re going to have to go door-to-door.”
“Or we could go to the restaurant first,” Zanipolo suggested, and then pointed out, “She has to be starved after expending all that energy in the ocean, not to mention everything else that has happened to her today. The beachside restaurant is the only one still open. She’ll have to go there if she wants food.”
Raffaele’s mouth tightened briefly with irritation at the suggestion. It was obvious the man was just trying to find an excuse to be able to eat. But then he forced himself to be patient. Zanipolo wasn’t yet a hundred years old. He still ate food, and he’d been without it for quite a while. The man must be starved, he realized. Besides, they weren’t on a job. Finding Jess was really his problem, and not something the other two men need trouble themselves with, yet neither of them were protesting being tasked with the chore. Zanipolo just wanted some food to sustain him for the effort. He could hardly begrudge him that.
“You two go down to the restaurant and see if she shows up while you’re there, and I’ll start the door-to-door search,” he suggested. “Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find someone who knows her and can give me her room number before you guys get done.”
“Or you could ask her,” Santo said suddenly.
When Raffaele glanced at him sharply, the big man nodded to the path ahead. Raffaele turned to scan the area. His eyebrows rose and relief coursed through him when he saw Jess sitting on a bench across the footpath from where Buildings 1 and 2 met.
“Thank God,” Zanipolo muttered. A sentiment Raffaele silently echoed as he hurried forward, determined to get to the woman before she disappeared again.
Five
Shifting impatiently on the bench, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then along the path between it and Building 1, but there was still no light coming from their room, or sign of her cousin on the path. Allison appeared to be taking her time about returning to their room.
Jess sat back with a disgruntled sigh. She needed to get into their room. She had to put some clothes on, pack, call the airport to see what the first available flight out of Punta Cana was. And find out if she could somehow switch her ticket or, if not, figure out if she could afford the new one, she thought grimly. Fortunately, the room was already paid for. They’d had to prepay months ago. Having to buy a new plane ticket would be a problem, though. She would have to put it on her credit card, and work extra shifts at the bar, or get a third job, to pay for it once she got home.
Sighing, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then to the path between the buildings again. There was still no sign of Allison.
Muttering impatiently under her breath, Jess leaned her head back to peer up at the stars. She planned to try to convince her cousin to leave with her, but didn’t think she was likely to succeed. As far as she could tell, Allison had absolutely no memory of what had really taken place on the pirate ship. She and Tyler, and everyone else from the bus, seemed to be convinced they’d had a grand time.
Jess shook her head with amazement. Several groups of people from the bus had passed her while she sat here waiting for Allison, and everyone had been laughing and talking about what a great time the shark feeding tour had been, and how they should tell so-and-so to go on it. But Jess had seen the bite marks on several of them, and she distinctly remembered Tyler’s horrified and pain-filled expression as Ildaria had chewed on his family jewels. She knew he hadn’t had a good time. He, however, didn’t.
Lowering her chin, Jess rubbed her forehead unhappily. Part of her wanted to tell them all what had really occurred, but she was sure they’d think she was crazy. They all had a different memory of events. Besides, it seemed the pirates were smart vampires. They didn’t kill their victims, which might have drawn attention to their existence. Instead, they just snacked on the tourists they lured aboard ship, and then returned them safe and sound and even with happy memories of the trip. What would she achieve by changing that? Did she really want them to be as afraid and freaked out as she was? Where was the value in that? As far as she could tell, they were all probably safe enough now that they were back. She doubted any of them would suffer a second encounter with the pirates, unless they went back to the pirate ship on their own because they thought they’d had such fun. Jess didn’t think the pirates would come back looking for a second round themselves, though. At least not with the others. If the pirates had wanted more from them, they could have simply kept them. No, Jess was pretty sure she was the only one who had to worry about the vampirates coming for her.
She gave her head a shake, finding it hard to believe she was even thinking that. Jess had never imagined that would be a concern in her life. That she’d have to worry about vampirates coming for her. It hardly seemed possible. She could still hardly believe there were vampires, or even pirates.
“Maybe I’m crazy and hallucinated it all,” she muttered.
“Jess?”
Stiffening, she jerked her head up and stared at the man approaching through the shadows. Jess breathed out a sigh of relief when he got close enough that the light from the lamppost behind the bench she sat on reached his face.
“Raffaele,” she said, managing a shaky smile. “Hi.”
“Hello,” he responded, pausing in front of her. Glancing around with a frown, he asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for Allison to come to our room so I can get in,” she admitted, and then added ruefully, “Apparently, I lost my room key today. Along with everything else I had in my waist belt.”
Raffaele’s eyebrows rose slightly. “What is a waist belt?”
“Oh.” Jess smiled faintly. “It’s a small nylon sack, kind of like a big wallet, that you wear strapped around your waist. You keep your valuables in it,” she explained. “Money, ID, room key, stuff like that.”
“And you lost it in the water?” he asked with concern.
Jess frowned. She’d had it when she’d boarded the pirate ship, but not when she left it. She was quite sure about that. It would have caught on the porthole when she’d pushed herself through it. Besides, Jess couldn’t remember it being there when Vasco had pulled her shorts off during their wrestling session on his bed. The only thing she could think was that she’d lost it during their first session on deck when Ildaria had sent her out to kiss him and Jess had found she’d climbed the man like a telephone pole. It must have somehow got dislodged then, along with Vasco’s hat, she decided.
“Jess?” Raffaele queried.
“Sorry,” she muttered, forcing a smile. “I was thinking. But no, I didn’t lose it in the water. I’m pretty sure I lost it on the pirate ship.”
“The pirate ship?” he asked with interest.
Jess glanced to him with surprise and then realized she hadn’t yet told him anything about her adventures. Probably a good thing, she decided. He’d seen everyone get off the bus happy and chatty, and would hardly believe her version of events anyway. She was having trouble believing it herself.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said finally, and glanced past him to Santo and Zanipolo as the two men joined them at the bench and took up position on either side of Raffaele.
Before she could offer a greeting to the men, Raffaele asked, “Did you have anything of value in the waist belt?”
“Well, my key card to our room was in it. That’s why I’m sitting here waiting for Allison,” she pointed out. “As for anything of value—”
“What is it?” Raffaele asked when she stopped abruptly, her eyes going wide with alarm.
“My iPhone and driver’s license were in it,” she breathed shakily.
“You took your iPhone and driver’s license with you on your outing?” Raffaele asked with surprise.