THE first thing Margaret noticed upon opening her eyes was that she couldn't recall what she'd done the previous day. And she'd also had gone to sleep yesterday with different clothes than those she'd woken up wearing. For a short moment she wondered if she'd gotten up in the middle of the night and then gotten changed. But that idea seemed absurd.
And then she remembered. Thomas had locked her in her room. She had pounded on the door before giving up and going to sleep. Margaret got dressed quickly and tried the door. It wasn't locked anymore. And there didn't seem to be any sign, not on Margaret and not on the door, that she had hit the door until her fists bleed. The more she thought about it, the more Margaret convinced herself that had been a dream.
She made her way out of her suite and out to the main stairwell. She hadn't made any plans with her parents for today but after spending all of yesterday...sleeping, Margaret needed time to catch up with them. She found her mother in the cafe they'd adopted as their own since they'd been on the Titanic.
Her mother was chewing slowly, staring at her plate of food. Neither Thomas nor her father were accompanying her.
Margaret took the seat in front of her. She cleared her throat, speaking. "Morning mother."
"Margaret, where is your father? I thought the two of you were out doing activities together," Alice said. Margaret shook her head, she reached out her hand and took one of her mother's grapes. She didn't care that she wasn't being lady-like, she was hungry.
"No," she chewed. "I haven't seen pappa since the day before yesterday. I spent all of yesterday sleeping and the day before I was in my room all day reading..." she trailed off, not including the part about dancing with Stefan.
"I was sleeping all of yesterday too. Perhaps there's something going around, something keeping us ill in bed all day. And where is Thomas? Perhaps he's seen your father," her mother said. A part of Margaret was afraid due to no one seeing her father, but then, it was so strange to see her mother worried.
To see her mother care made Margaret's heart warm up. And although she wasn't happy to admit it, she was happy to see a normal human reaction from her. Margaret wasn't afraid though, her father had a way of leaving sometimes without saying where he was going but he was always alright, always exploring. He'd often come back with his batteries recharged, happy to see others and tell them their stories. He was a lot like Margaret that way.
"I am sure papa is alright. But I will go and see Thomas as soon as I have my breakfast," she said. Her mother's eyebrows slightly rose. But unlike her usual cold, judgmental stares this was one was pleading. Margaret put her hand down, stopping herself from waving a waitress over. "I will go now."
"Thank you," Alice said.
Margaret smiled slightly and made her way out of the cafe. This was odd, but she felt optimistic again. She felt good things could happen. Her father would be safe and sound and her mother would be so grateful she'd even be nice to Margaret for the rest of the day. She walked up the main staircase faster than usual and knocked on Thomas' suite.
"I do not need anything, thank you!" Thomas shouted from the inside.
"Thomas, it's Margaret. Please let me in," Margaret knocked once more on his door. There was a pause and then Margaret heard the noise of footsteps getting closer and closer before coming to a halt. The door opened.
"Hello Margaret," he said. His eyes were bloodshot and they looked as though he had either gotten no sleep or he'd been crying, perhaps even both. "What can I help you with?"
"Have you seen pappa? Mother is worried as she hasn't seen him since the day before yesterday. I spent all day in bed as did she. Mother believes there's a virus keeping us in bed," she said. Thomas' face grew cold, turned to stone.
"No, I have not seen him." He merely replied. The sudden noise of a crowd of people made Margaret turn around to face the hallway. There were people walking out of their suites, speaking to themselves and then heading out to the main stair case. Curious, Margaret followed them.
Her heartbeat beat a little bit faster from excitement. What could it be? Why was there a crowd gathering? She kept following the crowd past the main staircase and out to the deck. There, the crowd stopped. Margaret titled her head, trying to better see. She walked further into the crowd, pushing past people, uttering apologies.
"Miss, please step back," an officer said.
Margaret was stunned into place. She looked at the bodies on the deck and felt the fruit she'd eaten earlier come up. Some of the bodies were as pale as a white sheet of paper while others were purple. And some, well some, had a leg or an arm seemingly eaten by an animal. Margaret stepped away and found Thomas.
She clutched his arm, feeling light headed. "Thomas—" she began and stopped. "What if papa...what if papa...what if he—"
Thomas didn't deny it. He didn't try to reassure her and tell her that her father wasn't among those bodies. Nor did he discard the possibility the same had happened to him. Instead, he lead her back inside. He lead her towards the cafe where Margaret had seen her mother earlier. As it turned out, her mother was still there, her food still untouched, her lips sealed.
"Mother," Margaret's voice cracked. "Bodies were found. Some of them had been mostly eaten by the animals. You don't think the same thing could have happened to papa, do you?"
Alice ignored her words and instead turned to Thomas. "What are they saying about this Thomas? Did these people accidentally fall or where they murdered, their bodies dumped in the ocean?"
"I don't think that many people would accidentally fall from a ship, Alice," Thomas said. There was a new found confidence in Thomas she hadn't realized sooner. It was a looming presence. It was real and strong, and somehow, Margaret got the feeling he knew something she didn't.
SHE formed a knuckle with her hand and knocked on Stefan's suite. She wasn't sure she'd recall where his suite was as she had only been here once before but the only way to find out if she was at the correct place or not, was by knocking. And so she waited. She knocked once more after a long moment but no reply came.
She had come prepared for this moment. She had written Stefan a note. In the note, she talked about the murders and about the strange feeling she'd gotten regarding Thomas. She asked for his help to search for her father and to reveal Thomas' secret. The latter, she wrote was optional. Slipping the note under his door, Margaret turned to leave.
Stefan stood in the hall, making Margaret gasp, her hand going up to her chest as though she could protect it. Stefan titled his head slightly, a questioning expression on his face. Margaret opened her mouth to speak, closed it and gave up. How long had it been since she last saw him? It felt like a long time. Seeing him standing there made her heartbeat quicken.
"What are you—" Stefan trailed off, waving his hand, not finishing his own sentence. Margaret thought he was being specially cold today but didn't point it out. He walked past her, and unlocked his suite. She stood for a moment and said nothing.
He turned around. His eyes seemed to be changing colors and expressions, as though he was trying to stop himself from committing an action but he simply couldn't help himself any longer. Or perhaps, didn't want to. He took a step forward, closing the distance between them. They were now chests to chests, the tips of their noses touching.
Margaret could be happy there forever, touching but not touching. She could live with this. But their lips were so close...so close. Stefan looked at her lips, at the expectation and innocence in her eyes. He wanted to touch her, to get so lost in a moment with her he forgot all about the things he'd done. She held in her breath as they meet, their lips colliding.
They kissed, slowly at first as though they were only getting a taste of each other. But soon, Stefan's hands got lost in the handles of her hair, on her back. He pressed her against him, deepening their kiss, feeling her closer to him. He let go of her for a moment, his hand opening up the door to his suite.
IT was sometime in the afternoon that they both fell asleep. And it was sometime at night that she woke. The realization of where she was, in Stefan's bed, filled her with joy. She opened her eyes and extended out her hand gently, expecting to find Stefan there but instead finding the bed empty. Margaret straightened out her clothes.
They hadn't slept together. But he had trailed kisses up and down her collarbone and neck. She had kissed his cheeks, his forehead, his lips. She thought perhaps Stefan would come back so that the two of them could go back to sleep. But her stomach growled, leaving Margaret to question when was the last time she had eaten.
Margaret got up and went out of Stefan's suite, out into the main hallway. She made her way to the cafe and she stopped at the sudden sight of Thomas. He turned around once he noticed her. His eyebrows quickly rose as he noticed her small smile and blushed cheeks.
"Where have you been?" He asked. He looked around as he spoke, as though he expected someone to be listening. He pulled her to a corner and spoke in a hushed voice. "Margaret, I was worried."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm okay, Thomas. Have you heard from papa?"
"Where you with Stefan?" Thomas asked. Margaret held back a scoff. It felt as though they had already had this conversation before. She didn't meet his eyes and instead looked away, focusing on the people walking the halls. "Margaret, he's responsible for the deaths."
"What?"
"It's true."
"Thomas this is low. Why would you blame Stefan for the deaths? This is absurd," she said. She scoffed and turned to leave but Thomas grabbed her arm. He seemed to be determined on proving her wrong.
"Come with me, then. If you really believe your lover is innocent in all of this then there's no trouble in spying on him, is there?" Thomas asked. Margaret said nothing. She didn't want to spy on Stefan. No, she didn't think he was responsible for the deaths but she also didn't want to spy him in the off chance she saw something unpleasant.
Thomas clapped his hands together. "Very well then, I will present my theory to the officer. I will have him apprehend Stefan."
"No," she said. "You are not."
She grabbed his arm and now it was Margaret that was pulling him along. She had an idea of where he'd be, although she wasn't sure. She let go of Thomas as he started to walk along aside of her out into the deck. Her stomach growled and yet again, Margaret was reminded of how much she wanted to have some food.
They slowed down their pace and walked quietly, their footsteps barely audible. They walked for a few minutes before finding Stefan. He was looking out at the ocean, his hands on the rail. Margaret couldn't see him clearly from here as his back was facing her. For a moment Thomas and Margaret stayed quiet, silently watching.
He turned and wiped his mouth with his hand. Margaret turned at the sound of footsteps and saw as Thomas ran towards the inside of the ship. She rolled her eyes. Did he really fear Stefan that much? Stefan waved her over from where he stood. She reached him in a few quick strides and leaned in to hug him only to be stopped by him.
"I haven't been completely honest with you," Stefan said.
She snorted and said sarcastically, "You are the Titanic serial killer."
He didn't smile at her joke nor did pretend to like it. He looked up and placed one of his hands on her shoulder, as if to steady her, as though to steady himself.
"I'm a vampire, Margaret," he said. Margaret waited patiently for him to tell her it was all a joke. "And I can't control my hunger. I came here to try to forget about my hunger. Only I didn't realize how hard it would be to be in control."
"The bodies that floated this morning. That was you," she replied. He didn't deny it. She took a step back and ran down the deck. She turned, finding him in front of her. She gasped and stood frozen in place, trying to steady her heartbeat.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Margaret. But you have to let me explain," Stefan said.
"Explain what? That I am a human blood bag to you? Something you can use to quench your thirst?" She asked. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, tried to tell herself of how much Stefan had helped her the past few days.
But the good didn't outweigh those he'd killed. It didn't outweigh her suspicion that had something to do with her father being gone.
"I would never hurt you, not in a million years. Believe it or not, you have helped me. I stopped feeding. I stopped. And then I—" saw you bleed. "I want to stop again. But I can't seem to. And you helped me once before..."
"So what? Are you asking me for help?" She questioned.
He shrugged a single shoulder. The short answer was yes. But the long answer, well, that one was slightly complicated. For one, he didn't feel he deserved her or her help. He had killed her father because he hadn't been able to control his hunger. He was half expecting for her to accuse him and run back inside the ship. But instead, she sighed and licked her lips.
"I don't know what I did before to help you, Stefan. I suppose we can try," she said. The smallest smile appeared on his lips. But she waved it away. "I want to make it clear I am not doing this for you. I am doing it for the other passengers because you, you are a danger to them."
"Of course, understood," he said. He watched her as she turned around and left. He headed to his suite, keeping his head down and locking himself in his room. He felt a wave of positive energy, weird as it felt. He would be alright with the help of Margaret.
SHE knocked on Thomas' suite and waited. The door opened after a moment and Thomas looked the same as he had a few hours ago. His eyes were still bloodshot, his hair and clothes still disheveled. She pushed past him and into his room.
"Stefan is the killer," she told him. Thomas turned the lights on and sat with her. Her hands were trembling. She had been on her way to visit Stefan when she changed her mind. And the more she tried to ignore the feeling Stefan had killed her father, the stronger it grew.
"He killed your father," Thomas said.
Her lip trembled. "Yeah, I thought so."
"Yesterday, I was there. You were there. Your mother was there. But he played mind tricks on you and your mother, making you forget what happened. He also killed the captain, drained him off blood until his head snapped," he explained.
"He killed pappa in front of mother and I?" Margaret stood up. Thomas nodded. She began to pace around the room. "How could he? How could he take someone I love and then purposely mess with my mind? I am not his puppet! I am not someone he can toy round with, Thomas."
"No, you are not."
"He has to pay for doing this to papa," Margaret felt tears stream down her face. She had thought Stefan was good, she had thought he would save her from her mother. But it turned out he was much worse than the person who'd given birth to her.
"I am going to speak to the officer immediately—" Thomas began before she interrupted him.
"No," she shook her head. "He played mind games with us, Thomas. Now it's our turn. I am going to go speak to him and pretend I am his friend, as he pretended with us. First thing tomorrow speak to the officer and have him apprehend Stefan."
She took a few minutes to calm herself before exiting Thomas' suite and making her way towards Stefan's suite. And on her way there, the only thing on her mind was how she could hurt Stefan. She knocked on his door. Stefan opened it and they both sat down for tea. The first half hour was odd and neither really said much. They sipped their drinks and sat, lost in their mind. At midnight, Margaret cleared her throat.
"Why are you the way you are?" Margaret asked. And thus, Stefan told her about how he had turned although he omitted the part time about Katherine and his brother also turning the same night. He spoke little of his childhood and of his life, though when she asked him about his weakness, he gave her the full list.
Margaret listened attentively and made little notes on her mind. She noted that he mentioned his brother vaguely, only saying he was older but he didn't mention his name or whether he was still alive. He was an orphan though, that he did mention. And despite how very little he seemed to have to say, the hours passed quickly.
A few hours later, Margaret fell asleep on his bed and cleared her thoughts. She cleared her mind of what she'd been doing before she visited Stefan and what would happen in a few short hours. And she congratulated herself as she'd done the right thing, despite how much it hurt and how hard it was.
Come morning, Stefan would be locked away for those he'd killed. Come morning, he'd find about her betrayal. Come morning, in a few hours.