Vampire of the New World

The derelict boat bobbed up and down with the waves as it moved across the dark ocean. It listed to starboard as it continued to take in water, every moment bringing it closer to sinking. There were no visible crew onboard and the boat appeared to have been long abandoned. Its faded paint and missing beams revealed that it had been in the water for a long time and had not docked for repairs.As the tide receded, the boat settled on the coral stones. Wood and metal groaned and creaked with the weight of the boat, its hull threatening to break. Waves continued to batter it with strong blows that gradually weakened with the ebbing tide.Two men walked from behind the rocks towards the shore carrying containers filled with water and some fruits. They resembled each other, but the older man had graying hair and his sunburnt face was heavily wrinkled due to age and exposure to the elements. Both men were wearing thin shirts that barely protected them from the sun and wind. T

It was a short two-hour flight and Jon felt comfortable in his first-class seat. He turned on the in-seat massager and tried to relax. Immediately, he felt the gentle movements of the massager loosen the tense muscles of his back. He then flipped the pages of the inflight magazine and started reading about new destinations available to the airline. When nothing took his interest, he replaced the magazine in the seat pocket and tried to take a nap.He drifted in and out of sleep, seeing foreboding images of castles and howling wolves. Clouds drifted over the moon and casted eerie shadows over the walls and towers of a gray medieval castle. The wind blew fiercely, carrying dried leaves from branches of trees and leaving them as bare skeletons silhouetted against the evening sky. The leaden clouds continued to drift overhead and once more revealed the ominous silver moon to the delight of the howling wolves.Jon woke up inside what appeared to be a dimly lit dungeon with

The weather was calm, much to Jon's relief. He could see clearly across the ocean to the line of the distant horizon, broken only by a few islands that seemed to sprout out of the water.  The leaves of the coconut trees that lined the beach barely swayed in the almost imperceptible breeze and the sky was a bright blue with a few seagulls flying across it. The occasional call of the birds could be heard in harmony with the rhythmic sound of the waves gently lapping the sandy beach.In other circumstances, Jon would have enjoyed relaxing and swimming in these turquoise waters. He could imagine himself hanging from a hammock between two coconut trees and sipping a glass of ice cold tropical fruit juice as he listened to the soothing sound of the waves. He wanted to close his eyes that very moment and lie on the sand as he listened to the sea that beckoned like a welcoming innkeeper, inviting wearied travelers to rest.The sound of laughter caught Jon's attention and

Jon stayed inside his cabin for the rest of the journey. He felt claustrophobic and without anything of interest to look at, felt every movement of the boat. He could not take his mind off the image of the body being dragged across the deck and the trail of smeared blood. The crew did not seem at all disturbed by what they were doing, as if it was just some cargo that needed to be transferred somewhere. As for Captain Salazar, he seemed not in the least affected that one of his crew had died, but furious that Jon witnessed the body being pulled across the deck. Jon thought about the poor crew member who fell overboard and wondered if he or she was one of those who served him not too long ago. He inadvertently began recalling the faces of the crew whom he met when a question surfaced in his mind. How were they able to recover the body from the sharks? That one, Jon can answer: Perhaps they have tools on board, maybe a net or hooks, whatever they use for fishing. Then, another questio

The way that Dante brushed off the death of one of the people under his employ like some mundane occurrence troubled Jon. He too nearly lost his life to the sharks if not for the quickness of Captain Salazar. Or is Dante intentionally evading discussion of the incident? Could he be hiding something?Questions flooded Jon's head, but he decided not to talk about the incident any further with his client. Dante seemed to be no different from the captain of the Golden Cowrie as to his apathy and coldness towards people under his employ. If not for the difference in physical appearance and state of health, Jon would have thought of Dante and the captain as the same person.Dante seemed more alive than when Jon saw him at the entrance hall earlier. His movements were faster, his speech clearer, and his face, though still pale, seemed more relaxed and youthful. Perhaps, there was some truth when he likened himself to nocturnal creatures who become fully awake at night as they