“You see that I cannot inhabit you—a regular vessel,” the Elder continued his chastisement of Julie. “Or even the Bloodless.”

The Bloodless? I gazed back down over the pale creatures. That’s what the Elders call these things? I eyed their stark white skin. They certainly looked bloodless.

“What are the Bloodless exactly?” Julie asked, feebly, jerking her head down toward the creatures who were still distracted, staring at the Elder.

I wasn’t sure what made the Elders think that they could inhabit the Bloodless, if they weren’t even strong enough to inhabit regular vampires. If what Basilius had just told us was really true—that Benjamin was gone—this Elder was running only on the strength he’d built up during the time that he was able to gain sustenance from Benjamin’s blood consumption. I guessed that this leftover strength was the only reason that he was even able to travel to this ship. Evidently, they were desperate. They must have hoped that this strange species of monster would be easily inhabitable by them… their natures were certainly infused with the same evil.

Now their hopes had been dashed to the ground. Whatever these dark creatures were, at least the Elders weren’t able to inhabit them. Due to Basilius’ bond with Benjamin, the Elder had been able to influence and gain strength from him, but with Benjamin dead, it seemed that the Elders truly had lost their final hope of a resurgence. For without vessels even one of them could inhabit, they had no means of procuring new blood or resuscitating themselves.

“What are these creatures?” I asked the question a second time, for Basilius had still not answered Julie. Of course, the Elder had no reason to reply to a jinni, or to Julie, considering how angered he was by her. The fury in his voice was almost tangible. Julie was lucky that he was too weak to occupy her, otherwise I was sure that the punishment he would have meted out on her would have been hell. Maybe even on par with vampire-zombies ripping into her.

Still, the question plagued my mind. What exactly are the Bloodless?

The Elder refused to answer. With another hiss of frustration, he jerked away from Julie and began whirling round and round the ship before he vanished. Almost instantly the temperature became warmer again, and the pleasant, mild breeze returned. As though someone had just flicked a switch, Julie, the monsters and I resumed the positions we’d been in before the Elder’s interruption had paused time.

Julie began to scramble further up the mast, away from the Bloodless below as they once again set their dull eyes on her. I hurried toward her. Grabbing hold of her arm, I slowed her down in her ascent.

“No! Aisha, listen to me. Please, you must! I-It’s what Benjamin would’ve wanted.”

Playing the Benjamin card was the very worst thing she could have done. My fury reached a boiling point. Raising my hand, I backhanded her in the face. “How dare you even utter his name!” I seethed.

“Unless we do something about this infestation, it is going to spread!” Julie panted, her eyes wild and desperate. “We’re the only people who know about them, the only people who are here…” Her voice trailed off as one of the Bloodless reached her level on the mast. Kicking hard, with one swift motion she dove off the ship and landed with a splash in the waves. I shared a grunt of frustration with the Bloodless who’d just swung for her and followed her down as the rest of the monsters also corrected course.

Hovering over the foaming waves, I plunged my hand into the water and caught her ankle before she could get too deep. I tugged her up to the surface. Gripping her by the shoulders, I hauled her into the air.

“Aisha,” she gasped. “The Bloodless are going to continue to multiply. What don’t you understand about that? We’re the only witnesses alive who can do anything about it. Please, we need to work together, at least until we’ve gotten rid of them. If we let them go, the supernatural realm is going to become flooded with these monsters! We have a responsibility!”

I didn’t trust a word coming out of her lips. Yes, we were the only ones around with the power to do something about this before they expanded further—which did seem to be their plan—but I didn’t believe for a moment that even a single bone in her body was genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of her fellow residents of the supernatural realm. Not after she had so viciously betrayed Benjamin. This was just a pathetic attempt to save her neck, and citing our responsibility to deal with these monsters was nothing but an excuse to delay her demise.

She squirmed harder as I dragged her back toward the ship.

“Please, Aisha! These creatures are dangerous not only to vampires. Didn’t you see that they killed dozens of witches? What’s to say they’re not a threat to jinn too? We need to—”

“There is no we,” I growled. “Even if I wanted to spend my time acting for the greater good of our supernatural realm, I don’t need your help. I can do it by myself.”

Of course, that wasn’t entirely true. In fact, not really true at all. I could manage basic movement, and could just about carry Julie because she was only small and light in weight—although even that was a struggle when she squirmed fiercely—but taking on an entire ship filled with these creatures would be too strenuous without command of my full powers. Julie would have been of use, in fact, but I would sooner see the entire supernatural realm infested with these nightmarish creatures than accept this wench’s offer of help.

“Aisha, I’m sorry,” she continued to plead shamelessly.