Page 72 of Night's Reckoning
Perhaps one of the storage jars contained artifacts that were evidence of vampire existence. That had to be it.
Fabia held up a long loop of bright blue rope. “I could print out some pictures from my phone and hang them on this for a banner?”
“Great idea.” He was doing his best to draw a mural on the giant whiteboard at the end of the room. It was difficult when you only had black, red, and green to work with.
“Did you say the galley was making a special dinner?”
“Uh… kind of?”
“Kind of doesn’t sound very special.”
“They’re making noodle soup.”
Fabia narrowed her eyes. “Like the noodle soup they serve us every night? Don’t get me wrong. It’s good, but—”
“Notlike the noodle soup they serve us every night.” Ben turned around. “They are adding beef to the soup.”
“Fancy!” Fabia grinned. “I can’t complain. I was on a dig in graduate school where we had the same food at every meal. The food here is pretty decent, especially for a ship’s kitchen.”
“What was the food?”
“What?”
“The one you ate every meal?”
Fabia grimaced. “Boiled potatoes and gravy.”
“And…?”
“That was it. No meat. No vegetables. Potatoes and meat gravy. I think it was beef, but I can’t be sure.”
“That… doesn’t sound good.”
“Yes, that is why I decided to concentrate my archaeology work in Italy.” She winked at him. “We feed everyone well. Even poor students.”
“Well, tonight we get noodle soup with beef.” Ben bowed dramatically. “And cake.”
“No champagne?”
“Beer will have to do.”
She whispered, “And you can come to my room later for wine.”
“Done.”
By the time they finished with the mess hall, it looked… well, not beautiful. But festive wasn’t too far of a stretch. There were bright ropes with pictures pinned to them all around the room, and Ben and Fabia had rounded up all the games they could find aboard the ship. Many decks of cards, one mahjong set from Mr. Lu, two boxes of dominoes, and a battered chess set borrowed from Professor Chou.
Around six o’clock the professor and his students began to come in, followed by some of Mr. Lu’s crew. Since entertainment on board research ships was limited, the games were immediately picked up. Ben was pleased to see the crew and the research team mixing.
“This is good,” Fabia said, sidling up to Ben with a beer in her hand. “You were right.”
“I often am.”
Cheng was the first vampire who showed up. He grabbed a beer, nodded appreciatively at Ben, and sat down at the mahjong table with some of his crew and two of the university team. A few minutes later, one of the crewmen stood and walked to the corner to turn the radio on. Immediately the sounds of Chinese pop music filled the room.
Johari and Kadek were the next vampires to arrive. The room went quiet for a moment when Johari walked in. She was the only African on the boat, and she was stunningly beautiful. Ben suspected she often made people stop and forget what they were saying.
Ben walked over immediately. “Can I get you a drink?”
