Vampire Of The New World

The woman's head bobbed above the surface of the water, her eyes wide open and visibly scared. Her boyfriend continued to shout for help, but was not able to do anything else. The ferry continued to propel forward and it would only take a moment before they lose sight of the woman.

It was a split-second decision. Lisa took a quick glance at Nestie who seemed to understand what she was about to do. Lisa grabbed the life vest held by a fellow passenger to her right and jumped overboard.

Lisa felt the cold water from all sides as she sank. She used her hands to quickly reach the surface and looked around her. The ferry had already distanced itself from where she was, the white foam created by the propellers quickly disappearing in the chaos of waves and ripples created by the rain falling on the water.

The life vest Lisa carried when she jumped was just in front of her and she grabbed it towards her before it got lost. She scanned the surface of the water and tried to estimate where she last saw the unfortunate woman. It was the yellow hat that first caught her attention. She swam towards it with quick strokes and upon reaching it, looked around for any sign of the woman.

A wave was coming in from the right and Lisa was quick to hold her breath before the water crashed over her. It was difficult to get her bearing with the rain and mist, but she was able to see the stern and the yellow tail lights of the ferry before it disappeared from view and used it to orient herself. Lisa immediately looked at the direction opposite the ferry and noticed some movement through the mist. It was the woman waving her arms for help.

Lisa took a deep breath and swam towards the woman as fast as she could. She saw the woman again as she took another deep breath and propelled herself forward with powerful kicks. Suddenly, she felt the water rise and saw another wave crashing towards her. She struggled to get to the woman before the wave came, but was too late.

When the wave subsided, the woman was nowhere to be found. Lisa decided to look underwater, but she could not see far. After getting another deep breath, she looked once again and saw a flutter of the woman's clothes. Lisa swam towards it and pulled the woman towards the surface by holding the backside of her blouse. The woman was struggling and tried to hold onto Lisa, but Lisa made sure that she was clear of the other's hands.

When they reached the surface, the woman was coughing violently. Lisa handed her the life vest and the woman clung to it. In a few minutes, the woman's coughing calmed down and she was able to breathe better.

In a few minutes, Lisa noticed that the wind died down and the rain abated. Then, as if on cue, she saw a ghostly spectacle appearing through the mist. A white boat seemed to fly as it glided smoothly over the water. The mist that surrounded it seemed to glow faintly as its white body reflected some of the light that breached the dark clouds.

After her initial surprise at seeing the boat, Lisa shouted at it and tried to call its crew's attention, but no one seemed to hear. It was as if no crew was onboard. In a few minutes, it glided away and disappeared through the mist.

"Where did it go?" said the woman with Lisa, still holding on to the life vest. "Why didn't it stop?"

"I don't know. Maybe they didn't see us," replied Lisa in disbelief.

Meanwhile, aboard the ferry, Nestie was still shocked to see Lisa jump overboard. He immediately got out of his seat and shouted for help. One of the crew finally took notice and rushed towards him as Nestie reached the railing.

"What happened?" asked the crew.

"There was a woman who fell and my friend jumped to save her," said Nestie.

"That was a heroic yet stupid thing to do," said the crew. "I will go see the captain right away." Then, he shouted at everyone holding on to the rail. "Go back to your seats and stay there! We don't want any more accidents." He then rushed towards the ferry's bridge.

The boyfriend of the woman who fell overboard was obviously distressed, but realized that there was nothing else that he could do but wait. He went back to his seat just as the waves swelled and the boat once again moved with the waves. He buried his face in his arms as he held on to the back of the seat in front of him.

Nestie felt sorry for the young man, but he was much more concerned at what could have happened to Lisa. He instinctively knew that she was going to try and save the woman who fell overboard, but his inability to stop her made him think about the consequences of his inaction.

Soon, the rain started to subside and the waves became less powerful. Nestie still sat at his seat, but was quite uneasy on what he should do next. He decided to stand up and walk towards one of the crew.

Seeing him approach, the crew stopped Nestie in his tracks and instructed him to wait at his seat. At that same moment, they felt the ferry slow down and change direction. The crew explained that they were doubling back to rescue the passengers that fell overboard.

Lisa was absorbed in her own thoughts when by some magic, the mist dissipated not long after the white yacht had disappeared from view. The sky cleared and the waves subsided. Lisa was amazed at the quick transformation of the weather and wondered how such change could happen so fast. In a matter of minutes, the weather became sunny with no trace that it had changed apart from the spot of dark clouds in the westerly direction.

Lisa saw the bow of the ferry first and tried to call its attention by shouting and waving her arms. Not long after, she saw the ferry change direction and went towards them.

When both women were aboard the ferry, they were immediately surrounded by the crew to check their physical condition. Nestie was quick to join Lisa and asked her how she was feeling.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Nestie.

"Just a bit tired after the adrenaline rush, but otherwise I'm alright."

Nestie was relieved. "I did my best to have them double back and fetch you right away." Then, after some silence, he added, "That was one freak storm we experienced. While it was happening, it felt like we were caught in a typhoon. We were lucky. I just hope no other vessel was caught in it."

It was then that Lisa remembered the white yacht and its ghostly presence. She recalled how it seemed to glow in the mist and the gold letters written on its side – The Golden Krone.