Joy drained out. She bled happiness -- it left her so fast and might as well have stained the ground she walked on. Her eyes went from crinkled-and-happy to wide-and-terrified.

Without thinking, she dragged her branch back into two hands and cracked it violently against an up-lifted knee. It didn't break. She tried again; the bark cut at her palms and the wood bruised her thigh. On the third attempt, it snapped into a jagged point.

"Get the hell over here!" She yelled -- at pirate or at vampire or at both, she couldn't quite decide.