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Chapter Four
Stukeley turned as Johnny emerged, still whistling, from the cabin. Stukeley had to admit, he'd never seen Johnny so bouncy, like a ray of sunshine before. It was weird.
"Well?"
"All ready." he sang.
"Good." Stukeley sighed. This cheering was getting to his nerves. "Right then-"
"Wanna help more." Johnny said reverently.
"Fine. Go fetch the girl. It's getting cold for her. We don't want her to get sick before she ready for whatever Captain's planned for her."
Johnny nodded and brushed past Stukeley. Why was he doing this? Normally Johnny would never take orders from Stukeley. Was he smitten? Ugh. Why had he, Stukeley, agreed to take care of the girl? Stukeley was getting sick to his stomach. What was wrong with him?
This feeling wouldn't leave him. It made him restless, so he couldn't sit down even.
The girl had fallen asleep after crying continuously for two hours. Stukeley hadn't let anybody get near her. And that'd made Johnny hysterical with laughter.
"You like her, duncha?" he'd managed to choke out at last.
"What do you mean?" Stukeley had asked defensively.
Johnny hadn't answered. Instead, he'd just smirked and walked away. And that'd made Stukeley even more nauseated. She was just a little girl. What could she do? How could she…
She was lovely. Those eyes…
She'll get older. You won't. She'll reach your age someday…
No! Stukeley shook his head, banishing his hideous thoughts immediately. The clouds overhead thundered. It was going to rain again.
"Yo, Stukeley?" Johnny appeared at his side again. He tapped him on his shoulder. Stukeley knew what Johnny was going to say. She was there, ready. So he just nodded to Johnny, and carefully made his way down the stair case.
Stukeley had been right. The first drop of rain hit the deck above with a loud splat. It was going to storm soon. He was really beginning to hate storms, because he could never feel the thrill, the danger of it again. What was the point if your ship would just…lay low and float while the heavens shook in the sky? No point. No familiar rush of adrenalin. Nothing. It was great, according to Sidorio, because during the storm, they became invincible. They could absorb power.
Stukeley stopped outside her door.
He started to knock but his fist stopped in mid-air. He'd heard footsteps. Why was he feeling like this? It was stupid.
Johnny appeared in a flash beside him again.
"Just killed one." he reported triumphantly. "What? Ya still hangin' hea like a guppy? C'mon, Harmano. Go inside. She ain't bitin' ya. Yet." He chuckled at his own joke.
"Go away." Stukeley was getting irritated. Why wouldn't that bloody lunatic leave him alone for once? Okay, he had taken a liking to the girl. So what? Johnny didn't need to cause havoc because of this.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Johnny demanded. "What? Wha' happened up there anyway? Sidorio noticed yer expression, Harmano. You dun wanna him to loose his confidence in ya, now, d'ya?"
Stukeley rubbed his head and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. "I don't know. That half-breed did something to my brain. Everything slowed up a bit. I'm fine now."
Johnny clicked his tongue sympathetically. "Wish our dear Captain Would've trusted me with this job. Yer hesitating. Yer fidgeting. Is tha' normal? Nope, sir-ee, no. You coulda use yer charms in there. At least you can handle ladies thrown' themselves at ya. I'll bet she'd do too, even though she's a young 'un. Maybe that's why this job's yers. Still wish it were me, though." Johnny winked again.
Stukeley snorted.
"Yeah, yeah, you're the best." he smirked. "Get lost already."
Johnny looked offended as he vanished around a corridor.
Stukeley leaned against her cabin's door, sighing. Here we go. What had he done to deserve this? Was Sidorio testing Stukeley's loyalty? His patience? Or was he training him in some way?
Maybe I have to prove myself that I'll remain loyal to him, he decided.
::^!^::
Morning came quickly for Stukeley. He retired to his room early to get some rest, after quieting her down the whole night. She kept wailing about her mother and her friends etcetera, etcetera. He gradually grew deaf to her sobs. He told her to go to sleep and sat by her door, watching the wood patterns on the roof with patience he hadn't known he had. The girl had tried to escape, but only once. It had been a lame attempt, and he'd pushed her away from the door.
She'd winced at the coldness of his touch and hadn't tried to get near him or the door again. He'd kept distant between them himself. She was strange, because she didn't fight back when he pushed her back, so hard that she'd toppled over her bed.
He had been given a cabin of his own of course, which was quite luxurious by human standards. He was grateful that he was finally going to get some shut-eye. Never had he exercised his control over the blood lust before. It tired him. The tiredness, in turn, reminded of the feelings he used to feel in the past and couldn't anymore. It depressed him for once reason. He was happy here. These old memories were lost in the past now. They shouldn't sadden him like that.
He even had a comfy bed like he used to, back at the Diablo, when he was a human.
He'd betrayed his ex-crew. He made them loathe him, to hunt for him. Maybe now he was paying for it…
That girl was haunting him. Her expression, frightened, filled his vision. Then those hypnotic eyes staring accusing at him, then flashing with anger, then flooding with thick, pearly tears. Tears caught on her long lashes, melding them together. Her cheeks aflame from the cold. Her wild dark caramel hair which looked so soft. Her voice…so…melodious…
Oh, shut up already.
Stukeley lay on his bed for a while, a thousand senseless thoughts whirling in his vampire mind like a huge tornado. He wondered if any human could have as much thoughts as he did at the moment.
Soon, he went into a deep, blank sleep. It was normal for him, because vampires dreamt very little.
He awoke at the dusk like every afternoon, groaning, feeling dead. Then again, he remembered that he was dead. The hunger attacked him with full intensity, his teeth tingling painfully. He was hungry. There were no windows in his cabin to tell him whether it was still night but he knew. He could feel it.
Time to feed.
He found himself in that room before he was fully awake. That glorious room, where those mortals lay, their blood seething in their veins and calling out to him…
He yanked open one of the cages that was assigned to him and picked up a random donor. Without waiting, he devoured it. It was it because it had no longer any identification. It was just food. That delicious taste of fear tempted him, exciting him until he could no longer care what was happening in the world.
When he was finished, brimming with blood he let go of the dead body. Disposing it off down the disposal chute, he went out, shutting the door, ignoring the complaints thrown at him by his fellow feeders. This Feeding room was the room in which most of the Vampirates hung out, along with the deck where he was going at the moment. Too get some fresh air.
Sigh.
Stukeley felt quite cheerful. He bumped into Johnny on his way up on the deck.
"Oi!" he demanded. "Whachya grinnin' about, Harmano?"
Stukeley shook his head and brushed past his crewmate and up in the fresh air of the deck.
Had he forgotten his task? Johnny wondered, gobsmacked. Or maybe not…Maybe he was happy he got it after all.
::^!^::
Stukeley hadn't forgotten his task but tonight, he strangely felt airy. Light-headed. Care-free. He hadn't experienced his kind of floaty feeling ever before-neither in his life as a human, but he'd felt a tiniest pang of it when he'd met Darcy flotsam. But this time, he sensed it more intensive. What was happening to him?
It had always been about how much ladies he got to laugh. He liked to be admired by them. He liked to be popular. Like when he was a human, he was still popular among the women. Even more popular now, because immortality had perfected his visage and body even more.
He was going to make her comfortable here, he realized. Because now that he'd seen her cry, he wanted her to laugh. He'd never wanted to make someone laugh like this before. This desire roiled in his chest, longing to be fulfilled.
Stukeley knocked on Natalie's cabin near midnight.
She didn't answer but he was greeted with a loud sob.
Stukeley pushed the door open, indifferent and stepped in.
There was no window in her room too. It was bare except a stiff white bed. She was huddled beneath it, her face buried in her knees as she wept. Oh no…
What shocked Stukeley was that the floor boards were flecked with crimson blood. Her blood.
Someone had bitten her while he was relieving himself.
I'm so glad that I got to update, even when these stupid exams are whirling around me like a hurricane! Please r&R!