~4~

Ace's entire body tensed as a sweet scent filled the air around him. Like honey. Lightning flashed within the storm of his eyes. He trembled as a sharp pang tore through his stomach and it took every last bit of willpower he had to keep from doubling over. His fangs sharpened as he looked down at the boy lying on the ground at his feet.

To his surprised, he actually recognized the boy. It was the same teenager who had run into him earlier.

The boy's jet-black hair was chopped short and unkempt; much like most teenaged boys of this modern world. His very lanky build made it seem like there was just something small about him. So helpless. Yet so alluring. Wide blue eyes—like the color of a bright summer's sky—stared up at the vampire. His chest rose and fell in an uneven pattern under a faded concert t-shirt as he coughed, gulping for air after the fall had knocked the breath from him. A silver medallion winked in the firelight. His face was pleasant, swollen like a toddler's. Ace found himself drawn to every feature.

Then his eye dipped down to the liquid crimson that dribbled down the side of the boy's face from a cut near his temple, and then down to the red that stained the edges of a new tear in his blue jeans.

That smell...

"Uh... sorry!" the boy rasped between panting breaths. He scrabbled back to his feet, but it seemed the blow he had received to his head made him a bit unsteady.

With one hand, Ace reached out to steady the boy. The other hand dropped that treasured violin and balled tightly at his side, black claws digging into his palm. A painful twang sounded from the violin as it hit the cobbles.

Control yourself...

Wordless, perhaps awestruck, he stood staring at the boy. He fought the ache in his fangs, the instinct that begged him to bite. His monstrous nature lulled to him, promising an end to the pain if he were to just bend forward and sink his teeth into warm, innocent flesh.

Don't give in...

"Seems like it's a night for party crashers," said one of the females—a genuine New Orleans witch of the famed coven known as 'The Sisters of the Craft'.

Supposedly these Sisters were hiding the Coveted One, giving him safe passage from Witch House to Witch House. Even at the risk of being turned away, Ace and Sabo sought them out to see if it were true. Most likely, they wouldn't have given them the information—for free, that is.

Witches were the mercenaries of Lore.

For the right price, anything one wished for was possible.

The boy pulled away from Ace's gentle grip on his shoulder. "I-I'm Sorry! Really! I didn't mean to... uh..."—he nervously scratched the back of his head—"... drop in."

Perona, a pink-haired witch, slanted the boy a glance. "But you were eavesdropping!"

A nervous smile. The boy raised his hands, shaking them in his defense. "N-no! I wasn't! I don't know anything!"

What a terrible liar. Ace thought, gazing at the boy curiously as he backed away.

"Ace...?" he heard Sabo breathe. The little kitsune's hand was clutching tightly at the vampire's pant leg. He knew.

The little blonde witch canted her head ever-so-slightly to the side, her chocolate-brown eyes flickering with the color of the Witches, becoming like mirrors. It was so strange. Out of all the Witches present, this one gave the impression that she was timid and frail. Yet it seemed she held a strong command over her Sisters.

"Well, if you know nothing," she said with a sweet English accent to the mortal teenager, "then I suggest you be on your way. You have no place here."

The boy straightened up, his posture becoming something similar to a soldier at attention. "Uh... right!"

He wasted no time. Turning on his heel, the boy scampered off. But, for a brief second, he had cast one last glance over his shoulder. A summer-sky blue met with a stormy gray.

Had Ace imagined the flush of pink in the boy's cheeks?

That scent still lingered in the air; that sweetness that Ace couldn't help but breathe in deep while the boy vanished back into the gloom of the cemetery. He'd always been fond of sweets. And for a moment the pain seemed to lesson. That scent sustaining him.

Or perhaps not...

"Ace!" Sabo cried, his little hands pushing on Ace's legs, trying to support him as he rocked on his feet. "Snap out of it!"

Snapping back to reality, Ace murmured absently, "I'm fine..."

"Clearly," drawled a raven-haired Witch as she picked up Ace's violin. She held it out to him as if it were some diseased-infested thing.

Ace quickly snatched his instrument from the Witch, next to horrified when he realized he had dropped it. He would never be able to forgive himself if that violin were ever damaged. His precious thing—all he had left of his former life.

Of Marco...

Just thinking about that man tugged at Ace's immortal heart. Marco had been a gypsy from Spain, traveling with the theatre troupe that had taken Ace in. Perhaps it was foolish of him, but Ace believed he had fallen in love.

Together they faced a world that would always reject them... and laughed.

Now Ace felt as if he had taken every tender moment he had shared with Marco for granted. Their lives and their dreams fell apart that morning Ace had returned to the tavern his troupe was staying at.

The sky was just beginning to pale as Ace staggered towards the wagons of the theatre's caravan. Everyone had been packing up, ready to leave without him. But Marco had spotted him; half-naked, walking in a daze. He ran to Ace and Ace had collapsed into his arms—the morning forcing the newly-turned vampire into a deep, deep sleep.

When Ace had woken he found himself lying on a cot set up in one of the wagons. The caravan had left Paris behind them and was moving onto the next city of their choice.

And Marco... he was right by his side.

They called it consumption, the symptoms Ace had been suffering from. Only Marco dared to care for him. But they were to find the truth was so much more frightening. So cruel.

Every animalistic urge most mortals could suppress only intensified within Ace's new body. He writhed from the pain that disgusting hunger brought him. And no real food—no bread, no water—could relieve it. It turned to ash in his mouth. He choked and had to force himself to swallow.

When he could take no more, he found his body had ways to get what it needed against his will. He'd lost all control and seduced Marco. He could never forget how it felt; Marco's body pressing heavily against his... and the taste of fresh, warm mortal blood.

He bit hard, tearing into Marco's flesh. Marco had thrown him off, but Ace had been crazed. The struggle called others from the troupe to rush to help. They were shocked at the sight. Blood sloppily dripped from Ace's mouth as he hissed and thrashed, trying to break past the injured Marco's defenses to gorge himself on his life's essence.

And he'd hurt members of his own adopted family. At least until they overpowered him, which was no easy task. Locking him in chains, his troupe felt that the only way to end Ace's agony was to be rid of him completely.

Dragging him out into the bright daylight and stabbing tacky wooden stake into his heart was enough to momentarily incapacitate the vampire, giving only an illusion that he was dead. But Ace saw and heard everything as they dug a ditch and tossed him into it.

He was buried alive.

It must have been the middle of the following night when Ace had finally clawed his way out of his own grave. The taste of dirt was washed away by another mid-autumn's rain.

Though that pang of hunger still tormented him, his dazed state of mind pushed him to look for Marco.

He'd found him back in Paris... committed to an asylum.

Ace had whispered to him through the bared windows, but Marco would not answer him. So with a final "Je t'aime," Ace vanished into the night, stowing away on a boat to England.

Perona's shrill, girlish voice jolted Ace back to the present. "You have a lot of nerve, coming here." She circled him, giving him appraising looks. "A Rogue vampire in White Coven territory...?"

Ace raised his chin. "I'm not afraid."

"We're not doing anything wrong!" said Sabo, his ears lying back.

These women seethed with forbidden powers. To cross a Witch was one thing no immortal wanted to do. Ace and Sabo avoided eye contact with any of them; a sort of sign of respect.

"You should be..." another witch spoke, a sultry tone of voice. This one had a honey blonde hue in her long hair and fashionable glasses were perched up on her nose. She moved like the seductress most would claim a Witch to be. "Newgate doesn't take kindly to strange leeches on his turf."

Ace felt a twitch in his cheek, though he tried to keep himself from pulling am irritated face. Leech. That was a term most denizens used to refer to the blood drinkers, the vampires. It was mostly used as an insult.

The frail blonde Witch's features were ever-serene. "Tell us... what's worth the risk?"

Ace raised his gaze to meet hers. A bold move if she were as powerful as he assumed her to be. His breaths were becoming shallow pants. He prayed that no one noticed it, or that he had steeled himself from moving at all.

"I want to be human..." he said.

At first the Witches seemed puzzled, unsure what to think at that statement. Then the Witch Perona snickered, and then outright burst into laughter. Ace could feel his cheeks heat as other witches followed her lead, mocking him.

Sabo grabbed hold of the hem of Ace's pants, nearly pulling them down as he used it to hoist himself up just so he could climb up the much taller boy as if he were just climbing a tree. Ace winced as he felt the toes of Sabo's shoes dig into his lower back and the bite of little claws in his shoulders.

"Hey! What's so funny?" the little kitsune snapped, baring little fangs.

"Sabo!" Ace snatched Sabo up by the hood of his jacket. But when he lifted the little kitsune, he just wrapped his legs around his neck and sat up on his shoulders. "What happened to keeping cool about this?"

Odd, usually Sabo was the one keeping Ace's temper in check.

"Well I just don't see what's so funny about wanting to go back!" Sabo bit out. "I want to grow up!"

Perona giggled, elbowing the tall, honey blonde woman beside her. "You hear that, Kalifa?"

"He might as well be chasing after moonbeams!" Kalifa bent over laughing.

Perona turned back to give the vampire a smug look. "Obviously you're not clear on the rules of immortality, leech! Once you're in, you're in for good!"

Sabo's eyes glowed with that fiery amber. "That's it!"

Ace caught the kitsune by the waist as he lunged at the Witch and held him tight as he thrashed. "Sabo! Stop it!"

Sabo growled. "It's not impossible! I know it's not!"

"That's enough," said the frail-looking witch, a subtle command in her tone.

Immediately, the Witches were still.

"Lady Kaya..." said Kalifa.

Poised, Kaya stepped toward Ace and Sabo, leaving grassy footprints in her wake. Her hair looked as if it were being stirred, blown about by a wind that just wasn't there. Her chin tilted upwards, the gaze of her mirror-like eyes seemed to burn through them.

A Witch's display of power.

A warning to not anger anyone here.

"Who are you?" she asked. "And what have you really come for?"

Ace swallowed hard, giving a curt bow with Sabo tucked under one arm. "Lady Kaya..."—it was a good time to act polite—"My name is Ace and this is my friend, Sabo. And I meant what I said. We want to be human."

"I'm sorry," Kaya said. "But what you're asking of us is impossible. Any coven could have told you that."

"Not if we go back in time," Ace stated boldly.

Kaya's eyes went wide.

The other Witches became rigid, knowing what Ace had meant.

That was the power of the Coveted One. Or so Ace had heard. He could manipulate events of past, present and future at will. He could pluck someone from anther time and make it so they returned from the dead. Rumors stated that he had done it before, and even cheated his own destruction.

Kaya stood so still. "You're no longer welcome here."

Did he hear that right?

Ever-so-clever, Luffy had simply hid himself behind another grave. Curiosity was getting the better of him once again. And good thing it did. Things were going from too weird to completely out of this world weird!

Did he say he wanted to be human? Luffy carefully poked his head out, eyeing the party from a safe distance. But with that broken statue in the way, any good view was a bit obstructed. Go back in time? Vampires? Whaa...?

Okay, maybe it was some kind of role playing game?

That could explain a lot of things—

But it did not explain why the warm orange glow of the small campfire suddenly changed to an icy blue. Luffy shut his eyes tight, rubbed then and opened them again, wondering if he was just imagining this.

Nope.

Not a trick of the mind.

Ace—the dark-haired stranger that Luffy had been following—took one hesitant step back, that little creature he called Sabo still hanging over his arm.

"I don't understand," he said.

Then Sabo cried, "We were told that—"

Luffy saw that blonde girl, Kaya, lift her hand to her mouth, placing one finger over her pale lips. There was something about that look; how her dark eyes gazed at the two in a way that told of a warning. Yet she was so serene.

"You were told wrong," said Kaya. Behind her, the other women seemed a bit uneasy. Some even cast quick glances into the shadows of the graveyard that surrounded them.

A little bit closer. Luffy ducked around the mausoleum that had served as his hiding place and scooted—back to the stone and legs still in a half-crouched position. His knee was still sore from that fall. He bit his lip to keep himself from letting out the slightest hint of discomfort.

He wasn't going to be found again.

"We can pay anything you want!" said Sabo as he tried wriggling out of Ace's grip. Of course, from where he had moved to Luffy could only see that furry tail swish about and his little legs kicking until Ace finally let him drop.

Feeling blood drip from his jaw and down his neck, Luffy finally realized he was hurt a little more than he thought. Ignoring the pain in his ribs, his ran the bottom of his old t-shirt roughly down the side of his face. Once he'd felt he'd wiped enough of the blood off, Luffy ducked, rolling across the path and taking cover behind the base of another statue, a gargoyle this time. Cheery...

He then blinked dizzily, but shook it off and continued his spying.

"Nothing you have could possibly interest me," said Kaya. Her eyes glittered, sparking with silver light as she sauntered towards Ace. "But perhaps..."—she looped her delicate fingers through Ace's belt loops and pulled their bodies together—"... we can work something else out?"

Luffy gaped, dumbfounded at this girl's sudden actions. It seemed Ace was equally surprised. His arms had moved out slightly to the sides, avoiding contact.

"P-pardon?" Ace stammered. His body became totally stiff as Kaya's hands traveled around his body, wrapping him in a tight embrace.

Luffy felt his heart quicken in pace. His hands shook as he head went reeling with a sudden feeling of anger. Out of the blue, he made up his mind: he did not like that girl.

What was this sudden feeling?

A tiny pebble bounced off the back of Luffy's head. Gritting his teeth, Luffy whipped his head around to see Usopp beckoning him to retreat.

He saw Usopp mouth the words: "Get your ass over here!"

"No...!" Luffy mouthed, shaking his head.

Usopp gave his friend a rather angry, brows-drawn look. He tried to mouth something else, hissing and squeaking in the process, but Luffy couldn't make any words. By the way his hands rose up, shook and mimed an angry strangling motion; Luffy figured that it wasn't something he wanted to hear.

He just picked up the pebble Usopp had thrown at him and chucked it back. Usopp flinched, but the rock just flew over his head, landing somewhere behind him without a sound.

"Just what are you trying to pull?" Luffy heard Sabo snap. He quickly turned back towards the firelight, spotting the fur on that bushy tail standing on end. Was he growling? It sounded like a pissed off animal.

Kaya ignored the small creature, looking up at Ace with those glittering eyes. "You don't want to even consider it?"

Ace swallowed. "It's... uh..." he scratched the back of his head, "lovely..."

He didn't seem comfortable at all.

Luffy tilted his head sharply to the side. Something seemed off as he watched the blonde slip her hand into Ace's back pocket. Ace blinked curiously, turning his head to glance behind. It was then Kaya stepped back from him.

"I suggest that you be very careful of what you wish for," she said, a warning lacing her gentle voice.

Ace shoved his hand into his back pocket, a strange light flashing in his eyes before his head whipped back to face Kaya.

"Do you understand?" asked Kaya.

Ace gave a silent nod and turned to leave. "Come Sabo..."

"What?" Sabo didn't seem happy as he hurried after his older friend, huffing as he kept up with those long-legged strides. "That's it? We're just—"

"Trust me..."