Author: short chapter I know, I've been sick with something related to the flu so I haven't been able to write much, but I hope you enjoy! Happy New Year!

Ace watched Ai over the next few days with worry. Her breathing was slow but even now. Previously it had been ragged and unsteady. Her temperature was what worried him currently. One moment she was burning up and the next she was shivering.

His mother assured him this was normal for those who went through the Change. Yet Ai was born a Half Vampire, her Change shouldn't be taking this long.

" How is she?"

Look up, Ace saw his mother walking over to him. " She's still sleeping." Placing a hand lightly on her forehead a smile came to the freckled woman's face.

" She's coming off the tail end of it. She should be waking within the next day or so." Rouge said kindly.

" Are you sure?" Ace asked worriedly.

" Of course." Rouge said confidently. " Her Change had to break through Edward's seal. It was going to take time for your blood to override it."

" I can't lose her, mother." Ace said quietly. Rouge smile lovingly before kissing the top of his head. " What was that for?"

" I'm proud of you?"

" For what?"

" A few weeks ago you wouldn't even entertain the thought of having a Bride. Yet now, here you are sitting beside your Bride as she Changes. I'm very proud of you."

Ace felt his cheeks pinker, feeling awkward at her praise. Sitting with Ai when she was going through this process felt right. She needed his presence and he needed to be there. Reaching over, he gently brushed a wayward lock of blue hair away from her face. Her skin felt clammy.

" Wake up, love." He said worriedly. " Wake up and sass me."

" She will, Ace." Rouge said placing a blanket around his shoulders. " When was the last time you slept?"

" Not since the night she was attacked."

" THAT WAS FOUR DAYS AGO, ACE!" Rouge exclaimed worriedly. " YOU NEED TO REST!"

" I will when I know she's going to be alright."

WHAM!

" WHAT THE FUCK, SABO!" Ace yelled angrily, clutching the now giant lump forming to the back of his head.

" Listen to your mother, jackass!" Sabo growled angrily. " She's been worried sick about your stupid ugly ass!"

" No one asked for your opinion!"

" Boys, please don't-"

" WELL YOU'RE GONNA GET MY OPINION!"

" Boys!"

WHAM!

POW!

" IDIOTS!" Koala yelled angrily as she hit the both of them on the heads. " If you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to kick both your asses!"

" Did you really need to hit me?" Sabo groaned rubbing the back of his head.

" Yes, because you both are acting ridiculous. Ace, you won't be very comforting to Ai when she wakes up if you don't rest yourself! You'll only worry her when she's going to be extremely confused by her sudden new awareness to her surroundings and emotions." Koala huffed.

" The Youngling makes truth, Princeling." A mystical female voice said. " Your Bride will need you in top physical condition when she wakes." Ace watched as Selene hopped onto his bed, settling down beside Ai. There were times he forgot that Selene wasn't an ordinary kitten.

She was a Fae Cat.

Her normal form was the size of a tiger with large green and black butterfly wings that had tinges of purple and blue throughout them.

She was a gift from the Fae King and Queen when they had discovered he had found his Bride. They Fae, much like Vampires, had eternal soulmates. There's were called Ceann Chathaimid.

Fae cats would often appear to the newly found couple to help protect them from evil omens. The Royal Family sent Selene to Ace to help him protect Ai.

The Fae we also hunted by the Order. Their birth rates were just as low as Vampires, though not specific to one gender.

Selene took the form of a small domesticated kitten as to not frighten Ai, who had very little interaction with supernatural beings other than Vampires and Werewolves. The Fae were rather reclusive in their daily lives, so encounters with them were very few and far between.

" The Princeling cannot protect his Bride if he does not first feed himself. No worry for Bride currently, Selene will watch and protect. No harm come to." Selene said calmly, licking Ai's cheek and curling against her.

Ace felt himself relax at the Fae Cat's words, knowing the truth of them. Once a Fae Cat bonded with a creature they would protect them with their life.

" Fine." He groaned, shrugging away from Sabo and headed towards the door. " I won't be gone for long." His response was a disgruntled meow from Selene before he exited the room, his blonde brother following him.

" Princessling will always have target on her. The Order will try to get rid of her harder now."

" But she's already been Changed." Koaled said worriedly.

" Better to give the Princeling cubs now."

" Cubs? Oh…you mean kids." Koala said quickly. " Ace isn't even the King."

" Order fears Vampire King's blood line. If Princeling has cubs with his Bride then the line continues. King is strong, Princeling is strong, maybe even stronger…blood line is powerful. Order not want any chance of line becoming stronger.'

" Ace doesn't even want kids, though."

" Ace wasn't a planned baby, Koala." Rouge pointed out. " Many children, regardless of race aren't planned and our born either way. They along with Ai will becoming targets to the Order now."

" I see." Koala said, her face now pale. " No wonder Ace is so protective."

" It's a tactic they have tried for centuries." Rouge said sadly. " They like to use an old chess move to try to defeat a King. They've tried it on Roger in the past and will now try it one Ace…"

" What do you mean?"

" How do you defeat the King in chest, love." Rouge asked. " You take out the Queen…"

" Ace stop. If you don't, you'll kill her." Sabo said quickly as he watched Ace feed off of a female servant. His dark haired brother let go of the donor, catching her swiftly as she stumbled from blood lose.

" Here, drink this." The freckled teen said biting his wrist and offering the trickling blood to her.

" Oh no, Master!" The girl said dizzily. " I couldn't."

" Yes you can, Just a little will restore what I took."

" But-"

" Drink." Ace said in a commanding tone. They very rarely needed to give human's their blood to recover from a Feed. With regularly scheduled Feedings they only needed a few bites here and there…but he hadn't fed in almost a week. He was afraid to leave Ai's side. " I apologize for taking so much."

" It's fine, Master. We are all here to be fed from."

Sabo quirked a blonde eyebrow at her statement. The human staff that worked in the castle were all here of their own free will. If they did not wish to be fed from then they were left alone. If a Vampire tried to force or coerce them they were punished severely. One of the many things that Sabo agreed with the king on was that humans were not to be treated cruelly. If they wanted to live in peace with them then both sides need to treat each other with respect. If not, then the Order would forever be after them.

" You don't need to call me Master." Ace said awkwardly to the girl and she dabbed a piece of clothe to her mouth.

" But-"

" If you're going to call him anything then call him My Prince or Your Highness. He isn't a master over anyone." Sabo said calmly. The servant girl's eyes went wide at the blonde's words.

" It was just a slip of the tongue, Sabo." Ace said calmly, standing and walking back towards his bedroom.

" Where are you going, Brother?"

" Back to my room, to check on Ai." Ace said calmly.

" Ace, you need to take a break from that room. Ai is going to be super pissed at you."

" What do you mean?"

" She's going to be pissed when she wakes up and finds out that you didn't take care of yourself. Then once she's done kicking your ass then she'll come after me!"

" Sabo, stop! What if it was Koala?"

" A few years ago it was Koala and you nearly beat my face in because I didn't want to leave her side. I wasn't taking care of myself and you had to remind me that if I didn't take care of myself then how would I be able to take care of my Bride!" A small groan escaped from him at his brother's words, realizing the truth in them.

" Any word on the whereabouts of Lucci?" Ace asked leaning against the wall.

" None, once Thatch and Rayleigh entered the fray he realized there was no way he could win and so he retreated. So far we have no word of his whereabouts."

" Luffy's been interrogating him."

" Anything?"

" Well, he is our insider in the Order and he said that Dragon D. Malikai is a hardened supporter of annihilating our kind as always. The Sengoku placed him in charge of the plans."

" Even though his own granddaughter is a Half Vampire?"

" Coby said that Malikai refuses to acknowledge her existence. He said that his son Alduin was dead to him the moment he took up with Ai's mother. He more than anyone, wants her gone." Sabo said earning an angry snarl from his brother. He agreed full-heartedly with him. It was disgusting to disown your own child because they aren't with the one you would choose for them.

Refusing to even acknowledge your own grandchild because of what you call their parent's sin. Sabo knew, as he suspected Ace did as well, that is Malikai ever came across Ai, he would publically execute her. He would never allow that to happen, especially now that she was his sister by law.

" We will keep her safe, Ace." Sabo said reassuringly. " She won't be harmed."

" She was harmed already, Brother." Ace said weakly.

" We will not allow it to happen again, Ace." Sabo growled, placing a hand reassuring on his shoulder. " I'm sorry I failed you. I want you to know that I would rather die then let her be harmed again. Just like I know you would rather die than let Koala be harmed."

" I know…I know." Ace groaned weakly. " She was just…she looked so frail looking that night. Sabo…I've fought in hundreds of battles and countless many fights growing up and I have never been as afraid as I was that night."

" Ace-"

" I felt so helpless when I found her, Sabo. She looked like she was a breath away from death." Sabo remained quiet as Ace spoke, at a loss for words. " Ever since I first laid eyes on her she had been nothing but this unwavering fire that refused to even flicker…yet five nights ago…I thought her flame was going to die out…that I'd never hear her voice again. That I'd never see that little smirk or hear her laugh again. Hell, if I even prayed that if the gods kept her alive that I would give her back to Whitebeard. That I would give up my Claim on her as my Bride."

" But you didn't give her up, Ace. She's being Changed as we speak by your blood."

" But what if…what if she-"

WHAM!

" I swear to all the gods that are out there that if you say she won't make it then I'll will kick your ass!" Sabo growled. " Ai is strong! She's your Bride, she has to be strong!"

" I know she's strong."

" She fought to stay awake after losing all that blood, right?"

" Yes."

" She kicked you in the balls the first time you tried to Change her, right?"

" Yeah." Ace said with a small smile on his face, remembering the first time they shared his bed.

" She's thwarted your perverted and shitty advances for almost two months now, right?"

" Shut up, you dick! They weren't that shitty or perverted!"

" Please, you almost had sex with her every single damn day since you met her!"

" I did not!"

" The whole fucking time! Trust me, Ace! If she could be strong enough to tolerate your shit advances and strong enough to stand you naked in her bed…then she is strong enough to survive this Change."

" I swear I will beat you to death one day."

" I love you to, Brother."