Warnings: Violence, vampires, fluff, discrimination
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, which belongs to Eiichiro Oda, or Lullaby for a Stormy Night by Vienna Teng. I own only the plot and words.
The thirst was burning his throat with a vengeance, worse than any fire could ever hope to burn.
Ace hadn't tasted the sweet liquid known as blood on his tongue since he had found Luffy. He was fine with drinking rum or eating meat raw to sate his insatiable lust for blood, but even with his long-learned control, this long, weeks without blood was torture.
He wouldn't harm the little toddler toddling beside him. He refused to drink from him and also, for some reason, he didn't have that same smell all humans had that made his senses go into a flurry of ferocious hunger. He didn't know how much longer he could last without blood though. Everything was blurring together, becoming a huge, dark blob. Sounds were ringing and merging and he could just barely make out Luffy's babble next to him. He was too busy focusing on the sounds of the forest - animals snoring and fighting, water running, trees and brush rustling, and, to his delight, footsteps approaching.
He took off his cloak and dropped it over the boy, not wanting him to see what he was about to do. The toddler gave a startled yelp and began whining and moving around underneath the thick, black cloth. But Ace's attention was focused completely on the man before him.
Maybe he should have saved some blood bags on his hunt.
But then again, he was too thirsty to care.
With an animalistic growl, he launched himself forward in a blur of motion. He saw the man's startled expression and heard his scream right as he sunk his fangs into the tense muscles of his neck, aiming for his bloodstream. Arms and legs struggled, kicking at him, but his feet were planted firmly on the ground. He was immobile, a statue to the slowly more feeble attacks until they simply ceased. All breath left the man as Ace sucked him dry faster than he had done to a human in a long time.
Ace released the body once he was done, dragging his fangs out slowly as his grip on the corpse disappeared. The body fell to the ground, eyes bulging open and shirt drenched in his own blood. Ace wiped at his mouth and sighed. If only he had gotten blood sooner, maybe he wouldn't have killed anyone. But, what's done is done. It wasn't like he cared for the human anyway and he looked like a beggar, traveling and looking for nothing. He had the taste of alcohol in his blood as well, making Ace care less. It was so rich in the liquid that he must've been an alcoholic. Ace had seen plenty and he liked none.
He turned around when he remembered Luffy was there, looking up at him with innocent eyes from under the folds of the dark black cloak. The toddler stared up at him with wide eyes, blinking, as he let the cloak fall from his body. Ace frowned, expecting the child to start crying in fright at the sight of him - covered in blood, standing before a corpse, eyes glowing red with wide pupils, white fangs out for the world to see...
But the child only toddled closer and gripped onto his shorts, grinning up at him before raising his arms for Ace to pick him up. The elder's eyes widened in disbelief. He stood there, uncertain as to what to do. It didn't take long for the child to pout, whining with tears in his eyes. Ace snapped out of his surprise and lifted the small boy into his arms, blinking in shock once more when he snuggled himself into Ace's neck and let out a contented sigh. He then brought his arms around Ace's neck, yawned cutely, and fell asleep against the man.
Ace stared for a few moments, not knowing how to take this, before he grabbed the cloak, draped it over himself, and left with the small boy in his arms.
Ace loved the rain. He loved having the water fall down to the earth and pelt the ground in a rhythmic beat. Yes, he was a vampire who controlled fire, but that didn't mean he disliked water. In fact, he loved water, especially since he couldn't really get wet. His family found it strange he liked water so much, but he had loved it even before he became a vampire, so it wasn't odd in his eyes. He loved watching as it brought everything to life and how everything looked so much more alive after a rainstorm. He especially loved the thunder and lighting. It was like nature was playing its own beautiful song.
He quickly learned Luffy did not like thunder.
The two were walking in the storm. It wasn't pouring but it wasn't drizzling either. Ace didn't care about his clothes getting wet, as a vampire he couldn't get sick and he was fire so he couldn't get wet anyway. He knew Luffy could catch cold but he had medicines to heal him (he had stolen them from a previous town) and he was also only a few days away from home. Also, Luffy now had shoes and was wearing two of Ace's shirts that were clean that Ace had put on him to keep out the rain. Besides, the toddler was having fun jumping from puddle to puddle and playing in the mud. Ace followed the boy and smiled as the little human laughed and played in the dirt, chasing bugs that were trying to escape the rain.
Ace looked up at the flash of lightening and counted in his head, grinning when the loud boom went off. It reminded him of home and the loud pranks Thatch would always pull on Marco that sometimes he and Sabo got roped in to.
He looked down with worry when he heard a whimper, followed by a loud cry. He ran forward to Luffy and saw the younger wiping at his eyes. Ace's brows scrunched up in worry – he was shocked with how fast he warmed up to the toddler – as he picked him up and cradled him close.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" Ace asked as he rubbed the toddlers back, hoping to soothe him. "Did you step on something? Did you fall?" He didn't smell any blood, but he had to make sure. There was suddenly more lightening shortly followed by a boom. The loud sound caused Luffy's cries to get louder and Ace realized the cause of Luffy's cries.
Gently, Ace hushed him while holding him closer. He could feel the toddler trembling and it caused him to frown. He had no idea how to soothe the younger boy, as this was the first time in the two weeks he had heard the child cry. He tried to think of something to do to distract the small human as more thunder sounded and his cries and whimpers became more frequent. He was suddenly struck by an idea and told himself to remember to thank Haruta for forcing him to remember this song all those hundreds of years ago when they had last interacted with humans in a non-violent way.
"Little child, be not afraid,
Though rain pounds harshly against the glass
Like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger
I am here tonight.
Little child, be not afraid
Though thunder explodes and lightning flash
Illuminates your tear-stained face
I am here tonight
And someday you'll know
That nature is so
The same rain that draws you near me
Falls on rivers and land
On forests and sand
Makes the beautiful world that you'll see
In the morning…"
Ace continued to sing the song and smiled when he felt Luffy's cries slow to a stop. Only small whimpers were heard once in a short while as he sang softly to the child. Soon, the shaking subsided and Luffy only hiccupped once in a while. With big, watery red eyes he stared up at Ace. Ace smiled down at him and smoothed his hair down, beginning to hum the song.
The rain was now just falling in a drizzle. The leaves dripped with water as the puddles of mud and water in the street rippled with the occasionally drop of water. Sunlight from the setting sun was peaking out from behind the clouds, bathing them in an orange glow as the clouds disappeared.
Ace tipped his hat on his head to block out most of the sunlight then moved his hand back to Luffy's back. The young human's black eyes were drooping and Ace could hear that his heartbeat had slowed to a point where he knew the toddler would be asleep within seconds. Yet even after Luffy had drifted off to sleep, he continued to hum the song as he walked under the now shining stars and rising moon.
Ace stared at Luffy in shock. They were in a small town and had just left a store. When Ace was asking for directions to the next town, some other kids had come up and started harassing Luffy for no apparent reason (Ace just chalked it up to them being the same obnoxious, arrogant humans he always seemed to run into). Before Ace could do anything, the older kids had used a knife they had and cut at Luffy.
Blue blood fell from his skin.
Ace had no idea what this meant, as he had never seen or heard of blue blood. What he was shocked by was the reaction of the other humans. They all began screaming, shouting for his death, demanding to know why Ace had the young demon. Luffy looked calm despite the fear in his eyes, as if this had happened before.
He saw some villagers begin to run into their houses while others came out with weapons. Ace quickly snatched up Luffy and, using his powers, ran through the village into the woods at incredible speeds. He never liked using his powers in the presence of humans he wasn't hunting, but right now Luffy's life was more important.
When did he begin to care so much for this kid?
Once they were far from the village, Ace stopped. He knew they wouldn't find them out here. He looked down at the toddler in his arms, who was staring up at him with pleading, scared eyes. He babbled and held his arms up for Ace while tears formed in his eyes. Ace felt a long buried emotion build up – it was like when he was a child, shunned for being the son of Roger, told he shouldn't be alive just because of who he was.
Ace held Luffy close as the child trembled. He could smell Luffy's fear and most of all, he could smell Luffy's blood. But it wasn't a blood he wanted to drink. The smell was strange, not like normal blood. He wondered why the boy had it. He also knew now why he didn't feel any need to hunt the boy whenever his need for blood raged.
He was snapped out of his reverie by a pitiful whine. Ace realized he had to bandage the wound and moved to his knees, putting Luffy in front of him. He dug around in his watermelon-patterned bag and pulled out some alcohol and bandages. Luffy whimpered when he poured some alcohol on the wound and he tried to soothe the boy as he bandaged his arm. He quickly put the supplies away and hefted Luffy up again as he stood, walking quickly for home, wondering if he would find answers there.
AN: I can't believe I uploaded this next chapter so fast. But I was so happy with the reviews and everything and I know where this story is going and I'm really excited for this so - UPDATE! :D I feel really happy right now, and hyper. Anyway, I'm just gonna say that even though this has Vampires in it, it's not at all about Vampires. Also, we've had twist number one already. Plus, like my A Brother's Secret, this will slowly become more violent.
shadowmarialove: Thanks! And yes, yes he will. Ace has absolutely no idea what he just got himself into. I don't think there's going to be any pairings...aside from RogerxRouge come up later and DragonxOC shows up later too, but they're not really major. For now it's Acelu brotherly, but I might change it...I dunno yet. Hahaha no problem and good luck with the homework!
ichigi111kurosaki: I'm glad you like it!
Guest: I love them too! They're so cute together! Thank you :) This story will have lots of twists, so I hope you'll enjoy it.
spoons-are-evil: I'm excited too! I'm surprised I posted it so fast, but I was bored and I'm happy I did! And it's not going to focus on Vampires, and you've probably got a good idea as to why this chapter. I hope this doesn't become overly cliche. That wouldn't be good at all... I'll keep that in mind though! Thanks :) Yes, it was Blackbeard, and yes, he is dead. I didn't know how else to give Luffy his name and it seemed the most logical way. I'm glad you liked it! I really love writing extremely adorable or extremely sad/violent. Ace is totally clueless to the trouble he just brought upon himself. Luffy will cling onto him like a koala bear. I hope that you like this chapter! :)
Now I'm gonna go write more of this chapter...or take a walk...walk then write. I need to burn off my hyperness. If you see any errors, please tell me! Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Please leave a review - I love hearing what you guys think about the story! :)