Hello everyone, here is the next chapter
This will be more build up for later and more things explained
Hope you enjoy
Read and relax
Ace looked around himself, seeing no one around, which was good. Ace was on the back of the lowest deck, as there weren't many out there. Ace turned and looked at the seagull in front of him, licking his lips. Just as Ace was about to grab for it, a voice scared it away. ¨Ace! Whatcha doing out here alone?!¨ Ace watched his meal go away, feeling hungry, but needed to still go on. He wouldn't get another shipment before two weeks had passed. When Ace turned to look at Thatch, Ace felt small pounding as he saw the man's neck, but held himself in place. He could do this.
Ace gave a smile. ¨I was just walking around, being bored.¨ Thatch gave a laugh. ¨Well then! Come and we'll do a prank!¨ Ace gave a chuckle, before shaking his head. Ace was trying to hunt for seagulls right now, needing something. ¨Not right now, Thatch. Sorry. Maybe later.¨ Thatch gave a whine. ¨Whyyyyy?¨ Ace gave a small smile, feeling a bit bad, but he needed to get something. ¨I need to do something. Marco asked me to check the lower decks for things that doesn't belong here.¨ Thatch gave a nod and pout. ¨Fine. But, we need to do something later!¨ Ace gave a nod. ¨We will. When I'm finished.¨ Thatch gave a nod and went off.
Ace gave a breath when the chef was gone. That wasn't a complete lie; Marco had told him to check the lower decks if he had the time or was bored. He would use that as an excuse. When Ace didn't see more seagulls on the deck, he gave a sigh and decided to go in the ship's lower decks; he had said Thatch he would check, and needed to do it in case he told Marco Ace was doing it. After half an hour, Ace almost finished, he stopped as his scent picked something up.
There was a rat stuck in a trap, bleeding a small bit as it struggled.
Ace looked around himself, seeing no one. Ace closed his eyes. He was this desperate right now. Ace walked over to the trap and struggling rat, releasing it, before biting down into it with his fangs, drinking its blood, which tasted foul. There was barely any blood in it, but it was better than nothing. Ace hated how desperate he was. When the rat was dead, no blood left, Ace feeling a bit disgusted with himself, he took it out and threw it over the railing, as they did with rats.
Ace did feel a bit better, and went to be with Thatch, playing a prank on Marco, who looked a bit tense, more so than normal. Ace wondered why that was.
-x-
Marco couldn't help but look around himself, feeling something, but not sure what. It had been growing the last days, which he really didn't like. They hadn't been at any island the last four weeks, meaning there was something on the boat that his phoenix didn't like. And, it was growing. At certain places, it was worse, and he always tried to figure out where he was at that time and what was around himself, to figure out what it could be. But, he still hadn't come any further, still having no idea what was wrong. But, it was something his phoenix was afraid of.
It didn't help that Thatch and Ace decided to play a prank on him, making his already tense mind get more tense. The fact they played a prank had him more on edge. After it had been really bad for two days, Marco feeling he was much more tense than normal, Pops had asked about it, and Marco had told him. ¨I don't know, Pops. But, there is something, and the phoenix doesn't like it.¨ The man gave a frown. ¨Do you know what or why?¨ Marco gave a sigh as he shook his head. ¨No, yoi. I have tried to figure it out, but I haven't gotten anywhere.¨ Pops gave a nod. ¨When did it start?¨ Marco tried to think. When did it start? ¨I think it was around 3 or so weeks ago, yoi.¨
Pops gave a nod. ¨Maybe you're stressed, son. That was after we found out we had someone stealing from the infirmary.¨ Marco gave a sigh. He knew that, but didn't think that. He had been stressed more before. ¨I don't know, yoi. I don't think that's the reason. And, there has been nothing the last weeks.¨ Pops gave a nod to that. There had been nothing the last couple or so weeks, no one stealing more blood. Pops gave him a look. ¨But still, son. You might be stressed.¨ Before Marco could speak, Pops continued. ¨We are close to an island, which we can stop at relax at. Maybe we should.¨
Marco gave a sigh. ¨We don't need to, yoi.¨ Pops shook his head. ¨No reason to think that, son. We are already ahead of schedule by a couple of days. A stop won't hurt. I'll inform the navigators.¨ Marco gave a nod. ¨Okay, yoi.¨
Could it be he was just stressed? He somewhat hoped so. Not hoping something on the ship made him like this. That could be bad, especially seeing as his phoenix reacted.
-x-
Ace couldn't be happier right now. They were docking at an island! Way earlier than normal! Ace really needed that right now. Because, if they docked, that meant there would be animals in the woods, meaning he could eat. When they did dock, Ace was out with Thatch for a few hours, before being with Haruta.
When the night fell, everyone being out drunk at the beach or asleep, only a few being awake and on watch, Ace snuck away and headed into the woods.
When Ace got to the woods, he went inside it, being sure to be away from the beach to know no one would be able to see him from the tree line or anything. Ace was at least half an hour inside the forest.
Ace made sure no one was around, before he closed his eyes, opening them and looking around, heightening his senses, eyes red and fangs a bit out, same with his nails, looking like claws. After a few seconds, Ace moved, running silently through the woods. After running for a minute, he halted as he saw a herd of horses. Ace liked his lips; horses had a lot of blood.
Ace trapped one horse in a trance, making noise and scaring the others, especially since Ace's aura was really threatening to animals when he was on the edge like this, eyes red and teeth out. Ace soon was next to the horse, grabbing it and biting down on its neck, the horse giving a small whine, before going limp, Ace giving a satisfied sound of getting blood, getting more than just a small amount too. It felt so good.
It stopped way too quick, Ace still hungry when it was over. As the horse was dry, Ace quickly went for another, taking its blood, before going for another, and another. Two hours later, Ace felt satisfied, 6 horses being dead. He was especially hungry since he didn't get human blood as much as he needed, which satisfied him much longer. Animal blood didn't do that for him as much, needing more and satisfaction dwindling quickly. But, it was hopefully enough to help him last the next two weeks, before his next shipment. When Ace was sure he was satisfied for now, he carefully wiped his mouth, using some wet leaves to wipe his neck, chest, and hands, which had a bit of blood on them, before heading back to the beach, sneaking to lay down next to the fire, hoping no one noticed, which it didn't seem like it did.
Ace could do this.
-x-
When they did set sail, Marco was surprised. The first commander felt fine again. Not feeling on edge or anything any more, not having the ominous feeling something was wrong, his phoenix not seeming to be scared again.
Pops was glad by that, saying it was probably because he was stressed, thinking too much about things. Marco still didn't believe it, but guessed he was right. It had passed after being on the island and relaxing, so it had something to do with that. But, Marco still found it weird that he suddenly now started to have the stress get to him. Even worse since his phoenix was acting up. That had basically never happened.
But, he did guess Pops was right, and would remember that until later.
-x-
Thatch gave a laugh as he was preparing to make a feast, going to celebrate Rakuyo's birthday. Rakuyo had said he wanted hamburgers, because he apparently really liked hamburgers, just as they had last year. Thatch was going to help prepare everything and was figuring out what to do to make it more special. Not only for the seventh commander, but for everyone. They would still have a big cake, which was something.
As he was about to start cooking with his division, he saw Ace out, and decided to ask him a question, seeing as he was the new kid and didn't know. ¨Yo Ace!¨ He started, making the kid look at him. ¨How you like your burgers? We're having a hamburger feast!¨ Ace gave a smile, before he thought. ¨Hmm.. I like them rare.¨ Thatch blinked. Seeing as Ace was a fire kid, he was sure he would want them well done. ¨You sure?¨ Ace gave a nod. ¨Yeah! I like how it tastes.¨ Well then. If that was how he wanted it, he would make it. Ace wasn't the only one liking raw burgers, but he knew to make a lot of them as Ace was the one who ate a lot. They had a few, but Ace won.
When it came to the feast, they started serving the burgers as they still cooked, to make sure they were served hot. They were placed on the counter and everyone could come and take what they wanted when they wanted to, the burgers having signs on what was rare, medium-rare, medium, and well done. As they were cooking, a voice had him look back to the counter. ¨Thatch?¨ Thatch saw Nick there, having a burger he had taken a bite out of. ¨Yeah?¨ He asked, thinking something was wrong based on the look the guy had. Nick looked at him. ¨I think this is a bit too raw.¨ Thatch gave a frown and walked over, drying his hands on his apron. And, he looked at the burger, knowing it was supposed to be rare. But, when he looked at it and touched it, he was shocked.
It wasn't 'rare;' it was straight out raw, the burger cold and way more bloody than what it was supposed to be.
Thatch grabbed another and checked it, finding it in the same condition. These were outright raw burgers. Thatch turned to see who was working on making the burgers, going over the ones that made the rare ones, finding out that one of his new chef's wasn't as good, not sure what rare was, making them way too rare, they were raw. Thatch quickly placed the man on making medium ones, knowing he was able to do that, placing the one who made medium on rare.
As he was sure that was fixed, he brought the burgers back to fix them, looking at the ones eating and at those who liked rare ones, which weren't many. A few had half-eaten ones at the side, which he accepted since they were raw, but looked to have gotten some acceptable burgers too. When he looked at Ace, he saw Ace was eating the burgers he had slowly, which he found rare. Ace always gulped the food down. But, he was eating them, not seeming dissatisfied, almost looking satisfied with it, so he guessed Ace had gotten only good burgers, and really liked them. Maybe Ace had gotten most, if not all, of the good ones. That was good. Ace was the new kid, and they needed to show they could make good food.
The feast thankfully went fine after that, no more accidents happening.
-x-
Ace was jumping and waiting in front of Marco again, hoping he had gotten his package. After a second, Marco handed him a box, making Ace really happy.
Marco gave a small snort at seeing him this happy. ¨Is it the same as last time, yoi?¨ Ace gave a nod. Marco nodded at him, lifting an eyebrow. ¨What is it? Since you get it once a month, yoi.¨ Ace gave a smile. ¨It's a kind of snacks I get! It's personally made from my friend, and he sends it to make me happy!¨ That was basically what it was. Marco gave a chuckle. ¨Seems like a good friend, yoi.¨ Ace gave a nod. ¨He is. I've known him since I was 8!¨ That was when Ace had started to feed off of him, finding out he fit with Ace's preference, which was a rare one at that.
Ace took his box and left, going to his room, this time locking his door just in case.
When Ace sat down on his bed, opening it and seeing what he got, he was a bit let down to see he didn't get eyeballs, which was his favorite part of the body. Eating human meat or organs could help with their cravings, and Ace really liked eyeballs, liver since it was filled with blood, and the heart. He didn't mind anything, as long as it was from a human being, but like them the most. Ace was still overjoyed to find the blood bag with the blood, going to start of by drinking half of it, saving the rest for after eating half of the food. Ace even gave a groan as he drank, feeling so good to finally get human blood. Right now, he didn't care it was cold, it was human blood, even his favorite.
As he had eaten half and drank all the blood, he packed the rest down, going to save it and hope it helped. Well, he knew it would help. It was way better than nothing, but he couldn't live off just meat and organs, he needed blood. But, it would help greatly.
Ace was doing fine.
And that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed
The chapters are still really short for now, as it's still the beginning. They will get longer soon as things will get longer in the next chapter as stuff happens
And, the vampires I made are able to feel more fed if they eat meat or organs too, but they need human blood too. Same with the animal blood. They can half-survive for a small bit on it, but it will never completely soothe or fill them
But, how do you think of this so far? Is it good, or bad? I know it might be a bit boring, and I will fix that soon; it's still only chapter 3. Things will get more interesting in the next chapter
If you have the time, I greatly appreciate feedback