the dandy

"What wrong, Dandeh?"

The voice echoed in a void, barely tickling the ears of the dandy in question. He tilted his head, then fanned his face with his hand.

"Oh, Captain," He moaned. "I'm weak, this day..."

"Ah can see that." Lothar leant over the bed that Abisai laid in. He looked down at the man. "Ye look dead."

Abisai waved the man away. "Don't make jokes."

"What ailes ye?" The Captain sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand to Abisai's forehead.

"Why, I haven't feasted in many moons!" Abisai shook the hand away and lept from the bed. "You cannot keep a vampire on your ship and be ignorant of his needs!"

"Righ." The Captain stood back up and left the room, sighing. He found this boy very dramatic.

They had seized him from another ship, having found him chained in the basement just before setting it alight. Lothar and his crew believed in not letting innocent hostages die within their fights, so they decided to take him back with them. It had been a month since then, and the man had become increasingly dramatic.

He was a fairly tall, heavy-set English-raised man of Romani descent with a halo of golden blond hair framing his face. One of his eyes was a dark, almost black brown. The other was cloudy blue, and he was completely blind in it. 

He wore a big, fancy, lavender suit with large sleeves and fancy lace cravats and wrist ruffles. The man wore shoes that were adorned with ribbons. He was ridiculous. 

The Captain of the ship himself, Captain Lothar, was a very tall man, with dark skin and a white beard. His hair was cut short, but his brows were thick, and his body calloused with years of being out in the sea. He had been a pirate for decades, and was now nearing his fifties in age.

He was a rough, knowledgeable man that was hard to get to know and even harder to soften.

Now this dandy was following him out of the masters chambers-- where he had happened to make himself comfortable in a small closet in the room, saying it was, 'efficently coffin-like'. "Seriously!" He hissed, his fangs showing. "You all eat plenty, twice a day! I have been starved. It's as if I'm a hostage on this ship!"

The eyes of the captain slowly met Abisai's. "Ye are. Yer not part of my crew. Yer a snobby li'l man we grabbed."

"Piffle!" Snorted the vampire. "I have been aboard this ship since 30 moons past! I am as well your crew as all the others."

"Noe, ye ain't." Lothar joined his navigator on the upper deck and took the scope, panning the horizon. "Oi. Come here, boyo."

Abisai wandered up to him. "I am two hundred years your senior, boyo." He retorted. "What is it?"

"See that?" 

"Why yes. Will we raid, Captain?"

"Fer ye." The Captain flicked a curl off of Abisai's forehead. "So ye'll stop yer cryin'."

"Good." Abisai calmed down, taking a soft breath. He tended to get a bit bothersome when he hadn't had his fill of blood. "How long will it take?"

"We'll reach by tomorrow mornin'."

"Delay it till night."

Lothar looked at the smaller man. "Nay. We will reach as day breaks."

"Great, then you can bring the bodies back to me. I'll be in my chamber!"

The man flapped his coat dramatically, then turned around and walked away.

It was awhile before the Captain entered his quarters. "Hello? Dandeh? You here?" He called allowed. He heard a rustle in his closet. Lothar approached, and slowly opened the door. 

"Hi." Sniffled the man, who was upside down in the closet, hanging from the ceiling as if he were a bat. "My name's Abisai, by the way. I think you know that already."

"Aye. Ye look sad."

Abisai sighed and stretched his neck. "You wouldn't care."

Lothar rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he was about to comfort a prissy little vampire that lived in his closet. "Ah hear ye cryin' sometimes, from this here wardrobe."

Without further prompting, the vampire flew into a fit. He started sobbing. "You're right, I do," He whimpered through his tears. "I have a lot weighing on my mind recently, and with being so weak, I can hardly hold myself back! Gosh!" He reached for the doorknob, but Lothar moved it away. "Let me slumber, mortal!"

"Git down from t' ceiling!" Lothar ordered, and immediately, the vampire moved so he was upright, the way that Lothar was standing. "What's on yer mind, boy?"

"Captain?" It was Sal, coming in to update the Captain on the ship they were chasing. She entered the Captain's quarters, finding the man sitting on his bed, with the head of the beast of the closet resting on his lap. "Um, is this a bad time?"

"Nay." Lothar said. "What is it?"

"We're approaching sooner than expected. The ship seems totally stationary." 

Abisai rubbed his palms on his cheeks. "Well, it'll be morning soon." He sat up. "I wouldn't risk going out there." 

Lothar stood up. "Let me see this peculiar ship." He exited the room with Sal.

Abisai laid on the bed. He folded his hands over his stomach and sighed. He never knew that the Captain could be so sweet. He had let Abisai cry and calmed him down and listened to his woes, all while targeting the curls on Abisai's head with his calloused fingers.

The vampire stood and moved up deck to see what the Captain and the navigator were talking about. Indeed, the ship they were after sat there, still.

"Couldn't you fly over and tell us if it's abandoned?" Suggested Sal, looking at the vampire.

"Oh, yes. Let me fly all the way over there! Absolutely not. That's ridiculous. I'll only fly over once we can see the flag, for goodness sake. And it'll be morning within the hour."

"Oh, quit yer whining." The Captain took the scope and pulled it to his eye. "Ah can see the flag. Looks pirate. Now, fly on over. We'll be right behind you." He pat Abisai's back.

"Gosh!" Abisai straightened his jacket, and within a moment, the man had disappeared and a bat was in his place. He immediately took off into the night.

"Well, I never." Abisai landed on the deck, transforming back into a man. He panted, exhausted and weak. "Hello?"

"Who are ye?" A man walked out of the shadows. "How did you do that?"

Abisai looked him up and down. He was a dirty, Asian man wearing a white beard and a hat that covered his eyes. He didn't have a shirt, although he wore leather gloves, and old, loose pants. 

"Captain Kraken." Bowed Abisai. "Of The Valentine."

"Captain Tartar. Obidia." The pirate tilted his hat with a wink. "But you can call me Obi. Welcome aboard The Bloodhound."

"Why, thank you. Do you have anybody else here, or is it just yourself? My crew was quite concerned when we saw your ship not moving."

"Yes," Obi mused, looking out into the waters. He spotted a ship in the distance. "That's yours?"

"Yes indeed."

"How did you get all the way over here?"

"Family secret, I'm afraid." Abisai winked.

Obi smirked. He took a moment to look the posh man up and down, then snapped his fingers. Ten men appeared around the ship. "Bring this man to the brig. I think I might like to keep Captain Kraken around for awhile."

Abisai looked disappointed. "Why, I wasn't planning on killing such a polite man's crew."

"Oh, yeah, boy? Igor, come."

One of the men came up to Abisai. He was large and worn of the sea. His muscles bulged through a white shirt. He made a grab for Abisai, wrapping his arms around the man's waist and lifting him up as if he was nothing. He laughed. "Yer not that much of a fighter, for someone who barks a lot."

Abisai gave him an uneven smile, and just as the man noticed two glistening fangs, the vampire shot to his neck, biting into it. Immediately a spurt of blood went shooting out. Igor fell to the floor and Abisai knelt over his body as he wiggled and screamed. He bit deeper into his neck, drinking the man's blood until his face turned white, and his eyes went lifeless.

Abisai slowly stood up. Now, his lovely outfit was covered in blood, as was his face. He cleared his throat and adjusted his sleeves. "Anyone else want a piece of me?"

"Abisai!" Shouted Lothar as he climbed into the Bloodhound. His crew followed suit, and they all stopped as soon as they boarded. 

In front of them laid ten drained bodies, and one man, tied up in the center of it all. 

"Christ." Whispered Lothar. He approached the man and pulled a gag out of his mouth. It was a bloody cravat. "Who are ye?"

"The Captain of this ship." Growled Obi. "You're sick. And so is your demon."

"Where is he?"

"Under the bloody stairs." 

Lothar ran to the door and opened it up. He was immediately met with hissing and growling as the light shone into the closet. Abisai was curled into the darkest corner, glaring at Lothar.

"Are ye full?"

"Yes." Abisai mumbled. "But I can't come back to our ship till it's night once more."

"Ah know." Lothar closed the door, leaving Abisai in the dark. Sometime later, the door was opened again, and Obi was tossed into the room. The door closed again.

"Don't eat me, please." Whispered Obi. 

"I'm full." Abisai crawled over to the man. "Be a good boy, Captain Tartar. You'll live."

When night came, Abisai left the closet. He dragged Obi along with him. "I think we shall keep him as a hostage." He said to Lothar. 

"Just get em aboard. We've looted everything this ship has to offer. Let's set it afire."

"Wait, wait! Please, may I bring along a momento?" Obi asked. "It's in my bedroom. It'll take one second to get it."

"Go with em, Dandeh. Get it and come back to our ship." Lothar turned and left.

Abisai dragged Obi into the Captain's Quarters. He untied the man and allowed him to go around the room and collect what he wanted.

Obi walked to his desk and opened a drawer. Inside was a wooden flute that had been whittled for him. He went to Abisai and showed him it. 

"Oh, isn't that cute." Abisai looked at the flute. "Is this your momento?"

"Nope." Whispered Obi, who immediately turned the flute toward Abisai's chest and jabbed it forward.

The next thing Abisai knew, he was lying on Captain Lothar's bed. He was undressed except for his trousers, and his chest was wrapped in bandages.

"Is it over?" He whispered. "Am I dead?"

He heard a noise as somebody immediately took a place at the side of the bed. He slowly turned to look, and smiled. "Lothar…?"

"Yer already dead. Yer lucky ye ain't a spirit, though."

"What happened?" Abisai looked around. He suddenly grabbed his chest. 

"Ye got stabbed."

Abisai laid back and looked at Lothar. "Did you save me?"

"Aye. When ye dinnae come back, I wanted t' see if ye were okay. Found ye on the ground, blubberin' like a baby, and t' hostage gone."

"Little bugger." Abisai tried to sit up, but Lothar's rough hand settled on his chest, making the man lay back down. 

"Rest now, boy."

Abisai smiled softly and put his hand over the other man's. "Only if you stay here with me." He whispered.

"Aye. I'll be here."