(Doing some heavier edits from this point on, old comments may not make sense any longer) 

Alexandre shifted slightly in the large bed as he lay sleeping on his back. Something felt like it was pricking at his neck... almost like a mosquito bite, but slightly more painful. It definitely didn't feel like he was being fed upon, though.

I am no mosquito, Alexandre.

His body instantly tensed, his mind waking up in seconds. When he tried to get out of the bed, however, he was nudged back down. The captain's growl rumbled through the cabin as well, causing a squeak from someone off to the side. 

Ria? 

"Captain?" he asked, confused. 

Stay put until I finish, or would you rather I mark Ria and bring him instead?

So he's just making a mark? 

That had him calming down quickly.  

Good boy.

I am no boy... 

All he got in response to that thought was a deep chuckle as the captain continued with what he was doing. It honestly didn't feel like he was doing much at all, but it still stressed him out. 

Relax, love. It will hurt less if your muscles are not tense.

He remembered him saying that before, so he decided to just try and do as told. Surprisingly, it actually did help, and as he calmed himself further he felt the captain's body do the same atop him. Hang on a moment... he was completely naked, but James was actually more dressed-up than usual. Did he have somewhere to go?

We, have somewhere to go, Alexandre.

Wait, did he say we?

Yes, he did.

He felt the captain retract his fangs and push himself up onto his hands and knees over him, leaving behind a slight soreness in his neck that was already beginning to fade.

"We will be docking at Port Galles within the next few hours, and you shall accompany me to the party tonight."

"Will Ria be safe here alone?"

The captain's right eyebrow rose slightly as well as the right side of his lips.

"If he remains in my cabin, he shall be fine. If he goes outside, I can make no promises."

"Ria?" said Alexandre. 

"Y-yes, Master?"

"Will you promise me to stay here when we are gone tonight?"

There was a quiet pause as the boy thought about the request. Surely he wasn't still thinking about killing himself while they were away?

"I will stay here, Master."

"Also, will you please not hurt yourself while we're gone?"

That took a bit longer to get a response for, but after a minute the boy agreed not to cause himself any harm, either.

"Thank you, Ria."

He wanted to get up and go over to the boy and check his health, maybe feed him if allowed, but the captain was still leaning over him.

"Captain, may I get up please?"

The man's eyes met his briefly before Alexandre looked away, giving him the dominance he was likely fishing for. He knew that he didn't have anywhere near the abilities he did, so fighting him any longer for what he couldn't have was worthless. If anything, it would just make him annoyed.

"Smart human."

He shifted and got off the bed, letting Alexandre sit up and follow after a moment. He quickly made his way over to Ria and wrapped him in a careful hug. He truly did feel like just skin and bones. With a worried expression Alexandre glanced over his shoulder and spoke to the captain, "can I feed him again? Please Captain?"

The vampire seemed to think it over as he laid out an outfit on the bed that looked quite fancy. It was a peacoat like his own dark red and gold-laced one, but the colors were a little brighter, though the pants were the same, black with gold buckles and clasps.

"He may eat after you come with me for a short time so I can get you washed for the party tonight."

He wasn't a big fan of the idea of being washed by someone besides himself, but if it got some food in Ria, he'd gladly allow him to do as he wished.

"Best not to think such dangerous thoughts. There are plenty of interesting things I wish to do to you, but I am one of the few vampires aboard this ship who understands and is able to show some form of restraint."

Duly noted.

Considering that he only got that short thought in response, James figured that it was time to get to work on cleaning up his human.

"Ria, straighten out the bed and sweep the room. Then wait for us on your pillow."

As the young boy nodded and quickly got to work James lifted Alexandre into his arms and walked out. The sunlight made him wince slightly, but they were quickly below deck moments later and back within the darkness he truly felt at home in.

While his human was relieved, h Alexandre's arms tightened around his neck in a hug as the light disappeared. Feeling his legs wrapped just as tightly around his waist nearly had him wanting to shove him up against the wall, but unfortunately, they had a party to get to and smelling of sex with a partially traumatized blood slave was no way to make an entrance. At least Alexandre felt his reaction through his clothing and relaxed his legs enough to keep James from losing himself. He also heard a fleeting thought about a certain something not fitting in a certain area...

"Oh, I'm sure I can make it fit nicely."

Alexandre's body heat immediately rose, making James chuckle. Such a cute human. He was tough and cared about his crew, well, enough so that they at least would have food available after he tried to off himself, and he even cared for that little bony boy he'd allowed him to have. Yet he had no idea how much of a catch he, himself, was. He probably didn't think of himself as anything but a simple shipping vessel captain, but James was already beginning to enjoy his company. It was too bad that he would be drained within a few months' time.

He brought Alexandre down two corridors, then back to a far room that was already steaming with the bath he had requested be prepared.

"Here we are."

Pushing the old wooden door open, they were immediately enveloped in a thick steam. He did not sweat, himself, but he could smell Alexandre begin to perspire from the sudden jump in temperature. It will make it easier to clean him if all the dirt is pushed to the surface. 

He wasn't much for waiting, so he calmly walked right over to the bathing tub with a fire lit beneath it and set him inside. Immediately, he heard his human whimper, making his brows draw downwards in confusion.

"Do you not like hot water?"

The door opened behind him right after he'd spoken, making him glance over my shoulder as one of his crewmen walked in with a bucket of ice.

"C-Captain?"

"Yes? What is it? I am going to begin washing my human and would prefer not to be disturbed."

"I understand, b-but Captain, you are burning your human."

I was what?

Spinning back around, his eyes widened when he noticed Alexandre shaking in the tub as he tried to suppress the pain he could feel bubbling through him in his mind. With an angry growl James yanked him out of the water and heard him hiss when his hand touched his backside. 

He could tell that his hands were also slightly burned where they had touched the bottom of the bathing tub.

"Why did you not tell me to wait, Helket?"

"I-I apologize, Captain! I was bringing the ice to cool it to the correct temperature without losing too much heat!"

"Apologizing, hmm? For not telling me something so simple as to wait for you to cool the bath? You told me that it was ready, yet now my pet is burned, all because you could not tell me something so important?"

He could hear his voice begin to drop into a snarl as he stalked toward the smaller vampire. He was wise to stay where he stood, but then again, he wholly intended to punish him for causing such preventable injuries to something that belonged to him. 

Before the other vampire could bring his arms up to possibly defend himself James' free hand was wrapped around his throat, lifting the crewman off his feet easily in the process of choking him. Sure, he was a vampire and wouldn't die from a lack of oxygen, but if he crushed his neck it would likely cause him to starve to death... especially if he hadn't fed recently.

He was going to kill him. At first, Alexandre had thought that the captain had put him in the bath on purpose to teach him some sort of lesson, but as soon as he began going after the other vampire, he knew that it was just an honest mistake.

Captain, please don't kill him. It was a mistake. I will be fine. 

I couldn't care less. He hurt you and you belong to me. He should have told me something so simple as to wait for him to return with some ice, yet he did not, and now you are burned.

He tried to reason with him further, but his hand just kept constricting the young male's neck. After panicking for a moment, Alexandre did the only thing that came to his mind that might get a vampire's attention. Hopefully it didn't get him killed, but there was no time to waste thinking. With a determined growl of his own, he leaned forward and promptly clamped his jaws over the captain's neck. 

He bit down hard, trying to focus on yelling into the captain's mind for him to stop instead of anything else that would make himself hesitate, but after a second he realized that his thoughts were not needed. James had dropped the other vampire, who quickly bolted out the door judging from the footsteps he could hear stumbling over themselves. 

Wait... that just leaves me here alone with a growling captain now.

He expected him to quietly tell him through thought to release his neck, but when his growling got louder and louder he hesitantly loosened his grip and chanced a look at his face. He couldn't see much in the darkness as he finally allowed his lips to leave James' skin, even with the small fire going beneath the tub, but it was absolutely impossible to miss the bright, blood red eyes glowing with anger as they stared down at him. 

Not good... 

In one swift movement Alexandre was shoved into the wall, then slid down to the floor. James was actually panting pretty heavily, but at the same time growling, making for a rather terrifying sound in the darkness. He could feel the man's rage burning through his own mind, making his heart fumble around in his chest. 

Alexandre quickly squeezed his eyes shut as he was flipped over, ready for a punishment that would surely leave him crippled... except the only thing that happened was a slap to his burned backside that was clearly not even close to the captain's full strength. Sure, it stung and drew a yelp from him, but when nothing else happened, he was confused and nervous. 

"Get up."

Alexandre tried, but the burns still made it rather uncomfortable to move fast. James remained quiet for a long moment before Alexandre felt fingers gently trace through his hair. His body tensed again, awaiting another punishment for being unable to stand fast enough when told, but James just continued to sift his fingers through his dark hair calmly.

"Captain?"

The word was whispered as he tried not to break the silence too greatly and upset his suddenly docile mood.

"Alexandre... do you know that biting a vampire is a direct challenge to them? Especially while in front of another?"

He knew that he was not being serious about whether or not he knew such a thing. Obviously he would not, but he must say that gaining the information was something he would have been happier had he been gifted with it before he'd made the mistake. It would seem that each move he made on James' ship kept putting him deeper and deeper into trouble.

"Captain... I can not take back what has been done, nor can I defend myself against any further punishment you would choose to enforce due to my mistake." 

Alexandre lowered his head and waited for him to act. However, when he finally moved, all that he did was get up and grab the partially melted bucket of ice and dump it into the hot bath. 

Wait a second. How do they even have ice on board? Unless they picked some up in port between catching him... 

"We did not. That vampire can form ice from water."

Ah, that would explain that then. So the captain had fire and that vampire could make ice. 

"I am going to help you get in the bath. It will likely hurt..."

"I will bear it."

He did need to be cleaned up. 

They spent the next half hour in the small room, the captain scrubbing him from head to toe as Alexandre sat as still as possible and bit his tongue whenever he brushed over his burns. Thankfully, he wasn't too rough with them. When the bath was finally finished he felt quite clean, but was also drifting off from the mix of pain and warmth. James carefully set him on the edge of the tub and dried him, then carried him out of the room. Alexandre had no interest in walking and was actually out cold before they had even returned to their room.

When they got to his cabin the food James had requested earlier was sitting on his desk. There was smoked chicken, carrots, and a large pitcher of water. Since Alexandre was asleep again and obviously wouldn't be eating right then, he set him down to rest on the bed. While he was asleep, he knew there was definitely someone else who was interested in eating what was there. Honestly, he was surprised the boy hadn't cleaned the plate already.

Turning his attention to the corner, he noticed Ria staring point-blank at the tray. His stomach wasn't growling, but he wasn't surprised by that much. Once you weren't fed for a certain time your body just stopped bothering to send the signals.

"Do you want it, boy?"

As Ria promptly bowed and replied with a stuttering "yes Captain!" James glanced around his room. The bed was made perfectly and the clothing he had left out was folded at the bottom so they wouldn't get messed up. The floor was also swept well. 

Kept the right human out of the lot.

"Come here, young one."

The boy did as told immediately, stopping about a foot away with a slightly bowed head. James smiled faintly as he tore off a small piece of chicken, then offered it to him like one might do to a scared street dog. 

Ria took it in an instant and gobbled it down, drooling slightly as his salivary glands flared up at the sudden and rare morsel. While James never really looked at humans as more than food or pleasure, Alexandre and this boy were making him think that it may actually be fun to keep them as pets instead of just killing them after they got too sickly to feed from. Well, all of those other humans were not needed in any way, so he felt no remorse in letting them jump to their deaths, but these two...

"Would you like another piece?"

Ria's head snapped up with surprise, likely shocked that he was allowed to have more than one. He actually ended up staring at him for a moment in confusion, though he obviously knew better than to meet his eyes, at least.

"Well?"

"Y-yes, Captain! Please, I will work for more."

A perverted thought crossed his mind at the boy's statement but he had never had interest in young humans. His human would also never leave him be if he even knew that a thought of such a thing crossed his mind. James tore off another small piece of chicken and handed it to the boy. He inhaled it again, then thanked him for his generosity and asked again if he could be of any use to pay for the food.

"You have done your work... here."

He took one of the small cooked pieces of carrot and offered it as well, watching with slight satisfaction as Ria took the object and quickly ate it, too.

"That is all for now."

The boy immediately bowed his head, thanked him once more, then briskly walked back over to his pillow and curled up to rest atop it. When James heard his quiet breathing even out he turned his attention back to his pet. His hands and backside were bright red...

Pulling up his chair, he grabbed a small flask of healing salve he had purchased long ago for his personal blood slaves. It was meant for human injuries so surely it would keep his from becoming infected. With careful fingers he rubbed it on one of his hands, then wrapped it in a strong bandage, then moved to the other. Thankfully, he had fallen asleep on his stomach so that he could easily rub some of the salve onto his backside as well. He didn't bother trying to bandage that, but it should do well enough to absorb into his skin as he slept until the party. They had to begin getting ready in about an hour, but until then he would just let him rest.