Chapter Text
There was a vampire in the back row of Edward Teach’s history class. Which, well, it wasn’t like it was the first vampire to attend night classes, after all, they were legal citizens. They weren’t common, but there were always a few in any big city, so he had taught a couple. He treated them much the same as any other student. Most vampires followed the law. Blake Vs Uccello had revised everything after a vampire had applied to the Supreme Court for justice for the loss of his wife. They didn’t feed on the unwilling, they had jobs, they learned to deal with the more mundane and easily purchased blood like a fucking vampire grocery store. Most of them were perfectly normal people, living weirdly preternatural lives since they had become legal forty years ago.
Except the guy sitting in the front of his class was a disturbing mix of old-fashioned and modern. The shirt he wore was clearly silk with a black cravat done loosely around the throat, the vest beneath it buttoned up neatly, but was a brilliant teal with gold overlays. His pants were, at least, modern in so much as they were well fitted to surprisingly toned legs and tucked into knee high polished black boots. He looked like he was trying to prove to the world that he wasn’t from this century.
The vampire looked as though he’d been turned at around Ed’s age, mid-forties maybe, and appeared genial enough. At least he wasn’t flashing his fangs, he was smiling with his lips politely closed and beaming at everyone as if he were excited just to be allowed in a classroom. He had a tumble of dark gold curls that fell along his face in a swoop, styled back behind his ears. He was handsome enough for a dead guy, with a body that had broad impressive shoulders and agile fingers that were tapping at the screen of his tablet while Ed pretended to be staring at his paperwork.
His nose wasn’t quite straight, but there was something to be said about the little imperfection, especially when he had a dimple. A vampire with a dimple, so that was something new. He was exactly the sort of man Ed would have normally been looking at if the guy hadn’t been a dead man, as it was, he found it hard not to linger appreciatively.
And his eyes. Ed jerked his gaze away last minute, not bright to look vampires in the eyes. Still, his eyes had been a uniquely odd color and he’d wanted to get a better look. Just his luck, a cute vampire in his class. At least he knew better than to do more than appreciate the view. He had a few scars that proved just how unwise it was to think of a vampire as anything other than dangerous. So, he could admire from a distance, and prepare himself for the headache of teaching him.
Probably a young one, trying to convince the world he’s some ancient vampire. Ugh. Ed thought and fought the urge to roll his eyes.
Most vampires out in public were maybe fifty years or younger, since anyone made before vampires became legal tended to avoid humans like the plague. The ones that survived the days when you could kill one on sight were skittish and old enough to know how to keep away from people. It meant new ones always tried to appear edgy and old, filled with tragic backstories. And the fuckers loved the god damn seventeenth and eighteenth century.
Thank you Dracula and Anne Rice.
Which meant he’d spend the entire semester with the guy acting like he was Lord Dickfuck the Impaler while he tried to teach a class about the nuances of piracy and privateers. His class wasn’t a popular one, but he made it engaging, normally pulling in a wide range of students that learned to share his passion. Ed didn’t believe in God, but right now he wished like hell she existed so he could get enough patience to deal with what was going to inevitably be a headache.
“G’Evenin’, welcome to The History And Politics Of Privateers and Piracy, or Pirates 101.” Ed began as he always did, leaning back on his desk with an amiable smile. “This is an adjunct to several history classes, so expect to see some overlap in my topics being covered in your other studies. In this class, we’ll study what caused the rise of pirates, how their politics made their ranks grow and how many of them signed on to eventually become pirate hunters, most of this will be in the Golden Age Of Piracy for the first semester, we’ll be gettin’ to just about every other age too.”
Ed moved over to the white board where he had the infamous Jolly Roger hung up where it always was just to set the tone. “Now, I’m going to call your name, and when I do, I want you to tell me your favorite pirate, pirate book or pirate movie. If you say Pirates of the Caribbean, I will make you walk the plank, so better start thinkin’!”
It was his standard ice breaker, it helped him figure out what students were interested in his subject for itself and which ones wanted an easy A. Though, they all seemed to stammer and struggle to come up with pirate movies and two said Jack Sparrow for favorite pirate. He got all the way to a name that made him pause and clench his jaw. No way in fuck was vampire guy going to do this.
“Steve Bonnet?” He mispronounced on purpose and heard the vampire, because of fucking course it was him, clear his throat.
“It’s Stede actually, with a D.” He chirped in a bright voice, beaming with his lips carefully held closed as if he couldn’t be happier to correct Ed. “And my favorite pirate, oh well, I’ll be vain. It’s obviously myself, but I must admit that I am rather fond of the Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride.”
I am going to fucking stab myself in the face. Ed clenched his jaw harder at the ridiculous man, because of course the fucker was going to pretend he was an actual god damn pirate. Not one of the big names, but still a famous fuck.
“S’that so?” Ed asked as politely as he could and the blond nodded his head eagerly, grinning wide enough to show a hint of fang.
“And are you a descendent of Blackbeard? Truly?” The man asked with wide eyes that Ed had to remind himself not to look into. “I must admit, I didn’t think there were any descendants of the man, but how lovely if you are. I do have so much to—”
“Nah, mate, s’just a name. S’why I got into teaching about pirates, though. So! Next up.” He began, watching as ‘Stede’ deflated a little and muttered something to the man beside him.
He wasn’t going to begin this year trying to argue with a vampire that wanted to pretend he was some famous pirate. And of course he’d pick The Gentleman Pirate. It was the obvious choice, wasn’t it? Already a few of the students were looking at him with interest and awe. Maybe he’d have to make sure he nipped this one in the bud. It wasn’t like Stede Bonnet had been a terribly successful pirate and if he concentrated on how the man had all but bumbled his way across the Caribbean, perhaps he’d be able to get the man to let him teach.
At least I don’t teach European History, they’re the ones that get stuck with the weird ass Lestat weirdos. He thought and drew in a breath before moving onto the next name. He’d get through it. He always did.
~ ~ * ~ ~
“He’s fascinating, isn’t he, Lucius?” Stede asked his assistant as he stepped out into the halls of the university. “Though, I must say, that flag. Why must it always be about pirate flags? I mean, they make it sound like we all had them on display, nonsense!”
“Yeah, you might have rethought your flag rant, Stede.” The young man said in his familiar drawling voice.
“Hardly a rant, just an observation.” Stede waved his hand as he replayed the memory of his first ever class in a university. A class! He was in school!
It had been so long since he’d done something new, but since vampires had become legal citizens in America, he had found himself gleefully throwing himself out into the public eye for the first time in centuries. There were rules he had to follow, of course, but they weren’t a hardship. He’d never been the sort to want to force anything on a person and he’d never made it a habit to hurt people. Even as a pirate, he’d never been particularly violent unless he had to be.
And he got such wonderful benefits! He could have a bank account now, and a card! A shiny bit of plastic all to himself that was used like money rather than the cash he was so used to using. To say nothing of the technology, and the house he owned, and his car! He knew how to drive, which, had only cost him a few thousand dollars since his instructors had kept quitting while he’d learned. It wasn’t his fault a car wasn’t like a horse or pirate ship.
Lucius trailed along as Stede made his way out of the building, still excited by his first ever class. When the young man had opted to go to the university, Stede had been curious. Lucius had been a part of his life for nearly fifteen years now, ever since he’d been sixteen and booted out of his home. Stede had made it a habit of keeping tabs of the descendants of his crew. It was something that kept him tethered to the real world and gave him, oh, not a hobby, more of a way to feel as though he weren’t so alone. When Lucius needed a home, well, Stede certainly wasn’t going to let him be homeless at such a young age.
“Why are you even bothering, like, you were literally a pirate. You could just read your old journals.” Lucius asked as Stede drew in a deep breath of late summer air. He didn’t need to breathe, but oh, it was such a pleasure when a night was filled with the scent of the ocean. “Why not computers? You seriously need to learn how to use computers. And cell phones.”
“Because I want to hear what they say about pirates, the books are grand, but to hear someone teach it and be able to correct the things they get wrong is an opportunity!” Stede responded eagerly. “Imagine, Professor Teach could have a class that was truly historically accurate with my help!”
“Jesus..” Lucius groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s…. he’s gonna hate that. You get where he’d hate being corrected in the middle of his class, right?”
“We shall see, he’s an educated man, a person of science and history! Surely he’ll be eager to learn what I know.” Stede rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Imagine the talks we can have.”
“Uh-huh. Fuck, remind me to have Jim come with you next time. At least they can keep you from getting staked.”
“Lucius!” Stede gave the younger man a look and narrowed his eyes. “I’m under no such risk, and you know as well as I do that a stake wouldn’t kill me. Just hurts like hell.”
They paused at his car, a shiny baby-blue convertible that Lucius had called a ‘mid-life crisis on wheels’ and then argued that Stede was immortal and shouldn’t be having a midlife crisis. But he loved the Porsche, loved how fast it could go and the fact the top could come down. He had lovingly had the name ‘Revenge’ written in script along the bumper in a fit of whimsy after his old ship. He stroked the door fondly as he clicked the little fob to unlock it, delighting in the mechanical sounds.
He had never imagined a future like this when he’d been mortal, but now he was finding himself starting to draw back from the depression that had been dragging him down for years. It had started with finding Lucius and gotten traction as he had realized he missed people. Real people. His crew. Perhaps they were different now, the descendants of the originals, ranging a full spectrum of delightful personalities, but they made him feel alive again.
It made it easier to not think about the weight of three hundred and thirty-six years of ‘life’ where half of it had been running and terrified and the other half spent hating himself. Strange, being a human, he had hated himself most of his life, why he had thought being a vampire would change that, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he was in a new century, a new age, and for once, he was going to try and make a life for himself. And why not start with what he knew? Piracy.
And if the professor is someone like Edward Teach… He thought and was grateful that he hadn’t fed recently enough to spare a blush.
Lovely, tall, with dark hair streaked in silver and brown eyes that he’d wanted to catch his own so badly that it had almost hurt. He had imagined his professor would be like the ones Lucius had, stuffy and buttoned up, well meaning, of course, but boring. Not Professor Edward Teach. He was exciting enough that Stede already mourned that class was only twice a week.
For once, it was good to be alive. Well… not alive, but not dead. Stede amended to himself and hummed in pleasure at the lively music that came from the radio. He couldn’t wait to help Edward Teach learn more about pirates and see what he learned from the man in turn. It was going to be perfect.
~ ~ * ~ ~
Ed heard the little clearing of a throat that made him grit his teeth and pray for the thousandth time that he could find fucking religion just so he’d get a cross to work long enough to drive off the biggest headache of his life. He paused in going over the way Nassau had formed the Republic of Pirates to see that Stede was once more sitting at the front of the class. Today, the man had on a gold outfit complete with matching pants and gold trimmed boots. The vest he had on today had so many damn buttons that Ed suspected it had to have a zipper hiding under it, because who on earth would want to do up that many buttons?
“Yes, Mr. Bonnet.” Ed got through gritted teeth as the man beamed at him with a close-lipped smile.
“Actually…” Ed’s eye twitched at Stede’s favorite way to start a correction. He hated that word, he wanted to burn that word from the dictionary. “Spanish Jackie’z was a good spot where most politics took place. Wonderful bar, simply marvelous! It was really authentic, you know? The best of the best went there. Did you know she had twenty husbands?”
“I… fuck’s sake, mate, this isn’t about polyamory, this is about the politics of the Republic of Pirates.” Ed burst out and couldn’t help himself. “What do her twenty husbands have to do with anything?!”
“Oh everything, Professor Teach! They allowed her to have a choke hold on so many trades! She was absolutely ruthless in the West Indies!” Stede positively wiggled in his chair. Ed didn’t know vampires could wiggle, but Stede Motherfucking Bonnet wiggled. “For instance, a member of my own crew became one of her husbands. Oh, his name was terribly unpronounceable, so we called him the Swede, though I suppose he might have been Danish…”
Ed pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and counted to twenty. He’d had vampires in his class before, they were annoying, but he could deal with them. This one, however, seemed intent on turning his class into imagined stories of bygone days when he was a pirate ship captain. It was ludicrous. Everyone knew the Gentleman Pirate had been hanged, and there would have been a thousand different accounts if he’d been changed into a vampire. And what three-hundred-year-old fucking vampire would attend night class?!
“MISTER Bonnet, I understand you’re eager, but this is my classroom. Let’s keep questions to the end, yeah?” He said with a burst of frustration.
“Oh, alright.” Stede blinked at him and Ed kept his eyes fixed on the vampire’s shoulder rather than his eyes. “But I didn’t ask a question, I was making a statement.”
Ten… nine….eight…. Ed began to count because he could feel his eye twitching with the urge to kick the guy out. It had been three straight weeks of interruptions an anecdotes from Stede Bonnet. The class had begun to giggle every time he talked and someone had started a god damn hashtag called #VampireVsProfessor where they uploaded the shit he said. There was a god damn scoring system!
And Edward was fucking losing!
“Comments too. If you have things you need to say, Bonnet, you can talk to me during my office hours!” He snapped, unable to stop himself because he fucking saw some students were already on their phones probably updating the damn twitter.
“I’d be delighted!” Stede beamed at him, smiling wide enough to show dainty fangs as if Ed had offered him a treat rather than the verbal dress down he was going to get when he showed up.
Because Stede would show up. It was clear the man wasn’t going to just stop whatever wild daydream he was following pretending to be Stede Bonnet. After the first few classes Ed had assumed that the vampire would give up the ridiculous claim and drift away when he got bored. Ed taught his class with passion, but it wasn’t what a vampire pretending to be a pirate would be looking for.
Okay, he wasn’t fucking sure what a vampire pretending to be a pirate was looking for, but he’d hoped he’d go away. But there he was, every fucking class, sometimes with his personal assistant—who the fuck brought an assistant to class—or sometimes just on his own.
Ed resumed teaching and tried to ignore the feel of the eyes fixed on him. Stede’s attention was absolute and it always made him edgy. He tried to tell himself he was feeling nervous because it was like being watched by any big predator, but what it felt like was something intimate. He’d finally seen that Stede’s eyes were hazel, but a unique configuration of pale blue-greys and golds that were lovely, and dangerous. Stede was dangerous, no matter how he beamed and talked, Ed had to keep reminding himself of that fact.
“Alright, now, let’s talk about pirates that accepted the pardons brought by Captain Vincent Pearse.” Ed began and touched the mouse to bring up the next slide. “S’gonna get a little convoluted here, so let’s start with who knows what the pardons offered?”
One hand shot up immediately and Stede’s eyes brightened as if he had been offered a gift wrapped present. Only one hand shot up. Fuck. Ed sighed and drew in a long-suffering breath. He was never teaching a night class again.
~ ~ * ~ ~
Stede loved his house. He adored it. It was large and open, with sprawling windows and balconies that let him stand out to look at the ocean and distant lighthouse of St. Augustine. He loved how the breeze chased through them no matter the hour. And he especially loved that he had enough rooms that his mismatched crew frequently showed up and stayed over. What he didn’t love was that the storage was all in an attic that became overly hot and stuffy in the summer and caused said crew to grumble while they hauled out chests and boxes that he kept there.
“You’re doing marvelous work, gang! Couldn’t do this without you!” He chirped brightly as he tried to keep the dust out of his hair. “I promise, we’ll be done soon.”
Edward wanted to meet with him! During his office hours! Stede had to keep his lips pulled down to stop from smiling so hard he flashed his fangs. Humans didn’t like that, though his crew was better than most about the sight of them. He’d felt as though he were fumbling a bit trying to help Professor Teach with his class, but perhaps he needed to offer more one on one services. Which meant he needed his old journals if he were going to do it right!
Except the journals were, well, buried. He had copies made of them, very helpful ones that Lucius had made him years ago. How amazing to have a little digital screen that held all of his writings, but that wasn’t going to work. He wanted Edward to really see them and hold them, to get a feel for the Golden Age of Piracy. It was perfect that he’d explicitly invited Stede to meet with him. Delightful even! But he needed to find the books first.
“Right, so, are we just going to give up now? Because it’s nearly one in the morning, Captain, and I’m thinking you must have it in a storage locker somewhere.” Frenchie said with a groan as he dropped down on the floor.
“Hey, little help here?” Oluwande grunted as he tried to pull down a massive steamer trunk from the eaves of the attic. It had a split side that was gaping open wider by the moment as Jim lunged up to keep it from breaking entirely apart.
“Oh, darn, one moment!” Stede moved behind Jim to brace the weak spot and took the weight from Olu. “And they’re here! I know they are, when I moved in I made sure I had them with me.”
“Yeah, he did.” Lucius was perched on an old chair with his phone in one hand. “I hauled them up here while he was sleeping. Funny how all the heavy lifting happened during the day.”
Stede rolled his eyes and then let out a short, pained sound as a spill of silver chain pressed against his palm where it had slipped out of the half-cracked trunk. The burn was sharp and immediate, but he held on long enough to lower the trunk to the ground before jerking his hand up. The mark twisted along his palm as he blew on it, shaking his hand a few times to ease the pain as best he could while Olu gave him a curious look.
“Why do you keep silver around if it’s gonna burn you? A bit mental.” He offered and Stede sighed before patting the lid of the trunk dismissively. He carefully ignored the question.
Sentiment, that was the reason he kept it. He collected items like a magpie, treasures of a place and person he had been, reminders of lives he had lived. This particular trunk was one he tried not to dwell on often, or at all, even now he pushed his thoughts away from it rather than fall into regrets and might have beens. Instead, he pushed the trunk beneath into a corner to keep it out of sight. Perhaps he could have Lucius get another container for it, repackage it, make sure that he wouldn’t accidentally stumble on it when he was alone.
They’re gone. Dust. You are here. Still going. He thought firmly and turned his attention to rest of the overhang and finally saw what he was looking for. He could leave the past behind him.
“Fab! They’re right up here!” He called out brightly. “We’ll have them down in no time.”
“How many journals do you have?” Olu asked dubiously which earned a groan from Lucius.
“So many. Like, more journals than I’ve ever seen in my life.”
It took a bit of work, Jim ended up scrambling into the space to push the crates over to where Stede and Frenchie could grab them. Stede carried as many as he could in one go, after all, it was one of the side benefits of being a vampire that he was preternaturally strong, but he could only balance so many. In the end, the humans were all panting, overheated, but pleased by the time they left the attic for the air-conditioned second floor study.
I should see about putting these on display, perhaps. Thank god they were packaged well enough to not be damaged. He thought ruefully as he began to open containers one at a time.
The covers were dark and tattered, but still showed hints of the old gold etchings. He’d moved so much in his earlier life that they showed the strain of time, but he’d done the best he could and at least the pages were still clearly legible. He remembered when Lucius’ ancestor had written in them while Stede had dictated excitedly on the deck of the Revenge. Recalled the way Stede would pause at night to put down his private musings and drawings in the quiet of his cabin. He stroked a hand along one spine reverently as the crew helped unpack the books to stack on his desk.
He plucked up one familiar book, the cover of it old red leather and he smiled as he flipped it open to the first raid he had ever run. It had been ridiculous, a pair of fishermen in a boat, but he’d been so thrilled when he’d led it. He could still see the little fern in the tin he’d claimed. Better days.
“Here, let me see that.” Jim interrupted his musings and caught the hand he was favoring before he could stop them. “It’s not healing. When’s the last time you fuckin’ fed?”
“Oh, quite recently, I’m sure.” Stede smiled brightly. “You must all be hungry! Do you want me to order in for you? Or perhaps Roach could be coaxed over, I do know how you enjoy his cooking and—”
“Fuck, no, don’t change the subject, pendajo!” Jim tapped his palm with one finger and Stede winced. “I thought we all went over this. You can’t just not feed except for that bottled shit.”
“I feed just as often as I need.” Stede said stiffly and carefully pulled his hand back, aware that the fingertips were cold. He was always cold if he wasn’t actively feeding, but one of the benefits of age was he didn’t need to indulge that often. Of course, that came with its own price. “And I’m perfectly fine, I do have some bottles in the fridge.”
“Yeah, but we both know that isn’t the same as a living donor.” Jim rolled their eyes and cast a look over at the trio of men. “Lucius, I thought you were keeping an eye on him.”
“Listen, you try and keep up with him. All he’s been doing lately is going on and on about that class and the professor.” Lucius flung his hands up. “I swear to god, if I hear ‘did you hear what Professor Teach said?’ one more time I’m gonna jump ship.”
“He’s a very interesting fellow.” Stede sniffed in irritation, but he should have known better than to hope he could get the subject to drop. Jim rarely let things go, they were tenacious that way.
“You can’t keep doing this, Stede! So, when was the last time?” Jim prodded while Stede pretended to look at another one of his journals.
It was a fact, immutable, unchangeable. He needed blood to live. He’d hated it back when he’d first been changed, he hated it now, hated that it was a clear line that showed he was no longer human. He tried never to think about when he’d been so uncontrolled that people had died simply from his own lack of control and understanding of what he was. Once he’d passed the century mark and he realized he could go a few days between feedings he had rejoiced, and as time went by, he could extend it further to over a week.
When blood banks began to bottle and sell blood it had been easier to stretch it even further. Bottled blood would sustain him, but since it wasn’t warm and alive any longer, it came with drawbacks. I just barely sustained him, he didn’t thrive on it. He wouldn’t heal as quickly, he grew weaker over time and he couldn’t maintain anything like body heat.
Not that it mattered, it kept him alive, and it meant that no one was hurt. Not that his people seemed to accept it, not with Lucius far too aware of his day to day life being his PA. And the fact the man was horrible with secrets. His crew had become protective, irritatingly so sometimes. Judging by the way Jim was glaring at him, he opted to just be truthful rather than getting it pummeled out of him.
“A month.” He muttered and got a string of curses from them. “I’m fine, the burn will heal by tomorrow, I assure you. When I need to feed, I’ll be certain to do so.”
“Yeah, not really how it works. Remember last year when Lucius couldn’t get you to bloody wakeup because you went what? Three months?” Olu said with a frown furrowing his brows.
“I was busy with other things, I forgot!” Stede sputtered, but he was overruled before he could even begin to make another protest.
“Right, I think I’m gonna put together some food, Lucius, you and Jim can handle cleaning up the attic a bit and Frenchie, you can be on the menu for the Captain.” Oluwande began handing out assignments while Stede sighed.
His crew had been managing him for years, ever since he’d started doing more than just watching them from a distance. It was still an adjustment. He was happy to have them as friends, crew, but at the same time he felt a bit like a managed child as they decided without his say so and went about it. Lucius bolted off to the attic with Jim trailing him, Olu slipped out after getting food requests, and Frenchie rolled up his sleeve up to his shoulder and extended his arm. Most of the crew preferred the elbow since the marks were easily hidden that way, and he couldn’t blame them. Who would want anyone to know they’d been a snack for a vampire?
“C’mon, mate, don’t look like that. It’s for your own good, and if you’re going to be talking to this professor face to face alone, don’t you want to have a good warm handshake?” Frenchie coaxed and Stede sighed with defeat.
He did want to make a good impression, and pale as death was one thing in a classroom, but up-close Ed might be frightened. Many people were, after all. At least if he’d fed he would be a little more flushed and alive looking. And if they had one meeting, perhaps there could be another, and another. Wouldn’t a professor that loved pirate history want to get to know him? Stede hoped so and there was only one way to find out.
“Oh very well.” He sighed and settled down beside Frenchie, reaching out to touch the man’s chin so he looked into Stede’s eyes to draw him in. It was the least he could do for his victims, give them a pleasant dream in exchange for feeding a monster.