Chapter 18: The Antics of MortalsDon de Vargas watched gravely as what could be none other than the Flying Dutchman surfaced from the depths of the ocean, or perhaps a whole other world. He couldn’t be sure, this business of the ferryman was still foggy, at best. Things were taking an unexpected turn once again. As though it weren’t enough to lose ( Read more... )

Chapter 17: Little DutchboyAs darkness fell, an eerie feeling settled over the ship. The natives dropped their tasks and shuffled down to the hold, quickly replaced by the vampire crew. Elizabeth mused that although they seemed to have the upper hand, really they were no better than slaves themselves to their capitán. The democracy of a pirate ship ( Read more... )

Chapter 16: Slave ShipElizabeth woke with a splitting headache, painfully aware of every aching bone in her body. She lay on a settee, feet hanging off the end, still clad in her blue silk dress. The neck of it was torn, a bit stained with blood. She reached up to touch her sore neck, and grimaced at the feel of lacerated skin. Her evening came ( Read more... )

Chapter 15: Jack of HeartsJack stood in his cabin, a most curious thing having found its way into his possession. The heart of his rival, thump thumped in its box upon his desk. He peered over the lip to glance at the mass of red meat, the most important muscle in the body, still twitching from electrical impulses sent from a brain worlds away ( Read more... )

Chapter 14: Collector of BeautyElizabeth had wasted no time in beating a hasty retreat from Port Royal. True, she wanted to save the innocents of the town which she had come to resent just as much as she felt protective of it. But it was also made easy by a certain Commodore ( Read more... )

Chapter 13: Terms of Surrender

Snoozing in a tangle of limbs with Elizabeth felt like the most natural thing in the world to Jack. It was only with the arrival of morning light streaming through the window, and a bit of wakeful consciousness did Jack remember that this wasn’t common place, no matter how right it felt.
In fact, it was quite ( Read more... )

Chapter 12: Where’s the Thump Thump?Hector Barbossa could not remember the last time he’d been so idle. He was not a typical pirate: unlike most others, he did not use any and all of his spare time to laze about the deck swilling rum. He used it to draw charts. Read. Make plans for their next business venture. That’s why he was a good captain. A ( Read more... )

Chapter 11: Love BiteThe celebration that had begun on the island raged on after relocating to the Pearl. Cookie made up a special favorite of the Brethren, a huge bowl of punch consisting of rum, sugar, lime juice, and nutmeg. The crew caroused for as long as they could stand, and as rum took its toll the ship fell surprisingly quiet, but for the ( Read more... )

Chapter 10: Isle Agua de VidaElizabeth was experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu, a scene from the past echoing from her memory, playing out again in front of her. The merciless Caribbean sun beating down upon her, she watched Jack perform that strange stork-like walk across the desert island they’d been marooned on together, seemingly an ( Read more... )

Chapter 9: I Spy

Blue eyes, as dark as the ocean at night and just as forbidding, consumed Elizabeth from all sides. She was drowning, limbs gone dead in dark water holding her powerless, immobile, unable to kick for the surface. She could not even tell which way was up, all was a menacing blue, obscuring the location of that saving gulp of air. ( Read more... )