hi. i hope you like this chapter. Thanks to all those who followed/favorited/reviewed. It means a lot.

I put Barbossa in this chapter

CHAPTER 7

Angelica allowed Elizabeth to embrace her sympathetically. She was glad to have a friend, even though, in a way, it made matters worse. If Elizabeth was acting this upset about it, she must have truly ruined her chance with the witty Jack. Her chest tightened at the very thought of saying goodbye to him. Angelica pulled back and wiped her lingering tears with her sleeve. Elizabeth smiled at her. "It'll be okay," she reassured her. "I might not have known Jack as long as you have, but I can see how much he cares about you. Don't give up."

Although the words were meant to be helpful, they came across hollow. Angelica locked eyes with the other woman. "Did I make a mistake? Should I have said yes?" she whispered.

It took Elizabeth a moment to reply; she was obviously pondering on her answer. She spoke slowly, choosing each word carefully. "I think he might make a good husband one day. I can't say that I don't see how Jack might have taken it. But I also completely understand your point," she paused, "I think you should just talk to him."

She realized that Elizabeth had never actually answered her question. Her pride refused to let her ask again. So she smiled. Before she could say anything else, someone called out to them. "Elizabeth!" the person called. "Over here!" Angelica and Elizabeth looked over to the water. A dinghy floated just beyond the lapping waves. In the little boat was William's first mate, Christopher. "Come on!" Both of the women remained still, equally confused. "William's orders!"

Angelica stood, wiping the sand from her clothes. Elizabeth did the same. "Are we supposed to swim out to him?" Angelica asked, trying her hardest to sound like she didn't want to.

"I think we have to. It must be important if Will sent Christopher to collect us." She started walking to the water.

Angelica wasn't fully in the mood to submerge herself into the water. "Are you sure he came to collect us? What if he came for you?" she questioned.

Elizabeth waved frantically out to Christopher, motioning to Angelica.

"Angelica too!" he shouted.

"There you have it." Elizabeth stepped into the water. Angelica held back a groan and followed the other woman into the cold, dark water. A chill went up her spine. Goosebumps grew on her arms and legs. She was ecstatic to find two blankets in the dinghy once she had climbed into it. She quickly wrapped herself up. "So what's so important?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Cap'n said to retrieve you." He smiled. "Here I am, retrieving you." He reached his hand out to Angelica. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Christopher."

"Angelica," she greeted him. "Pleased to meet you." The rest of the short ride to the Flying Dutchman was relatively quiet. Angelica found herself wrapping the blanket tighter when she caught Christopher staring. Apparently he didn't know about her relationship with Jack. Come to think about it, not even she was sure about her relationship with Jack. Still, she averted her eyes from him as much as possible. The three pirates climbed onto William's ship in a few quick minutes. Angelica froze. Drake was standing on the deck. "Drake?"

"Hi," he said.

Elizabeth grabbed Willie up in her arms. "Where's Jack?"

Angelica looked around. He wasn't there. Her heart sank. She had hoped to have a chance to speak with him. "He's aboard the Pearl," William answered. Angelica ran the railing. "Wait!" She stopped and looked back to Captain Turner. "Something is off with him."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"He started talking about you and him…and just freaked out. It was like he couldn't control himself." William cleared his throat. "I think you should talk to him." The Black Pearl drifted in the ocean about fifty feet away. It was no longer docked. Jack had left Tortuga. She swallowed. Had he left her? She nodded in answer to William, who ran to the helm and turned the ship toward Jack. Once they were close enough, Christopher dropped a long piece of wood across the two ships. Jack hadn't tried to escape, so maybe he hadn't meant to leave her. But why else would he have left Tortuga without her? Angelica walked across. She turned, but no one had followed.

The first place she went to was Jack's cabin. She entered without knocking. Jack sat on his bunk, his head in his hands. He looked up. His eyes were red and puffy. "Angelica!" he sounded genuinely glad to see her. He stood to his feet and rushed at her, grabbing her up in his arms and spinning her around.

Angelica rested her head on his shoulder. Jack bent down and kissed her. The jolt Angelica typically felt when Jack kissed her wasn't there, but rather it was fear. Jack grabbed her upper arms and shoved her against the wall. "Jack," she said. He didn't pull back. "Jack, you're hurting me!" She could feel her pulse under the sting of his fingers. "Jack, please!" He covered her mouth with his. Angelica put her hands against his chest and shoved him away. She looked into his eyes, about to shout at him with the full force of her lungs, but stopped short. His eyes were as black as coal. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the scream. He grinned and tightened his grip on her arms. "HELP!" she shrieked. Jack's face hardened.

The slap struck her face before she realized what happened. It burned. She grabbed the sore spot on her cheek. "You shouldn't have shouted," he growled. Jack threw her on the floor. Angelica didn't know what to do. This wasn't her Jack. It couldn't be. He would never hit her. Captain Sparrow drew his sword. Oh, God, she thought. And her Jack would certainly never try to kill her. Angelica was too awestruck to think about dodging the blow.

Fortunately for her, another sword blocked the strike. She followed the blade to the hilt, and the hilt to the arm of her defender, up the arm to his face, and saw Dmitri eyeing Jack. "Sparrow," he said. Jack slowly moved his head to look at the Angel of Death. Jack's sword dissolved, as well as Dmitri's. Dmitri's hand slammed Jack's face. His foot kicked Jack's chest. Angelica watched in horror as Jack fell to the wooden floor and didn't attempt to move.

"What have you done?!" she screamed. The next thing she knew, she was standing up and repeatedly hitting the man's chest. The hits slowed. Then she found herself crying into his chest. "What have you done?" she whispered.

Dmitri kissed the top of her head. "He's not dead. Just unconscious." Angelica pulled away and tried to speak, but he continued, "I shouldn't have hit him as hard as I did. I just…couldn't risk you getting hurt." That shut her up. She had no idea what to say.

Angelica reached her hand up and touched a cut on his face. She had never seen him with any kind of imperfections, especially not any kind of injury. "What happened to you?" she asked, more from curiosity than anything else. Whatever had the power to injure Dmitri was not something she ever wanted to mess with.

He smiled at her. "A misunderstanding," he answered swiftly, a little too swiftly for Angelica's liking. "You mustn't worry." He bent down closer to her face. "You're not in danger of being hurt. I won't let it happen." Angelica's heartbeat quickened. She hadn't realized, until this moment, how attractive Dmitri really was. That's when, for the first time since she'd met him, that Dmitri kissed her, not on the back of her hand, not on her cheek, but on her lips. So taken by surprise, she couldn't stop herself from kissing him back.

Captain Barbossa sat in his cabin, Jack the monkey by his side, chewing on some peanuts. In front of him lay two things: his sword and a map. But this wasn't the sword that Death had left him with after she had taken Blackbeard's from him. No, he had most certainly gotten it back. After months of searching for anything of use to summon her, he went to the shack of Tia Dalma – Calypso. It was there that he found his answers. She had a book containing ways to summon the different gods…and Death. The two of them had known each other, had cursed Davy Jones together. He should've thought about Calypso earlier; it would've saved him much time. Nevertheless, he had summoned her and had bargained for the sword. Now he had it, and for a very small price. Barbossa had to scour the seas, in search of a man, the captain of a ship. Barbossa had never heard of the man before. What kind of a name was Harvey Calhoun? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that after he found this man and turned him over to Death, he would have a chance to search for his treasure.

He looked at the map beside the sword, then to Jack. His precious monkey had found the map and brought it to him many months ago. He had sworn that he would never go after it. Trying to control the winds and tides? Calypso would have his head on a stake…literally. But then he had discovered that a certain Captain Jack wanted the treasure. And, well, he just couldn't allow his nemesis have such power at his disposal.

The door opened. A woman walked in. "Ah," he said, standing. "I suppose you completed what you were supposed to?" She didn't answer. The voodoo he had learned at Calypso's shack hadn't taught him how to create these creatures. That was something another person had taught him. Perhaps he had done something wrong. She wasn't speaking. She came toward him. With the light from the lantern now on her face, Barbossa could see something was horribly wrong. Her eyes were all black. She grabbed him and pulled him close. Then she kissed him. Barbossa was terribly confused. Then the redheaded woman disappeared.

Barbossa lost his balance, and collapsed to the floor, spitting and sputtering black gunk from his mouth and nose. It was hard to take a breath. He looked back to where she had been just a moment before. This wasn't right. He had just enough time to replay the spell over in his mind and question himself before he passed out.

Arden lay on Calhoun's bed. The captain had allowed her to use it while she was aboard. He didn't seem to even need it much. For hours, enough for it to get dark outside, he had been sitting at his desk, working on something that Arden didn't understand. It had to do with mapping. It was one of the many reasons why she had never enjoyed going out to sea. She cleared her throat. "Do you think you'll ever find him…Drake, I mean?" she asked timidly. They hadn't really spoken since she'd sobbed into his chest. "Or do you think he's…" she couldn't finish the sentence, or the thought. It hurt too much.

Calhoun looked up, sorrow apparent in his eyes. "I don't know. If he lived, he's certainly been found by now. He's probably even searching for you as we speak." He smiled at her. "We'll find him."

She doubted it, but didn't want to house that thought for long. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he answered, going back to work on whatever he had been looking at.

She swallowed. She was slightly afraid to ask, but knew she had to. "Why did you attack our ship in the first place?"

Calhoun looked up, his face hard. Arden's breath caught in her throat. His eyes were as black as coal. "Because I had to," he said. Then went back to work. Arden couldn't speak. He hadn't had black eyes before. That was something she would have noticed. Something was wrong. After a few minutes of her silence, he looked back up. His eyes were again blue. "Weren't you going to ask me a question?" his voice was light.

Arden shook her head. She had no idea what to say.

Death walked through her castle, running her hand along the stone wall. There was a lightness in her step. The flames of the torches lighting the corridor flickered. She wore her typical black pants and black shirt. She had been tempted to dress as she did when she was in human form as a pirate, but had decided against it. It made being away from that beautiful place so much worse. It was one of her favorite places, if she were being honest.

She looked around. Every shadow caught her eye. Every sound of the flames popping was an explosion in her ears. She had been feeding on the dead for days now. It had been difficult to do much else since her fight with Dmitri. He had never argued with her over a command. Even when she had first made him into her Angel, he was extremely submissive. Sorrow clung to her like sweat on a humid day. She had only ever had one Angel other than her Dmitri.

His name had been Harold. He had been perfect, and she had fallen deeply in love with him. Then, he just disappeared. Part of her had always wondered what had become of him, but she knew it was pointless. The fact that he had completely vanished meant one of the gods had something to do with it. It wasn't long before she had found Dmitri. He had filled the hole in her heart. Now, she couldn't help but worry about what might become of Dmitri. She wished she'd come back, but knew that he probably just needed time alone.

Death stepped into her kitchen. Since she'd actually built her magnificent castle, she'd renovated the kitchen many times. Right now it had gray stone floors, very light-colored wood cabinets, black marble countertops, and stainless steel appliances. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. She didn't really need to drink anything. After days of absorbing the strength of all the dying humans, she was fine. But it felt normal, and it was something to do.

She thought back to Dmitri, who was somewhere far away. She didn't want to hunt him, partially because they needed time apart but also because it would drain a lot from her to hunt him. Sometimes she wished they could be as normal as Jack and Angelica, without the fear of dying that they had. Suddenly, she felt that maybe it was Angelica that was causing her issues with Dmitri. No, she told herself. Surely that wasn't it.

Her empty hand jerked up to her heart. It felt as if something had ripped through it. She gasped. Something had split away from her. She'd never felt this before…no. She'd felt it once before. Only once since the earth had been spoken into existence thousands of years ago ahd she felt something as severely painful as this. The glass of water slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Death grabbed the counter and coughed up blood. She didn't bleed; she shouldn't be bleeding. Her heart seemed to be ramming against her chest, sending violent shocks of pain through her over and over again. Death collapsed onto the floor, landing on the glass. She grunted. Death crawled off of the glass and vanished into black dust. She had to stop this. Someone had just broken all the rules. And it was her job to kill them.

Please review!:)