A/N: Alrighty! Surprise! I kept my word on updating more frequently! Here's the next chapter and trust me when I say things are gonna get dark.
Jack's expression hardened in anger and he picked up his staff with both hands, ready to fight.
"Pitch. What did you do to her? I swear, if you touched so much as one hair on her head…"
He was interrupted by a slow, teasing laugh. "Jack, dear friend, I didn't do anything to her. She was simply the bait."
Pitch was silent for a second and then decided to add, "And perhaps my little toy as well."
He sneered at Jack, his jagged teeth gleaming in the dark.
Before Jack could reply, he heard a tiny, quivering voice from behind him.
"Jack, please just go. Get out of here, please!"
He turned to look at Lily who was still as far back in the cage as it would allow.
Her eyes were pleading with him, begging him to run away.
But he couldn't. No, he wouldn't.
"I'm not leaving you," he told her. Turning back to Pitch, he felt anger seep through his skin.
"I beat you once… I'll beat you again." Unbeknownst to him, his icy blue eyes were beginning to change.
The rage coursing through his veins heated his skin, his hands began to melt the delicate crystals decorating his staff, and his eyes glinted with specks of brilliant orange.
Pitch raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Dearest, Jack. You seem to be very upset with me right now. Could it be that you're in…"
"SHUT UP!" Jack charged toward pitch with such ferocity that the boogeyman barely had time to sink into the shadows to escape. "WHERE ARE YOU, PITCH."
Jack's voice rang throughout the lair as he looked around to find him.
"Oh, Jack. You startled me a little."
Jack whipped around to see Pitch standing inside the cage with Lily's neck in his hand and a wide smile stretched across his face.
Jack began to storm in that direction when Pitch said,
"No, no, no, Jack. I wouldn't do that if I were you. With every step closer you take, I will squeeze harder and harder until there is nothing left to squeeze."
Jack stopped moving. "Let her go, Pitch. I said LET HER GO."
Pitch snickered. "You know, I quite like the desperation in your voice."
He removed his pointer finger and lightly dragged it over Lily's trachea, creating a visible indentation mere millimeters away from breaking skin.
Lily was standing on her toes, wheezing for oxygen and shaking in fear.
"PITCH. GET AWAY FROM HER." More laughing echoed off the walls.
Lily struggled to get out of his grip, clawing at his hands and prying his fingers off her neck.
He smirked and released her and she fell to the ground gasping, desperate for oxygen.
Jack rushed to the cage and knelt to the ground.
"Lily! Are you okay? Talk to me?!" She looked up from the ground, panting.
Her blue eyes trailed up his body and she was shocked to see a flushed face and hints of steam rising from his blue jacket.
She managed to mutter a sarcastic, "Are you?"
Her eyes met his and she watched as he looked up at Pitch and they turned as orange as the fire that was, no doubt, screaming inside him.
They glowed with fury as he lowered his voice and growled something that made shivers go down Lily's spine.
"I'm gonna kill you."