Disclaimer: I do not own what Disney created.

A/N: I've missed all of you! Today is such a wondrous day, because I am excited that I have updated. Hope you all enjoy the long awaited continuation.

-PineAppleLint

--Terrence instantly paled. "We have to go inland. We have to find Crowe."

"What? Why?" Gibbs questioned.

"Jack might be killed."--

"Excuse me?" Anamaria asked quietly, wringing a rope between her callused hands. The Black Pearl seemed to instantly still. The crew dropped what they were doing to stare.

Frantically, June raised her voice so everyone could hear. "We need a search party to head inland, NOW. I don't want any house, any shadowed corner to remain untouched."

"We need an explanation as to what's happening here," Gibbs growled. Usually an indifferent, pleasant sort of fellow, it unnerved her to know that this was the first time she had ever heard him angry with her. Knowing that she was hiding something from them, they would probably find her personally responsible if anything harmed Jack…but she would deal with them later.

"An explanation comes later," she snapped with flashing eyes, "Right now we need Captain Sparrow safely returned. Anamaria and Jacobs, get a group together. Pete and Gibbs, same with you. I want everyone to go in pairs if you end up splitting up. Go ashore, now, all of you!"

A scrambling chaos erupted from her demands. Both crews began checking their weapons. After sheathing their swords and checking their shot, they ran out of sight and disappeared into the growing darkness.

Terrence knew that it was going to be tough finding him in the night, but they weren't leaving without his presence on board.

Brookes rushed up to her, handing her her effects. While shoving her pistol in the front of her breeches, she said softly, "Brookes, I'm going to need you with me."

Sensing the raw need in her voice, he asked with raised eyebrows, "Will you be alright, Captain?"

"I'm feeling a bit under the weather. But I need you to back me up, alright? Jack's welfare always goes before me own health, savvy?"

He nodded, swallowing hard. "And if we find him…"

"He'll be alive," she said fiercely, grabbing his arm as dizziness swarmed her vision, "Now help me off o' this damn ship."

Jack felt his head roll to one side as he opened his eyes in the darkness. Pain stabbed at his temples in unsympathetic pangs.

Ah, yes. He had been hit in the face. Now he remembered.

He was tied to a chair in a musty, moldy smelling room. At first he panicked, thinking he had been blinded by the blow, but it was really an unsettling blackness caused by lack of light.

Attempting to holler, he realized he had also been gagged.

It reminded him of the time Gallagher had gagged him and tied him up, much to his delight, but that was when he was drunk and it was supposed to be kinky. This moment, however, was hardly pleasurable.

A couple of candles were suddenly lit to his right. He fought to turn his head, but the throbbing was excruciating.

"Captain Jack Sparrow…how nice of you to join us."

Crowe. That son of a bitch.

Crowe, with a sharp jerk of his hand, tilted Sparrow's head up. Crowe was clad in a black robe, staring at him with lifeless eyes. His hat and bandanna were missing, so through his ratty dreads, Sparrow noticed at least ten other robed figures in the background, each holding a red candle. They were humming something that gave him chills. It sounded unsettling and unnatural.

The gag was removed from his mouth and placed over his whiskered chin. "What the hell is this?" he spat out, his mouth dry and sore from the intruding fabric.

"A ritual, Captain. I thought you were an educated adventurer…" Crowe chuckled, "I was almost certain an infamous pirate like you would know everything about the occult."

"Let me make an inference, Governor."

"Go ahead." His white teeth flashed in the shadows.

"I'm the sacrifice, aren't I?" Jack grimaced, waiting for an answer that he already knew was coming.

"Of course. We need to throw off fate, my boy. The last thing we want is for the Protector to gain control of the power we crave."

"You mean Terrence."

"Yes. She needs to fight and lose this battle alone. Malvado will break her, I will promise you that." Crowe threw his hood back on, taking a step back.

"Will you be personally killing me? This will hurt our business relationship," Jack said as he wriggled around in the confinement of his chair. He had to get out of here. Crowe and Malvado…Drake and Malvado…was everyone connected to the fight for the Devil's power? He couldn't trust anyone.

"Not me, no. I believe someone else wants the honor of killing you."

Jack glanced up, bewildered as a slim figure stepped out from behind the mass of robes. The hood of its robe was pulled down to reveal a familiar face.

Despite the severe blow to the head, Jack noticed the pretty woman instantly. "Eden?"

She smiled, her blood red lips curled back in a perverted smile. "Hello, Jack."

Jesus Christ. He always knew his old flames would come back to haunt him.

…or in this case, kill him.

"Still holding a grudge, Eden?" Jack asked in a cheerful tone, desperately trying to hide his growing nervousness, "How long has it been…six, seven years?" How was he going to find a way out of this one?

She abandoned the robe, throwing it off her body to reveal a tight dress. She had always been beautiful, but the psycho tendencies had quickly become a turn off.

"Six, Jack. Six years since you said you'd come back to Oxbay and back to my bed." She kneeled in front of him, sweeping her long blonde hair away from her face. Jack's eyes widened when he noticed a tattoo on her pale neck.

It was the same symbol from Terrence's key.

"Luv, what have you gotten yourself mixed up in?" he questioned, staring at her with an expression of pity.

"Don't you 'luv' me, you bastard. Everything has finally fallen into place. My life role has been to serve the Darkness." She pulled out a long, gleaming knife. "When the Devil takes over the world, I will be his servant. My safety is automatically granted by killing you, dearest."

Jack stilled when the polished knife was held at his throat. She laughed wickedly, running a hand through his hair. "I see that I have your attention now. I wasn't able to keep it six years ago, was I?"

"Eden, you're makin' a terrible mistake," he said slowly. Meanwhile, he was desperately trying to undo the ropes at his wrists.

Eden went on, "I hear you have a new woman to fuck, Jack. Right? This Protector? How lucky I am, to take away her lover and world salvation all in one."

The chanting of the robed figures grew louder. An eerie wind began to swirl around them all, playing with the tiny flames of the candles.

Her lips unexpectedly found his, and she began to kiss him forcefully, finding her way onto his lap. Her skirts spread around him as he fought to keep the knife from cutting into his sweating skin as she pressed her body into him.

"Stop toying with him and kill him, Eden," Governor Crowe commanded angrily, pointing a finger at her, "This must be done quickly and cleanly."

She bit his lip before breaking away, drawing blood. Jack wanted to wipe his mouth and rid himself of her disgusting touch, but he couldn't. All he could do was listen to her whisper darkly in his ear, "I'll see you in Hell, Captain Sparrow," and feel the sudden force of the knife against his chest. It was cutting through his clothing and soon, through his flesh and bone.

The thrumming of dark power filled the room to a suffocating level. Jack felt himself drowning in it, just like he felt the knife at his heart and Eden's hand squirming at his crotch.

The door to the room was suddenly thrown open. Through hazy eyes, he saw five figures standing in the faint light. The robed Devil worshippers began to scream like tortured demons as the first stranger in the doorway thrust out its hands.

A blinding light burst forth, sweeping the whole room into a white nothingness.