Even before the rum arrived on the table I knew this meeting had been a bad idea. My head reeled with a shock I recognized all too well. Gulping at the rum I tried not to remember when I started drinking. God, I hadn't thought about that in years.

Pretending not to see the deep brown eyes scanning me, I sought out the familiar face of my 'manager'. Matthew should have known better than this. Just as I was about to get really angry it occurred to me that he wouldn't. No one knew me from those days. Except one man. This one.

Adjusting my cloak around me I finally looked up, waiting for him to speak.

Across the table, Jack wasn't faring any better. Shock turned to amazement and then into something suspiciously like guilt. To dispel this new emotion, he fell back on his usual curiosity.

She looked different. After thinking that he mentally kicked himself. It had been almost ten years. Of course she had changed. Unruly auburn hair still framed a thin face, but it brushed narrow shoulders now instead of a narrower waist. The always strong cheekbones seemed even more prominent in her thin, pale face, giving her eyes a shadowed appearance. He couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light, but something in her eyes looked strange, a hint of gold rimming the grey he remembered all too well.

As she finally met his eyes, he cleared his throat.

"What the hell are ye doing here, Arabella?"

Hearing that name jarred me out of my silence. The tone he used didn't help much either, to be honest.

"Ara… it's just Ara now," I gulped. Feeling bolder, I added, "And how dare you speak to me like that?"

His eyes narrowed, probing mine with such force that it actually took an effort not to turn away. A small feeling of triumph filled me at that. I had become strong in the last ten years and my own eyes burned into his just as hard.

"I'll speak to ye any way I please, savvy?"

"And if you speak to me like that again you'll still be in the market for the services you seek. I assume we're both adults here. I think we could have a professional relationship… if you can afford it, that is…"

Watching him closely, I still hoped a little bit that I could get the rise out of him that I once did. Sure enough, I still had the touch.

"Can I afford it?! I'm Captain Jack Sparrow! O' course I can afford it. I'm richer than the king himself… or I will be, at least. With a little help from ye…"

Good. He could pay. Maybe I had been hoping, just a little bit, that he couldn't. That would make things so much easier, I just knew it.

"And exactly what kind of help is it you're needing, Captain Sparrow?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, I 'appen to be in the market for an assassin, as it were."

"I think you may be confused, Captain," I responded. "That isn't exactly my line of work, you see. However, I do know someone who knows someone who might be able to…"

"An' I think ye might be confused, Ara," he interrupted. "The man I need killed… he's already dead."

Oh shit. That was my line of work.

"Hmmm, it would seem that I am the person you need, in that case."

"So I've been told… will ye be doing it then?"

A good question. Would I do it? This seemed like one of those on the spot cases, I could tell. So, the question was… yes or no? Could I work with this man? I didn't know. What I did know was that I really needed the money. Business had been slow of late and food doesn't buy itself.

"Yes... I'll do it. On two conditions."

My voice sounded low in my ears when I answered, like I couldn't quite get my breath. I hadn't noticed myself having any trouble breathing. It couldn't be nerves… I had gotten rid of those years ago. Drowned them in alcohol.

"Excellent! Then we'll just… wait, what 'conditions'?"

His brow wrinkled, almost making me smile. He never looked puzzled before.

"First, I want ten percent of whatever we find."

"Isn' that a lil' high, luv? After all, I only get 40 percent meself."

"You can't find this without me and I don't work for less than ten percent."

This might have been stretching the truth a little bit… I calculated my share by how much my clients needed me. Desperation had a way of driving up prices. And maybe I thought he'd say no. Maybe I was trying to give myself a way out.

"Take five percent out of your share and five out of the crew's. Thirty-five percent is better than no percent at all, agreed?"

"Alrigh' then. Ten it is. An' the other?"

I took a deep breath, slowing my heart that had unaccountably begun beating out of control. It must have been the first change in my heart rate in three years. Not much fazed me anymore.

"The past stays past, Jack. I'm not fifteen anymore and you're not the man I thought you were. A lot of things have changed. You don't know me at all, and honestly I'm inclined to keep it that way."

With a slight narrowing of his eyes, he replied, "I'm afraid that won' be possible, darling. I 'ave a condition of me own."

"Who said you got to make conditions?"

"Who said ye did?"

"You came to me for help. I can make whatever the hell conditions I want. You need me."

"Ah, true. But it would seem that I can always find an alternative arrangement. Can ye?"

A crossroads. I could say no right now and walk out that door, never looking back. He had taught me how. But he had a point. Could he find an alternative? Probably. Could I? Probably not. Customers were not exactly plentiful in my line of work. What the hell? I'm nothing if not crazy.

"Fine. What is it?"

"An' ye'll do it, no matter what it is?"

"If it has anything to do with your nightly pleasures I reserve the right to hit you as hard as I can before stepping over you on my way out the door."

"It does, but not in the way I believe ye are imagining. Every night, I get to ask ye a question. An' ye 'ave to answer honestly."

Should I do it? He wouldn't ask the hard questions. He couldn't.

"Alrgiht. We have an agreement then."

"An accord, luv, an accord."

Pushing the hair out of my eyes I marveled at the smile he flashed. And flashed he did, gold teeth replacing the white ones I knew used to be there.

"Well, then, I believe I will ask me first question."

I waited as coolly as I could for what he could ask. What would this first question be?

"Wha' are ye?"

Surprised, I raised my eyebrows, pondering my answer.

"I am what I've always, been Jack. It's what I do that's changed. That's what you want to ask me."

"Well, then? Wha' exactly is it tha' ye do?"

Biting my lip I looking into his eyes.

"I study nightmares… hunt the things that go bump in the night."

"Black Roses Red"

Alana Grace

Can I ask you a question please
Promise you won't laugh at me
Honestly I'm standing here
Afraid I'll be betrayed.
As twisted as it seems, I only fear love when it's in my dreams
So let the morning light come in and let the darkness fade away
Chorus:
Can you turn my black roses red?
Can you turn my black roses red?

Drowning in my loneliness
How long must I hold my breath
So much emptiness inside I could fill the deepest sea
I reach to the sky as the moon looks on
One last year has come and gonne
It's time to let your love rain down on me

Can you turn my black roses red?
Cuz
I'm feelin like I'll blame it on love

Can you turn my black roses red?
Cuz I'm feelin like I'll blame in on love
I'm feeling like I'll blame it on love