Erin
leant against the wall, coat drawn tightly around herself to keep out
the deviant chill that was by no means typical weather to suit her
surroundings. Jack and herself had found themselves in a similar
alleyway to the one before, in fact, she couldn't be entirely sure
it wasn't the same 0ne. They all looked identical in this
neighbourhood.
She found herself staring purposefully into the
sky, still panting slightly after the brief run that had followed the
previous incident. Truth be told, she had been avoiding meeting
Jack's eye than anything else, in case they betrayed her feelings
on the matter. She was just as determined not to notice the shaking
of her shoulders, which had nothing to do with the cold.
He
himself, had left a few moments earlier, to check if the nearby
streets were clear of anyone looking distinctly murderous.
Erin
was thankful for the moment of calm, as it gave her a chance to come
to terms with the day's events. Whatever way she looked at it, she
was shocked, she supposed she was naive for not understanding why
anyone would want to kill her. In this respect Jack was right, she
was not pirate material.
The thing was, Erin wasn't a bad
person, and never had she been. She had morals and a strong sense of
humanity which she was proud of, though they seemed rather useless.
She never meant to end up like this. When she was young there were no
uncertainties about her future, at least not it in the minds of her
parents.
Coming from a fairly wealthy family she would most
likely have been married off to some rich young man. Although this
appealed to many of her acquaintances (dare she call them friends?),
and to her older sister (a cold, unkind woman who only cared for her
reflection), she wasn't like them. Erin never wanted that life for
herself, she found it tiresome, and frankly lacked in anything that
should keep her there, and it didn't.
In her life murder,
mutiny and other happenings of a disturbing nature had become almost
common occurrences, not being so blissfully seldom as in other
people's cosy existences. She never really understood even though
it had been a long time since she had seen herself as "upper
class", the divide was still there. Even though this was never an
aspect of her life she had taken pleasure in, she had grown to accept
it. ,She felt alienated from all the people she had ever known, never
really fitting in anywhere. She was accepted of course, with her
quick wit and nerves of steel, but deep down had always felt as
though she was apart from all the others she had known.
In her
youth she recognised, she had been the oddball amongst her peers,
although those who really cared for her she realised, had loved her
for it. Though the fact that these consisted of only three cats, her
brother, and her father didn't really make her feel any better.
There was a similar sort of strangeness in Jack she realized, that
she had always respected. In some ways he was very like her, and was
a good man at heart. He of course would never admit to it, as a
fellow miscreant and all.
In Erin's mind it made him a peculiar
pirate, but an exceptional one even so.
Resting her face in
her hands, she tried to rid the image of her potential killer's
body, limp and lifeless on the ground, from her mind. The sudden
stillness, and his sightless eyes staring straight through her. The
thought he would have murdered her, if given the chance, did not help
to ease her mind. She wanted to know who had killed him, and if
indeed they wanted to do the same to her.
Sighing deeply, instead
she attempted to think about her future, and what Jack actually
wanted. He had been very lax in explaining what it was.
They had
always been to some extent, friends, though doubtless that being the
incorrect term, for their bizarre relationship. She had a great
amount of unspoken admiration for him which she never divulged, his
head didn't need to swell to be any bigger than it already had.
Arrogant sod, she thought affectionately.
Jack came
swaggering back down the tiny street.
"We better make for the
Pearl while it's clear…"
Erin was waiting, arms folded,
"Took your time didn't you?"
"Thought you might need it…"
he shrugged.
Erin eyes him suspiciously, "Why?"
"Well,
you looked like you were in shock.", Jack leaned against the wall,
eyes glinting wickedly. Oh, she wouldn't like that…
"It
takes more than that to scare me, you know that."
"Really?"
he taunted.
"Really."
"Oh good. No worries then…"
Jack answered, and made to leave.
"Jack…?"
"What now?"
he turned around.
"Did you have anything to do with this?" she
asked, hands on hips.
"No" he answered sharply, "I don't
make a habit of asking people to join my crew, then getting them
killed. That just makes no sense."
"You know what I mean, and
when did you ever make sense?"
Jack laughed.
They were
back to the banter again, which made things easier. Soon he would
have to answer her questions, but not yet. He had to admit she still
intrigued him as much as ever, even more so if that was possible.
Jack was even surprised at himself, he never let anyone boss him
around, but the demanding expression on her face always won him over
in the end. It was the lack of rum he had decided.
"Jack…
Pleeeeeease tell me what's going on…" Oh Gods, he thought, that
was a dirty tactic.
"No" he said shortly, "You'll know
soon enough…"
"You always do this" a scowl crossed her
face, "I'm fed up of just having to trust you, which by the way,
I don't!"
"Well you're just going to have to get used to
it"
"Why…. You!" she exclaimed. Jack only grinned back,
she was positively adorable when infuriated. Yes, there was a
definite lack of rum here.
Erin opened her mouth to speak, at
which point the hastily covered her mouth with his hand, "Need I
say once again, be quiet?"
Erin slapped his hand
away, and frowned at him, her gaze meeting his. This seemed to
commence some sort of silent staring competition. She glared at him,
unblinking, annoyed by the demeaning way in which he treated her.
Eventually her eyes watering, she blinked.
A look of triumph
crossed his face, but he still didn't look away. His unwavering
gaze and proximity suddenly made her uncertain as she felt the urge
to shy away. Feelings that had long lain dormant stirred, as she felt
her heart skip a beat.
"Hmph…"
"What?"
"You
don't trust me?"
"Only because you're a compulsive liar…"
she answered, an amused smirk playing at her lips.
"You know you
love that in me, Erin"
"Do not" she said, defiantly.
"Do
so"
"Do not
"Do so…" they were merely centimetres
away from each other now and Erin suddenly found herself mystified by
the unyielding look in his eyes.
"Well, maybe a little…" she
relented.
"Good", he grinned and Erin felt his arms encircled
her waist, this time she didn't fight them off. He inclined his
head towards hers.
The click of a gun loading resounded through the alleyway.
They both froze. After what seemed like
an age Jack murmured, "As much as I was enjoying this little
interlude, love, I think it may be wise to continue this later…"
She
nodded breathlessly, "I agree…"
They both slowly turned
their heads to look in the direction of the noise, only to see a man
stood, cocking a pistol at Erin's head. She blinked, taken
aback.
"Prepare to die…" he drawled, with a malevolent
sneer.
Erin thought about saying something very articulate about
originality, but thought it better left unspoken. Generally
psychopaths and murderers did not think on the same level as she.
Instead, as his finger squeezed the trigger, she scrunched her eyes
closed. There was a silence and no shot rang out.
Erin opened
her eyes, Jack was wincing with his eyes also closed. Clearly, he was
more squeamish than she thought, or perhaps he just didn't want to
see the women he had a second before been trying to lure blown to
bits. She supposed it was a bit of both. Erin looked over at the man,
he was staring at his gun totally flummoxed. Jack it seemed had more
of an idea than he did, as he opened his eyes, and deftly snatched
the pistol from the man's hands.
Jack's other arm slid from
around Erin's waist as he examined it, "You pillock, it's not
loaded!"
The man only managed a simple sounding "Oh", before
Jack brought the pistol's pommel down on the crown of his head with
a sickly crack.
Erin grimaced, "That's disgusting…"
Jack
looked back at Erin with a raised eyebrow for a second, before
grabbing her hand. She missed the look on his face as he turned back
around, "Well, that was a close shave... Come on, there might be
more of them…"
Before she could reply he pulled her after him
in the direction of the port.
