Chapter 7: The Course of True Love
His head popped up beside her bed, and he repeated oh so tenderly, "Captain Jack Sparrow."
"What are you doing here!" she squeaked.
"Answering your prayers, luv."
"Argh!" Suzanne grabbed the nearby thunder mug and smacked it down on his head.
"Ow!"
"Get out! Get out now!"
"But you said - ow!" She had crowned him again. "Stop hitting me!"
"How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to hear everything, darlin'," he murmured.
"You monster!" She hit him again.
"But you said," Jack stammered, his frustration turning to anger. All right, she was asking for it. He pointed. "Your blankets have fallen down."
Suzanne gasped and jerked them back up to cover herself. "Get out before I scream! Because if I scream, you'll be dangling on Gallows Dock before sunrise!"
He grinned wolfishly. "You won't scream, luv, because if you do-"
There was a knock on the door. El León's voice asked, "Suzanne darling, are you decent?"
Terror filled Suzanne's eyes, and she dove back underneath the covers. Terror filled Jack's entire body, and he dove back underneath the bed.
The door opened quietly and in crept El León. He closed the door and crossed over to her bed. "Suzanne darling, wake up. The night is still young."
"No," she groaned. "I want to sleep."
"Not on a night like this," he said, "a night made for lovers."
"No, Pussycat," she pleaded. "Go away and let me sleep."
He flung away her covers and feasted his eyes on her naked flesh. "You climb into bed dressed like this, and you tell me that you want to sleep? Somehow, I do not believe you."
"Go away," she said, pulling her covers back up. "I do not love you anymore."
"How could you not? I am magnifico. Handsome, charming, rich beyond belief."
"You are one of my father's hired hands, brought in to capture Captain Jack Sparrow. Nothing more."
"My little nibblet of corn," he protested, "what has gotten into you?"
A voice called up from the floor of the ballroom, "Capitán, ¿dónde estás? Los piratas! Hemos capturado a los piratas!"
El León gasped, "Sparrow! We have captured Jack Sparrow!" He turned and ran from the room.
Jack climbed out from underneath the bed. "Captain Jack Sparrow," he grumbled. "Why is it so hard to say 'Captain'?"
"He's captured you?"
"I don't think so." Jack went to the door and peeked out. Then jumped back and shut the door. "It's Elizabeth and Will!"
"Who and who?"
"Sorry luv, I have to go." Jack ran out onto the balcony and began dressing as fast as he could.
Suzanne got out of bed and crept over to the French doors. "Who are Elizabeth and Will?"
"Mates of mine. I have to save them."
She looked at him pulling on his jacket and then looked at the door, beyond which two pirates were undoubtedly being trussed up so that they could be dragged down to Gallows Dock to an early morning execution.
As she looked at the door, it opened a crack. An evil voice whispered, "Mademoiselle de Xanillèe? It is I, Père Nuit. Your hour is at hand."
Suzanne ran across the room and dove back into bed.
The door opened the rest of the way, and a scrawny voodoo bokor entered. His clothes were little better than rags. His dirty top hat was crumpled to one side. "Rejoice, little one, Père Nuit has come to claim you. Tonight, your will shall bow down to the will of Père Nuit. The desires of Père Nuit will become your desires. Come to me now. Père Nuit commands you."
"No."
"You cannot refuse Père Nuit."
"Can too."
"You cannot. Père Nuit's will cannot be resisted."
"Go away."
"Maybe I have not explained the powers of voodoo in sufficient detail. Père Nuit is the bokor; you are my puppet."
Jack tapped the voodoo bokor on the shoulder. When the surprised man turned around, Jack slugged him. Hard. Père Nuit hit the floor and lay still. "I don't think I like him."
Suzanne leapt from the bed. "Save your mates," she said, But you aren't going alone. I shall go with you."
"Um, not dressed like that you're not."
She looked down, gasped, ran to her dresser and opened it. She grabbed a shirt and put it on, and then a pair of trousers. She leapt into the pants, grabbed a rope belt, and slipped it through the pant loops as she ran back to him. "Ready."
Jack was agog. "I don't think I've ever seen anybody get dressed so fast."
Suzanne shrugged and said sadly, "I have."