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Chapter 8

Once again, when I awoke I was in a different place from where I'd started. This time I woke up on my back, in a bed, in someone's cabin. The woman who'd been my jailkeeper was asleep beside the bed. Her head rested on her arms, which, in turn, rested on the bed. The hat she'd been wearing had fallen off and her hair tumbled around her shoulders. It was long. When I'd first met this woman I'd thought her hair was brown; I saw now that it had looked brown in the shadow cast by her hat. Her hair was actually a fiery red and somewhat wavy.
I sat up and tapped her shoulder. She woke with a startled squeak. She looked wildly around the room for a bit as if trying to figure out where she was. Then her eyes came to rest on me and widened.
"Ohmigod! Did I fall asleep? I'm so sorry, Jaqueline! I should have known this was going to happen! Ohimsogladyoureawake!"
I sat back on my knees in surprise. This woman had a lot of energy.
"Okay, okay. Calm down, lady. First off, how do you know my name? Second, what should you have known was going to happen? And third, who the blood 'ell are you?!"
Now it was her turn to be surprised.
"W'well," she stammered, "I-I was nearby when y'your crewmate g'gave you that," she pointed at the scar on my arm, "that's how I know your n-name. And I, uh, should've known you were gonna collapse. Most of our victi--um, new recruits do on their first day."
Victim? Did she just say victims?!
"Uh, Jaqueline? You're looking at me kinda strangely."
"What? Oh, sorry. Keep goin'."
"Okay," her voice sounded more confidant now, "My name's Scarlette. Scarlette Ebon."
"Hm," I muttered, "Nice name."
"Yours is too, Jaqueline."
"What?"
"Your name. It's nice."
She heard me? Whoa, sharp ears.
"C'mon, Jaqueline. Let's get somethin' to eat."
"Sure. And call me Jaquie."
Just then the captain of the Pheonix walked in. She swaggered up to me and grabbed my chin, making me turn my head away. Then she ran her fingertips along my neck. Right where the bite marks were.
"Hm," she murmured, "These seem to be healing pretty well."
"W-what?" I stammered, "H-how d'you know I haven't had those scars for a while?"
"I know because I'm the one who bit you." Long fangs extended where her canine teeth had been as she smirked. Then she snapped her fingers and a man was pushed in the door. A captive man. Strange. I hadn't seen anyone else in the brig.
"Here," the captain said, "have a bite."
One second I was looking at the man's scared face, then the next thing I knew, he had slumped to the ground and I was wiping blood from my mouth. I stared down at the man in horror.
"Don't worry, luv," smirked the captain, "he's fine. He always replenishes. Welcome to the crew, Jaquie darling."

"--queline? Miss Sparrow? Captain?"
"Wha? Huh? What is it?
Elizabeth looked at me as if my nose had turned green.
"Are you okay? You were just staring into the fire."
"Oh, sorry, luv. Soi, what was I talkin' 'bout?"
"The Pheonix? How you became a vampyr?"
"Oh yeah. Well, what my 'jail keeper'," I made air quotes, "had given me really was a sedative, but it had some other properties I didn't know at the time. Y'see, it turns out the crew of the Pheonix were all vampyrs. The effects of the sedative were wo, of course, knock me out, and to turn me into one of them."
Elizabeth gasped and Jack tugged at his collar.
"Don't worry, Jack. I didn't give you anything that was drugged. Anyway, I became part of their crew. So I stayed with them as an attack team leader for twelve years. Then, about five years ago, some b*****d shoved a sword through our captain. She died, leaving the Pheonix captainless. for some odd reason, the crew voted me captain, so, obviously, I couldn't decline. I renamed the Pheonix. She's now the Sparrow. Jack, Elzabeth, d'you see the piece of wood over there? closer to the forest? That's my ship's nameplate," I hung my head, "It's all that's left of 'er. Months ago, a storm hit the Parrow. The ship was destroyed and all my crew drowned. I've been stuck on this damned Caribbean island ever since."
Jack leaned back on the rock behind him and took a swig of rum.
"Jaquie, that's terrible. Here," he held the rum out to me, "take a swig. It helps ease the pain of loss."
"What the hell. Sure," I grabbed the bottle, "bottoms up." I took a swig, grimacing as the bitter liquid ran down my throat.
"Where'd ya get this stuff, little bro'?"
"Down by the edge of the forest."
"Hm, wonder why I couldn't find it before."
"No idea, luv." Jack took another swig and fell back against his rock, asleep. I leaned over, took his rum bottle and whispered to Elizabeth, "C'mon. It's almost mornin'. You 'n I can make a signal fire using the rum."
"I thought pirates loved rum."
"T' tell the truth, I'm not a rum drinker. Hate the stuff. It's a horrid drink."
"I agree. It turns even the best men into animals."
So we set to work.

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Can you guess what's gonna happen next? you probably can if you've seen the movie. Keep reading, it's not over yet. comments please!