A Most Unusual Interest
17
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A Most Unusual Interest Chapter Seventeen (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess FoxfeathQueeQueen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…
chance! I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
Myrtle felt
thick, as if she were stuffed with wool and bitters. Her mouth tasted vile and her tongue cleaved to the roof of it as
she slowly opened one eye, groaning softly.
Wherever she was, it was blessedly dark. A trickle of something cool ran down her forehead and between her
eyes, making her entertain the notion of blood for a moment, until str stream
reached the corner of her mouth. Stale
water. Her eyes drifted closed again
and she tried to shift but found it too taxing. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, her muscles tight and
protesting any form of movement. Her lungs
burned, her bones ached… She tried to
hear if anyone else was in the space with her but all that met her ears was
silence. Water dripped down her face
again, this time rushing towards her ear, making her wince.
in the tiny area. She remembered the
alley, she remembered seeing Richard, then…Tentatively, she let her fingers
creep up towards her jaw and winced. It
was swollen, but as far as she could tell, her teeth were not broken.
her as she gained more clarity.
Stagnant waste and cooking food combined with swand and animal smells to
make a nauseating aroma as people clamored into the darkening evening, crying
out for their wares, shouting to others…
_Zoruba, _ she thought. _I’m
still here. Jack hasn’t come for me.
_
A soft
scrape like wood on sand signaled the arrival of someone in her tiny holding
area. “Are you awake?”
She bit her
tongue literally to keep from crying out or worse, accusing him.
“Myrtle, I
know you are conscious. I could hear
you moving…” Richard lit a greasy lamp
with the hiss of a Lucifer,name="_ftnref1" title="">
lifting the light to better see her on the floor. “Do not pretend with me…”
“Where am
I?” she asked groggily, not having to act much to project a wounded, confused
air.
“Somewhere…out
of the way. I saw you leave that
pirate’s ship this morning and knew I had to rescue you.”
“Liar.”
sitting position, noticing belatedly that it put her skull in convenient
kicking range for his boot.
“Myrtle,
Myrtle, Myrtle…” Richard’s face was not
as she remembered. It was lined, hard,
cruel… He set the lamp down on a rough
table and squatted to force her attention to his eyes.
hope for you. You held none of the
pretense of the other two, none of the demure airs… You were to be my salvation.”
She
swallowed dryly, the action making her throat feel raw.
Richard
smiled crookedly, a shadow of his old self ghosting across his features.
what you mean but I am not going to dignify such an asinine question with an
obvious response.”
She watched
him rise and began moving around what appeared to be a shack, delving into some
small boxes she had not seen before in the dim lighting.
“Good,” he
smiled. “You’ve always been more
intelligent than the average woman.”
“Why do you
need me?”
He paused
and sighed. “Then you say something
like that and dash my hopes…”
Myrtle
wanted to scream and cry and wished for strength enough to take Richard down
herself but instead, she managed a faint smile. “My head aches. It’s too
difficult for me to figure this out.”
Richard
laughed sharply, almost a bark. “You
are the vessel,” he explained as if speaking to a particularly difficult
child. “Your place is not to ask
questions.”
Myrtle felt
a spike of cold fear, nearly paralyzing her.
“But…”
“Do not
disappoint me, Myrtle.”
Jack paced
furiously, wishing for a moment that he were the sort of pirate who enjoyed
keel hauling and other forms of torture.
He had a notion that it would be a terrific form of stress release.
false, locals hoping for a reward spouting nonsense about the pale girl in the
grove or seen in the local cantina. The
men he had sent looking for her had all returned empty handed, save Gibbs.
even he wanted coin, Cap’n.”
“And?”
face his first mate. “You gave it to
him, I trust?”
“Course,
Cap’n. What sort o’ man do ye take me
for?” Gibbs sniffed, sounding most offended.
Under Jack’s intense gaze, he continued, “Father said he seen a girl
lookin’ like your Myrtle bein’ led off by some tall fellow, like she were
drunk.”
“Like she
were drunk?” Jack repeated, resuming his pacing.
Anna Maria,
a spectator to the entire worried day, sighed.
“Maybe she run into a feller she fancied…it happens.”
“Not her,”
Jack muttered, looking angry at that idea.
“Just because
you had her in your bed doesn’t mean she’s your property.”
circuit. “You know that better than
anyone.”
His head
snapped up, his eyes boring into hers. “Anna Maria, this ain’t the time nor the
place…”
“Jack,
you’re being very…possessive of this girl.”
The female captain sighed. “She’ll
come back. Jus’ like a pup.”
Jack
clenched his fists, opening his mouth to snarl an invective against her but
snapping his jaw closed with an audible click.
“Anna Maria, you’d do well not to be talkin’ ‘bout things which you aren’t
understandin’.”
Her face
grew dark with anger. “Your interest in
this chit is not usual for ye, Jack.
What about Scarlet? Yvette?
“What about
‘em?” He shrugged. “Nothin’ more than…pleasant
diversions.”
“As this
girl should be.”
Jack
narrowed his eyes and glared. He turned
his back on Anna Maria and snapped ibbsibbs, “Release Goliath from his cell.”
“What?
“No.
Jack waved
her off and strode to the plank to await the giant.