Eyes on Fire

No one ever understood Eva Marley, and for that matter, she felt that no singular human being ever could.

Certainly there had always been those who had claimed to love her, or those who offered her their care, good will, and a safe haven from the trouble she seemed to map out so well for herself on a daily basis. But no one she had ever stumbled upon had ever known who she was, what she was after in the deepest trenches of her heart. No one understood why in the world she thrived on the attention she derived from both her criminal aloofness and unrestrained freedom in the small coastal village of her birth.

She was a martyr to a good risk, a scoundrel by day and a wanderer by night. She was a young lady who with every fine intention known to man, had discovered a way to sink beneath the radar of the propriety she had been raised to know, all the while, keeping it in solid tact for a rainy day.

Eva wanted to roam the world the same way she had roamed the streets of St. Pierre her whole life, and had always dreamed of sailing for occupation. It was a man's place of course, the sea, but it was what drew her from reality at most points of the day. She would simply stare out at the ever shortening horizon, knowing that soon enough it wouldn't be there at all. The world was closing in around her, around everyone in fact, as ports developed closer together and the trading industry covered every inch of the islands she had loved so much.

This was why she needed to be on the sea, so that she could find more places to get into trouble, places where no one knew her or cared what she did. Eva was hell bent on finding the opportunity enough to leave and claim her own spot aboard one of the vessels that came in and out of port each day. She just had to figure out which one looked the most promising.

Standing on shoreline behind her inherited land, she kicked at a few misplaced stones and shells. She rubbed the purple gems of a pair of earrings she had lifted from a boutique in town the day before. She hadn't intended on taking them when she went inside, but the glow of their crystallized cut in the sunlight called to her, and she knew there was no way she couldn't take them for her own.

Thief or not, rebel or not, a rumored gypsy or not, Eva knew to only filch what seemed so out of place anyway. Especially in a society like this, a place where fishermen and sailors wives doted on fine cloth and catch above jewels. The earrings had been in the shop for years, never purchased, and dusty enough when she lifted them to prove they'd been neglected in touch as well. But now they were her own and gawked at often with a smirk.

She tucked them back inside of her dress coat and walked up to the house again. It was empty; as it had been for almost eight years, save for her. But she almost preferred the loneliness now. She could do what she wished inside of its walls and make all the company she desired in the streets at night, with strangers she would never have to think on again.

Perhaps, this was her biggest problem. She was alone and had been since each of her parents passing, but she made no effort to associate herself with any one crowd or person long enough to form a lasting relationship. She had no friends, no suitors, no one but her shaggy, rescued mutt Dill. It was all she had the patience for anyway.

"Yes okay. I'm coming along to feed you. You spoilt mongrel."

She laughed and stepped in through the large doors to the dilapidated mansion on the hill. The one she hardly cared for at all, and the one she only wanted to run from. Eva planned to spend the evening back in town, searching out the ships and analyzing which one would be the best for her to sneak aboard. With a few minor adjustments to her person, she imagined how perfect an adventure it could be.

"Cap'n?"

There was no immediate answer save for the sway of a hand from behind a stack of empty barrels on the deck. Gibbs tried to look about them to figure out what was being done, but could not, and continued to speak windily.

"Cap'n, the town looks a might raw t' follow in fer the night. Perhaps we could move along t' Tortuga instead?"

"No." The voice clearly answered back.

"St. Pierre's not much o' a place to rouse the crew's delight, rest assured."

"It's as good a place as any, Master Gibbs." He saw his captain's face for the first time in an hour rise from behind the used supply holdings. "There be company enough for the lot of ye maggots anywhere's in this sea. Take the offer I'm givin' and ave' done."

Jack silenced the older man and stomped away in hunt for something. The ship was drawing nearer to the small port town with every minute that passed in his looking for what he'd so hopelessly misplaced. The chart, stolen from Barbossa's greedy grasp and taken proud care of since he'd left him to suffer on the rum runner's island, had vanished in his squandering, drunken state the night before. He'd torn his cabin apart and the stock-hold below, but it still hadn't shown. Without it their efforts would be pointless once they left this town restocked.

He darted back inside of his cabin for another look around, but only ended up with an even heavier ache in his head and the last fresh bottle of rum to ease his fret while he sailed the Pearl into port. The sun had already set around the tiny island of Martinique, casting a hazy gray over the beaches and inner mainland town of St. Pierre. A few torches were lit to welcome other arriving ships, and noises could be heard all around as they sank into the low green waters at the docks. But it still seemed a quiet place this early on in the evening.

Jack's stomach growled for little less than food and drink, and he left the chart's location for later. He focused on preparing the crew to empty out the hold for the new supplies they would spend the next morning collecting. He danced around the deck on the heels of his boots, shouting out orders as they were all perfectly accustomed to.

"Weigh anchor and plank, ye bilge rats! Or it'll be a kiss to the gunna's daughter at rope's end, for ye!"

The hustled about, rounding Jack's as they made haste on the anchor, ropes, leads and the plank itself, as well as all of the cargo from their three week escapade through the Keys. It had proved to be a token of good fortune for once. They had piled a lofty mountain of deserted gold and gems into the hold, divided it handsomely and now ran with jangling pocket fulls.

The task went as fast as could ever be expected, and after a good twenty minutes of hard movement and labor, each of the men darted off into the now blackened streets. Jack had decided to leave his newest crew in charge of watching over the ship - as rookies to the seas so often found themselves employed - and then followed close beside Gibbs as they shuffled into town together.

"Leavin' port by high noon t'morrow, eh Jack?"

"Sooner. If ye can manage t' get them broad and sober nough' to load the stock."

Gibbs chuckled as they passed a few other ships and crewmen. "Anxious t' find that wot's to do, youth water ay?"

Jack did not reply with a yes or no. "Anxious fer somethin' mate." He paused a moment when they made it to the center of the town's small square and noticed a shadowed little shop at the end of the street. He turned back to his first mate. "I've got t' run a short errand. Meet ye fer a drink in a bit?"

The agreement was made and Gibbs hurried off to the pub directly ahead, while Jack swaggered into the hollowed alley. Mann's Notary sat in wait for him, almost like an official beckon, a single light still twinkling in the front window when he stepped up and grasped the doorknob.

Eva shuffled behind the old mill as it crisscrossed toward The Torrey Tavern. She skipped along with a keen eye on the distant ships and crews mingling with women, but tried to stay far from much attention. She often times had run ins with all sorts of men down here at night, and although she enjoyed their company quite often with or without the gold stipend to follow, she didn't need to feel desired on this night. She only needed to concentrate on getting off the spit of land that had her so trapped.

This was easier said than done of course, as she often times had known. She stepped out into the moonlit alleyway heading up alongside the notary office. Her skirts were bunched to keep from getting wet in the puddles from an earlier storm. There was noise enough that the ones from behind were never audible. She continued skipping over puddles, missing a few, and soaking her boots through the lace holes.

She was but a few feet from making it out clear and free to the center of town, when a hand grabbed hold of her wrist. She flung around with a soft yelp as the hand drew her against the brick wall under a veil of utter darkness. A man's face above hers shone with a bright, clean smile. His other hand covered her mouth and he whispered passionately.

"Knew you'd come t'night, Eva."

She rolled her eyes with exhaustion.

"Missed you the week past."

He moved his hand away and covered her mouth with his, roughly, but always just as sensitive to the matter in which he found with her. She felt his tongue break her lips apart and swirl hastily within the cavern of her mouth, making her jump under his hands a little at the intrusion. Of course she accepted it willingly after a moment, having only to deal with him before he would bore of her and leave again for his proper little wife and girl child.

He pulled his mouth away to take a breath but held her close.

"Henry. You've gone completely mad. Scaring a woman in an alleyway is hardly the way to get what you so wish for."

He smiled as he leaned in to nibble at her neck and the plunging palate where her dress revealed her soft, pouring flesh. Eva put her interests in finding a ship on hold to please the both of them. Low whimpers escaped her as his teeth and lips dug into her skin harder. He urged with a shuffle of her skirts as he raised her body and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I'll take you here now, Miss Marley. If it should fancy well enough?"

Eva laughed and held him to her breasts, needing to feel more. This was his answer.

She worked the buttons of his pants while he kept his focus on everything else. He groaned as she had pulled him from the tightened trousers to be free under the hem of her skirt. His solid flesh prodded the warm skin of her low, thin belly, and she groaned the same.

"It fancies if you'll so delight in making it quick. I was in the middle of business before you so rudely interrupted."

Her smile was kind and he understood just what she wanted, and so delivered it to her gladly, thrusting within her tiny frame before she had the chance to take a breath. Eva's head slammed against the bricks without the care Henry often showed. He pinched her legs around his body as he moved against her to get comfortable within the confines of her slick and narrow tunnel. She sighed breathlessly, to which he covered her lips, biting on the bottom one as he eased away and then quickly returned, completely drowned in her heat and wetness.

"Again," she whispered. "Harder this time."

He rushed from the storefront with a twisted collection of papers that he shoved into the inner pocket of his long coat. Jack leaped down the stone steps and fell on the dirt ground again, his eyes averted to the docks for a moment. He was trying to decide if he truly felt like bothering with anything more than his rum and charts, or if he wanted to keep his promise, meet Gibbs and find his own company for the evening. This little French port was certain to have a bounty of interesting, lighthearted women with every intention of providing him with contented release for cheap coin.

Yes, he could easily stand for a pair of fine legs wrapped around him tonight.

Jack grinned lopsidedly as he stumbled along the path in front of the notary's building. He was about to turn down the alley way towards the tavern, when he heard the sound of a hushed whimper, a cry of something that was not pain or sadness.

He glanced down the dark, overgrown alley, but he didn't see anything at first. His vision was blurred from too much sun and afternoon drink. But the more the he focused on the black shadows, the more he knew he was seeing. The brightest pair of deep sea blue eyes flashed down the alley, directly at him in fact. He realized that these eyes were filled with a fire that matched the position to which the attached body was caught. Jack noticed legs, the kind he had so wanted for himself, tied at the mid thighs with the softest of pink lace bows. Then he saw the body of a man to which they were hooked around.

He could not help but to look back into the eyes of the woman, the ones that were on fire, aglow in all of the immense darkness surrounding them, like a forest caught in a flaming storm.

He felt his body tighten as he stood there, captured by her gaze. Her company's face was buried elsewhere beside her, unaware of their silent meeting. The engagement he had met her in, on impact of climax, was one that looked to be either of secrecy or of interesting ritual.

One second passed, the longest he could have imagined, before he found his legs strong enough to move along and away from the scene. Jack stepped silently back in the direction of where he knew his own choice of evening company would be waiting. He prayed against his agitation with the Gods, that with a bit more drink in his gut and even a little more luck, he wouldn't think about those hauntingly blue eyes for the rest of the night.

Let alone the wondering of what the girl's name could be after such a feasting display.