Chapter 15; Day Three
Jack woke, groggy from a restless sleep. The clock showed that she'd overslept by two and a half hours. No big deal. It wasn't like she had somewhere to go. She got out of bed and padded into the bathroom.
Face washed, teeth clean and hair brushed, she peered down the hall.
"Riddick?"
The ship was quiet and dark. Jack could hear the gentle hum of the engines and walked barefoot into the living/galley area, floor cool beneath her feet. There was no sign of Riddick. She walked to the front. He wasn't there either.
Bizarre. Where the hell had he gotten to?
Jack shrugged and returned to the galley. She prepared an omelet and toast and poured a tall glass of juice. "Want some breakfast?" she called out. Again, there was no answer. Shaking her head, she took her meal to the table and ate.
He watched her from the shadows of the living area, his eyes devouring her hungrily as she sat with her back to him. Long ago he’d learned the benefits of staying statue still and now he put it to good use. When he'd left her on the bed the night before, he'd paced the ship, unable to sit still. He'd tried everything from weight lifting to a long shower, but his mind kept returning to his actions, and to her responses.
I touched her in her sleep.
She was a fire in his blood, one that just kept burning hotter and hotter.
Fuck restraint. He had to have her.
Now.
Riddick unfurled from the shadows and slipped quietly out the open door and into the hall to wait for her. She'd have to pass that way soon.
Jack washed her dishes and looked into the hall.
No Riddick.
A shiver worked along her spine. The ship was entirely too quiet. Where was he?
She walked towards the bedroom and had just passed the bathroom when an arm shot out, hand gripping her forearm and swinging her to the wall. Jack gasped, her hands coming up and meeting a firmly muscled bare chest, fingers sliding over male nipples that were hard dots.
Riddick's groan echoed in the confines of the hallway. "Where do you think you're going?" he purred, placing a hand flat on the wall beside her with a sharp slap, blocking her.
Jack looked up at him and snatched her hands away from him, her eyes wide and wary. "To get dressed." He was wearing his goggles, despite the darkness of the ship, so she was unable to see the expression in his eyes.
He took a step closer, free hand touching her jaw in soft strokes. "Aww, now don't do that."
"W-why not?"
"Because then I'll just have to take those clothes right off you."
"Take..." She gulped, her voice not wanting to work, and Jack pressed tightly to the wall, regretting that movement when Riddick followed, trapping her there firmly. Jack was made very aware of her nakedness under her nightgown, Riddick's hand sliding down her body to edge the hem up her thighs.
Bending his head, Riddick dragged his tongue along her lower lip. "So tell me..."
She gasped again as his fingers moved along her thighs.
"That call a couple months ago....you told me about a guy you liked...bad ass...loner...little older than you....who was he? Who was that guy? Was it your little friend Alexa's brother Marc? Hmm? Was it him you wanted to kiss?" He punctuated each question with a whispery kiss to her lips. "He treated you well, didn't he? See I asked Skye about him. We had a long talk about Marc. Seems he liked you more than just a little." At her startled expression, he chuckled. "What; you didn't know that?"
Jack shook her head.
"You think...you think if you'd stayed there he might have eventually kissed you," a kiss to her temple, "touched you," a kiss to her other temple, "fucked you?"
Jack managed a shrug.
"Maybe. I got a theory." Riddick slid his hand around to her rear and pressed her hips against him. "My theory is that it wasn't him you were talking about, was it? Shake your head, Jack baby, we both know you meant me."
Her eyes went wider and she made a convulsive movement to the side.
He blocked her, breathed into her ear just to feel her shiver. "Shake your head."
She did as he told her. It was true, so why not?
"Good girl." Riddick buried a hand in her hair, yanked her head back to expose her throat. "Here's what we're going to do: we're going to go in the bedroom there, lie down on that nice soft bed...." He let his voice trail off, licking a slow path down her throat to her shoulder, tongue caressing the links of the choker about her neck.
"Why are you acting like this?" she whispered. The air seemed both suffocatingly humid and freezing.
"Like what?"
"Aggressive."
He released her hair. "Baby I'm always aggressive."
His mouth came down hard on hers, tongue slipping past her parted lips to ravage. At first Jack struggled, pushing at his chest. He didn't move, his hands curling around her thighs and lifting her. She grabbed at his shoulders to keep from sliding down the wall...and quit struggling.
Play along.
She tore her mouth away. "Riddick...."
"Tell me what you want." He said gruffly, taking her earlobe between his teeth and biting gently.
Frantically she thought about everything Skye had ever told her about sex. "Ice!" Jack gasped.
"Ice?" He chuckled. "Do you even know what to do with it?" Riddick set her back on her feet and took her hand, pressing it against the rigid length of him that strained against his pants.
In her best coy manner, Jack looked up at him from under long, thick lashes and slid her fingers across that bulge. "I think I can figure it out."
"Mmm...." He released her. "Okay. I’ll get you some ice." With a last brush of his lips to hers, Riddick backed away from her down the hall, keeping her in sight as long as possible. "You stay right there...you hear?"
"Uh-huh." As soon as he was past the bend in the hall, Jack whirled and sprinted into the bedroom, shutting the door and punching in code after code on the control panel to lock him out. No sooner had she finished than something hit the door with a loud bang. She cried out, her shaking legs giving out and landing her hard on her rear on the plush carpet.
"Jack."
There was a knock, his knuckles rapping the metal.
"Open the door Jack."
He rapped rhythmically, slowly, every few seconds.
She scooted back on the floor until her back touched the end of the bed.
"Jack."
Her palms began to sweat and she wiped them nervously on her nightgown.
"Jackie girl."
Knock.
"You think this’ll keep me out for long?"
The choker around her neck suddenly seemed too tight and she tried to loosen it, but couldn’t even get a nail under the metal.
"J-a-a-a-a-a-ck."
Knock.
"Open."
Knock.
"The fucking."
Knock.
"Door."
For almost a minute there was silence.
"Don’t make me open this door by myself." He paused. "When I get this door open, you better be naked, on your back with your legs spread wide."
Jack pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
Silence.
That silence stretched. Minutes went by, the choker growing tighter and tighter. Her nerves grew taut as she waited. By the time the door slid open, her muscles were cramping and Jack couldn’t even get up from her spot on the floor.
Riddick leaned against the open door and tossed something metal onto the floor in a careless gesture. "Well, that was fun. I admit I do enjoy the chase, but this chase is over." He removed the goggles. "Don’t ever lock a door against me again." Moving to her, he crouched down beside her. "Don’t look so scared, baby. You’ll like how I’m going to hurt you." The animal side of him raged at the sight and smell of her, urging him to yank her onto the bed and take her. The human side however, struggled to remember how very much she meant to him.
"Don’t." She whispered, choking on the word because of the jewelry tight about her throat.
"I can’t help myself." Riddick said simply, reaching for her.
He placed her on her stomach, hands kneading the tense muscles along her back and shoulders. His thumbs hooked in the straps of her nightgown, sliding them down her arms, revealing the smooth pale skin of her back, and while Jack struggled to remain tense, those warm strong hands of his worked the knots from her muscles.
"Shh. Just relax. Concentrate on the sensations, baby."
His sudden gentleness confused her. One minute he was stalking her and the next he was caressing her. "Riddick..."
Lifting her hair from her neck, Riddick placed his mouth at the nape, swirling his tongue over her fragrant skin. He felt her shiver.
Gentle. She needs gentle.
The animal inside him, that insidious monster, wanted to ravage her; to turn her and take her, rutting until the fire within him was doused. He couldn’t do that to her; wouldn’t. Not Jack. He could to other women, but not her; he felt too much for her.
"Please don’t make this hurt." She whispered, eyes shiny with tears of apprehension.
"It’ll only hurt on a good way, Jack. Let’s take this gown off you."
Swallowing hard, she rolled onto her back to look up at him. He moved to follow, resting on his forearm, brushing his lips across hers.
"Tender and gentle."
Roughened fingertips passed over the worry lines on her brow.
"But we’ve gotta take the clothes off to do this right."
She had the urge to run her tongue along his full lower lip, uncertainty keeping her from it.
"It’s best skin-to-skin. Trust me."
The choker eased in pressure somewhat, want and need warring with her natural shyness.
The glint of that in her eyes was all Riddick needed to slip the gown from her and toss it to the floor. He kissed her with a deliberate thoroughness that stirred the beginnings of desire in her higher. Cupping one breast, Riddick lost himself in the intoxicating wonder of her. She was a tantalizing treat that he intended to sample completely.
Jack writhed against him, an ache growing in her belly.
I’m naked, she thought, venturing to return his passionate kiss, her tongue twining hotly with his. This isn’t so bad after all. Knowing hands swept her body, his mouth leaving hers to follow the path. Jack arched up to him when he closed his lips around the peak of one breast. His tongue licked and swirled, then traveled to the other breast.
The pressure of the choker again eased about her slender throat.
Riddick pressed a last kiss to her breast and trailed his tongue down her torso and belly, flicking it playfully into her naval. He could smell her now, the exciting scent of a woman’s arousal, and knew he couldn’t wait too much longer. It would have to be soon, the tight ache in his groin reminded him.
With a gasp, Jack lifted onto her elbows.
He was between her thighs, kissing her everywhere but at the center of her, lips nibbling her inner thighs.
"Riddick..."
"Hmm?"
He glanced up and immediately stood to remove his shorts.
She was too curious to wait much longer, her legs spreading wider as she waited, hips tilting a little. Her eyes slid across his body, taking in the wide shoulders, broad expanse of muscular chest and flat, toned abs. Her gaze lingered on his bellybutton.
Go ahead.
Look.
You know you want to.
Jack’s gaze dipped lower, her eyes widening and mouth opening.
Riddick stepped towards the bed, confident in his nakedness.
"That isn’t going in me!" She blurted out.
With a chuckle, he laid on the bed beside her. "Yes it is. Every inch."
"Uh-uh." Jerking up, she was promptly pushed back down by his hand between her breasts.
"Relax. Take a deep breath. You’ll like this." Riddick touched the choker. After a few seconds, his fingertips began to tingle, then burn, but Riddick didn’t lift them from her. Instead, he forced himself to keep them against the choker and lean down to kiss her.
Jack took a deep breath and opened her lips to him. Despite her panic at her first sight of a naked man, desire surged suddenly in a rushing river through her. She felt it taking her over, a warmth along her limbs, curling and settling in her belly to become a fire that razed the panic away.
The edge left Riddick as he mated his tongue to hers, his fingertips no longer burning against the choker. He slid his hand down her body to her thighs, touching her as he had the night before. Her hips bucked against his hand.
Jack tore her mouth from his. "Please." She whispered.
He couldn’t wait.
Riddick covered her body with his, powerful thighs nudging hers apart. Her hands ran down his back, nails digging in. She was panting, pushing her hips up at him. How could he resist an invitation like that?
Riddick pressed into her in one swift movement.
Jack closed her eyes. Something inside her pinched and tore, but then he was inside her, filling her wonderfully full, and that moment of pain no longer mattered. This is what mattered; that feeling of him stroking smoothly within her, stoking that fire in her belly. She met his hips with hers eagerly, any doubts and fear she’d had gone.
He caressed her neck and the choker. The tiny gasps of pleasure that came from her lips were the sweetest he’d ever heard and he buried himself deep within her warmth. This was perfect. Riddick plunged into the lithe body beneath him, the perfectness and the pleasure taking him completely over, the passion in his blood surging to completion.
Gasps left Jack, feeling sweeping her body, all of her muscles tightening and releasing. She tightened her legs about him and cried out, every limb shaking from the powerful release.
Riddick thrust one last time into her, his eyes closing. He could barely keep from collapsing his full weight onto her.
Drained.
He felt drained completely.
Before the last of his strength wore out, he eased from her and rolled them over so that her head rested on his chest. "Wasn’t so bad was it?" He managed, slipping a hand through her hair.
Limp and exhausted.
Jack slid her arm across his waist. "You scared me, Riddick." She said. "You scared me real bad."
"I scared myself." He admitted.
"Don’t do it again."
That fire in his blood had mellowed into constant glowing embers. "I won’t." He said with a certainty.
"Good." Jack yawned.
Sleepy.
So sleepy.
"Is it normal to be this tired after?"
Riddick frowned. It was normal to be tired, but not like this. It felt like he was high, except the only thing he could be high off of was her. "Sure."
"...sleepy..." Jack mumbled, her eyes slipping shut.
A memory of a time when he’d fell into a similar sleep flitted across his mind and he touched the choker about her neck one last time before sliding into Morpheus’ grasp.
They slept the rest of the day, and when Riddick woke at nineteen hundred hours, Jack slept on.
Chapter 16; Rebirth
She came to awareness slowly, cool air caressing her body. All around her were pieces of the cocoon that had encased her. Carolyn Fry sat up, blinking almost drunkenly. Her body was healed.
"I’m not myself," She croaked, her voice throaty, holding an eerie quality to it, and while she could see the suns still eclipsed in the sky, the world was as light as day.
There was something inside her; she could feel it snuffing out all emotion and pain.
Transformed. She was being transformed. Reborn.
Carolyn stood and began to walk.
A few creatures flew above her, but none seemed to notice her as she walked through a graveyard of corpses. The suns parted from each other, twilight lightening the world. The creatures that were still alive dove into the earth in an arc. Only their cries remained.
She smiled.
At the settlement, she found a ship that hadn’t been there five years earlier, and the skeletons of several humans, the bones picked clean of all flesh. Going inside the ship, she went to the vid screen and looked it over. Only a voice connection remained. She punched in her code, then her half-sisters home code and began to speak, using the last bit of human emotion within her to cry for help. When that emotion was spent, Carolyn Fry retreated and the being inhabiting her body explored the ship.
She found clothes roughly her size and changed, then went to a mirror to clean up. Her mouth opened. Her skin, pale before, now had a translucent quality to it and her blue eyes were milked over as though cataract and completely blind by it.
And yet I see.
Her hair was long down her back and her lips were very red, teeth pearly white.
"I am death."
With a ghastly smile, she left the ship and found a sturdy piece of bone, carefully shaping it until it was razor sharp.
Inside her, what was Carolyn lay helpless, all of her knowledge open for the parasite that housed her changed body. It sifted through her mind and refreshed its knowledge on humans. It’d been a very long time since it had used a human as a host. Using her hands, it fashioned a shiv from the bone, then touched her flat stomach, thinking on human reproduction.
Inefficient, yet with its DNA reshaping Carolyn, perhaps it could be used to an advantage. It grinned with Carolyn’s lips and spoke one word. A name.
"Riddick."
On the ship Persephone, in a dark unpopulated region of space, Jack woke up screaming. The choker around her neck gleamed bright blue, releasing chemicals into her body wherever it touched her skin. It seared into her flesh, becoming one with it. Jack was flung onto her back by the white-hot pain, needles of it working her entire body. She went rigid, back arching until only her head and heels touched the bed, her breaths panting and eyes glazed over. Sweat poured from her skin.
Riddick burst though the door and found himself entranced, unable to move, by what his eyes saw. Rainbow colors sparkled like a covering of glitter on her skin, taking her whole body, then fading away into a soft glow.
Jack’s eyes cleared and her body relaxed. She sat up slowly, looking in wonder at a light room where there was no light on. She could see in the dark.
Her eyes were glowing. Riddick leaned against the doorframe for support. "What the fuck just happened to you?"
She blinked several times, then smiled and ran her gaze over him. "Something wonderful." Her body was tingling, all of her senses fully awake and alive. Jack drew in a deep breath, picked out the different scents, and resettled herself in bed. "You’re afraid." Her smile widened. "I can smell that." She lay back and opened herself to everything her senses were sending her, smell, touch, sight and hearing. If she ate, would the food seem richer and more flavorful?
Riddick backed into the hallway and made his way into the galley. Grabbing a bottle of whiskey, he took a pull from it, then another.
Shit, the choker. The metal was gone, but the design was drawn onto her skin like a tattoo.
Oh fuck, what have I done?
The choker had indeed brought out the color of her eyes. Her eyes were now a glowing blue and something was changing her.
She said it was wonderful, but was it?
What had he given her?
And why was he suddenly, deathly, afraid?