She couldn't contain the fire inside its prison and she felt the leakage start to contaminate her very blood. Her heart began to beat a dreadful rhythm as it filled her ears with the sound and her very vision danced with the pulse. She gasped as the sensations overloaded her senses and she reached forwards to the man who stood before her almost unable to breathe. He took her into his arms and held her as her lungs ached, their eyes locked as though he were trying to visually see the fire that was now thick in her blood. "…H…h…help…" was all she could muster.

He looked confused and searched within himself to think how he could help her, all the while never moving his sight from her face. He knew what she was feeling but he was more able to embrace it. She was fighting it. Her legs failed her and he caught her enough to bring her to her knees gently to the wooden floor. The ragged sounds from the girl were filling his mind with memories of Jack…of Kyra…when she was afraid and when she was dying. And now this girl was going the same way. Her heart wouldn't take much more.

Eyes dancing wildly and glowing slightly gold, Ilfray wouldn't last much more then a few minutes. For a moment he forgot where he was as he watched her chest heave with effort to draw in life while her hands strangled the flesh on his forearms until red marks appeared. "R…Riddick…." It was enough to close his primal curiosity down. He grabbed the back of her neck and laid her down to the floor. With one hand on her neck to keep a note on the pulse he stared at her deeply. Intently, he growled and commanded fear to rise inside her. Fear of him. He moved his thumb so that now her neck sat inside the web of his thumb and index before squeezing slightly.

The girl could fight. She had spirit. And he could hear every beat of that heart which was now sounding more close a machine piston because it was so fast. How was she still alive?

"Let it take you" He growled softly. It was a command. Her eyes held its response as her mouth tried to form the words. It was along the lines of "Are you crazy?" Before even the first sound of protest escaped her lips he squeezed the soft flesh that was beneath his hand and felt the pulse merging with his.

Her hands had moved swiftly from his forearms to the single palm that was on her neck. She shook her head slightly and quickly and he felt her pulse remain the same. Her eyes were bloodshot but the gold tint remained. He growled disapprovingly and squeezed a little more. Her mouth opened in shock and now her legs were in play as they flailed out to kick him and her hands started to draw blood from his wrists and knuckles. He smiled. She was a hell cat if he ever met one.

"Either it will kill you or I will. Make a choice." It was put simply and the tone he used never changed. She bared her teeth at him in response and a growl of her own escaped from her mouth…no…not her mouth he noted. Her chest. It came from inside her. Like something was living in there. He squeezed enough to make her face change colour and he held his position as she kicked at his kneeling body. She was now trying to scream and he could feel the pulse slowing down. Her eyes were fury. Pure primal instinct wanting to rip into him.

"Beautiful" Riddick said, almost hypnotized, as a strangled roar and now fully golden eyes were aimed at him. Next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, his mid section aching from what felt like a sledge hammer. His back smashed into a bookcase on the wall before falling to the floor. Ilfray had managed to tuck her knees into herself and then bolted her legs outwards sending him airborne. She rolled onto her side in a fetal position and coughed violently as she regained her breathing.

Her head was dizzy and the room was spinning with a display of super colours and blinking fairy lights that floated around her. Riddick had already got to his feet with little complaint other then a grunt of acknowledgement to his now bruised back and mid section. As he approached, he could see that Ilfray was holding onto her head as if it might fall off at any moment and her eyes were squeezed shut. He walked over to the cabin's windows and closed the ornate metal shutters before removing his goggles and returning to her.

In the darkness she was already feeling better. Her eyes had managed to open themselves again but she still had trouble getting to her feet. She turned towards the sound of his boots and on all fours started to back away. He stopped as he waved his hands gently over her line of vision. She didn't react and her breathing was still a little fast. Looking at her eyes he could tell they were no longer solid in colour and had figured that her primal nature had passed. Which meant, she couldn't see in the darkness. She was vulnerable.

He stood there watching her on all fours crouched on the floor for a moment before allowing his voice to vibrate the very air around them. He noted her pale skin glowed in the darkness and her dark eyes and hair lit up in a mixture of spectrums. "I didn't have a choice. You needed to be…distracted." It was an answer to the question he knew she would ask. She seemed to focus now in his general direction and she looked upwards and could see the glow of his silver blue eyes. When she saw him she gasped and quickly scuttled backwards on the floor, her hands blindly seeking a path through the black.

"You…you didn't have to choke me you bastard" she hissed. She still hadn't fully caught her breath but that may have been down to a bruised windpipe. "You were fighting the change. If I hadn't you'd be dead now." She had now reached a wall and had sat with her back against it, her knees pulled into her chest, her eyes never leaving his. "The change….you….you make it sound like it's an honor. I felt like I was…" "Losing yourself?" Riddick finished.

Her silence prompted him to continue. "Like everything is moving too fast for you to see and your body suddenly feels like its on fire. Almost like an explosion. An animal being let loose from its cage." Ilfray simply nodded. The boot steps resumed and she tensed as she felt Riddick's hands on her small wrists, supporting her as she stood. He simply slipped an arm around her and guided her to the sofa that was in the middle of the room opposite a solar fire panel. She managed to feel out the pillows and placed them at her head before passing quickly into a state of sleep.

Riddick satisfied she would be asleep for some time, started to make his way out. He needed to make sure they hadn't been followed from the city as well as get them some food. He snapped his goggles back on and made sure the area was safe before making his way into wilderness.