Chapter 9

Riddick had managed to free one of his arms from his manacles and had begun working on the other one. He almost got it open when he suddenly had the instinctual feeling that he was not alone anymore. Putting his free arm back in to position he pretended to be chained to the wall again as he waited in silence. He heard footsteps approaching him as he waited for his moment to act. The footsteps were about one metre away from him now and he could see very clearly now that it was Riley or at least what appeared to be her. However, she appeared to be injured, or was this really Vaurith in disguise to trick him. Without another thought, he pulled himself free from his manacles and jumped on to Riley as they fell to the ground and placed a blade at her throat.

Leaning in close to Riley now Riddick smelled her as he growled deeply, the faint smell of coconuts, honey and leather was still very distinct and over powering. Smiling, he hung there just a bit longer than he should have as the feel of the real Riley beneath him sent waves of intense desire through the core of his being.

"Get the hell off me dick or so help me I'm going to blast you out in to space!" she screamed at him in exasperation and pain.

Riddick slowly pulled himself up off Riley as he then helped her up. As much as hearing her call him dick extremely annoyed him it just validated the fact that she was indeed the Riley he had come to know and care for yes, care for he thought. She reached a part of him deep inside that warmed and caressed him that made him ache with an inner longing. It confused him, feeling this way, no other woman had had quite the same effect on him.

"Is this the thanks I get for coming to save your convict ass from that psycho witch?"

Trying to hide how happy she truly was to find that he was alive and unharmed. Seeing his manly well shaped body in front of her sent thoughts of what it would be like to see him naked in all his manliness. The feeling of his body against hers had sent waves of excitement through her very being which she had forced herself to fight by attacking Riddick verbally.

"I didn't ask you to come save my ass…." He looked back at her with his brows furrowed in annoyance.

Riley looked back at him extremely pissed off by his comment. She could have sent him flying through the wall as she held her tongue and chose not to respond to his reply.

"Anyways what happened to your arm?" He curiously noticed her rubbing it and that the bandage was not set to support her injury properly.

"It was broken when she blasted me before… I have not had a chance to fix it properly. Why do you care?" She said as she rubbed her arm furiously now.

"Maybe I care what happens to you….." He growled as he then took her arm in his hands gently.

The fact that Vaurith had actually caused Riley harm annoyed him immensely though he would never tell her that. He did not want her to get hurt much less killed because of him and more than anything he just wanted to protect her from anyone and anything that could bring her further harm. Removing the bandages from Riley's arm carefully, Riddick worked like a medical pro as he removed a vial from a slot in his belt.

"It's a fast healing ointment that will help your arm to mend in half the standard time" He said before rubbing the ointment in to Riley's arm gently.

His hand glided swiftly over her arm as she felt warmth begin to flow down to her bones all the way to her fingertips. To her surprise, Riddick replaced the bandage securely this time, with a small piece of metal to keep the broken arm set straight. He added a noose so that she could support her arm around her neck.

Reeling with astonishment by his honesty and by how he had helped to fix up her arm, Riley was relieved that he had not sided with Vaurith after all. Maybe, possibly she could trust him she thought.

"Thanks Riddick, You know there was a moment there that I thought that you might have sided with Vaurith to become her mate" she said with a slight smile.

"Then I guess, you still do not know me as well as you might think, do you" His eye shine eyes held her in a gaze for a moment.

A shrill scream filled the air as they both snapped back to the reality of their situation.

"Great! I guess that means she found David and knows I've escaped!" Riley said bitterly.

"You found him! And left him for Vaurith" Riddick stared at Riley in disbelief.

"Easy baldy it's not what you think! She dumped him for you and he was taking it out on me! Besides he's the reason his crew are dead"

Relieved that Riley had acted as cold hearted as he thought after all but more annoyed at what she had now dared to call him yet again. Riddick stood rigid as a board, as his hand gripped his shiv tightly.

"I believe in god, but he hates me – what the fuck!" he growled.

"God is neither here nor there Riddick" a female voice spoke all around them.

Before they even had time to look around both Riley and Riddick found them selves blasted by Vaurith hard and flying through the air, as they were both about to impact with a wall.

Riley grimaced through the slight pain in her shoulder from the blast. Her eyes flared as she focused and with the speed of thought, both she and Riddick stopped short of smashing into the wall. They hung in mid air for a brief second before slowly lowering to the ground.

"Thanks, are you ok?" Riddick grunted as he shrugged off his pain from the blast.

"Yea I am so tired of being blasted by that old witch!" Riley barked.

Vaurith blinked with surprise at both of them her powers never failed her, how did they stop from hitting the wall? Her eyes looked venomous as thy blazed red as she spoke.

"What… are… you?" She roared at Riley, Knowing that she had to have something to do with it, as Riddick had displayed no such abilities while being her captive.

"One extremely pissed off bitch that you really do not want to mess with right now!" Riley said.

"Is that so?" Vaurith said with a mocking grin, as she raised her arms above her head.

The zombie crewmembers started to pile in to the room and encircle the area where Riddick and Riley stood. Vaurith had called for them to come and handle them. The smell of blood, gore and death hung in the air as they both stood back to back now ready for what was to come. The zombies soon attacked them and they began fighting for their very lives breaking necks, decapitating heads and knocking the zombies out of commission any way that they could.

Riddick noticed amidst all the carnage that Vaurith was going for Riley. He quickly despatched the zombies in front of him as he worked his way over to Riley's position. She was fighting wildly as she unleashed the force of her telekinesis, she was not holding back anymore. With her left arm broken, she had to defend herself the best way she knew how. Zombies smashed in to each at her mental command. Her roundhouse and side snap kicks sent a couple flying as well.

Watching her fight was like poetry in motion to him even in the middle of all this chaos. Vaurith was just behind Riley now and getting ready to suck the life from her. Riddick shouted.

"Riley! Get down!"

Without a second thought, she did as he asked as she saw him hurl his shiv in her direction. The blade hit its target hard in her chest as Vaurith's face contorted grotesquely at what Riddick had done as she doubled over in agony screaming. She turned into mist instantly and vanished.

"Riley you ok?" he said as he helped her up.

"Yea…..Yea … I'm ok…. We have to go"

The ship jerked hard as they struggled to maintain their balance. Riddick looked curiously at her before he spoke.

"You rigged the ship to crash… Didn't you?"

"You must be a real hard man to surprise when your birthday comes around?" she said grinning sheepishly.

"I wouldn't know, never really celebrated one…" He appeared to be thinking about what she had said as his gaze drifted.

Riley looked at him a little stunned but more heart felt as she wondered about the kind of life he must have had growing up. Nevertheless, before she could ponder too long, Riddick jumped at her and they were then rolling on the ground to avoid an attachment that had come away from the wall. It screeched past them as it narrowly missed them both.

She found herself on top of Riddick with his big taut muscular arms wrapped around her body. Wearing just a vest top she could feel him breathing deeply; it felt good being so closely to him she knew she had to stay focused. Looking up in to his eye-shine eyes, she was tempted to kiss him as she felt hot waves sweep in to her belly, but she fought the urge.

"Thanks" she said as she carefully eased herself off Riddick's body and she could have sworn that she had felt him fight against releasing her to get up.

He could not understand it, as he almost did not let Riley get up. The feel of her body against his sent sensations through him to the core of his being. The animal within him grew feverish with desire. The man in him was just barely keeping it together to control the animal part of him, wanting to partake in kissing her lips and never letting go of her. No woman had ever made him feel so crazy and out of control, what was it about Riley that made him burn in desire for her.

"Are you ok though?" She asked curiously, as he seemed to be staring up at her with a wild look on his face.

"Yea I'm ok… Let's move out"

Riley smiled in reply, as they marched towards the doorway and found four more zombies making their way in.

Before she could make a move, Riddick ran forward and leapt at the first one with his shiv in his hand as he slashed across its throat. He then sidestepped around it as it gave a hard kick breaking a leg as it fell to the ground. Reaching out towards Riley, she grabbed a hold of his hand, and she knew that she was going flying. Her arm swung around her as her feet connected with a loud crack to both zombies heads. Their heads flew back as they fell back to the ground.

Safely landing Riley on her feet, she turned to see the final zombie about to grab Riddick. He reached around with his free left hand as he ripped its throat out. Then he flipped it around so that his back was to it as he picked it up, gritted his teeth and turned him upside down, as he dropped in to a kneeling position. He drove the zombie's head into the ground hard as its head crushed under the pressure.

"Let's move" he said as he dropped the zombie's remains.

Riley looked at him awe struck, he really was an animal she thought as she followed him.