As soon as he woke up, he smelled it, amongst the sweat and smell of stale sex…
It was foreign, but it smelled familiar. He sniffed the air once again and he then stood up, slowly and painfully, trying not to wake Rina. Riddick brushed a stray lock out of her porcelain face and continued to track the scent. Its trail was wound through most of the ship, but he followed the most potent to one of the other bedrooms.
Peering inside the door, he noticed a stack of armor on the floor next to the bed, and a sleeping lump in the bed. He sniffed again, unable to identify who it was, he checked for his shivs, to realize he was naked. Now the predicament he was in was alarming, if he went to put clothes on a grab a knife the person could wake and follow him. Yet, if he stood there naked, no arms, then he would look very foolish. In the end, he decided that either way he could kill who ever it was with or with out clothes and weapons, but he preferred to have them.
After pulling on a pair of boxers and fishing shivs out of the pile of clothes on the floor, carefully as to not wake her, he returned to the room to find the lump still there. Creeping towards the bed, he was in a real shock when the figure sat up, blearily wiped his eyes, and stared at the Furyan.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" Riddick ground out, low and deadly, he was disgusted with himself for thinking this could smell any amount appealing or familiar.
"Pledging allegiance to the new Lord Marshall," Said Vaako with slight amusement clear on his sleepy face.
"I'm not interested," he said, turning away from the Necro.
"I didn't ask if you were, I am here to pledge loyalty to you and your…mate… of choice." The man almost grimaced on the word 'mate', Riddick turned again and saw the honesty in the man's eyes, and then he realized that he was not wearing goggles and he slowly shut his eyelids.
"Don't close them" Vaako whispered,
"Why?" Riddick growled out
"They're pretty," the statement was softer than the first, but just loud enough for the convict to hear it. He winced slightly, remembering the attraction he had smelled earlier, and the attraction that Vaako had for his woman.
"Other than 'pledging' why are you here? Shouldn't you have died?"
"I really don't know why, I was drawn to where the tracking beacon on the ship was located… I was drawn to both of you." Riddick ground his teeth again, his eyes still closed.
"Yes, but, why are you even alive?"
"I have a degree of Furyan blood running through my veins. Not enough to worry the Lord, um, the former Lord Marshall, but enough to count." He looked up to the Riddick, who was still standing in the doorway.
"What the hell?" was heard from behind Riddick, he turned slightly to see Sarina, eyes wide as dinner plates, hair ruffled slightly and a sheet wrapped around her body; were it not a serious moment, he would have chuckled.
Ask her thoughts on any other Necro and she would gladly call them low down, enslaving, bastards who need lives, instead of the ones they feed on… and many other insults not suitable for a 'lady' to think.
But this particular Necro was… just something else. She couldn't just categorize him in that order. She couldn't slot him in a nice little, hateful mold. She didn't know why, but some part of her mind sought a reason to rectify his actions. Maybe it was the kindness in his eyes whenever he'd handled her hair that day.
She sighed and pulled the sheet tighter, to protect her body from their penetrating gazes. She was resigned, it was sort of deserved after she'd made such an entrance.
But again, What the hell?
"Well, nice to see you up sunshine," Said the Necro sitting on the bed, his face in a cheerful smile. She maintained the dumbstruck, deadpanned face, while Riddick turned and gave him a dark glower, his post-sex possessiveness really shining through.
"Umm," She cleared her throat, a bit of manipulation plotting out in her mind.
"Why don't you go take a shower?" She said quickly, ready to defuse this tension, and get everything on the table.
"You stay in this room," She commanded looking to Vaako "Until I come in and tell you breakfast is ready." Then she turned and left the room. She'd need a change of clothing, and definitely a shower. She felt the slight twinges of "morning after" down below and tried not to smirk.
She paced to the bathroom to change, very surprised Riddick had followed her suggestion. Riddick already had his outfit laid out on the counter and was steaming up the bathroom…. Out of impulse, she opened the shower door and smirked,
"You scared me for a minute." He rasped, the water falling down his back and perfect butt, she could hear the smile in his voice.
"I want one after breakfast, save me hot water" She smiled and kissed his check, trying not to be drawn in by the rivulets of water running between muscles.
After getting out and dressing quickly, she put serious thought into how to resolve this without physical fighting getting involved.
She trekked out to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. After that small but important task was completed, she searched the fridge for some eggs and bacon, and the lower cabinets for frying pans.
She didn't have to turn around to know it was him, and that he would smell just a little like her despite the shower, and that his head would be freshly shaved.
"Set the table, the plates are in the cabinet and get out glasses for the OJ and mugs for the coffee." He nodded at the task, and gave her a soft kiss.
She smiled at Riddick and then went to his room. For there wasn't a title for him. Clearly, Sarina couldn't label him as a normal unredeemable Necro, but to call him by his name would mark him as an equal. And we can't have that can we?
She walked in, now dressed in an outfit very similar to Riddick's, he looked openly for a moment and ignored the prying look in her eyes, a look he had received before. It was the same look invested in him when they tried to figure him out, tried explain to themselves why he committed the sins he did. The look his mother gave him when he didn't mourn the loss of his first pet, the look the Lord Marshal gave Vaako every time he would do something to purposely hurt him and Vaako didn't care, the same look at least five other people, with traces of Furyan blood, had given him when he didn't care to dwell on his now deceased 'beloved'. That look that normally pierced his soul, more than he let on, just to know that someone cared enough to think about how his mind works. However, in this situation it was a bit bereft, she was compassionate. It didn't touch him as it did normally. He didn't feel the irritating sting of intrigue, detachment, and bitterness.
The chocolate brown in her eyes simply wiped all emotion from him, except for pure curiosity and admiration, for her nature of course. She was the perfect creature, as most Furyans are. Built for stealth and strength, agility and adeptness. Her own nature, the compassion and care, only added to the appeal.
"Well, you coming or not?" she broke the silence and he was immediately relieved to find the look diminished from her eyes, replaced by a small form of affection. But he wouldn't point it out; she would vehemently deny it… No, I would just take what little a god that he doesn't believe in would think to give him.
"Yeah" his voice was gruff from unuse. While she and Riddick had gone about their end of the deal, Vaako had taken the liberty of putting his under-armor clothing on, a pair of loose fitting shorts and a tight shirt. He followed her out of the room, although he could probably lead her. Almost all Necro war ships were built the same.
"When did you come in last night?" her face reflected a tinge of embarrassment that her voice did not,
"Long enough to know what you did in my bed,"
"That was your bed?" Her face was…what is the old earth expression?…beet red. She stuttered apologies and walked a bit faster.
"I don't mind you know. I have slept in every bed in this ship, it was just that bed that I have occupied the most. You shouldn't feel ashamed about it, you love each other and you consummated it." She looked to him with gratitude and pride within her eyes. He wondered if she knew they were like an open book; the chocolate displayed her emotions like a copy of War & Peace sitting on an Elementals' beside table.
"Thank you." She spoke softly and looked down…they were almost to the kitchen now… He wanted to ask her what she was thinking of… three more steps…. But what could he say?... one more step…. He almost stopped her, when Vaako saw Riddick sitting at the table, glaring holes through him.
"Well, breakfast is on the table, coffee or OJ?"
"Both please" He sat down directly across from Riddick, almost a challenge. He kept staring; at first with animosity in his stance, for he had his welding goggles over his silvery eyes, then he shifted towards the protective, but finally settled on just plain curious.
"You need a haircut" she sat a plate loaded with bacon and eggs in front of Vaako, then him. He quietly assumed the statement was directed to him, but chose not to comment, instead expressing his gratitude for the meal,
"Thank you." She nodded and brought her own plate to the table. He nodded and dug in, her food was great, the Necro food and Dame Vakko's cooking couldn't compare to this.
"This is good" He commented in the silence of forks scraping silverware, he felt like relaying the compliment, mostly because it was getting uncomfortably quiet.
"Thank you," She went back to eating. But he could barely hear anyone else eating, he was only attuned to the thoughts pounding inside his head. What would happen next. He dreaded every second that passed silently, trying not to show it outwardly.
When Sarina was done she picked up her plate, as well as Riddick's, while he picked up his own and followed her to deposit the dishes in the sink. She reached around in a silverware drawer for a moment before producing scissors.
"Go take a shower and come see me in here when you are done, I will cut your hair and then we'll talk." She said this as if she had something else on her mind. He didn't question her grip on authority, and strode to the shower quickly to let the warm water consume him.
Riddick wanted to get inside her head, more now than ever. He wanted to know what she thought about him.
He wanted to reassure myself that he wasn't the only one feeling pity for Vaako. Because when compared they truthfully weren't that different; both had killed because they had to…not because they particularly wanted to. The only difference would be the varying degrees of satisfaction they received from a kill. The Furyan inside Riddick was gleeful with bloodlust.
But Riddick had this urge to redeem him.
Or to let him redeem himself. He shook the thoughts out of his head and leaned back in the chair a little further. The look in her eyes told him silently to stay put while she did the dishes. He watched her scrub, admiring the way the sinews moved under her skin. Riddick growled appreciatively, wishing to continue on from last night, and she turned around to see what he was going on about. They had so much left to explore with each other. She took one look at the look on Riddick's face and turned around, a blush on her face.
He cleared his throat, which didn't indicate if he had witnessed our moment.
She turned, directed him to a seat and grabbed the shears.
Snip, snip, click, snip
She stood back when she was done, and combed the dark hair fluidly, just to assure no random uneven bits hung around.
He had a slight five o clock shadow, and his hair still fell a bit rugged and shaggy around his face. He looked human. Looked vulnerable.
If possible he was now in even greater denial about Vaako than before.