Author's Note: I really hope this site doesn't kill me for putting songs in my chapters, but I'm not writing them out so I hope it's okay.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Song for the Chapter: Thunderstruck by ACDC
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Death of a Serpent
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Carolyn looked left and right before stepping out cautiously into the middle of the room. She half expected some sort of hidden booby trap to pop out and get her, especially after a new development like that. She looked at the goblets, frowning. She guessed she didn't have much time until Dame Vaako returned. Most likely with whomever it was the woman was planning on knocking off. Carolyn tapped a finger against her silk covered thigh and thought hard. Whatever was in the package was probably poison, though she wasn't sure what kind it was. How to poison people wasn't exactly taught in flight school.
She debated. She had no idea who the poison was even for, if Dame Vaako was even going to use it at all. Carolyn sighed. Who was she kidding? The poison was probably for Riddick. Dame Vaako was so power hungry she wouldn't have set her sights on anything less. Riddick's seat was the highest in Necroville and when the woman had been unable to put herself in his bed, she'd tried the next approach and had gone straight for the jugular. Carolyn shook her head. She'd wasted precious seconds standing there thinking. She stepped up to the table and deftly exchanged the goblets' places. It was the oldest trick in the book, but it was worth a shot.
Hopefully Dame Vaako didn't have a way of telling the glasses apart. Oh well, if worse came to worse she could always stab the bitch with one of her smaller wrenches. Most people carried stuffed animals to make them feel better, Carolyn Fry toted around a small arsenal of tools.
She wanted to laugh, not having been able to resist having a little taste from the untainted bottle. That booze was good and the little sip she'd had had gone straight to her brain like a heat seeking Company missile after a hijacked pirate ship. She wanted to sing and dance, and, wow that shit was good. She was totally stealing the bottle. She didn't care what Attila would say, that lovely crystal glass full of liquid joy and happiness was as good as hers.
Her dastardly deed done, she scurried back to hide in the black folds of the drapes and waited. She wondered whether she should have brought the bottle to entertain herself with, surely it wouldn't be missed...
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It was a good thing she stayed where she was.
Dame Vaako had returned in record time toting an extremely amused looking Riddick. Carolyn had absolutely no idea what excuse Dame Vaako had given him, but she knew Riddick didn't go anywhere he didn't want to. He obviously knew something was up and was just along for the show. Carolyn wished she had a comfy chair and a beer. Riddick wasn't retarded so she doubted that she'd have to step in, so the drama that was about to unfold was probably going to be unbearably juicy.
Carolyn wanted to laugh. Dame Vaako's entrance was quite a bit different now than last time. She threw the doors to her suite wide open with an elaborate flair that even a regular courtesan would have raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at. She sashayed in, moving in a slow and practiced manner that was just sensual enough to get away with without being indecent. Carolyn glanced at Riddick.
Riddick was smirking the saucy grin of a man who knew he was about to get betrayed and raked over the coals by a beautiful woman, but was still milking the situation for all he could get. His eyes were glued straight to the tramp's gold covered shiny ass. Carolyn Fry was severely disgusted. Riddick hadn't changed a jot. Maybe he hadn't left her, but he was still the same smarmy and violent lecher used to getting his own way.
Ugh. It was a shame that that's what her brain indignantly insisted, but all the same she couldn't drag her eyes away from him. He really was a good looking man. She didn't know whether it was the wine talking or her hormones but between the two of them they were making rude assumptions about the caramel skin sliding deliciously over those rock hard muscles and-
She wanted to punch herself.
It was not the time to be oogling a convict, no matter how gorgeous he might happen to be, especially when her life currently hung in the balance. Carolyn shook her head after giving herself that mental smack down and went back to watching the Dame Vaako pretend to bustle about the nonexistent kitchen. She didn't know why the woman kept up that little charade, especially as it was obvious that she had never cooked a day in her life. Carolyn bet she knew how to whip up a wicked holo meal though. Pushing buttons was freaking hard. Seriously.
Okay enough sarcasm, she thought, pulling her brain away from bashing the woman who was currently about to get poisoned. She hoped anyway. The Universe had long ago taught Carolyn Fry that things did not always go the way she wanted them to, and if the Universe could have its way she'd be shafted so fast she wouldn't know which end was up.
Dame Vaako handed Riddick his goblet with a little flair and a sultry smile that promised silky skin and sheets in his future. Carolyn was jealous of that little effortless smirk, as there would be no way in hell she could ever reproduce that facial expression even if she had liquid confidence and a few hours of practice in front of her bathroom mirror. Dame Vaako was eying Riddick's glass, the one she though contained the poison. But it didn't. Carolyn wanted to cackle villainously. Take that bitch. Wow the alcohol was really talking, whatever was in that bottle was pure magic. She wondered through her hazy brain how long the effects would last.
"You honestly think I'm gonna drink that shit?" Riddick asked, amused, swilling around the sparkling ruby liquid in his glass.
Carolyn entertained herself a moment watching the way the dim light glinted off of the deep red liquid in the ancient looking goblet. The goblet itself probably could have paid off every single year's worth of indentured servitude on the Grolier Classic, and she didn't want to even think about what the alcohol was worth. Probably more than she could ever make in several lifetimes at least. Working as a humble mechanic anyway. Working as an evil Necromonger overlord looked like it payed better.
"Come come Riddick, surely I can't thank my deliverer? You released the Necromonger people from the clutches of a villain. Surely you don't want to...relax?" Dame Vaako whispered, watching him with hooded eyes that made the person she hit with it think of sex, sex, and more sex.
Riddick knew she was up to something and he was enjoying every minute of it. Carolyn ground her teeth. The smarmosaur did not have to enjoy it that much. She didn't know if she even liked Riddick, didn't know what she felt for him. Hell, he didn't feel anything for her, he didn't even know she existed. She didn't know why it bothered her but it did. Riddick watching Dame Vaako and liking it just rubbed her wrong. She didn't even like the man! Why the hell did it bother her?
Because it didn't. It didn't bother one bit. No, no it didn't.
Dame Vaako crept close to Riddick and put her mouth close to the shell of his ear and blew. "Come, Riddick," she whispered, "Live a little."
Riddick turned his head, merely watching her. His dark and heavy goggles covered his eyes and gave no sign to what lay in the depths of those shined eyes. Not even the quirk of his mouth alluded to what would happen next. Carolyn couldn't seem to tear her eyes away. She almost felt like a pervert kid watching the next door lady get undressed. The scene was unfolding and she could almost see the situation coming to a close. The drama was over, the actors were done. Curtain fall.
Dame Vaako shook her head and laughed. "I've done nothing but work hard for you, My Lord. You don't trust me Riddick?"
Riddick chuckled. "Lady, I can throw you a lot farther than I'd ever trust you. I ain't drinking your shit. You can though."
Necropolis' most powerful courtesan laughed low, watching the man in front of her not move from that casual stance. It was obvious to Dame Vaako that Riddick wasn't going to drink unless she showed him it was okay. Oh well. She raised the goblet, toasted him mockingly, and raised it to her mouth. "Very well, if you insist."
Dame Vaako sipped from her cup, smiling over the rim at him. Carolyn could see her smooth throat move with every swallow. Carolyn held her breath. She didn't know what was going to happen. Maybe it hadn't been poison, maybe she'd been wrong. Maybe it had been a love potion and at any moment the woman was going to jump Riddick and try to rip his clothes off.
A moment passed. Then she choked. Dame Vaako dropped her goblet, gasping. She clutched her throat and strained, trying desperately to breath when she could not get her lungs to take in air. Red foam flecked her mouth. She reached for Riddick, who stood immobile and watching her struggle, grasped at the front of his armor. She vomited a fountain of blood and the contents of her stomach before dropping like a stone. Carolyn and Riddick stared at her. The whole thing had happened within the space of a few seconds and now Dame Vaako was lying still in a ever widening pile of her own blood.
Dame Vaako was dead.
Riddick stared at her body a moment before throwing back his head and laughing. "Bit in the ass with your own shit!"
Carolyn jumped, the sound of his laughter yanking her out of the shock Dame Vaako's death had inflicted. Riddick slowly crouched down next to Dame Vaako's body and stared at her a long, long moment.
"Such a shame when a pretty woman dies," he murmured, "Pity you weren't happy. But then again...that's the difference between you and me. I'm content to survive. You just had to climb one step higher.
Riddick chuckled and rose. He didn't bother to walk around the darkening pool around the dead woman but walked straight through it, tracking bloody foot prints to the door. Keying it open he turned and looked back. Those goggles didn't reveal anything and his expression was as flat as a stone. Carolyn had been quiet and there was no way he'd known she was there but...the look on his face chilled her. A moment passed.
He left, still shaking his head and laughing.
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Carolyn waited a moment, frozen, before cautiously emerging from the drapes. Dame Vaako's presence, now that she was dead, seemed to fill the room like an almost tangible thing. Carolyn shivered. It was creepy. The woman seemed to have influence even when she was dead. Carolyn's booze addled mind insisted that those glassy eyes were following her around the room, accusing like they'd known that she was the one who'd switched the glasses.
It was creepy and gave her chills running up and down her spine. She wasn't one to be squeamish but she felt like she was back in that damn cave and searching for Zeke's body. There was no help for it. She had to be sure.
Carolyn walked over to the corpse and pressed two fingers gingerly under the jaw just to be sure. There was no pulse. She yanked her hands away and wiped them on her dress, panicking, then cried out when she'd realized what she'd done. It was too late though, two vermilion streaks marred the delicate silver fabric. For some reason she wanted to cry. The nicest thing she'd ever owned, or rather stolen from a power hungry group of sadistic zealots, and she'd ruined it within the first three hours of owning it. Sonofabitch.
She sighed, getting herself under control. Oh well. Maybe she'd have time to go steal another one.
At any rate she'd over stayed her welcome and it was high time to be getting out of there. The suite now radiated wrongness, and she felt sure that someone would be along to find out what was going on. Attila and Ra had no idea where she was even if they did feel like rescuing her, which she wasn't actually confident they would. She needed to be gone, and fast. She didn't want to consider what would happen to her if she were discovered. Carolyn strode towards the door, pausing again at Vaako's weapons rack hanging on the wall. She ran her fingertips along the varied number of blades, admiring them fondly. Vaako might have been a lot of things, but he did know his weapons and the yatagan sabers in particular caught her eye. She sighed. With one last fond look at the swords she turned to leave. Seriously, the dude knew his blades. Her fingers were itching for the nice little number at the back with the thin curved blade with an intricately curved edge. That thing could make people cry.
That's it, Carolyn thought, I'm stealing the damn thing. I don't care if I don't get anything else out of this except my life. That sword is mine.
She snatched the saber she'd been eyeballing and immediately felt better with the feel of the smooth dark leather scabbard in her grasp. Her fingers tightened on it. This was right, this was what she needed.
Sir Pigsticker, she thought, looking at it, I dub thee...hmm what's something cool? Sword's have names, and not stupid ones. What should I call you? Aha! Sir Pigsticker! That works. Let's go buddy.
And disregarding the fact that she was carrying on a conversation with her new toy she reached for the door to key it open. Except that it slid open before she could touch the controls and her frightened blue eyes met Vaako's shocked brown ones. He choked, looking past her to where his wife's body lay prone and ruined on the floor. Carolyn followed his gaze and could imagine how it looked. A strange woman in his quarters, with blood on her expensive cocktail gown and one of his swords and his wife dead on the floor. There was blood everywhere, not to mention that Riddick had walked all through it tracking bloody footprints all over the damn place. She doubted Vaako would slow down a moment and take the time to see that there was no way her size seven combat boot could be Riddick's size twelve. Vaako's face went from pale to dark purple. It did not look good, no siree.
She tried for bullshit anyway. Hey, it might work. "I can explain!"
It was surprise, she thought later, that saved her. Vaako had been a soldier all his life and it didn't pay to be easily surprised. He was surprised though, and shocked, when he saw his wife dead and it took him a moment to pull himself together and deal with the intruder. So when he drew the massive sword from his belt and swung she had time to toss the sheath off of her own saber and parry. She almost didn't make it and his blow was strong enough to rattle her teeth. Screw this. If she tangled with him for much longer she'd be finished. Sure she'd taken fencing lessons on the Grolier Classic for fun, and she'd weaseled Ra into sparring with her on the ship but in no way was she prepared for this. It was clear. If she fought Vaako she was going to die.
She through him off and ran, pausing to snatch up the scabbard as she went.
Vaako was hot on her heels though, she could hear the heavy stop of his boots as he came rocketing down the corridor after her. He almost caught her, his gloved hand was snatching at her hair, when three explosions rocked the ship. Both Carolyn and Vaako stumbled and fell with the rolling of the ship. The lights flickered and people screamed. The music sputtered out and for a moment it was quiet. For the span of about two seconds they stared at each other, each wondering what the hell had happened.
Carolyn saw the moment Vaako remembered that his wife was murdered. That crazed light came surging back into his eyes and he lunged for her. She shrieked and fled, boots scraping against the smooth tile before they found purchase on the slick floor.
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Up and down corridors he chased her. Through several levels and a smoking call room they careened. Carolyn trying desperately to stay ahead of him and Vaako refusing to let his wife's killer go free and unchallenged. People not involved with actual mainanence on the ship were screaming and milling about confused. She did her best to dodge and stay out of there way, actually leaping over one terrified man crouching in the corridor. Vaako merely barreled through, eyes only for his wife's murderer.
Carolyn dodged this way and that, trying to lose the crazed man who stayed at least three steps behind her. She had to give him credit, the man was tenacious to say the least. He followed her with a zeal that was impressive, especially for a man that was rumored to have an unhappy marriage.
Fleeing down a long corridor she spied a small door off to her left and slammed into it. It was her lucky day, surprisingly enough. The door was unlocked and upon hitting it it hissed open and she careened into the empty hallway behind it.
The ship chose that moment to heave and thrash again like a dying animal and she crashed into the wall, trying to stay upright. Vaako was on her a second later, swinging madly and leaving dents in the metal of the wall. She dodged and struck out, the yatagan's shining silver blade making a gleaming half moon ark in the dimly lit corridor. Vaako dodged it, laughing, clearly in his element and brought his weapon down with all his weight behind it intending to cleave her in two. Carolyn threw herself away from it and she crashed into the wall again before darting back down the hall.
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They played the cat and mouse game for what seemed like ages. She'd be ahead, then the ship would heave like a lame beast and he'd be on her. They'd fight, and she'd barely get away again and then she'd run. Run, run, run. It was getting harder and harder to stay ahead of him. Her exhausted body whispered through the stitches and the pain in her lungs that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he caught her, maybe the pain would go away. She had enough pain in her life to last her for forever. So tired. Of everything. Of the Necromongers, of the damn fighting, backstabbing, of Riddick. Of everything.
But she ran. Even though the foggy haze of exhaustion was clouding everything, she knew she had to run.
Carolyn's breathing was harsh and coming in little gasps as her ragged lungs could now barely function, and she was clutching the agonizing stitch in her side. She was good, but not that good. Vaako was conditioned for this sort of thing, for the hunt, for the chase. He could out last her, out fight her, it was pure dumb luck that she'd managed to stay ahead of him for this long. She couldn't even hear him breathing, merely the steady and rhythmic pounding of his boots on the floor. His prey would not elude him for long.
Carolyn spied a staircase to her right, hoping for freedom at the top. It certainly looked like the one near where they'd left their ship anyway, and took the steps three at a time. Maybe she'd be lucky...just once more. But at the top her luck ran out. Her boot caught on the last step and her tired body couldn't catch herself in time to recover and keep running. She slid on the smooth marble feeling nothing but dread, and sadness that it was all over. Vaako was going to get her. Lights out for Carolyn Fry.
She came to a stop in front of a pair of heavy black combat boots and looked up, her heart sinking down into her stomach like a lead weight that was trying to learn how to beat. She looked up, dread making her sick as her gaze slid up the black cargo pants to the silver armor and golden skin up past the strong jaw to the eyes that glinted like diamonds in that familiar face.
She swallowed, knowing that the next few seconds could decide whether she lived or died.
Richard B. Riddick was not looking at her however. He had his shiv in one hand and a notched Necromonger scimitar in the other. He stood with a lazy cat like grace, and had that damn smirk tugging at his mouth. He was loose and liquid, obviously ready to slaughter an army. To the untrained eye he looked at ease, confident, but to Carolyn that hit all the danger signs. On the planet she'd seen it again and again, the calm before the storm. And she knew what would happen next. Screaming, blood, death. Riddick was humming, some nameless little ditty and watching Vaako who was clearly wondering whether he should attack his sovereign or just wait and see what would happen. Carolyn stared up at Riddick for a moment before dropping her head.
She was so fucked.
She was going to die. Either Riddick was going to kill her, or he was going to let Vaako do it. Her body shuddered, exhaustion tremors wracking her frame. So she just decided to concentrate on breathing. Whatever happened next would be completely out of her control. It wasn't like she could even have a chance at winning with the condition she was in. All she was concentrate on breathing and the feel of the cool floor against her cheek.
She felt whiskers against her cheek. Glancing up, she spied the chibbit peeking around from behind Riddick's boots and its twitching nose was inches from her face. She groaned softy but couldn't bring herself to push it away. Her tired body was taxed to the limit and she honestly felt like she might have damaged something. Hell, she was still gasping like she couldn't get air and she'd been lying there for a few minutes. Ugh, she felt like an old lady. Maybe she was getting old.
Vaako swallowed, and found his courage. "My...My Lord Marshal, this, this woman killed- MURDERED my wife, I demand recompense! Please...no, I demand that you give her to me!"
Riddick pursed that full mouth that Carolyn never could seem to take her eyes off of, and considered for a moment. "No."
Vaako choked. "No?"
Riddick grinned at him. "No."
Carolyn didn't know if he was refusing to hand her over because he wanted to protect her, or if he was just being an ass and was enjoying pushing Vaako's buttons. One could never really know with Riddick, the man was an enigma.
"Then," Vaako swallowed and licked his lips, "Then you would stand against me."
"So it would seem," Riddick said, continuing to grin that infuriating grin of his.
Vaako swung the sword in his hand, loosening up his wrists, clearly working up the courage to attack his Lord Marshal. Riddick watched him for a moment, then glanced down at the weapons he currently held in his hands. Riddick's grin deepened. He tossed both the scimitar and the shiv off to the side. He bent, shined eyes never leaving Vaako's face and put his mouth close to Carolyn's ear. She trembled, feeling the heat of his breath on the shell of her ear and not knowing at all what she should expect.
"Hey babe? Wanna let me borrow your bag?"
Carolyn let out something like a strangled squeak.
Riddick chuckled. "Thanks."
He rose, winding the leather straps of her bag around his fist.
Vaako stared. "What is this? You're fighting me weaponless?"
"No," Riddick said, "I'm going to beat you to death with this lady's bag."
Vaako choked, then his face purpled and he flew at Riddick shrieking something unintelligible. Riddick stepped over the motionless woman at his feet to meet him.
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To be continued