Chapter 2
Silver eyes gleamed at Alex from his face. She backed away instinctually, letting out her breath in a low hiss, but lowered the point of her sword so that it was at her side. No need to antagonize him, whatever he was here for. Managing to bring her face back into some neutral expression, closing her wide-open mouth, she cursed herself for letting her appearance slip like that.
Richard B. Riddick was the last person she expected to see that night. She'd had no word from him since they parted ways, and neither, to her knowledge, had Imam once he had gotten to New Mecca. Not that she really expected him to contact either of them. He had piloted the emergency skiff into the shipping lanes, and they had been picked up by an enormous freighter transport going to the space station. Riddick had left the rest of them alone, for the most part, but occasionally she had run across him, looking pensively into nothingness. What he was thinking about she could only guess. But she knew that for herself, almost everything had been changed within the endless night.
"Looks like you had fun," were the first words out of his mouth. He sounded amused. Amused could either be friendly, or fucking dangerous, coming from him. Was there the hint of a smile on his face? She couldn't tell.
Alex took one more moment to control her breathing, her heart still racing from her encounter with the six men, and racing still at the surprise of seeing Riddick. In the dim lighting of the street she couldn't see the expression on his face very well, just the eyes, which bore holes into her. What in the name of all that's fucking holy did he want? If he was trying to scare her, she wasn't going to have it. She met his eyes with her own.
"Yeah well, cheap thrills," she said, still startled enough to fail miserably when she tried grasping at a witty retort. "What the hell are you doing here?!" she blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her, still unsettled.
His eyes flickered to the men on the pavement, who were starting to get up, holding their sides, but glancing evilly in their direction. "Looks like your friends still want to play," he rumbled, causing her to whirl around. They could quite possibly slink off and return with more friends, more than she could handle. Anger flared in her again at the presumption of them, thinking she was some easy meat they could corner with six people. She took a deep breath in, considering. She had to get out of there, but didn't want to lead Riddick any closer to where she and Jack lived before she could read what his intentions were. Letting out the breath, she reached a decision.
"Fuck. Fine. Let's get out of here," she said reluctantly.
Riddick made a motion with his hand indicating she should go first. "After you," he said, still amused.
He was either joking or he didn't know her very well. "Right," she said sarcastically, "How stupid do you think I am?" In response he raised his eyebrows and moved his head in acquiescence, then turned and walked out of the street, away from the five men who were getting up, as he was walking away taking a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on.
She cursed under her breath as she walked quickly to catch up to him. She wasn't really sure that he would consent to walking in front of her with the sword in her hand, but damned if she was going to let him walk behind her.
The streets were empty, this time of night, the only ones out were street toughs and anything that was more dangerous than them. Riddick, walking in front of Alex, strolled along nonchalantly in black loose-fitting pants, boots, and a gray slim-fitting jacket. Standard plain spacer wear. She'd seen many people dressed like that up on the space station. He still had the same air of readiness, dangerous at a moments notice. Where had he been to be dressing like a spacer? A thousand questions ran through her mind, along with the nervous energy coursing through her. To think that she, Alex Bennet, had Riddick walking in front of her essentially at swordpoint was almost laughable. You must have impressed him, the thought came to her. Interesting. Actually she was fairly surprised that he hadn't made a move to intimidate her yet. But why was he there? It must have taken a fair bit of effort to track her down, and he must have been watching her for a little while, at least, to approach her just as she had finished the street fight.
They walked for about four blocks, until she looked back to make sure that they weren't being followed. No one was around them except a bunch of kids down the street, who she'd seen before, and knew to stay clear of her. They were coming up on another side street, this one well-lighted, so she decided it was time to find out just what Riddick wanted.
"Down this one," she said, following him as he turned into it.
He walked a little further down the alley, and stopped, turning around. His still-shaven head bore one scar, on the left side, that she dimly remembered as bleeding on the night they escaped from the planet. Alex stopped five feet away from him. Never hurt to be too suspicious. It's what had kept her alive the first few months in Loku.
"Now, what the hell do you want? I'm guessing it's not exactly a personal call," she said, looking into his sunglasses again. There would be no reason for a "personal call," as she put it, if he hadn't contacted them in almost a year since they parted ways. And he must want something. He wasn't the kind of man to do anything for someone else before getting something in return. Or so she thought.
He stared back at her, his face still seeming amused. "Not exactly," he finally said. "I need somewhere to stay for a few days." He drawled it out, the same tone he had used when he was tied up in chains in the hold of a ship. It seemed so long ago.
Alex's eyebrows raised. Of all people, of all places-to ask for a place to stay? She almost sputtered with indignation, ready to refuse him. And then she remembered her promise, a promise she had made and sworn over Carolyn's body. Take care of them, she could almost hear Carolyn gasping it in her mind. And "them" included Riddick. She breathed out slowly and looked down at the ground, considering for a moment. He could kill them, easily, if Alex let him into their little sanctuary, hers and Jack's. But it was her duty, and try as she might she couldn't think of a reason that he would try to kill them. As she brought her head back up, she sheathed her sword. Did she see his body relax a small bit? However, that didn't mean that she could still be suspicious. The flame was still in her mind, still keeping her calm.
"Why should I trust that?" she asked, genuine question in her voice.
But almost before she had finished speaking, he unexpectedly lunged at her. Taken totally by surprise, she stepped back only to find that she was closer to the wall than she thought. Panic and fear threatened to overwhelm her, but in that split second she reached behind her back and snapped the knife out of its sheath. But before she was able to bring it in front of her he was on her, his body blocking the light, one arm holding her pinned against the wall and the other hand with a knife to her throat. The best she had been able to do was bring the knife down to his groin, but she didn't think he had noticed yet. Damn, he was fast. She couldn't move, the knife at her throat prohibited her from doing so, but her heart pounded in her chest in shock. She only hoped her fear wasn't as visible on the outside, and tried to glare icily at him. Son of a bitch. He leaned in, his mouth next to her ear. The flame burned higher, and she calmed a little.
"Because if I wanted to, I could have killed you already," he whispered confidently. "Just like that."
Time to play the wild card. "Just like that?" she whispered back, hoping she sounded cold, and pressed her knife into his lower abdomen, not quite enough to start cutting. She could feel his body give a tiny start, and he brought his head back to look right into her eyes. Damn those glasses! She wished she could see his eyes, be able to read him. His lips curved into a small smile as she glared at him, her anger coming on more strongly now. He thought he could frighten her like that, did he? She kept repressing the small voice in the back of her mind, shrieking in fear that he had come so close to possibly killing her.
He let out a small "Hm," and slowly backed away from her, the knife the last part that he removed as she brought her knife up to face him.
"So THAT was supposed to make me trust you?" she said, scathingly. He shrugged. But when she thought about it again, it did prove a point. He could have killed her. It had just taken that little confrontation to realize how fast he could move, how open she could be if she wasn't on the highest guard, watching her step. She sighed, knowing that she couldn't wriggle out of the promise she made. He had still pissed her off, though. Anything that made her show weakness pissed her off. And being pissed off was better than being afraid.
"Come on, then," she snapped at him, turning quickly and resheathing the knife at her back. He picked up a small bag that he had left in the shadows, slung it over his shoulder, and followed her.
They made their way among the high-rise buildings of the Loku residential areas, Alex leading Riddick on a twisted route through dirty streets, walking quickly in silence. What would Jack say about her coming home late, and bringing Riddick, she wondered. Neither of them said anything. Alex was still angry, mostly at herself, and strode quickly, knowing Riddick could follow. She slowed as they stepped into the pool of flickering light that was the front door to her apartment building and pushed the door in, catching herself before she shuddered at the roach skittering across the "lobby" floor. In three hundred years they still hadn't wiped out the disgusting insect. She took in the cracked paint and dirty floors. But it was cheap, and cheap meant they could live there.
She pressed the elevator call button and the silvery doors opened immediately. She walked in, head high, and pressed the "10" button as she passed, then stood in the back corner. As she turned around to stare at the silver doors until they opened her eyes followed Riddick as he entered, the harsh light of the elevator illuminating his shaven head and angular features. He moved towards the corner opposite from her, turning around and placing his hands together in front of him. He looked so out of place in this elevator she had ridden so many times, to associate with home. The elevator doors closed and she glared at them. She was angry because she didn't want to have to watch her step all the time, especially not in the apartment, the only place where she was able to relax. With a tremendous effort she kept her eyes on the doors as the elevator sped upwards. The only improvement in so many years was that they were faster.
A soft "ding" sounded and the doors opened, revealing the bare concrete of the hallway and the dirty walls. She stepped out and headed to the left, where the door to the apartment lay at the end of the hall. She slowed down, bringing out her keys from a vest pocket, but suddenly a thought occurred to her. Jack, who was supposed to be asleep, might appreciate more of a warning if Riddick would be in the apartment. Sometimes she babbled on about him. Hero-worship, undoubtedly.
She looked up at him, looming in the hallway. "Stay here, I'll wake up Jack," she said, and then paused. He seemed a little surprised when she had said Jack, but she didn't care. She summoned up the flame and it took all her courage to say the next part, which she had been thinking about in the elevator. Glaring up at him, she said in a dangerously soft voice, "Riddick, if you hurt her, or do anything to us, I will kill you. I swear it." The emphasis in her voice surprised even her, and she wordlessly turned back to the door. Never, ever had she killed a human being, but anyone that hurt her little "family" would have to be reckoned with.
Four keys for the four locks on the door. The landlord laughed at her when she said how many, but she installed them just the same. One at the top and the bottom, two in the middle. Every other apartment on the floor had been broken into, but not theirs. She glanced at Riddick one more time, then left him in the hallway and slipped inside, locking one lock behind her on the thick plasmetal door.
"Jack?" she called softly in the dark living room. "I'm home." She turned up the dimmer switch and the room was flooded with light.
Jack, fully dressed, walked out of her room. "Alex! You were late, I-I started to worry!" Her face held a mixture of concern and ire. Jack never liked being alone so late, but that was the job. Alex walked into the living room and took off her vest, placing it on the small chair. She looked at Jack and smiled at her concern.
"Busy night. And what were you doing up, ma'am?" she said, for a moment her concern about Riddick gone as she felt a warmth in her heart. "It's 2am."
"Yah, I know," Jack said ruefully. "But there's no school tomorrow and I was messing around on the net, waiting for you to get home." Alex couldn't be mad at her for staying up late, not on a weekend. To tell the truth she was glad that Jack was up and dressed. "What happened?" Jack continued. "Was there another fight?"
Alex had been straight with Jack about the street fights. It was part of Loku's, ah, charm, and Jack needed to know about it. Jack knew that Alex could handle herself. But this time there was something a little bit different.
"Yeah, there was," Alex admitted, a slight twist to her mouth, remembering it. Then she brought herself back to the present. "And, well, I-" she broke off, not sure how to say it. Jack looked at her expectantly. Well, she might as well just be blunt. "Jack, Riddick's in the fucking hallway outside," she let out with a sigh.
Jack's eyes got enormous. "Holy shit! Ho-ly shit!" she said. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?"
"Would I?" Alex sighed, leaning against the wall as Jack started pacing nervously. "He wants to stay here. Couple of days, he said."
"Stay, stay here?!" Jack almost squeaked, either from nervousness or excitement. "But you always told me it was just us and Imam that could be here."
"I know," Alex sighed, "but he was part of that promise, Jack. Besides, you'll finally get to talk to him, eh?" she tried to put a positive sort of spin on it.
"Alex," Jack said, coming up close to her, a smile hovering on her face, "this is so cool!" She grinned impishly and ran off into her bedroom. Alex sighed. She sort of knew that Jack would be this way. But Riddick liked her, Alex was pretty sure, so perhaps her enthusiasm would make it a bit more pleasant.
As Jack started rummaging around, Alex felt anxious over having to let Riddick in. But it had to be done. She leaned one hand on the doorframe, and unlocked the door with the other hand, then opened it. Alex peered around to see Riddick leaning against the wall directly opposite the door. It snapped her out of Jack's bubbly happiness a bit to realize that she was letting a convicted killer into her home. It was so tempting that she almost, almost shut the door in his face. She opened the door more and he got up from his casual position. Opening it all the way, she removed her hand from the doorframe.
"Come in," she said.
He walked slowly through the door, almost cautiously. As he got all the way in and stood staring at the tiny living room, Alex closed the door behind him, wishing there was some way for him not to be in her apartment right now.
Jack poked her head out of her bedroom. "Hi," she said, her face completely serious.
"Hey, kid," he rumbled, his voice sounding almost.genial.
"So, you're staying here, huh?" Jack said, walking out of her room. Alex noticed that there was a knife in Jack's right boot, and knew that the other was probably in the back sheath, like her own. Under any other circumstances she would have broken into a smile at Jack's attempt to impress somebody, but not tonight when she had Riddick standing in her hallway.
"Yeah, for a few days," Riddick said, walking into the living room and looking around through sunglasses. He turned around and looked at Alex, and with a start she realized that the lights were too bright. Calmly she went over to the dimmer and put them down a bit, and Riddick took his glasses off.
Jack's serious face broke into a grin, and she started going off a mile a minute. "So where ya been what you been doing why you here-" she stopped as Alex cleared her throat, looking at her in disappointed.
"It's late, Jack, you should go to bed. You can talk tomorrow," Alex said, which was true. She, too, wanted to ask questions of Riddick but she felt the busy night at the Orchid beginning to wear on her. Hopefully she'd be able to get some sleep tonight, although she wasn't sure how that would work out what with Riddick in her damn apartment. She also had a second motive, to get Jack behind a locked door and safe from Riddick. He might be in her apartment but that didn't mean she had to like it, or trust him any.
"Aw, Alex, he just got here," Jack started to whine, not caring if Riddick saw her as "tough" or not at this moment.
"Bed." Alex said, in her no-nonsense tone of voice that she rarely used. She hated it, sometimes, being the adult. But she wanted to raise Jack as best she could. Jack had taught her some things, already, too.
Jack's face looked crestfallen, but she trudged off into her room and closed the door, then clicked all three locks into place. Riddick sat down on the couch and set down a small bag as Alex turned to do the same on the main door. You're locked in with a killer, Alex, said that tiny voice inside once the fourth lock was in. She took a deep breath and turned around, seeing Riddick staring at her from the couch with those silvery eyes. She picked up her vest from the back of the chair opposite him and stood in the hallway, all her tiredness hitting her at once.
"Jack's room, my room, bathroom down the hall, kitchen," she said wearily while pointing to each, thinking how surreal it was that she was explaining all this to Riddick. "If you want food help yourself." She went down the hall to her room and walked to the closet unit, tossing her vest on the bed as she did. Opening the doors, she reached up on the tips of her toes to pull down the extra blanket, a nice synthwool, and pillow she had up there. She went back to the living room and tossed them across to land beside Riddick, who still just sat there. She walked over to the dimmer switch and flipped it to "off," leaving him sitting in the dark illuminated only by the light from the windows. Too tired to play the game of intimidation any longer, she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've had a busy fucking night and I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she said, then turned and walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her and clicking closed the three locks. She took off all her weapons and put them in the right place, then sat on the bed, took off her calf-high boots and then changed for bed. As she finally lay down underneath the covers, she could not stop thinking about how Riddick was in the next room over. The doors were too thick to hear what he was doing. It took a long time to go to sleep.
Riddick relaxed as Alex's door closed behind her, and heard the locks closed. Three on each bedroom, he mused, and four on the main door. Fucking paranoid, he thought. Then remembered the neighborhood they had come through in order to get to the building. Maybe not so paranoid, then. She wasn't a one to take many chances, although he had thought that facing down six guys in a shadowy street was pretty fucking stupid until he had seen what she could do.
He couldn't believe that Alex had let him inside the apartment. He had been conflicted about the whole thing, not even half sure that she would let him stay with them. And she was taking care of Jack. He had almost laughed at how the kid had walked towards him with almost an exact copy of the swagger that Alex had. But then the sobering thought of the real reason he was there came as a chilly reminder. He looked around at the apartment. Nice place, he thought to himself. Better than the hellholes that he'd been in his whole life. He couldn't remember the last time he had sat on a couch. He decided to sit awhile, in the dark, and think about how to tell them.
Notes: Of COURSE it was Riddick. Who else did you think it was, Johns? No, no, no. And Alex, so far, doesn't kill. Remember how she felt when she had to kill the creature in the last story? It's going to take something really bad to make her do that. I hope that you're still enjoying the story, two chapters in two days, yeah!
Silver eyes gleamed at Alex from his face. She backed away instinctually, letting out her breath in a low hiss, but lowered the point of her sword so that it was at her side. No need to antagonize him, whatever he was here for. Managing to bring her face back into some neutral expression, closing her wide-open mouth, she cursed herself for letting her appearance slip like that.
Richard B. Riddick was the last person she expected to see that night. She'd had no word from him since they parted ways, and neither, to her knowledge, had Imam once he had gotten to New Mecca. Not that she really expected him to contact either of them. He had piloted the emergency skiff into the shipping lanes, and they had been picked up by an enormous freighter transport going to the space station. Riddick had left the rest of them alone, for the most part, but occasionally she had run across him, looking pensively into nothingness. What he was thinking about she could only guess. But she knew that for herself, almost everything had been changed within the endless night.
"Looks like you had fun," were the first words out of his mouth. He sounded amused. Amused could either be friendly, or fucking dangerous, coming from him. Was there the hint of a smile on his face? She couldn't tell.
Alex took one more moment to control her breathing, her heart still racing from her encounter with the six men, and racing still at the surprise of seeing Riddick. In the dim lighting of the street she couldn't see the expression on his face very well, just the eyes, which bore holes into her. What in the name of all that's fucking holy did he want? If he was trying to scare her, she wasn't going to have it. She met his eyes with her own.
"Yeah well, cheap thrills," she said, still startled enough to fail miserably when she tried grasping at a witty retort. "What the hell are you doing here?!" she blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her, still unsettled.
His eyes flickered to the men on the pavement, who were starting to get up, holding their sides, but glancing evilly in their direction. "Looks like your friends still want to play," he rumbled, causing her to whirl around. They could quite possibly slink off and return with more friends, more than she could handle. Anger flared in her again at the presumption of them, thinking she was some easy meat they could corner with six people. She took a deep breath in, considering. She had to get out of there, but didn't want to lead Riddick any closer to where she and Jack lived before she could read what his intentions were. Letting out the breath, she reached a decision.
"Fuck. Fine. Let's get out of here," she said reluctantly.
Riddick made a motion with his hand indicating she should go first. "After you," he said, still amused.
He was either joking or he didn't know her very well. "Right," she said sarcastically, "How stupid do you think I am?" In response he raised his eyebrows and moved his head in acquiescence, then turned and walked out of the street, away from the five men who were getting up, as he was walking away taking a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on.
She cursed under her breath as she walked quickly to catch up to him. She wasn't really sure that he would consent to walking in front of her with the sword in her hand, but damned if she was going to let him walk behind her.
The streets were empty, this time of night, the only ones out were street toughs and anything that was more dangerous than them. Riddick, walking in front of Alex, strolled along nonchalantly in black loose-fitting pants, boots, and a gray slim-fitting jacket. Standard plain spacer wear. She'd seen many people dressed like that up on the space station. He still had the same air of readiness, dangerous at a moments notice. Where had he been to be dressing like a spacer? A thousand questions ran through her mind, along with the nervous energy coursing through her. To think that she, Alex Bennet, had Riddick walking in front of her essentially at swordpoint was almost laughable. You must have impressed him, the thought came to her. Interesting. Actually she was fairly surprised that he hadn't made a move to intimidate her yet. But why was he there? It must have taken a fair bit of effort to track her down, and he must have been watching her for a little while, at least, to approach her just as she had finished the street fight.
They walked for about four blocks, until she looked back to make sure that they weren't being followed. No one was around them except a bunch of kids down the street, who she'd seen before, and knew to stay clear of her. They were coming up on another side street, this one well-lighted, so she decided it was time to find out just what Riddick wanted.
"Down this one," she said, following him as he turned into it.
He walked a little further down the alley, and stopped, turning around. His still-shaven head bore one scar, on the left side, that she dimly remembered as bleeding on the night they escaped from the planet. Alex stopped five feet away from him. Never hurt to be too suspicious. It's what had kept her alive the first few months in Loku.
"Now, what the hell do you want? I'm guessing it's not exactly a personal call," she said, looking into his sunglasses again. There would be no reason for a "personal call," as she put it, if he hadn't contacted them in almost a year since they parted ways. And he must want something. He wasn't the kind of man to do anything for someone else before getting something in return. Or so she thought.
He stared back at her, his face still seeming amused. "Not exactly," he finally said. "I need somewhere to stay for a few days." He drawled it out, the same tone he had used when he was tied up in chains in the hold of a ship. It seemed so long ago.
Alex's eyebrows raised. Of all people, of all places-to ask for a place to stay? She almost sputtered with indignation, ready to refuse him. And then she remembered her promise, a promise she had made and sworn over Carolyn's body. Take care of them, she could almost hear Carolyn gasping it in her mind. And "them" included Riddick. She breathed out slowly and looked down at the ground, considering for a moment. He could kill them, easily, if Alex let him into their little sanctuary, hers and Jack's. But it was her duty, and try as she might she couldn't think of a reason that he would try to kill them. As she brought her head back up, she sheathed her sword. Did she see his body relax a small bit? However, that didn't mean that she could still be suspicious. The flame was still in her mind, still keeping her calm.
"Why should I trust that?" she asked, genuine question in her voice.
But almost before she had finished speaking, he unexpectedly lunged at her. Taken totally by surprise, she stepped back only to find that she was closer to the wall than she thought. Panic and fear threatened to overwhelm her, but in that split second she reached behind her back and snapped the knife out of its sheath. But before she was able to bring it in front of her he was on her, his body blocking the light, one arm holding her pinned against the wall and the other hand with a knife to her throat. The best she had been able to do was bring the knife down to his groin, but she didn't think he had noticed yet. Damn, he was fast. She couldn't move, the knife at her throat prohibited her from doing so, but her heart pounded in her chest in shock. She only hoped her fear wasn't as visible on the outside, and tried to glare icily at him. Son of a bitch. He leaned in, his mouth next to her ear. The flame burned higher, and she calmed a little.
"Because if I wanted to, I could have killed you already," he whispered confidently. "Just like that."
Time to play the wild card. "Just like that?" she whispered back, hoping she sounded cold, and pressed her knife into his lower abdomen, not quite enough to start cutting. She could feel his body give a tiny start, and he brought his head back to look right into her eyes. Damn those glasses! She wished she could see his eyes, be able to read him. His lips curved into a small smile as she glared at him, her anger coming on more strongly now. He thought he could frighten her like that, did he? She kept repressing the small voice in the back of her mind, shrieking in fear that he had come so close to possibly killing her.
He let out a small "Hm," and slowly backed away from her, the knife the last part that he removed as she brought her knife up to face him.
"So THAT was supposed to make me trust you?" she said, scathingly. He shrugged. But when she thought about it again, it did prove a point. He could have killed her. It had just taken that little confrontation to realize how fast he could move, how open she could be if she wasn't on the highest guard, watching her step. She sighed, knowing that she couldn't wriggle out of the promise she made. He had still pissed her off, though. Anything that made her show weakness pissed her off. And being pissed off was better than being afraid.
"Come on, then," she snapped at him, turning quickly and resheathing the knife at her back. He picked up a small bag that he had left in the shadows, slung it over his shoulder, and followed her.
They made their way among the high-rise buildings of the Loku residential areas, Alex leading Riddick on a twisted route through dirty streets, walking quickly in silence. What would Jack say about her coming home late, and bringing Riddick, she wondered. Neither of them said anything. Alex was still angry, mostly at herself, and strode quickly, knowing Riddick could follow. She slowed as they stepped into the pool of flickering light that was the front door to her apartment building and pushed the door in, catching herself before she shuddered at the roach skittering across the "lobby" floor. In three hundred years they still hadn't wiped out the disgusting insect. She took in the cracked paint and dirty floors. But it was cheap, and cheap meant they could live there.
She pressed the elevator call button and the silvery doors opened immediately. She walked in, head high, and pressed the "10" button as she passed, then stood in the back corner. As she turned around to stare at the silver doors until they opened her eyes followed Riddick as he entered, the harsh light of the elevator illuminating his shaven head and angular features. He moved towards the corner opposite from her, turning around and placing his hands together in front of him. He looked so out of place in this elevator she had ridden so many times, to associate with home. The elevator doors closed and she glared at them. She was angry because she didn't want to have to watch her step all the time, especially not in the apartment, the only place where she was able to relax. With a tremendous effort she kept her eyes on the doors as the elevator sped upwards. The only improvement in so many years was that they were faster.
A soft "ding" sounded and the doors opened, revealing the bare concrete of the hallway and the dirty walls. She stepped out and headed to the left, where the door to the apartment lay at the end of the hall. She slowed down, bringing out her keys from a vest pocket, but suddenly a thought occurred to her. Jack, who was supposed to be asleep, might appreciate more of a warning if Riddick would be in the apartment. Sometimes she babbled on about him. Hero-worship, undoubtedly.
She looked up at him, looming in the hallway. "Stay here, I'll wake up Jack," she said, and then paused. He seemed a little surprised when she had said Jack, but she didn't care. She summoned up the flame and it took all her courage to say the next part, which she had been thinking about in the elevator. Glaring up at him, she said in a dangerously soft voice, "Riddick, if you hurt her, or do anything to us, I will kill you. I swear it." The emphasis in her voice surprised even her, and she wordlessly turned back to the door. Never, ever had she killed a human being, but anyone that hurt her little "family" would have to be reckoned with.
Four keys for the four locks on the door. The landlord laughed at her when she said how many, but she installed them just the same. One at the top and the bottom, two in the middle. Every other apartment on the floor had been broken into, but not theirs. She glanced at Riddick one more time, then left him in the hallway and slipped inside, locking one lock behind her on the thick plasmetal door.
"Jack?" she called softly in the dark living room. "I'm home." She turned up the dimmer switch and the room was flooded with light.
Jack, fully dressed, walked out of her room. "Alex! You were late, I-I started to worry!" Her face held a mixture of concern and ire. Jack never liked being alone so late, but that was the job. Alex walked into the living room and took off her vest, placing it on the small chair. She looked at Jack and smiled at her concern.
"Busy night. And what were you doing up, ma'am?" she said, for a moment her concern about Riddick gone as she felt a warmth in her heart. "It's 2am."
"Yah, I know," Jack said ruefully. "But there's no school tomorrow and I was messing around on the net, waiting for you to get home." Alex couldn't be mad at her for staying up late, not on a weekend. To tell the truth she was glad that Jack was up and dressed. "What happened?" Jack continued. "Was there another fight?"
Alex had been straight with Jack about the street fights. It was part of Loku's, ah, charm, and Jack needed to know about it. Jack knew that Alex could handle herself. But this time there was something a little bit different.
"Yeah, there was," Alex admitted, a slight twist to her mouth, remembering it. Then she brought herself back to the present. "And, well, I-" she broke off, not sure how to say it. Jack looked at her expectantly. Well, she might as well just be blunt. "Jack, Riddick's in the fucking hallway outside," she let out with a sigh.
Jack's eyes got enormous. "Holy shit! Ho-ly shit!" she said. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?"
"Would I?" Alex sighed, leaning against the wall as Jack started pacing nervously. "He wants to stay here. Couple of days, he said."
"Stay, stay here?!" Jack almost squeaked, either from nervousness or excitement. "But you always told me it was just us and Imam that could be here."
"I know," Alex sighed, "but he was part of that promise, Jack. Besides, you'll finally get to talk to him, eh?" she tried to put a positive sort of spin on it.
"Alex," Jack said, coming up close to her, a smile hovering on her face, "this is so cool!" She grinned impishly and ran off into her bedroom. Alex sighed. She sort of knew that Jack would be this way. But Riddick liked her, Alex was pretty sure, so perhaps her enthusiasm would make it a bit more pleasant.
As Jack started rummaging around, Alex felt anxious over having to let Riddick in. But it had to be done. She leaned one hand on the doorframe, and unlocked the door with the other hand, then opened it. Alex peered around to see Riddick leaning against the wall directly opposite the door. It snapped her out of Jack's bubbly happiness a bit to realize that she was letting a convicted killer into her home. It was so tempting that she almost, almost shut the door in his face. She opened the door more and he got up from his casual position. Opening it all the way, she removed her hand from the doorframe.
"Come in," she said.
He walked slowly through the door, almost cautiously. As he got all the way in and stood staring at the tiny living room, Alex closed the door behind him, wishing there was some way for him not to be in her apartment right now.
Jack poked her head out of her bedroom. "Hi," she said, her face completely serious.
"Hey, kid," he rumbled, his voice sounding almost.genial.
"So, you're staying here, huh?" Jack said, walking out of her room. Alex noticed that there was a knife in Jack's right boot, and knew that the other was probably in the back sheath, like her own. Under any other circumstances she would have broken into a smile at Jack's attempt to impress somebody, but not tonight when she had Riddick standing in her hallway.
"Yeah, for a few days," Riddick said, walking into the living room and looking around through sunglasses. He turned around and looked at Alex, and with a start she realized that the lights were too bright. Calmly she went over to the dimmer and put them down a bit, and Riddick took his glasses off.
Jack's serious face broke into a grin, and she started going off a mile a minute. "So where ya been what you been doing why you here-" she stopped as Alex cleared her throat, looking at her in disappointed.
"It's late, Jack, you should go to bed. You can talk tomorrow," Alex said, which was true. She, too, wanted to ask questions of Riddick but she felt the busy night at the Orchid beginning to wear on her. Hopefully she'd be able to get some sleep tonight, although she wasn't sure how that would work out what with Riddick in her damn apartment. She also had a second motive, to get Jack behind a locked door and safe from Riddick. He might be in her apartment but that didn't mean she had to like it, or trust him any.
"Aw, Alex, he just got here," Jack started to whine, not caring if Riddick saw her as "tough" or not at this moment.
"Bed." Alex said, in her no-nonsense tone of voice that she rarely used. She hated it, sometimes, being the adult. But she wanted to raise Jack as best she could. Jack had taught her some things, already, too.
Jack's face looked crestfallen, but she trudged off into her room and closed the door, then clicked all three locks into place. Riddick sat down on the couch and set down a small bag as Alex turned to do the same on the main door. You're locked in with a killer, Alex, said that tiny voice inside once the fourth lock was in. She took a deep breath and turned around, seeing Riddick staring at her from the couch with those silvery eyes. She picked up her vest from the back of the chair opposite him and stood in the hallway, all her tiredness hitting her at once.
"Jack's room, my room, bathroom down the hall, kitchen," she said wearily while pointing to each, thinking how surreal it was that she was explaining all this to Riddick. "If you want food help yourself." She went down the hall to her room and walked to the closet unit, tossing her vest on the bed as she did. Opening the doors, she reached up on the tips of her toes to pull down the extra blanket, a nice synthwool, and pillow she had up there. She went back to the living room and tossed them across to land beside Riddick, who still just sat there. She walked over to the dimmer switch and flipped it to "off," leaving him sitting in the dark illuminated only by the light from the windows. Too tired to play the game of intimidation any longer, she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've had a busy fucking night and I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she said, then turned and walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her and clicking closed the three locks. She took off all her weapons and put them in the right place, then sat on the bed, took off her calf-high boots and then changed for bed. As she finally lay down underneath the covers, she could not stop thinking about how Riddick was in the next room over. The doors were too thick to hear what he was doing. It took a long time to go to sleep.
Riddick relaxed as Alex's door closed behind her, and heard the locks closed. Three on each bedroom, he mused, and four on the main door. Fucking paranoid, he thought. Then remembered the neighborhood they had come through in order to get to the building. Maybe not so paranoid, then. She wasn't a one to take many chances, although he had thought that facing down six guys in a shadowy street was pretty fucking stupid until he had seen what she could do.
He couldn't believe that Alex had let him inside the apartment. He had been conflicted about the whole thing, not even half sure that she would let him stay with them. And she was taking care of Jack. He had almost laughed at how the kid had walked towards him with almost an exact copy of the swagger that Alex had. But then the sobering thought of the real reason he was there came as a chilly reminder. He looked around at the apartment. Nice place, he thought to himself. Better than the hellholes that he'd been in his whole life. He couldn't remember the last time he had sat on a couch. He decided to sit awhile, in the dark, and think about how to tell them.
Notes: Of COURSE it was Riddick. Who else did you think it was, Johns? No, no, no. And Alex, so far, doesn't kill. Remember how she felt when she had to kill the creature in the last story? It's going to take something really bad to make her do that. I hope that you're still enjoying the story, two chapters in two days, yeah!