((Authors note:: Here number 9, hope you like, I had writers block for awhile but thank the gods I made it through! Anyhoo, thank you soo very much for the feedback, always puts a smile on my face to know everyone enjoys reading it Warning; There be scary things lurkin' in this here chapter... Harsh langauge and such.. Ye be warned! Arr!..lol))

Chapter 9

'Don't turn around! Wait! God damn it Riddick don't go!'

Jack screamed out into the darkness, her desperate cries hanging on an empty breeze as Riddick walked towards the eastern jungle.

The sky filled with thickening clouds that swirled in cruel defiance over the land, engulfing any signs of heavenly light that might shower their bodies in safety. Jack felt the overwhelming itch of fear rush through her skin, it clung to her fragile form like death to a rotting corpse.

'Riddick, stop! You pig-headed son-of-a-bitch listen to me!'

She was tired of yelling at him, she was fed up with his bullshit. And she sure as hell wasn't about to let him walk off all 'Gun-Hoe' into the most ungodly of places.

With a burst of speed she flew through the air and tackled his massive body to the earth. Jack had tossed the beast of a man with every thing she could summon and succeeded as they tumbled to a stop. Breathing heavily her blood coursed with anger, she was so close to pounding some sense into his overly thick head.

Straddling his back she felt his rock hard muscles ripple under her weight, she could feel his body reacting as he regained his balance. Without warning she was thrown back and landed with a hard thud. Her spine ached as small spasms of pain danced through the back of her skull.

'Owe...' She murmured with her eyes clenched shut.

'Poor Jackie, did you trip and fall?'

The maniacal tone in his gravely voice sent chills through her body like a swarm of maggots eating away her flesh. Opening her eyes the vision before her didn't resemble the Riddick she knew and loved, he resembled a monster... With eye's that shown like liquid hatred in the struggling light.

'Riddick? What in the fuck is wrong with you?' Jack tried to hide the fear in her voice, but was denied that one defense as her words wavered.

A gentle face had become deathly calm, an expression she knew all too well as she gazed into his detached features. What was happening to him? He promised he'd never hurt her, he promised...

Silently he moved forward, his presence sucking the life from her soul. She couldn't move as he closed in, with every careful step she felt even more trapped. His arms swayed as every web of muscle twitched with energy, his body resembled a machine coming to take that last breath from her quivering lungs.

Jack struggled to get to her feet, but to no avail her knee's buckled under the failing strength of her body.. Kneeling she looked up in time to watch him reach out and snatch her by the throat. Her hands clawed at his grip as he lifted her into the air and brought her face inches from his.

Those eyes... No longer filled with affection were now overwhelmed with emptiness. A gaze so unforgiving, so thoughtless, pierced through her mind.

A sadistic grin stretched across his thick lips causing his luminescent eyes to glow with madness. She was looking into the eyes of something unleashed, something that had been caged and was set free to fill her mind with chaos.

'Hello Jack.' Words once welcomed by her ears were now ripping her a part. That voice that soothed her now filled her with unimaginable terror.

Jack struggled to breath as his hold on her neck began to tighten, he was slowly stealing her ability to breath and watched with an amused cruelty.

'Riddick... Stop.. You're.. Hurting.. Me..' Her choked words had no effect on his sadistic gaze. Instead he grinned, amused at the pain he was causing her.

With a harsh tug he slammed her body against his wall of a chest and canted his head as she gasped in surprise. That fucker was getting off on her pain!

'Pathetic little Jack, not so tough now are we?'

That's when the real horror sank in... This WAS NOT Riddick.

Eye's widened as the realization crashed over her thoughts like a tidal wave of insanity.

This person choking the life from her body was not the man she loved. It dawned on her the moment she let those unnatural words swim through her mind. This was the nightmare that had tried to take over her soul.

The same twisted creature that had used her body as a vessel to escape that lifeless rock of a planet. Now she was facing it, facing her demon...

She gazed into the lifeless gaze of what she could have been, a ruthless killer that fed off the agonized screams of the lost.

She had unleashed the most terrible of things, Jack had given life to her fears...

'Say goodnight Princess.' He growled as a flash of silver devoured her sight and filled her ears with a sickening RIP.

Pain and utter betrayal filled her vision as blood escaped the gaping wound in her chest. She felt her life slowly flee from her body as the world began to fade away... And all that she could see was a fulfilled expression on Riddick's face...

Suddenly everything went Pitch Black...

A blood curdling scream ripped from her chest and crashed against the silence as she shot up in bed. It was an agonizing howl that threw Riddick from his peaceful sleep, causing him to embrace her shuddering form with a firm embrace.

"NO! GET OF ME!" Her horrified screams spilled from her distorted mouth as her eyes held shut.

Riddick pulled Jack closer, the fierce warmth of his chest clung to her moist skin as sweat dripped in waves from her flesh.

"Jack, calm down. I'm here." His calming softness only stilled her howls with muffled sobs. She was trembling with sadness, while bandaged wrists brought her small hands to cover her face.

Reality slowly sank in, revealing to Jack that it had all been a horrible dream. But why did her chest still sting with pain? Why did it feel like she had just died by the hands of the very man that now comforted her?

Too many twisted thoughts fought for dominance in her mind as tears slipped through the cracks of her clenched fingers and dripped off onto Riddick's strong arms.

'Jesus fucking Christ! I thought her nightmares stopped.' His beast growled in it's own way of concern. It may have been the most ruthless killer this universe had ever seen, but when it came to Jack, it loved her with every part of it's deadly nature. It loved her as much as Riddick loved her.

Jack stopped long enough to look up, her eyes swollen and blood shot as tears continued to pour like rain onto flushed cheeks.

Riddick put a giant hand at the edge of her chin and made her look into his eyes. He watched the play of fear and sadness cloud her gaze as she trembled against him. Riddick felt her body want to push away from him, to get as far away as possible.

"Baby, it's ok."

He didn't know what to do. She looked so frail, so fragile. He felt as though she were a porcelain doll, if he held on too tightly she would break. But if he let her fall she would shatter. Riddick felt like he was dancing on razor blades. And it was tearing him up inside.

Jack was too afraid to look into his eyes, she wanted to avert her gaze so her sight wouldn't be filled with his piercing orbs. Realizing she didn't have a choice, she proceeded to look up only to feel the breath catch in her throat like a fly tangled in a web. And Riddick was the spider that threatened to devour her.

Her hand clutched the pain that wriggled in her chest, as if she were trying to hide the phantom wound that might spill with a river of blood.

"Riddick?" She wanted to believe she was awake, but that image of his soulless face taunted her thoughts.

He bit the inside of his lip as he heard her trembling voice echo in his heart. His glowing eyes softened like liquid crystals dripping into the darkness that confined them. Riddick didn't want to see his beautiful angel breathing with torment. He could feel the sadness cling to her face as she searched his gaze.

His paw of a hand pressed tenderly against her cheek as he pulled her into his lap, "Yes baby." He wanted more then anything to show her how much he hurt to see the agony in her eyes.

Jack felt the uneasy paranoia lift from her soul as she saw affection and love dancing in his glowing eyes. She could see the part of him that loved her, needed her, would give anything for her. She could see her Riddick.

All at once a magnitude of sorrow thrashed against the walls of her heart causing an uncontrollable rush of tears to flood from her eyes in overwhelming relief.

"It was so horrible.." Jack choked through sobs as his fingers wiped away the racing streams from her face. "A nightmare.. Oh god Riddick.."

She couldn't tell him... How could she? It would kill him if he knew that the very thing that had caused her the most terror was the vision of his face distorted in sadistic pleasure.

That beautiful face that watched her die by his very hands. He wouldn't understand. He would think she was afraid of him all along, that she couldn't trust him.

When in reality, it was herself she didn't trust... That thing had used Riddick's form to show her what she was truly capable of. Jack was holding a terrible secret, she knew all along... That she was the beast...

Gaining back what little strength was left in her mind she slowed the never ending tears from her stormy eyes.

"I was trying to stop you from going into the eastern jungle... You didn't listen..." Her mind began to create a new story as the words flowed from her puffy lips.

"Before I could reach I was pulled away... I was.. Stabbed... I couldn't see what did it..."

Riddick could sense the strain in her voice. Jack was hiding something, why would she do that? He knew her better then she knew herself. And he was not fond of keeping secrets, no matter what the outcome.

"Jack.."

The firmness in his voice put a halt to her exaggerated tale. She wasn't about to tell him her nightmare revolved around him. She would try for as long as she could to avoid the truth.

Her eyes fell to his lips, watching as his jaws clenched. Not a good sign. He knew she was lying, he could read her like a fucking book.

With a heavy sigh Jack pulled away from him. She would tell him the truth, but couldn't get herself to watch his eyes as she did so.

"Baby what is it?"

Jack hesitated for moment, looking for a way out. It never came, "It was just a stupid dream, not that important."

"Don't feed me that 'It's not important' bullshit." Riddick calmed his voice knowing her aura was reacting rather strangely to his presence. "Jack it ain't everyday that you wake up screaming like somethin' is about to tear you a part."

He put his arms gently about her shoulders and turned her to face him, "You have nothing to hide from me Kid, I ain't a monster."

Jack gave him that look of, 'You're kidding right?' While crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Don't try that shit with me Jack." Riddick growled softly, "Now, wanna amaze me with the truth? Or do I have to get it out of you the hard way?

'You fucker Riddick! Why do you always get what you want??' Her inner beast growled in aggravated defeat.

"It was you alright!? You turned into some cold blooded sadistic fuck and fuckin' shiv'd me!" Jack was fuming, "It was you, your face, your voice... But when I looked into your eyes.. I realized it wasn't you, it was something else..."

Jack stopped her words as her mind drifted back to the mortifying images. Those soulless eyes still burning in her memory like a bleeding wound unable to heal. Her body trembled as her eyes clenched shut in response.

It was killing her, that face, those eyes, his voice...

Riddick felt the fine hairs of his back rise, sending small waves of energy up and down his spine. What in the fuck? He didn't smell anything, nothing within thirty feet of the building seemed off.

Where the hell was this coming from?

He furrowed his brow trying to pin point this odd sensation. Suddenly his fierce mind filled with strange words..

"It's right in front of you... Deadly... Vicious... Predator ."

Jack was trembling at this point, weird chills raced under her skin and through her veins. As if an explosion of heat rippled through her blood like hundreds of razor blades.

'What's happening to me? God damn it woman! Get a fucking grip!'

Suddenly her world began to spiral in a twisted pool of darkness. She was falling, plummeting out of control. Jack was fading into unconciousness, slipping away from the safety of Riddick's arms...

Her soul was lifting from her body and being carried off into the jungle... Passed the buildings and the sea... Towards the eastern Mountains... Into the looming shadows of madness... Into the nothing that yearned to consume her...

Suddenly.. Jack's fragile mind was pulled into a vision she would never forget....


Images flooded her cloudy mind as she struggled to open her eyes. Gray stones in all shapes and sizes descended from the ground like ancient towers filling the sky. It was like a massive graveyard, with decaying carcasses covering the earth in a blanket of rotting flesh.

The air was dull and thick with the stench of disease as her soul glided across the landscape. Not one thing remained with life, everywhere she looked she was greeted with the lingering presence of death and decay. A low swirling mist hovered above piles of bodies...

'Where am I...? Where's Riddick...? Wait a minute.. This isn't right...Oh fuck.' Her soundless words echoed in her mind as horror chilled her to the bone. Then a sound, beyond the reaches of natural life slithered like an unforgiving sickness into her mind.

Hiss...

Jack averted her gaze to a cave just within her sight and felt a gasp consume her lungs...

A monstrous gaping void filled with unimaginable terrors. She waited for what seemed like the last fleeting moments of her life as a shadow began to devour the very blackness of the entrance. A darkness within the darkness, looming into the mists of the lost.

Her heart skipped an entire beat as the creature began to stir...

As if stepping from the abyss of hell it emerged, taking slow silent strides away from it's tomb of a eternal screams. The humming began to pound in her ears, oozing like an infected wound over every fiber of her being.

In utter horror Jack watched as the raven black skin of the creature shimmered in the swirling fog that overpowered any chance of escape.

A sickening sound dripped into the silent breeze as a heavy wheezing bled against the surrounding darkness. Small quakes followed with every agonizing step it took, as if the life that once danced in the air had now fallen to the earth in overwhelming fear.

'What the hell am I doing here!? God damn it Jack get your ass moving! RUN GOD DAMN YOU! RUN!'

Jack tried with everything she had to flee the void that could suck the very life from everything it touched, but fell short as her soul stayed planted firmly in place. There was nothing she could do now.

So far away from her safety, unarmed, completely vulnerable to attack. Jack had only her fears to keep her company...

Deep within the eastern jungle, towards the mountains that drank the souls of the dead with putrid delight...

Jack looked upon her looming fate with terror...

And was forced to face the beast...


"Jack! Wake up!"

A thundering voice slammed against her eardrums and shook her very core. Gasping for breath she forced her aching lungs to heave for sweet air. Every muscle, every tendon burned with pain as her eyes opened. It felt like she had been in Cryo sleep only to be thrown into an oven.

In a soft scratchy voice that took every ounce of her strength she had, whispered passed her dry lips.

"Where am I?"

A wave of relief calmed Riddick's charged nerves, "You're with me babe."

Jack thought to sit up but fell back as a slicing pain cracked at the back of her skull like a bullwhip. A low miserable groan poured from her mouth as she clenched her eyes. It felt like a headache from fucking hell.

"Easy Jack, don't rush it."

His voice seemed smooth and comforting as he gently pulled her into his arms. Putting her legs over his lap her body rested against him, her head placed comfortably on his shoulder.

Riddick's calm expression nearly failed him when the image of her collapsing in his arms drenched his thoughts once more.

Jack had completely passed out and started to convulse. It scared the living fuck out of him, he had no idea what to do. Something so precious as Jack suddenly being taken over by some force beyond his control made him furious. He was helpless to stop it, and that created a fire to bellow in the depths of his defiant soul.

Riddick stayed with her, holding her body as it shook and trembled. He wasn't going to give up, he wasn't going to just walk away. Fuck that! Not this time!

Jack was everything to him, she had always been. And he wasn't about let some invisible force take her away from him. Nothing in this world or some fucking spiritual plain can fuck with Richard B. Riddick's girl.

Mother Fuckers DID NOT know who they were fuckin' with.

Coughing she growled trying to recover the strength that had been taken from her. She was too fucking stubborn to let this shit get her down. She wasn't called a "Thick Headed Bitch" for nothing.

"I feel like I just got hit by a skiff." Jack grumbled in frustration.

A strange scent filled his nose as her hands lifted to the back of her head. Her fingers gently unraveled her hair from it's ponytail and let it flow down her back in waves of deep brown. Before she could pull away his large hands held hers firmly within his.

Leaning forward he took a deep breath, inhaling a unfamiliar scent that seemed to seep from her pores.

"Umm do I smell bad or something?" Jack squeaked with a curious expression planted on her face.

An earth shattering growl rumbled from his chest and danced through clenched teeth as he set her hands at her sides. An unnatural yet strangely familiar aroma filled his nose. A dangerous scent that caused his beast to growl in disgust.

'Calm the fuck down Riddick! You know this IS Jack. Don't go all psycho fucked crazy just because she smells weird.' He scowled at his beast.

Jack froze, every inch of her body ran cold with fear. 'Riddick NEVER growls like that unless... No he wouldn't.. It was just a dream... Wasn't it?' Her mind tried desperately to find an explanation to his sudden reaction to her scent.

Yet within the dark confines of her soul there whispered a secret, burning gently to the rhythm if her heart. Slowly churning towards the surface, wanting freedom, longing for release... Plotting blissful revenge...

"Kid, is there somethin' you ain't fessin' up to?" His voice reached out with an icy hand and slapped her hard across the face.

Jack suddenly became doused with energy, feeling the violent quake of strength take over her weakened state and purified the very womb of her spirit.

In one graceful movement she turned to face him, her sea green eyes filled with a wild intensity as she pierced his luminescent gaze. "What Riddick? Not likin' what you smell?"

Waves upon waves of never ending defiance tainted her vibrant soul while she continued to glare against his furious gaze. It was a challenge to see who would back down first, trying to intimidate ones component in a lethal game of cat and mouse.

Riddick narrowed his mercury filled eyes, "You challengin' me Jack?" He snarled in the most sarcastic tone he could summon.

With a twisted smile and a bored sigh Jack retorted, "Depends on what the rules are."

His eyes widened in curiosity, "Well princess we go by My rules."

"Those would be?"

Riddick leaned forward with a devious grin, "If you're a good girl I might tell you."

Jack canted her head to the side, her face a wicked smile of mischief. She resembled that young girl who had first spoken to Riddick... That pivotal moment they had first made contact.

He could remember it perfectly...

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that." A young teenager chimed with a fiery enthusiasm that caused a spark of interest in Riddick's mind.

For a moment he'd forgotten about the restraints, about Billy Bad Ass and his gauge, and that next to nothin' Fry as he peered in Jack's direction. "You gotta kill a few people."

With a child like quality she responded, "Ok, I can do it."

"Then you gotta get sent to a slam where they tell you you'll never see daylight again. You dig up a doctor and you pay him twenty menthol Kools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs."

Jack's eyes sparkled, "So you can see who's sneaking up on you in the dark." Her words were a mirror image of his own.

"Exactly."

Riddick was now gazing into the eye's of young Jack. Smiling at the memory of her attempts to hide herself behind the shadow of his image.

He watched the lines of her face mold into the beauty that lived within her soul. And for that split second, somewhere in the old chapters of his life, he could see himself.

Riddick glanced at what he was.. Ruthless, unforgiving, out to save his own skin. Yet, when he looked into her sea water gaze, every last drop of that caged animal was set free. He was peering into that one piece of his existence that sought out every fiber of his being. His mate.

"You're so caught up in pushing the limits Jack. Not that I blame you, but do you ever stop to think that maybe one of these days you ain't gunna like what you find?"

'Lookie here Jack, old Riddy's back.' Her thoughts shimmered with an old excitement.

Examining his collected face she felt her need to push things further. As much as she loved the new Riddick, the memory of her hero became a thunderous force of authority over every whim of her spirit.

The urge was too great as she leaned forward, "Where the hell can I get eyes like that?"

He couldn't help the charming smile take over his features as her words flowed into his thoughts like a gentle reminder of how they came to be.

'Damn, how the hell does she do that?' Riddick questioned himself silently as to how the hell she could read his mind.

"You gotta kill a few people."

"Been there, done that, problem is.." She stopped, remembering the next thing he had told her and patted her sides, "I don't got any menthol Kools to pay the doc."

Riddick's eyes flashed brilliantly with mischief, "How 'bout a favor?"

Jack quirked a brow, "A favor?"

"Mm hm." He growled putting a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"I give you something, and you give me a shine job?" She was wondering if he was actually serious, then again, this WAS Riddick. Knowing him, he was going to say something incredibly sarcastic just to piss her off.

His eyes had a gleam that seemed to pour from his thoughts. It felt as thou she was looking into the eyes of a Panther, waiting patiently.

"You know Riddick, I'm all into the whole being able to see at night and everything, the thing is I'm not a Kid anymore. I also realize you don't DO shine jobs."

She gave him a triumphant grin and slid out of his grasp, "I think I'm gunna take a shower before you cook up some bullshit excuse to get in my pants."

'Oh that was a low blow Kid.' He shook his head with a smirk. "I don't need an excuse to take what's Mine."

She rolled her eyes, "You can be seriously annoying." Jack huffed crossing her arms.

"You know you want me, every time you look at me I can smell it." A deep husky voice poured into her mind as his face was in the nape of her neck, his hot breath dancing along her soft skin.

"I want a shower." She retorted softly, trying to ignore her bodies reaction to his gravely voice.

Taking a deep breath, he let her scent fill his powerful lungs, "Yea you need one."

"Ass!" She growled gently smacking him on the arm causing a roar of laughter to escape his full lips. It was real laughter, unlike his usual sarcastic tone.

Shaking her head with a smile she stood up, her hair swaying in beautiful waves to her waist. Her body ached as she let out soft groans, twisting her arms into the air for a good stretch.

Riddick sat at the edge of the bed, legs spread a part, his massive arms resting comfortably on his thighs as his hands sat on his knees. He was watching her every move, every graceful pull of her limbs as she stretched.

God was she beautiful.

Feeling his gaze burning into her skin, she shivered. Closing her eyes she took a slow steady breath and turned, meeting his hungry glare. Lord if only she could breath!

He was.. Amazing.. His chiseled chest and abs rippled softly in the darkness as every muscle danced under his shimmering flesh. She found herself thinking of how good his deep caramel skin would taste while unknowingly licking her full lips.

She was caught up in the powerful beauty that was Riddick. Her world revolving around those deep pools of liquid chaos that shined in the darkness of her mind.

A pleasant grin slipped into his intense face while his eyes flashed wildly in the dim light. Never leaving her gaze, somehow beckoning her to him, without words, without gestures, just his eyes.

"Like what you see baby?" He chimed in a deep alluring growl while running his tongue slowly over his luscious lips.

Jack struggled with her words and swallowed. Breathless, completely over run by a flood of emotions she merely nodded and took a step forward. She was being crushed by a sea of sensations; lust, passion, need, understanding, fear, and love...

Biting her bottom lip she closed the gap between their bodies, his heat ignited her skin as it gently swept from his hands as he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her against him. She let out a soft gasp in surprise. Surrendering to the strength of his touch, so tender and yet so incredibly commanding.

Suddenly his arms were wrapped tightly about her waist, holding her close.

Her eyes shot open as his face pressed against her chest, listening to her heartbeat. Looking down she sensed a change in the air, innocent and vulnerable. Not intense and demanding. That was all Jack could take as she threw her arms around him and held him close to her trembling body.

Her small hands gently brushed along the stubble of his bald head, while his breathing remained slow and steady as his chest heaved against her stomach. No need for sarcastic words, no test of egos, just sweet and utter release.

Riddick was desperate for her body, her touch. He wanted her more then just a quick fix. He needed to know she loved him, he needed to feel it in his arms. To hear it in her heart. And at long last, after all the bullshit, all the battles they had endured side by side, he was home.

Suddenly Jacks body began to shake, her heartbeat jumping at an unnatural speed. The moment had been rudely interrupted as she looked out into the darkness...

"Jack..?" Riddick turned his metallic gaze to her face and saw a roar of fear devouring her eyes. "Answer me." His voice was soft but firm.

She choked down her fear and pushed her voice back to her throat. "The window."

He loosened his grip on her waist and pushed himself off the bed. His hands gripping his Shiv's he turned, leaving Jack safely behind him.

The window gaped open as moonlite poured over a black figure. It caused haunting shadows to dance on the wooden floor boards as it peered into the room. Riddick became deathly calm, his heartbeat slow and steady. But something was off, this thing wasn't going to go down easy.

Riddick's hands slowly slipped away from his Shiv's. He sensed something, and realized that slicing this thing wasn't going to cut it. He needed his gauge.

Jack saw his reaction in the corner of her eye. She could feel the pull of his energy telling her to follow him, not to question it.

'Jack, get his gauge, you're closer to it.'

With lightening reflex's she leapt through the air and tackled his bag at the other side of the room. The creatures head turned, letting out a high pitched hiss as she tossed the gauge to Riddick.

"Riddick!" She called out as the creature began to crawl into the window, it's black body devouring the very light from the room. All she could make out was a long spine of a tail. As if all the flesh had been ripped away and it was now an animated corpse polished black to signify it's terrible intentions.

Riddick didn't hesitate as the gauge landed in his large hands. The creature turned to face him and hissed, arching it's deadly tail into the window ready to strike. Riddick raised an unimpressed brow and squeezed the trigger.

A sickening squeal bounced off the walls as the blast threw the howling shadow out into the night.

Jack didn't move, every ounce of her body screamed in fear as she struggled to breathe. Her chest felt heavy as if something was closing off the very source of her life. She had thought it was just a nightmare, just a horrible dream that meant nothing. But she had been wrong, her dreams were coming true...

Riddick looked out the window to see if it was clear... It was.

The jungle sang as it always had while the breeze danced gently into the vast open sky. Everything was blissfully normal, too normal.

Nothing remained except a strange slime covering the wall...