Chapter IX
Between Plotting and Planning
Jack was unusually happy over the next few days and Marius was a little wary of it at first, but soon became accustomed to it. He had absolutely no idea what she had up her sleeve and creeping from behind her bugnucks, but her immediate smile at his appearance and the continuing kind grin at his very voice couldn't of made him care less. Yet beneath the happiness he knew that she was longing for Riddick and he wasn't sure how he felt about this; Jack was technically his. Well, that's what he wanted to think, but he wasn't going to share her so easily, that was for sure.
On the other hand, Jack could barely sit still for the next two weeks, too excited to think or even eat and somehow she still got her training in, especially Marius'. But late one night, only some two or three days away from the big start, she wondered why she was really doing this. Riddick meant a lot to her, that much was true, so why was she going to torture him like this? He would be angry at her for leading him and his hunters on a wild goose chase that didn't even end in a bounty. But they would still get the thrill of the hunt, so did it really matter that the bounty was fake?
As she leaned back in the chair she thought back to a few older memories and then the more recent one, but each showed a clear gesture of affection from Riddick to her.
Jack listened at the door of Imam's study, wincing at the fierce argument dying out within the room. She crouched beneath the door handle, ready to sprint away if they approached the door.
"I will not keep you in my house. The girl can stay, but you must go. You are nothing but a threat to us now!" Imam yelled, his accented voice sounding harsh.
"Me? A threat? To people I saved? I don't know where your mind fucked you up, but last time I checked, you owed me something besides this shit." Riddick shot back, clearly as angry as the other man.
"You endanger my house by just breathing in it! And the girl as well, you will pollute her mind and-" he was cut off by the snarling ex-convict.
"Say what you want about me, but leave her out of this. Where I go, she goes." He stated, making Jack's heart leap.
"Absolutely not! You will do nothing but damage and blacken her soul! She needs a maternal figure, not some murderer like you!" Imam argued, causing her to frown; she hoped dearly that Riddick would win this one.
"Maternal? What she needs is someone who she knows can and will protect her, holy man. She ran away from the last 'maternal' figure, so that is the last thing she needs." Riddick shot back, a low growl forming deep in his throat.
"Fine, take her with you. But you had better stay on Helion Prime, because when you leave, which you will I'm sure, she will need a home to be in." Imam reasoned and Riddick agreed, but all Jack needed to know was that Imam had given up the verbal battle.
This is how they had ended up in that shabby apartment, still on Helion Prime, just a different part of it. To her dismay, Imam had been right and Riddick had left her with him after a few years. They had jumped the planets in the Helion system, each one confusing the mercs chasing after them, but never quite long enough. But besides that, Jack had been touched by that kindness Riddick had given to her.
Jack had been waiting for Riddick to return from one of his night jobs and she was sitting in the room they shared to sleep in. At first he seemed reluctant, but after he realized how terrible her nightmares actually were, he rarely was elsewhere when she slept. So as she waited, she fidgeted a little, wondering where he was. He was a little later then normal, but she couldn't depend on him to return on a certain minute and hour of the night, so she gave it a little slack.
Suddenly her back straightened and her ears pricked up as she heard something heavily slump against the front door of the apartment. Biting her tongue, she looked to where Riddick kept a shiv hidden in the wall, in case she was alone and needed a weapon. Snatching it up, she went out and into the entry way, where she stood just feet from the door. Jack heard someone struggle to stand, just able to use the walls and door as a support. She was even more startled when she heard this person talking, but immediately recognized it as Riddick.
"Jack, I can," his breathes were short, "smell you. Get out here." He ordered and Jack opened the door and yelped when he fell forward and she caught him, barely able to lower him to the floor. She looked up when she heard him kick the door shut, the lock clicking with the slam. But her attention was drawn to Riddick, his larger body resting on hers, hers just being able to support him. His head rested on her shoulder and his upper torso was barely relaxed against her body and lap.
"Riddick? Riddick!" She insisted, gripping onto him harder then she intended. He cracked one silver eye opened and to her horror, she saw that he looked exhausted and beaten, something that was brand new to her.
"Not so loud, Jack." He said, groaning as he tried to shift. But Jack held him fast and demanded to know what was wrong with him. "Tranquilizer dart mixed with some poison. I'll work it off, just…"
"Don't you dare," Jack snarled, looking directly at him. "You're going to be ok; everything's going to be fine." She said, almost demanding it from the fates.
Riddick didn't reply but reached his free hand that had been around Jack's waist up to her hair and she froze as she felt him undo her hair. It fell freely down her back and over her shoulders and in an animal gesture; he nuzzled it, smelling the unique smell of Jack. He gently curled his large paw of hand in her black locks, his eyes fluttering shut as he began to relax against her. Within seconds he was asleep, more deeply then Jack had ever seen him and then she realized she was sitting in the middle of the room. With no wall to lean on to help her support his weight and certainly no way to really move without having her hair ripped out.
Yet Jack managed as she always did, inch by inch moving his body with hers and finally she caught her breath, leaning on the wall. Riddick hadn't moved positions much, his hand still entangled in her hair and his warm breath softly blowing over her exposed collarbone. Holding him, Jack wondered what it would be like when he woke up, but for now she just decided to enjoy it and she rested her cheek on top of his head, closing her eyes as well.
Riddick sat, wholly un-amused by the eighth trial that was occurring before him. There was some talent, and he had spotted this in the first if not second trials, so he just waited for the others to be rooted out and had kept an eye on the few good ones. Yet he growled when one of them used what he would consider a merc move, attacking from behind. That in itself was enough to have the fighter kicked out and Riddick gave a slight nod to Laiker, who moved through the crowds towards the ring.
Soon the fight was ended and the next to contestants came up, dipping their heads in respect to Riddick and yet both looked warily at him, moodily spread out over the steel throne. Riddick had been hearing rumors flying through his hunters, especially about the claw bruises that had just barely started to fade away. But the hunters he had told on the ship had cleared up most of the rumors, but Riddick had dealt with some himself, scaring the shit out of those who had started them. But his attention turned back to the fight, where one fighter was clearly superior to the other. The better one was mocking his opponent and Riddick growled at this as well, this was another tactic he didn't approve of. His hunters chased in silence. The fight had ended, the more brutal of the two winning and the other barely alive, almost disfigured as he lay harshly breathing on the arena.
Riddick had never been one to step into the trials, especially before his due time, but this had gone too far. Standing from his throne, he stepped forward and dropping into the crowd, who quickly made room for him to walk. He strode forward, his very presence alarming those who had not yet gotten out of his way. From the hunters that had parted for him silence spread and soon the entire room had gone deadly quiet and the winner looked around, wondering what had happened. He paled when he saw Riddick pull himself up onto the ring, ignoring him and kneeling down towards the seriously injured man.
"I…sir…you…" the winner stuttered, amazed to finally meet the man who led this hunters ring, which was one of the elite ones in the entire known universe.
"I didn't appear to listen to you trip over your own words like a child." Riddick smoothly said, not looking at him.
Riddick reached out and trying not to wince at the damage he saw laid the body properly out, the defeated man barely able to breathe. He was furious in short, how dare a man break another one, especially in a battle field like this where the judge knew exactly who was better then the other from the start of the fight.
"Laiker! Rex!" Riddick barked and the two men swung themselves up onto the arena, awaiting his next orders. "Rex, carry this man to the med bay, Laiker, go with him and start treating his wounds."
Rex carefully scooped up the man in his arms, looking down at him with sympathy as Laiker undid the rope fence around the ring, glancing at Riddick. He mouthed to him: 'Don't do something stupid', but with another cold glare, he followed Rex out of the room, the crowd parting once more. Riddick stood and immediately overshadowed the other man, intimidating him even more.
"What did you do to him?" He asked, his voice echoing in the large room.
"Defeated him." He replied quickly.
"How?" Riddick demanded; he wasn't going to let this off lightly.
"By fighting…" he trailed off, unsure of where to go.
"You broke him with brute force. You will give hunters a bad name if you walk into this ring and try to chase like this. As such," Riddick snarled, making the man pale, "next week, the ninth trials, I am ordering you to a challenge against me. We will fight and you will know how he felt." He heard murmurs of agreement sweeping through the crowd as he dismounted the ring and walked out of the fighting room.
Riddick later looked out over his city of night, his arms crossed over his chest and his goggles off and hooked onto his pants. But he wasn't watching the people move between houses and streets, his thoughts weren't even in the same planetary system. When he had returned from visiting the man in the med bay, he had thought that Jack would've handled that better. The moment he thought of her, the floodgates of his memories opened with a rusty cry.
"Riddick?" Jack poked her head into their room, seeing that he was still lying in bed. He did this after a particularly rough night and he had smelled that Jack had made him breakfast, or had attempted to.
"Hm?" He propped himself up on his elbows and looked on in an amused manner as she bumped the rest of the door open with her hip and carried in a tray. Of what he couldn't recognize, but he think he had seen something like it in an old earth restaurant. He didn't even know they had had those ingredients to make pancakes, but then he realized that she had gone out herself. Alone. The very thought made his spine stiffen and his blood run cold; how could he have not waken up when she went out the front door?
"Breakfast. Eat up." She said, waiting until he sat up to put the tray on his lap. Once he was holding it, she clambered up onto the small bed, sitting near his feet.
"I don't care how bright it was outside, you went out alone. It-"
"Isn't safe, yeah, I know. Are you going to eat those damn things? I put a whole shitload of work into them." Jack insisted, not caring that she had disobeyed his orders.
"Jack, there is enough sugar on and in these…things to charge a power cell for the fucking skiff." He replied, taking the first bite of this syrup soaked pastry-like breakfast foods. Barely swallowing it down, he was about to refuse to eat them but the lopsided grin that she gave up made him do otherwise and he ignored how his stomach rumbled in protest.
When he was done, he set the tray aside and waited for Jack to bounce up onto her side of the bed. She did just this and snuggled against his side, giving him easy access to her hair. She had made sure all traces of sticky syrup had been washed off, but after that incident with the tranquilizer he had had this thing where he liked to play with her hair. Sure enough she felt his hand carding through it, both of them silent except for the exchange of heartbeats that each heard.
Riddick dragged his hands over his face, wondering how long it would really be until hunting season kicked in again. Maybe he could get his mind off of her, both in the memories and what he had seen. He decided that he wouldn't go looking for her and that he should let her come to him, but he had to admit that temptation's name was Jack. Riddick hoped the first hunt would be the best of the first part of the season, a real chase. Little did he know that it was going to the longest, hardest and least rewarding chase of his career.
Thanks to these reviewers:
TotallyRiddickObsessed – Woo! Jack's is definitely going to give him a head trip. Or so I hope. Thanks for reviewing!
IT – MUNCHIES! Do you have those little bonbon things? You know, the ice cream bite size bits?
njrd – Glad you like the story and soon we'll have a tad more Marius angst. I promise.
Wildfire962000 – I'm so very glad you like it!
FlyNAlien – Thanks so much for your…inspiring review! More chapters will be appearing soon.