AN: Here's to finishing this thing in the next couple weeks;-)


The two men hung suspended for a long moment, Riddick towering over Dom, poised to strike a killing blow—Dom lying on the cement, both guns pointed at Riddick's chest.

A cocky smirk crept across Conte's face as he tilted his head to one side. After another moment of silence he spoke around his cigarette. "So, how was it?"

"How was what?" Riddick asked after slowly licking his lips

"Your life. When it flashed before your eyes just now."

"You missed on purpose."

"I never miss, Dick."

Jack screamed when a body hit the pavement with a sickening thud.

Conte inclined his head slightly toward the new corpse. "Poor bastard showed up late. He should've just gone home and got laid."

"So, what're you gonna take for proof that you got me? My nose?" Riddick asked, sarcasm creeping back into his tone.

Dom rolled quickly back over his shoulder and onto his feet, proving to be lithe as a cat. Neither his eyes nor his guns left Riddick for more than a fraction of a second. He smirked. "I'm not here for you. At least, not this time... Now, as much as I'd like to stay and gab, I've already overstayed my welcome at this particular murder scene. Plus I've got some unfinished business to take care of. If it's all right with you two, I think I'll just fade back into the shadows, nice and easy."

It seemed too simple an ending, but true to his word, Dom did just that. He backed to a safe distance and then turned and walked away.


He dragged his last victim of the night through the window of a car, poured lighter fluid on him, then tossed a waning cigarette on the flailing body.

Sometimes he wondered if some assassins considered themselves artists. He didn't, it sounded too feminine. Still, there was something satisfying in an ironic death.

Shane Connell had fire engine red hair. He once proclaimed himself leader of a gang called the Flames. He crossed a rival gang by messing around with the younger sister of the Viper leader, thereby burning some of his last bridges. Then, all of a sudden, his life literally went up in smoke.

The high wasn't as good by then. Spike after spike of adrenaline had left him calm after the shaking stopped. Calm enough to feel in complete control of himself by the time he crawled onto the roof of Riddick's house and silently took a seat just outside Jack's open window.

She didn't notice at first, still in shock from what she'd seen that night. Her movements remained automatic, mechanical as she finished packing her few belongings. Just like earlier that evening, when she couldn't manage to identify just what kind of beast he'd become. Finally she did see him. She jumped, prepared to scream, but didn't when he merely cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I came to say good-bye," he said, slightly amused that he'd turned into the boogieman so quickly. Just that afternoon she'd come to his ship of her own free will and thrown herself into his arms.

"I can't believe I trusted you. I'm just as bad as Riddick was with Shella. She's still out there, you know. Probably blowing the whistle as we speak."

"No, she's not."

"Yeah, how would you know? Hell, you're probably working with her. She's pregnant with you, isn't she. She tried to tell Rick it was his to keep him, but he..."

She was becoming hysterical. If he wanted to get her listening to reason she'd have to calm down a notch or two. He let his jaw come to rest on one fist, tiring quickly of attempting to explain himself. "Jack, she wasn't pregnant with me. I'm not biologically close enough to girls like you for that sort of thing to happen."

"What happened to your teeth?" she asked suddenly, staring at him like she would Count Dracula. It occurred to him that she might've briefly forgotten about those in her confusion. "They're normal now. Do you have a bridge, or a..."

He relaxed the muscles in his face, closing his eyes. It took no small amount of concentration, but finally his eyeteeth slid down a few millimeters. He grinned at her, revealing his wicked looking fangs in all their glory.

Jack stared, the horror plain on her face. "Why did you bite him? Why, how did you..."

"It's a mutation I was born with. Every now and then you see a human with two different colored eyes. Among the males of my species there exists the potential for teeth built to rip through meat. There's speculation that humans were born from the Rysen species. We're more primitive than you, I guess. When I get excited they usually drop on their own. Biting the people I kill is like leaving my signature on them, just in case I happen to lose my proof of death."

"Why are they retractable?"

"No idea, but I've wondered."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't scream."

"Because now you know what I can do. I never lied about liking you, Jack. What happened to you tonight, that was partially my fault, but I wouldn't have let anything bad happen to you. I put a tracking device in your jacket just so I'd be able to find you. You're a spunky girl. You're smart. That's why I want you to come with me. I'm retiring and I've got enough common dollars to fill a small swimming pool. I need someone to spend it on."

She shook her head. "I'd never go with you. I don't know what you are... But you're not human. Riddick, at least he cares. Now that I've got him back I'm never leaving him for anyone." She turned her back on him, a clear dismissal.

"Jackie, Jackie. You never learn, do you?" he said, his tone sincere. "Rick won't stick around, babe. This spooked him, bad. He'll drop you off with your Imam friend and a few months of rent and then he'll go on his way. You'll be back where you started when this whole thing began. Not a part of my plan, not part of anyone's plan. Just alone. You've seen the uglier side of the universe, you know things a kid your age shouldn't know. We've both fought hard to get where we are in a tough world, Jackie girl. No one deserves to see the up side of life more than us.

"I know there's a still a wild streak in you, a part of you that can't settle down yet. Come with me, baby, and I'll show you the stars until you're sick of them. Then, if you want, I'll take you home. No strings attached."

He waited for a response to his offer that didn't come. He didn't allow himself a sigh of discouragement. "I'll wait an hour before taking off. You know where to find me, if you change your mind."

When she turned to look at him, either to tell him off or accept, he'd already made sure to drop out of sight.