Age of Nox
Chapter 12
Toombs snarled a lengthy amount of curses as he exited the store, Jack in tow holding a bag. As he complained loudly and stamped around in the snow, she carefully folded the extra paper around the small replacement part and then stowed it in the depths of somewhere beneath her coat.
"Let it go, just because you and he didn't get along doesn't mean you had to level a blaster at his face." She sarcastically soothed him and he sent her a sidelong glare.
"With the way he was looking at you I'm surprised you didn't knife him in the first minute we were in that shit hole." He replied, glancing around the winter dusk. The snow had stopped and the sun was setting, leaving an orange glow and shine on the still-clean snow.
"Trust me, I wanted to castrate him as much as you did," she began to walk away, in the opposite direction of the main strip where they had come from about forty minutes earlier.
Toombs had been caught up watching the creeping orange rays light up the ground, the way Jack's long coat caught a few beams that seemed to be absorbed into the leather. As a result, he barely grasped the underlying meaning in Jack's reply. When it hit him it took a few more seconds to set in and he found that Jack was nearly around the corner and out of hearing range.
"Hey!" He called and she stopped, turning half way around to watch him catch up to her. "What the hell did you mean by that?"
Riddick breathed in the fresh air and let the cold bite his lungs and wake up his beast. He probably had enough time to find some refueling area before it closed. Turning to the left, he passed beneath the swinging pub sign, only half aware of its squeaky hinge.
He was checking his shivs when he saw on the ground a definite pair of footsteps. Two sets of heavy-duty boots, not army-issued, but definitely not something anyone could pick up off the street. There were some custom treading, something a merc would do. Two pairs.
This tracking would be easier than he thought.
One pair was obviously lighter than the other, with smooth and decisive steps while the other was heavier and constantly unsure. A sign of old-time paranoia, Riddick would guess it could be something someone could see in his own boot-prints. If he left any that were deep enough to trace that far.
He followed the footsteps to a store where it looked like the worker was closing up. The young man hurried away after the gate was locked and Riddick let out a disgusted grunt at the scent of arousal that the shop's worker had left behind.
It took him only a few minutes to get into the store and even less time to access the store's charge records.
It showed a very recent purchase, of a heater pack. So their heater was broken on their ship? At first Riddick was amused by a snowman form of Toombs but his beast brought to mind the idea of Toombs, Jack and the issue of no heating. Riddick refused to let that bother him but from what he had picked up, it seemed the two were close.
"Of all people to pick, Jack, why him?" He muttered quietly to himself. It was out of character, but he wasn't in danger. Riddick quickly left the store and it looked nearly untouched. As he left, though, something caught him.
A smell.
No, a scent.
Concentrating on the passing wind that was shifting in his favor, two particular scents stood out to him. One of helkin and masculine and another…he couldn't label it but he knew it. Oh did he know it.
Jack.
"You were jealous." She stated, looking up at him. Jack tried to ice up her insides like the snow around her, but those damn blue eyes just got her every time. And now, there were only looking at her.
"Jealous? Don't be stupid." He wanted to move, to break this.
"That's the worst retort you've given me yet." Jack swallowed, but her gaze didn't part from his.
"Yours don't sound like award-winning material either." He wanted to smack himself, what the hell was he saying?
"You were jealous, Toombs." She said it again.
"So, what if I was?" He lifted his chin slightly, looking down at her from a sharper angle. The sun hit her hair and face in such a way that made her look not quite like an illuminated angel or any of that clichéd crap, but just almost ethereal.
"There's no need to be jealous." She was nearly whispering now.
"And why's that?" She knew he was pulling off his gloves, but she was captured there, she couldn't look even if she tried.
Suddenly, one of his hands rested on the left side of her face, his un-taped hands warm against her cold skin. Jack let her eyelids flutter shut for a moment as she leaned into the warmth ever so slightly.
"Why, Jack?" He asked again.
"Because," she stepped closer to him, her hands traveling up the front of his coat as his other hand snuck around her waist, gently pulling her flush against him.
Riddick rounded a corner and the remaining rays of the sun struck his sensitive eyes. But something was there, there were two figures blocking out a portion of the setting sun.
He heard the voices.
He saw the figures.
And he knew.
Not feeling betrayed, but instead quite alone, Riddick watched and listened on, the pain of the sun forgotten.
"Because," Jack started again, stronger. "I'm yours, Toombs. Always have and always will be." And without warning, she snaked her hands up behind his head and pulled him down into a kiss.
If she had been cold, she certainly wasn't now. Jack felt a molten heat that was both fired and cooled by his touch. Deepening the kiss, he knew this was what he had waited for. In the back of his mind, something growled, something ticked, but he was completely focused on Jack.
Toombs had slipped his hand into her coat and rested it on her waist when they finally broke apart. Her green eyes sparkled as her hands fell to his chest, resting there. Neither could really place what had just happened, and both knew that if the tension had gone on, something worse might've happened.
Her gaze transfixed on his eyes, Jack knew she had never felt happier. Finally she had found security, finally she had found her other half and someone she could depend on. She wasn't alone.
Still aglow from the kiss, Jack barely felt the wind change but Toombs saw her glittery gaze turn to ice and knew he should've listened to the tick in his head.
Holding her breath, Jack turned her head.
"Oh god, no," she gripped hard to Toombs and he felt her entire body tense.
Riddick stood there, not sure why he hadn't moved, why he hadn't left. He had been spotted, he could smell Jack. There was surprise, shock and then something he hadn't expected. Concern. He was still frozen into the ground.
"Riddick!" Jack broke away from Toombs' hold and began to run to him. Like a startled predator, he backed away but didn't bolt. He wasn't afraid, just surprised. She slowed and her boots noiselessly walked over the snow.
He straightened his back.
"Wait, Riddick." Was all she said. He let her approach, but as usual she kept her distance. She had always known where to stop.
"Jack," he warned when she ventured a step closer.
"Please, don't run." She spoke softly, a voice that his beast immediately warmed up to. She had spoken that way sometimes on the skiff when he was irritated and he had calmed almost instantly. And somehow it didn't surprise him that she knew exactly what he had been going to do.
"Toombs?" He asked.
"Knows. Has known for a while and hasn't gone after you yet. It's not that way anymore, Riddick." She answered without hesitation. Let him hear, smell, and see the truth.
"He's a merc."
"What am I? Not a merc, I'm not licensed, so I'm a bounty hunter. Not much of a difference." Jack wasn't afraid, she never had been.
"Trained him well," Riddick noted after a few long seconds of silence. She knew he hadn't moved an inch since she left him farther up the street.
"He doesn't take chances like that." Now the silence went even longer. "We should meet, talk."
Riddick didn't want to agree to this, but it was the least they both deserved. To settle old scores, to just straighten it all out. But he let out a low growl when Toombs approached them, and Jack turned to face him.
Before Jack even turned back around a few seconds later, Riddick was gone.
Know it was a short chapter, but wanted to make sure people realized it was still going!
More action next, but I had a feeling this chapter was being waited for. Hoped it was up to the expectations.
-Shamrock