The ghosts that we knew

Chapter 10

~You saw my pain washed out in the rain

Broken glass saw the blood run from my veins

But you saw no fault, no crack in my heart

And you kneel beside my hope torn apart

But the ghosts that we knew will flicker from you

And we'll live a long life~

Riddick was met by Toal upon his return. Giving him orders to get them the hell out of there, he continued on to his quarters where he found Vaako having a discussion with Toal's wife. Giving Riddick a brief curtsey she left the room leaving him with just Vaako.

"Where is she?"

"Through there," the man said tightly indicating the closed bedroom door. "I told her I would stay till you arrived." Looking at the closed-door once more he gave Riddick a nod and let himself out.

Finding the door locked, Riddick easily override the security codes to get access to the room, which he found dark. He crossed the room, punching in the codes to allow him entry to the bathing chamber.

Pulling his goggles off in the dim light, he found Carolyn sitting in front of a mirror, half-dressed, covered in dried blood, her hair half out of the braids it had been styled in. She had her arms lying on the table, palms up with his shaving razor between them, seemingly lost in thought. Leaning over her, he picked up the razor casually tucking it into his pocket before squatting down next to her to unfasten the corset that she obviously had been unable to remove, tossing it into the pile clothes nearby. Standing back up, he moved behind her and began to unbraid the rest of her hair.

"Because you were born different, men will fear you and try to drive you away. Always." she whispered meeting his eyes in the mirror.

"Already had that figured out," he replied watching her as he continued with her hair.

"Those people…"

"Have been taken care of."

Riddick watched as she silently cried in front of him. Finished with her hair he helped her to stand, unfastening the back of her shirt. She reached up to hold it to her chest.

"Are you injured?" He asked finally getting a good look at her.

She slowly shook her head whispering, "Not my blood."

"Whose? Someone here" he asked, instantly ready to kill again.

Carolyn reached a hand up to her face, the side with the tattoos. "There was a man. On the planet."

Riddick's mind went back to the dead man he had meant to ask Vaako about. He reached up and touched her face for the first time. "The man who did this?" he asked.

She gave a brittle nod, her eyes on the floor as she trembled at his touch.

"Carolyn?"

"I'm tired Riddick. I'd like to get cleaned up and go to bed if it's all the same to you."

Nodding, he stepped away from her and went back to the bedroom finding them clean clothes to sleep in.

She was in the shower when he returned, so pulling out his razor he began to shave. When she emerged, he didn't make eye contact just tossed a finger in the general direction of the clothing. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she slowly dried off and dressed before leaving the room. He moved to take his own shower.

Slipping on nothing but a pair of pants that matched Carolyn's shirt he turned the lights off and picking up his knife, razor and goggles headed back out into the bedroom placing them on the table next to what he assumed would be his side of the bed. Crawling into the huge sprawling bed he made himself comfortable and without another glance at Carolyn let himself doze off.

The door in the outer room opening and closing caused Carolyn to stir and he could smell her fear as the voices continued to get louder. Opening her eyes she looked over at him, not in the least surprised to find him awake.

"I need to be able to lock the door." She said flatly, her eyes meeting his.

"To everyone but me."

She gave him a look but nodded her head in agreement.

Sitting up, she swung her legs over the bed and slipped on a robe over the shirt that she was wearing.

"Do you know who it is?" she asked quietly, looking back over her shoulder at him.

"The Vaako's" Riddick said dryly. "You've met the husband but not the wife. If Vaako wasn't such a good soldier I'd have run a knife through her already."

Carolyn couldn't help but smile at his expression and tone.

"Well, shall we find out why Mrs. Vaako decided to break in?"

Riddick smirked as he stood and waited for her, placing his hand in a proprietary manner on her lower back as they made their way into the other room.

"Look darling! There they are now!" Dame Vaako called out to her clearly agitated husband. Moving towards Riddick and Carolyn she smiled and Carolyn couldn't help but think a snake was crawling over her as the woman circled them. "I wanted to be the first to greet your wife, My Lord, but Vaako insisted that we wait till today, so here we are with breakfast."

Carolyn snorted under her breath but wisely kept her mouth shut deciding to follow Riddick's lead. She had just survived the queen of mean. This little bitch was nothing more than a snack.

Vaako stepped forward grabbing his wife's arm in a clearly painful fashion if the look on her face was any indication. "Lady Riddick, let me officially introduce my wife, Dame Vaako."

The woman smiled a patently insincere smile and went through the motions of a curtsey before them.

"What a lovely creature," Dame Vaako purred as she looked Carolyn up and down. "I'm sure you don't mind us interrupting, do you dear? You're married to such an important man now," she said as she came close enough to run a hand against Riddick's bare chest looking over at Carolyn with a sly smile.

Rolling her eyes, Carolyn moved towards the table sitting with her back to the wall and facing the door waiting patiently for everyone else to join her.

After they were served, Dame Vaako picked back up the conversation. "I have to say I was thrilled when Vaako told me that he and the Lord Marshall had found and rescued you. He's told me all about you. I can't wait to introduce you to the other wives." She simpered.

"Really?" Carolyn replied her eyebrows arching, " I haven't heard a thing about you, but I gather you like being the center of attention."

She would have continued but Riddick reached over and squeezed her shoulder in a silent warning.

"Oh no. I would never dream of doing anything that might take eyes away from my darling husband."

"Please forgive my wife's enthusiasm," Lord Vaako said.

Carolyn sat quietly next to Riddick and just listened, as Dame Vaako had no problem in carrying on the conversation. Pushing her food around on her plate, she didn't actually eat anything until after everyone else had begun eating and didn't drop dead. Turning to her food, she no longer appeared to be paying attention to anything but her own plate.