Chapter Twenty.
* Riddick's POV *
HELION PRIME; INSIDE BASILICA.
Knocking against the Dame's arm alerting her deliberately as I enter their preparing to launch ship. She dashes in after me but loses me in the crowd, that is when I notice her, leant up against the barrier of the third floor tugging awkwardly at the collar of her new outfit. They have dressed her up like one of their fucking own. Like a Necromonger, but I must stay focused, Elisha believes me to be dead and until the timing is perfect, that is what she must continue to think.
XxX
* Elisha's POV *
"I think, we can save a lot of precious time, if we agree not to lie to each other." the Marshall suggests.
Between my sharply edged teeth, I nick the inside of my lower lip, "Yes, I think that would be best." I agree.
His eyes grope me like a pair of dirty hands as he incredibly slowly steps around me in a perfect circle capturing every detailed section of my clothed body with his grey eyes. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck as his cold breaths tingle on the surface of my skin as he hums and sighs to himself before pausing behind my right shoulder.
"Do not be afraid." he coos.
"I am not afraid." I say strongly to him.
"Don't lie." he snaps furiously making my body jump childishly as he continued to walk around me to the space where he started off before his heavy booted feet stopping abruptly stomping.
The Marshall smiles before stepping forward again to close half the gap between us, "Well, in honour of our agreement not to lie, truth be told, you are certainly not what I was expecting when I thought of an Alpha Female Furyan." he says, his voice oozes with disappoint which he doesn't make any effort to hide.
A low scoff projects itself from my throat as my eyebrows disappears into my hairline, "Well, I am sorry to disappoint you." I hiss aggrievedly. The Marshall smiles slyly before chuckling lightly.
I scowl at him. "Where are my friends?" I ask strongly.
The Marshall's smile grew in size as his eyes darkened with power. "Dakota, will you come in here." he calls out to nobody.
My blood freezes and my throat dries as the doors in front of me open to reveal a smartly dressed women in clothing a similar colour to mine, the dress hugs we curve-less body with her hair neatly drew back from her face revealing a clean, pale face with heavy grey make-up smudged up across her eyelids and midway up her temples. She looks at me with an expression you would give someone you had never met before, polite and innocent but drifted. On either side of her neck was a fresh circular burns which have cooled rapidly creating very ugly scars which had spread slightly at the edges. The scars mark their abandonment. She has converted, a human no longer, a Necromonger now.
The Marshall stretches out his hand behind him, beckoning her forward like a child, she steps slowly to meet his waiting hand which grazed her bare shoulder before slipping to the back of her neck. "Go to her, embrace her like you did before." he tells her like he is her father. She obeys and comes to embrace me but I find my body recoils from her unintentionally.
"It hurts, at first." she says, her voice quivers slightly but she presses on, "You can almost see the Underverse through his eyes, he makes it sound perfect, a place where anyone can start over. Even me, you can too, listen and obey him, we die in due time and rise again in their after world, in the Underverse, there we can create new lives, start over."
I shake my head. "I wasn't put in that prison because I commit crimes, I was put there still in the womb of my mother, she was put there because she was Furyan because that was I am." I snap ferociously.
"Count yourself lucky!" Dakota snaps, "They could have killed her, and you without a thought, but one Necromonger spoke up to save your mothers and your life. Maybe you should thank him."
I laugh like a insane women, the cackle echoes through the room replacing my tears, "And I suppose you have met him, right? Because you're part of such a kind and decent society I am sure they have introduced you to everyone." I yell, sarcasm oozes from everyone as the slice through her like knifes, pain flashes in her eyes and she steps back, tears rimming the edges of her eyes.
"Are you still Dakota at all?" I ask through my clenched jaw as tears of my own begin to rim my heavy made up eyes.
"Of course I am." Dakota says stepping forward to touch my face, "I promise you Elisha, I am still me."
"Where is Hans?" I question quietly to her in the hope I can avoid input from the Lord Marshall but it fails and the Marshall steps behind Dakota with a look that give away he secretly enjoys the blunt show of affection between two women, however he touches Dakota's shoulder disconnecting our touch. She move away from us and stands away from me.
"Would you like to see him?" the Marshall asks bluntly.
I nod frantically, "Yes." then I turn my head to glance at Dakota, "Is he okay?"
Dakota's face turns sour, her lip dents inwards as her teeth draw blood from beneath the surface, "He's got a lot worse." she tells me. The Lord Marshall shoots her a killer glance before returning back to me.
A sense of urgency grips my body, "Now." I plea but my voice wasn't pleading, it was harsh and urgent.
Lord Marshall nods, "Scales." he summons the name-bearer loudly making my body leap at the unfamiliar name.
The large entrance doors open wide and the male Necromonger guard who witnessed me get naked, de-haired and dressed who was also responsible for escorting me to this meeting with the Marshall, stormed into the room before standing to attention like a soldier at the sight of the Lord Marshall.
"Take the Furyan Breeder to see the child." Lord Marshall orders. My skin crawls like there are bugs caught beneath my skin at the word 'breeder' as I am unaware of the reason for the word.
Scales nodded, "This way." he says kindly stepping aside to knock against the door so I may exit the room giving Dakota once last glance before disappearing down the corridor. I slow down along the balcony allowing Scales to overtake me as I watch the ground floor as strange groups of Necromonger guards and several men and women gather in the cleaning between the two balcony's in front of the throne.
"What is going to happen down there?" I ask Scales, who is several meters ahead of me. To my surprise, the guard pauses and turns to face me allowing my to catch up with him, Scales eyes flickered from the crowded Necromonger's to me.
"Commander Vaako is about to be promoted by the Lord Marshall," he replies.
I swallow the lump of guilt that had formed in my throat, "For what?" I ask.
Scales steps closer to me, "For killing the Furyan, Riddick." he says slightly quieter but his voice was venomous and stone like, his evil breath tickles my nose making my face wrinkle as a threat of sneezing was high. Scales steps backwards, "This way." he instructs again before turning on his heels to strut down the balcony corridor away from me.
XxX
Scales led me in silence to a small corridor on the second floor balcony which was homed to a small, carefully crafted door in which a Necromonger soldier already stands on watch outside. The guard stationed beside the door takes one look at my eyes and opens the door allowing me to enter into the dimly lit room. The bedroom is rather bare except from a large bed whose headboard was pressed up against the far left wall, a large window replaced a huge section of the wall opposite the door but was hidden by thick curtains draped across the glass allowing only strong beams of lit who manage to breath through the barrier. Against the far right wall was another singular door that was open ajar to reveal it to be a small bathroom. In the corner of the room to my left from the entrance was a full length mirror on a metal stand.
I rush over to the bed whipping off the stupidly long overcoat so I do not trip. I find Hans curled up in the middle of the bed hidden amongst the soft silky sheets. I pull him to my body clutching him closely to my body, beads of sweat drip from his incredibly light blond hair and coats the pale skin of his body, wetting his clothing. Circling his closed eyes were dark circles worse than any black eye, the inner rims of his lips are tinted purple as the outside surface are light blue. His eyes flutter for a moment before straining to open at the sudden bodily contact.
"El.." he mumbles.
"Sh," I hush him quiet, "It's okay. You're going to be fine." I assure him.
A loud and feminine chuckle shatters the surroundings, the bathroom door swings open revealing Dame Vaako stood hidden behind the doorway with her hands hidden behind her back. Her tanned face holds a smug smile as she walks confidently out of the bathroom.
"We need to get him a doctor. Do Necromonger's have doctors?" I ask frantically.
She laughs, "It is too late for doctors. You should check his side." she whispers.
I remove my hand from the wetness of the sweat clinging to his body but when I glance at my palm I am shocked to discover that it wasn't wet with sweat but with dark red blood. Blinded by panic, my bloody hand pulls back the bed sheets to find a blood of red sunken into the mattress. Anger flushes through my body as my eyes dart up to the Dame, she removes her hands from behind hidden behind her back to reveal a shiny Necromonger blade, similar to the one I had used on Crematoria, the sharp blade was dripping with fresh blood creating a small puddle on the floor.
"We had a little accident." she giggles.
Whilst growling like a wild animal, I place Hans back down onto the bed carefully before standing up as anger bubbles in the pit of my stomach. Dame Vaako smiles sickly as I step forward, she raises the blade in a manor that suggests she doesn't use a knife or any sort of weapon. With gentle steps I manage to close the gap between us. That was when Dame Vaako jerked her blade forward, I dodge her movement grabbing her arm and throwing it backwards knocking her body off balance but she manages to stay upward, with a powerful swing she tosses her arm back towards my face with the curved blade angled at my chest, swiftly my left hand grips her wrist and my right hand latches on over her elbow. I bend her elbow inward and angle her wrist quickly whilst using the unused momentum to drive the blade into her side just below the ribs. I lean in close to her face, her perfected glossed mouth was shaped in an 'O' expression.
"Bad move, Necromonger." I whisper smugly easing off the blade allowing the tip to escape her body before driving it back into her body viva the first stab wound. She groans louder before violently spluttering blood over the inner rims of her mouth.
Within seconds her body falls back sliding off the end of the curved blade as she falls limply to land on the floor with her dead, grey eyes open staring up at the patterned ceiling. At the surprisingly quiet sound of her body hitting the floor, the door of the bedroom swings open followed by several yells. Scales and the other Necromonger guard rush over to Dame Vaako's dead body whilst the ghostly body of the Lord Marshall himself approaches me.
"What happened!?" he says strongly.
I ignore his previous question, "Can converting someone save them if they are dying?" I ask, despite not facing him, by the Lord Marshall's wordless reply I can only guess his confused expression as he stares at the back of my head, I scoop Hans up in my arms, not even slightly concerned about the sticky blood transferring onto the Necromonger outfit.
"Can you save him?" I ask using my head to gesture to the dying child in my arms.
Lord Marshall studies Hans for a moment before nodding, "Yes it can, but this child is weak, what will you give me in return if I do save this child's life?" he asks.
What can I give him in return? I think in rushed state of mine and before I can even register what I have said until it is out in the open with two witnesses not including the Marshall. "If you save him, I will convert." I say.
The Lord Marshall betrays true shock at my words, "But, you must show me he is fine beforehand because if he dies during the process, I am not converting." I tell him.
A female with tight fitting clothing with her hair pinned back with no make up on wanders in and heads towards the Dame's body when stopped by the Marshall and ordered to postpone Hans death whilst he undergoes conversion to the Necromonger faith. The women looks very confused but does not argue and before she leaves, the Marshall turns to me with his hand out straight.
"I save him, you convert." he says summing up our deal with five simple words, "Deal, Furyan?"
My lungs expanded taking in a deep breaths before I slip my blood wet hand into his and grip tightly making him look uncomfortable. "Deal, Necromonger."
A/N: Review. Also need more of an indication of which Fan-Ficiton out of Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Avengers you would want to read after this one finishes!