Faith in the Darkness

Arrogance. Strength. Danger. They radiated off him like heat and Jack moved closer, stepping over him with one leg and dropping down to straddle his hips. She saw his eyes flicker with something like surprise.



“Jack,” he said, in a tone that was something like a warning and more like a question.



She didn’t respond. Her palms came up and pressed against his chest. Smooth, cool skin under her hands. Jack slid them up, over his shoulders, feeling the tension in the muscles there. His hair was soft, she realized, as her fingers slid into the short blond waves. The way he wore it, it always looked so hard, as if frozen in place, but in truth it was softer than her own. Her finger tips flexed against his scalp and she pulled his head closer, leaning down to kiss him.



His hands moved faster than her eye could follow. They were just suddenly there, clamped down on her arms, holding their faces barely a half inch from one another. She felt his breath on her lips when he spoke.



“What are you doing, Jack?”



“I thought it was pretty obvious,” she said.



Those eyes locked on her own for a moment, studying, weighing. She wondered what it was he saw there and then decided she didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. His voice was softer, his accent more pronounced when he next spoke.



“Are you sure?”



She felt her lips twist in a smirk.



“I’ve never been so sure in my life,” she lied.



~*~



She was afraid. Oh, sure, her hands were steady, her movements sure, even her voice was confident, but something in her eyes was screaming at him. There was a part of her that feared what she was doing, but the rest of her was dead set on it. Far be it from Spike to argue with a lady. He relaxed his grip on her shoulders and jerked her that last half inch toward him.



The kiss was bruising and harsh and she responded immediately. She kissed like a virgin, though her body moved against him with a knowledge gained by experience. Intrigued, he tangled his hand in her hair and tugged, angling her head to take the kiss deeper, letting his teeth gently scrape along her lower lip. Her body was crushed against his, hips and breasts rubbing against him in a sensual rhythm. Keeping a firm grip on her, Spike lowered himself to the pillows behind him, pulling her along with him.



Jack pulled away from the kiss, drawing a ragged breath. She sat up and pulled her top over her head, freeing her breasts. Spike’s hands, resting lightly on her hips, slid up her torso to cup her breasts. Her head fell back when his thumbs grazed over her nipples and he drew her down to him, so that her breasts were pressed against his chest. She opened her eyes at the contact and he watched those pools of green darken with desire. Whatever it was that had been driving her was gone, replaced by her own need. Satisfied that he now had her complete attention, Spike pulled her down to kiss her.



~*~



Jack was on fire. Everywhere he touched her burned and she wanted more and that scared the hell out of her. She reminded herself that she was doing what was necessary. This was the only way she was going to get Riddick’s full attention, the only way to get around Faith. Make him angry enough to forget the Slayer.



She could feel Spike pressing against her through their clothes as he kissed her again and she pulled away, sliding down his body until she could reach the button of his pants. For some reason unknown to her, she had a need to see him, to touch him. Flicking the button open and slowly pulling the zipper down, she caught the top of the waistband and tugged. He lifted his hips and the pants slid easily away. She tossed them somewhere at the foot of the bed and turned back to him, trying to stop the shaking in her hands.



He was pale and smooth, lean muscles under perfect skin and Jack felt heat flood her lower regions. Her hands slid up his thighs and lingered at his hips. Slowly, almost tentatively, she brushed her fingers across the length of his member. Spike’s breath hissed in at the contact and she looked sharply up at him. He was watching her, the tension clear in his clenched jaw and the strained muscles in his neck. His eyes were knowing, waiting and Jack’s lips twitched in a half smile. He was waiting for her next move and with that knowledge came the first realization of the power she held over him. Oh, it was nothing great, nothing personal, simply the age old power a woman held over a man but it was more than Jack had ever known. She quickly masked whatever surprise had shown on her face. Spike had no way of knowing that while this was far from her first time, it was the only time she had ever come to a man’s bed of her own free will and Jack had no intention of letting him find out.



~*~



She was beautiful, feral, her hair hanging into her face, those eyes smoldering like green flames. Her skin was almost as pale as his, though far from unblemished. Scars crisscrossed her back and shoulders, long, raised ridges under his fingertips. A thin pink line ran under her left breast. A knife wound, as if someone had been going for her heart. They’d missed and Spike had no doubt that they were dead for their efforts. Jack didn’t seem the type to let a man live after something like that. Her body was that of a woman who’d seen everything, but her eyes said something else. Something in their depths said she was in new territory. Something in the way her tongue flicked over her lips, completely artless and unplanned, spoke of innocence. The way her fingers trembled, just a bit, when she touched him screamed that this was new for her.



With an economy of movement, Spike turned over, pressing her against the bed beneath him. Her eyes widened for a moment and her breath caught when he leaned forward and took the peak of one breast into his mouth. Her fingers clenched in his hair as he suckled, then drew away. She was watching him, waiting.



~*~



Jack kept her eyes locked on his as he traced a finger down her belly and caught the waistband of her shorts. He peeled them off with one hand and she raised her legs to help him free the clothing completely. Fully naked beneath him, she saw his eyes rake over her, saw that look of pure male appreciation enter them and felt heat flush through her body again. She felt his fingers tracing her hip, the crease of her thigh and finally slip into the center of her.



A gasp was torn from her lips at the rush of sensation, surprise, pleasure. Spike stroked her once, twice and Jack’s hips bucked under his hand. She reached up, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him toward her.



~*~



“Now. Right now,” she ordered, her hips arching against him.



Spike grasped her hips with both hands and slid easily into her. She was wet and hot and the groan that left her as he slid home said he was very welcome. Her hands grasped at his hips, pulling him deeper and she bucked beneath him.



It was hard and fast and deep and she arched against him, her hands clawing at his back, his shoulders, and arms. There was pleasure there, but something close to panic as well He smelled blood as she broke the skin and heard a sound almost like a growl come from his own throat. When she came, her nails bit deeply into his back, her eyes widened and her mouth opened to scream. He caught the sound with a kiss and his body shuddered as he finished, spilling into her.



They lay that way for what seemed like hours, but could only have been moments and then Jack pushed against his chest. Spike rolled off her, still in a slight daze. He watched as she lay there, breathing hard. He was pretty sure she was trying to figure out how her plan had backfired. She’d meant to use him, probably to make Riddick jealous and somehow ended up enjoying herself. That was okay with him. It wasn’t as though he’d had some deep affection for the girl. Sex was sex and it had been great.



Jack rolled off the bed and began searching for her clothes, pulling them on as she found them. She glanced back at him, once and the look on her face was part confusion, part embarrassment. Then she was gone and Spike closed his eyes, a half smirk still on his face. The girl reeked of sex and of him. Riddick would smell it the minute she stepped into the same room. His last thought before he fell asleep was to wonder what Riddick was going to do when he caught the scent and figured it out.



~*~



Faith’s eyes scanned the starry expanse that lay outside the windows. Some part of her that she had thought long destroyed was still able to appreciate it’s beauty, it’s wonder. Her bare foot was braced on the edge of the console, a steaming mug of what passed for coffee in her hands. It wasn’t made from beans, but a synthetic blend of something or other that was supposed to taste the same. It didn’t. It was hot though and laced with lots of sugar substitute, it mimicked coffee well enough to be comforting.



“It’s such a common sight these days that I don’t stop to realize how amazing it is.”



She didn’t turn. Angel moved to the co-pilot’s chair next to her and sat down.



“Penny for your thoughts,” he said, after a moment of silence.



“Just thinking how it seems like nothing here is real. Everything is a synthetic imitation of the original.”



“We’re real,” he said.



Faith laughed, softly, bitterly.



“Are we? What good is a Slayer when there’s no vampires left to slay? And you, Angel, the vampire with a soul. You used to help people, fight demons, save the world, all in the hope of one day getting your reward and becoming mortal again. Now look at you. It’s been how many hundreds of years and here you are, still a vampire. So much for your big reward, huh?”



Her voice was harsh and Angel stared out at the stars for a long moment before he spoke.



“The year 2257.”



“What about it?”



“That’s when they came for me. The Higher Powers. We’d just saved the world again, spoiled another of Wolfram and Hart’s big plans. They were almost destroyed during the battle right after you disappeared. It’s Wolfram and Hart though, so of course, they had some pretty heavy backers in the cosmic view of things, so they pulled out, started growing in power again, kept trying to bring about Armageddon and all that. Anyway, we’d just defeated another higher level demon, Spike and I and there was a big show of bright lights and everything. We were offered our mortality, our humanity.”



Faith blinked, found her voice.



“Then why are you still a vampire, Angel?” she asked, afraid that she knew the answer.



His eyes were steady when they met hers.



“Wesley figured out the amulet was a time travel device. We poured through history books for months, found no mention of you, so we knew you hadn’t gone backward in time. No way you would’ve done that without leaving a mark on history. So we knew you were somewhere in the future. That at some point, you would arrive in the same time we were in and it would seem like only moments had passed to you. The one advantage of being a vampire is I could live until we did find you. A human would have been nothing but dust by now. So I refused the Higher Power’s gift.”



“You idiot,” she breathed, letting her foot slide off the console and standing up.



“You had no way of knowing if you’d ever find me, Angel. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s a big ass fucking universe!”



“Thought about that. We knew that whatever time you were in, you’d leave your mark, one way or the other, so we’d hear about you eventually. You’re right, though, it is a big universe, so we narrowed down the search a bit. Started doing some merc work, asking a few questions. We figured you’d either be a merc or a con, so we started checking the books at the Slams we delivered to, looking for your name. I guess we just got lucky, in the end.”



Through his whole speech, Angel’s voice never changed from that soft, matter of fact tone and it grated on Faith. Her fists clenched at her sides.



“One of these days your self-sacrificing bullshit is going to get you killed,” she ground out. He didn’t reply and she walked out of the room.



~*~