Faith in the Darkness

~*~



Sex. Sweat. Vampire. Jack.



Riddick’s eyes snapped open as the scents invaded in nose. He’d left the cabin door open a bit, to keep better tabs on what was happening on his ship. He caught the flicker of movement past the doorway that was Jack passing by. Silently, his eyes narrowed, he sat up and got out of bed, moving to the door on bare feet. He stepped into the hall and a soft noise, something like a growl, left his throat. Jack’s hand froze on the door to the bathroom and she looked at him. Her eyes were wide, with a flicker of fear in their depths, but her chin rose defiantly as she looked at him.



“Spike,” he said and watched as color rose in her cheeks.



“What about him?” she challenged.



“Since when do you fuck vampires?” he asked, eyes narrowed, just a bit.



Jack paled at the harsh phrasing, but her jaw clenched in anger as well.



“What do you care who I fuck, Riddick? You don’t want me, remember?”



She didn’t wait for his answer, just opened the door and slid inside. Riddick heard the lock click into place, knew he could open it if he wanted, continue the argument. He had the override codes to the whole ship after all. He decided not to.



Instead he turned away, back into his cabin. His first instinct was to find the vampire, tear him apart, but he sat down instead, opened the drawer to the nightstand and pulled out a sharpening stone. He slid the shiv from it’s sheath on his leg and began to draw it’s edge across the surface in slow, even motions.



~*~



Rage. Guilt. It was hard to differentiate between the two as her fists made solid contact with the bag. They fueled her body like a furnace and she beat the workout bag with every ounce of strength she had. Damning Angel for sacrificing himself again, this time for her, Faith gritted her teeth to keep from screaming out her anger. Her side was screaming at her and she could feel the slow trickle of blood as the stitches broke open, but she didn’t stop. The pain only added to the fire. Sweat ran into her eyes and blurred her vision, the salty drops mingling with the tears that refused to fall.



~*~



This wasn’t training. The only thing she was working on was violence, pure and simple. Kicking, punching, she raged against demons that only she could see. Blood was soaking through her shirt from the wound on her side. It was that scent that had drawn him, distracted him from thoughts of murder.



Riddick’s eyes followed her every move, appreciating her strength, her fire and of course, her flesh. One wild punch hit the bag squarely and she dropped to one knee, her breath coming raggedly, her shoulders heaving. Her head down, she spoke.



“How long are you going to stand there?”



~*~



He was silent, but she was a Slayer. Always, there was that sixth sense that told her when she wasn’t alone. Standing in the doorway, one arm raised above his head, resting on the doorjamb. When she spoke, he stepped fully into the room and the door whispered shut behind him.



“A lot of rage there. Why?” he asked, almost casually.



“Maybe another time,” she said, raising her head and turning to face him.



Two steps brought him to her and she looked up at him, her breath still a little ragged. He raised his goggles onto his head, the lighting in the room already down to 20%. His eyes glinted, mercury, unreadable, yet somehow reading everything.



“The vampire,” he guessed.



“I said not now,” Faith told him, closing the inches between them and running her palms up his chest. Her hands slid around his neck, pulling him down and she kissed him, hard. After a split second’s hesitation, he returned the kiss, his hands settling on her waist, sliding around to the small of her back, pressing her closer. Those hands moved down, caressing, cupping, lifting, until she wrapped her legs around his waist, fully supported in his palms.



~*~



Riddick wasn’t sure who she was trying to distract, him or herself, but it didn’t matter. This was one area where they always agreed. Her body, every curve, every smooth inch fit his hands as if forged for him alone. She arched against him and he felt the press of her breasts through the thin shirt she wore. He could feel the heat of her pressing against his stomach, the brief shorts too thin a barrier to make much difference. She kissed his mouth, his jaw, his throat, nuzzling the curve of his neck before scraping her teeth over his skin.



With a few strides, he’d pressed her against the wall, holding her with one hand while the other came up to fist in her hair. Slowly, he pulled her head back, exposing her throat. She didn’t fight him, just let him do as he wished and he felt the shiver go through her when his mouth lowered to that sensitive flesh.



~*~



The first touch was light, a kiss. Then she felt the flicker of his tongue over her skin, his teeth barely touching her, moving toward the side. He licked the curve of her collarbone before setting his teeth to her. His bit down, harder than most lovers would enjoy, but Faith was not most lovers. She pulled his head closer, holding his mouth against her, feeling the exact moment when his teeth broke her skin. She felt his body tremble, just a little when her blood touched his tongue.



They both heard the nearly silent whisper of the door opening and their heads snapped around. Angel stood in the doorway of the training room.



~*~



Blood. The scent of it was on the air, the crimson stain of it on Riddick’s mouth. His eyes flicked to the small wound on Faith’s neck.



“Since when to you let anyone feed off you?” he asked, quietly.



Faith’s eyes narrowed.



“There’s a difference between feeding and foreplay, Angel, or have you forgotten after so many years?”



She was still pressed between Riddick and the wall, her legs twined around his waist and Angel gritted his teeth.



“The only thing I forgot was how much you like to mix your pain and your sex,” he ground out.



“That’s something you never learned first hand, so I suppose your memory is entitled to slip a bit on the subject,” she said, unlocking her ankles and sliding to the ground. Riddick released her slowly, his eyes still on Angel.



“Just let me know when the refresher course is,” Angel said, meeting Faith’s gaze dead on, making his words a challenge, a dare. She paused, studying him and Riddick took a step forward.



“You’re starting to piss me off.”



~*~



Faith stared at Angel, studied his eyes, his face. It wasn’t like Angel to make a crack like that. They’d decided years before her little time/space jump that they could never risk breaking Angel’s curse and since then, neither of them referred to sleeping together, not even jokingly. Something was off. It seemed they needed to have another chat and soon. Faith didn’t like not knowing all the facts. In the meantime, however, she supposed she should keep Riddick from trying to kill him.



“Riddick,” she said. He paused, glancing at her, his eyes a glimmer in the darkened room. She slid her hand up his arm, nails lightly scraping.



”Come finish what you started.”



He glanced once more at Angel, then turned, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her, pinning her to the wall again, none too gently. Faith slid her arms and legs around him once more and neither of them looked up when the door whispered shut.



~*~



Riddick knew the moment the vampire left, knew Faith wanted to distract him, to keep him from killing Angel. He’d let her, for now. He could still smell her blood, her heat, knew her body was still ready for him, despite the distraction. He leaned close and ran his tongue over the bite on her throat and she shuddered. He dismissed all thoughts of the vampire, knowing that things were far from settled, but distracted enough not to care.



~*~



“I take it the damsel didn’t need rescuing, yet again,” Spike said, as Angel entered the room.



“Shut up, Spike,” came the usual growled response and Spike smirked.



“Just what is it that pisses you off more? That she’s fucking him or that she’s not fucking you?” Spike asked, tilting the co-pilot’s chair as far back as it would go, propping his boots on the console and lacing his fingers behind his head.



“Spike, I said shut- up,” Angel ground out.



Spike lowered his feet and let the chair fall forward, leaning forward.



“She doesn’t know, does she? You haven’t told her that the curse was lifted,” Spike said, more a statement than a question. Angel looked away and Spike knew he’d been right.



“It shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t come down to sex,” Angel said.



“But it does and you know it,” Spike said, coming to his feet. “This is Faith we’re talking about. You might be her friend, her family or whatever, but he’s her lover and more than anyone I know, Faith follows her instincts. Her body’s telling her to stay with Riddick and she will, until she has a reason not to.”



Finally, Angel raised his eyes to Spike’s face. He hated it when the other vampire got philosophical and smart sounding. He hated it more when he was right.



“So you think if I fuck her, she’ll leave him and come with us,” Angel said and Spike shrugged.



“Couldn’t hurt, could it?”



~*~