Pain and Possession

“You’re a monster” she told him

“I’m your monster Caron” he crouched back down in front of her, “What? You don’t like what you’ve created? What did you expect me to do? Come out and smile at you for sending me away?”

“He said he was going to kill you” she told him, “I saved your life”

“Fuck that!” he suddenly shouted at her, “You took away my life, you sent me to slam. You fucking betrayed me! I gave you my life and you fucked up! You handed me over to Johns!”

“You lied to me!” she screamed back at him, “You were a murderer, a heartless killer, an assassin for hire. What was I supposed to do Richard?”

The slap he gave her rocked her head and made her see stars. It was a long while before her ears stopped ringing.

“I told you to never call me Richard” he told her in a cold voice, “Richard is dead. Your treachery killed him”

“He was never alive…he was just a character you portrayed. There was never a real Richard” she whispered back at him, using her bound wrist to wipe at the blood from her split lip. “You made me fall in love with someone who never existed…”

“I will kill you someday” he said coldly, ignoring the words she uttered.

“Fuck you Riddick”

“You already did Caron…you fucked me royally” he reminded her, “You set me up…”

“I saved your life…you’re alive because of me” she told him.

“What did Johns give you?” he asked abruptly, ‘What did he give you to sell me out?” he had to know.

“Nothing…” she told him, “I should have asked for your heart though”

Gripping her chin in his hands he repeated the question and advised her not to lie. She stared resolutely at him, having given her answer.

“Don’t fuck with me Caron…I want you alive but that don’t mean I won’t hurt you…” his hand squeezed her chin.

She wavered, “He promised me he wouldn’t hurt you…”she said in a whisper thin voice, relieving the past.

“What else?” he persisted, “what else did he give you?”

“That was it”

He laughed a harsh ugly sound, “You expect me to believe that shit. You sold me out for the promise that he wouldn’t hurt me? Well then you got gypped sweetheart because he put a bullet in me…or had you forgotten”

Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as she remember vividly how she’d begged Johns not to hurt him, how she’d pleaded for his life. When Johns had shot him it was like she had been shot, that’s how much pain she’d felt. It had hurt her heart to see them treat him like that.

“It’s true… he said that they were going to kill you. He told me that if I didn’t turn you over to him he would…he would send me to jail”

“And so you turned me over to him just like that”

“What was I supposed to do?” she cried, “He said he would make sure I spent the rest of my life underneath somebody. He said he would kill you! I didn’t want anything to happen to you”

“How sweet” he said derisively, “You did it for my own good”

His contempt made her angry, “You lied to me you son of a bitch. You never told me you were a murderer. You told me you worked for the government…I believed you!” she glared at him with wet hate filled eyes, “You’re blaming me for this but you brought this on yourself! Why didn’t you tell me the truth? How do you think I felt finding out that the man I loved was a known felon wanted for numerous murders and that he had killed his last four lovers?”

“My last four lovers” he repeated, “What the fuck are you talking about” both the beast and Riddick were shocked. He had no idea of what she was talking about. He studied her with astute eyes and from what he gathered she seemed to believe what she was saying.

“Johns told me everything” she said bitterly, ‘He told me how you usually ended your relationships”

“And how was that?”

“You should know Riddick” she told him scathingly.

“Just answer the fucking question” he half shouted at her.

“You killed them and mutilated their bodies…” she said in a low voice, “he said that I would be next because you were making plans to move on and you wouldn’t want to leave any loose ends behind” Caron looked into his face ‘I wished you woulve kve killed me then”

Riddick stood abruptly as he digested the news she was conveying to him. He was full of confusion and he didn’t like it. The things she was saying to him…he growled softly and rubbed a hand over his face. The beast paced disconcertedly inside him, trying to figure out what to do, but it was hard with Richard anguished cry echoing around them.

Johns! He wished he had not been so hasty in killing the other man; he would have been able to get some answers from him.

He turned back to Caron, none of the uncertainty he was feeling showing and asked in a harsh voice, “Why did you fuck him…what did he promise you?”

Her face showed confusion, “Who?”

“Johns”

“I didn’t sleep with Johns” she told him truthfully, “I hated him…”

Her answer gave Richard, who had needed to know, a measure of peace. Surprisingly it gave the beast some too and it felt horrified at the small sense of possession it still felt over her. He had to leave. He whirled around and grabbed his shirt of the bed and pulled it on.

Caron knew he was leaving, she sensed something was not right with him but she wasn’t sure what.

“Don’t leave me like this…please” she begged and he paused and for the first time she saw a look of indecision on his face. “Rick might get up and need something” she played shamelessly on his bond with his son.

Grabbing the knife she had tried to use on him earlier he threw at her feet and left soundlessly. It took her a few minutes to cut through the ropes and by the time she had he was gone.

Caron didn’t go to sleep at all that night, she laid awake thinking about where she would be able to go to get away from him. The answer was no where. He would find them for every time. For her to be rid of him she would have to kill him.

After he left her Riddick holed up in a ratty motel room he’d rented from an owner who asked no questions and thoughout out what she had said to him.

She claimed to have done it for him. He wanted to believe it but he wasn’t sure, he couldn’t take the chance, he’d gambled once on her already and had lost. He knew what kind of person Johns was, he was the type of man who would stoop to any level to get what he wanted. If all he needed to do was to tell a few lies he would have no qualms about it.

Riddick could imagine him as he told Caron those things; he imagined how she would have felt finding out that he was a murderer and that he would kill her. Fuck! Had he been her he would have probably turned him in too, without the plea for him not to be hurt. The beast rested its head down in confusion; he had no idea what to do. The situation he was now in baffled him.

This was a woman he’d vowed to kill for betraying him, now he wasn’t so sure if it was all a betrayal on her part. Maybe she was trying to save his life. Riddick closed his eyes in bewilderment as he tried to sort out his thoughts and feelings.