Faith in the Darkness

Riddick prowled through the ship, already certain that Jack and Faith were not aboard. He’d watched them leave several hours earlier, letting them go on the off chance that they would learn to play nicely together. When they hadn’t returned right away, he’d taken it as a good sign. Now, though, he was certain something had gone wrong.

Checking Jack’s room, he picked up her laptop and began browsing through the last programs she’d run. His eyes narrowed as the computer brought up her most recent search, a locator program for ships in the area. He cursed when her selection came up. The Slash and Burn. That was a merc ship, run by a man called Toombs. Toombs and Riddick had a history, but Jack didn’t know that. If she’d done what he expected, she was in just as much danger as Faith. Riddick felt something unfamiliar in his gut. Something tight and painful. So this was fear.

He found the vampires in the cockpit.

“Faith and Jack are missing,” he said, shortly. Angel’s head came up but Spike just looked bored.

“They probably killed each other,” Spike said and Angel shot him a sideways warning look. With a heavy sigh, the blond vampire let his boots drop heavily to the floor and stood up.

“Look, they went off on a little adventure and they aren’t back yet. That’s all we know. Oh, and that Faith is a bloody Slayer and Jack can handle herself fairly well. Its highly unlikely anyone on this planet could get the drop on either of them. If something’s happened to either of them, its most likely the other one did it.”

“That’s what he’s worried about,” Angel said, his eyes on Riddick’s face, far more perceptive than Riddick was comfortable with. “What’s going on, Riddick?”

~*~

Jack was dead.

Oh, she was probably still breathing, but she was most definitely dead. Faith fought to open her eyes, ready to carry out the death sentence the minute she could move again. That proved more difficult than usual. Twisted painfully behind her, her wrists were locked into restraints that were a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than handcuffs.

Slowly, she was able to raise her throbbing head and get a look around her. She was on a ship, something bigger than Riddick’s, but not by much. She could see Jack’s prone form a few feet away and anger surged through her again, giving her the strength to sit upright and prop herself against the wall. Stretching out a leg, she pulled her foot back to kick, but paused at the sound of wind. Brows knitting in confusion, she looked up.

A woman in white robes was moving across the room toward them. Though to call her a woman was implying she was human. She wasn’t. No human born was transparent, their garments and body disappearing when they moved, swirling back into sight, as if her body itself was being blown away by the wind. Her face was lovely, though wrinkled with age and her shoulder length hair was snow white.

“Hey, lady, do me a favor and help me get these cuffs off,” Faith said, her vengeance momentarily forgotten. The woman drifted closer, her shrewd eyes studying Faith’s face, carefully.

“I can’t do that,” she said, quietly.

“Why the fuck not?” Faith demanded, bracing herself against the wall and pushing with her legs until she managed to rise to her feet.

“’Cause Aereon is an Elemental and Elementals are not allowed to meddle at such a personal level,” came a raspy male voice. Faith’s eyes flicked to the man that had emerged right after the woman, Aereon. He was wearing clothes that looked like they’d never been clean, his skin dark with grime, his beard scruffy and his hair looked like it was coated in grease. His eyes were blue, cold, mean looking and his grin was more of a sneer and a superior one at that. The words he spoke sounded like a direct quote. She seriously doubted that this man, left up to his own devices, would ever speak that well.

“She won’t release you, but she will go to Riddick and lead him this way and that is exactly what I’m counting on,” the man continued.

Faith’s eyes flicked to Aereon.

“That true?”

“Odds are, Riddick would find you anyway. I intend to give him a little push in the right direction,” Aereon said.

“Isn’t that meddling?” Faith asked, suspicious, as always. Aereon nodded.

“Perhaps, but the fate of worlds rests within this situation and above all else, it is my job to keep the balance in the universe,” she said, cryptically.

“Whatever that means,” Faith muttered, as the Elemental fluttered away. Her eyes returned to the real threat. He was standing just inside the doorway of the room, leaning on the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

“You got a name, or what?” she asked. He uncrossed his arms and took a step forward.

“Toombs.” He seemed to be waiting for a reaction. When he didn’t get one, he let out a long-suffering sigh. “Don’t tell me Riddick never mentioned me. We’re old friends, me and him.”

“Can’t say your name ever came up, Toombs. I suppose this is the part where I’m supposed to ask you what you want with us, but I have a pretty good idea of that already,” Faith said.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you do. Jackie-girl, there, she wants you out of the way real bad. I’m thinking that’s because she wants Riddick for herself. Which all leads up to that I got both of Riddick’s women,” he reasoned.

“You want the bounty on Riddick,” Faith said, stating the obvious.

“No, girly, I want Riddick’s head. I want his blood on my blade. The payday’s just a bonus,” Toombs said, still leaning against the wall, relaxed. Faith took a step toward him.

“He’ll kill you. Even if he didn’t give a damn about either of us, he’d kill you just for thinking you were good enough to beat him,” came Jack’s voice. Faith looked over. The girl’s eyes were open, looking cloudy, but fixed steadily on Toombs’ face.

“But he does give a damn, Jackie-girl. That’s why I’m going to beat him. After all these years, he finally has a weakness and I’ve got it tied up on my ship,” Toombs said. He grinned down at Jack. “Besides, you should be thanking me. At least I tied her up instead of just throwing you two in here. I get the feeling you’d be dead by now.” He flicked a glance at Faith with those cold blue eyes before turning and leaving the room. The door slid shut behind him and they heard the locking mechanism click into place.

~*~

Jack looked up at Faith, saw hatred flashing like fire in the other girl’s eyes and couldn’t blame her.

“You sold me out, Jack. You sold Riddick out,” Faith said, the rage in her voice so thick it was almost physically touchable.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. I love him and he loves me. I just needed you out of the way so he would see it,” Jack said, closing her eyes again to stop the room from spinning. “He was just supposed to take you. An easy payday, no fight. He said he’d leave the rest of us alone.”

“Guess what, Jack, he lied!” Faith spat. “What the fuck did you expect from a merc?!”

Misery coursed through Jack, making her queasy stomach even worse. Because of her, Riddick would come after them. Because of her, he would walk into Toombs’ trap. Because of her, Toombs had leverage against him. Because of her, Riddick would die. With a strangled cry, Jack rolled to her side and vomited before dropping back into blissful darkness.

~*~