The Bullet through the Head of the Universe

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Part 2

His eyes snapped open before he realized what he was doing. He was doing a lot of that lately and it was causing him more pain that necessary. He groaned and rolled over, blindly fumbling for the bandage that had fallen off during his sleep.

Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his head, feeling his fin gra grate against the stubble on his head. His face was no better. He hadn’t shaved in weeks. Riddick set his feet on the floor, the cool marble seemed to have a chilling effect on his entire body, and dropping his temperature and making him shiver slightly. As he waited for his line of vision to clear, he pulled his feet off of the floor and onto the mattress.

Great, it was still dark out. There were probably a few more hours until the sun would rise. He would have time to explore his new ‘powers’ and see what he could do. As the days passed, he found he was capable of gauging people’s feelings and thoughts, almost predicting what they were going to say before they opened their mouths. He reached for the shiv that was underneath his pillow and tucked it into his pants before standing.

He stood in the center of the room, and turned slowly on the spot in a few well-placed steps. His fingers gripped the handle of the small knife but he didn’t move a muscle. Only the steady rise and fall of his chest signaled that he was even alive. Thinking that if he could see through pillows, walls and other objects, could he not see through the back of his skull?

The shadows shifted against the gauzy curtains, the wind raked the light material and it cast a pool of silvery shadows from the moon that hung low in the night sky. Breaking a cardinal rule, he turned his back to the only door in the room. He relaxed, breathing in and performing breathing exercises that he had been doing since he was a young child. Picturing himself as an und bud bullet, the potential danger that crackled along his skin and made the marrow in his bones ache to move caused all thoughts to shut down in his brain.

He moved suddenly, like a striking cobra. The shiv whipped out, whistling through the air and slicing the bloom from its stem. He could almost hear the soft noises the petals made as the bounced on the smooth, gleaming table to the floor.

His heightened hearing picked up the sounds of slippers hitting the hallway floors. The wearer was trying to be silent, hoping not to wake him but he could still hear the fabric of their clothes swishing along to their movements. If he strained hard enough, he could even hear their heart beating in the chest. Cocking his head slightly, he concentrated hard on the person moving covertly down the hallway was was Addan, the necromonger doctor who had been looking after him.

Silently treading to the door, he opened it slowly and peered. Do. Down the hall, he could see her tiny frame, swathed in a diaphanous sleeping gown. She treaded in and out of the silvery pools of light until she turned the corner and disappeared. He followed her, making a point to walk around the moonlight. Touching the bandage to make sure it was firmly in black, he stood there, at the corner of the hallway and glanced slowly around the corner. Addan eased herself into a room, a research room and shut the door silently behind her.

Riddick followed, treading softly on the marble tiles. He stopped at the door, shrouded in the black shadows that hugged the hallway and peered into the room, passed the thick stonewalls.

She slid into a chair in front of some thick, musty tombs. Coughing slightly as she breathed in a cloud of dust, she opened the book and ducked her head. Addan scooped a pen up in one long hand, and searching for a notepad, she began to write in a long, flowing text.

The door wasn’t completely closed. He pressed his palm to the warm wooden surface and let it swing open, the smell of dust itching at his nose. She couldn’t hear him, she was far too immersed in her studies to realize that he had crept up on her.

Finally, after watching her for a few more minutes, he spoke up in the darkness, “You know, reading in the dark like this is bad for your eyes.” He smiled a slightly carnivorous smile that caused his teeth to glint in the moonlight as he stepped forward.

She jumped and scrambled to cover up what she was writing. His hand slammed on the desk, catching the notepad before it disappeared under the stack of books that teetered on her desk. He pulled it from her sweaty hand and read it quickly, his mouth pursed as he directed his gaze at her. “What the fuck does this mean?” He growled, reaching up to pull of the bandage.

His eyes glinted, a promise of an early death if she would so much as falter in her answer. She shifted in her chair before deciding to stand and eyeing him boldly, she responded, “It means that this seems to be a common trait amongst some Furyan males. Especially those belonging to some of the older blood races, with the purest lineage.” She stepped forward, her eyes narrowing slightly as she closed the distance between them. “Do you remember even a little bit about your home?”

“No.” He growled, pushing back all the memories that crept into his head.

“Ah.” Addan nodded slowly and turned towards her desk, her back to Riddick. “You know, despite the Furyan Race being scattered to the four winds, the planet is still there. You might want to go and have a look. It’ll probably answer some questions for you.” That was the last thing she bothered to say to him before snatching the notepad out of his hand and returning to her work.

Riddick let her be and went back out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. The hallway was still deserted. The moon hand sunk lower in the sky, casting longer pools of light through the windows. He glanced up the hallway, his eye catching on a body moving amidst the silvery moonlight. Dame Vaako.

She moved like a wraith down the hallway, her diaphanous gown swirling about her legs and a look of belligerence painted on her beautiful face. Riddick stepped deeper into the shadows, watching her intently as she whisked by. At a safe distance, he stalked her quietly, watching the way her shoulders were thrown back and the charms in her hair catch the light and flash back at him.

Stepping out into the late night air, cool and fresh in his lungs, he scaled the shadows of the walls, keeping to the dark as she tread over the knoll to a single, solitary figure standing against the night sky. He stopped as she did, just close enough to catch what it was that went on between the two.

The kiss that was carried between the two was certainly not appropriate for a married woman to be sharing with anyone but her wife. If he cared, he would mention it to Vaako but, seeing as he didn’t, he stood watching with a detatched interest as the embrace was broken off. He could smell the stranger’s arousal heavy on the air as Dame Vaako distanced herself and spoke rapidly, in a low voice.

“I want him dead.” She snapped bluntly.

“You know I can’t…”

Her voice rose slightly in her anger, the petulant look on her face made Riddick grin slightly, and the man cower, “If you love as you say you do, you will kill him! Kill Riddick and make it look like I did it. If it is done and I become the Marshall, I will make sure that you get what you deserve. Anything your heart desires.”

“I want you.”

“You would have to kill my husband.”

“That fool? I could kill him with one hand if I was so inclined to.”

“Make me Marshall and you can become my husband. You will have me—body and soul.”

The man frowned, “A woman as a Marshall? The Necromongers will never accept it.”

She grabbed the front of his tunic and jerked him close, her strength surprised Riddick enough to raise his eyebrows slightly, “The Necromongers will accept me when the see that I have killed that fool, Riddick. If they would have a mere criminal as their leader, they would do better to have a woman.” She let go of his tunic and stepped back, “Besides, the rule in the Necromongers is ‘you keep what you kill’…that means that if it looks like I killed him, then I will get the title and power.”

A look of indecision came over the man’s face as he stared down at Dame Vaako. “Kykanna…I don’t know…”

“You can, I know you can.” She purred demurely, her fingers reaching up to skim over his jaw line. Her other hand whisked beneath his shirt, Riddick could see the outline of her hand brushing across his stomach.

He groaned and ducked his head, grabbing her chin, he forced her face up and took her lips in a passionate kiss. The touching and petting drew raspy breaths from the stranger’s mouth; he pled with her as her hands worked over his body.

Riddick couldn’t contain his amusement any longer. He had finally found his chance to have Dame Vaako in the palm of his hand. Pulling the shiv from his belt he circled the couple until the man’s back was to him. He whipped the shiv quick and hard, it went sailing across the courtyard and bd ded deep in his back. The man stiffened and with a cry, collapsed against Dame Vaako, pinning her to the ground with his heavy, dead bulk.

Pulling the bandages off, he tucked them into his pocket and padded out of the shadows and into the moonlit clearing. “Well, well, well…if it isn’t Dame Vaako. A married woman shouldn’t be lurking around at night with strange men. Not to mention, plotting the Lord Marshall’s death with said man.” He pulled the knife out of the corpse and stared down at her as she squirmed out beneath the dead weight.

He reached and grabbed the front of her dress, hoisting her to her feet. He let her go, the movement jarred her body, making her stumble on the hem of her dress and drop against his chest. The shiv was out and pressed against the delicate column of her neck. His fingers chucked her chin, causing her face to turn up towards his and exposing her throat further.

Her crimson lips parted and she spoke softly, her voice as soothing as a soft summer breeze. “You cannot kill me. Vaako would not forgive you if you did.”

“But its okay for you to kill me?” He snorted and smirked down at her, staring into her eyes, “Lady, your too fuckin’ ambitious for your own good. That could get you killed.”

The hate roiled off of her, seeping into the air between them. He felt himself being pulled into the treacherous depths of her eyes and he was fascinated by what he saw there. She was so beautiful, yet so deadly. The sharp smell of her was unique, unlike most women who smelt soft, like what a woman should smell like. Dame Vaako smelled just the way a newly forged knife would smell; so full of the promise of death.

His fingers skimmed along her jaw line, while his knife stayed perfectly still on her neck. Riddick’s free hand grasped the clip that held her hair together; he felt waves of thick ebon hair cascade down her back. Burying his fingers deep in her hair, he found his mouth on her warm skin, tasting her. He pulled back, his lips mere centimeters from her earlobe, “I’ll be watching you, Dame Vaako.”

He crept back into the darkness, retreating down the hall to leave her standing there, stunned. The taste of her lingered in his mouth, the taste of pomegranate and sweet poison and he couldn’t help but wonder about her as he eased himself into his room.

Standing e, be, back to where he had started, Riddick stared out across the dark moonlit sky through the massive bay window. Addan’s words crept back into his head, making him think of the blurred memories of his home planet. He thought about the gothic mansions that sat so out of place, within the treacherous heart of the jungle.

He had witnessed the destruction the Necromongers were capable of on other planets and knew that nothing would be left there anymore. Despite the planet having 20 years to recoitseitself, that wasn’t long enough. There was probably nothing left there beside charred rubble.

But Junna’s ship…