Ghost

lonewolf - thank you for such a warm review. I appreciate it, darl.

2. Jack.

I hated the dark as a kid. I still do. As a kid, I thought that there were monsters in the dark; hiding under my bed and waiting for me to go to sleep, so that they could jump out and eat me. Now I know that to be fact. They look like over-sized lizards with wings; they have heads shaped like an axe and teeth that can tear a man in half with one bite.

But I survived T2. I was saved from the dark by a man who belonged in it. A murderer. Richard B. Riddick. I was saved by him more than once. And not only from the lizard things - those killing machines born of grace and speed that whooped and snarled in the dark.

No, I learned that even humans can be monsters. Johns; he wanted to offer me up as a side dish so that the others could escape. He was so confidant that Riddick would agree, that he jammed a cylinder of morphine into my throat, and pumped me full of the crap.

Riddick surprised him though, and used him as the bait instead. He took me off that lump of nightmare-filled rock and saved my life. And he continued to save me from the dark, when my nightmares would rise up and threaten to choke me.

The crew of the salvaging ship that rescued us thought it was strange; a thirteen-year-old girl, sleeping curled beside a twenty-four-year old man. Yolanda asked me if I was sleeping with Riddick, and it would have been funny if it hadn’t been said with an air of disdain on her part.

It wasn’t like that. It was safety and comfort. As far as I was concerned, the dark was not so scary with Riddick in it. It was a lesson I took through life with me; I still hate the dark, but now I know not to fear it. There are monsters that walk during the day, anyway.

I don’t know where my fascination with Riddick began. Maybe with his eyes. Maybe with the fact that he didn’t treat me like an idiot. I don’t know. But he had seen me at my worst on board that skiff, and he stuck around. Kept me safe, when he had no real reason too.

The first night I spent outside the infirmary, I slept in Yolanda’s room. I’d been asleep maybe an hour or so when the nightmares came, and I woke the whole ship with my screams. This went on night after night for a few days, until I learned to sleep with my face buried in my pillows.

When I woke on the fourth night, I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I slipped out of my bed and crept across to the room where Riddick was sleeping. His room was only lit by a single weak bar of light on Darien’s side of the room, and I stood by his bed and stared down at him for a long moment.

Muscle and speed and an edge to him that I had never seen before. But, he was safety in the darkness, and I pulled back his sheet and crawled into bed beside him. He radiated heat in the dark, and all I could do was sigh and close my eyes.

I’d been lying there for maybe a minute when he rolled over and slung one of those huge arms around my waist and dragged me closer to him. Safe as houses. Under the weight of his arm and warmed by the heat of his body, I dropped into a dreamless sleep within moments.

I didn’t sleep alone again for a while after that. I thought I had been careful, but after a week of sneaking into his bed, Riddick casually informed me one night that he was going to bed, and was I coming or not? Shocked me into silence, let me tell you.

So, it became habit; he would lie on his back, with one arm stretched outwards, and I would curl into his side, and use that arm as a pillow. Before sleep would claim me though, he would roll over, sling his arm across my waist, and pull me into the curve of his body.

He would roll away from me in the mornings and clamber over my slumbering body to get on with his day, and I would go back to sleep for a bit. If a nightmare hit me during the night, I would end up sprawled across his chest, with my face buried in his neck, and his hands rubbing my back. He would then twist me over his body and tuck me into his side, putting me between his body and the wall. Nothing could get to me then.

Riddick was classed as a sociopath - somebody affected with a personality disorder marked by aggressive, violent, antisocial thought and behaviour, and a lack of remorse or empathy. Seemed like a crock of shit to me. I figured Riddick was a victim of circumstance, not that I would have ever called him that to his face. Hello! Young - not stupid.

He grew up in the system and on the streets - where had he gotten the chance to learn what was socially acceptable? Don’t get me wrong; I know he’s a killer. Shit, I’ve heard stories about him that would send a normal person screaming for the hills. I never said I was normal, though, did I? It’s amazing what one will do for survival when backed into a corner.

But that said, I know he wasn’t used to being around people either. Three months is a long time to spend with a person in such close quarters. He knew I was a girl on T2, and even on a ship with the proper supplies available to me, he still knew when I bled the first time on that ship.

I had crawled into his bed, and he had wrapped me up in his arms, and it was then that he froze slightly and lifted his head from the pillow. His nose grazed the back of my neck, and he inhaled deeply, before he chuckled softly and laid his head back down. We lay in silence for a bit, until finally I couldn’t stand it, and I spoke quietly.

“How’d you know I was a girl, back on T2?”

His body vibrated with silent laughter, his voice a low rush of gravel in my ear when he spoke.

“The nose knows, Jack. I could smell it on you. The same as I can smell it on you now. Its part of who I am - part man… part not. The same as I see things differently because of my eyes… I can smell things that most people don’t. Fear… arousal… blood.”

“But it could have just been a cut….”

“Nope… it’s a different type of scent. I knew before you bled… it just confirmed it when you did.”

“Oh…”

“Go to sleep, Jackie girl.”

Day three of my period was always a killer, and he woke up when I scrunched into myself, trying to ease the cramps that had woken me and left me biting my lip. I didn’t know he was awake until his hand left the pillow, where it had been resting by my head and curled across my abdomen.

Small circles, which had me groaning softly as I squeezed my eyes shut. The warmth that blanketed my back left and his hands shifted and rolled me onto my stomach. I could see his eyes in the darkness when I looked over my shoulder; twin pools of moonlight that rose in the darkness and his weight settled across my thighs as he knelt over me and pushed my top up.

Riddick has large hands - and to my eyes they could snap a man in half if he so desired. But when he laid those hands on my back and began to move them in arcing circles, trying to ease my discomfort, I knew he would never hurt me. Not intentionally. I knew it in my gut and I knew it in my heart.

I was a boneless mass by the time he finished; he simply chuckled, laid down on his back, and fell asleep again. When the following month rolled around, come day three, I got the same treatment. I told him a girl could get spoiled by this type of thing, and he snorted with laughter.

I spent my days with the pilot of the ship. A man called Bear began to teach me the controls, and how to use a navigation system. I was fascinated, and I must have asked a million and one questions, but Bear just rumbled with laughter and answered them all. He told me that if I wanted to learn to fly when I was older, to look him up and he’d teach me. I promised him that I would.

A week before we landed on New Mecca, the Riddick I knew withdrew into himself, and the older one came back out to play. I didn’t understand why at first, but I soon began to figure out why. He was withdrawing from me - putting some distance between us, emotionally.

Even at thirteen, I had known that. I also knew what it meant; I would wake up one morning and he would be gone. It was tied in with how he viewed me through those silver eyes. He was a man - I was a kid to him. And when his body began to react to mine in the mornings, that freaked him out.

I’ve been given the talk; ; I know more than my fair share about the human body and what happens to it. I knew it was beyond his control; shit, men get a morning erection every day of their lives once hormones come into play. It’s normal. But for Riddick, it wasn’t, because of who was sharing his bed.

Hence the ‘open eyes, roll away and scramble from bed, while trying not to look like you’re fleeing’ routine he pulled every morning. I wasn’t stupid, nor was I innocent - I just looked it. I knew what was happening to him - shit; I slept with my butt cradled in his groin every night.

If he twisted his hips slightly, so that a thigh pressed against me instead, I knew why. I just never called him on it - as I said, young - not stupid. I knew he wasn’t looking at me like that, so I found it slightly funny when he would do the bolt in the mornings - stone-cold killer, scared shitless of a kid. Dumb ass, he was.

The third night we were on New Mecca, I woke up during the night and rolled over to face him. He was frowning, and not in the 'you’ve just pissed me off, Jack' way either. It was in the ‘what the fuck do I do now?’ way, and I knew. This would be the last time I saw him.

But still, I asked him what was wrong. And he lied to my face, and said "nothing." I couldn't believe it - he had never lied to me. Not once. So, I stared at him for a long moment, and then I turned my back on him. I felt his fingers ghost over my shoulder again, and when I woke the next morning, he was gone.

If he’d stuck his shiv in my chest and twisted it, it wouldn’t have hurt as much as his leaving without saying good-bye did. But that was his way. Imam told me it was for the best, and in the deepest, darkest part of me, I agreed. Still hurt like hell, though.

A few months after Riddick left, I was walking through the market when I met a guy slightly older than me. Kain. I knew he wasn’t human, just by looking at him. Black hair, inhuman blue eyes, and a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one. Sixteen to my fourteen and we hit it off like I’ve never done with anyone else.

It was his eyes that had drawn us together. Kain had been watching me from the shadows, and I when I felt his gaze, I saw twin pools of light glowing in the darkness. I had thought it was Riddick at first, but when I stepped into the shadows to check, I saw that the eyes that were watching me were an unearthly shade of azure blue.

Riddick’s eyes were silver because of a shine job he had had done while in prison, enabling him to see who was in the dark - Kain’s eyes just glowed that way naturally. Thick eyelashes, and with a mischievous twinkle in them, and I told him he was beautiful. He blushed furiously, much to my amusement, and we were friends from that moment out.

Imam didn’t approve of Kain, but then, ever since we had landed on this planet, Imam hadn’t approved of much of anything I'd done. He wanted me to study his religion, but I said no. It wasn’t that I didn’t respect his beliefs; I just wanted to discover life by my own tempo, and not by the rules of a God I don’t believe in.

So, I went to school when he asked me to, and spent all of my free time with Kain. There was a sexual awareness between us from day dot, but it was never going to be. With Kain being a different species, he figured he could only enter a sexual relationship with one of his own kind. Not a 100%, bona-fied human.

So here we were, with a blazing attraction between us, and we were able to do fuck all about it. Sucks to be me, huh? We got used to it though, and it made us laugh in the end. Kain sure is easy on the eye, and he taught me about life and laughter and sexual awareness. For a guy, he sure had a handle on women, and he passed on his knowledge with a glee that reminded me of a kid in a candy store with no adult supervision.

As I got older, boys began to notice me in a way that set his hackles on edge, though, and made him regret his earlier knowledge-sharing. He sort of reminded me of Riddick in that regard; pure animal - protecting his bone from the other animals that wanted a chew of it.

If we went out dancing, he was glued to my body like a second skin - I learned to dance with him, and by god, if Imam had seen Kain holding my hips against his groin as we danced together, I would have been labeled a scarlet woman. Kain called it fucking with clothes on, which made me snort my drink at him. He flashed that shit-eating grin at me, and laughed.

“What? I can’t fuck you for real, so I’ll take my pleasure with you anyway I can, if it’s all the same to you!”

Just after my fifteenth birthday, Imam began to press me to study his religion again. To put aside my 'sinful' relationship with Kain, and become a young lady of New Mecca - that sentence right there is what put me on high alert. A Young Lady of New Mecca - oh, hell no.

My suspicions became reality when he introduced me to Aaban Khan one night over dinner. The man who leered at me and licked his bottom lip suggestively. The man, who had to be at least forty to my fifteen. The man who meant to take me as wife number god knows what, and squash my spirit. Fuck that!

I fled the dinner as soon as I could, and headed straight for Kain. I knew where he would be - he’d be hanging out at the local dance place, getting his flirt on. And when I burst into that dive, with tears choking me, he dumped the girl who was sitting in his lap onto the floor, and came to my side immediately.

He cupped my face, his eyes searching mine and he knew without a word what had happened. He simply brushed his lips over my forehead, tucked me under his arm, and led me back home. As we walked, he planned; he had the credits - we were outta there.

He scaled the building and let himself into my room through the window, while I composed myself and walked inside to face Imam. Only it wasn’t just Imam I faced - I had to face my would-be jailer as well. A marriage contract sat on the table, and it was signed.

I shook my head as I stared at Imam, the betrayal I felt etched clearly on my face. He lowered his gaze and looked away, but Aaban simply looked triumphant. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that Imam had been paid a bride-price of fifty thousand credits, and that he would be acquiring his purchase in two evenings. When he left, I cut lose on Imam.

He told me that he only wanted my happiness, and that as his child, I would do as I was told. I laughed sardonically; I wasn’t his child, and he fucking well knew it. He had slaved me out to the highest bidder - I hoped his God forgave him, because I sure as shit wouldn’t.

Then he told me that the influence that first Riddick and then Kain had had on me was unsavory, and that I should be ashamed of my behavior - it was then that I hated him. To not only put down the man who had saved our lives, but to also put down the boy who had saved me after Riddick had left? Hell. No.

The last words I spoke to him, before I fled to my room, were that I hated him and that I would never forgive him for this - nor would I forgive Riddick - for not seeing what would happen to me once he left, and for leaving me on a planet that was ruled by a God who wasn’t my own.

Imam looked as if I had physically struck him, and he sank down into his seat as I fled the room. In the sanctuary of my own room, Kain was prowling like a caged beast - he had already thrown all of my gear into a duffle bag, and it was sitting on the end of the bed.

We looked at each other for a long time, and then Kain shook his head and answered the unasked question that was lingering in my mind. It was also what confirmed the love I felt for him, and the deep friendship we shared.

“Only one thing holdin' me on this planet, Jack, and that’s you. Get ready to run - and run fast. I’ll be back before dawn, with passage off this shithole. Dust on the wind, baby girl - we’re outta here.”

True to his word, Kain returned two hours later, and told me we were booked on a ship that would be leaving early the following evening. While he packed his stuff up, and let a few trustworthy people know what was going on, Imam tried continually to get me to talk to him. I finally looked at him, and spoke flatly.

“You slaved me out, Imam - whored me out to the highest bidder, after you promised Riddick you would watch over me - make sure I was happy. News flash: I’m not happy. I don’t want him, and as far as I am concerned, you’re dead to me. You died on that planet along with Riddick… I’ll never forgive you for this. Either of you.”

I know my words hurt him, and they were meant to do so; Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Jack, and I was beyond pissed. I mumbled my excuses and left the room, where I proceeded to dress with accordance for 'running mode' - because that’s what I was doing. Running. Running for my life.

I left via the window, and met up with Kain as planned. We made our way slowly towards the spaceport, both of us on high alert and worried that we were being watched. Unknown to us, we were being watched and followed. Hunted.

Kain had already stowed our stuff in our room on the ship, and we were just waiting. Kain was leaning against the wall, and I was leaning into him. His arms were around my waist, his hands tucked into my back pockets. My head rested on his chest, and my arms were resting on his hips. Safe as houses.

When I felt Kain stiffen against me, I knew we were fucked. His arms tightened around me, but one hand slid from my pocket and across his body to grasp my hand in his own. I slowly turned my head and saw four of Aaban’s sons standing behind us with their arms crossed.

I blanched at the sight of them, and it was then that Kain tightened his grip on my hand, and turning quickly, began to run, dragging me after him. Aaban’s family took up chase, shoving people out of the way and shouting for us to stop.

Kain had mostly grown up on New Mecca, and he knew the streets like the back of his hand. Down alleyways, and through markets, and then up to the flat roof tops, where he began to drag me across the roofs and back the way we had come, safely out of sight for now.

We made it back to the spaceport just in time, and we hid in the ship and panted as we watched the door slowly slide shut. Just as it closed, Aaban’s family ran back into the spaceport, but it was too late. The ship had clearance, and we flung ourselves into the nearest seats and strapped in as the ship slowly rose into the air, and then jetted us into the atmosphere and towards safety. Or so we thought.

We spent the next two years on the run, jumping from one planet to another, from one system to another. Sometimes we were safe for a few weeks, and others we had to run only days after we'd landed. I never knew where Kain’s credits were coming from, but they were safely hidden whereever they were.

We had been on Totogga for four months when it all blew up in our faces. I had just turned seventeen, and we had been out celebrating with some new friends. From the first moment we ran, Kain had been teaching me to defend myself. If he hadn’t done so, what would have happened that night would have resulted in my death for sure.

Aaban’s men came out of nowhere, and separated us. It was Aaban’s son who grabbed me; a filthy, oily man, who was in his early twenties. And while his brother and two cousins started to kick the shit out of Kain, Ali punched me in the face, and threw me down on the ground. I saw stars and birds and planets go whizzing past, and underneath it all, I could hear Kain screaming out my name.

I came around as Ali tore my underwear off, and undid his pants, one beefy hand pinning me to the ground, while he lowered his hips towards my own. I did scream then, and I fought harder than I ever had before. I don’t know where the broken glass came from, but I found it in my palm as he grunted and pressed his hips forward.

The glass tore open my palm as I swung it in an arc; silence descended upon the alley when he gurgled and knelt upright to clutch his throat. But it was too late - blood sprayed out over me, the ground and the wall at my side. I scrambled away from him, and staggered to my feet as Ali fell forwards onto his face, his eyes glazing over as he died at my feet. A sob tore free from my throat, and then I knew nothing.

I came around a little while later, with Kain kneeling above me and patting my face and pleading with me to wake up. I looked around, and saw that two other bodies littered the alleyway, and Kain’s clothing was as stained with blood as my own were.

Kain dragged me to my feet, and dragged me after him as we began to run. We ran all the way back to where we were staying, where we stripped down and showered together, washing away blood and tears and the stench of fear and murder.

Kain simply held me after that and murmured my name over and over again, as he pressed frantic kisses along my cheeks and shoulders and when he kissed me for the very first time, I was gone. His hands ghosted along my body, leaving electric chills in their wake, and we both knew. He rummaged through his blood-stained clothes and found what he was after; I gave myself to him on the bathroom floor not ten minutes later.

Even with a condom on, he pulled out just as he cried out his release; we couldn’t take the risk of me getting pregnant. As he lay slumped above me, his lips ghosting along my shoulder, we held each other and I cried. It was the last time I cried for a long time after that.

If we thought Aaban had hunted us before, we were dead wrong - between the two of us, we had a bounty on us of one million credits, thanks to that child-fucking pig. Now we had Mercs on our asses, as well as Aaban’s family, and they all wanted a piece of us.

The first Merc I killed crept up on us while we were sleeping, and it was a gut reaction that had me pulling his own gun from his hands, and putting a hole in his stomach so wide that his insides spilled out before he'd even hit the floor. I stopped flinching at death after that one. It was a luxury I didn't have time for.

Between the two of us, we were held accountable for seventeen deaths before we were finally caught by a Merc who called himself Toombs six months later. They took us to Crematoria, as per Aaban's request, and as they lowered Kain into the pit, the Boss, a man called Douruba, bent me over his desk, and made me aware in no uncertain terms of what he was going to do to me under his watch.

Then it was my turn; the cons below us had hooted and cat-called when Kain was lowered, yet when it became apparent that I was not only female but young at that, it was pure pandemonium. Then large tree trunk arms caught me and I looked up into a familiar face. Bear. It was known from then on, that I was under his crew’s protection - Bear, Dog, Maniac, Link and Kain. Safe as houses.

The guards had a hell of a time controlling the cons who were out for blood because of me being in here - but because of Bear, Dog and Maniac, I was relatively untouchable. Don’t get me wrong - it wasn’t a picnic, but it could have been much worse.

But then the guards let the hounds out, and as I was running with Kain, I was grabbed by the hair, and torn free of his grasp. So while Kain was screaming my name but unable to get to me because of the hounds, I was dragged kicking and cursing up to the private quarters of the Boss himself.

So that’s my story… here I am, locking myself away in my own mind as Douruba wanks against my stomach while panting in my ear, and I'm wishing to God I had died on T2. That would have to be a hell of a lot better than what’s gonna happen to me with this sick fuck. Sucks to be me, huh? So much for safe as houses.