Treacherous

“Ready to get out of here?”

“You have no idea.”

He nodded and left her as quickly as he’d appeared. Since she didn’t have crap she was starting to wonder on it until he pushed back in with a pile of clothes over his arm.

He left again and she dressed. Ended up looking like a smaller version of him. Boots, pants, shirt, and then over it all a heavy cloak. She instantly saw why Riddick favored the garment despite the warm climate. It was concealing, useful, intimidating, and could be discarded quickly.

Riddick was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He looked all golden and black, those silver eyes glowing up at her. He had been beautiful on T2. The sun had made the world match his bronze coloring. Gold in gold. But here, the shapeless cloak blended with the shadows to make him nearly disappear. He looked dark and menacing, and merciful.

“You look better. Keep that hood up.”

“Compliments? I feel like we’re going on a date,” she teased as she came down the steps.

He gave her a considering look and then shrugged one shoulder, “Never been on a date.”

That didn’t surprise her. Dates were some idealistic theory from a world where they didn’t reside. “Me either.”

They moved to the door, both pulling their hoods up. He stopped and looked up, “Thanks, Lajjun. If you need anything come see me. You’ll be safe.”

She nodded, but Bell noted that she didn’t look convinced.

Out into the night. Riddick set off at a slow pace that she had no problems keeping up with.

Bell had to wonder about the changes in Riddick. He didn’t seem as…aggressive, as domineering, as angry. He’d even offered his protection to Lajjun openly.

“So where’s Imam?” she asked as soon as they were clear of the house and she knew Lajjun couldn’t hear.

“Dead.”

She’d expected it, but hearing the truth didn’t hurt any less. He’d been a father and a good man. “How?”

“Necros got him.”

“That’s what happened to Helion Prime?”

They only went a block when a group of ten or twelve of Mongers crossed their path. Bell jerked to a stop and backed up. She was the only one to have such a reaction. Others on the street watched, even warily, but didn’t do anything but slow down a little. Riddick didn’t even do that. He took several steps before he stopped to look back at her.

“Riddick, the Mongers,” she whispered a warning, watching the soldiers who’d just reached halfway across the street.

He looked slowly back at them, and then just as slowly back at her. “It’s fine. You’re safe, Bell.”

She stared at him hard. He was speaking of the Mongers, but his voice had dropped, his words slow. Suddenly those words meant so much more. He stood between her and the Mongers, unaffected, and she felt a sudden wave of relief and security. He was her savior. He’d saved her several times over, and now he was saying she was safe. And it became a fact. Not just from the Mongers, but from everything. She was with him. She was safe again.

She fought the need to cry. Before she’d felt a security around Riddick, a confidence that he could take care of anything. But this felt given, like a whisper too quiet for her to even hear was reassuring her.

An arm around her shoulders encouraged her to step closer, against the hardness and rough material that was Riddick’s chest. She leaned against him gratefully, feeling the echo of reassurance even more strongly. For a second it became so strong that it seemed significant.

She sniffed and raised her head. “Riddick?”

He just looked at her, down at her. Her against him, but he was in no way leaning on or even toward her. Like always he was the rock, she was just sheltered against it.

“Did you say something?” She knew he hadn’t, but it still felt like she’d heard something.

No goggles to hide his eyes. She liked that. His eyes shined with a reflective glint. He seemed to almost frown, then return to his normal watchfulness. “What do you think you heard?”

Bell closed her eyes and just felt. She’d always been told she should be special, have some sort of exceptional abilities because of her heritage. But nothing had ever shown itself. No going invisible, no telekinesis, no firestarting.

How do you know the taste of something without ever eaten it? Or in this case, how something will feel without knowing you were experiencing it. But through the three decades of doubt in her life she’d never felt anything like this. There was a force coming from Riddick. It felt electric almost, pulsing, and controlled, like he held it in check now, but could do more with it.

Her instincts made her want to draw away from him, out of self-preservation, but there was no menace in the sensation. What felt even stranger was that she had a suspicion that she wasn’t just feeling him. Slowly she pulled away from him, eyes still closed. She was aware of the entire surface of her skin, each injury, the brush of cloth, the heat of the air. Was it just him making her feel it? It would seem so, but it didn’t ring true.

She stepped away from him, head lowered, concentrating. She could still feel him, knew exactly where he was, how he was standing, even what he was looking at. Her. It was almost like she was seeing him. The awareness she’d felt diminished, nearly disappearing, but not completely. Was what she felt the dregs of being near him?

A thought reached out to her, like a living finger made of some unexplainable power. It didn’t have words, but had a feeling, a curiosity, a concern, and it was coming from Riddick. She could almost detect his sardonic wariness in it. She smiled softly at the absurd thought of trying to answer the… apparition. She thought hard, concentrating on the thing reaching out from him.

“You can feel this.”

He’d spoken. Bell opened her eyes to look at him. She didn’t understand, and wondered how much he understood, or what he knew. That force now felt suspended, like he’d pulled it back, but it could just be that she wasn’t able to feel it as well if she wasn’t concentrating on it.

The depth of his tone became significant suddenly. He was pissed. A blast of crackling heat hit her just seconds before his hand wrapped around her throat. He pushed her back until she hit a wall and pinned her there. His face was in hers and dangerous. His grip was tighter than needed to restrain her.

“Who are you, Bell?”

She struggled to breath, and to not fight. How she hated his willingness to hurt her and her own reluctance to retaliate. “You know who I am. I’m a nobody.”

His fingers tightened, really hurting now. Her windpipe burned as her airflow was cut off even more.

“You’re fucking lying,” he growled into her face. A knife glinted in his other hand, inches from her face. Her eyes were drawn to it, and then the gaping faces of onlookers, unwilling to aid her.

Tears were starting, a reaction to losing her breath. “Riddick, I—“

He shoved her hard, getting closer, leaning into her painfully. “No one else can feel this thing. No one. But you reacted to it!”

She gasped, her mouth surely resembling a fish’s as she pulled at his hand. “I don’t know.”

“That’s shit, Bell. I can feel the truth. You know something. You’re hiding something.”

Had he let up on her? He was still yelling, still enraged, but she suddenly felt calm. Was this the out-of-body before death? Whatever it was, she liked it. Her fingers stopped clawing at his hold, and just gripped his wrist. Her eyes stopped searching for some sort of aid and met his. She felt like she’d taken a deep calming breath, but that just wasn’t a possibility, now was it?

“If you can feel the truth, can you feel this?”

Her hand dropped to her cloak and pulled at the loose neck of the shirt she wore. It wasn’t enough to be revealing, but he saw enough. Just the fingers of the impression of a glowing hand on her chest.

He released her so suddenly that she stumbled. Hand against the wall she leaned against it to replace her depleted oxygen. After a few seconds she looked up at him. “You sure know how to treat a girl on the first date.”

He smiled and adjusted his hood, prompting her to do the same. They were moving off together side-by-side as if nothing had happened. As if the crowd of still ogling voyeurs hadn’t just watched him nearly kill her.

“Bell, you’re full of surprises.”

“And you thought I was expendable,” she teased, referring to their conversation as escapees in a cave on Tangier 2.

He shrugged, “Thought you were just another nameless follower. Didn’t talk much.”

“It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch for. We’re planning.”

He turned to her, a teasing smile barely turning up his lips, “Yeah, we are.”

It was hard for Bell to see the damage done to Helion Prime’s capital city. It had been a beautiful city, rich, with many different peoples walking its streets. Had there been crime? She couldn’t imagine any large group of people not having crime, but she hadn’t witnessed any or heard of any. It had been a happy place.

Now it was dark and nearly deserted.

She and Riddick were going in the direction of the city center, there should be more people about, but there were less and less. Many looked scared and everyone avoided them.

They turned a corner and Riddick stopped. Bell stopped too, but she didn’t realize it. Before her should have been more buildings, houses, and streets. Instead the land was leveled. The force used to clear the portion of the city was evident in the tiny fragments of debris and the baked smoothness of the ground. It had probably been glass at first impact, but was now a crunchy looking layer that stretched for acres.

No questions needed in the ‘what happened’ department. Lining the newly leveled field were Necromonger ships. Towering high and neatly arranged in a corridor, they were a disgusting display of power and might.

Bell stared at the impressive view before her. She knew Riddick must have something to do with the Mongers, which made her want to throw up. That Militia had brought her to this particular place at this exact time was no coincidence. She doubted they knew of Riddick’s presence on Helion Prime, which meant they had some dealings with the Mongers too. And that too made her want to throw up.

“Riddick,” she whispered, her eyes slowly rising to his. “Just tell me. I can get the details later. Right now I just want to hear the truth.”

He nodded, “Let’s walk.”