Claimer's Keeps

Jack’s hands were tied behind her back again, and she struggled vainly in the backseat of the cab. Riddick sat next to her, a casual smile on his face as toyed with his end of the leash, watching her wriggle and writhe. The one time he had reached a hand over to do something—she didn’t know if he wanted to touch her face or stroke her hair or what—she had pulled away as far as she could and bared her teeth. Suddenly, she felt like an animal.

That’s what he’s trying to do, she realized. He wants to reduce me to some kind of an animal.

Riddick’s amused smirk was what got to her more than anything. It was painfully obvious to her who was in charge. His superior attitude and complete lack of respect for her made her feel lower than dirt.

When they arrived at the port, Jack wasn’t seeing much of anything. Her eyes were swollen from too much crying, and her head hurt so much because of it that she kept her eyes shut tight against the bright New Meccan sun. Riddick still held her leash, but he was also carrying her bag with one hand and had an arm wrapped possessively—or was it protectively?—around her shoulders. She cringed away from him, but didn’t want to make a scene. It would do no good anyway, and she didn’t want to draw more attention to herself that was necessary. She felt… shamed.

The interior of the ship wasn’t quite as dark as she had expected it to be. The ship was surprisingly spacious, and Jack looked around curiously. However, her forlorn interest was soon forgotten. As Riddick locked the loading ramp, she felt suddenly caged in. She panicked.

Jack ran toward the ramp and began trying desperately to free her wrists. “Somebody help me!” she screamed through the thick metal, praying that someone would hear her and get her away from this madman. “I’m not a slave! He kidnapped me! Hello…!”

Riddick just stood back and watched her scream herself hoarse. She had known that it would be fruitless, but again, his reaction startled her.

When her throat was burning and her wrists screaming from the abrasions the rope had given them, she fell silent and slid to her knees. Dry, wracking sobs shook her throat.

“It’s soundproof, Jackie.”

Riddick’s voice made her tense up. Turning slowly, she faced him with an emotion such as no other she had ever experience coursing through her veins. “I hate you,” she said softly. And it was true. At that moment, one thing became perfectly clear. She hated him with her entire being.

Riddick merely shrugged. “I know you do. We’ll see how you feel a few weeks from now.”

He approached her, and she scrambled away, awkwardly rising to her feet. “You keep away from me,” she hissed.

Riddick merely cornered her against the ramp and said one word. “No.” He paused for a moment, placing his hands on the metal on either side of her head, effectively trapping her. Jack’s fear was overwhelming, and she knew he could smell it dripping from her in waves of scent.

She may have known this, but was unprepared when Riddick bent down and began sniffing at her hair and skin. After a quick journey up and down her torso, he buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply.

Jack held herself completely still, trying to remain calm. Riddick kept smelling her, inhaling and exhaling, his breath hot on her scalp. She waited a few moments longer before doing the one thing she could think of that would have any affect whatsoever. Moving more quickly than she thought possible, she brought her knee between his legs and connected with—an erection? He was fucking turned on by this shit? By her fear?

Riddick grunted and crumpled forward. She dodged out of the way of his heavy body and started running in the opposite direction. Her only thought, her only need, was to get away.

Her fucking leash was still attached to her collar, and as quickly as she sprinted away, Riddick’s hand snaked out and grabbed it. The scene from her bedroom played out again.

Lying on the floor, gasping for air with her arms trapped painfully behind her back, Jack closed her eyes. She had really done it this time. Trying to run away in her bedroom has been amusing to him, but this time she literally assaulted him. She had no idea what he would do.

She lay there, waiting for him to do something. She didn’t know what. As mad as that had probably made him, chances were very good that she wouldn’t survive to see evening.

In a few moments, Riddick sat up and squatted over her. He reached down to touch her face. Jack flinched and pulled away as much as the leash would allow. She clenched her jaws tight as his heavy hands mapped out her features.

“Lights off,” Riddick said. The lighting system immediately powered down, and Jack heard Riddick take off his goggles. “Is this what you want, Jack? Do you want to live completely in my world? Trying to get around in the dark, never knowing where I was, if I was watching you, if I was getting ready to grab you by that sweet little leash of yours and pull you over to me? Is that what you want?”

Jack shook her head, mouth dry with fear as her eyes tried vainly to spot Riddick in the complete blackness that consumed her.

“Answer me, Jack. Is that what you want?”

“N—no.”

“Good girl,” he purred. He stroked her hair, and she tensed at the unexpected contact. “If you piss me off any further, though, that’s exactly what will happen.”

“Why are you doing this?” Jack whispered, finally feeling well enough to speak without coughing and choking on her own words.

Riddick sat down and pulled her against him. Jack remained stiff and unyielding in the darkness, but Riddick situated himself so that he was leaning against the locked ramp and settled Jack in his lap, as though she were a child and he was getting ready to tell her a story.

“Do you remember what you said to me the day I left you in New Mecca with the holy man?”

Jack shook her head. No, she didn’t remember. It had been four years ago. A lifetime ago.

“Let me remind you,” Riddick murmured. “You begged me to take you with me. Said you’d do anything. Remember that?”

Jack nodded as the memory suddenly rushed over her. She had yelled and pleaded and eventually cried as Riddick walked away from her.

“Do you know why I left?” Jack nodded again, and trembled when she felt Riddick growl deep in his chest, “Do you? And what reason is that, little one?”

“You didn’t want a kid tailing along. I’d be a liability.”

Riddick chuckled. Jack was still afraid, but through her fear was a surprising awe at the raw power residing in the man on whose lap she sat. That feeling was suddenly so intense that it was almost sexual.

“Exactly. A liability. But guess what? Riddick is dead. He died a long time ago on that planet, at least as far as the law goes. I don’t exist. And you, my little girl, are finally with me, just like you wanted.”

“But—like this? As a slave? Riddick, a fucking slave?”

She felt him shrug. “Why not? You said you’d do anything to be with me, Jackie. I’m not the hero you thought I was. I kill people for a living, and I enjoy the fuck out of it. I’m not a good person, babe. But I want you with me.” He growled possessively. “And what I want, I get.” His fingers stroked the collar around her neck. “This way you can never leave. Anything, right, Jackie? This is the price you pay.”

Jack tried to reason with him. “But, Riddick, I was thirteen back then. I’m not the same person I was when I knew you.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want, Jackie. If I decide what you want matters, it will. But right now, all that matters is that you’re mine.”

END OF PART ONE