Ghost

Tomoe - Glad you enjoyed again, darl, and that you have been dropping me a line. :0

8. Kain.

I watched him, watch her. Watched her avoid us both. And finally, watched him look towards me. We were on opposite sides of the pit; him leaning against the wall, and me crouched on an outcrop of rock. Opposite sides - and we were both staring at Jack. I don’t know what happened between Jack and Riddick while I slept. But when I woke up a few hours ago, she was quiet and withdrawn.

Everything I said and did, resulted in her pulling further and further away from me. She finally pleaded with me to leave her alone; to let it go. She was sitting between Dog’s legs as he sat against the wall near the basin. He had led her down there several hours ago. She curled so trustingly into his arms; with her head tucked under his chin, her pain and anger came off her in waves. Dog snarled at anyone who ventured too close, including Link and Maniac for a while there.

I shifted my gaze towards him again - Riddick. His face was a stone wall - nothing showed on his face, and his goggles covered his eyes. But I could see the tension in him, in the way he was standing. He’d haunted Jack from the day I had met her, and in turn, he had haunted me. Not once did I ever ask her about him, and she never volunteered the information either. When she had fallen sick and had called out his name… I can still remember it as clear as day. She was so fucking scared; trapped in her dreams as she sweated out some space bacterial bug she had caught.

I though I’d heard her wrong the first time she said it - but when she said it a second time, I knew who she meant. I’d known about the crash - she’d told me that much. I’d looked it up with her, and we had learned that the insurance company of the Hunter-Gratzner had sent a retrieval team to that planet. There were pictures of the crash; the wreckage that was scattered along the sand. And scarier? A burnt carcass of the things that had hunted them down. Picked them off one at a time.

And amongst that information, was the passenger list. Riddick was listed as having been killed on that planet, yet Jack called out for him, with utter terror echoing in her voice. She’d told me she had been saved by a man called Rick… wasn’t much of a stretch to put it all together. I never told her that I knew - it had taken me too long to gain her trust as it was. But I knew she missed him for a long time after he had left.

When I had first seen Jack in the market place all those years ago, what had drawn me to her was her sadness. It was almost a visible thing, hanging around her slender shoulders. Where most girls her age were laughing and flirting, her sadness dulled her eyes and drew you to her like nothing else. Such fragile innocence, packaged into a beautiful face. Doe eyes that were haunted by unspeakable terror.

When she eventually shared her nightmares with me, I made the silent vow that nothing would ever put that look in her eyes again. That look had faded over time. Not even Imam’s unknowing betrayal had put that look into her eyes. I know Imam didn’t know that his mistake would play out the way it did - he just wanted what was best for Jack. He was desperate to save her from what haunted her - how was he to know that it was Riddick he was trying to save her from?

I’ve loved Jack from almost the first moment I saw her, and I’d do anything to protect her. And when Riddick and I were toe to toe, I saw it in him - that savagery that would be let out without warning, if it meant protecting her. I don’t know if he recognizes it for what it is or not, but I know he saw it in me, too. The animal that would tear and maim and kill - all to keep that look from her eyes.

Problem is though, he’s put it back there. That haunted look. The sadness. If I’m completely honest, I know he hasn’t meant too. I know he came here for her, and if what Link said was true, then this is is the second time he’s been here in a fucking week. And that’s where my problem lies; he came back for her. I don't like it. I don't like him. I fuckin' hate how she's become in the last few hours because of him... but he came back for her.

Riddick looked up as I stared at him; he returned my gaze with a stoic look on his face. When I tilted my head and stood up, I didn’t need to look back to see if he was following me or not. I was standing in the Boss man’s room when he came up behind me. I kept my back to him as I stared down at the dried blood on the floor. I felt the razor sharp edge of a shiv press into my lower back, and his voice ghosted along my ear as he spoke.

“Anyone else spoke to me the way you did? They’d be findin’ pieces of ‘em scattered across the planet for the next ten years.”

I nodded slowly, even as the corner of my mouth threatened to twitch up into a smirk.

“True… but then, if someone spoke to me like that about Jack, I’d have to question why,” I said thoughtfully. “Might be that I didn’t have all the facts… that I didn’t know you’d come for Jack, and got worked over by a cretin that needs her fuckin’ spine ripped out.”

The shiv slid almost teasingly across my own spine, and the tip bit in slightly; only enough to cause a drop of blood to well to the surface of my skin, but the message had been sent and received. Even as I tilted my head in acknowledgement, he pulled the shiv away and then stepped to my side. I didn’t look at him as I bent down, my fingers brushing the dried blood on the floor as I shook my head. The memory of what had happened in here was still too fresh, and when I spoke, I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

“Do you have any idea what it was like, hearin' her scream and bein’ able to do fuck all about it?”

I rose to my feet and moved over to lean against the wall. Riddick was already mirroring my posture on the opposite side of the room; arms crossed, body tensed, animal to animal. I had that advantage over him in this brightly lit room - I don’t feel the pain he does. He tilted his chin and looked down at the blood, and when he lifted his head again, I spoke quietly.

“It was one thing to hear her scream. It was another thing all together when those screams cut off rather suddenly. And then there was silence. All I could do was wait for the moment when I could get her back. Would she be alive? How would I find her? Had she been raped?”

Riddick looked down at the pool of blood on the floor again, and I tilted my head as I stared at him.

“It took us all day to get through that door. And when we did, we found her hangin’ from the roof; hands dragged up over her head in old fashioned cuffs. She was facin’ away from us - and her feet barely touched the floor.”

I glanced back down at the dried blood as Riddick continued to stare at me. I licked the corner of my mouth as I toyed with what was resting in my pocket. Pulling it out, I clenched my hand around it and spoke again.

“I thought she was dead. She was covered in blood and bruises and cuts. And when Dog and Maniac tore the chain out of the roof, we found this in her mouth.”

I tossed the bit towards him, and he grabbed it reflexively before it hit him. When he looked down at it in his hand, he flinched before he could help himself. He dropped it on the floor as he snapped his gaze back up to meet mine, and I lifted my chin silently. Riddick tilted his head again, and when he spoke, it was dark amusement that tainted his voice.

“You apologizin’?”

I looked back at him, and this time, I couldn’t hide the smirk that lifted the corner of my lips.

“Nope. I don’t apologize to no one but Jack. And what I said to you needed to be said. See… Kyra’s tainted you already, Riddick. You’ve come back here, expectin’ to find another animal in Jack - it ain’t there.”

Riddick glared at me, and I shrugged.

“Kyra was a different breed of animal. She enjoyed pain. She enjoyed death. Jack doesn’t. She kills if she has too… not because she can.”

Riddick nodded slowly, and when I slid down the wall and crouched down, he again, mirrored my pose.

“Kyra’s fighting style…” he began, and I snorted.

“You mean mine, don’t you? She sucked that out of my head - Jack’s style is more disable as quickly as possible. She’ll go for the things she knows will disable a man quickly; a knee between the legs, a shiv in the base of the spine or between the legs. A chain around his neck from the distance if he’s after someone she cares about.

“When Kyra got here, she mirrored Jack’s style for a long time. But then she saw me take out an inmate who threatened Jack. And suddenly, she could fight like you knew her too. That’s what first clued us in, to what she was doin’ to Jack.”

“How'd she do it?” he asked bitterly, and I shrugged.

“No clue - but when she started using memories against Jack, that’s when Jack turned on her. Everything else Kyra had done… Jack just let it go. Said that Kyra was a victim of the system. There was just no tellin’ her… but when Kyra sucked a memory from Jack about a sweet spot? That’s when Jack went mental.”

Riddick’s gaze snapped to mine, and I cocked an eyebrow as I watched the sudden play of emotion that swept across his face. Anger. Surprise. Disgust, and finally, something I never thought I’d see - the slightest hint of trepidation.

“What happened?” he asked, and I chuckled softly.

“Kyra asked Jack what the sweet spot was. Jack just looked at her for a minute, and when Kyra asked why Jack wasn’t going to share what it was, and where mine was, that’s when Jack snapped. I’ve never seen her throw down the way she did that day.

“If the guards hadn’t stopped her, I honestly think Jack would have killed Kyra. As it was, she spent a week in a cage with the hounds, and Kyra spent that time being treated for her injuries. After that, Jack wouldn’t have a bar of Kyra - and a week later, you broke Kyra out of here.”

Riddick looked down at the dried blood on the floor, and his voice was cold when he spoke.

“Left of the spine, fourth lumbar down - the abdominal aorta. You can bleed a man dry in a matter of moments if you hit that spot just right. The sweet spot.”

I just snorted as I looked away, anger coloring my vision red and black for a moment as all the puzzle pieces finally fell into place.

“Figures,” I bit out. “Jack was always protective of her past - never wanted to talk about it, never wanted to bring attention to it, always changed the subject. She wasn’t only protectin’ herself - she was protectin’ you.”

I couldn’t stop the bitter laughter that escaped my mouth, and Riddick glared at me for a moment as I stood up and paced. Even as I turned to face him, I knew he could see my anger, and when I finally spoke, it came out white hot.

“I put it down to what happened to her before the crash. But I never figured that she was still protectin’ you, after all these years. Still protectin' you, even after you left her ass to rot ‘cause a piece of merc pussy led you around by the dick first,” I spat out, and Riddick sprang towards me with a snarl.

He caught me by the shirt front and slammed me against the wall, and I snarled back as his fist collected my jaw and snapped my head to the side. I slammed my foot down onto the top of his even as I shoved my hand up between us, and grabbed the goggles he wore. I pulled them away from his eyes as far as they would go, and Riddick slammed his eyes shut in pain as the light flooded them.

But when I abruptly let the goggles go, and they snapped back into place with a painful slapping noise, he let me go and grabbed his face. That gave me barely enough time to draw my fist back and then drive it forward as hard as I could into his solar-plexus. A second blow later and he doubled over slightly, even as I changed my third blow mid swing, and turned it into an upper cut.

The force of it sent him back several steps, and even as he was straightening up, we were both reaching for shivs. Riddick grabbed me again as he leaped forward, and I swung my body around his as his elbow locked with mine. We collided back to back, and I chuckled dryly as he grunted when I collected the back of his head with my free elbow, followed by two quick blows to the kidney area.

I spun away from him after that, and swung in low as he turned just as fluidly, his shiv outstretched. Even as he came back around, I was rising to my feet, and snapping my foot out to the back of his knee. Riddick stumbled momentarily, and as I closed in on him, a voice rose above the roaring in my head, causing me to falter. It gave Riddick time to balance himself and then turn back on me.

I caught his movement a moment too late, and his shiv glided across my shoulder and drew blood as I twisted. But as he drew his arm back a fraction to inflict another cut, his arm was grabbed and wrenched away. A snarl echoed above us as we were knocked down with a thud, and I looked up in surprise. Maniac was standing there with a frown on his face, and a length of steel pipe in his hands. He looked between us slowly, and then shook his head.

“Is this little testosterone contest finished?” he drawled, and I glanced at Riddick slowly.

“It might interest you both to know, that Jack is headed up here. So if you two animals can quit snarlin’ at each for a moment, maybe we can finally get around to leavin’ this shithole. You wanna throw down later and tear each other in half, then be my guest - but until then, play nice.”

Riddick and I swung to our feet at the same time, and we shared a quick look.

“Satisfied?” I asked with a quick look at my shoulder, and he snorted.

“Not even fuckin’ close.”

I smiled slyly, and as light footsteps drew closer, murmured softly.

“How’re the eyes?”

Riddick growled, the sound echoing slightly as I snickered. I left his side then, and as I leaned against the doorway. I tilted my head and looked Jack up and down slowly as she stopped a few steps away from me. I just smirked at her as I raised an eyebrow; it was a look she knew well - one that held a dark hint of a promise. I coiled away from the door as I made my way over to her with slow movements, and she tilted her head back as she stared up at me. Reaching out I gripped her hips with my hands lightly, and tilted my head as we stared at each other for a minute.

“Take a walk wit’ me, Jack,” I muttered finally, and she nodded as I looped my arm around her neck and turned towards the top of the prison.

I glanced in the Boss’s room as we walked past, and smirked as Riddick looked towards us sharply. I led her up the final staircase, and when we entered the control room, I leaned against a bench top. I tugged her in-between my legs as we stared at each other, and then tugged her lower lip from between her teeth with my thumb as she bit it.

“You’ve got some interestin’ friends, Jack,” I said finally, and she flinched slightly as she pulled out of my arms.

I straightened up slowly, and she took a step away from me as I rolled my shoulders and neck.

“Kain… I…”

Jack looked down at her hands and shook her head, and I sighed as I relented.

“I’ve always known, Jack - about Riddick? I’ve always known.”

Jack’s head snapped up and she searched my eyes quickly, before tilting her chin up and closing her eyes.

“How?” she asked finally, and I sat back down on the bench.

“Back on New Mecca.... you said his name when you were sick.”

Jack reached up and wrenched the tie out of her hair, sending it tumbling around her face as she shook her head. I knew her frustration, and remained silent as she shoved her hands through her hair.

“I knew him for a moment when I was younger, Kain. Then he was gone, and I met you. The rest, as they say, is history.”

“I know,” I said softly as she looked at me pleadingly.

She licked her lips as she started to pace the room, and as she paced, she tugged at her hair or twitched her shoulders and arms in agitation - it was like waiting for a pot of water to boil over.

“You reminded me of him sometimes. That same animal instinct… that same band of cold steel that runs through you. I knew why he left, Kain, and I was fine wit’ it. Hurt like a bitch, but I was fine. I always wondered what I’d say to him if I ever saw him again - didn’t think I would though. I just hoped he'd be safe - that he wouldn't be caught and sent back to slam.

“It never occurred to me that I’d see him in here. That he'd be the one who found me. That it would hurt when I did see him. Instead of catching up on what I’d done wit’ life, I felt like kickin’ his ass instead. Add in Kyra, and it’s just one big fuck up after another, and I hate it. I hate how it makes me feel, and I hate that I feel like I'm thirteen years old again.”

Her voice had steadily risen, and she wrapped her arms around her waist as she stared at me. I just shook my head slowly, and bit back the bitter taste of what I had to say.

“Jack… she skull-fucked him. You can’t blame him for that. Not when she did us over, too.”

Jack shook her head and her jaw clenched slightly.

“He said he could pick me out of a crowd just by my scent alone, Kain… fuck!”

Jack shoved her hands though her hair again, and then turned back to face me.

“How could he not know, Kain?" she cried angrily. "He knew shit about me when we first met, that not one other person picked up on - how could he think she was me? We don’t even share a passin’ resemblance! How could she fuck him over so badly, that he didn't know? How could she pick him out of my brain? I never spoke about him after he left - only occasionally with Imam. It was too dangerous. And she sucked him out and fucked us both!

"I feel like I've been fuckin' violated! How the fuck did this happen, Kain? If I wasn't a consolation prize for a pilot that was torn away from him in the rain, am I now the consolation prize for the dead whore who tried to kill me, that he saved first? Because that's what it feels like, Kain. Always being taken care of, because some woman died tryin' to save him.”

I shrugged, and she swore as she started pacing again. I couldn’t help the laughter that broke out when she kicked a chair across the room in frustration, and Jack glared at me as I smirked.

“Jack… fuck, I can’t believe I’m defendin’ him to you, but he came back… he came back to get ya, after he found out she wasn’t you… that’s gotta count for somethin'.”

Jack snorted softly.

“Why though, Kain? Not one word in five years... So why?”

I leaned back against the bench and held my hands out to the side.

“You won’t know until you ask him, Jack. I can’t answer those questions for you, baby girl.”

Jack looked at me and I knew how close she was to freaking out completely.

“What would you do, Kain?” she pleaded, and I snorted.

“I’ve already done what I'd do, Jack - and he retaliated in kind. You cared for him at one point… s’up to you. You know I‘m wit you.”

Jack sighed as she pressed her fingers against her eyes and turned her back on me. I pushed away from the bench and closed the distance between us. Slipping my arms around her waist, I cradled her body with my own. Nuzzling her neck gently, I smiled when she sighed and turned around in my arms. Her eyes traveled over the cut on my shoulder, and she raised an eyebrow.

“You been flexin’ your claws, Kain?”

“Nah… not even close. Just markin’ my territory,” I said as I smirked down at her.

She snorted and slapped her hands against my chest lightly, before she lowered her eyes.

“Three years ago, you made me a promise,” she said, and I laughed softly as I leant forward and nuzzled her shoulder briefly.

“That I did.”

Jack nodded as I ran my hands up and down her ribs slowly, and after a moment she leaned into me. Threading my hands through her hair, I tugged her head back.

“You still hold that promise?” she asked.

“Until the day I die.”

Jack nodded and I smirked as she finally tilted her chin up, completely baring her throat. I leaned forward and nipped her jugular carefully, and purred as she jerked against me.

“Animal,” she whispered, and I laughed as I tilted my head lower.

“You know I am, baby girl.”

I ran my hands down over the small of her back and just under the waist band of her pants. She shuddered against me when I flicked the tip of my tongue across the dip of her throat, and then laughed softly when I purred again. I felt her hands gripping tightly to my shirt, and returned a hand to her hair.

“You know,” I said thoughtfully as I nipped her once more, “that we’re gettin’ real close to that line again, Jack. You know the one I mean?”

“Uh huh…”

I chuckled against her throat, and then pressed my hand against the swell of her ass. She jerked and then laughed softly when she felt what I meant. I was smirking myself as I lifted her head back up so I could see her eyes. We stared at each other, and I shook my head as I leaned forward and brushed my lips over hers.

“Ya take the breath right outta me, girl,” I muttered, and she nodded as I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

Jack licked her lips slowly, and I stared at the moisture she'd left on her lower lip. She slipped her hands under my shirt and trailed her fingers over my ribs as her back arched over my arms slightly. I groaned softly and she tilted her head to the side and glanced at me from under her lashes coyly.

“You gonna take me to heaven, Kain?’ she whispered, and I nodded as she tilted her face up.

“Mmmm... take you to heaven, and show you how hot the fires of hell burn,” I muttered, and then bent my head and kissed her. Line be damned - I was jumping over it with both eyes wide open.

It was hot and moist, and she whimpered as I sucked her lower lip between mine, and sunk my teeth into it lightly. A flick of my tongue over her bottom lip, and she parted her lips as I lifted a hand to cradle the back of her head. The briefest of tastes, and that line dissolved and thrust me into the danger zone - the one where reality became blurred, and all that mattered was sinking into her.

I felt Jack sway in my arms and moved her backwards slowly as her tongue brushed my own. Pressed her against the wall, and when she flinched, turned us around so that I was leaning against the wall, and she was leaning up into me. I broke the kiss slowly and took a deep breath. Jack moaned softly in disapointment, and the sound hit me straight in the groin and I dragged her lips back against mine. Slid my tongue back into her mouth, and tasted her as deeply as I could.

I opened my eyes when I heard a soft growl, and saw Riddick standing in the doorway. Childish, I know, but I kept my eyes on Riddick as I slowly broke the kiss and then lifted my head. Kept my eyes on him as I brushed my lips across her temple. I slowly licked my bottom lip for a final taste of her, and if looks could kill, I would have been a dead man for sure. I smirked slightly as Link snickered as he stepped into the room from behind Riddick, and then glanced down at Jack.

“Jack…”

She opened her eyes slowly and blew out a deep breath as the corner of my mouth curled into a smirk as she licked her own lips.

“Hmm?” she answered a moment later, and I couldn’t stop the smile that broke across my face as she shook her head to clear it. This is what kissing a Lotharian does - knocks you stupid for a moment.

“Jaacckk…”

She blinked a few times, and then laughed at herself as she shook her head.

“Yeah?”

“You ready to get off this rock?” I asked, glancing past her to the others who were waiting in the doorway.

“And the rest of it?” she asked, and I looked at Riddick as I spoke, causing his jaw to clench.

“If it’s important enough, Jack? It’ll still be there when you’re ready to face it.”

“We’ve got nothin’ to go back to, Kain,” she whispered, and I shook my head.

“We got everythin’ we need right in this room, Jack.”

“Promise?”

“We run together, we stay together, and if and when it comes? We die together. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to get between us.”

It was the same promise I'd made her three years ago, and she sighed as she lowered her forehead to my chest for a moment. I ran my hands over her back gently, and kept my eyes on Riddick as he watched us. I could feel Jack gathering her thoughts and strength, and when she lifted her head a moment later, her eyes searched mine. I just rubbed my knuckled over her cheek gently.

Jack nodded then, and I grinned down at her as she slowly turned around. I kept a casual arm looped around her stomach as she finally lifted her eyes to Riddick. His face was impassive as he looked at her. They locked eyes for a long moment. Jack finally shrugged a shoulder and Riddick glanced at me. I tilted my chin up, and cocked an eyebrow as I returned his look, and he finally nodded.

And when he turned to lead out us of the pits of hell, I kept my arm around Jack. She was my only concern - my only weakness. One I shared with Riddick - and we both understood that. We might not trust each other - but she would be what kept us silent. What kept the animal silent - for now.