Shadows and Life

Shadows and Life
By Lysan

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, I’m making no money for borrowing ‘em from Pitch Black and it’s creators. Oh yeah, Rose is mine except for the fact she’s an Immortal, the concept of which belongs to David-Panzer productions

Summary: There is one more person alive on the planet as the survivors of the Hunter-Gratzne struggle with the crash.

Type of story: H/C, Alternate U – Crossover with Highlander Universe.

Rating: NC-17 Graphic violence, gore and sex, not to mention language.
Unbetad, so any and all mystakes are mine.


Chapter I

The small still form in the isolated pool of light drew a shuddering breath and stirred to life once again.

Wearily Rose rolled over and, pushing her hair out of the way, opened her eyes. This time it was the blue sun that shone down through the crevasse in the cavern’s vaulted roof, less then fifteen feet overhead. Slowly she sat up and looked around, noticing the ever-present movement of the creatures just beyond the reach of the light. Her hand reached out to pick up the sword lying on the sandy ground next to her, and she sluggishly climbed to her feet.

“Oh, God, why can’t you just let this be over with?” Her soft plea fell in the darkness that surrounded her, causing the creatures to shift and move. She wasn’t sure how many times she had died and revived in this personal hell. The first time, of course, had been when their ship had crashed into the planet, slamming through the crust and into the vast labyrinth of caverns that seemed to stretch on forever. Duncan had vanished, and Methos assumed, since his presence couldn’t be felt, that he’d somehow been sucked out of the ship, either on impact or when the cockpit windows imploded. He had to be dead.

The ‘Old man’ had woken first, and found her buried under destroyed cryo-tubes, a piece of the ‘unbreakable’ glass embedded in her chest. Once he’d freed her from the wreckage and pulled out the glass, her own quickening had been able to heal all the other injuries and revive her.

It hadn’t been until the two of them had ventured out of the ship that they’d found themselves in an unending hell. The monsters had literally come out of no where, screaming in the darkness. They’d been lucky, that first time; they had had their swords with them. Hundreds of years of practice was all that had kept them from being torn apart almost immediately. That and the fact that power still fed some light in the broken hull they hadn’t moved more then ten sterom.rom.

In those few feet Rose and Methos had left a trail of dead and dying beasts, and a fair bit of their own blood as well. She’d managed to drag him the last bit, into the hull, before he died from the claw spear aimed at her back. The two of them healed slowly, and the oldest Immortal figured that something in the alien biochemistry hampered their own quickening. In the end, he’d been right, and it had cost him his life when they had decided to try and escape the underground caves.

The wreck had protected them for weeks, but the fuel that kept their lights burning, and the water and foecycecyclers working was finally running out. Methos had known they had to try for the surface. The crash had caused a cave-in, trapping the back half of the ship under layers of rock, and closing off the entry point as a way to escape. So, he and Rose had made careful plans, timing the passages of the suns overhead. They would make their attempt when the pools ightight were their largest, forcing the creatures into the darker side passages. They hadn’t made it. Whatever direction they had run, they hadn’t been able to find a way to the surface that wasn’t out of the light.

They had ended up in the cavern next to this one, where the roofs were the lowest they’d found, and stopped to rest in the red suns’ glow. Rose had sunk to the ground, her legs too tired to hold her up anymore. A strangled sound had brought her head up in time to see Methos’ sword clatter to the ground as a claw spear emerged from his chest. “Run” he’d managed before he’d been pulled back into the darkness. His pain-filled screams had pursued her down the walls as she’d run to the prison she was still trapped in. Those horrible cries would echo in her nightmares forever, chasing her into never ending darkness. She had taken some satisfaction, once she’d recovered however, at the number of dead creatures she’d seen left in the wake of the ancient one’s quickening as the lightning storm had surged through the tunnels to engulf her. Methos’ death had not gone un-avenged.

Rose shook her head, sending a wave of motion through her thigh length red hair, as a swift movement off to her left drew her back from her memories. Since that day, she wasn’t sure how long ago, she had been trapped in a maddening circle. Fight any creature that braved the edge of her light pool until she was too weak to stand, eventually then die from lack of water, and then be revived to almost full health by her quickening. Each time she opened her eyes, Rose felt a little bit weaker, and like a little more of her sanity was stripped away. She had already made the decision that she would make her final run for it today, since she was at her strongest. It was suicide, but at least she'd go out fighting, and not just let them take her. Maybe, like the ‘Old Man’, one of them would go for her head, and her own quickening would fry them all to hell. It was a grim hope.

Rose looked around her one last time, gauging thmbermber of aliens that shifted in the dark between her and the next pool of light, well over thirty feet away. She checked the edge on her sword’s blade and nodded in satisfaction at the razor-sharp line. ‘Time to go,’ she whispered to herself, and after one last look up towards the narrow shaft of sunlight that had guarded her till now, she bolted.

She made it ten feet before she suddenly ducked and rolled, her sword sweeping up and around in a quick arc as she came back tr fer feet. Two bodies hit the ground as she continued her forward momentum. Her dive into the light fifteen feet later was aided by the tearing impact of a claw that raked across her back. Rose hunched over in the small shelter of light, the pain burning like fire along the three cuts she felt oozing blood. Steely determination filled her eyes as she straightened and tested her movement, lips clamped tightly to keep from crying out in agony.

Grimly satisfied that she could go on, even as her body fought the alien invasion to try and heal the injury, Rose set her sights on her next objective. There was one last area of sunlight in the chamber she was in, it shone off the sand less then twenty feet away. Beyond that she could see more areas of brightness, unfortunately, those were on the other side of a passay. y. Rose didn’t expect to make it through the tunnel, but she would try.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring her back, she forced her petite frame forward, slashing a path straight through the creature suddenly blocking her path. It’s head bounded off to the left, while others immediately began tearing at the dead body. She kept moving. This time the light wasn’t so easy to reach, and the sand greedily soaked up her red blood as she fell into the bight haven, screaming as a claw spear rammed through her thigh. She swung her sword once and then dropped it to the sunlit sand as both hands, trembling from fatigue and pain, wrapped around and pulled the severed claw from her leg.

Rose couldn’t stop the ragged scream that tore from her throat and echoed off the rocks as tissue and muscle tore a second time. She dropped to the ground and curled in on herself, sobbing raggedly from the torment of her wounds. Even as her quickening fought to close the injuries, she could feel her life draining into the sand she lay on, as it flowed from the hole in her leg and from the numerous rakes and bites along her arms and torso. Wounds only felt now that she didn’t have the strength to deny them. She raised her head once, to look back the way she’d come, and her sobbing deepened into utterly heart-wrenching hopelessness as she realized she’d only managed to travel about 50 feet. She buried her face back into her arms and cruntiuntil she succumbed to the temporary oblivion of exhausted sleep. She never noticed the small shadow as something on the surface moved into view and peered down at her through the opening.

Riddick had followed the others as they had worked their way through the canyon of bones. It had been informative, listening to Johns and Fry as they talked about the crash. Not to mention that her apparent willingness to kill forty passengers in order to save her own life was the only reason she was still alive. Now, he was making his way back to the wreck, to see what the last few had been able to salvage, that he might want. As he crossed the last of the ridges, being careful of all the weak spots in the in the ground as he went, he became aware of some oddly muffled sounds. Inhuman screams, coming from an area ahead and to his left. Cautiously, he made his way along the ridge, until he found a series of crevasses in the ground. Just as he reached the closest one a very human cry of agony tore through the air. He crawled closer on his stomach, and looked down. Below him was a shaft, about three feet wide and probably five feet deep, that appeared to open up into some kind of cavern, the floor of which was about 10 feet from the bottom of the shaft.

There, in the light below, a young woman screamed a second time as he watched her agonizingly pull something from her leg. As she collapsed he noticed that she was covered with bleeding cuts. His gaze quickly took in the rest of her appearance. Small, almost petite, he figured she might reach 5’6” at most, with long hair that pooled out around her shuddering form and skin so pale he would have sworn it was faintly translucent in the sun’s harsh light. Her clothing, ripped and torn with old blood stains under the fresh ones, was mostly leather, prospector style.

She wasn’t from the Hunter-Gratzner, Riddick realized that immediately, and everything he saw told him that she’d been here awhile, at least, yet he saw nothing in the way of supplies, or water. That was when a glint of something lying in the sand next to her caught his gaze, and his interest. “What the fuck? It’s a damn sword?!” And he could see it’s edge coated in a blue slime. Looking a second time he recognized matching stains on the girl’s cls ats at well.

Riddick realized that she’d stopped sobbing, and had either passed out or fallen asleep for the moment. He paused to consider his options. He had to admit, she posed a mystery; who was she, where’d she come from, and what the hell was she doing with a sword. He also had to admire the fact she hadn’t hesitated to pull whatever that thing had been from her leg. As he watched, he saw a flicker of movement along the edge of the shadow around her. “Something’s down there, that’s for fucking sure.”

At the movement he saw the girl start awake. He was decidedly impressed, and wary, to see her roll to her knees with the sword held before her in readiness, despite the pain he knew the leg wound had to be causing her. He heard a muffled moan as she moved, shifting her weight so it was on her good leg, but still leaving enough pressure on the injured on to be able to pivot and spin. Which is exactly what Riddick saw her do as something shifted closer in the shadows behind her.

One second she was facing forward, on her knees, and the next she had spun about, the sword slicing down and around. She completed her motions with a circular rising cut that left her balanced precariously on her wounded pin and something crying out briefly from the darkness. Then he heard the frenzy as whatever had been cut was apparently torn apart by others. The girl just stared impassively into the engulfing shadows, with no expression, not even one of pain, on her face.

Riddick made his decision. He swiftly lowered himself down into the shaft, bracing himself into the space. As his bulk blocked out the sun she looked up, startled, and he could smell her sudden fear. “Jump” He yelled, extending one arm down towards her, as far as he could.

Before she could gather herself something came out of the darkness, taking advantage of the blocked sunlight, to attack. Her sword came around in a vicious strike that swept the strange head from the body. She used her follow through to push herself upwards, one hand reaching for his.

Riddick could see desperation in the startlingly turquoise eyes that focused on him. His grip locked around a wrist that seemed way too small and delicate. Her own fingers barely managed to curl around his to help secure the grip. As he began to haul her up he saw fear enter her gaze, and the sword began to swing straight for him. Riddick immediately let her go, but her own grip on him stayed secure, until the sword brushed so close he felt the hairs on his forearm stir in it’s wake. That was when he heard the crunch of bone and muscle as a claw fell into view from around the edge of the shaft. “Fuck!” He closed his hand back over her arm and hauled her up and into the sunlight.

An alien scream caused him to glance back down, in time to see a something fall back into the cavern. A wet gleam of red flashed along a huge spur on the end of a claw as it vanished. The girl in his arms still hadn’t made a sound, as he looked back at her he saw a small trail of fresh blood leak from the side of her mouth. Then she just seemed to fold in on herself. Riddick eased her to the ground, and brought his hand up to brush the hair away from her face. He paused when he saw his fingers covered in blood.

“Thank you,” she whispered as the life seemed to fade from her eyes, and one last whisper of breath brushed across his hand as he checked for a pulse. He felt one last beat and then stillness. Riddick reached out and gently closed the eyes that stared up at the sun, but no longer saw anything.

“Who the hell were you, I wonder?” He looked the body over. No ship’s patches on what was left of her clothing, no IDs in any pockets. Just a golden band of three intricately woven strands on her left hand, and a locket around her neck, with small pictures of two men.

It was while he was checking that Riddick rolled her up on her side, and found what had killed her. “Shit. Fucker hit the ‘sweet spot’. Tough luck, kid.” His gaze was impartial as he looked from the corpse over to where the sword had fallen from her hand. He reached out and picked it up for a closer look, realizing it was made in the ancient Japanese style – a katana.

“Now this is sweet.” It was perfectly balanced, with a razor sharp edge. He could tell it was old, probably ancient, yet to look at it, it seemed as if it had been made for someone exactly the same height as the girl. And she’d used it with skill. Someone had trained her, probably since before she could walk considering she didn’t look more then 25 or so. But what was she doing with a sword that any Alliance museum would have willingly cut throats to own. “Guess that’s one secret you get to keep.”

Riddick was tempted to take the blade with him, but he had his shiv, and if the others spotted him with a sword, well he just didn’t feel like answering their questions at this point. He drove the point into the sand next to the girl’s body, a marker, or memorial, he wasn’t sure. Then, after using the sand to clean the blood from his hands, and without another glance, he walked away.

Rose’s body arched as the quickening sent a jolt surging through her, bringing her back to the living. A low moan of pain issued from her lips as she realized that, while she was alive, she’d hardly healed at all. Carefully, she sat up and looked around, but there was no sign of the man who’d pulled her from the cavern. She saw her katana standing in the sand next to her, and thanked God it hadn’t been taken. Then she began examining her wounds. Most of the shallower cuts and slashes had been healed to scratches, but the deeper ones weren’t complete. And the stab through on her leg showed barely any improvement at all. She reached around and felt along her lower back, where she’d felt herself being speared as her rescuer had hauled her from the darkness. It wasn’t fully healed either, but more so then the leg. “Quickening only healed me enough to bring me back to life. This is a first. Methos must have been right, something about those aliens is interfering seriously.”

With a sigh, and more then one grimace of pain, she pulled off her leather vest and then removed the shirt she’d had on underneath it. She then tore the shirt into strips and began to bandage her leg and the other oozing cuts that she could reach. Once she was done she slipped the vest back on and laced it tight. “More of a corset now, oh well. Now, let’s see if I can get to my feet and find out where that guy went.”

Rose reached out and, gripping her sword, used it for balance as she hauled herself upright. She had to bite back on more then one cry of pain in the process. The view from her feet wasn’t any better, unfortunately. All she could see, in any direction, was sand and desolation. “Well, this is a shitty situation, but it’s br thr then being down there.” She shuddered as she glanced back down at the hole to her right. “Okay, let’s see if I can follow these tracks. He had to have been going somewhere.” Gritting her teeth, she set off, following the trail left by her rescuer. At fishe she tried using her sword as a crutch, but the blade kept sinking too deep into the sand to work, so she slung in down her back in the hidden sheath built into her vest and staggered along on her own.

The faint sound of shots finally gave her a direction to head in, an hour later. She’d lost the tracks in some harder shale and had been wandering aimlessly since then, trying to find some clue to follow. Squinting, Rose looked towards the horizon where the gunfire had echoed from, and caught a glint of sunlight reflecting off of something. It took her another hour or so to finally reach a point where she could make out the sight of a huge wreck furrowed across the landscape, and activity off to one side by some sand pillars. She stumbled along towards the people.

As she got closer, years of training cautioned her to move carefully, and she approached as stealthily as she could. ‘Oh, God’ she was horrified to realize that someone had found a tunnel and gone in. She began limping towards them as fast as she could. By the time she was in amongst the sand columns the others had realized something was wrong, and managed to break through the side of one to pull a woman to safety. The blond immediately began tugging at a rope attached to her waist, that was still feeding back down into the darkness. Rose saw the danger and, as she drew closer, pulled her sword.

The others scrambled frantically to keep the woman from being yanked right back underground, desperately trying to undo the rope from the harness. Rose’s sword swept down the narrow opening between two men, and parted the heavy nylon braid like so much silk. She could hear the creatures scream in disappointment as the end vanished back down the whole. She stood there, panting, and staring at the strangers, waiting to see what the next move would be.

As she waited there, Rose felt something in those few seconds that cauger uer unprepared. Instinct dictated her next action, but not what happened immediately afterwards. One of the group before her was a Pre-Immortal! She subtly changed her grip on the hilt, so that she looked awkward holding the weapon, untrained. Then, an instant later, she let it go, to fall carelessly to the ground. Unfortunately, she wasn’t ready for her own collapse directly afterwards, as both her leg and her strength gave out simultaneously. Rose did something she hadn’t done in centuries, she fainted.

“She’s waking up!” A young voice reverberated around inside her head.

“Ohhh, ase,ase, not so loud.” Rose brought an arm up and rested it over her face for a moment. “What hit me?” She moaned in pain, not needing to exaggerate the sound at all.

“Easy there,” a different voice, Australian maybe, spoke quietly from next to her. “You’ve lost a lot o blood, and have some pretty nasty injuries. Jack, go fetch Carolyn. I think she went to see Him.”

Rose could almost see the capitol letter in the tone of voice the woman used on that one word. Before she could ponder that, however, attention was returned to her. “Can you open your eye, hon? I need to make sure you’re not concussed.”

Rose pulled her arm away, wincing as the movement pulled at some of the cuts. She could feel bandages constricting the action, so obviously someone had tended to her while she was out as well. She blinked slowly, giving her eyes time to focus and take in her surroundings. Looking down at her was a severely beautiful brunette, wearing a concerned smile.

“Hello, welcome back to the land of the living, such as it is. I’m Shazza. You’re really lucky to have survived the crash; we though we were the only ones.” After checking Rose’s pupil responses she shifted her position and asked, “do you think you want to try sitting up? What happened to you?”

Rose used the time it took for Shazza to help her sit up to decide what she would say. “I don’t know, I don’t remember . J. Just lots of horrible noises and being thrown around. I must have blacked out, cause the next thing I remember was waking up with a cryo-tube over me.” ‘Sorry Duncan, but I’m using Methos’ advice for now.’ She could hear the ancient one’s words echoing in her memory for not long after she’d first discovered her immortality. Never show your hand until you are sure of your situation. There is nothing wrong with lying about who you are if you’re not sure of where you are.

Rose continued, keeping her story as close to the truth as she could. “I followed the wreckage, as best I could, looking for anybody. I feel like I stumbled around for hours; then I heard shots, and the screams.”

At that point she could hear more activity, and the blond woman who’d almost gotten eaten entered the area of the wreck they’d laid Rose in, carrying Rose’s katana. Shazza introduced her. “This is Carolyn Fry, she’s the captain of what’s left of us.”

“Umm, hi. I’m Rose.” She kept her voice quiet and hesitant, as if she were uncertain of herself. Neither of the women were giving her a buzz, so they weren’t the Pre-Immortal. Had to be one of the others then.

Carolyn nodded and knelt down next to her, laying the sword down next to her leg. “Rose.” She nodded. “I wanted to thank you. If you hadn’t cut that rope I’d probably be dead, but would you mind telling me who you are and where you got this?” A hand tapped the sword hilt.

“It was my husband’s. He was a collector of ancient blades. I found it as I was stumbling my way through the debris, searching for anyone.” She hung her head and let a few tears roll down her cheeks. “We were going home, but he wanted to travel on your ship because he’d been warned that someone was trying to steal the sword.” She looked back up and gave both women a sad, watery smile. “Can I have it back, please. It’s all I have left now.”

Carolyn nodded. “I don’t remember you from the manifest, but I didn’t do the final passenger count. I’m sorry about your husband.” She gave her an awkward pat of sympathy. “Shazza said your leg is in pretty bad shape. I hate to ask this, but do you think you might be able to walk some more, if we have someone help you? Some of us discovered an old colony, with a skif we’re hoping is still workable. There is also a good chance of water there.”

Rose licked her lips at the sound of that word. She gave a tentative nod, knowing that her leg was still along ways from being whole. She could endure the pain and move on her own if the need arose, but she wouldn’t mind the help. “I think so.”

“Good. Shazza, we’re getting ready to pull the power cell. Why don’t you get your stuff, and once everyone is ready to move out we’ll come back in and get Rose. That way she can rest for a bit more.”

The prospector nodded and, with a smile towards Rose, headed back out of the wreck. “Won’t be long, hon.”

Carolyn stood up as well. “I have a few things to do. We should be ready to leave in about half an hour or so. Take it easy until then.” She turned to go.

“Wait. How many others survived?” Rose asked in a soft voice.

“There were ten of us that we knew of. We lost Zeke to some kind of alien that lives under the surface.” With that she turned and left.

Rose spent a couple of minutes quietly testing her limbs, and checking how far her healing had come. She was still improving, much faster then a normal human would, but the speed at which her quickening was closing her wounds was a crawl compared to normal. She guessed that if she didn’t run into anything else, it might take another week for everything but the leg to be right again.

As the quiet settled in the wreck she thought she heard other voices, male, coming from below her. Quietly, she got to her feet and, after picking up her sword, began to follow the sounds. After a few moments of careful maneuvering, both to stay quiet and unobserved, she found her rescuer.

‘Why is he chained?’ she couldn’t help but wonder as she saw him sitting in the deepest shadows of the area. Another man was posturing around in front of him, trying for a reaction of some kind, but not getting one.

“Well, Riddick, you were right. For once you aren’t the biggest bad ass in town. I’ve got a deal for you. You work without chains, without shivs, and we get off this hell hole, and maybe I forget what happened to you once we’re rescued. Think about it. I’m going to go help Carolyn get the power cell ready to go.”

As the man stalked by where Rose was standing in the shadows she felt the tingle and realized he was the Pre she’d sensed earlier. ‘Great. I’ll need to keep an eye on him. I get the distinct impression he wouldn’t be a very friendly immortal, if he quickens. And I don’t think I’m going to find a lot about his attitude to recommend I trust him too much either. She turned her attention back to the man chained across the room.

“I know you’re there, you might as well step out. It’s not like I’m gonna bite, at this point anyway.” His voice reached across the room and she felt a slight shiver run down her back at it’s huskiness.

Riddick knew someone ewas was hiding in the shadows, and had witnessed Johns’ aggression towards his prisoner. But he wasn’t sensing any fear, and while the scent he could smell was familiar, he couldn’t place it. He kept his eyes in shadow and opened them to have a look as a slight noise told him his visitor was moving forward. When she stepped into view, keeping her balance by using pieces unk,unk, he was barely able to keep his expression impassive. It was the dead kid!

“Who the fuck are you?!” he demanded, but quietly enough so that the others wouldn’t hear.

“Shh.” She worked her way across the area until she stood before him. She then placed a delicate finger across his lips. He could feel the callus on the tip. “Mr. Riddick,” he heard recognition in her voice as she said his name. “I wanted to thank you for saving my life, and for leaving me my sword. You have no idea ho much that means to me.”

Riddick growled, and nipped at her finger, biting the tip lightly as her scent and nearness filled him with sudden, harsh, desire. “Fuck me. You were dead; and don’t tell me different.”

Rose chuckled and traced her finger along his lower lip. “Mmm, maybe another time, I don’t think now would be very appropriate. As for my former state of health, I’m sure you are way to familiar with death to not know it.” She paused and gave him a considering look. “I am hoping that you will keep that our little secret. If anything happens like that again, I would really appreciate it if you’d simply tell the others that I’m in some kind of deep healing trance. It’s actually not that far from the truth.”

“What are you?” Riddick was fee aro aroused by her closeness, as well as intrigued and curious as hell. It was pretty obvious that she knew exactly who and what he was, yet he could sense absolutely no fear, or revulsion in her, whatsoever, more a disinterest. He also realized the she hadn’t been joking about her invitation. He bit back a low moan at the idea of her petite body bending to his desire.

A sad smile touched her mouth, and echoed in her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I sure didn’t when I found out.” Rose stepped back and settled her weigh back against another overturned crate, taking the strain off her leg. She set the sword down beside herself and absently stroked the hilt.

‘Like the damn thing is a close friend, or part of her. Bet she doesn’t even realize she’d doing it.’ Riddick watched her actions and body language, absorbing everything he could about her and filing it away for when he had some time to think about the puzzle she presented.

Rose’s mind momentarily drifted back to a night so long ago, when Duncan and Methos had first explained about Immortals and the Game. She didn’t even try to stop the single tear from rolling down her cheek. But now was not the time to begin mourning for her lost ones, so she shoved those emotions to the back of her mind and closed an imaginary door on them.

Riddick sensed the swift mood changes, but didn’t even have time to decide if he was curious, or cared, before she seemed to shut off the sadness and turned her attention back to him. “So, Mr. Riddick, who was the rude jackass that so seems to enjoy hassling you?” Rose flashed him an innocent smile.

He chuckled harshly. ‘She’s got Johns’ already figured out. That might be useful to me later.’ A smirk curved up along one corner of his mouth. “William Johns is a bounty hunter. Everyone else thinks he’s the law.”

“Ahh. And I would guess he isn’t dissuading them of that little fact. I would even hazard that he is using that to give himself authority over the others?”

“Got it in one.” Riddick appreciated her sharp wit. This kid wasn’t going to buy into Johns’ crap for a second.

“Which therefore means that his little deal with you is probably going to end the instant we get off this hell hole. You have quite the bounty on your head, and I’m sure he wouldn’t be at all willing to give that up. Tell me, what are the odds he might even try to ensure that you and he are the only ones to escape, so he doesn’t have to risk sharing?” Rose had a bad feeling Johns, she couldn’t peg it, but she wanted Riddick’s opinion as well.

He was impressed. He hadn’t thought of that angle himself. “Not bad, lady. He might just do that. And then, of course, he’d blame them all on me. Oh, stop calling me Mr. It’s just Riddick. I gotta ask, why the hell aren’t you afraid of me? You know who I am, so you know what I’m more then capable of.” He leered at her, trying to get a rise of some kind. This chick was just too damn collected for him.

She gave him a solemn look, “I’ll admit, you are probably one of the more dangerous types of human criminal; a psychopathic serial killer. You’re unpredictable and neither do you suffer a conscience, but nor do you kill for the enjoyment of the act or pain. You see, Riddick, I do know who you are. People like you just don’t scare me. I’ve hunted much much worse in my time.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Yeah, what? The monsters under your bed, little girl? Tell me another one.”

Rose merely smiled in a coldly serene manner and changed the subject. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to do me a favor? The others have come to the assumption that I’ve survived this wreck. I haven’t discouraged them of that fact. They also believe that this,” she tapped the hilt with a nail, “belonged to my husband, and I’m lugging it around for sentimental reasons.” She couldn’t keep an echo of sadness from leaking into her voice.

“Why? What’s in it for me?” He demanded.

She slid off the crate, wincing as weight came back down on her leg, and limped the three steps back over to him. He eyed her suspiciously as she leaned in close. Her hair fell across his face as she whispered seductively into his ear, “you keep my back, I’ll keep yours. And when the time comes, I’ll show you the proper way to kill someone like Johns.”

“Fuck, you’re serious.” He stared at her as she pulled back and looked into his silvered eyes.

“Damn straight. And I keep my word. Deal?”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, lady,” a slow smile spread across his face as he thought about it, “but I’m willin’ to play, for now.”

“Good. And when we get off this rock, I’ll show you a way to disappear; if you want to that is. Shall we sthe the bargain?” Rose gave him a playful grin as she arched a graceful eyebrow in question.

“And just how do you suggest we do that?” Riddick knew what he wanted, but he also wanted to see if she was as much of a tease as she seemed to be presenting.

“How about this?” She slid her left hand up his arm to his shoulder, and then wrapped her right around the back of his neck. Next she wedged her good leg between his, to help her keep her balance, and then leaned down until her lips brushed his. With a caress that was whisper soft, she traced his mouth with her tongue, and then gently nipped his lower lip.

Riddick groaned, his blood stirring, and pushed forward, trying to deepen the kiss. He used his tongue, demanding her lips open to him. The kiss intensified, becoming much more erotic as they both felt a rising need. Finally though, Rose broke the kiss and began to pull back. He took the opportunity to use his own teeth and bit at her lower lip as she retreated. He wasn’t nearly as gentle, and a tiny drop of bloolledlled up from the mark he left. Part of him had been hoping for some sign of fear, a response to his animal nature, but instead, he was the one left reeling as her tongue snaked out and licked at the bright red drop.

“You like it rough,” her word dripped with promise.

Just then they both heard the sounds of someone approaching. In the blink of an eye the forceful, self-confident woman had vanished, and in her place was a hurt, uncertain young girl who had turned away and was looking through the jumbled wreckage for something.

“What the fuck are you doing down here?” Johns demanded roughly as he came into view. Rose made sure to start in surprise, and cringe back from his accusatory tone. Carolyn was with him, and looked concerned.

“Take it easy Johns.” The captain turned to the poor kid, who was leaning heavily against a torn strut, biting her lip and breathing heavy. ‘Kid’s got to be hurting bad. She sure didn’t have as ea laa landing as the rest of us.’ “Rose, what are you doing down here?”

“I didn’t want to be a burden on anyone,” Rose’s voice was hesitant, as if she felt she’d done something wrong. “I thought that if I could find something to act as a crutch, then you wouldn’t need to waste someone’s time helping me.” She allowed a tremble to enter her voice, and two huge tears tracked down her pale cheeks.

Carolyn immediately walked over and, with a friendly shoulder over her shoulders, led her to the crate she’d been sitting on earlier. “Well, all you had to do was ask, we’d have found something to give you a hand. And you won’t be a burden. We are all in this together.”

Rose sniffed a little. “But what about him?” she nodded vaguely in the direction of where Riddick sat, unmoving and silent, watching the tender little scene before him. “What did he do to deserve being locked up like that.”

Johns snarled. “He’s a killer, plain and simple. He’s restrained for your safety.”

At the same time, however, Carolyn looked over, a frown on her face. “Nothing, it turns out.” She stood up and walked over to look down at Riddick. “Will you help us? Johns said he’d be willing to let you go if we all succeed. Can we trust you not to stab us in the back if he takes off the restraints?”

Riddick opened his eyes and focuhis his odd gaze on the blond. “You can trust me about as much as you can trust Johns.” He didn’t say anything else, just continued to look at her.

Carolyn dropped her gaze first, and looked over at Johns. “Let him go.”

Rose could see the anger seething below the surface as Johns stepped forward and glared down at the bigger man. “You try anything, and I swear I will..”

“What, Johns?!” Riddick was up and in his face, as close as the cables would let him reach. But then he sat back down, and waited.

“Remember this.” Johns raised his gauge and fired, severing the cables where they linked against the wall behind the seated man.

Rose jumped, and let out a small scream at the sound of the loud blast. “Johns, stand down!” Carolyn’s voice broke up the tense posturing between the two men.

Riddick yanked the bands from around his wrists, then bent over and freed his ankles. Once he’d stretched out the kinks from sitting still for so long, he stepped over to where Carolyn was helping Rose back to her feet.

“Give her to me. I’ll help her.”

Johns stepped between them. “Why? What’s your game, Riddick?”

The bald man smiled, coldly. “Cause it fuckin’ pisses you off, that’s why, Johns.” He stepped closer and added in a whisper, “ I can smell your interest in her, so I’m going to keep her away from you.” Then louder, “and you can’t do a thing about it.” With that, he shouldered the man aside and, before the others could interfere, he’d scooped Rose up in strong arms.

“Wait, the sword!” She squeeked and reached out for it.

“No fuckin’ way. I am not letting him near that!” Johns snatched up the blade.

Rose threw a pleading look at Carolyn. “I’m sorry Rose, but I agree. If Riddick is going to help you, then I don’t think you should carry it. I’ll make sure Shazza takes it for you.”

Rose pretended to sniff, and, with a nod, sagged back against of Riddick’s hard chest.

Riddick didn’t wait around any longer and headed for the outside. Once they were out of immediate view of the others he looked down at the red-head he was carrying. She smiled up at him, and he could see a sparkle in her eyes. “You’re a hell of an actress, little girl. Now, put my goggles on me before I go any further.”

Rose tugged them from his belt where she’d seen them tucked earlier, and, reaching up, slipped them carefully over his eyes. The astounded stared from everyone waiting outside was almost enough to make her break out laughing; instead, she turned it into a cough and settled back into her ‘shy and uncertain’ role.

In the end they did find a makeshift crutch for Rose to use, so she was able to stumble along with the others. And since they were hauling the powercell, she wasn’t even slowing them down much. The walk also gave her time to watch and evaluate the remainder of the motley bunch she found herself part of.

Paris, she realized fairlycklyckly, was more interested in protecting his own life, and his precious antiquities. She’d watched in silent amusement as he’d immediately begun drooling over her katana. It had been entirely too difficult not to laugh in his face as he’d begun spouting all kinds of ridiculous theories about how old the blade was, where it might have come from, and all sorts of other nonsense. She’d stopped finding him so amusing after he’d tried to get the others to let him claim the sword, saying it was simply much more proper for him to hold such a priceless relic, rather then some ‘poor, untrained (read ignorant) chit’. Considering he’d chosen to travel on a ‘ghost lane’ she had to wonder just how legitimately he’d acquired his collection. She’d made up her mind at that point to keep a watchful eye on him.

The Imam and his three young pilgrims were pretty much what they appeared, and she felt sorry for them having gotten saddled with their current misfortune.

Then there was Jack. Rose had some serious suspicions about him, but she couldn’t place her finger on just what it was about the kid that was off. On the other hand, it was fairly obvious that Riddick had become the boy’s idol.

Johns and Carolyn were the erstwhile leaders of the circus, with Johns doing most of the string pulling. But he was on more then an ego trip, Rose could see it in the way he moved, the rapid changes in mood, and the excessive aggression. There was definitely more going on with him then the others were aware of. And more then once she caught him staring at her with a combination of anger and lust in his eyes. Rose knew from experience, that would only lead to trouble. ‘Time to cover my bases where he’s concerned.’ So at one point while Shazza and Jack were walking with her, trying to bring her out of her ‘shell’ she mentioned that Johns frightened her. Just that single little comment, and she knew Shazza would begin to look at him a little more closely.

Anf cof course, there was Mr. Richard B. Riddick; multiple murderer, escaped convict, and general all around bad ass. Duncan would have sided with Johns just on principle. Even after all these centuries, he had still been too honorable for his own good sometimes.

Methos, on the other hand, would have liked the man. If asked, he probably would have said that Riddick reminded him of himself, back during his time as a “Horseman”. Rose agreed, and also knew that circumstances could often make a man into a monster. Methos had grown and changed; Riddick might also, if given half the chance. Of course, Methos hadn’t been psychotic, he’d simply been cold-blooded and ruthless.

Rose was distracted enough with her thoughts and the ongoing pain in her leg that she didn’t see the small hole until her good foot landed in it. Her knee twisted and, as she automatically tried to compensate by shifting her weight, the bad leg buckled. She went down hard with a cry of pain.

Shazza and Riddick were the first ones to her side, and this time she wasn’t acting as tears of agony poured from her eyes. She gripped Shazza’s hand hard as Riddick unwound the bandage, which was rapidly staining with fresh blood. Her fall had completely reopened the wound, and as the last layers of wrapping came away it wqualqually apparent that it was heavily infected.

“Ahhh!” Rose couldn’t help the scream as Riddick, with a quick glance at her, put pressure on the surrounding tissue. A dark, foul smelling, pus oozed out.

“We need to clean this somehow.” Shazza looked up at the others. She spotted Paris standing at the back, clutching one of his precious bottles of alcohol. “Paris, give me that. We can use it to sterilize the wound.” She held out her hand in demand.

He shook his head. “Bad enough we have to drink it, but I’m not wasting it on that!”

Riddick stood up and in two steps had the little man by his throat. The sound of a chambering round from Johns’ gauge didn’t even make him blink. Calmly, he reached down and pulled a full bottle from the satchel Paris was carrying them in. Then he simploppeopped the man, who landed on his ass.

“Here,” he knelt down and handed the prospector the container.

“This is going to hurt, hon,” Shazza tried to warn and sooth Rose.

“No.” Rose’s trembling voice stopped her before she could begin pouring. “You need to lance it first. Foout out the infection until the blood runs clean.” She took a breath and continued, gritting her teeth, “Both sides of it. Then use that to kill anything left.”

She could see Jack behind the others, looking both fascinated and sick. Paris simply appeared ill.

Riddick looked at Rose and nodded, then did the same to Shazza. “She’s right. If we don’t, it will keep spreading, and she’ll end up with blood poisoning, at best. Johns,” he looked up at the man. “I need my shiv. And you and Imam are going to need to hold her leg still.”

“No fucking way Riddick! There is no way in hell I am letting you have that blade back…”

Before he could finish the sentence Carolyn was in his face. “Give it to him. Now! He’s trying to help her, for God’s sake.”

Johns glared at her, and the others, but was smart enough to realize he wasn’t going to win this argument. Swearing under his breath he pulled the bone shiv from his belt and tossed it he she sand at Riddick’s feet. “Someone else can help hold her down. I’m keeping my gauge on him.”

“Fine. I’ll do it!” Carolyn knelt down on Rose’s other side, while Shazza moved around to her head.

“Riddick, wash that thing first.” She held out the bottle. He took it from her and poured a stream over the blade’s edge then handed it back to her. “Here, Rose. Take a swig, it’ll help a bit.” Shazza held the open bottle to the young woman’s mouth and tilted the bottle back, forcing her to swallow some of the alcohol. Once Rose had finished coughing from the burning in her throat, she laid her back down and, with an apologetic glance at the girl, braced her hands down on the thin shoulders.

Rose felt two other sets of hands push down on her upper thigh, and Riddick’s legs pinned hers below the knee.

“Ready?” He asked the others, keeping his expression impassive and uncaring. 'Kid’s got guts, that’s for fuckin’ sure. She knows this is going to hurt like a bastard.’ He saw everyone reflexively tighten their holds on her and nod. Quickly, before anyone could change their minds, he dug the shiv into the reddened and swollen skin around the wound, tracing a series of cuts across the flesh. The immediate result was Rose’s agonized scream echoing across the desolate sand as her body arched off the ground and she writhed against the hands restraining her. “Now for the other side.” He relaxed his legs and turned her knee just enough to bring the other side of the hole into view. It was the same as the exoundound, and without hesitation he lanced the shiv across the inflamed tissue.

Once both wounds were opened he dropped the shiv and began milking the cuts, driving the infection out. He could tell the pain was even worse for Rose during this stage, and some part of him was relieved when she finally passed out. He kept on with the grim task of pressuring the muscles and skin, forcing her tainted blood to flow out onto the sand.

“Damn it Riddick, stop! She’s losing too much blood! You’re killing her!” Jack tried to pull him away.

“Back off kid! This needs to be done, now.” Riddick easily shrugged the hold off his arms and kept working. But now the others were beginning to exp the the same concern. Before any of them had a chance to stop him, however, his hands stilled and he bent down, closer to the ragged wounds. He sniffed, carefully, and then to the disgust of everyone, touched his tongue to the bright red flow, tasting. “It’s clean.” He straightened nd hnd held out his blood-covered hand. “Give me the bottle.”

“I told you he was one sick fuck,” was Johns only comment.

Shazza handed the bottle over, almost dropping it as she tried to keep their hands from touching. As Riddick poured the entire bottle over the bleeding mess Rose’s body gave a shudder and then went still. The prospector immediately checked for a pulse and looked up, panicked. “I can’t find a heartbeat! Shit! Somebody start CPR.”

“No!” Riddick’s forceful command froze Carolyn in her tracks as she got ready to begin compressions. “She told me it’s a healing trance. One of those kinds that’s so deep you can’t tell the difference. You start pounding on her chest and you might just kill her.” He glared at them all. “Now, someone give me something to bandage this with. We can’t use the old ones.” One of Imam’s boys held out some cloth with shaking fingers.

Everyone watched as he continued to wrap the bandages and themthem off, as if nothing were wrong. Once he was done he picked up the still gore-covered shiv and negligently tossed it towards Johns. “Here, you probably want this back.” Then, after using some unstained sand to clean his hands, he gently picked up Rose’s body and stood up. “Well, are we just going to stand here forever? I thought you lot wanted off this dirt ball.” Riddick took a few steps and then turned back towards Johns with an evil leer. “Oh, and you know what? She tasted good, sweet. Maybe I’ll have to try her again at some point.” He started walking and didn’t look back to see the expressions of horror he knew would be on everyone’s faces.


They’d been hiking for a good hour, with everyone staying as far away as possible from Riddick, when he felt it. It was like a jolt of electricity shocked through the body in his arms and all of a sudden she drew in a deep, shuddering breath. He immediately stopped and set her down on the sand as gently as possible. The others couldn’t believe it, and immediately gathered around.

“Holy shit! She is still alive.” Riddick almost thought Johns sounded disappointed. ‘Probably was hoping he could pin another murder on me.’ “Easy Rose.” He cupped her head carefully as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Ohhh, what happened?” She seemed dazed, and then her gaze focused on the man above her. “Riddick? Oh, my leg?” She tired to sit up. TakeTake is easy. Here, let us help,” Carolyn had knelt down and, with a hand behind Rose’s back, helped her to sit up.

Riddick, meanwhile, had begun to untie the bandage, to check her leg. There were some stains on the cloth, but after the last of it had been pulled away, all that was revealed were clean cuts. The bleeding had completely stopped, and the smaller incisions he’d made with the shiv were already starting to c up. up.

“Incredible!” “Cool!” “Damn” the others couldn’t believe their eyes. Jack looked at her and asked, “How’d you do that? Can you teach me?”

Rose gave the kid a weak smile while Riddick began re-wrapping the bandages. “Sorry Jack, I can’t. My husband taught me, but it is really involved and kind of mumbo-jumbo-y. The way he explaint, tt, the severe trauma forces me into a kind of suspended animation while it uses all of my body’s energies to attempt to heal whatever is wrong. It’s only ever happened to me once before.”

“Well, now that this little miracle is over with, can we get going?” Johns’ surly demand caused evee exe except Riddick and Rose to stare at him. He stomped away in anger.

“He’s right. We’ve still got a few klicks to go, at least. And the sooner we get there the sooner we can try to get that skif and the water pump working.” Carolyn stood up and frowned after the badge. “But that doesn’t mean he has to turn into an asshole about things. I expect that from Riddick.”

He just gave them a sardonic grin and picked Rose back up in his arms. “Let’s get movingn, sn, shall we?”

Rose snuggled back against his chest and laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks,” she said softly.

“You and I are going to talk, you know that.” He looked down at her. She nodded, and then promptly drifted off to sleep. And that left a decidedly odd feeling fluttering around in Riddick’s chest. No one had ever felt safe enough, or trusted him enough to do that before.

Rose woke slowly, and for the first time since the crash, felt safe doing so. Opening her eyes wasn’t going to plunge her back into her waking nightmare, or rather, not into the one where she was trapped in hell. She stretched, feeling the slide of fabric across her bare body and the softness of bedding underneath her. For one wistful moment she allowed herself to think that maybe she was still back on the ‘Dawson’, but that pleasant dream ended with the twinges of pain echoing from her back and leg. She gave a sad sigh before ruthlessly once again locking away her sorrow and opened her eyes to see where she really was.

Bars of light shone on the floor through mostly closed metal blinds on the windows, and the delicious smell of water reached her from a pitcher on the table next to the bed she lay on. She sat up and reached for the glass, not bothering to catch the sheet as it slid down to her waist. As she reached out she looked around for her katana as well, but didn’t immediately se.
.

“Very nice,” came the soft growl from the darkest corner of the room.

Rose nearly dropped the jug as Riddick stepped out of the shadows. Belatedly she reached out and pulled the sheet back up to cover her chest. “Shit, don’t do that! I’d have hated to waste this water.” She grinned at him as he sat down on the side of the mattress. “Where are the others?” Rose listened but couldn’t hear anything outside.

“They’re working on the skif, on the other side of the compound. Johns’ been treating me like a dogsbody, so I decided to come check on you.”

As she sipped the cool water, letting it soak into the parched tissues of her mouth and then down her throat, she looked around and noticed something odd about the housing unit they were still in. “Fry said this place was abandoned, so how come there is all these personal mementos still lying around?”

He looked serious. “That was my question. And we found the answer. They were geologists, probably an advance survey for a mining company. And 22 years ago there was a total solar eclipse. We found what was left of them all at the bottom of the coring shaft. After They got the Imam’s littlest, Ali.”

Rose blanched, izinizing immediately what that meant. “An eclipse? Oh God. How soon?”

“According to the solar model Fry found, this year. We don’t know when, and there is no indication of how long it would last, either. That’s why everyone is working on the skif so hard.”

“I can help, especially if it’s an older model ship.” She moved to throw the covers off and slide out of the bed.

“Not so fast, lady. You and I have some unfinished business first.” Riddick reached out and took the water jug from her and placed it back on the table. Then he reached out and grabbed a handful of her long hair and pulled her face closer, until they were less then an inch apart. She could read the hunger in his eyes, since the room was dark enough that he had taken his goggles off.

“Riddick,” she began.

“Uh uh, little girl, no backing out now. You played with fire back on that wreck, so now you get burned.” With that he closed distance and brought his lips down forcefully on hers. He’d been expecting her to resist him and, for a few seconds she did; but then something flared between them and suddenly she met him with a hunger that seemed equal to his own. Her lips parted under his and he deepened the kiss, their tongues beginning an erotic duel that only fueled his need for her.

He reached out with his free hand and yanked the sheet away from her body, exposing her flesh to his touch. He placed his hand against her taut stomach and then slid it upward along her ribs, until he cupped the firm swell of her right breast against his palm. Her chest wasn’t large; rather her soft mound seemed to fit perfectly in the curve of his fingers as he closed his hand around the sensitive skin. He felt her nipple harden at his caress, and she moaned softly into his kiss.

Rose’s hands came up and flattened against his chest, not in protest, but as the beginning of her own exploration. She moved them upwards, until they rested against the curves of his broad shoulders, and she could feel the heat of his skin. Gently, she raked her nails down the back of his neck and across the top of his spine, causing shivers of desire to flare deep in his gut.

Riddick broke the kiss, and smilt tht the mewl of protest the fell from her swollen lips as he pulled back far enough to look at her nude body. He had to admit she had an incredible one. She was lithe and toned, but not overly muscled. His experienced eyes told him that real strength flowed in the muscles under her skin, but so did pure femininity as well.

His gaze followed every line and curve of her upper torso, from the graceful column of her neck, down across that perfectly sized chest, and then over the flat, muscled stomach.r skr skin, when he reached out to trace the same path with his hands, was as soft and as smooth as silk, despite the ravages of their current climate and everything she’d been through. Only one thing marred the surface. A small star shaped scar, centered right between her breasts, and slightly left of the sternum, right over her heart. He traced it with the tip of one finger. She shivered at the caress, not uncomfortable with the sensual nature of the touch.

Her soft voice drew his eyes upwards, away from the scar. “My first Death. I was shot point blank, during a mugging attempt. Maybe I’ll even tell you the story one day.” Before he could question her, she had risen to her knees, allowing the sheet to fall completely away, and pressed the length of her bare body tightly against his. “Right now I need you; I need to remember what it is to feel alive, and not just surviving moment to moment.” With that she attacked his mouth with the same aggression he’d used before. He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her harder against his, allowing her to feel thece oce of his need against her pelvis.

“Mmm,” she purred against his mouth. “Feels like you need a bit of relief.” With a grin she reached down and grabbed the edge of his tank and yanked it upwards, baring his chest to her lips and tongue. As he finished pulling the fabric over his head, she used her mouth to trace a line, starting at the hollow at the base of his throat, and left a damp trail straight down his chest bone to his navel. catecately, she poked her tongue into that tasty little divot and bit at the lip, causing him to growl slightly. Then she slowly moved back up and began to work on his nipples.

Rose was enjoying teasing Riddick, but he had other ideas. Quickly, he reached down and undid the fasteners on his pants and, standing up, shed them and his boots as quickly as possible. He watched her hungry gaze lock on his erect cock, and growled again as the tip of her tongue darted out and delicately moistened her bottom lip.

“Ever suck cock, little girl?” At her nod he growled and wrapped his hand into her luscious hair and pulled her closer. “Come here.” It wasn’t a request. Obediently Rose slid to the side of the bed and knelt in front of him. She inhaled his deep, musky sent, and reached out a small hand to trace along his thigh and hip. Then she brought both hands around to his ass and leaned forward to lick just the very tip of hisid sid shaft. Next, she ran her tongue from the very base, all the way up to the head, and then she swallowed him whole.

“Ohh, fuck…” he moaned as she sucked him all the way to his root on the first shot. In response, she slid her mouth slowly back up, swirling her tongue around him as she did so, and dragging her teeth lightly along his pole’s surface at the same time. “Damn, little girl, you are good.” She continued to suck on him, and used one hand to caress his sack, bringing him closer and closer to the coming. He stood there with his feet braced, one hand behind her head, and his eyes closed as he enjoyed her talents, until suddenly the warm wetness of her mouth suddenly vanished, leaving him right on the edge. He opened his eyes to stare at her in disbelief and frustration, and sucked in a calming breath instead. She had lain back down on the mattress, with her arms stretched up over her head, and her legs spread, waiting. He could see the need to be touched shining in her eyes.

Riddick didn’t hesitate. He knelt down between her thighs and ran each hand around until he was cupping her ass, but then he surprised her. Instead of plunging his cock straight into her inviting heat, he hoisted her hips high and brought to hto his mouth instead. Now it was his turn to bring her to the point of exploding, as he licked, sucked and nibbled away at her hot center. Finally, he lowered her hips back down to the bed and crawled up her sweat-slicked torso, until he was looming above her. Then, with one swift move, he entered her and buried himself to the hilt. Once, twice, a third time; her hips arched up to meet his every move, before he drove himself forward one last time and felt the walls of her vagina clamp down on his length as she orgasmed. The contractions around his cock pulled him over the edge and he collapsed on top of her as he filled her with his cum.

Rose looked up at Riddick as he braced himself above her with his elbows on either side of her head. He grinned down at her and lent down to place an almost gentle kiss on her forehead. “So, little girl, just where in hell did you learn to suck cock so damn well?” To his astonishment, she actually blushed.

“Let’s just say I’ve had a lot of practice.” She reached down between their bodies and gently raked her nails upward across his stomach. “You’d be surprised as just how much I do know,” she whispered against his lips, teasingly. “For instance, I can control almost every muscle in my body. Think about it.” She moved to roll out of bed, “but we really should go help with the skif…”

“Not so fast, little girl, I’m not done with you yet.” He reached out and, grabbing an arm yanked her back to him, flipping himself onto his back and ending up with her straddling his hips, and still hard shaft. With a hand on each hip he raised her into the air, and then pulled her back down, sheathing himself to his balls in one pull. She was still so tight and hot that he wanted to start buckindernderneath her, but he let her actually sit still and adjust to his size this time.

As she sat there, poised above him, her hair falling around her like a red curtain, Riddick ran his hands up to cup her breasts. As she began to ride him, he used his fingers to pinch and pull at her hardened nipples, eliciting small moans from deep in her throat. Finally, he pulled her forward so he could suck the nubs into his mouth. As he felt her nearing her peak, he bit down, hard enough to send a shot of pain through her, mixing in with the pleasure. It caught Rose by surprise and brought her closer to the crest of what was building into another intense orgasm. However, before he could send her crashing over the edge she suddenly went completely still and placed a hand over his mouth cutting off his own moan. Her eyes darted towards the door and then dropped to scan the floor around the bed.

“Shit!” she whispered harshly. “Where the fuck is my sword?!”

Riddick’s own hand flashed down to the pile of his clothing and then snapped back up. In an instant the razor edge of the metal shiv he’d made was pressed against her throat. A single drop of blood welled around the blade. “What game are you playing?” he demanded harshly, anger instantly replacing lust.

“Shh.” She slowly placed her hand on the inside of his arm and gently pushed the blade a few inches away from her neck. “Put that damn thing away.” She glared down at him, absolutely beautiful in her fearlessness. “Johns is outside.”

“How the fuck do you know that? I didn’t hear anything.”

“Because I can feel him, that’s how.” He could hear the anger in her harsh whisper. She slid off him, suddenly as silent and graceful as a jungle cat and, Riddick realized, just as deadly. She turned and gave him a strange look. “You thought I was going to turn on you? What kind of a sick bitch do you think I am? Never mind, I don’t think I want an answer to that.” She shook her h a b a bit disappointed for some reason.

“Get dressed and get out.” Her voice suddenly grew cold, and he gave a slight start to realize something. His own voice tended to sound like that because he simple didn’t care about those he killed. Her tone was not due to a lack of concern; it was due to a total lack of emotion. It was like she’d suddenly switched off. Her comment from back on the wreck came back to him; ‘I’ve hunted much much worse in my time.’ Abruptly, hlievlieved her.

She looked down at him. “I said get moving. I don’t care if he sees you or not, that’s up to you, but don’t interfere in this; it doesn’t concern you.” She turned her back on him and silently moved around the bed and took a drink of water, before slashing some of it on her face and chest, cooling herself off.

Riddick slid off the bed and jammed his legs into his pants and jerked them up. He shoved his feet into his boots just as quickly. “Johns is my business, lady. And don’t ever fuckin’ forget that. I am not leavin’ but if you don’t want him to know I’m here then fine.” With that he pulled on his shirt and goggles and vanished back into the shadows he’d emerged from. He was angry, and for once, it was an effort to control his temper. He didn’t think about why he was so close to the edge, writing that off to their interrupted sex. “Bitch,” he muttered as he made himself a bit more comfortable behind an old piec fur furniture, but still making sure he had a good view.

Rose, in the mean time, had slid back into bed, after making sure there were no signs of the oh so recent activities. Just as she heard Johns try and quietly open the outside door, she let the sheet slip just a fraction, making sure that an enticing amount of her right breast was visible, and pretended to still be sound asleep. She watched through a screen of her hair, and half lidded eyes as the bounty hunter stepped into the room. He was doing his utmost to make no noise, so she knew he was up to no good. ‘Now to see just what kind of trouble he wants.’

Johns walked across the room until he was standing above the bed, his hungry gaze taking in the bared flesh and the outline of the sweet body underneath the sheet. He reached out and carefully flipped the edge of the sheet away, exposing more of Rose’s naked form to his eyes. She pretended to stir slightly as the slight breeze the action caused, but then settled back down. She needed to know how far he was willing to take things; she had to make sure her initial impressions of him were correct, or she wouldn’t be able to deal with him when the time came.

He lived down to her expectations.

Silently, Johns dropped the sling to his gauge off his shoulder and placed the gun quietly on the floor, along with his belt and bag. The only part of his clothing he bothered with was his zipper, allowing his swollen cock to spring free. He gave himself a slight rub in anticipation of tasting the sweet thing before him. Once he though he was ready, he knelt beside her and placed a hand over her mouth, while yanking the sheet away with his other hand. As soon as the fabric was out of the way he straddled her hips, and using his weight to keep her from squirming.

Rose ‘woke’ and looked up at him with huge ‘frightened’ eyes as he ran his hand roughly across her chest, pinching hard enough to bruise. As her hands came up to ‘defend’ herself, he grabbed both wrists and pinioned her arms above her head.

“I’ve been waiting for a chance to ‘talk’ to you, Rose. You see, I’ve seen the way Riddick’s been eyeing you, and I figure I’m going to have you first. And if you scream, I’ll simply tell the others that I caught Riddick raping you. After all, I’m law, and he’s the animal.” He shifted position so that he could thrust himself into her, and then his world turned upside down.

Riddick was watching everything, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. It was all he could do not to rush out and rip the man apart with his bare hands. But Rose had told him to get out, so he figured she was going to get what she deserved, whatever happened. He’d just remember this and take it out of Johns’ hide later. But Johns never had a chance, because the ‘frightened mouse’ suddenly turned into a raging tiger.

Rose had heard, and felt, enough. With a quick twist of her hips she brought her legs forward and wrapped them around his chest. Then she arched her back as she pulled with her legs, sending him flying.

Johns suddenly found himself on his ass, on the floor half way across the room. Faster then he could blink she was standing there, hauling him to his feet with his left arm twisted up and back, his thumb nearly touching the base of his own neck. “Now you get to listen to me, dirtbag. If you so much as ever look at or touch me, or any of the other women in this group, again, I will wait until no one is around, and shove your balls so far down your throat you’ll be seeing them out your ass. Do you under stand me?” Her threat whispered into his ear from where she held him immobile. “And don’t even try to tell any of this to the others, cause I will scream and tell them that you attacked me. And since so so ‘cute’ and ‘helpless’ who do you think they will believe? Me or a junked out bounty hunter that let Fry’s friend die. Oh yeah, I heard about that, and it doesn’t take much to smell the morph in your system.”

She suddenly released him and stepped back as he turned to face her, his face suffused with anger. “Go ahead, give it a try,” she challenged him as he fingered the knife at his waist. “I might even let you keep the hand.” Johns suddenly realized she wasn’t kidding. The flip, and the hold she’d used on him both spoke of unarmed combat training; and he was suddenly getting the impression she wasn’t a lucky beginner.

“You and me will finish this another time, bitch. And you’ll be begging me to take you by the time I’m through.” He spat into the dust at her bare feet.

“Thank you Johns. Now I won’t have to worry about my conscious when it’s time to kill you.” She walked back across the room and picked up his gear. She tossed hie bee belt and gauge negligently, waiting. He took the bait she offered and cocked the gun, bringing it to bare on her chest. She laughed. “You need shells first, asshole.” Opening her hand she showed him the rounds she had swiftly unloaded from the chamber. “Now get lost.”

Johns swore, but knew he’d have to wait to get even with her. He glared at her as he straightened himself up and stomped out of the building.

Rose simply sat back down on the bed and exd sld slowly. She knew Riddick was still there, and she refused to let him see her shake as the adrenaline of the confrontation wore off. The more he thought of her as a cold-blooded killer, the safer things would be. Only two other men had ever roused that level of intense feelings with their touch before, and she didn’t need life to be any more complicated then it was right now.

She felt, more then heard Riddick step back out of the shadows. “By the way, I hope you realize that was just sex. I don’t intend to get emotionally involved with anyone on this planet.” How ironic, to use a line normally reserved by men. He didn’t say a word as he walked past her and out into the sunlight a few minutes later, after ensuring that Johns was indeed gone.

“Damn,” Rose swore as she punched the pillow in frustrated anger. “Men,” she swore in disgust. “It doesn’t matter what fucking century it is, they are still clueless assholes sometimes.”

Less then half an hour later Rose was dressed and helping the others repair the skif. She’d claimed her sword back from Shazza and was helping Fry with the electronics on the old ship, as well as trying to stay as far away from both Riddick and Johns as she could. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep a hold of her temper if either of them got stupid. As it was their posturing every time the got within sight of each other was beginning to wear on the rest of the group as well.

Fry had been surprised, and a bit patronizing, when Rose had limped up the ramp to offer her help with the systems repairs. That was until Rose had proven that she knew more about the archaic electronics and navigation components then she did herself. Of course, Rose didn’t tell her that it was because she’d familiar with the design when it was brand new, well over sixty years ago. When asked, she’d merely said that she used to work for a company that specialized in restoring older ships for scientific explorations like this one had been.

They had just finished running a full diagnostic, and been celebrating the fact they had green lights all across the board when shouting from one of the Imam’s boys was heard. “Well, all we need are the power cells and we can blow this place. Might as well go see what they need.” Fry had helped her out of the awkward seat and they made their way down the ramp. “Oh shit!” They both swore at the same time.

The eclipse was starting.

Everyone was climbing onto the sand cat as Shazza powered it up, when Paris suggested Rose stay behind because of her injuries. Before Rose could protest the idea of being left, Fry shut him down. “No one gets left behind. Or did you forget there aren’t any lights here?” Riddick and Johns were the last aboard, and the prospector raced to get them back to the wreck. Unfortunately, it was only a one way trip, and then the light began to go out. They had gotten the fuel cells loaded just as the sand cat died, and then the shadows hit the sand columns. The smaller towers crumpled, releasing the juvenile aliens in a huge flock.

At Paris’ urging, everyone who’d been at the control pod, trying to get the fuel cells loaded onto the transport, ran for the relative shelter of the cargo unit. Shazza, Rose and Riddick were last. Rose because she couldn’t run full speed, and the others because they were caught a bit further out.

They all managed to dive into a furrow about the same time and lay there frozen as the aliens flew by in a screaming wave. Rose lay there panting and terrified as the creatures spun off in a large loop. Instinct warned her not to run; that they weren’t gone yet. Unfortunately, she wasn’t close enough to Shazza to keep her from making a break for shelter. Rose watched in horror as the woman was ripped apart before she’d gotten five yards.

“Oh God, Methos,” she whispered, burying her face into her arms to cry for a few precious seconds. She’d had nightmares about what must have made him scream like that, and now she knew the true atrociousness. By the time she’d pulled her head back up and rolled over, Riddick was standing over her and extending a hand to help her back to her feet. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he hauled her up.

As she ruthlessly tamped down on her sorrow, and wiped away the last of the tears, she merely whispered “my husband.” She turned her back on him and began limping towards the others; like Riddick she could sense that the first wave was over. The adult aliens wouldn’t emerge until the light was really gone.

Riddick stared after her for a few seconds before continuing his walk. ‘Shit, she wasn’t lying about being married then. He must have been down there with her.’ In those few seconds, he’d seen soul deep, absolute raw agony reflected in her eyes.

Rose ignored the others as she entered the cargo unit and found an overturned crate to sit on. Then she began examining her sword, knowing she would need it if she and the others were to survive. Fry and Johns sealed the doors once everyone was inside, and they began to take stock of their options, which weren’t much. Everyone could hear the sounds as the aliens tried to work their way into the pod, searching for them, for food. The humbegabegan working deeper into the containers, cutting through walls with the torch Shazza had been using earlier to search for supplies.

It was unfortunate that they had to lose another one of Imam’s young charges, and almost lost Riddick, to find out that light actually hurt the creatures, and wasn’t just a deterrent. But it gave them a plan, so after a lot of arguing and name-calling, with Riddick acting as lookout, they gathered what they could and returned to the command section. Rose could have sworn she almost heard the snicker in Riddick’s voice after an alien flew out of the wreck at Johns.

As quickly as they could, everyone collected all the fluorescent power-cables they could find, and rigged up torches. Johns had some flares, and Paris sacrificed the last of his alcohol for wick lamps. Once everything was on the sled they’d made, they set off, Riddick in the lead. Things were actually going well too, which was why Rose was waiting for Murphy to show up.

First Jack went after a dropped flare, Paris freaked out and destroyed their battery before he was torn apart, and Riddick made the connection Rose had missed, that Jack was actually a girl. It wasn’t long after that that Johns started walking up with Riddick, and Rose’s suspicions kicked into overdrive. She didn’t need to hear the conversation to understand that Johns was trying to put Riddick up to something in order to save his own hide.

Carolyn obviously didn’t trust what was transpiring as she told the others to slow down. Rose didn’t listen, and kept the two men in sight, so she was right there when Riddick called Johns out. She had to admit, Riddick was something to watch, never letting Johns get through his calmness. She winced, seeing him casually relocate his elbow after one series of connected blows. The fight didn’t last long, and Johns lost, even though he was still alive. But before Riddick could leave him to the creatures, Rose stepped out from behind one of the rock formations and into their light.

“Finish it, Riddick.” She looked at him.

“Why, he doesn’t deserve a clean death. He was willing to have me bleed you, or simply cut Jack and tow her behind the sled as bait.”

Rose looked over her shoulder at the man in disgust, before turning her attention back to Riddick. “I figured as much. But you didn’t; and you aren’t like him.” Even as she kept her eyes focused on the silver gleam of his eyes, she could hear the movement behind her. Johns probably figured he was dying at this point, Riddick’s cuts hadn’t been that shallow, and he was going to make one last effort. Rose knew she was his most likely target, since she was standing right there with her back turned. She was playing a gaf chf chance here; that Johns would make one last move, and that Riddick would act first and think later. She was right on both accounts.

Faster then she could blink Riddick’s threw his shiv, so close to Rose that she could feel the air shift. She turned in time to see Johns' body hit the ground two feet behind her, his knife in his hand and the shiv buried in his chest. Calmly, she knelt down and checked his pulse. With a nod of satisfaction she tossed his gun away and put his knife right beside his hand. The last thing she did was pull the shiv and then toss it back to Riddick.

“You’ve had your kill, now it’s my turn.” Riddick was instantly on guard, eyeing her warily as she drew her katana from the holder on her back. She looked over at the body and waited, knowing his quickening would revive him within moments. Soon she felt the telltale tingle signifying that he was becoming Immortal.

She glanced back at Riddick. “Do remeremember what I told you that first time? That when the time came I’d show you the proper way to kill him? Well, pay attention, and be ready to run like hell back to the others. Take all the light with you. If all goes well, I’ll catch up to you before you’re through the canyon.” She shrugged, “and if not, well you won’t have to worry about either of us.”

“Fuckin’ hell! He’s like you!” Riddick exclaimed as Johns suddenly ‘woke’ up.

“Yes, he is. And now I’m going to kill him permanently; and take some of those bastard aliens with him.” Rose took three steps away, until she was centered in the light and facing Johns who was slowly climbing to his feet, wary, uncertain, confused and really and truly pissed off. An eerie sense of calmness surrounded her as she prepared to commit as close an act of murder as she ever had in her entire life.

She looked across at the bounty hunter. “Welcome to my world. The rules are simple: it’s a fight to the death, winner has to take the loser’s head. Got it?”

Johns had already picked up his knife and was glaring at her with eyes full of hate. “And if I win, bitch?”

“Then you win, and I’ll be dead. That simple. Oh, yeah there is the fact that if you do win, then you’ll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your immortal life, because someone will come after your head eventually.” She spun her wrist, letting the katana’s blade flash in the limited light, and loosened her shoulders. “So come get me, if you can.”

He lunged, the knife held blade back along his forearm, and then pivoted to his right, intending to deliver a wicked slash to her gut. Only Rose wasn’t there any longer. As soon as he’d planted his weight, committing to the turn, she stepped back, out of range of the cut, and then right back in, spinning on her own back foot and delivering a downward arcing slash to his unprotected leg. Johns went down to one knee. He looked up at her in utter disbelief as she stepped over him.

“Sorry Johns. But there can be only one.” With that she brought the sword around for one final strike, and, stepping through the motion, took his head in one sweeping action.

Riddick watched, stunned by just how quickly she’d disabled an accomplished knife fighter. As Johns’ head hit the ground, time seemed to stop for a second, as if the two of them were caught in some kind of tableau. Then, as a strange mist seemed to rise out of Johns’ body, she turned to look at him.

“Go Riddick; now!”

He began to back away as the mist swirled around Rose and she pointed her sword into the air. Then a bolt of lightning shot out of the night, hitting her square, and he turned and ran, leaving Rose surrounded by a quickening storm, and dying creatures as they tried to attack with the vanishing light.

Finally it was over and she collapsed to her knees, sick to her stomach and wanting only to pass out. She had enough presence of mind to pull the unlit flare from her belt and ignite it before she forgot though. It brought her some grim satisfaction to see the devastation that surrounded her now. Dozens of alien bodies, contorted into grotesque shapes in death, some even ripped apart by the lightning, lay strewn around. “That’ll teach you bastards to mess with an immortal.” She hauled herself wearily to her feet and, holding the flare high, set off after the others, after grabbing the knife Johns had tried to use on her. “Might need this,” was her thought.

As she reached the mouth of the canyon, she could see their light up ahead, and heard a sudden scream from someone. She forced herself to move faster, trying to catch up. Almost between one step and the next she found she had entered a killing zone. Unfortunately, she couldn’t move very fast through the alien bodies. She could see that more then a few of the creature were wounded, not yet dead.

Riddick was still forging ahead, hauling the heavy power cells. She could hear Jack calling after him, telling him to wait, by the time she was just at the entrance to the bone yard. As quickly as she could she forced her way past the creature carcasses’, killing the ones that weren’t quite dead, and the ancient bones.

Suddenly she heard Jack screaming as an adult finally made an attempt at her. ‘Keep yelling kid, at least I know you’re still fighting.’ Rose forced her way past some more fallen bone. ‘There!’ she nearly shouted to herself as she finally broke clear, just in time to see Riddick disembowel the creature. That was when she heard him, “They didn’t know who they was fuckin’ with.”

Fry had knelt to help Jack back to her feet and Imam had his hands full with the last of his young pilgrims, who seemed injured, so Rose was the only one to see the alien rise up from behind some jumbled bones, right behind Riddick. “Riddick!” she screamed, her voice cutting across the distance between them. As he turned to stare at her she threw the knife she’d yanked from her belt. His eyes widened and in that split second of recognition of danger, he ducked, and the knife blade sank home in one eye of the monster about to attack him, killing it instantly. He looked back up at Rose in disbelief as she stepped closer. But anything he might have considered saying was forestalled as Fry and Jack suddenly realized she was still alive.

“I’ll tell you all later, right now we need to keep moving! This flare won’t last much longer, and the torches are almost out.” She ignored their questions about what had happened to her and finally managed to get them moving, while Riddick picked up the rope and started towing the cells again.

Then the rain started. “Murphy, you are one truly sadistic bastard,” was all Rose had the energy to swear as Carolyn, Jack, Imam and the boy desperately tired to keep their torches from being doused. From up ahead she heard Riddick’s laugh, as the universe moved against them.

It was an uncertain amount of time later, when they stopped to bandage the leg wound the young man had taken, that Fry looked after Riddick and asked if they were almost there. Rose could see them all lose hope at his blunt answer, made even more real when the lad was literally pulled right out of Imam’s hands. It was a mostly bone weary and downbeaten group that ducked into the shallow cave Riddick spotted for them to shelter in, and preserve what light they had left. He had the only reliable source left.

Rose knew they had to be fairly close to the settlement, and Riddick hadn’t actually said it was far, just that they wouldn’t make it. Which, given their light situation and energy levels, was very possibly true. She slid into the cave with the others, glad for the respite, however brief it might be. She was disappointed, but not entirely surprised when Riddick rolled the large bone across the entrance, leaving them there. She didn’t have the heart to either argue or bolster Jack’s faltering faith in the man. Instead, she slid down the wall to sit on the sand and, leaning her head back, laughed. When the others looked at her questioningly, she just shook her head. ‘Let them think I’m losing it. Hell, maybe I finally am. Methos and I managed to survive for weeks trapped in these creatures’ lairs, and when I finally get to the surface, what happens, I get left behind in the dark because of a fuckin’ solar eclipse. Who said the universe didn’t have a sense of humor.’ She watched the other three fight to keep the last of the light going, wondering why they bothered.

Finally, the light went out. Rose was the first to realize they could still see, and as she looked up from her seat on the ground she couldn’t believe her eyes. A bright blue luminescence was coming from hundreds of tiny worms that covered the ceiling of the little cave. She looked over at Fry and recognized new strength in the woman’s gaze. As quickly as they could they began gathering the precious bugs and squeezing them into one of the empty bottles. Once it was full Rose used the knife to scrape away the label, revealing the entire glow it now contained. She looked at Fry. “You go. You’re in the best shape. I’ll keep the aliens out.” Fry nodded and, with Imam’s help, the bone blocking the entrance was moved far enough over for Carolyn to slip through.

Rose, Imam and Jack gathered the rest of the worms, and hoped that the half-filled bottle would be enough. Rose took up a position closest to the cave entrance, her sword cradled across her arms, and waited. They could all hear the creatures fighting outside, and seeking a way in to get their prey.

Silence, Rose heard it first. Then the bone began to move. She readied herself for an attack, and then sagged with relief to see first Carolyn, and then Riddick, standing there in the rain. She almost smiled at Jack’s sudden affirmation of her faith that he’d come back. The footrace was on.

Riddick lead them right through the middle of the fighting aliens, and up the slope leading to the buildings. When Jack slipped on the mud he dropped back and helped her up, putting himself in last place, and out of the light, while the others ran on.

Rose stopped at the base of the ramp as the other three boarded the well-lit ship. “Come on Rose, let’s go.” Carolyn tried to get her to board. “He was going to leave us here. He’s not worth it.”

Rose looked back out into the darkness, hoping to see him show up. Then they heard the screams. “I’m sorry Carolyn, but I won’t leave him. Give me the light, I’m going back. Just keep this thing primed and ready.”

The pilot nodded and tossed her the full bottle. “Ten minutes, then I’m lifting off.”

Rose headed back into the night, in the direction the screams had come from. With less then five minutes to go she finally found him. “Shit, Riddick. You can’t do anything easy, can you?” She asked as she tried to haul the ind mad man to his feet. “Come on, I can’t hold your weight by myself. You need to help me here.” He was wobbly, and it seemed, dazed. She was amazed he was even able to stay vertical at all.

“Where’s Carolyn?” he finally managed to get out a coherent sentence as they staggered down the lane. “What’s the matter, ‘m not worth dyin’ for?” he slurred.

“She’s prepping the skif, and we don’t have much time.” Riddick lost his grip and she almost dropped him. “Damn it Riddick! Look at me!” She grabbed his chin and forced him to look into her eyes. “I came back for you, right? I think you are worth dying for! Now haul your damn carcass or we’ll be stuck here together!”

Two more corners and they could see the skif. Jack was standing on the ramp, watching. “There! I can see her! And she has Riddick!” The kid waved for them to hurry. As they set foot on the base of the ramp Carolyn hit the switch and Imam helped Rose haul Riddick up into shipship, where Rose and he collapsed to the floor. The hatch shut with a thud.

“Go, Fry. And thanks for waiting.” Rose looked up at the woman as she settled herself into the pilot’s seat. “But don’t forget to say goodbye to the bastards, will ya? It wouldn’t be polite.” As the skif broke out from behind the ringed planet’s shadow, and bright sunlight shone on them all, Rose looked down on the dark planet. She whispered aloud to the two souls that were now part of her, “I’m coming back. I promise, I won’t let this be your final resting place.” She turned away from the sight and slumped down onto one of the benches. The last thing she remembered seeing as an exhausted sleep took her was Imam wrapping a bandage around Riddick’s leg, and odd silver eyes staring at her.

The End………………….. for now.