Riddick's Territory

Two hours in and Tyler was drunk off his ass, past the point of being a complete idiot and to the point of falling asleep in the chair that Jack had left him in. She, on the other hand, ten minutes in, was swept into the mass of moving bodies on the dance floor. And hadn't left since.

The music pulsed through her and she thought her heart beat in time with the beat of the music, but she wasn't going to stop and measure it. She was having way too much fun. Jack knew that drinking was out of the question. She had seen many men go down because they were drunk and she didn't know if anyone had tailed her from their apartment, so she wasn't taking chances. Besides, more fun to be alert in this sort of situation. Sly smiles that could be drunken lopsided grins attracted many affectionate dancers, male and female alike. Some she couldn't even tell, but as long as she kept dancing, she didn't mind.

Time passed faster then she thought and she paled when she saw on a floating clock that it was quarter to one in the morning. Riddick was going to skin her! Many of her fellow dancers were upset to see her leave, but she promised she would return and quickly left the dance floor. Tyler was right where she left him and she tried to wake him, but failed completely.

"Miss?" The bartender appeared behind her with an icy glass of water in hand. "This should do the trick."

"Thanks!" She had to raise her voice slightly, but the dance floor was far away enough so she didn't have to yell. "What a disappointment."

"Tell me about it, sister," the bartender replied, dumping the glass over Tyler's head, who sputtered awake. Jack smiled at the bartender who went back to his job and turned back to glare at Tyler.

"Do you realize what time it is?" She asked, pulling him up out of his seat and on his feet. He stumbled briefly, but the water had sobered him slightly.

"Oh fucking shit," Tyler breathed, his eyes widening when he saw what time it was. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Yeah, lets." She snapped and quickly walked towards the door, waving at the bartender before exiting. Tyler was right behind her and stood next to her outside in the warm air. She turned to him and saw that he was pretty much drunk and cursed. She wasn't good at driving and had no desire to be watching a drunk out of the corner of her eye. That and she would have to walk home after she dropped him off, seeing that she would have to leave the car with him.

Just as opened her mouth to speak, she felt a presence behind her and suddenly a large hand covered her mouth and pulled her tightly against him. She was struggling wildly, but it seemed that this guy was just as strong as Riddick. Jack looked for Tyler, but he was already sprinting down the street, not even looking back over his shoulder.

She was furious. Never had she met such a coward.

"Evenin' darlin'…or should I say, mornin'? It's a little late for a pretty doll like yourself to be out." His voice slithered into her ear and she involuntarily shuddered. She clenched her jaw and screwed her eyes shut as she felt him take hold of the chain of her halter top and tug on it with his teeth.

"Into bondage, sweet thing?" He breathed down her neck and across her bare back, his hot breath making her stomach turn and feel feverish. She screamed against his hand, her voice becoming hoarse as she kept at it, but it was muffled by his hand.

Jack refused to let the tears show, her eyes taking on a hardened determination as his other hand slid lower down her front, cupping each breast and sickeningly gently fondled it. She began to struggle again, opening her mouth and biting his hand but he just gripped her harder and his wandering hand latched onto her hip and squeezed it tight enough to bruise.

She didn't understand how he could be so strong but tried to think of what she could use, what did she have? Jack tried slamming her foot down on his, but to her horror he was wearing steel-plated boots. Military? It would explain his strength. She felt a pair of cold handcuffs harshly slipped over her hands and onto her wrists. He tightened them so much that they easily bit into the flesh of her wrists, making them bleed.

He stepped back from her and shoved her against the alley wall and she saw him grin as she smacked against it. Her eyes began to flutter as she felt warmth streaming from her head down her neck. Blood. She fell to her knees, blackness creeping around her. Taking a shuddering breath, she screamed with every part of her.

"RIDDICK!"

The man had been surprised by her scream and it was only seconds afterwards that a blood-freezing roar, something that couldn't possibly be emitted by a human, echoed in the alley. Jack had fallen to the ground, the concrete making blood pool around her head. She could barely stay conscious, but she heard the sickening crunch of breaking bones, the agonized screams that followed. Shiv ripping through soft flesh was a sound she was familiar with and she almost felt safe. It wasn't until the thudding of a body, the vibration through the concrete, that she felt completely safe.

Boots appeared in front of her face and she couldn't even look up, but suddenly knees were on the ground and she felt herself begin carefully picked up. Jack, cradled against his chest, gently nudged her head against his shoulder, whimpering slightly as she did so.

A comforting growl was the reply, but that was more then enough.

Green eyes flickered open, the cloudiness quickly morphing into alertness. Jack knew she was in loft, but she was alone. Not only in that, but she was in a lot of pain. No sooner had she begun to moan as she felt the pain returning full force then Riddick had leapt up onto the loft.

"Hey," she was surprised at how hoarse her voice was and gratefully accepted the water given to her. Willing her stomach to keep it down, she set the small glass aside and looked up at him. "Thank you."

He didn't reply but sat on the edge of her mattress and stared at her. She was too tired to be bothered by the intensity of his silver eyes as she inspected her bandaged wrists. The handcuffs.

Everything came back in a flood of memory and her head dipped, as if suddenly unconscious and Riddick was instantly behind her. He leaned her body against his chest as the memories slid through, taking hold in her mind.

She blinked awake some time later and relaxed against Riddick's warm chest, turning her head to nuzzle him appreciatively. He had rescued her in a time of most desperate need, appearing from the shadow. Jack felt him move and looked up to meet his gaze.

"Hey," she started again, her voice stronger. She moved so she was sitting in his lap, the side of her head resting against his chest. "You saved me, I can't-"

She was cut off as Riddick gently gripped her chin and lifted it up, leaning down and kissing her. As she opened her mouth to his prying tongue, she held onto his shoulders and pushed up into the kiss. His hand smoothly moved to hold her neck, massaging it, knowing the position would tighten the muscles.

As they broke apart, Jack leaned up and brushed noses with him, their foreheads together as they nuzzled each other. Another hand slipped around her waist and gently laid Jack onto her mattress. He maneuvered both of them so they were right side up on the bed, the pillow cushioning Jack's injured head.

To her shame, Jack found that she was tired by that minimal activity and Riddick must've noticed it. He was no longer above her but at her side, allowing her to curl up against him. She tangled her legs with his and draped one arm over him before she fell back to sleep.

"Riddick?" Jack called out as she shuffled from their bedroom into the main room. "Riddick?" She called out, a little louder this time and was rewarded with:

"Kitchen."

Jack walked through the rooms and found Riddick leaning against the counter, sipping from a bottle of water as he waited for the grill to heat. Glancing at her, he put down the bottle and walked straight to her, cradling her head in one hand and immediately wrapping his other arm around her waist.

Jack was stronger now and proved it by pulling Riddick towards her as she walked against towards the counter, not parting the kiss once. Without effort he lifted her onto the counter and let her wrap her legs around him. They continued to kiss, Jack moaning against his mouth. She could tell Riddick enjoyed that by how he momentarily tensed, growling back into her mouth, sending vibrations straight down her spine, turning into hot tendrils that swirled and pooled in her body.

When they broke apart for air, Jack purred and wrapped her arms around Riddick's neck, resting her head on his shoulder. Tingles of excitement spread through her lower body as he dipped his head, inhaling her scent and nuzzling her neck. She felt him momentarily rest his head on her shoulder and she moved down her arms from his neck and rubbed his back with her hands.

"Jack," he spoke, pulling his head up and looking directly at her, "You could've died."

She was silent for a second, grounding herself in the reality that she had secretly wished for since she realized that she could have sexual appeal.

"You saved me, though. Riddick, I should've fought back and I tried, but he was too strong and I couldn't even use what I had, there was nothing except for you." She explained and Riddick nodded, understanding. Pulling away slightly, he slipped both of her hands into one of his.

"There's something you should see." He said, ordering the television on.

The news appeared and Jack cursed when she saw what was running.

"The top story for the past week continues today. It was early Saturday morning when the police received a hysterical phone call from someone claiming that there was a mutilated body in the alley next to a popular dance club.

It took two days to identify the victim. Here is forensics specialist, Brandon Callister. Mr. Callister, thank you for talking to us today."

The man appeared to be middle-aged, quite normal looking. Short brown hair, brown eyes and handsome features. To their disadvantage, he looked quite intelligent as well.

"My pleasure."

"It's never taken more then a few hours to ID a murder victim, so how could it have taken two days?" The news caster asked.

"As I've said before, this is an amazing case and it is clear that what is being dealt with here is an experienced killer, someone who knows the system. Undoubtedly the murderer has already left the planet given all the time he made himself.

"We usually first try ID'ing the victim by their blood sample, but it seems that the DNA was scrambled, this was just pure luck on the murderer's part. It turns out this man was military and had been used for endurance testing. He was a failed test result and the strength DNA was to be taken out, but it failed. That DNA merged with his original, thus scrambling the blood ID that we would've used.

"So then we try bone marrow, but the same result. We had to go back to the older ways of dental records. This was very difficult, this is where it is clear that the killer knew what he was doing. He had somehow broken and smashed almost all the ID teeth that we would've used. It took so much time because we had to piece the teeth fragments back together. We tried to take finger prints but they had been erased when he went into the military."

"Do we have any idea of who could've done this?"

"As of right now, no, but we ID'd the victim and now it's brute office work from here on in. I believe the club was thoroughly investigated and so far we have a few leads."

"That is very comforting, thank you for being with us today, Mr. Callister."

"My pleasure."

"Please, if anyone has any idea of who could have done this, call in. There is a high reward."

Riddick ordered the screen off and glanced at Jack.

"Jack, I know-"

"You know, I think I needed a change of scenery anyway. Nice apartment, but eh, the loft was starting to get to me. Besides, I legally graduated, so why need to sit around in class and wait for the graduation ceremony?" Jack said, slipping off the counter.

"If that kid goes in, we're screwed."

"Yeah I know. Better not to wait and find out, though." Jack said and Riddick smirked.

"Never thought you'd take this so well," Riddick said, kissing her forehead lightly. "Pack up, we've got to get out of here."

"Damn straight."

Thanks to these reviewers:

TRO – I was surprised at my complete lack of knowledge of human anatomy. Me: "Eh, intestiny thingies here and there, a few ribs, a liver? Maybe?" Then I thought: "Hey, is he even human? Do Furyans have human anatomy, because they are basically superhuman, right?"

njrd – I think I'll be sticking with oneshots for a while. Keep those longer stories on the back burner.

lamyka – "story that shouldn't be" oh but it is. I defy laws of…whatever that should be.

XXXevilgrinXXX – I think it's because we just flip over the idea of having Riddick cook. I mean, if he is that good with shivs, shouldn't he be able to make a really good cut of meat? I don't see him as the baked goods kinda guy though, we can leave to…Imam. Yeah. Because I don't think Jack is the kind of kitchen person…

No, I would not want to eat them. Seriously, you might find a bullet cartridge. "Oh, whoops, picked a handful of those instead of blueberries." Yeah.

SueBe – Hope I kept that balance up. Thanks for reviewing.

unknown – Oh the date…oh the date…hope you liked it.

TrunksgirlBlaze27 – Definitely protective of Jack.

BatPhace – Yeah, I got a kick out of "John's secret lover" thing too.

AliasSpyCrazy – I am swept away by the complements. Sadly, I don't usually give my name out, if that's what you mean. Thanks for reviewing, though.

tamekabu – Hey, if I ever want nice and concise reviews, you are clearly the person to look for. Thanks, though.

InanasChild – And you're welcome.