Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 11:45:01 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: Debts, chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; all the resemblances are just
eerie coincidences. Everything in the story is owned by myself beloved,
everything is copyrighted. Contains descriptive sexual scenes between males
- don't read it if you shouldn't.

Note: This is a 3rd installment in the semi-series. The first story is
Specter's Gamble </nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/specters-gamble/> and the second
one is The Year of the Salamander
</nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/year-of-the-salamander/>

I would recommend reading those first (at least Specter's Gamble)
otherwise, some scenes and characters are not going to make much sense,
since you wouldn't be familiar with the background and I didn't describe
much of the previous events in this story. Other than that, enjoy! Feel
free to e-mail me.



- I -



            When Magda contacted him several days ago, at first, he thought
that she was joking. She could not possibly be serious about this... Then, a
little while later, he realized that she was, in fact, dead serious about
this.

   "Hmm," he said with fake thoughtfulness. "Let me think about it for a
couple of seconds..."

   She watched him with patient eyes.

   "Let's see," he said in the same slow, thoughtful drawl. "How badly do I
want to reduce my life span to just several days...? And how badly do I want
to spend those days in agony...? God, Magda, this is so insanely tempting!"

   "Raven..." she sighed and started to fold the napkin mechanically,
without even noticing it. "Just consider..."

   "No," he interrupted her calmly. "I'll pass. I do not enjoy pain, and I
am not suicidal. Therefore, I am going to decline this incredibly tempting
offer to rob one of the most insane men in the history of the world."

   "He is not insane," she grimaced. "He is..." here she shrugged lightly.
"...kinky," she finished.

   "No, Magda," he said patiently. "I am kinky; he is downright insane. I am
not doing it, all right? Tell whoever contacted you that they would have to
find someone else."

   "They want you, Raven," she sighed and put the napkin aside. "They
specified that. They want you and nobody else."

   "Magda, no..."

   She sighed again and wrote something quickly on the folded napkin.

   "Here," she pushed it towards him. "This they are willing to pay up
front. After the job is finished, they will pay three times as much."

   He looked at the number and blinked. His math was good. He wasn't in dire
need for money; in fact, he was rather well off, but this amount was beyond
obscene. Also, he couldn't help but think that if he manages to pull this
off, he would be the first (and probably the only) one to take something
away from Julian Salamander.

   "Goddammit," he thought while his fingers absent-mindedly played with the
small spoon, which rested on the side of the saucer with coffee cup on it.
"Raven, greed is the reason for so many failures for so many great men..."

   He was using his actual name – Raven – while he worked. He knew that
everyone thought it was just a nickname, and it was fine with him. He didn't
feel like coming up with some sort of an alias.

  "I will consider this," he said finally and finished his coffee. "I am not
accepting the deal, but I will consider it."

   "They need an answer by the end of the next week," Magda said and poured
more cream into her cup. "Today is Tuesday; they need your answer next
Sunday night at the latest."

   "I will give it to them..." He glanced at her. "...you before that," he
finished. "Who are those people?"

   "No idea," she shrugged indifferently. "All I know is that they were
willing to pay a hell of a lot to a messenger," she flashed him a quick
smile. "I would have to work my ass off to get that amount of money
normally, so..." she shrugged and drank more of her coffee. "Let's just say,
I jumped at the opportunity," she finished with a slight nod.

   "I see," he said thoughtfully (no faking this time). "All right, let me
review this real quick... They want me to get a green rock from his house,
correct?"

   "Yup," Magda nodded and licked her lips quickly, getting all the traces
of cream.

   "*A rock*," Raven repeated slowly.

   "Yup," she nodded again.

   "Is it some sort of a precious stone?" he narrowed his eyes.

   "I don't know..." Magda looked into her cup and sighed. "I don't think
so," she said several seconds later. "I think it's just a rock."

   "They are willing to pay that much for a rock they could get for free
from any beach if they looked hard enough?" Raven's suspicion of being
prank-ed returned with full force.

   Magda shrugged and drained the last drops of coffee from her cup.

   "Yup," she said finally. "They never said why they needed the rock
for..." She looked at him steadily. "...and I never asked," she finished.
"See, when you are someone like me, you don't ask any questions when someone
offers you a triple amount of your monthly paycheck to deliver a message..."

   "Right," Raven muttered and copied her
`I-wonder-if-there-is-anything-left-in-there' look when he looked in his
cup. "Well, as I said... Tell them that I will consider it... They will get
their answer next Sunday morning," he looked at her, and she let out a small
sigh and nodded silently. "You still gonna get paid, right?" he asked with a
small frown, and she laughed at that.

   "Yeah," she nodded with a wide grin. "They are going to pay me regardless
of your answer."

   "Good," he gave her a small smile. "I would hate to see you working too
hard..."

   "I will never work too hard," she said seriously. "I won't slack, but I
am not going to work too hard either..." she sighed and pushed her empty cup
away. "I am too lazy," she finished with a small shrug.

   "I know," he said as seriously, and she smiled at him.

   "So how exactly are you going to consider it?" she asked a minute later.

   "Thoroughly," he said without a smile, and she let out another small
sigh. "Why?" he squinted his eyes. "Is there some sort of a bonus in case I
say `Yes'?"

   "I hope so," she muttered, folding another napkin. " `Cause if you say
`Yes,' and there *is *in fact a bonus..." She smiled again. "I am going to
take a vacation! I hate that bloody bank with a passion!"

   He grinned at her.

   "All right," he said and pushed his cup away as well. "Next Sunday, ten
in the morning, right here... I will give you my answer, okay?"

   "For the phantom bonus' sake," she said solemnly. "Say `yes,' will you?"

   "Sunday," he repeated firmly. "Ten in the morning, right here..."

   "I'll be here," Magda nodded and got up. "Coffee's on you."

   "You are about to get paid," he said with defeated reproach, and she gave
him a light shrug.

   "Coffee is on you," she said again with a firm nod, and he rolled his
eyes.

   "Fine," he grumbled. "See you next Sunday."

   "See you...!" she gave him a light wave before walking out.

   "You are *not *going to accept that offer...!" his inner voice said
beyond firmly. "You so do not want to fuck with Julian...!"

   "I am going to consider," he muttered inaudibly.

   "How...?" his inner voice almost shrieked.

   "Well," he smiled at himself. "Let's take the safest route, shall we...?
The wallet first..."

   "Son of a..." his inner voice moaned in despair. "You are nuts...!"

   "Yup," he agreed melancholically and threw several bills on the table. "I
know," he nodded to himself while walking outside. "I know..."



****



   Of course, Raven was not foolish and arrogant enough to go straight for
the wallet swap with the flourish of someone eager and inexperienced. The
wallet swapping wasn't anything difficult; in fact, it was merely a child's
game to him by now. Except, when it came to this particular wallet, the game
turned into a deadly one-bullet-in-the-round roulette. Raven played that
game before, a long time ago, when he merely turned nineteen. He was young
and overconfident; he had that `I-am-invincible' feeling that most of young
people have; and at that particular hour, he was drunk. No, discard that. He
was plastered.

   Him and two of his then-friends have been drinking for seven hours
straight, and by the time one of them (Raven couldn't even remember which
one; the only thing he was sure of – it wasn't his idea) slurringly offered
a game, which required a single-bullet-loaded gun shoved down one's throat
with its safety off, the other two cheered at that with drunken enthusiasm.
It sounded like the best idea ever. Therefore, one of the guys (once again,
Raven could not remember for the life of his, which one) got a revolver from
somewhere in his apartment, and several minutes later, they were pulling
straws at who would go first. Now, the next part Raven remembered bright and
clear. He was the lucky winner. He remembered sobering up somewhat after
staring at the revolver's unforgiving muzzle; everything became much more
real and a hell of a lot less fun.

   "Do it," one of the guys hiccupped heartily. "Come on, pussy...! Do
it...!"

   Raven was not the one to be called pussy, so he spun the cylinder, shoved
the muzzle into his mouth, and without thinking anything else (if he thought
about it, he would never do it, he knew that), pulled the trigger. The
revolver let out a short, dry click, and Raven's heart slowed down to
crawling speed. He slowly pulled the revolver out of his mouth, his hand
trembling, and carefully laid it on the table, realizing that he just
flirted with a very pointless and premature death.

   Both guys cheered at him with the same drunken enthusiasm, and he just
sat there, eyes locked on the black revolver. The next participant of this
insane gamble received the same result as Raven – a dry, short (almost
bored) click. The last gambler, however, was less lucky. The revolver went
off so loudly that Raven has gone deaf for several minutes. When he could
hear again, all he heard was the sound of blood dripping onto the floor from
the mutilated, red-and-white pulsating mess, which only a couple of minutes
ago was a very live, drunken head, attached to the rest of equally drunken
body.

   Raven has never gotten plastered again ever since that happened. "I guess
that's one way of curing one from a possible case of alcoholism," he thought
melancholically after recalling the entire scene right now. The upcoming
wallet swapping from Julian felt the same way as the revolver in his hand
felt that one night. It was Monday afternoon; he has been watching the man
and studying his habits every day since he left that coffee shop on Tuesday
morning. Finding him was not a problem, of course. He was a bloody
celebrity. Well, a sadistic, twisted, fucked-up-in-the-head celebrity, but a
celebrity nevertheless.

   Raven decided that his `considering' would consist of two parts. Part one
– the wallet. Simple, somewhat easy, but at the same time, so dangerous that
it made him feel high. He was almost positive that even if the swapping
didn't go the way he intended (very unlikely), he still would be able to get
out of harm's way. First of all, he would do it in a public place (for
obvious reasons; you don't want to be in the intimate setting with
Salamander for the first time you are trying to get into his pants,
figuratively speaking). The second reason he felt relatively safe was that
nifty ability of his. Even if the blond realizes that something is off and
someone is trying to sneak their fingers into his pocket, Raven would
disappear out of sight immediately. Literally. Of course, he knew that even
with the public place and his ability combined, there was still a huge risk
of him getting into blond's quite unpleasant (to say mildly) possession. He
was willing to take his chances, however.

   He absent-mindedly played with a very thin, filed to the point of
razor-sharp old coin. He drew a quick shallow line on the inside of his
wrist, wincing slightly at the sensation. He glanced at his wrist, noticing
the blood that flowed out of the cut. He let out a small smile and latched
onto his skin with his mouth, while watching the blond. He lapped at the cut
without taking his eyes off Julian, who emerged from the bank ten minutes
earlier. Raven knew that Salamander had some business deal to take care of
this morning; he was also aware of the fact that it was almost lunch hour –
time he was waiting for. He threw a very quick glance at his watch and
started walking towards the blond, who was clearly heading towards the
garage.

   Raven didn't want to get into the underground garage, knowing that it
would be worse than a rat trap down there, therefore he lapped at the cut a
couple more times, savoring the taste of blood on his tongue, and walked
faster. Julian was swinging a key ring on his finger absent-mindedly,
without as much as glancing around, his expression indifferent and bored.
Right before he got to the intersection, the light turned red, and the blond
stopped, a small shadow of annoyance running over his face.

   Right when he stopped, the glorious lunch hour has finally arrived, to
Raven's greatest satisfaction. People started pouring out into the street
from different buildings – shops, offices, bigger stores. Soon enough, the
blond was surrounded by a hefty crowd of impatient to cross the street
people. The thought of which pocket should he go for, never even occurred to
Raven. He knew exactly which pocket he needed. He had no idea how he knew
that, he just did. It was as if the money called out silently to him, as if
he could smell it.

   He brushed against the shoulder of the person who stood right next to
Julian, and the person automatically moved aside, just as Raven predicted.
The blond didn't even look at whomever it was who just pressed against him;
he just let out a small, annoyed sigh without taking his eyes off the
blinking red light. Raven's fingers gently, almost lovingly ran the
sharp-edged coin on one of the pockets on the blond's jacket, and when the
light finally turned green, he was heading across the street with one more
wallet in his pocket than he possessed a minute ago. He watched Salamander
walk into the garage, and then he let out a deep sigh, and disappeared in
the crowd.



****

A little of shameless self-advertising. You can find all of my stories
here<http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3895328> including
Debts.