Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 12:23:14 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: Debts, chapter 10

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.

****

- X -



            To blond's utter astonishment, he realized that he couldn't stop
thinking about strange-eyed slender thief. At first, he ignored it. Then,
however (a week or so later), he gave up and started looking for him. It
didn't take Julian too long to find Raven's apartment -- when he wanted to
find someone, he would do it, no matter how carefully everything would be
hidden. He also realized to his amusement that `Raven' was thief's actual
name, and not an alias. That was yet another bold addition to Raven's
portrait -- not many would risk using their actual name if they did Raven's
job for a living.

   He waited for the dark-haired man at the apartment, and when Raven
finally came home and saw the blond, he looked stricken. "Oh, hell, no...!"
were the first words to escape his mouth. However, Julian was more than
aware of the completely opposite reaction that came from Raven's jeans-clad
midsection. Raven wanted to shove him out of the apartment (probably hoping
to break his neck while pushing him down the stairs), but his dick was all
but singing praises. That was good enough for Julian. He told the thief that
he would not hurt him, and he meant it. Not just because Raven was the first
willing partner the blond had in years (which was true), but also because
for some strange reason, Julian simply didn't feel like hurting him.

   Their second time together was as self-control-free for the blond as
their first time, if not more so. The first time, Julian didn't expect such
reaction from his own body; therefore, it caught him completely by surprise.
The second time, however, he was very well aware of everything that would
happen, so he made sure he kept every single inner restrain of his in place.
He was dumbfounded when all of those restrains blew to pieces as soon as
that slender body, which was straddling his hips, started to convulse wildly
on top of him. He desperately tried to get himself under control, to keep on
going, to be the one in charge again... Alas, his efforts granted him maybe
thirty seconds of a very shaky balance, and then Raven pulled him right
along, just as he did almost two weeks ago.

   The lack of control made everything so much better -- Julian couldn't
believe it. The fact that Raven was into drinking blood was a hell of a
perk. After Julian got his wallet from the drawer, he realized that he
wanted to experience this again and definitely more than once. He informed
the thief that he would see him the next day, ignoring Raven's `I don't
think so!' and after that night, he started visiting thief's apartment four
days a week, since he would feed his pain-inflicting side on the weekends.

   He was perfectly aware of the fact that it was Raven's dick alone that
was happy to see him every time, and not Raven himself, and it never
bothered him. Julian was in it for incredible sex only, and the arrangement
suited him just fine. However, somewhere in the end of October, after their
yet another control-free encounter, the blond realized that he didn't feel
like leaving. He wanted to stay, he thought dumbfoundedly. He considered
that for a few minutes, but then got off the bed and started getting dressed
instead. He knew that he could go ahead and stay, but he also knew that if
he did, it would make Raven grit his teeth with helpless hatred. The blond
was rather surprised at the fact that he didn't want that; he didn't want
helpless hatred. "What do you want then?" he asked himself while looking for
his shirt. He had no idea.

   That was when he informed Raven that he would see him the next day, which
was Friday. He decided to push his usual Friday activities to Saturdays
instead, figuring that it was simply a habit of his to stick to that
particular day, and he had no problems with breaking habits. Raven looked
trapped and defeated when he heard that, and that look made Julian lock his
jaw tighter than usual.

    The next evening, he was waiting at the apartment as usual, wondering
what was taking Raven so long. It was almost ten in the evening, and the
dark-haired man wasn't back yet. Julian knew that Raven had a job to
complete tonight; it had something to do with the museum. He didn't expect
it to last this long, however. He frowned, wondering if Raven was avoiding
his apartment for as long as he could, knowing that the blond was waiting
for him in there, when the door finally opened, and Julian did his best to
ignore the relief he experienced all of a sudden.

   "Took you a while," he said, and then Raven walked into the room, and
Julian stopped talking.

   The dark-haired thief looked like someone tried to rearrange his entire
skeleton. He wasn't simply beaten up; it was something beyond that. He
collapsed onto the couch, and after he told Julian what happened, the blond
was furious. He left the apartment that night, and when he got to his house,
he made several phone calls, describing the leather wristband to the last
detail. "I want them to be found by Tuesday night at the latest," he
finished each conversation with the same phrase before hanging up the phone
and leaving the house. Sleep was out of the question; his fury had to come
out one way or another. He took care of that, ignoring sleep completely, and
by Saturday morning, he was somewhat calmer.

   He stopped by Raven's apartment later in the morning, and was relieved to
see that the strange-eyed man looked (and felt) much better than he did last
night. He left the apartment, concentrating on one single task only -- find
them. On his way to one of his men he contacted last night, he called
`Flair' -- a small restaurant he knew Raven liked a lot. He was perfectly
aware of the fact that they didn't do home deliveries, and he could care
less. He didn't know why he was doing that, just as he didn't know what made
him buy the cigarettes an hour earlier. He simply felt the need to do it;
therefore, he stopped analyzing it, and went with the flow.

   He got hold of the two muggers very early on Sunday morning -- around
three or so. He told his men specifically, to apprehend those assholes only,
and do not inflict anything on them. Therefore, both men looked surprised
and somewhat pissed off when Julian finally showed up at that warehouse. One
of them started saying something along the lines of `Who the hell are you
and what the hell do you think you are doing...?' when Julian saw that black
leather wristband hugging the man's right wrist, and his fury was back in
full bloom.

   He made sure that he didn't kill either one of them (it was rather
difficult task, but his self-control was very much present right then; the
only person who was able to blow it all the way to hell was Raven), since he
wanted the dark-haired thief to execute his own revenge. He brought him to
that warehouse on Monday morning, and when he offered him a choice of
whether to let those two go or to keep them chained up to the old pipes, the
blond was absolutely positive that Raven would choose the former. Therefore,
he was amazed when Raven gave him a small smile and calmly said, "Finish
them."

   "Goddamn," he thought after he handed Raven his car keys. "We are much
more alike than I thought..."

   After that day, Julian realized that he wanted a hell of a lot more than
what Raven was giving him. It wasn't just about sex anymore; it grew into
something much, much bigger. For him, that is. He was sure that for Raven,
it was nothing but every-day-fuck, and it was driving him crazy. Therefore,
he became mute last night when Raven said to him, "We'll fuck, you'll leave,
I'll go to sleep... The usual." The blond couldn't believe the bitterness in
Raven's voice when he said, `You'll leave.'

   "He doesn't want me to leave...?" Julian thought in disbelief. He almost
shook his head, but composed himself at the last second.

   ..."What is it with you tonight?" Raven muttered into his mouth several
hours later, after their conversation in that coffee shop. Julian was
surprised yet again (with himself this time) that he told Raven about
something in his past he didn't like to think about. However, it somehow
felt right, so he told him.

   "What?" the blond muttered back.

   "You are never like this..." was Raven's reply, and Julian didn't say
anything to that.

   Then, several hours later, after Raven's desperate `Oh, God, Julian,
don't stop... Please, don't stop... Julian, please...' the blond realized
that he was in deeper than he thought, no pun intended. He told Raven that
he was not going anywhere right then, and the smaller man grabbed his hair
and pulled his head up, staring at him for several minutes without blinking.

   "You mean, you will be spending the night...?" he asked finally, and
Julian gave him his usual smile.

   "Yes," he said in a lazy drawl even though he wasn't sure whether he
liked that quiet tightness in Raven's voice, since he didn't know what it
meant.

   Raven stared at him silently for several more painfully long minutes
without shifting his gaze.

   "I hope you don't snore," he muttered finally, and the blond couldn't
believe the relief that flooded him. The thought that he was somehow
betraying Vivienne has never even crossed his mind. It wasn't true, and he
knew that.

   When he walked into the apartment tonight and saw that damn cat, fear and
fury made his head ache. Then, after Raven told him about black streams, and
after Julian realized that there was a very good chance for Raven to die
earlier today, he almost started to shake. This damn poison turned his fear
into panic -- he was *not *ready to lose this man.

   He brought the car to a screeching halt when he finally got to his house.
Then he pulled the unconscious man out of the back seat, throwing his
slender frame over his shoulder just as he did half an hour earlier, and
walked into the house without bothering with the locks -- he made one of the
magic streams to unlock the door for him instead, since he had no desire to
look for the house key right now. The blond knew most of the poisons, and he
made sure he had enough antidotes for the especially nasty ones -- one could
be never sure when somebody might try poisoning them. With Julian's
reputation and fame, it was more than possible; therefore, he decided to
play it safe.

   He dropped Raven's limp body onto the big leather couch in the living
room, and went into the master bathroom where he kept his drugs, antidotes,
and some other things. He found the right antidote, thought for a second,
and grabbed two capsules and a syringe. He decided to pump the dark-haired
man with a double dosage, knowing that if he gives him too much, the worst
thing that would happen to Raven, would be a hell of a headache tomorrow
morning, and nothing more. He was sure that the damn poison made its way all
over Raven's system by now, so the double dosage was definitely the right
choice.

   It took him an excruciatingly long minute to find a vein in the slender
arm finally, and then he carefully emptied the syringe into it, hoping that
he wasn't too late. After he finished with the syringe, he sat into one of
the leather chairs next to the couch, and folded his arms in his chest. The
only thing he could do now was to wait. Then, a minute or so later, he got
up and grabbed his car keys. He completely forgot about the damn mirror.

   He went outside, unlocked the car, and took the mirror from the car seat,
never noticing that he had a small spot of Raven's blood on one of his
fingers, and never noticing that spot rubbing onto the mirror. He also never
noticed a very soft, almost nonexistent glow that came from the mirror for a
fraction of a second once the blood got onto its surface.

   Julian went back into the house, put the mirror on one of the shelves in
the living room, and dropped himself into the same chair as before, folding
his arms in his chest yet again. Now he would wait. He fell asleep without
even realizing it, a half an hour later, and the last thought he had before
sliding into the velvety blackness was, "I need to figure out who hired
him..."



****

   He woke up because of the feeling that he was being watched rather
intently. He opened his eyes, and almost laughed with relief. Raven seemed
to be just fine; he was sitting on the couch, hugging his knees, and staring
at the blond very thoughtfully.

   "Headache?" Julian asked in his usual manner.

   "No," Raven shook his head slightly. "Thirsty, that's all."

   "Damn," Julian thought while getting off the chair. He knew that the
absence of headache meant the double dosage was indeed a very right choice,
and that a normal dosage would do nothing. He returned into the living room
and handed Raven a bottle of water.

   "Huh," Raven said when he took it from his hands.

   "What?" the blond asked with mild interest.

   "What time is it?" Raven asked instead of answering the question.

   "Eight in the morning," Julian said after looking at his watch.

   "I will need to turn in the mirror at eleven," Raven nodded and sat the
bottle on the floor next to the couch. "Speaking of the mirror..." he threw
a suddenly tense look at Julian.

   "Over there," the blond said indifferently and nodded at the shelf,
noting Raven's immediately relaxing shoulders.

   "What did you do to the cat?" Raven looked at him without blinking.

   "Nothing," Julian shrugged. "Left the spell up for the owner to find
it... If she knows how to take off someone else's spell, then she would get
her familiar back, and if not..." he shrugged again.

   "Damn," Raven muttered. "I bloody hate cats...!"

   "Why?" the blond sounded genuinely interested, and Raven sighed.

  "When I was a kid..." he started saying slowly. "I lived with my Aunt...
My parents were killed in a train wreck," he glanced at Julian briefly.
"Anyway, my Aunt had this cat..." he grimaced. "His name was Rufus. He was
an evil son of a bitch; I hated that bastard. He would hiss at anyone but my
Aunt, and he hated me pretty much as I hated him... It was mutual," he
nodded. "I came to live with my Aunt when I was five, and apparently the
damn cat felt like I was intruding on his territory..." he sighed. "That
very first evening when I went into the bathroom to wash my hands before
dinner, the damn thing was hiding behind the corner... He bit my toe so hard
that I swear to God, I thought it would fall off..."

   He looked around with a small frown after realizing that he still didn't
have his shirt on.

   "Where are my smokes?" he asked, and Julian threw a pack of cigarettes at
him. "Anyway," Raven continued after he lit one. "He bit my toe, scared the
shit out of me, plus it hurt like hell too. So I kicked the damn thing as
hard as I could... Oh, man," he laughed softly. "That was a hell of a
`welcome-to-your-new-home' I got from my Aunt after that... She didn't give
a damn that he bit me; but she seemed like she wanted to kill me right
there, in that bathroom..." he sighed. "After that, the damn cat would
always do something to me. For a while, I was afraid that he would get into
my room while I was asleep and rip my throat out..."

   He fell silent for several minutes, puffing on his cigarette
thoughtfully.

   "For a couple of years," he continued finally. "It wasn't too bad... By
`not too bad,' I mean that the cat would bite and scratch the hell out of
me, and if I were lucky, I was able to kick him so hard, he would fly across
the room... Of course, I could only do it when my Aunt wasn't around," he
shrugged. "The damn cat figured it out rather soon though... Every time my
Aunt would leave the house, that bastard would hide somewhere until she came
back. He would never harass me when it was just him and me in the house."

   He smoked in silence for a minute or two.

   "It started to get worse when I turned nine," he said with a small sigh
finally. "I don't know what it was, but all of a sudden, the bloody cat
would do anything he could think of to be able to kill me..." He shrugged
and looked around for an ashtray. Julian pushed one towards him, sliding it
across the coffee table. Raven stabbed his cigarette in there and stretched
on the couch.

   "One night I woke up, and I seriously thought I was gonna crap my
pants..." he continued. "My room had that little window up on top of the
main one; it was really small, and the cat was pretty big, so I figured that
it wouldn't be able to get through. So that night, I opened that window,
because it was the middle of July, and it was beyond hot... Then around two
or so in the morning, I woke up because of some weird noise..." he glanced
at the thoughtful blond and grinned. "I was always a light sleeper, which is
a very good thing, believe me... Anyway, I woke up, and when I looked at
that window, I thought I was gonna die from a heart attack or a very major
case of crapped pants. The goddamn cat was half-way through the window, with
his paws sticking out and every single one of his claws was ready to go...
The creepiest thing, though, was the fact that he was completely silent...
The noise that I've heard came from a window frame; it was really old and it
creaked like no other. Then he sees me, realizes that I am awake, and he
just freezes there, staring at me. I have no idea how I managed to keep my
mouth shut... If I started screaming bloody murder, my Aunt would beat all
shit out of me again for waking her up in the middle of the night. She would
never believe me about the cat, of course, so she would add some more for
lying..."

   He shook his head and sat up, leaning on the back of the couch.

   "Anyway, we stared at each other for God knows how long, and the whole
time, the goddamn cat didn't blink even once. Then he kinda jerked forward,
and I am thinking, holy hell, that bastard is going to try and get in all
the way...! So I grab the first thing that I could reach, and throw it at
that window... Turned out to be my pillow, which was also a good thing,
`cause if I broke that window, I would be probably wishing for death...
Well, the pillow smacked him square on the head, and apparently, I threw it
hard enough to knock him back somewhat because he drew his paws away, and
when he did, I just jumped up and slammed the window shut. I hoped to get
him with the glass, but the bastard was too quick... Ever since then, I kept
everything sealed tight; I wouldn't crack the window even slightly open.
That was one very long and hot summer..." he nodded thoughtfully.

   "Why did your Aunt treat you that way?" Julian asked with a small
thoughtful frown.

   "Oh," Raven sighed. "She was my mom's older sister... She was five years
older. When my mom was eighteen, and my Aunt was twenty-three, they both
managed to fall for the same guy..."

   "Let me guess," the blond hemmed in his usual purring manner. "That guy
turned out to be your father rather soon?"

   "Not that soon," Raven said moderately. "In three years; but yeah... My
Aunt never forgave my mom..."

   "Why?" Julian lit a cigarette for himself. "Seems rather unreasonable."

   "Because he was with my Aunt first," Raven said with a small smile. "Then
my mother saw him and decided that she wanted him..." he shrugged. "She was
rather driven character; if she wanted something... someone, whatever... She
would get it. So he dumped my Aunt, and four months later, he and my mother
announced that they were mates."

   "I see," the blond said with the same thoughtful look.

   "They left for a trip when I was five," Raven stretched on the couch
again. "I stayed with my Grandmother. I liked her," he nodded. "She was a
good Grandma... Would always bake cookies, never yelled at me or anything...
Well, after she found out about the train wreck, she just stood there for a
couple of minutes, and then she went down on the floor, just like that...
Never got up," he nodded. "After she was gone, my Aunt was my only living
relative... The worst thing for her, besides the entire story, was the fact
that I look like both -- my father *and *my mother. Even my eyes..." he
grinned again. "My mom had blue eyes, and my dad had brown... So, I guess I
was like this constant little reminder to her... Every day..."

   "Whatever happened to the cat?" Julian crossed his legs.

   "Oh," Raven sighed. "The worst thing happened when I was twelve. I don't
even remember what the hell I did back then, but it was something that got
my Aunt so pissed that I seriously believed she would kill me... I think she
really wanted to," he added. "Anyway, she decided not to kill me but to..."
He paused. "...`punish' me instead..." He threw a quick look at the
interested blond. "See, in her book, `punish' was a euphemism for
`hurt-you-in-the-most-humiliating-manner'... She would come up with some
interesting stuff," he nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, that particular day,
she went out and got shitload of really small, sharp rocks, the kind they
use for gravel, you know? Then she came back home and added some other shit
in there, like crushed glass, and some broken plastic. She mixed it all nice
and proper, poured it onto the ground next to the shed, and dragged me over
there..."

   "Let me guess..." Julian hemmed once more. "She wanted you to sort all of
that out?"

   "What's painful about that?" Raven gave him a crooked smile. "No, that's
not what she wanted. She made me take my pants off, and then she pushed me
down on my knees, right in the middle of that mess... Yeah, it hurt," he
nodded. "Once again, it was summer that one time, so it was quite hot. Then
she ties this rope around my arms and neck, throws it across the shed's door
in such fashion that the door would only stay open if I stay in place, and
if I tried moving, it would close, and since the rope was around my neck..."
He nodded. "I made sure I didn't move. Then she left until... Ohh..." he
frowned thoughtfully. "Until much later... Anyway, there I am, on my knees,
which were bleeding like no other soon enough, the sun is getting higher, I
am hot as hell, my arms feel like they are about to fall off, `cause they
were above my head the whole time... Then it gets even better. The fucking
cat realized that I could do absolutely nothing to him, so he decided to
take full advantage of that."

   He paused and lit another cigarette, Julian watching him silently.

   "He jumped me from behind," Raven continued after a minute or so. "I had
my shirt on, but it was thin, and it didn't do shit when it came to
protecting my back... He shredded that shirt in less than five minutes...
Man, talk about pain..." he hemmed. "So there I am, screaming my head off,
with that bastard trying to rip my spine apart, blood all over, sun is
blazing by that point, and I can't even move because of the fucking rope...
I still don't know what happened," he dragged on the cigarette. "Maybe my
Aunt came back or maybe someone heard me screaming and went into our
backyard to see what the hell was going on..." He shrugged. "I don't know.
All I know is that at some point, I passed out. I am not sure if it was
because of the pain, the sun, blood loss, or all of the above. Apparently,
when I passed out, I fell, and the damn rope nearly choked me... As I said,
I have no idea how I ended up back in the house... My Aunt never said
anything; she didn't even mention it. The only reason I know about the rope
is that I had a hell of a mark on my neck. It stayed there for almost three
days."

   "You were twelve?" Julian seemed thoughtful again.

   "Yeah," Raven nodded. "Well, after that happened, I made a vow to kill
that goddamn cat. I didn't care if I would die while doing it, but I
promised that I would kill that bastard..."

   "Did you?" now the blond looked even more interested.

   "I did," Raven nodded with a small smile. "A couple of months later. I
mixed some sleeping pills in his food an hour or so before my Aunt left the
house. He ate some, and when she left, he was out, nice and proper. I shoved
him in the bag and took him to the lake..."

   "You drowned him?" Julian seemed somewhat disappointed.

   "Eventually, yes," Raven said. "But at first, I smashed his fucking head
with a rock for probably an hour... Then I broke his neck for good
measure... And only then, I drowned him. Put shitload of heavy rocks in that
bag, tied it, and sank it in the middle of the lake. Nobody ever found it."
He smiled again, looking at the blond without blinking.

   "What?" Julian asked in intrigued manner.

   "When I was smashing his head with that rock..." Raven said in a low
voice. "...that was when I came for the very first time... It was
exhilarating..."

   Salamander's mouth twitched in the same familiar small, slow smile,
except now, it was somewhat darker and more satisfied, as if he was saying,
"I know exactly what you felt."
****

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