Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:07:21 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: Debts, chapter 17

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.


****


- XVII -



            "Hey...! Hey, can you hear me...? Come on..."

   Raven let out a low moan and slowly opened his eyes. He was thirsty as
hell. He had no idea what happened, and he had no idea where he was.

   "Oh, good," the same voice said with relief. "I know that you are not in
any kind of pain right now, but I also know that you would probably kill for
some water, huh...? Here..."

   There was something pressing against his mouth, and then he felt cool
liquid on his lips. He growled and started drinking that water in huge,
desperate gulps.

   "Easy," the same voice said warningly when he started coughing. "I know
you are thirsty, but careful, okay?"

   Finally, when he felt he had enough water, he looked up at the owner of
that very familiar voice.

   "Ma..." he coughed, clearing his throat. "Magda...?" he finally said,
blinking in disbelief.

   "Hey," he smiled at him. "Sorry about that," she nodded.

   Raven tried to sit up, and realized that he couldn't move. Then he
realized that both his arms were twisted behind his back, and there was
something on his wrists that suspiciously resembled the feeling of
handcuffs.

   "Magda, what the hell..." he stared at her, and she sighed and put the
empty glass away.

   "Oh, Raven," she said seriously. "If only you would've gotten that
goddamn rock, we wouldn't have to do this, you know... I am not enjoying
this, by the way," she added. "I mean, you *are *my friend... Even though
you never told me that you got involved with someone for real," she looked
at him with mild reproach. "I had to find out from some random barista...
Well," she shrugged mostly to herself. "Not random, but that's beside the
point. Although," she looked at him thoughtfully. "I guess I can understand
why you didn't say anything, considering who you are with... Ashamed, huh?"
she hemmed.

   "Where is..." Raven coughed again, trying to make at least some sense out
of this. "Where is Julian...?"

   "Or not..." Magda frowned slightly. "Holy hell, Raven... How did it even
happen...? Oh, hold on," she said slowly. "Hold on...! Oh, my bloody God!
That's why you didn't get the rock, huh? He caught you, didn't he? Oh,
man..." she squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't believe I just figured it
out... What happened though...? Love at first sight...? Love at first
fuck...? How in the world do you end up with someone like him?"

   "Magda, what the hell are you doing?" Raven ignored her curiosity and
tried to sip up again, failing at that once more.

   "Damn," she muttered with regret, realizing that he wouldn't tell her
anything about the blond. "All right, all right... To answer your earlier
question, Julian is not here," she said calmly. "In fact, he is far away
from here, even though you don't know where `here' is," she smiled. "Just
trust me on that, okay? Even he won't be able to find me in this place...
Well," she shrugged. "He probably would be able to, but not until much
later.... And since all I need is one lousy week, I should be pretty safe,"
she nodded once again.

   Raven carefully ran his fingers over the rings of the handcuffs.

   "To answer your last question," Magda continued. "I am preparing for one
hell of a ritual. See, those two dipshits..." she looked at him intently.
"The twins... They never did a thorough enough research; they only found out
about two artifacts. The rock, however, is the third one," she smiled. "If I
had the rock, the spell wouldn't have fifty-fifty chance anymore; it would
be a hundred percent positive!"

   Raven cursed silently when he realized that the rings of the handcuffs
were turned in such a way that he could not possibly reach a single keyhole.

   "Well," Magda kept saying meanwhile. "Thanks to you and that psychotic
blond, I don't have the rock... Therefore, I had to figure out something
else... Fifty-fifty is not good enough," she sighed. "I do want the powers,
yes, but I am not risking my life for that! So..." she stretched the word
comically. "I did some more research..." She smiled. "I am brilliant at
research, by the way," she added in a low voice. "However, I did some more
research, and finally, I figured out how to keep myself beloved out of
harm's way! Simple, really! Wanna know the best part?" she smiled again,
this time smugly. "I don't even have to know squat about magic to be able to
do that, which is absolutely-fucking-fantastic! Simple channeling, how's
that for an answer?"

   "Magda," Raven shook his head. "Why are you..."

   "Because," she interrupted him without a smile this time. "I am tired of
being nobody! See," she stretched out her legs and leaned on the back of the
chair. "In this world, if you want to succeed or to be someone who matters,
you have to have at least some lousy ability... I mean, you have
invisibility, your blond can apparently control magic streams..." she looked
at her fingernails. "I've heard about that spell of his," she nodded. "If he
is able to do that, then he can definitely do a hell of a lot more... The
twins..." she snorted. "Do I even have to say anything about the twins? They
are goddamn Guardians! And what do I have?" she looked at him with a dark
smile. "Nothing! I am just another nobody, who slaves around the bank,
serving the ones who have powers... I am so tired of it, you have no idea...
Well, the fact that the powers come with a hell of a lot of perks, is also
quite awesome!"

   "Magda..."

   "Therefore," she looked like she didn't even hear him speak. "I was
trying to figure out how to break out of this slavery shell for a very long
time... Then I've met you..." she gave him another smile. "After that, I had
a plan. Took me a very long while to set it in motion," she sighed. "But
hey, it worked, so I am not complaining...! If I had the rock, I would
definitely think twice about doing this to you," she nodded slowly. "I mean,
we've been friends for five years, and I actually like you, believe it or
not...! You are a very good friend. Well, since I don't have the rock,
however, I don't really have a choice," she shrugged. "I like you, yes, but
I like myself even better. See, after I do the spell and everything, every
single bit of negative energy is going to be channeled into you," she smiled
wider. "Cool, huh? Gets even better! Even if it backfires the first time, it
will run perfectly for the second one, and this is a fact. So..." she
stretched the word again. "No matter what, I am going to succeed... I know,"
she nodded when she saw his expression. "I am awesome!"

   "You won't be able to attune the mirror if you keep me alive," Raven said
through his clenched teeth.

   "Yeah," she nodded again. "That was a pickle, all right... However, as I
said before, I am awesome. I have a solution for that. See, I pumped you
with so much of my blood, that we are related by now! Oh, by the way, I
didn't know that you get off on drinking blood..." she hemmed. "I guess you
and your blond have more in common than I thought... Anyway, I know that he
was attuned as well, but you, my friend, are the main priority! So I figured
that if I get enough of my blood into you, it will override Salamander's,
and after that, the mirror will accept me..." She showed him a medium-sized
vial with dark liquid inside. "See...? I am going to feed this to the mirror
every couple of hours, adding more and more of my blood into it. Magic is
not that smart, you know," she smiled again. "It's really easy to confuse an
artifact, no matter how powerful it could be. Simple!"

   "Magda..." he gritted his teeth.

   "Yeah," she narrowed her eyes without letting him to continue. "You gonna
kill me or the blond gonna kill me, yada, yada, yada... Not gonna happen,"
she nodded firmly. "See, I need time for the mirror to get used to my blood
in yours, but I am not keeping you conscious for that period, okay? I'm
sorry, but I know that you can get out of any handcuffs and unlock
anything... I am not taking any chances," she shook her head. "I have enough
`dirty water' to keep you sedated until I finally need you... If you were to
survive after the ritual, you would probably be addicted to that shit for
the rest of your life..." she hemmed. "And `dirty water' is a nasty one to
get addicted to... However, you are *not *going to survive after the ritual;
not even if the spell works for the first time, so don't worry about
addictions..." She smiled. "Oh, I am not going to stay here with you for a
week; I've got stuff to do... Two of my..." she hemmed again. "...boys are
going to keep an eye on you... Don't worry," she said quickly after she saw
his eyes. "I am going to make it as possibly comfortable for you as I can...
They won't touch you, I guarantee that. The only touch from them that you
gonna get will be the needle when they have to inject you... Trust me, they
won't do anything else to you!"

   "Magda," he said quietly. "I do not know how, but I *will *kill you..."

  "Uh huh," she nodded and got up. "Sleep tight, Raven...!"

   She left the room, and a couple of minutes later, two men walked in, both
wearing identical serious expressions. One of the men looked at Raven
intently, and his seriousness started trading places with a slow smile.

   "Holy hell," he said in a low voice. "He is pretty..."

   "Don't even think about it!" the second man snapped with dangerous
intonation.

   "She's not gonna know!" the first one grimaced.

   "Don't even think about it," the second man repeated slowly and heavily.

   "Just because you are not into guys, Marcellus, doesn't mean you should
spoil the fun for me...!"

   "You are not going to touch him, Ben," Marcellus interrupted his
companion. "Understood? Just find someone else; shouldn't be a problem in
this city, it's big enough..."

   "Fine!" Ben said shortly. "Goddamn..."

   "Go," Marcellus said and waved his hand. "I will do it."

   "Fine," Ben repeated in the same irritated manner and left the room.

   Raven watched the man warily, not sure what he was talking about when he
said, `I will do it.' Then his eyes widened when he saw a syringe. "Oh,
hell, no..." he thought desperately. "Not again...!" The man sat on the edge
of the bed and located the vein in Raven's arm quite easily.

  "Don't...!" Raven groaned. "Oh, God, don't...!"

   "Sorry," Marcellus muttered and sunk the needle into Raven's arm.

   Less than a minute later, Raven was asleep.


****

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