Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 14:22:59 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: The Dreamtrap - chapter 25

This is a story of fiction, all resemblances (dead or alive) are eerily
coincidental. Everything in the story is owned by myself beloved. Contains
descriptive sexual scenes between males, if you are not supposed to read it
then don't. Feel free to e-mail me.

****

- XXV -



               Henry knew that he was about to lose this battle; he knew it,
but he tried nevertheless. The portal was fainting much faster than it did
before and much faster than Henry was able to place frantic, trembling
strokes onto the canvas. He could hear Julian grit his teeth silently right
next to his shoulder, and he didn't care.

   "Shit, shit, shit..." he kept muttering feverishly while his brush was
flying above the painting. "Oh, bloody hell...!" he screamed out with
frustrated, helpless anger.

   He had maybe one single stroke left to force the damn portal to stay
alive yet again, when the treacherous thing shimmered slightly, and then it
disappeared out of sight – this time, there was no fainting; just slight
shimmer, and then vanishing.

   "Goddammit...!" Julian growled behind Henry's shoulder, and for several
seconds, the artist believed that the blond was going to hurt him. "Paint
another one!" Salamander ordered instead. "In the same place... Now!" he
barked when Henry just stood there, his shoulders rigid as if he were
expecting a blow.

   Henry blinked when he realized that Julian didn't plan on hurting him; at
least, not yet. He quickly smashed his brush into the palette, and started
drawing those oval blue lines again.

   "What the..." he said incredulously after seeing the first line disappear
off canvas as soon as Henry placed it there.

   The artist delivered several more frantic, quick strokes, just so the
painting could swallow them as well. He threw a panicking look at the pale
blond.

   "I don't..." he started saying, but Julian interrupted him.

   "Try again," he said quietly through his clenched teeth.

   Henry knew that it would be useless, but he never said anything, wisely
deciding against arguing with Salamander right now, and turned towards the
painting, his brush lingering in the air. Suddenly, there was some strange,
muffled sound coming from the bed, and Henry frowned and turned around.

   Julian lunged towards the bed and towered over very tense Gabriel, his
eyes locked on Desmond. The ex-assassin produced another strange muffled
gurgle in the back of his throat, his fingers twitching rapidly, and Gabriel
grabbed his shoulders.

   "Desmond...?" he muttered in feverish disbelief. "Desmond...? Des...!"

   Desmond groaned louder this time, and then suddenly, his entire body
jerked violently, and he bolted upwards, his eyes flying open.

   "Des..." Gabriel whispered, staring at his finally conscious mate without
blinking. "Holy hell, Des...!"

   Desmond's gaze locked on something only he could see, his breathing
erratic. Finally, he blinked and looked at Gabriel.

   "Rayhe..." he muttered, and Gabriel produced a sound that was a mix of
laughter and a sob, and pulled him closer, locking his arms around Desmond's
still trembling body.

   Desmond dropped his head into Rayhe's shoulder and closed his eyes.

   "Where is Raven?" Julian asked sharply without taking his eyes off the
ex-assassin.

   Desmond straightened up and looked at the blond with a small, puzzled
frown, as if wondering how the hell he got here. Then he blinked and shifted
his gaze towards Raven who was laying still, his expression the same as
before, his breathing slow and even.

   "Did you leave him there?" Julian's voice sounded dangerous right now, to
say the least; his eyes narrowed to two dark and very cold slits.

   "No..." Desmond muttered without looking away from his unconscious
labyrinth-companion. "I didn't... I had him when I jumped..."

   Julian threw a quick glance at Raven and gritted his teeth when he saw no
changes whatsoever. He looked at Desmond again.

   "You are lying," he said with quiet hatred. "If you left him there, then
help you God...!"

   "I am not lying!" Desmond replied sharply. "He passed out right before I
jumped! Probably that's why he is not waking up...! I didn't leave him
there!"

   "Don't you dare...!" Rayhe said quietly when Julian's eyes narrowed ever
so slightly as if he were about to close them. "Don't you dare doing
anything to him! If you even *try *something, I swear to God..."

   A quiet, pleading moan interrupted him, and all four men in the room
simultaneously looked at Raven, who produced that moan. Julian quickly
walked towards his side of the bed and sat down. Raven let out another moan
– this one was louder – and then his body jerked in the same violent fashion
as Desmond's did five minutes ago, and he bolted upright, his eyes wild,
trickle of blood running down from his nose.

   "Raven..." the blond muttered and pulled him closer to himself, squeezing
his eyes shut.

   "Wasn't lying," Desmond said darkly without moving away from Gabriel.
"Your nose is bleeding," he said several seconds later, looking at Raven,
who pressed his body into the blond's so hard, it seemed like he wanted to
dissolve in it somehow.

   Raven blinked at that and slowly brought his hand to his face. He ran his
fingers under his nose and looked at his fingertips, frowning thoughtfully
when he saw that they were indeed covered in blood.

   "Yeah," he muttered and dropped his head onto Julian's shoulder. "That's
fine... I would always get nosebleeds if I covered someone for too long...
It'll pass soon... What happened?" he frowned slightly, looking at Desmond
without lifting his head from Salamander's shoulder.

   "You passed out," Desmond answered quietly, entwining his fingers with
Gabriel's and moving even closer to him. "We made it half-way there and you
passed out..."

   "Those..." Raven paused for a second, as if searching for the right word.
"Dogs...?" he said finally.

   "Yeah, they heard that right away," Desmond nodded. "And saw too, for
that matter..." He shrugged. "All good though; I told you that I could run
fast," he grinned even though he was still shaking.

   "How did it even..." Raven frowned. "How did you know where the exit
was?"

   "I've heard Rayhe's voice," Desmond said simply, and Julian opened his
eyes just so he could shoot Gabriel a dark `I-told-you-so' look.

   Now it was Rayhe's turn to squeeze his eyes shut. Julian sighed and
straightened up without letting go of Raven.

   "Bloody hell..." he said to no one in particular, his gaze fixed on his
mate.

   "What are you doing here?" Desmond straightened up as well, small,
demanding frown playing with his forehead.

   "As soon as I saw you in that painting, I headed this way," the blond
said somewhat dryly.

   "Right, the painting..." Desmond muttered. "Wait..." He frowned again.
"How long have we been gone?" he asked.

   "Ten days," Gabriel sighed and opened his eyes.

   "Ten days?" Raven repeated incredulously, staring at Julian. The blond
nodded silently. "Holy hell... Felt like ten hours at the most," Raven
muttered.

   Then his eyes stopped on silent and rigid Henry who was still squeezing
his brush.

   "Who is he?" Raven asked in a low voice.

   "He painted the bloody thing," Julian answered without turning his head
to look at the artist; it seemed that now, after Raven was back, Henry
didn't interest the blond in the slightest.

   "He *painted *it?" Raven asked incredulously and raised his head, staring
at the wary artist.

   Desmond didn't say anything but his gaze suddenly became alert.

   "How did you even find him?" Raven finally looked away from Henry,
shifting his gaze to Julian.

   "I didn't find him," the blond sighed. "He found me... I'll tell you
later," he nodded when he saw unasked question in brunet's eyes. "Oh, by the
way," he added. "Before I get rid of the damn thing for good..." He glanced
at the painting and gestured for Henry to move aside. The artist took
several slow steps sideways.

   "Looks familiar?" Julian asked, and Raven looked at the painting, as did
Desmond. Then both of them became identically wide-eyed and mute.

   "I thought you killed her!" Raven managed finally, and Julian sighed
again.

   "I destroyed her physical body," he said unwillingly. "Not her essence...
The mirror that you broke..." He glanced at Desmond. "Got her out of this
plane as soon as her physical body was damaged beyond repair... Hence the
mirror labyrinth, I suppose," he shrugged.

   Desmond shifted his gaze towards Raven.

   "You said you didn't recognize the woman in the picture," he said in a
low voice.

   "I didn't," Raven nodded slowly without looking away from the painting.
"It wasn't Magda when I first saw that one reflection; it was an entirely
different person! Her hair was longer, her nose was somewhat long, and her
mouth was wider..."

   "That's Michelle," Henry sighed deeply. "The woman I painted before
everything started to change," he explained to both – Raven and Desmond when
they stared at him questioningly.

   "Well, that explains the head-fuckery," Desmond muttered darkly.

   "What head-fuckery?" Julian frowned at that.

   "Ooh," Desmond sighed. "She would throw random illusions at us...
Apparently, she was able to get into our heads, because all those illusions
would come straight from our past."

   "She said she could do that," Henry said quietly, and Desmond looked at
him. "When she first appeared to us..." He closed his eyes for a fraction of
a second. "Me..." he continued evenly. "She said that since she was right
next to my reflection, she could get into my head... She said she knew all
about me," he nodded darkly.

   Suddenly, Raven laughed softly, and Julian looked at him, his eyebrow
slightly raised.

   "The last illusion was interesting," Raven said in a low voice, and
Desmond cursed inaudibly under his breath.

   "What was it?" the blond asked with the same expression after throwing a
quick glance at Desmond.

  "We came across both of us fucking each other's brains out," Raven said
with a half-smile, and Julian blinked at that, as did Gabriel. "The funny
thing though," Raven continued with the same half-smile. "...was the fact
that she simply re-played one of our scenarios, replacing you with him..."
he glanced at Desmond. "I was wondering why whoever the hell got us there
would do something like that..." He hemmed. "Now I see," he nodded, his
smile never leaving his mouth.

   "Which scenario?" Julian asked in a low voice, and Desmond blinked at
that. The blond shrugged after seeing that. "It was an illusion," he said.
"It is obvious that she failed getting to you..." Here he narrowed his eyes,
staring at Desmond with more intensity. "Unless it's not true in your
case..." he said slowly, and Rayhe blinked at that rather rapidly, locking
his gaze on Desmond, who rolled his eyes with very clear frustrated
annoyance.

   "Believe me..." he started saying when Raven interrupted him.

   "No," he said quietly. "That's not the reason for his look..." He smiled
slowly. "He is pissed because he actually complimented your imagination," he
said in a low voice and grinned when Desmond muttered something inaudible in
very dark voice. "He didn't know it was your position," he nodded with the
same smile playing with the corners of his mouth.

   "What position would that be?" Gabriel asked quietly, and Desmond shot
him a quick look. "Did we ever..."

   "No," Desmond shook his head immediately, and then sighed in defeat.
"You'll like it though," he sighed again, and then he narrowed his eyes
thoughtfully. "I am pretty sure you are flexible enough," he nodded slowly.

   "I see," Julian said with a small, smug smile stretching his mouth.
"Well..." He got up and stared at the painting intently for a couple of
seconds.

   Suddenly, there was low, rumbling noise, the painting shook slightly, and
then it glowed bright red for a few seconds. Henry made a surprised, yelping
sound, stepping away in stumbled hurry.

   "Wait...!" Gabriel said sharply, throwing his arm forward, trying to get
Julian's attention, but he was too late – the painting glowed one last time,
and then it vanished without a trace. "Dammit...!" Rayhe said with
frustration, and Julian gave him a puzzled look.

   "I am not keeping this thing around," he said slowly. "Without the
painting, she won't be able to get to him anymore... Them," he shrugged. "By
the way," he glanced at Raven. "If you start hearing random doorbells again,
tell me right away. I figured it out too late," he sighed. "Whenever the
labyrinth is about to suck you in, you hear chimes. When you hear the third
one on a row, you are gone," he nodded. "I never even thought of that until
last Friday," he sighed again.

   "I could've blocked the painting," Gabriel said with the same frustrated
intonation. "Nothing would be able to go in or out... Dammit!"

   "Why?" the blond seemed to be clearly puzzled. "That painting wasn't safe
even with the blocks, therefore..."

   "He started dreaming of Raven after Raven got the damn painting," Gabriel
said sharply. "There had to be a connection! I wanted to try and figure it
out...!"

   "Speaking of dreaming," Raven said thoughtfully. "Apparently, we..." he
glanced at Desmond. "...share some sort of a bond," he finished with a
slight nod.

   "What kind of a bond?" Julian frowned.

   "I have no idea," Raven shook his head and told them about the paragraph
he found.

   Julian thoughtfully nibbled on his lower lip for a minute or so after he
heard that. Gabriel seemed puzzled as well.

   "Have you met him before..." Julian started saying, looking at Desmond.

   "No," the ex-assassin interrupted him immediately. "The first time I've
ever seen him in my entire life was three months ago, in that alley. I am
positive," he nodded firmly.

  "We've never met until then," Raven nodded as well.

   Finally, after several more minutes of thoughtful silence, Salamander
shrugged and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

   "I will figure it out," he said while dialing the number. "You can do the
same," he threw a quick glance at gloomy Gabriel. "We are leaving," he
pressed the phone against his ear. "Bring the car," he said into the phone
several seconds later and snapped the gadget shut.

   "This is clearly not over," Gabriel said with a frown.

   "It is for now," the blond nodded. "I am sure I will be able to prevent
any further disturbances, and eventually, I will figure out how to get rid
of her for good. However, for now, it *is *over," he nodded. "Stay out of
his dreams," he added quietly, looking at Desmond once again.

   "With pleasure," the ex-assassin muttered darkly.

   Julian cocked his head slightly to the right.

   "Our car is here," he nodded and draped his arm around Raven's shoulders.
"Let's go... Goodbye," he said mildly before turning around.

   "Umm..." Henry said uncomfortably, and the blond stopped, throwing him a
questioning look. "Umm..." the artist said again. "What about me...?"

   "What *about *you?" Julian seemed genuinely puzzled, and Henry blinked at
that rapidly.

   "Oh, for the love of God," Gabriel rolled his eyes. "You brought him
here!" he said sharper than he intended. "Take him back...!"

   Salamander's expression became indifferent.

   "He doesn't concern me anymore," he said with a small shrug. "I am not
going to inconvenience myself for no reason."

   Rayhe stared at him with narrow eyes.

   "He has no money," he started saying. "He doesn't know anyone in this
city..."

   "He knows you," Julian interrupted him with the same indifferent
intonation. Then a small smile reflected on his mouth. "Technically, *you*..."
he looked at silently fuming Desmond. "...owe him for getting you out," he
finished with a nod. "Goodbye," he added after a second, and then he grabbed
Raven's shoulders even tighter and they left without saying anything else.

   "Damn him!" Desmond muttered after he heard the front door open and
close. "Goddamn him!"

   Gabriel sighed in defeat.

   "I will reserve a plane ticket for you," he said mildly to Henry, whose
jaw was locked very tightly right then.

   The artist threw him a quick, dark look, and this time, it was Desmond
who rolled his eyes.

   "No, you won't have to blow him in return," he said with a snort, and
Henry stared at him without blinking.

   Gabriel sighed again.

   "Des, don't," he said quietly. "Get out of his head," he nodded when
Desmond gave him a mildly curious look. "His girlfriend was a will-tamer;
he's been violated enough..." He looked at teeth grinding Henry. "I am going
to call for a ticket now. What is your last name?"

   "Allister," Henry muttered, and Gabriel nodded and left the room.

   Desmond lit a cigarette and thoughtfully looked at the very tense artist.

   "Your girlfriend was a puppeteer?" he asked in a low voice. "Finally
managed to get away from her, huh..." he hemmed when Henry wouldn't say
anything. "Good for you... How did you do it though?" he squinted his eyes.
"Puppeteers are not easy to dump..."

   "I didn't dump her," Henry said almost forcefully. "Julian killed her."

   "I see..." Desmond said slowly, dragging on his cigarette.

   "At first," Henry said suddenly. "He wanted to kill me, since he figured
I was the useless one..." He let out a small, dark smile. "Then I told him
that I painted that damn thing and he changed his mind..."

   Desmond got off the bed and walked to the open window, enjoying cool
breeze on his face.

   "If you ask me," he said calmly. "It was a win-win situation for you..."
He threw a quick glance at Henry and shrugged when he saw his expression.
"Puppeteers don't make good partners," he said almost casually.

   Henry gritted his teeth again.

   "I don't want to talk about it," he said tightly, and Desmond nodded and
turned towards the window again.

   "All right," Gabriel walked into the room several minutes later. "Your
plane leaves in three hours; I figured you would like to get out of here as
soon as possible. I also called you a cab; it should be here in ten
minutes."

   "Thanks," Henry muttered without looking at him.

   "Don't mention it," Gabriel shrugged. "Julian was right; we *do *owe
you..."

   "No, you don't," Henry finally looked at him with a dark smile. "I didn't
have any choice; I didn't do it out of my own will, so..."

   "Doesn't matter," Rayhe shrugged again. "You did it nevertheless."

   They stood in silence for several minutes, Henry's body rigid next to the
easel, Gabriel standing near Desmond by the open window, his fingers never
leaving Desmond's short hair. Finally, there was a loud, shrill honk ripping
the night apart, and Gabriel straightened up.

   "Your cab is here," he looked at the artist. "Take it with you," he
nodded at the easel, and Henry frowned. "We don't need it," Gabriel
shrugged. "Here, it folds..."

   It took him maybe two minutes to take the easel apart and he handed it to
hesitant Henry. Another honk broke the silence.

   "Go," Gabriel nodded. "Stay away from Julian," he sighed.

   "Right..." Henry muttered. "Umm, thanks..."

   "No problem," Gabriel nodded again. "Go...!"

   The artist threw last look at silent Desmond and left the room, clutching
onto the easel. Desmond sighed with relief and flicked his cigarette out of
the window.

   "Finally...!" he muttered, crossing the room in a few quick steps. "I
thought he would never leave!" He yanked Gabriel towards himself,
immediately assaulting his mouth while his hands busied themselves with
pulling off Rayhe's clothes.

   "Mmm," Gabriel said and pulled away just a little. "Now, that
position..."

   "On the floor," Desmond nodded, moving his shoulders slightly to help
Rayhe to pull off his shirt. "Just throw a blanket on the carpet, I hate
carpet burns... Believe me," he nodded again and kicked away his pants. "If
we do it on the bed, we'll end up on the floor anyway..."

   "Blanket it is," Gabriel agreed without saying anything else.

****

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