Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 20:11:50 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: The Dreamtrap - chapter 31

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.

****

- XXXI -



               Julian sighed and pulled off his headset, thinking of making
more coffee. Just as he got up, his phone let out a quick, buzzing ring.

   "Yes," the blond said after he flipped the phone open. "What is it,
Anthony?" he opened the door of one of the cabinets and reached for the
coffee bag. "A package?" he frowned. "What kind of a package...? I see," he
said slowly and closed the door, walking towards the coffeemaker. "No, don't
open it... It might be important," he muttered mostly to himself. "Fly it
over here," he said louder a few seconds later while swiftly working the
coffeemaker. "To the same address you used three months ago. Do you remember
it? Good," he nodded. "See you in several hours."

   He snapped the phone shut and looked at it thoughtfully for a couple of
minutes. A package in Raven's name has arrived to their house an hour
earlier today, and it did not have a return address. Somehow, the blond felt
that it had something to do with this whole thing. He sighed and put the
phone away, pouring water into the opening in the back of the coffeemaker.
The gadget started to grunt busily after several minutes, spreading coffee
aroma all around the kitchen.

   "Forty..." Julian thought while waiting for the coffeemaker to stop
huffing and puffing. "Forty of what? Forty mirrors? Nonsense," he shook his
head slightly. "There were much more than just forty... She said it was a
precaution..." He lit a cigarette and glanced at the clock absent-mindedly.
It was 3:15 in the afternoon, and Raven finally woke up twenty minutes or so
ago – Julian could hear the water running in the shower.

   "Precaution," he slightly opened the glass door that led into the back
yard and leaned onto the wall, staring at the grass blindly. "Let's assume
that she was worried she might fail, therefore, she decided to take
precautions. All right, how did she think she would fail...? Did she think
there was a chance of them getting out...? Probably," he nodded slowly
without taking his eyes off the grass. "If that was the case, then her
precaution clearly would be making sure that she gets them back... Forty of
what though...?"

   Suddenly, a thought shot through his head, and he whirled around, staring
at the clock, only half-noting that the water in the shower stopped running.
The clock read 3:24, and the blond bit his lip, counting silently in his
head.

   "Son of a bitch...!" he breathed after a minute or so and flicked his
cigarette outside, slamming the door shut.

   He burst into Desmond's office, making the ex-assassin to jerk slightly
in the chair.

   "What..." Desmond started saying with a small frown, and Julian
interrupted him.

   "Forty hours," he said quickly, and Desmond's eyes widened at that. "If
she was afraid that she might lose you, she took a precaution, making sure
she gets you back in..."

   "In forty hours," Desmond muttered and looked at the clock. "What time
did we get out?"

   "Eleven-thirty," Julian said as quickly as before. "It will be exactly
forty hours in five minutes...! Bloody hell..." he closed his eyes for a
second. "That explains why you have to be in close proximity to each other;
if there was some sort of a time frame..." He didn't finish his sentence.

   "The painting is gone though," Desmond said tightly. "If the painting is
gone, it shouldn't work..."

   "I don't know," Julian muttered. "Shit, I don't know..."

   He whirled around and left the office, heading towards the bedroom. He
pushed the door open, and Raven gave him a questioning look, his hair still
wet from the shower, his shirt half-buttoned.

   "What?" he frowned when he saw blond's expression.

   Julian threw a wild glance at the clock; it read 3:32. He relaxed just a
little, thinking that Specter was probably right about it not working, since
the painting was gone.

   "Julian, what..." Raven never finished his sentence, collapsing onto the
floor as if someone pushed the `off' button in his head. A few seconds
later, Julian heard a dull `thud!' coming from the office, and the blond
started swearing, slamming his fist into the wall.



   ...Gabriel stared at Salamander without saying anything or even blinking.

   "Forty hours," Julian said again, grasping onto his cigarette so tightly
that it broke. "Shit..." he muttered and stabbed it in the ashtray, his
movements jerky.

   Gabriel stood frozen for several more minutes, and then he grabbed an
empty mug from the table and threw it into the wall, making the blond to
jerk slightly and turn around when the mug exploded into pieces with
unexpectedly loud noise.

   "Fuck!" Rayhe screamed. "Goddammit!"

   He pressed his hand tightly into his forehead, as if trying to get
himself under control. Finally, he took a deep breath and slowly lowered his
arm.

   "All right," he said evenly. "What do we do now? Without the painting, we
don't even know where they are at right now... So what do we do?"

   "I don't know," Julian answered tightly, almost breaking another
cigarette.

   "Why forty hours?" Gabriel frowned suddenly. "Why not twenty-four or
forty-eight? Why forty...?"

   "Probably because that's how much time she needed in order to get
everything ready," Julian replied through his clenched teeth.

   "If she knew that she would get them back, then why did she ambush them
on that freeway?" Gabriel pressed both of his hands into the tabletop, his
shoulders rigid.

   "Probably wanted to do it sooner," Julian closed his eyes. "I guess she
couldn't wait to get out of there... Or maybe she wasn't sure if this would
work..." He sighed and opened his eyes. "She needs a body..." he said in the
very even voice. "Raven was the primary target since very beginning; most
likely, she will go after him..." He looked at standing still Gabriel.
"Considering how much she hates Specter..." He shrugged without finishing
his sentence, and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut.

   "I will get him out of there," he said in a low voice several minutes
later. "I don't know how, but I will get him out of there," he straightened
up, opened his eyes, and took his hands off the tabletop. "I will get him
out," he said again with a firm nod and headed towards the bedroom.



****



   Henry woke up with a moan, feeling completely disoriented. He realized
that he was sweating, and when he opened his eyes, he understood why. He was
sitting on some bench, which was next to several trees. Those trees,
however, did not provide much shade and the bench was bathing in blazing
sun. Henry moaned again and quickly ran his hand across his forehead.

   "Where am I?" he thought, glancing around. "Looks like a park... How did
I even get here...? I was at the airport, got my ticket, grabbed some food,
and then..."

   He frowned, trying to remember, and suddenly, his eyes flew wide open,
and he let out yet another moan – this one was desperate and helpless.

   "Oh, God..." he said, digging his fingers into the bench. "Oh, God, what
did she make me do? Bloody hell..." He gritted his teeth and squeezed his
eyes shut for a minute or two. Finally, he opened his eyes and shakily got
up, heading towards larger trees so he could sit in the shade. He sat down
on the soft grass and started digging in his pockets. He pulled everything
out and blinked several times when he saw a few bills – he remembered that
after he bought that sandwich and a cup of coffee, he had three talons left.
Now he had forty and some change.

   He slowly put the money back into his pocket and picked up two pieces of
paper. One of them was a receipt with a postal office stamp, and the second
looked like a copy of the mailing label. Henry looked at the label, and when
he saw the address, he started blinking rapidly.

   "Holy hell..." he muttered. "What did she mail them? Oh, God, what did
she..." He gritted his teeth without finishing the sentence, shoved both
pieces of paper into his pocket, and got up.

   He left the shade and started walking towards the post office, which
wasn't too far from the park. He wanted to ask someone how far away he was
from Rayhe's house, since he remembered the address. He figured that he
might as well go there and let them know what happened.

   He walked closer to the post office, and he wasn't too far from the front
door, when he glanced into the window absent-mindedly, and then he froze in
his spot, unable to move or speak.

   "Where do you think you are going?" the ghost asked with a small, cold
smile. "When it comes to you, I don't need an actual mirror, Henry," she
nodded slightly at his terrified expression. "As long as there is your
reflection, I am good," she nodded again. "Now..." She narrowed her eyes
slightly, as if contemplating something. "Let's go check something out," she
nodded once again and yanked Henry's reflection towards herself, smashing
her lips against helpless man's mouth.

   Several minutes later, Henry was walking rather quickly, heading towards
the main road.


****



   Shrill ringing of the doorbell made Gabriel raise his head jerkily,
interrupting his muttering chant, which mostly consisted of Desmond's name.
He stood up and quickly walked towards the front door, noting that Julian
followed him for some reason. He didn't care.

   He opened the door and blinked when he recognized the man on the front
step – it was the same man who came here three months ago, after Julian made
his phone call. He stepped aside, letting Salamander to get closer to the
door, figuring that the man delivered something to the blond. He was right.

   "Thank you, Anthony," Julian said tightly after taking a small package
out of man's hands.

   The man nodded and walked away without saying anything. Gabriel closed
the door and returned to the bedroom, not caring about the package. He sat
on the edge of the bed and resumed his muttering chant while Julian ripped
open the package.

   "Huh," the blond said thoughtfully a couple of minutes later. "A spider
brooch...?"

   Gabriel stopped muttering and narrowed his eyes, something bothering the
back of his mind the minute he heard those words. Suddenly, he remembered
Desmond saying, "...and then she thought `spider time'... I have no clue
what it meant though..."

   "Don't touch that!" he said sharply, whirling around and getting off the
bed. "Don't touch..."

   He was too late – the blond pulled the brooch out of the box, and the
minute he touched it, the golden spider came to life. Its eyes glowed
dark-blue, and it jumped forward, latching onto Salamander's throat, sinking
its legs into his skin. The minute it did that, Julian's eyes rolled
backwards and he collapsed onto the floor without making a single sound.

   "Are you kidding me?!" Gabriel growled, lunging towards the unconscious
blond.

   He reached for the spider, but before he could even touch it, a powerful,
stinging wave lashed out, pushing him away, and making him lose his balance.

   "This is not happening..." Gabriel muttered numbly, after regaining his
balance. "This is not happening..."

   He stared at the unconscious blond for several long minutes, and then he
walked towards him slowly, wondering if that wave was going to hit him again
the minute he touched unresponsive body. Nothing happened, and Gabriel
realized that the spider was the only thing he couldn't touch. He sighed and
swore through his clenched teeth, yanking Salamander upwards and dropping
him onto the bed next to Raven. Then he propped his arms on his sides and
stared at the bed with three unconscious men on it. He stared at the picture
in front of him for probably ten minutes, and then he closed his eyes with
helpless frustration. He had no idea what to do now.

 ****

A  little of shameless self-advertising: you can find all my stories,
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