Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:06:58 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: The Dreamtrap - chapter 34

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.

****

- XXXIV -


            ..."Anything goes, Des... Don't stop! Make that place to obey
you! Enslave it... Anything goes..." Gabriel dug his fingers even deeper
into Desmond's temples, that serene expression driving his insane.
"Desmond..."

   Suddenly, Julian let out a shaky scream, and then he bolted upwards,
staring into the wall without blinking, his eyes wild.

   "Where is Desmond?" Gabriel demanded in a tight, desperate voice. "Where
is Desmond? Julian..." he called when the blond wouldn't react. "Julian...!"

   Salamander blinked and looked at him, his eyes slowly returning to
normal. He blinked again when he realized that there was a magic stream
wrapped around him, sending pulsating, steady waves into his throat.

   "Where is Desmond?" Gabriel demanded again.

   "I don't know..." the blond muttered, deciding to leave the stream alone
for time being – it did make his abused throat to feel somewhat better.

   "You left him in there?" Gabriel's hands rolled into tight fists.

   "I didn't stand a chance," Julian said in the same muttering manner. "He
lost it! He blew that entire place apart..." Suddenly, he frowned and turned
his head. "Raven..." he called, placing his hand onto unconscious brunet's
shoulder. "Raven...!"

   Raven's face twisted in a torturous grimace, he groaned loudly, and then
his eyes flew wide open, his entire body shaking.

   "Raven..." the blond said with great relief.

   "Holy hell..." Raven muttered and sat up, entwining his fingers with
Julian's. "Holy hell..." he said again. "I thought we were as good as
dead... How the hell did he do that?" he glanced at serene-looking Desmond.
"And what did it do to him?" he frowned.

   "What are you talking about?" Gabriel asked tightly, one of his hands on
Desmond's neck.

   "He went nuts," Raven said with the same small frown. "He looked like he
completely lost it...! Like all that power made him go insane! Kept
screaming, `Anything goes!' and laughing like a maniac..."

   Rayhe blinked at that and was about to say something, when suddenly,
Desmond started to laugh softly without opening his eyes.

   "Wonder if he can do it in reality," Raven said with tight worry in his
voice. "Because if he can, then we are screwed...! He is nuts right now!"

   "I don't think he can do it in reality," Julian said without taking his
narrowed eyes off Desmond's laughing face. "But he might unleash on us
nevertheless..."

   "Don't even think of touching him!" Gabriel said warningly.

   "If he is still in the insane mode, I *will *knock him out," the blond
muttered and threw a quick glance at Rayhe. "Believe me," he nodded. "You
will thank me later."

   "If you touch him..." Gabriel started saying, but stopped talking because
Desmond started to laugh harder. "Des..." Gabriel called loudly.

   "Aah..." Desmond breathed out, still laughing with his eyes closed. "God,
that was better than..." He finally opened his eyes and looked at Gabriel
without blinking, stopping his laughter. "No," he sighed after a minute of
silence. "I was about to say, `Better than sex,' but then I saw you..." He
smiled. "Definitely not better than sex. But it was amazing... The best high
one could even imagine...!" He grabbed Gabriel's hand, entwining their
fingers together. "I am not insane," he shot a quick sideways glance at the
cautious-looking Julian. "Knock it off..."

   The blond blinked, and then rolled his eyes, his shoulders relaxing
somewhat while he pulled up his mental barrier.

   "How did you do that?" Raven asked in quiet awe. "I thought abilities
didn't work in that place..."

   "Yes and no," Desmond looked at him without letting go of Rayhe's
fingers, stroking his skin absent-mindedly with his other hand. "That place
wasn't real; it was artificial, since it didn't develop on its own. Magda
designed it in such a way that it would block certain abilities; however, it
would only affect the ones she knew about and not all of them by default."

   He smiled and sat up.

   "She had no idea that I got powers thanks to her spell," he nodded. "She
firmly believed that it didn't work, since I broke the mirror. She did block
my lie-detecting," he sighed. "Because she knew about that one... Was
annoying as hell, by the way," he nodded again. "I knew that I could do it,
but it wouldn't work... Anyway," he sighed and shook his head slightly. "I
realized that I could hear her thoughts, and that was when I figured out
that nifty flaw in her design; the flaw she had no idea even existed! Well,"
he sighed again, scooting closer to Gabriel just so he could rest his head
on the other man's shoulder. "At first, I didn't even think of trying the
manipulation, since I tried it once already..." He looked at Raven through
his eyelashes. "I tried creating a ripple when we ended up there for the
first time, but it didn't work."

   "Yeah," Raven nodded slowly, absent-mindedly running his finger over
Julian's bleeding throat. "I remember," he finished and licked the blood off
his digit.

   Desmond winced at that.

   "Right," he muttered. "Well, then all of a sudden, I am thinking, `You
are in dreamland, which means you can do whatever the hell you want with
it'..."

   Gabriel stared at him when he heard that.

   "Then I am thinking..." Desmond continued, not noticing Gabriel's stare.
"I am thinking, `You can't get out yet, but you can manipulate the
surroundings...! You are in a dream that is not even real, which means
anything goes...! There will be no consequences in reality, all bets are
off...' So..." he shrugged. "I figured that I might as well try it..."

   "Anything goes..." Raven muttered, licking his finger yet again. "You
were screaming that nonstop..."

   "Yeah," Desmond grinned. "I know. Anyway, I tried, and when it responded,
I felt..." He paused, half-closing his eyes. "Hell, I don't even know how to
describe it," he sighed and opened his eyes. "But you have no idea how good
it felt... Well," he narrowed his eyes and looked at silent Julian, who
tilted his head slightly to the right, giving Raven better access to his
bleeding throat. "Actually,*you *might have an idea," he nodded, ignoring
Raven, who kept cleaning blood off blond's skin with his fingers. "Recall
the first time you realized how much you get off on hurting someone, and
multiply that by fifty."

   Julian blinked at that, narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, and then he
blinked again, more rapidly this time.

   "Yeah," Desmond nodded again. "It was amazing...!"

   Suddenly, he stopped talking and frowned, as if listening to something
intently. Then he turned his head and stared at silent Gabriel, his eyes
wide.

   "You did?" he asked incredulously, and Rayhe let out a small smile. "Holy
hell..." Desmond muttered and tightened his grasp on Gabriel's fingers.
"Rayhe, I wouldn't even think about that if not for you, you realize that,
right?"

  Gabriel let out another smile without saying anything.

   "Holy hell," Desmond said again and buried his face in his mate's neck.

   "Can you do that in normal dreams, though?" Raven asked with a small
frown.

   "Yes," Desmond answered in muffled voice. "Now I know how..." he sighed
without pulling away from Gabriel. "But I am not going to," he said with
audible regret. "I am not risking it; I don't want screw something up just
because I crave that high..." He sighed once more. "Who knows, though..." He
shrugged. "Maybe someone will trap me in a made-up dream again one of those
days..."

   Gabriel snorted at that and thumped him on the head lightly. Desmond
raised his head and smiled.

   "By the way," he said in a low voice and looked at Salamander. "You owe
me again," he nodded with great deal of satisfaction. "If not for me, you'd
be dead right now!" Here, he frowned slightly. "Well, technically, you owe *
him*," he nodded at Gabriel. "Since he is the one who gave me the idea...
Nevertheless, you owe us!"

   Julian's eyes darkened when he realized that Desmond was right. He
gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

   "You know..." Desmond said thoughtfully a few seconds later. "You
*could*leave
our Blue Line on your credit card without canceling it... And I am not
talking about just a few months," he nodded when the blond opened his eyes
and looked at him with great intensity. "Permanently," he nodded again
without shifting his gaze from Julian's eyes.

   "Would that make us even?" Salamander asked with forced calmness.

   "Absolutely," Desmond answered seriously.

   "Done," the blond said immediately, small smile flashing across his
mouth.

   "Excellent," Desmond muttered with a slight nod.

   "We have Blue Line?" Gabriel frowned at that.

   "Yup," Desmond gave him yet another nod and buried his face in Rayhe's
neck once again.

   "Nice," Gabriel said with approval.

   Julian sighed and ran his fingers through Raven's hair.

   "Let's go on a test-drive," he said, and Raven frowned at that.

   "Test-drive?" he repeated.

   "Yes," Julian nodded. "I have to make sure that you are not going to fall
asleep again when you are too far away from him," he glanced at Desmond.

   "I shouldn't," Raven said with the same small frown. "Magda is gone for
good, and she was the one causing it... Well," he shrugged. "She and that
place, I suppose... However, the place doesn't exist anymore, and neither
does Magda. I should be fine."

   "I know," the blond nodded again. "I want to make sure though. If
everything goes fine, we will finally go home."

   "Like hell you will," Desmond raised his head again.

   Julian blinked at that with genuine confusion.

   "Not until you buy the new set of sheets," Desmond nodded firmly.
"Actually, make it two sets," he glanced at the sheets. "I am not using
something that you bled all over!"

   Salamander sighed and got off the bed.

   "Fine," he said mildly. "Let's go get the sheets," he looked at Raven.
"How far is the store?" he looked at Desmond again.

   "There are a couple of them," the ex-assassin said slowly as if trying to
figure something out. Then his eyes lit up. "There is a great one ten miles
from here. It's called `Heaven's Scent,' and it sells everything you can
possibly think of for home and garden... They carry the most..."

   "Fine," Julian interrupted him. "Let's go," he glanced at Raven.

   "Wear a turtleneck," the brunet nodded and got off the bed.

   "Yes," Julian sighed and they left the bedroom.

   "So," Gabriel said several minutes later when he heard the front door
close. "That power-high... Not better than sex?"

   "Absolutely not," Desmond said seriously and wrapped his arms around
Rayhe's neck, running his tongue across Gabriel's lips.

   "Then I'd say it's a good replacement," Gabriel nodded and caught that
tongue in his mouth.

   "Uh huh," Desmond agreed without pulling away.

   Gabriel briefly let go of his tongue, glancing on the bloody sheets.

   "Just stay on this side of the bed," Desmond murmured and dove into
Rayhe's mouth again.

   Gabriel immediately agreed with that, and he didn't pull away any time
soon.



****



   Julian listened to the mechanical voice, frowning slightly, memorizing
the directions the voice was giving him. Finally, he sighed and snapped his
phone shut.

   "We should be done in an hour at the most," he said and started the car.

   "Good," Raven muttered and rolled down the window. "I want to go home
finally."

   "Makes two of us," the blond nodded seriously and threw the car into
gear.

   ...Ten minutes later, Julian narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the
name of the street on the traffic light ahead of them – Emerald Court. He
threw a quick glance at Raven, noting that the brunet seemed just fine. Then
he remembered that he seemed fine the first time they were this far away
from that light. He sighed when they got closer, and then the light promptly
turned red.

   Julian brought the car to a smooth stop and looked at Raven. Then he
froze in his seat – the brunet was asleep.

   "Raven...!" he called sharply. "Are you kidding me?" he exploded when Raven
didn't even stir. "Oh, bloody hell!"

   He called Raven's name several more times, and when there was no
reaction, he swore through his clenched teeth and glanced in the mirror,
making sure he wouldn't crash into someone's car before he performed another
desperate U-turn. The road seemed to be clear, and Julian was about to step
on the gas pedal and jerk the wheel to the left when he heard soft laughter.
He blinked and looked at Raven.

   Brunet's eyes were wide open and he was laughing as if he just witnessed
something extremely amusing. Salamander stared at him without blinking.
Raven saw that look and stopped laughing.

   "Sorry," he said quickly, the same smile still trembling in the corners
of his mouth. "Couldn't resist..."

   Julian kept staring at him, his face emotion-free, his fingers digging
hard into the steering wheel.

   "It was funny," Raven said, and let out a small cough when blond's eyes
started to turn some bizarre color – it seemed like they were about to turn
white. "Sorry," Raven said again, quicker this time.

   Julian took a very deep, slow breath and slowly shifted his gaze towards
the green by now light. He managed to unlock his wrists and stepped on the
gas pedal as gently as he could possibly manage. The car meowed and leapt
forward.

   "Sorry," Raven sighed several minutes later, and his intonation lacked
any regret whatsoever. "But you have to admit – it was fu..."

   "Stop talking," Julian said evenly without looking at him.

   "Come on," the brunet said with satisfied intonation, which made
Salamander grit his teeth. "You have to admit," he continued as if not
noticing Julian's tightly locked jaw. "It was funny..."

   "Stop talking," the blond said again, as evenly as before.

   "Well, I guess it isn't really funny for you right now," Raven shrugged,
ignoring those words. "But believe me, you will laugh at this later..."

   Julian gritted his teeth harder.

   "Seriously," he still wouldn't take his eyes off the road. "Do not talk.
Let's go get those goddamn sheets and go home. Until we get home, do not
talk..."

   Raven sighed and looked at him silently for a few minutes. Then he sighed
again, after noticing that Julian's jaw would not unlock.

   "Pull over," he said without a smile this time, and blond's fingers dug
deeper into the steering wheel. "Pull over," Raven nodded even though Julian
wouldn't look at him.

   "Stop ta..." the blond started saying again, and Raven interrupted him.

   "Please," he nodded once more.

   Salamander took another deep breath and glanced around. A minute later,
he pulled to the side of the road, stopping underneath some old trees.

   "What?" he asked shortly without releasing the brake, the car still in
gear.

   "Park the car," Raven said as seriously as a minute ago, that laughter of
his forgotten. "Please."

  Julian gritted his teeth and threw the car into `park.'

   "What?" he asked in the same short manner without looking at the brunet.

   "Sorry," Raven said in a low voice, leaning closer so he could run his
fingertips over that very tight jawline. "Sorry," he said again, pressing
one of his hands into the plush divider between the seats so he could avoid
hitting the gearstick as he leaned even closer. "Sorry..." he whispered and
ran his mouth over that jawline, which wasn't as tight anymore.

   Julian's eyes darted towards him for a few seconds even though the blond
still wouldn't turn his head.

   "Sorry," Raven ran his fingertips across Salamander's chin, to the other
side of his face. "Really..."

   Julian let out a short exhale, and finally, turned his head, his eyes
almost back to normal.

   "You are..." he started saying, but Raven shut him up with his mouth.

   "I am," he agreed without pulling away.

   "You will..." Julian's hand blindly turned the keys in the ignition,
turning off the engine.

   "I will," Raven agreed again.

   "It wasn't funny," the blond pulled away just a little.

   "It was," Raven nodded and pulled him closer again. "Maybe not for you
though," he added quickly and cupped Julian's face in his palm.

   "I am going to..." the blond growled without pulling away this time.

   "Okay," Raven agreed immediately and made a small grimace when his knee
hit the gearstick. "Get in the back," he said in the same quick manner.
"Please," he added with a small smile.

   Julian didn't say anything this time, smoothly relocating into the back
seat.



 ****



   They got back to the house almost three hours later, and Julian threw two
plastic-wrapped bags onto the couch when they walked inside, shutting the
door after them.

   "Could care less about the color," he said after Desmond looked on the
couch, trying to see the bags without getting off his chair.

   "I am not much into color-coordinating," Desmond shrugged and leaned on
the back of the chair with satisfied look on his face. "Took you a while,"
he said. "Got lost?"

   "I don't get lost," the blond replied absent-mindedly, swiftly putting
his laptop together and unplugging all the cords.

   Desmond narrowed his left eye and looked at content Raven who was leaning
onto the wall, his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, the ex-assassin let out
quick, loud laughter and stabbed his cigarette in the ashtray.

   "Hell, yeah, it was funny," he said, grinning widely.

   Raven blinked at that, and Julian threw him a dark glance without saying
anything.

   "What was?" Gabriel came out of the kitchen, licking something off his
finger absent-mindedly.

   "Nothing," Julian said shortly.

   "Raven played dead on Emerald Court light," Desmond completely ignored
the blond. "Apparently, he was quite convincing!"

   "I thought you said you don't eavesdrop," Raven said in a strained voice.

   "Unless I want or absolutely have to," Desmond nodded energetically.
"This fits into one of the categories. But yes, it *was *funny," he grinned
again.

   "Well," Gabriel said in somewhat thoughtful voice. "I can see it both
ways; I wouldn't find it funny if you did it to me, for example," he nodded.
"Which, knowing you," he added pointedly. "You would!"

   "I won't," Desmond shrugged and reached for another cigarette. "I don't
do copycat routine," he still wouldn't look away from Raven; it seemed like
he wasn't even trying to be subtle.

   Raven let out a short, annoyed sigh and stared into Desmond's green eyes
without shifting his gaze, small smile playing on his mouth. Suddenly,
Desmond blinked somewhat rapidly and broke eye contact.

   "Ugh!" he said and got up, heading towards the coffeemaker.

   Raven let out satisfied laughter.

   "Two can play this game," he called after frustrated Desmond. "I have a
hell of a lot more images, believe me...! That one was the mildest, just so
you know!"

   "Ugh," Desmond said again, emerging from the kitchen with a coffee mug
glued to his mouth.

   Gabriel sighed, deciding that he really didn't want to know what image
Raven just flashed in Desmond's head.

   "Let's go," Julian walked towards the door, black bag across his
shoulder. "Goodbye," he said in his usual manner, glancing briefly at both
men in the kitchen.

   "Please, do not come back," Desmond said sincerely.

   "That's the plan," the blond sighed and left the house, his arm draped
over Raven's shoulders.

   "Do you wanna know what he showed me...?" Desmond started saying when the
front door finally closed.

   "No," Gabriel said firmly. "And if you dare describing it to me, I am not
cooking until the very end of August!"

   "Damn..." Desmond sighed, knowing that Rayhe meant it.

   "I guess Magda *is *gone for good," Gabriel said thoughtfully several
minutes later.

   "Spirit or not, but that spider meant business," Desmond nodded with
satisfaction.

   "Holy hell," Rayhe sighed and took the mug out of Desmond's hands. "This
is finally over..." he placed his hands on either side of Desmond's head,
pressing his forehead against the other man's without looking away from
green eyes.

   "Could be the beginning of something new..." Desmond said with a small
smile.

   "Stop talking," Gabriel winced and helped him to do just that.

 ****

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