Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:30:27 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: Specter's Gamble - chapter 12

This is a work of fiction; all the resemblances are completely accidental. I
am the one who owns all the ideas and characters in the story. Contains
violence and descriptive sexual scenes between two males. If you are not
supposed to read it, don't do so. Feel free to e-mail me with praises or
insults (former preferred).



- XII -



            "Thank you," Gabriel said and that made Desmond blink and look
away from the dirty window finally.

   He looked up and realized that Rayhe was thanking the waitress who took
their empty plates and was now walking away. He glanced at the table and
frowned when he saw that his plate was gone.

   "You finished your food," Gabriel said quietly, and Desmond looked at him
thoughtfully.

   "Right," he muttered.

   "I ordered coffee," Rayhe said as quietly as before. "I'm sorry," he
added after several seconds.

   Desmond gave him a questioning look.

   "For asking that question," Gabriel didn't look away. "I'm sorry."

   "I haven't thought about that in almost fourteen years," Desmond muttered
with a crooked smile. "It's interesting how it doesn't even feel like it
happened to me when I think about it now... It feels like it happened to
someone else."

   He fell silent when the waitress came back to their table, carrying the
coffee pot. He watched the girl pour coffee into their mugs, and gave her an
absent-minded smile after she was done and was walking away.

   "How old are you?" Gabriel asked.

   "Twenty-nine," Desmond said after gulping some coffee down. "You?"

   "Thirty-two," Rayhe sighed.

   "Old fart," Desmond said seriously and Gabriel smiled at that. Desmond
thought that his smile looked relieved for some reason.

   "We need to figure out where to go," Gabriel said after they were done
with their coffees. "I don't want to stay at that place much longer... You
know a good place?" he glanced at Desmond.

   Desmond thought of his apartment and about the fact that thankfully, he
covered the rent for the next three months.

   "Nope," he said indifferently.

   Gabriel sighed and sat his empty mug on the table.

   "Well," he said. "I guess we'll stay at that house for tonight... I'll
figure something out by tomorrow."

   "Sounds good," Desmond nodded and got up, forcing Gabriel to do the same.
He felt a weak tickle of satisfaction when Rayhe's lips tightened ever so
slightly.



****



   ...It was almost eight in the evening and they were playing cards again.
They picked up a brand-new deck on their way home from the diner. Desmond
was on the winning streak tonight.

   "Read `em and weep," he said seriously after Rayhe foolishly called while
having a lousy three-of-a-kind.

   "Damn," Gabriel muttered after seeing the assassin's full house.
"Goddammit..."

   "Pay up," Desmond stretched his right hand forward. "Come on, cough it
up!"

   "Yeah, yeah..." Gabriel muttered, digging in his pocket. "Hold on..."

   That was when Desmond's instincts shrieked at him in full-blown alarm. He
had no idea what was wrong, and he wasn't even trying to figure it out. That
would be the waste of time.

   "Duck!" he yelled, diving onto the dirty floor, handcuffs immediately
biting into his wrist. "Duck, goddammit!"

   "Where?" Gabriel looked around with extremely puzzled expression. The
whole thing would make Desmond laugh his head off under different
circumstances. Right now, however, he had no sense of humor left.

   He jerked the chain of the handcuffs, making Rayhe to stumble off the
chair and drop onto the floor next to him.

   "That hurt..." Gabriel muttered, his eyes wide and confused, left hand
flying up to the back of his neck. "Damn, what the..."

   Then his eyes rolled back, and Desmond cursed loudly and desperately.

   "Rayhe!" he shook Gabriel hard. "Rayhe, wake up, dammit! Rayhe!"

   Gabriel's eyelids fluttered and his eyes half-opened very slowly.

   "Come on," Desmond muttered, trying to get him off the floor. "Come on!"

   His fingers ran over something on the back of Gabriel's neck, and Desmond
closed his eyes for a second. It was cold, very cold. An icicle-cold. He
half-pulled, half-broke the object out of Gabriel's neck, knowing only too
well what he is going to see. An icicle.

   "Shit," he whispered. He used this technique himself more than a couple
of times before, and he knew exactly what was inside that icicle. "Rayhe!"
he shook the man again, knowing that it was useless, but he tried anyway.
"Gabriel, wake up!"

   To his utter amazement, Gabriel's eyes peeled half-open once again.

   "Come on!" Desmond growled, trying to get up.

   Gabriel slowly ran his fingers over the handcuffs' ring, the one on
Desmond's wrist.

   "Go..." he mumbled, his eyes almost closed again, and Desmond felt the
cuff sliding off his wrist. "Go, Des..."

   "Rayhe..."

   "G...Go..." and his eyes closed for good this time.

   "Fuck!" Desmond screamed.

   He looked around wildly, searching the area. He didn't see anything, but
he knew that it won't last long. If they used the icicle, that meant they
are going to be here in less than three minutes. Desmond bit his lip and
looked at Gabriel. He lay on the floor without moving.

   "Fuck!" Desmond said again, a little softer this time. Then he heard
footsteps.

   He ran towards the broken window in the opposite wall. He was running in
a crouch, making sure that he stays below the visionary line. He made it to
the window just in time. He leapt outside when the front door of the house
burst open.

   It seemed like whoever *("The Salamanders, of course! Who else would it
be?")*knocked Rayhe out, didn't even bother with securing the perimeter
first. Desmond started zigzagging through the back yard of the house,
thankful for the absence of light and ridiculously tall grass. He almost
made it to the other side of the street where he knew he would be safe, when
he came to a screeching halt. He stood there, under an old oak tree, his
hands clenched into tight fists, his eyes closed, breathing fast. He stood
there for almost three minutes. Finally, he moaned:

   "Oh, fucking hell..."

   Is he insane? Is he really considering going back there for Rayhe? The
man abducted him, for crying out loud! So, he was good in bed *("Not just
that and you know it..."), *so what?! Is a good lay really worth risking his
life for? No way, Desmond shook his head furiously. No bloody way would he
go back there! Rayhe is on his own.

   *"Go, Des..." *he heard in his head.

   Son of a bitch... Desmond felt like screaming. He didn't do that, of
course. Instead, he turned around and trotted towards the abandoned house he
just escaped. He only did it because *("Go, Des...") *Rayhe's ass was his
and his alone. He would be the one who gets to kill him; he would be the one
to decide when to kill him; he would be... *("Go, Des...") *Oh, damn it all
to hell!

   Desmond maneuvered around the wild bushes that surrounded the house, and
briefly congratulated himself silently for not managing to fall into one of
them when he leapt out of that window. That would've definitely made some
serious noise, not to mention, it would hurt like a bitch as well.

   He slowly walked towards the same window he just escaped from; his head
shrunk into his shoulders, his knees bent, heartbeat so slow that it could
qualify him for the best place in the morgue. Carefully, so very carefully,
he dared to pop his head above the windowsill, trying to look inside. Trying
to see, who else was there. He knew that since they could care less about
the perimeter, meant there were at least two of them. At least. Probably,
more.

   He moved beneath the windowsill *("Yup, they just saw you..."), *making
sure he stays underneath the damn thing, and tried to listen in. He heard
nothing. So he risked popping his head above the sill, just a tad. What he
saw made him blink in disbelief. There was *one single person*. One. That's
it. Desmond immediately tensed up, waiting for a voice to speak up behind
him; for the palm to land on his shoulder; for the cold feeling of the gun
pressing against his temple – anything. There was nothing.

   Finally, he decided to risk it some more. He slowly moved behind the
sill, getting his head up just a bit, so he could see what the hell was
going on inside. There was a man hovering above Rayhe, and he had a
"You-Are-Not-So-Tough-After-All" look. Desmond immediately scanned the area
with his eyes. Nobody. The assassin shook his head slowly, not believing
this. Finally, he crept around the wall and pulled himself onto the
windowsill, silently thanking whoever built this house. The windowsills were
made out of some interesting-looking rock and not out of wood. The wooden
ones would definitely creak like no other by now.

   "Too bad you can't hear me right now, Rayhe..." the man was saying. "Your
little stunt with the spell upset Julian, you know. I am the one who got
hit, by the way, so once you are awake, I'll make sure you get your
payback."

   Desmond made his way towards the man who didn't have a clue he wasn't
alone with Gabriel in the house anymore.

   "I am going to..." the man started saying in a dreamy voice when he was
interrupted by an urgent:

   "Psst!" behind his back.

   Clearly bewildered, he turned his head and stared into Desmond's green
eyes that were an inch away from his face. The man blinked in confusion for
several seconds before reaching for his weapon. Several seconds was enough
time for Desmond. He placed both hands onto either side of the man's head,
as if he planned on giving him a kiss, and then he twisted the man's neck in
one quick precise motion. The neck snapped almost immediately, and Desmond
carefully lowered the body onto the floor. He still wasn't sure if anyone
was nearby or not and he didn't want to risk it by making unnecessary noise.

   Then he lifted Rayhe's limp body off the floor and dragged him towards
the front door of the house. "Holy hell, he is heavy..." he thought,
wrapping one of Gabriel's arms around his neck to balance the unconscious
man somewhat better. "He sure doesn't look like he'd weigh a ton..."

   ...It took him almost an hour to get to his apartment because he had to
make sure he was away from the main roads and busy streets, therefore he had
to make his way through the dark alleys and back streets, staying out of
anyone's sight. That and the fact that Rayhe indeed felt like he weighed a
ton were the reasons it took him so much time to get to his place that was
only two lousy blocks away.

   When he finally got to his building, he was thankful that his apartment
was on the first floor. If he had to drag Rayhe up the stairs, he'd probably
ended up dropping him. The key to the apartment was long lost, of course,
but Desmond didn't even consider it a bother. He unlocked the door with one
of the paperclips he found in one of Rayhe's pockets, dragged unconscious
Gabriel inside, and kicked the door shut.

   He dropped Rayhe on the couch and straightened up, panting. He sure could
use a drink now, he thought, and went into the kitchen. Desmond tutted in
great annoyance when he realized that he only had some water in the fridge
and ice cubes in the freezer. "Well, damn," he thought, grabbed several ice
cubes, and went back into the living room. He chewed up his ice cubes,
enjoying the cold crushed mess in his mouth, dropped himself into a big
chair next to the couch, stretched his legs out, and after ten minutes or
so, he was asleep.