Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:21:20 -0600
From: Katya_Dee <concertoind@gmail.com>
Subject: The Year of the Salamander, chapter 2

   Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All the resemblances are
completely coincidental. All the characters, situations, and everything else
in the story is owned by myself beloved. Contains descriptive sexual scenes
between males. If you are not supposed to read it, do not read it! Feel free
to e-mail me.

   This is a sequel to Specter' Gamble
</nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/specters-gamble/>.  You don't have to read the first
one in order to get this one, but it would make it easier to understand the
characters in this story.




- II -



            "Come on, Specter! Come on! Please...? Oh, Specter, just do it,
please... Specter, get back here!"

   Desmond peeled his eyes open, almost positive that he was dreaming about
something in his past, even though he could not remember this particular
conversation.

   "Specter, please...!" he heard through the open window and blinked
several times. So it's not a dream, he thought. Then he remembered about the
dog and swore softly. He glanced at the clock. Great, he thought bitterly.
It's three in the morning.

   "Rayhe..." he muttered and got no response. "Rayhe!" he said louder, and
the sleeping figure next to him just sighed and threw a leg over his hips.

   "Goddammit..." Desmond growled softly and pushed the leg off him. Then he
peeled off the arm that was hugging his waist, and got out of bed. He almost
walked through the door when he remembered something, went back to the bed,
grabbed a pair of pants off the floor, and put them on. Finally, he went out
of the bedroom, swearing softly under his breath.

   The light in the back yard was on, and Desmond jerked the sliding glass
door open. Sam immediately turned around, puzzled expression on his face.

   "Kid," Desmond said, squinting his eyes at the light. "It's three in the
morning... What the hell are you doing?"

   "Potty training him," Sam said with a slight frown. "Just like you told
me to..."

   "It's three in the morning..." Desmond said again with dark desperation.
"And you keep yelling like there is no tomorrow..."

   "Sorry," Sam said quickly. "It's just he won't get back here, and I just
need him to go already... Sorry," he said again.

   "Seriously," Desmond nodded firmly. "Three in the morning..."

   "I have to take him outside every two hours," Sam said patiently, and
Desmond recognized Rayhe's patient manner in his tone of voice. "This way,
he'll get used to the idea quicker... The idea that when he has to go, he
has to do it outside, you know..."

   Desmond gritted his teeth.

   "Just keep your voice down," he said in defeat, and then frowned. "Every
two hours?"

   "Well, yeah..." Sam shrugged. "I set up my alarm clock..."

   "Good God..." Desmond muttered.

   "That's the usual thing with dogs," Sam shrugged once again. "Didn't you
ever have a puppy?"

   "No," Desmond said without even bothering with a snort, expecting Sam to
roll his eyes.

   "Me neither," Sam said instead, and Desmond blinked. "I wanted one for as
long as I can remember..." he said with a crooked smile. "I've read all
about dogs... I know how to train one; I know all about the diet; I know
almost all breeds' weak spots... For a shepherd, for example, it's the
hips... The same with Specter's breed..." he nodded towards that white furry
ball that was busy with something he found in the grass. "But it's not as
frequent," Sam nodded. "Sometimes, the Akbash would also get the
osteochondritis dissecans..."

   "Huh...?" Desmond frowned.

   "It's a joint disorder," Sam said quickly. "But again, it's not
frequent..." He sighed. "Sorry for waking you up," he said quietly. "Is
Gabriel awake as well?"

   Now Desmond *did *snort.

   "Are you kidding me?" he asked in a low voice. "The man can sleep through
Apocalypse!"

   Sam smiled at that.

   "Well," he said with a small shrug. "This whole potty training thing
shouldn't take too long... Give me a couple of weeks, okay? I promise, that
by the mid-August, he'll be only doing this outside... If there is an
accident inside, I'll clean it," he added quickly. "But the dogs are pretty
smart... And Akbash dogs are amazing!" he smiled.

   Desmond looked at him thoughtfully for several minutes.

   "Turn the lights off when you done," he said finally, and Sam smiled
again.

   "I will," he nodded. "And I'll keep my voice down...!" he called after
Desmond who was retreating back into the house.

   "Uh huh..." Desmond nodded absent-mindedly and closed the door.

   Rayhe was still out (of course!) when Desmond got back into bed. The
ex-assassin muttered something through his clenched teeth and rolled over,
his back towards Gabriel. Rayhe immediately mumbled something in his sleep,
and his right arm wrapped around Desmond's waist, while he pressed his
entire body against his half-fuming mate. Desmond blinked and turned his
head to look at the sleeping man.

   "Good God..." he muttered with a slow blink. "You are *asleep*, you horny
bastard...! Are you hard twenty-four-seven?!"

   Rayhe didn't even stir at that, and Desmond just sighed, entwined his
fingers with Gabriel's, and closed his eyes. Soon enough, he was asleep.



****



   Several weeks later, Desmond came home after he spent several hours in
the bookstore, looking for a particular book he needed for the new semester,
which started in two weeks. He found the book after he almost gave up, his
mood improved immediately, and he walked home, enjoying mid-August sun on
his face.

   "Home!" he called when he walked inside. He got no reply, shrugged, and
threw the keys on the little table by the front door. He knew that Sam and
the dog (he'll be damned if he calls that thing Specter; it's *the dog*,
that's it!) were either outside in the back yard or in Sam's room. His
eyelid twitched with nasty suspicion when he went to his room and noticed
that the door was slightly ajar. He pushed the door open all the way, walked
in, and several minutes later, he stormed out of there, looking like an
avatar of coldblooded fury.

   He burst into Sam's room, and the kid jumped in his chair, startled. The
dog took one single look at Desmond and immediately dove under the bed.

   "What happened..." Sam started saying, but Desmond interrupted him.

   "You..." he growled in a murderous voice, waving a torn-up shoe in the
air, pointing at the bed. "You...!" he repeated and went down on all four,
trying to reach under the bed.

   The dog tried to melt into the wall when Desmond reached for him with
shaking from fury hand. It took ex-assassin several desperate tries, and
finally, he managed to grab onto dog's thick white coat and yanked him
towards himself, ignoring yelping and grunting.

   "Desmond, don't hurt him!" Sam shrieked when Desmond emerged from
underneath the bed, dragging the fully resisting dog with him.

   "You..." he howled again.

   "Desmond, I'll buy you new shoes!" Sam cried, trying to get the dog out
of man's tight grip. His efforts were futile.

   "You...!" Desmond growled once again, as if he forgot all the other
words.

   He shoved the ruined shoe under the dog's nose.

   "What is this?!" he hissed. "Huh? What is this?"

   The dog turned his head away and squeezed his eyes shut.

   "Oh, no..." Desmond shook the shoe one more time. "You look at me! You
look at me when I am talking to you...! What is this?"

   The dog seemed very determined *not *to look at the pissed off man.
Desmond shook the animal furiously, but the dog's eyes remained shut.

   "Bad dog!" Desmond hissed and whacked dog's muzzle with the shoe. The dog
flinched and tried to pull his head into his shoulders. "Bad dog!" Desmond
whacked him again. "Bad dog!!"

   The dog accepted the execution patiently, without making any noises.
Finally, Desmond whacked his muzzle one last time and relaxed his grip. The
dog immediately disappeared behind Sam's back.

   "Desmond, I'll buy you new shoes..." Sam said again in a small voice. "I
didn't know that he did it, I swear... How did he get it?"

   "My door wasn't fully shut!" Desmond whirled around, waving the shoe in
the air once again. "That bastard figured it out! Sam, you better keep an
eye on that thing and make sure that he doesn't sneak into my room again!
Because if he will, I swear to God..."

   He stepped closer to Sam, the shoe making small circles above his head.
Apparently, he looked as if he was threatening Sam even though the thought
never crossed his mind. He would hurt the dog in a heartbeat, but he would
never even touch Sam. Well, the dog didn't know that. He took his own
punishment without complaining, he seemed to be terrified of Desmond when
the man pulled him from underneath the bed. But now, when Desmond started
threatening (that's what it looked like, anyway) his favorite human, the dog
jumped in front of Sam and let out a surprisingly low bark for a puppy of
his age.

   Desmond blinked and looked down. The dog was growling softly, teeth
bared, fur standing up on his neck. His entire posture said loud and clear:
"Back off, buddy!" Desmond lowered his arm, still clutching onto the shoe
and stared at the dog thoughtfully. Sam grabbed Specter's collar and pulled
him back, panic reflecting in his eyes, as if he was afraid that Desmond
would get even more pissed off.

   "Shut up, Specter!" Sam muttered and stroked the dog's fur quickly,
trying to calm him down. "It's okay... It's okay...!"

   Desmond blinked again and lowered himself into a crouch, staring into
dog's eyes.

   "You won yourself some points right now," he said in a low voice without
looking away from dog's brown eyes. "But do something like this again..." he
demonstrated the shoe and the dog blinked. "...and I will make shoes out of
you," Desmond promised in the same low voice. "Or better yet – a bathroom
mat!" He nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the dog.

   Bared teeth finally hid back behind the furry lips, fur on the back
smoothed out and the dog stared into Desmond's eyes, trying to win the
staring contest. Finally, he blinked again, and looked away, his expression
indifferent, as if saying, "I am bored..." Desmond hemmed, whacked the dog's
muzzle with the shoe once more (this time, lightly), and got up.

   "Stay the hell out of my room!" he said before leaving the room. The dog
wouldn't look at him, his expression still bored and almost indifferent,
even though his ears were twitching nervously.

   ...Later that evening, when Desmond was reading a book on the couch,
sitting next to Gabriel who was watching TV, his fingers mindlessly running
through Desmond's hair, ex-assassin felt a gentle shove on his leg. He
lowered the book and looked down. The white ball of fur was standing next to
the couch, his tail wagging tentatively, and he held a decent size bone in
his mouth. Desmond remembered that Sam stacked up on those bones a couple of
days ago.

   "What do you want?" Desmond grumbled, and the tail wagging became more
enthusiastic. "What?" Desmond said after a few minutes when the dog just
stood there, wagging his entire lower half of the body, it seemed.

   Finally, the fur-ball stepped closer to the couch, lifted his head
slightly, and dropped the bone into Desmond's lap. Desmond blinked at that.

   "What are you doing?" he asked the dog, who moved his ears nervously.

   "I think he is making amends," Gabriel said in amused voice, his
attention concentrated on the dog, and not on the television. "He is
offering you his bone in exchange for your shoe..."

   "Nice try," Desmond narrowed his eyes. "Not gonna work...! Plus now I
have your drool on my pants..."

   "That's pretty impressive," Rayhe said in the same amused voice, his chin
resting on Desmond's shoulder. "You have to admit, Des... It's
impressive...!"

   Desmond stared at the dog for a minute or two, sighed finally, and took
the bone.

   "Fine," he grumbled. "You can have it though... Don't touch my stuff," he
added warningly and handed the bone to the dog.

   The dog grabbed it from Desmond's hand, wagged his tail a couple more
times, and retreated into the kitchen. Rayhe laughed softly, and Desmond
sighed again and put his book away.

   "Damn dog," he grumbled.

   "He is something, all right..." Gabriel said with laughter, his fingers
tangled up in Desmond's hair. "When are you going back to school?"

   "The semester starts in two weeks," Desmond said quietly, leaning into
Rayhe's touch. "I'll go there earlier though... In ten days, maybe. I need
to set everything up, make sure that I have everything I need, check the
list once more... I keep having the feeling that I forgot to get a couple of
books..."

   "You turned into a true teacher," Gabriel hemmed and nibbled on Desmond's
earlobe. "Didn't think it was possible..."

   "Me neither," Desmond sighed and pulled Rayhe closer. "Sam is at the
bookstore..." he muttered. "At least for the next couple of hours..."

   "Uh huh," Gabriel said and ran his tongue over Desmond's lips.

   Desmond opened his mouth and caught that tongue, squeezing it gently with
his teeth. Rayhe's fingers started unbuttoning his shirt swiftly, without
pausing on any button, and after a minute or so, Desmond was shirt-free. He
tugged Gabriel's shirt out of the other man's pants and pulled it over
Rayhe's head, not even bothering with the buttons. He let Gabriel to push
him down onto the couch, arching his back slightly when Rayhe's hands
started caressing his chest, never letting go of the other man's mouth,
drinking him with his eyes closed, moaning quietly into him.

   Gabriel's hand slid down to Desmond's hips, and the ex-assassin shivered
when he felt fingertips brushing over his greedy, pulsating need. He arched
his back even more, aiming for Rayhe's hips with his own. His aim was rather
good, and Gabriel let out a shaky quick breath into Desmond's mouth,
pressing harder into his insistent hips, rotating against him slowly. They
kept the slow, almost lazy rhythm for a while, their hands living their own
lives on each other's bodies, their kiss turning into something else,
Rayhe's tongue more dominant than usual. Desmond's moans were completely
unrestricted now that they were alone in the house, and Gabriel swallowed
every single sound that escaped his mate's throat, wishing for more.

   Suddenly, Desmond felt uneasy. He had the feeling of being watched
intently. He opened his eyes slowly, and broke the kiss, turning his head to
the right. The white furry dog was sitting safely far from the couch,
watching both of them without blinking. Desmond stared at him with
disbelief.

   "Get out of here!" he said finally, but the dog didn't move. He kept
watching them with the same blink-free expression. "Get out!" Desmond said
louder.

   Rayhe looked at the dog with a small frown.

   "I am with him on this one," he nodded. "Get out!"

   No reaction from the dog whatsoever. Desmond growled something
unintelligible, grabbed the remote control from the floor where Gabriel
dropped it earlier, and threw it at the dog. The fur-ball got up very
quickly, stepped aside, letting the remote control to land on the carpet
behind him, and sat down again, without shifting his gaze.

   "Son of a..." Desmond closed his eyes for a few seconds. "So much for
having the house to ourselves for a change... Let me kick him outside..."

   "No," Gabriel sighed and got up, pulling Desmond's arm. "He'll bark until
we let him back in; he hates being outside alone, you know that..."

   Yeah, Desmond knew that. A week ago or so, he let the dog outside and
closed the glass door. The damn dog barked until he started wheezing, and he
kept scratching the door with his paw.

   "Come on," Gabriel started walking towards the bedroom without letting go
of Desmond's arm.

   "Bloody hell..." Desmond grumbled, and followed him.

   "At least you can be as loud as you want," Rayhe said with a small smile,
and Desmond agreed with that reluctantly. He glanced behind his back and
frowned when he saw the dog follow them.

   "Don't even think about it!" he hissed before getting into the bedroom.

   The dog attempted to sneak past him, but Desmond shoved him aside with
his knee and slammed the door shut. Immediately after that, there was an
urgent whining sound from behind the door.

   "If you don't shut up," Desmond said very dangerously. "I will kill you!"

   He had no idea if the dog actually understood him, or if the intonation
of his voice did the trick, but the dog stopped whining immediately. That
was good enough for Desmond.

   "I bet you anything, the damn dog is staring at the door right now..." he
muttered, and Gabriel pushed him against the said door.

   "Let him," he breathed and loved the moan that escaped Desmond's throat
when he attacked his neck with his mouth. He nibbled on that sensitive spot
on Desmond's neck, and raised his head slightly. "Don't hold back..." he
muttered without a smile this time. "Let it out..."

   He didn't have to say that twice. Desmond *did *let it out, his throat
producing the sounds that sent a series of shuddering waves down Rayhe's
spine. It's been a while since Desmond let himself to be so unrestrictedly
loud. Sam was a very light sleeper, and Desmond would usually bite the
pillow or moan into Rayhe's palm every time the mood hit them – and that was
quite often. Gabriel loved every single sound that came out of Desmond's
mouth. He yanked the other man's pants down, and Desmond did the same, after
kicking his jeans off impatiently when they slid down to his ankles.

   Gabriel wrapped his arms around his mate, lifting him up and pressing his
back hard into the door. Desmond immediately locked his legs around Rayhe's
waist, latching onto his mouth once again.

   "God, I want you..." Gabriel moaned and the words rolled down Desmond's
throat in delicious swallow. "Now..."

   "Uh huh..." was Desmond's reply, and Rayhe pulled away from his mouth
just enough to be able to mutter:

   "I don't want to hurt you..."

   Desmond threw a quick glance downwards.

   "You are leaking like a broken faucet," he said in a low voice. "You
won't hurt me..."

   That was good enough for Gabriel, and he nodded, and locked his lips on
Desmond's once again, his hips shaking with raw need. He proved that his own
aim was as good as Desmond's, and the ex-assassin let out another incredible
moan that sent more shivers down Gabriel's spine when Rayhe started moving
slowly inside him, finding the right angle almost instantly.

   Desmond didn't know what it was – the fact that he finally could be as
loud as he wanted; the fact that he knew that the damn dog was watching the
door intently, and it turned him on even more for some twisted reason; or
maybe everything combined. He didn't know what it was, but the coiling heat
in the pit of his stomach started to grow unbelievably quickly. He has never
gotten this close to the edge so fast before. He tried to get himself under
control, tried to make this last longer, but his efforts were ridiculously
futile. He screamed out Rayhe's name when the impossibly powerful release
made him choke on his own voice.

   "Oh..." was all Rayhe said in a strained tone when Desmond's furious
climax got him completely by surprise. Just like Desmond a few minutes
earlier, Gabriel tried to get himself under control, but the feeling of
Desmond's body shuddering in unbelievably tight contractions around him, was
too much. He mumbled something incoherent and dug his fingers into Desmond's
skin harder than ever, knowing that he would probably cause several bruises.
Neither of them cared about that right now, however. Rayhe's insanely strong
spasms almost made him lose his balance, making his knees beyond weak. He
managed to keep himself standing upright, pushing Desmond's back even harder
into the door, gasping for air in short sobbing gulps.

   "Holy shit..." he muttered weakly a while later, when he could speak
again. "That was..."

   "Quick...?" Desmond offered in a shaky voice.

   "Well, that too..." Gabriel laughed somewhat.

   "Ugh... I don't know what happened..." Desmond dropped his head into
Gabriel's shoulder. "Sorry about that..." he coughed.

   "Sorry?!" Rayhe repeated incredulously. "Are you kidding me? That was
amazing... One of the best in my entire life..."

   "Mine too..." Desmond muttered into Gabriel's neck, and slowly unlocked
his legs and slid off the other man's waist.

   Rayhe kissed his mouth slowly, without pulling away for air, his fingers
buried in Desmond's hair. Finally, Desmond broke the kiss with a small
smile.

   "Let's clean up," he muttered. "Because if the damn dog shoves his nose
in my crotch, I will seriously maim him..."

   Gabriel laughed at that and headed towards the small bathroom.

   "I don't think Sam would appreciate that," he said and turned the faucets
on.

   "No, he wouldn't," Desmond sighed in agreement and let Rayhe to clean him
slowly without looking away from Gabriel's eyes.