Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; all the resemblances are just eerie coincidences. Everything in the story is owned by myself beloved, everything is copyrighted. Contains descriptive sexual scenes between males - don't read it if you shouldn't.
Note: This is a 3rd installment in the semi-series. The first story is Specter's Gamble </nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/specters-gamble/> and the second one is The Year of the Salamander </nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/year-of-the-salamander/>
I would recommend reading those first (at least Specter's Gamble) otherwise, some scenes and characters are not going to make much sense, since you wouldn't be familiar with the background and I didn't describe much of the previous events in this story. Other than that, enjoy! Feel free to e-mail me.
- XV -
"I didn't know if she knew about you and magic," Raven said ten minutes after Julian started driving. "Therefore, I didn't say anything... Can you get us back via spell instead of driving?"
Julian threw him a quick look and smiled his usual way, as if appreciating the fact that Raven kept his mouth shut.
"No," he said with audible regret. "I am not *that *good, unfortunately."
"I see," Raven sighed and leaned on the back of the seat. He lit a cigarette and handed it to Julian. The blond took it with yet another small smile. "How long will it take us to get back?" Raven asked. "I mean, you have to be at work tomorrow, and..." he shrugged without finishing the sentence, knowing that the blond would know the end of it anyway. He was right.
"A couple of hours," Julian said with regret. "I will stay awake for as long as you want me to though," he nodded. "I don't care much about sleep. I mean, it's certainly nice, but it is not my main priority," he nodded without taking his eyes off the road.
Raven looked at the car clock; it read 5:30.
"Just pull over somewhere," he said in a low voice, causing the blond to smile yet again. "I want you to be able to function tomorrow morning... I don't want you to go broke for real," he added, and Julian let out short laughter.
...They got back home a little after eleven, due to the fact that Julian had to pull over at least three times; one time after Raven told him to, the second time because he felt like it, and the third time, because of both of them. The second time was rather amusing. They just started to get into it, and Raven was halfway through removing blond's shirt with his teeth, when there was sharp knocking on the window of the car. Julian let out an exasperated sigh, and rolled the window down.
"What?" he asked impatiently after seeing some guy in militia uniform.
"Your license, please," the guy said with restrained intonation in his voice.
Julian rolled his eyes and handed him his driver's license. After less than a minute (as long as it took that guy to triple-read the name), the trooper started blinking very furiously, as if he was trying to get rid of something painful in his eye.
"I apologize," he said too quickly to sound not scared. "I apologize," he repeated with a furious nod. "Drive safely, master Salamander..." and then he was gone from their view as if someone pushed some sort of a magic button.
Julian closed the window, and it took them at least an hour to get back onto the road; maybe more than that, Raven wasn't sure. When they finally got back home, the car clock read 11:17.
Julian let out a string of unintelligible obscenities, and the only thing Raven gathered from it was the fact that the blond didn't have his house keys on him, thanks to Celeste. Raven just laughed when Julian rang the bell for no apparent reason.
"When I am around," he said in somewhat composed voice. "You don't need keys, you should know that by now... Why are you ringing the bell anyway? There is nobody in the house," he added, and the blond blinked with self-frustration.
Raven reached for the doorknob when, suddenly, the door swung open.
"Tobias..." Julian said slowly with a small frown. "What are you doing here? It is rather late..."
Tobias was Salamander's new butler; Julian hired him a little bit longer than a month ago. He was in his early thirties, had light-brown hair that started to recede on his temples, matching eyes, and he was very professional. Julian's surprise at seeing him right now was easily understood – usually, every single member of the staff would leave at six in the evening.
"I was waiting for you, master Salamander," the butler said with a slight bow of the head. "I realized that you weren't home, and I could not remember you leaving; therefore, I checked the garage, and saw that both of your cars were in there. I took the liberty of waiting for you, just to make sure that everything is all right. I apologize if that displeases you."
"I see," Julian said thoughtfully. "Everything is fine, you may leave now."
"Yes, master Salamander," Tobias bowed his head once more, turned around to grab his keys, and walked outside, bowing to Raven before he left.
"Do you think he was lying?" Raven asked when the butler disappeared in the night. Julian's expression was still quite thoughtful.
"I don't know," the blond answered slowly. "Probably not... It's just unusual to see such concern."
"Yes," Raven said in a low voice. "It is unusual, especially when the concern is about you, and it comes from someone other than me..."
Julian smiled at that in his usual way and closed the door after they walked inside the house. Raven headed straight to the bedroom, concentrating on sleep, since he was rather tired for several reasons; and Julian disappeared in one of the rooms for several minutes. He walked into the bedroom when Raven was about to get under the covers. The dark-haired man froze in his spot and narrowed his eyes when he saw a slim, curved black dagger in blond's hand.
"You are not serious," Raven said slowly. "It's eleven-thirty at night, and you have to get up at six-thirty..."
"I will be fine," the blond murmured and handed the dagger to Raven.
Raven sighed in defeat even though he could feel those exhilarating sparks start running through him – he loved using blades on Julian, and the blond was perfectly aware of that. The thief didn't care much about whips, cuffs of any sort, or electrocuting (even though he would do it if the blond was in the mood for any of that), but when it came to blades, he would become insatiable.
He took the dagger and looked at Julian through his eyelashes, tiny cruel smile tickling his mouth.
"Strip," he ordered quietly, and the blond obliged.
Neither one of them noticed a small black microphone hiding on the side of the curtain rod.
A couple of weeks later, Julian informed Raven that he wouldn't be home until at least eleven in the evening this upcoming Wednesday.
"There is a company thing I need to take care of," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "If you are interested, I can explain it in more details."
"That's quite all right," Raven nodded. "I am not interested."
Julian hemmed at that and said nothing. He knew that Raven could care less about his business ordeals and it was fine with him; he never craved brunet's attention to his work.
"How's the rock doing?" Raven asked lazily without getting out of bed.
"Still there," Julian shrugged and buttoned up his shirt.
"You never researched it, did you?" Raven yawned with gusto.
"No," the blond admitted. "To be honest, I believe it would be a waste of time. Even if it is some sort of an artifact, it doesn't matter right now, since it's locked away. That and your friend never contacted you about it again, did she?"
"No," Raven frowned. "In fact, she hasn't contacted me ever since I moved in with you... I might call her today," he nodded and yawned again.
"Miss your rush?" Julian looked at him seriously while his fingers quickly buckled his pants.
"Yes," Raven said honestly.
"Well," the blond left his belt buckle alone, since it was fine now. "If she offers you another job, run a research on the client first, will you? Or tell me, and I will do that," he nodded slightly.
"All right," Raven said with a small smile. "Hey, this Friday is the second Friday of the month..."
"Yes," now Julian smiled as well. "I remember."
"Have fun at work," Raven nodded with satisfaction, noting that the blond looked as impeccable as ever even though he only got three hours of sleep last night, and was ridden hard to say the least.
"I will," Julian nodded. "Sweet dreams, Raven..."
Raven grinned at that and buried his face in the pillow.
...Wednesday evening, around 7:30 or so, Raven tried calling Magda again. He's been trying to reach her since Monday, and he would only get her voicemail.
"Hi!" Magda's voice said with gloomy brightness, and Raven cursed softly; it was the damn voicemail again. "I am obviously not answering, so..."
Raven sighed and snapped his phone shut. "What's up with her?" he thought with tight frown. "All of a sudden, she just disappeared... Wonder if she's all right..." He decided to run to her bank tomorrow morning and see if she has been coming to work lately. He threw his phone on the bed, and was thinking whether he felt like running to the store to get more cigarettes, when there was gentle knocking on the door.
"Yeah!" he called loudly, wondering if Julian would be able to get back earlier tonight than he thought. The blond said this morning that he would try his damn best, and Raven knew that he would. Then he glanced at the clock and frowned, wondering who was knocking at the door at this hour.
The door opened just slightly, and there was the butler, his expression worried.
"Master Delamorte...?" he said, and Raven blinked at that. He was still getting used to hearing his last name instead of his first from other people. However, if you live with Julian, you do not tell the staff to call you simply `Raven' for various reasons.
"What is it, Tobias?" he asked with a tight frown. The butler sure looked uneasy. "And what are you doing here this late?"
"Master Delamorte," Tobias said again and nervously glanced behind him. "There is a young woman downstairs, and she is asking for you..." He stuttered slightly. "Was... asking for you," he nodded. "She is injured, and she is unconscious right now... Right before she lost consciousness, however, she asked for you..."
Raven frowned even deeper. A young woman? The only young woman who would ask for him would be Magda, but how in the bloody hell did she even know where to look for him...? Finally, he shook his head slightly.
"When did she get here?" he asked, walking towards the butler.
"Ten minutes ago, master," Tobias said quickly, stepping aside to let Raven through.
Raven walked past him and was on his way towards the living room, when suddenly, there was a very unpleasant, sharp prick on his neck. He swirled around, trying to grab hold of invisibility rather automatically, without even trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but then everything around him flashed in violent black-and-white, and then the world ceased to exist.
..."Where is your car?" Tobias propped his arms on his sides.
"Parked in the back," the woman said, studying Raven's unconscious face. "Give me the syringe..." she stretched out her hand without looking at the butler.
He obliged without asking any question. The woman took a quick breath and pierced her skin with the needle, wincing slightly at the sensation. She drew some of her blood into the syringe, biting her lip silently, and when she had enough, she pulled the needle out, and drew another quick breath.
"Get me his vein," she ordered shortly, and Tobias obliged once again, in complete silence.
It took him several minutes to find a vein in Raven's slender arm finally, and when he did, he looked up at the woman and gave her a sharp, curt nod. The woman narrowed her eyes slightly, and leaned towards the unconscious brunet, still biting her lip in hard concentration.
"Are you sure it's going to work?" Tobias asked tightly while watching her sink that needle into Raven's arm. "I mean, even with the fact that he is the main priority aside, that psycho was attuned as well..."
"It will work," she said slowly and emptied the syringe filled with her blood into Raven's vein. Then she repeated the whole ordeal several more times. Finally, she let out a small hiss and handed the empty by now syringe to the butler.
Tobias took it without saying anything, shoved it into his pocket, careful not to prick himself, and stood up.
"I don't know how much blood he drank from that son of a bitch," the woman said thoughtfully. "However, I am positive that my blood is going to be a hell of a lot more dominant than his..." she threw a quick look at Tobias. "Get him into my car," she ordered shortly, and the butler nodded, wrapping his arms around Raven's limp frame.
"How long will it take...?" he asked while carrying Raven towards the back door of the kitchen.
"A week at the most," the woman replied. "Once my blood gets into his system, it's only a question of time when the mirror is going to let me in... I'll kill him after the ritual," she nodded when she saw a small frown on Tobias' forehead. "You will need to come back here until I call you," she said firmly, and Tobias let out a small sigh.
"I know," he said while the woman opened the door. "It's fine, however... I am just glad this part is over with..." He grimaced. "If I had to listen to their fucking one more time, I swear to God..."
"Oh, please...!" the woman snorted and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket. "You were getting off on that, and you know it!"
"At first...?" Tobias grinned. "Hell, yeah...! Lately though..." he shrugged and lowered the unconscious man into the back seat of the car. "...it was making me sick... Seriously, they fucked every goddamn night...! And every night would be different," he nodded.
"You recorded the whole thing, didn't you?" the woman asked in a low voice. "You are going to use it whenever you jerk off, since I doubt you would find anyone who would fuck you willingly..."
The butler gritted his teeth at that.
"I have good memory," he said tightly, and the woman let out very short laughter. "Believe me, however," he nodded. "These two are into stuff that turns me off, and not on, okay?"
"What were they doing?" the woman seemed to be genuinely interested, and Tobias just shook his head tiredly.
"You don't wanna know..." he muttered. "Or rather, I don't want to recall it," he said after seeing woman's almost hungry expression. "However..." he stared at Raven's unconscious body thoughtfully. "That psycho would never do anything to him if he didn't agree to it..." He glanced at the woman. "Whenever it came to pain, he..." Tobias nodded at Raven. "...would be the one to inflict it, and not the other way around... I don't think that son of a bitch even tried that..." he added thoughtfully, and the woman shrugged somewhat impatiently.
"Great story," she said quickly. "Psychotic son of a bitch actually falls for someone... I should write a script about it, really... If I do it right, I will be famous for years...! However," she hemmed. "If I succeed..." she closed her eyes briefly. "I won't need a stupid script," she finished with a small nod, and opened her eyes.
"Hurry up," the butler said tightly. "I don't have a slightest desire to be here again when that fucking blond comes back..." He nervously glanced around. "I almost crapped my pants two weeks ago," he nodded quickly. "I am about to leave, and then there is a fucking doorbell-ring... Talk about fright...!"
"Right," the woman nodded and looked at her car keys. "Well, good night, Tobias... I will call you when I am sure my blood is dominant, okay...?"
"Right..." the butler gave her another stiff nod. "Night, Magdalena..."
He watched the woman sliding into the driver's seat and shoving her keys into ignition. He threw a last look at unconscious Raven.
"Serves you right," he thought darkly. "Whoever who is willing to do whatever you were doing to that bastard, deserves to rot in hell... And you were more than willing, all right..."
He watched the car disappear in the night, and then he quickly went inside, took his keys, and left the house without leaving any traces of the fact that he was even here. When he stopped on the Stop sign, which led into one of the main roads, he became cold when he saw a hatefully familiar car waiting patiently across the street from him.
"Shit...!" he thought desperately. "If he ever paid any attention to what I am driving..."
That didn't seem to be the case, however; blond's vehicle crossed the street without as much as pausing by Tobias' car, and the man let out a very shaky breath, reminding to himself once again to show up for work tomorrow morning. ****
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