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.
- XXII -
"There is a good chance it will work," the blond said thoughtfully after Desmond finished talking. He glanced at Raven. "We will start on it first thing in the morning because I am not letting you go anywhere until then."
Raven gave him a slow smile and muttered something Desmond failed to hear. He figured he didn't really want to know what it was after blond's eyes immediately became hungry. He watched Julian take his phone out again. The blond called for a cab, snapped the phone shut, and looked at Gabriel and Desmond.
"We'll be out of here in ten minutes, give or take," he said calmly. "How did you know she was lying?" he concentrated on Desmond.
"I sense lies," the black-haired man shrugged. "It doesn't matter how skillful of a liar the person is, I can always tell truth from lies."
"So *that's *your ability..." Julian said thoughtfully, and Desmond shrugged again.
"I suppose," he said.
"I see," the blond muttered, and then there was a shrill honk outside.
"That was quick," Desmond blinked at that, and Julian gave him a very small smile that said, `Does it really surprise you?'
"Goodbye," was all the blond said before heading outside, never letting go of Raven's hand.
"Thank you," Raven said quietly, pausing before leaving the house. "For everything..."
"Uh huh," Desmond nodded, and the dark-haired man gave both of them a quick smile, and walked outside, his fingers entwined with blond's. "Holy hell..." Desmond muttered after he walked to the door and locked it. "I keep thinking that I am on some very bizarre trip... Rayhe, you didn't lace ham with anything, did you?"
"No," Gabriel sighed. "I was about to ask you the same."
"Holy hell," Desmond repeated with feeling.
The trip to the hotel turned out to be shorter than Raven expected, but at the same time, it was excruciatingly long. The fact that the blond kept stroking his inner thigh the entire way there didn't help a slightest bit. By the time they finally made it to their room (checking-in took maybe five minutes at the most), Raven was literally shaking with lust. He didn't even bother waiting for Julian to lock the door; he growled something unintelligible and pushed the blond against the wall, tugging off his shirt and undoing his belt buckle.
Julian wrapped his arms around the smaller, shaking man so tightly that Raven had trouble breathing for several seconds. He didn't care though; air didn't seem too important right now. Salamander impatiently kicked away his pants when Raven pushed them down blond's hips, and lifted Raven up. A minute later, he threw the dark-haired thief on the bed, undressing him with envious speed.
"I went sex-free for almost two weeks..." he muttered, tossing away Raven's shirt. "I am going to fuck you into oblivion..."
"Ditto..." Raven breathed and lifted his hips while Julian pulled off his pants. "Granted, I was asleep most of the time..." he panted. "But it doesn't matter... God, Julian, forget that...!" he moaned when the blond started stretching him hastily. "Just fuck me already...!"
"Scream for me," Salamander placed a quick lick on Raven's neck, lifted smaller man's right leg up, and placed it on his shoulder. "By the way..." he added and pressed his palms into the bed on either side of Raven. "I want this to last for a hell of a long time; therefore, I am not going to let you come until I say so..."
"Bastard... Aaah...!" Raven squeezed his eyes shut and screamed out just as the blond wanted him to, when Julian entered him with one hard, quick push.
Salamander shut him up with his mouth and groaned in approval when Raven locked his teeth on his lip so hard that he could've easily bitten it off if he felt like it. He started rocking his hips slowly, but far from gentle, slamming into the writhing lean body underneath him with full force. It seemed that he didn't even have to search for the right angle, nailing Raven's sweet spot with the first violent stroke. He let go of Raven's mouth and propped himself up on his palms, watching the dark-haired man start biting his own lip frantically, his eyes squeezed shut, facial expression nothing but a delicious mix of pain and pleasure. Apparently, pleasure was winning, because Raven's arms flew up and he brought his hands onto blond's hips, pushing him even deeper inside.
Julian was only happy to oblige, burrowing himself to mind-splitting depth, abusing that one spot relentlessly. Raven' hips were mirroring Julian's movements, meeting those long, shattering strokes halfway, hungry for more.
"I want to hear you..." the blond panted when Raven tried to muffle himself by biting onto the sheets. "Scream for me..."
Raven opened his eyes and let go of the sheets, digging his fingernails into Julian's hips. He obliged and let his throat to be free, producing sounds that made the blond to quicken the pace somewhat. Raven lifted one arm and brought it onto the back of Julian's neck, forcing the other man to lower himself on top of him, and latching onto that bleeding mouth again with renewed vigor. He let out a surprised, screaming moan when the blond suddenly switched to short albeit equally hard strokes, making those maddening brilliant sparks to explode almost nonstop, turning Raven into a shuddering, writhing mess.
"Shit, Julian..." he panted, letting go of the abused lip for just a little. "Oh, God, don't stop...! Go..." his eyes rolled backwards and he dug his fingernails deeper into Salamander's hip. "Oh, hell...! Go faster...!"
A small, cruel smirk twisted Salamander's mouth and he obediently picked up speed. Raven wrapped his left leg around blond's waist, using him as a counterweight, lifting himself off the bed to meet that maddening tempo. He started muttering something, spitting some words in bizarre, unknown language, his lips trembling. He had serious doubts about this lasting for a hell of a long time, because right now, he didn't even need to be touched; he felt like he was about to explode into oblivion any second.
"Oh, no, you don't..." Julian muttered in a low, breaking voice, watching him like a hawk. The blond knew this look; he has seen it so many times before. Whenever Raven's eyes rolled back like this, and whenever his hips started trembling as if the dark-haired thief had mild electrical currents running through them, it only meant one thing – he was beyond close. Julian waited for several more seconds, and right when Raven started to sob blond's name out, he wrapped his hand around the shaking man's base thus making Raven's eyes to fly wide open.
"Fuck!" he screamed with burning frustration. "Oh, bloody hell...!"
"You are not coming until I say so," Salamander said in the same low, breaking voice.
"Damn you...!" Raven growled and pulled the blond closer, taking it out on his lip.
That was the punishment Julian more than welcomed, and he slowed down, suddenly switching to his original long, hard strokes. Raven groaned something into his bleeding mouth, something that Julian failed to understand, but the blond had a pretty good idea what it was, so he didn't bother clarifying.
...Raven had no idea how much time has passed, but it felt like an eternity. He couldn't stand anymore of this sweet, maddening torture – the blond meant it when he said he would fuck Raven into oblivion. The dark-haired man has been dancing on the very fine edge for God knows how long, and the damn blond kept him there mercilessly. Worse yet – once in a while, he would relax his grasp ever so slightly, making Raven to believe feverishly that now, finally, he would be able to dive off that edge headfirst, just so he could start swearing harshly when Julian would tighten his hand yet again.
"God...!" he screamed for probably a hundredth time when Salamander's hips started the insanely fast, slamming dance again, making him buck wildly, hoping to shake off that damn hand. He was pretty sure that his screams were heard throughout the entire floor of the hotel, and he could care less. "I can't...! Julian, goddammit, I can't...! I need to... Oh, my God..."
He pulled his right leg off Julian's shoulder and wrapped it around blond's waist, trapping Salamander in the tight, desperate circle.
"Julian, damn you...! Let go!"
The blond leaned closer and licked his neck quickly.
"Beg for it..." he murmured, and Raven tried staring at him, but it didn't work because his eyes immediately rolled backwards.
"Son of a bitch..." he growled. "You goddamn son of a bitch...! Let go..."
Julian didn't say anything; he just nipped at Raven's throat several times.
"Fuck...!" Raven screamed desperately. "Damn you... Let go, oh God... Please, let go... Shit, Julian, just let me... Oh, please let me... Fucking hell! Julian, please...! Julian, let me come already...! Please, let me come! Oh, God, please...!"
"Good enough..." the blond muttered, and suddenly, the grasp was gone, and then there was furious stroking instead.
It took maybe four strokes total for Raven to howl:
"Oh, my fucking God in burning hell...!" and then he choked on his own breath when his back flew off the mattress and he exploded violently and desperately, pulling the blond along almost immediately.
"Raven...!" Julian screamed out, getting lost in their combined, convulsing dance. "Oh, hell..." he almost sobbed when his hips kept spitting out pleasure relentlessly. "Oh, hell..."
Raven didn't even bother with the reply; partially, because his throat was too busy producing meowing howls, but also because he suddenly forgot all the words. He seriously thought that he was about to black out, but the spasms and convulsions gradually came to nothing but shuttering echoes, and he was able to draw a very shaky breath.
Julian mumbled something unintelligible, collapsed on top of Raven, and they lay in breathless silence for almost half an hour before being able to move again.
"Bastard..." Raven muttered very weakly, and the blond raised his head, his eyes still hazy.
"The wait was so worth it," he murmured and kissed Raven's mouth. "Admit it..." he purred against smaller man's lips, and Raven couldn't help but smile.
"It was..." he admitted. "Goddamn... I am going to be sore in the morning..."
"You are going to have a full day to heal," Julian said and sighed. "Hell, I hope it's going to work... Goddamn..." he squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds. "I can't believe I am actually using that bastard's plan...! Hell, I can't believe I was actually *talking *to him!"
"Speaking of Desmond..." Raven pushed Julian off him and rolled onto his side. "What is it with you two? How do you know each other?"
"Remember how I told you that I wasted the assassin who killed Vivienne?" the blond slowly ran his fingertip along Raven's collarbone, and the smaller man nodded silently. "Well," Julian sighed. "Apparently I didn't..."
"Desmond is that assassin?" Raven asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Salamander sighed again. "Goddamn Specter is the only one who managed to make a fool out of me... Well, him and Rayhe," he shrugged, and Raven just blinked at that.
"Specter?" he repeated slowly. "Are you serious...?"
"Very much so," Julian nodded with yet another sigh and reached for the room phone, which suddenly rang. "Yes," he said into the receiver. Then he nodded slightly. "Send him up," he said and hung up the phone. He got off the bed and pulled on his pants and shirt. He was halfway done with buttoning up the shirt, when there was a quick knock on the door.
Raven crawled underneath the blanket and yawned, lazily watching Salamander walk to the door.
"Thank you, Anthony," the blond said several seconds later and shut the door. He turned around and there was a small black bag in his hand.
He walked to the bed and turned that bag upside down. Both men silently looked at the dark-green, oval-shaped rock that fell onto the blankets.
"Are you seriously going to give it to her?" Raven asked finally.
"I was going to," Julian nodded. "Until Specter said that she was lying. If his plan doesn't work and if she dares to do *anything *to you..." His eyes grew darker. "All the powers in the bloody universe are not going to help her... However," he sighed and looked at Raven. "I am going to use this as bait; I am not giving it to her fully though," he gave Raven a small, dark smile. "No need for someone who is going to die rather soon to get hold of some mysterious powers, right?"
"How long are you going to keep her alive?" Raven asked with genuine interest, and Julian shoved the rock into the bag and slid under the blanket next to him after shedding the clothes that he put on less than ten minutes ago.
"For as long as you want," he purred, and Raven smiled at that.
"Just don't get bored," he said in a low voice, and the blond pulled him on top of himself.
"That is not going to happen," he said seriously, and Raven closed his eyes when Julian's tongue dove into his mouth.
Gabriel swore rather richly under his breath when the bloody doorbell rang yet again. He glanced at the clock, which read 1:55.
"Okay," he said in a low voice while letting go of Desmond's hair. "I'll be right back..."
"Uncuff me..." Desmond muttered. "Just in case," he nodded when he saw Gabriel's expression. He rolled his eyes. "You can cuff me again when you come back here, okay...? Now you actually have my consent..."
Rayhe let out a small sigh and ran his hand above the metal cuff rings. They immediately fell apart, and Desmond brought his arms down from the bedpost and rubbed his wrists with visible relief.
"That didn't hurt, did it?" Gabriel asked with audible worry.
"No," Desmond gave him a small smile. "Just happy about the circulation, that's all... Rayhe," he sighed. "Believe me when I say it, you are not going to make me do something I don't want, okay?"
Gabriel let out a small smile and placed a long kiss on Desmond's mouth.
"Okay..." he muttered, and Desmond slightly shoved him aside.
"Hurry up," he said in a low voice. "Kill whoever keeps ringing the goddamn doorbell, and come back here..."
Gabriel kissed him again.
"Okay..." he muttered again and got off the bed.
He pulled on his pants without even remembering about his shirt. The only thing he remembered was, "Now you actually have my consent..."
He tricked Desmond into wearing those cuffs. He grinned to himself, remembering those strawberries, which made the green-eyed man to forget about his wrists for just long enough for Gabriel to snap the handcuffs onto them.
"What the hell...?" he said incredulously when Gabriel successfully handcuffed him to the bedpost. "Rayhe...!"
Gabriel kissed him right then, and gave him a slow smile.
"I want you to be unable to help yourself in any way when I am working you..." he said in a low voice, and Desmond's eyes narrowed thoughtfully at that.
Then, sometime after that, Desmond didn't seem to mind the cuffs a single bit. Gabriel sighed and walked up to the door, wincing slightly when the doorbell shrieked again – this time longer.
"This is better be important..." he muttered and unlocked the door just to be shoved aside when a tall, light-browned haired man burst into the house.
"What..." Gabriel started saying with astonishment when the man interrupted him with a growling:
"Where is he?"
Gabriel didn't need to ask the inevitable `who?' to know what the man was talking about.
"Blair..." he said, and the man whirled towards him.
"Where is he?" he said again, his eyes getting lighter by the second.
"Ah, shit..." Gabriel muttered. "Desmond!" he called loudly.
"Gabriel, I don't know why in the world you, out of all people, would have him in this house, but frankly, I don't give a flying shit!" the man was raging meanwhile. "Where is he?"
"Hey, Blair..." Desmond said calmly as if scenes like this one were mere routine by now. "What's up?"
Blair turned towards him, his eyes almost yellow.
"One last time..." he said somewhat quietly. "Where is that son of a bitch?"
Desmond walked closer and glanced behind the pissed off man's shoulder. Then he blinked with slight surprise.
"Right there..." he muttered with confused frown, and Blair whirled around.
The minute he did that, Desmond's hand shot forward and his fingers collided with the side of the other man's neck. Blair jerked at that, and then collapsed onto the floor without making a single sound. Desmond sighed.
"Uh huh," Gabriel nodded solemnly, looking at the unconscious man. "This is going to make everything even better..."
"Goddammit," Desmond muttered and sighed again. "Rayhe, go get the handcuffs..."
"Are you nuts?" Gabriel stared at him without blinking. "You are going to cuff him? Des, are you out of your..."
"...and call Daniel," Desmond finished calmly, and this time, Gabriel was mute.
"Okay," he said slowly after a minute or two. "Who are you and what have you done to Desmond?"
Desmond rolled his eyes impatiently.
"He is the only one who can keep this fire-guy here from setting the entire house ablaze," he said shortly. "Now go get the damn handcuffs!"
"Bloody hell," Gabriel said desperately and went away.
By the time he came back, Desmond managed to relocate unconscious Blair onto the couch, and was standing next to it, panting slightly, his arms propped on his hips.
"He is rather heavy," he nodded when he took the handcuffs from Gabriel. "Not as heavy as you though..." he added while twisting Blair's arms behind his back and swiftly snapping handcuffs around man's unresponsive wrists.
Gabriel didn't say anything to that; he took his phone from the coffee table and punched in the number while muttering something under his breath.
"Daniel," he said a minute later. "This is Gabriel. I know that it is rather late... Or very early, right..." he hemmed. "Look, I need you to get here as soon as you can... Umm, it's Blair... Umm..." Gabriel glanced at the unconscious man. "Not at the moment," he said carefully. "There is a slight possibility of violence when he wakes up though... You could say that," he said as carefully and looked at Desmond briefly. "Okay, see you soon..."
He shut the phone and sighed heavily.
"How long is he going to be out?" he asked gloomily, and Desmond shrugged.
"It varies," he said casually. "Sometimes people come about in ten minutes, sometimes in half an hour..."
"If he wakes up before Daniel gets here..."
"I'll just knock him out again," Desmond nodded, and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut for a second or two.
"Goddammit...!" he said with feeling.
...It was fifteen minutes later, and Gabriel was gloomily sucking on a cigarette, watching Blair like a hawk. Suddenly, the unconscious man shifted slightly and let out a small groan.
"Ah, crap..." Gabriel said desperately when Desmond's attention immediately jumped up to the highest degree. Then there was slight knocking on the door. "Oh, thank God...!" Gabriel breathed with enormous relief and stabbed his cigarette in the ashtray.
He quickly walked to the door and swung it open.
"Oh, thank God," he repeated and stepped aside to let the brown-haired man to walk inside the house. "Thank you for coming, Daniel."
"You are welcome," the man said mildly and looked on the couch. "You knocked him out," he said without even trying to make it sound like a question and threw a quick glance at Desmond.
Desmond shrugged and leaned on the wall.
"His eyes were yellow," he nodded. "And call me crazy, but I like this house; really didn't want it to burn."
"I see," Daniel looked at Blair again. "What happened?" here he glanced at Desmond again, his expression clearly reading, `What the hell did you two fight about now?'
"He found out that Julian is in town," Gabriel said quickly, and Daniel turned around, very much puzzled by now.
"Julian?" he said slowly. "As in Salamander...? What does he have to do with anything?" he blinked after Gabriel's confirming nod.
"He was here," Gabriel sighed. "In our house, when Sam came over... Now..." he coughed. "Sam and Julian have..." he hesitated. "History," he finally nodded slowly. "A very long and very ugly history... Sam was shocked to see him here... To say the least," he added thoughtfully.
"I see..." Daniel said slowly. "Why was Salamander here in the first place?"
"Because he came for Raven," Gabriel sighed again. "Raven is the guy Desmond helped out on Sunday," he explained when Daniel gave him a silent question. "Brought him home, healed him somewhat... Well, this morning Raven called his mate... Julian is his mate," he finished with a firm nod.
"Holy hell..." Daniel blinked. "He has a mate...?"
"Yeah," Desmond said somewhat quickly. "Was as shocked as you are right now, but the fire-guy is about to wake up, so..."
Daniel blinked again, somewhat quicker this time, and turned towards the couch again. Blair stirred slightly and groaned louder without opening his eyes.
"Is he still in the city?" Daniel asked without looking away from the unconscious man.
"As far as I know, yes," Desmond nodded.
"If you know where he is staying, you might want to tell him to get the hell out," Daniel said calmly. "I am not going to keep him chained up somewhere until Salamander leaves..."
"By all means, don't," Desmond said seriously. "If he finds that son of a bitch and burns him into crisp, I'll send him a Thank-You card!"
Daniel hemmed with a shadow of a smile.
"You wouldn't be the only one," he said mildly. "However, Julian..." he sighed and looked at Desmond briefly. "He is not easy to dispose of, and as much as I hate saying it, Blair is not someone who could easily succeed at that task. Especially not in his current state of mind. Hatred is an emotion, which weakens him because he is not in control of himself, therefore, things would get ugly for both sides," he glanced at Blair. "If you know where he is, tell him to get the hell out," he said quickly after seeing that Blair was about to wake up. "Consider it a favor," he added with a slight nod.
"Well, shit," Desmond thought gloomily.
Blair let out another loud, pissed off groan, and finally, opened his eyes.
"What the..." he growled and tried turning around. That made him realize that his arms were twisted behind his back and both hands were handcuffed. "Uncuff me right this goddamn second!" he barked, turning his head and glaring at Desmond. "I swear to God, I am going to..."
"Blair," Daniel said calmly, and the restrained man blinked rather rapidly, his eyes becoming less yellow to Gabriel's relief.
"Daniel?" he said incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
"I called him," Gabriel nodded.
"Why...? Oh, never mind!" Blair shook his head impatiently. "Uncuff me...!"
"Blair," Daniel said again, with more warning this time.
"I won't do anything," Blair gritted his teeth and shot a hateful look at Desmond. "Uncuff me!"
Gabriel looked at Daniel, and after a slight, confirming nod, he sighed, and ran his hand above the cuffs. Daniel hemmed with slight amusement when he saw the cuffs slide off Blair's wrists.
"Sorry about that," Gabriel said mildly. "It's just you were..." He coughed. "Upset, and it didn't seem that you would listen, so..."
"Was he here when you knocked me out?" Blair interrupted him in the eerily quiet voice.
"No," Gabriel answered immediately. "He left a little after four in the afternoon."
"Where is he?"
"Blair, let's go," Daniel didn't let Gabriel to answer that question.
"Where is he?" Blair completely ignored him. "Once again, I am not going to ask what the hell he was doing here, because I don't care! But I am going to..."
"Blair, let's go," Daniel repeated with more steel in his voice.
Blair narrowed his eyes, staring at Gabriel without blinking.
"Do you have any idea what he did to him?" he asked quietly, and Gabriel didn't need to ask what he was talking about.
"I do," he said without looking away. "Listen, I had no idea he would even be here...! The reason he..."
"No, you don't," Blair interrupted him in the same quiet voice and got up. He looked at Desmond. "Try knocking me out again and I will hurt you," he said. "Let's go," he looked at Daniel.
The brown-haired man nodded and let him go first. Right before he left the house, he looked at Desmond, as if making sure he would do as asked. Desmond gritted his teeth and nodded stiffly. That seemed to be good enough for Daniel and he left, closing the door behind him.
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