Debts - 2. Chapter 2

- II -

So it was, in fact, possible to rob the psychotic blond, he mused later that evening while going through the man’s wallet. There was nothing of interest in there – several rather large bills (which he would definitely use), a few credit cards (which he would dispose of), a couple of business cards, and a driver’s license. Raven looked at the license.

“So he is thirty-six,” he muttered after looking at the birth date, thinking that Salamander was only two years older than Raven himself. “Benedictus...” he hemmed at the blond’s middle name. “Figured that someone like him would have a snot-up-the-ass name...”

Finally, he shoved the wallet into one of the drawers and slammed it shut. Since part one went so unbelievably smoothly, it was time for part two. Now, part two would be trickier. A lot trickier, he frowned slightly. He decided to get into the blond’s house this time and scout around a bit. Hell, if he is lucky, he’ll just get that damn rock right then and there. He knew that Salamander lived alone; he didn’t have any pets; and every single member of his impressive staff (servants, house-cleaners, cooks) would leave at six in the evening every night.

From what Raven could tell so far, Julian didn’t have any alarms on the house, as if the mere idea of someone breaking into his home was beyond ridiculous.

“It is beyond ridiculous,” his inner voice said tiredly. “Raven, just because you managed to get his wallet in the middle of a busy street, doesn’t mean you can break into his goddamn house! Or should, for that matter!”

He shrugged to himself. He is going to do a test-run tomorrow and see how it would play out. If everything went smoothly (he was sure it would), he would get inside the place on Friday night. He remembered the blond leaving the house last Friday night around eight in the evening; the man didn’t come back until five in the morning on Saturday. Raven hoped it would be the same deal this Friday as well. His inner voice heatedly called him several unkind names, and Raven simply shut it off, even though he was agreeing with it wholeheartedly.

****

On Wednesday evening, Raven was watching the big house, while absent-mindedly lapping at another self-inflicted cut. He never enjoyed pain; therefore, the initial cut would always make him wince. He loved the taste of blood, however. He would lap at his wounds until they would become dry and nothing would come out. He had this bizarre fetish for as long as he could remember. Once, when he was six, he sliced his finger open with a kitchen knife. His first (natural) reaction was to start screaming bloody murder, since it hurt rather badly. Then he looked at the flowing blood, and suddenly, he was mesmerized. For the next forty-five minutes, he was sucking on his finger, shaking with some weird hunger, the taste of blood making him lightheaded. Then his Aunt came into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.

“What the hell did you do?” she asked with a tight frown after seeing the spotted with blood knife. “Holy hell, Raven...! What did you do?”

“Nothing,” he mumbled around his finger, still hungry for that divine taste. “The knife slipped.”

“It slipped onto what?” she demanded sharply, looking around wildly, as if expecting to see someone’s mutilated body. “Where is Rufus?” she said in a suddenly shrieking tone. “Goddammit, Raven! Where is Rufus?!”

Rufus was her beloved cat – Raven hated that thing. All claws, and teeth, and extremely bad temper.

“I dunno,” he shrugged, his finger still in his mouth.

“What did you do to Rufus...?” she almost screamed, and Raven pulled his head into his shoulders.

His Aunt’s temper matched Rufus’ to a t. She almost smacked him right then, but that was the moment when Rufus decided to let his mistress know that he was hungry and quite upset about the fact.

“Rufus...!” she squealed with enormous relief and picked up the cat, whose yellow eyes stared at Raven without blinking. “Clean this up,” she commanded shortly, after throwing a quick glance at Raven. “Next time the knife slips, don’t leave it like this, you understand?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, and finally, pulled his finger out of his mouth. It looked fine.

...He grimaced at the memory of the damn cat, and suddenly, straightened up, without lowering his still bleeding wrist. The garage slowly opened, and Salamander’s car pulled out into the street. Raven glanced at his watch. 7:30. He thoughtfully frowned, wondering how much time he had before the blond came back. It was Wednesday night, so he didn’t think that Julian would be gone too long. He would have to be at one of his offices at eight tomorrow morning, and from what Raven could tell, the blond would get at least five hours of sleep every night. That left him with at least an hour; maybe more, he wasn’t sure. He waited until the car was gone out of sight, waited for ten more minutes, just to be safe, and then quickly walked towards the house without even bothering to glance around and see if anyone noticed him or not. That would never happen – people don’t notice things they can’t see, and right now, Raven was nothing but heartbeat and breath. His ability was perfect for someone who would choose his profession. Invisible thief – what could be better?

It took him five minutes at the most to get into the house, and he couldn’t believe how easy it was. “This is unreal,” he thought with a grin, throwing off the invisibility, since there was nobody in the house at the moment. “Holy hell, this is bloody unreal...! And I thought it would be hard...!”

He decided to get familiar with the house tonight, so he wouldn’t have to worry about the floor plan on Friday night. The place was big, so Raven knew that there was a good chance for him to waste precious time while trying to figure out which room contained what.

He spent good forty minutes, walking all over the house, looking in different rooms and closets, and imprinting everything into his memory. The blond sure had good taste, he thought appreciatively while checking out the library. “Holy shit!” he thought when he saw the paintings on the walls of the library. “One that painting costs more than the entire bloody Plaza!” He was gawking at the paintings, when suddenly, there was a sound of an engine outside. Raven froze, listening very intently. Sure enough, a minute later, there was a sound of the garage door opening.

“Goddammit!” Raven hissed and turned off the lights in the library, immediately wrapping himself into the shroud of nonexistence. “Shit, shit...!”

He carefully walked to the door of the library when he heard footsteps. He took several quick, panicky steps backwards, and froze again when the door swung open, and there he was – Julian Salamander, switching on the lights. Raven stopped breathing, praying to whoever came to his mind right now for the blond not to hear his frantic heartbeat. Julian seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t alone in the house, however. He threw his keys onto the small mahogany table and walked towards one of the bookcases. He stood in front of it for several excruciatingly long minutes, frowning thoughtfully at the volumes. Raven could’ve sworn that the sound of his heartbeat was insanely loud right now, but Salamander didn’t even look around; he simply stared at the books. Finally, he muttered something under his breath, grabbed one of the volumes, and walked out of the library without shutting the door behind him.

Raven let out a very soft and extremely shaky breath, trying to get his shaking hands under control. Finally, he risked tiptoeing out of the library, his steps absolutely silent, every single nerve in his body on high alert. The hallway was empty. He glanced around quickly, trying to figure out where was the blond. He saw a narrow strip of light emerging from underneath the door that led to the study. The light wasn’t there before. “Okay,” Raven nodded to himself. “Okay, he is in there, reading his bloody book. Get out now!”

He silently slid towards the kitchen, figuring that it would be safer for him to leave through the back kitchen door rather than trying to use the front door or one of the windows. He was very close to the kitchen when there were quick footsteps right behind him. He didn’t have any time to dash aside or even take a single sideways step. He froze in his spot, almost positive that he was beyond screwed right now, because invisible or not, he was still very corporeal, and if Salamander ran into him, then there would be one invisible thief less in this world. Not right now, of course, he was sure of that. He would probably expire in a couple of days or so... Maybe even a week.

The only reason Julian didn’t slam into him was the fact that the hallway was quite wide; that, and apparently, luck was still on Raven’s side. Julian walked so close to him that Raven could smell his cologne. He watched the blond disappear in the kitchen, and considered going back, but then he changed his mind and pressed his back hard into the wall instead. He had no idea how long Julian would stay in the kitchen, and he didn’t have a slightest desire to test his luck again. He was positive, however, that the blond would not walk this close to the wall, so he waited. Julian spent maybe ten minutes in the kitchen at the most, but to Raven it felt like ten hours. Finally, the blond came out of the kitchen with a tall glass in his hand, and walked back towards the study. Raven stood by that wall for the next several minutes. Partially, because he wanted to make sure that Julian didn't realize that he needed something else in the kitchen, but also because his knees were shaking so badly right now, that he would probably trip on his own feet and fall facedown onto the floor if he tried walking.

Finally, when he was sure he could walk, he silently went into the kitchen and headed towards the back door. He almost made it outside when his gaze fell upon a bottle on the kitchen counter. He paused and looked at the bottle closer. “Holy hell,” he thought and glanced behind him. It was a bottle of the old Laperone cognac. Raven knew his booze, and he was perfectly aware of the fact that Laperone was an extremely good brand; extremely good, and even more so expensive. He looked at the year when it was made, and almost moaned. The damn thing was almost seventy years old.

He glanced behind him once again. Finally, he shrugged, grabbed the bottle, and left that house for good, making sure he kept himself invisible until he got all the way to his apartment.

****

The entire Friday, Raven felt like he was about to have the worst dentist appointment of his life. At the same time, however, he felt so exhilarated and high that it reminded him of good old days he used to experiment with some of the drugs that were supposed to be highly addictive the minute you tried them. In Raven’s case, it wasn’t true; he couldn’t speak for anyone else, but when it came to addictions, he was immune, or so it seemed. The only thing he would keep coming back to was his blood-drinking habit. His own blood, that is. He tried doing it on several of his partners, but they would inevitably freak out, so finally, he gave up and decided to stick to his own blood. He knew that someone else’s life-force (that what blood was – it was a life-force!) felt and tasted a hell of a lot better than his own, but it seemed that for some strange reason, people didn’t get excited at the idea of someone sucking their blood. Not even when Raven would do his best at reducing the pain – people freaked out. That was the end of story. Try drinking (sucking, whatever) someone’s blood, and they will never call you again. Better yet – they will pretend they don’t even know you if you happen to run into each other nose to nose in the street.

Therefore, Raven decided to stick to his own (“life-force”) blood several years ago. Cuts hurt, yeah, sure, but the payback was very well worth it. He had no idea how many times he sliced his wrist today. He looked at it and sighed. The inside of his left wrist was crisscrossed with tiny white scars. Even his fast healing didn’t help; he would cut himself so often that the cuts never had enough time to heal and disappear completely. He shrugged and slid on his leather wristband, hiding the scars underneath it. He would always wear this wristband; he didn’t want someone to see his wrist and to think that he was a walking and talking failed suicide attempt. He glanced at the clock. 7:30. Okay, he thought and took a deep breath. Here goes...

...The blond didn’t leave the house until almost 8:30 in the evening, and Raven started slightly panicking, wondering if Julian decided to stay home tonight. Right when he started swearing softly, the garage door smoothly slid up, and the very familiar by now car pulled out into the street.

“Finally...” Raven muttered with relief and left his wrist alone.

He waited for ten minutes, just like he did on Wednesday night, and then he crossed the street and got inside the house. Tonight, it took him less than two minutes to unlock the door. “All right,” he thought while making his way deeper into the house. “A rock... A green fucking rock... Hell, I still don’t believe that someone would pay that much money for a rock...!” Finally, he shrugged to himself. People had strange obsessions, and as long as he got paid, he couldn't care less. He remembered what Magda told him about the rock. “It’s green,” she said with a thoughtful frown. “Like, deep-green, you know...? And it’s about this big...” she spread her hands ten inches apart. “It’s oval-shaped... They said it’s like a perfect oval,” she frowned again. “Umm, yeah,” she nodded. “That pretty much covers it.”

Deep-green, oval-shaped, ten inches long bloody rock. Raven paused in the doorway of the library, frowning thoughtfully. It wasn’t in here, he knew that. He quickly scanned the library with his eyes, just to make sure, and then went into the study. He spent almost half an hour in there and found nothing. He glanced at the clock.

“Goddammit...!” he muttered with irritation. It was already after nine o’clock. The house was big, huge even, and looking for a ten-inch-sized rock in here was pretty much the same ordeal as looking for that infamous needle in a haystack. The damn rock could be anywhere. It would fit into any drawer, shelf, or cabinet. It could even be outside in the back yard for all he knew – it was a rock after all... He thought about the mahogany table in the library, and remembered that it had two drawers. He tutted with great annoyance when he realized that he never looked in those drawers.

The study was rock-free, that was definite. Raven sighed, turned off the lights, and quickly walked back to the library. The drawers contained several old coins, a couple of city maps, a small stack of envelopes, and that was it.

“Goddammit,” Raven said again and slammed the drawer shut.

He thought for a minute and went into the office. He flipped on the lights and looked around. The office was as impressive as the rest of the house. Raven couldn’t help but admire the blond’s taste once again. Everything in the house was ridiculously expensive, but not a single thing seemed obnoxious or out of place. Everything fit together, down to the last hand towel in each bathroom. Raven cursed quietly when he realized that he would have to check the bathrooms as well. There were six of them.

He was looking on the shelves of the bookcase, checking behind thick volumes and CD cases, when he heard a very familiar sound of the engine outside. He blinked and looked at the clock.

“What the...” he muttered in disbelief. It was only 9:45 in the evening. He didn’t expect Julian to come back until well after midnight. “Shit!” he said in a desperate whisper and quickly walked towards the light switch. He flipped it off and immediately disappeared into nothing. He didn’t dare to walk out of the office, so he took several steps backwards, and froze in his spot, hoping that Salamander simply forgot something in the house, and that he would leave rather soon.

He couldn’t believe his eyes when several minutes later, Julian walked into the office, turned on the lights, and shut the door. His eyes grew even bigger when he saw the blond locking the damn door and dropping the key into his pocket.

“What the fu...” he started thinking in incredulous panic, when Julian said in a low, purring voice:

“I know you are here.”

Raven’s heartbeat slowed down to nothing. Julian’s eyes quickly scanned the office.

“I know you are here,” he repeated in the same low, purring drawl. “I saw the lights from the outside,” he let out a small smile. “I am sure you didn’t leave the office, figuring it would be safer to stay put, therefore...” he smiled again, with the corners of his mouth this time. “I know you are here,” he nodded slightly. “Show yourself,” the blond walked towards the desk that was sitting in the corner. “Show yourself willingly...” he slightly leaned on the desk. “...and it will win you some points,” he finished. “Believe me, with someone like me, you need all the points you can possibly get...” He didn’t smile this time, but his intonation remained the same – low and purring. “I am going to count to three,” the blond sighed after nothing changed. “If you don’t show yourself after I say ‘Three’...” there was that smile again. “I will find you myself, and believe me when I say it, you are not going to like that. One...”

“Goddammit!” Raven thought desperately. He threw a quick glance at the window, thinking that he might be able to crash through it. Then he almost moaned out loud – the damn window had bars on it.

“Two...” Julian studied his fingernails for a few seconds, his expression rather curious.

“Shit-shit-shit!” Raven closed his eyes. “How in the bloody hell did he even know...?”

“Three,” the blond sighed and looked up.

“Fuck!” Raven thought and threw off the invisibility.