Debts - 9. Chapter 9

- IX -

He sat in that coffee shop until seven in the evening, downing probably eight or nine cups of espresso, and finally, switching to mineral water after he figured he had enough caffeine for one night. He sat next to the window, staring outside; it was quite dark by now, but he could’ve sworn that he saw the shadows move at least a couple of times, and those moving shadows suspiciously resembled a cat.

“You are being paranoid,” he said to himself silently. “The cat is nowhere near; it’s too dark to see a black cat right now anyway. You are being paranoid...”

Finally, at seven in the evening, he got up, threw several bills on the table, and left the coffee shop. The entire way to his apartment (just one lousy block), he felt beyond tense. He couldn’t help it, but he kept expecting sharp claws digging into his neck, warm fur brushing against his face, or those needle-sharp teeth sinking into the side of his throat. He shook his head and silently ordered himself to knock this shit off right now.

He was almost by his apartment, when he whipped his phone out of his pocket and dialed Magda’s number.

“Hey,” he said several minutes later. “Meet me tomorrow at eleven in the morning... The same coffee shop as before... Yeah, I got it. It was...” he paused. “...interesting,” he said finally with a slight nod. “I’ll tell you tomorrow... Okay, later...!”

He snapped the phone shut, slid it into his pocket, and walked inside his building. Everything was quiet, peaceful, and cat-free. Raven sighed with relief and unlocked his door. He walked inside and pulled the mirror from underneath his jacket. He looked at it for a minute or two, and then shrugged, slowly pulling off his jacket. It was just a simple-looking mirror, nothing fancy. A thing like this one would probably cost a couple of talons if that in any store. However, the people who hired him were willing to pay a hell of a lot more than just a couple of talons; also, the mirror was in the possession of an old hag who just happened to be able to control black streams... That made the damn mirror anything but simple.

He opened the drawer on the bottom of the desk, put the mirror inside, and slammed the drawer shut. He was thinking of having some of the Laperone (he had at least seven bottles by now – different years, different strength, different ingredients) when suddenly, there was a nauseatingly quick movement behind him, and then he felt those damn claws sink into his exposed by now upper arm, since he took off his jacket.

“Fuck!” he screamed wildly, and tried grabbing the cat by the throat.

The cat immediately bit his hand, making him scream out once again. He was perfectly aware of the fact that some of the claws were gone from his upper arm, and he was positive that the damn cat was going to aim for his throat next. He spun around and slammed his arm into the wall, making sure he got the cat. He did; the animal let out a shriek that sounded almost human, and then claws and teeth were gone. Raven spun around again, throwing wild glances all over the apartment.

“Where the hell are you?” he thought with nauseating fear. Goddamn, he hated cats! “Where are you...?”

There was another very quick movement behind his back, but this time, he was ready for it. He ducked, and his right arm shot forward. He cursed loudly and desperately when instead of locking on the cat’s throat (what he aimed for), his hand grabbed silky fur on the back of its neck, since the damn cat managed to twist itself into an impossible knot right before Raven’s fingers touched it.

“Goddammit...!” he growled through his clenched teeth, feeling his fingers losing grip on that incredibly slick black fur.

The cat’s eyes glowed manic-gold, and when Raven tried to adjust his grip somewhat better, those nightmarish claws sank into the inside of his wrist, very close to one of the major arteries. Raven screamed out, trying to shake the cat off him and slam it into the wall again, but at the last second, the damn beast managed to free itself from the man’s bleeding grasp, and the next thing Raven knew, the cat was twisting itself into yet another knot, clearly getting ready for a leap. Raven took a step back and tripped on the chair, almost losing his balance.

The cat let out an ear-piercing shriek of hatred and triumph, and leapt forward, its slick body somehow adjusting itself in the air, aligning with Raven’s throat. He threw both hands in front of him, swearing like he never swore before, knowing that the damn cat would eventually succeed, when all of a sudden, the cat’s great leap came to an abrupt end, the animal collapsed onto the floor without making a single sound, and then it just lay there without moving. Raven very shakily turned around, his entire right arm feeling as if it was on fire, and he pressed his left palm into the desk to keep better balance.

“What the hell was that?” Julian asked, and his intonation wasn’t purring at all right now; it was sharp instead.

Raven realized that the blond used the same spell on the damn cat as he used on Raven the first time they met.

“How long will the spell last?” he asked in a harsh voice, and coughed, clearing his throat.

“As long as I want,” Julian said as sharply as before. “What the hell was that?” he repeated, staring at the cat.

Raven took a deep breath and told him about the mirror, while taking off his shirt and wrapping it around his bleeding wrist. He looked at his upper arm. It didn’t look great but it wasn’t too awful either. He dipped his finger into one of the small streams of blood that was running down his skin, and licked it absent-mindedly.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to rob someone who could control black streams?” Julian asked with narrowed eyes. “Shit, Raven, you are goddamn lucky to be alive right now, you know that, right?”

“First of all,” Raven licked his finger again. “I had no idea that hag could even use magic, let alone black streams; nobody told me... And second of all...” he glanced at the blond who looked pissed off right now. “Why would I tell you?” he asked with genuine confusion. “It’s not like you could help me with that...”

He wisely decided leaving ‘...and it is none of your business’ out of the sentence.

“Yes,” the blond nodded and walked closer. “As a matter of fact, I could. I would’ve gotten the damn mirror from her... Cat-free,” he added and grabbed Raven’s aching wrist.

“How would you do that?” Raven winced when Julian turned his hand palm up, studying the wound, and he wasn’t even trying to be gentle.

The blond threw him a dark look.

“I would’ve made a deal with her,” he said.

“A deal...” Raven repeated, not sure whether he was joking.

“Yes,” Julian nodded and wrapped the shirt around Raven’s wrist again, somewhat satisfied with the inspection. “Black streams or not, she would’ve agreed to my deal, believe me...”

Yes, Raven believed him immediately. He was trying to figure out why the blond was so pissed off right now. Was it because Raven didn’t tell him about the job...? No, he thought immediately. That could not possibly be the case. Raven never told Julian about any of his jobs, and the blond would never even bring it up, let alone get so mad. What was it then...? He frowned, looking at somewhat calmed by now Julian. Suddenly, Salamander raised his head and looked at Raven with a frown.

“You didn’t know about her ability?” he asked as sharply as before.

“No,” Raven started to feel somewhat lightheaded. “Magda never told me... I don’t think she knew,” he added and leaned on the desk heavier than before.

“Who hired you...? Don’t tell me you are going to pass out...” Julian muttered and pushed the dark-haired thief onto the chair.

“I don’t know who hired me,” Raven said slowly. Everything around him was spinning lazily. Why was he feeling this way? He didn’t lose that much blood. “Magda doesn’t know their names either... She just said they were some insanely rich people who didn’t mind paying a hell of a lot to a...” he slightly stuttered. “...a messenger...” he finished, feeling like his eyelids turned into led.

Julian grabbed his chin and yanked his head up.

“Look at me!” he commanded, and Raven slowly peeled his eyes open. The blond leaned closer, staring into Raven’s different colored eyes, slightly frowned, and then he hissed:

“Ah, shit...!”

“Mmm...?” Raven asked, feeling as if he were about to slide into very deep and dark sleep; even the pain didn’t bother him right now.

“The damn cat’s claws were poisoned,” Julian said shortly. “Let’s go.”

“Mmm...?” Raven asked again, not sure whether he was about to say, ‘Go where?’ or ‘Why should we?’

“Let’s go,” the blond repeated with less patience. He grabbed Raven’s shoulder and yanked the half-asleep man up on his feet. That woke Raven up somewhat, and he made a hell of an effort to be able to say:

“Mi... Mirror... Bottom drawer...”

Julian let out an exasperated sigh and let go of Raven’s shoulder while reaching for the drawer. The last thing Raven remembered was the floor of his apartment that was getting closer and closer to him with unbelievable speed. Then everything turned black, as if someone suddenly turned off all the lights.

****

The minute Julian let go of Raven’s shoulder, the smaller man swayed on his feet and collapsed onto the floor, landing right next to the cat that kept staring at Julian with yellow, full of silent and painful hatred eyes. The blond kicked the cat away, cursing through his clenched teeth, grabbed Raven’s arm, and forcefully yanked him off the floor, throwing him over his shoulder. He almost walked out, but then he cursed again, went back to the desk, kicked open the bottom drawer, and frowned at the mirror. The mirror suddenly jerked and flew into Julian’s waiting fingers. He wasn’t really into magic, but he knew how to use it when he had to, even though he kept that particular bit of information to himself; not a lot of people knew about that. The only spell he would use quite often was the one he used on the cat fifteen minutes ago.

He glanced at the animal, briefly considering killing it instantly. Then he decided against that. One reason was the fact that when it came to familiars, one could never know what kind of a protective spell would be guarding the animal; therefore, one could never know what kind of a nasty feedback to expect. The other reason he didn’t want to kill the cat was that he knew, the spell he decided to leave up and running was as close to his personal signature as it got. He also knew that since the cat was here and its claws were poisoned, its owner was on the way. That was not the reason he wanted to get out of the apartment, however. He didn’t worry about the woman. As he said before, black streams or not, she would never dare doing anything to him or any other member of his family for that matter. Leaving his signature behind would warn the woman to stay the hell away from this particular thief. If she knew what was good for her, she would do that.

He was in a rush to get out of the apartment because he knew what kind of poison was traveling through Raven’s system right now, and he knew that if not flushed out soon, it would end up killing him; and the blond was not ready to lose the strange-eyed thief. He quickly walked outside, Raven’s weight never bothering him, and after he unlocked the car and shoved the unconscious man inside, he slid behind the steering wheel and drove out of the parking lot without bothering to look around first. If there were anyone unfortunate enough to walk in front of his car right now, too bad for them – Julian wouldn’t even consider slowing down.

He drove, ignoring speed limits and red lights, knowing that his car was rather well-known, and nobody in their right mind would even think of pulling him over. While he drove, he mused about the fact how panicky he was that he could lose Raven. To be honest, he didn’t think it was even possible for him to feel this way again. Not after Vivienne. She had been gone for nine years now, and he came to terms with that. In fact, he came to terms with that, two years after her death. She was the only one who was able to tame his wild side somewhat, and after she was gone, that wild side emerged with full force, hungry, and very angry at being restricted for so long. It became dominant very soon, and he let it to take over. He felt alive again when he allowed that to happen.

Ever since then, life was easy, satisfactory, and very bright. Black diamond kind of bright. He would feed his every desire, nurture his every need, and he would never think twice about anything. He was one of those individuals who were stubborn and driven enough to get everything they wanted, no matter how hard that would seem at first. In his entire life, there was only one single person he never got, even though he desired her very much. His mouth slightly twitched in a shadow of a smile when he remembered her.

Katrena, he thought without taking his eyes off the road. She was extremely (almost ridiculously so) powerful, smart, and beautiful – the entire package. She was also quite attracted to him – he could always tell. However, she was the only one who kept saying no. Julian never forced her into anything; not because of her power – for him it was not a problem, he could work around that quite easily. He never forced her because she reminded him of Vivienne. It wasn’t the power (Vivienne never possessed any) or the appearance (they didn’t look anything alike). It was the inner core -- pure steel, magnificent willpower, strong mind.

He let out a small sigh, wondering what happened to her. She disappeared from the horizon about a year ago, and it seemed nobody (including her mate) knew what happened to her. He shrugged and threw a quick glance in the rearview mirror. Raven lay still, and his face got paler.

“Shit...” the blond muttered and stepped even harder on the gas pedal.

When he discovered that his wallet was missing back in late August, he was irritated and amused at the same time. Someone had the balls to steal something from him? He couldn't care less about the wallet or the credit cards; the only thing that annoyed him was the fact that now he would have to get a duplicate of his driver’s license, and he hated ordeals like that – they were pure waste of time and effort.

Then, a couple of days later, he went into the kitchen one of those evenings to refill his drink, and to his confusion (at first), the bottle was gone. He frowned and glanced around, thinking that he didn’t drink that much to start forgetting things. In fact, he didn’t drink that much in a very long time – he didn’t like alien influences, not too much of them anyway. Therefore, he decided to look around. When he noticed that the back door in the kitchen was unlocked, he started to laugh. The missing wallet immediately jumped to his mind. He was sure that it was not a coincidence. There was no way in hell two different people would decide to steal something from him in less than a week.

He looked around some more, and after he made sure that nothing was missing, he realized that he probably spooked the thief and he (she?) fled, grabbing the bottle of Laperone on the way out. The fact that he never even suspected there was someone else in his house when he got back, never bothered him. He would expect that much from the person who dared to pull such a stunt. He would be disappointed otherwise. He knew that the thief was going to come back, and he knew that it would have to be on one of Friday nights – his only entire night out of the house. He decided to keep his guard up every single Friday, regretting the fact that he would have to cut some certain activities short to be able to do that.

He was entertained, amused, and almost dumbfounded by thief’s boldness and presence of ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit’ factor that very Friday, a couple of days later. He (she?) came back after almost getting caught? Huh, he thought with a small smile. All right, let’s play... He knew that the person was in his office – that much was obvious – therefore, he made sure he locked the door. When he didn’t see anyone in his office, it didn’t discourage him a single bit. He knew the thief was in there; he could almost taste the scent of panic.

When the thief had finally shown himself, Julian was surprised to see a rather short (5’8 at the most), slender guy with dark hair. He walked closer a little bit closer, and when he saw thief’s eyes, he became rather thoughtful. One of guy’s eyes was light-blue while the other one was dark-brown. The fact that he found it insanely attractive aside, he immediately remembered the tales of the thief with different colored eyes. He remembered his name right away – Raven. He was positive it wasn’t his real name, but he didn’t care about the details right then. The guy’s reputation was almost legendary.

He didn’t feel like doing something in his usual manner to this thief. His reputation, boldness, and bizarre eye color were enough to make Julian feel like letting the guy go relatively easy. However, he would be damned if he let him go without at least sampling him first. He had no idea what the thief was after in his house, and he didn’t care. All he cared about at that moment was the question ‘What does he feel like?’ Therefore, he ordered the guy (Raven) to strip, and after he kept staring at Julian with disbelief (Julian still couldn’t figure out why; he would think that would be the lesser evil when it came to someone like him. That and let’s face it, Julian had quite a reputation of a sex-crazed maniac, which was absolutely true), Julian sighed and hit him with his famous spell. He made sure he only used the lowest voltage, however. He didn’t feel like hurting this slender man too much with the spell.

He was perfectly aware of the fact that the thief would hurt, even though he wouldn’t use anything but the tool nature provided him with; he knew that he could use that tool virtuosically – to induce mind-numbing pleasure or soul-wrenching pain. He would usually use it for the latter. The thief (Raven) screamed out in pain right after Julian entered him anything but gently, and that scream tickled his senses somewhat lazily – he was used to screams like this one; in fact, he expected more. Then, fifteen (give or take) minutes later, he was astonished (to say the least) to realize that the slender hips in front of him were anything but in pain. He remembered himself panting, “Holy... hell... You like this...!”

Raven never said anything to that, except for something very unintelligible, but his reaction was speaking for itself. If someone is in the world of pain, they are not going to start pushing their entire body against you, to start impaling themselves on you while moaning as if they are having the best fuck of their life. At first, Julian suspected some sort of foul play, but then he figured that nobody would be that good to camouflage pain for pleasure. Raven sure sounded and looked like he was having a hell of a fuck. Then, some time after that, Julian couldn't care less about inflicting pain. He placed both of his hands on those very willing hips, and kept on slamming into them, getting drunk on the moans that came from the slender man in front of him, who kept impaling himself on Julian’s body even harder by then. A while later, he could tell by Raven’s dripping, pulsating length that he needed to come like no other.

To his greatest astonishment, instead of refusing that particular joy to him, Julian felt like wrapping his hand around that leaking need, and stroking it viciously until the dark-haired thief flew over the edge. He almost did, but then Raven wrapped his slender hand around himself, and Julian’s breath was caught in his throat. He couldn’t remember the last time he has witnessed anything remotely as hot, and he witnessed a lot. He watched that hand as if he were mesmerized; his own waves building up so fast inside him, they left him panting for breath, which was unusual for him to say the least. Julian definitely knew how to control his body. Even Vivienne couldn’t do it to him, and she was good.

The only time someone pulled him along, was a long time ago. He was eighteen, and there was that particular male whore he happened to run into somewhere downtown. One thing led to another, and whore’s contractions drove him over the edge. It had never happened since. Yeah, sure, he wasn’t into delivering pleasure much, but once in a while, he liked to test his limits, so he would make whomever it was underneath him to explode in hatefully-pleasant shivers. It didn’t matter how much the person would contract and shudder – Julian would always be the one in control.

With Raven, however, it was as if the expression ‘self-control’ wasn’t anywhere around his vocabulary. The minute the slender man completely lost it, spilling all over his hand and Julian’s office desk, gasping and sobbing, Julian’s body simply went blank. The longest he could control it, was less than a minute, and then the release overtook him, wiping everything out of his hazed mind. After he somewhat came about, he realized that he was suspending himself on Raven’s back while pressing both hands into the desk. His head was literally buzzing. He let go of the desk and straightened up, leaving the thief’s shamelessly glowing body. Raven wouldn’t look at him, not a single glance while Julian was getting dressed. Julian knew that right now, the dark-haired man hated himself and his treacherous body with burning passion. Julian told him in a rather uneven voice to shut the door on his way out, and left the office.