Debts - 17. Chapter 17

- XVII -

“Hey...! Hey, can you hear me...? Come on...”

Raven let out a low moan and slowly opened his eyes. He was thirsty as hell. He had no idea what happened, and he had no idea where he was.

“Oh, good,” the same voice said with relief. “I know that you are not in any kind of pain right now, but I also know that you would probably kill for some water, huh...? Here...”

There was something pressing against his mouth, and then he felt cool liquid on his lips. He growled and started drinking that water in huge, desperate gulps.

“Easy,” the same voice said warningly when he started coughing. “I know you are thirsty, but careful, okay?”

Finally, when he felt he had enough water, he looked up at the owner of that very familiar voice.

“Ma...” he coughed, clearing his throat. “Magda...?” he finally said, blinking in disbelief.

“Hey,” he smiled at him. “Sorry about that,” she nodded.

Raven tried to sit up, and realized that he couldn’t move. Then he realized that both his arms were twisted behind his back, and there was something on his wrists that suspiciously resembled the feeling of handcuffs.

“Magda, what the hell...” he stared at her, and she sighed and put the empty glass away.

“Oh, Raven,” she said seriously. “If only you had gotten that goddamn rock, we wouldn’t have to do this, you know... I am not enjoying this, by the way,” she added. “I mean, you are my friend... Even though you never told me that you got involved with someone for real,” she looked at him with mild reproach. “I had to find out from some random barista... Well,” she shrugged mostly to herself. “Not random, but that’s beside the point. Although,” she looked at him thoughtfully. “I guess I can understand why you didn’t say anything, considering who you are with... Ashamed, huh?” she hemmed.

“Where is...” Raven coughed again, trying to make at least some sense out of this. “Where is Julian...?”

“Or not...” Magda frowned slightly. “Holy hell, Raven... How did it even happen...? Oh, hold on,” she said slowly. “Hold on...! Oh, my bloody God! That’s why you didn’t get the rock, huh? He caught you, didn’t he? Oh, man...” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t believe I just figured it out... What happened though...? Love at first sight...? Love at first fuck...? How in the world do you end up with someone like him?”

“Magda, what the hell are you doing?” Raven ignored her curiosity and tried sitting up again, failing at that once more.

“Damn,” she muttered with regret, realizing that he wouldn’t tell her anything about the blond. “All right, all right... To answer your earlier question, Julian is not here,” she said calmly. “In fact, he is far away from here, even though you don’t know where ‘here’ is,” she smiled. “Just trust me on that, okay? Even he won’t be able to find me in this place... Well,” she shrugged. “He probably would be able to, but not until much later.... And since all I need is one lousy week, I should be pretty safe,” she nodded once again.

Raven carefully ran his fingers over the rings of the handcuffs.

“To answer your last question,” Magda continued. “I am preparing for one hell of a ritual. See, those two dipshits...” she looked at him intently. “The twins... They never did a thorough enough research; they only found out about two artifacts. The rock, however, is the third one,” she smiled. “If I had the rock, the spell wouldn’t have fifty-fifty chance anymore; it would be a hundred percent positive!”

Raven cursed silently when he realized that the rings of the handcuffs were turned in such a way that he could not possibly reach a single keyhole.

“Well,” Magda kept saying meanwhile. “Thanks to you and that psychotic blond, I don’t have the rock... Therefore, I had to figure out something else... Fifty-fifty is not good enough,” she sighed. “I do want the powers, yes, but I am not risking my life for that! So...” She stretched the word comically. “I did some more research...” She smiled. “I am brilliant at research, by the way,” she added in a low voice. “However, I did some more research, and finally, I figured out how to keep myself beloved out of harm’s way! Simple, really! Wanna know the best part?” she smiled again, this time smugly. “I don’t even have to know squat about magic to be able to do that, which is absolutely-fucking-fantastic! Simple channeling, how’s that for an answer?”

“Magda,” Raven shook his head. “Why are you...”

“Because,” she interrupted him without a smile this time. “I am tired of being nobody! See,” she stretched out her legs and leaned on the back of the chair. “In this world, if you want to succeed or to be someone who matters, you have to have at least some lousy ability... I mean, you have invisibility, your blond can apparently control magic streams...” she looked at her fingernails. “I’ve heard about that spell of his,” she nodded. “If he is able to do that, then he can definitely do a hell of a lot more... The twins...” she snorted. “Do I even have to say anything about the twins? They are goddamn Guardians! And what do I have?” she looked at him with a dark smile. “Nothing! I am just another nobody, who slaves around the bank, serving the ones who have powers... I am so tired of it, you have no idea... Well, the fact that powers come with a hell of a lot of perks, is also quite awesome!”

“Magda...”

“Therefore,” she looked like she didn’t even hear him speak. “I was trying to figure out how to break out of this slavery shell for a very long time... Then I met you...” she gave him another smile. “After that, I had a plan. Took me a very long while to set it in motion,” she sighed. “But hey, it worked, so I am not complaining...! If I had the rock, I would definitely think twice about doing this to you,” she nodded slowly. “I mean, we’ve been friends for five years, and I actually like you, believe it or not...! You are a very good friend. Well, since I don’t have the rock, however, I don’t really have a choice,” she shrugged. “I like you, yes, but I like myself even better. See, after I do the spell and everything, every single bit of negative energy is going to be channeled into you,” she smiled wider. “Cool, huh? Gets even better! Even if it backfires the first time, it will run perfectly for the second one, and this is a fact. So...” she stretched the word again. “No matter what, I am going to succeed... I know,” she nodded when she saw his expression. “I am awesome!”

“You won’t be able to attune the mirror if you keep me alive,” Raven said through his clenched teeth.

“Yeah,” she nodded again. “That was a pickle, all right... However, as I said before, I am awesome. I have a solution for that. See, I pumped you with so much of my blood, that we are related by now! Oh, by the way, I didn’t know that you get off on drinking blood...” she hemmed. “I guess you and your blond have more in common than I thought... Anyway, I know that he was attuned as well, but you, my friend, are the main priority! So I figured that if I got enough of my blood into you, it would override Salamander’s, and after that, the mirror would accept me...” She showed him a medium-sized vial with dark liquid inside. “See...? I am going to feed this to the mirror every couple of hours, adding more and more of my blood into it. Magic is not that smart, you know,” she smiled again. “It’s really easy to confuse an artifact, no matter how powerful it could be. Simple!”

“Magda...” he gritted his teeth.

“Yeah,” she narrowed her eyes without letting him to continue. “You gonna kill me or the blond gonna kill me, yada, yada, yada... Not gonna happen,” she nodded firmly. “See, I need time for the mirror to get used to my blood in yours, but I am not keeping you conscious for that period, okay? I’m sorry, but I know that you can get out of any handcuffs and unlock anything... I am not taking any chances,” she shook her head. “I have enough ‘dirty water’ to keep you sedated until I finally need you... If you were to survive after the ritual, you would probably be addicted to that shit for the rest of your life...” she hemmed. “And ‘dirty water’ is a nasty one to get addicted to... However, you are not going to survive after the ritual; not even if the spell works for the first time, so don’t worry about addictions...” She smiled. “Oh, I am not going to stay here with you for a week; I’ve got stuff to do... Two of my...” she hemmed again. “...boys are going to keep an eye on you... Don’t worry,” she said quickly after she saw his eyes. “I am going to make it as possibly comfortable for you as I can... They won’t touch you, I guarantee that. The only touch from them that you gonna get will be the needle when they have to inject you... Trust me, they won’t do anything else to you!”

“Magda,” he said quietly. “I do not know how, but I will kill you...”

“Uh huh,” she nodded and got up. “Sleep tight, Raven...!”

She left the room, and a couple of minutes later, two men walked in, both wearing identical serious expressions. One of the men intently looked at Raven, and his seriousness started trading places with a slow smile.

“Holy hell,” he said in a low voice. “He is pretty...”

“Don’t even think about it!” the second man snapped with dangerous intonation.

“She’s not gonna know!” the first one grimaced.

“Don’t even think about it,” the second man repeated slowly and heavily.

“Just because you are not into guys, Marcellus, doesn’t mean you should spoil the fun for me...!”

“You are not going to touch him, Ben,” Marcellus interrupted his companion. “Understood? Just find someone else; shouldn’t be a problem in this city, it’s big enough...”

“Fine!” Ben said shortly. “Goddamn...”

“Go,” Marcellus said and waved his hand. “I will do it.”

“Fine,” Ben repeated in the same irritated manner and left the room.

Raven watched the man warily, not sure what he was talking about when he said, ‘I will do it.’ Then his eyes widened when he saw a syringe. “Oh, hell, no...” he thought desperately. “Not again...!” The man sat on the edge of the bed and located the vein in Raven’s arm quite easily.

“Don’t...!” Raven groaned. “Oh, God, don’t...!”

“Sorry,” Marcellus muttered and sank the needle into Raven’s arm.

Less than a minute later, Raven was asleep.