The Dreamtrap - 27. Chapter 27

- XXVII -

Henry got to the airport and slowly made his way towards the front desk.

“I have a ticket reserved for me,” he said to the man behind the desk and carefully set his easel on the floor. “Henry Allister,” he added, and the man nodded and his fingers started flying above the keyboard of his computer.

“Here you go,” he said a minute later and handed Henry the ticket.

“Thanks,” the artist muttered and looked at the departure time. It said 3:15. Henry glanced at the clock; it was only 12:55, and he sighed, picked up the easel, and headed towards the cafe, digging in his pockets. He knew that he had some cash on him; it wasn’t much – ten talons at the most – but it was enough for a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

On the way here, while he was sitting in the cab, he suddenly remembered that he completely forgot to mention something else about that blasted painting; something that the ghost made him do. “…leave it there, but cover it up. I don’t want it to be noticeable…” he remembered her saying. He frowned when he realized that he never mentioned it to Julian or Gabriel. He almost thought of asking the driver to go back, but then he saw blinking lights of the airport not too far away, and changed his mind. Whatever the ghost was trying to achieve by making him put that certain number underneath a coat of paint, would be futile right now, he thought. The painting was gone, which meant, whatever the ghost (Magda) was planning, wouldn’t work anyway.

...He swallowed the last piece of sandwich and finished his coffee, feeling better by now – food was good. The entire situation didn’t infuriate him as much as it did before; he was on his way home, Salamander never even hurt him, he was alive, and he had an easel. He grinned at the last part. Then he thought of Emma and sighed. To be honest, he silently agreed with Desmond when the man said, “It was a win-win situation for you.” At first, he felt genuine grief every time he thought of her; now, however, his grief was diluted with relief – he wouldn’t have to endure any more humiliation every time Emma would shut down his free will yet again, just so she could make him do something that he would normally decline with passion. He knew that she enjoyed humiliating him, and she was perfectly aware of the fact that he remembered everything after she released her hold on him.

He sighed again and looked at the big clock outside the cafe. It was almost two in the morning; he had more than an hour until his plane would take off. Henry got up, grabbed his easel, and left the cafe, heading towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, he was washing his hands, and then he blinked several times when he caught himself whistling. He grinned and turned off the faucet, reaching for the paper towel.

“So nice to see you in a good mood,” he heard a dark voice, and he froze, water from his hands dripping onto the counter. “You sold me out to that psychotic blond, you little traitor... Thanks to you, I am still stuck here and my plan is now ruined...!”

“No...” Henry muttered, jerking backwards, away from the mirror, praying for someone to walk into the bathroom and get him out of here. “No... Leave me alone... I am going home...!”

“You are not going anywhere, Henry,” the ghost said coldly. “I have a plan B, and you are going to help me out without betraying me this time!”

“Leave me alone!” he screamed, trying to get away from the mirror, and suddenly, he was rooted to the floor, unable to move. “Help...!” he yelled desperately.

“Shhh...!” the ghost pressed her finger against reflected Henry’s mouth, and the artist choked on his own voice – he couldn’t make a single sound, it seemed. “Now,” the ghost continued with a slight nod. “I don’t need you to paint anything this time,” she gave him a cold smile. “I have different plans for you!”

She turned towards Henry’s reflection and stepped closer to him, putting her hands onto his shoulders – they were almost the same height (the ghost was maybe a couple of inches shorter than the artist was) and she didn’t even have to look up. She leaned closer and planted a long, deep kiss on his mouth. Suddenly, the surface of the mirror shimmered in a slight silver wave, and then the ghost was gone, and Henry’s reflection was the only one that occupied the mirror right now.

The artist looked at his reflection for a couple of minutes, and then his lips stretched in a slow, satisfied smile.

“Easy-breezy,” he muttered, and then tutted with irritated regret. “Too bad it won’t last too long... Oh, well,” he shrugged. “I’ll take this for now.”

With that, he turned around and left the bathroom, his easel forgotten in the corner. He made his way towards the entrance of the airport, and gave a small, absent-minded smile to the man behind the front desk. The man politely smiled in return, recognizing him – it only has been an hour or so since he gave the ticket to the artist – and he never noticed that Henry’s light-blue eyes changed colors. Now they were brown instead.

****

It was ten in the morning, and Desmond’s mood could not possibly get any darker. Obvious reasons aside, there was also the fact that he didn’t get much sleep last night, since Rayhe would shake him awake every half an hour or so.

“I have to make sure that you don’t slip into that damn coma again!” Gabriel said after Desmond looked like he was about to murder him with extreme violence after he shook him awake for the third time. “I can’t sleep, Des! I keep thinking that you won’t wake up again...!”

“Dammit, Rayhe...!” Desmond remembered himself saying. “If I slip into that bloody coma, shaking me won’t do you much good anyway! Just let me sleep, will you?”

“You slept for ten days,” Gabriel nodded firmly, and Desmond helplessly gritted his teeth, knowing that he would be woken up again tonight, and more than just once.

“Believe me,” he said through his clenched teeth. “I do not feel refreshed!”

“You can take naps during the day while I am at work,” Rayhe nodded again, as firmly. He seemed to be determined not to let Desmond to get any sleep tonight whatsoever. “I am sorry, but I am going to keep you awake,” he said, confirming Desmond’s suspicions. “I will probably stop freaking out soon enough, but right now, I am keeping you awake. Sorry,” he nodded yet again.

“Sorry my ass,” Desmond growled softly. “Bloody hell, Rayhe! Do you seriously expect me to play cards with you for the rest of the night?”

“Who said anything about cards?” Gabriel frowned slightly and shoved Desmond back onto the pillows. “I went without you for ten bloody days, and I did not want to molest you while you were unconscious... Even though the idea had occurred to me,” he added with a small sigh.

“Dammit, Rayhe...” Desmond started growling again, when Gabriel shut him up with his mouth, and Desmond did not get any sleep until Rayhe’s alarm went off at seven in the morning.

He promptly fell asleep as soon as Gabriel got out of bed, and he slept for an hour and a half, before he was woken up at 8:30 in the morning by something that sounded like moaning screams.

“What the...” he muttered with a small, somewhat concerned frown, about to get out of bed, wondering whether someone was being violently attacked, when he heard:

“Oh, oh, oh...! Oh, harder...! Oh, yeah, like that...! Ohh, don’t stop, oh God, don’t stop...!”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered and plopped a pillow on top of his head, trying to go back to sleep.

Pillow proved itself to be utterly useless, and ten minutes later, Desmond hissed a creative profanity under his breath, threw the pillow into the wall, and got out of bed, hissing something nonstop without pausing for air.

“More...!” he heard while he marched to the shower, all but kicking the wall while he walked. “Julian, more...! Oh, yeah, like that... Don’t... Ohh...! Don’t stop...! Julian, don’t stop...!”

“And Rayhe says I am loud...” Desmond muttered and slammed the bathroom door shut. “He should hear this...”

The sound of running water muffled all the screaming somewhat successfully, and Desmond stayed in the shower until he was positive that he wouldn’t have to endure any more of ‘Don’t stop...!’ When that seemed to be the case, he turned off the water and got out of the shower. Sleep was out of the question by now – Desmond was wide-awake and he craved coffee. He glanced at the clock and sighed – it was 9:45 in the morning. He blinked when he realized that all the screaming stopped less than ten minutes ago. He grudgingly admired Salamander’s stamina, got dressed, and went into the kitchen where he immediately started working the coffeemaker.

Coffee was ready by ten in the morning, and Desmond was drinking it slowly, while furiously dragging on his cigarette and contemplating different scenarios in his head. All of those scenarios were equally violent. He heard footsteps some time later, and raised his head. Julian walked into the kitchen, and he looked as if he had eight or more hours of very refreshing sleep – the blond looked impeccable. “Damn him,” Desmond thought gloomily.

“Good morning,” Salamander said mildly and walked to the cupboard, reaching for the coffee mug.

“Go get your own damn coffee,” Desmond thought, but then sighed. He was not going to be a cheapskate, he thought and dragged on his cigarette again.

He muttered something that sounded like ‘morning,’ and watched the blond drink his coffee rather quickly and reach for his phone.

“Bring the car,” he said shortly into the phone and snapped it shut.

He finished his coffee, put the mug into the sink, shoved the phone into his pocket, and glanced at the clock. Then he nodded to himself quickly and walked to the front door.

“Goodbye,” he said before leaving the house, and Desmond stabbed his cigarette in the ashtray.

He sighed when the door creaked closed, got off his chair, and walked towards the coffeemaker, his mug empty by now.

...It was almost one in the afternoon when Desmond heard water running in the shower. Half an hour after that, Raven walked into the kitchen, and he looked content.

“Morning,” he said, and Desmond sighed and shut the book he was reading.

“It’s one-thirty in the afternoon,” he nodded.

“Oh,” Raven threw a quick glance on the clock. “Umm, is there any restaurant in a six-mile range?”

Desmond sighed again.

“Just look in the fridge,” he said and put the book away, reaching for his cigarettes. “Eat whatever you want; as long as you cook for yourself, it’s all good.”

“Thanks,” Raven nodded with a small smile and walked to the fridge.

“I need to go to the bookstore,” Desmond said ten minutes later, watching him break several eggs into the frying pan. Raven threw him a quick glance. “Yes,” Desmond nodded. “I need you to go with me; the bookstore is about five miles away, but I am not taking any chances. I really don’t want to pass out in the middle of the road.”

“All right,” Raven sighed and threw several slices of ham into the frying pan as well. “Give me twenty minutes... Is that all right?”

“That’s fine,” Desmond replied, watching him somewhat thoughtfully. “Are you always this loud?” he asked suddenly, and Raven’s ears turned slightly pink.

“Oh,” he said and turned off the stove, reaching for the plate. “You heard, huh...”

“I am pretty sure the entire block heard that,” Desmond nodded firmly.

“Oh,” Raven said again and dumped the eggs and ham onto the plate, carefully setting the frying pan aside. “Yeah, I...” he coughed and grabbed a fork out of the drawer. “I kinda lose it sometimes... I didn’t wake you up, did I?” he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth, leaning on the counter.

“Yeah, you did,” Desmond sighed again and slid his lighter into his pocket.

“Mmm...” Raven shook his head, chewing on his food. “Sorry,” he said when he swallowed everything.

“I’ll take a nap when we come back...” Desmond shrugged, and then he frowned slightly. “If you two are gonna go at it again, tell him to shut you up, would you? I didn’t get any sleep last night, I am rather tired...”

Raven hemmed at that and cleaned his plate with the fork the best he could; Desmond was impressed at how quickly all that food had disappeared.

“Yeah,” the smaller man put the plate into the sink and wiped his hands on the towel. “Let’s go,” he nodded.

Desmond nodded as well and headed towards the garage. Raven frowned.

“I thought your car was outside,” he said.

“It is,” Desmond agreed and opened the door that led to the garage. “We are not taking the car; it’s almost out of gas and I am not going towards the gas station.”He pushed the button on the wall, and when the garage door slowly slid up, Raven let out a low whistle. He was staring at the shining black motorcycle, which sat proudly in the middle of the half-empty garage. Desmond smiled somewhat smugly after he saw the other man’s expression.

“Got it a month ago,” he nodded. “Rayhe hates it,” he sighed.

Raven blinked at that.

“Holy hell, why?” he asked with genuine puzzlement. He squinted his eyes just a little. “Is this an Antana?” he asked in almost awed voice, and Desmond smiled again – wider this time.

“Yup,” he nodded. “Rayhe hates it because it can go a hell of a lot faster than my car,” he sighed again. “He calls it ‘a suicide machine’...” He shrugged. “Let’s just say, he doesn’t really ride it a lot,” he nodded firmly and walked towards the motorcycle. “Come on,” he looked at Raven, who was still staring at the bike.

“Helmet...?” Raven asked when he hopped onto the bike behind Desmond. “Never mind...” he sighed when the ex-assassin threw him a look that was almost mocking. “Let’s go,” he wrapped his arms around Desmond’s waist, and the other man slowly wheeled the bike out of the garage and pushed a white button hooked onto one of the handles, causing the garage door to start slowly sliding down.

****

Henry watched the house for the last couple of hours, and he was getting more and more frustrated.

“Shit,” he muttered through his clenched teeth at 1:45 in the afternoon. “They are not even going to leave? Crap...! I don’t have much time left here... Dammit, son of a...”

He kept cursing softly for the next five minutes, and finally, he spat on the ground in helpless fury and whirled around, clearly intending on leaving. Just as he did that, the garage door of the house slid open, and Henry’s head immediately snapped back, his eyes turning into brown slits.

“Finally...!” he breathed with great relief and quickly went towards his car, never letting those two figures out of his sight.

He watched Desmond kick the bike to life, and snorted impatiently when they took off in a flash, leaving nothing but a curtain of lazy dust behind them.

He got to his car (well, it wasn’t his car exactly, but it would do for now; he made sure that he didn’t leave any prints anywhere inside or outside the vehicle – this body didn’t need to be imprisoned, it still had some use in the future), slid into the driver’s seat, and started the engine.

“Careful now...” he muttered, while watching the bike to disappear in the horizon. “You know that son of a bitch is extremely intuitive... Don’t follow him too close...”

He quickly threw the car into gear and muttered something under his breath when he caught up to Desmond’s bike on the very first traffic light. He made sure that he stayed at least a couple of cars behind, never shifting his gaze, and not bothering with the traffic. Then, five or so minutes later, the bike flew into the exit that led to the freeway, and Henry cursed again. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with that bike – the car that he had now was nowhere near impressive when it came to speed (Henry didn’t want to risk stealing something better) and the bike would leave him behind in a heartbeat.

“Damn you,” he muttered through his clenched teeth, his eyes locked on Desmond. “Goddamn you... Asshole!”

To his wary relief, he saw the bike take another exit several minutes later, and his jaw unlocked. That exit led to the shopping center, and it was clear that was where those two were heading. Henry pulled to the shoulder of the freeway and killed the engine. “I can’t get to them myself,” he thought while his fingers tapped a quick rhythm on the steering wheel. “They know this face... I also can’t get into the house; I am not risking it. Nor I am risking getting to them through mirrors... That damn blond almost killed me already...” He gritted his teeth. “Twice...! All right... Let me think...”

Finally, he slowly nodded to himself and started the car. The plan wasn’t perfect, but it would do for now. He tutted with regret when he realized that the plan would cut his time much shorter than he hoped for – he had maybe four more hours of being able to inhabit this particular body as of now. After that, it would be his (well, hers) original-self returning to her mirrored cell while the artist would regain the control of his body and mind. If he went through with this plan, however, it would leave him with two hours at the most before he’d be kicked back into the mirrors.

“That’s fine,” he muttered while he was making his way towards the shopping center and driving around, heading towards the freeway yet again – this time he was going back.

Fifteen minutes later, he finally saw what he was looking for – a militia cruiser parked on the shoulder of the freeway. He pulled over and thought for a couple of minutes. What he was planning, was risky, he knew that. “Oh, Henry,” he thought with a small sigh. “There is a good chance you might get shot... I am willing to take that risk,” he shrugged, turned the car off, and got outside, heading towards the cruiser.

He slightly frowned, thinking that if he went through with his plan successfully, it would leave him with two hours or maybe even less of being able to hold onto reality. “Let’s hope those two are done with whatever the hell they are doing,” he thought with the same frown. Then the frown smoothed out somewhat. “If everything goes fine,” he thought. “I might be able to finish this right here!”

He nodded to himself and walked faster. Once he was near the cruiser, he yanked the conveniently unlocked passenger’s door open and slid inside, smiling brightly at the startled trooper. The trooper was young – twenty-one at the most – and obviously inexperienced, and that was probably why Henry didn’t get a bullet between his eyes. The artist’s smile became even toothier when he saw trooper’s hand slightly jerk towards the holster.

“No need for that,” he murmured and leaned forward, knocking the coffee cup out of the cup holder in between the seats.

Before the trooper could make another move, Henry smashed his lips against the startled man’s mouth, latching on so hard that the trooper let out an involuntary groan. Then the artist’s body jerked spasmodically for a couple of seconds, while the trooper became rigid all of a sudden. Henry’s eyes rolled backwards and he fell facedown into the younger man’s lap, completely still, and clearly unconscious.

The trooper blinked several times, and then slowly smiled. He quickly shoved his hand into unconscious Henry’s pocket, and several seconds later, he let out a satisfied sigh, and pulled out something that looked like a medium-sized brooch in the shape of a spider. The spider sparkled gold in the beam of sunlight, and the trooper smiled almost lovingly.

“Hello, my darling...” he muttered and brought the brooch closer to his face. Spider’s eyes gleamed dark-blue for a second or so, and then the brooch became lifeless.

The trooper smiled again and lowered his hand, staring into the side view mirror without blinking.

...Forty-five or so minutes later, the trooper’s lazy, relaxed posture suddenly became alert and quite agitated.

“Showtime...” he muttered, glancing at unconscious Henry in the passenger’s set. He knew that the artist would be out of it for at least another hour, and he nodded to himself seriously.

The black bike zoomed by the cruiser, and the trooper let out short laughter and brought the engine to life, while turning on the siren and flashing lights. He stepped onto the gas pedal hard, knowing that militia cruisers were insanely fast – catching onto that bike would be a child’s game. The bike picked up more speed, but then it slowed down, as if realizing that it was told to pull over.

The trooper let out another short laughter and brought the cruiser to a dead stop, once the bike froze on the shoulder of the freeway. He left the flashing lights on and killed the siren. Then his hand dove into his pocket, and he nodded firmly, and got out of the car.

“Easy-breezy...” he muttered while walking towards that black bike waiting patiently in the loose gravel of the freeway’s shoulder.