The Dreamtrap - 31. Chapter 31

- XXXI -

Julian sighed and pulled off his headset, thinking of making more coffee. Just as he got up, his phone let out a quick, buzzing ring.

“Yes,” the blond said after he flipped the phone open. “What is it, Anthony?” he opened the door of one of the cabinets and reached for the coffee bag. “A package?” he frowned. “What kind of a package...? I see,” he said slowly and closed the door, walking towards the coffeemaker. “No, don’t open it... It might be important,” he muttered mostly to himself. “Fly it over here,” he said louder a few seconds later while swiftly working the coffeemaker. “To the same address you used three months ago. Do you remember it? Good,” he nodded. “See you in several hours.”

He snapped the phone shut and looked at it thoughtfully for a couple of minutes. A package in Raven’s name had arrived to their house an hour earlier today, and it did not have a return address. Somehow, the blond felt that it had something to do with this whole thing. He sighed and put the phone away, pouring water into the opening in the back of the coffeemaker. The gadget started to grunt busily after several minutes, spreading coffee aroma all around the kitchen.

“Forty...” Julian thought while waiting for the coffeemaker to stop huffing and puffing. “Forty of what? Forty mirrors? Nonsense,” he slightly shook his head. “There were much more than just forty... She said it was a precaution...” He lit a cigarette and absent-mindedly glanced at the clock. It was 3:15 in the afternoon, and Raven finally woke up twenty minutes or so ago – Julian could hear the water running in the shower.

“Precaution,” he slightly opened the glass door that led into the back yard and leaned onto the wall, blindly staring at the grass. “Let’s assume that she was worried she might fail, therefore, she decided to take precautions. All right, how did she think she would fail...? Did she think there was a chance of them getting out...? Probably,” he nodded slowly without taking his eyes off the grass. “If that was the case, then her precaution clearly would be making sure that she got them back... Forty of what though...?”

Suddenly, a thought shot through his head, and he whirled around, staring at the clock, only half-noting that the water in the shower stopped running. The clock read 3:24, and the blond bit his lip, counting silently in his head.

“Son of a bitch...!” he breathed after several seconds and flicked his cigarette outside, slamming the door shut.

He burst into Desmond’s office, making the ex-assassin to jerk slightly in the chair.

“What...” Desmond started saying with a small frown, and Julian interrupted him.

“Forty hours,” he said quickly, and Desmond’s eyes widened at that. “If she was afraid that she might lose you, she took a precaution, making sure she got you back in...”

“In forty hours,” Desmond muttered and looked at the clock. “What time did we get out?”

“Eleven-thirty,” Julian said as quickly as before. “It will be exactly forty hours in five minutes...! Bloody hell...” he closed his eyes for a second. “That explains why you have to be in close proximity to each other; if there was some sort of a time frame...” He didn’t finish his sentence.

“The painting is gone though,” Desmond said tightly. “If the painting is gone, it shouldn’t work...”

“I don’t know,” Julian muttered. “Shit, I don’t know...”

He whirled around and left the office, heading towards the bedroom. He pushed the door open, and Raven gave him a questioning look, his hair still wet from the shower, his shirt half-buttoned.

“What?” he frowned when he saw the blond’s expression.

Julian threw a wild glance at the clock; it read 3:32. He relaxed just a little, thinking that Specter was probably right about it not working, since the painting was gone.

“Julian, what...” Raven never finished his sentence, collapsing onto the floor as if someone pushed the ‘off’ button in his head. A few seconds later, Julian heard a dull ‘thud!’ coming from the office, and the blond started swearing, slamming his fist into the wall.

...Gabriel stared at Salamander without saying anything or even blinking.

“Forty hours,” Julian said again, grasping onto his cigarette so tightly that it broke. “Shit...” he muttered and stabbed it in the ashtray, his movements jerky.

Gabriel stood frozen for several more minutes, and then he grabbed an empty mug from the table and threw it into the wall, making the blond to jerk slightly and turn around when the mug exploded into pieces with unexpectedly loud noise.

“Fuck!” Rayhe screamed. “Goddammit!”

He pressed his hand tightly into his forehead, as if trying to get himself under control. Finally, he took a deep breath and slowly lowered his arm.

“All right,” he said evenly. “What do we do now? Without the painting, we don’t even know where they are at right now... So what do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Julian answered tightly, almost breaking another cigarette.

“Why forty hours?” Gabriel frowned suddenly. “Why not twenty-four or forty-eight? Why forty...?”

“Probably because that’s how much time she needed in order to get everything ready,” Julian replied through his clenched teeth.

“If she knew that she would get them back, then why did she ambush them on that freeway?” Gabriel pressed both of his hands into the tabletop, his shoulders rigid.

“Probably wanted to do it sooner,” Julian closed his eyes. “I guess she couldn’t wait to get out of there... Or maybe she wasn’t sure if this would work, since the painting is gone…” He sighed and opened his eyes. “She needs a body...” he said in the very even voice. “Raven was the primary target since very beginning; most likely, she will go after him...” He looked at standing still Gabriel. “Considering how much she hates Specter...” He shrugged without finishing his sentence, and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut.

“I will get him out of there,” he said in a low voice several minutes later. “I don’t know how, but I will get him out of there,” he straightened up, opened his eyes, and took his hands off the tabletop. “I will get him out,” he said again with a firm nod and headed towards the bedroom.

****

Henry woke up with a moan, feeling completely disoriented. He realized that he was sweating, and when he opened his eyes, he understood why. He was sitting on some bench, which was next to several trees. Those trees, however, did not provide much shade and the bench was bathing in blazing sun. Henry moaned again and quickly ran his hand across his forehead.

“Where am I?” he thought, glancing around. “Looks like a park... How did I even get here...? I was at the airport, got my ticket, grabbed some food, and then...”

He frowned, trying to remember, and suddenly, his eyes flew wide open, and he let out yet another moan – this one was desperate and helpless.

“Oh, God...” he said, digging his fingers into the bench. “Oh, God, what did she make me do? Bloody hell...” He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut for a minute or two. Finally, he opened his eyes and shakily got up, heading towards larger trees so he could sit in the shade. He sat down on the soft grass and started digging in his pockets. He pulled everything out and blinked several times when he saw a few bills – he remembered that after he bought that sandwich and a cup of coffee, he had three talons left. Now he had forty and some change.

He slowly put the money back into his pocket and picked up two pieces of paper. One of them was a receipt with a postal office stamp, and the second looked like a copy of the mailing label. Henry looked at the label, and when he saw the address, he started blinking rapidly.

“Holy hell...” he muttered. “What did she mail them? Oh, God, what did she...” He gritted his teeth without finishing the sentence, shoved both pieces of paper into his pocket, and got up.

He left the shade and started walking towards the post office, which wasn’t too far from the park. He wanted to ask someone how far away he was from Rayhe’s house, since he remembered the address. He figured that he might as well go there and let them know what happened.

He walked closer to the post office, and he wasn’t too far from the front door, when he absent-mindedly glanced into the window, and then he froze in his spot, unable to move or speak.

“Where do you think you are going?” the ghost asked with a small, cold smile. “When it comes to you, I don’t need an actual mirror, Henry,” she nodded slightly at his terrified expression. “As long as there is your reflection, I am good,” she nodded again. “Now...” She slightly narrowed her eyes, as if contemplating something. “Let’s go check something out,” she nodded once again and yanked Henry’s reflection towards herself, smashing her lips against helpless man’s mouth.

Several minutes later, Henry was walking rather quickly, heading towards the main road.

****

Shrill ringing of the doorbell made Gabriel jerkily raise his head, interrupting his muttering chant, which mostly consisted of Desmond’s name. He stood up and quickly walked towards the front door, noting that Julian followed him for some reason. He didn’t care.

He opened the door and blinked when he recognized the man on the front step – it was the same man who came here three months ago, after Julian made his phone call. He stepped aside, letting Salamander to get closer to the door, figuring that the man delivered something to the blond. He was right.

“Thank you, Anthony,” Julian said tightly after taking a small package out of man’s hands.

The man nodded and walked away without saying anything. Gabriel closed the door and returned to the bedroom, not caring about the package. He sat on the edge of the bed and resumed his muttering chant while Julian ripped open the package.

“Huh,” the blond said thoughtfully a couple of minutes later. “A spider brooch...?”

Gabriel stopped muttering and narrowed his eyes, something bothering the back of his mind the minute he heard those words. Suddenly, he remembered Desmond saying, “...and then she thought ‘spider time’... I have no clue what it meant though...”

“Don’t touch that!” he said sharply, whirling around and getting off the bed. “Don’t touch...”

He was too late – the blond pulled the brooch out of the box, and the minute he touched it, the golden spider came to life. Its eyes glowed dark-blue, and it jumped forward, latching onto Salamander’s throat, sinking its legs into his skin. The minute it did that, Julian’s eyes rolled backwards and he collapsed onto the floor without making a single sound.

“Are you kidding me?!” Gabriel growled, lunging towards the unconscious blond.

He reached for the spider, but before he could even touch it, a powerful, stinging wave lashed out, pushing him away, and making him lose his balance.

“This is not happening...” Gabriel muttered numbly, after regaining his balance. “This is not happening...”

He stared at the unconscious blond for several long minutes, and then slowly walked towards him, wondering if that wave was going to hit him again the minute he touched unresponsive body. Nothing happened, and Gabriel realized that the spider was the only thing he couldn’t touch. He sighed and swore through his clenched teeth, yanking Salamander upwards and dropping him onto the bed next to Raven. Then he propped his arms on his sides and stared at the bed with three unconscious men on it. He stared at the picture in front of him for probably ten minutes, and then he closed his eyes with helpless frustration. He had no idea what to do now.