VI

The talk happened to take place in an Italian restaurant of the very nice kind with white linen napkins and crystal glasses. Nagi was waiting for his salad, Schuldich for his wine.

* Do you see that woman over there? The one with the blue skirt? * Schuldich's face didn't show any sign of the silent communication.

* Yes...*

* She's convinced there's an angel in the room. She thinks she can *feel* it...*

* No?! That's pretty stupid.*

* Yes, Religion…drugs for the stupid....*

* Worse. Insanity. There's nothing logic about it -*

They smiled to each other almost invisible over the table. Locked their gazed in silent understanding. Cold contempt towards the woman.

* Should I whisper something....*

* Like?*

* God is dead?*

* No...just let her believe in her lies. Why bother...*

* You're right. Always so level headed, aren't you, Nagi?*

The boy smiled slightly.

* And you,* he said teasingly. * You're a devil...*

Schuldich lowered his head, looked at his lovers through a veil of soft red hair.

* You love it,* he purred.

* Of course,* the boy was still calm. Still with that secretive, serene smile. He folded his napkin and looked utterly innocent while the air under their table suddenly formed invisible fingers that brushed Schuldich's inner thigh. Caressed his crotch lightly through the fabric of his tight, black pants.

* Oh but kitten!* Schuldich smiled seductively in Nagi's mind. * You are hungry!* He laughed.

Nagi didn't reply but the first button in Schuldich's pants sprang open and the tendrils of air slipped in under the fabric, curled around his growing erection and caressed it gently. Tongues of hot air slicked his torso and pinched the nipples, played and tugged at their new golden toys.

* I want him to want me...* Nagi's mind murmured * I want him to wish to take me here and now, be inside me...Yes...Oh, that would be nice...fill me up with all of him...*

* Ah...* Schuldich sighed. * Feels real good. But I prefer your real hands though...*

* Why?* The crystal clear voice replied. * Don't you like it?* A pang of disappointment and insecurity made the fingers under Schuldich's clothes tremble a bit and loose their rhythm.

* Of course I do!* Schuldich interrupted the boys foolish thoughts. * But there's nothing like the feel of your hands on my body...your caress on my skin.* he took his chances.

* Why?* Nagi asked again. Blinked unfocused and not at all understanding.

* Well, you know, * Schuldich began. * It's a bit more personal...* He said deliberately casual.

Nagi's invisible fingers ceased their erotic teasing and disappeared. The boy looked down, took the salad from the waiter and tried to avoid Schuldich's gaze with his own. He lifted a piece of lettuce to his mouth.

* ...When did personal become an issue between us?* He asked at last.

Schuldich sipped his wine and looked at the boy in front of him:

* With you Nagi Naoe, personal has always been an issue...*

The boy's hand trembled slightly. Schuldich dived into his mind:

* What does he mean? Am I getting too personal? I knew I would sooner or later...Blow it...It's over now...he'll tell me it's over...This is our last night together...He is bored now...*

* Stupid boy! I read minds, as you may have noticed....*

* What?*

Schuldich felt anger rise inside. Boil hot and red - The kid was simply too stupid!

* Well, don't you think our relationship has evolved and sort of become just that? _ Personal?!* he struggled hard to keep his mental voice calm, soft even, when he asked.

* Maybe...* Nagi picked in his food. Eyes glued to the table cloth, egg-shell colored damask with a woven pattern of lilies. A violinist started playing in the background. The candlelight turned to rainbows in the crystal, cascading into fluttering, ethereal colors. * But I didn't mean to be such a pain...* - "I'm sorry about that." He said out loud.

Schuldich threw his napkin on the table with a impatient movement.

" What do you want , Nagi? " He asked and knew faintly at some level that he was repeating himself from months earlier. The night Nagi Naoe had first come to his room.

* What do *I* want?* The boy was sincerely surprised.

* I have showered you with gifts, time, physical attention...* Schuldich began.

* I'm sorry!* Nagi cried mentally. " I'll give it all back," he whispered.

" So you're not intending to keep it?" Had the boy been somehow playing him all along?

" No!" Nagi burst out. - *Not when you don't want me too!* He added. *It's just that i really liked those gifts...* He thought with regret. And then, with bitter tasting, salty pain: * God, I'm losing it all!*

* What are you losing, Nagi Naoe?!*

The boy looked up at him confused, even his mind went blank before it suddenly got crowded with dozens of unfocused thoughts...

* You...-not you...-sex... -my life...company...being with him .-Fun... sex...company...nice...care...belonging... - Schuldich!...warm nights...empty bed...Traitor... Traitor... *Traitor*!* The boy screamed and swallowed hard, then -without warning he rose from his chair and ran for the doors. The wine glasses on the tables popped like grapes under a stiletto heel as he went. The heavy red drapes in the windows hollowed in a invisible wind and the violin lost it's strings one by one.

Schuldich sighed and rubbed his forehead. Ignored the general confusion, the cries from the ladies with wine stained dresses and threw a couple of bills on the table before moving after Nagi boy. Running, not walking. He was in a hurry this time, walking was too slow.

He found him in an alley. Shivering violently. Tears on his pale cheeks. Droplets of lost passions, a liquid of regret.

" Don't *look* at me!" He screamed when he saw Schuldich. A strong wind tried to cut him off, made his red hair blow around his head. But not even Nagi Naoe's will could stop the power of thought from reaching it's goal. He slammed his hand down on Nagi's shoulder, pushed him to the bricked wall and kissed him. Didn't know what to say. No words seemed right anyway. Just stop him...that was his only thought...To stop him from hurting in that moment...So he kissed him. Grind their hips together out of old habit. Nagi tasted familiar and warm. But his flavor seemed faint. Not minty at all.

* So you think me some sort of hooker you can toss and pick up as you find convenient?!* Nagi oozed with over-ripe oranges and strong liquor.

Schuldich looked at him surprised. The boy was panting, face pale and angry but there was passion in his gaze as well. An answering rocking of his hips. The flesh in there was erect and firm.

* Are you?!* Schuldich grinned and bit his neck lightly. It was pure instinct, he couldn't help it. The boy's body was so in conflict with his mind. Of course he shouldn't have. He knew it the second the words had slipped his mind and he was still thinking it when he was thrown down on the hard sidewalk. Ripped from Nagi Naoe's body, the most precious he had known, by the boy's invisible powers.

" Damn you for doing this to me!" Nagi cried.

" Doing what?!" Schuldich cried back.

* Making me feel like this!* The boy wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.

Schuldich sprang from the ground in less than the blink of an eye and embraced him again. Licked the salt from his skin. Touched his lips with his own, pressed him up against the wall again. Damn if the boy was allowed to go before he'd calmed down enough to talk!

Nagi answered his body in all ways possible. Kissed him back hungrily. Tasted his tongue with his own and even spread his legs a bit. Let Schuldich in between them. He moaned a little. Pressed his hips to Schuldich's.

But his mind, his mind...The buzzing backdrop of Nagi's' mind:

* ...Why am I letting him do this to me?...Oh I'm so stupid! Such a piece of trash...worthless whore...He is making me want it...Why is he doing it...? I'm nothing...better just let him have it, what pride do I have to lose anyway? ...I should be grateful he wants to have me like that...One last time...Fucking the trash...my body is a willing whore...*

Schuldich broke of the kiss and flew backwards, deliberately this time. He wiped his mouth with his palm then he picked up a loose brick from the ground and threw it with inhuman force in the wall only inches from Nagi's head. Dust rose and a crack appeared in the wall.

" Damn you, Nagi Naoe! " He screamed in a fury and mirrored the statement with his mind. Flung it into the boy who stood frozen on the spot. Saw him flinch by the force of it. " Go to hell you worthless brat!" He whispered hoarsely and left the alley. Left his heart behind.

******************

So, the spell was broken. The glass tower shattered and ruined. Nagi sat in the garden. A small silhouette embracing his knees. It was dark. The shine of green from the vegetation almost invisible. No petals spiraled in the air tonight.

Schuldich watched him from the window, had been doing so for almost an hour. Just stood there; legs spread, arms crossed, just watching him with narrowed eyes. A hand on his shoulder made him turn around. He wasn't attacked in the Schwartz house so he wasn't jumpy. Knew who it was, who it had to be, already.

" Crawford..."

* You wont have him. Stop obsessing about him.*

Schuldich gave an arrogant smirk:

* Oh, but I have indeed had him...* He stated.

* I know...but not like that...* Crawford said calmly.

* Like what?!* Schuldich dared him.

" Like a lover," Crawford said. " You'll never get him to admit it..." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Looked tired all of a sudden.

Schuldich swallowed hard and watched the boy in the garden again.

" Why?" He asked at last. " Did they take out his heart and leave a mess?" His voice was a bit thicker than usual.

" Nagi Naoe was an abused child..." Crawford began.

* I know that!* Schuldich interrupted. - " Now tell me what I *don't*..." he insisted impatient. He'd had his share for tonight...

Crawford sighed deeply:

" I found him in a shelter for abandoned kids. He was partly taken care of by a humanitarian organization...they were supposed to provide food, health care, education if the kids were willing...things like that. Instead they pimped the children out...And Nagi...Nagi was feared among the customers as well as the children and the staff. But what you fear you hit, right? - I swear I've never seen a more bruised and battered body..."

Schuldich shrugged. " But if they feared him?" He asked.

" It was the eyes!" Crawford said. " To make sure he earned money they spread a rumor his blue eyes were health bringing...like a good luck charm. The weird things happening around him: The moving furniture and spinning beds just increased the customers belief in his so-called powers. He was very popular," he continued. "Especially among older, dying men...Scared men...afraid of death...beating him unconscious if they had to - to make sure they got what they wanted from him...A taste of the life-giving magic he was said to possess. -The gift of the blue-eyed child."

Schuldich felt himself tremble.

" That's how I found him. " Crawford's voice continued. " I had a vision of a blue-eyed boy....I don't think...I'm not sure Schuldich, but I don't think Nagi Naoe can give you what you want...He was never raised to feel love ."

Suddenly a flash of something. A feeling of guilt. Something he didn't like in Crawford's mind.

"And the pimps?" He asked hoarsely. " Those who run that organization? Where are they resting now?"

********************

It was early dawn when Schuldich burst into Farfarello's cell. The madman looked at him with his amber eye. Fought his restrains with obvious pleasure.

It had been a long night in Schuldich's life...He didn't watch Nagi anymore after speaking to Brad, he'd locked himself up in his room instead, just pondering the problems. Smelled the scent of Nagi on his sheets, brushed his hand over his pile of forgotten clothes...Greys and white...Black boxers...

He had mourned the loss, missed him...
But he was not going through that whole thing all over again. Schuldich was not one for making the same mistake twice. Never did. Never had. The boy was, according to Crawford, ruined. Maybe he couldn't feel strongly at all, anymore. And even if he did it would always be shrouded and confused. As things were he didn't even know how to talk to him again. He couldn't kiss it all better, he'd probably just make things worse. The tiny figure in the garden had looked so pale, so slumped and lost. Every instinct in Schuldich's body told him to be utterly careful in this. Nagi's fragility and his own temper would not mix well right now. But the boy was aching, hurting...and so was Schuldich...It was all very, *very* bad!

The new day seemed to clear his head somewhat though. When the sun rose, Schuldich had made a decision. When he flung the door to Farfarello's quarters open at the crack of dawn it was with a wide grin and flashing eyes. He declared bold and loudly:

" Farfarello old boy, I'm going to be a hero! -And *you* are going to help me!"

While leaning against the red car in the garage, waiting for Farfarello to appear, he was approached by Crawford again. The American looked neat and composed as always. Not a wrinkle in his grey suit, even his fingernails were evenly cut and polished to perfection. He held a note in his hand.

" Here," he said and gave the note to Schuldich. " This is where you'll find them..."

Schuldich took the note from Crawford's hand. Scanned it swiftly with his eyes.

" Well, thank you Brad...I assume I have the goodness of your heart to thank for this sudden helpfulness?" He smirked ironically. Brad chuckled softly.

" ...Let's just say that Schwartz as a whole will benefit from these...misunderstandings between you being solved..."

" How come?" Schuldich arched his eyebrow.

" Well - I've noticed certain changes in the way the two of you work together," Crawford smoothed the fabric of his jacket. Adjusted his glasses while speaking. "It's always been good," he stated, "but after this...affair began it's been brilliant...You don't even have to talk anymore, do you?"

" Not while working, no..."

Crawford gave something close to a happy smile:

" That's what I thought," he grinned. *Twice as many targets in half the time,* he said calmly. Satisfied.

* Yeah, we're a killing machine* Schuldich gave a thin smile back.

Farfarello entered the garage then. His one eye focused and glowing. He had his tool chest in his hand. All dressed in black he looked like a heathen god of death...and maybe the comparison wasn't that inaccurate.
Farfarello just nodded to Brad and seated himself in the passenger seat of the car. Calm now. Calm and patient. Schu-schu had promised fun, Farfarello could wait for fun.

Crawford turned to leave and Schuldich went for the car. Then the American suddenly paused:

* I must tell you though,* he told Schuldich. * You might not be able to keep him.*

Schuldich turned his head to look at the grey-clad back;

* What do you mean?*

* He'll always be drawn to purity...And Shreient might still be alive...*

Schuldich tasted the information for a while.

" I'll take my chances," he said at last.* He needs me, you know...*

Crawford smiled slightly:

* I know,* he said and entered the house.

***************

Road trip with Farfarello, nothing like it, Schuldich thought and turned up the volume. Where he and Nagi was ice-cold effectivity, he and the Irishman were a riot. Nagi was smooth pleasure. Farfarello passionate hatred and a hell of a lot of fun!

Currently the pale maniac was scanning their environments with his one amber eye open and alert. His scarred fingers lay still in his lap. Resting...preparing...

* Hope you're up for some red feasting,* Schuldich smiled. Felt the bass from the cd-player pound through his body. Make his blood flow faster.

* Sure,* a thin smile from Farfarello. * But these aren't ordinary targets,* he pointed out.
* You mind sharing exactly why I'm cutting them open?*

* Not at all...- they've done very bad things to Nagi...*

Farfarello smiled again. * Revenge then...an act of vengeance...but will it please God?*

Schuldich focused on the road but took time to send some annoyance in Farfarello's direction.

" If you want me to continue to make God weep tears of shame on a daily basis over the things I do to the kid, you better not get caught up in the morals..." he warned.

" You mean...because you fuck him..?" The Irishman said calmly.

" Yeah..."- * and some other stuff as well* he grinned wickedly.* Nagi can be a very naughty boy...*

" Sodomy...fellatio...anallingus" Farfarello counted up dryly. * It's all good, but wouldn't it please God to see the child molesters die?* - "He isn't the Nagi they knew, anymore...He has evolved like us, become more than human."

" Well..." Schuldich tried to reason; " a happy Nagi is a deadly Nagi, you know that...You saw it on our last mission."

"Yes..." Farfarello treated him a rare glance of admiration. " The two of you caused a lot of deaths. Made the angels’ wings drip with innocent blood...God's heavenly halls fill with screams of terror..."

" See!" Schuldich interrupted his musings. * Helping me fuck Nagi is merely assuring that the boy will continue on this most unheavenly path.* He added.

Farfarello looked dreamingly out in the air for a minute.

" Your sin makes him hurt God more. And better." He said at last.

* That's right!* Schuldich took a left turn and rested back in the seat. " Besides, Farfarello...Nagi is Schwartz...We should teach the bugs not to mess with what's above them," he tried to keep his voice calm and Crawford-like.

"Yes..." Farfarello spoke in a low hiss. - * Let the sodomy continue!* He screamed and the glow in his eye increased. His muscles became tight and alert.

" That's right, Farfarello," Schuldich said laconic.- * Let me just fuck the boy for devil's sake...* he added tired.

*****************

The shelter had probably gone through some changes since Nagi Naoe's day because the building in front of them looked pretty new; a big, modern centre in glass and stone. Donated by, the sign in front of the porch said. Donated by businessmen with guilty consciousness or scary mail Schuldich thought and didn't even bother to read the names listed there.

*You sure they're still working here?* Farfarello walked silently beside him on the flag stones, the tool chest in his hand.

* Brad hardly does anything half-way, does he? If he says this is it, then they are here, don't you think?*

* Sure,* Farfarello looked calm but his mouth twitched lightly. Signs of anticipation, excitement...Schuldich knew him well enough he didn't have to enter his mind to read him.
* Do you think they're still...being naughty to the children?* He asked when they passed through the sliding doors and into the lobby.

* I don't know...honestly don't care...* Schuldich took a left turn and approached the receptionist, a smiling young man, while unfolding Brad's note.

" Where are these people?" He said and showed him the list of five names in Crawford's even handwriting.

" Do you have an appointment?" The nice man smiled and smoothed his tie nervously.

" No...but never mind," Schuldich sighed lightly. - * He showed me where they are,* he told Farfarello and fooled the receptionist's vision enough that he didn't see exactly where they went.

They walked up the stairs to the main office. Schuldich could feel the tension building in Farfarello.

* Where are the kids?* He asked Schuldich.

* Don't know...it's a big house...*

* Nagi was here...?*

* That he was..*

* Looks nice enough.*

* Yes, doesn't have to be though.*

* No...* Farfarello's steps fell in with his down the corridor. * And when we find them, what do you want?*

* Throats!*

* Ripped or cut?*

* Doesn't matter as long as they're whole.*

* You want to show them to Nagi?*

* Sure do.* Schuldich smiled. He felt rather knightly, trotting down the corridor with the angry beast in tow to restore the fair prince's honor.

He knocked lightly on the wooden door in front of them and received a grunt from the other side.

" Afternoon, " Schuldich flashed a smile to the thin, old man behind the desk." Are you in charge of these facilities?" He asked polite.

"Yes," the growled and rose from the black, ornamented desk. " Who are you? From the press?" A nervous twitch by his left eye.

" Not exactly..." Schuldich still smiled and kicked the door shut behind them.

" Then what?!" The man asked angrily.

Schuldich locked his gaze in the old, dry man's. Found a couple of piercing needles between wrinkles and greying skin.

" Wouldn't mind a piece of the blue-eyed child's medicine now, would you - old man?" He said lowly.

" What?!" The man paled. " I don't know what you're talking about!"

But of course he did. A black haired child, bleeding and abused appeared on his internal screen. The little body lay naked on a bed, finally knocked out after hours of struggle on their part against flying plates and chop sticks.

* Bingo!* Schuldich told Farfarello who slowly lowered his chest to the floor.

" You see..." Schuldich told the man. " The blue-eyed child is now my kitten d'amour and I really don't like people being mean to him. Not now...or ever!"

" I still don't know what you're talking about..." The man's voice faltered a little.

" Shut up!" Schuldich told him and fished his gun from his pocket faster than the man could think. - *Farfarello?*

* I'm ready!*

" You're paying for what you did now, bug!" Schuldich snarled and pointed the gun at the man's chest. Felt his fear like thick smog in the air. He was trembling, pale and sweating.

" No..." He breathed. " No...- We don't do those things anymore!"

Shculdich ignored the plea " Did you ever have him? " He asked and kept pointing the gun, kept the man's attention from Farfarello's silent preparations.

" No!" the man shook his head and sent him vivid images of a very small Nagi bound with leather straps to a small bed with yellow stained white sheets.

"Liar!" Schuldich sniggered and lowered the gun. - *He's all yours,* he told Farfarello.
The old man let out his breath, - a sigh of relief when the gun disappeared. The next moment his expensive carpet was sprayed with blood from his stomach. Farfie was playing with his knives.

Schuldich watched silently. Farfarello was good at his work. He might lack Nagi's nifty effects, like blinking lights and slamming doors, but he sure was good with red. Hardly a drop of blood hit his own clothes when he quickly carved his way to the man's heart and cut it in two halves. He held the pieces out to Schuldich:

"Sure you don't want it?"

Schuldich took a look at the blood drenched pieces of muscle.

" No...let's go for the throat."

Farfarello ripped it from the carcass. - A small bundle of skin, tendons, cords and veins and tossed it to Schuldich who caught it in the air.

* Thank you, Beautiful,* he bowed mockingly at Farfarello who smiled his thin, pale smile back at him.

* We're all done in here.* He said. " Bad man is dead," he said with a rare hint of humor and kicked the body lightly in the exposed, bloody ribs.

They hadn't even left the room when target number two crossed their path, headed for the dead man's office. Schuldich recognized him from the receptionists visuals: A bit younger than the other one and with a full grey beard.

* Hairy throat, * He sent Farfarello and locked his arms around the fat man's torso. The man tried to speak but Farfarello's fist made him stop. Schuldich swung him inside the office and threw him to the floor.

" What is this?!" The man demanded to know in a high-pitched voice.

" A lover's quest," Schuldich smiled in his face while his fingers found the throat and crushed it -The man would speak no more...Writhing with pain the man struggled for air on the floor. Eyes wide with shock and fear.

* Do you remember Nagi Naoe?* Schuldich voice fluttered in his mind and was rewarded with new waves of fear. Strong fear, old fear...* That's right...you *should* fear him...* Shculdich's Italian shoe hit him in his stomach and the man tried to cry out, blood streaming from his mouth. Farfarello hovered above him, scalpel and scissors in hand.

* All yours...* Schuldich told him and watched the treetops sway in the light breeze outside the office windows.

Farfarello dropped the piece of flesh in his palm when they left the red drenched room.

They had to search for number three. It was a woman, busy filling pencils and pens in ceramic jars in a store room. Schuldich stabbed them through her eyes after learning from her mind she was the one who'd come up with the story of the miracle child. She screamed into Farfarello's palm while Schuldich soothing voice whispered in her head:

*So much pain from a pair of pretty eyes…Love hurts, Sweetheart.* He let Farfarello cut her gut, stepped aside to avoid the blood. * *My* love hurts!* He finished his sentence. Another piece of bloody doll landed in his hand.

Number four, the accountant, was easier to find. He was sitting in the shelter's garden outside his office windows reading a newspaper. Schuldich stood behind him and dangled the throats in front of his eyes.

" Surprise..." He whispered. " You're about to die..."

He never had time to react, before Farfarello was there with his knives.

The fifth target, another grey-haired woman, was changing linens on metal beds. Almost like the ones in certain hospitals. They didn't remain white for long...Schuldich took his time with this one though. She'd been a lingering shadow in the other's minds. The one responsible for breaking the kids. Using threats and abuse, - small, dark closets, to break their wills into mush. - So with Nagi's. His name brought fear and disgust to her eyes:

" But he left with an American," she argued. " He bought him out...Good price we got for him as well."

" I bet," Schuldich snarled. " The boy became too much for you in the end, didn't he? He wasn't easy to keep I can imagine..."

Images of the broken child, invisible hands throwing chairs and knives...A younger version of the fat dead guy with an electrical staff trying to reach his battered body. The customer in the background, his whining plea : "I can pay, I promise...I'll pay anything just to touch him..." His yellowing eyes searching for Nagi in the fury of flying sheets.
* Glad to get rid of him...* The woman's mind murmured. * Devil's own...unnatural...frightening...*

" Nagi isn't frightening..." Schuldich smiled prettily. "Farfarello is..."

On their way home from the shelter Farfarello suddenly threw his head back and laughed out loud:

" I almost feel like Weiss...Restoring justice..." He howled.

" Yes," Shculdich chuckled with him, then he took the bundle of throats from the dashboard and measured it. " But I doubt they take souvenirs," he smiled.

*****************

Nagi paled when he saw Schuldich in the doorway. He sat on his bed with his legs crossed. A book in front of him. A half eaten grape on a plate. He wore a white cotton t-shirt and creamy white pants. His toes curled nicely on the covers. Schuldich loved those toes. Perfect toes...perfect boy. And he *did* look smashing in white.

" I'm glad to see you're safe and sound inside," Schuldich told him. "Sitting outside in the cold all night isn't good for you."

" Why do *you* care?" Nagi was all defensiveness and shields.

Schuldich entered the room. Without further ado he threw the bundle of throats down in the open book. Smeared the pages with red. He'd tied a red ribbon to them as well. It was a gift after all...

" Happy birthday, kitten..." he said.

Nagi lifted the bloody present from his book and looked at it.

" It's not my birthday," he replied calmly.

" Now it is." Schuldich smiled.

" Who...?" Nagi stared at the throats half-curious, half-confused.

Schuldich lay his hand on Nagi's forehead and let him see. Nagi's body jerked and shivered every time a new familiar face appeared on his mental screen. Schuldich felt cold sweat in his palm.

When he'd been shown he was trembling. His breathing came heavy and uneven.

* You killed them?* The boy was reluctant to believe.

* Me and Farfarello,* Schuldich crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against Nagi's desk. Measured him with a neutral expression. Watched him lift the bundle again, look at it with flaring nostrils. Then he smiled. - And a wave of jubilant triumph flooded his mind.

" Thank you!" He said heartfelt. - * But why...? Why are you doing this for me?* The throats ended up in the book again. * What do you want in return?* At last a real, coherent question from the kid Schuldich thought and gave one of his smirks.

* Why do you *think* I did it, Nagi?* he asked from his position by the desk.

* I don't know...Maybe to sleep with me, but you already do...did...that...so...*

* So?*

* Maybe you're trying to buy yourself a minion...?*

Schuldich laughed.

* Please Nagi, do I need a minion?*

* Well, you know you can sleep with me every time you want...so...*

* So you really can't think of any other reason?* Schuldich was disappointed.

*...No... If not...*

* If not?*

" I don't know..." Nagi looked miserable. Pale and lost on the bed. He played with the bloody meat with his fingers.

* They've paid their debt to you now.* Schuldich stated and watched Nagi's play. - " I know it must've bothered you that they were alive."

" And I couldn't face them myself," Nagi sounded sad. " Most of all it bothered me to be so weak..."

" Not weak." Schuldich interrupted. - *You were a child.*

* But not anymore,* Nagi said. His emotions flooded towards self-loathing again.

" Well," Schuldich interrupted again, didn't want the boy to go there. Not now. Not tonight. "They're dead now. Taken care of, don't give them another thought..."

Still a voice in Nagi's mind kept nagging: * ...How can I want someone after *that*?...How can I lust...give myself so shamelessly?...Maybe they were right after all...Just a whore...just that...*

Schuldich moved across the floor and jumped on the bed with another act of unnatural speed. Draped himself on the covers, facing Nagi.

" No!" He said. " It's called hormones and we all have them, " he explained with glittering eyes. * And you've become such a beautiful man, Nagi...I’m grateful that you have them. * The last one was a slip, nevertheless a true one... He wanted him so badly to *see*... It almost hurt how much he wanted it. Wanted him...- for him to cross over...

"What do you want, Nagi?"

Nagi looked at him with huge, moist eyes.

* Why are you doing this?* He replied, almost desperate. He looked at the bundle and felt grateful, looked at Schuldich and became suspicious and confused. Looked at the throats again, felt relief and happiness. Looked at Schuldich and felt happy then too.

* I never let you go...last night...* Schuldich said slowly.

* No?*

* No...*

"Then why?"

* Maybe I wanted more...*

* More? But...!...if we were two...and he was mine...* Clarity braking through the fog. Sunshine through the thick, thick clouds.

"Hmmm..." Schuldich smiled lightly. * My prince is kneeling...*

Nagi arched his eye brows sarcastically:

* Your? Prince?*

" Mine!" Schuldich grinned.

A pang of pleasure and one of fear spread and mingled in Nagi Naoe:

* ...He'd keep me and have me and kill me slowly! Consume me! His fire...Lick every inch of me, everything I am like a hungry cat from my empty carcass...Burn me to ashes...His fire! - His fire!...He'd possess and keep and own my most sacred...my heart...*

" You bet I will," Schuldich said seriously and locked his gaze in Nagi's. Saw fear there, like rings spreading on deep, blue water.

"Why?" Nagi said breathlessly.

* Because you need me,* Schuldich grinned happily * You'll never find another Schuldich!* Then he became serious: " But I would hold you too, Nagi. Keep you close...away from harm...You'd be my whore, " he said and arched his brow, let his finger trail Nagi's calf lightly, " but you like that," he continued half-teasing.

" Like I can't protect myself!" Nagi's voice trembled with emotions.

* I never said that was the payment.*

" Payment for what?"

* For being mine...*

" What is the payment then?" Nagi's mind was a shimmering veil. A dizzying landscape, bitter herbs and sweet, ripe berries.

* Me!* Schuldich lifted Nagi's bloodstained hand. Not much blood, just a few spots, - and kissed it.

" But...I already *have* you... if you like to..." - *fuck.*

Schuldich took a deep breath. Realized in the same instant how much he could've spared them both if he'd just dared this particular move before.

* Not like that,* he whispered. " You would have my love..."

And it felt like white then. In Nagi's mind: Electric purity, a static lightning, a feathery brush, a touch of *something*. There were waves in the blinding pools of creation. A crackling sensation - a something that rose from emptiness to embrace the sky. It was white and it was whole and smelled of soul and life itself. Ripping free. Made darkness flee. Sucked Schuldich in and made him lose himself in it for a moment. Lose himself in the power of Nagi...

" Heavens," he breathed when he came to his senses, his head had landed in Nagi's lap.

" Sweetness," he continued. " I think you maybe love me too!"

**********************


Epilogue:


Earlier:

Crawford walked out of the grey factory with his jacket flung over his shoulder. It was a warm day. Too hot for pale Americans...and European boys as well.

" He made a mess, " he told Schuldich. " But it's a good mess, " he continued. * He did his job, no doubt about that...*

* He killed him?* The young , lean youth on the other side of the car asked.

* Throughout!* Crawford smiled.

" So where is he?" Schuldich brushed his long, red hair back over his shoulder. He should buy something, he thought, a bandana or something to keep it out of the way...Because he wasn't cutting it - no way! No matter what Brad-daddy said.

" Still in there, " Crawford's smiled disappeared. " He is having some sort of emotional... I don't know...He is new!" He excused their newest achievement.

* Want me to go get him?* Schuldich sighed inwardly. Sometimes Brad was just not very useful...

* Sure!* Crawford couldn't keep the relief completely out of his mental voice.

Schuldich shrugged, tossed the car-keys to the American and strolled inside. Couldn't help but react to the scent of blood, arch his eyebrows at the sight in there: The kneeling little boy and the bloody bones and scattered face that was smeared all over the floor and walls. He paused and chuckled lowly in the big, empty room:

* Oh my, haven't you made a mess, kid...?*

" Go away!" Such an angry, little voice. -*Oh no, oh no...don't leave me alone...!*

Something stung in Schuldich. There was something so fragile in that plea... He chuckled nervously and wet his lips. he felt the boy, tasted him . Probed inside the lithe frame, behind those blood smeared cheeks. Felt his fear - and hunger:

* You taste lovely, little boy...all messed up and scared. Yes, you're a impressive creature indeed* He said honestly. The taste was so sweet and bitter all at once.

* I killed him...* The kid stated.

* Sure did!* True enough...

The boy lifted his hand, turned it at gazed at the palm.

" It tells your future you know,* Schuldich told him. *And it's all red!* He hadn't meant for it to sound like a prediction. He had just wanted to distract the boy. And it *was* red...- His palm...all red...But he heard it too, when he said it.

* Shut up!* The boy's panic increased if anything, didn't go away at all.

Schuldich got impatient. A little bit annoyed. He was to be a trained killer after all, why not just stick to the truth?

* Why...when you're so good at it...* he said. * Painting your hands red...* he added. It was all true, wasn't it?

* ...no...* A muttering reply.

* But don't you like it?! * Schuldich tried again. *You have it in you...Crawford is pleased, although it's sort of messy. Next time you'll do a cleaner job.* Encouragement would do the deed, right? He was so little...so very small against the red, red wall.

*..I don't want to...* Nagi Naoe replied in a sad voice. Beautiful voice - from the face of an angel.

Silence. Even the air froze around them.

* But it's too late now!* Shculdich felt himself mourn the fact. The boy just looked too...messed up...too weak in the pool of blood. *You'll never be clean again.* He thought at him. * It can't be undone, never be white!* For they were both Schwartz now. They couldn't toss that aside.

*...White?* Blue eyes looked up at him from the floor.

*...Tainted and stained, black holes in your soul...the sin will fasten, fester... -* Schuldich thought to himself and startled slightly when he realized the boy had heard him.

* Why are you saying this?!* Nagi asked with the burned and sugary taste of despair. *Tormenting me!* He added. The serious, young face searched his.

* Because I like you, kid. That's why...* And he did. Did enough to let down his shields and let the boy have a peek inside without even noticing. He sincerely hoped Crawford would never hear about that.

He crossed the distance between them and lifted the other child in his arms. Nagi didn't resist him. Didn't move at all actually, just closed his eyes...Schuldich knew he was listening to his heartbeat.

When they approached the exit he looked down at the boy in his arms. Saw the fine bone structure, the pale, soft skin against the green of his coat and caught himself swallowing hard by the sight.

A sudden urge to lift him to the sky and cry out loud: " See, here's your lamb, now make him clean again!" But he didn't, and he wouldn't...because nobody would be there to answer him anyway... They were alone. They were Schwartz...meant to serve their higher purpose. But at least they were together, he thought and looked down at the serene face again. Nagi was young, but Schuldich could take care of him. It was two of them there in the blood reeking factory, - together in murder, together in black. - Could never be white. But they *were*.

The End


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