Bait

This chapter doesn't have any smut but is pure plot. And a twist.

Csali

"Bait"

Chapter Five: Claws Revealed

For thugs, the Raptors were such weaklings, Balint thought to himself
as the lifeless body dropped from his hands. It wasn't the first one since the
leader Dominick brought Balint here and it damned sure was not going to be the
last one.

It was their fault for starting this blood feud and Vérszomj would see
to it that they'd rue the day they ever made the decision to challenge them.

Right before they all met their sanguineous end. Or exsanguinous, as the case
may be.

Balint was just glad that the big bad boss was a heavy sleeper. And a lazy
one, he rarely rose from bed before noon unless he had to. Of course, Balint
figured by now someone had alerted the fool that they'd found a trail of corpses
that led straight to the furnace in the basement. The better for them to burn
the bodies.

He knew Radu was sleeping right now and more than likely, Drago's body was
curled up around the Kezdet's. It was an honor Balint had known the boy had
long earned but his sense of respect for Balint's position would have lead Vérszomj's
first lieutenant to wait until Balint was absent to take full advantage.

Respect for Balint's position with Radu. Not for Balint but Balint would expect
nothing else from someone like Drago Ionescu who saw Balint as a nothing but
a bastard who got lucky with his bloodline. Not even winning every Challenge
the ass had thrown at him had gained Balint any respect from him.

But it did bring fear and Balint was more than willing to settle for
that.

Mid morning. Balint would be sleeping as well if he was back home. He was surprised
he'd even functioned this well up until now but it was catching up to the youngest
Szabo. An hour after the two men had fallen asleep, Balint had easily snuck
out of Dominick's bed without waking him. Zack had been harder but then again,
Balint had been expecting that and one shove of his will had easily solved that
problem. The pounding headache that always came afterwards was worse than usual
and he'd taken that out on the first person he killed, that nosy Healer Sig.
Balint had taken extreme pleasure at answering every question Sig had not quite
asked and then some before gutting him and leaving his body with entrails and
organs spilling out. A bit of a waste but Radu's aim had been quantity more
than quality and his second in command was only too happy to comply with his
orders.

Balint had lost track after the sixth kill and it was more than he was used
to. Balint's head was swimming, he was intoxicated and moving a little slower
than he had before. Still, his slowest was still faster than the swiftest Raptor
so Balint had no worries. Besides the basement was black as pitch and Balint
was at home in the darkness. They would not find him until he wanted them to
and by then, there would be nothing that would tie him to these deaths.

But for now, he needed to sleep everything off. Dangerous, but Balint's hearing
was preternaturally keen and he'd hear the gadjos long before they even
got near him.

* * *

When Vaughn's ringtone woke me the next morning, my eyes flew to the clock.
Nine in the fucking morning.

After fucking Zack and cute little Balint for most of the night the last thing
I wanted to do was wake up early in the morning and every one of my boys knew
that. So if Vaughn was calling me now, he had a damned good reason.

"Fuck! Not again," was my reaction when Vaughn told me about the
bodies littering the hallways of every other floor.

"We also found blood and human remains in the elevators that led down
to the basement where there were more bodies trailing to the furnace,"
Vaughn continued, "and none of the corpses were completely intact."

"Meaning," I asked with exasperation.

"Several were gutted. Others had their throats ripped out. One even had
their dick bitten off. But there was no spillage from any of the bodies."

"Spilage?" Vaughn had been my head of protection and a personal friend
since the Raptor's inception but he had a way of forgetting that not everyone
had a background in security. "Let's try in English, Vaughn?"

"With the damage done to these guys, there should have been blood everywhere.
But they didn't bleed out and except for small amounts of blood on the floors
and walls, that's all there is." Vaughn sighed. "I'd say they were
killed somewhere else and dumped here but security is airtight and no one came
in or out of the high rise from midnight to now."

Zack saw the look on my face and shook his head. "Another killing?"

"Try a fucking slaughter," I told him, then waved dismissively so
I could talk to Vaughn. Or should I say, yell at him. "Security can't be
that tight or no one would have gotten killed!"

"Calm down, Dom," my best friend whispered in my ear. "Why don't
you put him on speaker?"

Of course. Zack wasn't only my muscle, he was a great tactician; he needed
to hear this. I set the cell phone down into the amplifier jack and flicked
the switch so we all could discuss this. "Brief Zack about what you told
me so far."

Zack smiled grimly. "No need. Your Gypsy boytoy is missing."

I stared at him, of all the times to have a jealous hissy fit. I gritted my
teeth and held my temper. "What the fuck does that have to do with anything
you dumbfuck?" Then I laughed. "You don't mean Balint had anything
to do with this!"

"Unless he somehow snuck his dog in, there's no way he could have,"
Vaughn said.

"Of course not," I snapped.

"Forget it," Zack muttered. He and I were gonna have a little talk
after the convo with Vaughn. Speaking of Vaughn, I refocused my attention on
him and the situation. "How many bodies all together, Vaughn and who were
they?"

"Thirteen." Then he started listing the dead. Sig. Killian. Dante.
McKenna. Blaze, our firebug and pyrotechnics guy. Denny. Keir. Nigel. Rio, the
free spirit who'd never be tied down to anyone. Gunnar. Dario, aka, Caz, such
a sweet talker who can fuck you one moment and stab you the next. Alister. And
last but certainly not least, The Devil.

All in the inner circle. All gone. All exterminated like roaches. Thoughts
of Balint, disheveled and bleeding flickered in my mind.

But was he bleeding?

Fuck. The blood hadn't been Balint's, it was the Devil's! "Little Balint"
must have stabbed Devlin and slit him open right after he raped the fucking
brat.

But how had the kid hidden a knife that sharp? Because he definitely managed
somehow.

How fucking swell. The idea was to use the boy against Radu and his crew and
instead, Balint had been Radu's Trojan horse.

Zack's words of warning about Balint suddenly rang in my ears. He knew something
was up wit the little bugger and I ignored him. Well we were gonna fix this
right the fuck now.

Privately.

But not yet. I still wanted to know why the fuck none of the cameras recorded
a thing. "We have cameras in the hallways. In the apartments. Everyfuckingwhere
and you mean to tell me that no one fucking caught this on the close circuit
TV??"

Vaughn paused, hesitating before he finally said, "The cameras were turned
off."

What the fuck?!! Then I remembered. Gunnar and Keir were the guys who handled
security. And the CCTV. And they were dead.

Radu had trained his boy very well. Seducing me, getting me to want his sweet
body, showing just enough of his talents to make him of even more of interest
to me. Only in handing himself to me, I'd handed everything to a lion disguised
as a kitten.

Balint fucking played me right into his hands and I'd never seen it coming.

Wait a fucking minute! This was one boy. One fucking boy! There was no fucking
way he could have done all this alone.

But how had he managed to get Radu inside? How did he get that dogs of theirs
into the building? Too many things didn't add up and I fucking hated when that
happened.

"We will have a proper and honorable burial for our men," I told
Vaughn.

"And I've already called Immacula," he finished. "They'll have
everything cleaned up as soon as possible."

Immacula made things immaculate. Best cleaning crew there was. Cleaned up anything
perfectly, no questions asked and discreetly. Expensive as hell but well worth
it. We used them regularly and no one made blood stains vanish as good as Immacula.

"See to it," I said before ending the call. Vaughn had let me down
big time. It was fucking embarrassing and he should've been ashamed for letting
this happen.

I turned to my buddy. "Don't," was all I said, knowing that the "I
told you so," was coming. "Just stop the fucking riddles and tell
me what you know about Balint and his band of Gypsies."

"Not quite sure," Zack mumbled.

He was fucking lucky that he was my best friend because I wanted to fucking
slap Zack. "Tell me what you're not quite sure of." I narrowed my
eyes. "You said there's something not right about Balint," I prompted.
"What the fuck is it, Zachary?"

"Not human," he whispered.

I grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him. "No, dogs aren't human,"
I said with more patience than I'd show someone else.

"Not dogs."

"You're not making any fucking sense!" But he didn't want to, I realized.
Something was spooking him. Not scaring him. But definitely making him clam
up.

"I wasn't sure about the Gypsy until now and you'll never find him,"
Zack said sharply.

I blinked. "We have Vaughn for that, Zack."

"You don't know what you're dealing with," he replied with strange
calm. "Vaughn will be no match for him."

"But obviously you know what we're dealing with," I said sarcastically.

"Not exactly," he demurred, "but I know enough." He met
my gaze. "You're dealing with a powerful telepath whose will is strong
enough to force Gunnar to turn off the CCTV cameras before butchering him. What
makes you think he won't kill Vaughn?"

"You're really pissing me off," I growled. "If you knew all
this why the fuck didn't you say so instead of giving me vague warnings?!"

Zack didn't talk for a long time. Then he sighed. "It wasn’t in my
best interest Dom. Warning you was bad enough but then you pushed us together."

Of all the fucking bullshit! "Don't give me that crap, you weren't exactly
pushing him away," I reminded him. "If anything, you were all over
each other for a good part of last night so don't even try to tell me I forced
you."

Zack shrugged. "It was going to happen eventually. That's how it works."

"I've fucking had it!" I shouted. "You go after him then.
Get rid of the slut yourself. If you're not fucking him first!" What the
fuck was going on? Why was I fighting with my best friend who knew this business
as well as I did?

I took a deep breath, calming myself down so I could think clearly. "Zack,"
I said softly. "You're my muscle. And you know more about him than anyone
else. Take care of him." But before he could go anywhere, I cupped his
chin and kissed him hard. "When you're done, come to bed."

Zack kissed me with passion that curled my toes. Then he set off after the
brat who'd just become more trouble than he was worth.

Radu and his "family" were dead. Period.

Thoughts of their bullet ridden bodies brought a smile to my lips. It almost
made me forget about the fact that I just found out my best friend and right
hand had secrets from me and I didn't know if I could trust him anymore.

Almost but not quite.

Red Hematite: Not sure if you're still reading this fic since I waited so long
but it isn't that Dom trusts Balint as much as it's his arrogance that makes
him think Balint would never betray him.

Luna: I'm sorry I made you wait so long, my muse is so fickle! But hopefully
it was worth the wait. If you want to be on the mailing list for the next time
I update, comment with your email addy.

Rosemary: Thank you for being a loyal reader and I'm sorry I don't update that
frequently.

Sweetest Kisses: You're my muse for this fic.

Kayne: Since you wanted to be emailed for when I updated, I figure you like
the fic, lol.

Anyone who wants to be emailed when update and post the next chapter, please
comment with your email addy. The next chapter is gonna be a doozy. And the
twist gets better. In the meantime, if you want to read more about Balint, read the fics "Changing Fortunes", and "Blood and Bullets". And if you want to read more fics about the "Black Widower" universe, you can either find them at THe Nocturne: http://www.yaoihaven.net/blackwidower or email me at raduodogiATyahoo.com.

Until we meet again, my dears....