Icy snow crunched beneath my feet as I ran through the perfect night. A large, full moon hung so low in the black night sky that I felt as if I could touch it if I only reached. Sky and moon made the whole landscape black and white except for the red of my serge. The scents of pine, snow, and cold struck my skin from the wind that buffeted me.

Every breath whistled through my burning lungs, nose, and throat before leaving my body as a white plume. The acids of fatigue weighed down my limbs with lead. The long run had taken its toll on my body, but every long distance chase was actually fought and won in the mind. An iron will could surmount any pain, any weakness. The initial pleasure of pushing my body into high performance transmuted into the satisfaction of knowing that nothing could stop me if I set my mind to it. The exhilaration of the hunt colored it all.

That I had company only magnified my gladness. Diefenbaker ran at my right. Ray ran at my left, all focused speed and grace. The night had rendered him in stark white and black as well. Something told me that Ray should have been bundled up instead of dressed for a Chicago spring, bare-headed and bare-handed, but I set that aside as unimportant. Besides, he looked as warm as I felt, heated from the chase. Despite his own obvious fatigue, he had a knife-edged grin that must have matched my own.

Our quarry, the Evil One, ran ahead of us. Putting an end to him would set everything right. He was so close now...

I looked at Ray, and his smile deepened. The tips of his fingers brushed against mine in a caress for one electric instant before he shot forward in that last burst of speed you could summon when you knew the end of the race was near. He looked lithe and sleek, like a flash of liquid mercury. His sprint immediately brought him to our quarry. The Evil One dodged to the side, expecting to be attacked, but that wasn't what my Ray intended at all. Diefenbaker lunged at our prey from the other side to lead him in the direction we wanted. Toward me.

I grabbed him and twisted his head around. Bone cracked with a sound reminiscent of a gunshot, and I savored it. An instantaneous, clean death. I had done well.

When the body fell to the blinding snow, we all settled in around him, our hunt finished at last. His blood shone like rubies on his skin. I swirled it with my finger, then dabbed it on in a line down my chin and then under Dienfaker's eyes. When I put my finger against Ray's bottom lip, he sighed and closed his eyes. I rested there for a moment, then marked him in one clean downward stroke. The tip of his tongue flickered against his lip for a moment, and the red transferred. Color slowly bled into him, starting with his eyes.

Blue like the clear day skies over the mountains regarded me intensely. It's time, his eyes said, time at last. We leaned forward over the body, closer, closer...

My eyes opened into darkness, and it was gone. For a long moment reality felt less real than the landscape I had been yanked away from. I wanted to go back... but I was also ashamed of myself. I had killed and enjoyed it. Ray and I were about to kiss over the corpse...

Yes, I felt horror, but I also felt strangely exhilarated. And very much aroused. All of which served to only feed my horror.

Thinking that my office seemed drab and lonely in comparison didn't help.

Diefenbaker whined and put his nose under my hand. True, I wasn't utterly alone. Still, I apparently wanted Ray with me so much that I was willing to drag him into my dreams to make him an accessory to murder and an object of my lust.

I wanted him so much, so badly, it hurt. However, I refused to bring myself relief, especially now. I couldn't use his image that way, especially not after such a depraved fantasy.

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door and opened it. "Hey, Frase! You gotta come with me right now!" The hall light cast him in gold, glinting off his hair, hand, bracelet, and the corner of his eye.

For a moment, I thought I had fallen into another dream. The urge to get up, walk over to him, and grab him almost overwhelmed me, but I retained control. "Ray, how--"

He held up a credit card. "I used my key. Don't leave home without it." When I responded only by staring at him in confusion, he continued, "Up and at 'em! C'mon! Leon Podlas came back to town!"

"Why would he--"

Somehow Ray elegantly slouched against the door and bounced all at once, but he had a gift for violating natural laws. "I dunno. The bastard must have balls bigger than his brain. But one of my snitches spotted him and called in. I figgered you'd want a piece, seeing as how he threatened the Consulate and all. You followin' me, Frase?"

"I think so, yes."

"So get dressed! We're gonna nail him to the wall. When that rabbit ran, he shoulda kept on going."

I had no intention of getting out from under the covers with Ray watching. My longjohns weren't baggy enough. Instead, I said, "You seem unusually chipper considering the time of night."

"Yeah, I know, ain't it cool? Woke up with one hell of an Excedrin high."

That one took me a while. "Endorphin high?" I hoped.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I-- Oh, shit, I almost made you think I hadda drug problem, huh? Anyway, I woke up feelin' real good." Then Ray grinned; I could tell because the hall light flashed off his teeth. "I had some red Swedish fish on the way over too, so they might've helped. Breakfast of champions. C'mon! We're burnin' day-- We're burnin' night light here!"

Even through my inner turmoil, I couldn't help smiling at him. "Could you give me a few minutes to get myself together? Alone?"

"Oh, sure." Ray seemed to dim a little, then flared back to his original brightness. "Sorry, buddy. Inconsiderate of me, yeah. Hey, Dief, race ya to the car!"

Once Ray left with Diefenbaker, my breathing started to slow to normal. Just a few minutes to get myself together? Maybe. Keeping myself together, around Ray... was getting harder every day.

*********************THE END************************

"Silence unchanged,
I was left as a child.
Dragged from the cradle,
I was wombed in the wild.
Ran with the wolfpack,
Flesh torn to shreds.
No compensations,
I was left there for dead..."
- "Hoodoo" (?) by Aerosmith

More Viridian5 stories can be found in The Green Room at http://members.tripod.com/~drovar/viridian/