Night Marauders

Chapter Nine: Gnashing Teeth and a Yielding Throat

It was terribly embarrassing for her to admit, but Ginny had been picturing her wedding day since she was a little girl. She might not have seen herself in a traditional white dress, but she definitely hadn't pictured herself in a pair of black spandex with a baggy jacket half zipped over a sports bra, with a busted lip just starting to heal over and no makeup whatsoever. They'd sat in the waiting room of the county office for half an hour, where they were then escorte into another, smaller, office, and handed a sheet of paper and a pen. Jae signed the marriage certificate first and handed the pen to Ginny with a look of what might have been sympathy on his face. She took it, and without a second thought, signed the thing, letting the pen fall from her fingers and onto the table as she slid the certificate to the woman across the desk. Ginny wasn't really sure what to think, she'd been dating Jae for a little over six months, and now she was married, his last name tagged on behind her first: Mrs. Virginia Park. It wasn't what she had imagined at all as a little girl, but she loved Jae, and she was sure that counted for something. The woman across the desk slid her some more paperwork and she signed, forcing down the tears that pricked the backs of her eyes. Her fingers were shaky and signature was utter shit, but she pushed herself through it anyway as she pulled her passport from her bag and handed it over along with the paperwork. The woman put her up against a white background and snapped her picture, telling her that her new passport would arrive in the mail in three to four weeks, and that was that. Virginia Booth, citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was gone. She had a white knuckled grip on Jae's hand as he led her out of the courthouse with a kiss to her temple and a promise of a ring, and Ginny was swallowing a lump in throat and praying that it was all worth it.

~~~~

Angel didn't really know where all of this was headed. He had driven halfway across the city with a gun in his glove box and nothing even resembling a plan in his head. It had taken him forty five minutes to arrive at his destination, giving him forty five minutes to think about what he was going to do, and it goes without saying that he didn't take advantage of his time. He'd driven right up to the shitty apartment complex, baby blue BMW standing out in a terribly run down parking lot filled with equally run down cars. There was no security system so he headed right up to apartment 4C, gun now tucked in the waistband of his jeans with nothing but a deep conviction and a bullet around his neck as he knocked. As he waited, a nagging voice at the back of his mind was telling him that Six wouldn't approve, that his boyfriend would be so utterly disappointed in him if he ever found out; this gave Angel (a very brief) pause, as he heard footsteps approaching the door. For a moment he considered turning on his heel and leaving, never looking that apartment door in the face again, but he'd gone through enough shit and pulled enough favors to even get this address, so he stayed, heart migrating up into his throat and he wasn't sure if it was from fear or anticipation. A man standing almost a head taller than Angel pulled the door open; his hair was shaved close to his head complimenting his narrow features and stern expression.

"Are you the Raven?"

The man nodded, "Pretty ballsy coming to my front door for a contract."

Angel reached behind his back and wrapped his hand around the grip of his gun, "I'm not here for a contract."

The Raven raised an eyebrow, "Then what are you here for?"

In one swift move, Angel had the gun pulled from the waistband of his jeans, cocked, and raised to the Raven's head before he could even form a single sentence to explain what he was doing on this man's doorstep. He knew that this was wrong, that it wasn't the Raven's idea to shoot at him, that he was only fulfilling a contract and earning a payment in return. But he'd had no idea who'd taken that contract out and he was exhausting every single contact he had trying to find out who the hell it was, and frankly, Angel was running out of patience, so he'd made this rash and haphazard to go right to the source and, if necessary, cut the head off the snake himself.