BAD BLOOD // Raphael Santiago

Sixteen: Getting rid of the pawn

Earlier

"So fill me in, how the negotiations went?" Raphael asked touching her arm and looking straight at her eyes that looked so innocent but so deadly. That insane blink in her eyes never meant anything good or promising either. It implied that she had an idea of her own. An idea no one was aware of, yet at least.

"Magnus will fill you guys in, there is somewhere I must go first," Octavia said quickly, looking now straight to Raphael's warm eyes. He looked worried, almost genuine but how could she buy that? This was Raphael, and even after all these years, Octavia didn't know what to expect from him, especially now.

"Raphael, a word, please," she asked quietly. Raphael grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the busy and fuzzy ops center full of shadowhunters.

As they reached the corridor, Raphael smashed her against the wall forcefully, catching Octavia by surprise. "What the hell!"

He felt her attempts to fight back but he was holding her wrists firmly in place at her sides, trying to keep her on a place as the girl was putting up a fight. He didn't want to get punched, not again.

"What the hell Raphael!" Octavia called out, not trying to fight back this time. "You kissed me just yesterday and now we're back at this level?"

"What next? A wooden stake in your back pocket?"

Raphael rolled his eyes and grunted at her comment. That had not been his greatest ideas so far, but he knew he was probably never going to hear the end of that. Angry women remember awfully many details.

"I don't like that look on you, you're up to something," Raphael remarked, "- and as much as I know you, it cannot be anything good."

Octavia sighed deeply, "Exactly the reason why I wanted to talk you."

Octavia had been smashed against a wall on various occasions, some in better and some in worse. Mainly in better situations – where the situation usually turned out to be extremely good but that was not the point right now.

Raphael let her go. "Talk," he demanded. Octavia shot him a nasty look. "You have some serious issues Santiago."

"Octavia, please!"

"I have a plan and I don't need everybody to know about that."

"Of course you do," Raphael assured her, "You always have a plan but if I may recall, they have not always been the best ones."

"This is, trust me," Octavia said a faint, evil smile on her face. Raphael rolled his eyes, of course. How would this plan to be any better than the rest of the unsuccessful plans in the past? She always said those plans had been the best and someone had always died.

"This is going to be a very good plan," she continued. "I'm your wife – you should just trust me on this." Raphael shook his head at the sound of that.

"I thought you were my ex-wife," he commented his voice monotone. Octavia chuckled, beaming smile on her face.

"Don't worry honey, I can turn into that in a blink of an eye."

"La loca," Raphael murmured under his breath earning another nasty look from Octavia. "You tried to kill me and you're the one calling me crazy?"

That smile was just a beginning, as Raphael should have known that he had, once again, agreed to another one of her suicide missions.

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