Warning, for those of you who don't like violence: Angelica kills several people here. Nothing too graphic or anything, but.... Viewer discretion advised? sweatdrop

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Angel stood on the bare top branch of a long-dead tree at the outskirts of the forest and looked down at the winding path with a contemplative air. It had been over two hours now, and she was starting to get restless.

Someone had paid her a great deal to make sure that the wagging tongue of this latest hit never went on to spread tales of a... dangerous nature to ears that were far more eager then was healthy, and he should have been by long ago. She shifted, impatient and bored. There was nothing glamorous about stakeouts, and that was all she'd been doing all afternoon.... Where was he? If her contact had been misinformed or - heaven forbid - lying to her... well. Her remaining life would be quite painful, that was all. You couldn't just let things like that go, after all, other people would get ideas that you were going soft and then where would you be? Work, work, work all the time. Her reputation would be in tatters, and it had taken years to build up. Angel did have an image to maintain, after all, and a paying customer that wanted results, and wanted them quickly. And here she was with... no, wait. Had she heard....

Human senses are so worthless, she thought with some annoyance. Luckily she wasn't one of the poor fools who was limited to them. She let the change come, and then spread white wings and lifted off into the sky, blessing the raptor's keen vision....

There he was, a nervous-looking fat man who was riding down the road with two relaxed guards. Child's play, really. Angel swooped back to her small mound of gear, shifting smoothly back once she reached it, and then sat down to wait for a few more minutes.

Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop. The three horses came around a turn in the path and Angel threw her first knife. It hit the guard in the throat and he choked and gasped and his horse snorted in panic and danced back which only made it harder for the man to stay on as he died. The second wasn't quite so easy, of course, as he was alert now, but still didn't offer too much trouble. The horses were panicking now - the scent of blood and death and dying was in the air, in their nostrils - and that made it that much harder for the second hired guard to try and do what he'd been paid for - she killed him before he even had his weapon drawn. His horse gave a shrill neigh that was almost a scream and then half reared. The body fell, and the horse ran, other two following. The fat man fell heavily from the animal and yelled in pain, then again in panic as he saw them running off.

Angel advanced, manner casual. Her hair was artificially darkened with soot, and that certainly fit with her eyes better then its natural white-blonde. It would take days to wash out completely, of course, but that was hardly a price to pay. She enjoyed her autonomy, and there was only so much you could do with clothing. Besides, so often the best disguise was to hide in plain sight....

"Miztrea heard that you were talking," Angel said quietly, voice pleasant. "He didn't like that." She took out a little silver knife and began playing with it, and the merchant shook and sweated, eyes fixed on the blade. "He didn't like that at all. You were told to hold your tongue or we would remove it for you."

He cringed backwards, then started babbling. "No! No, please, I swear I didn't say anything, I won't say anything...." He started to cry.

Angel tilted her head and looked at the man contemplatively, as though considering it. Honestly it didn't really matter, and she had no intention of removing his tongue, but why not make him sweat a little? Or a little more, as the case may be. It was, after all, what she'd been hired for. She held the knife up and twisted it so that it flashed, looking lazily from him to it and then back again. "Miztrea is not at all pleased," she said softly. "However..." and she paused for a few long moments, "because of past service, I suppose I can let you go with a warning this time...."

"Thank you, thank you, I will not fail-" and then her knife flashed and he screamed; she had cut off one of his ears.

"That's your warning, merchant. Don't make me come again."

And then she... vanished. Faded into the shadows like smoke on the breeze, and once she was out of sight she changed into a hawk and floated on the breeze, back to the horse she had tethered about a mile away. "Hello there, boy," she said softly after she turned back into a human, stroking his nose. And then she was in the saddle and riding away.

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omg, I'm actually posting? o.o! Yes, I'm posting.