Angel Dust

[ the blood does not go unnoticed. valentino's gaze lingers for a moment, like he's assessing, and then his eyes shift and leave angel entirely to focus instead on the two men speaking over each other. they're not even on the same page, it seems, which is amusing more than anything else to valentino. he can tell already that this should be fairly easy - if not everyone has the same level of confidence to speak to him so brazenly, then picking them off one by one should be a breeze.

valentino moves further into the room, but he makes a point of never turning his back to anyone in his company, never fully taking his eyes off of anyone for more than a few seconds. when angel speaks, val doesn't acknowledge him with any sort of verbal response, and addresses the two men armed with angelic weapons. ]

Of course I do. [ his tone is almost playful, like it's silly of them to think he would have shown up without the demanded cash in hand. as if to prove this, he reaches in past the collar of his shirt with one of his primary hands, lower two still clasped behind his back, and produces a single band of 100s. it's only ten-thousand, but presumably, there's more where that came from.

valentino brings the money in front of him, and thumbs the edge of it so the paper flutters like a deck of cards being shuffled as he steps closer to the two of them. he puts himself between them in fact, one arm around each of their shoulders like they're friends. ] Unfortunately, it looks like you've left a rather... ugly mark on my merchandise, and the fee is -

[ valentino moves so quickly, it's almost unnatural. the arm draped around the lizard bends sharply at the elbow, claws finding his throat with ease and ripping through flesh and tendon like it's paper under his fingers, blood spilling over his knuckles and down his forearm in a hot river. before the man can even drop, valentino uses his lower hand to pry the angelic knife from his rapidly weakening grip, and then lets the man sag and collapse entirely so he can spin that knife around on the bull still held close beside him.

there's always an advantage to having more than two hands, because in this time, valentino's also drawn two pistols from his waistband at his lower back, hidden by the drape of his wings, and has moneyshot and a smaller handgun leveled on two of the three remaining men near angel, sights dead on the one holding a gun to angel's head.

some of the blood from his hand has spilled onto the knife, and valentino wipes the blade clean against the edge of the bull's jaw, dangerously close to his throat. ] - very steep.

[ he smiles, slow and sharp and dangerous, his teeth almost as red as the blood of the sinner dead at his feet. valentino closes his free hand around the bull's wrist, almost daring him to try and use the gun in his hand against him. he squeezes hard, his grip surprisingly strong. he'd have to be, to be able to literally rip and tear people apart, as he sometimes does.

he leans in close to the bull, voice dropping into a lower, dangerous register. ]

You're all fucking idiots. [ valentino laughs, then turns to look at the rest of them, blade still at the bull's throat. his eyebrows lift, and he looks at angel when he says this. ] Tell me, how many limbs does a spider have?