Chapter Twenty-Two: Ginger
When darkness once again fell over New Orleans, Constantine and Raven made their way to Sebastian's club. They hadn't found Ginger, but at least they knew Abi was now safe where the Creature would never find her.
That was the one thing they could all agree on – human, vampire and hunter.
They also agreed that the best way to draw Argos out in the open was to be seen, together, as though nothing at all was wrong. It would stir his wrath, and they were willing to do that if it meant they could have a final showdown with him once and for all.
They would spend every night there at that club from dusk until dawn, taking up residence in one of the rooms there in the back, and staying together – no matter what.
Raven had wanted to scour the city for Ginger, but there was no real way to find her. She knew how to block them from finding her, so it would be a futile waste of time that would inevitably endanger others.
They had to count on her persistence to find and defeat the Creature herself, to draw her back to them.
So the fact that she walked through the door early that evening shocked neither vampire.
It was the way she looked when she walked in that made both of their jaws drop.
Her bright red hair was teased high and tinted copper just like Abi's, her glasses were gone and her makeup was thick. Gone was the rock and roll tee, replaced instead by a corset that pushed her voluptuous curves up for display. She wore a long black skirt that was slit up the side, showing more of her creamy white skin than she'd likely exposed in years.
"Well at least she can't complain that anyone mistake the two of us," Raven remembered Abigail say, and if they squinted, they would have mistaken her easily for her sister. Raven had to wonder if that was on purpose. They watched her approach them purposefully. She leveled her eyes on them in a way that made both of their pulses skip a beat.
Huntress, indeed.
And in one very vivid, heart-pounding moment, Raven discovered something he wasn't sure why he hadn't considered before. Every encounter exploded in his mind as the puzzle rapidly filled in. That the mystery redhead who walked into this club all that time ago, who turned him on this path to find his one true equal, hadn't been Abigail at all.
It had been Ginger from the beginning, he realized with a start. She was the one who had the mysterious indomitable spirit that both made him want to master her and be her slave.
She slid in between where they stood at the bar and motioned to Xavier, the blue haired Goth vampire who now tended bar full time. "Whiskey," she told him, putting him off his game also with the intensity of her gaze. "Straight."
Raven took note of her drink choice but said nothing. His eyes were just as deep and intense when she turned to face him. "I see you're still alive and well."
He just grinned. "In a manner of speaking."
She said nothing as she turned to Constantine, who still regarded her a bit skeptically. "How's my sister?"
He leaned closer to her, his arm spread along the bar so that she had to reach over him to get the drink Xavier brought to her. "Gone," he said, the near smirk on his face almost daring her to take that vague answer any way she chose to.
Given that Hunter was no where to be seen, Ginger correctly assumed that he had taken her to a place of safety. One where the Creature would never find her.
If she'd have been dead nothing short of death itself would have prevented Hunter from seeking his revenge.
And she would have felt it. No matter how they had tried to severe the ties between them, they were still sisters.
She never dropped Constantine's gaze as she threw back her whiskey in one gulp. Disco strobe lights filled the club as a dance remix with a strong sexual beat thundered from the dance floor. She put the glass back on the bar. "Care to dance?" she asked him and only after the briefest hesitation he reached out to take her arm.
Though it tingled and bordered right up to unpleasantness, it didn't hurt or shock him like before. He glanced over at Raven, who watched the scene with interest. With an imperceptible nod, he gave his blessing for Constantine to follow Ginger out onto the dance floor.
She snaked her hands up either side of his neck and pressed her full breasts against his chest as she stood close within the circle of his arms. Like little tiny pin pricks, electricity danced over his skin where ever her body happened to touch, but instead of feeling discomfort, he found his body responding to her unusual chemistry. He grabbed her by the waist with one arm and pulled her close, using his knee to part her legs so that he could grind her against his body to the seductive beat of the music.
She followed his lead without breaking the intense stare between them, and as all the lights danced and changed around them, he could feel the tiny sparks that seemed to jump from her body to his as he led her across the floor in a fast, sexy dance where they each seemed to attempt to take control.
Her hands trailed all up his back, up over his shoulders and into his hair, tugging it back to expose his own neck to her snake like tongue as he danced over his skin. His eyes clouded when she clamped her mouth over his neck and took a nip from his long scarred skin. He grabbed a handful of her hair in return to tug her head back so that she could see his fangs grow over his lips.
She did not seem surprised or scared by it, and in fact she smiled at him and ground her body closer to his.
Raven understood in an instant that she had figured out what made Argos choose his victims, and she was deliberately putting a target on her back by seducing his protege. The only missing piece of the puzzle thus far.
But why had she stopped drinking the holy water that might have ultimately saved her from the beast if she was attacked? Technically she probably could have given the illusion of seducing the both of them, and been a lot safer having done so.
