they said fight fire with fire but i just got ash

Well this....this was just shit.

Azrael took another step, the man stumbling slightly in the mud and soft earth. It had been raining for well over an hour. That trail through the forest was sodden, soaked and becoming all the more slippery with each stride. It would have been easy to engage his speed, to all but fly through that forest and yet there was every chance he would miss that well concealed cabin he was searching for if he did. Why the fuck did Raven have to live in the middle of nowhere? Was she going off the grid now? Had she become one of those....hippy people? Thats just what the world needed. More fucking hippys. God she was going to try and sell him some hand woven reed basket or a tie-dyed shirt. He was sure of it. Azrael huffed once more as he stepped up and over a fallen log, his pants becoming all the more wet as they scrapped the wet bark. The rain above continued to make its way through the trees and canopy to drip down upon him. Another irritable mutter fell from the Hunters lips as the blond man continued along that trail. There had to be a clearing up ahead surely? Right?

The soft sound of...someone else was almost imperceptible. The faintest snap of a twig beneath a heavy weight. Azrael near froze in place as his Hunter senses extended. He could sense that WereLeopard even from here and yet where Tobias was remained to be seen. He must be getting close to the cabin now if that bastard was here defending it. Surely the leopard wouldn't attack him, would he? Did Tobias even have the sense to know who he was? Had Raven even told her deluded mate about their partnership? Azrael pressed further along that trail then, the man attempting to ignore that distinctly uncomfortable sensation of being watched. That very feeling prompted the hair on the back of his neck to raise. Tobias was close, he had to be and yet the Leopard was waiting. Waiting for what. Azrael staunchly refused to turn around. The Hunter was unwilling to give the Leopard the satisfaction of knowing he'd...unnerved him. Was Tetradore here too? No, he could only sense one of them. That much he was sure off.

Movement within his peripheral vision saw his head snap abruptly sideways to peer through those trees. Raven would be...displeased if he killed her husband. Non lethal force was far more suitable and yet rather less....effective. Azrael's golden gaze continued to survey those trees, the man near certain he had seen a flash of a spotted hide amongst the green and yet he was hardly sure. That cabin had to be close now. His hands were jammed firmly within his pockets, the man continuing several more steps up that path before the distinct sound of paws racing towards him prompted the hunter to launch sideways just in time to avoid that Leopard lunge. Azrael pivoted in place in an effort to keep his eye on the big cat, Tobias having already turned before lunging back towards him. Azrael, again forced to dode sideways.

"Fuck off, Tobias!"

A deep, rumbling growl seemed to echo from within the trees. Azrael readily reached to summon that light shield around him. Tobias had been given every chance to strike him. The Leopard was....missing him on purpose. Toying with him. Oh how fucking annoying. Another growl rumbled from his left, or perhaps his right, Azrael turning in place again before the Hunter launched himself upwards and into the branches of the nearest tree in an effort to get himself away from the ground and to better eye the foliage below. The Hunter realized far too late that he had been treed. Where was Tobias? Where the hell had the trail gone? Was he even near this stupid cabin Raven was supposedly staying in? Axrael reached readily into his pocket then, the man pulling the phone from within before dialing Raven's number (all from the safety of his tree). Raven, thankfully, answering after several rings.

"Your fucking husband is circling around me like a bloody shark. Will you come out here and fucking get him please. I can;t see him but I know he's here. Im up a damn tree. No, I don't know which tree! Will you just come and find me!"

He wasn't stuck, he was certain. He could get down any time he liked. Maybe.

Azrael