they said fight fire with fire but i just got ash

Well. At least that utter nightmare was fucking over. The operation had hardly gone to plan and yet, he supposed, they had been successful all the same. That evidence was simply incapable of being argued, no one had died (by some miracle) and countless illegal weapons were removed from the street, or would be in the next few days. Raven, he was inclined to admit, had done better than he had anticipated. The wolf having remained calm under that pressure and, more than that, having actually proven herself useful in navigating that firefight and taking care of herself. That she might have actual use as a...partner.....of sorts, readily seemed to linger at the forefront of his mind. The heavy sigh that fell from the wolf as they rounded that corner to safety very near matched his own. Azrael, in that moment, demanding to know whether or not Raven had been shot. Adrenaline, after all, had a near incredible effect in numbing pain- at least until it stopped. If Raven had been shot she would likely feel it by now. That vest and her own ability with shadows seeming having protected her well. That shake of her head was met with a nod of his own in satisfaction at her intact state. Serafina would have fucking killed him if anything had happened to her...pet...familiar...whatever word they wanted to use.

One hand lifted lightly then, Azrael momentarily allowing his fingers to stroke the soft fur of the wolfs head and behind her ear. It was acceptable to pet a wolf wasn't it? Raven hardly seemed to mind. Besides, that fur was.....softer then he had anticipated. This, perhaps, the closest Azrael had come to allowing his guard down around a Were creature in.....more years then he could remember. Raven, perhaps, the singular Were he might yet have been willing to accept was not so terrible as the rest of her kind. At least she was useful if nothing else. It was with those very thoughts resting within his mind that Azrael offered that rarely given praise. Quiet and simple as it seemed. Such words, after all, were nearly never uttered by the irritable blond in any sense and yet Raven had earned at least something of a positive word tonight. Even if that praise earned him little more than a look of confusion.

It was, perhaps, equally as typical that chastisement should follow that praise. Azrael content to conceal his....concern for his companion with that irritation as he made some attempt to warn Raven off for ever attempting a stunt like she had at the warehouse again. Her efforts, after all, had resulted in one vampire being left alive and very nearly killing them both in some act of revenge over Raven's inability to have finished the task she had set out to do of her own accord and with apparently no regard for her own safety. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised. Women in general seemed to possess some need to ...throw themselves in the face of danger in this modern world. That abrupt snort that left the wolf at his side saw his own hand lift from her then as he frowned. Raven insisting that if the Council had acted then she would hardly have had too. Azrael, this time, offering his own soft sound of derision.

"The Council had a plan Raven. I had a plan. One I was hardly given the chance to carry out because you rushed in without talking to me. You have my number. You know where I live. Next time come and see me before you try and kill yourself over soemthing that was already being handled. You have a pack. You have a husband."

That near pointed look he offered her surely said all his words had not. She had hardly bothered to come and see him in the aftermath, to ask him if he'd planned to do anything, to see what was being done. If she had been killed he could only imagine the fallout from her pack, let alone her husband that would have landed on his doorstep. Azrael moved to rise from the floor then, the Hunter pushing himself smoothly to his feet before brushing that dust from his jeans. Great. Bloodstains. Sera was going to be mad again. That sudden query from the wolf saw the blond man pause once more as his equally golden gaze flickered back to his companion. He had ...seen the way those shadows and light seemed to combine into something.....far more powerful than either had been alone and yet, surely, it had simply been a coincidence? Azrael, perhaps, unwilling to admit that very increase in power he had witnessed. It was one thing to accept Raven as his partner but to accept her powers could combine with his own, that her.....dark magic was the same as his affinity was.....more then he was willing to bare tonight. How much he desired to say no and yet that lie, as any lie, so refused to fall from his tongue. Azrael jerking his head away as his hands tucked back into his pockets.

"I ...don't know what happened. It was probably nothing. It felt like.....nothing...maybe. Thank you for your help tonight, Raven. You should head home and don't mention anything to anyone about what happened with the powers, alright? It was nothing."

His magic was nothing like hers. He was sure of it. It couldn't be.

Azrael