Dances with Wolves (Azraeth)

[Prudence]

The brown and white snake slithered under fallen logs, across dried, crispy frozen grass as it made its way through the thick forest. Its pattern changed when the need arose, when the snake's eyes caught color variations that indicated there was a heat source, larger than it ahead. The snake moved quickly, mostly due to the cold and because of the mission it was on.

Flowers were needed. Specific ones. Ones that were hard to find. Rare because of the time of year and just flat out rare. The snake weaved left, would inch its way around things, constrict any small animals that were in its way (only to leave small field mice and rabbits dead) before it came to a small covert of grass that contained a couple of the much needed heart shaped flower.

It stilled as it approached them, its head weaving and bobbing, as if inspecting them. From an outsiders perspective, the snake was acting particular for a creature of its kind. No ordinary snake would care about a flower. Flowers, even as beautiful as this one served no real purpose for a snake. Yet, it seemed fascinated by them. Even entranced.

As it rose off the ground, really inspecting the couple of bluehearts it came across, the allusion of the snake was dropped. As it increased with height, the snake started to transform and shed its scales. Close eyes were shifted apart to allow a nose to grow, and a tail was replaced by two legs and the same number of feet. Hands were formed from somewhere near the upper half of the snake's long body, and before one knew it, a woman, very naked at that appeared.

With the confirmation of the shape of the flower, the snake had no need to pretend to be what it was anymore. While snakes could not see in the dark, they could 'see' infrared radiation and outlines of things as they moved. Prudence had to rely on those senses to get her where she needed to be without alerting the fae she was in their territory.

The plan was simple, or so Prudence had thought when she devised it. Shift into a snake, find the flowers she needed, shift into her human form, pick them and celerity out of the woods. The most time consuming part of the night would be traveling as a snake.

The redhead crouched down to pluck the flowers from the ground without any thought or concern for the possibility of people being around. Why would she have any? It was unlikely anyone was out here, because the hunting season was ending and it was getting cold (thank god she didn't feel the cold anymore). There was a howl, somewhere in the distance, but nothing Prudence really took notice of. Wolves in the woods weren't an uncommon thing. But as she swiped those two flowers up, the moon happened to provide her with just the right light source.

A glint of metal caught her eyes. On the ground. She knew what it was. Prudence didn't have to move from her spot to investigate it. She had made a few of them herself. Bear trap. Again, nothing uncommon in Harper Rock woods. To see a trap anywhere, really. Even in the most public of places. She wondered if people were starting to think terrorists or some radical groups were trying to take over or make a statement from all the random trap placements from their kind.

She moved to pick the trap up, undetermined if she was going to keep it and re-use it, or sell it. But passing up a trap that didn't cost her anything but a few seconds of time was too good to pass up. Another howl was heard as Prudence tossed the trap over one of her naked shoulders. Only this howl was different. And this howl was closer.

[Azraeth]

The white serpent moved across the contrasting charcoal grey of his suit, coiled as it was around his arm; it looked like it could have been a fashion accessory. Her name was Magog and her eyes were red pinpricks that disliked any light brighter than a candle’s flame. Her tongue would occasionally flick from her mouth so that she could scent the air; the only real indication that she was alive. It made a strange kind of sense that Azraeth’s closest companion was a death adder. He was in the wilderness searching for plants that could be used for the rituals he and a few of the other Worthingtons had agreed upon needed to be on hand at almost all times.

A dangerous game. He hoped if he saw any fae coming, he could just teleport to safety, but for blending purposes, he wore a white stag’s mask, with a pair of branching horns that rose above his head. It was delicate, like porcelain, but unblemished, and it fixed to his head by a pair of straps. It was just after the new moon; the best time for him to hunt, because it was the furthest from when his powers were sapped from him. His eyes nearly gave off their own glow from behind his mask, though that was not so much due to any supernatural effect as because they were unnatural bright; an ethereal ocean.

He came to a dead halt.

They were far enough away from the city that the only real illumination was the tapestry of night above, the glittering stars. He had a slightly unfair advantage with those reptilian eyes of his, and their ability to perceive things that a human’s could not. He saw her standing there in the forest, with pale flesh. Nude, she was Artemis on the hunt. It was Prudence. He hadn’t seen her in quite some time, though Cherrywhip had made it very clear shortly before Superbia had gone to the Fade Lands that there was…something there. Anger. Maybe hatred. Funny how that was one of the memories vivid to Az’s mind, and yet he couldn’t have told you how he died. Again.

When he had returned, Prudence had used CrowNet to PM him, and he had been too much of a coward to respond. She had haunted his mind though.

Instinct told him that he should turn on his heel and leave.

She was exactly as he remembered, though and he could not turn away from her. Not in person. He was about to take a step forward when he heard a howl. The creature lumbered towards them with the shrieking rage of a beast that refused to be tamed. He acted without thinking. He was not normally a violent man, well. Not when it came to anything other than his food. But there were some people in his life who had the ability to make him forget that with the immediacy of their need. Nikolae was one of them, his childer as well. Prudence had moved into that category at some point in the past, when Az hadn’t realized it.

The darkness formed spikes and all of them drove through the body of that wolf as it raced towards Prudence. All at once. It was mid-leap when phantom edges ripped through fur and flesh. There was a yelp, and then the darkness dissipated to leave a cooling corpse on the ground with Azraeth’s hand outstretched in protest to the attack.

“It’s not safe to be out here alone.” He finally observed in that soft tone of his.

[Prudence]

There were only a couple options that the redhead believed she had as beady red eyes focused on her from the cover of darkness from both the night sky and the density of the woods. Shift back into a snake; which seemed unfavorable because the wolf might decide to make the snake dinner, or fight the creature with bare hands and abilities. That seemed to be the best answer that popped into her mind. Running from something wasn't ever really an option for Prudence. Not in the physical sense at least. She had, more or less, ran from something many, many months ago, though she wouldn't have been able to tell you about that time. It had been wiped clean from her memories; from the name to every occurrence that transpired between her and the woman known as Bia.

Yet, there were small signs of the woman's presence in Prudence's life. Journal entries that didn't make a lick of sense. A gold bee shaped charm that rested on a dressers surface and the occasional mention of her name. Bee, Bia, or Soup. Yet, not many could tell Prudence anything more than that. Just her name, a confirmation that she existed and a wild story that didn't exist for Prudence. Yet, CC spoke about it all as if it had just happened yesterday and that Prudence should remember it. How could she not if some of the things CC said were true?

Her bare feet remained firm on the soil of the earth's surface as the wolf came charging at her. It was large, but she had seen larger before as she slithered around the woods looking for ingredients before. Slowly, Prudence removed the trap she placed on her shoulders, let it hit the ground next to her, as she started to hunker down in preparation for the assault that was about to happen. As for the masked individual that stumbled upon her, they either went ignored or the redhead didn't know they existed yet.

Just as the wolf took a running leap through the sky and at its target, Prudence felt the wind behind her, and around her shift. It became fast, even colder, as the darkness was distorted around her, inky tendrils moving around her and skewering the wolf. It wasn't a fair fight, not that Prudence expected the fight between her and the wolf to be one anyways, but there was a small problem. She hadn't done that.

Which meant she wasn't alone. The thought validated when someone spoke, behind her, heeding her to pay caution to her current situation. To what some might assume to be carelessness. Perhaps, in some aspects she was careless. Perhaps they were right about their observation. Prudence turned to the voice, just partially before talking, noticing the rise in his hand. He had been the source of the shadows; her momentary savior even.

"Neither is the city." She turned the rest of the way, arms crossed at her chest as Prudence pointed out a simple truth. "But we still live there." The woman bent down at her waist, snatched the trap up and then cursed softly as she realized that the flowers she spent all this time collecting were now smashed and more than likely impossible to use for a ritual. She sighed and let them drop to the ground, blue flicks of what were once petals lost to the wind current. "But, thanks." Prudence added in, her eyes on the mask. She wanted to ask him why the hell he was dressed like that, but bit her tongue as she decided against it. The **** some vampires did these nights just didn't surprise her anymore, so she swallowed the thought away.

But what drew her attention in the most, outside of the masked man was the snake he possessed. It was a magnificent creature, though there might have been a slight blessedness to her thoughts. No, she didn't know what type of snake it was, but it was the detailing to the snake that kept Prudence's gaze on it. Was it born like that, or was it the breed itself? A white snake was an unusual phenomenon in her mind. "Cool snake." It was the first thing that popped into her mind, and being who Prudence was, the words just came spilling out. She was the sort to let you know what was on her mind, even if you didn't always want to know or cared to know. Some described her as genuine.

"So, uh, the cold kinda doesn't really affect us anymore, but it's just a little weird standing here, naked, with a masked man on a cold night." Prudence admitted with a small laugh. Actually, it sounded like some weird scary, slutty movie that she occasionally, accidentally stumbled on Netflix for a couple minutes before the woman rolled her eyes and found something else to watch. She certainly wasn't a shy sorts, the body always being an impressive creation of whatever. God, science, it didn't matter to her. "I'm Prudence. Are ya lost?" She offered her name, deciding that a name exchange would probably provide the situation with a little less awkwardness, not that he had given any inclination that he was uncomfortable in any way. Fingers moved to her slightly curly, red strands as Prudence tucked some loose ones behind her ear as she waited to hear who he was, or at the very least, why he was out here.

[Azraeth]

She turned to him.

“You’re as beautiful as the day we parted paths.” The words came unbidden, and went without explanation. There was some kind of pressure behind Az’s cheeks that forced him to grit his teeth. He was normally so…composed. Every word he said was carefully laid, like mortar and brick to pave something beautiful. He had, at one point, spoken for the Worthington, back when there had been a council. Years before, but that had been due in large part to his gift for knowing what to say, and when to say it. He was a mediator by trade, an advocate for the betterment of their species on the whole, and a man that was used to carefully balancing his personal views.

But it was true. And it had very little to do with her physical appearance, though he found her attractive on a primary level as well – it had more to do with the frank way she spoke, and the charm to her honesty. That had always been a big part of the woman’s appeal to him, because she mirrored him in a lot of ways. Similar world views, but opposite when one looked closely. She said, without fear or hesitation, the things that he felt. It had been that way for nearly so long as he had known her. And he missed her right then. With every part of him, he missed Prudence. He supposed it was like the ache of a phantom limb.

“I apologize, that was brash of me. Your welcome, though. I wasn’t about to let that wolf come charging at you all…claws and such.” Lame. Why did he sound so lame? He cleared his throat then and his hand lifted so that fingertips could move over the smooth surface of his mask. He had forgotten he’d been wearing it, but he pulled it away from his face to reveal the flesh underneath. Not that it really mattered other than in a nominal way. Prudence had no frame of reference for who he was. The cool object was held in one hand, his arm limp at his side. He was about to tell her that he was Superbia, or that he had been. But something seemed strangely just a little out of place.

He didn’t catch it immediately. Prudence had met Magog before hadn’t she? The serpent had been Az’s constant companion for years. And the albino death adder was distinct, certainly rare with its blood eyes and scales that made it look like a ghost.

His gaze narrowed.

“Quite right.” He laughed too, because it seemed silly when viewed objectively. His back turned finally, as if he were trying to save her modesty far too late. “Though again, it’s not entirely out of place considering where we live.” Azraeth was not adverse to nudity – in fact, he performed man of his rituals without any clothes on. He wore suits often, always had, and people tended to take that to mean he was rigid. There were even rumours that said he got angry when someone mussed up his clothing. On the contrary, he just liked to look presentable in the manner he had been taught growing up. Azariel dressed much the same at times. Monochrome. Without flare or colour or design. In truth, Az was very comfortable in his own skin, at least when it came to that sort of thing, and sometimes forgot that others were not.

There was a rustle of branches, the whistle of something dancing through the trees, and Raeth’s jaw tightened with apprehension. He wasn’t fond of that sound, not the spectral tintinnabulation of nature’s earth cast bells. Were they alone in the dark? “Not lost, I am out here looking for scarlet ammannia. I’ve been wanting to generate some homebound for my two new childer.” He explained. He almost side-stepped the implied question about his name entirely.

“I’m Azraeth, you would know me better as Superbia.”

[Prudence]

When he spoke, all Prudence could do was listen. The tall, redhead trying to recognize the pitch and tone in his voice to determine who was in the woods with her. He acted like he know who she was, from the second he talked. But as he continued to talk, Prudence could say with the utmost certainty that she didn't know the man behind the mask.

The mask was pulled away, and what she suspected to be as truth, was validated when the male's facial features were revealed. Prudence had neither seen or spoken to the guy. “That's a line I've not heard before.” The redhead laughed, but it wasn't necessarily a laugh directed at him. Just how strange the situation was. A case of mistaken identity, surely.

He turned from her not long after apologizing for his words, the vampire killer assuming he was beginning to realize that he had pegged her as the wrong girl, or that her naked form was finally starting to make him uncomfortable. Embarrassed even. Prudence's arms went to cross over her chest, as if to make her appearance more acceptable to the unidentified male before he explained why he was here.

She was about to tell him that she had seen a couple, but they were long gone due to the encounter with the wolf a few seconds ago, but was cut off as he offered his name. She knew the name. She had contacted him from the Crownet. She hadn't gotten a reply from Azraeth, which hadn't really bothered her any. She wasn't everyone's favorite person. Most the city couldn't even tolerate her for a few reasons, which was fine by her. Maybe, deep down, her crass nature, was a defense mechanism she had put up for a couple reasons she kept to herself. Azraeth, she also knew was Azariel's twin. Azariel had told her that a couple months ago. Which was sort of weird that Azraeth was only making an appearance now, if she thought about it.

Only, she didn't think about these things. Because Azraeth followed up with something that threw the woman off kilter and derailed her entire thought process. An admission that she almost laughed off, because it just couldn't be true. Prudence would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if Azraeth, the twin of Azariel was Superbia; better known as Bia. She should have known that, right? Only, she didn't.

It didn't matter, if they were one of the same. The woman told herself as the air between them grew heavier, and silent. While her head said one thing, and fought against the confession the male admitted, something else within the woman was happening. Something was stirring within her. “When?” Prudence asked, trying to gather the details she had been searching for, for the better part of a year? Had it been that long? “When did you come back?” That had to be the only explanation. Superbia had left the city to do whatever and whatever that was had kept her away. That's why no one had seen or heard from her. Why Prudence stopped writing about her, and why Prudence could never find the woman. She often felt as if she were chasing a ghost of a dream with all the empty answers she came up with. An Enigma. But Prudence knew that wasn't true either. Deep down, she knew Superbia hadn't left, but she did know one thing. That Superbia was a woman; CC told her that much. Kennedy had even suggested it in the way she spoke. But here she, no, he, was before her, and if what he was saying was to be taken at face value. Superbia had died. She had died and Prudence hadn't even known it and somewhere in the middle of the personal belief that Superbia had done to her what many others had, Prudence had pushed whatever she knew about Superbia and anything they accomplished on multiple levels, aside when she wiped the woman out of her mind in the span of a few nights. The Enigma was created on both their ends, by choice, or by circumstance.

Even though she asked the question, Prudence realized she didn't care when Superbia-no, Azraeth came back. “Who? What? What happened?” Did she even care about those answers? Part of her said yes, but most of her said something else entirely. A rush of various emotions came over her as she looked at the back of the male's suit coat, waiting for the answers that probably at least half a dozen people had asked him before she encountered him. Dozens, no hundreds of emotions washed over Prudence; from a feeling of excitement that fluttered through her, to having finally found the one person who could answer all her questions, to hesitation, fear that turned to anger, and finally, a deep underlying sensation of sorrow that chilled her to the very core of her being. Why? Why, was she experiencing all these feelings at this single admission?

Had all these things she felt, riddled her face as Prudence experienced them, daring to expose her innermost thoughts if he looked at her again? She wasn't sure, but Prudence's face blanked instantly at the possibility. If she didn't understand why she found herself in the middle of the woods, desiring to both hug and slap the man in front of her, he shouldn't get to know these things. Not in her mind. “I came from that way. There's nothing growing in that direction.” Prudence changed the subject, as she swallowed down the emotional roller coaster of a ride she was on, a single hand pointing from where she had come slithering from.

[Azraeth]

He felt guilty.

There was this assumption that if someone was generous by nature, if they were kind and giving, they must feel guilt. He had encountered any number of people like that, good people who had been turned into vampires and had been consumed by the weight of the darkness they could not endure. Some of them had lost their minds. Others had faded into nothing, and maybe there was a certain bliss to that – finding oblivion and freedom from the hunger. Az was not one of those. He rarely felt bad about things he did, because when he acted, he did so out of love. And he did not believe in regretting things done for the sake of that particular emotion, no matter how seemingly cruel they could be.

That occasionally meant he was a bad person.

He felt guilty because he had returned and not immediately sought her out. There had been excuses, like the obvious difference in gender. While it really only mattered on a surface level, he had played it up in his mind. But he struggled with feelings, with expressing them. On some level, they scared him.

“Just a short time ago. I found my way out of the realm, and…” He had turned two people shortly after. He had gone back to his life? He had just continued to exist? Those were all somewhat accurate, but the truth of the matter was that he had been trying to learn who he was again. “…Anyway, I got back not all that long ago.” He finished lamely, his hands slipping together. They were cold, and dry, so when he fidgeted – the experience was less than pleasant.

He breathed slowly, his gaze turned away from her. Funny that he had been wearing a porcelain mask before, because his own features were just like that. He had trained himself from a time shortly after having been turned to just turn off his visible display of emotions. He had watched blankly as men had been slaughtered and people had wept. Never cruel, not really, he had offered strength in the form of his objectivity and the steel of his own resolve. But he had very little strength when it came to himself; and only seemed to find the power of will when it came to other people.

Maybe he really was a coward.

Whatever the case, he had turned away in part to let a shadow cast itself over his features, so that Prudence didn’t see the way that different thoughts danced across the plane of his lips and the depth of those eyes.

“I don’t remember. The last thing I recall is us going after some paladins to save some of the girls, and after that, my memory gets really fuzzy. I remember the darkness for as long as I can remember? I remember wandering through the land of darkness alone, and it was like each day was as the last. I remember an infinite stretch of nothing.” He stopped, because it was hard to explain, and he was not doing himself any favors.

In the distance, there was another rustling of tree branches and that same whistle of a sound. It was growing closer, and Az’s lips drew into a thin line before he turned his face back. He looked towards the woman with those eyes that could never have been human, with an expression that was painfully so. He had never been able to put into words how he felt about her, but from the moment they had met, there had been something special there. Having her back, seeing her. He needed her in his life in the way that a fish needed the water. It was something he didn’t have to name or enumerate or classify – she was, for better or worse, part of him. Part of the world that he loved.

“I’m sorry. I should have looked for you sooner. I understand if you’re angry at me. I..it was wrong of me.” But he didn’t have much of a chance to say more, because the moment he spoke, there was a figure that burst through the line of trees around them. Azraeth had summoned one of those creatures before, a demon of air and sound. It seemed the fae had found the pair of unnatural creatures in their home, and sought to reject them in the way that antibodies rejected foreign material in the body.

[Prudence]

He began talking, but as he did, Prudence was once again confused. He talked about things, as if he expected her to know. "Girls? What girls?" She asked, confusion evident in her voice. Her girls? Her mini's? No, Prudence would remember if any of her mini's had been in trouble with Paladins. So what girls? Her list of friends and girl-friends was short. Very short. Any she had made were dead, or pissed off somewhere. Maybe the shadow realm, maybe another city, or even another country. He must have been talking about his girls; his progeny. Everyone seemed to call them something different, Prudence included.

There was a noise. She had heard it before, but didn't make any notion of acknowledging it. It was the woods, there were creatures in it, so to Prudence, noises were to be expected. This time it seemed closer and the fact that it was the same had her attention. She heard the remainder of the words, his apology, but her attention was focused on what the source of the noise was. "Shhh." Prudence said, disregarding anymore of his words past the apology, if there were any.

Then she saw it. What she could. They were too fast to actually see them. By the time you saw any distinguishable characteristics, it was usually too late. They were in your face, trying to rip it off. They shouldn't have stayed. They shouldn't have even talked. Prudence should have went on her own way and let the male be. Her greed had gotten them in this predicament.

She felt the fae creature wiz by her, barely missing her, as it moved past the tree she stood by, the branches whipping backwards as it ran through them. A branch smacked her across her naked shoulder, the slap of her skin echoing in the woods as the creature moved for the other potential target. For Azraeth. It was as if Prudence didn't exist. The slap hadn't even caused its attention to waver. Why was it targeting Azraeth? Was it the snake? The mask or something else? Maybe they were the weaker of the two. He did say he had just gotten back not long ago. It was possible he wasn't up to his usual self.

It didn't matter, because Prudence reacted before the thing got too close to the male. She had no weapons, that much was obvious. Not any that would matter. Her animalistic claws wouldn't do her any good, because getting close to the thing was near to impossible. An arm flies out into the night in Azraeth's direction, though that isn't the redhead's intended target. The hand to the arm that appeared to lash out for no reason, arches, fingers bent at the knuckles as Prudence conjures up whatever bugs that aren't currently hibernating out of their earthy homes. Tiny, black snow fleas come jumping across the white glistening snow, long legged crane flies approach as if they'd always been there, and as soon as her fingers point in the direction of the fae creature that was charging for Azraeth, they appear to know what to do. A tide of black surges towards the creature and over it, not doing any real damage, but providing a necessary distraction for the male to escape by whatever means possible. Even if all he could do was run, it would buy him more time as the bugs did Prudence's dirty work for her. The creature screeches and comes to a halt, as it swipes at the bugs that did nothing more than annoy the beast.

“Go” Her hand drops as she screams that single word at Azreath, letting the insects do as they wanted from this point onward. She trusts and hopes that he knows how to get out of the woods, because she takes off in the opposite direction, knowing that at some point the bug distraction would end and the fae's attention would more than likely be turned on the source that disrupted whatever it was going to do to Azraeth. She was built to take hits, but not everyone else was. And not knowing if he was capable of taking them and healing quicker, Prudence opted to make herself the brand new target, while he got away.

Dice rolls as follows:

Prudence Other None Luck Avoid getting wounded by the fae Succeeded


Prudence Other None Luck insects hit fae creature Succeeded

[Azraeth]

There was something not quite right there, the confusion in Prudence’s voice, but then Az had put that together already. He hadn’t quite his finger on exactly what the issue was, but it obviously had something to do with the woman’s memory. Not that he was much better in that area. The two of them, it seemed, were a lot like two blocks of swiss cheese that were at the beginning stages of being melted together. Maybe eventually the gaps would be filled, but Az found himself going quiet when Pru silenced him. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t have done it in that situation without good reason – whether because there was something going on in the physical world around them or…something else more personal than all that.

It did not take long at all though for the exact nature of the problem to make itself known. Az had never really had a good relationship with the Fae. There were times that he could have sworn that he saw them out of the corner of his eye, or just outside of his reach. He occasionally thought he was mad for it, but that was a theme in his life.

The creature came flying towards Azraeth, after rushing past Prudence, and the ritualist had to wonder if there was a reason for that. Maybe he had trapped one of its kin in a circle. Was that even how it worked? The connection between Fae and demi-fae? Whatever the case, they were all beings of a spiritual nature, reflecting two sides of a coin. Vampires were beings of the shadow that came from a place of darkness and madness, whose true nature was revealed in the black lands. The fae were monsters of the earth, who had watched it grow and ripen for longer than any man would likely ever know.

But vampires had once been human. They inherently had the ability to understand the complexity of mortal emotion. Did the Fae even know what the fear of death was like?

Az had many questions about them, but it wasn’t exactly like he had the ability to sit one down and have a chat. He had much the same thought as Prudence, but where she cast her will over a myriad of little insects, Azraeth reached deep into the dark so that he could draw to himself another monster that could be caged to his will. From the shadow he cast, it rose quickly. It was enormous, a hulking figure that eclipsed him in size, but that was the point. He wanted to offer up a more enticing target. What had that joke been? He made for a good camping companion because he couldn’t run for **** – and in the event of a bear attack, for some reason that was a good thing.

Raeth couldn’t quite remember what it had been, but the gist was that he’d be left for bear food.

So by the time Prudence was telling him to flee the area, he was already moving. He initially intended dash after her, but she seemed to be quicker on foot than he was (it seemed things had not changed all that much in that particular department). So instead, he reached out towards her as if he were looking to stretch his arm out across the gap between them and grab her shoulder or her hand.

Suddenly, they were no longer in the forest at all, but instead standing in the alleyway between Wickbridge and a building to the east. Beta apartments was another short distance down, and Azraeth had a place there. He originally intended to invoke the incantation on his tome to draw him right back to his apartment, but he would have felt like a total *** if he’d just left her in the wilderness.

The only problem was one of them was stark naked, standing in an alleyway.

****.

“Uh...” He began, and then immediately pulled his coat off so that he could offer it over to her. The look on his face was a little on the apologetic side. A little. He had acted hastily to try and save them both from getting attacked.

[Prudence]

Her shoulder was grabbed and the first instinct was to fight against it. An elbow went up into the air at precisely the same second she was teleported. Prudence had never been teleported, or teleported anyone else, so she wasn't quite sure what was going on and who had been behind her change of location. Her elbow went upwards in an attempt to connect with something, but landed shy of a target; which would have been Azraeth, had she been successful.

The redhead swayed a little, trying to get her bearings on the first time experience of being teleported half way across the city, unprepared. "Woah." She said with a laugh, then remembered one little thing. She was naked. In the city. In the woods? Not that big of a deal. Especially when you thought you were alone. The city was just a little different. She would definitely draw some unwarranted attention to herself.

Azraeth spoke again and Prudence's eyes moved from the buildings that surrounded them, to the male besides her. Blue pupils looked at the offered coat, and she couldn't help but smile. Twice now, in the span of a month, a coat had been offered to her. Not that Prudence made a habit of prancing around the city like this, but the fact it had happened twice now made her smile. "Oh. Yeah." Prudence reached for the coat, with the smile still on her face. She really shouldn't be smiling because if anyone came around the corner, there wouldn't be a reason to smile. Yet, she couldn't help it. Fingers grabbed the coat by its neck before the woman spoke again. "Thanks." There was no attitude given to the male, no attempt to show how displeased she was at the offer of the coat; not like when Levi had done it. But then again, Prudence didn't really know anything about Azraeth; unlike Levi who could be summed up in a few words. 'A dick who's an asshole.' Unfortunately, he was her dick that was an asshole being CC sired the guy for whatever reason.

As three fingers gripped the coat, two others, for the briefest of moments rested against Azraeth's hand that held the coat. It wasn't intentional, but the instant they bumped into the other, Prudence had a difficult time removing them as easily as they had met. It took a great amount of willpower, because when they connected, the feelings that popped up when he admitted he had been Bia returned again. "Sorry." She breathed as the last of her fingers, the pinky, slid from top of his hand to fully collect the coat. "I'll uhhh, find a way to get this back to ya."

The tall female swallowed down the fleeting, irrational thoughts of joy, affection, doubt, distress and rejection as she slipped the coat on. She had an underlying drive to ask questions about Bia, but didn't think it was the time or place. Not in an alley, not while she was half naked and not after they had just escaped a possible **** storm. It would be selfish, wouldn't it?

The girls. Prudence never got an answer about the girls because of the fae, but now that she wasn't focused on just him, or the idea of Bia, she hadn't forgotten. "Are your girls okay?" A hand moved behind her head, under her red locks and tugged them free from the weight of the coat that she had put on, allowing them to rest on the coat instead of under. "Ya know, I can fight pretty decent. If you know where they are-" She trailed off, her offer not yet complete, as Prudence's attention shifted to a sound of a cough further down the alleyway. The source was not yet identified, but none the less, they were not alone. "I should probably go get some clothes on." She changed the subject with a small laugh, finally realizing what district they were in now that her attention wasn't focused on just Azraeth. The source of the cough was identified when an older male, maybe in his sixties, with a small metal shopping cart with grocery items in it, came into view. "And get off the streets. So, just send me an email on where I can meet up with ya at to get this back to ya. Until then, I'll take care of it. Promise." Prudence returned her line of vision to Azraeth as she took a few steps backwards, only to realize she was going the wrong way. A palm went to her forehead as she laughed, then walked back in the direction she came from, and past Azraeth. "I live this way." She commented to no one in particular as she passed him and set off in the right direction.

[Azraeth]

When she smiled, he saw stars.

It was this infectious thing, she did. Had always had that power over him, which said a lot because Az had always been a serious boy. As Superbia, he had been doubly so, aloof and yet paradoxically connected to those around him. Or her. When Az had become Superbia, it had not been a conscious choice, no. He had given himself fully and completely over to the new personality derived from flesh and his own spirit. Superbia had been without a name, but the Crow had known, had looked deep into that being and plucked the new awareness out of whatever Aether it had been in before. The past was a long and complicated road.

But things were never really complicated with Prudence. Without ever really exploring their feelings for each other, things had always been easiest for Raeth when he was nearest to her. Many people knew Az to be a generous soul and his rejection of the vampiric political system was one of the traits almost everyone that knew him understood about his personality. What most people did not know was that he marked Prudence as the reason he loved the Worthington. He had always been willing to give of himself, but it was Pru who had given him the strength to shun that business-minded aspect of his personality that always demanded something in return.

Because he knew Pru. He knew that she would have given up nearly anything to protect her own, and Az had fallen in love with that devotion. He had aspired to make himself more like that.

Which was probably why she always had the impact on him that she did. There were few people in the world who could have said they took Az, and they made him a better person for knowing him. Nikolae was one of them. Prudence was another – and not even Azariel really fell into that category.

When he saw her smile, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling too.

“Sorry about that, I probably should have given a little bit of warning. And it’s not a problem, really.” He insisted as she took the coat. He felt her touch him, and it would have been cliché to say there was electricity there, but there was certainly a spark of something. Azraeth had never put much stock in the flesh. The body was little more to him than the physical matter that housed the mind and spirit of a person. People were not the crude stinking things that they wore, there was so much more to each and every one of them. It always felt to him like there was this vulnerability in the armor of his personal defense when it came to her. Like she could peer in and see exactly what he was.

Did she see a dragon when she looked at him?

He pushed those thoughts aside because they seemed almost silly to him. Like some kind of child’s delirious, crush-stricken babbling.

He was about to ask what girls, when it struck him that she was referring to the Daughters of Destiny. Had Prudence left? He wouldn’t have blamed her. Superbia had been one of the ones to put it together, and though the position of Mother could have been filled by any of them with the heart for it, Bia had been the one to initiate it. “That’s a good question. How are DD and CC? Have you spoken to Aly lately? I talked to Charlotte recently, and she seemed pretty well. I believe Kira was interested in the Daughters, but I never really got a chance to speak with her.” He commented. It would have been inappropriate for him to claim those old ties now wouldn’t have it been? He was no longer really a ‘daughter’ of any kind.

“Er. You’re right. We should get you off the streets.” And she was walking away. She started the wrong way, and Az wanted to follow after her. Was that…acceptable? Was that something she would have allowed? Why wasn’t there a guide book to this sort of thing? After a moment of hesitation, he licked over his lips and then took a step after her. “I would love to escort you home. I mean if you don’t mind. We haven’t really caught up all that much. I’m sure you have questions and I know I do.” Was she still seeing Cliff? No. He was not going to lead right out of the gate with that one.