@amberly
Angel shrugged at the first question.
"Never thought about it."
She narrowed her eyes for a moment.
"hobbies are a waste of time. No time for vacations, as you call them. I have no friends and never have. I travel, there is no need for a house to live in. I am alone, and have been for years."
She frowned, eyes still narrowed.

"Doesn't the sun ever rise for you?" Andrew leaned back in his chair flabbergasted that someone with such determination could be so lacking in everything else he considered life will lived. "This mission to kill must be very important to you." She couldn't bring herself to think of anything else.

What did he do with her? Lock her in the dungeon and get on with his own life? Sounded tempting, and so much less work than forcing her into a life she didn't want anyway. How do you convince a person of anything when they are like this, when they don't want anything?

Maybe you just show them things and see if anything sparks their interest? But what? He wondered.

Angel frowned at that.
"The darkness won a long time ago, as there has been no reason to be happy since..."
She trailed off. She started to stand up.

Following her lead Andrew got to his feet as well. He ignored the dishes and the food, there were much more important things to deal with than staying on top of his isolated little life.

"Darkness has not won in my life yet. If there's anything I can learn from you, it is to fight back. Between the two of us, we should be able to take out about anything. Let's go find that murderer."

He could feel himself getting excited, energy pulsing through his veins. Something he could actually get out and do. And maybe it would help Angel it off her mood to be doing something too.

@amberly
Angel sighed. She looked at him. She frowned and shook her head. She was silent for a moment or so. Then....

"....Darkness has already won in mine."

She turned and proceeded to walk away. She blinked when she heard him. She sighed again.

"...I doubt if you will be much help."
She sighed again.
"....do not get in my way."

Angel was not saying no.

Andrew would much rather be following Angel than being chased by her. That reminded him, he walked to the counter. The towel drawer slid out silently and and he lifted the top towel to reveal the bulge underneath, her weapons. He set them gingerly on the table for her to take, no contact.

He stepped away from the table, tugging on his gloves, this had seemed like a good idea a moment ago. But now that he has done it, Andrew wasn't so sure anymore. What if she decided to kill the monster inside the castle first before hunting down yet another one? He didn't let himself think any more about it, though he was ready to run out the kitchen door into the garden if necessary.

"I will try very hard to stay behind you. Please, lead the way."

@amberly
Angel blinked. She frowned and hesitantly took her weapons back. She narrowed her eyes again.

"Do not get too close to me."
She warned him in a stern tone and began to head outside.

Relief flooded over Andrew that this was actually working. He found himself smiling, really smiling. Angel was not killing him, and the real culprit was going to be found. Angel was determined, he had no doubt the murderer would be found. Not to mention the fact that angel was moving of her own volition. Even this small step seemed to be in a good direction.

"Certainly not." He promised and nodded. He stayed several steps behind her as he followed her out of the castle, closing the door behind them.

@amberly
Angel sighed and shook her head. She kept walking and was soon outside. She tried not to look at him. She glanced around at her surroundings, trying to find some sort of clue and such.

Walking among the trees Andrew avoided tree roots and twigs for the sake of searching quietly. But he was more concerned about holding low hanging branches out of the way with his gloved hands. He could end up with a scratch, the poor tree would end up with the dead weight of kindling hanging in the end of it's branch.

Andrew was well aware of what abilities someone like him would possess. He kept an eye out for anything sadly familiar. He followed Angel, as she was the one who had talked with the villagers about the murders, she had some idea of where the attacks had been. Andrew only knew it hasn't been him.

@amberly
Angel kept walking. She sighed at times. She looked around a bit. She soon saw something on the ground. She raised an eyebrow. She suddenly turned left by a dead tree and began to walk in that direction. That was when she saw the various rodents that had clearly been victims of that creature. She narrowed her eyes.

Andrew sneered at the carcasses. But then he had access to matches, perhaps this one didn't. Or perhaps this one didn't care about being as neat and tidy as he was included to be. It was too early to judge, he of all people knew better than to judge too soon.

Maybe he or she was trying to stay alive on rodents, or maybe it was shamelessly taking any life it could. They needed to find it, and stop it. If that meant another life exiled from humans, or if that meant killing it, so be it.

It.

No, him or her.

How easily Andrew could slip into that thinking. Maybe this was what Angel had meant about staying out of her way. This overthinking had him questioning his wisdom in coming.

He followed Angel, wondering how easily she would turn her weapons against him again if this encounter didn't go the way she expected. What did she expect? What she had said all along, to kill the forest beast. What did he expect? That someone was going to die.

But he had no idea who. Himself, Angel, or the stranger they hunted.

@amberly
Angel resumed walking. She looked around. The path continued onward. More and more carcasses lines the path along the way. It was not just rodents. There was a wild dog that lay by a dead tree. There were a couple of wild pigs not too far away from that spot. Dead birds were scattered about. Angel narrowed her eyes.

"Ruthless heartless monster..."she thought quietly out loud.

"Maybe." Andrew answered. Though it appeared to be mostly wildlife, he has to agree she might be right. "Looks like it might fit your 'creature of the forest' description. Are you at least going to talk to this... Creature?" He asked tugging at his glove nervously.

@amberly
Angel blinked. She glanced back and narrowed her eyes at him.
"I was not actually speaking to you."
She turned back around and kept walking ahead. She sighed and shook her head.
"Talking is not an option....beast."
She said nothing more after that. Soon enough, she saw a path of a bit of destruction along the forest/woods, indicating the creature had been around.

Beast. He wanted to correct her, but they were trying to sneak. So he stewed in angry silence.

Of course she wasn't talking to him. She probably didn't even remember his name. He'd treated her like a guest and he was nothing to her.

He was so pathetic, taking in the woman trying to kill him. Andrew turned on his heel and started walking back to his castle. He passed the dog but had not reached the dead rats before he decided his current idea was just as poor as all his other ones.

Andrew realized that if he left now, he would never know for certain if she was going to leave him alone, or if she lurked outside his castle waiting for the next chance to dispose of him.

So Andrew turned back around to follow Angel at a wide distance.

@amberly
Angel suddenly stopped. She looked towards some burnt-looking trees. She narrowed her eyes, thinking that she had heard something. She glanced back and noticed Andrew trying to turn back. She frowned.

"...coward."
She muttered to herself, unaware of him changing his mind and resuming his following her. She turned in the direction of those trees, following the sound that she thought that she had heard.

Snarling could be distinguished deeper into the trees. The shuffle of leaves as something was dragged across the ground, the grating and snapping of a dry body crumbling and breaking apart. The gurgling of water.

A form with two legs two arms and a bowed head atop hunched shoulders sat down at the edge of a small pool, but nothing else about it looked human. Long hair in many places or was it fur only torn off in places? In the gaps wide strips of skin that looked more like scales or injuries than skin. The eyes were so round it seemed they could roll out onto the ground at any moment.

This creature tossed aside what used to be a dog and sank it's legs into the water, heedless of any danger to himself. The spring gurgled, lifting fresh water into the pool, the only way this creature could get enough to stay alive. He was thirsty, always thirsty, but animals were more quenching than plants or water.

---

Andrew followed angel has quietly as he could manage. He knew they were getting closer but that they were almost upon the creature was more than he could tell from the distance between them.

@amberly
Angel kept walking. She looked around. She tried to find clues, sense signs, try to get any idea of where the creature might be. The clouds turned dark, but she did not care. The breeze that passed by felt cold, but she did not care about that either. She kept walking, kept searching. That was when she heard something else. It sounded like something hitting a tree in the distance. She narrowed her eyes.

"Something is near, or at least not too far away."

She broke into a run. She headed in that direction. When she got close enough, she would hear the gurgling of water....

Andrew pulled his arms in closer as a chill spread from within him. Angel was advancing at a run to attack. It had begun at last.

Andrew stumbled forward and hesitated. Did he run to catch up and risk ruining her advantage of surprise and face her ire? But if she attacked already it wouldn't matter. If it meant that maybe some rational discussion could come of this he certainly should interrupt. But what if it endangered her? That gave him pause for a moment.

Nope he was running in. Decision made. He would be there if she needed help. There were no reasons against running left.

Andrew lowered his arms and took off running for where he had last seen Angel.

---

The creature groped for a branch that had fallen into his spring leaning forward to stretch his long arm close enough before the water bubbled it farther away from him again.