When James woke up, it was barely past sunrise. In the new light he realised he had slept the entire night next to a dead wolf carcass.
"Oh," he whispered, cursing under his breath. "What is that doing there?"
"That," Azelf replied from behind him, "is the reason I told you we had to make camp before it got dark."
He smiled. "Ah... I remember when I was a young Angel, I had to fight off the wolves with nothing but a small campfire and a spear... Ah, those were the days!"
He heard Antheia giggle slightly. "Reminiscing the past, again, I see, Azelf?"
"Ah... yes."
Heather was still asleep, but James couldn't help but feel that something was... wrong.
Suddenly, Antheia made a cry.
"Valentine," she said quietly. "Valentine... he is not here..."
James whirled around quickly.
"Huh...? Oh, Valentine..." came a sleepy voice.
"Heather... Sorry to wake you up, but do you know where Valentine's gone?" There was a sudden urgency to James' voice.
"I'm sorry... no clue." Heather yawned.
"This wood is dangerous; we can't risk splitting up," said Azelf.
"And all the same, we can't leave him alone out there, wherever he may be!" Antheia cried.
"Hey... calm down, we'll find him, right?" James cut in. "I'm sure he'll be-"
There was a yelp that came from the direction of a thick wall of bush.
"VALENTINE!" Antheia screamed.
"Y-yeah?"
The boy crashed through the bushes, covered in blood. Something else, grey in colour, darted towards him with a low growling sound. Valentine spun round and stabbed something into its' chest at the speed of lighting, without a word, and the wolf fell to the ground, motionless.
Everyone just stared, alarmed, completely unaware that Valentine was capable of such violence.
"Aha..." he laughed. "I hope I didn't worry anyone... but after the little wolf attack incident last night, I sorta got lost in the woods... whoopsie..."
He looked down at himself, and at all the blood on his shirt and jeans.
"Don't worry, Mom... This... this isn't my blood..."
"L-let's get you cleaned up," Azelf stuttered.
The rest of them stayed in stunned silence.
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