I had recently obtained my rank of Raptor within the pack, so things were just started to headed in the right direction. Things between Astaroth and I were still....confusing, but not as confusing as they had been. Life in Iromar was starting to make sense, to calm down. Aithne and I had brought Samael, and that seemed to lift everyone's spirits. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of my brother in a while, which could be considered a good or bad thing. So I guess you could say things were going well for me. Atleast they were......

Something just felt wrong when I exited the den, Astaroth had gone missing and I can only assume it was for his rank. Yet when I looked up to the sky, I saw a murder of crows circling, like they did over dead things. While it wasn't an unusual thing to see over Iromar, they just seemed......different. The whole foggy air had an eerie feel today, even more so than the usual feel. It put me on edge, and something inside me wanted, no, needed to find Astaroth, to be near him incase something really was wrong. So I quickly took off, following the scent trail he had left behind this day.

As I moved, nearing Astaroth with each step, I heard the most heart breaking howl, immediately recognizing who it belonged to: my Astaroth. I froze, in pure shock. When I finally broke it, I sprinted towards him, I just needed to get there. My mind, it raced with so many questions and my soul screamed at me to find him, to make sure everything was okay. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to him.

I burst into the area he had once been, my body slamming on the breaks as the smell of death and blood infiltrated my nose. My wide, silver eyes looked down, to see the remains of a wolf: the demon queen Lillith, Astaroth's mother. There were so many scents, it was hard to even place a picture together of what had happened. My stomach twisted, threatening to spill my lunch at the sight. But I don't. I try to put this out of my mind and remember Astaroth. I could feel the pain, saddness, and rage he was going through through the connection of our souls. I knew exactly what it felt like.

I sprinted towards him again, putting what I had just seen out of my mind. As I neared him quickly, I heard snarls of anger which I knew belonged to him. I slowed down, not even feeling the slightest bit out of breathe as I entered the gruesome scene of him ripping apart a musk rat in rage. "Astaroth?" I said quietly, trying to get his attention without having his rage turn on me. I just stared at him, my heart aching as I looked at him. I knew exactly the emotions he was feeling, and I had never wanted anyone I cared for to feel this way, but here he was, loosing a mother like I had.

I slowly started moving towards him, my body low and ears flat because I didn't want his rage to be misdirected to me. I got close, so close that we were almost touching and I just looked into his mahogany eyes, letting my soul do what ever it wanted. "I know i'm not what you want me to be.......but maybe.....maybe, just for now...I can be what you need me to be," I said quietly, before burying my head into his head. I didn't know what else to do, I just wanted to wrap him up and keep him away from the world for even a short time.

I just hoped my simple touch could atleast calm him down. "I know exactly what you are feeling.....And I want you to know that I will always be there for you. You don't have to deal with this alone like I did," my voice was gentle, my touch was gentle. It was not the rough, tough touch of a demon. But maybe, just maybe, he needed a gentle touch like mine.