Ravensblood Forest suddenly he's up and gone

backdated to the morning of July 4

Illidan was gone. He hadn't expected that. And Vercingetorix was now both worried for the young man (he hadn't seemed in his right mind when he'd been challenged; he sincerely hoped the dude didn't go jump off a cliff) and fretful that he was headed to find Caiaphas. Oh, yeah, and Raleska had dipped, too, and that big gnarly-looking dude. Fucking hell.

It was probably a terrible idea to leave Rusalka in such a fragile state, but whatever, he was the alpha and *insert I DO WHAT I WANT sound byte here*. Verx began to follow the former alpha's trail that night and was doing a good job of it when he was distracted by a wayward deer, separated from its herd. He chased it for a while, into the wee hours of the morning, before it led him into a forest that he'd never seen before.

Spooky, he murmured, staring up at the sap-coated trees. They didn't smell like blood, but they looked enough as if they were bleeding to raise the hairs along his spine. Maybe it had been an awful idea to leave the sound so soon into his tenure. Maybe this was a sign.

But hard-headed Vercingetorix had never had much use for prognostication, so he wandered further into the woods, nose lifted as he searched for the doe.