Valerie had gone to bed the previous night shortly after issuing orders to the others in regards to guards and making sure no one left alone anymore that day, especially with other hunters prowling the area. She had changed though she hadn't slept much that night, having stayed up reading with the lamp on next to her even though she didn't need it to know the words her fingers touched. She'd fallen asleep sitting up though the opening of the door downstairs woke her from the light and fitful slumber she had drifted into and she shot out of bed, her slim hand grabbing the dagger she kept next to her when her mate wasn't there and stepped silently to the door. She pressed her ear against it first, listening to see if anyone was coming toward her though she heard nothing but the voices of Markus and Marrec downstairs. Forgetting the dagger was in her hand she flung open the door and stumbled down the stairs, losing both of her slippers in the process and nearly falling once. The steel blade slipped from her grasp as she clutched to railing then though she made it down without stepping on it or hurting herself this time. 

[color=ec008c]"Markus!"[/color]

There was a lightness in her voice as she spoke, walking through the hallway and door until she was smelled it - Death. There were dead wolves here. She froze in the doorway, her long pink hair falling around her in tangle tendrils passed her shoulders, light against the dark fabric of the shirt she wore over a pair of plaid pajama pants. She was bare foot and the relaxed smile on her face had vanished when she'd scented the blood and death that permeated the air around her. She hated it enough that it made her want to vomit though even more than that she wanted to find whoever had done this and destroy every part of their being. Above all else she wanted to cry. She could feel the sting of tears in the back of her eyes but she didn't allow them to leave, not one would fall from her eyes until this was over with and she could mourn their deaths in peace, without the presence of hunters around the house. Her gaze fell as her shoulders tensed, her hands curling at her sides while she sucked in a deep, ragged breath and forced away the sadness that would show in her eyes now for a very long time. 

The Lupa had always been a woman to feel more profoundly than many of their kin, her humanity it such well kept form that she felt the deaths as if they were a park of her soul being torn from her again. Pieces and places that could never truly be replaced for her. No matter how often someone died it was always like this, but the tang of fury in the back of her throat was something only a Hunter could give her. She opened her mouth, floundering for the proper words though she had never been good at this when she needed to be, never right away. She drew in another breath and stepped toward the bodies, kneeling next to them to brush her hand along their flanks and adjust them so they looked as if they were sleeping, friendlier to wake up to no doubt but these deaths would ripple through the pack without question and she knew her pack would call for blood in return and few would stop before getting it. She stood then, using the back of her hand to push the tears from her face while she set her jaw and went to find her mate by the basement door.