One

It's a dream.

The Angel stared at the corridor in front of him. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were all dull grey coloured concrete, there was one window, and it was the one behind him. It looked out upon a bare wasteland. The only thing to see was the skeleton of a tree far away where a stag slept, head bowed as if it were dead.

He let out a shaky breath and began to walk forward. His footfalls were near silent, only a small pitter patter like the rain on your roof. He held a ball of golden light in his hand that lit the dark corridor around him, the sun scaring the shadows away. A fork in the road made him stop, his light was extinguished but his shadow still stretched in front of him yearning to join the darkness. He looked out the window beside him, the dirt land stretched out as far as he could see the plants were dry and dead and the dust was kicked up by the wind making the sky invisible and sickly yellow.

His dark gaze drifted back to the two paths, one was lit by artificial light while the other bathed in darkness that only demons could see in. The shadows reached towards him like the clawed hands of trees and skeletons, he turned his head toward the light, it seemed to shy away from him like butterflies afraid of being crushed.

A faint scream made his decision for him. His eyes widened at the familiarity of the voice and he ran. He ran into the darkness, his honey coloured skin began to glow, lighting his way and causing the scrawny demons to shy away from him. He jumped over a black slimy arm that reached towards him begging for mercy. A grunt escaped his lips as he collided with a wall at a particularly sharp turn that just so happened to be another fork in his path. The faint scream called again. Once again, he plunged into the thick inky blackness that was the demon's power.

He skidded past a demon with multiple arms all of which were trying to touch him as if touching someone of pure golden blood would relieve the pain of the poisons dripping onto its skin. The Angel sprinted down the long hall that only seemed to lengthen the closer he got to the source of the voice. He only heard his laboured breathing and rapid heart beat in his ears, the screeches and cries of the demons around him blocked out. He steadied himself against a wall, his breath came out in harsh pants as he tried to regain some air.

A cry cut into his ears. With a grunt he pushed himself off the wall and continued running in the direction of the voice. The darkness enveloped him once more, the cries of pain got closer and closer until they were so loud it became unbearable.

Tears built in his eyes, he tried to subdue them. Angels don't cry.

The corridor suddenly ended and opened into a dome, sunlight shone into the darkness from a hole in the top. It was a concentrated beam of light that shone into a raised platform where something was chained up lying on its side as still as a corpse. The darkness around it was expelled and it looked like the person was slowly evaporating, tendrils of shadow floated into the air like smoke.

The place was deafeningly silent, say for the person's heavy breathing and occasional whimper or cry of pain as a particularly large amount of shadow separated from his body.

It didn't take long for the Angel to recognize the person. He instantly made a run towards the Demon, but the demon only seemed to get further away and the screams began again. The Angel fell to his knees and covered his ears until the screams stopped. Tentatively, he stood on shaking legs and slowly walked towards the Demon who was still again. He ducked under one of the golden chains and walked around to the front. He kneeled down in front of the demon who's head hung limply.

"Malice," The Angel whispered, when he received no movement or answer he panicked. His movements became more frantic as he cupped the demon's cheeks and turned his head so they would've been looking eye to eye if the other's eyes were open, "Mal."

The demon remained still, unmoving as if time had stopped him in this state.

"MAL!"

But it seemed so real.

Valentine Black whistled to himself as he walked down the empty corridors of the school building. He slipped behind the lockers as Mr. Thickletree limped passed him, the professor was an old man in charge of making sure students didn't skip classes but Valentine didn't need him, he already had a voice in his head telling him what to do more often than not, but said voice was currently unusually silent. It was odd walking down the corridors without that velvety voice telling him to get his ass to class, seeming as his future depended on it but he was already top of his class so he didn't see the problem.

Valentine ran a hand through his dyed blue hair and sighed. He scanned the corridor and spotted an open window. With a smirk playing on his lips, he slipped through the gap between the wall and the glass. He landed on his feet with a thud. He looked up at the 1 story drop. He'd done worse, before that voice began tormenting him. It had started a decade ago, when he was seven. He started hearing that voice in his head advising him against doing dangerous things, it worked for the most part, say for the times when Valentine got fed up with it.

He was going to enjoy this time of freedom, the voice couldn't stop him now.

He was halfway down the street after buying some snacks when the headache started, it was as if someone was pounding against his skull trying to break free. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down on a bench as the headache got worse until it felt like a wrecking ball was hammering against his skull. Valentine leaned back against the bench and stared at the road in front of him. There was not a single living soul around him, only a few cars passed by every now and then, not even the birds sung, he was alone in a street that should be used in a Ghost town not the usually lively city of Lunaris. He sighed and took his phone out of his pocket, he plugged his earbuds in and selected his playlist. He closed his eyes and waited for his headache to die.

Time passed unnoticed by him as he sat there listening to music, someone shaking his shoulder startled him out of his thoughtless musing. Valentine pulled an earbud out and looked up at the blond stranger who gave a sigh of relief as soon as he opened his eyes.

"You better hurry up, the sun has begun to set," the woman stated and pulled him up on his feet.

There was an unspoken rule among the residents of Lunaris.

Don't stay out past sunset.

No one asked why, no one wanted to know why, they just obeyed, too scared to find out what happened if they stayed out till dark.

Valentine happened to be extremely unlucky that day, the sun had set before he could make it to the house. He swallowed thickly as the silence enveloped him. The shadows looked like they wanted to snatch him, like they were yearning to be touched and given some sort of reassurance. Valentine picked up the pace until he was running towards his home in the distance.

Snarls caused him to jump, they sounded like an animal and a person mixed together. He exhaled shakily before inhaling sharply as a warm breath tickled his ear, he squeaked and bound forward.

"It's just a dog, no need to be afraid," he reasoned with himself only to stop short, but even dogs hid and stayed silent at night, even lions.

Hesitantly, he began to walk again. He flinched as a street lamp went out with a dull crackle.

'Run,' the voice in his head ordered, it held some sort of urgency in it as if it too were afraid of whatever was out there.

Valentine began to jog.

'Did you not hear me?'

The teen ignored it. Another light crackled into darkness in front of him and he froze, there was a shadow standing there and it didn't look human. Its arms were too long, it hunched forward, its legs were short and it was on all fours like a gorilla.

'RUN!'

"Where to?" Valentine squeaked out, "home is ahead."

'Run to the house on your right,' the voice sounded moody.

" 'kay," Valentine nodded and dashed.

'THE OTHER RIGHT!' the voice yelled exasperated.

Valentine skidded into an alleyway, whatever was after him collided with the wall. He continued running, he ran around trash cans, the thing collided with them causing a loud crash to sound in the darkness. He came face to face with a road, 2 blocks closer to his home.

A rough shove sent him down to the floor before he could get further than a few steps. He grunted as the weight landed on him. Whatever it was, it was slimy and black. Valentine's eyes widened in fear as he came face to face with what he could only describe as a monster. It opened its mouth wide, wide enough to bite his head off in one. It had sharp razor-like teeth in two rows, purple goo oozed out from its mouth, it had two empty sockets for eyes, they glowed an eerie white. Valentine turned his head away as it started to lean closer. Behind his closed eyes he saw a blinding light, and then the monster collapsed onto him knocking the air out of him.

There were footsteps, and the monster was knocked off of him.

"What the actual fuck was that?" He yelled.

"A demon, a Howler to be more specific."

Valentine snapped his head towards the voice that was most definitely not the voice in his head. It was a tall man who looked to be in his early twenties, he had handsome, well chiseled features as if god himself had sculpted him. He was tan and had black hair that was naturally tousled and dark obsidian irises. It was quite unnerving actually, it looked like he had no pupils. There was a bow in his hand, a quiver was slung across his back.

"And who are you?" Valentine pushed himself back onto his feet, he glanced at the Howler, it slowly disintegrated into dust, "and how did you kill that thing?"

"No thank you for saving your life?" The guy crossed his arms and raised both eyebrows.

"Thanks," Valentine nodded at him, he dusted his pants off.

"Now for the rest of your questions," the guy bowed dramatically, "Rosario Salvatore, at your service."

The voice in his head scoffed.

"And as for how I killed that thing, well, let's just say it's my job to keep unfortunate souls who happen to be out at night, such as yourself, safe."

There was another scoff in his head.

"Will you stop scoffing?" He asked.

"I wasn't-"

"Not you," Valentine sighed, "I have had this voice in my head since I was 7, it always advises against things, today it was unusually silent until that thing attacked and now…you."

Rosario nodded as if it was a common occurrence that someone just happened to have a voice in his (or her) head that just so happened to have a mind of its own.

The black haired man grabbed Valentine by the arm and began to lead him away, "Let's get you home before more of those things come."

"There's more?!"

"Yup. And a lot of different kinds as well."

He really didn't want to know. He blinked and suddenly they were in front of his house. Valentine looked at Rosario with wide eyes, but the Italian just shrugged.

"Go."

Valentine didn't need to be told anything more. He jogged up the steps before stopping short, he turned to the taller man, "you….will you be alright?"

Rosario raised an eyebrow, his expression reading 'you're seriously asking me after I saved your ass from a Howler?', then he smiled, it was a lopsided grin, "I'm trained for this. I think I'll be fine."

Valentine nodded and opened his door. He glanced back at Rosario who moved with the grace of a wild stallion but the practice of a war worn soldier. Feeling eyes on him, Rosario turned around and gave a mock salute before walking away, nocking a golden arrow ready to shoot.

With one last glance back at his saviour, he entered the warmth of home.