Chapter 1.

The man sat tied to the chair. He was already doomed and he knew it. Beaten, bloody and tired, as soon as this bastard was done with him, he would kill him. The man who beat him asked a lot of questions. In the state he was in he wasn't really in the right frame of mind to answer him; however one question managed to leap up at him.

"Where's Cain?" the bad man asked softly almost childishly. The sanctuary agent didn't answer. His insolence was immediately met with the back of the mans hand with force.

"Where. Is. Cain?" he asked again with less patience.

The agent didn't care anymore. He was so very tired. The agent spat blood as he spoke." The Skeleton took her to stay with Lee Grail."

The man with no eyes smiled as he unfolded his straight razor.

"Thank you for your co-operation. Here at Sanguine Assassination Limited we know you have a choice in gruesome deaths. We hope you find yours to be pleasurable and enjoy the rest of your breath." The sanctuary agent could see the blade coming. He sighed. He had a wife and two kids at home. He really hoped they didn't miss him too much. Sanguine then slit his throat and left.

It was a poor excuse of a summer's day in the Irish countryside. The threatening dark clouds had whipped away any opposing sunshine and onslaughts of rain had had beaten even the most stubborn Sunday drivers back into the garage. The only sign of life were a few desperate farmers making brave albeit pathetic attempts to move their cattle under shelter. It truly was a sad, miserable day. A perfect day for driving. Especially for a man with no face and a seventeen year old sorceress. Of course the man with no face was driving. Any other way would have just been silly.

"I still don't understand why you just can't take me with you." The sorceress muttered sourly.

"Because Miss Cain, I simply don't want you to come." the man with no face replied patiently.

"What kind of reason is that?"

"A rather brilliant one, if I may say so."

The Bentley took a sharp corner around the gravel road.

She sighed, "Give me three good reasons why I can't come with you."

"Fine. For starters it's extremely dangerous and requires skill that only hundreds of years in my field can provide. Two, it is top secret information that only I can know about and has been assigned only to me. Thirdly and this is the most important point by the way, I am extremely good looking."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh nothing. Just thought it needed saying."

"You are very irritating, by the way."

"Perhaps, but being as handsome as I am, I hardly find that relevant."

The sorceress stared at him crossly and gave up. She turned to the window to admire the horrible weather and how applicable it was to her situation. The idea of spending two months stuck in a house with a man she doesn't know didn't sound very appealing. Especially as Skulduggery is going out to have daring and amazing adventures without her. However, she was falling behind in her elemental lessons and she knew it, so when she was offered tutoring while he was away she knew she had to take it up. The Bentley left the farms behind and ventured further out into the nothingness where the grass oddly didn't seem as green and few trees seemed to grow. It was eerie.

"Isn't there someone I know that could teach me?" she whined.

"You know very well that there is no-one else. Everyone's either dead or extremely busy, so no."

"Don't you care about the amount of danger I'm in without you?"

"No not really besides I trust Grail more than I would many others."

"How well do you even know this guy?"

"Grail fought by my side once a few years ago. He saved my life, you know."

"And you're repaying him by dumping me with him?"

"Yes. I suppose I am."

"You're nice."

"I even surprise myself sometimes."

How long has he sat there crossed legged on his mat? All day perhaps. Out here in the middle of nowhere time is something you tend to lose grip of. Its importance is limited when you have as much of it as you want. Grail exhaled slowly. He felt like an old hermit living out here. Maybe he was turning into one. He wore a sash belt, long pants and strap leather boots with his usual brown and beige robes with a hood that covered his face. He turned his attention back onto cleaning his sword. It resembled something of a katana without the hilt. It was a deep pure purple that didn't glisten in the sun like other swords. It was cold, dull and sharp. Just how he liked it. He touched the centre of the sword and relaxed as the vibrations of the sword sung to him. However the relaxation was short lived as a sound from outside the house distracted him. It was a reminder how little noise there actually was out here. To be frank he didn't really miss it. He could hear a car approaching his driveway. He put his hood up, his sword away and approached the front door. He just hoped she wasn't going to be annoying.

The house they approached was exactly how Valkyrie imagined it to be. Small and shoddy. Fantastic. The small house was surrounded by acres of land on each side with a barn several yards out to the back of it. As they got closer they could see a figure covered with robes at the door. He stood tall and strong but his face was covered by a hood and that creeped her out. The Bentley kicked up gravel as the car stopped.

"Remember to play nice." Skulduggery reminded her.

"Yes, mum." She replied dryly.

Valkyrie stayed in the car as Skulduggery got out of the car to greet him. The two men shook hands and exchanged a few words before Skulduggery started walking back to the car. He signalled her to come out.

"I'm sure you two will have bundles of fun together." Skulduggery chirped happily.

"I'm sure." She sighed as she stepped out and closed the car door.

"Well, I had to get away from you some time, didn't I?"

She laughed and hugged him, her hands easily fitting around his skeletal structure. He laughed too and returned the hug.

"I'll miss you." She said.

"And I you, but me being me, you'll probably miss me more. Now run along. You have some bonding to do." And with that he slid back into the car and started the engine. Valkyrie turned to face her new mentor.

"Hi." She smiled without trying to sound too depressed. He stared at her for a moment then spoke.

"Hi." He replied gruffly.

She immediately disliked his voice. It sounded put on. It sounded fake.

"I'm Valkyrie."

"I know." Silence. "Grab your stuff. I'll show you where you'll sleep." And with that he walked inside and left her alone.

"Such the gentleman," She thought to herself as she heaved her bags up the porch. Not that she would have taken it, but an offer to help would have been nice. She turned back to the road to see Skulduggery driving off into the sunset. She hoped he was going to have good time because she doubted very much she was.