"Fletch!" The teleporter looked over his shoulder to the fist swinging to his left eye. Valkyrie spun around but before she could gather her thoughts, she was grabbed around the middle and thrown over a hard, muscular shoulder. No matter how much she struggled, her capture kept hold.
A gun shot sounded. Her capture grunted and stumbled. That was all she needed. Valkyrie sank her teeth into the man's neck. He bellowed in pain and released his hold. Valkyrie caught a fleeting glance of the fleeing villain. Her blood boiled in her veins. She could hear Fletcher and Skulduggery calling her from the Bentley. She didn't care. The world disappeared. All she could see was the man she had watched die when she was twelve. Serpine. He was back.
She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the searing pain in her right hand, and ran after him. She heard Skulduggery curse softly behind her. She heard her heart beating in her chest. She heard the Bentley cruise behind her gaining on her. She heard Serpine's sharp intake of breath in the ally next to her. A pair of strong hands ripped at her flesh as she was dragged into the depths of the darkness.
"Hello again. It's been so long since we were last acquainted. My name is Nefarian Serpine and your name is Valkyrie Cain unless I am mistaken. Now are you going to co-operate or am I going to have to uses force."
"Go to hell" Valkyrie spat and with that she ground her foot into his and took off running toward Skulduggery. She heard three bullets wiz past her and hit their target. Skulduggery stood at the mouth of the ally gun poised to shoot again.
"Get in the car" He growled. Never in her life had Valkyrie heard Skulduggery refer to the Bentley as "the car". She ran around to the passenger side of the Bentley and watched as Skulduggery emptied his gun into the ally.
Skulduggery slid into his seat, gunned the engine, and drove off. After they were a safe distance away from the ally, around 30 miles, Skulduggery pulled off the road and turned to Valkyrie.
"Who was it" were the only words he said. Not "are you ok" or "do you need to see Kenspeckle" but "who was it".
"Serpine".
Skulduggery turned his skull to look away from her. There was something wrong. Something very wrong.
"Skulduggery?"
"Valkyrie what did he say to you? Did he touch you? Are you ok?"
"Skulduggery, I'm fine and WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"
"Valkyrie there is a prophesy that Nefarian Serpine would rise again and to be able to do that he would need some help, the help he got was from the Faceless Ones and the want payment. Valkyrie the payment is you."