THIS STORY IS MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH DEADGIRL19 – YOU CAN FIND HER: /u/6294519/

Things to know:

Valkyrie's about 21 years old, and China is Grand Mage. All the Dead Men are alive, and everything after LSODM didn't happen. Ireland won the Sanctuary War, and everything is normal again. Darquesse is not an issue. Enjoy!


Chapter 1 - The Reunion

Valkyrie and Skulduggery relaxed in the living room of Valkyrie's mansion, which she had inherited three years ago, when she had turned eighteen. Her and Skulduggery were awaiting the arrival of the rest of the Dead Men for a reunion. They hadn't all been together in the same room, or even in the same country, for three years now, and Valkyrie had decided that it had been three years too long.

She had talked to Skulduggery, who had agreed to the idea of a reunion. They had phoned Ghastly next, who also encouraged the plan. Next, they'd contacted Erskine, who, as usual, was eager for a party. He had personally spoken to Dexter and Saracen, who had said that they'd also agreed to be there. Skulduggery had contacted Anton and, to their surprise, he'd agreed to leave the Midnight Hotel to see his friends again.

There was a knock at the door. Valkyrie leapt up and ran to answer it. Standing there were Ghastly and Erskine, a smile on their faces. Ghastly warmly wrapped Valkyrie in a hug, which she eagerly returned. He then walked past her down the hall and into the living room. Erskine gave her a quick hug as well, before following Ghastly. They saw Skulduggery, and the two shook hands with him.

Before Valkyrie even made it back to the living room, there was another knock at the door, and she hastily went back to open it. Standing there, looking well and slightly tanned, was Saracen Rue. She smiled at him, and he gave her a tight hug. "I'll go join Ghastly and Skulduggery in the living room, then," he said, walking down the hall. Valkyrie went to follow, but someone, once again, knocked on the door.

"That's Anton," Saracen called from the living room. And, sure enough, when Valkyrie opened the door, Saracen Rue's power was correct again as Anton Shudder was standing on the doorstep. He smiled at Valkyrie, and embraced her in a strong hug that threatened to break her ribs. He released her, and she gestured for him to enter the living room. She followed behind him, and finally sank down onto the sofa.

Of course, there was a knock on the door a second later. Grumbling, Valkyrie got up and answered the door again, for the third time in less than two minutes. However, her mild anger soon disappeared as soon as she saw Dexter Vex's smiling face at the door. He broke into an even bigger grin when he saw her, and wrapped her in a massive hug, that consisted of him spinning her around off the floor for a few seconds. He eventually released her, and they headed into the living room together.

They sat down on a sofa with Ghastly, and opposite them on another one sat Anton and Erskine. Saracen and Skulduggery shared the final sofa.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" asked Valkyrie.

"Well," said Dexter, Saracen and Erskine together. They looked at each other, annoyed that the others had stolen their chance to speak. They all opened their mouths to speak again, but ended up glaring at one another.

Ghastly sighed. "You lot are already acting up, and you've just gotten through the door. Okay, Dexter, you go first."

"Thank you," said Dexter. "Now, as I was saying-"

"Hey! How come he gets to go first?" Saracen protested. "I've been doing equally interesting things as him!"

"Yeah! Me too!" agreed Erskine.

"I strongly doubt that," said Dexter, and continued quickly before the others could get a word in. "I've been trekking across the Amazon, and I managed to get from one side of the Amazon Rainforest to the other, in one of the quickest times in human history. Then, I went rock climbing in that surrounding area, as well as abseiling and..."


"... so that was the last thing I did, about a week ago. I barely made it back in one piece from the army of bears, but I pulled through." It had been about half an hour, and Dexter had been recounting his adventures. It had sort of dragged on a little, and the others were fairly... bored.

"Oh, that sounds great, Dex," said Valkyrie, who'd heard snippets of the monologue, but had soon switched off. Dexter's adventures were always extraordinary, but after a while she had come to expect that he would have a heroic adventure and then dodge death, and she always did have a short attention span.

"What about you, Saracen?" she asked, hoping his story was a bit shorter.

"Well, uh, it doesn't matter, actually," he said, seemingly embarrassed. In truth, he had thought that Dexter had been doing similar things to him, not adventuring around the globe. Now his tale seemed a bit... lame.

"Come on, you were eager before," said Ghastly.

"I was in Vegas," mumbled Saracen.

"Vegas?" echoed Anton. "For three years?"

"Yeah."

"Wow... That's low, even for you, Saracen," said Erskine, shaking his head sadly.

"Shut up. I had fun, and that's all that matters."

"Oh, I bet you had fun," teased Skulduggery.

"Not. A. Word," said Saracen, jaw clenched.

"Three years in Vegas... How much money did you lose gambling?" asked Valkyrie.

"Fourteen thousand," muttered Saracen.

"Fourteen thousand?" clarified Erskine.

"Is there a bloody echo in here?!" Saracen half-shrieked, exasperated.

"You idiot!" laughed Erskine. "Fourteen thousand!"

"Well, what were you doing all this time?" asked Saracen.

"I, uh, well," stammered Erskine. "Nothing."

"Let me guess," said Skulduggery. "You were also splashing out the cash, and were probably buying a whole load of new stuff to replace your "old" ones. Like a few new suits, some new cars, maybe even some new villas."

Erskine turned red with embarrassment.

"So let me get this straight," began Saracen. "You were shopping! And you must've spent more than me! How much did you spend?"

"One and a half million," said Erskine sheepishly, whilst the others gasped. "And I wasn't shopping, I ..." Erskine searched for an excuse. "I was spending viable currency on material goods that I wished to purchase," he said, proud of himself.

"That's still shopping, Erskine," sighed Anton.

"Well, what were you doing then, Anton?" asked Erskine. "Cleaning rooms and making breakfasts?"

Anton's expression turned serious and solemn. "I was investigating some strange happenings in my hotel. Guests were reporting sightings of an apparition, or ghost. Every day, I would receive a complaint from a guest that there was a mysterious, pale, glowing figure located in various places in the hotel, always at approximately six o'clock in the evening. It was described to be a young girl, no more than six years of age, always dressed in a long white nightgown. She had bare feet, and her short dark hair was always loose and came down to her shoulders. She apparently ran down corridors, slammed doors... and then she'd just disappear, simply just fade away into the air. Then she'd return the next evening.

"I was suspicious, but had my own assumptions and reasons as to what was actually happening. I decided to investigate, and set up perimeters, with the help of some Sensitive guests at the hotel. One evening, I was sitting at the reception, when a small alarm went off, meaning that the perimeter had been breached in the basement. I approached, determined to catch the 'ghost' in the act. And then I saw her, exactly as described.

"She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the basement, and her head was down. I was cautious, but slowly approached until I was right in front of her. I opened my mouth to speak, planning to get to the bottom of the situation. But before I could utter a word, her head snapped up, quick as a flash, and she looked me right in the eye.

"I stepped back in shock, for her eyes... she had no pupils, no irises. They were just black. All of it just such a dark, eerie shade of black. She got up and advanced as I retreated, and I led her up out of the basement. She followed me back into the main reception area, and I stepped outside the hotel. She followed, but as soon as she emerged into the dark of the evening, she disappeared.

"I never saw her again, but sometimes in the Midnight Hotel, if you listen closely, you can hear, and even see, various doors slamming shut by themselves. And sometimes you can see writing on the wall, mysteriously appearing by itself. And it says," Anton paused, and the others leant in with anticipation. "It says 'Anton Shudder... FOOLED THE DEAD MEN'!" he roared, making them all scream out in fright- even Skulduggery. Anton laughed at their reactions, whilst they quietly fumed to themselves.

"You bunch of gullible fools!" he exclaimed, once he had regained his composure. "Is three years all it takes for you to believe in a ghost story?!"

Just then, Valkyrie's phone rang, making them all jump with fright. She laughed weakly, then hastily answered the phone.

"Yeah," she was saying to whoever the other person was. "No. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. No. Okay. What? Yeah, yeah. Really? Today? Why? Are you sure? Should I bring the others? No. Sort of. Will do. The gorilla? Oh, the hyena. Are you sure it's not the flamingo? Oh yeah, it could be the warthog... Yeah, alright. So when should we meet you? Okay, cool. Bye," she hung up, and turned back to the others, who were all looking at her with confusion.

"Gorilla? Flamingo? What the hell?" Dexter frowned.

Valkyrie grinned. "Never you mind, Dexter. Anyway, China said to meet her at the Sanctuary; we have a case about some serial murders. She knew that you guys were in the country again, and asked if you wanted to tag along..."

The other Dead Men nodded enthusiastically, and soon they were all on their way to the Sanctuary.


Yay! Please check out DeadGirl19, her stories have loads of Dead Men action, its awesome!