Valkyrie ran.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
They were on a mission to find the murderer of Dana Song, a powerful adept. It had taken an impossibly long time to track Billy-Ray Sanguine down, and then the damn guy decided to send 2 vampires after her. And only her, because Skulduggery wasn't there. She lost sight of him when he told her to run while he held Sanguine off.
Fat lot of good that did for both us, thought Valkyrie. Where is he?
The vampires, a man and woman, were steadily gaining on Valkyrie as she ran on a narrow, cobbled road, clad in her black armored clothes that Ghastly made. They were tight on her figure, hugging her all the right places. Even Skulduggery had to admit she looked stunning.
Where the hell was he?
It was almost sundown, when the vampires caught up with her. They were silent and agile, and they leaped at her in unison. She smashed her forehead into the male vampire's face, and tried to flip him over her hip, but he was too fast, and quickly got to his feet. The female vampire snarled at her. Valkyrie gripped the shadows and threw them in spikes, but the vampires darted away at the last moment, knowing they could afford to play with her. Not even a scratch. She snapped her palms against the air, shifting it in a way that should have blown them far away from her, but all they did was stagger. Suddenly Valkyrie knew she wasn't going to win this. She wasn't near a sea to throw them in, she had no reinforcements, and Skulduggery was who knows where.
But she was not going down without a fight.
On the horizon, Valkyrie saw the one and only Skeleton Detective flying towards her, in a dashing black pinstriped suit, hat slanting at a rakish angle. If this wasn't serious, he would be boosting his enormous ego right now. His head tilted to the side. She knew his eternal grin had something behind it.
Worry.
He wasn't going to make it in time.
Valkyrie splayed her hands, trying to push the vampires away with the air, but they were too skilled to be deterred. She clicked her fingers, nursed twin flames in both hands and threw them at the vampires, but nevertheless, they got closer to her. When there was only one vampire in front of her, as dizzy as she was, she knew something was wrong. Then the female vampire came up from behind, ripped off her jacket, and threw her into a wall at the end of the street.
The pain was unbearable. It shot through her system like thousands of daggers had pierced her all over. They probably had. She was seconds away from unconsciousness. Valkyrie sluggishly checked her injuries. Broken ribs, broken wrist, shattered pelvic bone, twisted ankle and tons of bruises and cuts. She wasn't doing too well, she thought to herself.
In the distance, she saw Skulduggery fighting the vampires. They were fast and skilled, but after all six shots from his revolver were gone, they both twitched quietly on the cobblestoned road, which was covered in blood from when Valkyrie had to fight them. The vampires lay still. Skulduggery started towards Valkyrie, who at that moment was an unmoving shape, crumpled in the wall that collapsed with the sheer force she hit it with.
"Valkyrie" Shouted Skulduggery's velvety voice.
Suddenly he started running towards her.
"VALKYRIE" he shouted again.
Valkyrie didn't know what was wrong until hands grabbed her and she saw cracks appear in the ground.
"Hello lil' darlin'."
Oh, hell.