A note on this story: it's set in an alternate timeline where Tanith wasn't permanently possessed by a Remnant in "Mortal Coil".
Valkyrie Cain knew for a fact that the man in the dark blue suit hated meetings. Even when the bosses were his best friends. As a matter of fact, that made things worse.
Even after all the adjustments the Sanctuary had made, Roarhaven was still a decidedly depressing place. Worse still was the maze that was the Sanctuary building here. Built by the residents of Roarhaven hundreds of years before, it was a symbol of defiance, an heirloom from when they'd rebelled against the Sanctuary.
I hate history, Valkyrie reminded herself.
The sleek black Bentley Continental pulled up to the bleak-looking stone building. Valkyrie stepped out of the passenger seat, adjusting the hem of her black jacket, the black ring on her finger chafing slightly.
The man in the dark suit stepped out of the driver's seat, using a gloved hand to keep his hat on his head. He was thin, almost impossibly thin at that, but his face appeared healthy. He was handsome, with black hair that reached his shoulders and a short beard on his chin.
Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Why that face?"
The man looked at her and tilted his head. "Sorry?"
"Why did you choose to wear Johnny Depp's face, Skulduggery?"
Skulduggery Pleasant smiled (well, his face did). "Because I'm often confused with him."
"Yeah, if he had no skin or muscle."
He scoffed and reached under the collar of his pressed white suit, tapping his shoulder blade. The face melted away, seeping into the tattoo on his bony shoulder. When that semi-frightening process had finished, the bare skull of the Skeleton Detective was in full view. "Happy now?" he asked.
"Very, thanks," Valkyrie grinned.
"I hate you," he told her, walking forward.
"No you don't."
The chamber of the Grand Mage was not grand in the slightest. It was, like most of Roarhaven, very bland. The chairs on which the Elders and the Grand Mage himself sat on, however, were ever so slightly grandiose.
The robes still looked ridiculous, though.
Grand Mage Erskine Ravel had the look of a man who was really uncomfortable. His handsome face was contorted into a slight grimace, but not so much as to give it away.
On his right sat the Elder – and tailor – Ghastly Bespoke. His scarred face had an expression of disgust. Not at Skulduggery or Valkyrie, but at the robe he was wearing. His hands were callused, both from his work as a tailor and as a boxer. There were two more things Ghastly hated about being an Elder. He couldn't make clothes, and he couldn't punch anyone.
The third Elder, Madame Mist, was an enigma, as always. Her face was still concealed by her veil, and Valkyrie wasn't exactly sure she wanted to see what was under that veil. After all, Mist was a Child of the Spider, and Valkyrie's experience with Mist's brother, the Torment, wasn't exactly full of sunshine and rainbows. More like spiders, blood and deception.
"Skul," Ravel smiled, clearly glad to have something new to think about, "how are you?"
"Grumpy," Valkyrie answered for the skeleton.
Ghastly chuckled. "No surprises there. Skulduggery's been grumpy for the past hundred years or so."
"Yeah, well, you get like that when you're dead," Skulduggery said, the smile in that voice of his that sounded like pure velvet.
Madame Mist cleared her throat. "We did not summon the detective here to reminisce about the old times," she said coldly, and Ravel flinched.
"Then why are we here?" Valkyrie asked defiantly. She knew that Mist didn't really like her. Probably because of her Ancient blood.
"A strange man has appeared recently," Mist explained, her tone imperious. "He wears black robes, similar to those of the Necromancers, but his powers…" She trailed off.
Skulduggery tilted his head. "What about his powers?"
Ravel shifted on his chair. "His powers appear to be Elemental." He struggled again and growled. "Bloody hell, can't I get a cushion of some sort?"
"What's he been doing?" Valkyrie wanted to know.
"Well, there's no other word for it but killing," Ghastly replied. "He attacks people, they freeze, and their…" He paused, as if the concept was alien to him. "Their hearts rise into the sky, and their bodies dissipate."
"He also has an army of shadowy creatures at his disposal," Mist added. "Less powerful than our Cleavers, but stronger than Hollow Men."
"That doesn't say much," Ravel muttered.
"So you want us to investigate?" Skulduggery asked, clearly cutting off Madame Mist's retort.
Ghastly nodded. "If you wouldn't mind."
Skulduggery's head shifted forward in a nod. "We're on it." With that he bowed slightly and walked out. Valkyrie, without a word, followed him.
In the chamber, Mist looked at Ghastly and Ravel, disgust clear in her eyes. "Do you have any idea how much those two disrespect us?"
"Of course I do," Ravel scoffed. "Skulduggery never respected us…"
"Not really," Ghastly interrupted.
"As for you… Well, he doesn't trust you outright." Ravel gave her a cold look. "Nor do I, really."
Mist's dark eyes flashed. "Is that a challenge?"
"It's a statement," he responded. Then he turned away. "Seriously, can I get a cushion here? Or maybe twenty of them?"
Skulduggery had been interviewing people and had managed to work out that this mysterious Necromancer-Elemental hybrid usually attacked seemingly-helpless people around midday. "As such," he said, the façade back on his skull, this time bearing the face of Gerard Butler, "I've devised a brilliant plan, even if I do say so myself."
"What is it?" Valkyrie asked warily.
"We lure our killer into a trap, using the one thing he can't resist."
"Which is…"
"Live bait. You, to be exact."
"Oh, cheers," she said sarcastically.
Skulduggery pulled up to the alleyway that would house their trap. Valkyrie got out and leaned against a wall. On Skulduggery's advice, she'd put her Necromancer ring in her jacket pocket.
The detective rolled down a window on the Bentley and leaned out of it. "I'll be just around the corner." He drove off.
"Thanks," she muttered under her breath. She checked her watch. 11:59. Any second now…
Sure enough, a man in a long black coat, the hood up, strode into the alleyway. He seemed to exude an aura of power; what that power was, exactly, Valkyrie didn't know for sure. Her hand went into her pocket, the ring feeling cold against her skin.
"Hey!" a voice shouted suddenly. It came from behind the hooded man. The man turned at the same time as Valkyrie looked.
The one who'd called out had long silver hair that reached the small of his back, and his arms were bare save a bandage on his left wrist. He wore a white and yellow vest, with a black shirt under it; his jeans were baggy at the ankles, and his shoes were of a similar hue to his vest. "I've been looking for you," he said to the hooded man.
Wordlessly, the man sent a fireball at the newcomer, who dodged and responded with his own fireball. The man also dodged, and the fireball nearly hit Valkyrie, and would have, had she not used a wall of air to block it. "Watch it!" she shouted at the newcomer.
"Sorry!" he shouted, now hurling, to Valkyrie's surprise, chunks of ice at the hooded man. The man used his arms to block the ice.
But it was a diversion.
The teenager ran in close to the man and started a combination of punches, which were blocked by his opponent. The hooded man, however, didn't see the kick to his abdomen coming. He groaned as he hit the brick wall.
The newcomer summoned a fireball in each hand, ready to shoot them at his opponent.
The hooded man chuckled evilly and created a pool of shadows behind him; he vanished into the shadows.
The teenager's fireballs died. "Dammit."
Valkyrie rushed forward. "Nearly killing me aside, that was amazing," she marvelled.
The boy grinned. "You think so?"
She nodded. "You're a sorcerer, right? An Elemental?"
His face scrunched. "Something like that. What's your name?"
"Valkyrie. Valkyrie Cain."
He grinned. "Interesting name. Well, nice to meet you, Valkyrie. My name's Riku."