A black Bentley came driving along the road with its main lights lit and its lanterns were the only light that lit up the otherwise dark night. In the Bentley sat a young woman at the age of 25 with dark brown hair and brown eyes. On her body she wore black pants, a black t-shirt and a black-red coat that reached her down to her knees and black boots. Her name was Valkyrie Cain and she was a magician who used something called "white lightning" and she was the only one of her kind.
She had gained this special power when she had went through her "surge", which in the magic world was when a magician got his or her special magic that they would always use for the rest of their lifes. Some became elementals and others became necromancers (as she had been both of before her surge) while some could become witches or adepts.
Then there were also the unusual, few magicians that could use more than one magical abaility at once.
Next to Valkyrie sat the cars driver, that was a perfect example of a magician that could use more than one magical ability. A living skeleton wearing a suit and tie and a black hat with red brim. His name was Skulduggery Pleasant and he was an elemantal, that could when he pleased use neocromancy when he became Lord Vile, his dark side. As Lord Vile, he had under a magical war, that had taken place several centuries ago - yes, Skulduggery was over 400 years old - killed many magicians alongside another elemental named Mevolent.
Fortunately, after many years, he had come to his senses and taken off the armor that turned him into Lord Vile and sealed it. However, this had not stopped him from being Lord Vile again a few hundred years later when Valkyrie turned into Darquesse (her evil side), destined to destroy the world. In a few years, both Skulduggery and Valkyrie had managed to push back Darquesse into Valkyrie, but in the end Darquesse had managed to take over Valkyrie altogether, which in turn had been one of the reasons why a new magical war had broken out. After many losses Skulduggery had with help from some sensitives managed to banish Darquesse into another galaxy, making it possible for both Valkyrie and the magic community to be safe once again.
It had been in connection with all this that Valkyrie had lost her elemental powers and gone through her surge where she had got her white lightning powers. Nowadays, she felt well after the circumstances and had once again begun to have contact with the magic society she had been away from for a few years, trying to understand her new powers. In the beginning, it had been difficult for her since she had suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression after all she had exposed the magic community to, despite being forgiven all that what Darquesse had done.
Unfortunately, there were still people who still thought she should not live, even though Darquesse was gone for good and Valkyrie had been unable to control what Darquesse did during her time of control. Some of these people had tried to get her out of the way but had failed, but these attacks had put deep traces in Valkyrie since she accused herself of failing to control Darquesse and for not trying to get rid of her earlier before she had taken over.
The truth to say, Valkyrie had liked the powers that Darquesse had had, and she often found herself sometimes thinking back on some of those powers she had had as Darquesse with lament.
Something that Skulduggery understood more than well.
Skulduggery looked at Valkyrie from the corner of his eyes and saw that she was deep inside her own thoughts. He wondered what she was thinking about. When Valkyrie was so deep inside herself, there was something that worried her deeply. Something she wanted to talk about, but that she did not know how she would present it.
Skulduggery let go of the steering wheel with his left hand and put it on Valkyrie's leg where he pushed it gently. "Valkyrie, what's weighing you?"
Valkyrie looked as if she had had a shock and looked up at Skulduggery for a second before she turned her eyes away and continued looking out the window on the dark outside the car. She did not respond at once, but first drew a deep breath into her lungs. "I ... It's nothing special, Skulduggery."
Without warning, Skulduggery put the Bentley's breaks down so hard that the brakes shouted and Valkyrie flew with her head first into the dashboard. She saw stars in front of her eyes before she could finally focus her eyes on the skeleton next to her after a few seconds.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Skulduggery?!"
No answer came, instead Skulduggery only looked at her with his empty eye cavities and tilted his head a bit to the side like he usually did. The gesture was so familiar that Valkyrie could not help but laugh despite the pain and anger. Her smile, however, quickly became a surprised one when Skulduggery snapped off his seat belt and leaned over to her seat. His skull was just a few centimeters from her own, and Valkyrie felt how her heart began to beat faster in her breast and how her cheeks became red with embarrassment.
"Do not try, Valkyrie. How long have we known each other by now? Very long, I admit. Sometimes I wonder if we have not known each other a bit too long if you understand my opinion. Sometimes I wonder if it's not possible to get to know a person for so long and much that you get tired of constantly being around that person and wishing you never got to know him or her or..."
"Skulduggery, what is it you are trying to tell me?" Valkyrie interrupted and put her middle finger on Skulduggery's teeth to silence him before he began with one of his monologues.
"Yes, yes, my point. The point I tried to get to, my dear Valkyrie, was the following: You and I have known each other for a long time now. In fact, such a long time I think we both know each other both inside and outside, am I not right? In other words, I can see on you when you lie or try to relinquish something from me." Skulduggery tilted his head again in such a way that Valkyrie understood that if he would have had eyebrows, he'd raised one of them now.
She sighed and closed her eyes. Skulduggery was right and both him and her knew it. Nothing escaped him and she was actually happy about that since she never had to pretend with Skulduggery, but she could always say what she thought, thinked and felt about things.
"You're right as usual, Skulduggery..."
"Of course, otherwise I would not be me", interrupted Skulduggery with a smile in his voice that got Valkyrie to laugh.
"If you stop interrupting, maybe I'll talk about what is bothering me."
Skulduggery nodded and put his hands on Valkyrie's shoulders. "Forgive me, Valkyrie. I'll try to restrain myself. What's weighing you, my dear?"
Valkyrie was just about to open her mouth and start telling, but Skulduggery's words made her shut her mouth again. She could not recall that she had ever heard him call her "my dear" before. Where did it come from? Was it just one of his little tricks? She did not think so, she had not heard any kind of mischief in his voice, which often used to certify he was in a joking mood.
Valkyrie decided to ignore it for the moment, she had other, more important things to think about.
"Well, I suspect my PTSD is on its way back. I have started to sleep bad at nights because of nightmares where I dream that I'm Darquesse again and I'm looking over my shoulders for the most time when I am by myself. I also react defensively to loud, sharp sounds that I can not immediately identify by evoking my magic when I feel threatened, even though I really know I do not have to worry.
I've even dealt with missing the powers Darquesse gave me, although I know that many of the powers are classified as 'evil' powers. I also miss my elementary powers so much that I sometimes find myself trying to use them again, although I know they are no longer there and never will be."
Valkyrie looked down on her knees and felt how the tears started to form in her eyes. She did not want to start crying in front of Skulduggery, she did not want to show weakness to him. She hated to show herself weak, especially for the person she loved most and, as she knew, would always be there for her. How much she tried, she could not stop the tears from coming and soon she sat in front of Skulduggery with shaking shoulders, bent head and eyes closed.
Without saying anything, Skulduggery let go of Valkyrie's shoulders, opened the car door and went out into the dark night. At the same time as the car door closed behind him, Valkyrie thought her heart would break. She felt so pathetic where she was sitting, with tears streaming down her eyes. Skulduggery had finally grew tired of her; he had finally understood how weak she was and that she could not help him as she was now after losing her elemental powers and instead gained a new power she continued to not understand or could restrain.
She was interrupted in her thoughts of that the car door on her side was opened and a slight windpuff seeped into the otherwise hot car. She shook from the coldness and was just turning around to see who had opened the door - it could not be Skulduggery since he had left her - when she felt how a pair of strong skeleton arms lifted her up and put her down in one pair of skeleton legs that were covered in a pair of suit pants while closing the car door.
Skulduggery's arms were laid around her in a hard embrace, in such a way which he never had embraced her like before in the past, and laid his head against hers while stroking her back. Valkyrie felt how the tears burst out of her eyes and even how much she tried, she could not make them stop pouring down her cheeks. Instead, she let go and stopped fighting. She simply let her tears pour down her cheeks while she pressed her face against Skulduggery's bony breast and put her arms around him. She took a tight hold of the back of his shirt and cried out all her worries, shame and fear she had felt for such a long time.
Skulduggery said nothing, but just embraced Valkyrie and slowly cradled her back and forth in his arms while he slowly stroked her back with his gloved hand. He had been shocked by her tears, not because he had never seen her cry before, but because of the true fear her eyes had radiated just before she had broken their eye contact. Of course Valkyrie had been afraid before, but then it had been a controlled fear, a fear that was only there at one moment and that would disappear at the same time as the source of the fear disappeared.
This fear, on the other hand, was a real fear. A fear of the unknown, a fear of not knowing what was to come.
He understood very well what Valkyrie went through right now. He had experienced similar feelings after he had managed to free himself from Lord Vile. The missing of the powers and the force that the armor had given him had occasionally caused him to want to go back and retrieve the armor just to once again experience, even for a short moment, those powers penetrate him again. He had luckily come to his senses every time since he knew that if he turned to those forces again he would probably never be able to return to the Skuldduggery that he had been before the war.
It was totally different for Valkyrie. She could not get back the powers she had lost but had to try to find out how her new powers worked, something that Skulduggery understood must be difficult for her, considering everything else she had to take a stand for. Although China and many others in the magic community accepted her and forgave her for the damage caused by Darquesse, there were at least as many people who did not forgive her and as he knew wanted to or had tried to kill her. He himself had had to stop some assassination attempts, some known for Valkyrie, but also a lot of which he had not told her about since he knew that she did not need to deal with yet another attempt to kill her to think about.
"Sch, Valkyrie, I'm here." Skulduggery pushed his teeth to her hair in what for him would represent a kiss, as he had no lips to kiss with.
Valkyrie laughed-sobbed and looked up at Skulduggery at the same moment as he laid his teeth against her hair, resulting in her lips brushing against his teeth. Both stiffened and looked at each other in the eyes, or well, Skulduggery looked Valkyrie in her eyes while Valkyrie looked into Skulduggery's eye cavities. Valkyrie felt how her cheeks became completely reddish and she could see on Skulduggery's body language that he also felt a bit uncomfortable.
For a long time, none of them dared to move a muscle, but Valkyrie sat with her lips tightly pressed against Skulduggery's teeth while they continued looking each other in the eyes.
Without Valkyrie knowing how it happened she had put her arms around Skulduggery's neck and pressed her lips harder against his teeth while she was filled with a warmth towards this skeleton who had become such an important person in her life. During all the years they had known each other, she had never had to feel alone, afraid of or abandoned by Skulduggery. He had always stood up for and supported her when she needed him. He had never condemned her or her decisions but instead had let her learn from her mistakes and helped her through them.
She loved him and he her, but it was not until now that she understood how much she really loved him.
Skulduggery laid down his hands on Valkyrie's shoulders and gently pushed her away so that he could see her properly in her eyes. "Valkyrie, what is it that you think you are doing?"
"Kissing you, what does it look like?" Valkyrie replied smiling a modest smile while blushing even more. Had she gone too far now? Would Skulduggery be angry with her now?
"Yes, that I understood, thank you very much. What I was referring to was mostly why you did it? Not because I did not like it, on the contrary it was extremely cozy. I have not felt a woman's lips against my skeleton for a very long time."
Valkyrie could only laugh at what Skulduggery just had told her. Everything was so surreal!
"What's the fun now?" wondered Skulduggery and sounded sincerely surprised, something that made Valkyrie laugh even more.
"You!" She managed to get out between the laughs and when she saw Skulduggery's uncomprehending face, she started laughing so much that she bent over and hit her head in the gear shift. It prompted her to abruptly stop laughing and instead curse and put her hand over her forehead where she had hit herself.
Now it was Skulduggery's turn to laugh and the sound of his laughter made Valkyrie angry. Who did he think he was, really?! She would show him!
Quickly, before Skulduggery had understood what was going to happen, Valkyrie began to tickle him. She if anyone was extremely surprised when she noticed that it actually worked since she had thought that Skulduggery could not be tickled, considering that he only consisted of bones instead of meat and blood. She continued to tickle him while he asked for mercy and told him that "Until you apologize, I will continue until one of us runs out of air."
Skulduggery did not give up so easily. Instead of asking for mercy, he opened the front door and rolled out on the roadside with Valkyrie in his arms. Laughing, they both rolled around in the grass lying next to the road, while Valkyrie continued to tickle Skulduggery where she reached before she noticed that he returned it with the same coin.
By now, they both laughed so much that they began to get a hard time to breathe and Valkyrie felt how her entire stomach began to contract in cramp from all laughing. "Ple... please, Skulduggery! I... I... can not... manage anymore soon!" Valkyrie panted out between the laughs.
They stopped rolling around in the grass and came to a stop just below a house. When Valkyrie looked up, she could see that it was Skulduggery's house! So they had basically been home at his place when they had stopped. Where she lay on her back on the lawn and looked up at the house, she could see from the corner of her eye how Skulduggery looked down at her so she turned her gaze to him.
If Valkyrie had been able to see through Skulduggery's eyes just then, she'd probably seen herself with fluffy hair, red-eyed eyes and rosy cheeks, and she probably thought she looked everything but attractive. What, on the other hand, she did not know was that Skulduggery did not see any of this, but instead he saw a young beautiful woman whom he had started to care for very much over the years. Where she lay under him in the grass with her hair blowing out around herself, with happiness in her eyes and the full moon's light shining down on her, she was the most beautiful thing Skulduggery had ever seen. He felt such an enormous love for this woman that he was surprised that he could at all feel what he felt.
He had thought that ever since his wife and child had died hundreds of years ago, he would never again be able to feel love to another woman, not the way he had felt towards his wife, anyway.
Oh, so wrong he had been!
Skulduggery put his teeth against Valkyrie's ear and whispered "Let's go inside and warm us before you freeze to death out here."
Valkyrie shivered at Skulduggery's velvet voice and could not help but nod since she suspected she could not answer him even if she wanted to. He helped her up and hand in hand they went into the house. Once there, Skulduggery led her through the hall, out to the living room and further into the single bedroom of the house, which was entirely her own.
"Skulduggery, I..." began Valkyrie, but was quickly interrupted by Skulduggery's gloved skeleton finger that was placed over her lips.
"Sch, you do not have to say anything, Valkyrie. Trust me."
Skulduggery lifted up Valkyrie in his arms and carried her over the threshold as if they were newlywed before he laid her down on the bed with him on top of her. He said nothing, but only made Valkyrie remain on the bed with the help of his body weight while watching her deep in the eyes. Valkyrie, in turn, began to feel exposed, as if she were an unique object that Skulduggery had been tasked with studying more closely. She began to move around and tried to escape Skulduggery's intensive gaze, but he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
"Valkyrie, are you trusting me?"
"Of course I do! What makes you..."
"Stop trying to get away from me then. What do you think I will try to do towards you? Rape you?"
Valkyrie felt how her whole body stiffened and how her cheeks once again became red with embarrassment for she did not know which time in the order this evening.
"Skulduggery?!"
Skulduggery shrugged his shoulders as if what he said was an completely normal question and did not let go of Valkyrie's chin. He leaned closer towards her as he continued to look deeply in her eyes all the time and did not care about Valkyrie's blossoming cheeks or her body language that shouted out uncertainty and concern. When his nose – or what once had been his nose, as to say – brushed towards hers, he stopped for a moment before he rubbed it against hers.
Valkyrie frowned her eyebrows before she started laughing of relief. She laughingly rubbed Skulduggery's nasal bone back before she gave it a light kiss and put her forehead against Skulduggery's. She laughed again and shook her head. "Skulduggery, you really do know how you should do to scare a woman halfway to the wits before you surprise her by doing something that we in woman-language would call something 'cute' or 'romantic'."
"Valkyrie, I thought you knew me so good by this point that you would know that I'm extremely good at both scaring and romanticizing. I am a man, or rather a skeleton, with many talents. Some of whom I have not yet chosen to show you because of different reasons." Skulduggery chuckled and laid his head in a gesture that said Valkyrie that he was very pleased with himself.
"Is that so?" Valkyrie wondered and gave him a swallow smile while her eyes shone with mischievousness. "Imagine if I would tell you that even I have sides that you did not think I had?"
"Considering how you smile and how your voice sounds, I suspect you will show me one of these pages relatively soon." Skulduggery continued to watch Valkyrie with a slightly bent head.
Without answering, Valkyrie laughed and challenged a force field around herself that caused Skulduggery to be thrown off her and dumped his ass first down to the floor where he stared at her with an astonished expression on his face. His face got Valkyrie to laugh even more and while Skulduggery started to get up, Valkyrie rolled down from the bed and started running out of the bedroom with the destination living room. However, she did not get very far before a gust of wind caused her to trip to the ground just in front of the open door.
She quickly turned her head and saw Skulduggery with a stretched hand and in standing position only a few feet from her. From his body language to judge, Valkyrie understood that he had taken her little "mischief" as a challenge and was not going to let her escape so easily. She smiled and rolled out through the bedroom door where she quickly got up and took shelter behind the couch. She could hear how Skulduggery slowly went out through the door she just had left from and how he searched the air around him by the faintest rustle of his suit jacket.
"Valkyrie, whatever you think you are doing, stop it. You know that I can feel your presence without any problems and that you are just pushing the inevitable." Although his words sounded hard and a little threatening, Valkyrie could hear in Skulduggery's tone of voice that he enjoyed this "hide and seek" game at least as much as she did.
She felt how a laugh started bubbling up inside her, but she quickly pushed it down and instead took a deep breath to gather her strength for what was going to happen. She wanted to drag on this as long as she could.
Quickly she crawled away as quiet as she could from Skulduggery while listening for the least noise that could tell her where he was. When she reached the corner of the couch, she stopped, but could not hear anything. Just as she would peek around the corner of the couch, she felt how someone approached her from above, and she had just time to look up in time to see Skulduggery hover above her before he stretched down his hand to grab her waist.
"I do not give up that easily!" Valkyrie laughed and sent a beam of light towards Skulduggery as she stood up and called forth the power field around herself as she had done before, before she ran backwards across the room to keep an eye on what Skulduggery thought to do next.
Skulduggery blocked her beam by creating his own shield of air before sending off a fireball that he let surround Valkyrie, but it was soon eradicated by Valkyrie's power field. Instead, Skulduggery advanced towards Valkyrie and used another fireball to determine how big the force field was. When he got as close as the force field allowed, he gave the air above Valkyrie such a hard fist with such force that the force field around Valkyrie burst. A curse word escaped out from Valkyrie's mouth before she blocked Skulduggery's next fist with a kick and then walked up close to him with some fists of her own just as he had taught her.
They kicked, hit and blocked each other's attacks for a while until they realized they were in a deadlock. They gave each other a quick glance before they both smiled and separated from each other to get some valuable seconds to breathe. Skulduggery was really impressed by Valkyrie and of what she could do even though she no longer had any elemental powers. She had instead chosen to train her muscles, reflexes and close combat skills.
"Good job, Valkyrie, but it ends here. You know how much I hate to lose, so I think I will just win over you here and now. Before I defeat you I would like to praise you for being able to stand up to me for such a long time. I lift my hat for you." Skulduggery really raised his hat and bowed to Valkyrie, who could do nothing else but laugh and shake her head.
The same old, vain Skulduggery, she thought to herself.
Everything seemed to stand still for a few seconds. The only thing that was heard was the sound of Valkyrie's strained breath and her hard heartbeat. However, the silence was soon broken by leaping feet and the faint sound of a windpuff that hits a human body. Valkyrie gasped by the strength of the wind that Skulduggery threw at her and was just about to fall when Skulduggery's arms were laid around her and pinned her against the kitchen door. She tried to get loose, but it was just a pure reflex since she knew she could not escape from Skulduggery this time.
"And now, my dear Valkyrie, I do not intend to let you escape my arms again", said Skulduggery, pressing his body against Valkyrie while pushing his teeth against her lips in the closest he could get to a kiss.
Valkyrie pushed her lips back against Skulduggery's teeth and put her arms around his neck to get even closer to him. Even though he was just a wandering skeleton, he felt in some way so hot and human-like. Skulduggery was more human than any other human she had met before. He had really lived under the almost 450 years he had lived and he had both seen and experienced things that few people get a chance to do.
She knew that it should not be possible to feel like she did towards this skeleton, this inhuman person, but she could not hide from her feelings as much as the wind can not help that its blowing.
She loved Skulduggery Pleasant. Not just as a friend or a mentor, but she really loved him.
As if Skulduggery could read her thoughts, he interrupted their kiss and watched Valkyrie in her eyes. "Valkyrie Cain, I love you."
Valkyrie smiled and laughed, causing Skulduggery to shake his head and hold her chin while laying his forehead against hers. With the other hand, he touched the magic symbols that China had tattooed at his clavicle so many years ago that he could have a human face for a short while. Instead of his common skeleton appearance, suddenly, a beautiful human face with high cheekbones, black hair and dark green eyes suddenly appeared. In his eyes, Valkyrie could see the love Skulduggery felt for her and it made her get all hot inside.
"I'll say it again and this time I want you to look deep into my eyes when I say the words I've long wanted to say to you. Valkyrie Cain, I love you."
"And I love you, Skulduggery Pleasant", answered Valkyrie and kissed Skulduggery's now human lips.
The feeling of when Skulduggery kissed her back with real lips, got Valkyrie's knees to bend under her and she would probably have falled on her butt if it were not because Skulduggery kept her in a firm grip.
The two magicians pressed hard against each other and the kiss quickly dived into a tongue war where the other tasted as much as it only could from the other's mouth. They both felt as if they were going to drown in a sea of pleasure and lust. They had withheld their real feelings to each other for such a long time that when they got their outflow it were as if they could not get enough of each other.
Valkyrie began to tremble at the same time as Skulduggery's hands placed themselves over her breasts and began to massage them slowly. She could feel how Skulduggery smirked between their kisses and it just made her tremble even more when she realized that he did this to tease and excite her.
Which of course it did.
"Skulduggery..." moaned Valkyrie and pushed her chest against his hands while moving up and down towards the rest of his body.
"Yes, Valkyrie?" Skulduggery answered with his velvety voice, causing Valkyrie to shiver with pleasure and groan again.
"Do not stop..." Valkyrie begged and pushed Skuldduggery even closer by putting her legs around his waist.
Skulduggery surprised Valkyrie by laughing and give her a light kiss on her mouth before releasing her breast and instead hugging her hard. He laid his head against her shoulder where he sighed deeply before he spoke again. "Valkyrie, if you only knew how long I've longed for this. Getting to feel your lips against mine, getting to feel how your body reacts to my touch, to hear you say you love me... After all, I do not want to contemplate anything between us. I do not want to throw you into something you're not ready for yet.
I'm too well aware of how your attempts to have a boyfriend have worked before and I do not want to be another one of your boyfriends, but I really want to make it work between us two. I can not live without you, just as you can not live without me. If we anticipate this relationship and then come to the realization that it will not work, I would never be able to see you in the eyes again. Damn, I do not even think I could be near you anymore. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Valkyrie felt how tears were formed in her eyes by Skulduggery's words. They touched her a lot and they made her realize just how much Skulduggery really loved her. She also knew that what he was saying was true, they could really make this work if they took it carefully.
"I do understand you, Skulduggery. Sorry, I just got so excited. You're really no bad kisser."
"Thanks, Valkyrie, although this was something I already knew before. You may want to say something more about me, as I already know, knowing how much I like talking about myself and telling others to do it for me." Skulduggery chuckled and gave Valkyrie a meaningful gaze.
In response, Valkyrie gave him a rather hard blow to the arm, which made Skulduggery look surprised, but as soon as he saw Valkyrie's mischievous smile he laughed. He gave her cheek a kiss and then put her down. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her to the kitchen. "I guess you're pretty hungry after all 'exercise' we've done."
"Food sounds heavenly right now, Skulduggery", answered Valkyrie and smiled up to her mentor and partner, the skeleton detective.
The weeks went by and none of them had ever been happier. As soon as they got a chance to and had time, they gave each other a meaningful look, a hug or a kiss. Valkyrie spent most of her free time with Skulduggery in his house and noticed that she more and more began to move over her own things there. It started innocently enough with some change of clothes, a toothbrush and shower items, but soon she began to "forget about" personal things like books, movies and music articles.
Skulduggery had not said anything about it yet, but she suspected he was quite alright with it and she interpreted his silence about it all as that he was believing that she was considering moving in full-time with him. Something that she knew he would be extremely happy if she did. This was something she herself had considered to ask him about, but did not really dare to since she was afraid that he would think she moved too fast.
Speaking of "too fast"... Even though Valkyrie was happy with Skulduggery, she could find herself sometimes to be frustrated and really angry with him as it had not yet happened anything sexually between them. Or, maybe it was to exaggerate it a little. In fact, there had been a lot of strokings, making out sessions and some removal of clothes. On the other hand, they had not yet gone full out and actually had sex yet and by this time Valkyrie began to get really frustrated.
Not because she knew how they would be able to have sex, since Skulduggery did not have a penis to put inside her, but she did not worry too much about it. She totally trusted Skulduggery and she knew he was really good at finding solutions to problems that arose. She had tried to imagine how he would look like completely naked, but it had not gone so good. Not because she had not seen a skeleton before, but something told her that Skulduggery looked completely different compared to the skeletons she had been seeing before.
After all, he was a living skeleton.
Strangely enough, the idea that she generally wanted to have sex with a skeleton, even though he was alive, was not making her feel strange or mad. Instead, the thought of getting Skulduggery's hands across her entire body got her excited and got her to feel a great expectation of what was to come.
She was interrupted in her thoughts by the phone that beeped in her pocket. She picked it up and saw that she had received a text message from Skulduggery. Her heart immediately began to hit harder and faster in her chest.
"Valkyrie, picking you up in 5 minutes", it said, and Valkyrie wondered what might have happened to have Skulduggery want to see her now when he left her with her parents just a few hours ago after they completed another mission for China. Had something new already appeared?
Valkyrie quickly went down the stairs to the downstairs where she found her parents and little sister in full swing watching a quiz show. They shouted out the answers to the questions that came and laughed at each other when one of them was wrong. Valkyrie became very warm inside when she watched her family and was glad she had chose to contact them again after all that had happened after they had defeated Darquesse.
"Mom, Dad, Alice, I'm leaving now. Skulduggery is soon here and picking me up. I love you all!" Valkyrie waved and gave her family members a blow kiss before she walked out the front door to wait for Skulduggery.
It did not take long for her to see a couple of car lights approach and she quickly went to the car and sat down on the passenger side the moment the Bentley stopped in front of her. Once inside she turned to Skulduggery and gave him a kiss before hugging him and breathing in his scent. "God have I missed you, even if it was only a few hours since we last saw each other!"
Skulduggery hugged her back and laughed in her ear, which got Valkyrie to shiver. She loved Skulduggery's laughter, she could listen to both that and his voice forever without getting tired! "I've missed you too, Valkyrie."
"So why did you come and pick me up, except you obviously missed me?" Valkyrie wondered and put on the seat belt while Skulduggery drove out of her parents' house and away from the city of Haggard.
"Time will tell", said Skulduggery with a secretive tone, which made Valkyrie's curiosity increase even more.
"Come on, tell me!"
"No."
"Why not?"
"For then it would not be a surprise, right?" Skulduggery turned his head against Valkyrie and tilted his head slightly.
"I hate when you're right", laughed Valkyrie and sat down comfortably in the seat.
"I know, which is the reason I try to be right as often as possible. Ouch! That was mean, Valkyrie."
Valkyrie had hit her elbow into Skulduggery's side the same moment as he had finished the sentence. She knew that he just said so to get on her nerves, knowing how easily she could get angry, but it did not stop her from giving him a small "digs" as a fair punishment.
"Get it together, or maybe I'll let you off right here in the middle of the road, and you'll have to get back to your parents' house best you want, which in turn means you're not getting my little surprise."
"If you stopped being so self-righteous and self-important, I would not have hit you from the very beginning, and you know that very well."
To that, Skulduggery had no answer, but just mumbled something unhearable, and Valkyrie could only grin to herself where she sat on the passenger seat. It was not often she managed to win over Skulduggery in terms of insults, but the few times she did, she enjoyed it completely.
It was not long before they stopped outside Skulduggery's house, and Valkyrie was surprised to see that it shone lightly in the windows. There was no lampshade, the lights were too weak to be able to be from the lamps Skulduggery usually used when she was there. She suspected that it was candles, but why would Skulduggery have lit a lot of candles in his own home?
She was interrupted in her thoughts by Skulduggery who opened her car door, snapped off her seat belt and then lifted her out of the car. He carried her all the way to the front door as he opened by pushing the handle with the side of his elbow and then closed it with a light kick with his left foot.
Once inside the house, Valkyrie could see that her suspicions had been true. Skulduggery had really lighted a lot of candles around the house and the smell of them made her get a little dizzy. They spread a pleasant shine and gave her a sense of calm and harmony, despite the light dizziness. Skulduggery had placed the candles on basically every living room furniture and even some in the bedroom she could see from where she was in Skulduggery's arms in the hall.
Skulduggery put her down on the floor while waving his right hand. Valkyrie could all of a sudden hear quiet music play from the CD player that Skulduggery had installed in the living room and when she turned her head towards him, he had stretched out his hand towards her.
"My dear Valkyrie, may I?"
Valkyrie did not answer but instead laid her left hand in Skulduggery's right and let him lead her into the living room to the waiting music. Once there, Skulduggery pushed her against him and put her right hand on his left shoulder. Slowly, Skulduggery started dancing with Valkyrie in the light-lit room. He watched her all the time in her eyes as they danced. Every now and then he turned her around or bent her down to the ground, but never let go of the eye contact.
Valkyrie felt that all the while they continued dancing, she began to feel calm and excited, for she began to understand what Skulduggery was planning. Now, when the wait was about to end, she felt nothing but expectation to see what more Skulduggery might have planned. The only thing she knew for sure was that it would be an evening to remember.
Without warning, Skulduggery stopped dancing and instead pushed her closer to his body before biting her lightly in the neck, which got Valkyrie to shiver. "Oh..." was all she could get out.
"Are you ready for your surprise now, Valkyrie Cain?" Skulduggery asked with a sensual whispering that caused the whole of Valkyrie's midriff to tingle with expectation. She nodded and Skulduggery led her into the bedroom.
In there, Skulduggery had put out black candles with shapes of little hearts around the floor, and on the nightstand table, Valkyrie could see that different objects were placed. She could not really figure out what it was for, but she knew she would soon be aware of it. In the bed, Skulduggery had stretched out small rose petals that shone in both light and dark red from the black candles on the floor.
"I am not so sure you know it, Valkyrie, but today it is 13 years since you and I met each other for the first time. I wanted to celebrate this day by giving you a romantic evening with elements of varying sexual games, as I know you have been longing for me for a while now..." Skulduggery laughed low and put his left hand on Valkyrie's breast while he with his other hand turned her head against himself and pushed his teeth against her in a kiss.
Valkyrie immediately responded to his kiss by pushing her mouth harder against Skulduggery's teeth as she pushed her chest against his hand and began to move it up and down to make Skulduggery massage it. She was carried by a desire that had been slumbering for a long time and which she now had difficulty controlling. The only thing she wanted was Skulduggery to take off her clothes and stroke her hot while she wanted to do the same to him.
Valkyrie felt how the grip on her chin was released and instead felt how a pair of human lips started kissing her hungrily. She understood that Skulduggery was inducing his human disguise to be able to kiss her properly and that was nothing she said no to. Instead, she totally devoted herself to Skulduggery's kisses as she stroked his chest with her hands. She could feel how Skulduggery shivered by her touch and it eased her to continue.
Slowly Valkyrie unbuttoned Skulduggery's shirt all the while she continued kissing him. When all the buttons were opened up, she slowly pulled it off and broke their kissing to look at him. She let her hands go on a discovery over his bones and she liked what she saw and felt. The feeling of finally touching him was overpowering. How long had she not wanted to do just this? Valkyrie looked up at Skulduggery and in his eyes she could see his lust towards her. She understood that if he had had a human body, she would have seen how his heart would have bumped quickly in his chest and felt his hard member against her own.
"Skulduggery, I do hope that you will not mind this, but I am going to start kissing your bones now", said Valkyrie and smiled before kissing Skulduggery's throat and shoulders before working her way down to his chest. For each new kiss she could feel how Skulduggery shivered by her touch. While kissing him, she let her hands go on discovery along the back of his shoulders and spinal column. At the same time as she began to stroke his spinal column, Skulduggery took a great hold of the back of her head and moaned low against her ear.
At the same time as Valkyrie heard Skulduggery's moan, she began to stroke his spine unbearably slowly as she let her tongue stroke his ribs. Skulduggery's grab to the back of her head hardened and he pressed his upper body hard against her while something similar to a growl escaped his throat. His whole body was shaking by the pleasure that Valkyrie's hands and tongue gave him. It was so long ago that he had felt a woman's caressing that he almost forgot how it could be. Although he had not been with so many women through his almost 450-year-old life, he could easily acknowledge that the feeling Valkyrie now gave him was something he had never experienced before, even with his wife as he had loved over everything else.
Valkyrie made him feel alive in a way he never had felt before. It was as if he relished and rejoiced lust anew, while it at the same time was feeling too familiar. She woke up something within him as he never thought he would feel again.
He knew that this would be a memorable evening, even for him.
Without a word, Skulduggery pulled away Valkyrie's hands off from him and tore off her t-shirt and opened up her bra while pushing her backwards with the help from his legs towards the bed. Once there, he pushed her down on to the covers and began to kiss her violently while he with one hand was touching her breasts and letting the other go on discovery along her belly and just above the edge of her pants. Sure enough he wanted her now, but he did not want to destroy this evening by hurrying things. He wanted to enjoy the feeling of Valkyrie's body against his hands and mouth first before giving her what she wanted.
Valkyrie moaned with pleasure between their violent kisses and pushed up her body against Skulduggery's skeleton teeth. Wave after wave of pleasure went through her and she wanted more, wanted to feel Skulduggery's hands all over her. "Skulduggery, please..." Valkyrie managed to moan.
Skulduggery interrupted their kisses and looked down at Valkyrie where she lay with swollen lips, red cheeks and eyes that glistened by the lust she felt for him. He slowly stroked her cheek with his hand that had laid on her breast while with his other hand he clasped the button in her pants. He saw and heard how Valkyrie sighed of relief, as if she had been freed from a heavy burden.
Which she kind of had.
Slowly, Skulduggery pulled off her pants as he watched her in her eyes all the time. When Valkyrie lay in front of him wearing only panties, Skulduggery had to bite his lip so as not to throw himself over her again. She was so beautiful where she lay and he could not understand that this beautiful creature was his and his only. How could Fletcher and Caelan not have understood what they had before them all the time?
Valkyrie was beauty personified and she was his.
"You are wonderful, Valkyrie..." whispered Skulduggery before taking Valkyrie's nipple in his mouth and began licking and sucking it.
Valkyrie bounced high and bent her upper body up against Skulduggery's mouth. She took hold of the sheets with her two hands while pushing her throbbing sex against Skulduggery's pelvis. She started to stroke herself against him and Skulduggery took a hold of her buttock to support her. They both trembled from all the feelings that was flowing through them and by the feeling their bodies against each other gave them.
"Yes, Skulduggery..." moaned Valkyrie and swung even more towards him. She thought she would crack out of impatience and horniness at the same time. She did not want Skulduggery to finish his treatment, but at the same time she wanted him to get rid of her panties and get to feel him inside her. Her sex throbbed so hard that she thought it would explode.
As soon as Skulduggery had started, he stopped. He kept his grip on her buttock, but released her nipple and stretched himself towards the night table with his free hand. There he picked up a bottle that he opened before letting the contents slowly sip down on Valkyrie's bare skin. She shook when the fluid hit her skin and she could feel the smell of vanilla. What had Skulduggery in mind now?
"Just relax, Valkyrie. I will take off your panties now and then massage in the oil I just poured over you. I want you to stay where you are now. I want to enjoy watching you enjoy my touch. I want to make you shudder, shake and shiver when my hands touch you."
Said and done, before Valkyrie had time to respond she felt how a pleasant coldness wrapped around her sex when her panties were pulled off her. She was just about to say something when Skulduggery's hands started massaging her body from top to bottom, starting with her neck and even down to her stomach. He did not touch her sex, not yet at least, and Valkyrie thought she knew why. He was messing with her, wanted to make her crazy with lust towards him and then melt when he finally did what she wanted him to. Some part of her hated Skulduggery because he knew very well that one of her weaknesses was waiting while the other side loved him because he took such time for her and wanted her to enjoy this as much as possible.
"Mm, Skulduggery... This is nice..." whispered Valkyrie and moaned while she was overcome by the feeling Skulduggery's hands gave her when they were walking across her upper body.
She heard how Skulduggery laughed low to himself and there was something in his laughter that made her eyebrows collapse in a pensive wrinkle. She was just about to ask him what was so funny, when Skulduggery let his hands massage the inside of her thighs, just in the outskirts of her labia. Valkyrie had to bite into her lip so as not to shout high of the pleasure that rinsed through her body. God, how Skulduggery was good at this! He knew exactly where all her most sensitive spots were and used them to his advantage to drive her crazy.
"Ops, I certainly came across a sensitive spot here. If you react so strongly to this, what happens if I do this?" Skulduggery wondered and began to stroke her clitoris with one hand while letting two fingers slide into her using the other.
"Skulduggery!" Valkyrie moaned loudly and bent her back to give Skulduggery deeper access into her. She began to move back and forth in pace with Skulduggery's fingers and trembled violently for every time they slipped into her again. To her great disappointment though, Skulduggery used his hand that was touching her clitoris to hold her down, which meant that she could only move in minimal movements. This frustrated her, but she knew she could not win over him when it came to pure strength.
Skulduggery did not answer, but just laughed teasingly and continued with his treatment of her gender. For each time Valkyrie tried to get rid of his grip by pushing extra hard upward, he just pushed her back down, all just to be able to tease her.
"Valkyrie, I thought you knew you can not win over me. I'm after all your mentor, I've learned you almost everything you can. See this as an extremely gracious punishment because you dared to put yourself up against me when I picked you up."
"Fuck... you, Skulduggery!" Valkyrie muttered between the waves of pleasures that went through her.
"Oh, do not worry, Valkyrie. I'll take you when that time comes. I'm just going to hold you on the rack for a little while longer." With those words, Skulduggery pulled out his fingers from Valkyrie's gender (which caused Valkyrie to moan in disappointment) and again stretched out after something on the nightstand. When Valkyrie followed his gaze, she could see that he picked up a nylon clasp that would be tied around her wrists. Her eyes became astonished and she looked at Skulduggery as he bent over her with the rope in his hand. What was he going to do to her?
"Do you trust me, Valkyrie?"
"Yes, I do, Skulduggery."
"Good, just relax. You will love this if you liked what I have done towards you so far. No worries, you will soon feel me inside you, do not worry." Skulduggery smiled and gave Valkyrie some soft kisses while he clenched the rope around her wrists. Once that was done, he clenched the ends in a pair of hooks that he had mounted above the bed.
When he was satisfied, he picked up a pair of nipple clips, which he placed very slowly and carefully on Valkyrie's nipples. When he saw how Valkyrie closed her eyes and heard how she was moaning with pleasure, he knew he had placed them right. When done, he massaged her breasts, belly and the outside of her sex to warm her up to the final stage of their little "play". For every new moan and trembling of enjoyment Valkyrie did, his desire for her grew more and more. He also felt that he was on the verge of his breaking point now and could not stay away from her much longer.
He bent down towards Valkyrie and gave her a kiss before biting lightly into her lip, something that caused Valkyrie to moan with even more lust. "Please Skuldduggery, take me now, I can not wait anymore. I'm about to explode from restrained lust..."
"As you want", Skulduggery whispered lovingly in her ear while letting the remainder of his clothes slip away from him.
Without Valkyrie knowing how it happened, she suddenly felt how something hard stroked against her gender. She bent her legs to give Skulduggery free access to her innermost, and it did not take long before she felt how that hardness pushed into her unhappily slowly. The feeling of feeling Skulduggery inside her was supernatural. As soon as he was fully in her, she came with a loud moan and trembled throughout her body. She had been on the verge of breaking all the time that when she finally got what she wanted, she could not keep it back anymore.
She opened her eyes and looked Skulduggery in the eyes. "Sorry, I could not hold it anymore..." she whispered.
"Do not worry, Valkyrie. It's my fault, I actually held you on the edge for a long time, did I not? If, on the other hand, you think I'm going to stop now, you're wrong."
With those words, Skulduggery began to move in and out of her, and Valkyrie threw her head backwards and moaned high from the pleasure that Skulduggery gave her. She began to move as fast as she could with her arms bound, but soon realized that Skulduggery was helping her by holding her uppwards by laying his hands around the edge of her bum.
"Oh, God, Skulduggery... Please, more..." asked Valkyrie and began to move faster up and down along Skulduggery's gender.
She did not have to ask him twice. Skulduggery pushed into her all faster and harder while he felt how Valkyrie increased the pace in her bumps. He himself had begun to moan of pleasure now and felt as if he was riding on a wave of a lust he had never felt before. For every new bump into Valkyrie's womb the feeling got only stronger and stronger until he thought he could not take it any more, but somehow the feeling never reached its climax, but always lay on the verge of what he could stand before he would explode.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery continued to move towards each other for what felt like eternity before Valkyrie once again felt how a new orgasm began to form inside her. She laid her legs around Skulduggery's hips while letting herself slide down as far as the rope allowed her. All so that Skulduggery could come as deeply into her as possible before her orgasm would hit its hard waves of desire in her. She wanted to feel as much as she could from Skulduggery before her powers left her, knowing she would not be to able to take any more after the orgasm that was on its way.
Skulduggery understood what was going on and pushed himself even deeper and harder against Valkyrie's womb. He laid one of his arms around her body while letting the other remain on her bum. He looked her in the eyes before he gave her a deep kiss. Then he let his mouth travel down to Valkyrie's neck where he first wet the side of her neck by licking it with his tongue before biting her with such force that she began to bleed as he continued to move inside her.
At the same time as Skulduggery's teeth made holes on her skin, Valkyrie screamed out his name and came with such a force that dots danced in front of her eyes and she felt it as if she were going to faint at any moment. She trembled violently and pushed herself as hard as she could and had powers to against Skulduggery while the orgasms waves went through her again and again. Just as the last waves passed through her, she felt how Skulduggery started to shake violently and how he moaned high against her throat where he still had his teeth buried in her neck.
Everything suddenly became very quiet. The only thing that was heard was the wind that blew outside the house and the sound of two person's breathless breaths. After a while when both Valkyrie and Skulduggery got back some of their strength, Skulduggery pulled out of Valkyrie and looked down at her. "I said it would be a night to remember, did I not?"
Valkyrie laughed tired and gave Skulduggery a light kiss on the mouth before she nodded. "Yes, so you said, and you were absolutely right, Skulduggery. I've never been experiencing something like this before. It was absolutely amazing!"
"Thank you. Sometimes I really surprise myself."
"Is that really possible, I wonder? You always seem so calm and always keep track of the situation."
"Everything is possible, my dear Valkyrie." Skulduggery smiled and tilted his head a little. In his eyes, Valkyrie could see a teasing look and she wondered what was going through his head.
"I'm seriously thinking about letting you stay as you are now. If you could see what I see now, you would probably agree with me. You are incredibly beautiful when you are newly fucked, did you know that, Valkyrie?"
Valkyrie blushed deeply and looked down on her body that was soaked with sweat and oil. "You are very welcome to let me go now, as I have start losing the feelings in my hands and arms."
Skulduggery laughed and gave Valkyrie a new kiss before he was releasing the ropes around her wrists. He put them on the nightstand table before he also loosened the clips that he had stuck on Valkyrie's nipples before lifting her up to his bosom and hugging her hard. "I really do hope I did not hurt you in any way or made you feel uncomfortable, Valkyrie."
Valkyrie laid her arms around Skulduggery and hugged him hard. "You do not have to worry about that, Skulduggery. I was never worried, but completely trusted you. Certainly, I'll admit I was surprised more than once, but I never felt fear or concern about what you were going to do towards me. I could not wish for a better fuck from a skeleton detective."
Skulduggery smiled and kissed Valkyrie again before lifting her up and carrying her to the shower. "Nice to hear my dear. Now, we'll take care of you before we take a good night's sleep, or what do you say?"
Valkyrie nodded and leaned against Skulduggery's shoulder. "That sounds good", she said, smiling. "Before we wash ourselves and go to bed, there is one thing I would like to have an answer to."
"And that is?"
"How come you are having a penis, Skulduggery? I know very well why you have a human face, which allows you to kiss, bite and lick me, but without a penis you could never have completed the intercourse with me. Not in the old honest, traditional way, at least."
Skulduggery touched the symbols on his clavicle and at the same time his human face disappeared. When Valkyrie looked at him with a surprised face, Skulduggery pointed with his long finger downward and Valkyrie followed his gaze. Where his sex once sat there was now nothing but a pelvis. "I asked China to modify my symbols a little. I am very pleased to only have a human face because I do not miss the feeling of having a human body. There are very many advantages to being a walking skeleton, should you know. However, I started thinking a few days ago after you and I became a couple. If you and I should 'go all the way', I would have needed, as you said, 'a penis', which I did not have before. So I simply went to China and told her the situation and she fixed the symbols so that I can even have a penis at times like these. That's probably the only thing I have missed with being human if I'm to be honest."
"Having a penis?"
"No, or yes, in sort of a way. I have not missed a penis just to have a penis, but I have missed what it stands for and what it can do. Certainly I would have been able to use an artificial penis, a so-called strap-on, but I do not like them. Believe me, I have used such things before in my other relationships, but it has not felt really right."
Valkyrie could do nothing but laugh, as she found the whole situation extremely strange, embarrasing and cute at one and the same time. She had not even imagined in her wildest and craziest fantasies that she would have this conversation with Skulduggery. The whole thing was simply so... surreal, in the absence of a better word.
"So... In other words, you simply went up to China and asked her to add a symbol to the ones you already had, so that you, as you said, could 'go all the way with Valkyrie'? I would really have liked to see China's face when you said that!"
"Believe me, it was probably for the best that you did not see it. Just thinking about that conversation, I get embarrassed and ill at ease. China thought it was a very weird request. 'Why do you not go all out and ask me to get you an artificial body instead? You already have a human face, it would not take me too long to add some other symbols that would give you a whole body', China asked me and I answered her the same way I answered you. I do not miss being human, I prefer myself as I am now and believe me, if I could satisfy you with only my teeth and fingers I would. As it is now, I suspect it would be boring quite fast and if it is something I do not want it is you becoming bored in bed, Valkyrie."
Valkyrie smiled and gave Skulduggery's cheekbone a little kiss before hugging him. "Thank you for being honest with me, Skulduggery. It all feels much better right now, when I know why you were so secretive for a while. Before we shower it's just one thing I'm wondering about."
"And that is?"
"Now that you have a penis, is there a risk that I can get pregnant?"
"No, you can not get pregnant. Sure, I do have a human penis now and I can get orgasms, but since I am not human, I can not produce sperm, which in turn means that I can not realease."
"Well, then I do not have to worry about an unexpected pregnancy in the future. Now that that's out of the way there's only one more thing that you should know about, though."
"And what is that?" Skulduggery wondered and started the shower. He walked in among its hot rays with Valkyrie still secure in a tight grip in his arms and looked her in the eyes.
"I think we could satisfy each other while in your skeleton form as well. I noticed how much you liked it when I touched you and believe me when I say that I really liked it when you touched me with your skeleton fingers. In fact, I thought we could try it right now, here in the shower..." said Valkyrie with a mischievous smile on her lips before she leaned closer to Skulduggery and kissed his skeleton teeth.
And believe me on my word when I say they really tested Valkyrie's idea.
