Chapter One

Pursuit

Tanith had never been one to back down from a fight; it was a thought that genuinely would never enter her mind. Even now the cold, Irish wind was ripping at her face, telling her to stop. It was not going to happen. Her mentor had often told her in her younger years that she was too easily riled, she was often told 'look before you leap' and all that. Needless to say the words meant surprisingly little to her then and not much more right now.

The sword strapped to her side hindered her now, the jeans too hadn't been a good decision she lamented internally. Though as it was, she hadn't planned on spending the night leaping across rooftops in pursuit of an elemental madman. She really needed to find some money to pay Ghastly to make some clothes for her. Valkyrie's clothes were always stylish and practical. At least the thick leather of her boots protected her feet even as she ran across the unforgiving rooftops high above the ground. No clothes were going to save her if she fell.

Below the traffic raged, though no-one looked up from the road, it was late which possibly helped. But still it wasn't something you saw everyday on the streets of Dublin.

Tanith didn't even know the name of her would-be attacker. She was catching up to him though, and for now that was what really mattered to her. She'd never live it down if Skulduggery found out she hadn't caught whoever this depraved madman was. That would be year's of amusement to him.

The wound on her shoulder stung as she threw her arms forward to propel her body through a sizeable jump from a roof. The rooftops were beginning to thin out, the gaps becoming bigger, they were heading down to the river Liffey, and they'd be at the bridge soon. Then the fight would truly begin. He wouldn't surprise her this time with the hidden blade she'd only just blocked and even then it was clumsy and unprepared so she'd moved into the attack, rather than away.

Her pride hurt more than the cut, that she'd been wounded by the unassuming madman, well she mentally referred to him as that, since only fools and madmen took her on and lived. They were near the Bachelor's walk now and if he carried on his current path, they would certainly leave the rooftops, though he was an elemental, he seemed to be making those jumps much easier than she was. He moved with an unnatural enhancement that she could not match through strength and endurance alone. Or at least that was what she telling herself.

Had Tanith been thinking straight she would have through about why the man had run from her only seconds after he had gained the upper-hand of the whole situation.

Tanith had been back in Dublin at Skulduggery's request to help train Valkyrie for a few days. For the time being Val had been training with Ghastly Bespoke to strengthen her attacks, but he and Skulduggery had business to take care of; despite Valkyrie's loud objection had left her behind in the care of Tanith.

"It's not fair, I always go." Valkyrie had sulked, as they sat in Tanith's apartment.

"Hey it's not like I got to go either." Replied Tanith, "and they've gotta' have a reason if they leave us behind; a bloody good one at that."

"I suppose…" sighed Valkyrie, not altogether happy with the whole situation. Skulduggery had been increasingly protective of her as of-late, she suspected he was still a little miffed about the whole learning necromancy thing. But it did definitely seem as if she never got to do any of the cool stuff at the moment.

Tanith had walked Valkyrie back to her own house later that evening; they'd been training all afternoon, trying to work on Valkyrie's speed and accuracy. Tanith had noticed that the girl's punches certainly hurt a little more than they used to. Though, she wasn't sure whether to chalk that up to Ghastly's training or her anger at having been left behind for this one. After they'd finished successfully trashing her apartment, despite moving what little furniture she owned to the relative safety of the edges of her room. Tanith had decided it was enough for the night, her heart wasn't quite in the practise; she wished she was with them on whatever mission they were carrying out.

It was a long walk to Haggard but it gave them chance to talk, as they so often did when they were able to get the time to do so. Though they talked about little really, both were deep in thought about where Skulduggery and Ghastly had gone so suddenly; without them. The four of the seemed to have worked in pairs for so long it felt strange to suddenly be left behind.

"Y'know even if they didn't take me with them, they could have at least told me what they were up to." Tanith had said, the streets were free of pedestrians so they could talk quite openly here – walking was something of a liberty for them, since they so often had to try and stay out of the public eye when accompanied by Skulduggery and Ghastly – neither of them the most plain man. "It's not like him to be so secretive."

-"But Skulduggery is always secretive, I swear he'd 'withhold the truth' from his own mother." Valkyrie had replied, sure that Tanith couldn't have misjudged Skulduggery's character so badly in all the years she'd known him.

"What, Val?" Tanith had replied, confused for a second, then realising the confusion of the conversation. "Oh no, I mean Ghastly." Valkyrie still looked confused at her answer so she continued. "We end up partnered a lot, well since it's usually you and Skul. And well you know, we talk a fair amount, about work mainly I guess" Though that wasn't exactly true, they often talked of past experience, early memories. She smiled as she thought of the first few days after Ghastly had been de-stoned, when she'd first starting to get to know the complicated soul that was the tailor.

Tanith realised she'd been rambling and caught herself before, maybe that was what was bothering her a little. She thought Ghastly had trusted her.

"Are you two an item or something?"

"No." Tanith protested, "He's not my type." Maybe that was the problem, he wasn't her 'type' but at the same time she felt betrayed by his lack of confidence. Did she want him to be her type? It had been something that she had been wondering for a while now, it was so easy between them, and she felt safe even on the most dangerous of mission just because he was there. They were opposites completely and yet their personalities complimented each other perfectly. Or maybe it was that she was worried about him, that she would lose him as a partner that he would use the terrible earth magic once again and she would have to wait for him.

"Don't get me wrong, Val, I mean we're friends, but nothing more. Sides' if you're gonna start saying stuff like that, what about you and Renn?" Tanith realise she'd been silent for too long as she'd thought. They'd certainly covered a lot more ground than she had thought.

"Ewwwww!" Was Valkyrie's only reply, Tanith had set that one up so that she could continue to think. She wanted another opinion on the situation but Valkyrie was too young to understand, plus that would mean actually voicing her fears and thoughts, when it came to affairs of the heart, Tanith Low was a coward.

Finally she stood outside the Edgley household and watched at Valkyrie scaled the wall to her bedroom with relative ease thanks to her continuing training of elemental magic. Her duties over for the day, Tanith began to head back home, wishing she had come on her bike, no longer wishing for a walk, now that it was alone. That only highlighted the fact he wasn't here – and that she realised she hadn't been on her own in Ireland in months, usually when she was here it was on business; that meant either Ghastly's company or that of Skulduggery and Valkyrie, they didn't tend to work as a group too often, as for now they needed to gather information on the Revengers' Club. Information-gathering though seemed to attract just as many fights as everything else, perhaps more so in the seedier parts of the magical community.

However, Tanith was not currently on such a mission and so the sudden attack had been a genuine surprise to her. Though she always carried the sword, though at this time it was fastened tightly to her back and hidden from mortal eyes by an overly large coat.

She'd been crossing over into the bulk of the city, the streets just beginning to get dark. That was when the man had struck.

If Ghastly has been there, she wouldn't have chased after this man. He would have been level-headed enough to have realised it was a trap designed to bait her weakness, the quick temper of the blonde-haired warrior. If he'd been there, perhaps Tanith wouldn't have pursued the man so quickly, her emotions wouldn't have been quite so high.

It was only when Tanith's feet finally touched the ground, after having chased the man halfway across the city at a breakneck speed only to find herself breathless did she realise that he'd made a mistake. Made especially more apparent, as he stood before her, immaculate, a single dark hair not even out of place. He'd smiled a cruel smile. His green eyes lighting up with the realisation of just down well his plan had worked. Billy-Ray Sanguine had been right, Tanith Low would be his easiest target.

(Updated)A/N: I promised an update to this story so long ago. This is a slightly newer version of the first chapter - mainly fixing a few errors and introducing a more revised plot. Chapter will be up very, very soon!