A Dark Encounter
News of the fight with Lord Vile had died down after two weeks. Now Valkyrie and Skulduggery were working on a new case. Someone called Dark Masquerade was destroying the members of sanctuary. They predicted Ghastly was next. They knew that Dark Masquerade was a necromancer, a very powerful one at that. He must have taught himself outside of the order because he clearly applied his skills in a different way. Other than his dark skills, all they knew about him was that he wore a mask so his true identity remained elusive.
Skulduggery was fed up with searching for him. "We better find the idiot soon or I'll lose my skull."
"Not again," moaned Valkyrie. "If you do I'm not going to find it for you, not again." Skulduggery laughed and Valkyrie assured him that she was serous.
At that moment a tendril of darkness flew towards the car .Skulduggery noticed it just in time and threw himself and Valkyrie out of the car. Just as the pair escaped, the darkness smashed into the Bentley. The sound of destruction filled the air as the old Bentley was crushed and destroyed. Skulduggery stood in shock, his precious Bentley was gone for good.
Another tendril came and sent Skulduggery flying back wards. He hit the wreckage of his old car, but quickly recoiled and landed on the cold, black road. Next thing anyone knew Valkyrie had been hit by, what felt like a wall of darkness. She screamed as her necromancer ring flew from her finger and into the air.
As the darkness drifted away, a figure walked towards them. "Thanks for the jewellery", a very cold menacing voice boomed through the last few tendrils of darkness.
Skulduggery lay on the ground unconscious. It was up to Valkyrie to save the day again. She scrambled to her feet and threw a fire ball at the figure that stood in front of her. The stranger dodged the fire ball with no effort at all. He returned fire and a ball of darkness flew towards Valkyrie. She dodged nimbly but a second shadow ball hit her full in the face. Valkyrie screamed as she landed on top of the contorted remains of the Bentley. "You think you could defeat the masquerade of darkness," the voice called again. Valkyrie cursed as another ball of darkness collided with her right shoulder. All of a sudden Skulduggery sprang to life and sent a bolt of fire in the masked fiend's direction. Masquerade screamed in pain as the line of fire struck him in the chest. "Your days of terrorising are over," announced Skulduggery. He walked to the heap of burnt rags. "It's over,"
"You don't know who you're dealing with," The menace yelled. Skulduggery grabbed the stranger by the shirt collar. Masquerade grumbled and cursed. Skulduggery ripped the necromancer ring from his finger and tossed it in Val's direction. He swiftly turned the Masquerade's hand behind him, crushing his hand in the process. Masquerade struggled and Skulduggery thought it would be a long flight to get this one to prison.