Vampire Problems

Chapter 1: Emotional Torture

The women smiled evilly. 'Oh brother, dear, come and see your long lost Valkyrie Cain.'

A man entered the room. He was tall and slender, graceful and well built. A blanket of hair was on top of his head, the fringe covering one of his dark eyes, which were black as night, to match his hair. He looked around about nineteen. The gracefulness in which he walked with could only belong to a jungle cat, or a... vampire! Valkyrie gasped in surprise as she realised who he was.

No, she thought, it, it couldn't be. He's dead, I killed him. Me and Fletcher, we killed him, after he attacked me. But it is him. It is Calean. Well tension is gonna be thick around here. She glanced around and noticed that skulduggery was no longer tied up in an identical chair next to her. Especially since Skulduggery's gone. She was jolted out of her thoughts as the chair tipped over, probably a result of Calean getting mad when she forgot about him and started thinking. Now she could barely think. She had probably banged her head on the floor. Suddenly, something started dragging her across the stone, cold, bare floor.

She let out a small grunt as someone roughly undid the bonds tying her to the chair. Suddenly, she felt a sharp, terrible pain in her arm. She knew that Calean had stabbed her but she didn't scream. All that she registered was more pain in too many places to mention, and then she started to welcome the pain-numbing unconsciousness.


Skulduggery banged his fist on the wall that separated him and the tortured and bleeding Valkyrie. He cursed himself for not checking whether he was bound or not. They had tried to make him break down by making him watch Valkyrie being hurt constantly through bullet proof glass. It had, shamefully, worked. Now that he was thinking clearly he tried to ignite a spark in the palm of his curled hand and it worked. He then blasted open the metal door, and screamed. Valkyrie was being held by Calean, who, for his part, was biting her neck. He watched for an age, but he then saw Valkyrie's body go limp and charged at the vampire. To his surprise he ran straight through them both. Valkyrie sat up a little and mouthed the words 'trap door. Floor. Pink.' She then pointed to herself and mouthed 'hologram' then disappeared. He looked down at the multi coloured tiles, searching for the pink one. Ten minutes later he found it, went to alert his partner and be egotistic, then realised that she wasn't here to playfully hit his arm. He stepped on the tile and applied pressure, a moment later it rumbled and slid away, showing a steep stairway made of bleak, grey, uninviting stone. He slowly began to make his way down.

Skulduggery walked into stank, damp room. On a pile of straw lay Valkyrie Cain. Dark eyes bloodshot, hair matted with sweat, breathing shallow and quick and, worst of all, a massive gaping hole in her neck. It was obviously a fight to stay conscious, but Valkyrie managed it. She wasn't bound, but she couldn't escape. Her legs, feet, arms, hands and hip were broken. Her left shoulder blade was shattered, as was her right ankle. Her protective coat was gone, discarded in the corner of the room.

Just then, Calean casually strolled through the door opposite to the one skulduggery was standing in front of.

'Oh' was all Calean could say before Skulduggery threw two twin streams of fire at him. Calean roared in anguish and began making his way over to Valkyrie. Before he could cover the distance between them, though, Skulduggery had shot him in the neck. Calean tut-tutted in a raspy voice, prepared to pounce, but Skulduggery had already summoned the powers of the sea. Calean was putting up a valiant struggle, and had managed to stay above the water until it receded. He stood up, limping slightly, and hobbled over to Skulduggery, who was bent over in pain and tiredness. Using that amount of magic was starting to take its toll. Calean picked up a rock and just as he was about to hit the detective on the head with it, a crowbar came out of nowhere and knocked him unconscious.