Skulduggery's POV

I could here Valkyrie's feet crunching softly on the gravel as we crept down the road, following one of the biggest mass murderers, well, of all time as far as they were aware of. Basically, sane people didn't mess with him. That's why it was Valkyrie and myself that were tracking him down. Sanity is an unneeded tool.

"How long are we going to follow him?" Valkyrie hissed to me.

"As long as need be, now hush"

We watched as he slowly turned the corner to a known baddie pub and had a quick conversation with the bouncer before continuing inside. It was very likely that this wasn't going to end extremely peacefully. Not that we were expecting it to go any differently. I scanned the building looking for other entryways but came up short, no windows or skylights, just that one damned door.

"Miss Cain, I believe we're in for a fight, you ready?"

She grinned up at me "Are you?" and then took off towards the bouncer, with me on her heels. The man looked up slowly as he heard us running and lazily turned toward us.

"Name?" he asked calmly in a more Northern Ireland accent.

"Yes we have names but I don't think you really need or want to know. It would be appreciated, though if you would just let us through and we'd be out of your hair lickety-split" I answered as cheerfully as I could.

The bouncer just shook his head and altered his stance.

"Right", I said and heard Valkyrie click her fingers, summoning a flame and throw it at the burly man. Just as calmly as before he stepped forward and I watched as his atoms separated for the flame to pass harmlessly through him.

"Bloody hell" she muttered.

"Well, this is going to be exciting" I said dryly.

Valkyrie's POV

We won, amazingly. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it is Skulduggery after all. His plan was to use me as bait (yay) and whilst he was attacking me for Skul to bash his head in from behind, that way he wouldn't have any chance to turn around or split his atoms. We left him unconscious near the door and entered the pub cautiously. The first thing I saw was almost all the wanted criminal master-minds the Sanctuary hasn't caught up to yet.

No one paid much attention to us as we stumbled through the door clutching our coats to ourselves, as the wind was quite violent. Nobody seemed to recognize Skulduggery because he was wearing his ever famous disguise. It's a wonder they haven't already memorized the disguise itself, I thought to myself as I often did. Suddenly I was woken from my thoughts when I heard Skulduggery start questioning the bartender.

"Can I help you?" the man asked in a dull voice

"Yes actually, you can. Do you know where I could find an Moloch Atrocious?" Skulduggery asked.

"Why?"

"Our business doesn't concern you now do you know where he is?"

The man muttered something under his breath and gestured with his head towards a door near the back.

Skulduggery nodded his thanks and then turned swiftly, approaching the door. Preparing for another fight I followed. When we entered, I was shocked to see who was also there. Not only the tall man we were following but also a girl who couldn't be any older than myself.

Skul must have also been surprised because when he saw the girl, his legs nearly buckled and he whispered something unintelligible under breath. The two looked up and when the girl saw Skulduggery her eyes widened and she grabbed something off the table before sprinting out the door.

I was about give chase when I saw Skulduggery still standing there in shock. I walked up and slapped him.

"Hullo! Earth to Skul, they're getting away!"

"Right sorry" and he dashed out with me at his side, though he still seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

Skulduggery's POV

It was her. She was here. Those were the only thoughts in my mind the moment I saw her. Only when Valkyrie slapped me did I realize that she had moved.

"Hullo! Earth to Skulduggery, they're getting away!"

"Right sorry" I replied still slightly dizzy, and raced out of the room with her. By the time we got out of the pub and Valkyrie picked herself up after tripping over the bouncer, there was no trace of them anywhere.

"Shit" I mumbled and then turned to see Valkyrie glaring at me. "Shit" I said again and prepared to face her.

"What the hell was that!" she yelled, "Do you mind explaining what exactly happened back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You froze"

"I most certainly did not"

"What do you call standing and not moving till slapped?"

"What are you implying?"

" froze"

"I did not"

"You did"

"Did what"

"FROZE DAMMIT!"

"No need to cause a scene Val"

"Then admit you froze"

"No"

:Why?"

"Why what?"

"Skulduggery, tell me what happened or I'll…ask Ghastly" she said with triumphant smile.

"Evil child", I groaned, "Fine ask Ghastly whatever you want but I'm going to do something proactive in this case. Like usual I have to be the responsible one. Impossible for anyone else but me, I'm just that skilled."

"Whatever" she said and slid into the Bentley.

I started the engine of my beautiful car and stared dejectedly out the windshield mulling through my thoughts. The only one that kept popping up was; I saw her. Her! I saw Paris Black!