Author's Note: Well, it's finally done! It took caught a number of months but it's finished and ready to be published. Now, please, somewhere in this story, it says Tunica Spellcaster. That is not meant to be my alter-ego (sort of). I only use the name Tunica Spellcaster because it's my favourite name, not because one of my characters has the same name. Also, please leave reviews. If people don't tell me what they think, I'll never be able to know how good or bad I am. Hope you enjoy!

Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain were observing from a far. Even though they did not work for the Council any more, they still did their own investigations together. They were in the Bentley watching a tall man in a navy blue over coat standing in the street next to a trash can and looking around suspiciously. His hat was pitch-black and set a shadow over his face, making it impossible to see his face.

"So we're waiting here for two hours hoping this is our guy, right?" said Valkyrie sarcastically.

"Yes," said Skulduggery, trying to sound optimistic but not doing a good job at it.

Valkyrie yawned and sank into the leather seat. "I miss when there were actually really evil dudes trying to destroy humanity. Now it's just guys in overcoats."

Skulduggery tilted his head towards her. "You want to go back to the Council?"

"No, it's just…well, what happened to all the bad guys?"

"Don't know. We got rid of them all, probably."

"That's what I mean. We need more of them."

"You want more bad men and woman who try to kill you and me and then try to take over the world?"

"I know it sounds crazy but without the bad guys trying to kill us, well, it's just boring."

Skulduggery sighed, "Not much I can do about that, Cain."

Another person appeared on the street, a woman in a red dress that was covered by a black jacket. She had a very wide brimmed dark red hat that managed to cover her face as well. You could see only a little bit of her black hair sticking out. She walked up to the man and they started talking.

Skulduggery got up out of his slump quickly and looked outside intensely.

"What?" asked Valkyrie.

"Shush!" he said sharply. She looked outside and didn't see anything wrong. She looked at him, very confused on what was going on and hoped he would tell her.

A moment passed and then, like they sensed they were being watched, the man and woman looked at the Bentley so sharply Valkyrie jumped. Skulduggery sat down properly in his seat, turned the key and the car came to life. The man and woman started to walk up to the car which wasn't very far away from them.

"Seatbelt!" Skulduggery said as he put the car in gear.

Before Valkyrie could even ask for an explanation, she was jerked to the right of her seat as the car turned furiously. They drove away at great speed. Valkyrie turned around and saw the man and woman ran after them, faster than she's ever seen anyone run, even faster than Skulduggery.

"Who are they?" she asked as she turned back to the front and put her seatbelt on.

"Really bad guys! Old enemies I never thought I'd see again. Hoping I never would see them again. Hold on tight!"

Gunshots filled the air with noise and bullets. A few even hit the Bentley. Thirty bullets were fired all at once and about twenty hit the Bentley. The back window was gone when Valkyrie looked to see what they two were firing with. She saw two machineguns in their hands.

Skulduggery suddenly pulled the hand-break up and the car's sudden stop made Pleasant and Cain jerk forward. There then was the sound of a smack at the back of the car. The man and woman had smacked onto the car's boot. They were going way too fast to stop. But Skulduggery wasn't celebrating.

"Stay here and don't move," he said as he got out his revolver.

"What? Why? I want to help…" she protested but Skulduggery turned his head sharply at her. She nodded reluctantly and stayed put.

Skulduggery opened the door to see the woman and man get up. Valkyrie turned around after taking her seatbelt off and watched from her seat. The man and woman, with hats still on looked at Skulduggery, or appeared to be, and grinned.

"Haven't seen you in years, Pleasant. Still a good guy or are you finally going to take me up on my offer to become a criminal, like me?" said the woman.

"Hmm, nah. I think I enjoy being a good guy more than a bad one. More fun. See you got some new toys and a new friend, Witch," said Skulduggery.

"Well, of course. Being a bad guy gets you stolen goods or should I say my friend over here got them for me."

The man gave a nod and said, "So you're the famous Skulduggery Pleasant who has been working against my darling over here."

Skulduggery laughed. "Darling? What? You two married or something?"

"Yes, we are. It was something about him I liked that made me say yes," said the Witch.

"Wow. Either he's as nutty as you are or just really stupid."

The man grunted and shot towards Skulduggery, dropping his gun and lunging a fist at him to punch his head off. Skulduggery moved a few steps to the left and the man crashed into the trash cans behind him.

"Yep, really stupid," said Skulduggery. Valkyrie grinned.

The Witch, as Pleasant called her, didn't seem too overly impressed. She just stood there, grinning under her hat.

"Bravo, Skulduggery. I forgot how much more talented you are compared to Spellcaster. You probably think before you act, correct?"

"I've been known to. I am a genius, after all."

"Indeed," she said as she splayed hands and the air rippled. Skulduggery dropped and rolled away just as the air was about to hit him. He got to his feet and started firing bullets at the Witch but she made a dark pink crystal shield appear out of nowhere. It disappeared as fast as it appeared when the gun was empty and she jumped up. She hit the ground where she stood and the Earth moved beneath Skulduggery's feet. He couldn't keep his balance and fell.

Meanwhile, the man who fell into the trash cans got up and was about to join the fight. Valkyrie saw this and decided to help Skulduggery out a bit. She scooted into the driver's seat. The man was walking on hands and knees and was about to pounce onto Pleasant from behind. Just as he was about to jump up…

SMACK!

Valkyrie had opened the door and the man collapsed, unconscious. Skulduggery was up and kicking away one of the Witch's fireballs when he noticed a whine come from the ground by his car. He saw the open door and the man lying on the floor.

"Thanks," he said.

The Witch looked at Valkyrie and smiled.

"So that must be your new partner, right? Cute," she said, provoking Valkyrie. Cain scowled.

"Yes, she is cute, isn't she? And powerful, don't forget. She's probably way more powerful than you," said Skulduggery turning to the Witch, "That must be sad; knowing a child is more powerful than you."

"Hey!" said Valkyrie, upset. "I am not a child!"

The Witch laughed. "Ah well; at least I'm more powerful than you," and she stretched out her arms; a cloud of darkness headed towards Skulduggery. It engulfed him in a smog of black darkness and he couldn't see a thing. He fell to his knees. For some reason, the smog was getting heavier and heavier and his bones couldn't take the strain.

The Witch walked up to the car and past Pleasant. Valkyrie got out and stood her ground waiting to attack when the Witch tilted her body to look behind Valkyrie. She stood up straight again and said with the grin returning to her face, "Well, this has been fun."

The cloud of darkness faded away and Skulduggery got to his feet.

He turned to the two and the Witch continued, "…but I want to save my strength for the true fight between you and the Mystics. Bye, bye."

And just like that, the Witch and the man who was unconscious vanished. Skulduggery put his hands into his pocket as he stood up straight.

"Are you alright?" Valkyrie asked wondering what had happened.

"I'm fine; just never seen that much darkness before. Except when I sleep or…died but you know what I mean," he said.

"No, not really."

"Oh. Well maybe some day you will," his voice then changed. It became louder, "By the way, thanks."

"Uh, you're welcome but why are you shouting?"

"I wasn't talking to you," and in through the mist that lay over the city of Dublin on that cold, winter's day came a man in a long-sleeved black tunic, black pants with boots to match and a pure white shirt. His hair was a beautiful dark brown that still sort of shimmered even through the mist. He wore a black mask that covered his eyes. All you could see was his mouth and the bottom of his nose. He spoke with a deep voice.

"You're welcome. You looked like you needed a hand there. Besides, the Witch is our enemy, not yours."

"Any idea why she was attacking me and my partner?"

"No idea. Probably sees you as a threat to the big event coming up. Thinks you're apart of the security."

"What event?" asked Valkyrie.

"The wedding."

Skulduggery burst out laughing. Then stopped.

"Oh, you were serious?!" he said, suspiciousness and surprise in his voice.