Hello, this isn't my first written story, but it's the first one I'm allowing anyone to read. I would really like to know what you think of it so please review! Thanks for reading.

Valkyrie sat on the steps of her Uncle Gordon's house. It would always be Gordon's home to her, even though she had inherited it several months before.

Skulduggery pulled up outside and Valkyrie jumped in the passenger side.

"Ow!" she cried a moment later. She pulled her quiver from her back and placed it on the floor. Skulduggery was quietly chuckling in his seat.

"Every time you get in this car you forget that you have you bow and arrow on your back! I must admit, I find it rather amusing."

"Ha ha." She replied sarcastically.

The Bentley quietly made its way through Dublin and soon they were in Roarhaven.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery walked into the main conference area to find Ghastly leaning against the wall with his girlfriend, Tanith, at his side. Erskine Ravel was sitting down and next to him was Madame Mist.

Ghastly was the first to speak. "We're glad you're here, the vortex is opening again and the Hourglass is needed."

Skulduggery shook his head. "The last Hourglass is dead and so is her daughter, as you well know."

"Then we have a problem that needs to be solved." Madame Mist said without moving.

"Okay!" Valkyrie said. "Someone needs to tell me what's going on right now, or I'm going to start hitting people!"

Madame Mist turned to look at Valkyrie. "We do not have time for you lack of knowledge."

Skulduggery ignored her and turned his head to Valkyrie. "Centuries ago there were these creatures called the Leer, they were ruthless and murderous. Vampire found out that they could create children with the Leer. Called the Leera. Imaginative name, I know .The children, half vampire half Leer, left pain and bloodshed wherever ever they went. So many people were killed and tormented by the creatures that a very powerful sorcerer opened a portal to another dimension to banish the Leer and the Leera. But the sorcerer knew that the barriers between this dimension and theirs wouldn't hold them forever. So she cast a spell so that the females in her bloodline can close the portal when it opens."

"How would she stop the portal opening?" Ghastly asked.

"I always assumed Helen would sing a happy song at it and it would go away, she hit me and told me to go away."

"Helen?" asked Valkyrie

Skulduggery nodded slightly. "Helen Temps. My wife."

Tanith asked hesitantly. "What does Temps mean?"

"It means time in French, right?" Valkyrie asked. Proving that several years of French lessons had paid off.

"Yes. Anyway, she never had to close the portal because it never opened in her life time. But she said that a few drops of her blood sent from this side of the portal on to the other side would close it."

"How would she go about doing that?" asked Erskine asked.

Skulduggery shrugged. "She would probably just cut her hand and stick it through the portal then pull it out before the portal closed."

"Is there a time limit? If the portal stays open for a certain amount of time, I can't be closed?" asked Mist.

"Yes." He replied.

"And the portal is opening now? And the Leera will be coming through? " Tanith asked.

Erskine nodded gravely. "Yes and we have no one to stop it."

"So…how do we stop the portal from opening then?" Valkyrie asked.

And for once Skulduggery didn't have an answer for her, but somebody else did. It wasn't who they expected.