The reason this chapter is so dark is because I found out a few weeks ago that I was pregnant and me and my fiancé looked forward to becoming parents. Then on Wednesday evening the 4th of April 2018 I miscarried... The fetus only got 9 weeks old... I have not felt so happy, which you probably can understand and that's why I decided to make this chapter so dark. So I could get out some of the bad thoughts and feelings I am feeling at the moment... I do not know when I will update next time, so please be patient with me...

Skulduggery stood up and ran after the shadow that had taken Valkyrie. He just had time to jump out through the broken window before he saw how both of them disappeared in a wave of shadows. "Necromancer... No wonder I could not see the person. He or she used their shadow magic to hide their true identity. Clever, I gotta admit... That I did not understand that directly!"

Skulduggery held up his hand and read the air in hopes of being able to feel if Valkyrie was close by, since not all necromancers could shadow-walk that far. Unfortunately this particular necromancer could shadow-walk far enough for Skulduggery to not be able to feel anything. He instead decided to search the area around the house to see if the necromancer had left any traces behind him- or herself that could lead Skulduggery to him or her.

At first glance everything looked as usual. He could not see any broken branches, moved stones, foot- or other imprints that could prove someone had sneaked around the house and had eavesdropp them. Skulduggery crossed his arms and let his head slide down to the chest. If the necromancer had not looked at them from the ground, there was only one other option and that was from above.

He looked upward toward the trees that loomed up in front of him. It was windless and nothing moved, giving Skulduggery a sense of a pair of invisible eyes that watched him. He did not move, just listened for the slightest little noise that could tell him if his gut feeling was right.

Nothing happened for a few minutes. Just as he would go in among the trees and examine them, he perceived a movement among the tree leaves that made him again stand as still as a statue. In the brighter parties where the last rays of the sun penetrated, Skulduggery could see a male figure looking down at him. The figure did not move, just looked at him with hate in his eyes. The man had black hair, green eyes and a beard.

"I suppose you're here to prevent me from looking for Valkyrie and whoever it is that has kidnapped her. Tell me, are you a bodyguard who will protect the necromancer, or are you also involved in this?"

The man continued to give Skulduggery the silent treatment as he jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on. He got up and before Skulduggery had reacted he had the man in front of him. He got a severe blow in his chest, which made him fall to the ground where he rolled around a few times before he got up again.

Skulduggery put his arms in front of him in a guard the moment the man came to him again. This time he was prepared for the attack and could parry while waiting for an opening to appear. However, it turned out that it would not be as easy since this man was very skilled in close combat.

At the same time as the man took a second to recover, Skulduggery took his chance and gave the man a fisticuf in the face that caused the man to back one step. Skulduggery did not give him time to breathe, he immediately followed up with a kick against the man's knee that made him stumble. Quickly, Skulduggery ended it all with a blow to the throat that caused the man to fall unconscious to the ground.

"That takes care of that", said Skulduggery to himself, and corrected his suit jacket that had been wrinkled during the battle. "Now it's just to wait till this fine gentleman wakes up so I can... interview him a bit."

Skulduggery carried the man into the house where he tied him to one of the kitchen chairs. He put another chair opposite the unconscious man as he sat down and clasped his hands while he waited. As he waited, he began to notice that his mind wandered. He wondered how Valkyrie had it.

Was she unharmed? Where was she at the moment? Far away or near? Had the kidnapper shown their face too her? Had he or she say anything about their plan?

So many questions, but so few answers... he thought to himself and was surprised to hear the deep sigh that escaped his nonexistent throat. When did he last worry about someone in this way? Not for hundreds of years, that was for sure. The last time must have been when Serpine...

Skulduggery clenched his fists hard and found himself clenching his jaws. Despite having his revenge 13 years ago, the idea of what Serpine had made towards him and his family got him to relive some of all the anger he had felt that led him into the road that made him turn into Lord Vile.

"NO!" He roared and embezzled all the thoughts of anger, revenge and bloodshed to that part deep inside of him that consisted of all his negative feelings. "I will not let these feelings take over me when I as least need them. I'm stronger than this. I'm better than this."

It's just what you think, Skeleton Detective... whispered a voice from the depths of himself.

Skulduggery flinched and stood up in an unsuccessful attempt to make the voice disappear. He knew it was not that easy, as the voice was a part of him. All he could do was ignore it and hope it would give up. Unfortunately, it was in a really talkative mood today...

Why don't you just confess it for yourself, detective? You miss the power I give you. Let me come out and I'll probably get this guy to tell you everything he knows for you. You are fully aware that the longer the time goes without you getting information, the more chance it is that Valkyrie gets tortured or at worst...

"Do not say it", Skulduggery growled-whispered.

Killed.

Skulduggery shouted in rage and rolled over the chair he just had sat down on. He wanted to kill someone, or at least seriously hurt someone. He turned to the unconscious man in the second chair and gave him such a powerful bitch slap that the man fell down on the floor. This in turn caused the man to wake up with a jerk. It took a while for him to focus, but when he got his eyes on Skulduggery, his countenance darkened and the hate could once again be seen in them.

"The Famous Skeleton Detective. I'll admit it's a glory, even if it receives. I've heard a lot about you, even things that I know you want to keep secret. For example, I know what you did during the war. On both sides." The man's voice was hoarse with an accent that Skulduggery could not place at first, but after a while he got it.

The man was German.

"If you try to scare me, you're doing a bad job."

The man laughed mockingly. "If you think that was my intention, you think wrong. I'm just a bodyguard and a messenger. My only tasks is to protect my master and give you a message."

"And what's the message?" asked Skulduggery with such a cold voice that a shadow of fear went across the man's face.

The man swallowed as if he had to lubricate his throat before he could speak again. "How much you try, you'll never be able to find your partner and my master. My master is really good at hiding. My master also wants you to know that this is revenge for what you did during the war."

Skulduggery put his arms crossed over his chest and seemed to think. He had his suspicions about who it might be at the same moment Valkyrie was taken from him, but it was not until the German man saying that about revenge and war that he understood that his suspicions were right.

"Elizabeth Gregory... I thought she had been dead for a long time, but I should have known better. She has always been tenacious and hard to kill."

The German smiled against Skulduggery. "So you have finally remembered now? Believe me, my master has told me a lot about how you were when you fought on Mevolent's side in the war. How you were a sight to behold where you went. How everyone was afraid of you since you were a commander who by own will volunteered into the fighting and did not hesitate to kill both male and female magicians as well as mortals. I wish I had seen it with my own eyes... It must have been a sight for the gods..."

Skulduggery said nothing for a long time. He was silent for so long that the German thought he had fell asleep when Skulduggery lifted his head. Even though he had no eyes, muscles or skin that could show him Skulduggery's mood, the German man got the impression that Skulduggery was angry, even furious.

"You say that? So if I'd let out Vile here and now would you be happy? Would you have one of your highest wishes fulfilled?"

The man nodded, dared not do anything else for fear of angering Skulduggery even more. He had heard of the detective's anger and it was something he did not want to hit him if he could avoid it.

Shadows began to sip out from Skulduggery's suit and it did not take many seconds before he was surrounded by them. The shadows changed shape and soon became the blackest armour that the man had ever seen. It was no longer possible to discern the slightest trace of the detective, but the one that now standing before him was none other than Lord Vile.

Vile said nothing but just looked at him through the gap in the helmet. The feeling of seeing the mighty Vile standing in front of him was something he could not imagine even in his wildest imaginations. If he had not been stuck in the chair he would have bowed. Instead, he had to do the second best: bend down his head in a respected nod.

When he looked up again, Vile had moved. He stood right in front of him. Their faces were no more than a couple of centimeters apart. Sweat pearls began to form in his forehead and at first he could not understand where they came from. This was what he had been waiting for his whole life: seeing Lord Vile in the flesh. So why did he suddenly become so nervous? He should feel happy, no, blessed to have experienced what many others did not receive! And that's when he understood.

He was scared.

As if Vile could read his thoughts, he made a noise that could be a laugh, but he was not sure, since the armour dampened the sound. Before he had time to think more about it, he felt a horrible pain in his stomach and when he looked down, Vile had stabbed him with one of his shadows. It had drilled a bit into his midriff and the pain was so huge that he could not even scream. He felt how hot blood poured out of the wound and ran down his legs. His body was pierced by spasms and he was close to falling into the floor, but thanks to Vile's shadow he remained upright.

"Are you happy now?" Vile asked, leaning so close that the German man's nose and Vile's helmet touched each other. "I hope so, since all you have done is make me angry. As Elizabeth probably already have told you, nobody escaped me alive. The only thing I live for is to see other people suffer, preferably in the most horrendous ways. Best is when I am the one who is able to distribute that suffering."

Vile twisted the shadow and now the man could finally scream. Vile laughed again while the blood ran out of the deep wound and the German man understood that he was dying. He noticed that the insight did not scare him, but on the contrary he welcomed its cold arms. The only thing he was sad about was that he would not be able to see his master torment the Skeleton detective. He could have paid, in principle, anything to see his facial expression when he would see what condition his partner will be in after his master is done with her.

"You will... regret... that you..." the man coughed blood in his already soiled knee before he could continue. "that you abandoned Vile and... became your old self again... When you see... what happened to your partner... you will wish you... had remained as Vile and never... met her..."

Vile growled and let his shadows wrap around the man. One of them cut off the rope that had tied the man to the chair and before he fell down on the floor, the shadows that had wrapped around the man grabbed him and lifted him up in the air above Vile. Once there, Vile tilted his head and watched the man for a few seconds before he hissed "Your master will pay for what she has done towards me and my partner. Unfortunately, you will not be there to witness it."

These were the last words that the German man heard before he was teared to pieces from Vile's shadows.

Everything became deadly silent. No sound seemed to penetrate the bubble that was Vile. He could not hear anything, not even the everyday sounds like the noise from the fridge, the cracking of the house or the noise of cars that occasionally drove out on the way. It was as if Vile had lost his ability to hear.

After a while, after standing completely motionless and looking at the point where the German man had got teared to pieces, Vile was penetrated with such a deep shiver that he had to take a step back. A moan escaped him before his shadows began to retreat into his armour. It did not take long before the armour disappeared completely and Vile disappeared deep into Skulduggery where he waited until next time when Skulduggery would call for him.

That Vile knew he would do. He always did…

Skulduggery put his hand on the sink and used it as a support to avoid falling to the floor. He felt drained of energy and it took a second for him to focus and find out where he was. As he looked up, he saw the remains of the German man that lay scattered across the table, the chairs, the floor and on the kitchen window, he froze before he flung himself out of there. He felt nauseous and would probably have vomit if he had been human. Instead, he sat down in one of the sofas in the living room and put his hands in his face.

What had he done? No, correction: what had Vile done? He remembered that he had become angry and wanted to hurt someone, but did he really want to murder the German man? So in retrospect, he understood that he could have received important information if he had only pushed the man enough. Instead, he had let Vile come out and do what Vile did best:

Mutilate.

All he could do now was to hope for two things: that he found evidence of where Elizabeth had taken Valkyrie in the area around his house or that China had some information about her that could be useful.

"I will never forgive myself if the only thing that stood in the way of finding Valkyrie was my weakness regarding Vile and the overly enticing powers he possesses", muttered Skulduggery for himself and got out of the couch.

He picked up his phone and dialed a number. While waiting for a response, he went back into the kitchen and inspected the destruction Vile had accomplished. "China, I'll be quick. Valkyrie has been kidnapped by a necromancer named Elizabeth Gregory. I want you to provide all the information you can about her. … Thanks. Oh, one more thing. Can you ask a cleaner to get over here? I was visited by Elizabeth's bodyguard and things... got out of hand."

Skulduggery hung up and was just about to put the phone back in the pants pocket when it ringed. On the display it stood "Valkyrie". At the same time as he answered and heard Valkyrie's pained voice, which she tried to disguise but since he had known her for such a long time he could hear it without difficulty, he took a firmer grip of the phone.

"Skulduggery..." Valkyrie gasped for breath in a painful breath before she continued "She has me. Elizabeth Gregory has me... and she will not stop until you... until you come here and..."

It went quiet. "Valkyrie, are you still there? Answer me! Valkyrie?!"

Skulduggery heard how someone else took the phone from Valkyrie and soon he had Elizabeth's voice next to his nonexistent ear. "She's still here. Unfortunately, she is a little too weak right now to speak. If you would like to meet her again, you only need to find me, Skulduggery..."