Head's up! Really long chapter!

Skull pulled his gun out immediately and Valkyrie ignited a flame in her hand. Grim raised his hands in a defensive manner.

"Whoa. I'm on your side." The blue eyed boy stepped down from the car.

"Who are you?" Skull asked, gun still pointed at the boy.

"That's… Kind of hard to explain. But as I said, you can call me Grim.

"What do you want?" Skull asked.

"Well, uh, in short, your help." Grim answered.

Valkyrie was a bit worried. That boy showed absolutely no fear of getting shot or burned. Which meant he was confident that he could take the both out.

"And why exactly do you need our help?"

Grim leaned on the hood of the car and crossed his arms. "I suppose you know about the Faceless Ones."

Valkyrie looked at Skull and gave him an unsure look. Skull holstered his gun.

"What do you know about them?" Skull asked.

"I know they exist and that they are capable of unimaginable destruction." Grim smiled. "And that your Sanctuary refused to believe or help you."

Grim unleaned from the car. "I know where to look because of a dossier that I… recovered."

"From where?" Skull asked again.

"That's not important. What is important is that I want to stop them, you want to stop them and we have means, time and motive to do it."

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds while Skull thought about what to do. In the meantime, Valkyrie inspected the boy. He was actually very handsome. He, much like Valkyrie, had black hair, but it was short and was spiking slightly in different directions. But the sporadic pattern of the hair actually looked good on him. But it was the eyes that Valkyrie couldn't stop looking at. They were unnatural as they were down right beautiful, it almost looked like they were faintly glowing lightning blue…

"Ok, we'll take you up on that." Skull said clapping his bony hands, snapping Valkyrie out of her thoughts.

"Then we should probably get moving." Grim said. Then he furrowed his brows at Valkyrie like he didn't see her during that whole conversation. "Why is there a girl here?" Oh, he didn't actually see her. Great.

"This is Valkyrie Cain, my associate." Skull clarified. The boy just stared at her for a second and then shrugged, like he was saying 'whatever'.

"We can't go anywhere. The car is broken." Valkyrie stated, crossing her arms.

"Cars don't break." Grim said, like he was challenging her. "The pieces do."

"Ok, then a piece of the car is broken."

Grim moved to the hood of the car. "Fortunately for you, I can fix it." Grim lifted the hood and grabbed the two pins on top of car battery and closed his eyes.

"What are you doing to my car?" Skull said, his voice getting unusually heavy.

"Shush." Grim said sticking a finger against his lips.

Valkyrie was about to tell him where he should stick that finger when she heard a crackling noise. Grim's arms lit up with blue lighting and it seemed to bounce off every metal part of the car. After a few seconds, the lighting show stopped and Grim closed the hood.

Skull started walking to the driver's seat but stopped next to Grim and leaned in really close to his face.

"Don't ever do that again." He said sticking a meatless finger inches away from Grim's face.

"Ok." He said simply with a deadpan expression.

Skull returned to his normal position and adjusted his hat. "That's the first time I've ever seen anything like that."

"Really?" Grim asked, confused. "I thought there were other people like me."

"Yes, but not the way you do it. Electricity isn't something you can just control. Honestly, it's remarkable that you can." Skull said, slightly amazed present in his voice. Grim noticed Valkyrie's confused look and he explained.

"People who generate electricity can choose when to release their energy and where to, but not how to. So this power is as much of a tool as it is a weapon. As for the bluish hue, your guess is as good as mine."

"And why can you use it like that?" Valkyrie asked, but Grim just shrugged.

"Who knows? Maybe it's a talent I have or maybe all electro masters can do it and they don't know it."

Skull looked at his watch. "We should probably get moving."

"Shotgun!" Grim shouted as he quickly got in the front seat, making Valkyrie scoff.

"You better get out of there. Like right now."

"But I called shotgun." The boy stated determined.

"But that's my seat." Valkyrie said with a sad face and there was a begging tone in her voice. Grim looked at her and smiled.

"Nice try, but… No." Grim said. Valkyrie gave up and sat in the backseat. Just before Skull started the car, Grim quickly got out of the car and sat in the back, next to Valkyrie, much to her surprise.

"Why are you…?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. So I came here listen to you better." Grim was extremely close to Valkyrie, in her opinion. Normally that would earn him a punch but she just shoved him.

He laughed and straightens himself in his seat. "So where are you from?"

"Here."

"Oh, right."

"And where are you from?" Valkyrie asked a bit reluctantly. Connecting with boys was her strong point.

"From the depths of hell." And that's why she doesn't connect to boys. He laughed at the face she made and shook his head. "I'm American."

"From where exactly?" Valkyrie asked slowly.

"Somewhere. I remember they had guns. Maybe Alabama or something."

"Okay, I get it, you don't want to share." Valkyrie crossed her arms.

"So you're American… I assume you work with the American Sanctuary…" Skull asked/stated, but Grim shook his head.

"They aren't… the best people to work with." Grim said shifting in his seat. "They're a bit… devious."

"Ours aren't much different. But I'd add backstabbing to that description." Valkyrie stated.


They pulled over on a road overlooking Skull's house.

"Ominous." Grim said, while he was getting out of the car, referring to Skull's house. "Isn't it kind of ironic that a walking skeleton lives in a house that looks like it came out of a Goosebumps episode?"

"Live isn't the word I'd use. I believe that to actually live in a house you need to sleep and eat in it. I do neither." Skull explained casually.

"Then why even have it?"

"It's like having a sweater handy. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it."

"I don't see how you can compare a house to a sweater." Grim wondered aloud.

They crossed a small (and dead) yard and entered Skullduggery's house. Grim was a bit disappointed; he was excepting a torture room, a dungeon or at least a cobweb. For a skeleton that had basically no needs, he was unexpectedly tidy. He also noticed that all rooms of house were living room.

Skull disappeared into one of the rooms and Valkyrie plopped down on the first couch she saw and started taking off her boots. It was difficult because they were unreasonably small. She missed Ghastly. Then immediately she felt bad for missing Ghastly just because her clothes are too small.

"Sit down somewhere." Valkyrie ordered/proposed, while she struggled with one of her laces.

"Where?"

"I'm sure if you look around you won't find a shortage of places to seat." Valkyrie stated, grunting as she successfully removed her last boot and placed her feet on the couch triumphantly.

Grim stared at her black socked feet, analyzing them. They're small and, in Grim's opinion, rather cute. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, who herself was staring at him. When she noticed his eyes on her she shifted them to the ceiling, frowning, like she saw an alien in a UFO. And the alien flipped her off. Valkyrie felt the couch moving somewhat, she looked down and Grim was sitting at her feet.

"You were staring at my eyes?" He meant it at a statement but it came out as a question.

"Yeah, I…" Valkyrie shrugged. "I've never seen anything like them."

Grim kept looking Valkyrie in the eyes, and she felt like his gaze was piercing eyes. She started to feel weird. Like she was starting to fall asleep but her eyes wouldn't close. Like she could stare at those lightning blue eyes, mysteriously glowing. Like-

"Your eyes are pretty." She blurted. She slapped her mouth shut after saying that.

Grim looked her deadpan for a few seconds. Then he smiled and raised an eye brow.

"Thanks? You too."

"I told you, I just never saw something like that." She defended.

"Ok, I get it." Grim said concussively.

They sat silently for a few seconds before Skull walked in with a single piece of paper.

"What's that?" Grim asked, shifting in his seat.

"This is the only bit of information I could get out of the Sanctuary about the Faceless Ones before I was… relieved." Skull said avoiding the word fired.

"You mean this single piece of paper? With only about four lines of actual information about the beings that are trying to destroy all of mankind?" Grim asked waving the paper around as he spoke.

"Yes." Skull answered simply.

"Oh." Grim looked at the paper intensely. It took a while before he realized that Skull's eye sockets were looking at him.

"Oh, right. The… thing." Grim said, getting up, opening his bag and pulling out the red binder. He sat next to a now straightened up Valkyrie and opened the binder., flipping through the various pages and scraps of pages. He finally stopped when he saw a picture of what looked like it came from Google Maps.

"Here, according to this, this place is of some importance." Grim said.

"That's… one big patch of grass." Valkyrie said. "How are we supposed to find this place?"

"That may be a problem." Skull added, nodding.

"Well, we can start with this name that keeps popping up… It's…"

"The Diablerie" Skull finished for him.

"You know about them?" Grim asked.

"No, but I know someone who does."


Skull parked the Bentley next to an old looking building.

"Does everyone you know live in a place that looks like it's gonna fall apart if you kick one of its walls?" Grim asked Valkyrie.

They entered a flimsy looking lift and exited on the library floor. Before Grim even touched the door knob, a man shot out of it, knocking Valkyrie over, making fall flat on her butt.

"Stupid girl." He muttered under his breath. Then his breath became scarce when a hand wrapped around his neck and he stopped feeling the floor under his feet.

"Apologize to the lady." Grim said calmly has he held the much bigger man.

"Let me go, China's going… me… I need to hur-" he started to grumble as Grim tightened his grip.

"I don't care what China said or is going to do to you. Apologize or you'll find out what the inside of our anus looks like." Grim said in the same, but somehow, scarier tone.

"Ok, ok!" the man chocked out.

Grim ungently dropped the man that murmured a "Sorry." to the wall next to Valkyrie and ran down the stairs.

"Oh well." Grim then turned to a now standing up Valkyrie. "You okay?"

"My butt hurts a bit, but aside from that, I'm fine."

"Do you need a massage?" Grim offered nonchalantly.

"No, let's just get in there." Valkyrie said hastily.

Once they opened the doors they we're greeted by endless shelves filled with books with names that Valkyrie couldn't even pronounce. There was a woman sitting at a desk, sipping tea with her gaze fixed on the book she was holding. She looked up and smiled when she saw who approached her. The same smile that made Valkyrie's legs tremble a bit.

"China, nice to see that your influence hasn't died down." Skull said as, what Grim suspected, was a greeting.

"Well, a woman need to have her charms practiced, wouldn't you say Valkyrie?" China asked.

"I'm not used to charming people. Burning them is a different story though."

"Oh, you say that now, but when you're older, you'll see what I mean." China then set her gaze on the boy looking with slight wonder at his surroundings. "And who might you be?"

"Grim." He answered simply. Then he pointed at the door from which they came in. "Was that your doing?"

"Whatever do you mean?" China asked innocently.

"You know what I mean. That crazy dude. Is that what your 'influence' does?"

"I don't know. It's just something that happens." China said. "I can't be held responsible for what people do after talking to me."

"Then how come I'm not going bat-shit insane right now, trying to rob a bank for you?"

China placed a hand on her chin. "You know what? I don't know either." She then narrowed her eyes at the boy, making him narrow his eyes as well.

"What?" He asked.

China tapped the wooden desk and got up. "Nothing. I was just wondering about something." She then turned to Skulduggery. "I suppose you want something from me. You don't usually visit me out of the kindness of your heart. If you had one."

"I have a heart. You just can't see it." Skulduggery said. "The Diablerie, what do you know about them?"

China sighed. "I few things. I know they worship the Faceless Ones."

"And we know they're trying to open a portal into this realm." Grim said.

"And how exactly do you know that?" China asked, brow furrowed, but Grim just shrugged.

"Just a guess."

Valkyrie looked at Grim quizzically. She realized he never told her how he knew about the The Diablerie's plans to open a portal. He was hiding something.

China narrowed her eyes again for a second and then sighed. "Very well. I have some books that might help you how. Skullduggery, you and Grim can look over in that section, me and Valkyrie will look over here."

Skulduggery nodded and he disappeared into the bookshelves with Grim. China turned to Valkyrie and smiled.

"So, are you and Grim an item?" China asked, making Valkyrie choke on nothing.

"No, we just met?" Valkyrie asked/stated.

"He is rather handsome don't you think?" China insisted but Valkyrie just shrugged.

"Sure, but I still don't know jack about him."

"Handsome and mysterious. Sounds like the kind of guys I used to date."

Valkyrie ignored the statement so she wouldn't drive herself insane trying to picture China with someone that didn't gouge his eyes out if she asked him to. On the topic of eyes, a question came to her mind.

"Hey, how come he didn't fall apart into a blubbery mess when he saw you?" Valkyrie asked out of experience.

"That… I don't know." China said browsing through some books. "But I reckon it has something to do with his eyes."

"Yes, they glow." Valkyrie added.

"They are indeed very pretty." China said flipping through some dry pages. And just like that, the memory of Valkyrie saying his eyes were pretty floods back into her mind.

Someone tapped Valkyrie on the shoulder making her jump.

"Hey, we got a problem." It was Grim and he looked pretty alarmed.

"You didn't know one of the shelves down, did you?" China asked.

"No. I count five, no, six vans outside filled with Cleavers."

"Cleavers?" China wondered just has Skulduggery appeared from the shelves.

"Maybe they found out about us being in his crime scene." Valkyrie said pointing at Grim. "How did you even know that the Cleavers are here? Did you sense them?" She asked rhetorically.

"Yeah." Grim answered simply making Valkyrie narrow her eyes. "The vans are made of metal. I can sense metal thingies." He explained slowly. "And I don't think they're here for you. Most likely, they're here for me. The American Sanctuary probably extended a warrant her or something."

Valkyrie furrowed her brow. "Why would they-"

The doors suddenly burst open and a dozen Cleavers charged in.

"Freeze!" Said a pathetic looking man trying to hide behind one of the cleavers.

"Remus? What are you doing here?" China snickered.

"I am to place that boy under arrest!" He said pointing his gun at him, trembling slightly.

"Why?" Valkyrie asked.

"The American Sanctuary warned us about him and that he is a menace. He is responsible for dozens of deaths in the United States. They call him the Grim Reaper."


C-C-C-CLIFFHANGER! Anyway, sorry for the long ass time it took me to actually post a goddamn chapter. I'm not gonna lie. I'm lazy. But after re-reading the books again, I decided that dropping a story with so much potential is too much to pass on and hopefully I've redeemed myself for not posting these past couple of months with this long ass chapter. Anyway, hopefully there's more to come and I got some real interesting ideas in store that you guys might and probably will enjoy. Oh, by the way, action scene next chapter. And probably more Grim and Val fluff. BB GG and remember, reviews are always appreciated.