After hanging up with Cain, Vendetta almost crushed her phone in her grip. Why. Why of everyone to protect, she had to protect a child. Vendetta knew next to nothing about children, except that they slobbered and puked and ate and cried and oh gosh, how dirty they were. They were like walking germ bags with a strong magnetism for everything dirty. She swore, if this kid got anything on her motorbike she was going to leave her to fend for herself.

"Um, are you okay? Ya look sick?" Ray-Roy's voice snapped her out of her mental rant.

"I'm fine," Vendetta growled.

"Who was that?"

"Valkyrie Cain. She hired you and I for a job."

"Really? Wow, out of everyone I didn't expect her to hire us. Who does she want dead? Ex-boyfriend? Annoying colleague?"

"She wants us to protect her six-year old sister."

"Oh." Ray-Roy was quiet for a second, than he grinned. "This'll be fun."

"How do you figure that?" Vendetta growled as picked up a box and walked out of her room. Ray-Roy followed.

"It'll be a good experience for ya, you'll finally learn how to take care of someone other than yourself," he said as she went down the stairs and to the front door where she put the box down.

"It is not a needed skill and not one that I would want. Maybe I'll just let you take the job so that I can work on more important things."

"Nah, ya don't need to do that. Besides, I'll be with ya so I can help out."

"Great," Vendetta hissed bitterly. She finished cleaning her room then walked Ray-Roy to the door.

"I'll meet you at the park at ten o'clock tomorrow," she said.

"Or, I could just stay overnight here and not have to worry about meeting up with you." Ray-Roy cast her a side-ways grin.

Vendetta slammed the door.

…

The sky was overcast and the air was cold enough to cause people to wear coats. Wind played with the autumn leaves, sending them dancing to their own dance as they skittered across the grass of the park in Haggard. Play forts and slides and swing sets took up the space of the sand and wood chipped area while the rest of the park was filled with browning grass and almost bare trees.

Vendetta's long, thick black hair was pulled along with the breeze playing across her pale face. Her hands were in her coat pockets and she stood so still that she appeared to be a statue. Ray-Roy was beside her, wearing a coat to fend off the cold. He too had his hands in his pockets; one of them containing the straight razor identical to his father's that had his initials carved into the handle.

"That must be them," Ray-Roy nodded towards the shiny black Bentley that pulled up on the curb on the other side of the park. Vendetta watched as Cain, holding a bag, and a little girl stepped out of the vehicle. Vendetta tensed instantly.

"Relax Pretty Lady," Ray-Roy said. "It's just a little girl."

"I don't like children."

"Which is why you need to follow my lead."

Before Vendetta could punch him, Cain stepped in front of them. Her own black coat was zipped up against the wind, her dark hair long and matching her brown eyes.

….

On the way to meet Vendetta and Ray-Roy, Valkyrie couldn't help but feel nervous. Here she was giving her little sister to two psychopaths that she barely knew. Would they kill Alice? No. No they wouldn't. As long as Valkyrie paid them it would be fine.

Her heart began to pound a little less at the reminder and she relaxed a bit and continued to repeat the thought over and over again in her mind until she had calmed down. After getting herself under control, Valkyrie began to think about the two she was about to hand her sister over to.

Ray-Roy was without a doubt Sanguine's son, they looked too much alike. Although Ray-Roy's hair was slightly lighter, Valkyrie would have begun to suspect their relation without anyone even telling her. Even the way he acted was like his father, with the same accent and tendency to give people nicknames.

Vendetta on the other hand was more of a mystery. Yet Valkyrie couldn't believe she hadn't seen the signs of the female vampire's relationship with Dusk, and only after it had been pointed out had she begun to really see how similar they were. Their eyes were exactly the same, Valkyrie had realized. And they moved in the same way as well. Vendetta had some of her father's looks as well, but she was much more feminine looking and had higher cheekbones. Probably inherited by her mother.

Valkyrie wondered who her mother was and if she was still around. After all, from what Valkyrie knew, vampires couldn't have children so Vendetta must have been born before Dusk had been turned.

Ray-Roy's mother was less of a mystery. Valkyrie had, learned more about her during when the Texan's life had been threatened. His mother had been part of a gang, and somehow ended up meeting Sanguine. She went back to Chicago and had Ray-Roy, then was killed when Ray-Roy was only about five years old. Sanguine finally managed to track his son down after hearing about him and he raised him on his own.

"We're here," Skulduggery's voice snapped Valkyrie out of her thoughts and she looked out the window, seeing Vendetta and Ray-Roy already there.

"Thanks," Valkyrie grabbed Alice's bag and the two sister's got out of the Bentley and began to walk up to the others.

….

Vendetta looked up as Cain began to speak.

"Hey guys," she said putting the bag on the ground. "This is my little sister Alice, Alice this is-

Cain cut off her sentence when she looked down and saw that the space beside her was no longer occupied by the small child.

"Alice! Where the heck did you go!?" Cain snapped her head around then froze when she looked towards the right. She took off at a sprint, racing up into one of the play forts.

Vendetta could see glimpses of Cain and what had to be her sister as Cain slung the small child over her shoulder and carried her back.

"She did this on the way here too," Cain growled dumping her sister on the ground.

Alice was cute, Vendetta would admit that. The child looked like her older sister with dark hair and eyes, and she was dressed in jeans and a blue shirt with a puppy on it. She broke out into a wide smile.

"Hi!" Alice chirped happily.

Vendetta froze up, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Hi," Ray-Roy responded just as cheerfully and smiling back. "You must be Alice. I'm Raymond-Leroy Sanguine, but you can call me Ray-Roy for short."

Alice giggled. "You're name is long." She looked up at Vendetta. "Who are you?"

"That's Vendetta," Ray-Roy put in before the female vampire could say anything.

Alice laughed again. "You're name is funny."

A growl began to build in Vendetta's throat but Ray-Roy stopped her before it could surface.

"We're going to be takin' care of you for a little while, that sound okay?"

"Yeah! Step'nie said that she has to go away for a while and I get to stay with you guys."

Ray-Roy nodded. "Yes, that is true."

Cain watched the exchange cautiously, but visibly relaxed when she saw how comfortable the conversation was and turned back to Vendetta.

"Thanks for doing this," she said. "I wouldn't know who else to call."

Vendetta grunted in response. "As long as I get paid and that kid doesn't annoy me it will be fine."

Cain seemed okay with that then leaned in so that Alice wouldn't hear. "I told her a little bit about magic so that she will understand what is going to happen better. So she knows about monsters and vampires and sorcerers, but I didn't get into everything so be careful."

Vendetta nodded and Cain seemed thoughtful for a few moments. Then the Bentley's horn honking made her snap back to the present. "Right. Well I have a flight to catch, here's Alice's bag." She handed Ray-Roy a small duffel bag. "And I'll see you guys when I get back."

She crouched down to Alice's level. "You be good and listen and do everything they say, as long as it doesn't end with you being killed. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Cain gave her sister a quick hug and waved good bye to Ray-Roy and Vendetta then ran back to the Bentley. The three watched the car drive out of sight and once it was gone Vendetta finally spoke.

"We'll head back to my house for now," Vendetta said. "I'll take my motorcycle and meet you guys there."

Without saying anything else, she hurried over to said black bike and got on. After strapping the helmet on and starting the engine, she drove off completely disregarding every traffic law ever created to get to her house.

'Looks like the fun is finally starting.'

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