Hey everyone!

First of all some responses to reviews:

Deadgirl19: thanks so much, I wasn't joking or exaggerated at all when I said you were my inspiration, I had been thinking about writing a fanfic for ages but it was your stories that finally convinced me to, I have no idea why (probably cause they were so darn good) but I decided that night to give it a try (:

Guest (Skyla): hahahah I know right that what I was trying to get across at, they may be her friends, but they forget all about that when they see something even slightly suggestive. And thank you so much, I completely agree with the thing you mentioned though…

Anyways, here's the next chapter! Please read and review! Criticism, tips and requests welcome (:

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Chapter 3

After a while of Valkyrie staying embarrassed in her room, there was a knock on her door. Skulduggery entered the room and sat next to her on her bed.

"Still sulking?" Skulduggery asked, putting his arm around Valkyrie.

She swatted it away and put her face in her hands, "More like sitting in here absolutely embarrassed and mortified," she moaned into her hands.

"Well, you shouldn't be, I mean, your body is something which you have nothing to be embarrassed about…" Skulduggery said nodding approvingly then paused. "Did I just say that out loud..?"

Valkyrie looked up, "What are you trying to get at here Skul?" She said with a playful smile on her face. Skulduggery got up and stammered, trying to cover his butt with the statement he just said.

"I mean, well what I meant was...ugh," Skulduggery tried to explain and instead shook his skull and started to head towards the door.

"Skulduggery Pleasant, are you trying to say what I think you're saying?" Valkyrie teasingly asked at Skulduggery as she got up and started to walk over to him.

"Valkyrie Cain, that mind of yours does not know what it is doing half the time and the other half it's turning innocent statements like mine into dirty sexual ones," Skulduggery said and Valkyrie laughed at the accuracy of his comment. "Anyways, all I came up to say is that you should come back downstairs and act like nothing happened."

Valkyrie laughed at Skulduggery's awkwardness and followed him out of the room.

"Don't worry Skul, I know what you really mean," Valkyrie said and elbowed him in the ribs after winking at him. She started to walk down the stairs as Skulduggery stood there, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Hey Val! I think I'm the embarrassed one now!" Skulduggery yelled after Valkyrie and headed after her down the stairs.

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"She's alive!" Dexter said and came up to hug Valkyrie with a sheepish grin on his face. She hugged him back and all awkwardness was gone.

"Hey you know Val, we were thinking that you should totally wear underwear around the house more often," Saracen said and winked at her suggestively.

"Hey you know Saracen, I was thinking that maybe we should just completely forget about this whole thing and move on?" Valkyrie said back in retort.

Ghastly and Anton murmured their agreements while Dexter, Ravel and Saracen pouted and looked down miserably.

Valkyrie flopped down on the couch in between Saracen and Dexter and finally got comfortable when the doorbell rang. She got up, letting out an exasperated sigh and headed to door.

'Goddammit...freaking…key…won't…turn," Valkyrie mumbled and let out an irritated and unintelligent sound. "Skulduggery! The stupid key isn't turning and I can't open the door!"

"Have you tried turning it the other way?" Skulduggery calmly asked back.

"Yes of course I tried turning it the other – oh."

"Did it work?"

"….yes."

Valkyrie finally yanked open the door and smiled instantly at the visitor. "Mr Bliss! I wasn't expecting you to be here!"

"Well I had some few issues I needed to cover with you and Skulduggery, may I come in?" Mr Bliss asked Valkyrie.

"Yeah of course, come in, oh and sorry about the whole thing with the door…" Valkyrie said awkwardly and Mr Bliss smiled.

"We all have our awkward moments Valkyrie,"

They started heading towards the lounge room when Valkyrie remembered a question she'd been meaning to ask. "Hey Mr Bliss, I've got a really random question which probably isn't relevant in anyway at all, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Do you even have a first name?"

Mr Bliss laughed, something which Valkyrie didn't see him often do. "I actually don't. When I was choosing my taken name I couldn't think of a first name which suited my personality, so I decided on just going with a last name."

"The name Mr Bliss does suit you though; it is a pretty intimidating name."

They entered the lounge room and Skulduggery got up as soon as he saw Mr Bliss and walked over to meet him.

"Mr Bliss, or should I say, Grand Mage Bliss, what brings you here on this fine afternoon?" Skulduggery asked.

"First of all, please just call me my usual name." Mr Bliss said almost irritably. "And as to why I am here, mind if we take this somewhere else?" He said and motioned to the kitchen.

They followed him in to the kitchen and Valkyrie hopped up on the bench as Skulduggery leaned against the wall.

"There have been quite a few murders recently in Roarhaven and surrounding towns and all victims have been found in the same way, to put it simply, decapitated. And by a few murders, I mean there have been 37 in three days. Due to the violent nature of the crime, I want the best detectives I know on the case and back to working full time at the Sanctuary."

Skulduggery pondered the request while Valkyrie got off the bench.

"Won't the same issues that got us 'fired' in the first place cause issues again?" asked Valkyrie.

"Well, Madame Mist has been removed from the Board of Elders and subsequently, that issue doesn't really remain. And, it was honestly such a stupid issue, what even caused you to hurt her? She, and you, never told the full story."

"Well, it's a long story. What happened was I was in a room alone with her and I was really bored, hungry and slightly creeped out by her spiders so I tried to engage in small talk with her to pass some time. I guess I said the wrong things to her cause she got really pissy…. The conversation went somewhat like this:

* Me: So…what does it require to be a Child of the spider?

Madam Mist: …

Me: Do you have to like do initiation tests? Like how many spiders you can swallow then barf out?

Madam Mist: The secrets of the Children of the Spider are not to be shared with outsiders.

Me: Oh. Okay.

(2 minutes of awkward silence)

Me: Wait a minute… if you're a child of the spider then that would mean your parents are spiders…so are you guys like spiders with a façade of human skin?

Madam Mist: Don't push me Valkyrie.

Me: Oh god…. So that would mean two spiders did the dirty and 4 weeks later you came out? That doesn't even make sense, yet it seems…so true.

Madam Mist: Valkyrie, I'm warning you.

Me: I truly feel for you, I can't imagine how awkward it must've been introducing people to your parents… or parent-teacher interviews…or presents, I mean what present do you get for a spider? A laptop so they can find the best web-sites? *

"And yeah… after that she kinda tried attacked me, so I may have beat her up... And then I got in trouble for abusing an Elder…" Valkyrie finished off and looked over at Skulduggery and Mr Bliss, who was standing there confused.

"They were serious questions though…" Valkyrie said.

"Anyways…" Skulduggery said, trying to bring the conversation away from Valkyries immature behaviour. "We've started up the Dead Men again, so if you wanted to hire us, it'd have to cost you. But for you, of course, you'd get a discount."

"How much are we talking here?" Mr Bliss asked.

"Well for the cost of Valkyrie and I, around €600. But it's negotiable," Skulduggery replied.

"Okay then. €500."

"€575."

"€525"

"€550."

"Done. Payment will be half now, half when you're done."

Skulduggery and Mr Bliss shook hands and the deal was made.

"When do we start?" Valkyrie asked Mr Bliss.

"Preferably in two days, maximum." Mr Bliss replied

"We'll get started in two days then," Skulduggery said.

They said their goodbyes and Mr Bliss left. As soon as he had gone, Skulduggery turned to Valkyrie, "Did you seriously ask those questions to Madam Mist?"

"Yeah..."

"Then beat her up?"

"Yeah…"

"I think I'm in awe of you right now," Skulduggery said, giving Valkyrie a high-five then walking off.

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Whew..,.that was a long one…
Was it too long or do you want ones longer? Please review and let me know!

~pleasantlycain