Skulduggery tried to get up but had not regained his strength yet. He looked the way he felt Darquesse's presence but could not see her. Still, he knew that she stood there before him and Valkyrie. "Valkyrie, I want you to tell me if she says or does anything. You have to be my eyes."
"She... she thinks we behave like lovers... and she grins."
Skulduggery snorted. "I understand that she does. She always wanted to see me on my knees and if she could, she would make me pray for mercy. Unfortunately Darquesse, it will not happen. I know you are fully capable of taking over Valkyrie if she would allow it or if you force yourself on her, but that is something I do not intend to allow. Even if you are just a by-product that the real Darquesse has left behind, does not mean that you can or may do what she wanted. I'm not going to allow anyone else than Valkyrie to decide her own destiny."
Darquesse turned to Valkyrie. "Does he never stop talking? Does he really think he can stop me? He can not even see me!"
"She wonders if you never stop talking and if you are serious when you say you'll stop her since you can not see her", said Valkyrie, hugging Skulduggery's hand that still laid over his chest.
Without answering, Skulduggery raised his free hand and urged wind that he threw straight at Darquesse. Darquesse, who did not see this coming, fell backwards and rolled over the floor into the living room.
"What the hell?!" she screamed and stood up. Her eyes shone with anger and she conjured lightning in her hands that she threw away towards Skulduggery.
Valkyrie reacted instinctively. She pushed Skulduggery to the side the second before the lightning beam would have hit him and instead got hit in her own side. She shouted of pain and rolled around one turn before the hallway wall stopped her rolling. She put her right hand over her right side where she had been hit and looked up just in time to see Skulduggery get up on his feet while Darquesse walked towards him with a pleased grin on her face.
"This will be interesting. How is he going to fight me now when you can not help him? He managed to hit me just because he saw where you looked and figured out where I stood." Darquesse laughed and conjured lightning again. "It will be a pleasure to hear him ask me for mercy."
Darquesse raised her hands into the air and threw out the two lightning beams she had in her hands against Skulduggery. Valkyrie was just about to scream a warning but she had just opened her mouth before the first beam missed Skulduggery with a few millimeters and the other hit his face.
Skulduggery tumbled backwards, but soon got back his balance and threw away a fireball that he conjured between his hands where he thought Darquesse was. Unfortunately, he was not even near her, and he understood that quite quickly when Valkyrie did not utter anything but a headshake.
"Damn it..." muttered Skulduggery and focused on reading the air in an attempt to find Darquesse's position.
"Does he not understand that it's meaningless?"
"Shut up!" Valkyrie roared at Darquesse and tried to get up, but the pain in her side was too bad. "Just shut up..."
"Oh, aren't we a bit feisty today? Poor, little, Valkyrie..." Darquesse said the last thing with a child's voice. "Grow up, Valkyrie! You've been through worse things before. Or wait, could it be that your ego got a little bang? Could it be that you are ashamed that a memory has succeeded in stopping you with just a single well-hit blow, and with the same magic as yourself? A magic you thought you were alone about having."
"You... do not know what... you are talking about..." Valkyrie wheezed between clenched jaws and once again tried to get up and this time succeeded by taking support against the wall.
"Don't I? My dear Valkyrie, I think I definately do just that. Remember, when it comes around, I am a part of you, after all. Darquesse is a part of you and since I'm a part of her memory, it means I'm also a part of you. Go ahead, you may deny it how much you want, but it does not change anything. We are the same, Valkyrie. If you were not so stubborn, you would understand that too."
"Believe me when I say this, Darquesse: I have already had this conversation with the real Darquesse many times before she was banished from Earth, and I still feel the same as I did then. I am Valkyrie, daughter of Melissa and Desmond Edgley and big sister to Alison Edgley. I am a sorcerer with a unique ability that nobody knows where it comes from or what it, I, can do and I am also best friend with Skulduggery Pleasant, the Skeleton Detective.
No one but myself decides how to live my life. I fight the wicked and I help those who need it. It's true that I love the excitement, the rush, the feeling of adrenaline that passes through my body when I'm in danger and the adventures I've experienced during the 12 years I've been dealing with magic. I'm part of that world, but that world is also a part of me. This is something you can not understand, since you have not experienced it yourself. I can not explain it to you and I'll admit that I feel sorry for you who do not get a chance to experience it the way I've done."
"Are you done?" Darquesse had put her arms across her chest and had lifted her eyebrow, as if she did not care about what Valkyrie said. As if that weren't bad enough, she still smiled satisfying.
Before Valkyrie had time to respond, Skulduggery's fist hit Darquesse straight in her grinning face. Darquesse's head bent back with such force that if she had been human she probably would have broken her neck. As it was now, the only thing that happened was that Darquesse bounced back a couple of steps and holding her nose while she growled angrily between her hands.
"I'll kill you, detective! I'll kill you slowly and I'll force Valkyrie to watch while I do it. I'll make you twist in pain!"
"Valkyrie, did I hit her? And if I did, what is she saying? I bet she is really angry at me by now."
Valkyrie nodded. "Yes, that you can surely say. She says that she will kill you real slowly and force me to watch when she does it. She shall also make you twist in pain, apparently."
Skulduggery returned to Darquesse. "I do not think you have done such a great job so far to make me ask for anything. The only thing you've managed to make me do is to moan a bit in discomfort. If you ask me, it's so far from making me ask for mercy as you can come."
He nodded as if he thought he had just been making a really good speech and turned to Valkyrie again. "By the way, I liked your little speech you held for Darquesse just now. I could not have done much better myself. A bit selfish maybe, but who am I to say something about being selfish?"
Valkyrie smiled despite the pain. "Thanks, I've learned from the best."
Skulduggery opened his mouth to answer when his attention was directed away from Valkyrie to the living room table that came rushing at him at a great speed. He set up a magic shield with the help from wind magic but still fell backwards in to the kitchen. At the same time as Skulduggery disappeared, Valkyrie drove off Darquesse's leg who came towards her and responded with a kick of her own.
Now they were both in a close combat mode that consisted of kicking, fisticuffs and dribbles. They always tried to get inside the defense of the other, but since they were basically one and the same, they read each other and could predict what the other would do before they did.
This does not work... I have to think of something fast, otherwise she will probably outsmart me first, thought Valkyrie and blocked a blow to her face while trying to kick away Darquesse's legs.
Darquesse took a step backwards to avoid Valkyrie's kick, but soon realized that it had been a dribble from Valkyrie's side and she had not time to block Valkyrie's punch in the stomach that made her lose her breath. Quickly, before Darquesse got her breath back, Valkyrie hit her face so hard that Darquesse fell to the floor. Valkyrie turned Darquesse on her belly and sat on her while bending her arms back and laying them across over Darquesse's back. Then Valkyrie pushed her knee against Darquesse's crossed arms and added pressure, causing Darquesse to scream and her eyes to fill with tears.
No matter how much Darquesse tried to get loose, she came nowhere. The more she struggled, the more pressure Valkyrie added to her arms, which in turn made her scream even more. She began to swear and cursed Valkyrie and talked about how horrible her death would be when she was done with her.
Valkyrie did not care what Darquesse said, but all she had in her head was what she would do now when she had Darquesse captured. She still did not know what Darquesse wanted, how strong she actually was or how she would get Darquesse to give up her attempts to take over her.
Skulduggery was suddenly by her side. Valkyrie had been so in her own thoughts that she had not heard him coming. He put his skeleton hand on her shoulder and pressed it. She dared not look at him in fear of losing her concentration and thus giving Darquesse an opportunity to escape. She nodded instead to show him that she knew he was there with her.
"Good job, Valkyrie", Skulduggery had a proud tone and Valkyrie could not help but smile.
"Thank you", she said, daring to throw a quick glance on him.
His suit was in disorder and he had lost his hat some time during the battle, which made him look naked. Besides that, he did not seem to have got any serious damage, none of whom Valkyrie could see, at least.
"How are you?" she asked, again turning her attention to Darquesse, who had stopped struggling.
"Just great. And you?"
"Some bruises and a little sore in the side where Darquesse hit me, otherwise good. The advantage of fighting with someone who is a part of yourself is that you will be quite good at figuring out what they will do to you next and thus avoiding the worst punches."
Skulduggery chuckled and bowed down next to Valkyrie so that their heads were at even height. "Is she lying under you?"
Valkyrie nodded. "Yes, she's on her belly with her arms crossed over her back and every time she's struggling, I'm pushing down my knee. Right now she stays quite calm. I think she has understood that I'm not going to let go of her until I've figured out what to do with her. What do you think?"
Skulduggery tilted his head. "Well, she has caused both you and me a lot of harm and she planned to take over you in order to implement a plan that nobody besides herself knows what it is. What do you think is a reasonable punishment?"
"I do not know. It is not like I can take her to China and say that a forgotten memory from Darquesse that only I can see has attacked you and me and that I would like to lock her in."
"You're right about that. If we let her go there is the risk that she will try to attack us again and not give up until she will get her will through. The problem I see is how we should make her stay calm, stop attacking us and how we can keep her captive."
"Should we not be able to handcuff her, then? Then she can not use her magic and, therefore, is not as dangerous and easier to handle."
By those words, Darquesse began to fight even more frenetic than she had done before. Valkyrie had to use her entire body weight and strength to hold her down. "Go to hell both of you! I'm not going to let you handcuff me! Do you really think I'll calm down because of that? Then you're mistaken, Valkyrie! I'm not a common criminal that you can just put in a cell just to then throw away the key! You said it yourself, nobody except you can see me."
Valkyrie did not answer, but just kept holding Darquesse down. She turned her head towards Skulduggery but did not let go of her eye contact with Darquesse's back. "Skulduggery, give me the handcuffs now! I have to use all of my powers just to keep her in control! If she continues to go on like this I will not be able to make her stay still for much longer!"
Skulduggery brought his hand to the back of his suit trousers and pulled out a pair of handcuffs which he held out towards Valkyrie. Valkyrie let go of Darquesse's one arm and instead pushed down her elbow while she received the handcuffs. She quickly put the first one in the arm she just had let go of and had just caught Darquesse's second arm when Darquesse tapped her head back and hit Valkyrie straight in the nose, causing it to break. Valkyrie just recorded the feeling of warm blood that ran down her mouth and chin before Darquesse turned her upper body against Valkyrie and pushed her hard against Skulduggery.
Valkyrie hit Skulduggery's chest and moaned in pain when the collision caused new waves of pain to radiate from her broken nose. She looked right up to see Darquesse take off her handcuffs as Valkyrie had put on her before she threw it away with a look of disgust in her face.
"I said that it would not be that easy, did I not, Valkyrie? This is your weakness. As soon as you get the upper hand, you think that the battle is over and that you have won. The battle is not over until either yourself or your opponent says that it is. One might think that you should have learned that by now, but I guess that unfortunately, that is not the case.
It's a pity, actually. We could have been a really good team, you and me. I may be a memory of the real Darquesse, but that does not mean I want the same thing as she wanted. I've actually started to like your world, Valkyrie. I do not want to destroy it, which was what she wanted."
"What do you want then?" Valkyrie managed to say between the pains.
"Oh, the one who is waiting will see, right?" Darquesse grinned and went to Valkyrie.
Valkyrie pressed against Skulduggery and tried to conjure her magic, but could not. She was in too much pain and could not concentrate enough to conjure up even the smallest beam of lightning. "Do not come closer! Let me be!"
Darquesse laughed and bowed down in front of Valkyrie. "Do not worry, I will not hurt you. Just relax, this will not hurt at all, I promise."
In the same moment as Darquesse stretched out her hand against Valkyrie's head and allowed it to continue into her brain, Valkyrie saidd "Skulduggery! Whatever happens from now on I want you to know that I love you!"
Darquesses laughed and disappeared in to Valkyrie and the last Valkyrie was aware of before everything became dark around her was Skulduggery hugging her and whispering in her ear.
"I love you too."