Victor got in his car and left the others behind. Skulduggery let him go still investing the living room for any signs of clues; Valkyrie watched as he pulled off then climbed into the driver's side of the Bentley when she realized just how good her detective skills were. "Shit. No key." She looked under the dashboard and in the sunglasses cubby, nada. Skulduggery must have them. She got out and was just about to go back up stairs when Simon and Nicholas came down. They were both whispering in the phone held in Simon's hand.

"Yes sir, understood. Carry out as we were instructed." Had Valkyrie imagined it or had his mouth sparked what seemed to be a blue charged and when he spoke his voice was mechanical and out of place?

"What did they say?" Nicholas asked his voice broke off then went back to normal. Simon closed the phone then looked over at Nicholas with an irritated look.

"They said to follow what Mr Houston says and do not leave him alone. He is paying for our use after all."

"You don't sound alright. What would we do with the money?"

"I don't care about dead tree bark." Simon snapped. He looked over his shoulder then pulled Nicholas to the car crouching. Valkyrie watched with increasing curiosity from behind the car. "What I want is whatever this Victor Houston is paying big money to keep hush hush. Screw whatever theysay."

"You can't just do that." Nicholas sputtered. "What if they find you doing stuff like this? Then they might take you back apart-"

"Shhhhh! You can't talk about that in the open." Simon threw a hand over Nicholas's mouth. He looked over his surrounding again, sure that nobody was there he let go and undid the car lock. "Get in you great bofuun. If there's anyone who needs a repair transition its you." They got in and drove off. Valkyrie puzzled over their weird sense of words when she felt the air shift behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Skulduggery asked Valkyrie as he got in the car. "And where did those slackers go?" She got in too and they pulled off.

"They said they needed to rest up a bit before doing some research yeah that's what it was." She thought of something quickly.

"Umm you sure? That sounded more like a guess."

"Yep. Sure. A hundred percent." She tried not to smirk she already knew that he knew she was hiding something.

"Lazy Americans," he muttered. He didn't try to carry out to discussion further, maybe visiting Tanith's flat wasn't the smartest thing to since they were both to her. Now Skulduggery would just since into himself.He couldn't do this not now when there was something wrong here with the so called new partners. If he wasn't going to be useful at this moment then Valkyrie decided that she would go at it alone.

"Hey skul can you drop me off at Gordon's mansion I need a little snackage."

"Fine but meet up back at the sanctuary later got it.'

"Sure." When Val was sure Skulduggery was a few blocks down the street when he left, she headed straight to the garage and uncovered her motorcycle. It purred to life as she sped out the driveway and headed west in the direction she saw Simon and Nicholas go.

She soon found them. It wasn't hard, it seems whatever it was that kept them arguing had slowed them down to where ever their destination. She trailed them; they led her somewhere in the city but Valkyrie wasn't all too familiar with it. They parked and walk over to where there was barely any lights in front of an old closed down shop then went down an alley between the walls. She followed until she was close enough she could here them and not be seen. Someone else stepped into the narrow slip where the two knuckleheads went, but she knew instantly who it was. Why am I not surprised?

Victor seemed as though he was about to blow a fuse. He kept passing back and forth and didn't seem to take notice of the other two standing there. He muttered under his breath, too low and grunted for Valkyrie to hear what he said. Nicholas and Simon didn't move muscle, it didn't look like they were breathing. How could they both stand so still. They were equivalent to a dead guy not moving and she knew one! She could have reach out and waved her hand in their face and they would have done nothing.

"This can't be right." Victor said something at last. "That girl couldn't have been her. Either that girl is getting more fearless of me or she doesn't remember her place." Valkyrie had a bad feeling he was talking about her but how could he, she didn't know this man at all.

"Maybe it was-when she took that fall-off the-building the last time we-tried to apprehend-her. Maybe she has-memory loss." Nicholas tried to reason. Smoke appeared to come out behind Nic but Val couldn't see where it was coming from.

Victor took a swung at Nicholas's head. "And you don't know your place it seems." He growled.

"Besides, you don't know the definition of 'apprehend'." Simon whispered to Nicholas. Victor saw the steam coming out of Nicholas's head. "What in tarnation is wrong with your circuitry?"

Simon covered Nic's mouth before he had a chance to answer. "Nothing he just has a few loose wires. Literally." He looked sternly at Nic.

Victor, having had enough steamed off. He waved his hands above his head, grunting and moaning as if in pain. When he had calmed down he came back slowly massaging his face. He addressed Simon who wasn't having a melt down of whatever it was Nicholas was. "What do you think of her? She was supposed to be meeting an old acquaintance here. I know his name but not his face."

Simon's voice stared to break up too but his sounded more robotic than chipped Nic's. OK case concluded, Simon and Nicholas are both Not human. This isn't just a secret op their working on. Something is going to happen. Bad."Sorry sir, but the girl was not her." Simon said.

"She is not the one-we followed here." Nicholas added.

"That's not right. If she somehow got a hold of a copy then..." Victor smiled to himself and laughed; it sounded dark, a chill ran down Valkyrie's spine. "Oh this is just magnificent. Tell the others to keep looking for her."

Nicholas raised his hand. "But sir-who is-the imposter?"

"She is not an imposter." He said somewhat agitated but then in a calmer voice, "She's an unexpected turn of events. Something we could use to our advantage. Get back to work. Don't let that Valkyrie Cain out of your sight. She's not like Sarah, she's stronger and doesn't know the shadows the follow beneath her own."

Simon and Nicholas turned to leave. "And get your voice fixed, I can't have any of you CC's ruining this." Simon got in the car and drove off not before smacking Nicholas on the back side of his head. Nicholas gave him a side ways look.

"Say one thing and your voice box won't be the only thing damaged." Nicholas crossed his arms and tried to ignore the wanna be boss.

When they had disappeared Valkyrie ducked back around from view but Victor was gone as well.

All of this was just too-what was it-weird. The way Victor called Simon and Nicholas CC's. What the heck is a CC? One things for sure. Victor and his little minions are up to something and if its one thing Valkyrie is good at it is sticking her nose in other people's business and raising cain.

She was riding in no clear direction. The cool wind rolled down her back as she zipped passed cars that seemed to slow down just to get in her way. Everything was almost normal, too normal; this was when a major headache crashed into Val out of no where and she lost control of her bike. She swerved uncontrollably. The headlight busted into the back of a parked car and she swiveled onto the sidewalk until she went head first into a pole.

She gripped the pole trying to stand but fell back to her knees. An over pounding swarm of darkness coated her vision.


It was a picnic on a warm day. Two small 5 year old girls sat at the cute little kids table and ate the snacks their parents made for them. Where were their parents and when are they coming back. The man that sat in the house behind the glass door creeped them out. They didn't like him. He was weird.

The two girls were sisters, one might even say they were twins since they looked identical, that's because it was true. They had the same dark hair, brown eyes and high laugh. The only real difference was one of the little girls would always be smiling and the other hardly ever in anyone elses presence. She had a darker aura and her father could sense it. But neither girl smiled at the man that towered over them while he was supposedly watching them. They didn't trust him and they had good reason not to.

"When will our parents come back?" One of them asked.

"I miss them. I don't like it here." The other one said.

"Maybe we can get him to let us see them." The girl smiled.

"I want to go home." The sister walked away from the table and went inside. After a few seconds the sister still outside heard a startled cry and something crash.

"Sarah?" She called as she ran inside. But what she found only made tears come to her eyes. "Sarah!"

Sarah's body laid slumped on the floor a glass vase broken, scattered around her head. The sister gasped. "No not Sarah she couldn't be."

"Don't look." The man pulled the small teary girl into a hug. "It was a robber. An accident." Tears ran down her face. She pulled away from the man. "Uncle is she-"

"Get away from her!" he roared, nearly pulling her arm out of her socket. "If you know what's good for you then you won't say anything!" Got it?" All the little girl could do was stare at the dead form of her sister. 'Nothing else was broken and there was nobody running from the house. So was there really a robber?' She knew her Uncle never liked them, but could he have really?-


When Valkyrie's vision cleared and she whipped the sweat from her brow she couldn't begin to fathom what she had just saw. A dream? A hallucination? Where had those thoughts come from? It was like a picture shot zooming through her head. Everything was so vivid and down to detail. But why was it coming to her in these murderous headaches?

All she knew was that she was late to the Sanctuary and if Skulduggery gave her any lip. Well lets just say its a good thing for him that he doesn't really have one; or is it.

By the time she got there Valkyrie had almost completely forgotten about the strange Americans and Victor but she couldn't shake the ominous feeling left behind by the vision. It left her fearful, afraid and unsure. She didn't like those feeling. And worst of all it was one thought that kept popping up that sent a shiver down her spine so cold it was almost unbearable.

Victor Houston.

Who ever he was he was no friend of hers for sure. Ravel was giving his I'm-so-glad-none-of-you-have-killed-each-other-yet -because-of-our-differences speech. And Valkyrie could tell he's been practicing in a mirror for the last 30 minutes trying not to turn this into a bloody massacre. The Elders weren't there something to do with Elder work and all that nonsense. It was who was here that made Valkyrie's blood run cold. Victor, two goons less of company, sat away from her and Skulduggery but just like she was he was glancing over watching her every move. When Ravel was finished he looked exhausted like he had ran several miles but he was seriously with this American x Ireland tag team. How could she break it to him that she rather fight the Grotesquery than be in the presence of this man that she hardly knew yet utterly creeped her out?

"So I think we're done here any questions?" Ravel said. Skulduggery said something about the case but she wasn't listening. A burning sensation crisscrossed her forehead. Valkyrie winced she was engulfed by another vision.

Skulduggery leaned over to his partner. "Are you alright?"

"Just fine." She said through gritted teeth. The vision lasted only a few seconds but she still couldn't believe what she saw. "How could I have been so stupid."

"What?" Skulduggery asked.

That's when the one and only Victor came 'prancing' over and took Valkyrie's hand and gave it a small kiss. "I hope you haven't hurt yourself. I'm glad to be working by your side." Valkyrie looked nothing more but repulsed. She snatched her hand away. Val stood. Glared, about face then walked out of the double doors. Skulduggery and Ravel stared after her. The Grand Mage smiled sheepishly at Victor and concluded the meeting.

Valkyrie steamed off down the hallway. She knew something was off the minute she saw Victor. She spun quickly aimed her foot high toward the person head trying to sneak up on her. Victor jumped back quickly, he threw a few punches at Val, she blocked. She came up underneath and let out her anger in one punch to his chin he side stepped, she skidded off him but he still felt the impact. He moved his jaw feeling if it was broken.

"You've gotten someone to teach you martial arts. And you're pretty good." He gave her a half glare half admiring looking.

"Thanks but no thanks." She fully glared at him.

"Val whats with all the hate. I thought we were friends."

"I know what you are." He looked mildly interested. "You're a murderer."

"Really? Who did I kill?" Victor kneed her in the side Val crunched over. He pushed her up against the wall and held her hands separated on either side of her head.

"You killed Sarah."

"Sarah who?"

"Sarah-" Valkyrie didn't know. All she knew was the first name of the girl he murdered. "I don't know."

Victor- Valkyrie could actually believe- laughed. "'You don't know'? Then why are you so intent on hating me for something you obviously don't remember."

"Remember what?" Valkyrie was completely confused. "You think I won't expose you. You think my word against your word won't do anything. The Grand Mage trusts me more than he ever will you. You won't get away with killing Sarah Edgely." She stopped, wondering where that last part came from.

"What did you say?" Victor tightened his grip.

"You killed Sarah Edgely." It was more to herself than to Victor. Valkyrie's head burned her vision blackening, she moaned.

"Look up. Hey! What's wrong with you." Fixing her hands so they were both in one of his. He jerked her head up. "Look at me," he demanded.

"My head. These visions. You killed her, she was just a little girl." Valkyrie slumped her head down again.

"Listen you little brat. You tell anyone else about these visions-"

"And you'll do what?" Valkyrie found the strength to look him square in the eye.

"And you'll find yourself dead before I can tell you what use you could have been to me." Valkyrie glared at him some more. "Do you only glare at people when you're mad? Is that what you do?"

"It comes naturally to me. Especially when I don't really like someone."

"Well let me put it this way. We can work together or you can make this difficult on yourself and everyone you know."

"If you touch anyone-"

"Sweet heart, you're a danger to them just being here. No shut up and don't mention this to anyone." he let her go and walked away as if nothing had happened. Valkyrie stared at Victor then whipped a tear that dared to roll down her eye.

She had to clear her head. She had to think. To breathe. She had to.. to what? This person comes out of nowhere and now she's running away with her tail tucked between her legs? No! That is not how Valkyrie Cain does. She doesn't roll over and play dead. She makes the dead roll over. But the more she thought about it the more this Victor Houston was not unfamiliar. The way his hair was cropped in a messy carefree way and the glint in his eyes that never seemed to want to disappear. The shape of his face! It was uncanny but the more she thought of it the more messed up her mind became. She didn't know him but why was it she already knew she couldn't trust Victor Houston.

She went home, to her parents home to check up on them and to-really-clear her mind. When she got there she realized they were still at work and decided to roam around the house.

It looked almost ghostly to her, because she hadn't been there in a while. Her sister Alice, was with a babysitter so she barely used the reflection around her anymore. Somehow she found herself upstairs in her parents room. Her body was moving on its own finding its on jive as it walked around what used to be a regular sight but now even the tiniest of cracks in the wall seemed new to her.

Her legs aimed for the closet, she opened them with shaky hands. Why would I be so nervous? It smelled of her mothers cleaned pressed suits and her dads smelly socks. She laughed to herself. Her hand shifted through the hangars until they started wondering to the top self. She had no business going up there. Why were her hands moving closer to the top? She tugged back her arms but they wouldn't budge. They had a mind of its own and it wanted to take down whatever was on that shelf.

A box fell to her feet. A slim piece of paper fell out of it and her arms fell limply to her side. What the bloody hell? Was all she could think of. But the box had caught her attention. Maybe it was just filled with old letters to friends or notes from high school her parents kept but either way Valkyrie was still reaching for the box. But hey, Valkyrie was a curious person and that's what killed the cat.

Valkyrie read the papers inside and found several pictures inside. Like she thought just old keepsakes. She had nearly emptied the contents when she reached the bottom. Wrapped neatly in a clothe and tucked away with more care than the rest of the boxes contents, Valkyrie blinked several times then stared at the letters that were wrapped with the single photo. She blinked a couple more times and stared a little more before she dropped the letters onto the floor.

Curiosity shocked the cat.