A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Anton, Ghastly, Erskine, Dexter or Saracen.


Skulduggery and Valkyrie were at the Midnight Hotel as soon as possible, showing up at its scheduled arrival point and going in as soon as the hotel formed. Anton was at the front desk and he looked surprised to see them. As the tall man straightened Valkyrie repressed a shiver. Had it been him in her nightmare, even if the man looked like Skulduggery?

"Welcome to the Midnight Hotel, Valkyrie, Skulduggery. Do you need a room or are you here to terrorize my guests?" He asked calmly.

"We need help with an investigation." Valkyrie said and Anton looked at her with the calm expression he often got when he wasn't happy. "Anton, I hate to ask, but do you remember ringing me a few months ago?" She asked and he looked genuinely surprised.

"Not that I recall, Valkyrie. Why don't we discuss this in the common room? You may even bring your pet skeleton along if you like." He said dryly and Valkyrie smiled at him. Anton was a good listener, and he didn't ask any questions until she'd finished explaining the reason why they were there.

"So you think I made one call then lost my mind and started stalking you?" He asked in disbelief. "No offense, Valkyrie, but you're rather young for me, don't you think? If I were you I'd investigate teleporters or Necromancers. It would be easy enough for either one to just drop off packages, wouldn't it?"

"Don't be cross with her, Anton. We already crossed ourselves off the suspect list and she punched me." Skulduggery said with a grumble and Valkyrie knew he was sore over the age remark.

Anton smiled at that, so Valkyrie went on. "Anton, could you tell us who was here on that date?" She asked and his smile faded.

"No, I cannot. The Sanctuary is not welcome here, Valkyrie." He said in his quiet voice. "But I can tell you if someone was not here, that wouldn't violate my principles." He stood and led the way to the front desk. He tilted the guest book towards himself, looked at the date, then closed the book. Anton looked at her expectantly.

"Was Sanguine not here?" She asked and he nodded.

"Neither Sanguine nor Miss Low were here. They are not welcome in the Midnight Hotel."

"Was Wreath not here?" Skulduggery asked.

"Mr. Wreath was not here, and to save us all time nor were any of the Dead Men. Now unless you suspect my gist of making calls and stalking Valkyrie, I bid you both a good day."

They left the Midnight Hotel no further along in the case then when they started. Valkyrie didn't think Anton had lied and she expected it would have been easy enough to imitate his number and voice. There had been something about the imitation that had frightened her, almost as if something inhuman had made the call.

Skulduggery glanced over at her. "He's right, you know. I am too old for you."

"No, he isn't, Skulduggery. So we cross him off our list, Erskine and Ghastly are next."

"Ghastly is hardly rich enough. Neither is Anton really, but men often buy outside their means for a woman they want to impress." He said and she heard the warm smile in his voice.

"That they do." She agreed and leant over to kiss him on the cheek. He chuckled through his disguise and they were content to just be together. At the Sanctuary Ghastly took finding out he was a suspect rather calmly.

Erskine was angrier at being suspected, but both men admitted the Dead Men or at least those she'd been in contact around the time the packages had started arriving were good suspects. But neither man matched their timeline for being near the Sanctuary on each date a package was found, and Ghastly even had proof of being in his shop.

Erksine had proof as well if needed and Valkyrie believed him. "Sorry, guys, but we had to ask. That would leave Dex and Saracen." She said thoughtfully and noticed Ghastly's reaction.

"Not Dex." He said slowly. He exchanged glances with Erskine. "He was in a horrific accident about two months before the packages started to arrive. Doctors did the best they could, but he was horribly burnt. What we didn't tell you is that what is being sent now are pieces of skin, human skin we think, but it's so burnt..."

"So Dex is peeling off his own skin and sending it to Valkyrie?" Erskine asked then shook his head. He looked at Valkyrie thoughtfully. "His vocal cords were so damaged I don't even think he could have made the call you mentioned. And you're a bit young, even for Saracen." Valkyrie felt Skulduggery stiffen beside her.

"Grand Mage, there's been another package." Tipstaff said from the doorway. Valkyrie turned to see the man looked shaken. "Valkyrie, I'd rather you didn't see this one."

But Valkyrie did want to see it. It was a writable DVD disc. And on it was footage of Valkyrie. Always alone, sometimes even in her bedroom as if the camera had been right outside her window. "But I would have noticed someone following me." She said, feeling sickened. Because as they watched the clips kept changing, some were even inside her house, one even of her in the shower, though mercifully the viewer couldn't make out anything.

"You're staying with me, and we're staying in the Sanctuary." Skulduggery said. "None of us is that unbalanced. Tipstaff, who delivered the package?" He asked and Tipstaff shrugged helplessly.

"It was just found, like all the others. There was a card attached, it's being checked for fingerprints and traces of magic as we speak. Hopefully we'll get something." They all went to where the package had been found, but Skulduggery's rainbow-coloured powder turned up nothing. Though they did find a scrap of burnt skin...


And I'll leave it there. Just to be evil.