Sorry this chapter took a while to write but I hope you enjoy this :D I'll be updating the next chapters a lot quicker :P
Enjoy….

The sky over Baker Street was grey and the clouds were almost bursting with water. The occupants of 221b were greeted with a new woman's death. They turned on the television as they ate breakfast and found the breaking news of the day was another death. A young woman aged twenty five, engaged to be married in a month, was found in the middle of a busy road.

Valkyrie shivered and skulled her tea before getting up to make herself another cup.

"Do you think Jack will be at the Church?" John asked Skulduggery as he walked out of his room. He was wearing a crisp grey suit and matching hat.

"No." Skulduggery told them. "I believe he'll go to a different source of holy ground."

"How long will it take us to get there?" Valkyrie asked.

"Approximately three hours."

"And then what?" She demanded.

He tilted his head. "We'll search for clues like we always do."

They were all silent for a few minutes.

"We have to stop him. We have to stop him killing people. She was engaged for goodness sakes." Valkyrie raged.

"We'll stop him Val. Like we always do. He'll go to jail, and if you want you can give him a few kicks in face along the way." Skulduggery assured her.

She smiled weakly. "I'd like that."

"Sometimes I forget how violent you two are." John muttered.

"I'm not that violent. I know people who are much much more violent." She told him strongly.

"Yes but only just." Skulduggery chuckled. "Now, time to go."

xXxXxXx

Sherlock sat in the back seat of the car frowning deeply. He'd been silent for the past two hours. He was staring out the window and seemed to not notice when the others tried to engage him in conversation. Suddenly he turned to Valkyrie in the front seat.

"Why did you sleep in Skulduggery's room last night?" He asked bluntly.

"What?" John frowned. "You slept in his room?"

She blushed slightly. "I had bad dreams last night."

"No, that's not the real reason." Sherlock interrupted. "Why didn't you sleep in John's room?"

Skulduggery tilted his head questioningly.

She rolled her eyes. "I couldn't sleep because I was having stupid hallucinations that there was someone in my room. I felt like I was being followed. Just stupid night terrors."

Sherlock nodded and went back to looking out the window.

"Why'd you ask?" She demanded scowling.

He said nothing.

"Hey!"

"Don't mind him, he's just forgotten you." John interrupted before she could start throwing fireballs. She nodded and went back to looking out the window. Now John was the only not looking out the window.

He peered at his companions. They were all upset and miserable. The case was weighing heavily on all of them. So many young women dead, and the Irish detectives' argument wasn't making it any better. He himself felt sick with everything. He hoped desperately that they would stop Jack soon.

His phone buzzed and he looked down.

Any developments?

Greg

John frowned sadly and ignored it. He could never explain what was going on or what they were doing. Lestrade just wouldn't understand not to mention John wasn't allowed to. It was up to Skulduggery and Valkyrie to tell.

His phone buzzed again.

Give me ANYTHING you've got!

John looked away. Another buzz.

People are dying John. Sherlock may not want you to tell me but I need to know.

Another buzz.

If it's because of Cain and Pleasant, they're not trustworthy. I still think they know more than they're letting on. We can't let more people die.

John growled in annoyance and turned his phone off. He could not tell him anything!

"How long until we get there!" John demanded annoyed.

"Not too long now." Skulduggery answered and deactivated his façade. "Shouldn't be seeing mortals any time soon."

Let's hope not. John thought.

xXxXxXx

The church stood high on the hill. It overlooked the crushing waves of the ocean far below the plateau. It was tall and massive. It was an old cathedral with stain glass windows and high pointed turrets. Rain poured off the roof creating mini waterfalls.

They hurried out of the car and ran towards the church. Skulduggery waved a hand and the doors blasted open.

John cursed quietly and shook himself off. When he looked up the two Irish detectives were completely dry.

"How?" He asked helplessly.

Valkyrie chuckled lightly and raised her hand. The water from his clothes rose slowly into a small cloud which she let fall to the ground.

"There you go." She smiled.

"Okay," Skulduggery called the attention. "This church is empty_,"

"How do you know?" John interrupted.

"I can read disturbances in the air. No one has been here in over a year." He explained quickly. "Now we need to split up and look for anything that may link to Jack. Everything and anything is important."

"That sounds like a good plan. Valkyrie and I will search the west of the church." Sherlock announced. "Unless there are any objections?"

Skulduggery tilted his head but said nothing.

"I guess we better get investigating." Valkyrie stated and she and Sherlock walked off. Sherlock held a torch and Valkyrie had a flame burning in her palm.

John was left alone with Skulduggery. Never had he ever been alone with the skeleton and he was slightly uneasy.

"Shall we start looking?" John asked.

"Of course." Skulduggery answered in his velvet smooth voice and led the way down the main hall. There were pews on both sides and pillars running down the hall. An altar stood at the end, dry red blood covering it.

The silence was suffocating to John, and he couldn't help but take sideway glances at Skulduggery.

"So, what made you take Valkyrie as your partner?" John asked nervously.

"She was threatening to stand on my hat."

"And for that you took her into battle?" John frowned, confused. "Wasn't she twelve at the time?"

"Yes, but it was a very good hat and even that young she had a pretty mean boot." Skulduggery explained.

John frowned deeper trying desperately to grasp what he was saying. "Don't, don't you think that it was a little irresponsible?"

"I never claimed it wasn't. But she had a very compelling argument, in addition to the hostage hat."

"And that was?" John raised an eyebrow.

"She argued that the door had been blown off its hinges. Meaning someone could just come back and kill her, and she refused to hide under the bed." Skulduggery shook his head sadly. "She was quite a rebel."

"I don't want to overstep my boundary but are you two fighting?"

Skulduggery paused. "We have disagreements, but it is only because of worry. You don't understand the danger and the power that comes with both Valkyrie and I."

John paused. "Does she have nightmares a lot?"

"Of course she does. She's seen horrors that you can't even imagine." He told her.

"But did she really have nightmares last night? Do you think she could have been hallucinating?"

Skulduggery tilted his head. "She never said that her hallucinations were dancing or singing so I can assume that she wasn't hallucinating."

"Shouldn't we be worried then? Jack followed Hannah before trying to kill her. What if he's been following Valkyrie?" John voiced his concern.

"You raise a good point." Skulduggery nodded to himself.

"Then shouldn't we do something about it?"

Skulduggery turned away from him and started inspecting the blood covered altar.

"Fine, dismiss me like Sherlock." John muttered and stared at the ceilings. They were detailed with different scenes from the bible. It must have been a Christian church.

The door behind them slammed open and John jumped, crying out he raised his gun. Sherlock raised an eye at him.

"Please don't shoot me John; I thought you were smarter than that." Sherlock commented before turning to Skulduggery. "I know how to capture Jack."

"Great minds think alike." Skulduggery stated. "We use Valkyrie as bait."

"What?" John demanded.

"I'm sorry did you say 'use Valkyrie as bait'?" Valkyrie asked blinking in confusion.

"He did." Sherlock told her. "Great minds really do think alike."

"But Jack has never been caught and the only person who has ever escaped was Hannah." John pointed out. "Valkyrie's going to die!"

"Thanks for piling on the confidence." Valkyrie said sarcastically.

"Sorry." He muttered. "But it's true."

OHHHHH! Please leave a review and you may find out what happens next :D please review!