A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Anton, Erskine, Skulduggery, Ghastly, Hopeless, Larrikin, Saracen Corrival, Dexter or Tipstaff.
I woke up later that night on high alert. Something was wrong. I gave Anton a gentle nudge and he woke easily and sat with me, listening. The hotel was way too quiet. "Is this room sound proofed like the rest?" I asked, even as the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. Anton nodded and I could tell he felt it too. A silent, menacing presence hidden in the deep shadows of the room. Then the presence flew out of the darkness the same time I leapt to meet it, determined to keep myself between it and Anton, glad we'd been instructed to sleep in our armoured clothes.
We went down in a growling heap and I realized it was the Valkyrie from the other side as I managed to pin her beneath me. She surged upwards using her shadows and gave me a fierce headbutt, then swelled her shadows to walk us away from the hotel, but I countered with a savage shadow punch to the throat. Only to buy us time, I told myself. Belatedly I remembered how much stronger my shadows made me as she crumpled to the floor beneath me, her windpipe crushed her eyes wide and staring at nothing. I had known it would have to be a fight to the death but not like this. I staggered back off of her in shock.
Anton was with me in an instant, soothing me. "Sweetheart, it's all right. I need you to focus, all right?" I nodded and obeyed numbly then shook my head to clear it. I didn't need to go Darquesse the whole way to be able to get back in control. I set my feelings aside and hefted her body. Her head lolled at a sickening angle, the neck broken. Exactly how hard had I hit her? I winced but carried her grimly though the hotel, using my shadows to help heft her weight and dumped her outside. We moved on instantly, then saw to the Dead Men who were just waking up.
"I think we were drugged." Erskine groaned. "I have a blazing headache." He whimpered slightly as did the rest of the men. They all looked terrible and Anton and I saw to them, Anton filling them in on my evil version's demise. The men looked at me and I shrugged.
"I thought it would be a long, drawn out fight, I didn't expect to kill her that easily." I winced but most of the men smiled proudly at me.
"You've grown into a mature fighter, Valkyrie. You understand now it is literally kill or be killed. This is war, the enemy won't thank you for letting him live to fight another day. He'll come back and kill you." Skulduggery said and Anton nodded approvingly.
Anton gave me a gentle smile then spoke. "I'll see to breakfast." He said looking out to see dawn's light just starting to filter through the windows and I wondered how far we'd moved. "You stay here, see to your brothers. Your first like that is always the worst. You'll be fine from now on, I promise. I'm proud of you. I was always afraid you wouldn't have what it takes to kill to defend yourself." He said gently, and leaned in to kiss me and hug me to him. He cradled me there for a moment then broke away.
Ghastly of course had to see if I was all right. "That's an end to it, no more separating. I'm sorry, but you two should be with us from now on." He said firmly.
"She came in and drugged all of you first. But why didn't Mr. Weems sound the alarm? Oh, no." I said, my heart icing over as I ran to the snack room. Mr. Weems was stretched out in front of the mangled machine, seemingly dead. I went to him feeling for a pulse, listening for a heartbeat. Why? Why did she have to hurt him? He was only a little cat. Then I knew why, he was the enemy. I was weeping into his fur when he drew in a shaking gasp. "Mt. Weems! You're alive!" I said happily. I gently cradled him into my shadows when he could only look at me in response and carried him back to the others. Hopeless was on him in an instant.
"I was training to be a vet." He explained to us as he examined Mr. Weems. "The magical kind of course. Mr. Weems got too strong a dose of her shadows, that's how she drugged us, I think. He'll be OK." Hopeless tenderly placed Mr. Weems before the fire than laid his hands on him. There was a slight humming sound and I saw Mr. Weems relax. "We'll let him sleep and eat as he wants. He'll be fine." Hopeless assured me and I nodded gratefully.
"He's just so tiny and helpless right now. Thank you." I managed and he smiled. Larrikin positioned himself by Mr. Weems, slowly stroking his glossy black fur and even in his sleep Mr. Weems purred.
The others sent me to be with Anton and we soon had breakfast ready. Anton looked at me as we settled down. "We'll the bad news is she destroyed the security system. The good news is we're all alive and well. You remember that, Valkyrie. We're underestimating them, I think. Saracen, where are they, can you tell?"
"Getting drunk in celebration. They hated each other, remember? Her being gone only means the glory of killing all of us goes to someone else." He met my gaze, his mind brushing against mine, and I knew he read my thoughts. "Good question, Valkyrie. I don't know why they are attacking singly. It would make more sense for them to attack as a group."
"Especially now, they're down to five." Ghastly pointed out.
Corrival grunted. "But their five best. We've been tested twice. They sent cannon fodder after us, the weakest fighters. Those two were expendable. We won't meet the strongest fighters until last. Valkyrie, was she stronger than you?" He asked.
"No, but better and more experienced with her shadows. We assumed not having Darquesse made her weak, but it just made her explore what she had to fight with. So we can't assume we'll be facing matched skill sets, can we?" I asked and he nodded.
"Clever girl. The five that are left might know-"
"Their Ghaslty's coming next!" Saracen and I said at the same time and I shivered and continued. "He's- He's a serial killer among other things, he'll fight with a knife, or kick boxing. They've studied us a very long time, they know our weaknesses and they trained to exploit them." Several men cursed. "But it isn't Ghastly he's interested in. It's me." I said and this time I couldn't repress the shiver.
"He's a sadist, he keeps his victims alive for weeks, months." Saracen put in grimly. He stared at me. "You are to be with a Dead Man at all times, Valkyrie and don't you dare refuse. We saw the same vision. We both know what he wants to do with you. The same thing their Saracen and Erskine want to do to you." He finished miserably.
"Them, not you." I reminded him gently. We finished breakfast, Erskine looking just as miserable as Ghastly did. "It's not your fault." I told them both. "Do you blame me for what their Valkyrie did to you?" I asked gently and they shook their heads. "OK, then. Stop beating yourselves up, OK? You're my brothers and you love me, I know you'll protect me. Besides, Saracen and I detected something else." I paused and looked at Saracen who shrugged.
"There is going to be a three way fight over me and they all know it. If what we saw was true only one will be left standing. Of course they could have fed a vision to us, but it is something to look forward to if it does happen." I grinned and they laughed. And in a few short hours we heard a knock on the front door then found their Ghastly on the porch, dead. We rolled him off and I looked at Anton.
"How are they doing this, following so close? Are they in the hotel?" He shrugged, then we did a search before moving on. That of course was the problem with the hotel growing. It only gave the bad guys more places to hide. But still, they had two losses in one day, it had to count for something.
As we all bedded down that night the mood was grim. They're were only four of them left, but the four best fighters. Two of which would hunt me as a team if one hadn't already killed the other. I ticked them off in my head. Their Saracen and Erskine, their Dexter, their Skulduggery. All of which seemed to care about killing me than anything else. But at least it would buy the others some time.
Erskine, who had pulled guard duty with me and Anton looked at me. "Counting them off?" He asked gently and I nodded. "Before you ask no one here allows you to go after them. The four deadliest remain and since we can only guess at their fighting skills you aren't allowed out on your own. " He lowered his voice. "Don't be stupid here, Val. Loosing you again would kill Anton." I nodded and we both looked over at him. He was staring out thee window, presenting a perfect target if any of them were snipers. I knew it had to hurt his pride that they'd breached our defenses twice.
I went to him and he looked at me, his face grim. "She shouldn't have gotten in here so easily, Valkyrie. Something's wrong. But I've checked the magic, everything seems to be working." He touched the glass of the window with a weary sigh. "We're finished. We'll never have guests after this."
"No, we're not." I said and he looked at me. "They only brought the Gist because he'd know the defenses of the hotel. Could he have disabled them and set up a dummy system in their place?" Anton straightened and looked shocked but nodded.
"I didn't even think of that, but it's easily fixed if it did. Rouse one of the others. I need to check."
"Two of the others, we don't split up remember?" I asked, but Erskine having heard us was rousing Ghastly, and Saracen already. He gave us a nod and we left to see to the magic from Anton's office. He did find a dummy system, cursed, but then smiled.
"Of course he fooled me, he is me in a way. He knew this would work. Ah, here we are, problem fixed, and magic reinforced. They won't be able to tunnel, teleport, shadow-walk or enter the hotel any other way now. Good thing we didn't have guests see that." He said gently and smiled at me.
I laughed and drew him into a heated kiss, my hands roaming eagerly, and Anton happily obliged me, but all too soon we were parting, We had our brothers to look after. We returned to them and they nodded as we filled them in. They refused to go back to sleep, insisting they join us in the vigil. Ghastly joined me in the kitchen to refill the electric kettles we'd shifted to the common room. "It never fails to spook me, you know? We're in a war and have no resources, no help, yet the mortal world keeps on ticking, it seems unfair in a way, doesn't it?"
"It does. And with no Sanctuary we'll be on our own for good. I just wish that- Poor Tipstaff. He was an annoying git, but he didn't serve-"
Ghastly blinked in surprise. "We didn't tell you? He's alive, Valkyrie, he took what survivors are left and split off from us. There will never be a Sanctuary again, but for now he's doing what he can. They've been helping, such as they can. When this is all over we'll get word to him, I promise." I smiled shakily at him, and he ruffled my hair fondly. "You're doing fine, besides this is your second war, remember, you're a seasoned veteran." He grinned and I laughed, following him back into the common room.
The rest of the Dead Men were waking up, unable to sleep. Corrival sighed at the sight, but since he was up himself he couldn't order anyone else to bed. Someone found some food and we all settled in. It was wonderful, having a bright spot amid all the death we'd seen. I wondered how they ever got used to it, how they killed as easily as they did, but realized Skulduggery was right. It was kill or be killed in war, they had no choice.
Skulduggery settled in beside me on the couch, wrapping a bony arm around me and cradling me into his chest. "You did well, I'm proud of you. I know you don't like to kill, none of us do, Valkyrie. But if we don't those lunatics will kill all of us, then likely keep on killing. We are all that stands between them and the rest of the world. And don't worry, what is left of the Sanctuary went underground and is taking care of things like witnesses and the bodies. I have no idea how, but they are."
I nodded. "I was wondering how magic hadn't been exposed yet. Do you think they would, just out of pure spite?"
"No, they're too used to hiding, I think. They know they could be caught in the same net. But I want you to promise me something. When my dark version shows up, you run and hide. " I knew what he really meant, would I run off with him if it took Lords Vile to defend us.
"Only if you run with me." I said, not really surprised that I'd choose my best friend over the world, over even Anton.
Whoa. If Lord Vile shows up those two will have to run forever. Hope you liked it.