Death Bite
This story is taken by the perspectives of many people at the same time, so it may get a little complicated!
They watched in silence as they saw Eliza Scorn's dead body fall to the ground. Sanguine turned to the woods like he heard something. Valkyrie was right, Sanguine must have heard a stick crack underneath Ghastly's heavy tailored shoes. Caelan didn't bother to look around, he knew she was there. Sanguine turned to Caelan.
"Did'ya hear somethin' or is it just me? Sanguine asked.
"Yes, they're here alright." Caelan answered with a smile.
"Tanith! Valkyrie! Where are you?!" Sanguine teased. When no answer came, Sanguine said, "Come out! We don't want to hurt you." Skulduggery stepped out of hiding place and walked slowly towards Sanguine and Caelan, with Valkyrie not far behind.
"Ah, there we are, eh? Where my li'l darlin'? Has the ugly one got her?" Sanguine asked.
"Don't call him ugly." Skulduggery said calmly.
"Tailor! Can you make me a weddin' suit for me when me and Tanith get married?" Sanguine shouted. Then soon after the silence, Sanguine found himself being charged at by Ghastly.
"Don't you ever speak of Tanith like that!" Ghastly shouted loudly.
"She's mine, ugly." Sanguine said and lifted up a hand to stop him. Ghastly stopped.
"I'm not ugly, I'm simply cursed." Ghastly responded.
"Why would you want Eliza Scorn then?" Skulduggery interrupted.
"To get what we came here for." Caelan answered.
"And that is?" Valkyrie asked as she crossed her arms.
"Well that is our plan you see, we ain't gonna' tell 'ya." Sanguine answered as a smile spread across his face.
"Well," Skulduggery said, "If you're not going to tell us your plan, tell us why Eliza Scorn could have been helpful."
"Oh Skulduggery, Skulduggery. Think." Sanguine said and walked to the entrance of Serpine's castle and disappeared.
"I hate him." Valkyrie said immediately.
"I know." Skulduggery answered.
"Why can't you be mine?" Caelan asked, "You have a beautiful face, dark eyes and the shiniest black hair."
"Because you're a vampire and-"
"Is it because I'm a vampire?" Caelan asked, "Or is it the boy?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Valkyrie answered.
"Thinking about it, where is the boy?" Caelan asked and smiled.
"He's back there by the bushes-" She froze.
Caelan jumped on Valkyrie and they fell to the cold hard grassy ground. Caelan pressed his cold lips against hers. Then Sanguine came out of the castle with a dozen hollow men behind him.
"Bet'cha didn't think about the boy, did ya?" Sanguine asked a smile on his face.
The kiss broke off and the hollow men parted so Valkyrie could see Fletcher on his knees looking straight at Caelan and Valkyrie.
"Fletcher!" Valkyrie screamed. Caelan laid her down as she struggled in his grip. Caelan put both her hands behind Caelan's back and shackled them so she was in a hugging position. She felt all power from her drain away. Caelan sat on her knees and put his arms around her and hugged her.
"Where's Tanith?" Ghastly asked desperately.
"She's in the woods." Skulduggery responded not taking his eyes off of Sanguine and the hollow men. Ghastly nodded and ran off to find her.
"What's the great Skulduggery gonna' do now, eh?" Sanguine asked, that smile still on his face.
"What I always do." Skulduggery answered calmly.
"And what's that then, eh? You got your partner in shackles, her boyfriend on his knees and there's only you to fight. What's so special about you Mr. Pleasant?"
"Well, maybe you think there's nothing special about me. But think about who could do you damage. He could twist you inside out with the lift of his hand."
"You ain't playin' games with me are you?" Sanguine asked with a smile.
"I'm not playing games with you. He is."
"Who's he? You keep on sayin' he."
"Do you really want to know who's going to kill you on the spot?"
Sanguine put a finger to his chin.
"Actually," He said, "I think I do, but tell me later I've got things to do."
All of the hollow men charged at Skulduggery. Skulduggery responded to the attack by casting a wave of wind as it shot two hollow men off their feet. Then Sanguine was gone from sight. Valkyrie turned to Fletcher.
"Valkyrie!" Fletcher managed to shout. Valkyrie held a hand out towards Fletcher helplessly.
Caelan turned Valkyrie's head gently so she was facing him and he kissed her. Every part of Valkyrie wanted to get out of Caelan's grip and run to Fletcher, but she didn't have the energy to. She had to let Caelan do what he wanted to do to her. Caelan let himself fall on his back so Valkyrie was on his front. Valkyrie didn't want to kiss him, but then she kissed him.
Was there something in the shackles that's making me do stuff I don't want to do? She asked herself. They were kissing as she opened her eyes, Caelan was looking in her eyes. There was nothing she could do to prevent every move she made.
"I love you." Caelan said and kissed her.
Valkyrie was going to say I hate you but instead she said, "I love you too."
Fletcher watched in horror and anger as they kissed.
Skulduggery turned to the hollow men with a flame to their hollow faces. Their green gas came out like the air came out of a balloon. He turned just as a hollow man came up behind him with a swing of his giant inflatable hands, Skulduggery was swung back against the castle wall and hit the ground hard.
Ghastly ran towards where Tanith had last been. He was worried she had been captured too, or even worse killed. Relief came to his face and he ran to Tanith and hugged her.
"Is everything ok? Where's Skulduggery and Valkyrie and Fletcher?" Tanith asked concerned.
"Skulduggery is fending off hollow men, Fletcher is- I don't know and Valkyrie is shackled in a hugging position with Caelan." Ghastly answered and helped her to her feet.
"And Sanguine?" Tanith asked.
"He should be-" Ghastly began. Cracks began to come through underneath Tanith's feet. Tanith reached out an arm to Ghastly, but it was too late.
She was met by a Texan with no eyes saying "Hello li'l darlin'." as she watched Ghastly reach out to her as she was pulled down deep into the ground.
"Sanguine! Let me out-" Sanguine kissed her. His lips were warm on hers, it was comforting until she remembered she had a boyfriend and Sanguine was a criminal. She broke off the kiss.
"You're gettin' the hang of it, ain't ya?" Sanguine asked with a smile. She slapped him.
"In your dreams." Tanith responded. He brought her in closer as he dug into the castle.
"I see you ain't strugglin'." Sanguine said ignoring the pain.
"Why should I?"
Sanguine shrugged.
"I ain't that bad really."
"pfhhh…" Tanith answered.
He kissed her again. She didn't struggle this time either.
"Don't tell Ghastly about this ok?"
"Fine with me."
Tanith wanted to say how much she hates him, but the words came out different. She ended up saying "I Love you so much."
"Good." Sanguine answered. They carried on down into the depths of the ground.
What was wrong with Valkyrie? Was she really in love with Caelan? Or was she being hypnotised? Fletcher didn't know, but what he really wanted to do right now was to kick Sanguine in the face. Who does he think he is? Dragging me out of hiding place to watch Valkyrie and Caelan kiss in front of him. He also really wanted to kick Caelan in the face.
He needed a plan. Fletcher looked up at the sky, then he had an idea. What if he got up ever so quietly and teleported then kicked Sanguine in the face. Then he would kick Caelan in the face. Then he would save Valkyrie.
No one was looking, he could just crawl to the edge of the wall and teleport. Fletcher got on his hands and knees, as he crawled over he realized how good a movie this could have been. Having Skulduggery fighting off paper things and Caelan and Valkyrie kissing. He slapped himself and said in his head, focus Fletcher, focus. Fletcher thought of where Tanith was and then he teleported. He arrived next to Ghastly who had his arm out.
"Where's Tanith?" Fletcher asked.
"Sanguine took her." Ghastly replied.
"Well, look, we'll teleport to Caelan and Valkyrie and beat up Caelan. Then we'll take Skulduggery, Valkyrie, you, and me inside the castle and beat up Sanguine and take Tanith. Then we'll all be sleeping in our beds tonight." Fletcher said.
"Sounds like a good plan, let's go." Ghastly said and held Fletcher's shoulder. The next minute they were in the field where Skulduggery was punching hollow men and Valkyrie and Caelan were kissing.
"Ew," Fletcher said, "That's just nasty."
They both stared at Caelan and Valkyrie as they kissed. Fletcher suddenly remembered they were supposed to save people, not stare at them. Skulduggery had finished with the hollow men and was just standing there.
"What do you want boy?" Caelan asked.
"Uh," Fletcher said, "what do you think?"
"Ah," Caelan remembered, "my girlfriend."
"She's not your girlfriend." Fletcher said, trying to keep his temper under control.
"Is she cheating on you? Oh, Valkyrie, you cheat on your boyfriend with a vampire." Caelan teased.
"She's not cheating on me. I bet if I unlocked the shackles she would punch you square in the face…then I would." Fletcher said loudly.
"No need to cry, I only made her realize that I'm her guardian angel." Caelan said as he played with Valkyrie's hair.
"Why are you hiding your inner feelings, Fletcher? Go on, punch me."
"Caelan, we're going easy with you. Let Valkyrie go." Skulduggery said as he moved towards Valkyrie.
"Not a chance." Caelan said.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to get a bit messy then." Skulduggery said coldly.
Fletcher ran at Caelan with a punch, but Caelan was fast. He crouched and caught Fletcher's legs from underneath him, and Fletcher fell awkwardly.
"You're going to have to do much better than that." Caelan laughed.
Skulduggery flew up into the air, his coat flapping in the wind. Out of nowhere, Caelan came in with a kick that knocked Skulduggery to the ground. Hard.
Caelan must have shackled Valkyrie to a tree or something, because Caelan was fighting on his own. Skulduggery got up and met Caelan in front of him. Skulduggery must have lost his hat and scarf in the mud somewhere.
"Ghastly!" Fletcher whispered, "distract Caelan while I look for Valkyrie."
Ghastly nodded. Skulduggery intercepted from the right and Ghastly intercepted on the left, Caelan was lifted off his feet and was thrown to the ground hard.
Fletcher took his opportunity and ran. Fletcher ran faster than he had ever ran, but for Valkyrie he could run forever. Adrenaline was pumping in his blood as he ran into the woods. After five minutes or so he found her shackled to a high branch. She looked like she had fought Caelan, because she only had one hand shackled and it was bleeding.
The most shocking thing was Valkyrie wasn't moving or breathing. Fletcher walked around the tree to find a good grip, then he saw her neck.
"No," Fletcher cried, "No! Valkyrie! Wake up!"
Valkyrie didn't move or show any sign that she was alive.
Fletcher screamed so loud it was probably able to be heard from miles away. But right now he couldn't care less. He teleported to Caelan.
"You just killed my girlfriend!" Fletcher screamed in Caelan's face.
"He what?!" Skulduggery asked sharply.
"I didn't kill her," Caelan said ignoring Skulduggery, "I bit her."
"Don't ever touch her! Don't even go near her! She hates you Caelan! She loves me, even if she never says it! I would do anything to have Valkyrie!" Fletcher shouted.
"What do you mean, don't touch her like this?" Caelan was gone for a minute, then he came back with Valkyrie's dead body. Caelan just smiled.
"Caelan, what you have done has affected me. And if it affects me you won't be living for much longer." Skulduggery said.
Caelan laid Valkyrie on the floor and kneeled next to her. Fletcher fell to his knees and started crying into Valkyrie's chest.
Skulduggery let the shadows consume him as he moved to Caelan. Caelan backed off and Skulduggery went to check Valkyrie's pulse.
"Dead." Skulduggery said coldly. Lord Vile stood up and turned to Caelan. Vile had his hand around Caelan's neck within an eye blink. Lord Vile lifted Caelan off his feet, and Caelan was gagging.
"I could pull your neck from your body this minute, but if I did that, Valkyrie would never forgive me." Vile said.
Caelan said nothing.
"Run, Caelan, run faster than you've ever ran. And never come back." Vile said.
"Ok, just let me down and I will be on my way." Caelan answered.
Vile let Caelan down. Caelan went to Valkyrie and kissed her fore head, and said something like "We will be together soon." And he walked away.
Vile turned back to Skulduggery, but Skulduggery had the same expression. He walked over to Valkyrie and knelt by her.
"I should have protected you." Skulduggery said, "Valkyrie you are strong for the age you are, and I know you can hear me. You've broken the walls between life and death before. Be strong."
Skulduggery stood and turned to where Caelan had just been. He was still there looking at them, then he put his phone away.
"Looks like a change of plan." Caelan said as the ground crumbled beneath him and he vanished from sight.
"Tanith." Ghastly said.