The interior of the tent was filled with an odd blue glow as sunlight filtered through the thin fabric of the walls. Small birds tweeted high up in the trees, calling to their companions and created an innocent and near cliché feel to the air that was accompanied by rustling leaves and the sound of grasshopper's cries.
Valkyrie's eyes flickered open and for a few seconds she felt inexplicably cold, the first thing she noticed. The second was how she was the only person in the tent. She sat up quickly, forgetting how low the ceiling was and hitting it with her head. Fingers found themselves seeking out where her companion had been not hours before and it was not unpleasantly cool to the touch – as if he'd never been there. Perhaps the body, however, never had warmed it given that it was a vampire who had slept there.
Preparing to go out and hunt him down for any unfortunate persons sake (a vampire first thing in the morning was bad news for everyone), Valkyrie's hand was stopped from pulling the opening zip down. The tent rustled and shook by another person opening it first and she decided it said something about the company she kept, and indeed the enemies she made that her first instinct was to look for a suitable weapon just in case. Of course the head that popped in was Caelan's looking slightly sheepish, soon followed by the rest of him as he sat next to her.
"It's you." Was the best she could come up with at such a time in the morning. It was shortly followed by, "Where were you?"
"Good morning to you too. I, uh, went to buy you breakfast… but I forgot I can't speak French so it didn't really work." He shrugged, empty-handed.
"Oh. Well, um, thanks. It's the thought that counts." Her words sounded awkward to her as she spoke them. What he did sounded like something Fletcher would do.
"Did you sleep well? Did I… I'm sorry if I kept you up. If I was too cold I'll sleep in the car next time. If there is one of course."
"Oh. No, not at all." She shook her head in short, quick motions, glad for the tents warped colours hiding her slight blush. The previous night had been extremely hot, so as soon as she was certain he was asleep she unashamedly pressed her back fully against his, trying to leech the cold from his skin.
Yet despite this, it irked her a little at how he was still attempting everything he could to please her. But then again, she supposed, Fletcher wasn't much better. Valkyrie sat up properly and ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to finger-comb it slightly neater. The attempt was not successful. Even so it served one purpose - to hide herself from Caelan's gaze. The way he was looking at her, that also annoyed her to no end, as if there were some way she'd conveniently forget about how she already had a boyfriend and how he was a vampire. 'Yeah right, Caelan, as if I'd forget so easily.' But, of course, he could not read her mind, and so her silent musings went by unnoticed by the man next to her.
Then, fully intending to go get changed in the toilet block she was distracted by his lips briefly pressing onto hers, his body pushing her gently down into the sleeping-bags, only to move back again and give her a slightly cocky smile before she could shove him off and pretend she didn't enjoy it a little. Before Valkyrie could say a word, however, he said, "The usual?"
And Valkyrie being her usual eloquent self replied, "What?"
"Pretend it never happened and get on with what we were doing before, I take it?"
"Of course. Yes, exactly that." And with what he could have sworn was a smirk she turned and marched off to get changed.
'That went well.' He thought, 'Well, she didn't beat me up anyway. It's a start.'
Breakfast, for Valkyrie, consisted of a single tomato, which may have concerned Caelan if he had even the slightest indication of what it was humans ate. She seemed happy enough with it though, and considering all they'd be doing for the next few hours was driving it probably wasn't a bad idea to eat a small amount. The packing of the tent was a monumentous task that took nearly half an hour of curses and sitting on it until Caelan remembered the instructions in the bag. After they were read it took less than three minutes to get it packed up again and slung into the boot. This action made the suitcase Gordon's echo stone was in jerk suddenly and Valkyrie could have sworn she heard a grumble come from it. And with that they left the campsite.
As with he day before as soon as it hit ten 'o' clock the temperatures began to soar, and now more so since they were further south. At the last check the thermometer in the dashboard declared it to be forty degrees Celsius, but as it was probably inside the car it would doubtlessly be reflecting a higher temperature than what it was. At one point Caelan jokingly asked her if she wanted to stop and sunbathe. She responded to his question with another: "Do you seriously place any hope in one of us getting slightly tanned in the time we have?"
"Not really... if I'm honest."
They both chuckled good-naturedly, but Valkyrie wanted to think and did not try to continue the conversation. The night before she'd had a strange dream, one where she has been talking to Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly and Fletcher on why she put up with Caelan. So in this dream, she told them quite simply that he was a weapon useful to their cause. The sense of detachment she'd had made her wince a little. For one reason or another she was having difficulty assigning which weapon he was, but eventually came to a conclusion. The minute he'd begun to harbour feelings for her, he had become a grenade in her hand, the pin removed and lost the moment he'd kissed her for the first time. A vampire was a weapon, a rare, exotic weapon, but one none the less. She wasn't sure when the vampire would explode, metaphorically of course, but it would happen.
Yet now she was awake that idea didn't seem to work; a grenade you could use once only for shockingly obvious damage. There was no subtlety or elegance in an explosion. No, he wasn't a grenade as such as a tool that could be used as a weapon. A knife perhaps. One could use a knife as a tool and with multiple uses, yet one false move and it could just as easily cut the user.
Looking at him from the corner of her eyes she noted his every quirk in a new fashion. How he pushed his hair back if it weren't already smoothed back perfectly. How his fingers drummed on the steering wheel at every stop, indicating that he was less patient than he, and indeed vampires as a whole, seemed. How he seemed to blink more than the average person. How he had unconsciously picked up her inspection and began to bite his lower lip.
They left the smaller French roads and finally found themselves on the road leading to the Spanish boarder. Just in the distance a small line of cars was visible, accompanied by a series of booths where people were showing passports. Suddenly concerned, Caelan leaned across to the glove box and rummaged around.
"Couldn't you just ask me to look for you?" Valkyrie suggested.
"Ah, yes, that would be easier. I'm not sure where I put the passports." He said. However after quite a bit of frantic searching the missing passports where still nowhere to be found and Caelan was getting unusually worked up about it all. So when their window aligned with that of the passport checks, Caelan had to lean over Valkyrie and exchange a few sentences of fluent Spanish, although it seemed to do the trick and they drove off into Spain.
The landscape was beautiful in a rugged sort of way. Tough, yellowing grasses and olive groves dominated the landscape, framed by dry soil and the purple of the mountains and lit by the unwavering stare of the sun. The car continued to get hotter, meaning at one stage of the journey Valkyrie casually brushed the bare skin of her shoulder against Caelan's pale forearm only to find his skin as warm as hers. There went her plan for keeping cool.
It was when Valkyrie asked, "Are we there yet?" that they both realised how bored of driving they both were.
"We're in the middle of nowhere, how could we possibly be 'there', where ever 'there' is?" The vampire sighed.
"It's entirely possible. I have no idea where we're going, other than 'Spain', which isn't terribly helpful."
"My apologies, elemental, would you like a diagram perhaps? Or maybe a PowerPoint presentation?" He snapped in response.
Valkyrie's reply came quickly and coldly, not picking up that if the vampire that claimed to love her was getting angry at her she should probably stop while ahead. "Don't patronise me, Caelan. I have no idea where we're going and you know it."
"For god's sake! The reason I'm not telling you is so that you can feel vaguely safe before we get there." He ran a hand through his hair, making it sit oddly on his head.
At this Valkyrie's curiosity piqued with morbid fascination at whatever it was that Caelan deemed would scare her. "So where exactly are we going then? I've not heard of any large magical communities in Spain"
Caelan chuckled, yet it didn't reach his eyes, "It has always fascinated me how it hasn't been noticed yet by the Spanish sanctuary... at least not officially anyway. Perhaps they're being bribed into silence... or blackmailed."
"So where is it then?" Valkyrie tried again but was met with silence and pouted to the surrounding scenery. "I've fought with all kinds of monster. Even gods and not one nightmare. I'm fairly certain I could handle it." Although it was partially a lie, she'd have terrible nightmares for several weeks after each encounter where violence was necessary. Occasionally she'd be freaked out enough to try and resist going to sleep, instead choosing to fling her eyes back open and stare at the floor whenever sleep tried to creep up on her. But, of course, she wouldn't tell him this as he'd try to do something about it, and hell, she hadn't even told Skulduggery about the nightmares, so chances of the vampire finding out were slim.
"Sorry, but I'll only tell you when we get there." he said with a shake of the head, pulling the young necromancer back to their current conversation. "Anyway, I promised myself that before we went in I'd treat you to a tapas."
"What?"
"You really are an eloquent young lady aren't you?" Caelan grinned.
"Caelan..." She began, her voice sounding weary.
"Can't two friends go for a meal?" His dark gaze briefly captured her. "Besides, I won't even be eating anything, so it's hardly as if it's a date or anything."
The metaphor of a knife came back into her mind. This weapon could as easily turn on her as on, at the moment, their enemies. Perhaps it was best to be slightly heartless on her part and do this merely to keep the handle of the knife firmly in her hand. "If you insist, Caelan."
"You will enjoy it. I promise you that."
And to her immense surprise she did. Okay, so it was a little awkward eating when the person sat across from you was merely toying with a glass of water, but other than that. The food was amazing, as were the views. Caelan had parked in a small town next to the sea with hundreds of small market stands opening out into the pavement. The sun was low on the horizon meaning it was a cool temperature and that Caelan didn't have to cover up so much; convenient for both. They'd chosen a table that looked out to the ocean so by the time they'd finished the sky was filled with a full moon and thousands of stars, and as soon as it hit nighttime the city seemed to come alive. All manner of people were out buying goods, watching the night sky and simply being. They got so distracted by it all that the vampire almost forgot to take the suppressant, meaning it had to be done by injecting it in the bathroom like a drug addict at the start of the meal. Caelan shuddered as it entered his bloodstream. It may have been what he wanted, to prevent the real vampire emerging, but damn the formula hurt!
After the meal they walked out to the end of a stone pier and stared at the stars. It was a credit to how she felt slightly more comfortable around him that Valkyrie lay down on her back to get a better view. Caelan on the other hand didn't want to push his luck and remained sitting.
"I wonder how everyone's doing…" She said quietly.
"Everyone? That's quite a broad question."
"You know what I mean. Skulduggery, Ghastly… Fletcher. I wonder if they're looking for me."
Caelan replied, "Well, if they're actually your friends they'll be looking for you this minute."
"Hmm." Valkyrie continued staring upwards, as if the stars would reveal some kind of answers to her. "I did tell them not to come looking for me… at least I think so anyway… actually I'm not sure."
"Even if you did they'll still come. You're like that skeleton's kid." He then paused, as if uncertain about whether to continue his sentence, and then said it anyway. "You know, when I first met you I got the impression that Skulduggery was your partner or something by the way you spoke of him."
"Uh… he is."
"No, I meant romantically." He explained. At this Valkyrie sat up suddenly, propping herself up on her elbows to stare at him.
"Really? Eugh! He's like that crazy, eccentric uncle I… well I was going to say never had, but Gordon…"
"Yeah, I think you already had one of those."
"But anyway, besides that, he's also only bones!" She laughed, lay back down and without realising it her fingers lightly brushed against the vampires.
"How was I supposed to know? I'd never actually seen him before. I assumed the skeleton rumours were, well, rumours." The vampire tested her and moved his fingers a little closer to hers until their little fingers were crossed.
"So the vampire thinks that an animated skeleton is a stupid thought?"
Valkyrie smirked up at him and was a little confused to see that strange look in his eyes again, but it soon left as he turned away and replied, "Even for people who've dealt with magic for around a century, animated skeletons is weird. Another thing that's weird is how he took a non-magic girl as his apprentice and not only is she skilled at elemental magic, but also at necromancy."
"Are you calling me weird Mr… actually… do you even have a last name?" Valkyrie, in Caelan's opinion, seemed a little giddy.
"No, it's just Caelan… and I forgot my given name, so that's the way it'll stay." He then stood up and dusted himself down before passing a hand down towards Valkyrie. "Come, I think you need some sleep. You should be rested before we go to find the second fragment."
The next day the vampire was shrouded with an air of barely suppressed dread, whereas Valkyrie was mentally slapping her forehead at how forthright she had been the night before. It was only when the car veered off into a little used road through a small copse of trees that Valkyrie took interest at where they were going.
"Don't tell me we're meeting up with a bunch of woodland fairies."
"You wish." Caelan teased, but didn't offer any more clues as to where they were going. As they continued down the road it got rougher and bumpier and Valkyrie was forced to grab hold of, well, anything to stop her crashing around so much. And then a slap of feet on the breaks and they both lurched forwards, seatbelts tightening around their chests and prompting an 'OOF!' from both of them.
"You call that driving?" A voice cried from the back.
"I'd like to see you do better on these roads." Caelan replied without thinking… and then he realised, there was no person in the back. They both turned to see an angry looking Gordon sat on the back seat glaring at the vampire. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh! It's you!" Gordon's eyes widened, "You're the vampire that killed another vampire! Good lord Stephanie! You didn't tell me he was that vampire!"
"I thought you said you'd stay hidden!" She growled.
Barely listening to his niece, he roared, "Get out the car! Quick! I'll do my best to distract him!"
"Gordon, he's not going to hurt me!"
"How did your uncle get in the car?" Caelan asked Valkyrie, confusion clear on his face. "I thought he died five years ago?"
"He did. He's in an echo stone."
"Stephanie!"
"Shush, Gordon! Right, he overheard our conversation and said he would tell Skulduggery where we were going unless I took him with me." She explained as best she could. Caelan merely looked from Valkyrie to Gordon to Valkyrie again, feeling a little embarrassed that this echo stone had heard his failed attempts at flirting with Valkyrie, not to mention every conversation they'd had in the car.
"And you've been listening in the entire time?" The vampire asked.
"No, only most of the time… but back to business. Not that I'm complaining, but why haven't you tried to eat my niece yet?" The echo stone resident demanded.
"Why? Would you like me to?" A feral grin spread across the vampires face.
"I think the 'not that I'm complaining' part of my previous sentence answers your question. I would say young man but I don't doubt for a second that you're probably twice my age."
"Uh… yes, that's… that's probably true." Caelan stuttered at how open the man was being, although, already being dead probably helped when dealing with a vampire. "Well then, I, uh, I don't want to eat her… sir."
Valkyrie noticed how he slipped into the same polite mode as he had with his first meeting with Skulduggery and also noticed how he didn't mention the fact that he had indeed tried to eat her.
Yet Gordon still persisted, as if he didn't notice how awkward the vampire was looking. In fact, he probably had noticed and was revelling in the fact that he was making a vampire feel uncomfortable, and to be honest Valkyrie was intrigued with this and didn't stop him. "Why not? The only vampires I knew that didn't eat humans were dead by the end of the month, and you're quite old… for a human that is."
"That would be because I still eat humans." He managed after a break, choosing to avoid the previous question. "Well, their blood anyway, sir."
Gordon then disappeared and they carried on as if nothing had happened, although they both remained silent, worried that he'd be listening in. She mouthed a quick sorry but it went ignored, she wondered if his pride had been wounded. 'Men.'
They continued driving for another ten minutes until they reached what appeared to be an underground car park. Most of the cars seemed to be old, rusting and dusty, although there were a few newer ones that looked in better condition. Caelan parked the car then grabbed Valkyrie's rucksack filled with her clothes and other essentials, threw it at her and then locked the car. The sun was exceptionally bright outside, forcing the vampire to put his near trademark white baseball cap on then pull his hood up to keep the sun off as much of him as possible. She often wondered how he didn't over heat in such a get up as she was only wearing cut-offs and a vest.
Before they left the relative cool of the car park he turned to her and asked, "Do you have any sun cream?"
A small arrow carved into the wall was the only indication that the community hidden in the cliff face and its surrounding caves was near. Well, that and the well worn soil surrounding it. The footsteps seemed only to be leading in the direction it indicated, not one Valkyrie looked at were heading back. "Well if that's not discouraging then I don't know is…"
Rising for over twenty metres, the cliff face was made of a pale rock and was covered in ivy that tumbled over it like water, providing brief islands of shade for the odd lizard. As at the campsite birds called backwards and forwards to each other, yet these were different birds as far as they could tell. From what she'd heard walks in the countryside were supposed to be relaxing, and indeed it should have been, wandering through a forest with dappled sunlight hitting their backs and birdsong filling the air, interrupted only by the grasshoppers and the crunch of dried leaves beneath them. But the fact was they were far from calm. The slightest unexpected noise making them flinch then scan the surrounding area with wide eyes like prey.
Caelan's reply brought her back from one such examination of the cliff face with, "You'll be fine, you've got your pet vampire with you."
Despite herself, a small smile worked its way onto her face and she lightly poked him in the side. "Yeah, don't need to worry about anything." But the smile then faded from her face as she added, "But don't go out of your way to protect me if something goes wrong. What you've said about this place… Look, just remember that I can take care of my self. I've got used to… to having you around… don't die or anything…" Her voice was nearly silent at the end.
"Same goes for you… also because I think Skulduggery would kill me if anything happened to you… and your uncle would find a way as well I'm sure."
"He probably would." She snorted.
"Unless you tell them about me biting you… in which case I'm a dead man walking."
"To be honest, I still haven't forgiven you for that." Valkyrie then added: "But… I guess I won't tell them. Unless you try it again." to lighten the atmosphere. Being completely serious around the vampire tended to lead to places she didn't want.
And so they resumed their trekking, Caelan proving to be worse at long walks than she was. After only five minutes he complained of a stitch and had to sit for a while, although since he didn't need to breathe she imagined it had nothing to do with catching his breath. Their single water bottle was drained after the first hour and after that they just complained about how thirsty they were as if it would actually do something. They once found a small freshwater stream and they were both prepared to drink some of it, but then Valkyrie realised that she'd probably get sick if she drank it and instead had to make do with watching Caelan drink it. His vampire disease fought off any other antigens in his body, meaning not only did he never get ill but also he could drink any water, no matter how stagnant, with no ill effects. Man, she hated him sometimes.
"Times like these I wish I was a vampire." She joked, as she watched him scooping it into his hands and pouring it into his mouth. But evidently due to her thirst and jealously it came out sounding near serious.
"You really don't." He replied, wiping away water from around his mouth. "It's shit."
As it went, he tended not to swear often as such swearwords were from before his time, and indeed from another language. This led her to believe that as she'd suspected the first time she'd seen a vampire when she was twelve, it really wasn't all pretty-boys and high collared cloaks.
"I can believe that… and I was joking, just in case you get a sudden urge to change me into one in my sleep."
"I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. Like hell I'm sharing my blood bags with you."
They smiled at each other then carried on.
After another hour it was bang on two 'o' clock in the afternoon and they found themselves at a large fissure in the rock. Valkyrie looked at him and then the fissure before uttering, "A natural cave… no one would suspect. And I imagine the only people that would sniff around it are the odd hiker or cave enthusiast."
He nodded, "Are you ready to go in. We should be okay for a few more hours. Just remember, try not to draw attention to either of us, but especially yourself, and go with whatever I say, okay?"
At this Valkyrie fully understood the meaning of 'my blood ran cold' as she realised who exactly lived in the cave. But before she could test this theory any more Caelan began to go in and she was forced to tag along. At first the cave passage was freezing, something her body wasn't quite used to and she wished that Caelan had even the slightest bit of body heat radiating from him to make it that slightest bit warmer. And then, somehow it did get warmer and light seemed to come down from small sconces on the wall that suddenly flashed into life. Some algae grew on the walls underneath the lights joined by small ferns and other saplings giving an eerie glow to anything not lit by the lamps.
"Those algae are phosphorescent. They absorb trace amounts of magic and then emit it as a glow. Can't imagine why, but I'm sure it has some evolutionary benefit… somehow." Caelan pointed out as they passed a small glowing patch on the wall, and then sighed. "This one won't be as easy as the last."
"Well, if almost being turned into a vegetable then nearly getting mauled by a vampire is considered 'easy' then I'm dreading the next tests Dayo will set us." Valkyrie grunted, keeping her feet on the path directly in front of her until a distant roar made her look up. "What's that?"
"An underground waterfall."
"Of course." She muttered. "Will we have to go through it?" Valkyrie then asked, remembering a scene in a movie where such a thing had happened.
"No, why would we? It would be pretty wet wouldn't it?" He turned just enough for her to see his smile. She scowled.
Water seemed to be a thing for whoever this community were. Once they passed the massive waterfall they were greeted by an underground town complete with lanterns, neon signs and trees… somehow. The pavements were all dark, and like in Venice, canals had replaced all roads and it became apparent why these people needed such a huge waterfall – it was a source of water. There was no sunlight, yet an odd sort of ambient light filled the immense cavern, creating the impression of a permanent dusk. People were out and about is if it were a normal town, and at the centre of it all a vast tree stood, fifteen metres tall and drenched in a round, red fruit that looked suspiciously like a pomegranate, surrounded by bars and a carpet of grass.
"Here we are." Caelan announced suddenly, making her jump slightly even though his voice was a near whisper. "Isla de la Infección."
'And I thought Northside-on-sea was going to be difficult to find it in…'
"What is the meaning of this!" An old man cried as a tall, blonde woman in leather entered the room and locked the door behind her. As far as he'd been led to believe this was a private reunion between friends. Two middle-aged women and their respective partners, a male construction worker, a retired dentist, a group of four people in their late twenties in matching suits surrounded him, joined by a little girl. "Just who do you think you are?"
The woman turned slowly with a smile on her face, an honest-to-god, friendly and non-threatening smile. And then for most people this smile was ruined by her lips turning black and veins spreading out from them with the same dark colouration. Yet for these people this was the biggest reassurance she could have given them, and so they returned the favour and their lips became black too.
"Hmm, there's not many of you." And then the woman began to count them. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen counting me. Well, that'll have to do I guess. So, it's about time we introduced ourselves isn't it? Hello, I'm Tanith, and I'm here with news about something that could kill us all off. Have I got your attention yet?" And she smirked.
I'm going to have fun with this new town! :)
Weird thought: next time I update there's a 99.9% chance that I'll have read 'Skulduggery Pleasant: the death bringer' and you'll read through this and think, whoa, this is nothing like the sequel to mortal coil! It's out on the first of September for English peeps, I'm not sure if it's the same for all English speaking countries? Also, I thought I'd made up the title for this, but I recently remembered 'The Dispossessed' is my mum's favourite book, weird!
And thanks to all those who wished me a happy holiday! It was great fun! Anyway, I wrote this one faster than the others to make up for the two-week gap, but the next one will be on the once a fortnight schedule as I have loads of homework!
Also, just wondering if people find it helpful that I have how far on I am with the next chapter on the bio section of my page? It would be cool to know how many people check it out :)
And thank you to all those who reviewed and for reading this!