For several painfully tense moments Rapture's body simply stared from behind the glass of its tank, cloudy eyes devoid of any emotion. Devoid of anything. A shiver travelled the length of Rapture's spine and she clutched at her stomach a little more tightly. "I swear, Skulduggery, if you don't leave right now I'm going to play Jenga with your bones if we ever get out of this alive."
"You can threaten me all you like." Skulduggery told her. "I'm not leaving."
Rapture raised her eyebrow at him. "You know, you can be such a-"
She was cut off mid-sentence by the dull clanging noise that echoed all around the cavernous room. Both she and Skulduggery looked up to see the pale figure in the tank with both its hands pressed against the glass. Little cracks began to appear where its fingers made contact, spreading across the entire cylinder like a quickly multiplying virus. A few seconds passed where nothing happened and then, quite suddenly, the cracked glass burst outwards and started raining onto the floor below, thousands of little pieces scattering in a wide arc, the strange green liquid flooding out.
Skulduggery dashed forwards and wrapped an arm around Rapture's waist, propelling them both into the air with his magic before the glass could cut them into pieces. Rapture adopted a slightly surprised expression as Skulduggery circled the room, searching for her body, which was nowhere to be seen. "Huh. I didn't know that you could fly." A pause.
"...You can put me down now, by the way. Or do I have to break your head again? It's becoming something of a habit."
Skulduggery turned to look at her. "Well, three time's the charm, or so the saying goes."
"So you actually want me to break your head?"
"Good god no. Whatever gave you that idea?"
Rapture snorted. "Fine. But you can still put me down."
"No."
She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from behind.
"Look out!" Valkyrie yelled, but too late did the airborne duo look up.
One of the rusty old chains that had been dangling from the catwalk appeared in Rapture's vision. It wrapped several times around her neck and she gagged as someone pulled her from Skulduggery's grip. To give him credit, the skeleton detective reacted with impressive speed. He whipped around to face Rapture and the empty body, which was now pulling her towards the ground below with a lengthy amount of chain, bringing out his gun before one could blink. But there was no clear shot.
Rapture reached out her hand to him as he dived after her, his own arm extended.
Their fingers brushed but Rapture's body pulled on the chain again, jerking her back.
The pair of them went crashing heavily into the floor, sending a small cloud of dust into the air as the stone beneath them was crushed upon impact. Before he could join Rapture and her body in the small crater they had made Skulduggery pulled up sharply and hovered overhead, waiting for the dust to settle.
With a generous amount of blood flowing from her mouth, Rapture lay spread-eagled at the centre of the crater, coughing profusely. Her body stood at the lip, staring down with blank eyes. It made to move closer but Skulduggery dropped into a dive, firing as he went.
The bullets packed enough of a punch to make it stumble but the wounds healed almost instantly, much faster than Rapture could recover from her fall.
Valkyrie, meanwhile, had her own problems to deal with. While everyone else had been preoccupied with Rapture's original body, Stattlich had slipped away. He returned several moments later standing on top of a particularly large cage, brand new gas mask strapped to his face. With a click of his fingers the cage door swung open, granting the massive creature inside freedom to leave.
The bottom seemed to drop out of Valkyrie's stomach; it was a Demon-Hound. At least three times bigger than the one she and Skulduggery had encountered. Very slowly, the colossal beast raised its head to look out of the now open cage. It stared long and hard, red eyes blinking as if trying to figure out whether or not this was some kind of trick. Clearly deciding that it wasn't the Demon-Hound rose quite suddenly to its feet, long pointed ears erect. Completely ignoring Rapture, her empty body and Skulduggery, it instead turned its gaze on Valkyrie.
Valkyrie froze, that familiar feeling of hopelessness starting to fill her up. The Demon-Hound slowly advanced, heavy footsteps making indents on the stone floor as it went.
Even up high on the catwalk as she was, the Demon-Hound's eyes were level with Valkyrie's own. There was no escape. She was going to die up here, in Stattlich's cold and horrible lair. The beast would eat her whole and that would be the end of Valkyrie Cain. Skulduggery and Rapture were too busy or incapacitated to help. She was going to-
"Valkyrie!" Someone yelled, and Valkyrie managed to tear her eyes away from the Demon-Hound. She looked around for the source of the voice and spotted Skulduggery standing by the crater below, one hand gripping the Lightning-Blade, the other hurling fireballs at Rapture's body.
"Catch!" And he threw it at the catwalk, using a blast of air to propel it upwards.
Valkyrie desperately scrabbled for it and managed to close one hand around the hilt.
Almost laughing in relief she pressed the button on the pommel as Rapture had done, and a blade made of pure lightning crackled into existence. She then did something that was incredibly brave. Or incredibly stupid. With the Lightning-Blade raised above her head Valkyrie made a dash for the railing, one foot coming up to launch herself from it. She landed heavily on the Demon-Hound's head, right between its ears. Snarling in outrage, the massive beast shook its head from side to side in an attempt to shake off the unwanted passenger. Yelling loudly Valkyrie brought down the flickering blade, sending a current of electricity right through its body. At that moment she was extremely grateful for Ghastly's protective clothing. The beast yelped, its black fur standing up on end, but that yelp soon turned into a snarl as it tried more desperately to shake Valkyrie off. With both legs clamped tightly against its head she struck it with the Lightning-Blade again and again, and with each hit it put up less and less of a fight. Eventually it collapsed to the floor, panting and whimpering, ears flat against its skull.
Pressing the button on the pommel again Valkyrie followed suit and collapsed against the Demon-Hound's head, exhausted. "Are you going to behave now?" She muttered, and received a half-hearted whine in return. "Jeez, don't do that. You're making me feel kinda bad."
Rapture, who had been watching all this from the crater in the floor, grumbled and tried to push herself into a sitting position. Her back had pretty much mended itself by now and her trashed organs were good as new once again. Almost. Wincing, she got shakily to her feet. Skulduggery was off to her right somewhere, trying to keep the empty shell of a body occupied. There were several deep gashes in his skull and his suit hung in ruined shreds from his skeletal frame. Making up her mind Rapture glanced up at Valkyrie, shouted; "Free the other animals!" and then launched herself into the fight on the ground.
It took Valkyrie a few moments to register what Rapture had said. She stared blankly at the black-haired sorcerer and then shifted her gaze to the Demon-Hound beneath her. "Oh." Feeling more than a little nervous Valkyrie hesitantly patted the giant creature on its shaggy head. "Uh, come on boy. Let's go and rescue your friends." It snuffled weakly, and then seemed to remember the Lightning-Blade. Not wanting another zap from that evil thing, it jumped to its feet and went barrelling right into the nearest occupied cage. The door burst open and a slightly smaller Demon-Hound came tumbling out.
They shared a brief conversation made up of yips, growls and snarls and the other, smaller Hound went off to break open some more cages.
Soon the entire room was teeming with strange creatures; lions with two heads, tigers with six legs, horned foxes, scaly house cats, flaming birds, smoky wolves and a wide variety of others. The majority of them dashed for the door, but the more intelligent ones recognized they had been rescued and turned to help. A giant feathered serpent shot along the floor and crashed straight into Rapture's body, sending it skidding back. A panda with black and white wings flew overhead, spitting out large balls of flame from its mouth.
Rapture used this distraction to make her way over to Skulduggery, who was on one knee and struggling to stand. She grabbed his arm and yanked him upright. "Come on, you useless bag of bones." Rapture urged, pulling one of his arms over her shoulder. "Lean on me."
"Tell Valkyrie...Fletcher..." Skulduggery muttered, and Rapture had to lean a little closer to hear what he was saying.
"What was that?"
"Fletcher." He tried again. "Tell Valkyrie to ring Fletcher."
"Gotcha." Rapture turned to look up at Valkyrie, who was still sitting on the Demon-Hound.
"Oi, beast-tamer!" She yelled and Valkyrie glanced down. "Skulduggery wants you to ring someone called Fletcher."
Valkyrie nodded once, understanding, and pulled a phone from her pocket.
Barely listening as Valkyrie barked orders into the phone, Rapture dragged Skulduggery towards the exit. She glanced back briefly to see her body being swamped by snarling, hissing and screeching animals. Stattlich himself was neck-deep in a pack of small, vibrantly green dogs that were decidedly more vicious than they looked.
Rapture allowed herself a smug grin at that before returning her attention to the dire situation at hand. As they got closer to the exit Valkyrie caught up to them on foot and handed Rapture the Lightning-Blade, which she then fixed back onto her weapon belt.
The Demon-Hound seemed to be taking a great deal of pleasure in destroying all the lab equipment in the room, smashing up strange tanks full of water, chewing through brightly coloured cables and toppling whirring machines.
"This is probably the best damn revenge I've ever seen." Rapture commented mildly.
"Oh, hell yes." Valkyrie panted, smiling, and then turned to look at Skulduggery. "Fletcher's on his way."
"Yes, well, even an idiot would have trouble missing a giant trap door in the middle of such a pathetic-sized forest." Skulduggery nodded. "Which is a very good thing indeed."
Valkyrie rolled her eyes and smirked.
"This Fletcher person wouldn't happen to be Fletcher Renn, the last Teleporter? " Rapture asked, eyebrow cocked.
"Yup, that's him."
"Ah. Right. So that's one mystery solved. Now we just need to figure out how to get all the way back up those stairs. And quickly." Rapture thought about a solution for half a second and then, slowly, a smile appeared on her face.
"Why does that make me feel so uneasy?" Skulduggery muttered.
"Probably because I'm about to do this."
A rainbow-coloured zebra was fast galloping towards them and Rapture stopped dead, spreading her legs apart a little, strengthening her stance. Using the momentum she swung Skulduggery around, depositing him on the zebra's back as it zoomed past. It brayed a little nervously but continued on all the same, making a dash for the stairs.
Valkyrie stared after it. "I cannot believe you just did that." She snorted, and Rapture gave her a look. "...Alright, so I can."
Grinning, Rapture jogged sideways over to Valkyrie. "Your turn."
"Oh, hell no. You are not putting me on a rainbow-coloured anything!"
But Rapture had already grabbed her by the back of the coat. With a firm tug, she lifted Valkyrie off her feet and sent her flying ahead. She landed on the back of a large hyena-type creature, which gave an eerie laugh and picked up speed.
Rapture leapt onto the feathered serpent as it careened past, standing perfectly upright on its head. And with each of them riding their own strange critter, the trio fast made their way back to the surface. Something large had already managed to break through the steel door at the top of the stairs, so that was one less problem to solve. As soon as the feathered serpent emerged into the night air Rapture jumped down from its head, watching as it disappeared into the trees, uprooting one or two along the way. Skulduggery and Valkyrie had already abandoned their rides and were laying in the grass. "Let's never do that again." Valkyrie muttered a little breathlessly, and Rapture laughed.
"Oh, you loved it."
"Well, maybe just a little..."
"Valkyrie!" Someone shouted from in between a cluster of trees up ahead and a boy with ridiculous hair came running over. He spotted how bedraggled she looked and the ruined suit that was hanging off Skulduggery. "What the hell happened?"
"No time for that." Rapture told him, strolling over. She glanced back through the trap-door and took a deep breath. "We have to get out of here. Now."
"And who are you?" He asked with one eyebrow raised, looking Rapture up and down. A stupid grin appeared on his face.
"For god's sake, Fletcher." Valkyrie scolded, getting to her feet and punching him on the shoulder.
"Ouch. That really hurt, Val."
"Oh, stop being such a cry baby." Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Look, there'll be more time for flirting later. Right now you need to teleport us away from here."
"Teleport where?"
"I don't know."
Groaning, Skulduggery pushed himself to his feet. "Ghastly." He stumbled, and Rapture walked over, allowing him to put a hand on her shoulder and steady himself. "Take us to Ghastly's." Fletcher went to say something, but Valkyrie shot him a quelling glare and the words died in his throat. The two of them walked over to Rapture and Skulduggery, Valkyrie placing her hand on the skeleton detective's arm.
Rapture saw the porcelain-white figure of her body emerge from the tunnel just as Fletcher took Valkyrie's hand. The forest suddenly disappeared and they were all standing directly in front of a small, run down looking shop. Rapture's body was nowhere to be seen. They were safe.
For now.
Ten minutes later saw the four of them in Ghastly's living room, plus Ghastly himself.
"So let me get this straight." The tailor began, taking a sip from the cup of tea in his hand.
"It's been twenty years since you and Rapture last saw each other and when you finally decide to get in touch again, the pair of you manage to immerse yourself in probably more danger than ever before," another sip of tea. "In the space of a few short hours."
"That about sums it up." Skulduggery agreed cheerfully.
Ghastly sighed. "And I suppose you'll want one of your spare suits, too."
Skulduggery raised his arms, showing the room at large how one of the sleeves had actually become detached from the rest of the suit. "I think that would be a good idea, yes."
"They're in the usual place." Ghastly told him. "And please do try not to destroy the new one."
Skulduggery got to his feet. "I'll try my best." He thanked Ghastly and then disappeared into another room.
Valkyrie abandoned her tea on the table and frowned. "I'm still extremely confused."
"Me too." Fletcher agreed, nodding.
"You're always confused." Valkyrie told him.
"Oh, that's charming, that is."
Rapture chuckled and perched herself on the arm of Ghastly's chair. "I don't blame you for being so confused. There's an awful lot to explain, so I may as well start at the beginning."
And so she began to tell the tale of Sarah the vampire; a creature of two separate minds who tore a bloody path through history.
Skulduggery, now wearing a brand new suit, walked back into the room just as she started to explain how she had become human."Ah, Skulduggery. You might be interested to know this." Rapture told him, looking up at his skeletal profile. "I've learned a lot more about my past since last we met." She looked him up and down and with a smirk, said; "Nice suit, by the way."
"I know." Skulduggery agreed, straightening his tie. Curious about Rapture's past, he then sat down in a nearby chair.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes. There is only one way for a demon to die, and that is suicide." Rapture tilted her head to the side and held up one finger. "A very specific method of suicide."
"So, uh, these demons are like ...what exactly?" Fletcher asked, still looking confused.
"Evil creatures from hell?"
Rapture laughed. "Nothing like that."
"Um, OK then."
"No. They are simply another species of magical creature, although on a more spiritual level than most. While some demons can indeed be evil, not all of them are. And of course there are different breeds of demons, much like there are different breeds of dogs or cats,"
"But as I was saying, suicide is the only way for this particular breed of demon to die. Having one demon parent myself, that rule also applies to me."
"You tried to kill yourself." Skulduggery said suddenly, and everyone turned to look at him.
"Right you are, old friend." Rapture smiled sadly. "Back when I was a vampire, she was the dominant personality. I got shoved into some long forgotten corner of my own mind, left to rot while she wreaked havoc upon the world."
"I saw no purpose to this existence, so on the rare occasion that I managed to gain control for a few short minutes..." She trailed off and no-one needed to ask what happened next.
"But it didn't work." Rapture continued. "Something went wrong. My body was damaged, yes, but ultimately my soul remained intact."
"Not being able to stay within the confines of my own body any more, I was forced to evacuate." Rapture picked up her own cup of tea from a spot on the floor and took a sip.
"For a long time I just drifted, quite literally, waiting for my body to repair itself. It took a lot longer than I expected. I got bored."
"You got...bored?" Valkyrie repeated, staring wide-eyed at Rapture, having trouble digesting all this information.
"Indeed, yes. I got bored waiting around, so I possessed the body of a mortal girl."
"A mortal?"
"And she would have remained just so, had I not decided to float on by." Rapture crossed her legs and took another sip of tea. "Unfortunately, my magic had too much of an overwhelming affect on her mind. For all intents and purposes she died that day and I was left with an empty vessel to control."
"But you lost your memories." Skulduggery added, and Rapture nodded.
"Much knowledge remained, but it still paled in comparison to five thousand years of amassed data. And I of course forgot all about my past life as a vampire."
"That would be terrible. To forget who you are." Valkyrie muttered.
Rapture shrugged. "I didn't know any better. Besides, my past life wasn't exactly anything cheerful. In fact, I was probably better off."
"And then one day, almost sixty years ago, all of these memories started sprouting up out of nowhere." Rapture went on to explain the Mjolnir case to Valkyrie and Fletcher, Skulduggery already having explained the whole thing to Ghastly around the point of its happening. She finished up and took another sip of tea; "And after that incident I well and truly quit my job as a detective, instead becoming a mercenary-for-hire. Skulduggery and I saw each other less and less, until one particular case in Russia."
"You mentioned Russia earlier." Valkyrie voiced aloud, thinking back to what Rapture had said to Baron Stattlich. "And something about Stattlich being there."
"Ah, yes. He was there alright. And also in Venice, on a case Skulduggery and I shared back in the late 1930s. The Mjolnir case, too."
"That creepy bastard has been stalking me for almost eight decades."
"And he...wants to return you to your body?" Valkyrie asked, still trying very hard to slot all of this information together. "Which was the body back in his lair?"
"Correct. Judging by the way he spoke to me and the generous amount of candles scattered around that cylinder, I would guess he worships me as something akin to God."
"And your body. How come it could move at all? It must have something to do with your blood, right?"
"Ah, well. Being my body and all, it automatically recognized the magic within the blood and not the blood itself. Until then, I imagine it was completely inanimate. But now that it's locked onto my magic, it will pursue me relentlessly with the intention of becoming whole once again."
"Well, I was almost right." Valkyrie smiled weakly.
Fletcher frowned. "My head hurts."
"Of course it does." Skulduggery agreed, and then turned his attention back on Rapture.
"So how do we stop it?"
Rapture sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know. I may be strong, but even I can't destroy it. Other than that..." She shrugged.
"Exactly how strong are you, Rapture?" Valkyrie asked curiously.
Grinning, Rapture looked over at her and Ghastly sighed. "This isn't going to end well, is it?"
"Don't worry, Ghastly." Rapture reassured him. "There are ways to demonstrate my strength without destroying your shop." She plunged one hand into her coat pocket and withdrew a bunch of change. Picking out the thickest coin, she held it between her thumb and forefinger and squeezed. The metal buckled like paper, her fingers squeezing until they almost met in the middle and the coin was shaped like an apple core. "Taa daa." Rapture hummed.
"That's not so hard." Fletcher declared, fishing a coin from his own pocket and trying to squeeze it between his fingers. The only thing he managed to achieve were a couple of red lines in his thumb and forefinger where the coin had cut into skin.
Valkyrie and Rapture laughed as Fletcher sulked and nursed his sore fingers.
"Don't feel bad." Rapture chuckled, leaning over to clap Fletcher on the shoulder. "I'm not exactly an ordinary human being."
"In fact, you aren't human at all." Skulduggery put in helpfully.
"Thank you for that, Skulduggery. I hadn't noticed."
"You're welcome."
There were a few moments of silence and then Valkyrie spoke up hesitantly.
"I still can't believe you were a vampire." She glanced at Rapture a little warily.
"Not all of them were the beasts you know, Valkyrie. In fact, the first few generations didn't transform at all." Rapture put down her unfinished tea. "There has always been such heavy prejudice in that respect. It used to be the same way with werewolves, too. Not all of them are evil and they can't help being what they are, but a lot of people simply jump to conclusions." She turned to look at Skulduggery. "You really should stop filling her head with such discriminatory bullshit."
Skulduggery tilted his head to the side. "I never had anything against werewolves, but vampires are evil. They are selfish and violent and wouldn't hesitate to tear us all apart."
Rapture arched an eyebrow. "Then you've clearly never met my brother. Besides, I'm a vampire too, remember?"
"My point exactly." Skulduggery hummed cheerfully.
"Yes, yes. Very funny." Rapture rolled her eyes and leaned an elbow on Ghastly's shoulder, one finger absently tracing the scars on his head. "But anyway-" She stopped when she noticed Valkyrie and Fletcher staring at her. "...What?"
"Uh, what are you doing?" Fletcher asked, looking mildly disgusted.
"I like scars." Rapture smiled. "Seeing as I can't accumulate any of my own - thanks to my regenerative abilities - they fascinate me."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to keep touching my head, Rapture." Ghastly muttered, cheeks going a little pink. She hummed and ignored him and he instead turned to look at Skulduggery. "Would you please tell her to stop?"
"What makes you think that I have any control over her?" Skulduggery asked happily.
Valkyrie coughed. "Um, yeah. I think we should leave before Rapture's body shows up and gives us all a bunch of fascinating new scars."
"Even me?" Skulduggery asked, amused.
Valkyrie scowled at him, but he stood before she could answer. "I do agree, though. We should all regroup at my house, you should get some sleep and then we'll rethink our tactics in the morning."
Rapture hopped down from her spot on the arm of Ghastly's chair and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "I think it should be my house. That way I can go through some of my books and see if there's anything that might be able to help."
Skulduggery thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Right. Rapture's house it is. The Bentley isn't too far from here. We can walk."
Fletcher grumbled.
"Oh come now. The exercise will be good for you."
Ghastly stayed behind while the four of them made their way to the Bentley. As they walked Valkyrie asked relentless questions about Rapture and her past, all of which Rapture answered happily. "That symbol in the Baron's lair..." Valkyrie began, and the mercenary smiled.
"Ah yes. The Ouroboros, the symbol for eternity. The snake devouring its own tail." She lit up a cigarette and took a long drag. "I don't know how Stattlich learned of my connection to this symbol, but what it is - well, it represents my family, much like a coat of arms."
"Family?" Valkyrie echoed and Rapture nodded.
"As far as I know, I have no human relatives. I do have both a vampire brother and sister, but we won't go into that now."
"Demons, on the other hand..." Her eyes twinkled. "I have six demon siblings, the majority of which are older than me."
"The Ouroboros you saw in my house is used to summon one of them, should I fancy a little chat."
"You can actually do that?" Valkyrie asked, impressed.
"Yes, but only myself or another member of the family can pull it off. If you tried, it for example, nothing would happen."
"That's pretty cool."
"And a little creepy." Fletcher added.
Rapture's eyes lit up dangerously and she grinned. "Oh, you have no idea."
Fletcher remained quiet after that and Valkyrie went on to ask Rapture about her original body. "...but I've never seen anyone so beautiful. And the eyes..." She trailed off.
"Hm." Rapture's grin shrank into a smile. "Each demon has one main trait and my mother was a demon of lust."
"That explains a lot." Skulduggery commented mildly, and Rapture snorted.
"Yes indeed. I suppose I inherited that particular trait from her and the magic moulded my body accordingly as I grew. As for the eyes..." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Simply think of a Demon-Hound, but replace the feeling of dread and despair with hope and security. In fact, replace it with anything. A demon has the ability to focus their magic to any one point in the body. I used this - or rather, Sarah used this method with the eyes as a way to manipulate a person's feelings, and even their actions."
"Like, if she'd learned their true names?" Valkyrie asked.
"Much like that, yes."
"Speaking of names, Skulduggery said earlier that you didn't even bother to take one for a long time." Valkyrie mused.
"I had no need. Demons do not possess true names. I only changed my own to Rapture because Sarah held too many painful memories." She finished her cigarette and dropped it on the floor. "Demons have no true names as they are born with complete and total access to their magic. They are amongst the very few creatures born with the power to destroy the world."
"Me on the other hand, being half human made my own magic a little unstable. Which, if you think about it, is probably the main reason my personality decided to split like a banana peel. All it needed was something a little bit tragic to happen and voilà! Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
"Jeez. I do not envy you." Valkyrie muttered and then suddenly seemed to realize something. "And, uh, if a human learned their true name..."
"They would have just as much potential to destroy the world." Rapture answered before she could even finish asking. "Yes."
"Oh."
"I see you've been hearing rumours about this Darquesse person aswell." Rapture turned her twinkling gaze on Valkyrie and she felt a little hesitant to even think anything, just in case Rapture really could see inside her head. "It's alright, Valkyrie. I'm not going to tell anyone." She said in hushed tones, smiling warmly. "I mean, I don't exactly have room to talk."
Valkyrie's eyes widened and she found herself glancing a little frantically over at Skulduggery. Luckily he was busy telling Fletcher to shut up and hadn't heard Rapture's previous statement. "How do you even know about that?" Valkyrie whispered, shuffling closer to Rapture.
Rapture shrugged. "I'm clever."
"No kidding." Valkyrie breathed.
They soon reached the Bentley and as agreed Skulduggery let Rapture drive, however reluctantly. Valkyrie, far too used to riding shotgun, clambered into the front seat, leaving Skulduggery to sit in the back with Fletcher. About this he grumbled profusely, sulking much like a small child would. Rapture and Valkyrie easily drowned this out with their own conversation, but Fletcher was left to the verbal abuse Skulduggery flung at him.
"You know," Skulduggery said to the teleporter after a little while. "You're like a verbal punching bag. It's quite therapeutic. Oh, by the way, your hair is stupid."
"Yes, you've told me that six times in the last ten minutes." Fletcher grumbled.
"And I thought I would tell you again, just in case you hadn't heard me the first six times."
"Valkyrie!" Fletcher whined. "He's bullying me again."
Valkyrie rolled her eyes and Rapture reached back to snatch the hat from Skulduggery's head. "Behave." She warned, amusement clear in her voice. "Or I'll throw it out the window." Skulduggery crossed his arms and went back to sulking.
"Now where were we?" Rapture hummed, returning her attention to Valkyrie.
"Stattlich." Valkyrie reminded her.
"Oh, that's right. He set that Demon-Hound loose on purpose, knowing that Skulduggery would come to me for help. The whole thing was one great big trap."
"And we walked straight into it."
"Alright, so we did." Rapture agreed, nodding. "But we also walked straight back out again."
Valkyrie grinned. "We did, didn't we?"
"Don't celebrate just yet. We still need to figure out a way to stop my body, and there's also my darker half to worry about."
"I'm surprised she hasn't put in an appearance already. I mean, from what you've told me of her..." Valkyrie mused.
"There's an easy way to explain that; if she represents my demonic side and all things evil then I represent the human side and all things-...well, I represent the human side." Rapture chuckled. "This particular body being human, I automatically have more control."
"Makes sense." Valkyrie nodded.
"Only in dire situations, when I am either physically or mentally unstable has she taken over before. Which is why I try not to take anything too seriously. Getting worked up, in my case, would be quite disastrous." Rapture hummed a laugh, and it was a little psychotic.
"Are we there yet?" Skulduggery asked childishly from the back seat. Rapture chuckled and Valkyrie snorted.
Once at the gate that eventually lead to Rapture's house, Skulduggery was more than a little reluctant to leave the Bentley behind overnight. Rapture assured him that no-one else would even be around at the ass-end of nowhere and the creepy critters living in the forest were all friends of hers anyway. Valkyrie never knew when Rapture was joking, but on this occasion she chose to believe her.
Deciding to put his faith in the car alarm and nothing Rapture had actually said, Skulduggery finally agreed to continue. He strode ahead briskly, declaring there was no time to waste. Rolling their eyes, the others followed.
Rapture's house let them in upon their arrival, giving Valkyrie the strange impression that it had a mind of its own. And as they all trudged up the stairs to the second floor, she suddenly seemed to realize just how tired she was. It had been a few nights since she had slept fitfully and her body was in desperate need of a good rest.
Sensing this, Rapture gestured to a door at the end of the corridor. "There's a spare bedroom through there. It has about six king-sized beds, so take your pick. And also an en suite."
Valkyrie almost collapsed with relief. "Thank you." She smiled gratefully.
"You're welcome."
"What about you?" Fletcher asked Rapture. "You look like you could do with a little R+R."
Valkyrie elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a look. "Ouch. What?"
Rapture just chuckled. "I think Skulduggery and I are going to stay up and discuss our current- ...ah...predicament." She glanced at him and he nodded. "Yes. I think that would be best. You kids get some sleep."
Valkyrie did feel a little bit like a useless child, leaving everything for the adults to deal with, but right at that moment she was too tired to care. "Goodnight." She declared, and then shuffled off towards the bedroom. Fletcher shrugged and then followed.
"Goodnight indeed." Rapture hummed softly once the bedroom door had closed behind them. "Unless we can think of a plan, it may just be our last."