A/N: I don't own Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Serpine, Kenspeckle, Billy-Ray, Tanith, Ghastly, the Dead Men, Gordon or China.
Skulduggery tilted his head at me when we got home. "Valkyrie, is there anything you'd like to tell me about Serpine?"
"What?" I asked startled.
"Serpine, you know? Tried to get you to come to him in a dream, then nothing?"
"I have no idea. It isn't like him to just disappear, is it?"
"No, it isn't. Unless he thinks when your armour does at last come you'll be a maniac who will kill me for him. How is that going by they way, having Lord Vile in your head all day?" He asked, sounding amused.
"Honestly he's gotten quiet since the Lord Vile here, I mean you, I mean-"
"I thought as much. What did Serpine tell you, exactly? I noticed you were rather scanty on details." There was a note of jealousy in his voice I didn't much care for and I didn't want an argument, but he was leaving me with no choice.
"That he loves me, like he loves the first woman you stole from him. She was supposed to be his wife, Skulduggery." I said and the moment I said it I realized Serpine had meant for this to happen. Skulduggery went stiff and stared hard at me.
"I see." He said and stalked off. I followed him, but he went into the hat room and slammed the door. I sighed and let my flesh flow from my bones then shadow walked in.
"This is what he wants. He wants us to fight. He wants us to kill one another or he wants me with him as his weapon. You want to know what having Vile in my head is like?" I asked, anger rising in my voice as my shadow skin rolled over me. "I'll show you what it's like." I hissed as my armour at last formed.
I felt rage at that moment, utter, pure rage. I was going to get revenge for the destruction of my future with Skulduggery, for my own suffering, I'd kill anyone who stood between me and Serpine. I strode towards Skulduggery who looked at me calmly as I gathered shadows in one hand. "That's it. Give in to that lunatic. Kill me, than Serpine, then keep on going. But it will never stop, Valkyrie, the hatred and loneliness never goes away."
It worked. My armour flowed away and I sagged back weakly. Skulduggery caught me by my shoulders. "Steady now." He said gently.
"Then you're still sad and angry?" I asked.
He sighed. "Sometimes, yes. I thought we had this discussion already, Valkyrie. I'll always love my wife and child."
"And if things had been different, you would have stayed?" I asked. Skulduggery didn't answer, he couldn't. He just looked away and my heart broke in two. I left him in the hat room, left my ring on the table in the entryway and just left.
I walked down the hill, past the two funeral homes and kept going, not caring where I ended up, but knowing it couldn't be with Serpine or China. They'd both turn my loss to their advantage. I shivered, heartbroken. The Bentley rolled up beside me.
Get in.
"You get in." I mumbled, wiping tears from my eyes and blaming the wind that had picked up.
Get in, or the pain I caused you when I saw Serpine will be nothing compared to now.
"Yes, boss." I got in and Skulduggery looked at me.
"Seatbelt." He said quietly. I did as he asked and he drove on. "It isn't like you to give up easily. Val. So now you know the truth. I should have told you before."
"I can't marry you, not now. What if you change your mind, or she does?" I asked, trying to fight my tears and failing. Skulduggery sighed and said nothing.
He at last agreed to drop me off at Gordon's mansion. And without his Echo Stone there it was cold and lonely. I went to my room and curled up in a ball and cried my heart out. I couldn't bear to call my parents and I didn't want the Dead Men to know. I'd call Tanith but I knew she would tell Ghastly. But Kenspeckle wouldn't tell anybody, would he?
I knew the others had already given him a mobile and I dialed his number from the scrap of paper he'd given me. "Hello?" His gruff voice came on the line and I burst into tears again.
"Valkyrie? What did that monster do to you?" He soothed. It took a while but I managed to tell him. "I could have told you he wasn't good enough for you. Now you just listen to me, Valkyrie. The Sanctuary is searching for Serpine. They can't find him or Billy-Ray. They've searched everywhere but Gordon's mansion."
"I'm in the mansion." I said dully. Kenspeckle started to say something, but I couldn't respond as two steely hands grabbed my feet that had been hanging over the edge of the bed. I looked down as Billy-Ray slapped cuffs around my ankles and felt my magic drain from me. He came the rest of the way through the floor and grinned down at me, then grabbed my mobile.
"I don't know who this is, but Valkyrie Cain is no longer available. Would you like to leave a message?" He asked cheerfully. "Mmm-hmm. I see. Well, tell you what, Mr. Grouse, is it? Valkyrie's got herself a date with a man who's madly in love with her. Only as he knows she's all shy and everythin' she'll be livin' in a cage for the initial meetin'. Not exactly romantic, but he didn't come back just to loose the woman he loves. You all have a nice day now, you hear?"
Billy-Ray hung up and came back over to me, cuffing my hands behind my back. "Would've guessed you'd have wriggled off the bed by now, princess. All the fight left you when your fellah dumped you, huh?" He didn't wait for a reply but scooped me up into his arms and carried me down the stairs. He set me down to get the front door. "If I was you, I'd behave. I didn't say how many pieces I'd bring you back in." He said when I stumbled. I just shrugged helplessly and he carried me out to a waiting van and got me in the back, locking the door. Billy-Ray got in the front and drove.
We drove for what seemed like hours and when we stopped at last I didn't fight him. Billy-Ray frowned at me. "You better not be dyin' on me." He growled, then slipped a black hood over my head and slung me over his shoulder. I felt him carry me a distance, then we entered a building. He carried me for a while, then I felt myself set down on a cold stone floor. A metal door slammed and I felt the hood ripped from my head.
"There's no need to be so rough, Mr. Sanguine." Serpine said from somewhere outside my cell, his voice dripping with menace.
"No, Sir." Billy-Ray agreed nervously. Then he started to scream. I twisted around to see Serpine using his red hand on Billy-Ray and his screams were terrible.
"Please, stop." I said. Serpine looked at me and shrugged. He put his hand down and Billy-Ray gasped and gagged.
"Very well, my dear. You see? I told you he would reject you. Just as he rejected China for his wife, that he stole from me. Such a petty, selfish man, your Skulduggery, isn't he?"
I shrugged. I had to play for time, I knew that. "Could I get these cuffs off?" I asked and he nodded. Serpine looked down at Billy-Ray and ordered him to unlock them. Billy-Ray managed to crawl over and once I'd scooted up to the bars he unlocked my feet first, then my hands. He caressed me with his index finger twice and I knew enough not to let on that it had happened.
Days passed. Serpine would come visit me. He tried to get me to talk, but was smart enough not to come within my reach. He smiled at me on the fourth morning. "I wonder why he hasn't shown up yet. Do you think maybe he's back with his wife?" He asked. I stared at him, hard. "Or maybe he's with China instead."
He's baiting you.
"You don't love me, we both know that. Was his wife worth all the destruction she's causing, all the lives she's ruined?"
"Skulduggery believes she is. Do you think he would have returned to you if she still loved him? Do you really think he would return to a child when he could have a woman?"
Keep calm.
"So, you want to sleep with me because I'm a child? That's messed up, even for you." Serpine looked at me, his eyes narrowing and left without a word. Billy-Ray who had stayed behind whistled in admiration.
"So, there's some fight left in you after all. Good. You're gonna need it when his patience runs out. Take two guesses what happens to me after he kills you."
"So you're saving your own skin then?" I asked and he shrugged.
"And yours. Ain't fun gettin' kicked to the curb, is it? Tanith's back with Ghastly." He managed, his voice strangled. "And you lost Skulduggery, so we're even."
"Because you know this pain is worse than anything you could do to me?" I asked and he nodded. We made our plans and we made our escape that night, Billy-Ray having neglected to mention the fact to Serpine that he'd figured out a way to tunnel through iron bars as well.
We parted miles off, Billy-Ray dumping me off by a waiting elegant car. I got in as he peeled away and wasn't surprised to see China Sorrows driving. He mouth was set in a thin line. "I blame Skulduggery for this. We have no idea where he is."
"He's missing? I asked a little too gleefully and she looked at me.
"I thought you'd care."
"I thought he loved me. He's probably back with his wife."
China sighed. "And I though I was a poor looser. So that's it? You don't care if he comes back or not?"
"Why should I?"
China slammed on the breaks and looked at me, her beautiful blue eyes hard like chips of ice. "Because it's you he loves. Do you know what that man's been through? The guilt he had to fight just to admit his love for you? He might love his wife, but he isn't in love with her."
"Oh. Then I guess I'm heading the rescue mission, aren't I?"
"That's better. He disappeared after ringing the Sanctuary to let me know he'd dropped you at the mansion. I sent Cleavers for your protection but I was too late. Both you and he were gone."
"Do we know he didn't run off?"
"We don't know anything, as usual." China sighed and we drove the rest of the way to the Sanctuary in silence.
Oh, dear. I honestly didn't mean for it to get that sad, I really didn't. But these two have a habit of petty jealousy and misunderstandings.
