Valkyrie heard the lab doors creak open. Tanith poked her head in.
"You alright?" she asked. Her, Ghastly, and Fletcher came as soon as they heard she was hurt. They arrived within a minute after Skulduggery had called them. Literally.
"Yeah, my arm just hurts a little," Valkyrie responded and tried shrugging into her black coat. Tanith strode across the room to her and helped her put the jacket on.
"Next time I see Sanguine," Tanith growled, "I'll be sure to kick him in the face."
Valkyrie laughed. "Well thanks, Tanith. That will be fun to watch," she said and stood up shakily from the bed. Tanith helped her out the lab doors, where Skulduggery and Kenspeckle were waiting for her. Skulduggery smiled, while Kenspeckle was frowning.
"Scare me like that again," Kenspeckle grumbled, "and you'll never see the light of day."
Valkyrie grinned. "Alright, alright," she said. She punched him lightly. She looked up at Skulduggery, who looked to be smiling.
"Take care of her, Pleasant," they heard Kenspeckle mumbled again, then quickly left through the lab doors. Tanith giggled and led the way down the hallway.
"Where's Maya?" Valkyrie asked softly.
Skulduggery shrugged. "She motioned that she was going to leave for a little bit. I couldn't get an answer as to where she was going," he said and slipped his hand into hers.
Valkyrie blushed and grinned slightly. "Hopefully she'll be back soon."
"Why do you care so much?"
"I actually have compassion for people, unlike you," she responded, smirking.
He sighed. "That's not what I meant," he muttered. "But, in all seriousness, you haven't known her that long. Why are you so concerned?"
"I honesty don't know," Valkyrie said and sighed. "She just seems like someone who needs a lot of help and a friend. And there's something about her, I don't know what, but it just gives me a sense that she's hiding something."
"I know what you mean," Skulduggery nodded, "I noticed something when I first met her."
"Oh sure, smarty-pants." Valkyrie smiled and punched his arm playfully.
"I did!" he protested. "It gave me a strange feeling. It still hasn't really gone away."
Valkyrie shrugged. "You must be more open, Skulduggery Pleasant! Open your heart!" He chuckled and pulled her closer to him, and he let her lean against his arm.
Maya jumped from a tree and landed in front of a small family. They all screamed incredibly loud and high, which made this all the more harder. She looked at the two parents, just the average man and woman. They had three children, two girls and one boy. They looked all around the same age, early teens. Maya instantly knew one of the girls was magical.
"Are you an elemental?" Maya asked the girl.
She looked taken aback. "Y-yes," she muttered and looked away. Maya nodded once, and stood staring at the family. They looked innocent. Just about everyone she killed was innocent. These kids who had barely begun to live….
She shrugged and looked at them all in turn. "Please don't hate me," she said softly. The wind rustled their clothes and her cloak, and the family flopped down instantly.
And they were dead.
"I didn't find out what happened to you until at least a two days after!" Gordon shouted at Valkyrie. "No one bothered to call me!"
"Gordon," she sighed, "you can't pick up anything."
"Yes, but couldn't someone have left me a message? I had been sitting up all day and night, waiting for some word!" He turned sharply to Skulduggery. "Why did you not tell me?"
"Because when I finally heard, I rushed over there and I didn't have time to tell you. I didn't have time to call you," Skulduggery explained. "I didn't think of you. I was too concerned about Valkyrie."
Gordon huffed. "Because she almost got herself killed again!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Valkyrie protested. "I didn't know Sanguine was around here!"
Gordon shrugged. "Alright, alright," he sighed. "Don't do it again."
Valkyrie smiled and nodded happily. Gordon rolled his transparent eyes and disappeared slowly. Skulduggery chuckled, and then noticed his phone was buzzing from the table. He yanked it from Valkyrie's hands and quickly answered.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Pleasant," came Kane Sharp's dull tone on the other end, "I understand this is a hard time for you, but there have been more bodies discovered."
"A hard time? What do you mean?" Skulduggery asked, confused.
He heard Sharp sigh. "Valkyrie's death!" he said exasperatedly.
"Valkyrie's most certainly not dead," Skulduggery replied, turning to her. "She's right in front of me, laughing, grinning, breathing. She is not dead. What gave you the idea she was dead?"
He hesitated. "I had heard from China Sorrows that something had happened. She sounded rather grim about the whole thing," he explained. "But if everything is all sorted out, you must get down here. More bodies were discovered. It's urgent."
Skulduggery nodded. "We'll be on our way." Skulduggery shut his phone quickly, and he gestured at Valkyrie. "More dead bodies. It's important."
She nodded. "Naturally." She exited the house quickly, followed by Skulduggery.
They arrived in the Bentley at the scene of the crime about half an hour later. It was an incredibly cold January morning, and still, the sun was shining brightly. Everyone had sunglasses on. Sybil Cogent strode up to greet them. She smiled warmly at Valkyrie.
"I'm so glad you're well again," she said. "I don't think the Sanctuary would be the same without you!"
Valkyrie shrugged. "You would all miss my eccentric personality, no?"
"We would indeed," she replied, patting her shoulder. "Sharp!" she suddenly barked. Kane Sharp immediately came rushing over.
"What can I do?" he asked, a little frightened. He took one look at Valkyrie and immediately started sweating. His hands were shaking, his muscles were tense, his jaw was set, and he couldn't look anyone in the eye.
"Take them to the bodies. They need a run-through of the information. I expect them to be fully informed and know what do, understand?"
Sharp nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said and saluted her. He motioned for Skulduggery and Valkyrie to follow. He briskly led the way to a heavily forested part of the woods. There were five bodies: three women and two men. One woman looked to be the mother, one man was the father, and the remaining three were the children.
"Anything on them yet?" Skulduggery asked in all seriousness.
Sharp nodded again. "This is essentially, a non-magical family. Only one of the daughters, her right there," he paused and pointed to the female, "is magical. We're pretty sure she's an elemental. The rest of her family is plain. No magic in them at all."
"But that doesn't make sense at all," Valkyrie muttered. She bent down to examine them more closely. She peered at the father. His eyes were wide open in shock, with his mouth slightly agape. The same went for the mother.
Their children had their eyes closed, but there mouths hung open as well. The magical female looked the most shocked.
Valkyrie shook her head. "No one has discovered a pattern yet?"
"Well, most of the people dead have been magical, until these. It seems it's just random," a detective explained. "We think the next victims will be regular civilians."
Valkyrie sighed and nodded. She looked across the way and met Skulduggery's eye sockets. She could see that he was trying not to grin a little, but she could see how grim he was.
They both knew this case needed to be solved faster, which seemed near impossible.
Up in the tallest tree, on the highest branch sat a man. This man had a brown suit on, the color of dirt. He heard his cell-phone ring, and he quickly answered it.
"There is a major problem," Kane Sharp said quickly on the other end.
"Hold yer' horses," Sanguine exclaimed. "Ain't you going to say hello first?"
"No."
"Ouch. That's cold."
"Shut up, Sanguine," Sharp growled. "We don't have time for this. Don't try and play games with me here. Valkyrie's alive."
Billy-Ray snorted loudly. "That's ridiculous. There ain't no way she's alive. I killed her."
"Well rethink your career choice as a hitman. It didn't work. She's alive and working and here, yards away from me. This needs to be fixed, do you understand? This will not work."
Sanguine sighed. "Awight, awight, I'll get rid of her. Just give me time. My mistress wants me to report back soon."
Sharp huffed on the end of the line and hung up quickly. Sanguine pondered what to do next. He jumped from the tree branch and landed on the ground perfectly. He hid behind the tree trunk and saw that Sharp spoke truth.
Valkyrie Cain was indeed very much alive. Sanguine was not impressed. He knew Nina Minx wouldn't be either.
Meh. My inspiration ran away. I lost it all. I've got some back, but I've recently discovered I write a hell of a lot better late at night, than in the day time.
I apologize for the crap that is this chapter, BUT, next chapter will be fun. I am 97% sure.
Sorry for mistakes! :D