CHAPTER ELEVEN:

Lust of the Never Parted

Valkyrie Cain stood on a hill far away from the crying army. Three figures were being burnt, though they had long since died. One of the figures, Valkyrie knew was Skulduggery Pleasant, before that name had been taken by him. Now he was known as Vincent Follow, his first taken name, a name he had dropped when he had emerged to his second, half-life.

Vincent Follow was dead now. Two days ago the reason for her existence had died. No one cried for him, his wife and daughter were dead along with his parents. His sister was in hiding and wouldn't find out about her brother's death until long after his return.

And that was what Valkyrie was here for. To bring him back.

They had made a terrible mistake by burning his body. If they hadn't and someone had brought him back, he would be merely an echo of his former self, a form that would eventually blow away in the wind.

There, Valkyrie sensed it, his spirit rising from its former body. She felt the pull of raw lust from the monster hidden inside, aching for him. Be patient, she scolded herself, he's just lost his wife, his child and his life. She pulled his shadow toward her, revelling in the taste of his soul. The world melted away and then he was there. But she was not. They were in the void of death. His long brown hair tied at the nape of his neck. His face was pale and hollow. His eyes were green, though bloodshot.

"Who are you?" The voice was hoarse, but recognisable. Need and longing and lust thrilled as three and as one through her body.

"I am the reason for your existence."

"Excuse me?"

Valkyrie smirked. "You heard me. I am the reason for your existence, as you are the reason for mine. We are entwined through space and time. Nothing can separate us. Not death, nor rain, nor love, nor hate. And trust me, we've been through them all."

"I am dead."

"Well we'll just have to fix that, won't we?"

Valkyrie woke with a jerk. The remains of her dream seeping away. It had been two days since she had been elected leader of the Black Army, and still they had gotten nowhere. The people were scared, terrified and yet they would never leave. Countless men and women crammed into this small space, ready to fight and die for what they believe in.

She forced herself out of bed. She was in a large tent that she shared with Tanith and Infinity, it was dark and the others were still in their beds.

Unable to go back to sleep, Valkyrie searched the dark tent for her black clothes, as she was putting them on she remembered what was happening today. Her stomach clenched with anxiety as she thought on where she would be going if this plan worked, were she would be going whether the plan worked or not.

The White Army base was somewhere across no-man's-land, there would be a team of sixteen that divided into smaller teams two fives and one six. Valkyrie, Tanith, Infinity, Greaya, Creepy and Fletcher would be the team of six, the ones that went into the portal at the end if the retrieval worked out.

The other groups consisted of, Jerome Snick, Blessed Demise, Charlotte Watch, Ghastly Bespoke, Deadly Hunter, Alithea Corner, Euan Jones, Kylena Rostron-Smith, Leonard Bowel and Billy Hart. They were good people, but Valkyrie knew that not all of them would make it out alive.

If any.

Ghastly had worked non-stop, in the best conditions the Black Army could muster to make suits for the retrieval team. They each had protective, skin tight black pants, a black turtleneck shirt, also skin tight and, long, black gloves. Anything else the person supplied themselves with.

It was an hour before dawn and the team had gathered in the main tent.

They were set to wait for fifteen minutes while the other team set up a diversion. Valkyrie looked around the cluster of sixteen, committing each face to memory.

Tanith she already knew, her tousled blonde curls cascading down her back. Infinity's cropped auburn hair seemed to glow as she talked animatedly to Greaya, whose eyes were hazel, her dark brown hair highlighted with blonde that had faded from blue, the fringe tied back but the rest left to hang.

As Valkyrie watched, Greaya took a step away from Infinity, muttered something and wiped her hand over her face. The change was instant, her hair turned dark blue with red highlights, her face became chalky white, her left eye purple, her right green, two spots of red appeard on her checks and a diamond tattoo made itself apparent on her forehead. Valkyrie jumped and stared, noticing that Greaya had cut the fingers off her gloves.

Valkyrie moved on. Creepy was looking thoroughly terrified. She looked the same, except for the large, brown, deadly-looking snake that was curled around her neck like a scarf. She was in the process of plaiting her long hair.

Fletcher was talking to Jerome. Jerome had curly reddish-brown hair and dark brown skin, his eyes always caught Valkyrie's attention due to the snake-like slits his pupils were.

Blessed and Charlotte were arguing, which was unusual, since Blessed never argued. Valkyrie walked close enough to hear what they were saying.

"...should have forgiven him sooner."

"No you shouldn't, Charlotte, he abandoned your family crest, left it to die, he knew you couldn't keep it once you were married, and your children couldn't take it. I'm glad you didn't forgive him sooner."

"And now he's gone! Possibly for good, and I can't bear that the last words I said to my brother were, 'You have just died to me'..." Valkyrie couldn't listen anymore, she went to the other side of the tent and back to burning the faces to memory.

Deadly Hunter was Valkyrie's age, along with her twin, Alithea. Dazz had styled hair that was becoming more and more popular, her dark brown hair a little lighter than Valkyrie's her fringe was dyed purple. She was a Wander, a mage who used wands, she specialised in swarms of bats that had a poisonous bite.

Azz, her sister, had started training as a Cleaver at eight, but after only four years of intensive training, it had been discovered that her magical ability slightly surpassed that of the average Cleaver, so she was unleashed into the magical world. She was now a very good Elemental but her weapon of choice was still a scythe. She always looked rather childish, her hair tied into piggy tails near the top of her head, her hair was the same shade of brown as her sisters, in fact, their only differences were the artificial ones, her highlights were pink and her makeup was lighter.

Kylena had an orange bob and reddish eyes. She was standing in a corner and doing the same as Valkyrie, their eyes met and Valkyrie wished she had known Kylena for longer, hopefully they would both make it out of this alive.

Leonard had long brown hair and brown eyes. That's all she knew about him.

Euan had creepy violet eyes, he was homosexual and with Billy, who was also homosexual. Billy had a ready smile, blond hair and brown skin.

Ghastly looked as he always did.

And Valkyrie herself was wearing the same protective suit. She was wearing her necklace. Her hair was down.

There was an explosion in the distance, marking the beginning of the end of some of these peoples' lives.