Valkyrie yawned as she climbed through her window…Skulduggery had just got a text saying Vaurien and Tanith were safe and fine which was good. This meant she might be able to have a normal Christmas this year…finally.
She looked at her reflection that was sat on her bed finishing homework.
"Hi" it said
"Hi" Valkyrie replied. "Where's my parents"
"At a Christmas party, we are finishing homework so we're not allowed to go."
Valkyrie nodded. She hated parties anyway.
She walked over and sat back down on the bed touching the reflections hand and getting flashbacks of all the long and boring school days.
After she'd sorted it all out in her head she looked at the workbooks laying spread out on her cover.
"What's that" Valkyrie said pointing at her book.
"We got a B- in the Spanish exam." The reflection said.
"Thay'ts an awful shayme lil lady, need any help with that next time?" A voice laughed from the corner of the room.
Valkyrie stood and grabbed her hairbrush furiously.
"Oh gawd no…you gunna comb me to death?" he laughed.
Valkyrie hated intruders….especially when they were criminals.
"Sanguine you should be in hospital." She said bitterly.
He took a step forward out of the darkness of the room and into the light from the night lamp.
"Meh, I needed a change'a scenery." He smiled and leaned against her wall.
A silence filled the room and Valkyries ears burned angrily.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
"Put the brush down first…then maybe we c'en talk like civilised people- hey?"
She lowered the hairbrush.
"Okay." He smiled raising both his hands to show he was unarmed.
She relaxed a little but kept her guard up.
Her reflection watched fearfully from her bed.
"You can call it whatever the hell ya' want, Guilt, fear, pride, but seri'sly I jus' wana help you."
She held in a laugh and frowned at him.
"Why the heck would you want to help me?"
"We're fight'n the sayme enemy here doll- It's common sense, aint it?"
She felt her knuckles tighten around the hairbrush.
"I don't trust you." She said honestly.
He smirked "I thought'ya wouldn." He walked forward and she held out her hand.
"Don't come one step closer." She yelled.
"Hey look honey I aint gunna hurt you." he stepped forward and she sent shadows slamming him into the wall.
He started screaming and then she remembered he was seriously wounded.
She ran to her window pulling it shut so the neighbours wouldn't hear then she dragged her curtains shut.
She ran to the wailing figure and pulled up his shirt enough to see the loosened stitching running across his belly.
"Crap" she said "Ok calm down…I think I know what to do…"
"FACKING THROW ME INTO A WALL YOU CRAZY BITCH!"
"Wrong species" she muttered and put a hand insistently softly on his scar.
He squealed.
"Oh come on that didn't hurt" she snapped.
"NO! YER HANDS ARE COLD!" he yelled.
She rolled her eyes…"Just- im sorry- now shut up and try to hold it in like a big boy…"
He angrily shut up… and started muttering something about the other side being safer.
She ordered her reflection to get the first aid bag from the kitchen and the reflection obeyed immediately running out of her room.
"I did warn you" Valkyrie said.
"I told yer that I wudn' hurt you! aint that enuf…do I really gotta prove myself?"
"Unfortunately…you have tried to kill me a lot of times…so yes…you need to prove yourself."
Sanguine considered this for a minute.
"I lied" he said.
"What?" Valkyrie glared at him.
"I aint unarmed…I still got my razor….if I was here to kill you I wudda stabbed you by now…"
Valkyrie laughed "How reassuring" she smirked.
Sanguine tried to smile through the pain but it went a bit lopsided.
The reflection came in carrying the first aid kit.
Valkyrie unzipped it and saw a stitching needle.
"Oh gawd" Billy ray sanguine for the first time ever looked very very uneasy.
"Don't worry, I know what im doing, it's your turn to trust me"
He sniggered- "I guess it is…"
She threaded his loosed stitching on the needle and started to pull it a little. The wound became tighter and started to close up. He grinded his teeth together and his eyelids narrowed to slits.
"This is going to hurt so feel free to grab my coat as hard as you can…don't you dare break it though"
He gripped her coat in his hands as the needle pierced his skin dragging the stitching into one final loop and pulling the wound closely and neatly together.
He relaxed when it was over and sighed with relief.
"How'en earth does a gurl your age know how to do that?"
"Kenspeckle taught me once…back when I cracked my knee open."
Sanguine laughed.
And Valkyrie restrained a smile.
"Look kiddo…I want ta help you… Havoc is one sick head bastard an this ol' scapegrace dude seriously don't deserve whateva havoc has planned for him…I don't usually help people…but in this case…I owe you guys…with my life…"
Valkyrie took his arm in her hand and helped him into a sitting position.
He groaned as he stretched all his sore joints.
"Jus wann'ed to let you know…I may be one of the bad guys but im not a 'bad' guy…"
Valkyrie smirked "Ok" she laughed "I feel a little better knowing that im not working with a Evil maniac…"
"Who said I wasn' an evil maniac?" He smiled "I even got the creepy eyes to prove it!"
Valkyrie laughed and then realised what this must have looked like.
She was sat with her enemy, laughing and making jokes…she was not friends with this man…she did not care about him…or scapegrace at that….both were criminals…and idiots…why the hell was she even thinking about this? She itched her neck awkwardly and shuffled back a little bit to avoid any more conversation.
Sanguine looked at her confused and then he twigged "Oh…I get it….were spozed to be enemies an all…" He sniggered "Just cuz' were criminals does not make us 100% bad honey…even the most evil people on this earth have feelings…."
Valkyrie smiled half-heartedly and nodded in agreement.
"That was really clever sanguine…" she admitted.
"Ha- im quite a clever guy doll face…" he winked and she bit her lip giggling.
Her phone bleeped and she reached out for it flicking it open-
"Two secs" she said and answered the call.
"Hi skulduggery" she said.
"VALKYRIE CAIN YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW! Why are you talking to Billy ray sanguine in your bedroom? He should be in hospital!" he snapped down the phone.
"Sk…skulduggery are you spying on me?" she scoffed.
"Im….im sat on your windowsill…."
She stood up angrily and pulled the curtains to see him sat on a tiny ledge crumbled into an awkward position.
"Any chance you can let me in?" he sighed.
"WHAT THE…." She pulled open the window and dragged him inside.
"IF anyone see's you were screwed! " She yelled slamming the window shut and closing the curtains.
"Glad to see you too" he muttered.
"Evenin'" Sanguine said.
Skulduggery glared at him.
"What are you doing here" he scowled.
"Makin arrangements" he scowled back.
"Sanguine's on our side." Valkyrie smiled.
"He…he…no he's not…" Skulduggery snarled. "He might want to work with us…but he'll never be on our side."
Sanguine smiled sadly "Hooray fer the polite skeleton…"
"Skulduggery please…I trust him…give him a chance…he wants to help us protect Vaurien."
"We don't want to protect Vaurien"
"Yes we do" Valkyrie frowned.
"No…we don't care about him, we care about what he has… we need to keep that thing away from havoc…The actual being known as Vaurien scapegrace is of no importance to us."
"But he's stupid; we need to look after him…"
"You're too nice…we really shouldn't bother…"
"Yes we should!" she insisted.
Skulduggery looked down at her angry eyes and sighed.
"Fine…protect you're criminals…there you're responsibility though…not mine…But Valkyrie remember this…once a criminal ALWAYS a criminal….you can't change ok? You can't become a different person to who you really are…The problem with you is you're too trusting. These ADULT men are evil…there's no hope for them Valkyrie…you shouldn't care so much…it'll destroy you..."
Sanguine's throat went dry and he seemed to shrink half the size… he looked like a mere shadow of the man he used to be.
Valkyrie looked up to skulduggery sadly "I have to skulduggery….i know I'm right…please…trust me just this once…"
He sighed and looked angrily at sanguine.
"Get some sleep…I'll drop him back to the hospital…we'll talk about this tomorrow."
"Come" Skulduggery barked and sanguine tried to stand…he moved up and fell straight back down.
"I SAID COME" Skulduggery yelled.
Valkyrie walked over to sanguine and brokenly lifted the man up until he was steady on his feet.
She looked into his black holes and saw the shame and guilt hidden behind the deep black spaces where his eyes had once been.
Without her mind processing what she was doing she hugged him.
The man's heart almost stopped beating in his chest and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
"Don't give up…I believe you." she said.
Skulduggery folded his arms across his chest and sighed.
When she pulled away Sanguine was still just wavering completely stunned in the same shape he was before.
His mouth moved to talk and skulduggery interrupted.
"Are we finished? We need to go…"
Sanguine nodded and clambered out the window without another word.
Skulduggery gave Valkyrie the hard shoulder and glared at her.
"Im disappointed" he grumbled.
She reached out a hand to touch his arm but he flinched away.
"I don't….'hug people'…." He snapped and left without looking at her.
Her reflection climbed back into the mirror and Valkyrie got back into bed sighing.
She knew she was right…she just wished she could show skulduggery.
She tucked into bed, turned off the light and fell asleep.