A/N: I don't own Skulduggery, Ghastly, Tanith, Erskine, Wreath, Billy-Ray, Springheeled Jack, Lord Vile, Scapegrace, Thrasher, Cleavers, Rippers or Valkyrie. Val is still 24, story is still in her POV. For those keeping track, I listened to Goblin's 'Dawn of the Dead Main Theme' and 'Suspiria Soundtrack' as well as 'In the House, In a Heartbeat' by John Murphy from the '28 Days Later' soundtrack. In the dark, alone. Spookity.


Luckily Ghastly had the forethought to tell us to meet him a good way from where he'd spotted the zombies. Unluckily, civilians had spotted them as well. By the time we landed people were running in the streets of the small town, running out towards where the zombies had been seen, intent on living out a zombie film fantasy at long last. They screamed and hollered as they ran, carrying all manner of weapons. Guns, knives, crude homemade clubs made from table legs, even a couple of flamethrowers. Some wore homemade armour, some leather or at least thick clothing. I didn't give them five minutes before they were all dead.

I looked at Skulduggery in dismay and he just shrugged. "We already know they aren't 'real' zombies, so there's no chance of infection. Honestly we could use the help until the Cleavers get here."

"What happens when someone gets bit and someone else shoots them, Skulduggery? It will give the spirit a brand new body to jump to."

"Not without the crystals or whatever they are, but you're right, we can't have civilian casualties." We walked across the street to meet Ghastly just as the first gunshots started. Ghastly looked towards the sounds and sighed.

"We have people on the way to contain this, but for right now we draw back. That crazed mob is going to shoot at anything that moves, including us, so get in. We got in to see Tanith in the front seat, and she managed to blush when I looked at her. If she thought I hadn't figured out she'd been going home with Ghastly at night she was a strange woman indeed.

Ghastly had gotten in and was backing away when the crazed mob came around the bend, charging right towards us. They looked insane, many were splattered with blood and the sight made my heart sink. Zombies didn't bleed. They came closer, roaring, screaming, a few still carrying homemade weapons. I wondered if they would kill us all at once or perhaps eat us alive in a manic attempt to blend in. But they surged around the van and kept going, and when they crowd cleared we saw why.

The zombies might have been stabbed and shot, quite a few were on fire, but not a single one had been shot in the head. Ghastly cursed and parked the van, and we all clambered out. I was going to summon my armour to me, but Skulduggery stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "You're strong enough for this without it, Valkyrie. We're Necromancers, remember?" He asked with a terrible smile. I returned it and we turned to face the slowly shuffling zombies. These weren't like Thrasher or Scapegrace. I would have loved zombies like those two used to be at that point.

These things were mindless machines made of rotting meat and propelled by the will of the infesting cave spirit. A few moaned, some were chewing on torn limbs from the attacking mob, and then I spotted him. The man who'd run past me in the stupid yellow shorts and blue top with ratty trainers on. They'd bitten him, nearly tearing his jaw off, and he was shuffling towards us now too. There were also other fresh zombies, those missing the limbs being feasted on. What a day to be wrong about bites being harmless. I sighed.

Tanith drew her sword and Ghastly dropped into a fighting stance but I knew he'd be useless without a weapon, as skilled an Elemental sorcerer as he was. I concentrated, summoning only the shotgun, and tossed it to him.

"You have my permission to fire that, aim for the head." He nodded his thanks, and was the first to attack, taking aim. Being enchanted, or cursed as you see fit by Necromancer magic, the blast took off the heads of six zombies, the shot spreading outward in a manner impossible for any non-magical weapon. Ghastly grinned over at me taking aim again, and I turned my own attention towards the advancing dead. One looked like a sprinter and I saw him eyeing me. Just as he started to run I summoned my shadows, spearing him through the eye, sending him back into the horde.

The zombies caught him, tearing him apart, feeding in a mindless frenzy on one of their own. It sickened me to see it, and I wondered why until I remembered. The cave spirit was a cannibal in any host. Maybe we could use that to our advantage, but for now the sight made me ill.

"Valkyrie, concentrate!" Skulduggery barked. He was throwing shadows beside me as well, but it seemed like the number of zombies was growing, and indeed they were. Creatures long dead were joining the ranks, and we were soon surrounded on all sides. It was almost fascinating to see creatures so rotted they no longer held together, some crawling forwards as half bodies, but I knew I couldn't afford to be distracted again.

I shook my head and speared a wretched looking zombie that had crawled near my feet without being seen, then threw shadows at the mass that was closing in behind us. Skulduggery glanced at me and I nodded. I trusted him to be at full power, even without the armour of Lord Vile. I wrapped Tanith and Ghastly in my own shadows, and we watched Skulduggery soar above us, gathering the shadows and the darkness of the night to him, stronger and stronger they pulsed and I realized what he meant to do. I used my own shadows to grab Tanith and Ghastly, then took off to stand in the air directly behind Skulduggery, who nodded in appreciation.

"See? That's what we do training for, good instincts, by the way. Now hold still, the blast will be directed down, but I'll still have to shield us from deflection." I drew my shadows closer, thickening them and put a supportive arm around Tanith and Ghastly. To their credit they didn't fuss about being off the ground helpless. Skulduggery's shadows pulsed faster and faster, coiling in tighter and tighter, then he sent them blasting down and the zombies simply exploded into a gory mist. He brought up more shadows to shield us as the power from the blast raced back up into the night sky.

When the chaos settled there were no moving zombies. I realized then why people had feared Lord Vile. I had always imagined a long drawn out battle if he faced a group of warriors, a chance for the other side to strike a blow, but this was instantaneous. There was no mercy, no hesitation, not a single zombie had been missed. The blast had been so concentrated that although there were gory chunks splattered across it, Ghastly's van was fine. We landed and he went to it, examining it as Skulduggery would have examined the Bentley.

"How many?" I asked Skulduggery.

"Two hundred. But not our two hundred I'm afraid, or not all of them at any rate. The Cleavers will clean up this mess, there are others who will as well, but it will be a miracle if magic doesn't get out to civilians in the news."

He looked helplessly at Ghastly who shrugged. "That many zombies? Video must have gone viral by now, but there are those who can fix it. Magic gets exposed more often than we'd like. You had no choice, Skulduggery. That many zombies would have drawn attention at any rate."

Skulduggery nodded and we all piled back in the van pulling out over the remains of the horde.


Ghastly, as per Erskine's declaring all Elders free agents drove directly to his shop and set about making tea. He didn't even bother to ask, but got out three mugs. I went over and hugged him tight. I knew he hated situations he had to use magic in. "Hey, dad." I said, cuddling into his warmth as he wrapped his strong arms around me. He always smelled like a dad should. Like cologne and that comforting undefined dad scent. He'd always done his best to be a dad to me too, even if it would have broken Skulduggery's heart for him to protect me from his mother's visions.

"You're not buttering your old man up for something, are you?" He teased, returning the hug.

"Not this time." I teased back. I knew he would refuse to work on the dress with either Skulduggery or I there. At that point I honestly just wanted to be married, but Ghastly was my father as far as we were both concerned and I could do this one thing for him. I knew it would break him heart not to wait for the dress so I would, as frustrating as waiting was.

We had our tea, everyone content to be quiet, when I looked up in horror. "Did anyone notice any zombies that looked like hospital cadavers?"

Skulduggery cursed and shook his head before speaking. "Then we have a massive problem, it can control all the vacant dead bodies it can get to. But how is it getting them out of graveyards? They aren't strong enough to dig out."

Ghastly sighed. "They aren't getting out. The ones you saw, the old ones, the people in that town liked to keep them, I don't think I need to say what for."

"How many in that town kept them?" I asked warily.

"It has a reputation. I'm guessing a lot are still locked up in hidden rooms, though when those fools see them moving..." I looked at Skulduggery and we both burst out laughing. Ghastly looked at as sharply, then realized there was a living skeleton present and grinned. "But you two are different. You can think and move, Skulduggery, my daughter isn't some sort of degenerate and I'll kill the first man who says she is."

Tanith gasped and I turned around to see the distorted face at the window. Zombies were here as well. We froze, watching as a scythe flashed and the zombie was decapitated. Cleavers and Rippers were roaming in the streets beyond, the few street lights showing them locked in battle. Luckily they were winning.

I didn't even hesitate to call my armour to me before striding out into the night as my dead senses flowed over me and I knew the others were behind me. There were simply too many zombies spread out too far for a mass attack not to kill our allies as well, so we separated, I wielding shadows as I hacked open first one zombie's skull then another, finding a rhythm to the gory work. I sensed something and turned around, spearing a zombie before it could attack Tanith from behind. We were fighting back to back then, and although I would never tire, being dead, I knew she would. She decapitated another zombie that dared come too close and I could feel her tiring.

I was about to grab her and soar into the night when the ground started to tremble and roar. Ghastly was using Earth as his attacking power, taking out our attackers, turning them first solid them coming in, taking off the heads with savage blows of his fists. But he was also weary, and we both knew it. Skulduggery had taken to the air and he came down for Ghastly as I soared up with Tanith. We landed on a roof, looking down in dismay. There had to be at least forty zombies left, and the Cleavers and Rippers were starting to tire.

Then we saw an unbelievable sight. Vampires were pouring into the streets. Normally mindless creatures they were leaping onto zombies with savagery, only attacking zombies, ripping heads off with abandon. Zombies were going down, the tide was turning. The Cleavers and Rippers redoubled their efforts, but Skulduggery and I stayed put, attacking from the roof, refusing to abandon Tanith and Ghastly. Some of the zombies spotted us, and howled angrily, beginning to attack the building we were standing on. We were fighting now to keep them away from the doors and windows, striking as quickly as possible, but they surged in.

"Next roof, now!" Skulduggery yelled at me, already picking up a weary Ghastly. I grabbed Tanith and we flew over. I saw free Cleavers charging the building, and Rippers were finishing off the last of the zombies. The vampires remained, but backed off without attacking, snarling hatefully. Then they disappeared and the Cleavers let our unlikely allies go. When we were sure the area was cleared we took Ghastly and Tanith down to the ground and a Cleaver ran up to us, addressing Ghastly.

"The Sanctuary has been secured, Sir. We've cleaned up this outbreak and the one you faced tonight. The Sanctuary reports a surge of power twice from the cave but no further outbreaks have been detected. We have to get you all back to the Sanctuary now, Sir." Ghastly nodded wearily and we all got in the van.


The Sanctuary was ordered chaos. The agents from all over the world already there, and, I realized, they were the only reason the Sanctuary still stood. We hadn't had own own dead to break out anymore, but those from a local mortuary had come calling, seemingly attracted to the magic inside. Doctors saw to Tanith and Ghastly, Skulduggery and I refusing to leave them. We knew that if tonight had been bad then tomorrow night would only be worse, and the night was far from over. But the rest of the night was eerily quiet, as if the cave spirit had spent itself.

Skulduggery and I wanted to go press our attack then and there, but everyone else was too weary to follow, and Ghastly refused to let us go alone. "He was like this during the war too, Valkyrie. He could have fought forever. We had to hold him back at times. Speaking of holding back, where were our dead allies tonight?" He frowned at Skulduggery.

"They need time unfortunately to break through, but they will indeed be here tomorrow night. I suggest at this point we don't worry about good guys and bad guys and release any prisoners we know who will fight on our side."

Ghastly nodded. "I've already had the Sanctuary reach out to several people who deserve arrest, promising absolution of all past crimes if they help now. I hate doing that, but at this point humanity as a species is in danger."

Luckily for us those who did their jobs hushed everything up, but we had been lucky. We knew if magic got out we'd all either be exploited or hunted down and killed, the world not being inclined to give outcasts as they would see us a good leaving alone. I wondered if we would be so lucky the following night and settled in for some well-deserved meditation, Skulduggery doing the same across from me.


I awoke refreshed and could sense the twenty eighth day had dawned. Mainly because Ghastly sat up in bed with his morning paper, but I let it count anyhow. He and Tanith at last got cleared to leave and Skulduggery and I waited patiently outside for them to emerge dressed again in normal clothes. As Elders Skulduggery, Ghastly and I got to clear everything Erskine suggested instantly, sparing us all a boring meeting.

"We don't know if the criminals we've contacted will even bother showing up, or what good a few more bodies will do tonight, but there's hope they might. Those who agreed to help that we have in custody will be released tonight when it is far too late for them to do anything else." Erskine said as he smiled tightly.

We really had nothing to do but wait. The cave, strange as it seemed, shunned daylight, though sorcerors who fought the zombies reported no reaction to bright lights of any kind. It also feared our shadows, so it was a paradox. What feared both light and darkness, and why hide in a cave if darkness terrified you?

I had a flash of insight then, one I could only attribute to the part of Lord Vile that resided in my armour. The creature hated daylight, but not light. If we did enter the caves I knew the light would be blinding, that at the core of it we would find the spirit. It wasn't darkness it hated, but the potential power of the dead our shadows held. It could only control the dead bodies when the old spirit fled, actual zombies would have been a problem for it. It was weak, so very weak, and I wanted so badly to go kill it. Skulduggery put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped in surprise. "Valkyrie? Did you see something?"

I told them what I saw and they listened attentively, all of them refusing to let me go find the enemy. Skulduggery tilted his head to look at me, and I could tell he was surprised I hadn't grasped the obvious when he spoke. "It's a trap, Valkyrie. No doubt it is weakened, I'm sure it took damage with every body we destroyed, and taking bodies by force must have sapped it greatly. But remember it wants magic to feed on. Still, we'll have to start massing at the hospital, in abandoned buildings in the area, so let's get ready."

I nodded and we left the Sanctuary, finding Ghastly's van waiting for us. We got in and drove to the warehouse where the Irish Sanctuary was gathering with our allies. There was no way of course to tell who was from where, and as it was agreed the head of each Sanctuary would defer to Erskine things were going surprisingly smoothly.

I looked at Skulduggery as we stood in the back of the room as Erskine spoke from a makeshift stage, the other Grand Mages sitting behind him, looking bored. "You know if we could tell them apart, actual zombies would make great allies right now."

"I'd thought of that, but unfortunately it can be impossible to convince them to help at the best of times."

"Say's who?" A slurred voice asked. I turned, seeing a ragged skinned zombie, several more stood with him, but they all wore distinctive black uniforms and helmets. The few people that did turn around and saw them shrugged, and I noticed several more wore yellow vests as well. A rather proud Scapegrace stepped out from behind them, grinning broadly. He, well she, looked dreadful, and I knew she'd been bitten again. As expected, Thrasher was right behind her, hovering in absolute adoration.

"Found these on a visit to London. True, I had to bite them, but I naturally took over as Queen of the zombies." I didn't dare congratulate her on accepting her new gender.

I merely blinked. "You bit cops? Don't you think they'll be missed?"

"No, no, not at all. They have so many, right?"

I tried not to cry, and luckily being dead made that easy. I elbowed Skulduggery and he turned, taking in the sight with a sigh.

Scapegrace preened. "They walk beats alone at times, it was easy to collect this many, then get them to help collect more. They're trained to fight. They'll shoot the enemy without fear." She declared.

The zombie nearest her shuffled in keen embarrassment and she turned her head. "What?" She snapped.

"We don't carry guns, Mistress."

"What?"

"Normal London police officers do not carry guns, Lord, even Americans know that." I growled, and an American agent turned and smiled, giving me the thumbs up sign with a nod.

"You'd have needed the Armed Response Unit for guns, lady." He laughed, then returned his attention to Erskine. Scapegrace looked like she was going to faint, and Thrasher put his arms around her before kissing her passionately. I noticed she didn't resist. Ew. Skulduggery made a slight gagging sound beside me, and even the zombies turned away in disgust. Skulduggery grabbed my arm and led me away.


"I've never been so happy to be dead in all my life. Afterlife, whatever. That was truly revolting. Though I wish I could get you out of that armour. I'd adore a taste of coffee right now." He sighed.

"Just because I need to abstain, doesn't mean you do." I reminded him.

"But it isn't any fun drinking alone. Five minutes, please?" It was late afternoon so I shrugged and touched my jaws, shedding the armour. It fell away and I willed it back to the Bentley. I looked at Skulduggery.

"OK, five minutes, though I wish I could spend them getting the Bentley." Skulduggery smiled and led me over to a table that looked like a bad joke. Detectives and agents were assembled from the world over, and coffee and doughnuts competed with tea and cold pizza. Skulduggery of course thought a doughnut and pizza were a fine idea with coffee, so he led me away to a secluded corner where I could let him taste without drawing too many stares.

I wondered if I'd also have to clean him afterwards, but he was right. Minute bits at least seemed to absorb into the skull. He made his happy chirruping sound and blinked his eyes at me. I could tell only his training and self-respect were keeping him from cuddling me in room crowded with other detectives and smiled faintly at him. "How is it you talk me into whatever you want so easily?" I asked him, rising and donning my armour once more.

"You used to fight me tooth and nail, Valkyrie. Don't you remember our lovely arguments about Necromancy?"

"Yes, but I also recall handing my ring over in the end."

I heard a laugh and turned to see Solomon Wreath behind me. "If we didn't need you, I would kill you." I growled, summoning my armour and drawing my shadows. Skulduggery came to stand beside me, his own shadows curling around his fist and Wreath backed up several paces, stepping into a Necromancer that wore two old-fashioned guns. The man gave Wreath an annoyed swat.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid pup." He growled. Wreath mumbled an apology and melted into the crowd. The older Necromancer turned to me and whistled.

"So it is true, there was a second set of armour a Necromancer enchanted. Nice guns by the way."

"Yours as well, Sir."

He grinned with pleasure. It was surprising what good manners could do. "If that pup ever bothers you again, you let me know."

"I will, and thank you kindly for the offer, Sir."

He nodded and melted away into the crowd. Skulduggery made an amused sound at my elbow but I ignored him. "You never call me, Sir." He teased. I looked at him, amused.

"You wouldn't like it if I did, Sir."

Skulduggery winced. "Don't so that, it's creepy."

"Yes, Elder Pleasant."

"Not that either."

"Of course, your exalted holiness."

"Valkyrie!"

"Sorry. Well, no I'm not." I burst out laughing and he glared at me. "You look like you do when you get caught in the rain." I teased. His glared deepened and he turned back to listen to Erskine with an affronted huff.

"Skulduggery, I'm sorry." I said, nudging him lightly with my shoulder. He ignored me so I turned my attention to Erskine as well. He finished his speech and sat down, his eyes silently pleading with us to rescue him.

I dug out my mobile, luckily having his number now that I was an Elder. "Enjoying yourself, Grand Mage?" I teased when he answered.

"I don't even know what I just said." He groaned.

"Makes two of us. Should I actually be paying attention?"

"Not really. Everything said in this room will be changed the moment were in actual battle, so I suppose you're the only wise one here. Not that too many people are listening. I wish I could get off this stupid stage." He sighed.

"Tell the Grand Mage next to you you have a woman on the phone who just found out about the other one and is livid with you. He's clearly listening you everything you say."

"I find the implication about my love life insulting, but I'll try." He leaned over and said something I was fairly sure was nasty to the other Grand Mage because the man's eyes lit up. He nodded and Erskine left the stage.

He smiled as he walked up to us. "I told him you two fools are going to escort me outside and she's waiting for me there."

We fell in behind him, Skulduggery having no doubt heard both sides of the conversation, even if he was still ignoring me. I sighed with relief to step into the late afternoon sun. We weren't the only people to escape the meeting. Groups clustered here and there, talking quietly.

One group in particular caught my eye and I knew the invitation to have all past crimes forgiven had been a good one. They didn't recognize me, but two of the men stared at Skulduggery. Springheeled Jack doffed his top hat politely in Skulduggery's direction before returning to the conversation, and Billy-Ray Sanguine waved cheerfully.


Ah, come on. You KNEW I couldn't write the story and leave my two favourite gentleman out, didn't you?