~Mild Language & Violence~
23 September 2016
12:05
He was an odd looking man. He had straggly dirty blonde hair, and brown, small eyes. He had patchy stubble, as if he had shaved in a rush. And he was fat. Not mildly overweight, oh no. The buttons that took up residence on his stomach were truly hanging on for dear life. Four other people were behind him. There was a girl in a piece of red fabric that she was using as a dress, with glossy platinum blonde hair and icy green eyes. There was another girl who Valkyrie recognised as the Banshee from Dexter's all those years ago. A tall, very tall, man stood proudly, with a ridiculous hair cut and red eyes. Then there was a dark-skinned boy with long dreads, hanging back from the rest.
"Happy Birthday, Valkyrie." Said the obese man. Valkyrie didn't know who he was, just that he was bad because Banshee was there. "Fletcher, take the Edgleys. Now." Dexter said, standing up. Fletcher picked up on the urgency in his voice, made sure he was linked with Valkyrie's family, then they were gone. Ezra was standing now, as was Skulduggery.
"What do you want?" Dexter asked, while China and Tanith tried their best to hide the disgust of the man in front of them.
"What? I just came to wish my son's friend a Happy Birthday. I have a gift." He said. Valkyrie shook her head.
"I don't like to be rude, but I'm not sure Miss Cain would like anything from you, Mr Reid." Skulduggery said.
"I'm almost certain she will want this one." Macon said. Silvery grey shadows seeped from his hands. Skulduggery pulled Valkyrie close as Ezra took a step towards Dexter. Tanith was reaching for her sword. China looked bored. The swirling mist dropped to the ground, then separated into three levitating piles. The piles gradually grew taller, and bigger. Then out stepped Ghastly Bespoke, Saracen Rue and Anton Shudder. Alive. Whole. Not bleeding. Not dead. The Dead Men stared at each other for the longest time.
"I expect all eight Dead Men to be at my dinner party. If not, then I'll have Miss Lowe peel the skin from Miss Sorrows' pretty body." He said, then stopped as if considering. "Why don't you demonstrate, Blaise?" He said. The blonde stepped forward, considering. The dark skinned boy and young girl looked uncomfortable. "Dexter, punch Ezra as hard as you can in the face." She said. Before anyone ever knew what was happening, Dexter withdrew his fist and slammed it into Ezra. Ezra's head jerked painfully. She nearly lost her balance, stumbling into Valkyrie, who steadied her. Stars danced as pain radiated from her nose, blood spurting. Dexter was looking from his fist to his fiancé, confusion and shock and guilt scrawled on his face. "Christ Almighty!" She said, holding a hand to her nose, droplets of blood on her beautiful dress. Mr Reid and his posse left.
"Fucking hell, Dexter!" Ezra hollered, disappearing into the kitchen, a very distressed Dexter following her, apologising profusely. Valkyrie turned to the undead Dead Men. Ghastly and Saracen and Anton, all there, alive and well.
"How?" Skulduggery asked, eyeing them with suspicion. Ghastly sighed and shrugged, sitting down. Saracen was frowning. "I don't know. I don't have the slightest of ideas."
"Is Ravel alive?" Anton asked. Before anyone could answer, Ezra stormed out. "You broke my nose! Jesus Dexter! You just proposed my God, I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen on the night of an engagement!" Ezra said, holding a wad of paper towels up to her nose. Dexter was trying to be serious, but couldn't help smiling at her reaction.
"Engaged?" Saracen asked, looking from his best friend to Ezra. Ezra looked at Dexter and smiled, then offered her hand to Saracen who admired the ring. "About bloody time, Dexter!" He said, pulling Dexter in for one of those manly embraces that involved an awful lot of patting from both parties. He scooped Ezra up too, congratulating them. Ghastly and Anton did the same.
"I hate to ruin this moment... But what do we do?" Skulduggery asked.
Tanith stepped forward, and no one missed the lingering glance between her and Ghastly. "Your lips aren't black." He said.
"There isn't a gaping hole if your back." She said. They smirked at each other. Tanith shook her head slightly. "Anyways, as I was saying. We do nothing. Just go with it. So far we have a Dream Jumper, Mind control, a Banshee and now people brought back from the dead. We are batting out of our league anyways, so we may as well just go with it." She said.
"Erskine is alive. That's what that man said to have all eight of us. Because he's alive." Anton said, rage seeping in.
"Yes. Ravel is alive. He's in isolation." Ezra said in small, measured voice.
"Why?"
"Anton-" Ghastly started, but Anton gave him a look.
"Why, Ezra?" He demanded.
"Because after... The cells, Darquesse took control. We had to fight her, to beat her. We did, by the way. But after that, Valkyrie left, and we needed new Elders-"
"You didn't make him an Elder, did you?! You're not that stupid, Ezra!"
"No, she isn't. If you would let her finish, you would know." Skulduggery said.
"We didn't have time. So we threw him in a cell and hid the key." Ezra finished.
"You should have killed him."
"No she shouldn't have." Dexter said.
"If we did, we would have been as bad as him." Valkyrie said.
"Killing him is a terrible idea." Saracen said, calculating something he would probably never share.
"What's this dance?" Ghastly asked.
"It's Macon's, that man's. I guess you all have to go." China said. She was threatened, and she didn't like being threatened.
"Want a lift to the shop?" Tanith asked Ghastly. He nodded, said happy birthday to Valkyrie and left. Skulduggery and Valkyrie were going to take Anton to the Midnight Hotel, and prepare to break it to him that Scapegrace was the temporary manager. Saracen was going to sleep in the spare room at Dexter's and Ezra's. Chine called for her car.
There was a tension though. These men should not be alive, and yet they were. But there must be a price. There always is.
Thanks for reading!
