"Did you know?" she asks. The others flinch at the flatness of her voice but she can't bring herself to care. The magic holding them in place insures they won't interfere in what happens next.
It's just her and Skulduggery now. Just like it should be.
She inspects his face. His suit. Every inch of him. Taking note of every tiny detail as if she were committing them to memory.
He's watching her too.
He doesn't respond and anger rips through her. Razor-sharp spikes erupt from the darkness as it writhes around her in a maddened frenzy.
"DID YOU KNOW?!" she screams. Her hand clenches around the smooth surface of the soul catcher. It glows weakly, illuminating the skin of her hand. By her feet lies a pile of ash that had at one point been a gauntlet of the darkest black.
Darquesse is not an idiot.
She already knows the answer to her own question. She knows Skulduggery better than anyone, after all. But even so she wants, needs, to hear him say it.
Why? A dull, little whisper asks her. It won't change anything
Darquesse wonders if she should be concerned by the voice's presence. She had always thought her existence was unique. If it wasn't, did that mean Valkyrie had more of a screw loose than she'd initially thought?
Not that it mattered anymore anyway. Darquesse was the one running the show now.
"I want Valkyrie back."
He says it so quietly, almost gently, as if he's apologizing and it takes considerable effort to stop herself from tearing his jaw off and slamming him into the nearest wall.
She has less luck with the words and they sink into her, wiggling their way through clothes and skin and muscle. Deeper and deeper until even the intricate seals carved onto her heart can't stop them from taking up residence inside her tarnished soul.
The whisper returns. She thinks she might hate it.
See, it says, snickering into the quiet of her mind.
He doesn't want you
It took a while but I crawled out from under my rock. Sorry for the wait (;ω;)
So in case you're wondering about the story, it's a rewrite of book 9, chapter 27/28. Instead of getting evicted from her body she stops China and catches everyone. This is how I imagine her conversation with Skulduggery going.
I know many SP readers think Darquesse is just evil and insane but I think a lot of what she does makes sense considering her character. Skulduggery says it himself, she's like a child. Just an insanely powerful child. And I think that being betrayed by people whom she, mere hours ago, decided were her friends had to hurt. Is it an excuse to commit mass murder? Of course not. But her character deserves better than being labeled as 'just your basic monster'.