China Sorrows was chanting, low and steady, as she walked in. Skulduggery had his pistol up and ready... But he wasn't firing.
"Shit." Ezra said quietly, grabbing the dagger from her waistband and lunging for Saracen's throat. But then Valkyrie was on top of her, trying to wrestle the knife out of her hand. Ezra cursed again, falling off the table, kicking Valkyrie in the face. China's chanting had greatly increased in volume and it was pissing Ezra off. Ezra went for Saracen again, the knife aimed for his spleen, but Valkyrie wrapped her arms around Ezra and yanked, and the knife found its home deep in Saracen's thigh. Saracen screamed and China's chant reached a crescendo and when Ezra looked around, Dexter and Anton were waking up. Normal eyes, normal lips.
"Fuck!" Ezra screeched, then she air walked away.
Valkyrie was the first to move, gently untying the ropes around Saracen's wrists. Skulduggery helped her, untying his ankles. Saracen was whimpering.
"What the hell happened?" Dexter asked, accepting Ghastly's offered hand to help him stand.
"It feels like i have the world's worst hangover." Anton grunted, sitting up by himself.
"You were possessed." Saracen moaned as Valkyrie helped him into an upright position. Dexter frowned.
"Was i? Who else was? Wait, where is Ezra?" He asked, his eyes widening as he looked around the room. The blood, the bodies, the ropes tied abound the table legs, Saracen angrily chewing leaves as he breathed heavily. China shook her head.
"Yourself and Anton. I don't know why it didn't work for Ezra..." She said quietly.
"How long do we have left to get her back?" Anton asked, eyeing Saracen with a bad gut feeling.
"We have two days." Erskine said.
~~~
Finding Tanith Low was a lot easier than Ezra thought it would be. She just sort of followed the screaming and tendrils of shadows and there she was, in a dark dingy alley, in all her brown leather glory.
"Are you lost, Sunny?" Tanith asked, dropping the decapitated body and wiping her sword on her sleeve. Ezra allowed her lips to go black and Tanith grinned.
"What a refreshing turn of events." Tanith said, "How'd you manage that?" To this, Ezra shrugged.
"She sleeps with her mouth open." She said. Tanith laughed as she sheathed her sword, throwing at arm around Ezra and walking out onto the street.
"What was that about?" Ezra asked, gesturing behind them. Tanith shrugged.
"He was bugging me. Now, have you ever possessed anyone before?" Tanith asked. Ezra thought for a moment the nodded slowly.
"Yes, but it must have been a century or two ago."
"Who let you out?" Tanith asked. It was Ezra's turn to shrug.
"I don't know. It was like someone was pulling me out, then guided me here. To this body, I mean."
"Well, I'll be dammed. It worked." Tanith said, giving a low, impressed whistle.
"What worked?"
"I have a friend. A sensitive, but on our side- Team Bad, if you like. He guided you. We weren't sure if it would work or not, but here we are."
"Now what?"
"Now, my dear vanilla friend, we have fun. We need to make a distraction." Tanith said, smirking. And with that, she grabbed Ezra's hand and they both ran out into the night.
~~~
Billy-Ray emerged into Finbar Wrong's house unnoticed. He crept quietly through out the house, but creeping perhaps wasn't necessary as the occupants were yelling at each other.
"I just have a real bad feeling, Sharon!" Finbar was shouting.
"Well, call that skeleton man, then!" A woman, Billy-Ray assumed Sharon, shouted back.
"I did, but he said he's busy so he's sending over some cleavers now!"
"Busy doing what?!" The two had stopped yelling now.
"I don't know, something about a big fight in a night club. Said it was real important." Finbar exclaimed. Billy-Ray could see them through the partially open door. Sharon's back was to him, Finbar was facing the door. Billy-Ray silently cursed. He didn't like killing anyone he didn't have to, contrary to popular belief. Billy-Ray counted to three, then barged into the room, straight razor in hand. He slit Sharon's throat before Finbar could say anything, it hadn't really registered for him yet, and it never would as Billy-Ray advanced, slicing through Finbar's neck as well.
"Sorry," Billy-Ray whispered, staring sadly at their corpses, "You just knew too much." Then he sank back into the ground.