Well, I'm on a roll this week! Thank god for vacations!
Enjoy.
"You've lost, Blackwood. Your accomplices are down, your elemental friend is about to drop Rave on the floor, your only hope is a hostage, and we aren't leaving here without the boy." Skulduggery's voice was commanding, reasonable, and not nearly as bad as he could have been, under the circumstances. His gun had pointed it's self at Blackwood's forehead.
The female sorceress was obviously struggling to hold Rave in midair, sweat beaded on her brow, and he had stopped his forward motion. Her arms were raised, but her hands trembled under invisible strain. All of her concentration was focused on just keeping Rave from hitting the many candles and shards of glass suspended around him. It wouldn't be long before his limp body dropped to the ground.
Valkyrie was struggling uselessly against the invisible hand that held her, to no avail. She could barely breathe, and she was cursing herself for not stopping Blackwood before he could cast his deadly enchantment.
Blackwood's beady eyes darted around the room, back and forth, searching for a way out. He was a man backed into a corner, and men in corners got desperate.
His eyes finally found their way back to the skeleton. He licked his lips nervously, but his voice was strong and commanding. "You don't understand, Detective. You're not leaving here at all. Now put down the gun, before Miss. Cain suffocates."
Skulduggery observed him for a moment, hardly glancing at Valkyrie, and then slowly, so, so, slowly, he bent down and carefully placed the gun on the hard floor of the gym. The loud clink of metal on wood made Blackwood flinch, but he regained his composure quickly.
"There, you see? No gun, no tricks." He said as he straightened, keeping his hands up and his voice soothing and low, like he was talking to a frightened animal. "Now loosen up a little. Let my partner go. Just you and me. One on one. Nobody else has to get hurt here." He took a step forward.
"Don't move!" Blackwood shouted. He took a step towards Valkyrie, and his hand tightened on the voodoo Barbie; Valkyrie's back arched as the last of her air was forced from her lungs.
There was pain, tightness in her chest. She stopped struggling and fell limp, an occasional twitch from her foot her only movement. Darkness threatened around her vision. It was odd, a dark haired and semi-concise girl floating a few feet above the ground.
Skulduggery froze. "Blackwood, put the girl down." He said, and now his voice was sharp and loud.
"Don't tell me what to do!" The blackmaster shouted.
"Blackwood!" Skulduggery yelled.
Blackwood flinched.
"Snow Blackwood!"He called out again. "You are under arrest, by order of the Sanctuary, for kidnapping, resisting arrest, orchestrating and attempting a summoning of the sixth level, threatening an official sanctuary representative, annoying me, and being an all around general nuisance; you have the right to not much at all. . . ."
He wasn't even finished speaking when he moved. His hand snapped out and shot a blast of air at the elemental keeping Rave aloft, and as her feet flew out from under her, Rave crashed to the ground, bringing candles and glass and other articles needed for the summoning with him. An unseen pressure buildup of magic was suddenly released harmlessly into the air, something so subtle and complex you didn't realize it was there until it was gone.
Skulduggery was quick and dove for his gun, he came up shooting.
Blackwood dropped the doll and made a mad dive dodging bullets for the now unconscious Valkyrie, who had fallen in a heap the moment the doll touched the ground. Too late, Skulduggery saw the chalk pentagram, hugely uncomplex compared to the one Rave was to be placed in, etched onto the floor around her, too far away to be of any use to Blackwood before.
It was almost invisible in the half light of the candles, and had obviously been placed there before they arrived, and it was just bad luck, (or good, depending on your point of view,) that Valkyrie had landed in it.
Blackwood stopped a foot away from Valkyrie, rolled, and came to a stop lying next to her. He gave Skulduggery a vicious smile as he ran towards them, trying to stop him before he did something unfortunate.
Both Valkyrie and Blackwood fit easily into to the confines of the pentagram, so when the Blackmaster reached out a hand to touch the outline of the circle, the dark red light that burst from the lines and curves didn't touch them, and they were unharmed when the red light grew too bright to look at.
With a burst of senseless noise and the smell of brimstone, they disappeared in a flash of light, and Skulduggery was thrown back with the force of an explosion.
And then all was silent.
The candles had gone out, and the only light came from the moon and stars' shining through the broken glass of the ceiling, but it was enough to see the burnt outline of the pentagram that was once chalked into the floor, and the noticeable absence of a criminal and a teenage girl.
Skulduggery stood up slowly and looked at the remains of the pentagram seemingly without emotion. He walked over to it with professional detachment and examined it closer. The silence of the night was unnerving.
Finally, Skulduggery turned away and walked towards to door with slow, unhurried movement. He stopped at the door and didn't move. His hands curled into fists.
"Dimmit!" He suddenly shouted. His foot lashed out and kicked the door with a violence and speed that surprised even him. He stood there for a moment, and he knew if he still had lungs, his breath would be uneven and ragged with emotion. He stood there until he could make his fingers relax and his mind stop racing. His arm reached out and touched the door knob, but he paused.
Skulduggery whirled around, his gun already out, and with an explosion of noise and gunfire the female elemental who had been trying to escape out another door while nobody was looking was blasted in the back with several rounds from his gun.
No warning shots or hits to the arm and legs for this one. She let out a soft sound, like air escaping from a tire, and this nameless, faceless foe fell to the ground, dead. Blood spread quickly from her still warm corpse in a sickly puddle around her, and it trickled out of her mouth, pooling around her face and reflecting her sightless eyes.
Finally, Skulduggery's gun was silent as his finger stopped clicking uselessly at the trigger, all his rounds having been spent on the woman. He stood there for a moment, a manikin for all he moved. His hand did not shake, and his skull was impassive.
Then a whisper, just a whisper, carried on the wind.
"For Valkyrie."
At last, he lowered the arm holding the still smoking gun, turned without a word, and left the dead woman through the door into the cold night air.
What did you think? I hope I actually end up finishing this one.
Read and review.