Moving dead bodies was one of her least favorite parts of her job, right behind walking through sewage. Never the less, she helped Skulduggery carry the corpse back to the manhole, with only minimal complaining.
"You know, I hope you appreciate the sacrifices I make for you. It's not every hot seventeen year old who would be willing to spend her free time helping a skeleton move a dead body in a sewer."
He chuckled, "I seem to remember a rather annoying twelve year old begging me to take her on cases. I hope you appreciate that it's not every dashing detective who would be willing to take her under his wing."
"Admit it, you love having me around."
"I'll admit that watching you stumble around with such incompetence has done wonders for my ego. It really puts into perspective how brilliant I am."
She rolled her eyes, "I'm glad you value me so highly,"
"Valkyrie, please you are utterly unvaluable to me."
She frowned at that, not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
Once they reached the spot where they had first entered the sewer; they set the body down besides the ladder and stripped down to their normal clothes. Valkyrie was glad to say goodbye to the hideous orange fabric and over-sized hat. She shoved them both back into the duffel bag with gusto.
They left the bag beside the body and climbed the ladder back to the surface. The sky was lighter now and dawn was approaching fast. Skulduggery reached for his collarbones and tapped the sigils engraved there. A rather boring face with a large nose flowed upwards, hiding his skull from any passing mortal. Although she doubted anyone would be around this early.
The Sanctuary van hadn't arrived yet so the headed over to the Bentley and popped the boot open. Both Valkyrie and Skulduggery had gotten into the habit of keeping a spare outfit in the car, which came in useful for times like this. While the jumpsuits had done their job in protecting their clothes, their shoes were another matter. Valkyrie's waterproof boots were filthy but undamaged. Skulduggery's shoes were beyond hope of repair.
"A tragic loss," he muttered, taking them off and changing into the new pair.
"Let's hope their sacrifice wasn't in vain," she said, slipping into a pair of trainers.
She picked her boots up by the cleanest part of them she could find and shoved them into a plastic bag she'd found in the boot. Skulduggery gave his a sad look and left them laying there on the pavement.
A minute later a nondescript van pulled up beside the Bentley. Two Sanctuary mages she didn't recognise exited the van. Both of them looked bleary eyed and harassed. No doubt they were grumpy with having to work the graveyard shift so she gave them a nod and then left them to Skulduggery.
While he gave the mages instructions on what to do with the body, Valkyrie shut the boot and went to go sit in the front of the Bentley. God, it felt good to take the weight off her legs. She flicked down the sun visor and peered into the mirror. She gave an involuntary shudder at the sight of her hair. While it was by far cleaner than it had been, it was still mess. She pushed back her hair and spotted the shallow cut where the monster's needle-sword-thing had nicked her. The wound was small but it stung and the skin around it was raised and slightly discoloured. She could see a nasty bruise beginning to form on her check too. Not to mention all the bruises and grazes the rest of her body had suffered.
Once she had assessed her injuries and concluded that she didn't need medical attention, she sat back and watched Skulduggery direct the mages handling the body. After they were done shoving the body in the back of the van, Skulduggery came and sat in the seat next to her.
"Do you want dropping off at home?" he asked as he put the key in the ignition and started up the Bentley.
"Your house is closer, I'd rather just crash there again."
"Are you sure? It's been over a week since you've seen your family."
She felt a jolt of surprise at that. Sure, she'd been working on cases almost non-stop with Skulduggery for a while but had it really been over a week? She thought back. She'd been so busy working on cases with Skulduggery she hadn't given much thought to spending quality time with her family. With the threat of war looming over them they'd been working almost non-stop to make sure no more disasters struck Ireland. They couldn't risk anything sparking a war between Sanctuaries and so for now her personal life had gone on the back burner.
Guilt burned in her chest but then pushed it down and shook her head, "No, it's almost dawn. By the time we get there everyone will be up and getting ready for the day and I am not going to school like this,"
"Fair enough,"
He took the car out of park and they began the drive to Cemetery Road. As they pulled out onto the main road she glanced back at the manhole they had just come from. She didn't like the thought of leaving the monster down there. What if it attacked more mortals in the meantime? Plus, she hated the idea that it had gotten away. She wasn't used to feeling beaten. But then she wasn't looking forward to facing it again either.
You know if you had just let me out, you wouldn't have to go back there. We would have ripped that monster to shreds. Gauged out its eyes. Torn off its limbs. Snapped those stupid skewers from its body.
Valkyrie sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then breathed out slowly through her nose. She concentrated on her breathing doing best to ignore the voice in her head.
Maybe we could have gotten Vile to come out and play. Now that would have been fun. Don't you think so? Valkyrie?
She turned her head and stared pointedly out the window. She watched the streets flickers by, glimpsed the sun rising between the buildings. Kept taking deep calming breathes.
Valkyrie! Hello? Are you even listening to me?
Skulduggery was saying something to her now. She turned her attention to him.
"I'm going to do some research once we get home. I've got a few books on monster hunting in my personal library that might come in use"
"As long your not going to make me help then I don't care." She said curtly. Instantly, she felt bad for snapping at him.
"Someone's in a bad mood," he teased. His tone was lighthearted enough but there was a note of concern underneath that.
"I'm tired, sore and desperately in need of a hot shower. Of course, I'm in a bad mood."
"What else is bothering you?"
She didn't feel like talking about this, not right now. So she shrugged and said, "You know I don't like losing fights"
"We didn't lose, Valkyrie. We're merely making a strategic retreat until we can come up with a plan to take down this monster"
"That sounds a lot like losing to me,"
"It's not," he insisted, "But that's not why you're in a bad mood. Talk to me."
"It's nothing. It's just...it's..." she didn't know what else to say. So she sighed and gave in, "It's Darquesse. She's in a chatty mood. She won't shut up,"
"That's not a good sign," he said softly.
"No. I know its not. But I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay then. So what are your opinions on polka music?"
She blinked in surprise, "I'm sorry?"
"Polka music. You don't want to talk bout the case and you don't want to talk about Darquesse. So talk to me about polka. It's got to be more interesting than whatever Darquesse is yakking on about."
She laughed and suddenly she didn't feel so bad. She ignored the voice in her head and focused on her conversation with Skulduggery. They talked about music, and then dancing and then other nonsense until the Bentley pulled up to Skulduggery's house and they got out of the car.
Once they were inside Valkyrie headed straight for the shower. She left her clothes in a pile on the floor. Then grabbed a healing stone and wrapped in in a wash cloth. She turned the shower on and turned up the temperature as high as she could stand it. The hot water was a great relief. It felt wonderful to be able to wash away the remaining grime. She covered herself in soap and then washed her hair twice until she was sure she was spotless. Then she turned her attention back to her injuries. Her chest and stomach were a mess of bruises but she could already feel the healing stone start to work.
Feeling more tired, but much cleaner and less sore, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She stood there for a moment, concentrating on the air pressed against her fingertips. Then used it to dry herself. She grinned. She hadn't over dried her skin that time. She was getting good at that now.
She grabbed some cotton balls and a bottle of antiseptic from the medical cabinet hanging over the sink. She gritted her teeth and poured some of antiseptic onto her grazed hands. It stung like hell but she didn't want to risk infection. She knew the healing stone had some sterilizing properties but she was leaving nothing to chance. It would be just her luck to wind up with tetanus or typhoid or some other horrible disease, because Skulduggery had dragged her down a sewer without gloves.
She dabbed at the grazes on her hands and then moved onto the cuts covering the rest of her body. She hissed in pain when the antiseptic touched the cut on her neck. It was still tender. Now she half wished she had let Darquesse snap off those stupid skewers.
When she was done she put the medical supplies away and walked into her bedroom. She glanced at the clock by her bedside, it was half past eight in the morning. Her reflection would be on the way to college now. Her dad would be at work and her mum and Alice would most likely be in the kitchen finishing off breakfast. She sighed, climbed into bed and was asleep within minutes.