A/N: I don't own Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Hopeless, Larrikin, Corrival, Saracen, Dex, Ghastly, Erskine, Anton, Darquesse, Gracious or Donegan.
Our brothers arrived shortly after midnight, all of them carrying the packs they took on missions and I saw Anton's eyes light up. There was a noisy confusion as we both greeted our brothers, Skulduggery making a beeline for me and hoisting me off the floor in a hug. "I missed my best friend." He whispered and I hugged him tighter.
"Me too." I admitted. He left me down only for me to be tackled from behind by Dex.
"Little sis!" He chirped happily, and I returned the hug, then more or less grumbled by way through hugs from Saracen and Erskine as well, making sure to tell them both how hideously ugly they were and sending them both into helpless gales of laughter. I still didn't feel like a full Dead Man, but they insisted I was.
Ghastly was a lot more sedate in his greeting, cuddling me close and ruffling my hair fondly. "Missed you, Skulduggery needs his keeper." He teased. "Hey, we got a surprise for you both. You know how the Sanctuary scientists love to tinker?"
"Yes-" Anton said, immediately wary.
"Well apparently the Dead Men have groupies and long story short, one found a way to bolster our numbers. Valkyrie Cain, I'd like you to meet the rest of the Dead Men."
"What?" Anton and I managed at the same time. The door opened and Corrival Deuce stepped through. Alive again. I didn't recognize the other two but they had to be Hopeless and Larrikin, the brothers I'd loved dearly but never got to meet. Corrival glared at me sternly for an instant, then his gaze softened and he held out his arms for a hug.
"Nice having a girl around for a change." He said as he held me close. "We've been watching you, Valkyrie, all of us." He said with a fond smile and he pulled away.
"Thats sweet, but really creepy to be honest." I said.
"Of course it's creepy, we're Dead Men. So you're the new little sis, huh?" The taller of the men bent down to look at me, running his hands through his shortly cropped blond hair. "I'm Hopeless. Don't laugh, it is a brilliant Taken name." He said straightening up to smile down at me.
"He certainly is hopeless." Larrikin said, rolling his eyes. He was shorter, but clearly packed full of muscle and he had dark glossy hair and piercing blue eyes. "I'm Larrikin and I'm better than he is."
"You only get to say that because you saved Dexter's life." Hopeless grumbled as a grinning Larrikin looked at Anton. Anton snorted, pretending not to be impressed, but then clasped him in a tight hug.
"I didn't get a hug." Hopeless whined and I laughed, pulling him close. "Much better. There's ten of us now, only used to ever be seven. I can't think of a single thing that comes in ten that's any good whatsoever." He grumbled and I smiled. I'd been told Larrikin was the funny one but I got the idea no one had gotten to know Hopeless all that well. That made me feel sad for him because I knew exactly how it felt to be the new member and somewhat ignored. I wondered if that was another reason Anton and I had bonded, he'd taken me under his wing, sheltered me until the rest truly accepted me or at least pretended to.
"Valkyrie, help me bring in the take away?" It was Ghastly and he didn't need to ask twice. I knew he needed to talk. We walked out to the van and he opened the back doors so we'd be hidden from view. I frowned slightly, Dead Men kept no secrets from our brothers. "Skulduggery has been off kilter without you. He's still a detective but-" He sighed. "I'm worried about him, Val. We talked. He isn't in love with you, but he does need you if that makes any sense. He's been pretending he's OK, but the man is on the ropes. I'm sorry, not my place to say anything."
"No, it is your place. Well, we'll have the mission together and Anton's already given me the go ahead to go back to being partners with Skulduggery on some cases. Not all the time, but Skulduggery's been yammering at him." I said and Ghastly laughed in relief.
"I have not." A velvety voice huffed and we both jumped slightly. Skulduggery grinned at me cheerily. I'd never needed the façade to tell how he felt and now he seemed lit from within with happiness. He held out his arms for another hug and I indulged him.
We carried the food into the kitchen where the Dead Men descended on it. I stood back with Skulduggery watching my brothers display all the table manners of feral wolves. Saracen looked up, his face stuffed with chicken. "You want some?" He mumbled around it and I shook my head.
"Maybe later." I said faintly and Skulduggery chuckled.
"Go on then, eat with your brothers, you can bond with them." He teased. Larrikin heard him and turned around waving a piece of chicken in my direction. I sighed and took it, glad there was no place to sit. Anton looked up from his food and snorted.
"Appalling, aren't they?" He asked amused, clearly not bothered in the least. I'd seen most of these men eat quickly before but this was more like men on the edge of starvation.
"When did any of them eat last?" I asked and Ghastly managed to mumble something that sounded like 'three days ago' around his food and my heart softened. That explained the lack of table manners. It also let me know the amount of food wasn't nearly enough. Not for that many of the Dead Men.
"Help yourselves to the kitchen, we're going on a food run." I said taking Skulduggery's elbow. I was hungry too with one measly piece of chicken, but not three days hungry, so I handed it over to the nearest Dead Man earning a grunt of appreciation.
"That was sweet of you." Skulduggery said once we were driving towards town in search of food. "In case you are wondering we've been out in the field that long. The Dead Men are tired and hungry. We got back barely in time for them to snag some food, but I knew it wouldn't be enough."
That sounded bad. We'd gone without eating before and they knew they had from midnight to noon to get to the Midnight Hotel so something was seriously wrong for them to skip sleeping at the Sanctuary. After we'd loaded ourselves down with twice the amount of take away and several weeks worth of groceries we headed back. "Is there still a Sanctuary?" I asked and from the terrible look of despair Skulduggery gave me I knew there wasn't. "Lord." I said softly.
We were hailed as heroes when we entered with more food and I took Anton aside, leaving the men to their food. "Have they told you yet?" I asked and he nodded, his face grim.
"It's open season on Dead Men, Valkyrie. Shortly after the others were brought back the Sanctuary was attacked from the inside, then abandoned. I don't need to tell you that means the Dead Men have no support. We're on our own. There's no question of them staying now. Skulduggery, Erskine, Ghastly. Their homes were destroyed."
"Then someone will be here next." I said, not a question but a statement.
"Which is why we are on emergency lockdown and switching off our normal travel route. Don't worry, honey. We're all trained warriors and we've been hunted before. Besides, there's ten of us now. Twelve if we pick up two potential candidates."
"Oh, God no. I mean Gracious O'Callahan and Donegan Bane. Goody." I rolled my eyes and Anton laughed. We both liked the pair when they weren't bickering which was almost constantly. It was more like play-fighting but it got on the nerves of everyone within earshot. I grinned, suddenly realizing that Skulduggery and I must have made people feel the same way.
I pulled Anton into a tight hug. "Thank you. You could have refused then but you didn't." I managed around the lump in my throat as my eyes misted up. I blinked back the tears, I hated how easily I could cry at times but Anton looked emotional too.
"I'm not about to cry for the same reason, Valkyrie. I'm about to cry because this means we have unwelcome guests until the mission is over." He grumbled making me laugh. We went back in finding the Dead Men eating more sedately. Ghastly gave me a worried glance but I smiled at him reassuringly. No, I hadn't wanted to be drug into whatever mess they'd fallen into, but they were my brothers, my family and nobody was hurting them if I could help it.
Anton showed Skulduggery and Ghastly where to park inside the hotel. And I whistled in appreciation. There was a garage that just appeared to be a blank wall, but when Anton tapped the wall the illusion disappeared.
We'd been briefed as much as we could before setting down in Antarctica where Gracious and Donegan joined us by helicopter. They came in, cheerful grins onto their faces, both hugging me tightly. "So none of you could resist my warmth and charm, could you?" Gracious asked and Anton muttered something about bringing back the old tradition of hitting new Dead Men. I picked up on the his lead.
"You'll both love it. Let Ghastly or Anton hit you first. Hopefully they'll knock you out and you won't even feel it when the rest of us hit you." I deadpanned and Gracious went pale.
"Now, now. They have to be approved by the Dead Men and Skulduggery most of all, then we hit them." Corrival said, joining in on the fun. Skulduggery waved a lazy hand.
"I approve if the rest of you do, let's just hit them." He said, towering over Gracious. Gracious looked up bravely enough, and when the rest of us nodded our approval he manned up and didn't even flinch when Skulduggery moved suddenly and hugged him in greeting.
We all greeted our new brothers, and I was happiest of all. I was no longer the newest Dead Man even if I was the youngest. Corrival gathered us together. "All we know is that the Dead Men are being hunted. Something was done to the Irish Sanctuary from within, to cut us off from supplies and support. There is no Sanctuary, for now, at least. I'm counting on all of you to see this mission through. We have to stick together there is no backing out on this one, I'm afraid. They want us all dead."
"Who?" Donegan asked.
"A good question." Ghastly said. We were getting corrupted information for a while before the internal chaos. The only good news is there are twelve of us now and if we are isolated they will bring the attack to us." He looked at me hopefully. "Saracen can know things but only at short range. I hate myself for asking but is there any chance of Darquesse helping us out on this?"
I nodded, drawing a look of surprise from Anton. "I felt my level of power come back the moment most of my memories did. If any of you are afraid of me, I'll leave, hunt these people down on my own."
"No!" All eleven of my brothers of them said at the same time, Skulduggery included. "You are one of us, Valkyrie. You aren't charging blindly into certain death just to save us. With the rare exception of one or two of us sneaking off on smaller missions we've never split up like that. Corrival, if you elect a leader in the field I want Valkyrie to have to answer to him before doing anything stupid."
Corrival smiled. "You know very well you're the leader, Skulduggery. Valkyrie, you have to listen to him. For once." He said and most of the men laughed. They gathered around and I nodded.
"I'm never going to be what I once was, but Ghastly is still right, I am powerful. Saracen I need you to show me how you know things. Your secret will be safe with me, but we need an idea who is hunting us." He nodded and stepped forward, touching my temples gently. I understood instantly and my mind linked with his as we flowed outward in tandem, seeking our quarry.
We found them and retreated, both of us turning to look at the rest of the Dead Men. "What's his discipline?" Erskine asked and I just smiled.
"He just knows things." I said and Saracen grinned. "They're clever, hiding themselves as Children of the Spider at first, then Warlocks and deeper still as witches. They built layers of defenses so we wouldn't know who they are. But well uh, the good news is we'll know exactly what they are planning."
"And the bad news?" Skulduggery asked.
"They're us from an alternate dimension. Where things are reversed. They're convinced if we die that the evil in their world will be restored." I admitted.
Whoa! Twelve Dead Men and the evil versions of them are hunting them? This is getting good!