When Valkyrie sat herself in the passenger seat of the beloved Bentley, Skulduggery revved the engine. "So," she started, "What's the verdict?"
Skulduggery pulled out of the drive way, "Nickolas seemed to have been up to something more than illegal selling."
"How so?"
He pulled out onto the highway. "First clue, while looking through the documents on the desk, I found that he was not working alone. Mr. Romel was in fact a pawn in a bigger scheme. There is a bigger mastermind behind it all, which doesn't make sense on why Romel was killed and not the boss."
"A warning perhaps?"
He shook his head, "Too petty. If I were trying to scare the boss of this certain black-market, I would destroy something close to that person. Not a messenger."
"Wow, you actually sound like you've done that before."
He didn't answer.
She crossed her arms. She thought best not to pursue into his past actions. She learned that lesson a long time ago. "What else?"
"He had informatives. According to his cell phone that is. Romel only talked to his clients once or twice in a single month. Not to mention that none of them were on his contact list."
"Okay, so he had friends outside the work place that he just went off and visited."
"Makes sense. I wouldn't want the public to know who I was talking to either if I worked for the black-market." He turned into a crowded shopping mall parking lot.
"Aw," she sighed, "You brought me to the mall after all."
He leaned an elbow on a rest and laid his head lazily on the back of his hand, stopping behind a car awaiting another. "Yeah, hells lot."
"There are a lot of people here. Are you going to wait in the car?"
"Wait in the car? Are you mad? Look at this chaos," he exclaimed, "You think I'm going to sit here listening and watching this while you take hours in Dillards?"
Valkyrie laughed, "I was just asking and I don't shop at Dillards."
Skulduggery pulled a parking spot in the back, way back, of the mall. Valkyrie gave him a look. "What? I don't want my car damaged."
SkulPoint of View
Skulduggery looked about the mall, digging his hands deep into pockets. So many unnecessary department stores for what? The same clothes? He didn't understand why they didn't just shop at one place like he did.
Valkyrie turned to him, "Are you going to follow me everywhere I go?"
Skulduggery stopped. "Am I bothering you?"
"No it's just I shopping for clothes."
"I shop for clothes all the time."
She rolled her eyes and continued into JCPenneys.
Skulduggery looked about in amazement. "This is insanely big."
"You've never been to JCPenny's?"
"Thought it was more of a female store."
Valkyrie made her way towards the Junior section of the store. She stopped occasionally to look at a shirt or two. Personally, he didn't think any of these fitted her style. As she weaved deeper into the abyss of teen fashions, Skulduggery lingered back a bit. He looked at a female mannequin modeling a low cut shirt and a mini skirt. He tilted his head to the side. What would Valkyrie look like in something like that? He flicked his skull at the image.
"Hey Skulduggery."
He turned around to Valkyrie, "Yes?"
She smiled, "Where you checking out that mannequin?"
He stared at her, "Valkyrie, one thing you should know is that I much prefer living women."
She laughed, "Sure. Besides living women are out of your league."
"What do you want?" he turned his head to the right.
"Your opinion. Since your here, might as well make you useful. Which one's better?" She held up a black t shirt with a white swan upon it and a light blue shirt with white skulls.
He sort of rejected the skulls immediately. "The black one."
-------------------
ValPoint of View
Valkyrie was the first to step out of the car when they arrived back at Skulduggery's home. Once Skulduggery opened the door, she threw her jacket on the couch and the bag on the floor and slumped into the first living room couch. Skulduggery closed the door.
"Oh, I almost forgot to ask," he started, "What did you bring back from Romels?"
Valkyrie noticed herself hesitate before revealing the black pyramid to Skulduggery.
He was still for a moment then inched forward. "What is that?"
"Um... it's called the Tame."
"I ve never seen anything like that."
"Well maybe it's been newly developed." She touched the tip top of the pyramid and suddenly a white light filled the room. Valkyrie gasped dropping it to the floor.
SkulPoint of View
Skulduggery kneeled down to pick up the glowing pyramid when suddenly he felt something unfamiliar inside his chest. He quickly gathered to his feet as the light began to fade into a soft glowing mist. His hand immediately went to his torso as he saw hair grow over his eyes. "Oh my God..."
He looked up to see Valkyrie in front of him, completely naked.
Thought I should get on with the story :) Thanks for the comments! Inspires me to continue.
Also forgive me for using american stores.
