A/N

Okay, I've been very naughty and I apologise. It just that I've been so busy with school, homework, swimming, reading, Christmas, my birthday, and my own story that this fanfic has been kind of neglected. I've been writing a lot of spoofs, so dear spoofians, I apologise because this one is a serious fic.

I have tried to make up for my lateness by writing a longer chappie, but I'm not sure if this is very long, sorry. And for those of you who are wondering, Darquesse will, hopefully, be in the next chappie.

Spider-man never fails, slush puppies with extra ice and stinging nettles ~ Lucilia Venom

Her back arched and slammed against the cold metal table. The pain was unbearable. It started in her chest, then bloomed outwards so that she could feel it in her fingertips, her toes, every breath she took. She didn't know what to do, it hurt, her head felt like it was exploding. She gathered up as much air as possible, then screamed. She took all the pain, all the loneliness and hatred that she'd experienced over her life, and she let it out in one long scream. She felt the table shake underneath her, glass jars smashed and liquid tipped.

What had tipped? Blood. Her blood. Everywhere. Fresh blood, old blood, long forgotten stains. She licked her lips hungrily. Wait, what? The sight of blood made her hungry. She finished screaming, gagging. She wanted blood. That only meant one thing.

She rolled herself into a ball, attempting to make herself invisible to the world. It was as her father said. She was no-one. She did not deserve to be noticed. She shuffled into the corner and began to silently weep herself to sleep.

Nye walked into the room after she had fallen asleep. He grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Master," he rasped, "She is ready…"

"Good," Mevolent replied coldly, "I have waited a long time!"

"Yes master," Nye said.

"Now leave me," Mevolent somehow managed to sound superior through a walkie-talkie. "I have important business to attend to." Then the line went dead.

Tanith looked at the girl. A feeling of sympathy entered her heart, the poor girl looked only 12. Then again, especially for mages, looks could be deceiving.

The girls left hand began to tremble, then her right leg, and suddenly she was sitting bolt upright before Tanith could even blink.

"Oh my god!" Tanith yelled. "NYE!"

Nye sloped into the room, his head brushing the ceiling. When he saw the girl a look of shock passed over his face.

"No," the girl said. "OH MY GOD, NO! GET AWAY FROM ME, JUST- GET AWAY YOU MONSTER!" She backed away into the corner.

"Cover your ears," Nye said urgently.

"Wha-"

"Just do it!" He snapped. Surprised by his tone, Tanith stuffed her fingers in her ears.

The girl began to scream, long and loud. Tanith couldn't hear her, but she could feel the sturdy hospital walls shaking. Tears streamed down the girls face and her scream rose higher as Nye stepped towards her, but it began to gradually recede until she was left with nothing but tears running down her small pale face. Her unnaturally pale face.

The girl passed out with terror, and now Tanith realised why Nye had sounded so urgent.

The girl was part Banshee.

"Lucilia Venom was- is - one of my assigned experiments from the war. Mevolent ordered that I help turn her into a weapon to help him win. He had me insert different DNA into her. Banshee. Vampire. Werewolf. You name it, she's it. Even- even some faceless one. Sadly we didn't have enough for it to take effect. But if we could somehow get some of the Grotesquery…"

Skulduggery slammed his fist down onto the large table. "Are you serious? You tortured this girl, used her like your lab rat, and you expect us to let you continue your work?! You make me sick." His voice was deathly quiet, so the explosion of rage surprised everyone, even Ghastly. "YOU SICKEN ME! I AM DISGUSTED! YOU WILL NEVER TREAT SOMEONE AS YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIMENT EVER AGAIN!"

"How does it feel?" Ghastly said. "To be openly despised? To not have a friend in the world? To know that you will never be appreciated?" Nye's blank look began to turn into something else. "How does it feel to be compared to someone you will never be as good as? How does it feel to torture people for entertainment? To listen to their screams? How does it feel to be…" He paused for dramatic effect, "Heartless?"

Nye lunged across the table, a look of inhuman rage on his face. He grasped Ghastly's throat with surprising strength. Ghastly's face began to turn red, then purple, and just when he was about to pass out he heard the boom of a gun. Nye's limp body came crashing down onto the table.

"Thanks," Ghastly said.

"No problem," Skulduggery replied, putting away his revolver. "I've wanted to put a bullet in his brain for years!"