Three hours after initially catchin' the dang guy, he was finally locked up in the Sanctuary. Funny Bones had to get all this paperwork done and finalized before he could be thrown away. And then after that Funny Bones had to fill out even more stupid papers.

"While you were out," Bespoke began as he approached Valkyrie and me, "someone managed to break out."

She groaned. "Who?"

"Your friendly neighborhood band of zombies leader!" he replied.

"Are you serious? How is it that the most incompetent villain ever to exist always manages to break free? I just can't even comprehend it."

"Zombies," I asked, "meanin' that idiot Scape…grace? Scapegrace and his little horde that are all named nouns?"

"Yeah, Scapegrace, Thrasher, Slasher…uh, Hasher? They're all really awful names."

I paused. Didn't I kill him? Oh, I did. Yep, that was when dear old daddy got out and dragged me into his stupid plans to take over the world or somethin'. The only good thing about then was the fact that I got to see lovely Tanith Low nailed to a chair.

"Father and son, if I remember right?" Bespoke smirked. "We're still holding him here," he added to me, "if you want to visit."

I huffed. "I'll have'ta pass on that one."

"Ghastly, you're killing trees with all this paper you make me fill out!" Funny Bones yelled from a corner. "Why the sudden need for boring paperwork? I miss the good old days when you just grabbed a villain and threw him in a cell no problem. Oh, don't you miss those days, Valkyrie?"

"Oh yeah, they were the best of my life, especially when Crux did that to me," Valkyrie replied sarcastically. "Oh, and then Marr after that."

"See?" Bespoke said. "That system is more safe."

"Or maybe pretty Valkyrie shouldn't piss off them detectives," I added quietly.

"Sorry, I'll get working on that, Sanguine," she said. "Meanwhile, I'll head out and grab Scapegrace and anyone else with him."

"Take Sanguine with you!" Funny Bones shouted.

"But I hate him!"

"I'm right here-"

"And I don't care at all."

"Well, fine."

Valkyrie groaned when Funny Bones wouldn't relent. She reached into her pocket and produced a pair of handcuffs. She secured them on my hand without much fight from me, since I'd figured they'd be all, "OH WE'LL CALL THE RUSSIAN MOB."

"But I'm taking the Bentley!" Valkyrie shouted at last minute as she dragged me through the doors. Funny Bones glared furiously but didn't object at least. Valkyrie kept holdin' tight on my hand as we approached the ancient car.

"I can walk on my own, thanks muchly," I grumbled.

She smiled. "I know – I just like dragging you around."

I frowned but followed in her steps and climbed into the passenger seat. She looked me squarely in the eyes.

"What?" I demanded. "Can I not sit here? Is this seat only for the obnoxious female partner of the group?"

She glared but finally shook her head and just revved the engine. She pulled away from the curb sharply, and I instantly knew if I ever rode in a car with Valkyrie Cain again, I'd probably want extra seatbelts. This woman drove like a maniac, let me say that. Thank the Lord no one cut 'er off – I'd be afraid of her pullin' her gun on 'em or somethin'.

"Where are we headed?" I asked after a little while of silence.

She shrugged. "Well, I assume that Scapegrace is as stupid as you, so he'll probably just go right back to his usually hide out."

"That was a joke!"

"You seemed pretty serious, William-Raymond."

"Oh shut yer mouth."

Valkyrie laughed and pressed down on the pedal even further. She weaved in between lanes and stopped at an old, derelict buildin'. She stepped out of the car first, and I followed slowly.

"Hurry up," she chided. I moaned and dragged my feet a little quicker. I expected Valkyrie to go all James Bond on the place, but she simply waltzed up and knocked on the door. We waited a few minutes, and no one answered, but someone shouted from somewhere in the building. Valkyrie sighed and turned to me.

"Tunnel us in?" she asked – well, it was still more of a command.

"I would, but you're too paranoid," I simply replied, danglin' the handcuffs in her face. She snarled and grabbed them, unlocked them, and put them back in her pocket. She sighed as I offered her an arm. Ha, maybe I could freak her out some. Valkyrie clenched onto my sleeve tightly with both hands. I smirked, and we began tunnelin' down underground. I could hear her heavy breathin' in my ear, and I could feel her hands slippin'.

"Is it that hard to hold on?" I grumbled, shiftin' and grippin' her 'round the waist.

"It is when I'm down here defenseless with a man who wants to kill me."

"Oh, that is true." I laughed and switched directions, so we were tunnelin' upwards towards the floor of the zombie hideout. "And now that I'm the one holdin' you, I could just drop ya and leave ya here with no air."

"Skulduggery will kill you. And then Ghastly will trash that execution law and murder you with his own hands."

"Ah, then I'd guess we'd just catch back up in Hell, huh?" I smiled and braced myself for the transition between rock and dirt to the floor of the buildin'. We broke through the floor, and I figured Valkyrie would need to catch her breath or somethin' dumb like that (she was hyperventilatin' in my ear the whole time!) but she suddenly whipped a huge gun from her coat and had it pointed at the confused zombies around us.

"I'll just stand back and watch," I said, "and join in if ya need me."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes at me, but I wasn't gonna move and help her. She finally cocked the gun and aimed it at the zombies and said, "Where is Scapegrace?"

They stared.

"Where is Scapegrace?" she asked again.

One zombie finally squeaked, "U-Upstairs."

"Go and get him," she commanded. "And if you tell him I'm here, I'll see that you are delivered to those idiots who think the zombie apocalypse is coming."

Ohh, those guys are idiots. I'd be more worried 'bout the Remnants escapin', but that's just my personal opinion. I mean, if you get bit by some zombie, just get bit by a human again, and bam, you're fine.

The little zombie nodded feverishly and raced upstairs. Only a few seconds later, the King Zombie himself appeared: Vaurien Scapegrace. Ahh, I've missed this moron.

"Scapegrace!" Valkyrie greeted warmly. She kept the gun held high. "How do you always manage break out of jail? Do you have secret powers you're not telling us about?"

He grimaced and…crouched a little, raisin' his fists. "I am just considerably…more intelligent than those guards they've got employed," Scapegrace said. "Also they forgot to lock my cage door…"

"And I've come to rescue him before!" his pudgy little follower interjected excitedly. "Thrasher stands by his master, the Zombie King!"

"Yes, yes," he said, "now shut up."

"O-Okay."

Valkyrie chuckled quietly. "Alright, Scapegrace," she said, approachin' Scapegrace slowly, "you and everyone of your zombie followers are under arrest."

"Why?"

"You're a major threat to society, and you've also killed a whole lot of people. You really need to make sure they don't get a taste of human."

Scapegrace didn't say anthin' for a minute. His mouth slowly turned upwards into a frightenin' grin as he whispered excitedly, "So you've admitted I've killed before! HA!"

Valkyrie growled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay, whatever, but you're under arrest. Just come here and then we can all be on our way."

Again, Scapegrace didn't say anythin' for a while. But he finally sighed dramatically and said, "I think I'll enjoy doing this."

"Doing wha-"

Valkyrie didn't finish her question when suddenly Scapegrace's disembodied arm came flying at her. It hit her squarely in the face, and she toppled backwards.

And I just laughed.

"Sanguine, stop and come and help me!" she shouted as she slapped away a zombie with some black shadows.

"You seem to be doin' fine, pretty Valkyrie!" I called happily.

"Shut up and help!" she shouted again. A zombie grabbed her arm and almost bit down on her, but she shook him off and kicked his face off.

I pushed myself off the wall I was leanin' against and trudged over. Should I fight these guys? Technically, I'd be betrayin' them. Though they did all try to eat me that one time…Eh, yeah, I'll beat 'em up.

I cracked my neck for dramatic effect and strolled to the center of the mass. I gripped one zombie's shoulders and hoisted him away, throwin' him in the air. He collided with his other colleagues. I turned, but a fist slammed into my face, promptly knockin' off my sunglasses. A black tendril suddenly leapt out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the punchin' zombie's arm. He shrieked as it cut into his rottin' skin and severed the whole dang thing. The shadow held onto the arm and sent it hurtlin' into a few other zombies.

Valkyrie's shadows whipped around her. She took a couple steps backwards, curlin' a shadow ball in her hand and then suddenly jumped high into the air. When she landed, the whole buildin' shook with the force of all the shadows she had carried along with her. All the blackness clamped down on an individual zombie. They were completely immobile. Little wisps of black curled away into the air like dust specks as all of the zombies were suddenly lifted with the shadows tied around their waist. Valkyrie had one line of shadow connecting her right to the nearest zombie, and shadowy lines connected all of those, too.

All right.

That was damn awesome. Pretty weird but damn awesome.

"Sanguine," she muttered.

"Yeah? What?"

"Come and get this vial out of my pocket," she commanded. "And then sprinkle some on this line here." She indicated the one connecting her ring and the zombies.

I meandered over slowly. Her fists were clenched together tightly, like she was strainin' against the few zombies who were strugglin'. I dipped my hand into her coat pocket and revealed a tiny vial with some gray powder. I popped the cork and spread the fine powder over the line. It slowly disintegrated, but the rest of the zombies stayed tied together.

Valkyrie suddenly shouted. "Where is Scapegrace!"

Thrasher laughed. "He escaped! He eluded you! My master is far more clev-"

"Oh, shut up."

"Okay."

Valkyrie swore under her breath as she dug a cell phone from her pocket. She dialed a few numbers and waited for the recipient to pick up. When they did, she said, "Yeah, it's me. I've got some good news and some bad news…Why would you want the good news first?…Oh whatever. Well, the good news is that I have probably almost all of Scapegrace's little zombie followers here at his normal place tied up. Some are unconscious, and some are missing limbs. I got hit in the face with Scapegrace's arm…Right, it was awful…The bad news is that Scapegrace somehow managed to escape…"

She waited a few seconds but then ended the call. "Come on," she grumbled.

"Are you in troooouble?" I laughed.

"Shut up." She pushed passed me and swiped her hand against the air, a mass of black shadows materializin' and completely destroyin' the door. She waltzed on through and slipped into Funny Bones' ancient car. I sat next to her in the passenger seat. She caught me starin' at her black ring as she pulled away from the curb.

"Afraid of Necromancers?" she questioned.

"Ah, nah," I said, "I just think we villains of the world could really use your power to seize control and destroy everyone and what not."

She turned to me sharply, and I first thought she'd be angry; her eyes just looked sad, instead. I waited for her to give some mean-spirited retort, but she just turned back and faced the road.

Was it somethin' I said?

I worry about my love for Sanguine…

Ugh, I hate how I plan out my epic endings first, so then I'm just trying to get through the beginning~ I have a word document that has some ending scenes written down. I'm not totally sure where I should go with plot from here on out...Ignore me, I'm being dumb and vague.

Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DD