LOLOL I SHOULD REALLY BE STUDYING FOR MY FINAL EXAMS.

Also someone on DeviantArt is using my icon for the preview picture of their story. It makes me laugh.

"Get up, get up, get up!"

For the second time, I awoke to clothes bein' thrown at my face. I rose and sat up on Valkyrie's bed, smirkin' at last night's events.

"Wipe that grin off and get dressed!" Valkyrie whispered frantically, desperately throwin' on her black clothin'.

"Why?" I groaned and fell back down.

"There's someone in the house! If they catch us –"

She didn't need to finish. I grabbed my pants and boxers and hastily pulled them up onto me. The floor creaked nearer and nearer to her door, and they got so close that Valkyrie grabbed my arm and literally pushed me out of the room. I stumbled and looked up to see Funny Bones.

"Heeey!" I greeted him and scratched my head. "'Mornin'!"

"Any particular reason you were thrown from Valkyrie's room?" he asked calmly. "And why you're shirtless and your pants are not completely done up?"

I noticed that I had failed at buttonin' them…I had to think fast to save us. "I slept like this," I blurted. "I slept, ya know, without my shirt, and I went into Valkyrie's room to see if she was up yet to ask what was happenin' today. She got sick of me buggin' her, so she threw me out and here we are now."

He nodded slowly. "I'll be downstairs," he eventually said.

Valkyrie poked her head out of her door and sighed. "What'd you say to him?"

"I slept like this and had gone to see you this mornin'." I slipped on my shirt and tried to make it less wrinkled.

Valkyrie shook her head and quickly grabbed me and dragged me to a different room across the hall. A chest of drawers was off to the side in this new regal room, and she drew a new and crisp white shirt from a top drawer. Valkyrie held it out expectantly to me before she gave up and threw it at my face. I slipped my arms through the sleeves. Not a bad fit, I'd say.

"Whose is this?"

"My uncle's."

"He hates me; I don't think he'd want me wearin' his shirts…"

"He's dead, it's fine."

Valkyrie dragged a brush through her hair and pulled it altogether into a ponytail. She jammed her hands into her pockets and led the way downstairs while I finished dressin' on the way down.

Funny Bones was leanin' up against the doorway into the kitchen when he came down. Valkyrie grabbed a loaf of bread and threw two slices into the toaster.

"Sleep well?" Funny Bones asked quietly.

Valkyrie visibly tensed. "Fine, thank you."

"Marvelous. We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Really now? What's the plan?"

Funny Bones explained that a police station up in the north of Ireland received a call about a strange creature flyin' overhead. The police tried to investigate it, but they didn't get anythin'. Conveniently, a Sanctuary agent works with that specific police station, so they reported the creature back to the Sanctuary officials. Bespoke figured the description of the thing was close enough to what attacked us the other day, so he sent Funny Bones to get me and Valkyrie to head out north to see if we can find where the big thing went.

Man, if that's not a fun day, I honestly do not know what is.

The toast popped up in the silence and freaked out Valkyrie. She threw one slice at me and held the other one in her mouth. Funny Bones strode from the room silently, gesturin' to get movin'. I followed right after him, with Valkyrie behind. I, bein' a gentleman, held the front door open for her, and I turned back 'cause there was Uncle Ghost lookin' mighty pissed. I gave a short wave and slammed the door shut.

Funny Bones led us to his stupid car, but I looked and noticed the Mustang was back. The doors and glass were all fixed and intact, and I couldn't see any dents anywhere.

Valkyrie commented on it, sayin', "Thank God they fixed it up again."

"That was particularly fast," Funny Bones responded. "They're never that fast with my car."

"Skulduggery, they just like me better."

"You are the prettier one."

"Of course I am."

Some people would find this cute. I find this dang obnoxious.

Valkyrie skipped ahead and slid into her front seat, while Funny Bones took the wheel. I maneuvered into the back.

"How far do we gotta go?"

"It's about two hours until we find the spot of the sighting. Sit back and be quiet until then."

"Will do."

I settled back just as Funny Bones was startin' the car. Valkyrie folded her arms and seemed very determined to stare out the front window.

So. It would seem I haven't been the only one thinkin' about our previous love affair. I had definitely thought Valkyrie would for sure make that a one-time thing. She seemed so icy and kinda ashamed that next mornin', and I had really thought she'd have thrown me back into the Sanctuary prison.

Was I good? Ha, of course I was. And Valkyrie had to of thought so too…

And she's not too bad herself, either. She does tend to bite which does get annoyin' and painful after a while. Though I'll take that if I can keep scorin' like this all the time. Valkyrie never flat out said that last night would be the last time, and even if she did, I wouldn't have believed her anyways. We all know how well she stood by her statements after that, huh? That first time Valkyrie came up with justifications of doin' it, but this second time she just went at it, not carin'. I don't really care either. Like I said, if I can keep scorin', it's fine.

I kept thinkin' 'bout how I just moved my hand, and while I had no intention of touchin' that huge ugly scar on her stomach, the second my fingers made contact, Valkyrie hitched up and slapped my hand away. I figured she'd get really ticked at me if I called her out on it, so I let it go. I'm beginnin' to wonder where in the world she got that ugly mark.

For the rest of the car trip, my mind wandered, and I thought 'bout anythin' and everythin'. I guess at some point, I was starin' directly at the back of Valkyrie's head 'cause she suddenly whipped around and told me to stop it. I tried defendin' myself, but she wouldn't hear it. Ice cold and able to see through the back of her head, I see.

Funny Bones finally turned off of a dirt road and drove his stupid car through a good deal of forest before we could keep goin' on. So Funny Bones and Valkyrie climbed out in sync, and I followed after them. Funny Bones said that'd he'd take me and go off to the left. Valkyrie would take the right and call us if she found anythin'.

Valkyrie nodded and immediately set off. She soon disappeared from my sight. Funny Bones muttered somethin', and he started off as well. I trailed behind him.

"What are we even doin'?"

"We're looking for any signs of that creature."

"Yeah, but what would those signs be?"

"Footprints, claw marks, mauled animals."

"Oh, that sounds lovely."

In silence, Funny Bones kept leadin' the way. He continually kept stoppin' to brush the ground, searchin' for any clues or whatever.

"In all honesty," he abruptly said, "answer me: do you still want to kill Valkyrie?"

"I do," I answered right away. "In fact, I would say that spendin' all this time with you two has made me hate you two even more. I still remember how good it felt to slap her that one time."

"When will you kill her?"

"Whenever I wanna, Funny Bones."

He looked at me. "You won't be able to escape. You won't be able to get too far."

"Well, it's not like I'm gonna kill her anytime soon." I got out my razor and toyed with it. "No, I do plan on waitin', no matter how much I'll hate doin' that."

"Why will you wait? It'd be easier for you to sneak up on her at her own home and end her there."

"Do you want her dead or somethin'?"

"Of course not," he argued angrily. "I'm curious as to why you don't want her dead yet."

"Funny Bones, I wish her dead every wakin' moment. But I don't wanna cowardly kill her, nope. She needs to go out with a fight. I want to see the look in her eyes as she thinks she can beat me and arrest me again. But then I want to see that horror-struck gaze. The one where she knows she's cornered and can't move and won't escape. And I wanna laugh as she bleeds out on my own hands as I drive my razor into her lungs. And I wanna pat her shoulders reassurin'ly, lettin' her know she failed. I will wait however long it takes 'til she's completely dead. The longer I wait, the better. The more painful it is for her, the happier I'll be.

"But then when she's discovered, and you, Funny Bones, come racin' after me, I'll be gone. You won't find me. Perhaps I'll run to Italy or back on home to Texas. Anywhere, really. But I'd probably lay low with the killin' once I get Valkyrie. I will destroy her if it is the last thing I do. As long as she dies 'fore me, but I go right after, I'll be fine. We can meet up in Hell and battle for as long as we want. Maybe you'll join us down there at some point. Funny Bones, I practically need to kill Valkyrie. If I don't, I do believe I'd go insane."

"I think you already have," he replied gruffly.

"I get bored in jail. I start thinkin' up fantasies of you and all your stupid friends dyin' in the worst possible ways."

He laughed and shook his head and picked up his pace. A few hours later, after searchin' all around this stupid forest, Valkyrie called us. Funny Bones put his cell phone on loudspeaker so we could all hear her.

"I definitely found a trail of destruction," she said simply. Her breath seemed short.

"Marvelous," Funny Bones replied. "Where are you?"

"Well, it's hard to describe," she muttered. "Pretty much head right for a while, and…um, start calling for me."

"Sounds like a dumb plan," I groaned.

"You come up with something better, then, dumb cowboy."

"Ouch. Don't get the cowboys all mixed up in this, pretty Valkyrie."

She almost replied, but Funny Bones quickly said goodbye and hung up. He pulled me along with him by my coat sleeves. We walked on for a good deal of time before we heard a faint, "Skulduggery?"

"Valkyrie!" he shouted back. We listened, and then a bit off a ways forward we heard her laugh and call back to us. I ducked around trees and shrubs, callin' for her.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

Valkyrie poked her head around a tree and waved at me.

"Oh great, that took forever."

She glared at me and told me to hurry up. She led me through a maze of branches and eventually stopped. Funny Bones was studyin' a tree intensely.

"Did that tree kill yer family or somethin'?" I asked.

He stopped his examinin' and stared at me. "No, it did not, Sanguine."

"It'd be best if you kept your mouth shut for a while," Valkyrie whispered. She stepped around me and pointed up north and said, "So, you can see the branches everywhere on the ground. They were obviously ripped very violently from the trees up top. I've noticed a few scraggly looking footprints in the dirt, and they don't resemble human feet at all."

Funny Bones bent down and looked at some piles of dirt around us. "Let's go hunting, then."

Valkyrie nodded and took the lead. Funny Bones followed directly after her, carryin' a big gun. I followed right along, tryin' my best to step on all the twigs.

"My God, are you stepping into foot deep piles there, Sanguine?" Valkyrie moaned after a while.

"Valkyrie, are you callin' me fat?"

She turned to me. "How…What? Anyway, stop stepping on all the sticks. It echoes everywhere."

She kept on walkin', but then stopped at another stick breakin'. "What did I just say?" she growled.

"That wasn't me, li'l darlin'."

Her brows furrowed, and her eyes scanned the area. Funny Bones cocked his gun quietly and held it upwards. Valkyrie hunched slightly and summoned a big black ball of shadows in her hand. All around us it was silent.

And then another twig snapped.

In a second, the two partners turned to the sound and fired their weapons. Funny Bones' gun went off with a huge bang, and Valkyrie's shadows snaked around the trees and clasped onto various things. Another second after all this, we heard someone runnin'. Branches were bein' smacked out of the way from what I could hear. Valkyrie snarled and suddenly ran to me. Without warnin', she forced my head down and climbed onto my shoulders.

"What the Hell!" I screamed.

"Shut your mouth and help me!" she shouted back. I stood up tryin' to shake her off, but instead she leapt forward off of me and grasped onto a sturdy branch. I watched her crouch for a second and regain balance, but then she suddenly let out a burst of black shadows and propelled forward onto different trees. I stopped watchin' her and tried to find Funny Bones, but he had run off. I figured if I didn't sink down and try to find whatever or whoever was runnin', they'd yell at me. I sighed and slowly tunneled down. Gradually, I made my way over to the side to where I thought I could hear runnin'. I was able to tune out the earth around me as I tunneled, so I listened hard for footsteps. Finally, I heard them. I shot forward and then jumped upward back onto the surface. I cried triumphantly, but then suddenly was knocked down. Apparently Valkyrie had run into me.

"Damn!" Valkyrie shouted at me, climibin' off of me. "What were you thinking?"

"I thought you were the thing we were chasin'!"

"We lost him!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that!"

Valkyrie simply glowered at me and stood up, dustin' herself off. Funny Bones leaned up against a tree and was checkin' his gun out. Valkyrie yanked on my hand and completely dragged me the whole way through the forest again to where we parked the stupid car. She chucked me into the back.

"Where to next?" she gruffly asked.

"Guess."

"The library to look up mysterious prowlers?"

"Yes, actually."

"Sweet Jesus!" I shouted. "More reading? No, take me back to jail. I will scream if you two throw more freakin' books are me."

"Suck it up and stop your whining," Valkyrie said simply, holdin' up a pair of handcuffs. "You will be cuffed again and have your razor taken away if you keep complaining."

I sat back and crossed my arms. So help me I will kill her even if I have to get rid of everyone else in the whole entire world before I lay my hands on her.

This is a long chapter, but in my document that has everything planned out, chapter 11 is probs one of the shortest ones…Strange.

I'm having a lot of fun writing Sanguine. Like, he doesn't get a lot of screen time/character development. We just know he's from Texas and REALLY likes killing. While I'm mainly focusing on the fact that he likes killing, I'm really enjoying adding my own spin to him. Hopefully you guys will still believe he is the famous Billy-Ray Sanguine by the end of this and not some stupid romantic sap.

Kay, shutting up right now.

Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DDD