"Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"Yes, Fletcher, I'm fine."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Fo' sho'?"

"Dear Lord, don't say that again."

"You're totally sure you feel fine?"

"Fletcher, the way you keep asking makes me want to spend time with Sanguine."

"Wait, what?"

"Go away!"

Hair Boy frowned. Valkyrie crossed her arms and leaned her head against the back of the couch she was sittin' on.

"I'll take good care of her, Hair Boy," I said, smilin'.

"You better." After that, Hair Boy gave a wave and teleported.

"I thought he'd never leave," I groaned.

"He's just concerned."

"Overly protective, ya mean."

"Shut up, he cares about me. He doesn't want me writhing in agony, unlike you."

"I dream of the day when I can see that."

She glared and sunk deeper into her seat. She stared blankly at the television for a while, and I vaguely listened to the news. Some robbery there, some murder there. The usual.

Then out of the blue, Valkyrie asked, "Sanguine, do like me?"

"What kind of question is that?" I demanded. "Valkyrie, I hate you. I always will, guarantee it."

She waved her hand, dismissin' me. "What I mean is do you like…y'know…um, like, copulating…"

"Oh!" Now I got this. "I dunno. I've had worse. And I'll give you the fact that you ain't ugly as sin, so that's a plus. Why?"

"Want to?" She pointed upstairs.

"Oh. Ehh, sure." I watched her hop up from the couch, and her hands gripped my own and pulled me along with her. "I guess you really are feelin' fine," I mumbled when she pulled me away into her bedroom again. Very quickly were clothes removed and very quickly did we get at it again.

My arm was stretched out across the bed. Valkyrie's head lay on my chest heavily. I continuously twirled a piece of her long black hair around my finger.

"Is this what peace is?" Valkyrie whispered.

"I wouldn't know, li'l darlin'," I answered.

"What a shame."

It was quiet for a few minutes.

"Ohh, this is getting a little too gentle and loving for me," she said. Slowly, she eased herself up from the tangled sheets. I caught a glimpse of that nasty scar, but she turned and slipped on the pants she had been wearin'. Soon, though, the house phone rang, and while still topless, she rushed to grab it.

"Yes, hello, Ghastly," she greeted Bespoke, searchin' for somethin' on the ground. She stood up straight, holdin' my shirt in her hands a second later. She hastily put the shirt on and attempted to button it up.

"Yeah, we can be there soon," she continued on. "What happened there?" The sly smile on her lips slowly shrank, and her face soon filled with horror. "Oh my God, we'll be right there. We can even start looking for him right now…No, okay. On our way."

She ended the call and threw the phone down and yanked off my shirt. "We need to go," she breathed.

I sat up and sat on the edge of the bed. "I gathered. Why?"

"Mrs. Faust was killed."

"Uh, who's that again?"

"A perfectly innocent detective of the Sanctuary who had the horrible luck of being paired with your father." She spat the last word.

"Oh. I remember her now." I got up and found my clothes and slowly dressed. Valkyrie was already tyin' her hair up again. "Ya know who killed her?"

She spun around and stared at me. "Guess, you idiot."

"What? Daddy dearest?"

"Who else!"

"Well all you Sanctuary agents are awful; I'm sure they've got bad connections with bad people. It could have been someone else."

"She was killed with a knife left at the scene," Valkyrie growled, "and it had your father's prints on it. Now hurry up before I drag you downstairs to the car!"

Valkyrie stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut. I followed as quick as I could, but by the time I got outside, she already had the dang Mustang started. I slid in next to her, and she sped off immediately.

We got to the place soon after. Valkyrie had managed to break quite a few laws while drivin' here. Funny Bones was waitin' outside the buildin' where the lady was.

"Ghastly wants to speak with you first, but then we need to get out and search for Scarab," he explained while leadin' us up to the door. "I'm going to ask the people around here if they've seen Scarab running."

Valkyrie nodded and raced into the buildin'. Bespoke was standin' outside a closed door when we got to him.

"This…isn't good," he solemnly said. "We'll probably need to get rid of this stupid program with these criminals." He ran a hand over his scarred head and sighed deep. "Skulduggery's out looking for any witnesses who saw Scarab escaping. We already have a few guys out searching in different places."

"How long has it been since you discovered her?"

"About twenty minutes. Hopefully he hasn't gone too far." Bespoke turned to me and said, "You're his son. Where would he be?"

"Hell if I know, Bespoke. Daddy's a bit unpredictable."

"Really? You weren't aware of his plan to kill Mrs. Faust?"

"Hey, I was actually beginnin' to hope he'd been a little reformed at least. Ya think I enjoy bein' Dreylan Scarab's son? Daddy dearest ain't all that dearest, y'know. But he's old and incredibly slow, so yeah, if it's been twenty minutes, he can't be too far – unless he managed to catch a cab or bus or whatever. In that case, yer screwed."

Bespoke sighed again. "All right, head out. It's a manhunt now."

Valkyrie agreed and pulled me along with her. We stepped outside, and Valkyrie immediately pulled out her cell phone. She dialed a number quickly and left a message, sayin', "Hey, it's me. Dreylan Scarab is loose. If you see anything, could you let me know?"

She ended the call after that but immediately called someone else again. When the other line answered, she put it on speakerphone.

"A neighbor said he went down over to Stamp Street," Funny Bones said. "I'm down there now, and so far there's no distinct sign of Scarab. I'll travel down to Mark Road, and you two can take Comm Lane and all up there, all right?"

"Fine by me," Valkyrie responded and shut off her phone. "Can you just tunnel us down there?" She pointed in to the direction we need to get to.

I shrugged and held out a hand for her. "As you wish, li'l darlin'."

I tightly held onto her waist as she clung to my neck. Slowly, I eased on down into the earth and headed down to where she directed. Her breathin' instantly got heavy and ragged once we were fully enclosed underground.

"Can I just pop up anywhere?"

Valkyrie nodded hurriedly. "Please do," she managed to choke out.

"Why are you so afraid of this? What do you think I'll do?"

"Drop me?"

"No, yer not gonna go out like that," I laughed. "I know exactly how you will die, so no worries, all right."

"I also can't stand being in such complete darkness with only a psychotic murderer right up next to me," she added.

"You never seem to have a problem with havin' a psychotic murder right up next to you at other times."

"That's different."

"Yeah, okay."

I figured I had traveled enough by then. I pushed up against the dirt and emerged onto cracked pavement.

"Is this a neighborhood for specifically mages or whatever?" I noticed no one was really walkin' or drivin' here.

Valkyrie told me it was. She dusted herself off and stared intently at the sidewalk. Her eyes slid over to stare at the old buildin' next to us. "I'll take to the roofs and search from up above," she told me. "You sneak about down on the ground, got it?"

"Sure thing."

She snapped her wrists outward and shot out a burst of shadows. She hopped onto the makeshift platform and braced her foot against the wall and window and created more flat platforms for herself in the air. In just a few seconds, she had ran up to the top of the buildin', and without losin' any speed at all, cart-wheeled onto the roof. She kept runnin' and leaped from buildin' to buildin'.

I figured I should stop watchin' her and get a move on myself. I rolled up my sleeves and casually strolled along the streets, tryin' to appear nonchalant. For a while I walked, lookin' for daddy dearest. I occasionally caught sight of Valkyrie jumpin' from roofs. I passed by an alley a bit later, when I suddenly heard, "Good. I've been waiting for over an hour."

I stopped. Daddy dearest emerged from behind a dumpster. "Let's get going, son."

"Oh, since when was I supposed to come along?"

"You honestly want to stay with these Sanctuary rats? They're not exactly you're friends, son. They'd probably prefer it if you high-tailed it out of here with me."

"Nah," I said, "Valkyrie'd find me in a second and would make sure I suffer horribly for runnin'."

"So what? You can just kill her before she touches you." When he realized I wasn't gonna move and leave with him, daddy dearest finally sighed angrily, "I don't have anymore time for you or this. I've got better things to get to."

"Like what?'

"Maybe if you'd come along, you'd know, then, son."

"Sure, daddy. Just get goin'. I won't tell 'em I saw ya or nothing."

He nodded and jogged past me. For an old man, he still moved pretty good. "Oh, and son?" he asked, turnin' to me.

"What?"

"If you're going to stay, you probably shouldn't begin to build any lasting relationships. I'm sure you wish to God that it won't turn into something more, but you are my son and I know how you take relationships like that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Daddy just shrugged and smirked and checked both ways on the street before runnin' in the middle of it and poppin' the sewer cover and droppin' down into it. He emerged again to replace the cover. As he did, daddy dearest smirked and then disappeared down below the ground.

And so I stood there, confused and in agony over my father's words.

Herp derp here's another one! I love that now it's summer and I can write all the time noooow~

Um yeah! Thanks for reading and sorry for any mistakes! :DDD