Second last chapter! If you review quickly I'll update the last chapter quickly because I've already written it :D I would have updated this chapter last night but my sister stole my laptop :( sit back and enjoy…..
Ryu was stumbling along, clutching his leg and leaving a lovely thick blood trail for Skulduggery to follow. He was more than a little repulsed by the enjoyment he had tracking the man slowly through the dense wood.
Just around the next bend. Let's bend him in half.
He paused. Valkyrie wouldn't want him to lose control. He couldn't lose control.
Then again she could be dying now because of him. He who dared drink HER BLOOD.
Skulduggery ripped through the brush before him and slammed into the terrified ex-vampire. They rolled. Ryu slashed across his face but the fingernails did nothing to his skull. He growled and punched Ryu in the leg, right where he'd shot him.
Ryu screamed and clutched at his wound. Skulduggery got to his feet and stood back.
He rolled on the ground like a pitiful animal, not strong enough to try and hold back a scream. Tears ran down his cheeks. "Please, please don't kill me."
The skeleton just stood there silent.
"I just wanted to live again. You understand me don't you? Just wanting to live again." Ryu babbled desperately. "Just arrest me. Bliss, he was your friend. I brought him back, he's your friend. Cain's going to be fine. She'll be fine. Please just arrest me."
He tilted his head and shadows slowly detached from the darkness. They crept slowly up on the pathetic man who continued to babble uselessly. They slipped quietly into his ear and the man stiffened. He coughed, gasped for breath. Blood dribbled down his chin, leaked out his nose, rolled out of his eyes and oozed from his ears. He shuddered and shook as if electric currents were going through him and finally he was still.
The shadows seeped from his skin and dispersed back into the darkness.
Skulduggery forced the satisfied voice from his mind and stared at the dead man. He forced himself to stare at what he'd done, at what he'd enjoyed doing as he lost control.
He always thought that Valkyrie had saved him but now he was worried she'd created a permanent weakness in him. She was his pressure point and caused him to kill.
He turned away from the spectacle and began walking back to the cavern.
xXxXxXxXx
John was worried. Skulduggery had walked off ten minutes ago, Valkyrie had fallen unconsciousness seven minutes ago, Mr Bliss hadn't spoken at all and to make it worse four vampires had arrived.
They had walked right up to them. They were wearing black pants, black tops and long black jackets. They looked a lot like Goths but they were muscled like body builders and carried an assortment of different blades.
"Vampires." Sherlock warned when they appeared.
John frowned and looked away from Valkyrie's wounds. "Ah, what do we do?"
Sherlock answered by raising his gun. "I suggest you stop right there."
The lead vampire with his hair tied back in a ponytail smiled. "Do you really think a bullet would stop all of us in time?"
"No but it would give you one massive headache." Sherlock replied.
The vampire actually smiled.
"Karma Unprim," Skulduggery's voice echoed around the cavern and John hid his sigh of relief.
The group had stood there, Sherlock holding a gun at the vampires and the vampires smiling, for five minutes. John had really begun to worry.
"What are you doing here?" Skulduggery demanded as he fixed his tie. He wasn't pulling Ryu behind him in handcuffs.
Had he escaped?
"I'm here for my property." The lead vampire sneered.
"And what do you think that is?" Skulduggery demanded. "You better not be talking about my prisoners."
Over ten vampires had been captured and handcuffed like a big present for the cleavers to arrest.
"I'm definitely referring to my people. They have broken our code, detective. They tried to find a way to reverse our nature and that is against our rules. They will be punished appropriately." Karma snarled.
"Fine, you can take them."
"Where's Ryu?" Karma asked.
John looked over to Skulduggery, watching him closely.
"He's dead. You'll find his body in the forest." The skeleton answered.
"How did he die?" Karma asked smiling in anticipation.
"Screaming."
Karma laughed. "Serves the man right. He turned me and I'm thankful to him but he still ruined my life."
"Good for you." Skulduggery muttered and walked over to Valkyrie. "Let's go."
"You have forgotten something Skeleton." Karma yelled.
"And what might that be?"
"The clock. It's one of our artifacts and part of our lineage." He explained angrily.
"Without the clock America will go to war with England and the mortals will die. It is my job to ensure that doesn't happen." Skulduggery told him.
"We don't want the clock, but it better go straight back to the tower of London not in some respiratory. We want it somewhere we can protect it." The vampire snarled.
"Alright then." Skulduggery turned back to Sherlock, John and Bliss. "Now it's time to go."
He knelt down and picked Valkyrie up gently, bridal style.
xXxXxXxXx
The first thing she noticed was that her hearing was back. Both ears were picking up sound clearly. She could hear birds singing beautifully, in perfect clarity. She smiled and opened her eyes.
The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't in a medical wing, she was in her and Skulduggery's hotel room. It was a nicer sight to wake up to.
She got up, walked into the bathroom and showered, allowing the hot water to run soothingly down her hair. She got out and stared at her reflection.
Her wounds had been healed well. The scar on her arm was fading before her eyes and the grazes that had covered her whole body were now gone but they stayed in her mind.
She stared at her dark brown eyes. People said eyes were the window to the soul; hers were anything but. She had heard her. She hadn't heard herfor over forty years but she heard herlast night. Shehad been weak though and easy to ignore, but she'd still heard her.
Valkyrie sighed and pulled her eyes away from her reflection and changed.
She wore her usual pants and boots but left the jacket on her bed. She wore a loose fitting brown short sleeve that looked quite good on her. She manipulated the water out of her hair and left her room.
In the living room she found Skulduggery, façade free, Sherlock and John. The broken glass table had been removed and a temporary wooden one had replaced it.
"Good morning." She greeted happily and made her way to the kitchen.
"How are you feeling?" John asked.
"Fine, why?" She made herself a bowl of cornflakes and sat down on the sofa.
"John doesn't trust magic medicine." Sherlock explained.
The man in question frowned sheepishly.
"Don't worry. Once I was cut to ribbons and didn't even get a scar." She tried to reassure him but instead spluttered milk everywhere.
"How are you?" Skulduggery asked once she finished coughing and laughing.
"I'm alright. Wait, what happened? Did you arrest Ryu? Was the clock returned?" She asked, suddenly realizing she had no idea what had happened.
"The clock has been returned. Mycroft was very thankful." Skulduggery began to explain. "Leon was disappointed you weren't there. Ryu is dead and we're leaving for the airport in four hours."
"I missed Leon?" Valkyrie groaned. "He was so good looking."
The men were silent.
"I know many things about life and people but I still don't know what women see as good looking." Sherlock mutter. "Like what is good looking?"
She shrugged.
The door to Skulduggery's bedroom opened and Bliss walked out.
Valkyrie immediately sat up straighter. It had been thirty three years since she'd seen him alive but the fear of him came back. There was something about his aura that made her nervous.
Bliss had shaved both his beard and head. He was wearing a well tailored suit and his eyes were as icy as they'd always been.
"Morning." He said and began making himself coffee.
She'd never known he liked coffee. He'd always struck her as a tea person, like his sister.
He sat down with his steaming mug and looked at them. "What have I missed?"
"Ummm," Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery. "Nothing much."
"Is China still alive?" Bliss asked.
"Yes she is. In fact she and Ghastly are both elders in Ireland." Skulduggery answered.
"Ireland must have been in a mess if no one objected to her take over." Bliss commented and took a sip. He looked at Valkyrie and she looked away.
He still terrified her.
"It was broken but it has been rebuilt." Skulduggery explained.
"Why did Ryu bring you back to life?" Valkyrie asked Bliss before Skulduggery could continue.
"No doubt you noticed Ryu shedding his many layers?"
She nodded. She didn't think she could ever forget that disgusting scene.
"Vampires shed one layer of skin before turning. The next morning they grow a new layer." Bliss paused and the corner of his lips twitched. "When I was young, my actions cursed him to never shed his skin but to keep growing it."
"That must have been torture for him." She muttered.
"Yes, it was." Bliss answered.
One chapter to go! Please review and I'll update :) more shocks still to come…..