Gordon had to admit that all this information was perfect for a new book. He could easily turn this into a Horror/Romance novel. The ideas were pounding in his head, but he doubted that she came in here to give him his next best seller.

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Skulduggery trusts you." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I know how hard he finds it to trust people, when his family... died, I was the only one that managed to get so much of a word out of him. He took his frustrations out on annoying me. I knew what it meant, he lost many friends for it but I was the only one that managed to put up with him and his ridiculous notion of being superior to everyone else." she sighed and adjusted herself in her seat. "But instead of feeling insulted like everyone does, I felt honored."

Gordon snorted. "You felt honored that he chose you to pick on?"

"Let me explain it this way. Imagine a small immature child that doesn't have any direction in life, with no one to guide, let alone lead him. Now picture him calling for help in his own annoying way, only for people he chose to trust to turn their backs on him. They don't know that by doing it they're hurting him in the process."

He winced. That was not a pretty picture. He knew that right now that she needed a friend, or was a psychotic person sent to kill him because she's a secret agent working for Serpine. He laughed at the last one. Where did that come from? (Authors Note: She's not. Just read on to see why I wrote this.) Friends tell each other things right? Females like to talk about their feelings. Oh god! Am I going to hurt her feelings if I don't talk? Is that why she mentioned the story about why 'Skulduggery' is hurting? Is SHE hurting? Calm down Gordon. He told himself. You've got this.

"I used to be a miserable teenage sod once." Nice going idiot, now she'll think you're unworthy of her time. Is that going to hurt her feelings to? Because of her poor lapse in judgement?

"I believed in these stories my grand father would tell us, as we grew older my grand father grew sicker. One day I asked him to tell me another story, but he couldn't because my father forbid it. He made my older sibling drill it into our heads that all the things he told us were false. When he died he took a little piece of my life with him. Being interested in the so-called fairy tales made me an outcast in high school . The girl of my dreams left me for my for my brother, my books barely got published and my life was a mess. I decided I had enough of my humiliation and went to a bar with a fake ID. I met Skulduggery there, though I can't remember anything past throwing up on his shoes."

Valkyrie ignored the emotional crappy part of his speech and her brows furrowed with concentration as she tried to sense for a magical aurora around him.

"So you needed you needed Skulduggery to fill the void that your grandfather left in your life?" she asked trying to get a response out of him that would trigger some sort of magical spike."

"He filled that void in a way now that I think about it, he came into my life and gave me purpose. I am who I am because of him. I became cool after that meeting, I learned to store-"

"Has Skulduggery ever told you how he died?" She silently cursed his lack of magical response but she tried to pry harder.

By now Gordon realized that he was being interrogated and the thought of her working for Serpine seemed pretty likely right about now. Damn! where was Skulduggery?

"Now see here devil woman I-" he said slightly panicked. Should he have allowed her into the mansion?

"Have you ever heard about Nefarian Serpine?"

His blood ran cold and his magic spiked. Everything around him froze. He tried to focus on something. Anything. It was then that his mind flashed and showed him a few random images. He saw a gravestone... saw his niece finding the echo-stone he imprinted on, and uses from time to time to help him write stories... the broach he made sure to pass on to his least favorite sibling if he died so that it could be safe...and then there was nothing his last thought of conciousness was 'What the hell did I get myself into this time?'

Valkyrie sighed, relieved that he at some magical potential. Now all he had to do was harness it. Yes... she thought to herself. And then I would have the perfect gift for Skulduggery when he sees his friend happy... And of course Gordon can write more books as he thinks about his gift more.. though I wonder what I just experienced here. Did he just have a vision? She sighed. It must have something to do with Serpine since he's so awfully familiar with that name. Skulduggery is going to be here soon so maybe I should leave.

After that last thought she thought it would be better if she stayed. She would get to speak to him sooner and besides, she was tired of all this running. It was raining outside and she didn't have anywhere else to go. So she dragged her host all the way up to the main bedroom and tossed him on the bed before residing in one of the other rooms. Soon her eyes closed and she was blanket by darkness, her coherent thoughts disappeared as soon as she fell into a blissfull sleep.