Here it is, my first official chapter of Descendants! (I really need a better name for this). I should also mention (as the summary says) that this is set after Dying of the Light, but has some things changed. Ghastly's still alive, and Valkyrie is about 19 or 20, and still maintains her regular powers.

The sun was just barely rising when the van finally stopped. Valkyrie Cain was dragged from the back by one of the men, and shoved ahead to the stone path that led to the old Monastery. Some of them were dressed like regular sorcerers, but their skin was cracked and dead looking. There were Cleavers around her, also; their coats and helmets had cracks running through them too, and their usual grey uniforms were now pitch black in colour.

Her hands had been shackled to dampen her powers. Cut off from the source of her magic, she could do nothing to escape these men. They looked as if they were dead, but they moved with a purpose. Valkyrie knew if she ran for it, they would be on top of her in a second. She had no idea where the van had taken her, but it looked like no part of Ireland she had ever seen before.

How long had it been since they had loaded her in to the vehicle? Hours? Days, maybe, had passed since she had last seen her partner Skulduggery Pleasant. They had gone to once again investigate Serpine's castle; the very same castle where she had saved him from Serpine's Hollow Men, and where she had seen her friend Tanith nailed to a chair only a day or so before Dreylan Scarab attempted to kill 80,000 people with the Desolation Engine.

Their quarry was one Chadli Victor; he was an Energy-Thrower, but his power was like one she had never seen anyone use before. Moments before Skulduggery managed to take him down, he had thrown a horde of zombies at them, then even attempted to use his power to blow out the walls and bring the roof down on them all. Neither one had worked. And that's when the Cleavers had shown up.

Skulduggery had grumbled something about reinforcements never being on time when they needed them, right before one of the Cleavers jumped him. The rest had grabbed Valkyrie, and gone for the window, once they hit the ground, more of these sickly looking men had cuffed her and put her in the back of the unmarked van.

And now she was here, practically being dragged into what remained of an old Monastery. They guided her down the stairs and through series after series of intersecting corridors that seemed to go on forever until they reached row upon row of jail cells. As one of the dead men began unlocking the cell, she heard a clink of metal and a rattling of chains from within; someone was already in there. Valkyrie was shoved in, almost hitting her leg on the small bed within. The cell was small and narrow, and she could already feel her claustrophobia clawing at her.

The dead looking man with the cracked skin produced a key through the bars, and uncuffed her. He then wandered off, the black uniformed Cleavers trailing him. There was a rustling behind her, from within the cell. She turned, and a man somewhere around her age walked forward from the shadows of the cell. She narrowed her eyes as he blankly stared at her, then he grinned.

"Hey," his accent was British. "How's it looking out there?" His question only made her narrow her eyes further. He was quite handsome, and his blonde hair was styled neatly.

"Uh... fine. Lots of dead looking people."

"Well, that's to be expected." That grin, still on his handsome face. "They got you too, huh? Where'd they pick you up from, then?" Valkyrie ignored his question for a moment as she moved to the wall, slowly sitting down, keeping her guard up.

"Ireland." She finally answered, and he only nodded in response as he sat down opposite her. "Well, you're a bit far from home, then." She noticed his leg was chained to the back wall of the cell.

"How far? Where exactly am I?" She hadn't yet dropped her guard, but his general demeanour and stance so far seemed quite relaxed. There was no answer from him for a moment, and as the light flickered the right way, she could see a scar across his face. It wasn't too big, and barely visible, but her keen observational skills she had learnt from Skulduggery had allowed her to pick it up. The faint scar went from one side of his face, across his nose, and stopped just on the other side.

"Relax." He finally said. "You're so tense. My name's Oscar." His eyes were scanning her, and he seemed to know she hadn't dropped her guard yet. After introducing himself to her, he moved slowly forward, crawling halfway across the floor of the cell so he could hold his hand out to her. She visibly hesitated, before reaching forward and shaking his hand. He smiled again, but this smile seemed more real and more genuine than how he had grinned at her before.

"As for your question, I'm not too sure where we are right this minute."

She rolled her dark eyes, and glared at him. "That's helpful."

He stared back at her. His eyes were some shade of green. "Sarcasm never helped anybody." He said with a sigh, sitting back against the wall, the chain around his leg keeping him from going too far. She looked over at it. "Why are you chained up, anyway? They didn't even bother to leave my cuffs on."

Oscar's hands went to the chain and he pulled on it, as if he were trying to break it. From the look of his hands, it seemed like he had tried a thousand times already. "Oh. They probably don't think you're that much of a threat, then." She scowled at this, but was ignored as he continued. "Whereas I managed to break into this Monastery, and tried to kill all of their leaders. I almost succeeded, too. This place is very special to me. I was born here, you see."

"You said you didn't know where we were."

"I lied."

Valkyrie just sighed. "Of course you did. Why were you of all people born here?" He tilted his head.

"What do you mean, of all people?"

"Uh..." He grinned once more.

"You think I'm handsome, don't you?" She glared sharply at him. "No."

"No?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure I don't think you're handsome? Very sure."

"We'll have to see about that." He tilted his head at her, and she glared again. "What?" She questioned.

"You still haven't told me your name."

"Ah. It's Valkyrie."

"Valkyrie." He repeated, nodding. He finally let go of the chain he had been pulling on, and sat back. "This place didn't have cells when I was born here, by the way. Back then, it was a functioning safe haven for humans and demons alike. The monks here accepted everybody."

"Demons?"

"Excuse me?"

"You just said Demons."

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"Are you certain?"

She sighed. "Here we go with this again."

Oscar's one and only response was to grin once again. He opened his mouth to speak again, but there were people standing at the cell door.

They were all very tall, the tallest one standing in the back. One woman, two men. Or at least, she thought they were. The one in front, the woman, was Japanese with long dark hair. A short sword was strapped to her hip, and she was using a small key to open the cell door. One of the men was bald, and his skin was the colour of crimson red. Beneath his robes, he wore some sort of black armour, and there was a fresh looking scar along the right side of his neck, which seemed to start at his throat.

The third was a vampire. He stood slightly above, as well as behind, the others. And for some odd reason, he seemed to be stuck in his vampire form, which was that of an albino monster, with fangs and claws as sharp as razors, along with small black eyes.

And all three of them, staring straight at Oscar with a sort of hatred in their eyes.

"I'm very popular." Oscar said. "Now, let me introduce you, Valkyrie, to Lore Winter, Merrick, and Adaranth, one of the ugliest vampires I've ever met."

The woman, Lore, had used her key to open the cell door, and she was now in the doorway. Oscar had pointed to each one of them as he told Valkyrie their names; there was a flash of silver and a fraction of a second later, Oscar's finger was lying on the floor, a big red puddle beginning to leak out beside it.

I think that's about it for this chapter. 1,478 words or so, not bad for the first chapter! Please let me know what you guys think.