A/N: I don't own Skulduggery, Valkyrie or Ghastly. Val is still 24. This chapter tends to get a tad violent, you've been warned.

The next morning I stretched lazily in bed, I knew I should be getting up, but the bed was warm and the sounds of Skulduggery moving from room to room below were comforting. The smell of coffee reached me, and I shoved myself out of bed. After a quick shower I went down to the kitchen. A rather large pot of coffee was going. I blinked. That was new. So was his skill in using it. Skulduggery turned and smiled at me. "Good morning, Valkyrie. You rested well, I hope?"

I nodded. It was times like these I wished I could ask how he learned to do things so quickly. He gestured for me to sit down. "Hungry?" He asked.

"Famished."

"Good, here." He placed a takeout box on the table, complete with plastic silverware. The was an actual breakfast inside. Actual food, not the non-food he usually managed. I dug into the eggs and toast happily, barely restraining the urge to thank him. "You're going to end up in the poorhouse if you keep feeding me, you know." I said around a mouthful of egg.

"Nonsense, Valkyrie. One of the many charming things about me is my ability to have saved vast amounts of money in over four hundred years. Plus there was a time when I felt justified to helping myself to anything like money I would find in a criminal's home." I looked up, amused, and he continued. "I'm joking of course. Mostly I just shot people."

"I always thought you'd be the type to tie people to chairs and go to work on them with a lead pipe." I teased.

"Well, yes, there was that too. Happy times. But would you like to hear what I so marvelously deduced about our killer?"

"Your ego knows no bounds, but yes, I'd love to."

He nodded, pleased with himself. "Our killer is male, powerful, heavily built. Care to figure out how I deduced that?"

"The depth of his footprints, the size and shape as well as the height of his palm print?"

"Very good! I'd almost accuse you of paying attention. Now then, he's a Necromancer and old, very old. How did I know that and how did a Necromancer wield Elemental powers?"

"He''s using dead bodies, and the energy of the dead in his work."

"His magic." He corrected.

"His magic. His attacks, as you pointed out are Elemental. He's freezing the bodies through Elemental magic. How did you figure it out?"

"My dear Valkyrie, you disappoint me. You have heard of autopsy reports, haven't you?" There was a smugness in his voice that made me want to rap him on the head.

I felt my temper flare. "Of course I have, but there wasn't one in the file." I growled.

"Telephones are a wonderful invention. You can call people like coroners on them. Imagine that." His sarcasm made me smile. At least he was feeling normal this morning. But he had mentioned old as well. He was waiting for me to take the bait, so I did.

"OK, how did you figure out he was old?" I asked and I swore his chest puffed out in pride. The man got stranger every day.

"You saw symbols that look like our sigils but are not. They aren't even runes, they are from a time before that, if they mean anything. The magic he's using is ancient from a time when sorcerers were revered as gods by many people."

"You're kidding, right? They saw us as gods?"

"Oh yes, indeed they did. Think of it, Valkyrie. You are a mere non-magical human living thousands of years ago. You have to fight animals to survive, your lifespan is short. Somebody hands you fire."

"Mankind discovered fire. Are you saying that sorcerers were more advanced?"

"Normal man didn't discover much of anything, I'm afraid. Fire was handed to him. From his gods, who were really just sorcerors, and of course they were more advanced. They were a better species."

"That's just cold."

"But true. As time went one the early people witnessed the battles and abilities of these sorcerers and worshiped them as gods. In return these false gods did bestow favors."

"You're saying man's concept of god is based on normal people misunderstanding sorcery?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He had to be kidding.

"Indeed it is. "

"You bring such hope and joy into my world, you know that?" I asked sarcastically.

He snorted, took my empty cup and refilled it. "I believe our killer is from that time, so long ago. There may be others like him, I don't know. But I do know being treated as a god made him view non-magical people as his to use as he sees fit."

"OK then, I get that. But why the murders, why now?"

"His power is running out. He's ageing at last, and it scares him. To his mind, he is a god, and gods don't age or die, at least not forever. He feels the ritual will restore his youth. He might even feel he is a god of the underworld, that would explain attacking in the dark of the moon. Perhaps he was worshiped then."

I thought back to our conversation at the crime scene. "How does he know about you, Skulduggery? What does he want with you?"

"Ah, that's the fun part. He's well aware of me, most likely well aware of most magical people, yourself included. His powers, while waning are godlike, after all. All of his victims up until now have been nondescript. Not even all that powerful or special in any way, really. He knew that would puzzle me, would make me think he was just a mere serial killer. But he also wanted me on the case, and he knew, knowing the Sanctuary, that I'd be called in because he knows what my dead eyes can see."

"But he'd have to be dead himself to know that."

"Not necessarily. He knows from Necromancy what the dead can see. You could too, if you chose to exploit them. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate your ring? Because I really do. But I'm leaving out the best part."

"Which is?"

"Go on, guess." He said brightly.

"He wants you, doesn't he? He needs you to complete the ritual."

"Yes, he does. And while I am immensely flattered I don't care to die again. So you and I will train today. I'm going to need you as my ally on this one, but you have to know he could easily kill you."

"I've killed gods before, Skulduggery. And if he so much as touches you, I'll kill him too."

"That's the spirit."

I was seriously regretting that spirit as we drove out into the country for a secluded practice area. There was a field where we sometimes trained, cloaked by magic. Skulduggery was never easy on me, ever. But I knew that now with the armour he'd be more ruthless. We had less than a month to train, not nearly enough time. I'd hoped to go slow, to start with the senses and build from there. We arrived and I donned the armour.

Without warning Skulduggery splayed his hand and twisted, the air knocking my away from the boot of the car onto the ground. He approached quickly, using the air to hold me in place. I raised my own hand, buffeted him with as much air as I could muster, but it was useless. I tried a fireball and he batted it away. He stopped and I had the distinct feeling he wanted to shoot me. He did draw his gun, and I drew a surge of air around me pushing him back, shielding me from the blast as he fired.

I rolled onto my feet and launched myself at him, ramming myself down low. But he easily rolled his body with the blow and caught me by the shoulders, picking me up and launching me backwards. I hovered in midair, loosing my temper. I realized belatedly what a good target I was making. Skulduggery launched twin jets of flame at me, and I barely soared up in time, and missed the blasts. I shot back a blast of my own and again he easily swatted it away.

I landed, crouched low, touched the ground. Nothing. I tried to raise the water in the air around me, and did. I formed a whip out of it through sheer willpower and launched it at him head. He ducked, reached up and caught the whip, and flicked his wrist, sending it slamming into the side of my skull.

I staggered, fell. I lay on my back, dazed. This was it, Skulduggery had finally gone insane and he was going to kill me. He strode over and stared down at me, arms crossed. "Get up! You think he's going to have mercy on you? Move, now!" He roared. I tried and fell down on to all fours. Skulduggery brought a knee up, smashing it into my face.

"Fight back, damn you!" He kicked me in the ribs, then brought an elbow smashing down on my spine. I snarled in pain, thrust myself sideways using the air, and he went over. I'd been wearing the ring that contained my Necromancy powers before I'd donned the armour and now I used it to draw on the shadows, to draw on the deaths the had occurred in this field. So many deaths. Darkness swirled around my fists and I slammed it into his jaw. He snarled, brought up one hand to smack me, open palmed, then he back-handed me. I shook my head trying to clear my vision.

"Use your dead senses!" He snarled, jabbing a fist into my throat. At his word I was once again overwhelmed. Blind, deaf, unable any longer to even smell the sweet grasses or to taste my own blood as it poured from my mouth. But I dug deep, and managed to stand. I felt him deliver a kick to my midsection. I rocked back, but didn't fall. I opened my dead eyes and looked at him. I snarled in hatred, opening my jaws wide to show him death was coming.

He snarled back, opening his own jaws in mockery. I clamped my own jaws shut, trying hard not to laugh. It was still Skulduggery, after all. He took advantage of my delay, Launching a column of fire that swirled around me, trapping me inside. I could feel the heat and panicked. I had no idea how to escape. The flames closed in. I tried to launch into the air, but his magic held me in place. My air affects only made the flames burn hotter.

"Water!" I heard him roar over the flames. I concentrated and felt a shell of it explode outward, growing higher and meeting the flames, killing them. Skulduggery stood in front of me and nodded.

"You let me douse the flames, didn't you?" I asked wearily.

"Yes, I did. But that's enough for today. Are you all right?"

"I'll live."

"You won't if you keep fighting as poorly as that."

"Skulduggery?"

"Yes?"

"What if he knows we are training? What if he just prepares himself and kills us both at once?"

"That's the spirit, always think positive. I'm sure he knows we are training. Hey, steady now." I'd started to weave on my feet. He came over and gently sat me down. He stroked the back of my skull, looped his skeletal arms around me and gently drew me backwards so that my skull rested on his shoulder.

"You did well today. Sorry about the knee to the face." He said gently.

"Think nothing of it, I'd apologize but I didn't manage to hit you."

"Well there's always next time, and you did manage to hit me once. But don't assume you'll ever scare an opponent, Valkyrie. Non-magical people might fear you, but he won't. You know, you have to get used to the fact that you don't have to stop in your attacks like the living would."

"I never thought of that. Do you think I have any chance of improvement, at all?"

"Of course I do. And if all else fails you can just shoot him."

I got out of the armour and was asleep almost the moment I sat in the Bentley. I woke up in Skulduggery's house, on the sofa. Everything hurt, twice. I suppressed a whimper and tried to sit up.

Skullduggery looked over from the book he was reading.

"Easy now. I've drawn you a bath. I would have just dumped you in clothes and all, but I thought you might drown seeing as how you were asleep. Can you manage?" I nodded in reply and got up to totter on stiff painful legs to the healing bath that awaited me. Afterwards I dressed for work and met Skulduggery in his office. I went wearily to my desk and sat down.

"Feel better?" He asked kindly. "Good. Ghastly wants to see us at the Sanctuary. We can get something to eat after if you like. I want to go to the last crime scene again. It is impossible to believe, I know, but I think I missed something." I smiled and followed him out to the Bentley. It was going to be a long night.