Okay so I wrote this immediately after the other chapter. I didn't wait for reviews to thank people for but thanks to Arianna Dark and Aphrodite Salvatore for agreeing to be in this story and being very enthusiastic when I shared some ideas. I've not updated in ages so I will update as much as possible but I may actually finish this story tonight and start on the sequel…

CHAPTER 31:

The pope stood for a second or two before falling to the floor. His body has been ripped to shreds by bullets; his face wasn't even recognisable anymore. Valkyrie stared; she's seen dead people before, plenty of times. But never a pope. "I'll confess I pelt your name wrong once and wrote poop, but I was seven. I don't know why I just said that to a dead body but, well, uh. Who shot him anyway?" Valkyrie blushed, regretting talking to the body. She turned away from it. Skulduggery looked around, and pointed to one of the hired hooligans. "Him." He decided. "Fat people always hate people more powerful than themselves." Valkyrie frowned. "He's ugly, are you sure he's a dude?"

"Positive, he should wear a bra though." Skulduggery made actions with his hands in front of his chest.

"That's sexist, Skulduggery. And he does have moobs."

"Moobs?"

"Man boobies. He looks quite gay."

"I tried to be gay once, I don't think it worked out very well."

"You were gay? Are you having a laugh?"

"I was exploring my sexuality. And I tried to seduce Hitler, I forgot I was a skeleton and scared him a bit. He ordered my redeath. I only just escaped. Not a nice thing to go through." Valkyrie nodded. "Why don't we get back to saving the world. You haven't lost any respect for me, have you?"

"Not sure."

"Aha. Well it was years ago, I was dared to do it." Valkyrie followed him through the doors into a street she hadn't seen in what felt like an age; it was only about two and a half years. She'd never realised how much she missed this place and Kenspeckle. Just thinking about him brought tears to her eyes and they threatened to flow so she dabbed her eyes on her sleeve. Ravel walked up to them. "Dark has fled and Salvatore in putting up a fight. We have Sanguine, Thrasher, Clarabelle and Zombie eleven in custody. We're not sure that Clarabelle has anything to do with this but we've got her just in case. We need to arrest Salvatore and sent somebody after Dark, choose your jobs wisely." He walked away and Valkyrie noticed he was limping.

Valkyrie walked into the garden where Aphrodite Salvatore was surrounded by cleavers, she held a gun tightly in her hands. Behind her were the old gas tanks so she has nowhere to run if she tried. Skulduggery scanned the horizon. "There. We'll go after Arianna Dark and leave Tanith and Ghastly to arrest Aphrodite Salvatore." Valkyrie nodded and they ran in the direction Ravel had pointed.

Fletcher had joined them and there was no sign of her. "Right we'll split up. I'll go with Fletcher and Skulduggery himself." They looked at her. "You're sure?" She nodded and Skulduggery launched himself onto a rooftop and ran away. Fletcher pointed to a dark lane after a while of running. "I saw something move. Might have been a dog but…" She nodded and they crossed the road. Her heart was thumping in her chest, she knew something was wrong but she wouldn't show her fear in front of Fletcher.

They walked into the alley and darkness surrounded them. Valkyrie lit a flame in her hand and searched, she kicked trash bins, shifted boxes and knocked down fences. Nothing. She shook her head and went to walk back out but Arianna Dark appeared, grinning. "Hello again, Cain. Find anything interesting?" Valkyrie shook her head; she couldn't see Fletcher. He was hiding behind a door of an old house that was going to be knocked down and new ones built on top.

Arianna put her hand in her jeans and pulled out her cutlass, blood dripped from the end of it. Valkyrie gulped and picked up a metal broom handle; it was all she could find. Arianna laughed and lunged. The cutlass went into Valkyrie's shoulder and she screamed. The pain burned and she closed her eyes; big mistake. The cutlass slashed and ripped Valkyrie's flesh. The soft pitter patter of his girlfriend's blood hitting the pavement made Fletcher want to puke.

Arianna ran the blade across the slit on Valkyrie's stomach again and again. Valkyrie was beyond screaming. Arianna heard sirens in the distance, that didn't bother her but the footsteps she could hear did. She pushed Valkyrie into a corner and dropped her on the ground; out of sight. Skulduggery appeared at the end of the lane and walked towards her, Arianna smiled. "Arianna Dark; you are under arrest for murder, attempted murder, theft, manslaughter and I don't know, possibly professional idiocy." She put her hands out. "Cuff me, Mr detective man." Skulduggery clicked the handcuffs into place on her wrists and she felt her powers disappear. She let him lead her away and glanced at Valkyrie and smiled.

Valkyrie groaned and watched as a shape appeared above her, Fletcher. He picked her up and carried her onto the main street; where he cuddled her close to him and muttered comforting words.

Police officer Haidyne DeLaVielliea drove home in his patrol car with the radio on loud. He was driving down O'Connell Street when he saw two teens on the ground beside an alley; they were covered in blood. He stopped the car and walked over to them. The girl had a gaping hole in her stomach and was bleeding bad; but she was alive and conscious. The boy was comforting her. "What happened here? Is it got anything to do with the crazy girls or the pope kidnapping?" Fletcher shrugged. "I don't know, I found my girlfriend lying like this just minutes ago. She needs help, fast." Officer DeLaVielliea nodded. We'll put her in my car and take her to a hospital; I can't promise she's going to make it though." He pulled out his radio and reported the details.

Fletcher held Valkyrie tight as she bled in the back of a cop car and wondered if he had done the right thing.

There's at least 2 more chaps 2 go after this one. Hope you enjoyed, please review! And it's pronounced Dee – la – Vee – elly for the dudes name. PLEASE REVIEW!

Skylair xoxo