Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Chapter 11

"Tome has betrayed us," Crow said darkly when he came back through the door. Everyone was there except Bear and Wolf who had just dropped the Sceptre into the 'deep down, deep dark' as Wolf had told her on the phone, and were on their way back.

They had been gone for four days already. It would take at least three, if not four, to get back.

"How?" Panda asked immediately. "Do we need to move?"

"No but I want more protections on this house. Anti-teleportation definitely," he said, beginning to pace the room. "No one died but he tried to kill Morwenna and Meritorious. Many of the Cleavers and much of the staff is dead. The other Elders have gone into passive hiding. I know where they are but they have given us our orders already – search and destroy at all costs."

"They're finally taking this seriously at least." Weasel shook his head. "Would have been nice a few days ago."

"Would have been nice a few decades ago," Crow said under his breath. "We have bigger problems though. Mr Bliss was helping Tome and Serpine. He tried to find out if I had the key or the Sceptre and when I didn't talk he tried to fight me. I only got away because Serpine blasted the damn Sanctuary wide open with a bomb."

Stephanie's eyes widened. "Are we going to find him?"

"Yes." Crow looked at her then. "You can come on two conditions."

She hesitated. "What are they?"

"If any of us say to leave, you leave, you run, you do whatever we say without hesitation. Do you understand? Anything at all."

"I can manage that." She would not be doing that.

"Secondly, you have to know your name. Mr Bliss referred to you as Stephanie and that means Serpine knows. And I would put money on it being China who told him."

She frowned. "Why would she do that? I thought she was helping you."

Panda snorted. "China helps no one but herself. It's no surprise she gave away information. She will wait until the last moment as always and then make her move, no sooner or later than she wants to. To be honest, it might not have even been her. Gordon talked about you a lot, he probably slipped on your name a few times."

Stephanie nodded, thinking back to when Crow and Wolf had told her not to trust the woman. The Gordon theory seemed pretty likely too though. "Okay."

"It'll be four days before the other two get back," Weasel said. "We don't have enough time. We need to act fast if Serpine is acting this aggressively."

Crow nodded. "It'll be hard without them but we're not alone. Morwenna and Meritorious have given us ten Cleavers and Mr Bliss, for whatever reason, called a freelancer by the name of Tanith Low to help us. She should be meeting us here in the next few minutes. I want information on her."

"She's English, blonde, pretty and has a sword," Stephanie said immediately. They all looked at her and she felt a blush creep up her neck. Traitor. "She was the woman with me in the library, remember? She said it wasn't a good idea to learn magic at the moment because of all the bad stuff going on. She seemed really nice."

Crow considered her words. "I'll keep an open mind then, if she got on with you so well. But I won't trust her yet. She was brought in by Mr Bliss after all. But then, he always plays his cards even closer than China, so who knows. For all we know, he wants us to stop him."

She looked out of the window and saw someone coming down the driveway on a motorbike then. "Is that her?" She asked.

Crow looked. "Probably."

They waited, and she was let in by Crow at the door. They came into the living room and she was looking carefully around with casual indifference though Stephanie could see a fair amount of excitement in her eyes despite her obvious efforts to calm herself.

"Hi," Stephanie said quietly from the sofa.

"Hey!" Tanith said brightly. "Fancy seeing you again so soon."

"Yeah, bit funny actually. You were brought in by Mr Bliss, right?" She asked.

"Yeah," Tanith replied, sitting on the sofa besides her and looking around at the books on the wall distractedly. "He came and found me two weeks or so ago. Said there as trouble and he wanted me to help fight."

"Maybe he hasn't betrayed us," Snake said. "He might just be pretending."

"What do you mean?" Tanith asked.

"The Sanctuary was raided. Tome has betrayed us and Mr Bliss was helping him," Crow said. "They want the Sceptre of the Ancients, but it has been removed from existence not so long ago."

"It doesn't exist at all," Tanith frowned.

"It did," Stephanie said assuredly. "But not anymore. Not at all if you're asked."

Tanith took a moment and then nodded. "Sure thing. So what do we do about it? Where are the other Elders?"

"Hiding, but we have our orders. The people are to hide, all helping Serpine are to be treated with aggression. All Sanctuary staff, or what remains of them, are to hide, all of those helping Serpine are to be treated with more aggression. Serpine is to be searched and destroyed at all costs. We can't risk another war."

Tanith nodded. "Sounds good," she said and looked at Stephanie again. "Have a name yet?"

"Naa, still working on it. Need to be quick though or I can't help with the fight."

She nodded. "It's always best to protect yourself first. You can't be useful if Serpine or anyone else can just control you."

Crow nodded. "Exactly. Miss Low–"

"Tanith."

"Tanith, we need to you have absolute discretion with this mission. It isn't anything personal, but if we think you are fraternising with any other Sanctuary, or the enemy at all, we will be forced to you extreme force as are our orders. Understood?"

"Yep."

"Good. Welcome to the team," Crow said, crooking his head into a smile.

"Hi," Weasel said, waving at Tanith.

She rolled her eyes but gave him a smile. "Hi."

"Yay lunch time!" Stephanie said, standing up. "Help me?"

Tanith nodded and they went off to the kitchen. "You know," Tanith said as they walked, "this was Gordon Edgley's house not so long ago. I was so upset when he died – I've been desperate to read his next book. How did you get it all set up so quick?"

Stephanie pulled the bread out the cupboard and gave Tanith a grin over her shoulder. "This is my house. Gordon left it to me when he died. I lived with him for three years after my mum died. I came here every weekend since dad died though, since I was four maybe? He was my second dad," she chatted, getting things out of the fridge while Tanith listened and leaned against the kitchen table. "He practically raised me, honestly. He got me from school most days before mum died so she could work. He set up everything so I'd be with the Dead Men when he died. I'm their apprentice now."

Tanith smiled at her. "So does that mean you can tell me all about him?"

"Sure," she said, feeling altogether too happy to talk about Gordon to someone who didn't hate him for some reason or already know everything she was saying. "He was my best friend. You can read his book as well – he just finished it before he died."

"What do you mean?" Tanith said, giving her a look.

"A few days ago, when he died, I suppose almost two weeks ago now, he was in his office and just finished writing his book. I went in there a few hours later and found him dead. I called the police and they dealt with it all and stayed with my grandma until they announced the Will and I got to come back here to live with the others. It's the only house big enough for us all."

She smiled softly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She shrugged. "I've lost a few times at this parent thing. At least with Crow, Skulduggery sorry, he's already dead and can't be taken away as easy."

"Yeah," she said softly. "And where about is this finished book you speak of?"

She laughed and told her she'd get it for her later. They took the food to the dining room and Stephanie was able to be quiet as Tanith was pestered by Weasel for some reason or another, and Snake joined in for the fun. She tried to think of a code name for Tanith. She was so much fun and she found herself come away from the initial attraction in favour of a sort of deep friendship already, one she felt with her Dead Men. She only had so long to convince this woman she needed to stay with them and love being in Ireland over England. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Maybe she could play the Gordon card up to manipulate her. It was evil, but in a good way.

She was just finishing her sandwich when it hit her. The perfect name. That was it!

"I've got it!" She said, and then have to drink water to get the rest of her bite down as she almost choked on it. Tanith patted her back with a laugh.

"Got what?" Snake grinned.

"My name. Valkyrie Cain!" She laughed.

They all cheered, and Snake and Weasel quickly announced a celebration was in order.

"We need to Crow," they said, both hugging Valkyrie tightly. "This is our first multi-parenting success! As soon as this is over, Valkyrie, we are going to be celebrating into the night! You can have a beer and everything!"

Valkyrie laughed along with them and they decided to keep the secret from Bear and Wolf for the time being as to surprise them later and she even got a hug from Tanith that still made her blush violently.

After tugging herself free from the overly happy men, she took Tanith's hand and dragged her upstairs. "Come on, I'll find you a room. I think there's one left."

"Are they always this crazy?" Tanith asked, amused.

"No, but I think with all the bad this is just making them extra excited," Valkyrie admitted. "This hall is the bedroom hall. On the right is bedrooms, on the left is bedrooms. That room is a bathroom, the room at the very end is also a bathroom. The men use that bathroom and the one at the end is mine, but I wouldn't wish for you to share with them as they fight over it enough as it is, so we can share instead."

Tanith nodded. "It really is all go around here. I like it."

Valkyrie grinned and walked over to the room opposite hers that hadn't been carved on and let Tanith in. "You can stay here as long as you like. Like really, please stay. There's too many men here already."

She snorted and unclipped her sword and placed it on the dresser to look around. "I admit it's nicer than the hotel I'm at. Are you sure you want me here?"

"Really," she said. "I love being spoilt and centre of attention, and trust me when I say I intend to keep it that way, but having someone to talk to about other things would be nice. I only really talk about some stuff with Bear, that's Anton, but I still wouldn't tell him everything. Boys are gross."

Tanith smiled at her. "I've always wanted a little sister you know. I have a big brother, and he's great and all, but it's not the same. So, I'd love to stick around."

Valkyrie grinned at her. "Excellent! Now you just need a code name."

"Yeah, you're going to have to explain that one to me."

"I will later. I need to pee now though, so have fun moving in and all. Panda has a van so he can help get things from your hotel if you want. We work best when we're together and since Wolf and Bear are gone we really need all our help close, you know? Right, I'll see you later. Have fun, I guess."

She rushed from the room and shut the bathroom door behind herself quickly before she could embarrass herself anymore. It wasn't her fault she had butterflies! They came by themselves.

Woohoo! The fight is so close! And Tanith is now her sister (or good enough, you know?) and the story is becoming more and more it's own instead of a copy! Hehe yay! :) Please keep the reviews up, I read them all!