Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 57

"Valkyrie!" Wolf shouted down the hall. "Family meeting now!"

Valkyrie jumped up and out of her bed immediately, put on her shoes – she felt more able to deal with important things in shoes – and practically flew down the stairs to the living room. Family meetings were top priority number one.

The Dead Men and Tanith were in their new usual spots; Ghastly had switched to sit with Tanith nowadays which was a good sign, she and Tanith thought, even if other ventures had barely progressed. But that was a not-so-secret matter they fully intended to work on. Valkyrie sat next to Bear and looked over at Crow on his armchair by the window.

"Alright, now that we're all here," Crow began, picking a small hair off his chair. "We have some very serious matters we need to talk about concerning yesterday's events."

Wolf nodded, leaning forward and clasping his hands between his knees. "We all know that Valkyrie was attacked yesterday. To recap everything so we're on the same page – Valkyrie went out for a run yesterday at midday and when she got to the stream a vampire known at Caelan was there and waiting for her. This vampire is over one hundred years old and Valkyrie has seen him face to face only twice previously and spoken to him on the phone only two previous times. All interactions were very brief and Valkyrie says she saw no outward signs of attachment or obsessions with her, nor did he speak much at all."

Crow nodded and took over. "Yes. At the stream at the back of the property, Valkyrie was assaulted and he attempted to sexually assault, which she refused to, causing him to punch and throw her around. He kissed her, but as Valkyrie was able to escape before it went further, she was able to tell us in what we believe to be good conscience that she wants us to deal with the vampire as a family rather than go to the Sanctuary."

Valkyrie nodded through a deep breath. "That's right."

Crow indicated his head at her in acknowledgement. "After Dexter, Tanith and Anton spoke to and attended to Valkyrie's somewhat minor physical wounds, Dexter went to visit China, however, she was away. Tanith, Ghastly and Saracen ran patrols around the property and noted all places we can place addition protection, something we should have done years ago in hindsight. Tanith, what are those places?"

Tanith pulled out a notebook. "In no particular order, the outermost edges of the property need a professional to rebuild large sections of the East and West walls, we need to find the exact edge of the property at the back, or North, of the property and build a wall from scratch as it's completely open. The front gate could do with an upgrade as well as an automated system and a single door key or fob door for people on foot. We should also think about something to stop people climbing over the walls, as well as security cameras. There are a few already cameras, but more angles as well as more places would be very good. I was thinking a full security room in the hall we want to put everyone's offices? Then it's just landscaping which would make moving and visibility easier in the event we need that, as well as a few backup exits."

"That was my idea," Saracen said, nodding. "I think with all the added security keeping things out, we need to consider how we get out. If someone does get in, since I don't think there are any plans we could make that are completely failsafe, we need ways to get out undetected. I especially want to focus that on Cub's room. She is actually the most exposed from the outside, the second room being Erskine's as it is a structural copy."

"He can go without," Crow said.

"My thinking exactly."

"What?" Snake said, looking at them with wide eyes. "How come I don't get to live too?"

"Who would want to break into your room?" Tanith asked him with a frown. "What's the point?"

"Maybe a scorned ex-lover," Wolf grinned. "Coming for revenge."

Snake nodded. "Exactly. It might be that; I could die!"

"Too bad. Moving onto the other security changes inside?" Crow said, looking back at Tanith. Snake grumbled but looked at her too.

She smiled and continued on the list. "Again, in no particular order, we need to find those escape exits, which I say because an escape route is only good if the exit can't be detected by the enemy. Moving inside, we need to fix some bannisters to be a little sturdier. A few security cameras inside would be very useful, and I need to speak with some English friends about some security system they use at the English Sanctuary that I think would be good."

"What's it like?" Valkyrie asked curiously.

"I don't know, but I know it's good," she said. "New coded doors for certain rooms are a must and we really need to completely deal with the caves under the house. If anything ever got out it would be a disaster. I thought your friends could do that Dexter?"

"The Monster Hunters? They'd love to! But I've been in there and it's more work than for just two people. I'll ask some other friends. If we all get a couple of people, we'll be able to kill everything down there and then we can destroy the source."

"I'm taking a guess at signals," Crow said.

Everyone looked at Saracen. He shrugged. "I've got nothing. I get the feeling something's blocking it, but I might be wrong. It's hard to know what's a feeling and what's just me thinking."

Crow nodded. "With a large team, we can tackle the caves. We could use them as escape routes as well, and use the upper structure to create a larger basement."

"We need that," Bear grunted.

"That's on our list then," Crow said, looking at Tanith who had written down the other things they had spoken about. "Now, back to the vampire specifically. We need to learn more about him, more about his habits. We can't ask Dusk like I normally would, so I suggest going to Moloch."

"Skulduggery, that's not a good idea," Panda immediately interjected.

"Moloch has no reason to attack us. So long as we don't harm him, he doesn't harm us, that is the deal," Crow said pointedly. "I only plan on asking about Caelan's personality, not his whereabouts. I can find him at any time. What I want to know is what I will deal with when I do find him since I want to talk to the rational side to make sure he knows exactly what he's done when I'm tearing him apart. Aside from that, I also want to talk to China for the same information, perhaps some past history."

"I've never heard of him before," Wolf said, rubbing his chin which had a few days of tasteful growth. Everything he did looked so good, it wasn't fair for him to stand next to Valkyrie. She was battling an onslaught of spots recently thanks to being a teenager. "Do we know what country he's from?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "I assumed he was Irish but maybe not. He's been around for a hundred years, he might just be good at changing his voice."

"That's true," Crow said. "Hopefully China or Moloch knows something."

Valkyrie nodded. "Before we wrap this up, we do have another point of business," she said, letting their attention slip to herself. "In February, Fletcher will turn eighteen and not be Crow's responsibility. He asked if he could continue living here for rent. He has a job lined up at the Sanctuary he's working on right now, and in a couple of months he wants to be earning enough to move into the old butler's suite at the back of the house."

"Where is it?" Panda asked, frowning.

"The back of the house," Valkyrie said, giving him a look. "It's like a studio apartment. There's already a bed in there, a little kitchenette that's about a million years old and a little bathroom. It needs a clean but is otherwise liveable. I wanted to ask what you thought."

Tanith was pouting. "I thought he was going to leave."

"I thought he was leaving you alone," Valkyrie frowned.

"I still have to see him though."

Valkyrie smiled. "I thought that too, but then, that butler's suite is quite far away and only has one window so we will hardly see him, plus he'll be working in the day and probably spending time in Australia like he's always saying at night. If we improve the kitchenette, he can ban him from downstairs except for laundry too."

Crow sighed but looked at Bear. "How do we do that?"

"It's doable," he said. "Not likeable. We may have to register to have someone pay us rent, or we can do it under the radar, though that is illegal."

"A lot of what we do is illegal," Valkyrie pointed out. "But so long as you're okay for him to rent some space here, I am too."

"We should vote on it," Snake said. "All in favour of Fletcher living in a tiny room and giving us money, say aye!"

Valkyrie, Tanith, Panda, Snake, Weasel and Wolf put their hands in the air. Bear and Crow were outvoted. "Sorry guys. Guess you have a new project."

They both grunted.

"Come on, we have jobs to do," Tanith said standing up. "I want to talk to this Moloch guy."

"I want to talk to both of them," Valkyrie said, standing up. "But I have to get ready first. Wait for me!"

So the investigation begins! And Valkyrie's emotional recovery. But we'll get into that in the next few chapters, of course. I'm enjoying this part of the story, surprisingly, I thought it would get depressing but it was fun to write. Leave a comment on your thoughts, I do enjoy hearing from you! :)

KiedisXI - Your wish to see Cealan get beaten up has already been predicted by my amazing psychic powers, and I assure you - he will be destroyed. And it will certainly be amazing. But (as I've already written it and know all the spoilers) I also know with those same powers that you may get distracted by something else in that chapter. We'll have to wait and see... ;)