Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 86

Their orders came from the Elders hours later after they'd all gotten a nap and some food. Search and destroy all except Craven who they wanted preferably alive. They didn't say it was necessary though, so they armed themselves to the T, this time letting Valkyrie in on their big boy weapons.

She'd chosen modestly, so to speak. She had her usual handy flip knife and had a pair of combat trousers concealed harnesses of both of her legs, both of which had massive blades in, but only for emergencies. Under her shirt was a holster around her ribs that concealed a small gun under one arm and another at her back. Her pockets were filled with ammunition.

Still, she looked under-armed compared to her brothers.

Tanith was having another conflict of emotion, and this time it was some sort of protective nesting where she'd help them and bring them more and more weapons to arm themselves with and all sorts of protective gear and magic that might keep them safe – and then she'd sour and go sit on her chair in the corner sharpening her sword moodily.

In one way it was funny to watch, but Valkyrie could see how conflicted and upset she was, and how sick she was of her own mood changes, so she made such she, and everyone else, just let her do her thing and didn't so much as smile or comment. Tanith didn't seem to notice Valkyrie silently threatening the others to be quiet.

But no matter what Tanith wanted, it was time to go and Tanith was pregnant, so she had to stay behind. She promised to get some snacks out for when they got back but also threatened them to be quiet because she'd be sleeping, so they all hugged her goodnight and then let Ghastly have his moment with Tanith alone. Hopefully he didn't fuck it up again or Valkyrie might let him get hurt.

She'd have to think of that later though. They were going back to the Temple.

.*****.

Craven's POV

The cellar they were in was cramped, badly lit and smelled of damp. The rest of the Temple was dry, clean and although dark, it was always light enough to see everything they needed to. But spiders needed moisture to shed, and The Torment had put him in charge of finding a place that could happen. And now he was stuck in there with at least thirty Children of the Spider as they enjoyed the damp room and spoke about plans.

He didn't speak whatever language they were using. He knew some words because they were similar to other languages, but it didn't really help. Craven needed the Spider's to achieve his goals and would use them to get there. But he wasn't so stupid as to think they wouldn't turn on the other Necromancer's for fun, which would really ruin his plans.

After all, what sort of King of Necromancers would he be without disciples?

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out in hopes of news. After reading the messages, he cleared his throat to the group of Spiders and after a few more words between themselves, they looked at him like dirt on their weird, fluffy nubs that acted as spider feet.

He cleared his throat again. "I have received news from outside," he said formally. He was working hard on his King of Necromancers voice. "Some of my disciples have been momentarily stopped by the death of the former High Priest, but are still searching for the St. Clare girl. The Sanctuary have additionally had a meeting concerning the Temple and Children of the Spider, and believe we are working together to take over the Sanctuary and form a new Kingdom of magic. They are sending their best in to stop us."

The Torment and all his Spiders grinned like the monsters they were. "Perfect," The Torment chuckled. "When they arrive, we'll be ready. After all, the Sanctuary has always believed the Dead Men are the very best."

The room was filled with disturbing laughs and clicks.

Then the door burst in and the upstairs alarm blared through.

.*****.

Valkyrie's POV

"That was a lot easier than I thought," she said as she waited for her broken body to heal under Kenspeckle's expert medical assistance. Civet and Stentor were working on all those that only needed a little help. The Dead Men were around her in the more serious ward as they had all been more seriously injured.

"Same," Wolf said tiredly, a yawn punctuating his words. "And we did worse than expected."

Crow mumbled something but they couldn't hear because Kenspeckle had wrapped bandages not just on his broken neck, but also all around Crow's face so he couldn't talk. Every time he tried, they'd smile and enjoy it.

"You know, I don't think I've ever been happier to hear you make a noise," Valkyrie commented happily.

Panda snorted from his bed. "You can say that again. Only good thing to come out of this bloody mess."

"We got Craven," Valkyrie said hopefully.

"Yes, but for how long?" Panda said irritably. Something was up with him, but they didn't exactly have the time. "They have the White Cleaver, and that's too strong for us right now, and The Torment and nearly all of his followers got free. And the ones we caught will probably be broken free."

"They don't leave anyone behind," Snake said quietly. He looked so sad and despondent, her heart fell for him. She wanted desperately to go over and hug him, but she had so many broken bones and cuts she just couldn't move. She was lucky to be alive and she knew it this time.

Thank god for Bear though, who was strong enough to withstand his injuries and walk to the other side of the room and wrap his arms around his brother. Her heart broke more when she heard Snake start to cry into Bear's shoulder.

A tear slipped from her eye. He shouldn't have to relive his pain and nightmares all over again. He didn't deserve to be reminded of what they did to him.

The Spider's were a direct trigger to his PTSD and all his other mental health issues that were normally totally hidden. She felt awful for him having to relive this.

Kenspeckle and Civet chose that moment to come into the room. They stopped short at the scene and Bear glared at them, daring them to say anything that might upset his brother even more. He honestly looked like a Mama Bear protective his baby. Kenspeckle left the room and came back a few moments later with a packet of chocolate digestives and put them gently on Snake's pillow. He was too busy crying to see, of course, but Civet grinned at Kenspeckle proudly. Kenspeckle colours slightly but shook it off and got back to work.

After Kenspeckle had made his rounds on their injuries they could talk again. Bear had been able to settle Snake in that time also and he was now munching on his biscuits and even cracked a few smiles. Bear was in Snake's bed resting and Snake was sitting up and leaning on his brother's leg for comfort as he ate.

"As soon as we're better, we can deal with the rest," Valkyrie said tiredly, yawning herself. A snort rang out and they all stared at Wolf who'd fallen asleep. "Idiot."

Snake giggled. "Idiot," he muttered and munched another one.

They smiled at him fondly and tried to get some sleep of their own.

.*****.

They interrogated the Spiders before anyone else, and they didn't give anything up, so they brought a psychic in immediately who was able to find out bits of plans. None of them knew the full thing, unfortunately, but they knew a whole lot more than before.

Unfortunately, again, most of it became irrelevant as soon as they stormed the Temple because it was mostly safehouses and things that had happened in preparation to go to the Temple. Nothing for the future.

Of course, life couldn't give them everything, and when they opened Craven's cell, it had been remarkably empty. They had found out what happened within ten minutes of that and knew who his rescuer was, but that didn't fix the problem of him now being gone. It just gave them another target.

Being on the good side could be very frustrating.

So frustrating, in fact, that she told them she needed a break and walked out of their office.

It felt like sometimes it just didn't matter what they did, something would always get in their way. The man that accidentally tripped up her father and caused him to fall to his death, the woman that had turned to scream at her kids and had driven right into her mum's car and killed her, Serpine had killed Gordon, and never once did any of her family do wrong, it was all other people. It got worse as she got older but less grievous, she supposed. Nadia's parents got in the way of them, Fletcher spent months getting in the way of family time she desperately wanted as just them, and every few weeks it would be some random person, whether they meant to do it or not, that got in between them and their suspects. Some of the suspects had gotten away so well that they'd been pulled from the cases entirely!

She was just getting sick of not being able to do anything at all while everyone else was able to kick and push them around and ruin their lives without consequence.

She would never get her parents back, and the people that caused their deaths were both free now. They had been judged negligent, not as murderers, but while they were with their wives and husbands and children and all their other family members, here she was, frustrated and stressed and not knowing what to do about it.

She sighed and looked at the door she'd been led to. Corrival.

"Come in," he called before she knocked. She opened it and sat in the seat before he could say. "Tell me."

She sighed again and did what he said, getting it all off her chest as quickly as she could before she changed her mind. He made her tea while she talked and listened silently to her woes. When she was done, he nodded.

"It's easy to forget how young you truly are, Valkyrie," he said sadly. "I think many of us are blind to your age at times. We live so long it no longer affects us, but you have been through so much in your short time and the magical world has been just as unkind as the mortal one."

"I just wish I had an outlet. When I met the Dead Men and we became a family, everything just sort of fell on my lap and I thought it was the world making up for the family I had already lost. It didn't make me miss them less, but it was easier, and I was happy. But now I have a family, and I love them, but there's so much in the way of us being happy."

"Outside factors can blind us. And you do not have all your loved ones with you, hum?" He mused, looking at her over his reading glasses as he stirred his tea.

She blushed as she realised how she sounded. "I didn't mean to say my family isn't good enough," she said quickly. "I just feel as if there are a lot of things that could be better but it's out of our control. Like Craven getting away today puts a halt to our plans and that frustrates us so we're not spending time having fun together. Does that make sense?"

"Of course it does, and even if you didn't think your family is good enough, you wouldn't be any different than thousands of other people," he told her calmly. "People are not perfect, Valkyrie, but we must value each and every person as they are. You are a very positive person, for example, and that makes people latch onto you, especially people like me who have been by their self for much of their life. However, you also turn to despondency quickly if you don't get your way. That does not make you less of a person for losing sight of what you do have. It is merely a flaw, one that age and experience will help smooth."

She bit her lip and thought about his words. He's right, she admitted to herself. She was getting lost in all the bad things that had happened in the last few days, and how lonely she'd been at the Temple even with Solomon and Militsa. She was forgetting that she'd been around most of her family and able to talk to all of them for these last few days and hadn't been lonely and hadn't lost any of them. She might not have everything, but she had a lot.

"You aren't alone," she told Corrival instead. "You have us."

He smiled at her warmly. "You are kind, Valkyrie, but I don't think that is quite how it works."

"Why not? You're with us almost all the time, the guys love seeing you. At least one of them mentions your name once a day, and it was no different before you came to Ireland and became an Elder. You are family, even if they don't see it that way. I mean, you're not exactly someone who exudes emotion. I doubt they thought you wanted to be included in the family part of their lives because of that."

He smiled sadly. "I'm happy to hear you think so. It makes this old man feel happier at least."

She smiled and decided to enact another part of her old plan to bring Corrival more tightly into the fold. "I could give you a nickname. Then it'll be another inside thing, and I'll make the others call you it too. I'm sure they won't mind."

"Well, as long as it isn't Spider or something like that," he said gruffly, looking at his tea. She could see he was happy to be getting closer to the others, but he was struggling to show it.

"How about Pa?" She grinned.

He looked at her and scratched his chin. "Somehow I don't think that's an animal name."

"It's not. But I think it'd catch on quickly. I'll tell the others that's your name and I'll get them to give you a bedroom in the house."

"Not on that hall of rooms you have," he warned her. "I don't want to be in the middle of them boys ever again when they're all at it."

She laughed. "They don't do that at home! Well, maybe Tanith and Ghastly, but they've learnt their lesson. But there's a hall above ours that's got all the offices on, you could have a room there if you like. It's quieter in the least."

He smiled kindly. "I would like very much to live with you and your family, Valkyrie."

"Our family," she insisted, grinning broadly.

"Yes, our family," he said, his voice getting gruffer with emotion. He cleared his throat. "Well, I should let you get back to work, Cub. I will see you soon, I hope."

"Sure thing, Pa," she grinned. She finished the last swig of her tea and went around the table and reached down to hug him. After placing a light kiss on his cheek, she told him she loved him and left the room, much brighter and lighter.

Sure, things weren't going great, but they weren't falling apart either. And she had finally been able to initiate Corrival into the fold as Pa. She was good at names.

Smiling, she made her way down the hall to the dining hall, going right ahead and picking out some food for herself and her family. She knew their favourites and was quick to grab it before someone else. They took a lot of food to feed, after all.

And she turned around into Nadia's parents.

Her heart jumped and she felt a little panic before swallowing it down with a fierce determination. They didn't need to know her emotions, thoughts or conflicts.

"Afternoon," she said shortly and went around them with her tray piled high. Did she look like a pig? Hopefully it was obvious she was on lunch duty. Did that make her look like a little kid doing the grown-ups bidding? She hoped it wasn't too obvious she was on lunch duty.

"Valkyrie," Mrs Keena said loudly before she could get away. Valkyrie stopped and looked at her politely. People were glancing at them curiously. "May we talk privately?"

"Last time I spoke with Mr Vinay, he insulted me," she said just as loudly. "Will that happen again?"

His jaw clenched and Mrs Keena put a hand on his elbow. "He won't say a thing, dear," she said.

She watched them for several seconds in silence, judging what they wanted, and then nodded when her curiosity got the better of her.

She turned quickly and walked fast around the building, dropping the tray into the hands of a young, giddy man who was happy to help her and continued on to the cushy meeting room. The pair went in ahead of her and she closed the door behind them.

She took her time now, breathing deeply to control herself, and sat opposite them with what she hoped looked to be an air of dignity and confidence. "What would you like to discuss?" She asked after a moment of silence.

"Valkyrie, we came today because we received a report from Nadia's school that concerned us," Mrs Keena said softly as if she was breaking bad news.

"I've not had contact with Nadia since you forced her not to have contact with me. She was pressured into doing what you wanted and has not tried in any way to contact me since. Her bad grades don't concern me," she said blankly. It was a good Bliss impression.

Mrs Keena pressed the nail of her index finger into the pad of her thumb. She was anxious. Perhaps angry. "I would like to explain," she said, her voice a little more defeated this time. "Nadia's report says she has lost significant weight and they will be sending her home shortly if her health doesn't improve. They believe it is because of stress. We've tried to talk to her on numerous occasions, and she came home for several weeks for the Christmas holidays, but she hasn't muttered so much as a word to us and she doesn't look well."

"Again, this is because of you meddling in her life," Valkyrie told her bluntly. "If you hadn't messed up her plans of being happy, maybe she wouldn't be unhappy. I expect she would have told you that she had friends and family and a happy school life and enjoyed being with me. And when she did that, you ignored her and insisted she'd be fine. Would that be correct? Nadia shouldn't have listened to you, but she's a good daughter and she did. Now she's alone and sick and has bad grades. Are you going to blame that on me too?"

Mrs Keena was looking at her lap and a little tear dripped onto her folded hands. Valkyrie couldn't feel guilty. All these bad things were happening to Nadia and they could have pulled her from school at any time and fixed this. They hadn't.

"We would like you to talk to her," Mr Vinay told her quietly, staring somewhere above her head. "We think she'll listen to you."

Valkyrie thought about what to say. Did she show her hand? Or did she bargain? It felt all too similar to arguing with a suspect. "Tell me more about the report first. Don't think I've made my decision."

Mr Vinay's jaw clenched again. "She doesn't listen in class, she argues with teachers and she prefers to dawdle than do her work. Her friends reported she doesn't sleep and recently has stopped talking to them. The nurse reported on her weight and health and we were given notice of the actions the school is going to take."

"How long have you known she's going downhill? I know it's a while," Valkyrie asked them suspiciously. They didn't answer and Mr Vinay clenched his fist. Mrs Keena put her hand over his and she could see who had decided they were visiting. "See, I just can't understand how you can hate me and think I'm an awful person but then come here and ask for help. If your daughter is suffering where she is, just bring her home and help her. Ask what she wants and try to make it better. Keeping her there is making it worse for her health and ruining your relationship with her. Instead, you're here and trying to make me do it for you."

Mrs Keena nodded. "The school is very good for her. She could get a head start in any job she wants," she said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "She made friends and put on weight and was doing well after the Christmas break, but by the time Ramadan came this spring, she had lost it again."

"So you just left her there to feel miserable instead of getting in contact and asking how to make it better?" Valkyrie asked, her disbelief and anger getting the better of her. "You're forcing her to suffer there. And if she had lost her weight, fasting wasn't exactly a good idea. Isn't that against the rules anyway, being sick and stuff?"

"It's a good school. They are keeping an eye on her," she said quietly.

Valkyrie shook her head. "Just because she gets a good education doesn't mean she'll have a good life. She'll be bitter and miserable and jobless if she isn't happy."

Neither of them said anything. Mr Vinay was opening glaring at her.

She glared back at him. "There's no point in me speaking with her. Perhaps if you pull her from school you could solve your own problems with your own child instead of using her fifteen-year-old ex-girlfriend. Take responsibility for your own actions."

Mr Vinay's lip curled angrily, but Mrs Keena's other hand covered her husbands and looked at Valkyrie pleadingly. "We only want to give her the best."

"Then show her you love her instead of sending her to a country she doesn't want to live in," she said coldly, standing up.

"I'm sorry to waste your time," the red-haired lady whispered. Mr Vinay didn't look at her at all.

They left together but didn't look to be in union as they used to be. The door was left open behind them and Valkyrie sighed quietly.

More drama, more fun! I'm having fun anyway. So you know, I've posted the first one-shot for this story as a separate thing, so go check that out. You can find by clicking on my name and following that to my blank bio, go to the bottom of the page, and it's called SP: RC One-shots. I hope you like that as well as this extra-long chapter. And who likes Pa as Corrival's code/nickname? I think it's cute.