Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

Chapter 105

When they got to the Sanctuary, they had Valkyrie go to Tipstaff and talk to him since she was his favourite and somehow immune to Wolf's charm and Weasel's… well, she couldn't even put a name to the magic Weasel did. Perhaps that really was his magic. And the rest was just really amazing guesses.

"I'm afraid the Elders are in an international meeting at the moment," Tipstaff told her as he sorted something on his desk. It was perfectly neat and organised with the largest in-out trays Valkyrie had ever seen, each half-full and stacked just as neatly. "But, I will put in their schedule to meet with you as soon as they are out. Is that acceptable?"

She grinned. "That's great, thank you Tipstaff."

"Good," he smiled. "Now, this paperwork is a backlog I need you to read, fill out, sort and or bring it to the attention of various people. Yourself and Detective Pleasant have, obviously, been rather busy this last week and we've had a few changes brought in by Elder Deuce while you've been gone."

She sagged a little but took it. She was Co-Head of department. She had responsibilities. "Sure. I'll do this in the office. That's all clean, right?"

"Absolutely. You'll find additional paperwork there, but I was kind enough to ask my assistant to split it into an order of priority. This paperwork has to be before all that."

She nodded and made her leave before more work was thrown on her, going up to the office with the three Idiots. They sat around on their desks and Valkyrie found a sticky note on her desk telling her to clean it. She put the stack of paperwork on top of that.

"Can you guys clear the desks and read a few of these for me?" She asked, sitting down in the comfiest of chairs her butt had ever felt.

They agreed. The men wandered around the room, talking in low voices about Bliss' house and how to present their findings to the Elders while Valkyrie got through the paperwork. The stack Tipstaff had given her was primarily reading and signing to say she knew the new laws, essentially, so she got through that in an hour via skim reading because she herself was technically immune to some of the laws due to her position of power as well as some of it being just irrelevant to her job. She stuck her head out the room and asked someone if the Elders were done yet but apparently they weren't, so back to work for her.

"I hate reports," she whispered to herself.

"Cheer up, Cub," Weasel grinned, his feet up on his desk at the back. "You get paid for doing them."

"No I don't," she grumbled.

"Err, yes you do. You're an employee. It's a part of your job."

"No, I get paid to catch criminals, keep you on track, get Crow to shut up for more than five minutes, and look pretty," she informed him. "Reports is something I have to do because a certain dead guy decided he couldn't act like an adult for more than a few hours alone."

"Same thing," he smiled.

She rolled her eyes, but in that next hour the Elder's were busy she did get through a bunch of work and got Wolf – the only one she really trusted with the job – to look through the least priority pile for what her opinion would be, since most of it was just complains, suggestions and ideas, as well as badly written memos that were so badly written or worded they didn't get a good ranking even if they were about really important stuff. Tipstaff's rule. It worked, for the most part, in getting people to communicate effectively.

"The Elders are ready for you," a lady said from the door.

Valkyrie threw her pen down and jumped out of her chair. "Thank God," she said and was still stretching all the way to the meeting room.

They didn't knock when they got there, just opened the door, closed it behind them, and sat straight down. "Detective Cain," Meritorious said, a hint of a smile on his face. "I assume this is to do with the rumours of Pleasant being taken prisoner?"

"Just about, sir," she said. "I think it would be best if I told you the full story, but I request the use of extra security considering the information I am about to tell you."

He nodded and Pa simple jammed his finger against a couple of signals on the desk to activate the wards. He nodded. "Tell us," he said shortly.

"Three days ago, as you know, we were sending out messages about a missing Shunter, so we went to visit the other Shunter in prison, which you know about, and when we returned, the missing Shunter was dead in the Dead Men's office, and Solomon Wreath was missing. Although our mission is to find what happened to the Shunter, I will be honest that we were side-tracked by Solomon's disappearance although it can be presumed that wherever Solomon is, the killer will be there also."

"Agreed," Pa nodded gruffly, crossing his arms and brow frowning deeply with thought.

"The first day we spent driving around in hopes of catching up with the suspect, but we didn't find them. The next day, Skulduggery got a tip off and we followed it. It ended up being correct," she said, her body tensing with irritation and anxiety. "The suspect was seen at the location with Solomon. However, they had already left. Unfortunately, Skulduggery forced me to go alone to get the information from a highly illegal place with incredibly disgusting practices, and I left immediately after. No arrests were made."

"Where?" Pa asked, getting a notebook out.

Wolf answered for her. "Griever's Down. I didn't know that was where we were until later, or I wouldn't have allowed it. I am absolutely sure Skulduggery knew what he was sending Valkyrie into though. He forced her into it."

All of the Elder's lips thinned and a vain in Pa's jaw throbbed. "Right. Continue."

"Myself, Dexter, Saracen and Erskine picked up the investigation this morning. We checked out the place I was told about, The Old Mill, but there was no one there. I've got evidence for analysis on who might be there, but I'm not hopeful. Then we went to Cassandra's on an unrelated visit, but important for another meeting, and then to Finbar's where we got the information we need to talk to you about."

Meritorious nodded. "Before we get to that, am I to believe Skulduggery didn't talk to any of you before being captured?"

"Yes," Weasel said. "We called him, but either he ignored us or was captured immediately after Valkyrie and Dexter left. We know for certain Skul and Solomon were kept at The Old Mill, so we assume he went there alone and got captured when he was overpowered."

Pa scoffed. "Stupid boy. Valkyrie, what did Wrong say?"

"He had a vision of Skulduggery and Solomon," she said. "At Mr Bliss' home."

The three sat up a little straighter and the alarm immediately set into their postures. "You are certain?" Meritorious asked.

Wolf got out the picture Finbar drew. "This is a drawing of the vision."

The Elders looked at it. "That's it, alright," Pa nodded. "Can't forget it. And it's not the first time Bliss worked with those defying the Sanctuary, or the Dead Men for that matter."

"He blew up the Sanctuary a few years ago," Valkyrie said. "And tried to kill Skulduggery."

Elder Crow and Meritorious looked at each other, their eyes moving. They spoke in a way only those that had known each other for centuries possibly could. "Can we risk sending the Dead Men in?" Elder Crow asked warily.

Valkyrie sat up carefully and they looked at her. "As it is, we have us four here and Anton. Honestly, from what I know, the only thing we have strong enough to kill Bliss, if it came to it, is Anton's gist."

"He's used it against him before," Wolf said darkly. "He's too fast for the gist, and the vision shows dozens of people. Anton won't risk hurting an innocent person."

"What would kill Bliss?" Valkyrie asked.

The lot of them thought about it. "The problem isn't killing Bliss," Pa said after a moment's contemplation. "It's how to hold him down long enough to do it. Bliss has been thrown straight through walls and stood up. He can run through armies without getting hurt. But if we get him still for a long enough time, we could do something about it."

"He'll run at the first sight of trouble," Wolf said.

"Wouldn't he fight? He's stronger than us," Valkyrie said.

"You'd think," Pa said, resting his arms on the table and leaning in. "But he knows his weaknesses. We don't, but he's human, for one, and he's shown his hand enough for us to have an idea of what could hurt him."

Valkyrie tutted. "Tanith will wish she could join in."

Pa smiled. "She's a hell of a fighter. It is a pity she can't help, but what can you do? Our main objective is to secure the place, which means dealing with the criminals. I'll leave that to you I suppose."

"Yes, let's," Meritorious said drily, standing up. The others did too, and he looked directly at Valkyrie. "I give you permission to use all means possible to stop Bliss and anyone he is working with, assuming he is guilty. But make it clear, this is not a Search and Destroy. This is a Sanctuary mission within the bounds of the law."

She nodded. "I understand, Grand Mage."

A twinkle entered his eye. "Good luck, Detective Cain," he said and went to leave the room from a back door before stopping and turning to her. "And congratulations on getting your girlfriend back."

She grinned and was sure he was laughing as he left. Corrival was, and Elder Crow was certainly amused.

Wolf wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her from the room, the other two on their heels. "You know what this means, right?" He asked.

"We can go home, sleep, and start in the morning?" She asked.

"Exactly! And tomorrow, we go to China," he smiled, kissing her forehead. "I've no doubt she has some ideas on killing her brother."

Another lead! How exciting. Are you excited? I hope so because that's what's happening anyway.

I'm sorry I took extra long posting this, I was distracted by the idea of buying another pet! I'm going to get a Leopard or African Fat-Tailed Gecko. We already have a Leopard Gecko called Florence, or Flo, but this will be my one. The two types have the same requirements so I don't have a firm gecko in mind, but tell me if you have one! Or any other pets, I just love animals, to be honest. I'm wondering for the story if and when I can maybe shove a pet in there haha. I kind of want to add a dog but I don't want more characters and a puppy on top of the Dead Men + baby. It won't be soon anyway, but I like to plan.

Any reviews including that of pets are welcome! I love hearing from you guys, it makes my day :)