Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Corrival – Pa

Chapter 106

"Dexter," China smiled when she saw them. "And Valkyrie, what a pleasure to see you both."

"I like your dress," Valkyrie replied. It was a black suit dress that stopped at the knee and had a slit up one leg. China also wore four-inch deadly looking heels that put her level with Valkyrie. It would have got her heart going, except she'd seen China in many outfits on many occasions and had become almost as immune to her powers as her brothers, although they had given in to China willingly in the past. It was easy to see why someone would willingly allow themselves to fall to their knees for China. She'd had a dream of it once.

"Thank you, Valkyrie," she said, a bit of playful flirt in her voice. "I'm glad you like it. Come, let us talk in the apartment. I know what you're after."

Valkyrie and Wolf smirked at each other and followed the woman. Valkyrie admired it for a moment before sitting with Wolf across from China.

"Have you heard anything about the ones that captured Skulduggery and Solomon?" Wolf asked.

She nodded once, slowly. "I've heard a lot." She spoke seriously. "I will tell you what you don't know first. You're dealing with mercenaries. A group most commonly called the Wild Brothers."

"Never heard of them," Wolf confirmed.

"I know. They're led by a man called Pippin Black. He started the group about a century ago with a handful of men and boys doing small jobs and heists, but in the last thirty years they've been picking up speed, so to speak," China told them, moving a pen ever so slightly. "But they haven't done anything of this level before. To take on the Dead Men, within the Sanctuary, and capture Skulduggery himself? I can only assume Skulduggery is blinded by love."

Valkyrie grunted and nodded. "Who's their employer?"

"I don't know," she frowned. "There are many mages that would like to hurt the Dead Men, Necromancers and Skulduggery in particular, so you have a lot of suspects. Or there's the chance they're doing it for the personal gain. Reputation."

"Do you know where they are right now?" Valkyrie asked.

"I heard they travelled to The Old Mill," she nodded, giving Valkyrie a look that said she knew everything that happened before that also. She nearly blushed, but China's serious look gave her hope she wouldn't let the cat out the bag. China was particularly fond of Valkyrie, so she doubted the lady would want to out it. "I also heard a rival mercenary group attacked them."

"Who?" Wolf asked quickly.

"Patience," she laughed softly. "I do not remember; they were an insignificant group of up starters. Regardless, they never came back. I heard the Wild Brother's travelled south from there."

"To your brothers' home," Valkyrie told her.

China raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

"We've been given permission to kill Bliss if we have proof he's on their side," Wolf said, an edge to his voice, some warning, some hardness.

She shrugged lightly. "If you can, you should. I haven't seen him since he tried convincing me to join him in serving Serpine."

"We were actually wondering if you had any ideas on how to kill him," Valkyrie revealed.

She smiled again. "Advice? I can certainly tell you his quirks, but they wouldn't help you kill him."

"We think we have a way," Wolf told her, sitting forwards. "But we need your help."

"You want me to help kill my brother?"

"You've tried before. He's tried to kill you too. I'm bagging on you wanting to win your little competition."

She laughed and it sounded like little bells. "I always win, Dexter. Perhaps if you tell me what your plan is, I might be convinced."

.*****.

Valkyrie, Wolf, Snake, Weasel, Bear, thirty Cleavers, China, China's two bodyguard's and seven Sanctuary members were driven to Bliss' house in unmarked vans at different times and from different places. They stopped by the outside wall and just China got out, going straight to the wall and putting her hand on it. A signal flashed on the back of her fingers and a moment later a section of wall lowered and the vans went through without stopping.

Perfectly timed.

China jumped back into the van Valkyrie was in and they followed the fleet of vans down to the house. Valkyrie caught a look at it between the driver's neck and headrest, seeing that it wasn't a grand mansion or castle, but an old estate house must have had five beds and once been grand but had been left to get dirty bricks, allowed to have ivy grow all over it, encouraged the weeds to grow high. It only needed a clean up to be pretty.

"He likes to keep up appearances," China said dryly, looking at it also.

"You're sure you know the wards?" Wolf asked once more.

"I do," she said, gently moving a piece of hair from her eyes as they came to a violent stop.

The doors at the back opened wide and they all ran out, Valkyrie holding her large gun safely and ready, running with Wolf and the bodyguards to keep China safe. They went to the front door and China merely needed to press her hand to it for a series of locks to open and she turned the handle into her childhood home.

The Cleavers jumped in front of them after that, leading them around the house. As soon as they were in the entrance hall she could hear shouts and they followed them at a jog to a room that had been stripped bare except for the tapestry on the wall. At the far end was prisoners, tied up, gagged, on their knees – one of the Wild Brother's raised her gun to the back of a prisoners head, and Valkyrie and Wolf shot at the same time, killing the mercenary.

The Cleaver's ran at the charging killers, taking them down with ease while the Sanctuary workers followed to secure the prisoners and arrest any mercenaries that might surrender.

"There's more in the other room!" Weasel boomed and half the Cleaver's and Sanctuary members split, and they all followed Weasel to the next room further into the house.

They'd had more time to prepare, so they flattened themselves against the wall and waited for Weasel's signal. He held up a hand and flashed that there were eight mercenaries and signalled there were guns. Bear and Wolf nodded to each other and kicked down the door with their guns forward, immediately shooting down mercenaries before ducking out the way as bullets flew down the corridor.

China stepped forward when the bullets stopped and pulled a shield around herself, stepping into the room. With just a few taps of her skin, she sent beams of light into the mercenaries that could bring themselves to kill the gorgeous woman, killing most of them.

The Cleavers and Sanctuary workers took over once more. Keeping to the plan. Efficient.

Where was Bliss?

Without stopping, they followed Weasel again around to the front of the house and up the stairs and stopped still. Valkyrie pointed her gun down a hallway and Wolf did the same down another, Weasel looked down the stairs warily and China dropped to the floor to begin her work. It was tense, listening to gunfire and shouts, the pleas for help from prisoners while she just stood there still. She felt sweat drip down her back.

"Are you done?" She called.

"Not quite," China said behind her, working on her knees. "I need three minutes."

"We don't have that long," Weasel shouted. "He's coming. I don't know where from!"

Valkyrie gripped her gun tighter. Bliss was strong enough to kill her with a single finger in less than a second. He could easily rush her. She needed to be ready. Her brothers didn't move, except for Wolf calling Weasel useless.

"There!" Bear roared and they all turned and pointed their guns at Bliss.

"Dead Men," he said calmly, stepping slowly towards them. She almost couldn't hear his soft voice over the noise below. "Sister."

China didn't answer, just worked, so Wolf filled in. "If you give yourself up, we'll let you live!"

"I've already pledged my life," Bliss informed them, his face not moving.

"You're working for someone else. Who?" Weasel asked. Valkyrie moved her gun slightly so it stayed trained on the slowly moving man as he came down the hall. At his speed, if he didn't charge, they had thirty seconds. China needed more time.

"The Spiders," he said.

"The Children of the Spider?!" Wolf roared. "Why would you align yourself with them? You've never been interested in them before!"

"I have not," he said just as softly, not being tempted by Wolf's anger. "But when they came to me with an offer, I could not refuse."

"What was that?" Valkyrie asked him quickly when his hand twitched slightly. He was an Adept, the Enhancement branch, meaning his magic made him physically strong with traces of Bonebreaker and Kineticist. She needed to be on her guard, but even with enhanced physical strength, he was human. No matter what.

"They offered a place in the new Kingdom of Spider's," he told them. "When The Torment and Council of Spider's rule, I will have a portion of land for myself. They will not attack anyone there."

"Why would you agree to that? They'll betray you in a second, and you know we'll stop them!" Wolf shouted at him.

Bliss shook his bored looking face. "They also offered China protection. So long as I help, they will give us a place of peace and security where myself and my sister can live."

"China won't follow you," Valkyrie said before the others could. "She won't have to."

"Valkyrie Cain," he said, stopping about ten metres away from them. Her gun was trained on his throat. "You are called the face of a generation. A future ruler of our society. I want to offer you a place in the new Kingdom. Do you want to live? Or will you try to kill me?"

Valkyrie shot.

He moved so fast Valkyrie didn't see him do it, but the others opened fire, spraying bullets in every direction to keep him back, Valkyrie joining in and trying to get any type of hit on the man.

He ducked behind an antique chest of drawers and they gave him a relief, which he took, and they opened fire again. The bullets really had no effect on Bliss, and he somehow ran through them and right at the Dead Men. He tackled Wolf before any of them realised he was close and Valkyrie sucked in a breath and turned. Snake didn't waste time using the air to separate the two and slide Wolf's unconscious body across the floor.

Bliss looked at China, but she kept working on the last of the signal.

"Sister," he said. "You're trying to trap me, but it's already too late. Even if you recover Skulduggery Pleasant and the Necromancer, The Spiders will kill you. If you want to live, you must join me."

China made one last dot on her work, stood, and looked at him. They were on opposite sides of the big signal and the others watched nervously. Valkyrie ground her teeth. "Brother," she said with that little smile. "I'm afraid I've already made my decision. I stand for myself, by myself, wherever I please. Though I could stand with you, I will not. The Dead Men make better company than a manipulative drone covered in spiders."

She tapped her shoe against the massive signal and it glowed impressively, drawing in Bliss. An old vial of blood China had kept specifically for this moment, absorbed into her signal equipment.

Bliss said nothing, and his face didn't change from his stoical, bored look, but he certainly moved his body. He turned on the Dead Men and they opened fire, Valkyrie's arm burning with the effort it took to use the gun, trying to slam bullets into him and force him into the bubble that had formed around the signal, the deadly aura made just for Bliss.

Snake ran out of ammunition and used the air to push Bliss back but whatever trick he used with the bullets applied to the air now, and he shimmered through the magic, barrelling into Snake and slamming him against the wall. Weasel shouted and Bear ducked, missing having his head crushed, but Bliss used that fist's momentum to jump over Bear and came at Weasel instead.

Valkyrie opened fire with Bear and Weasel and one of them scraped Bliss' skin, barely more than a graze with a tiny piece of blood, but it was something. The victory hardly lasted. Weasel was grabbed by the throat and throw over the signal, over China and down the full flight of stairs to land at the open front door. Who knew if he was alive, but Cleaver's saw and she heard them coming even with the fight raging downstairs.

That second she spent looking at Weasel was a wasted one. Bliss stared at Bear, the only one other than China he considered a threat, and Valkyrie knew they only had one chance. Her eyes hardened and she looked at China, who was crouched and nodded to her. She glanced at Bear and knew he was ready too. She tapped her foot once and they struck –

Bear let his gist out and Valkyrie rained bullets, pushing the man back while China used more signals to pull him in and the bodyguards used their Elemental magic to push him back with fire and air.

He took a step back.

He grabbed the gist.

Bear screamed, a bloodcurdling, agonising scream that made Valkyrie's knees so wobbly and head so weak she stopped shooting. She couldn't even breath from fear as Bliss looked at the gist and held his arm out as if offering the bodyguard to the gist. Of course, the gist only wanted to kill so when it saw the bodyguard it jumped and killed him and when it tried to go to China, Bliss grabbed the trail going to Bear and yanked it back and pointed at the other bodyguard, who was promptly killed.

The gun slipped from Valkyrie's fingers and she watched with morbid fascination, absolute horror and fear. Bear must have passed out because the gist came reeling back, using its claws and mouth to try and stick around but there was nothing it could do – except cause Bear as much damage as possible before it was gone.

She started at Bear with an open mouth for a long moment and took a deep breath to keep the panic back. There's no time for that, she told herself, and looked at the enemy. The signal bubble had grown so that the only way down the stairs was to go through it. They didn't trust Bliss not to jump and come around. But they also trusted Bliss wouldn't kill his sister. That left Bliss and Valkyrie on the same side, but he didn't care a whole bunch about Valkyrie being with him. She had no bullets. She was shaking like a leaf. What threat was she? He didn't even know she had no usable magic.

China was standing on the other side, looking at her brother as if there wasn't a ball of death between them. "What's your plan? To live in this house alone and never leave?"

"I will be of service to the masters. You should live here safely. I made a bargain and they know they can't risk me betraying them."

"Then why not kill them?" China asked. "Surely you're finished being controlled."

"I merely wish to live," he said, his tone level and even. "You have never picked a losing side before."

China observed him for a long moment, long enough for Cleaver's to come and back her. "This may surprise you, brother, but I made a decision two years ago to make a change. A promise to myself I would always be free. Free or die trying."

"You will sacrifice yourself for freedom?" Bliss asked.

"No. I will die trying to get my own freedom. I will kill, destroy and manipulate whoever I need to, but if a time comes where I am alone, facing an enemy… I would rather die than lie down and have a master."

Bliss observed her, and then nodded. Valkyrie took a deep breath and watched the siblings, her strength coming back. Standing tall, she watched as China pressed signals on her arms and legs, covering her in dim blue light and step into the bubble.

That was not a part of the plan.

She wasn't sure what China's plan had been, walking into a signal she created to kill people, but she had done it and now she writhed in pain. Valkyrie shouted China's name and stumbled forward next to Bliss and fell to her knees, watching China begin to scream as the blood she shared with Bliss began boiling and destroying her own.

"What are you doing?" Valkyrie shouted as China began to shake violently.

Valkyrie took a deep breath. She had no idea how this worked, or what to do, and the one thing that came to her fearful and panicked mind was simply to do something – so she reached her hand in.

It felt as if she was being sucked into the bubble the moment her skin made contact, and there was nothing her brain could imagine other than stepping in, so she jumped straight into the bubble. She could feel pain, something that made her break into a cold sweat, but it didn't hurt like whatever made China scream, and she used her strength to grab China and try to push her out.

And realised there was no out.

She held the woman who was now spasming and burning hot to the touch, and looked at the Cleavers. Nothing they could do. Her family was sprawled around, possibly dead, there was nothing she could do, she was all alone and beginning to feel really sick.

Someone grabbed her shoulder and she shrieked. Bliss grabbed China by the shirt and threw her out the bubble with a great force and she hit the stairs. Valkyrie looked at Bliss, noting the sweat on his brow and noticed how much he was shaking.

He fell to one knee. He grunted in pain. He squeezed Valkyrie's shoulder so tightly the bones were crushed in his fist, and she screamed out now, screamed so loudly her voice cracked and wavered. She fell to the floor and felt her vision come and go, saw Bliss staring at her, and then him looking red as he boiled, then his head slumped, then him shaking, and then she was looking at him from the floor and watched as a small trickle of her blood touched the signal.

She shrieked.

There was no pain like what she was in – god, her crushed shoulder felt less than a paper cut to the agony she felt, and she couldn't even breath after she screamed, just immediately began to shake and froth and clenched her fists and –

She felt herself leave the bubble and got a look at China's face, a single tear on her beautiful skin, before she passed out.

That was quick!

I got sick of the build-up basically and said 'time to die!' and shoved them all in there. Hopefully, that wasn't too sudden but it's here now so who cares ;)

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