Present
"Where is Skulduggery?" China asked, as Riordan Wayward, her assistant, turned on the screen on the wall. They stood in one of the smaller, plain meeting rooms, they usually used for the weekly updates.
But Riordan Wayward was no usual assistant. He was an instrument, he was a compromise, and he was one of the most powerful men in the magical world.
Instead of Elders, China had an entire team of advisors, plus an entire team of Grand Mages from other countries, and Wayward was responsible to be the connection piece between her, her teams, and the rest of the country. But while it gave China virtually unlimited resources, it also gave the other Sanctuaries in the world a look and a say in her business.
In the end, he was loyal to her, above all. So Valkyrie hoped, at least. All she knew was that he was a Sensitive, as well as a fantastic butler. Catering to China's every need, dark brown hair always slicked back meticulously, beard always trimmed to be perfectly even, wearing black, grey and blue high-quality suits that could almost compete with Skulduggery's.
"In the interrogation room." Valkyrie replied.
"Well, then we will start without him." China decided. "Anything I need to know about?"
Valkyrie shrugged. "A few cases of robbery, nothing ground-breaking, since the explosion in England."
"Same here." Said Konelius Slay, one of the Sanctuary's newer employees who were hired to do detective work to compensate for Valkyrie's absence and the death of the many employees that fell victim to the war. He was a slim, short man, with short brown hair and stinging eyes.
"Everything is quiet. Not even Vile shows up anymore."
Valkyrie turned her head to him. "Lord Vile?"
"Yes but, as I said, he hasn't been sighted either."
"Why the hell would he be sighted in the first place?" She probed blankly.
"Oh, didn't anyone tell you that?" China asked casually. "He kept popping up after the war. Twelve victims in total, mostly mortals."
"Fourteen, Ma'am." Corrected Slay, and Valkyrie slowly turned to face him.
"That's not possible." She said, when she could not think of anything else. Vile had come out? Multiple times? Why didn't she know anything about this? She had been back here, and working, for months now.
Wayward opened a file on the computer that turned out to be a map of Roarhaven, reaching all the way over to Dublin. Blue and red dots were scattering it, stretching over several mortal neighborhoods.
"Blue for sighting, red for victim." He explained. "That doesn't include the one's that fell under the radar, of course."
Valkyrie stared at the screen for a moment, then ordered herself to pull herself together. After all, there were still other people in the room. She forced herself to calm down and think logically.
"Is it just the armor, or him?"
"You tell me." China challenged, and they stared at each other for a moment.
"The fact is, he stopped. Something has shut him down." Slay interjected. "If there are no other questions, I would like to request to head out, Grand Mage."
"Me too." Valkyrie said.
"Very well." China nodded, and Valkyrie pushed past her and scurried out of the room before she could speak to her.
She noticed anger rising inside of herself. He had lied to her, had brazenly lied to her face, when she had asked if Vile was under control. And she had been idiotic enough to just take his word for it.
Before Valkyrie could finish the thought, she opened the door to the interrogation room. There, Skulduggery had both hands propped up on the table, in front of him a nervous Sorcerer, who had visibly slumped into his chair.
When she burst in, both looked up in surprise.
"We need to talk." Valkyrie said.
"I'm right in the middle ..."
"Immediately." She hissed, and Skulduggery slowly straightened up to follow her out. They went just one door over, entering another, empty, interrogation room. With some confusion in his demeaner, he closed the door behind him.
He started a "What is going…?" But was interrupted by fists.
Valkyrie hit his chest with both hands.
"Hey!" Skulduggery called and raised his arms in defense.
"You liar!" She shouted at him and hit again. "You idiot!"
Before she could hit once more, her wrists were caught. "Valkyrie, what the hell is going on?" He asked insistently, jostling with her.
"What the hell? Good question!" She spat. "What the hell, Skulduggery!? Did you really think I wouldn't find out? How stupid do you think I am!? We have the same damn job!"
A moment of silence. Then: "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she managed, her voice now low and piercing.
Skulduggery took his hands back and opened his jaw.
"And don't you dare arguing with me, or I'll grab you by the collar and drag you to jail myself." She growled.
He closed his jaw again and went still and so did she, so they stood for a moment, before the anger dropped off her quickly, leaving anxiety.
"Why aren't you telling me about this?" Valkyrie asked exasperatedly.
"And then what?" Skulduggery said tonelessly and crossed his arms.
She paused and frowned. "What?"
"I tell you; what are you going to do about it?"
Valkyrie stared at him, bewildered. "I'll help, of course."
"How." He said so blankly, that it barely sounded like a question anymore.
Now she was horrified. "What are you saying to me?"
"I am saying that you cannot help me, Valkyrie." Skulduggery replied, slowly sounding irritated.
She shook her head. "Why the hell not?"
"Because I'm losing my mind!" He snapped and made her jump, then freeze in position. "Has this not arrived with you yet!? I thought that was pretty damn clear!"
Valkyrie stared at him.
Skulduggery snorted sourly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting your abilities. I'm doubting anyone's abilities. Because I have been looking for a way to make this stop for four-hundred years now and have not found a single answer. So, please, be my guest. Tell me the solution."
She shook her head, slight distraught pulling her brows together. "We can still find one. Tell me what's going on and we'll figure it out, ok? It's not too late."
He sniffed an incredulous laugh. "What on earth are you talking about? Of course, it's too late! It was too late centuries ago!"
"So, what?" Valkyrie shot the question back, throwing her hands up. "You're just going to give up!?"
"Ah, no, don't worry." Skulduggery said. "I have a very specific plan."
"And what would that be?" She wanted to know, adapting his aggression.
"I will be keeping this a secret as long as I possibly can, so you and China can think of how to cover your asses, or how to get out of here, once they execute me publicly for a second time and then come for you, afterwards."
"I'm not going to let that happen." Valkyrie said snidely.
His voice became mockingly gallant. "Well, I will be very much enjoying watching you do that. And in the meantime, we can stop discussing this, because this entire house of cards is built to collapse. Really, if we are being honest here, it already has."
Valkyrie had no words. She just kept staring at him.
Skulduggery seemed to take that as an opportunity to leave. Her first instinct was to stop him, or grab his passing arm, but she knew him well enough to realize that it would not make a difference.
He left the room and the door closed behind him and covered her in silence.
But Valkyrie did not cry, she did not rampage, she did not think. She just stood there, staring at the empty spot before her.
In her car, on the way home, Valkyrie tried calling him several times, with no reply. She had not liked how the whole conversation had developed. But now, that he was ignoring her calls, worry started nagging at her.
And for a while, she tapped nervously around on her steering wheel, before grabbing it and abruptly turning it around. Some cars behind her honked, but she just turned onto the opposite lane and accelerated.
She sped to Skulduggery's house, a bad foreboding following her all the way there. Once parked, Valkyrie jumped out and jogged to the door, pushing the doorbell and stopping her run, trying to breathe calmly. She turned around to make sure the Bentley was parked outside, and it was.
But there was no light turning on, no sounds coming from inside the house. She rang the bell again, and again, and one more time. The sounds echoed chaotically through the house, but still, no movement.
Valkyrie pulled out her phone and called him and went quiet and still. And, yes, there it was; his ringtone, somewhere in the house.
She breathed out and started jogging again, this time along the walls, throwing looks into the windows. Meanwhile, she kept calling, just clicking the same button over and over, whenever the previous try ended. Once she got to one of the living rooms, she saw it. A light on the ground. Valkyrie cancelled the current call and the light stayed on… then turned off. She called again and the light turned on again.
Her stomach dropped into her legs. It was Skulduggery's phone and it was lying on the floor.
Valkyrie pushed herself off her spot and continued walking around. And it proved itself to be a good idea, when she found the back door open. She moved through and noted the little marks along the exit that presumably had come from Necromancy. It was like a cat with huge nails had gently scraped over the wood, leaving thick, but shallow scratches.
She walked to the room where she had seen the phone and looked around. Here and there were similar marks on the walls, almost going in a circle around the spot where the phone lay. But they were not linear, rather dotted, as if the shadows had hit the wall straight on.
If this had been a crime scene, Valkyrie would be classifying these marks as 'signs of a struggle'. It made her sigh in dismay.
Now she was not angry at all, anymore, just worried. She picked up the phone and pocketed it, and then made her way back out of the house, to walk around it again and to her car. Valkyrie threw a discontent look at the lonely Bentley standing outside of the lonely house, before getting into her own driver's side and starting the car.
This left only one person to talk to.
"Well, I am not, at all, surprised." Said China.
Valkyrie sighed. "I would love to argue, but… neither am I."
The Grand Mage mustered her. "You are going to have to figure out a solution for this and soon. I have been steering around the boulders for quite some time now, hoping that he would get a hold. I can keep your back clear until you find him, but you better do it fast, and then make sure it does not happen again."
Valkyrie shook her head doubtfully. "I just don't know if I can do that, China. I doubt that I will be the one to find a solution for this."
"Well." China said airily and sat down halfway on her office desk. "He has figured out the solution and saved your sorry face a couple of times, now. Looks like you will be the one to save him, this time."
Valkyrie sighed again, adjusting her stance to be less tense. "And what if I can't?"
She lifted an apologetic yet nonchalant palm. "Then I will. And I don't think you two will much appreciate my approach."
Valkyrie closed her eyes and tried not to panic. "How much time are you giving me for this?"
She could hear China stand up straight again. "I want my city safe, Valkyrie. I do not care what or who the threat is. Get him under control within two days, and then we can take it from there. If you spot him, let me know where and I can try to section off the area inconspicuously."
She opened her eyes and nodded at her. "I'll find him." With that, she turned. But then paused and turned back again. "Do you know anything else, China? Do you know how this started?"
"No," the Grand Mage decisively said, "but I know the timeframe. About four years ago, Skulduggery went missing for a couple of days."
Valkyrie frowned but listened.
"Maybe, even for a week. No one ever spotted him anywhere, including spies, cameras, Sensitives, Symbols... Usually, he is quite hard to miss. Yet, the oddest thing was that he was still replying to text messages."
Her frown deepened. "And did you ever find out where he went?"
A headshake. "He returned and behaved normally. I told him to write a report, but he never did. And that is when the murders started happening."
"Ok." Valkyrie sighed and rubbed her face. "Wish me luck." She walked off, speeding up her step, without actually running.
"Oh, and Valkyrie." Said China and she stopped by the door to look at her. "Be careful."
"Yes, Ma'am." She replied and left the office, to head outside.
Valkyrie pushed through the crowd in hallways and the entrance hall and rushed to her car in the parking lot.
Hopping in, buckling up, and starting the motor swiftly, she left the lot and made her way through the Roarhaven streets. Most of the dots on the map that represented his victims had been in a rundown, suburban, mortal neighborhood in Dublin, not too far from the mage's city, so she headed towards the area.
Dawn was moving in on her, and as Valkyrie drove, her eyes kept getting drawn to corners and shapes on the sidewalk that she mistook for shadows. But every time she looked over it was only the dark shade of a tree, the unusual outlines of a scrub or a cardboard-cutout.
She arrived in the neighborhood and drove along one of the main streets, keeping her eyes open for panicked or shocked looking mortals, or people hurrying from a specific direction. But the citizens around only went about their business normally, heading home from work or school, or entering the stores around.
Another shadow caught her attention, by the side of the road. She looked at that spot, a gap between a lantern and a bench. Valkyrie frowned, as the empty spot passed her. It had not been dark there. There had been no tree to throw shade.
She wondered if her frantic brain was making things up. But Valkyrie decided there was no point in taking chances. So, she found the closest parking lot, adjacent to the street, in front of a store, and got out of the car.
Valkyrie walked back towards the spot she thought to have seen something, then turned down a street and another, smaller one, that forked towards the emptier parts of the neighborhood. The light was low enough outside, now, that the alleys without streetlights became darker and darker, until she was peering through the low light, into every corner.
Movement, in the corner of her eye. Valkyrie stopped walking and turned in a circle, looking around. It was perfectly quiet here. Almost too quiet.
"I know you're here." She said aloud into the empty alley.
No reply. No movement.
"Can we talk? I'm sorry I yelled at you, ok? But this is a bit over the top, don't you think?"
Silence.
Valkyrie frowned. Why was he hiding? Why would he lure her here, into a dark, empty area of town, just to play hide and seek? Something was not right here…
She turned around and faced the big wall of shadow right behind her. Valkyrie twitched back, looking up at the pile of Necromancy leaning threateningly over her. She breathed out and made more steps backwards, but it just faded, and as quickly as it had appeared, the shadows dissolved, as if she had imagined them again.
Valkyrie had not imagined it, and this was not hiding. But it was hide and seek. It was a game. And Valkyrie was not the one seeking. She was not the one to hunt him down.
Lord Vile was hunting her.
"Seriously?" She called.
There was no reply, and Valkyrie made an angry, frustrated noise, throwing her hands up in disbelief. Then, she started running.