The Triskelion: Battles of Shadow cover is out! You should see it in the story profile but to see the full version in HD beauty or for download, shoot me a dm (since I can't post pics or links in a chapter).
Credit and thanks goes to my artist Prem; Deviant Art: premsian, Twitter: @prem_sian
Diamond was closing the hatch filled with ground coffee, when she saw Skulduggery appear in the corner of her eye. As he watched her, she turned on the coffee maker and listened to the satisfying beep of confirmation she received back.
"Merry Christmas again," Diamond said.
She looked up at Skulduggery to find him leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen, in the same spot he did at the end of every night he spent at one of her places. By now, several weeks in, they had accumulated quite a number of those. As well a as a couple of good chats over gas station coffee.
"Merry Christmas again to you." Skulduggery replied.
Even though he had not meditated tonight, his voice was almost as relaxed as Diamond usually found it to be, these mornings.
"You know... I think I might be starting to get used to this." He realized.
"Good," Diamond smiled and briefly rested a hand on his arm as she moved past him, on to the stove. There, eggs and sausages were waiting to be saved from a smokey demise. She pulled the pans off the stove, then turned back to Skulduggery, who was still watching her.
"You're also going to have to get used to this..." She leaned towards the door, which happened to be the same direction as Skulduggery, and yelled, "NUCE! BREAKFAST!"
His skull nudged back in surprise. "Golly, where have you been hiding that?"
"I can be loud if I need to be." Diamond smiled coyly. As she turned, her eyes fell on the present box with the diamond again.
"Oh, by the way," she mentioned, took the box and gave it to Skulduggery. "I was unsure about the color yesterday. Now that we have daylight, I know why."
He opened the box and took the diamond out again, holding it carefully between his gloved fingers, into the sparkle of early sunlight. It was discolored, so much was true, yet it was not the usual yellow tinge that Diamond, herself, had to train to fade over time; it was a rose tinge.
"It's... pink." Skulduggery realized.
Diamond nodded. "Like the Pink Star. Technically discolored, yet still flawless."
"These must be rare, then."
"Oh, yeah," she agreed, "this is a collector's item, no doubt."
"Stolen?" He theorized.
Diamond shrugged. "Probably."
Rumbling steps came down the stairs, which made Skulduggery nudge himself into action. "I should call Valkyrie."
Diamond nodded and went to grab plates.
She went on her tip toes and reached up, and was immediately punished by a stabbing pain in her belly. Even though the wound was mostly healed these days, once in a while, it would still remind her of how deep it had really cut. One wrong move in the wrong direction was all it needed.
Diamond sighed but a second later, Nuce swooshed in and easily took them off the shelf.
"Save your strength, old friend." He said wisely.
"Wow, eight AM and I already feel old," Diamond praised and went to pour them both coffee. "Thanks, love."
"Anytime," Nuce murmured and dug into his food.
That left Diamond with not much more to do but to snicker and join him there.
Valkyrie stood by the pier in Haggard and frowned. She looked around. Looked around again, for the sake of it. But there was no Bentley waiting for her.
"Huh," She made and pulled out her phone.
But before she could even select Skulduggery's contact to call, his name popped up on the screen.
Valkyrie picked up. "This better be a prank."
"Not a pran," he said on the other side of the line. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas. What's going on? Where are you?" She asked.
"Well, Diamond received a present yesterday, from our Mafia friends."
Her eyes widened. "What kind of a present?"
"The harmless kind." Skulduggery immediately noted. "A clue, apparently. If you come here, we can follow it."
"You're already in Brighton?" Valkyrie realized surprisedly.
"Yes, I got here yesterday."
She raised a brow. "And why didn't you call me?"
"Because it was Christmas," he reminded her.
She nodded. "Ah, right."
"Anyhow, a Teleporter from the English Sanctuary will come to pick you up. Where are you?"
"I'm at the pier," Valkyrie said coolly.
There was a tiny silence.
"What I'm saying is; you stood me up."
"My apologies," Skulduggery said and, for some reason, sounded vaguely amused, somewhere in the back of his voice.
She raised ironic brows. "Is that funny to you?"
"Not at all," e replied quickly and the amusement was gone. "I assure you; I would be there if I were capable of existing in two countries, at the same time. Unfortunately, that doesn't count to my many wonderous talents."
She glared at the ocean. "You stood me up. At Christmas."
"I called you, didn't I?"
"At Christmas."
"Technically, Christmas was yesterday."
Valkyrie grumbled to herself before sighing. "Now, will you send the Teleporter, or not?"
"I shall, as soon as this call is over."
She rolled her eyes. "It's over. See you there."
"See you," he said and the line clicked into silence.
After the usual greetings and hugs, Valkyrie joined the others in Diamond's kitchen. The two bodyguards were sitting on the kitchen stools that were elevating them to fit comfortably by the island counter. Skulduggery stood by a spot near the door with a view over the room, so Valkyrie decided to lean back against the counter and sink between them.
"So, what do we got?" Valkyrie asked and set the little red gift card down on the counter, next to the box with the diamond.
"I have been talking to some people with more… dubious motives," Skulduggery said, "and they tell me that there is, indeed, a smuggling ring that is very well known to the black market. They have several establishments, but there is no way to get there without an invitation."
"Could the diamond be a key? A ticket to one of these places?" Valkyrie suggested. "Or the money to buy someone into the club?"
He pointed her. "Could be. Or it's a roadmap to one of them, or to one of the involved parties. But either way, there is only ever one name that anyone could tell me in regard to that crime ring, which was that of one Christopherus Gian. He is thought to be somewhat of a… Godfather of the magic world."
"So, it's our guy," Nuce concluded.
Skulduggery shook his head. "I checked his name. Gian is dead."
They frowned at him.
"He could have faked his own death." Valkyrie noted.
Another headshake. "The time of death was determined by an Irish Healer; one that would never accept a bribe or help a Mafia boss escape from prosecution."
"How can you be so sure?" Diamond probed.
He looked at Valkyrie. "We both are."
She frowned. "We are?"
"That Healer was Kenspeckle Grouse."
"Oh!" Valkyrie made with wide eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, no way on earth they bribed him."
"Ok..." Diamond nodded.
"Now, as we are all aware, Gian's organization never ceased existing. Which means that someone else took over, without anyone noticing, including many of their customers and collaborators." Skulduggery continued.
"So, the magic Godfather had an emergency plan in the case of his death." Valkyrie followed, then shrugged. "Doesn't sound very surprising to me."
"It does not. However, whenever a leader dies in a system such as this, a power vacuum opens, and many competitors will try to use that opportunity to get their own slice of influence and resources, or even take over the entire thing. In any case, I find it highly unlikely that a good testament was all Gian needed to make that transition as fluid as it was."
"So, either a close partner, or…" Valkyrie thought, then looked at him. "A family member?"
"According to my sources, Gian held old, traditional values. So, it wouldn't be far off to assume that his firstborn child took over after his death and pretended to work as a mouthpiece, or even pretended to be him."
"But we don't know if he had children?" She prodded.
"There are no records of any children anywhere," Skulduggery replied.
"No surprise there," Nuce murmured.
"Exactly," he agreed with a pointed finger. "In the matter of crime syndicates, I'm afraid, we cannot rely on Sanctuary documents to be of much help."
Valkyrie picked up the little red gift card from the counter. "A clue for a clue…" She read thoughtfully. "The diamond is obviously our clue. What clue did they get?"
"We've been in contact with them several times, now. I'm sure they saw or found out something useful," Diamond said.
"So, they want us to know that they are on our trail."
"And that they know we are on theirs, and that they aren't worried about us snooping around." Skulduggery added.
"Why not?" Nuce asked. "They've got to know you two are involved. Why would they go through all this trouble of staying invisible, sometimes literally, and then want us looking for them?"
"They must think we can be of some use for them."
"So, they'll blackmail us."
Diamond shrugged. "If we can trust Betty's expertise, they are bound to, eventually."
"Great..." Nuce scowled.
"Any ideas for a plan?" Valkyrie asked casually into the room.
"We should talk to the vendor that I used to work for," Diamond replied, "it has new management but, either way, this diamond is rare enough that they might recognize it."
There were agreeing nods going through the room.
"We should also consider the possibility that the diamond itself has symbolic meaning, and its origin will tell us nothing." Skulduggery said.
"Any ideas?" Diamond prodded.
"Maybe. But I think the chance is higher, that you might think of something. It could be work-related. Any clients you could think of that might have questionable morals?"
She snorted. "Oh, plenty. But most of them are regulars because they like working with me. I don't see why they would then turn around and work with someone to threaten my life."
"But there is a possibility."
Diamond pulled her shoulders up with a sigh. "Sure."
"Do you think that, maybe, they could be after something personal?" Valkyrie pressed carefully. "Maybe a family member of yours?"
She shook her head. "None to speak of. If they are after anything, it's my friends or, well… me."
Valkyrie thought it over, trying to ignore her quick skip of the question. "Any friends that you would say have a symbolic connection to your magic?"
"The only person I can think of would be Dexter," Diamond shrugged vaguely, "but I called him this morning, and he's fine and can't think of anyone either."
"Speaking of friends," Nuce jumped in. "Have you called Betty?"
"I will. Let's find that store, first," Diamond decided, "see what we're up against."
Nuce got up to head out the kitchen. "Gonna get my stuff."
Diamond nodded to him, then paused as she seemed to remember something. "Oh, Valkyrie, by the way," she mentioned before she could leave. "I picked up your stuff from Susanna. It's in the living room, under the tree."
Valkyrie blinked at her. "Thank you."
Diamond smiled. "Merry Christmas, love."
Valkyrie smiled back and left to head to the living room.
"Who is Susanna?" She heard Skulduggery ask.
The rest of the conversation faded into murmur as Valkyrie went to the living room where all presents under the tree were unwrapped and opened, except one. There was a large box made to contain clothing, an especially large one, and Valkyrie ignored all the other things around her and opened it.
Inside were several layers of different items of clothing. On top, a little letter had been placed on silk paper.
Dear Valkyrie,
I hope these options are up to standard. Let me know if you would like any adjustments. Or if you would like me to burn them all and start from scratch. Anything goes at
Susanna's Tailor.
The three pairs of pants she got were not much different from the ones Valkyrie had worn before. They were snug and made of lightly shining, dark, protective material. Yet the outside of the fabric had a different lining added to it, giving it more structure: One that looked somewhat like corduroy, one had thin, grey lines, which reminded vaguely of pinstripe, and one was made of a dark grey material, which looked and felt like suede.
The three tops were also similar to her old shirts, in the way that they were closed up on top so that her neckline did not slide around. Yet they were made of lighter fabrics that were less like jersey and more like silk, shaping loser blouses. They were shorter in the front, meant to be tucked into the waist of the pants, and longer in the back, giving her butt another layer of cushion while looking like fashion statement.
Finally, the jackets, which diverged the most from her previous outfits; two casual blazers, each pitch black, but in different styles. One had something of a soft leather jacket, including the extra zippers and pockets. The other one was straight-lined and had two layers at the collar, for more official occasions.
Valkyrie's favorite part, however, as simple as they might have been, were hidden in a jute sack at the bottom of the box. Twenty hair ties, made of black, thin, but velvety material, each with their own little decoration, if it only were a line or a dot of color, woven into the stretchy fabric.
Valkyrie grinned. She would not be telling Susanna to scratch this and start anew. That would have not only been mean but also masochistic.
Since it was the holidays, Valkyrie went for the suede pants, a white blouse, and the fancier blazer. She hid in a corner behind one of Diamond's bookshelves and the Christmas tree, and got changed.
On her, the clothes fit snugly and comfortably. And even though they did not quite feel like a second skin, as Ghastly's clothes had, they gave her just as much room to move securely. A couple of testing kicks, and some slaps on her own arm told Valkyrie that they were also just as protective, and seemed to have similar heat regulation properties.
When Valkyrie finally entered the kitchen and presented herself, arms wide, Diamond looked content, while Skulduggery looked surprised.
"You have a tailor." He stated.
"She has my tailor." Diamond corrected with a smile to Valkyrie, at which he looked at her.
Valkyrie smirked back and dropped her arms to her sides. "She's pretty good." She glanced at Skulduggery, who seemed to be evaluating her outfit.
"So?" She prodded expectantly. "Do I look amazing, or do I look amazing?"
"Golly." He said. "Somehow I missed the moment where you became an adult."
"Like a transformation moment?" Diamond snorted. "Are we talking the Bridget Jones or the Pokemon kind of transformation here?"
Valkyrie snickered. "Well, if this is Bridget Jones, then I guess, you just witnessed that moment." She struck a pose.
"The boots." Diamond threw in. "By the way. She doesn't make them, they come from out of house. So, that'll take another week or so."
Valkyrie shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine."
"She doesn't make them?" Skulduggery echoed in disbelief. "What kind of tailor is she?"
Diamond mustered him, unfazed. "The kind of tailor that is not also a shoemaker."
"How unpractical."
"If you get to gossip about my tailor, I get to gossip about yours." Diamond said bemusedly.
Skulduggery paused at that idea.
She pointed a flat hand at him. "Should I start with the red tie?"
Valkyrie watched the exchange curiously. Skulduggery's head nudged back confusedly. "What's wrong with the red tie?"
Diamond snorted. "I don't know, why don't you call the seventies and find out?"
Skulduggery seemed to think that over, then raised a wavering hand. "Alright, alright, touché." He turned to Valkyrie. "You look beautiful, as always."
She grinned. "You better know it."