I realize, I've been throwing you guys through some loops, lately... Wait, you thought this was an apology? Oh, but the ride has only just begun! Ladies and Gentlemen, please buckle up. The safety railing is on the tracks, the life jackets aren't under the seat, and the emergency exit is currently under construction. We apologize for any discomfort during the inevitable crash. And off we go!
Diamond shoved the door shut but she didn't bother locking up. They headed towards the origin of the battle noise. It was dark outside, but the street lamps offered up enough light to see in the late evening.
When running apparently wasn't fast enough for Skulduggery, his feet lifted off the ground and he floated off, accelerating into the distance. Diamond was happy to remain on her feet, securely attached to gravity.
She caught glimpses of him in the dark sky, between the rows of townhouses, and followed him in that direction. When a ladder conveniently presented itself ahead, she climbed up two stories and hopped onto the roof.
Running at an angle, Diamond made sure to bounce carefully on the shingles. Regardless, a bunch of them came loose, and she flinched as she heard them shatter below.
The elevation slowly revealed the sight on the battle ahead. Several people were fighting - what looked like - other people. However, for some reason, those other people were all bald. They also appeared to have big claws for hands.
Diamond arrived at the gap where this roof ended, and the next house began. She didn't look down at the ground. Tall heights tended to make her legs feel wobbly. Instead, she focused on the other roof and jumped. Fortunately, it was a flat top, and she made a running landing and sprinted on.
A glimpse into the sky told her, Skulduggery had joined the others on the ground. She could see the orange glare of his fireballs erupt from somewhere behind another building.
The sounds and flashes of battle and the unnatural squealing of the monsters was unmistakable beside her now. Diamond quickly crossed several more roofs, then she finally saw it unfold below her.
Several residents had joined in on the fight, some were already littering the ground with blood-red guts, amongst the blackened guts of the bald monsters. The blood of the monsters wasn't red; it was dark, nearly ashen, like it had turned to tar inside their veins.
Now that Diamond had a better view, she was more unsettled than ever. Even from this distance, she could see the scorched holes in their faces; caverns much bigger than seemed anatomically possible.
To the right, she spotted Valkyrie far below, defending herself with her fists and her lightning. She was fighting back-to-back with a tall blonde woman, who was capably swinging a big longsword. The women were holding their own, but they were surrounded.
Tanith Low; Diamond recalled the second woman's name. If she was in town, Dexter Vex probably wasn't far away. However, no matter how hard Diamond peered at the crowd, she couldn't spot his blond head anywhere.
She gave up the search and took up a new one. She glanced around the perimeter and at the edges of the scattered battlefield, for anything else out of the ordinary. By now, Skulduggery had fought his way through to Valkyrie and Low. His gun was in his hand and the swords woman had switched to hand-to-hand combat, out of mutual caution for their proximity. There were three of them fighting together now, plus all of the residents who had come to help.
Thus, Diamond didn't join the fight right away. As far as she could tell, the monsters were being used as a way of distraction, so that more people could be abducted. She looked for anything else that might be happening while the others were focused on the battle.
There, she spotted it! Someone standing by a street corner, peeking out from behind a building. They were wearing a black robe with a hood covering their face. It was impossible to make out anything in the darkness beneath the hood.
Diamond jerked into action. The strange figure seemed to be a human, probably the same human who controlled the monsters, or the same who would usually come around to erase everybody's memories. And this one wouldn't get away so easily.
She focused on finding a way down off the roof. This fire ladder was the extendable kind but, unless Diamond wanted to alarm the entire building, she had to refrain from pulling the lever and letting the lower half loudly drop down.
She climbed to the bottom of the folded-up ladder. Gripping the metal bars and keeping her eyes pointing ahead, she turned around. Once she was facing the street, Diamond gulped in an anxious breath and jumped.
She shapeshifted only immobile parts of her legs, and used the mobile parts to feather the impact. Knowing which exact ligaments and joints and muscles to affect, and when, was quite the tedious effort. Naturally, she could have simply shifted her entire body to resistant crystal. Yet, this strategy tended to leave ugly craters in the sidewalk.
It wasn't pleasant when her feet collided roughly with the asphalt below. Yet, she bit her teeth and ran out her velocity on the whole of her feet. Then, she sprinted directly towards the spot where the person was hiding.
After turning a corner, Diamond spotted the dark figure behind the wall. Unfortunately, the figure spotted her in return.
She saw the silhouette spin around and run the other way, out of her line of sight. Something about the way the person moved told Diamond that it was a woman.
"Hey, stop right there!" she called out in vain.
Of course, the figure didn't stop. Diamond cursed and made herself run even faster. She turned the corner, then she was the one to stop in her tracks.
The hooded figure had disappeared into thin air. There was no way they could have run fast enough to turn the next corner within those few seconds, as that street was a whole block removed from where Diamond now stood. And there was no indication that the woman had broken into one of the houses nearby.
"Diamond!" Skulduggery's voice called from above her, "what's wrong?!"
She twisted her neck and looked up. He was hovering in the air, close to where she had seen him last.
"Do you see a woman?!" she shouted over to him.
"Which woman?!" Skulduggery called back.
"She's wearing a hood!"
He glanced around, hovering further upwards and shifting his position in the air, in order to glance down at different sections of the neighborhood.
Eventually, Skulduggery lowered himself down in front of Diamond. He shook his head as his feet touched to the ground.
"I didn't see anyone in a hood," he informed her.
Diamond sighed in dismay. "Yeah, that's what I gathered." She pointed at the house wall close to her. "She was standing right here, watching the fight. The second she saw me... poof! Away she goes. I should have probably been more careful not to be spotted..."
Skulduggery nodded along to the explanation. "It certainly would have been helpful to capture a human, but we do have several monster bodies," he assured her, "and knowing that she was here, watching us, already tells us alot."
Diamond tried to ignore the fact that the recent battle had obviously improved his mood by a significant margin. "Let's get back to the others, then, shall we?"
They walked to where Valkyrie and Tanith were talking to witnesses and helping people collect dead mangled bodies of human and monster kind. Once they saw Diamond and Skulduggery approach, they met them on the sidewalk.
"Five people have gone missing," Valkyrie grimly informed them, "potentially more."
"I'm so sorry that we didn't get here earlier," Diamond sincerely apologized, "it's entirely my fault."
Valkyrie waved it away. "What I'm much more concerned about right now, is; how did they disappear without us noticing? I knew the monsters were a distraction, I kept an eye out, but I didn't see anyone get dragged away. How is that possible? Where the hell do they go?"
"I have a theory," Skulduggery declared.
Valkyrie sagged and nearly groaned with relief. "Finally..."
He ignored the little jab and walked onto the street. He steered directly towards the closest manhole.
Now that Diamond paid attention to it, she could see that it was ajar. Someone had moved the heavy metal cover and hadn't returned it exactly to its correct spot. It sat a bit lopsided as a result.
Skulduggery held out his hand flat above it, his fingers curled a little, then he effortlessly lifted the cover up with air magic. He slid it aside and crouched down next to the hole.
Diamond felt a brow rise up on her face, as he stuck his skull into the manhole and glanced from side to side.
Valkyrie seemed similarly skeptical. "Are you going to climb in there?"
Skulduggery straightened and got down on one knee beside the hole in the ground. "Ah, no, I just got the soles on these shoes redone last month."
Instead of climbing in, he stuck his hand into the hole next. He seemed to be feeling around, sensing the air inside the sewage system.
Diamond wasn't sure what Skulduggery was looking for, but he apparently found it, when he triumphantly said, "ah, there you are!"
He pulled his hand out, but his fingers were curled as if grasping an invisible object. As he got to his feet and removed his hand further from the manhole, a second one emerged.
It was the bloody, disembodied hand of a regular human. It had been cut off by the wrist and left behind in the sewers.
Skulduggery allowed for the severed limb to float up and hover before his audience. A couple of residents had noticed the gruesome discovery as well, and had hurried over to take a closer look.
"Well," Skulduggery said. "That should about suffice as a clue?"
Nuke was just in the process of heating up his dinner, when he was distracted by frightening sounds coming from outside. He had purposefully picked a vegetarian casserole, as not to attract any monsters with the smell of cooked meat, but this idea seemed to have been in vain.
There was a horrid screeching hissing sound, distant but growing clearer by the second. It sounded like a bunch of feral cats that were simultaneously being tortured by an especially cruel toddler.
Nuke walked to the kitchen window and glanced outside. He froze for a moment and stared in shock. He walked to the oven and switched it off. Then, he returned to the window and - whilst keeping his eyes pinned to the threat outside - retrieved his cellphone from his pocket.
He glanced down just long enough to select Diamond's contact. "C'mon, c'mon... Pick up, Dye..." he quietly muttered to himself, tension growing with each unanswered bleep of the dial tone.
Diamond didn't pick up. Only her mailbox answered. Nuke grumbled with frustration and put his phone away. Finally, he braced himself for the worst and walked outside.
He crossed the front lawn and the sidewalk and stepped into the street. Nuke turned and faced the horde of terrible monsters, which was currently invading the suburban cul-de-sac.
Patricia's description had been spot-on; the monsters indeed resembled people with their faces grotesquely burned away. Their heads were bald, their skin was unnervingly smooth, and where features should have been, there were only gaping voids of scorched flesh. Their arms were unnaturally long, and their hands had transformed into clunky appendages ending in thick elongated nail claws. Each wore the same crude attire; ropes and burlap rags that hung loosely off their twisted frames.
The horde advanced in a single-line formation, walking in unison like a small troop of soldiers. Yet their movements were almost too uniform, too mechanical, to resemble anything truly human. They were like puppets brought to life, every limb bound by invisible strings that pulled them forward in eerie unison.
The monsters' legs lifted by the knees in a manner so calculated it bordered on robotic. Their hips oddly twisted as they walked, dragging their feet behind them, like their legs were the only thing truly capable of propelling them forward. Their claw hands were held up in front of them, rhythmically flailing up-and-down, like they were struggling to keep their torsos in motion with each lurching stride.
They were surprisingly tall, all of them the exact same height, and there were seven of them.
"You've got to be bloody joking me..." Nuke mumbled in disbelief.
His neighbors had noticed the commotion too. Some peeked outside through their windows while others came out of their houses and joined Nuke on the street. He saw many expressions that mirrored his own; confusion, concern, dread, anxiety, anger...
Blaire Cubic was the first to approach him directly. She was a woman who - despite her name - was quite slender and tall, and not remotely cubic-shaped. She lived in the yellow house across the street, and Diamond sometimes had her over for tea. As far as Nuke knew, she was an elemental.
"Nuke, please tell me that Diamond is on her way here," Blaire anxiously said. She was visibly nervous, but she was already in the process of tying up her long dark brown hair in preparation for battle.
Nuke made an apologetic face at her, but only briefly so, before immediately returning his attention to the encroaching monsters. "Sorry, Blaire. Looks like this one's in our hands."
"What do we do about this?" Sable Voynich asked. He was the aloof rich guy who lived in the fanciest house on the street. Surprisingly so, he looked the most determined to fight out of everyone present. "I've already called the Sanctuary, but they said it might take a while."
Nuke tensely sighed. "I guess it's a good thing this neighborhood comes with a secret fireworks stash, innit..."
By now, a little crowd had accumulated around Nuke, made up of concerned citizens and embattled sorcerers. At his response, a wave of anxious whispers and secretive mumbles followed suit.
Some neighbors seemed unsure whether to trust the walking bomb amongst them, who had blown up their sanctuary not too long ago. Some looked outright annoyed to be robbed of an opportunity to fight some creepy monsters. However, most looked relieved to be presented with a simple solution.
"Alright, Mister Evans," Voynich approved. He sounded vaguely skeptical, but Nuke wasn't sure whether he was just confusing it with his usual aloofness. "Suit yourself, then."
Blaire looked much more encouraging as she smiled at him. "You've got this."
Nuke thanked her with a half-smile before addressing the entire group. "Everybody stay behind me!" he loudly announced, "unless you want to get blown up too!"
His neighbors had no problem with following the general command. Many of them ducked behind the relative safety of their front doors or fences or yard foliage. Everyone behind him backed up, but they ended up standing much closer than the others, probably in order to witness the upcoming show.
Gauging the circumference of his explosions was something that came rather naturally to Nuke. What wasn't quite as easy, was to direct them in any specific manner.
When he was in a regular stance, Nuke's fire erupted in all directions similarly. If he wanted to direct it forward, he needed to move his feet and hands in a controlled manner. If he did it correctly, he could manipulate the projectile to work less like a napalm bomb and more like an explosive flamethrower.
The trickiest part about this was the movement. If he wanted the detonation to move forward he, himself, also had to move forward. Nuke was decent at holding his posture correctly and keeping his stance secure. But when it came to performing precise motions, he still felt like an absolute clutz to this day.
The monsters were now only steps away from him and the people hiding behind him. There was no more time for self-doubt, Nuke sternly told himself. His neighbors were officially relying on him to take care of this, and all without blowing them up in the process.
Nuke took a deep breath and adjusted his stance to lean backwards. He spread his arms out sideways with his palms facing forward, tensing up every muscle in preparation. He charged magic into his hands until they were glowing hot in the deepening darkness.
Then, in one controlled motion, he hauled his arms forward. Nuke was supposed to huff out a sharp breath as he moved, but a determined growl sprang from his throat instead. The velocity moved his entire body forward until he felt like he was flinging his magic away from himself.
As his hands made contact, he could briefly spot the spark. Nuke could always see it for just a split second: the tiniest sphere of energy between his palms, erupting with an incredibly bright burst of light, right before it reacted with the atmosphere. And in the next split second, the atmosphere was set on fire!
Roaring flames engulfed Nuke - they felt hot on his face but they didn't burn him. They were so distracting, he almost forgot to turn his hands to the front in time. The pressure of the explosion shoved him a step backwards. Thankfully, as he'd just moved opposite, he managed to remain on his feet and hold his hands stable against the sudden burst of pressure.
Due to the flames in his eyes, Nuke rarely saw his magic at work. He didn't see how it burned and destroyed and devoured. All he ever saw was roaring fire and - once the smoke had cleared - the aftermath of what he'd done.
Nuke glanced around. He was now standing in a shallow crater, in what used to be a patch of street. It had a curious cone shape, which grew wider and shallower the further away it was from Nuke's feet. It looked like he had cast a flashlight so bright, it had managed to crack the asphalt.
There was barely anything left of the monsters. The ones in the center of the crater had virtually been pulverized, and the ones at the edge were nothing but disassembled body parts. Only one of them was still sort of alive, and it terribly squaled and roared and ran in circles while it rapidly burned to death.
His neighbors were unharmed and they all looked either shell-shocked, relieved, impressed by Nuke, or a bit scared of him. After the loud BANG and the sound of dying monsters had faded out, a couple of startled whimpers echoed across the cul-de-sac.
Most onlookers seemed to relax soon afterwards. But then, to everyone's utter dismay, another disconcerting sound followed suit.
The distant screeching of horrid creatures grew louder once again, as another horde closed in. A moment later, ten more monsters came trudging around the corner. This horde wasn't walking in formation, but rather spread out randomly across the street.
Tense murmurs and whispers rose from the little crowd of humans. They weren't sure if Nuke could take on these many monsters without setting their houses on fire. Nuke wasn't so sure either.
"Mister Evans?" Voynich worriedly spoke up behind him.
"Right, umm..." Nuke awkwardly announced, "change of plans. You can help me now."
The sorcerers amongst them didn't need to be told twice. Several men and women moved up to his side or ahead of him, Blaire and Voynich amongst them, ready to take on the monsters themselves.
Anyone who didn't want to fight quickly fled into the security of their homes. Doors were shut and windows were barricaded right in time before the battle began.
They were outnumbered. A quick glance around told Nuke that he had no more than five people backing him up. Many of them seemed rather intimidated, they held back in the hopes of letting others face the horde first.
Before he could call out anything encouraging to them, the first monsters clashed with the people in the front.
Nuke's first instinct was to blow up the creature that was just about to slice his head off with its unnaturally long nails. But other people were too close and he would risk hurting them in the process.
He growled in frustration and decided to use some of his combat training for once. He brought up his fists and waited for the monster to swing at him. His first step was to analyze his opponent.
The monster was swinging quickly and in the correct direction, but somewhat blindly so. It seemed unable to see through the scorched remains of its eye-sockets, sheer instinct was driving its every move. Nuke waited just long enough for it to pinpoint his location and go in for the attack, before he moved. He dodged its long hard claws and went in for a kick.
The first claw hand missed him and Nuke landed the kick, but the claws on the other hand grazed his thigh. He hadn't had time to put on his armored clothes, and the sharp nails went right through his pantleg and his skin underneath.
Nuke hissed in pain and then immediately contorted downwards, as its claws barely missed his face next. He was in an awkward position now, crouched low and leaning precariously, and he staggered as a result. But something inside him - maybe the same part that liked to race cars - told Nuke to use the velocity of his stumble. He leaned into it and rammed into the monster's abdomen with his shoulder and elbow.
The monster's screech cut off with a grunt that sounded eerily human. It collapsed and landed on the ground, and Nuke almost fell on top. But he managed to stumble over its body and catch his balance.
The monster oddly squirmed on the ground, twisting and contorting towards Nuke like a rabid animal. It reached out for him, and he stomped on its claws in disgust. They shattered on the asphalt, and the monster screamed like it could somehow feel with its nails.
Nuke used the moment of distraction to lean down and snap his fingers. What remained of the monster's head afterwards wasn't a pretty sight to see.
In the meantime, Voynich had pulled a pair of Seax Knives from seemingly out of nowhere, which could only be described as well-maintained historical artifacts. Once the first monster reached for him with its claws, he slashed the knives in rotation - left right left right - each time taking off another slice of the monsters hand. It screeched and withdrew its arm, and Voynich darted forward and slashed its throat.
Blaire was up next. She lit up a fireball and threw it, but she missed. She frantically tried to do it again, snapping her fingers over and over, but she was too panicked and it didn't work at first. By the time she had managed to conjure up another flame, the monster had already reached her.
Nuke had been distracted with his own monster until then, and so, he could only run in her direction and watch her die along the way.
The monster slashed its claws along her chest and, as Blaire terribly screamed and curled forward, its body crashed into her. They both went down and, as it landed on her, the monster plunged its claws into Blaire's neck.
Nuke cried out in horror, but he didn't have time to dwell on the loss. There were other people screaming as they lost the fight, overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the creatures.
He darted towards the youngest mage; the teenage son of the next-door neighbor. The kid was apparently training to become a swordsman, but he hadn't anticipated that the arms of the monster were longer than his Cutlass. He was trying to dance around the monster's swinging claws, but it was too quick and unpredictable, and he couldn't get in close enough to inflict any real damage.
Nuke tried his previous strategy, but with a bit more finesse this time. He used the velocity of his run and rammed his shoulder into the monster's side. The creature angrily hissed and swang at him, but it couldn't quite reach him as it staggered away.
This gave the lad with the sword just enough time to spring forward and plunge his blade into the monster's chest. It got stuck, and he had to let it go if he didn't want to fall too. The lad frantically stepped on the limp body and tried to haul his sword free from its ribs.
Nuke moved in to help and, together, they managed to dislodge the blade. It came free so suddenly, they both had to stumble backwards to catch their balance. This had taken all the time they had, before the next pair of monsters closed in.
Nuke cursed and began retreating. Now that the kid was by his side, he couldn't afford to take any risks. He extended one arm out sideways, holding the teenager back so he wouldn't get any valiant ideas. Nuke's heart thundered in his chest, his eyes darted to find a way out. The monsters seemed faster somehow, more determined, driven by the blood already spilled.
Suddenly, a searing beam of purple energy lit up the night. It hit both monsters, flinging one into the other, and pinning them against the closest wall. Yet, the beam didn't cut off then. It kept going and going, battering the monstrous bodies with so much energy, the very atoms of their bodies collapsed from the inside out.
At the same time, another beam hit a third monster. This one cut off soon after, only to take out a fourth.
A moment later, Dexter Vex stepped into view. He had a sharp look of determination on his face, which was illuminated from below by the flickering lights of his gleaming magic. Both of his hands were up, each firing in different directions at different intervals, each yet wielding amounts of power that made the air ripple inside Nuke's ears.
It took Dexter about ten seconds to take care of the remaining monsters. After his magic had cut off, a moment of eerie silence filled the cul-de-sac.
Nuke looked around. Bits of dead monsters scattered the quiet suburban street. Blaire was dead too, and so was another neighbor. Most others seemed uninjured or only minorly so, and the lad with the sword looked both safe and proud of himself.
"Is someone missing?" Nuke loudly asked. He glanced in every direction, locking eyes with anyone he could. "Are we missing anyone?!"
"Where's Sable?" someone asked.
Nuke looked around again, only to find that Voynich was gone. Not even his body was anywhere to be found. Only his two Seax Knives lay abandoned in the streets.
"Mister Voynich!" Nuke called out, "can you hear us?!"
A couple people joined him in it; calling "Sable!" and "Voynich!" and "where are you?!" louder and louder.
Afterwards everyone went silent again, intently listening in to make out a response. Yet, the neighborhood was back to being quiet and peaceful.
Nuke sighed in defeat. "He's gone," he regretfully informed everyone. "They took him."
A couple of people behind him broke down in tears and others quietly comforted them. The rest remained focused on the heroic newcomer amongst them.
Nuke looked at said newcomer, who had barely even broken a sweat during his glorious entrance. "Hey, Dexter. Thanks for the help."
"Hey, kid," Dexter replied with a muted smile. His gaze dropped down to the bleeding cuts in Nuke's leg. "Are you alright?"
Nuke shrugged it off, even though - now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off - his leg was actually beginning to hurt pretty bad. "Yeah, I'm fine." He somberly glanced at Blaire's mangled body nearby, "Miss Cubic... not so much."
"Are you out here on your own?" Dexter asked as he glanced around for Diamond.
"Dye is in Roarhaven, said she'll be back by tomorrow."
"Well, you should probably give her a call," he advised, "she might just decide to adjust her schedule."
"Yeah, I should give it another try," Nuke agreed and pulled out his cellphone.
"Got the last one," Tanith announced with a grunt as she dropped a body from her shoulders, onto the pile of dead monsters. When she was done, the four of them established some distance between themselves and said pile.
Valkyrie couldn't keep herself from glancing at it. She was sore from the fight, she had cuts and bruises everywhere, and she was quite irritated at whoever was responsible for this massacre.
Yet, her focus inevitably always ended up back on the pile. They didn't look like monsters anymore; now that they were no longer flailing and moaning and hissing. They looked like a pile of humans, whose remains someone had failed to burn properly.
Tanith wasn't as focused on the pile. She turned to the new face in their midst and interestingly mustered her. Diamond smiled in response but she looked a bit uncertain, borderline shy, as she glanced at Skulduggery for help.
"Ah, yes," Skulduggery importantly clued in, "introductions! Diamond: Tanith Low, the most skilled swordswoman I know and a dear friend of ours. Tanith: Diamond Irie..."
"Have we met before?" Tanith interrupted.
Valkyrie saw Skulduggery falter and scowl.
Diamond casually shrugged. "It's likely. You used to work for the English Sanctuary too, didn't you? I'm sure we've crossed paths plenty of times. At the very least, while walking through the sanctuary hallways...?"
Tanith nodded, still mustering her, as she apparently tried her best to remember those times. "That's probably why..."
"Okay, we're done? Super." Valkyrie impatiently moved on. "Does anyone here have a theory, where all the mystery monsters suddenly came from?"
Skulduggery's hand shot up in the air.
She vaguely rolled her eyes. "Shocking."
He lowered his hand. "I believe, all this means is that our enemy is simply upping their game. Beforehand, they were careful enough to send only a few monsters and erase everyone's recollections of the events. Now, they no longer seem to care about exposing themselves."
"I gather that's a bad sign..." Diamond sighed.
"It does beg the question... How are they increasing their numbers in monsters? Where are they getting them from?"
Valkyrie's stomach slowly dropped at the insinuation. She made an unsettled face at him. "You don't think...? The victims and the monsters are...?"
Skulduggery held up his hand again, but this time to stall any rushed conclusions, "we don't know that. Let's wait for the autopsy results."
"Uh-huh..." Valkyrie continued to be horrified regardless. She glanced at the pile of bodies again, then she and Diamond exchanged a concerned look.
The familiar conduct between the three of them clearly peaked Tanith's curiosity. She glanced back-and-forth between them with an analytical type of frown.
Someone's cellphone rang. Diamond flinched in surprise, and then quickly dug for the culprit in her pocket. When she looked at the screen, the name of the caller seemed to equally surprise and worry her.
"Excuse me..." Diamond mumbled and walked off. Just before her voice faded into the distance, they could hear her pick up the call. "Nuke? Everything alright? I was just about to call you..."
"Nuke Evans?" Tanith asked immediately once Diamond was out of earshot. "You were the ones that took down Haugert Wells, weren't you? When he got Evans to blow up our Sanctuary?"
"Yep, that was us," Valkyrie confirmed with a mixture of pride at the success and unease at the topic.
"So..." Tanith moved on to the questions she actually wanted to ask. She waved between them and Diamond, who was talking on the phone, several meters away. "That's how you lot know each other?"
"Uh-huh," Valkyrie cheekily hummed. She tried not to smirk or obviously glance at Skulduggery.
Despite her best efforts, Tanith had caught wind of this. She turned to Skulduggery and curiously looked him up and down. She bit her lip like she was solving a complicated puzzle.
"And you," she mused, "still have some unfinished business with her?"
Valkyrie sucked in her lips and allowed herself a glance at him.
Skulduggery stood a bit taller than before, but he replied casually, "business? Here and there, I suppose. Leisure, mostly."
"Okay... great!" Tanith said, although her curiosity clearly didn't waver. "She's your new friend, then? Should I get along with her? I can be good at getting along."
"Girlfriend," he specified. "And yes, that would be appreciated."
"Heh-heh," she chuckled. "Okay, but seriously."
Skulduggery didn't laugh along. Tanith's smile faltered. Valkyrie's grin revealed itself.
Diamond returned from her phone call. She looked even more tense than before, stressed even. Tanith was now staring at her; eyes blinking madly with astonishment, mouth hanging wide open in wonder.
"Something's happening in Britain as well," Diamond told them. She was too busy to notice the other Britishwoman, gawking at her like she had three heads. "I've got to get back home. Dexter is already over there." She quickly waved at Valkyrie and Tanith. "Bye, nice to meet you, see you later."
"Umm... Bye..." Tanith muttered.
"Bye, Dye," Valkyrie smirked, while barely taking her amused eyes off her flabbergasted friend.
Diamond touched Skulduggery's shoulder as she walked past him. Instead of a regular pet, it was a quick but gentle grasp, which made his entire arm wield. Tanith's eyes drank up the gesture with ever-growing stun and awe.
Diamond warningly pointed at him as she hurried away sideways. "Don't forget about earlier," she infered, regarding something that Valkyrie had missed. "Call me, if something's up!"
"Yes, dear," Skulduggery facetiously complied.
Diamond smiled and, with that, the redhead was on her way home.
Tanith had stopped blinking, but her mouth was gaping almost as much as the holes in the monsters' faces.
Skulduggery looked at her. "Yes," he finally confirmed. "Seriously."
Tanith shut her jaw and shook herself out if it, as the information finally settled in her brain. "Oh, wow! Wow, that's... That's amazing! She's adorable, you've got to tell me everything! How did you..."
"Would you look at that!" Skulduggery proclaimed and pretended to glance at a non-existent wrist watch. "It's better-things-to-do a'clock! Time to move out."
"That joke was terrible," Valkyrie said, "but I agree."
They both turned and walked away.
"Wait. Wait, don't go!" Tanith called after them in shock. Rushed footsteps attempted to follow them. "Skulduggery, I'm sorry! Val! Please, guys, you can't leave me hanging like this!"
"This is kinda fun," Valkyrie smirked.
"Immensely," Skulduggery agreed.
They walked to the bike and the Bentley, and continued to ignore Tanith's desperate cries for attention. "Guys, come on! I have so many questions! GUYS!"