54Valkyrie: 19
OPEN
Case File #2367: The Paris Snatcher
Case File #2368: Allred Manic
Assigned Detectives: Irish Prime Detective Skulduggery Pleasant, French Prime Detective Blu`er Vich, Irish Detective Trainee Valkyrie Cain, French Detective Trainee Claire de Lune
Objective: Stopping Allred Manic by any and all means possible and available
Referred by: Deemed top priority by Assigned Detectives
Signed by: Not available
Other notes: Not available
Valkyrie kicked open her door, had nothing in her hands except her beloved iPhone which she looked at momentarily, groaned, and lobbed it hard and fast at the creature's large head. It hit hard with a resonating crack, its ebony dark eyes spun around and locked onto her, leaving Claire to whimper loudly, grab the sack up from the ground and make a desperate run from the conflict.
Valkyrie backed up quickly as it drew itself to its full height, standing somewhere at eight feet – perhaps ten if those black, twisted horns where to be counted. It was a goat. A man-goat, to be precise. Almost Minotaur-ish. Except for the long, plaited beard under its saliva drenched chin.
That didn't look right.
And the sharp, wolf-like fangs were kind of unfair and out of place.
As if demonstrating its strength it reached under the car and lifted it up, flinging it sideways in a shower of sparks and glass – the headlights flickered and guttered out.
There was now nothing between her and the Goatman.
Valkyrie thew her hand forward, summoning a wall of shadows into the creature's heaving chest, sending it stumbling backwards into the wall of a building, then turned and ran.
About now Valkyrie realised she hated Paris.
It was too neat. Too pretty. Too perfect. Like someone with OCD meticulously laid everything out every morning.
It wasn't like Ireland at all, where if you pushed a chair out from under a table you weren't expected to push it back in. You just left it there, ready for the next patron to sit themselves at.
It also made running past and throwing them in a pursuers' way that much easier.
And when the Goatman smashed past everything at least in Ireland it didn't look like such a mess – just another drunken night amongst the yocals. But here, in France, in Paris, Valkyrie was destroying café tables and pretty wrought iron chairs and bins and any other item not welded to the ground, left, right, and centre, in a clear and blatant unadulterated path of utter destruction.
Valkyrie turned a corner, felt someone grab the sleeve of her protective coat and pull her inside the darkness of the millionth café shop she had run past that night. She squatted down against the window, a cold, clammy hand pressed over her mouth so tight that Valkyrie couldn't part her jaw to bite at it. She heard the Goatman gallop by and relaxed, flicking the hand away from her face.
"Thanks," she panted as Claire helped her to her feet. Valkyrie didn't object and stooped, trying to catch her breath. "I have…no, idea…what that thing…is!"
"Faun," Claire answered quietly, her green eyes shone eerily in the dark.
"Aw damn," Valkyrie gasped, standing up straighter and holding her stomach. "Really?" she grimaced as her legs twinged painfully. "I thought fauns were supposed to be, you know, like Mister Tumnus."
"Like who?"
"Like the faun from Narnia. Mister Tumnus?"
Claire frowned delicately. "Why would fauns be like zat?"
"I don't know," she said, arching her back, "Just optimistic, hopeful speculation."
Claire wrinkled her nose, confused and dragged the sack across the floor to a coffee table where she managed to lift it onto a seat. She looked at it for a moment with her glowing hazel eyes and then slumped into the chair next to it and shivered.
"I hope Blu`er iz okay…" she murmured.
Valkyrie pulled up a chair and sat across from her. In the dark she could just make out her shape as she rubbed her arms for warmth. Groaning inwardly, Valkyrie took off her protective jacket and passed it to the French girl, avoiding eye contact.
"Here," she grunted. "'Cause you look cold and I'm not as mean as everyone makes me out to be."
"Oh non…I'm fine."
"No really, I insist."
"I am not zat cold."
"Dude, you're in nothing but a blue dress and its freezing outside. Of course you're cold!"
"But what about you? You only have a shirt on?"
"The tunic is special. Going to take it or not?" She waved her jacket up and down over the table a bit for emphasise.
"I…I couldn't-"
Valkyrie slammed her free fist against the coffee table and snarled. "Take the bloody jacket!"
Claire quickly grabbed it from her as Valkyrie smiled happily at her good deed for the night.
"Umm…thankyou, Valkyrie…"
"You're welcome!"
A silence passed over them as they continued to sit there, in the coffee shop, in the dark. There was an old grandfather clock somewhere and it counted each passing second with a wooden clock of its swinging pendulums. Without warning it struck an hour and three loud bongs filled the room and set Valkyrie's teeth and nerves on edge.
"Why are ve juzt zitting here?" Claire asked quietly, nervously. She was fiddling with the cuffs of Valkryie's jacket – the arms slightly too long for her - maybe a little tight too.
"Because we're bait, and bait sits. Plus we're pretty safe in here, the doors are closed so the fauncan't smell us or the Backahurst parts out. Skulduggery and Vich will have plenty of time to save the kids while that thing is looking for us," she nodded, "all in all, one of the best plans we've come up with."
"You call zis…a plan?"
Valkyrie snorted. "Duh."
"And if ziz one doezn't work, what zen?"
"Usually our fall back plan is to call on the power of Awesome, which more often than not gets the job done."
"Who iz Awezome?"
Valkyrie laughed. "It's not a person; it's a state of being."
Her pretty brow wrinkled. "You juzt be awezome?"
Valkyrie tapped her nose slyly. "Exactly!"
Claire shook her head. "Zat iz zo, zo, dangerouz! Blu`er and I, we follow ze plan, and ze backup plan, and ze backup plan after zat! We work in total sync and in total harmony!"
"Hey, Skulduggery and I work in sync and stuff too," Valkyrie objected.
Claire raised her eyebrows at her and Valkyrie could just make out the expression in the dark.
"Well," Valkyrie said after a moment, "we're relatively in sync and harmonised, and stuff. But that's what makes our teamwork special. Unique. And hey, the world's still spinning, so it must be working."
Claire shrugged. "It could be zmoother. More zupportive."
"Claire, Vich couldn't leave you to fight your way out of a paper bag."
The French girl frowned as the ground shook.
Skulduggery took a running jump into the air, flew several metres and landed silently onto the ceramic tiles of a French house. To his right Blu`er Vich landed with a soft clack, his handsome face had a papery texture and there was yesterday's headline written across his forehead. He shook himself like a dog and his skin and clothing returned to their normal state. He adjusted his dark hair and straightened his suit with a flick before nodding to Skulduggery who steadied the heel of his boot against the glass of the skylight. He raised three fingers.
Vich started the countdown in his head but on two Skulduggery kicked through the glass and followed it into the darkness of the room below. The French detective face palmed and jumped after him.
The floor was further than he thought and his knees buckled under him as he righted himself. Skulduggery was already inspecting the small room by the light of the flame in his palm.
Vich took the opposite end of the room and studied the darkness. He had no need for light; his blue eyes glowed eerily in the shadows.
"They were here," he said quietly, stroking the walls. "Maybe a little over half an hour ago they were moved."
Skulduggery raised his arm high and studied the ceiling. He tutted. "We should check the rest of the house."
They split up.
The hallway Skulduggery found himself in smelled of mould and must and dust that had dampened to such a point it covered everything in a sickly grey fuzz. He followed it until it came out into an open room, sparsely littered with non matching furniture: a small purple sofa, barely big enough for one large man and a mahogany coffee table. It was spacious enough despite the fact it had a large, black barred cage in its centre.
Skulduggery walked the outer edge of the room, studying the cage as he went around then approached it. The bars were solid and he touched them, feeling the icy hum of some imbued magic – symbols most likely, carved somewhere into the metalwork.
"Like a vampire's cage except," he plucked a tuft of brown hair from the corner of the bars. It was thick and oily as he split it over his fingers, "Except for the fact vampires don't shed fur-"
He stopped.
He glanced around the room and seemed to deflate.
Valkyrie wasn't around to hear his awesome hypothesis.
Skulduggery made the sound of clicking his tongue and let the fur float to the ground. Seriously, what was the point of having a student if it wasn't around at all times to listen to the amazing things he often deduced? He sighed and was about to make his way back up the hall when there came several shots of a gun, the sound of Vich shouting something that sounded like half his name and then the crash of the French Prime Detective flying through the plaster wall.
Vich stumbled backwards, plaster and dust and paint having ruined his perfectly jet black suit and managed to collect his feet under him as he hit the cage and ricocheted off it and into Skulduggery who swung him to the ground as bullets flew into the roof. Skulduggery pulled Vich to the side, a spray of bullets following them, pushed him behind the hideous purple sofa and threw himself after the man.
Vich leaned against it as he sucked at the air, trying to overcome the winding he had received from going through the wall. He watched from the corner of his eyes as Skulduggery pulled out his Smith and Wesson, checking the rounds in the cartridge before spinning it closed on the side of his arm.
"How many?" He whispered, edging his head around the side of the ugly seat to glare into the dark.
"One. The Paris Snatcher."
Skulduggery looked back at him amused.
"Shut up!" He snapped indignantly. "I didn't see him! He jumped up on me!"
Skulduggery chuckled when something dropped on top of them, colliding heavily into him and pinning him to the ground, several blades imbedded in his suit and piercing through the gaps of his ribs.
He screamed, raised his gun and fired at the man who wrenched his blades from the floorboard, back through Skulduggery and dodged the fire-shot with ease, darting back away into the darkness.
Skulduggery let Vich pull him upright and onto his feet as he pulled his suit downwards, inspecting the holes. He cursed.
"Damn it. Ghastly warned me this was the last shade of black-green being made by Armani." He tutted angrily and threw off the jacket, leaving it on sofa.
Vich stared at it sadly. "Ah, my friend, that is so unfortunate." He rested a hand on the skeleton's shoulder in respectful silence. "Still, better it got you than me."
"Yes. I suppose so. Ssh!"
The two detectives ducked down slightly as there came a scurrying along the walls, the sound of long nails scraping along dry plaster and wood circled them in a feverish haste.
"Vich, you can see in the dark," said Skulduggery lowly, raising his gun to wherever the sound darted. "Point and I'll shoot."
Vich backed up against him. "He's in the walls, Skulduggery."
"Oh joy."
"Quiet."
The stood still, back to back. Silent.
Waiting.
The wall opposite them erupted suddenly in a cloud of plaster as the Paris Snatcher exploded out, the blades at his hands glinting in the dark, his black teeth bared in a snarl. Vich started forward but was too slow to dodge; the blades nicked his side as he dived across them and burrowed into the floorboards. Skulduggery ran to it and fired several bullets after the Snatcher. Tutted loudly and looked across at the other detective.
"You okay?"
Vich nodded his fine and pale features. "Just a nick." He passed the cage and grabbed a bar, absorbing the material until it spread across his body and clothes, turning him into the same black metal.
"Let's make him pay."
The two jumped down into the room below.
It smelled foul.
Vich coughed. "It's gas."
"Clever." Skulduggery muttered as he pushed at the air. The smell dispersed enough for his French partner to breath and another shower of bullets ripped through the darkness.
They dropped to the floor and scrambled for cover.
"I can see him!" Vich whispered urgently. "Thirty feet away, at forty-five past two!"
Skulduggery directed his arm to the directions Vich had given him and fired the last bullets in the gun.
The Snatcher screamed. Shouted profanities to the air as Vich lunged to his feet, racing across the darkness to collide his iron fist into the man's face.
The Snatcher went down with a grunt, the blades he carried slashing desperately out against his attacker whose skin was now almost impenetrable. Skulduggery stepped back and offered a round-house kick in the man's side, sending the blades scattering across the floorboards as the Snatcher curled into a foetal position.
Vich picked him by the collar of his shirt and shook him like a ragdoll. "WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN!"
The Snatcher laughed weakly between his gasps. "Probably eaten by The One, by now."
"Tell us," said Skulduggery darkly, "and my friend here will only beat you to a bloody pulp."
The man said nothing but continued to snigger and cough and wheeze manically.
"He comes!" He heaved. "He comes! And you won't be able to stop him."
Skulduggery looked at Vich's glowing eyes and shrugged.
From out of the dirty folds of the Paris Snatchers clothes came a lighter.
Vich shouted.
Skulduggery moved.
And the spark spread across the room and into violent yellow flames in less than a second.
Skulduggery felt his body fly through the drywall and land several stories down into the side-streets of Paris.
For a moment, all went black.
Valkyrie wasn't sure what Claire screamed but it made her body move in a way that she hadn't expected it would ever, ever do. It leaped across the table and took the assault. Took it, claws and all to the side of her body like…
Like a bloody hero.
Like a true to god-damn life bloody hero.
And she flew across the small café like one too.
It wasn't the greatest idea out there, Valkyrie knew as she groggily levied herself up using the wall for support. But it did the trick. It gave Claire de Lune a few extra seconds to grab the Backahurst remains and make a run for it.
The tunic had mostly saved her from being torn in half by the Faun's sharp talons, and she could feel the flesh at her side slowly knit together - but it hadn't lessened the blow any and she was struggling to breath as the ceiling from which it had emerged so suddenly from collapsed behind it. Its large horns dug two trails through the roof-work as it lumbered towards her, swinging its grizzly man arms and baring it wolfish teeth.
Oh god, here we go. Valkyrie thought bitterly, gritting her teeth together.
She felt the surge of power flow into her and Darquesse stepped forward.
"Hello you big, ugly brute," she cooed, stepping from the wall and shrugging the pain off. "Time to make lamb stew out of you, although I doubt you'd taste any good."
Darquesse threw her hands forward, clenching her fingers so that they sharpened into spears. The faun hollered as they ploughed into his chest but it didn't stop him from lunging at her, lowering its massive skull down towards her, ramming her into the wall, through the brickwork and out into the cold night air.
Darquesse went spinning into the ground, used the momentum to roll to her knees and feet and turned her head back to the correct angle. She felt her bones snap back into place and spat onto the cobblestone.
"Lucky shot."
She dove forward on her fours like an animal, jumped into the air as the monster punched out at her, proving it had speed to the almost match its strength and caught her in mid-flight. Darquesse grinned maliciously as she latched onto its fist, doing a handstand over it harmlessly then followed through with a sharp wave of shadows which took his hand clean off at the wrist.
The severed limb hit the ground with a thud as the Faun howled. Its new bloody stump steamed in the icy air as Darquesse landed evenly on her feet, spinning on her heel, summoning blades of darkness at her sides.
These ripped through the creature, tearing it limb from limb. Shredding its dark brown, oily fur from its skin. With a gurgled and pathetic cry is succumbed to its knees and Darquesse threw her hand out, decapitating it.
The massive head dropped to the ground and rolled towards her feet. The clatter of the ivory horns echoing in the now silent night.
Darquesse blinked back the rage and sighed. "That was no fun."
Two hazel eyes gaped at her from across the street and a small voice followed.
"What are you?!"
Darquesse rubbed the back of her neck as she kicked the Faun head away from her. "Confused, mostly."
Claire frowned. "I don't under-"
Darquesse bristled sharply. "MY GOD WHY ARE YOU SO-"
Claire's phone rang just as she was about to run and Darquesse lowered her hand quickly, taking fast breaths to regain her self-control.
Claire said a few words and passed her the phone, informing her it was Skulduggery.
Biting her lip, Darquesse took it.
"Valkyrie?"
"Uh…kind of."
Skulduggery's voice darkened. "Darquesse."
"Well…ah…we're in limbo at the mo. I can't tell who I am. Valkyrie? She kind of just, let go, I swear I wasn't even gunna make a show, I-"
"Yes, alright. Fine. We'll talk later. Right now there's a maniac on the loose who wants to summon Capricorn."
Valkyrie frowned. "I thought you were dealing with that?"
Skulduggery made a strangled sound at the back of his not-at-all-there throat. "We got the Paris Snatcher, Thom-Maz, but Allred wasn't there. He was using him as a divergence in case we found his holding."
"Well can't you just interrogate him? You know, the old left and right? Play good cop, bad cop. He sounds petty, I'm sure he'll break in seconds."
"Umm…I don't think that works on corpses."
Valkyrie face palmed. "Why, oh why, did you kill him?"
"He suicided on us."
"And what? You couldn't stop that?"
"The room was filled with gas, he lit a cigarette lighter, blew himself up. It was all very sudden."
"Skulduggery, I did everything right my end. I even killed a faun single-"
"Awww…" the skeleton cut in sadly. "Really? They're usually the nicer magical creatures out there."
Valkyrie blanched. "Are you kidding!? It was ten feet tall! And two of those feet were its horns! It almost skewered me; I went through a wall for Christ's sake!"
"But still, a faun? They're adorable. Haven't you seen Narnia?"
Rubbing the bridge of her nose angrily Valkyrie responded bitterly. "It was not like Mister Tumnus, at all. It was, a giant, hairy man-goat, with a beard and a thirst for blood. You, sir, are ill informed about fauns."
"I'll take your word for it then."
"Thankyou."
"I do think it's rather brutal. Can't help but get the imagery of Mister Tumnus' head rolling about on the floor in a sad, miserable, but cute kind of way."
Valkyrie blinked. "What you said just genuinely creeped me out."
Skulduggery chuckled.
"So, there's my lovely Backahurst."
Valkyrie spun around to watch as a heavily cloaked man emerged from the shadows, the darkness writhing at his feet, his eyes shadows by the night and by the hang of his dry forehead.
Claire stepped backwards, tripped on her feet and fell onto the cobblestone.
Valkyrie gripped the phone tightly, "Did you just make us bait, again!?"
"Oh look, your location just came up on Vich's awfully smart, smart phone. Be there soon!" He hung up.
Valkyrie closed her eyes and opened them, looking up at the sky and praying for patience. "Allred," she said slowly, "I have had a long, and crappy night. See your pet there? If you don't get the hell out of my sight, I'm going to lop your head off-"
Allred stepped forward with a grin, placed a hand on Claire who, in her fear lunged for Valkyrie's leg.
Valkyrie stared at her and her eyes widened.
"Aw, damn, no."
They disappeared.
Vich acted like he was having a cardiac arrest when Claire's signal vanished from the screen of his phone. "OH MY GOD THEY'RE GONE!"
Skulduggery glanced across at him. "He can't be a teleporter, so he's shadow-walked. He'll show up somewhere close by."
Vich didn't seem at all comforted. "Dear god, he got her."
"And Valkyrie," Skulduggery added, as if that would help the situation any.
The French man threw a stare his way, but didn't risk saying anything as his phone vibrated in his hand. He leaned forwards in relief.
"She's reappeared!"
"There, nothing to worry about."
Vich frowned at the glow of his screen as the digits in the upper right hand side started to clock upwards, stopping at three-hundred feet…
In the air.
Near about the Eiffel Tower.
Most likely on the Eiffel Tower.
He groaned and warranted a concerned glance across from Skulduggery who leaned across to the look.
"Oh."
Valkyrie had always wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower.
Climb it with that special someone.
Walk up the many steps, taking her time, arm in arm with the man of her most wild dreams, looking out over the city. So dreamy, and wonderful and all the good things.
Not this.
Oh god, not this.
Valkyrie hit the metal floor with a loud clang, spraining her wrist and grating the skin from her palms. She rolled as a blade of shadow struck the space where she had appeared and scrambled ungracefully to her feet. The wind whipped at her hair, stinging her face with tiny lashes, and stabbing at her eyes. She clawed at her face and threw it behind her head just as a child grabbed her around the waist, screaming.
"I don't want to die!" He wailed.
Valkyrie didn't have a clue what he said, but wobbled dangerously from the boy's impact and then took him down with her as a wave of shadows came at her at neck height. The child was truly bawling now.
Valkyrie got to her feet, dragging the small person behind her and pushing him up the walk way as Allred approached her, the Backahurst remains in his grip.
He was a hideously scaly man, as if the ground spewed him up out of white clay and gave him a some-what human shape. His eyes were black; his nose was sharp but laid across his face in a crooked tilt. That narrow face was open with a just as narrow mouth; a bloody red tongue inside that he ran across the thin edges of his mouth.
The hood that shrouded him had blown off; his cloak whipped behind his body and framed him in a crazy fray of movement. His hair was thin and slicked to the pale of his skin – it didn't move and inch.
"Watch," he shouted over the wind, putting the sack of Backahurst over the rails. He grinned and let it go.
Skulduggery drove the Sanctuary car along the road hugging the Seine River and threw it into an empty space, jumping out of the vehicle and holding his hat to his head. Vich came around to his side, his face down at his phone, following the signal from Claire's. He looked up, nodded at the Irish detective and they ran towards the base of the Eiffel Tower.
"They're there!" Vich shouted, pointing upwards into the weak morning light that had suddenly broken across the city. "At the top! He's dropped the Backahurst! GO!"
Without so much as a leap, Skulduggery took to the air, racing the rising sun as he shot upwards, the wind whistling his approach.
He could see Valkyrie's dark silhouette in the morning glow, could see Claire nursing an injury and the sack of remains coming ever closer.
Then, THWOK!
The barrier activated itself as Skulduggery passed the sigil and created a shield which he smashed into and seemed, for a moment, to stick there, almost like an insect which gets stuck on the windscreen of a car.
Valkyrie gaped as he seemed to peel off it and fall back to Earth.
Skulduggery slowed his fall and landed, his pride more hurt than all the pain in his bones caused by the sudden collision.
"Don't," he warned lowly, "you dare say anything," and stormed past Vich.
Valkyrie shook the most funniest thing she had ever seen from her vision and focused on the hole that had erupted from mid-way down the Eiffel tower. It spun and swirled a brilliant black, red and purple, lightning and thunder growling and flashing within. A gust of putrid wind poured out of it and blew into Valkyrie's face.
She choked and gasped for fresh air as a thunderous roar shook the ground, making the tower of steel and metal ring and vibrate like a bell.
She tried to grab the rails for support, but the rattling hurt her wrists and she let go with a cry.
Allred Manic was laughing, inhaling the stench wafting up towards them with gusto.
Valkyrie dragged the boy around to the other side of the walk-way where she found Clair, holding her shoulder, and another thirty children all bound and gagged.
She gaped at them all, suddenly feeling the gravity of the situation.
Valkyrie Cain had never faced a situation where childrens' lives depending on her.
She felt like she had aged a hundred years as she pulled a dagger from her left boot, throwing it to Claire, and bending for another hidden in her right. She lunged on the first girl who shied away from her, grabbed her forcefully by the bonds behind her and cut through the course rope. To her side, Claire was frantically doing the same. Tears pricking her eyes. Her breath laboured.
Valkyrie gave her a reassuring nod and it seemed to help.
"Hahaha, and just what are you doing?"
Valkyrie spun around, raising a wall of shadows that shielded the children and herself, charged forward and threw it off at the last moment, surprising the maniac with a flash of her dagger sliding across his chest.
Blood trickled through the black fabric and Allred stepped backwards, his face red with rage.
Valkyrie gave him no moment to recuperate, throwing a fireball into his face.
There came the satisfying sound of his white skin sizzling. Allred screamed and disappeared into the shadows.
Valkyrie looked around frantically, pulling the hair from her face and urging children to their shaking feet. "Come on," she urged a small girl who had managed a few steps before collapsing. "Come on! You can do it!"
She looked towards Claire. "Get them down!" She ordered,
Her green eyes glowed as she nodded and trundled the children down the first flight.
It was slow going. The young ones were bawling. Valkyrie had two clutching her waist and had scooped another up in her arms that wouldn't stop shaking – it's pyjamas not proving too effective in the early morning cold.
The sky lightened further and below, Valyrie could hear Skulduggery and Vich power housing towards them.
"Valkyrie!" Skulduggery called. "The kids?"
"Got them all!" Valkyrie called back and screamed.
The blade twisted painfully inside her before being wrenched out and she dropped the kid, who started to scream and cry and run faster down the steps.
Valkyrie stood still and felt Claire's eyes on her, could hear her urging the children to run to the detectives on the lower floor as she grabbed hold of the railings, letting it grow across her, turning her skin into a dark metallic grey.
Allred didn't move fast for a thin man and Claire's iron fist caught him square in the kidneys. He recoiled, went down, howled in frustration and scrambled to his feet, collecting a kick. He grabbed her foot and Valkyrie shouted as Claire and Allred vanished.
Skulduggery reached her, his bony hand going straight to her shoulder in concern. "Valkyrie?"
She looked up at him. "He got Claire."
Skulduggery made to run onwards but Valkyrie held him back. "No. I'll do this. Just get those kids as far from here as possible."
They shared a look, and the skeleton nodded.
Claire fought against his grip in vain, losing the focus on her powers, turning back into flimsy flesh.
For a stick of a man he was deathly strong and she eyeballed the narrow of the blade at her neck and then stole a glance at the hole, churning and thundering a hundred metres below her. A rush of stink, humid air shot upwards and caught at her dress – she was grateful for Valkyrie Cain's coat.
"Forgive me!" Allred hollered to the sky, pressing the blade into the soft of her skin – Claire could feel a trickle of warmth race down her neck and into the collar of Valkyrie's coat. "I was unable to gather enough Blood of the Meek! But I pray, PRAY THAT THIS IS ENOUGH!"
Claire whimpered, held her breath and slammed her eyes shut as the blade made to slip across her throat…
It was then Valkyrie appeared.
Black like sin, dark as night, as ebony as fear.
Something in her lack lustre eyes screamed murder as she leapt from the air, black shadows following behind her like streamers. They twisted at her command and sharpened…
It wasn't to be.
Shadows came to Allred's defence, throwing Valkyrie back against the railings.
Claire tried to call for her, but couldn't. Valkyrie seemed to bounce back to her feet, unharmed.
"Let her go," Valkyrie snarled, summoning fire to her hands – so hot that it glowed white. "NOW!"
Allred bit his lip and in a violent act of defiance plunged his blade into Claire's stomach.
The air left her as he threw her from him and she started her decent into the chasm below her in a slow and melodic fashion.
Three hundred metres below she could hear Vich screaming her name.
But it didn't matter know. She was going to die.
Tears flew after her, peeling from her face.
Suddenly, hands shot out from nowhere, grabbing her around the shoulders and jerking her to a painfully agonising stop. She could feel Valkyrie's ragged breath in the nape of her neck and that young girl's vicious growl as she hauled her over the railings. Claire felt the solid metal under her hands and knees, and despite trying to be brave in front of the dark girl, she started to cry.
Valkyrie pulled her roughly to her feet. "For Christ's sake, Claire. Now's not the time!"
Valkyrie managed to get her up when Allred appeared.
"Seriously!?" Valkyrie howled, dropping Claire back to her knees with a clang. "How many times do you have to keep reappearing until you get it through your mind that you've lost!?"
She threw a right hand. He blocked. Followed it with a sharp left and a kick which he caught, flipping Valkyrie onto her back.
She coughed, desperately trying to catch her winded breath as he leered over her. "Lights out," he threw a blade of darkness at her which she managed to dodge.
Which she managed most of her to dodge…
The pain in her shoulder screamed the fact she had just lost her right arm.
Plus Clair's scream added to the certainty of that fact.
Valkurie stood, clutching her stump. Okay, no more play.
Allred lunged at her, a grin crackling across his burned face as shadows whipped around him.
Darquesse made a running start, swooping her fallen arm back up and brushed the assault aside, then followed up with spears of her own.
The wall Allred managed to put up, did the trick and blocked the onslaught. But Darquesse wasn't finished. He had lopped her arm off, and she was mighty peeved about that.
She hammered away at the shield, slashed at it again and again until the man was forced to step backwards – darkness coming away from him like ribbons.
His black eyes were wide with fear and he shadow-walked.
Claire watched in horror as the girl, Valkyrie, let a tendril of black wrap around his foot and pulled him out of the shadows, dragging him across the ground towards her.
"Lights out," she echoed, pressed her boot against his nose and pressed down.
Claire looked away as the squelch of skull and brain resonated in the wind. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and a terrifying strength lift her to her feet.
"Let's haul ass," Valkyrie panted, dragging her alongside.
"You're arm…itz okay!?"
"Yep."
Claire shook further question from her head and clutched her stomach as they made a slow start forward. "I'm not cut…?"
Valkyrie kept her eyes straight ahead. "It's a special coat, but you'll still hurt like hell tomo-"
The metal grates beneath their feet trembled.
"The portal!" Claire cried, looking down at it. "It'z closing! Zee!?"
Valkyrie stole a glance down, swallowed and cursed. "Go, go, go!"
The Eiffel Tower was shaking violently and there was a strange tilt starting to happen as the two scrambled down the stairs. The floor lurched, and Valkyrie felt her feet fall out from under her, Claire's hand griping her tightly around the wrist and righting her. Valkyrie blinked in surprise as they started forward.
An iron beam fell, Valkyrie slowing its decent with a gust of wind, letting it fall some metres away harmlessly.
"Itz falling apart!" Claire shouted over the tortured scream of metal, her eyes wide.
"I can see that!" Valkyrie hollered back.
The pair rolled under some fallen lattice and rose to their feet like ninjas.
"We're not going to make it!"
"Look, Claire! I getting really tired of your pessimism!"
"We have to jump for it!"
It was Valkyrie's turn to gaze at her wide-eyed. "What!? We're still two-hundred-"
Claire grabbed her around the waist and threw themselves forward and over the railings. Valkyrie's hands shot to her face in horror and she screamed her heart out.
Their decent slowed dramatically as Claire's blue dress flared out, becoming some kind of parachute and the drifted safely earthward.
And now that Valkyrie had started, she just could not, for the life of her, stop screaming.
Valkyrie felt the thud of solid ground under the soles of her boots and stumbled slightly. Her ears were freezing cold and everything she heard was dull and distant. French Sanctuary cars were beaming their headlights at her, people calling to each other in French – all this chaos and noise and rushing around and children crying somewhere.
Well, damn, she thought dumbly, that dress was for something after all.
Skulduggery stood in front of her and offered a supportive arm as Claire dashed from Valkyrie's side and ran at Vich, who scooped her up in his arms – their faces beacons of delight.
"Aww," said Valkyrie adoringly as they twirled. "See, Skul, why aren't we like that?"
"Please," said the skeleton, righting his hand and placing his ignored gesture at his side. "You screamed all the way down. You're so embarrassing! I don't want to be near enough to be associated to you let alone hug you, Valkyrie!"
Valkyrie looked at him with asking brows. "Just, one spin."
Skulduggery looked away. "No."
"One quick twirl. Please? We'll make it way better than theirs. We'll show them up!"
"Show them up?"
"Yup."
He nodded and gave a one sided shrug. "Just to show them up."
Skulduggery circled his arms under Valkyrie and lifted her, spinning her around a few times and then bring her in for a hug.
"You did well, Valkyrie."
"You too, Skulduggery."
Valkyrie felt him stiffen as he looked over her shoulder.
"Oh my."
"What?" Valkyrie tried to turn around but the detective kept her in his clutches.
"Nothing. Unless you wanted us to do that too?"
Valkyrie frowned and Skulduggery released her.
A few metres away, Blu`er Vich and Claire de Lune had started kissing passionately, the broken Eiffel Tower glowing in the new light behind them.
Valkyrie's mouth dropped. "Him with her!?"
"What a twist," Skulduggery murmured humouredly.
They stared at each other and quickly parted.
Valkyrie cleared her throat awkwardly and stuck out her hand. "Put it there, partner."
Skulduggery chuckled. "Likewise."
They shook hands.
Vich and Skulduggery shook hands firmly as they waited on the tarmac beside their chartered jet.
"We're really sorry about the Eiffel," said Skulduggery.
Vich shrugged his thin shoulders and straightened his fedora. "Nothing that can't be fixed, Skulduggery. We can probably do what the Italians did with their stupid Leaning Tower of Piza. Make a big deal out of it, or something."
Valkyrie watched as they shared a laugh and Vich rounded on her quickly, pulling her into a giant hug. "I cannot thankyou enough for looking after Claire, Miss Cain. You will make a wonderful, brave detective," he pulled her back to look into her dark eyes and bright red face. "Look after yourself, your partnership is very special: a bond of love. So watch out for this old stubborn suit of bones."
Skulduggery snorted derisively as Valkyrie was let go, breathing shallowly.
"'Kay," she murmured, embarrassed. "Whatever you said sounds hot."
Vich grinned, kissed on both blushing cheeks and stepped out of the way for Claire to throw herself onto her.
"Thankyou for everything, Valkyrie Cain!" She beamed, stepping back and holding her hands with hers. "You are welcome back anyztime!"
Valkyrie smiled. "I'll hold you to it!"
Waving their farewells, Valkyrie and Skulduggery boarded the plane and made for Ireland.
"Okay. What'd Vich say?" Valkyrie asked once her face had cleared and she felt that they were high enough in the air to not be overheard.
Skulduggery turned from the window to look across at her. "He commended you on your beauty and bravery, and then complemented our partnership."
Valkyrie seemed deflated. "Is that all?"
Skulduggery sighed theatrically.
Erskine Ravel practically jumped ten feet into the air when the detective duo walked into his house, patting down their suits smartly like they had saved the world with little to no sweat. Which they had, but it wasn't like he was going to give them an inch of gratitude for it – they had all but demolished the Eiffel Tower while on their wild campaign across Paris.
They stood, sharply dressed in the doorway, looking at him pensively.
Ravel was about to make a comment when Skulduggery picked up his seventeenth century mahogany coat stand, shaking all the coats and hats from it, turned like a switch blade, and walked out with Valkyrie in tow.
CLOSED
Case File #2367: The Paris Snatcher
Case File #2368: Allred Manic
I can't even begin to mention all the destruction and how many minds had to be wiped. So I won't.
Cain.
It's like she doesn't even try anymore.
Damage to private property, excessive damage to a famous French Icon (dealt by Valkyrie Cain and Claire de Lune - for the records), the abduction and successful rescue of 34 children - minds wiped and returned to homes and schools. Faun body found before mortals could discover it and properly disposed of. I believe it is being stuffed and mounted. So sad.
The deaths of Thom-Maz Le Leaper and Allred Manic was unfortunate but necessary - they will be thrown in the dirt where they belong.
SkulduggeryP
Whew! They did it!
Saved the world again!
:D welp. I'd love to hear from ya'll!