China slowed, pulling the reins firmly until the tired horse complied. She took the trail down to the river, and the creature splashed in gratefully, the fast-moving water cooling his muscles and rising past China’s boots, but she didn’t mind. She patted his neck, told him how good he was, how he was the best horse to be kept in these stables in twenty years.
When they were done, she guided him up on to the bank, and walked back to the yard. She had a small army there tending to the horses, all unmarried men and women. These were talented people who did their jobs well – she didn’t want them leaving their wives and husbands and families just because they’d fallen in love with her. It was easier to deal with love-struck sorcerers, who at least knew her reputation – but mortals didn’t stand a chance. At her instruction, all workers were to vacate the yard whenever she was in it unless explicitly asked to stay.
That afternoon, the yard was empty. She dismounted, led the horse into the stable. She undid the saddle, swung it up on to the edge of the door. The horse nuzzled her neck and China smiled. She forked in some fresh hay and stepped out, and there was a man behind her. China swung back her elbow, caught him on the jaw. He staggered and she turned, swept his feet from under him. He hit the floor, went to roll away, then stopped, and held up his hands.
“China,” Jaron Gallow said, “I’m not here to fight you.”
China raised an eyebrow. “Good. That will make this so much easier.”
“I’m here to help.”
“Help what?”
“Help you.” He rubbed his jaw, and looked up at her. “I know Eliza is back in town. I know she’s been hanging around with that Prave idiot. I’ve been watching them. I saw you visiting.”
“Everyone’s spying on everyone else,” China said. “It warms my heart, it truly does.”
“Can I stand up?”
“Of course you can. There’s no guarantee I won’t put you back down again, but you can at least try.”
He narrowed his eyes then stood, moving slowly. He was dark-haired and graceful, though thinner than she remembered. His face was gaunt. She watched him, noticing his right hand for the first time. It was gloved.
“The last I saw of you,” she said, “you were chopping that arm off to avoid being used as a vessel for the Faceless Ones. Did it grow back?”
“This? No, this isn’t mine. It belonged to a donor.”
“Willing or otherwise?”
“Otherwise.”
“What do you want, Jaron?”
“I can only imagine what Eliza Scorn has over you. That’s why she called you, right? To force you to do something? It must be pretty substantial, whatever it is.”
“I can’t tell if you’re circling a point or just boring me on purpose.”
“I know what their plans are. I know they want to build up the Church of the Faceless all around the world. I’m pretty sure that Eliza views herself as some kind of Pope figure, thinks she can lead the faithful into a world where the strong are rewarded and the weak are discarded.”
“The same kind of world you’re looking for,” China reminded him.
He shook his head. “Not any more. People change, China. You know that better than anyone. You led the Diablerie before me, you taught me everything I know. You were a zealot, through and through. And now look at you. Is it so hard to believe that I could have gone through the same transformation? That day, at the farm, when we opened the portal and the Faceless Ones came back… I saw them for what they really were. They’re not gods. They’re things. Creatures. Monsters. As powerful as gods, perhaps, but they certainly don’t deserve to be worshipped.”
“Blasphemy,” China said with a smile.
“Indeed it is. I’ve lost my faith, China. There is no hope of a beautiful world if they return, and that’s been the big lie, right from the start. The idea that we disciples would be spared, that we’d be welcomed while everyone else perished… Ridiculous. Those things don’t care about us.”
“All right,” China said. “So you’ve had a change of heart. You have seen the light and you have turned away from wickedness. That’s all wonderful. But why should I be at all interested?”
“I’m here to stop them.”
“Eliza?”
“Eliza, Prave, any and everyone else. I’m here to shut down the Church of the Faceless, but I need your help to do it. I’ve already wandered in from the wilderness and rejoined them. It’ll be like the good old days. They’re not going to trust you, but they do trust me.”
“So you have infiltrated their ranks – now what?”
“Eliza wants to build the Church’s strength. In order to do that, she’s going to need a comprehensive plan of how strong, or weak, the Church is right now, right at this moment. She’ll have names, locations, funds, resources… She’ll have the identities of spies and informants loyal to the Faceless Ones. She’s already told me of a list of people who are going to help her build the Church back up. Twelve names on it, she said, all powerful sorcerers, most in positions of influence and authority, and unlike you, they won’t need to be blackmailed into helping. From what she’s told me, some of these people sit on certain Councils around the world.”
China kept her smile to herself. “Everything we would need, in other words, to completely dismantle the whole thing.”
“Exactly. Once we have that information, we won’t need Eliza any more. We can either share it with your friends in the Sanctuary, or take care of things ourselves.”
“Travelling the world,” China said, “killing everyone on that list. How romantic.”
“It’s the only way to be sure. These people, what they want… it’s all too dangerous. We have to erase them from the face of the planet, to make sure it never happens.”
“So dramatic.”
“Has it ever been any different when it comes to the Faceless Ones?”
“I suppose not. That’s why I was drawn in at such a young age. Now, Jaron, all that sounds very thrilling, and very wonderful, and I’m sure it would be a thoroughly diverting adventure – but why on earth should I trust you?”
“What would I have to gain by lying?”
“I sincerely don’t know, but Eliza is a cunning lady, and she always has been.”
“You think I’m working for her?”
China smiled. “It is crossing my mind even as we speak.”
“You’re just going to have to believe me.”
“And that, my dear, is where this whole proposal falls flat. I don’t believe anyone, let alone someone who once tried to kill me.”
“I tried to kill you twice.”
“Really?”
“That time in Naples? The fire?”
China laughed. “That was you? That fire scorched my favourite shawl.”
“And it killed eighty-three people.”
“But the shawl was exquisite. Still, I suppose I can’t blame you. I would have done the same.”
“You might not be able to trust me, China, but I know I can trust you. You want Eliza gone, you want the Church of the Faceless gone. I’m your only chance to make that happen.”
She didn’t really have much in the way of other options, so China gave him a smile.
Chapter 21
The Love of a Vampire
alkyrie woke. It was getting dark outside, and as usual, it was cold in Skulduggery’s house. Her clothes, ripped to shreds as they were, didn’t exactly help. She stood and stretched, eased a crick out of her neck and went to the mirror, checking for scars. As much as she hated to admit it, Nye had done an excellent job. She was tired but feeling good, confident that a night in her own bed was all she needed to make a full recovery.
She called for a taxi, went out to meet it and sat in the back. If she had called Fletcher, she’d be home already, but she would have also had to listen to him disapprove of the many injuries she sustained over the course of any given month. She just wasn’t in the mood for him, not this evening.
The taxi dropped he
r in Haggard and she cut through the park. She could almost have predicted who would step out in front of her.
“I failed you,” Caelan said.
“Hi Chuckles,” she responded. She didn’t stop walking.
“I should have been faster,” he said from beside her. “I should have torn that Necromancer’s throat out. But she took you away before I… I will not fail you again.”
“Don’t worry about it. What’re you doing in town?”
“I’m here for you.”
“Did you drive? Get the bus? Do vampires get buses?”
He stepped in front of her. “You make jokes,” he said. “But I see nothing to laugh at. The Death Bringer, Lord Vile, the end of the world… none of that would be as bad as losing you.”
“I’m sorry? No more smooches is worse than the world ending? Seriously? You really want to stand behind that statement? You don’t think it’s a teensy bit melodramatic?”
“Without our love, Valkyrie, there is no world left to save.”
“And that statement actually makes less sense than the one before it. Caelan, you’ve got to cop on to yourself. I’ve read Wuthering Heights, OK? I know the whole gloomy-tortured-romantic figure thing. Everyone knows it. It’s not as romantic as you’d think. Where’s the fun? Where’s the laughter? I couldn’t be with anyone I couldn’t have a bit of craic with. I know you hate him but for God’s sake, at least Fletcher is fun to be around.”
Caelan’s face shifted, becoming cold. “Do you love him more than you love me?”
“I never said the word love. I said the word fun.”
“We have fun.”
“We have a certain kind of fun, yes, but we don’t laugh. When was the last time we laughed together?”
“You laugh with Fletcher?”
“All the time.”
“Then the boy has his uses. When you need to laugh at something, you have him to laugh at. When you need to be fulfilled, you have me.”
“You’re really not getting this.”
He took her hand in his and knelt before her. “Marry me,” he said.
Valkyrie looked at him. He was serious. She had never used the word dude in a serious conversation before. She didn’t think this qualified. “Dude, I’m sixteen.”
“I love you.”
“That doesn’t make me any older. Stand up.”
“Not until you say yes.”
“You’re going to shuffle around on your knees for the rest of your life? Stand up, for God’s sake.” She waited until he did as she asked. “Did you seriously propose to me? Have you not heard anything I’ve been saying these past few months? This is ridiculous. This is beyond ridiculous.”
“Be my wife.”
“Shut the hell up. What did I tell you? What did I tell you about coming on too strong? Do you not think a marriage proposal falls into that category?”
“We are destined for each other.”
“No we’re not. Caelan, I’ve made it quite bloody clear. I’ve been with you because you’re really good-looking and you’re dangerous. That’s attractive to me. That’s a good combination. But they are the only reasons we were together. It’s not love.”
“It’s fate.”
“It’s not fate either, you idiot. Why do you like me?”
“I love you.”
“Then why do you love me? Give me five good reasons why you love me.”
“Because you’re beautiful.”
“You’re absolutely right there, but that’s got nothing to do with me, that’s genetics. Four more, sunshine.”
“You’re intelligent. You are the light in my darkness.”
“Intelligent, that’s reason number two. Light in the darkness? That’s not a reason, that’s a bad song lyric.”
“You’re full of life. I look at you and I’m reminded of the glory of humanity, how they seize life and let it fill them to the brim.”
“I remind you of the glory of humanity. OK, that’s reason number three. Two more.”
Caelan smiled. “There are more reasons why I love you than there are stars in the night sky.”
“In that case you won’t have any problem coming up with two more.”
He hesitated.
“You don’t love me,” she told him. “You think you do. You like the idea of it. But the fact of the matter is that you’re a hundred and something years old and I’m sixteen. I’m a teenager. Do you not see anything wrong with that?”
“If I repulse you…”
“You don’t repulse me, Caelan, because you look like a hot nineteen-year-old. But every time you say something, I’m reminded of the fact that you’re really just an old man. And… OK, I’ve never actually said that out loud before and it’s really kind of disgusting.”
“For people like us, age doesn’t matter.”
“For people like you, the old men, age doesn’t matter. For people like me, the teenage girls, it suddenly becomes very icky.”
“I’m trying to make you understand, Valkyrie, that love transcends the meaningless. If I love you, I won’t let anything stand in my way. If you love me—”
“Which I don’t.”
“—then you won’t let anything stand in your way. Marry me, and we’ll be together for ever.”
“No.”
“You can only hide from your feelings for so long.”
“And you can only hide from reality for so long. I’m not going to marry you, Caelan. Right now, I’m going home.”
“I will accompany you.”
“No, you will not.”
“The Death Bringer might return.”
“You really need to relax. I’ve got my phone worked out so that all I have to do is tap a little button and Fletcher and Skulduggery come teleporting in. She won’t be back, though. She’s had her fun.”
“You don’t need them. I am the only one you need. I am your guardian angel.”
“I’m giving you the night off, OK? Go out. Have fun. Meet a girl. Don’t obsess over her too much. I promise you, you’ll be much more cheerful in the morning.”
“You are the only one for me.”
“I’m walking away now.”
“Say you love me!” he called after her, and she rolled her eyes.
Chapter 22
The Church of the Faceless
corn kept her waiting, but it was a beautiful morning outside so China didn’t mind. It was an obvious little game, designed to teach her who was in charge. A little clumsy, and somewhat disappointing to see that dear old Eliza would resort to it, but it was an inoffensive tactic. According to Gallow, today was the day that he would be revealed to China. She wasn’t sure yet if she believed him, but she definitely didn’t trust him. He had told her to act suitably surprised when he appeared. China hadn’t made any promises.
She became aware of Prave glaring at her from across the church, and arched an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”
“I’m not in love with you,” he snarled.
“How dreadful for me.”
He gripped the sweeping brush like he was strangling it. “You think everyone falls in love with you. Well, you’re wrong. They are weak-minded fools. That’s not me.”
“Obviously.”
“The only love in my heart is for the Faceless Ones, and you will not take that from me.”
“Perish the very thought, Mr…” She paused. “Whatever your name is.”
“Prave,” he blurted.
“Mr Prave, excellent.”
“I have worshipped the Dark Gods since I was a boy. My parents were loyal to them. My father fought alongside Mevolent himself.”
“That’s nice.”
“He wasn’t a traitor. Not like you!”
“And what was your father’s name?”
“Benzel Travestine. He was at Mevolent’s side when they destroyed the Sanctuary in Marseilles.”
“I doubt it. I’ve never heard of your father, and I was in Marseilles when the Sanctuary fell. It was my Diablerie that opened
the doors to allow Mevolent entry. Your father wasn’t there, I’m afraid.”
Prave stared at her. “You’re lying.”
“I could name each and every sorcerer who toppled that Sanctuary. I won’t, because you’re truly not worth the effort, but I could. It seems your father was exaggerating his importance, Mr Prave.”
“My father was a hero!”
“To his weak-minded son, I’m sure he was.”
Prave hurled the sweeping brush away and stormed over, fists clenched. China turned her head to him and sighed. He stopped a hand’s breadth away, face red and snarling, like he was forcing himself not to commit incredible acts of violence.
“You,” China said, “are a very impressive man.”
“Do not mock me!” he screeched.
China smiled. “Walk back over there, pick up the sweeping brush and continue cleaning. Or go for a nice walk and think about all the lies your father told you. I really don’t care what you do, so long as you stop breathing on me. It’s really not as soothing as you might think.”
Prave’s bulging eyes bulged even further, which was a feat in itself. “I should kill you right here.”
“You know,” China said, “there was a time when nobody dared threaten me. I just wouldn’t stand for it. The amount of people I killed, of bodies I twisted and bones I snapped, all because they had allowed their anger to momentarily overwhelm their good sense. I regret it all now, of course. I was out of control. I was indulging the darkness inside me far too often. I was not, Mr Prave, a very nice person. But I have changed. I have allowed the years to mellow me. Now I find joy in simple pleasures. A good book. A fine wine. Good company. All of these things make me smile. They make me happy.
“But every once in a while, I get the urge. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? The urge for destruction. The urge to hurt, maim, kill. It’s quite a thing, to experience that urge, to let it wash over you, to give in to it. It’s addictive. It’s all-consuming. You lose yourself to it. It’s quite, quite wonderful. I can feel it, even as I speak, tapping around the edges of my mind, trying to prise me open, slip its fingers in. And it would be so easy to let it happen. But we’re all like that, aren’t we? We’re all barbarians at our core. We’re all savage, murderous beasts. I know I am. I’m sure you are. The only difference between us, Mr Prave, is how loudly we roar. I know I roar very loudly indeed. How about you? Do you think you can match me?”