Playing With Fire

  "I have to go," she said, motioning over his left shoulder. He turned to look, and she moved off to his right.

  She checked the time on her phone and found herself hoping that she'd get attacked by a pack of vampires sooner rather than later. This was a cruel and unusual ordeal she was going through, and if this turned out to be her last night alive, well then, that just wasn't fair. She nodded to people she vaguely recognized, but walked right by before they had a chance to tell her how small she once was.

  And then the Toxic Twins were blocking her way. Crystal's bottle-blond hair was so straight it looked like it'd been ironed, and Carol's hair was hanging in ringlets that looked like a pack of worms trying to squirm to freedom.

  "Thought you'd be here," Crystal said with much disgust.

  "The family part of family reunion gave it away, huh?"

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  "Glad to see you didn't spend too long getting dressed up," Carol said, and they both sniggered.

  "Why are you even here?" Crystal asked. "It's not like we have any other rich uncles for you to suck up to before they kick the bucket."

  "Oh good, it's nice to know that you're finally over that."

  The twins stepped in close and tried their best to loom over her. Not an easy task when they were both two inches shorter.

  "You cheated us out of our rightful inheritance," Carol said, her lips curling unattractively. "That house Gordon left you should have been ours. Your parents had already been left the villa in France-- we should have got the house."

  "That would have been fair," Crystal snarled. "But he left it to you. You got everything. Do you expect us to just forget that?"

  "Look at you," Carol said, flicking Valkyrie's shoulder with a finger. "You're a child, for God's sake. What do you need a house for? We're sixteen; do you know what we could do if we had that house? The parties we would have? Do you know how cool we'd be?"

  "Do you even know how much that place is

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  worth? We'd sell it and we'd be rich!"

  "But we didn't get it, did we? You got it, because you sucked up and you pretended to be the perfect little niece, and now you think you're so great."

  "You're not great, you stupid little kid. You don't know anything, no one likes you, and look at you, you're not even that pretty!"

  Valkyrie looked at them both. "You know," she said, "I'm trying to remember if there was ever a time when the rotten things you said affected me. I'm trying to remember if your amateur bullying ever actually worked, and you know what? I don't think it did."

  Carol tried to laugh scornfully.

  "Do you know why? Because I really, and truly, do not care. I don't have any feelings toward you at all, good or bad. To me, you're simply ... not there. You know?"

  They glared at her, and Valkyrie smiled graciously. "Have a great night, okay?"

  And she left them there.

  She moved through the crowd as best she could, squeezing between tables and avoiding throngs wherever possible. She saw her mother

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  and managed to get to her without someone trying to hug her.

  "Steph," her mother said, smiling brightly. "You're here! Finally! How was last night?"

  "It was good," Valkyrie lied. "Me and Hannah, you know, just stayed up chatting. Gossiping about, like, boys, and stuff." She faltered, suddenly realizing she had no idea what girls her own age talked about.

  "And you wore the dress," her mother said. "It looks lovely."

  "Lovely won't do me much good if there's a riot."

  Her mother looked at her. "You are so odd sometimes. So when did you get here?"

  "A few minutes ago. Where's Dad?"

  "Oh, he's around here somewhere. You know what Edgleys are like. Any excuse to talk about themselves and they grab it with both hands. Having fun?"

  Valkyrie shrugged. "Ah, it's okay. Don't know many people. What about you? Are you having a good time?"

  Her mother laughed and leaned in close. "Get me out of here," she said with a brilliant smile.

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  Valkyrie blinked. "I'm sorry?"

  Her mother nodded like she was agreeing enthusiastically. "I can't stay here one minute longer. I'm going to explode."

  "You want to leave?"

  Her mother waved to someone and looked at Valkyrie and kept the brilliant smile. "More than anything in the world. You see that lady over there?"

  "The one with the strange-shaped head?"

  "She'll talk about her dogs. All night. She has three. They're all small. What is it with small dogs? What's wrong with big dogs? I like big dogs."

  "Are we getting a dog?"

  "What? No. My point is, we should make up an excuse and leave early."

  With Dusk and his Infected minions out there? Not bloody likely.

  "We're here for Dad," Valkyrie said. "We've got to stay here and support him. He'd stay for your family reunion."

  "I suppose. ..."

  "It's only one night, Mum. After tonight you'll never have to see them again."

  "I thought you'd be the first one bolting for the door."

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  Valkyrie shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes I think I don't spend enough time with you guys."

  Her mother looked at her and her tone softened. "You're just growing up. I mean, yes, it would be fantastic if we could spend time together like we used to, but you need your space and your privacy. I understand that, love. Really."

  "Do you miss the way it used to be?"

  "I'd be lying if I said no. But I'll take what I can get. You spend a lot of time in your room and that's, you know, that's fine. You're distant sometimes, but that's fine too."

  Valkyrie couldn't meet her eyes. "I don't mean to be distant," she said.

  Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know you don't. And you're not always distant. At times like these, it's like nothing has changed. You're the same old Steph."

  "But other times . . . I'm not, right?"

  "Maybe, but I still love you no matter what. And your dad and me, we're just thankful that you're keeping safe. Other kids your age, they're out there, getting into trouble, getting hurt, doing God knows what. At least we know where you are."

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  "In my room," Valkyrie said, trying a smile.

  She thought of the reflection, sitting on the couch while her dad told a bad joke, or standing in the kitchen while her mother told it about her day. It made her feel rotten inside, all twisty, so she stopped.

  After all, she had other things to be worrying about tonight.

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  Chapter Thirty-two

  SHADOW SHARDS

  C hina walkedquickly through the underground parking lot, her bodyguards on either side. It was quiet here, and vast, and their footsteps echoed loudly.

  One of her bodyguards, a man named Sev, stopped suddenly and looked back the way they had come. His eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong."

  His associate, a petite woman called Zephyr, took a gun from beneath her jacket.

  "Miss Sorrows," she said softly, "please get behind me."

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  China did as she asked. The bodyguards were training their guns on a seemingly empty part of the parking lot. As far as China could see, there was absolutely nothing there that could pose any threat-- but that was why she had hired them. They were good. They were the best.

  Baron Vengeous stepped into the light. The armor looked to be part of him. Small trails of shadows danced at the seams, like they were still getting used to their new host. Vengeous wasn't wearing the helmet, and his smile was cold. His cutlass hung from his waist.

  Sev and Zephyr moved as one. The years they had spent fighting alongside each other had honed their skills, and when they were together, there was no one who could stand in their way.

  Until tonight.

  Zephyr went to fire, but a shadow rose up. It struck her in the chest and she flew backward, the breath rushing out of her.

  S
ev got a shot off, and then the darkness sliced through him and he stiffened, and fell. He was dead before he hit the hard ground.

  Vengeous looked at China. "I said I'd be back for you. But tell me, before I have to hurt you, have

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  you reconsidered your position?"

  China's shoulders straightened and her voice became light, and she was suddenly as self-assured as always.

  "You mean, have I decided to come back into the fold?" she said. "I'm afraid not. My reasons are both complex and varied, but can actually be reduced to something quite simple. I realized that you were all insane and highly irritating. You, in particular, annoyed me."

  "You are a brave woman to be taunting me."

  "I'm not taunting you, sweetie. I'm just really bored of this conversation."

  The shadows moved at Vengeous's command, and China twisted out of the way, the shadows skimming past and slashing into the car behind her.

  Her laugh was birdsong. "If you want my advice, give it up. Lay down that ridiculous armor, put that Grotesquery thing out of its misery, and walk back into that nice little cell they're keeping for you."

  "I'm disappointed in you, China. The Faceless Ones are about to return, and you could have been by their side."

  Zephyr held out her hand, and her gun flew

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  into her grip and she fired, aiming for the head. The shadows became a cloud that covered Vengeous's face, soaking up the bullets and spitting them out again. When the gun clicked empty, the shadows settled.

  "Please," Vengeous said, "tell me you have something more to offer."

  Zephyr jumped up and clicked her fingers and threw a fireball across the space between them, but a wave of darkness reared up and swallowed it. Vengeous gestured, and the wave smacked into her and she stumbled. She tried to push at the air, but a shadow closed around her wrist and yanked her off her feet. She slammed into a nearby car and the shadow flicked her, and she hit the pillar and crumpled to the ground.

  Vengeous turned back to China, as if Zephyr had been nothing more than a pesky fly he'd had to swat. "Do you remember the stories we heard as children, about what the dark gods did to traitors? All of those stories will come true for you, betrayer. You will be my gift to them. You will have the honor of being the first life they consume."

  China slipped off her jacket and let it fall. She breathed out, and markings of the deepest black

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  started carving through her skin. They spread over her bare arms, across her shoulders and neck, ran down her chest, and trailed beneath her clothes. They carved into her face, twisting and settling into symbols, and she looked at Vengeous with those blue eyes, with those magnificent tattoos etched all over her body, and she smiled.

  Baron Vengeous smiled back.

  China crossed her arms and tapped the matching symbols on her triceps. They glowed as she flung her arms out, and a blue pulse shot at Vengeous, who deflected it with a shield of shadow. The shield turned sharp and moved like a shark fin along the ground, and China intertwined her fingers and thrust out both palms. The symbols on her palms mingled and became a beam of dazzling light that burst through the fin, scattering bits of shadow.

  Vengeous reached out with the darkness at his fingertips, wrapped it around a car. He stepped back and thrust his arms out, and the car lifted into the air. China threw herself to one side. The car missed her by inches.

  She moved forward, using the symbols on her body to hurl one attack after another, but Vengeous

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  batted them all aside. Not once but twice did he send a sneaky tendril of shadow to sweep her feet from under her, and each time she fell, he laughed.

  When he was close enough, Vengeous sent a slab of solid darkness smashing into her jaw.

  Vengeous grinned. He used the shadows to hit her again, and again she stumbled. The armor shifted, changed according to Vengeous's needs and intentions.

  China's hair was a mess. Her makeup was smeared with blood and grime, and her clothes were torn and dirty. Vengeous grabbed her and threw her, face-first, into a pillar. She hit it and spun, dropping to the ground painfully.

  Vengeous walked over, hunkered down, prodded China with a finger. Her eyes flickered open, in time to see Zephyr rise up behind the Baron. The way she was holding her side, China knew the bodyguard's ribs were broken. But still she didn't give up. China allowed herself to admire her determination, as foolhardy as it was.

  Zephyr charged at Vengeous, but the shadows turned sharp, and even as she was leaping, they pierced her body from all sides.

  She came to a sudden stop, suspended in the air

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  by these shards of darkness that emanated from Vengeous's armor. China watched her try to take a breath, but her lungs were punctured, sliced through. Zephyr gagged on her own blood.

  "No challenge," the Baron said. "No challenge at all."

  The darkness convulsed, and Zephyr's body tore apart.

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  Chapter Thirty-three

  THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

  UP ON THE DANCE floor, a portly man was throwing his wife around with gay abandon, twirling and twisting and having a ball, while his wife spent her time looking terrified. When she finally broke free, she slapped his arm and went to storm off, but dizziness overtook her and she wobbled sideways and collided with another dancer, and it was like a glorious domino effect in slow motion, with extra squealing.

  Something for Valkyrie to grin at, at least.

  The band announced, in a loud muffle that was completely distorted by the feedback on the

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  microphone, that they were going to slow things down now. The band consisted of two gents in black slacks and blue sparkly jackets. One of them played saxophone and he wasn't much good, and the other wore sunglasses and sang and played keyboard and he didn't do any of that particularly well. That is to say, he didn't sing or play the keyboard particularly well-- he wore sunglasses as competently as anyone who chose to wear sunglasses at night. None of this seemed to matter to a roomful of drunken people who would dance to anything as long as they thought they recognized the tune.

  There was a doorway leading to another room, presumably where all the tables and chairs were stored between functions. It was dark in here, and Valkyrie didn't turn on the light.

  She put her coat on the remaining table and took a long box from its pocket. She laid the box next to the coat and opened it. She had asked Skulduggery to stop by Gordon's house on the way back. She'd told him there was something she had to pick up, and he hadn't inquired as to what that might have been. She was glad he hadn't asked. The

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  Echo Stone glowed, and Echo-Gordon faded up.

  "Are we here?" he whispered excitedly.

  "Be careful now," Valkyrie warned. "If anyone sees you-- "

  "I know, I know," Echo-Gordon said, inching toward the door. He peeked out. "Look at them all. It's been years since I've seen these people. I don't even know half of them."

  She stood beside him. He pointed.

  "There's your mum. My, she looks beautiful. Will you tell her that?"

  "Sure."

  "And there's Fergus. And there's your dad. Oh, and Beryl. What's she doing? Her face looks strained. Is she having a stroke?"

  "I think she's smiling."

  He shook his head sadly. "Not a good look for her. And good God, where is that music coming from?" He moved slightly so he could see the stage, and the two morons in blue. "Well, that's just . . . terrible. And there are actually people dancing? Horrific. I wouldn't be caught dead up there."

  He paused, thought about what he'd said, and grinned.

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  Valkyrie moved to the window and glanced out, but it was too dark to see anything.

  "Scared?" Echo-Gordon asked, his tone a little softer now.

  She shrugged. "I don't like being bait for a vampire."

  "There's a shocking piece of news," he said, smil
ing. "If you were to change your mind, Skulduggery would understand, you know. There's no shame in fear."

  She nodded but didn't answer.

  "I know him," Echo-Gordon continued. "He doesn't want to see you hurt, and I certainly don't want to see you hurt. Stephanie, or Valkyrie, or whatever name you go by, you are still my favorite niece, and I am still your wise uncle."

  She smiled. "You're wise?"

  He pretended to be insulted. "So says the girl who's acting as vampire bait."

  "Point taken."

  She saw movement outside the door, someone coming in. She pointed and Echo-Gordon panicked, looked around for somewhere to hide, and darted behind the door.

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  Carol and Crystal barged in, knocking the door open wider. It swung all the way until it was flat against the wall, having passed through Echo-Gordon completely. He now stood there in plain view, with his eyes closed.

  If Carol and Crystal were to look around, they'd see their dead uncle standing right behind them.

  "Oh," Carol said, looking at Valkyrie. "It's you."

  "Yes," Valkyrie said stiffly. "It is."

  "Here with all your friends, are you?" Crystal said, and the twins laughed.

  Behind them, Echo-Gordon opened one eye, realized he wasn't hiding behind the door anymore, and started to panic again.

  "I'm just getting a break from everyone," Valkyrie said. "What brings you two in here?"

  Echo-Gordon got on his hands and knees, and crawled under the table, passing through the long tablecloth without disturbing it.

  Carol regarded Valkyrie with half-closed eyelids, in what was presumably meant to indicate scorn. "We're looking for somewhere to light up," she said, producing a cigarette from her frightfully gaudy purse.