VALDUGGERY - catch me when I fall

Heya! This is my first try at a VALDUGGERY but I've been meaning to for a long time now. This book picks up where Death Bringer left off but I'm afraid to say that I have left out how mad Skulduggery was at China...in this book the skeleton detectives fury has passed over..... None of the characters belong to me. I am basing their actions and the plot on what I have read in the books by Derek Landy.

COMMENT AND FAN!!!

CHAPTER ONE

Catch me when I fall.

Valkarie ran. She hadn't ran this hard in weeks and inwardly she cursed herself for not training harder in her last lesson. The wall of a near council flat loomed dangerously into view, cursing the bad visibility she held both hands out as she ran and felt for the connections in the air.

The once still space I front of her shimmered and she grunted slightly as she pushed herself off the wall at an able. She stumbled lightly as she landed but kept the speed she had been running at.

Tiredness was threatening to shatter her determined resolve so she tried hard to focus on who was chasing her. And gaining. No, not who. Once they had shed their skin, vampires were a creature.

The ring on Valkarie's finger was cold as ice and and she used it to drink in the shadows in the back street they were now running down. She focused the shadows into a sharp point and aimed them best she could at the vampire. She was rewarded with a grunt of pain and a thud as her pursuer hit the ground hard, then he rolled. Valkarie cursed as she caught sight of it roll out and up, its jawed mouth wide and furiously hungry.

They took a sharp right and were momentarily plunged into darkness when it hit her. Valkarie fell and lay face down on the cold cracked concrete. She dived to the left and turned into a quick roll as it lunged, open mouthed. it's sharp fangs hit the ground instead as Valkarie lept up. She could see the cracks that they formed in the rock. She tensed her muscles as It jumped up and bounded towards her, an easy kill. But it was taken by surprise with a power slap that skulduggery had taught her, just as powerful as a punch but without the broken knuckles. She turned and tried to flip it over her hip but a fist of granite crunched into her ribs and she couldn't help herself crying out in pain.

It lunged but Valkarie thrust her knee sharply into it's gut and it backed off. She guessed one maybe two ribs were broken. The same fist flipped her ver but as she fell Valkarie pushed at the air and it went flying. She ran.

"Damn it Skulduggery..." she muttered as a dead end faced her and the vampire padded lazily round the corner.

As if in answer a black shape dropped soundlessly in-between girl, and vampire. Twin faces enveloped the vampire and it let out an inhuman shriek of fury. Valkarie curled The darkness around her fist and pushed the vampire off its feet. It didn't get up.

Skulduggery pleasant turned to her and she automatically looked down at the ground. She had no idea why this was now an impulse, but it happened ever time he turned to look at her. Glaring Valkarie raised her head to look him right in the eye sockets. The skeleton detective stood there for a second, and although he had no eyes to look with Valkarie could swear they were boring into her.

It took all of her strength to keep that gaze as he strode over. One hand was in his pocket, the other motioned and the limp form of the vampire floated along beside him, looking bizarrely like a limp puppet.

The skeleton detective wore a striking pinstripe suit with a 1920's detective style hat placed jauntily on top of his gleaming skull. He tilted his head to one side as she walked over and with a jolt she realised she was blushing. Her! Valkarie Cain was blushing! Inwardly she cursed him though it wasn't really his fault. It was her fault for how she felt about him. Feelings that would never go away.