Night of Destruction (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Bloody Death

The Skeleton Detective and partner walked side by side until they reached the flat of China Sorrows.

Valkyrie Cain was frowning, "China has never called for help like this, has she?"

They were rapidly approaching and Skulduggery had his facade on. He cocked his hat forwards and admitted, "no." They walked through the door and made their way towards the library. "This, person." Valkyrie continued, "tried to.. kill China?"

"no."

Valkyrie looked up in surprise but instantly recoiled at the sight of her friend. Her normally beautiful figure was pale and unsteady, her face was devoid of its complementary color and instead was dry and sad like an abandoned oil painting. She was walking, but stiffly so. "Hello, China..." The tall girl trailed off as she tried to formulate an appropriate sentence.

"Please, my dear," Said the raven-haired beauty, "Don't worry yourself too much, I will be back to normal soon enough." China turned away from Valkyrie and to the skeleton detective who was silently observing, "Thank you for coming." She said and he cocked his head, "Of course." He said casually, "how are you feeling?"

China sighed and leaned herself on the table, slowly allowing herself to drop into the seat, "I've seen better days but I'll be fine," She explained, "I'm lucky she wasn't here to kill me."

Valkyrie frowned, "She?" China nodded, "Yes."

Skulduggery smoothly seated himself opposite China, "What kind of magic?" He asked curiously. China swallowed uncomfortably, "adept." "What discipline?" Valkyrie watched China intently, confused by her discomfort. "Azazel's magic." 

As usual, the skeleton detective's face was without emotion but having known him for a while, Valkyrie had come to learn his certain stances and the way he held his head. From what she could read, he was uncomfortable. "What's Azazel's magic?" She asked, interrupting the two.

Skulduggery turned to her, "An adept discipline," He answered curtly, "It stemmed from necromancy a long time ago and went extinct a couple of hundred years back,"

"At least we thought so."

Valkyrie directed her attention to China who was still worriedly clutching the fabric of her elegant scarf. 

"This... girl. She has it in her. Worse yet, she's trained, she knows what she's doing."

Skulduggery cocked his head further, "What book did she take?" China's blue eyes snapped open wide, "Oh," she said daintily, "I haven't had the chance to check yet." Skulduggery nodded, "Have a look then get back to us, Valkyrie, come on." He gestured his bony finger towards the dark-haired girl and she scrambled after him, trying to match his long, quick strides.

China was left looking after them.

"Where are we going?" asked Valkyrie eagerly as she followed her partner out of the library, then the flat.

"The sanctuary."

"Why?"

"To talk to our good friend, the Grand Mage and Ghastly, our beloved elder. Perhaps they might for once be useful enough to help us in this endeavor." Skulduggery moved quickly, faster than usual so Valkyrie was struggling a little to match his pace.

"Is she a real threat?" Asked Valkyrie and Skulduggery slowed a little, sighing, "If China is telling the truth, I'm afraid this girl may be the most dangerous we've faced yet." Valkyrie frowned, "More dangerous than Serpine?" Skulduggery tilted his hat to a downward slope, "Serpine is an adept, a very powerful one. But even he never reached the full potential of his power, it isn't supposed to be possible. That's why being adept is a complicated branch if you never know if you can reach a powerful enough level of power."