Skulduggery hesitated. 'No,' he admitted, and put the gun away.
Vengeous took a moment to look around. 'The girl,' he said. 'Cain. Where is she?'
'She had to stay home, unfortunately. It's a school night, so . . .'
'Pity. I would have liked her to see me kill you.' Vengeous laid his cutlass on the ground.
'And I won't be needing a sword to kill you.'
He strode toward Skulduggery, who raised his hand.
'Um, since you're not going to be using it, can I?'
Vengeous almost laughed.
He punched, and Skulduggery darted low and to the side, but Vengeous was expecting the maneuver, and he brought his clenched fist down on Skulduggery's shoulder blade.
Skulduggery tried to move in for a throw, but Vengeous shifted his weight slightly and stuck out his foot, and Skulduggery went tumbling. His leg hit the crate, and he fell onto the Grotesquery.
Vengeous roared and reached in, grabbing Skulduggery and hauling him out. He sent out a right hook that cracked against Skulduggery's jaw. He followed it with a left cross, but Skulduggery managed to raise his arm in defense. The block turned to a strike to the throat, as sudden and savage as a snake. Vengeous coughed and fell back, and Skulduggery kicked the inside of his leg.
Vengeous kept his guard close, protecting his head, but dropped it low when Skulduggery kicked for his ribs. The kick was a feint and turned to a step, and Skulduggery swung a punch, but Vengeous caught it, his left hand closing around Skulduggery's right wrist. Vengeous surged upward and in, his right elbow hitting Skulduggery's right shoulder like a bullet.
Vengeous torqued his body and took Skulduggery off his feet and threw him to the ground, landing heavily on top of him.
Skulduggery's left hand came up to Vengeous's face, the fingers flexing, and Vengeous swatted the hand away before Skulduggery could push at the air. Vengeous punched, again and again, and grinned down at him.
'I'd hate to be you,' Vengeous said. 'A skeleton who feels pain. None of the advantages of a flesh-and-blood body, and all of its weaknesses. Whoever brought you back should have left you where you lay.'
Skulduggery groaned.
Some of the Infected were back on their feet, and they looked at Skulduggery as he lay there. Vengeous stood and brushed the dust from his clothes. He picked up his cutlass.
'I'm going to cut you,' Vengeous said, 'into little, tiny pieces. I'm going to take a small part of your skull and turn it into some dice. Maybe I'll use the rest of you as keys on a piano. I wonder, skeleton, would you still be alive? Would you be conscious, if you were dice, or keys on a piano?'
'Always wanted a life in music,' Skulduggery mumbled.
Valkyrie couldn't watch any more. She got to her feet. 'Hey!'
Vengeous looked up to the collapsed roof and saw her.
'Heard you've been looking for me,' she called out.
'Miss Cain,' Vengeous said with a smile. 'So you are here.'
'That girl,' Skulduggery muttered, 'never does what she's bloody told.'
'You want me, Baron?' Valkyrie shouted. 'Come and get me!'
And then she stepped back, and Vengeous started running up after her, and she went to the battlement and flung herself over.
Chapter Nineteen
ON THE RUN
T his is so stupid , Valkyrie thought to herself as she ran.
Her foot hit a rock and she almost fell. She didn't know where she was going or what she would do. She had no plan at all, whatsoever.
She ignored the trail and ran deeper into blackness. She could hear her pursuers now, the commands being shouted to the Infected.
She could hear the van, and when she looked over her shoulder, she glimpsed its headlights, bobbing like crazy over the uneven ground.
Then the world left her and she was falling.
She hit the side of the hill and started to roll. The ground leveled off and she hit a patch of briars that tried to get in at her through her clothes. The headlights came around the bend and she flattened herself, the briars tearing at her hands and hair. She dragged herself through as the headlights hurtled toward her.
Missing her by a handbreadth, the van roared by.
Valkyrie stayed a moment to catch her breath, then ripped the briars away and got up.
There were shouts from all directions. The Infected almost had her surrounded, and the only reason she was still free was because they hadn't realized it yet.
She set off, limping slightly. There was a road ahead. If she could get to the pitch blackness on the other side, she might have a chance at escape.
But now there was another set of headlights. The black Jeep. She had to get across the road before she was cut off.
And then there was somebody standing in her way.
Dusk grabbed her and she tried to hit him, but he threw her down. 'Finally,' he said, as though he was bored of a game. He was about to continue speaking, but she saw his face twitch, and his hand went to his belly. His fingers dipped into his coat, brought out a syringe.
This was her chance, and she couldn't afford to mess it up.
Forcing the fear and the panic from her mind, Valkyrie splayed her fingers. The air shimmered and the syringe flew from his grasp, vanishing into the darkness.
He cursed, tried to run after it, but lost his balance and stumbled.
Valkyrie was up, already moving fast in the other direction.
'That was a mistake,' she heard him mutter. 'That serum was the only thing keeping me under control. ...'
She glanced back as Dusk took hold of his human form and tore it off, like a snake shucking its skin. The vampire beneath the flesh and clothes, the creature within the man, was bald and alabaster white, and its eyes were black and its fangs were jagged, and she knew Dusk hadn't been lying. That had been a mistake.
Valkyrie sprinted, and the vampire bounded after her.
The Infected were all around her, and the black Jeep had picked her out with its headlights.
Baron Vengeous could plainly see her, but she didn't care. Vengeous would keep her alive until he decided it was time to kill her. The vampire, on the other hand, would rip her to pieces right there and then.
It was bounding after her and gaining fast. One more leap and it would be on top of her.
She couldn't afford to try anything, couldn't afford to try her powers. Adrenaline was pumping through her system. Her powers probably wouldn't even work.
She took Billy-Ray Sanguine's straight razor from her pocket, unfolding it as she ran. Over the sound of the oncoming Jeep, she heard Vengeous trying to call off the vampire, but she knew the beast wouldn't listen. A vampire, after it's shucked its skin, has no master.
Skulduggery had called them the most efficient killers in the world. The only thing a vampire cared about was blood.
The bounding stopped and she felt it in the air, felt it descending, and she turned and lashed out. The razor opened up the vampire's face as she fell backward. The vampire that had once been Dusk roared in pain, hit the ground, and came at her again before she even had time to roll to her feet.
The Jeep was still approaching, and it wasn't slowing down.
