Playing With Fire

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.

It swerved and swung around in a cloud of dust and smacked right into the vampire, flinging it back. The passenger door opened.

"In!" Skulduggery yelled.

Valkyrie jumped in and the Jeep shot off.

"Seat belt," Skulduggery said.

Valkyrie reached for it as he turned the wheel, and her head hit the window.

"Ow!"

"Sorry. Wear your seat belt."

The van was right behind them, filling the inside of the Jeep with yellow light.

Skulduggery braked and turned, gunning the engine, and the yellow light withdrew sharply as the van missed the hidden turn. They left the van in their dust and followed a trail through the hills.

Valkyrie grabbed the seat belt and tugged it a few times before she got it to work. She settled into her seat and clicked it in, just as Skulduggery braked.

"Okay," he said. "Out."

He opened his door and got out, hurrying to the Bentley.

Cursing his name, Valkyrie followed.

The silence of the night was eerie. And then the ground ahead of them cracked and crumbled, and Skulduggery pulled out his gun as Billy-Ray Sanguine rose to the surface.

"Well, I do declare," Sanguine said with a smile. "The great Skeleton Detective, in the flesh — figuratively speakin', of course."

Skulduggery regarded him warily. "Mr. Sanguine, I've been hearing so much about you."

"That so?"

"You're quite the little psychopath, aren't you?"

"I try."

"So tell me something: Why wait eighty years before you helped your old boss escape?

Why didn't you just bust him out the day after he was caught?"

Sanguine shrugged. "I suppose I had what y'all might call a crisis of faith, and my faith lost. These past eighty years, goin' it alone, it's been good, but somethin's been missing, y'know?"

"You're under arrest."

"Speakin' of which, and I don't mean to be rude, but I just popped by to pick up the li'l darlin' there. I'll be out of your hair in a moment — again, figuratively speakin'."

And then he passed down into the ground with a smile on his face.

"Oh hell," Valkyrie said, and Skulduggery reached for her but it was too late. The ground exploded and Sanguine grabbed her and Valkyrie didn't even have time to cry out before he took her down into the ground with him.