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Just a few assassins
It was one of those days. You know the days where you just don't feel like doing any work, you want to lay on your bed and stay there for the rest of the day. Valkyrie wanted to that, but of course she couldn't. She got a text from Skulduggery saying that China had a new case for them. Great! Like they didn't have enough already.
Skulduggery came to pick her up an hour later. He had his facade on - a blonde man with brown eyes. She got into the Bentley and asked what the case was. "There was a murder. China says that it was interesting and wanted us to try and find the killer.". "Who's the victim?", Valkyrie asked. "Some mortals, we don't know much yet." he answered. They travelled in silence, Valkyrie almost fell asleep a couple of times, before they even arrived at Roarhaven.
When they finally reached their destinaton, they both stepped out of the car and went straight to find China. She was sitting on her throne, wearing an amazing purple dress, that not a lot of people could put on without looking like idiots. China was able to do it, tho. Right next to here was a girl, Valkyrie wouldn't give her more than 15 years. She had bright red hair, blue eyes and freckles. She looked almost unreal, just like a doll. China started talking: “Some of my people found three dead bodies in a dark alley in Roarhaven. They were killed by a sorcerer, but when we ran some tests it turned out that they were mortals. The killer has a specific way of killing as you can see.”, she handed Skulduggery a photo of the crime scene – there was blood all over the place and on the wall it was written “SAVAGE “Interesting…”, Valkyrie said. “We don’t know how the three mortals came here, but I’m starting to suspect that there is a mole in the Sanctuary, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll know for sure soon.”, China continued talking but Valkyrie wasn’t listening anymore. That girl next to China was weird, well weird even in the sorcerer’s world. At some point she felt Valkyrie’s gaze on her and she looked at her eyes. They both smiled at each other.
By the time Valkyrie had stopped thinking about the weirdo in front of her, China had stopped talking. “Arbiters,”, she finally said ”it’s a pleasure for me to introduce you to the pretty girl right next to me. She is going to help you with your investigation. Valkyrie, Skulduggery, this is Leah Light from the Bulgarian Sanctuary.”. “It’s nice to meet you!”, Leah said. “I’ve always dreamt to work here. In Bulgaria we had a similar case this morning.” she took out a photo of a crime scene. This time the killer wrote “MURDER”.
“I’m already late for a meeting”, China interrupted, ”I’ll have to leave you. Have a nice day, Arbiters, Ms Light.”, and she left.
The three partners walked to the Bentley in silence. Valkyrie could tell that Skulduggery was trying to understand the same thing she was – what was so peculiar in that girl. Leah was quiet, too. She obviously didn’t want to be the first one to talk. At one point Valkyrie couldn’t hold her questions anymore, she stopped and turned around to face Leah, who almost landed in Skulduggery. “So, Leah, can you tell me a bit about yourself? I like knowing the people I work with.”, Valkyrie said. “Oh, um, of course. I was born in a mortal family, but for as long as I can remember I saw the magic all around me. I just couldn’t stop, every sigil, every hidden door, I knew it was there. One day I decided I wanted some answers and followed the signs, eventually I found the Sanctuary and got a job as a detective there.”. “And what kind of magic did you specialize in?”, Skulduggery asked, while getting into the car. “I still haven’t made my decision. I can do a bit of some things, but can’t put my mind on just one.”. “I understand.”. Valkyrie opened her mouth and was just about to ask another question, when Skulduggery’s phone rang. “It’s China”, he said slightly confused. He picked up and started talking “You’re on speaker. Did you forget something?”. “Not really, but apparently our murder has.”, she replied “There is a new crime scene in Madrid, Spain. I sent you the address. Good luck.”, China said and hung up. “He’s fast. Either he’s not alone or he has a teleporter with him. Since most of the teleporters are in Corival academy, he’s probably in a gang.”, Skulduggery concluded. “I agree with that… and the Supreme Mage sent me the photo of the new crime scene.”, Leah said. She handed Valkyrie her phone. This time the killer wrote: ”RAGE”. “Do you think those words mean anything?”, Valkyrie and Leah asked at the same time. “I’m not sure”, Skulduggery replied. “We’ll need to look through all of the crime scenes”, he continued. “We’ll probably need a teleporter…”. “No worries”, Leah interrupted “I can teleport you.”. “Wait, is that what you meant when you said ‘a bit of some things’?”, Valkyrie asked. “Not really, I mean it’s hard to explain, you’ll see if we eventually have to fight.”. Valkyrie was just about to say something else, but Skulduggery announced that they had arrived.
The three of them stepped out of the car and looked at the scene. Needless to say, it looked terrifying. Valkyrie expected Leah to look at least a little disgusted, but she seemed fine. They looked for clues for about half an hour but couldn’t find anything so they decided to move on to the next crime scene. They held Leah’s hands and teleported in Sofia – the capital of Bulgaria.
“Home, sweet, home, I guess”, Leah said with a lack of enthusiasm. “You don’t like it here?”, Valkyrie asked, while looking at the word “MURDER”, “It brings bad memories, I usually travel a lot and leave my reflection here. I prefer different work places, I get bored easily”, Leah replied. “I guess I can say that I’ve been through the same once… So what would you say about…”. “Stop!”, Leah said sharply “Do you see that?”, she said pointing at a brick. “That’s a beautiful brick”, Skulduggery said. “I guess… But look at the color.”. “It’s redder than all the other ones”, Skulduggery announced and touched one of the other bricks, as soon as his gloved finger touched it, he moved his hand – there was dust on it. “That one”, he said pointing at the brick next to Leah “it was moved”. “Exactly!”, she said. Valkyrie felt a little stupid for not understanding from the beginning but she was already used to that. Leah moved the brick away and right there was a letter, she opened it and read out loud.
“Hello. I suppose that you three – the skeleton detective, the one who almost destroyed the world and the new born star are going to search for me. Exactly what I want. Detectives, I’ll test your logic. By now you probably have a lot of questions – ‘Is he in a gang?’, ‘How does he get to the places so fast?’, ‘Where is he going to hit next?’ I will tell you one thing – you are lucky to have the new girl on your side because this murder can’t be solved with only punching and kicking people. You need to think logically and eventually you might find me.”
“I can only say that I’m offended by the fact he thinks I’m not intelligent”, Skulduggery said “I mean, I can understand why someone would think Valkyrie is only counting on her muscles but I am…” “Hey!”, Valkyrie said. “It’s already getting dark, we should probably continue later”, Leah interrupted. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”, she said and disappeared. “What a strange girl”, Skulduggery said.
Valkyrie was sleeping when she suddenly she woke up because of her phone - it was Skulduggery. “China found something interesting, I’ll come and pick you up in ten minutes.”, he hung up. “What the heck…”, Valkyrie thought.
When they arrived at the Sanctuary’s library, China and Leah were looking through some books. “What is so important?”, Valkyrie asked. “Well,”, China started “we were trying to find something about the murder but instead we found out something about Leah’s magic. Why don’t you show them, Leah?”. The girl stood in front of the Arbiters. “Water”, China said, the water in the cup on the table started levitating, “Fire”, a fireball appeared in Leah’s hand and then: “Air, Earth, teleportation, necromancy, sigils…”, Leah could do all of that in the blink of an eye. “She can do more, but I think you got my point”, China said. Skulduggery and Valkyrie were speechless, so China continued talking “I started thinking that this isn’t normal, so we made a little research…” “Is she one of those?”, Skulduggery interrupted. “Yes”, China said with excitement in her eyes. “One of which?”, Valkyrie asked. “Every one thousand years a special sorcerer is born”, Skulduggery explained “This sorcerer can do every single magic type that they want, their power is unlimited. The reason you probably haven’t heard of them is because they are usually going crazy from a very young age and end up in places like Greymire Asylum for the rest of their lives.”. “But I’m still sane”, Leah said. “Yes. And this is very rare and you could be in a great favor of the High Sanctuary.”, China concluded, “Would you like to work here, Leah Light?”. “Yes!”, Leah said excited. The two of them continued talking, but Valkyrie didn’t hear what they said next because Skulduggery pulled her away from there. “You should get some sleep”, he said and drove her home.
The next morning Valkyrie woke up and looked through her phone. There were some new messages by an unknown number:
“Hey, it’s Leah”
“After Spain, a murder happened in Rome, Italy, then in Paris, France.”
“Skulduggery and I looked at the crime scenes but couldn’t find anything. We are waiting for you in the Sanctuary.”
“P.S. Sorry for not getting you with us, but Skulduggery said that you needed rest.”
Valkyrie arrived at the Sanctuary, there she saw Leah, who obviously hadn’t slept in a while, and Skulduggery. They were in the library. On one big table, Valkyrie saw a half eaten breakfast, a lot of paper with different notes and a big white board with a map on it. It was Europe and there were strings and pins all over it, just like in a criminal show. “Hey”, Valkyrie said. “Hey”, Leah answered “We have nothing except that letter.”, she didn’t sound that calm anymore. “I just don’t understand.”. “Is it that bad?”, Valkyrie asked. “Yes”, Skulduggery replied “The victims are not connected, we don’t know how many people are behind this and we have no new clues, we’re stuck”. Valkyrie opened her mouth “We’ll find something…”. Right then and there a young boy walked in and said “I’m sorry. The Supreme Mage sent me here to tell you that one more murder was committed. In Riga, Latvia.”. “What?!?”, Leah said and her whole hair went on fire, like she was Hades! “She does that sometimes, when she’s very angry”, Skulduggery explained. Leah quickly calmed down and started writing something on a piece of paper. “What do you think is going to happen next, I mean will these people continue killing mortals?”, Valkyrie asked. “I don’t know”, Skulduggery replied. He was just about to say something else when Leah said “Oh my god! Look!”. They all went to see what she was doing. “So, I wrote every city where a murder happened and under it the word written next to the bodies. Look what happened.”
Roarhaven
Savage
Sofia
Murder
Madrid
Rage
Rome
Punishment
Paris
Rampage
Riga
Rapid
“So?” Valkyrie asked. “Don’t you see it?”, Leah asked “The first letter of the word is the capital they’ll hit next!”, she explained. “You’re right!”, Skulduggery said. “So that means the only capital with R left is …”. “Reykjavik!”, the three of them said at the same time. “I think we’ll make a little trip to Iceland”, Valkyrie said with a smirk on her face.
It was cold in Iceland. No joke. “So, how are we going to find the assassins?”, Valkyrie asked, shivering. “I have this thing, called The compass of the dead.”, Leah explained, pulling a weird gadget from her bag “whenever someone dies nearby it points at that direction.”. “That’s smart.”, Skulduggery said. “It sure is.”. At that moment the compass started pointing at one direction and the three of them ran as fast as they could.
When they finally stopped in a dark alley, they saw a body hanging on a rope. There was a short note in his hand: “Congratulations, you found me! But as you predicted I don’t work alone. So good job, detectives! I committed a suicide but the others won’t. This is your next word: SUICIDE…”
And there they were – Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant and Leah Light, feeling cold in Iceland and having just a few more assassins to find.