(Valkyrie Cain and Dexter Vex love story)The Descendants

Ellion Rune

Light glared through Valkyrie's eyelids so she clamped them shut tighter and rolled over. She could hear noises from downstairs. Voices, sizzling frypans and the scrape of toast being buttered. The wonderful scent of eggs and bacon wafted in the air and she found her drive to get up. Valkyrie dressed in her armoured clothes and unbraided her hair, letting it fall in slight waves down her back. Once she was ready she found hopped down the stairs two at a time and cheerfully turned down the hallway and continued on her way to the kitchen. She saw Dexter coming from the opposite corridor and she shot him a smirk before bolting for the last stool at the bench.

"Too slow." She tutted and piled her plate with eggs, bacon and toast. Dexter laughed good-naturedly and stood across from her. He filled her a glass of orange juice before pouring one for himself. Tanith was laughing with Saracen in the seats next to her, Skulduggery was standing in the corner quietly thinking and a boy Valkyrie didn't know was cooking.

"Hey Tanith, who's that?" she nudged her friend's shoulder and gestured her cup towards the boy before taking a sip of her drink. Dexter spun around and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot you two don't know each other." Tanith said and when the young boy came over with the last plate of bacon she smiled at him.

"Hey Ell, this is Valkyrie Cain, Val this is my nephew Ellion Rune. Ellion is going to be helping us take in those girls today." Tanith introduced him. He was young. Maybe around 20 years old, tall, with messy dark brown hair and chocolate coloured eyes. Valkyrie had to admit he was a quite good looking young thing. Dexter cleared his throat loudly and glared at the boy threateningly. Luckily Valkyrie missed the dirty look completely and continued eating.

"Hi, wow, you and Tanith look nothing alike," Valkyrie commented and shoved a fork full of eggs in her mouth.

"Yeah," Ellion laughed nervously with a glance at Dexter who was still watching the exchange attentively. "My dad is her brother but I look like my mum."

"That makes sense. Cool name, by the way. Rune...do you practice symbols like China?" Valkyrie questioned and ate more bacon.

"No, actually, I'm an Adept. I'm a trained assassin and I have the ability to make objects invisible or look like something else entirely. My first name according to the poster I got when I was a baby, has many meanings." He shot a scowl at Tanith who looked away sheepishly. "E is for excellence, your passion, your drive. L is for little, the little things you do. L is for love, everlasting. I is for interest, you show in others. O is for outlook, pleasing to all. N is for noble, your regal bearing." He continued in a mocking baby voice.

"What! It was a cute poster!" Tanith said defensively and Saracen snorted. Ellion rolled his eyes.

"I can also turn invisible which is why I chose the name rune. It means 'secret' based on the old Norse word rún. Because I can slip in and out of anywhere and it'll be my secret because no one will know I was there." He replied. Valkyrie paused with her cup halfway to her lips.

"You can turn invisible?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, it sounds pretty cliché but it's handy. Only really powerful elementals would be able to know I'm there. Only a handful now, after the war and everything. Detective Pleasant here, maybe a few others around the world, Ghastly Bespoke would have as well." He replied, saying the last part in barely a whisper with a hesitant glance at his aunt.

"That's so cool!" she exclaimed and Dexter's shoulders drooped.

"Sorry Vex, it looks like you've been replaced." Skulduggery said sadly and came over from the wall with a tilt of his head. Valkyrie glared at him so fiercely it would have made even the bravest men run in the other direction.

"My offer for Danny to visit still stands by the way. You may have banned Xena from your car and I had to leave her with Danny but he can still bring her over when he does his concert in Ireland next week." She hissed and Skulduggery went quiet.

"Who's Xena?" Ellion asked.

"She's my dog. Skull's terrified of her and was so cruel as to ban the sweet little dog from his car and I had to leave her with Danny. I feel sorry for him, Xena never really liked him much. Poor Danny. He's a good friend I made in America." Valkyrie said innocently.

"I think you may be over exaggerating. I was not terrified, I was wary. That dog is many things, ravenous, dirty, simple-minded...but little is certainly not one of them." Skulduggery objected.

"Oh come on. She's nothing but an obedient, adorable, lovable, pet." Valkyrie smiled sweetly. "I think I have a picture of her actually. Here." Valkyrie passed Ellion her phone and he grinned when he saw the large German Sheppard chewing mercilessly on Valkyrie's shredded slipper.

"Wow, that's a big dog." Ellion laughed and gave her back her phone. Suddenly their meal was interrupted by a loud pop and Fletcher Renn was standing behind her. She promptly twisted round and punched him.

"Oww." He groaned, rubbing his shoulder. "That punch gets harder every time I see you."

"The level of force I put into the punch increases by the level of my irritation caused by you." She shrugged and went back to her meal.

"Well as soon as they've all finished eating we'll head off. There's a lot to do." Skulduggery said pointedly to Valkyrie as she was the one with the most on her plate. "Maybe if some of us weren't too busy showing pictures of monster-dogs we'd be ready. The fact that some of us can talk the ears off of an elephant also helps."

Valkyrie glared at him and pointedly opened her mouth which was full of half-chewed bacon, egg, and toast mush, as wide as she could.

"Well, I'm proud to say you have grown to be a lovely and mature young woman at the age of thirty-three." He told her and adjusted his hat.

She scowled and Tanith gasped. Saracen dropped his fork with a clang. Dexter froze with his cup inches off the table. Ellion dropped the frypan he was taking to the sink and Fletcher's hair went pail. Everything went quiet. Valkyrie slowly stood up and her stool screeched across the floor. Dexter and Fletcher took a step back and Tanith and Saracen shuffled sideways. Skulduggery just stood there, not daring to make a move.