Skulduggery Pleasant - Night of the Dying Rose

Chapter One: Trouble in The Sanctuary

Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain ran through the sanctuary corridors at full pelt, the alarms were blaring and the mages were shouting. Valkyrie really hated them shouting, it was annoying. They reached the throne room, bursting through the doors. China Sorrows was already there, waiting for them impatiently. She scowled when she saw them

"And what sort of time do you call this?" She snapped.

Skulduggery shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I'll take a wild guess and say a bad one?"  He replied innocently. China glared.

Valkyrie frowned. "What exactly is going on?"

China took her glare away from Skulduggery and instead looked a little more calmly at Valkyrie: "There has been an attack in the lower levels, twenty people are dead."

Skulduggery's head snapped up. "Twenty people dead, how did no one sound the alarm sooner?"

China shrugged: "The alarm was sounded when the bodies were found and not before I'm afraid."

Valkyrie's frown deepened. "So the kills were completely silent?"

"Actually no." China replied, Skulduggery tilted his head, "The sound systems had been turned off, the deaths were gruesome enough to tell us that the victims were probably screaming at the top of their lungs."

"So we already know that the killer was smart, how fresh were the bodies?" Skulduggery enquired.

"Very fresh as far as I know." China replied.

"You're not thinking that the killer is still here are you...you are aren't you." Valkyrie scowled.

"I am." Skulduggery replied breezily. Valkyrie's scowl deepened.

"But where could they hide?" China frowned.

"Really China, if they can kill without being caught then they can hide just as easily." Skulduggery sighed.

"So where do we look?" Valkyrie asked. 

"Well my dear partner, the best place to always look is in plain sight."

Valkyrie stared at him. "It's a killer Skulduggery not a crap hide and seek player."

"I'll take that into consideration." 

"If you're quite done being childish, then I suggest you start looking." China sighed.

Skulduggery tipped his hat. "I can look and be childish at the same time, Valkyrie can too."

"Yeah but I do it better." Valkyrie grinned.

Skulduggery stared at her. "Since when?"

Valkyrie's grin faltered. "Uh...I'm not going to answer that." Skulduggery sighed.

China rolled her eyes. "Get going, people are dying and my books and reputation are in danger, I want both of them to be intact thank you very much, all I can tell you about the killings is that it was probably done with either a chainsaw, or by someone who is unfairly strong."

"Takes all kinds to make the world go round." Valkyrie mused.

"That is does Valkyrie, that it does." Skulduggery replied, he then looked back at China. "The cameras were out too?"

"Every single one of them."

Valkyrie folded her arms. "Well we're not going to get to the bottom of it just standing here and looking pretty now are we? But I am good at both of those so I shouldn't be complaining."

"No, you should be complaining that you still can't make your ego as big as mine." Skulduggery countered.

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a bad thing?"

Skulduggery shrugged and walked out, Valkyrie sighed, smiled at china, then followed her insufferable friend to the bloody murder scene.

END OF CHAPTER ONE- Stay tuned for the release of chapter two, one chapter at a time because I'm mean!