Skulduggery Pleasant - Night of the Dying Rose

Chapter Six- The Wrath of Pleasant

The sanctuary was in chaos. Mages and workers scrambled everywhere, trying to sort out how to find Valkyrie before it was too late. Skulduggery walked down the corridor, his hat in a rakish angle, the  brim of the hat hanging low over his brow. He walked slowly. And his thoughts were angry. The sanctuary workers moved quickly to get out of the way, knowing better than to cross paths with Skulduggery at this moment. Skulduggery didn't even use the handle to open the approaching door, he splayed his hand and the air ripped, and the door was flung almost off its hinges. He strode into the throne room, China looking at him with wariness. Skulduggery came to an abrupt halt, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. He gave the other people in the throne room a look that even with his eyeless gaze, could fill anyone's heart with terror.

"Anyone in this room who isn't called China Sorrows should get the hell out right now." Skulduggery growled, his velvety voice replaced with a coarse, angry tone.

The workers didn't need to be told twice, they practically RAN out. Even China had the decency to look a little unnerved.

"Skulduggery, I know you're angry, but you can't let it cloud your focus." China said softly.

"You barely know the half of what I feel." Skulduggery snapped.

China sat up a little straighter. "I don't need to, because what I see now just makes you look like a foolish dead man."

Skulduggery was right in front of China within seconds. China flinched.

"Valkyrie is with that murderer right now, and she could be injured or dead right now, I could have already lost my friend and partner, do not sit there and call me a fool for being wrathful towards this." Skulduggery said in a low, low voice. 

China's breath caught a little. "Very well..."

Skulduggery stepped back, observing China with his eyeless, cold gaze. "Approximately how long ago was Valkyrie taken?" 

China hesitated, looking down at a file. "It was only after two hours that anyone noticed anything."

Skulduggery's fist clenched. "Why in the hell was no one with her to monitor her while she was injured?"

"As far as I know, she was stable and the nurse was called away to someone else."

"They should have got someone to replace them." Skulduggery said softly.

"I suppose." China had to agree. 

"The only thing I can make out is that Little Rose would have her locked away, probably in a dungeon of sorts, she would like that sort of thing. Also she had rust marks on her hand when we first met her."

"Of course you would be the only one to notice that." China sighed. "So it's an old dungeon."

"Must be, and so I can narrow it down to a possible castle."

"It would have to be close, otherwise she would be caught to easily." China mused.

Skulduggery nodded. "I already know that she's a collector of magic, like Serpine, and I've just figured out where they are."

"Which is where?"

"Where Serpine tortured me several years back, when Valkyrie and Ghastly rescued me, that very same place."

China narrowed her eyes. "It would make sense."

Skulduggery adjusted his hat. "I'm going there, right now, and I will stop at nothing to get Valkyrie back....Until the end, that was my promise."

China hesitated, then said carefully. "We were cut off earlier when you were about to confess that you thought you loved someone...you love Valkyrie don't you?"

Skulduggery stiffened. "Yes."

"I thought as much....what will you do if she's injured or dead?"

Skulduggery looked at China from beneath the brim of his hat. "Child or not, Little Rose will perish by my hand if anything happens to Valkyrie, she will see what my anger can truly be..."

China shifted a little. "I see...I expect you won't make it quick if you're feeling wrathful."

Skulduggery took out his gun, loading it. Once he was done, he gave China a cold look. 

"Not a chance."