I wanted her. I craved her. The minute I saw her, I knew she was different. I knew that I would want her near me. She can be so full of life. Her life spilled into me and made me feel alive too. It was like a drug. I felt dead when she wasn't around.
She may be my student now, but in the end she would be more than just that. A lot more.
China warned Valkyrie away from me. Ghastly did too. Gordon knew it was too late, and so he didn't bother. Gordon, perhaps, knew me better than Ghastly. Kenspeckle failed to get her from my side. Elders knew they couldn't have done anything. Wreath was perhaps the most stubborn. Still is. But he will fail in the end. They all have before.
I felt like laughing. I knew Vile was. He craved Darquesse almost as much as I craved Valkyrie. I gazed at the sleeping girl in the passenger's seat. She wouldn't know just when it happened. She wouldn't know when I became more than just a partner to her. I was her teacher originally. Gradually though I have become the center of her life. By the time she realizes that I am more important to her than her family, her boyfriend, or even her others friends it will be too late for her to break away. She wouldn't even want to. However, everything will have to go slow so she won't be scared away.
Valkyrie stirred.
I found myself wishing that I could widen my eternal grin. "Hello sleeping beauty."
She yawned and smiled at me. "Where are we?"
"Home." She grinned.
"Good, I'm going to make some tea. Do you still have any left?"
I cocked my head. "I think so."
It was phrases like that. Phrases like 'home' that got her accustomed to forgetting her own home. Gentle hugs and making her soup when she was sick that made her forget her own mother. I smiled mentally at the thought. It would be glorious when it finally happened, when she was no longer thinking of her family, of that stupid Fletcher, or Tanith, or of her baby sister. It would be heavenly when her only thought was of me.
I parked the car, and she climbed out. Valkyrie helped me clean the house. We had been gone from it for over a week, because we were on a case. She dusted off my meditating chair, while I opened the windows to get some fresh air inside. I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. She leaned into my touch. She had once said that my presence made her calm. She shouldn't have told me that, but then, she couldn't have known.
We opened more case files and started studying them. I quizzed her with facts that she should have observed when they were at the scene of the crime. What kind of hat was the victim wearing? What was the color of the nail polish of the murdered woman? Was it chipped? Questions that would make Sherlock Holmes proud.
She answered them all correctly. I tilted my head in a smile. "That's my girl."
She beamed at me. Her smile was breathtaking. I could have stared at it all day. It was around eleven when she started yawning. I ushered her to her room. A room I made for her so she could stay with me forever. With me and only me.
"Goodnight Stephanie." I held my breath. It was time to test the limits of my influence.
She turned slowly and stared at me. She gave a small laugh. "I'd almost forgotten that that was my name." She laughed again.
I tilted my head at her curiously. "Do you not like it?"
She thought about it and shook her head. "I think Valkyrie suits me better than Stephanie."
I chuckled. "I agree. I'll never call you Stephanie again." Perfect. Perfect. Forget that life, Valkyrie. Never remember who you used to be. You're my partner. You're my companion. You're my friend. You're Valkyrie Cain.
She hugged me goodnight and turned to go, but Valkyrie hesitated on the steps. "Skul?"
I looked up. "Yes?"
She shuffled her feet. She looked adorable when she did that. "Could you…stay with me tonight."
Ah, yes. Darquesse had made an appearance earlier this evening. It had shaken up Valkyrie pretty badly. I understood. I knew how she felt. I was, perhaps, the only creature in existence who knew her the best. We were partners in more ways that one. I would even go so far as to say that we were partners in soul. I knew she was to me. We shared a bond. A bond that was helped along a little by my magic, but it was a bond nonetheless.
"Of course dear." I stood up and followed her into her bedroom.
We climbed onto her bed, and she instantly curled into my side with practices ease. I sighed with contentment. I could feel her heart beat strongly, almost as if it were coming from within me. Her warmth was seeping into my bones. I felt alive again. She shuffled further into me and slept.
I ran my skeletal fingers through her soft hair. Yes, she was mine. She would always be mine. My Valkyrie Cain.
