Warning: NSFW
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Chapter 171
Christmas Eve crept up on them before they expected it, which was embarrassing because it was a very important date, and as a collective, they realised that none of them had gotten a single present for the others – including Valkyrie for Nadia, which got her a ribbing. Although it was the day before Christmas, they chose to all go out first thing in the morning to shop. To make it easier, though, they only needed to buy one present per person as between them they'd still have a nice pile, plus it was easier to eventually take home.
"Should we all split up then?" Valkyrie asked from her seat next to Nadia in the car. Fletcher was on her other side being grumpy because they hadn't let him teleport them. They were in California so it wasn't snowy or really all that cold, meaning there were a lot of tourists and people all around where they were going, and it would be just as quick to drive as to teleport and then walk the few miles in. He still didn't like it and was sulking. To be fair, his moods had been swinging back and forth between doing alright and absolutely miserable, so this wasn't that unusual. Myra's betrayal and impending Sanctuary decisions for her future weighed on his mind a lot.
"It would make sense," Tanith nodded. She was in the back of the car with Laila in her car seat between herself and Ghastly. Dexter drove and there were two front passenger seats for Saracen and Erskine. Anton and Solomon were taking a taxi in since there wasn't enough space, and the two of them much preferred the quiet.
"Does anyone have present requests?" Dexter asked, looking back. "'Cause if I get the wrong thing and you hate it there's no time to take it back."
"It'll be fine, Dex," Valkyrie said. "Honestly, I think we should all stick to getting very, very small gifts and do something nice when we get to the new house. I wasn't the one that decided we need to declutter and go through every single item we own, but since that's happening let's just make it easier on ourselves."
Nadia made a huffing sound besides her. "Well, it makes sense to go through our things before it goes back into the house. You don't need to be so moody about it."
"I'm not moody, I'm just dreading it," she corrected, knowing she was annoying Nadia further. Last minute present buying was apparently stressful for Nadia. "I don't want to think about that right now. Do you have any special requests?"
Nadia gave her a small glare but then thought about it. "I don't mind. No jewellery, I have way too much of that. No clothes either. There was a book series I liked the look of."
"Dibs!" Dexter practically screamed.
Laila woke up and started crying. "Dexter, you dick!" Tanith shouted to the front.
"Sorry," he said quietly.
Laila cried for a solid twenty minutes but at least they had arrived at the giant shopping centre by then. It looked more like an airport. Tanith breastfed the baby while the rest of the stretched, and then Solomon and Anton joined them. Valkyrie rounded everyone to give them the rundown – anyone who didn't care about surprises were welcome to make requests, but except for that everyone had a budget and had to only get one small item per recipient. Dexter got the name of the books Nadia liked and a few other requests were taken and written down. Valkyrie had no requests and wasn't given any either, so she needed to work out something nice for ten people! But even as she took Nadia's hand and they gave each other a small kiss on the walk to the building, her heart throbbed painfully. She really missed Skulduggery. He should be with them and it hurt that he wasn't.
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Skulduggery Pleasant: Raising Cain
Fanfiction(This story is written as a fanfiction, but can be read as a story without having read any of the books.) Valkyrie Cain, the adoptive daughter of the Dead Men, has had a life full of love and magic. But as she gets older, times become scarier and sh...
