LITMIR.BIZ

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      “That’s a very good question.”

      “It’s been made safe,” Guild said. “It can’t be activated. It was kept here because it’s the only one of its kind. The Engine is useless to whoever has it.”

      “You’re sure about that?” Skulduggery asked.

      “Positive. It’s a paperweight now.”

      “That may be so, but there’s a reason Dusk went after it.”

      “Then get it back,” Guild said. “Do what you need to do to find them and stop them. You will have access to every resource we have for the duration of the investigation.” He sighed. “Pleasant, I don’t like you and the idea that you were going to spend the rest of your existence on a world of Faceless Ones really warmed my heart these past few months. My wife was saying to me just the other day how she’s noticed a spring in my step lately. That was because I thought you were gone forever.”

      “I missed you too, Thurid.”

      “But it’s time to set my personal loathing of you to one side. We’ve just witnessed a massacre, and we need to catch those responsible and make them pay.”

      “You seek revenge,” said Skulduggery.

      “I seek retribution.”

      Skulduggery looked at him and nodded. Valkyrie and the others followed him as he walked away. Marr glared at them with fury in her eyes and they left her to whatever argument she was about to have with her boss.

      “I’m only going to be telling you the absolute minimum about what I’ve been doing these past eleven months,” Skulduggery said to Ghastly and Tanith as they reached the Foyer and climbed the stairs, “so don’t bother prying.”

      “Fine with me,” Ghastly said.

      “A little prying would have been nice,” Skulduggery mumbled. They passed through the Waxworks Museum and emerged into the chill night air to find Fletcher standing beside the Bentley. His arms were folded.

      “You abandoning me?” he asked crossly as they neared. “Is that what’s happening? I do what you need me to do and then you discard me, yeah?”

      “This really isn’t the time to be petty,” Valkyrie said, frowning at him.

      “On the contrary,” Skulduggery said, “this is an excellent time to be petty. Fletcher, we didn’t bring you with us because we didn’t want to risk you.”

      Fletcher narrowed his eyes. “So…I’m still on the team?”

      “Of course you are,” Skulduggery said happily. “Apart from anything else, you’re the only one who can guarantee that we escape any more vampires that we come across. You’re going to prolong all our lives, my boy.”

      “I am?”

      “You are. You, Fletcher Renn, are good for our health.”

      Fletcher beamed.

      “You’re like our own little vegetable,” Skulduggery continued and Fletcher’s smile disappeared.

      “I need my sword,” said Tanith.

      “I’ll take you to it,” Skulduggery said. “Valkyrie, take Fletcher and go and see China.”

      Fletcher frowned. “I’m not a bus.”

      Skulduggery ignored him. “If anyone has heard rumours abut Sanguine or Dusk, she has. The fact of the matter is that Sanguine doesn’t do anything for free, so if there is someone paying his bills, we need to find out who that is, and what he wants with both the Desolation Engine and the Soul Catcher.”

      “Or what she wants,” Valkyrie added.

      “That’s a good point,” Skulduggery said. “This might be the first move Darquesse makes on her road to destruction. If it is, then we’re in a lot of trouble.”

      “And if it isn’t?”

      “Let’s face it,” he admitted, “we’re probably still in a lot of trouble.”

       22 THE MAN WHO KILLED ESRYN VANGUARD

      alkyrie and Fletcher appeared in China’s library. It was late at night and there was nobody around. Fletcher didn’t say anything as they walked and she knew he was thinking about Skulduggery’s dismissive attitude towards him. Fletcher didn’t talk much about his parents. She knew his mother was dead, but he rarely mentioned his father. Was that why he could be so insecure and intimidated by Skulduggery? Was Fletcher harbouring a secret need for a father figure’s approval?

      She led the way across the hall and knocked on the apartment door. China bid them enter. Valkyrie turned to Fletcher.

      “You stay out here,” she said.

      He frowned. “Why?”

      “Because China’s probably still weak after being shot and she doesn’t need the both of us in there. Also every time you’re around her you make a fool of yourself.”

      “Not every time.”

      “You’re staying out here.”

      “I think you’re confusing me with a dog.”

      “Stay.”

      He looked annoyed so she left him to it and stepped in, closing the door behind her.

      China walked in from the bedroom and Valkyrie stared. China looked awful. She was too pale and her eyes looked bruised. She moved stiffly and wore a silk robe tied with a sash. Still beautiful, unnaturally so, but sick. For the first time Valkyrie saw China in a moment of weakness and she didn’t know what to say.

      “Your silence says it all,” China said, a faint smile on her bloodless lips.

      “I’m sorry.”

      “Nonsense.” She sank into a chair with an audible sigh. “Take a seat, Valkyrie. You reaction is refreshing. Most people do their best not to catch my eye and prattle on like nothing is different. Now then, you were at the Sanctuary?”

      Valkyrie sat. “Yes.”

      “It was raided I hear. By vampires.”

      “News travels fast. It was Dusk who led them.”

      “Him again.”

      “He stole the Desolation Engine.”

      “I thought that had been made safe.”

      “It has been, so we don’t know why he took it.”

      China shifted in her seat and grimaced.

      Valkyrie hesitated. “Are you…OK?”

      “I’ll survive. This is what happens when you invest all your magic into healing a bullet wound. It’s not pretty. Tomorrow I should be back to normal.”

      “Should?”

      China waved a delicate hand. “You worry too much about people who mean nothing to you.”

      Valkyrie’s eyes widened a fraction, but China still noticed.

      “Oh, I’m sorry,” she continued. “I didn’t mean to sound so cold. What I meant was there are others who would deserve your sympathy much more than I. Fletcher, for instance. That boy is always getting himself into trouble. How is he?”

      “He’s fine I suppose. He’s out in the hall.”

      “My, you have him well trained.”

      “China, do you think I don’t like you?”

      China’s

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