it. Just you and me, Billy-Ray.”
“Is it my imagination or are you soundin’ particularly angry today?”
“If Fletcher is dead, I will kill you.”
“An’ you’re in a vendetta kind of mood, huh? Well, heck, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, am I right? Get a car to Howth. Number forty-one, Nashville Drive.”
“I’ll be there.”
“I’ll be waitin’.”
She hung up.
The taxi made good time out of the city, and within minutes they were on the thin stretch of road to the peninsula of Howth. She could do this. She could take him. If he still had his magic, then no, she wouldn’t be so stupid to come here alone. But he didn’t have magic and Valkyrie did, and she was planning on using it. On the journey over she kept focused, kept her mind on what she was going to do, on what was about to happen. Not Fletcher. She didn’t think about Fletcher. She couldn’t.
Valkyrie paid the driver and hurried up to number forty-one. It was a nice house, like all the other nice houses on Nashville Drive. She didn’t know how Sanguine had ended up here, but it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was paying him back. He’d hurt her so now she was going to hurt him. If Guild’s family was still alive, that was a bonus.
She wasn’t going to be subtle. She didn’t have the time or the temperament. She snapped both hands against the air, the space before her rippled and the front door flew off its hinges.
Valkyrie walked in, shadows writhing around her right hand, flames curling in her left. The living room was empty and so was the kitchen. She went in deeper, to the bedrooms. A woman and a girl were shackled together on the floor in the corner of the master bedroom, gags over their mouths.
She turned, expecting Sanguine to be rushing up behind her, but the hall was empty. With two pairs of frightened eyes on her, she stepped into the bedroom and nudged the door open fully. It swung slowly back and tapped the wall. She crossed to the ensuite, using the mirror inside to make sure it was clear, then she darted in, but there was nowhere for Sanguine to jump out at her.
She moved back into the bedroom. Her right hand flicked a trail of shadows under the bed. They didn’t hit anything. Her eyes found the wardrobe, both slatted doors closed over. If he was in there, he was watching her right now and he could see how tense she was. How scared.
Valkyrie let the flames go out and abandoned the shadows. She pushed at the air and the wardrobe doors smashed to kindling. Clothes dropped from railings and hangers clashed, but when the debris had finished falling, there was nobody in there.
She went to the woman and the girl and pulled the gags from their mouths.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” the woman answered. She was younger than Valkyrie had expected. The girl looked to be about twelve. “He put us in here ten minutes ago. We haven’t seen him since. Is Thurid all right?”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Valkyrie lied. There was nothing she could do about the shackles, but she burned through the ropes tying their feet and helped them up. “Get your daughter out of here.”
“What are you going to do? You can’t face him alone.”
“Sure I can.”
Valkyrie used the shadows to break the window and she helped the mother and daughter out through it. Then she took out Scarab’s phone and pressed redial. From somewhere else in the house, she heard Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’.
She stepped into the hall and held out her hand. The air’s natural currents drifted by and she felt them and searched deeper. She barely noticed the shift in the air, but that was all it took and then she was walking forward. The phone was in the living room, on the table, and it stopped ringing when she neared. She waited until he was right behind her before turning.
The shadows stabbed at him, but Sanguine rolled, his straight razor flashing across Valkyrie’s leg, but failing to cut through. Then he was up and she pushed at the air. It caught him in the shoulder and he spun right around, and came at her again.
He slammed into her and she sprawled over the coffee table, spilling the glossy magazines across the carpet. She tried to get up, but slipped on one of them. His knee came towards her. The world flashed and her head jerked back. He lifted her and threw her against the wall then he was up against her, his straight razor pressing into her throat.
“Hush,” he whispered.
She couldn’t stop him from cutting her throat if she tried. She stopped struggling.
“Good,” he said and smiled. “You actually came here alone, by God. You must be really mad to leave the skeleton behind. Did you think you could take me?”
“Yeah,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Now that, I think we can both agree, was a mistake. Do you think I’m going to kill you? I should. I definitely should. Do you think I should?”
Valkyrie didn’t respond.
“You’d probably say no, even if you thought I should, so I don’t know why I’m askin’ you.”
“Why didn’t you kill them?”
“The broad and the kid? Saw no reason to. Only had ’em to force Guild to detonate the Engine. Despite what you may think, I don’t generally kill without good reason. It’s usually money, but sometimes it’s whim and I had neither. But killin’ you, princess, now that is somethin’ I have a very good reason for. You took my magic. You fouled up our plan. Where’s my dear ol’ daddy?”
“Skulduggery has him.”
“So he could be in shackles or he could be dead – you never know with that guy, huh? Here’s the thing I find amusin’– y’all call me a psycho an’ yet you keep missin’ the point. Your friend Skulduggery is an ice-cold killer. I mean, that guy is seriously unhinged. Takes one to know one, right?”
“He’s adjusting.”
Sanguine laughed. “Now that’s a good one! That’s one I should try! ‘I didn’t mean to kill all those nuns and orphans, Detective – I’m adjustin’!’ Oh, that is funny. But I think you’re misunderstandin’ me. It wasn’t his recent trip abroad that sent him nuts – he’s been nuts the whole time. Y’all just haven’t seen it.”
“If you kill me,” she said, “he’ll kill you.”
“I have no doubt. Which is why it is a very good thing that I have decided not to kill you. Dusk called a few minutes before you rang – he was hightailin’ it out of there before the bomb went off. He told me he bit you and I can see by the lovely wound on your neck that he wasn’t lyin’. He told me he bit you and he told me that I should probably reconsider my whole ‘I want to kill Valkyrie Cain’ thing, like he’s doin’. Do you know why he told me that?”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t? Do you want me to tell you why he told me that?
