Playing With Fire

Chapter Twenty UNDER THE GROUND

VALKYRIE GASPED for breath as she plunged down into the darkness.

The earth shifted around her. It scraped into her back and crumbled at her feet. Dirt flew into her eyes and the sound of a rockslide roared in her ears. She clung to Sanguine as they moved.

"Scared?" he said in her ear. "What if I were to just ... let go?"

He was right in front of her — she could feel his breath on her cheek — but she couldn't see him. It was impossibly dark, whatever tunnel they were making filling up above them as they moved. Her gut twisted as real, raw terror spread through her.

"I'll burn you," she said, but the sound of rock-slide drowned out her small voice. "I'll burn you!" she shouted. She heard him laugh.

"You burn me enough you might kill me, and then what would you do? You'd be stuck here, buried alive under the ground with only my corpse for comfort."

They slowed, the rockslide lessened, and they came to a stop. Valkyrie was shaking. Sweat drenched her. Panic caught at her throat.

"I can see you, you know," he said. "My eyes were taken, but my sight remains. And here, in the dark? I can see best of all. I can see the fear on your face. You can't hide it from me. So here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna put some dainty li'l shackles on those wrists of yours, and then we're gonna go pay a visit to Baron Vengeous. That sound like a nice way to spend the rest of your life?"

She tasted dirt in her mouth but didn't answer. It was too dark. She could feel the rocks all around her. Despite her loathing, she realized she was clinging tightly to Sanguine, terrified he was going to let her go and leave her here. She felt him move, heard the earth shift, and felt something cold and metal close around her wrists.

"Oh, one other thing," he said. "My blade. Where is it?"

"Coat pocket," she whispered.

His hand dipped into the pocket, removing the straight razor.

"So good to have it back. It's like a part of me, y'know? Like a little piece of my soul."

He could see in the dark, so she made sure he could see the contempt on her face. "Is there somewhere we need to go, or are you going to keep us down here and bore me to death?"

He laughed, the rock shifted, and they moved again, fast. She tried to work out how Sanguine did it, but it was as if the ground just parted for him, then closed up when he'd passed.

It was impossible to tell what direction they were going or even if they were headed up or down, and then suddenly the earth gave way and their momentum carried them through into the fresh air.

The moon, heavy and low in the dark sky. Trees and hedges and grass. Valkyrie fell to her knees, spitting dirt and sucking in air. The sweat that coated her body now chilled her, but the ground was solid and the roar was gone from her ears. She raised her head, looked back.

"Your chariot awaits, ma'am," Sanguine said, opening the door to the car that had been parked there. She tested the shackles, but they were on tight. She clicked her fingers but no spark came. Her powers were bound.

Sanguine helped her to the car by gripping the back of her neck and forcing her in. Even if she managed to get away, there was nowhere to run. There were meadows in every direction.

He closed the door, walked around the car, and got in behind the wheel.

"Is it fun?" he asked suddenly. "Doin' all that detectin'? I always wanted to be a detective. I was one, for about a year. I liked the romance of it all. The suits, the hats, the dark alleys, the femme fatale, all that quick talkin'. But I couldn't stop killin' folk. I mean, they'd hire me, I'd try to solve their mystery, but halfway through I'd get bored and end up killin' them, and then the case'd be over, and that'd be it. I solved one single murder that whole entire year, but I don't think that really counts, seein' as how I was the killer. I think that's kinda cheatin', in a way."

"Why are you doing this?" Valkyrie blurted out. "Why does he still want me? It's not like Skulduggery's going to back off just because I'm being held captive."

Sanguine stared. "Are you serious?" He laughed. "Li'l darlin', you ain't no hostage; you never were!"

"What?"

"This whole thing, everythin' that's happenin', it's because of you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You heard about the missin' ingredient, right? The one thing Vengeous couldn't get his hands on, eighty years ago. You heard about that?"

"Of course. What's that got to do with me?"

"Sweetie, it is you. You're the missin' ingredient."

She stared at him, and his smile grew wider.

"You're a direct descendant of the Ancients, ain't you? What, you thought that little bit of information wouldn't get around? When I heard about that, I knew the time had come to set the Baron free."

"You're lying. ..."

"Scout's honor. The one thing he was missin' was blood with a certain type of power in it.

Seein' as how he wasn't likely to get the blood of another

Faceless One anytime soon, the next best thing is the blood of one of the guys who managed to kill a Faceless One. That was the last ingredient to the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it cocktail he was brewin'. Must make you feel pretty special, huh?"

She couldn't answer. She felt the color drain from her face.

"This is good," Sanguine said, clearly delighted, as he started the engine. "This is good."