“Doubt, uncertainty… these are feelings laced with a bitter aftertaste. Powerful, in their own way, and made all the more so by the fear that always follows.”

“Uh-huh,” said Susan.

Argento held out his hand. “I will drink from you now.”

Susan gasped, her body sagging, and Gordon tried to push through the tightly packed guests.

Argento’s hand glowed and he closed his eyes. “Delicious,” he said. “Doubt turns to realisation… to the truth… and the truth is a scary thing. Let me taste your fear.”

Susan had gone ashen-white, and still Gordon fought to get to her, and then suddenly there was a cry from above and everyone turned, looked up at the balcony from which Skulduggery had just thrown the spotlight operator. He stood there, looking down at them all.

“Terribly sorry,” he said, “but I’m going to have to bring an end to tonight’s festivities. It’s just… I’m disappointed. I wanted tonight to be special. I’m here with my friend, I’m surrounded by writers and I wanted to talk about books and stories and creativity and I wanted to overhear conversations about social responsibilities and the writer as outcast, but… but instead I get this.

“I get an empathy vampire and a group of idiots who are working with him. And he looks ridiculous. I mean we’re all here dressed up in costumes, I understand that, but he wants you to think that this is how he dresses normally. It’s not. No one dresses like that normally. Why would they? I met a vampire once, an ordinary vampire, who dressed like Lestat. I told him what I’m telling this one – stop reading books about vampires.”

Fawkes cleared his throat and looked at Argento, who stepped forward with a dramatic swish of his toga.

“You talk like you know my kind,” Argento said. “You, who are nothing to me but an insect, would dare stand upon that balcony and attempt to wound me with insults. I am made of sturdier stuff, my friend. I cannot be hurt by words, nor by blade, nor by bullet. I am eternal. I am the night. I am the day. I am forever. And who are you?”

Skulduggery let his sunglasses fall, then clicked his fingers and set fire to the bandages around his head. They went up in a blaze that died as suddenly as it began, revealing the skull beneath. “I’m Skulduggery Pleasant.”

“Oh, hell,” said Argento.

“And you’re under arrest.”

Argento spun on his heels and sprinted away. Skulduggery leaped high into the air, using his magic to boost himself halfway across the ballroom. He landed and gave chase. Argento shrieked.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then somebody screamed, and the guests surged to the doors, yelling and shouting and tripping over each other. Gordon pushed his way through, catching Susan as she fell. He checked her pulse and her eyes fluttered open.