“No. No, she won’t. And she shouldn’t. After today, after what I was prepared to do, I think I deserve to be held accountable for my actions. If I am brought up on charges, so be it.”

“Thurid,” Skulduggery said, “we’re talking about possible jail time.”

“I am aware of the implications, Detective. But as for right now, I must go to my family. Thank you again, all of you.” He walked away.

“But mostly me,” Fletcher called after him and Valkyrie punched his arm. The moment her fist made contact they teleported.

She looked around. They were in Kenspeckle’s Medical Bay.

“I thought you might want that bite looked at,” Fletcher grinned as he rubbed his arm. His hair was flattened and spiky in all the wrong places.

“Your hair looks wonderful,” she said.

He laughed and was about to retort when she grabbed his collar and pulled him into her. She clamped her lips around his mouth and mashed her face into his. He took a step back in surprise and she went with him, stepping in a patch of wet floor. Her legs went from under her and she flailed as she fell, whacking him in the throat on the way down. She looked up at him as he gagged and coughed, and from across the corridor she could hear Tanith laughing hysterically.

“I think I need practice,” Valkyrie muttered.

49 ESCORTING THE PRISONER

49
ESCORTING THE PRISONER

“How many times have I saved your life?” Kenspeckle Grouse asked her. “More than a few, I’d wager. I’ve cleaned cuts and sewn wounds and fixed bones, and every time you leave here I tell you to be careful. Are you ever careful? It seems to me you never are. Do you think I’m joking when I tell you to take care? To stay out of trouble? To try and not get yourself killed? It appears to me, to poor, neglected, misunderstood, unappreciated little old me, that you do think I’m joking. This worries me. Apart from anything else, it credits me with a sense of humour I neither possess nor desire.”

“I don’t think you’re joking,” Valkyrie offered.

“A vampire bite,” Kenspeckle continued. “You’re a victim of a vampire bite. Do you really think this is an appropriate injury for a young woman to have?”

“Probably not, though now I’m curious as to what is an appropriate injury.”

“You got yourself bitten, Valkyrie. Your magic clothes didn’t stop that from happening, did they? Your sharp tongue didn’t fend off those sharp teeth, did it? You could have died, you silly girl, or at the very least be turned into one of those things.”

She looked at him and said nothing.

His craggy face softened. “The cure for a vampire bite is radically different depending on how long the victim waits before seeking treatment. You’re lucky you came to me immediately afterwards.”

“I’m cured?”