Valkyrie frowned, the dream too far gone now, dispersing even as she grasped for it. “Don’t know,” she said. “It was an odd one though, I can remember that much. Did I say anything embarrassing?”

“Nothing that could be used against you.”

She smiled thinly and looked across the street to the storage facility. “Any movement?”

“Not yet, but it takes a few minutes for a vampire’s human skin and hair to grow back. He should be out soon, if he’s even in there at all.”

Valkyrie readjusted her seat. “This is where he’s got his cage set up.”

“Why did he help you? Vampires aren’t known for being nice.”

“He hates Dusk. He won’t tell me why, but he hates him. He helped us because we put Dusk in prison. Dusk’s stay didn’t last too long, but Caelan still appreciated it.”

The door of the facility opened and Caelan stepped out. For a moment Valkyrie didn’t make a sound. She hadn’t realised he was so good-looking. His new skin was so fresh it practically glowed with health and his black hair shone. She watched him walk to a car parked nearby, then stop. He turned his head and looked directly at her. Skulduggery got out and she followed.

“Be nice,” she muttered as they walked over.

“I’m always nice,” Skulduggery responded.

“Don’t point your gun at his head.”

“Oh,” he said, “that kind of nice.”

Caelan greeted them with a nod. He didn’t waste time mentioning the obvious – that she had got Skulduggery back. Neither did he waste time looking for an introduction. He just stood there and waited for them to start speaking.

“I don’t like you,” Skulduggery said.

“OK,” Caelan said with a single nod.

“I don’t like vampires as a rule,” Skulduggery continued. “I don’t trust them. I don’t trust you.”

Valkyrie sighed. “I told you to be nice.”

“Well, I haven’t shot him yet.”

She rolled her eyes and said to Caelan, “We need your help finding Dusk.”

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t know where to find him even if I wanted to.”

“But you’d know people who would know, yes?” Skulduggery asked. “Other vampires, like the ones who stormed the Sanctuary last night and slaughtered twenty-nine people. I wonder, were you locked up in your cage the entire night, Caelan? Or did you slip out for a snack?”

Caelan looked at him slowly. “My cage is time-locked, programmed to open only at dawn.”

“You’re a vampire with a conscience, is that it?”

“No, sir,” Caelan said. “I’m a monster, just like you say I am. I lock myself up at night because if I don’t, someone like you will come and hunt me down. And someone like you will eventually find a way to kill me.”