She was outside now, pressed against the concrete railing, looking out at the other tower blocks and the grey sky and the eleven-storey drop beneath her. She spun round to tell Skulduggery to get the Infected man she’d burned. But it wasn’t Skulduggery.

Dusk lifted her and threw her over the railing.

26 KIDNAPPED

26
KIDNAPPED

The tower tilted away from her, and then there was nothing but the grey sky and the sound of wind rushing in her ears.

The other towers veered into view then the ground swept in and out again, and Valkyrie was turning over as she fell. There was the sky and heavy clouds and her hair, and a shape, Skulduggery, dropping towards her. She turned again and saw the ground and his arms wrapped around her.

Their plummet slowed and now they were merely drifting. Then they stopped and Skulduggery let her put her feet on the ground.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

She couldn’t answer. She could barely breathe. She just gripped his shoulder to make sure she didn’t fall over.

There were people looking at them. The ordinary tenants of the building had stepped out of their apartments and they were looking down at them silently.

“Dusk,” she managed to say. “He’s up there.”

The only floors that didn’t have a line of people at the balconies were the eleventh and the thirteenth, but now she could see movement on the uppermost floor. People were climbing over the railing. Eight of them.

They let themselves go.

They fell gracefully, three stories at a time, balcony to balcony, pausing only momentarily before allowing themselves to continue down. Then half of them sprang, propelling themselves away from the building, and the others waited a heartbeat and then dived. All eight vampires flipped and landed in a perfect circle surrounding Skulduggery and Valkyrie.

The vampires smiled at them, not even out of breath.

Moloch came down last, carrying something big over his shoulder. He got to the fourth-floor balcony and let it drop. It tumbled and spun as it fell, and she saw that it was Caelan. He hit the ground hard and lay there, unconscious and bleeding.

Moloch landed. The ring of vampires parted and he walked through.

“Give Dusk to us,” Skulduggery said.

“He’s already gone,” Moloch responded.

Skulduggery nodded, considering what he was going to say next, and then his gun flashed from his jacket and Moloch batted it from his hand. Another vampire caught it. One of them laughed.

“You won’t kill us,” Skulduggery told Moloch.

“Really?” Moloch said. “Why not?”

“Because you won’t be able to. And then we will come back with an army of Cleavers and tear these towers down around you. We want Dusk.”

“I’ve helped you all I can,” Moloch shrugged.

“Helped us? You tried to kill Valkyrie.”