He stopped talking. Valkyrie glanced at Skulduggery, then at Ravel, noticed how pale he’d become. Then she saw what they were looking at. Three men, walking up the street towards them.

Baron Vengeous.

Lord Vile.

And Mevolent.

52

THE DEVIL COMES TO PLAY

he world got very quiet all of a sudden.

Baron Vengeous wore his grey hair short and his grey beard tight. His uniform was spotless and his boots were polished, his sabre still in its scabbard at his belt. All of this Valkyrie expected. She did not expect his skin to be so pale as to be almost blue. His face, usually so stern, so filled with anger, was slack. Lifeless. Anton Shudder had, it seemed, killed him – but Mevolent had not let him rest.

Lord Vile’s black armour twisted lazily around him, savouring the calm before the storm.

Between his two generals, and taller than either of them, Mevolent wore his battlesuit of grey chain mail and black leather. His tattered cloak, covered as it was with sigils, caught the breeze as he walked. The hood was down. His face, that gaunt, nicotine-yellow face, was hidden behind his metal helmet’s screaming visage.

Shadows curled round Vile and he disappeared into them. At that same instant, he stepped out of the swirling shadows right in front of Skulduggery.

They stood there, looking at each other.

“You’d think we’d have a lot to talk about, you and I,” said Skulduggery. Vile didn’t answer, so Skulduggery continued. “You’d think we’d have questions that needed answering. But I don’t. All I need to know is that you’re still here. You didn’t fight it, like you should have. You weren’t strong enough to control it.”

Vile’s armour grew spikes.

“I’ve done terrible things,” Skulduggery said. “Things I will never make right. But there’s one thing I know. There’s one thing of which I’m certain. I’m a better man than you.”

Shadows crashed into Skulduggery and sent him flying.

Ravel snapped his palms against the air, but Vile was already moving. In a blur of shadow, he batted down Ravel’s arms and took his legs from under him. Before Ravel could recover, the shadows grabbed him and threw him.

Ravel rolled to his feet, but now Vengeous was behind him. That slack face didn’t change its expression as he wrapped his arm round Ravel’s throat. Ravel was lifted off the ground. The choke came on instantly. A few seconds later, he collapsed.

Valkyrie stood motionless. Her shock stick was still on her back. Vile was watching her, waiting for her to make a move. For all he knew, she was Darquesse, here to tear the city down. One slight twitch on her part would probably lead to him lashing out, killing her in an instant.

She left the stick where it was.

And then, from the street to the west, a siren.