Jeremiah nods and staggers over to a wheel on the wall. He takes a handkerchief from his pocket, wipes it uselessly across his forehead, then wraps it round his hand. He takes hold of the wheel, and, with every turn, the chain draws towards the ceiling, dragging Danny’s arms up over his head. Jeremiah puffs and grunts and Gant waits, but finally Danny’s feet leave the floor and he dangles there, the handcuffs cutting into his skin. Jeremiah locks off the wheel and comes to stand beside his master.

“Are you the devil?” Danny asks.

Gant laughs. “No, my boy, no I am not. Though you wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake.”

“And you think Stephanie’s just going to come rushing in here to save me? She barely knows me.”

“She’s coming,” Gant says, and gives another smile. “And when she gets here we’ll be ready for her, won’t we, Jeremiah?”

“Oh, yes,” says Jeremiah. “We’ll be ready, all right.”

“Then we’ll see,” Gant continues. “We’ll see who she is and what she is. Is she noble, like we’ve heard? Or is she evil incarnate, like others have said? Which do you think, Danny my boy? Which one do you think is coming to your rescue right at this moment? The angel … or the demon?”

74

Valkyrie and Skulduggery were on a rooftop when Darquesse drifted into view.

They watched her float down, a vision in burnished red, until she was standing on the shield that enveloped the city. She put her hand to it, and bright colours began to ripple outwards from that point. The shield darkened, and an overcast greyness fell upon Roarhaven.

“It won’t hold her for much longer,” Valkyrie said, and Skulduggery jabbed a button on his phone and spoke into it.

“Now,” he said.

Valkyrie realised that, despite everything, she was actually looking forward to what happened next.

The shield faltered and sputtered and failed, and Darquesse hovered there, watching it retract, unaware that a helicopter gunship – recently liberated from an unscrupulous private army operating out of the Middle East – had just appeared behind her.

A helicopter gunship. This was awesome.

There was a streak of light and a sudden plume of smoke and before Darquesse even had a chance to turn the rocket hit her.