Skulduggery shook his head. "Paul Lynch had a vision of something that got him killed. This ridiculous Dragonclaw person isn't covering up that trail for the fun of it."

"Then maybe the other Sanctuaries are just hoping that Lord Vile carries out his threat and kills the Death Bringer."

"Very likely," Skulduggery said.

Valkyrie hesitated. "Do you think he'll come after me, like he told you he would?"

"That was before," Skulduggery said. "That was when everyone thought that you were going to be the Death Bringer. Now that we actually have one confirmed, all his attention will be focused on her."

"Lucky, lucky Melancholia. You're sure about this, though?"

"I'm sure. Killing you won't help Lord Vile achieve his aim."

"Do you have any idea why he's so keen to stop the Pa.s.sage from happening?"

"I don't," Skulduggery murmured. "It must be important, though, to bring him back like this. I thought he was gone for good."

"Guess he just doesn't want to live in a perfect world."

A van pulled up at the mouth of the lane. Sanctuary sorcerers got out, nodded to them as they began cordoning off the area.

"You don't think the problem here is us, do you?" Valkyrie asked. "I mean, maybe we're so used to being the ones who save the world that we can't see it when someone else is about to do the same. Solomon keeps saying that the Pa.s.sage is going to help people."

"True," Skulduggery said. "But if you asked Serpine why he wanted to bring the Faceless Ones back, he'd have told you the same thing. It all depends on what people you're talking about helping. That's the wonderful thing about just about every religion on the planet a they're all so incredibly selfish."

"You are a cynical man, Mr Pleasant."

"We live in cynical times, Miss Cain."

He dropped her off at the pier, and she watched him drive away before turning to the shadows. "I know you're there," she said.

He emerged, his footsteps silent. He was tall and slender, his hair black and his skin pale. He had died as a nineteen-year-old, and it was in this form that he was frozen. He would never grow old. He would never fade. His face would never lose its beauty.

"I've been waiting for you," Caelan said, his voice barely audible over the gentle lapping of the waves.

"Couldn't you have found a safer place to wait?" she asked, hooking her thumbs into her pockets. "People like you really shouldn't be hanging around the waterfront, you know. If you swallow any sea spray, your throat's going to close up and you'll die."

"And would you be sad?"

"Sure I would. I once lost a gerbil. I'd imagine the pain would be similar."

He moved closer to her. "So I'm your pet, am I?"

"Of course. You're my vampire."

He was right in front of her now, and he leaned in and they kissed. "And are you my human?" he whispered.

"So long as you're OK about sharing me, sure," she said, and they kissed again.

His hand went to her face. "I don't like sharing things."

"And I don't like being called a thing, but life isn't fair."

"You should be mine alone."

She gave him a smile. "Have you taken your serum tonight? Because you're sounding awfully territorial."

He stepped back. "The serum is not to be joked about. Without it, I would tear off my skin and devour you."

"Sounds tempting, doesn't it? But I can't tonight, dear, I'm on babysitting duty, which I'm actually quite looking forward to, and then it's bedtime."

"Then I will remain beside you while you sleep."

"My folks would love that," Valkyrie said with a chuckle. He didn't smile. "You're not going to watch me sleep."

"I have made up my mind."

She looked at him. "Eh, what?"

"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, Valkyrie. But you needn't worry. From this moment on, you are mine to protect."

"I'm a little stuck for words here," she said. "I'm just trying to get my head around it, trying to find the right way to... OK, yeah, I have it now. Caelan, cop on to yourself."

He blinked his beautiful eyes. "I'm... I'm only doing this because I care so much. I'm here to protect you."

"See, that's where the problem is stemming from. I don't need you to protect me. I'm not saying I don't need protection. My G.o.d, the amount of trouble I get into, I could use all the help I can get. But my protection comes from people like Skulduggery, and Ghastly, and China a you know, people who are powerful enough to protect me from the things I can't protect myself from."

"You... think I'm weak?"

"I think you're grand. And I acknowledge the fact that you're a vampire a that's very impressive. But let's face it, your real power kicks in when you turn and, unfortunately, when you turn, you tend to forget who's a friend and who's a foe, so that's not a whole lot of use to any of us."

"I would never hurt you."

"Aw, that's sweet, but, really, you'd never get that chance. Caelan, you're not my protector, you're not my guardian angel and you're not my boyfriend."

His perfect jaw tightened. "But I love you."

"Here we go."

"When will you admit that you're in love with me too?"

"I swear, talking to you is like talking to a really good-looking and mildly stupid brick wall. Look, I like you, OK? I do. I know I shouldn't, I know it's a cliche to fall for the bad boy..."

Caelan frowned. "I'm a bad boy?"

"But it happened," she continued, ignoring him, "and that's it. I think you're cute. You could probably ease up on the brooding and self-loathing, though a that stopped being attractive a while ago. But I mean, on the whole, I like you, and you like me-"

"I love you."

"Yeah, well..."

"You make my heart want to beat."

"That's nice and creepy. But I'm with Fletcher."

"You've been with him for a while now. It doesn't stop you coming to me."

"Yeah, and that makes me feel so much better about it all. I'm cheating on my boyfriend, who is really nice and sweet and hot, and I'm cheating on him because, let's face it, I'm really not a good person. I'm a cheating girlfriend."

"Then never see him again and your conscience will be clear," he said, taking her hand in his.

She frowned at him. "But I want to see him again."

"If you wanted him, you wouldn't be with me."

"It is possible to want more than one person at the same time, you know."

"I only want you."

"And you should really get out more." Valkyrie disentangled herself from him. "Also, all these proclamations of your undying love for me are getting kind of... It's a bit much, to be honest. Just hold back a little."

"But my love for you is eternal."

"That's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about."

"I need you. I need to be around you. I'm dead, Valkyrie. I'm dead, but when you're here, I feel alive. Memories are stirred of a pulse, of breath in my lungs, of life in my heart. The more I'm with you, the more I need. My pa.s.sion burns..."

She made a face. "I don't need to know about your burning pa.s.sion."

"It burns for you, Valkyrie. I'm on fire. My mind is in flames."

"Couldn't we just be each other's bit on the side?"

"You love me. I see it in your eyes."

"I think you're mistaking confusion for love."

"I love you with everything that is me."

"Remember when you were the strong, silent type? Could we go back to that?"

"It's too late to go back. You've reawakened the old Caelan. Because of you, I remember who I used to be. Because of you, I can push the monster down."

"And that is very much appreciated."

"Before you, my life was in darkness. It was hollow and empty and cold. But you shone a light through the darkness. You led me home."

"Yeah, I'm great. Could we stop talking now?"

"But I want to talk. I want to talk for ever."

"I think you are..."

"You, Valkyrie, are my sweet agony."

She held up a hand. "OK, I'm really going to have to stop you there. You say one more thing that sounds like it's ripped from the pages of a really bad gothic romance and I'm out of here, are we clear? You'll have talked yourself out of ten minutes with me. Is that what you want?"

Caelan shook his head.

"Good doggy. And never call me your sweet agony ever again."

Chapter 11.

Alone at Last.

elancholia listened patiently while the woman explained what all the charts meant. Two other Necromancers stood by the door, and Cleric Craven hovered nearby, as was his new habit. He seemed reluctant to let Melancholia out of his sight for more than a few minutes at a time.

"The good news," the woman said, "is that we have established a pattern. If our calculations are correct, you should start to feel strong again sometime in the next twenty minutes, and this strength should stay with you for anywhere between three and four hours."

The woman had an annoying tendency to wait for some indication that Melancholia had heard and understood, so Melancholia gave her a nod. "Four hours," she echoed.

"You may experience some dizziness and some fatigue during those four hours, and if you do, don't worry about it. It should pa.s.s within moments." The woman's name was Adrienna Shade. She was powerful, and intelligent, and had risen quickly through the Necromancer ranks. There had been rumours that she was to be made a Cleric, a virtually unheard of promotion for one so young. Melancholia used to admire her. But that was before Craven's experiment, before the Surge. Now Adrienna Shade meant nothing to her. Melancholia glanced around the room. None of these people meant anything to her.

"But in four hours' time," Shade continued, "you'll grow weak again. Very weak. We'll have IV drips and oxygen standing by in case you sink to dangerous levels. Whatever happens, we'll be ready for it."

Melancholia doubted that very much, but she smiled and thanked her nonetheless, and Shade put away her charts and instruments, and left the chamber.

"Cleric Craven," Melancholia said, "is it OK for me to be alone for the next few hours?"

He frowned. "We need to conduct more tests, Melancholia."

"But this is a lot to take in, and I think it would really help me if I had the night to myself. I'll submit to all the tests in the morning, I promise."

Craven sighed irritably. He had a tendency to get irritated very easily. "Yes, very well. The night, then. Tomorrow, tests."

"Thank you, Cleric," Melancholia said, and bowed her head. She knew Craven responded well to things like that.

The Cleric walked from the room, ushering the guards out before him. The door closed, and Melancholia allowed herself a smile. Twenty minutes, and she'd feel that power again. Twenty minutes, and she could have herself a little fun.