Derek Landy

I'm almost finished," said Wilhelm, wiping out a line with his sleeve and drawing over it."I never doubted you for a moment," said Vex, then looked at Aurora and spoke more softly. "I actually doubted him the whole time. He's really not very good."Wilhelm turned. "I'm standing right in front of you. I can hear literally every sound you make.""Wilhelm, please," said Vex, "this is a private conversation.

Well, OK then." He narrowed his eyes. "How about you? Do you have any...romances I should know about?""Nope. Not one.""Well, good. Excellent. There'll be plenty of time for boys when you leave college and become a nun."She smiled. "I'm glad you have such ambitious dreams for me.

Here she is,_ her mum said, cooing at the baby, __y special girl.___h, cheers,_ Valkyrie said, rolling her eyes.

Every once in a while, I get the urge. You know what I__ talking about, don__ you? The urge for destruction. The urge to hurt, maim, kill. It__ quite a thing, to experience that urge, to let it wash over you, to give in to it. It__ addictive. It__ all-consuming. You lose yourself to it. It__ quite, quite wonderful. I can feel it, even as I speak, tapping around the edges of my mind, trying to prise me open, slip its fingers in. And it would be so easy to let it happen. But we__e all like that, aren__ we? We__e all barbarians at our core. We__e all savage, murderous beasts. I know I am. I__ sure you are. The only difference between us, Mr Prave, is how loudly we roar. I know I roar very loudly indeed. How about you? Do you think you can match me?

If anyone stops us, as long as we mumble something pretentious about the glory of death, we should be fine.

Of course I want to kill you," said Skulduggery. "I want to kill most people. But then where would I be? In a field of dead people with no one to talk to.

mostly we've had to found ways to amuse ourselves.""Really?" Valkyrie asked. "Like what?"Plight's smile faded. "Like human sacrifice."He grabbed one arm and Lenka grabbed the other and Valkyrie cried out.Then they both let go. laughing."Naw," Plight said, we just play board games."..."she fell for it!" gasped Lenka. "She fell for the human sacrifice bit!

Skul-man!' he exclaimed as he rushed forward to shake his hand. 'Last I heard you were trapped on a dead world overrun by evil trans-dimensional superfiends!' Skulduggery nodded. 'Just got back.

What's a Dullahan?''He's a headless horseman, in the service of the banshee.''Headless?''Yes.''Seriously?''Yes.''So he has no head?''That's usually what headless means.''No head at all?''You're really getting hung up on this headless thing, aren't you?''It's just kind of silly, even for us.''Yet you spend your days with a living skeleton.''But at least he has a head.''True.''He even has a spare.

There's a clock on the wall. Press your hand against the face and turn it very slightly to the. Left. There'll be a click to tell you it's done.""Sounds easy enough.""Yes it does," said Sanguine. "Kiss for good luck?""Maybe later," said Gracious."How about a handshake?" Asked Donegan.

Valkyrie Cain got out of the passenger side. She zipped upher black jacket against the cold, and joined Skulduggery as hewalked up to the front door. She glanced at him, and saw that he was smiling."Stop doing that,_ she sighed.__top doing what?_ Skulduggery responded in that gloriously velvet voice of his.__top smiling. The person we want to talk to lives in the only dark house on a bright street. That__ not a good sign.___ didn__ realise I was smiling,_ he said. They stopped at the door, and Skulduggery made a concerted effort to shift his features. His mouth twitcheddownwards. __m I smiling now?___o.___xcellent,_ he said, and the smile immediately sprang back up.

Violence?"Skulduggery said. "Violence is never the answer, until it's the only answer.

Doesn't sunlight kill them? Doesn't it turn them to dust, or make them burst into flames or something?""Nope. Vampires tan, just like you and me. Well, just like you. I tend to bleach.

Valkyrie made a face. "Bloody vampires."Ryan sat forward. "That was a vampire? That guy who looked like an accountant?""We don't talk about vampires," Skulduggery warned."But it was daytime. How could he have been out during the-""We don't talk about vampires!" Valkyrie said sharply.Ryan shrunk back. "Sorry," he said."Don't worry about it," Skulduggery told him. "Valkyrie used to date a vampire that's

Stephanie had no problem doing what shewas told, just so long as she was given a good reason why sheshould.

A living skeleton isn't enough for you, is it? What does it take to impress young people these days?

I love stories with a happy ending,_ Inspector Me said.

I understand perfectly. Darquesse isn't a separate entity. She isn't another person. She's you. If you make the wrong choices, if you stop loving the people who love you, if you allow the world to twist and turn and change you, then yes, the future we've seen will come to pass. But if you fight, and if you kick, and struggle, and refuse to give in to the apathy, or the anger, or the hopelessness, then you'll change the future, and you'll walk your own path. And I'll be right there beside you, Valkyrie. I'll always be beside you.