Child of the moon

Chapter 20: Venom

Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Ghastly and Tanith all sat in silence. The only sound was the clock ticking and the heavy breathing coming from Skulduggery "I cant believe I let her get taken." he said disbelievingly "Skul, its not your fault. There was nothing you could have done." Valkyrie soothed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders "Its ok." he returned her embrace tightly and buried his head into her raven hair "What if she is dead right this minute?" he whispered and a tear rolled down his face "Skul, don't think like that! She is alive...I cant feel it."

"Guys, me and Ghastly are gonna go back and see if we can find any evidence as to where they could have gone." Tanith said and smiled sadly at the pair while her and Ghastly silently left the room "I'm a terrible farther." he said and Valkyrie looked at his tear stained face "You are not a terrible farther." she said and wiped away the tears "Yes I am. My first daughter was killed right in front of me andmy second was taken away from me...while I watched...that was my second chance...and I just failed." he sobbed and buried his face in his hands as he cried "Skulduggery. Look at me." he shook his head violently "Look at me." there was something in her tone that made him look at her "Its not your fault that your daughter got killed in front of you and it wasn't your fault Emma was taken. You are an amazing farther, don't ever forget that." with that she pulled him to her and hugged him tightly "I don't know what I would do without you." he whispered against her neck "And I don't know what I would do without you, Skul.".

Later that night they were both in their room cuddled up on their bed watching TV "I want to be looking for Emma." Skulduggery said "Ghastly and Tanith are out there searching, while were here watching TV."

"Skul, I know you feel guilty but they said they would call us if they found anything." Valkyrie sighed "I know, but they could have gotten taken! Its been eight hours!"

"Skul, calm down."

"What if Charlie took them"

"Skul-"

"If he did I will kill him slowly and painfully!"

"Calm do-"

"NO! Our friends are out there looking for our daughter! We are going to help them!" he growled and was about to get up but Valkyrie snagged his wrist "Let. Go." he snarled and she was about to object but she knew Skulduggery was a dangerous man. She knew about his past and how he came back to life purely from anger, he was not a man to be messed with. She slowly let go of his wrist and he yanked it away "You can either come or stay." he said but didn't look at her as he spoke and when she didn't reply for a while his fist clenched and he turned around to glare at her "We are not on a holiday, Valkyrie. We were here to find our daughter and now she has been taken its our job to save her." he was growling now and Valkyrie looked down at his tone. He rarely spoke to her like this and since she wasn't used to it, she felt like crying. She knew he was right and there was no reason to argue with him because he was mad and when Skulduggery Pleasant is mad...he will not hesitate to kill "I...I...I don't know." she said after a while, she was scared of him. "You either come or you stay." he snarled and a tear rolled down her cheek "I-" but before she could answer the phone rang so she got up, silently and answered it "Hello?"

"Val?" Tanith whispered

"Tanith? Whats up?"

"We couldn't find Emma..."

"...But?"

"We did find a pool of blood."

"...W...what?"

"We don't know I its hers. We need to do tests on it."

"So...that's it?"

"Yeah...im sorry hun. We looked everywhere. We will have another look tomorrow, ok?"

"...Ok. Bye Tan."

"Bye Val. Goodnight." Tanith hung up and Valkyrie just let the tears roll down her face. She didn't want to tell Skulduggery about the blood, he was already angry she didn't want to make him go ballistic "Well?" he asked urgently "T...they didn't find anything."

"...Your lying."

"What?" she should have known he could tell when she was lying "Your lying Valkyrie. Tell me the truth." he growled "They didn't find anything."

"Valkyrie. Tell. Me. The. Truth." he was even more angry now "Ive told you the truth. They didn't find anything." he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around so his eyes were locked onto hers. His eyes usually reminded Valkyrie of emeralds but now they reminded her of venom "Do not lie to me." his tone was now as venomous as the colour of his eyes "I didn't." Skulduggery took one last glare and shoved her away "I knew I couldn't trust you." he growled and Valkyrie felt like she had just been shot in the heart, those words were powerful enough to make her cry. How could he not trust her? After all they had been through. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the black wold in front of her.

With those same venomous eyes.