Shockwave 12

Kia's expression as the wind whipped off her disguise was surprise but only for a second before it changed to a maskof annoyance.
"Kia, what are you doing?" Skulduggery asked. Kia just glanced at him before turning to try to leave again. Valkyrie, still a little out of breath whipped her shadows at herand grabbed her ankle again. Kia's glare was dangerous. Valkyrie would never have thought Kia capable of making that face.
"Wait, a second Kia. We thought that you were leaving the magic world."
"I tried, didn't I? But you probably know that it's not that easy to do. No matter what I did, I'd seen too much. Mr. Tiny came to see me and I told him the same thing I told the bow-tie guy but he wouldn't lay off, you know. I guess he was just trying to protect me or whatever but honestly it would have been better if he'd left well enough alone. Also, I saw some vampires. It was day-time so they didn't do anything to me but I wanted to kill them, you know. Anyway, I tried living normally for about a week but I had to give up after the thrid set of Cleavers came by. I told them that I didn't want their help and they left but I think Mr. Tiny kept sending them back. Either way, I finally decided to leave. You know my dad, in his will, left me over half a million dollars? I had no idea he had that kind of money. Anyway, I went to England, lived there for a while and no one bothered me, that is until someone, somehow found out that I had magic. I don't know how they found out but after that the British Sanctuary tried to send me back to Ireland. The only reason I wasn't sent back was 'cause I met this woman there, she did magic and she helped me out. She told me that once you're in the magical world, it's hard to get out again and that the best thing to do in my situation was to learn to control my magic. She's the one who told me where I could get these guards. They're unbreakable, you know. Powerful stuff. Anyway, that was about a month ago. Since then, I've been doing my own thing."
"Does your own thing involve attacking us?" Valkyrie asked, in annoyance. Her stomach still ached from the hit.
"No, you were never my target. You just happened to get in my way. Please be aware that if I had wanted to kill you, I could."
"Your target was the vampires," Skulduggery said.
"Yeah, so what?"
"Why? We had already taken them captive. They wouldn't hurt anyone any more."
Kia shook her head and let out a strong breath. It looked like she was doing her best not to punch Skulduggery again.
"Vampires. Are. Evil," she said.
"Well, thanks for the news flash but we had already subdued them."
"It doesn't matter. All vampires should just die you know? Even if you take them captive, they're not like other criminals where they might, I don't know, see a change in their ways. Since the day they were bitten, they were doomed, easy and simple as that. Putting them in a cell only wastes space. No matter what we do, vampires are evil and they deserve death. So I killed them."
"They weren't going to hurt anyone anymore."
"Yeah, well they weren't going to help anyone either. They would just sit in a cell, cursing your name. That's all there is to it." She turned on heel, after giving them one more harsh glare. Valkyrie was about to stop her but Skulduggery shook his head. Kia walked to the nearest building and jumped up to the top of it, leaving another crater on the ground behind her. A few minutes later, the Cleaver van pulled up and three Cleavers jumped out. They were about to help the vampires into the vans when they realized that they were already dead.
"They got to be too hard to deal with. Sorry for calling you all out here. May as well take them now that you're here," Skulduggery said. One of the Cleavers probably noticed the slightly strained note to Skulduggery's voice.
"Are you injured?" he asked.
"Just a little. Nothing I can't mend on my own. One of the buggers backhanded me and broke a few ribs. Anyway, thank you for your help."
The Cleavers nodded and finished loading the vampires into the van. Valkyrie saw that the knives were missing. Somehow, Kia had managed to pick them up during the fight. As the gray van pulled away from the curb, Valkyrie asked Skulduggery,
"Is she going to be alright?"
"I think so. I mean she was able to deal with us relativly easily and we are probably some of the best. She's gotten strong, though I'm getting curious as to how her magic works."
Valkyrie thought about it.
"It's kind of like a shockwave isn't it? Like she releases a blast of something from her hands."
"And feet. I think that was how she made that hole over there when she jumped. She used that shockwave thingy to slow her fall."
"She beat you up."
"You too."
Valkyrie sighed.
"I feel like she changed a lot from the last time we talked. Or is it just me?"
"No, she defenitely changed a little but if you think about it, her father died and she was randomly thrown into this world of magic. I don't think anyone can stay the same after something like that."
"Still I'm worried about her."
Skulduggery nodded.
"Let's go."

Shockwave 11

Valkyrie stared at the vampire in front of her and wished that she could punch it through the chest like Kia had and make it go away. Instead she whipped a trail of shadows at it, with the intention of tripping it. The vampire just jumped over it like it was a jump rope and he was hit in mid air by a fireball, courtesy of Skulduggery. It hit the vampire in the left leg and he fell into a heap on the floor. "You're slow," he said to Valkyrie. The other two vampires were already lying in a pile behind him.
"No, you're fast. By common standards I took the perfect amount of time to finish him off."
"Except that you didn't finish him off. I did."
"I was getting there."
"But you were too slow."
"Was not."
"Were too."
"You're acting like a child."
"No, you are."
"Well, you started it."
Valkyrie caught sight of one of the vampires behind Skulduggery standing up. She snapped her wrist, sending a wall of air at it that caused it to slam back down into the ground and slam his head on to the pavement.
"I finished him off," she said, rather childishly and turned on heel to handcuff the vampire nearest to her. This was easier said than done because the vampire had somehow managed to tangle herself up. Her right ankle was impossibly close to the back of her neck and her left arm had somehow ended up wrapped around a nearby streetlight.
"How did you even manage this?" Valkyrie asked Skulduggery and he looked over and laughed.
"I thought it looked artistic."
Valkyrie rolled her eyes and began to untangle the vampire. Finally, Valkyrie was able to get the vampire's wrists together with no legs or heads or streetlamps in the way.
"Did you call the Cleavers?" Skulduggery asked.
"Yeah," Valkyrie said, pulling out her cell phone and dialing the Sanctuary's number.
"No you didn't."
"I am in the act of doing it now. Don't be whiny."
Skulduggery was about to say something else but Valkyrie interrupted him.
"Hello? Yes, this is Valkyrie Cain requesting a Cleaver pick-up for three vampires... Foster Street and Palace Ave."
She turned to Skulduggery.
"Ten minutes."
"Great, now we just have to sit around for ten minutes."
"Now you know what my life feels like every single time you leave me on guard duty."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I think that I'll never do it again."
"You say that now."
"You're right. My mind might change."
"It always --" Valkyrie got cut off as a spurt of blood flew out of the vampire's throat.
"What happened?" Skulduggery asked. The left side of the vampire's throat had been sliced open by a very accurately thrown knife, which was embedded into the streetlamp that the vampire had been leaning against. Valkyrie looked in the direction the knife had come from but saw nothing there. One of the vampires next to Skulduggery began coughing up blood as a second knife hit him in the chest, most likely puncturing his right lung. It came from the next rooftop over. Skulduggery clicked his fingers, and Valkyrie drew her shadows in beside her. One more knife flew from the roof top, aimed at the last unconscious but alive vampire. Skulduggery managed to deflect it with some of his air. Suddenly, a shadow leaped off the roof and landed on the ground, creating a crater that was at least four meters wide. For a person who only looked to be about 5' 3'', that did not seem right at all, but Valkyrie forgot about that as the person jumped on the wall behind her and launched herself forwards. She blew right by Valkyrie, landing lightly in front of Skulduggery instead but she ignored him and instead slammed her palms into the vampire's chest. Valkyrie's heart leapt as she heard the crack of bones. Skulduggery grabbed the person around the wrist but she sent him flying across the street with a well-placed kick to his stomach. It was only then that Valkyrie realized the person was not wearing shoes. Instead, her small feet were wrapped like a kickboxer's might be; with the heels and toes exposed. Her hands were similarly wrapped. Also, on both her shins and her forearms the girl wore metal guards like the guy from 300, except hers were black as night with an intricate gold design along the edges. Valkyrie did not know what she looked like because of the beanie that covered her hair and the navy scarf that was wrapped around the lower half of her face. It didn't matter who she was though, because she had attacked them. Valkyrie lit flames in her hands and threw them at the girl but even with only a meter and a half between them, the girl dodged with obvious ease, taking the opportuinity between attacks to come in close and punch Valkyrie in the stomach. Only her protective clothing kept her from flying back but for the first time in a long time, Valkyrie felt the sting of a punch through her clothes. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The girl turned to leave but Valkyrie grabbed her ankle and tried to hold her in place. Skulduggery was still making his way back across the street but from the way he was limping, Valkyrie suspected some broken ribs. Not surprising since he had been punched in the chest hard enough to get sent flying. The girl raised her other foot to stomp on Valkyrie's hand, something that would have been impossible without her superb balance, and Valkyrie took the opportuinty to try to yank her foot out from under her. It kind of worked. The girl did fall but she landed on her hands and finished in a cartwheel. After a quick glance at Valkyrie, she turned to run and was hit head on by a gust of wind from Skulduggery. He had wanted it to be a solid hit but at last second the girl had put her hands up in front of her and somehow seemed to divert a large amount of the air. Still, it was enough to blow her beanie and scarf off of her head. Skulduggery stopped his follow-up blast mid way as the girl that they had been searcing for for the last two months was revealed in front of them.