So not covering up a crime for Vile, then. Instead, Ghastly and Corrival were cleaning up after an Archangel.
It felt, in a lot of ways, almost worse.
The body miraculously fit in the boot of the car, after a little silent coordination between the two of them, and within minutes they were back on the city streets, zipping along towards Corrival's house once again. Ghastly idly hoped that Corrival had a freezer somewhere at least the size of the car boot, but the man probably wouldn't have suggested this if he didn't.
All of which gave Ghastly more unwanted time to think as they drove, and the thought that almost immediately occurred to him was why didn't Gabriel do the same thing to Vile?
No matter how powerful Vile was, and especially since he was nowhere near where he'd been during the war, an Archangel with the ability to kill like that should easily have been able to neutralise Vile as well. Guarantee everyone else's safety. It probably wouldn't have meant much to Gabe, either, since he could visit and be with whoever he wanted - dead or no.
But he didn't. He stopped Vile. Brought Skulduggery back. Helped Skulduggery get control back.
Far be it from Ghastly to assume the Archangel would take the easy way out, but... had this ever happened before? A legitimate relationship, a bond, between an angel and a mortal - an angel who hadn't Fallen, anyway? And, technically, Skulduggery wasn't a mortal. Not anymore. Technically, he would 'live' forever, as long as he wasn't reduced to piles of dust in the meantime.
And even then, couldn't Gabe just... put the skeleton back together?
Ghastly sighed and leaned back against the leather headrest, letting his eyes close. "How much more of that whiskey do you have?" he asked. Ghastly's earlier plans for getting drunk had been rudely interrupted, and then fallen by the wayside. It was about time he spent the night not thinking, and somehow he doubted Corrival would object.
~~
"Hate these things," Billy-Ray told his father with a visible shudder. "You shoulda heard them when I cracked the door open, swarmin' and whisperin'. Gave me the creeps."
"Your sacrifice," Scarab told him with just about the most obvious verbal eyeroll ever, which Billy-Ray didn't appreciate, "is duly noted. Go check on the other prisoner now. I can't figure him out, and that worries me."
Billy-Ray hesitated. "You sure you don't want me to...?"
"You don't want to watch this any more than I want you to be here, Sanguine. Now go. He's much too cheerful."
Billy-Ray didn't try to hide the relief that flooded him. He didn't like Remnants. The thought of them was all well and good, and the thought of one finally being able to fix his stomach wound and give him his magic back using Kenspeckle Grouse's body sometime in the near future was wonderful. But the fact remained - they were dark and evil little ghosts. Purely chaotic. Destructive and dangerous if you didn't handle them carefully. And Billy-Ray didn't really relish the thought of coming back to find that it had possessed Scarab instead of the doctor.
A thought he did relish was forcing Gabe to watch the possession. Unfortunately, without knowing the extent of Gabe's Adept abilities, that was a no-go. Billy-Ray was just going to have to settle for taunting.
He paused a few metres away, cleared his mind, let an easy smile fall into place, and sauntered up to the cell door. "Ran into your skeleton friend just now," he said through the bars at the top. "Left him fightin' a pack of bloodthirsty zombies. Think they can kill something that's already dead?"
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It felt, in a lot of ways, almost worse.
The body miraculously fit in the boot of the car, after a little silent coordination between the two of them, and within minutes they were back on the city streets, zipping along towards Corrival's house once again. Ghastly idly hoped that Corrival had a freezer somewhere at least the size of the car boot, but the man probably wouldn't have suggested this if he didn't.
All of which gave Ghastly more unwanted time to think as they drove, and the thought that almost immediately occurred to him was why didn't Gabriel do the same thing to Vile?
No matter how powerful Vile was, and especially since he was nowhere near where he'd been during the war, an Archangel with the ability to kill like that should easily have been able to neutralise Vile as well. Guarantee everyone else's safety. It probably wouldn't have meant much to Gabe, either, since he could visit and be with whoever he wanted - dead or no.
But he didn't. He stopped Vile. Brought Skulduggery back. Helped Skulduggery get control back.
Far be it from Ghastly to assume the Archangel would take the easy way out, but... had this ever happened before? A legitimate relationship, a bond, between an angel and a mortal - an angel who hadn't Fallen, anyway? And, technically, Skulduggery wasn't a mortal. Not anymore. Technically, he would 'live' forever, as long as he wasn't reduced to piles of dust in the meantime.
And even then, couldn't Gabe just... put the skeleton back together?
Ghastly sighed and leaned back against the leather headrest, letting his eyes close. "How much more of that whiskey do you have?" he asked. Ghastly's earlier plans for getting drunk had been rudely interrupted, and then fallen by the wayside. It was about time he spent the night not thinking, and somehow he doubted Corrival would object.
~~
"Hate these things," Billy-Ray told his father with a visible shudder. "You shoulda heard them when I cracked the door open, swarmin' and whisperin'. Gave me the creeps."
"Your sacrifice," Scarab told him with just about the most obvious verbal eyeroll ever, which Billy-Ray didn't appreciate, "is duly noted. Go check on the other prisoner now. I can't figure him out, and that worries me."
Billy-Ray hesitated. "You sure you don't want me to...?"
"You don't want to watch this any more than I want you to be here, Sanguine. Now go. He's much too cheerful."
Billy-Ray didn't try to hide the relief that flooded him. He didn't like Remnants. The thought of them was all well and good, and the thought of one finally being able to fix his stomach wound and give him his magic back using Kenspeckle Grouse's body sometime in the near future was wonderful. But the fact remained - they were dark and evil little ghosts. Purely chaotic. Destructive and dangerous if you didn't handle them carefully. And Billy-Ray didn't really relish the thought of coming back to find that it had possessed Scarab instead of the doctor.
A thought he did relish was forcing Gabe to watch the possession. Unfortunately, without knowing the extent of Gabe's Adept abilities, that was a no-go. Billy-Ray was just going to have to settle for taunting.
He paused a few metres away, cleared his mind, let an easy smile fall into place, and sauntered up to the cell door. "Ran into your skeleton friend just now," he said through the bars at the top. "Left him fightin' a pack of bloodthirsty zombies. Think they can kill something that's already dead?"