"My singing?" Erskine broke into a grin. "Excellent. I can help you learn control, then."
He was still wary, Skulduggery could tell. And probably would be, for a while. But the joke helped. Jokes usually did. And the fact that Solomon had only done it once, didn't mean for it even then, and certainly never planned on it again couldn't be hurting his case either. Skulduggery might have felt a little better about the whole thing if he knew Solomon's abandonment of Necromancy cut off that ability for good; alas, if a couple of days ago was any indication, it hadn't.
Even then, it wouldn't have been so important, if it weren't for exactly what Erskine pointed out next.
"You know..." He stopped, pursed his lips, and looked around at them all. "We have a timeframe, and we have... what was it? A metaphysical slingshot?"
Skulduggery nodded. "Something like that."
"And we have a metaphysical slingshot. And Sanctuary wards. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we're not always in the Sanctuary, and isn't Lucifer supposed to be manipulative?" He looked towards Gabriel. "None of us know what he looks like. We don't know what to be prepared for. Which means we should give him as little ammunition as possible, and..."
He didn't need to finish, and for a moment, it didn't look like he would. Skulduggery had been giving the idea a lot of thought, too. Even so, he waited for Erskine to almost physically work through his own trepidation before speaking again.
"What if he uses Vile against us?"
Skulduggery didn't wait to let another awkward silence grow around them. "Corrival, Ghastly, and I talked about this," he answered, surprising Erskine. "Well, not about Lucifer specifically, but about Vile. Gabe mentioned that... soul-leashes were possible." He didn't like that phrase, but Skulduggery had to admit that it was the nearest accurate one he could find. "To basically spread him out among other people. It's..."
He hesitated, then sighed. "It's something I'd be willing to consider."
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He was still wary, Skulduggery could tell. And probably would be, for a while. But the joke helped. Jokes usually did. And the fact that Solomon had only done it once, didn't mean for it even then, and certainly never planned on it again couldn't be hurting his case either. Skulduggery might have felt a little better about the whole thing if he knew Solomon's abandonment of Necromancy cut off that ability for good; alas, if a couple of days ago was any indication, it hadn't.
Even then, it wouldn't have been so important, if it weren't for exactly what Erskine pointed out next.
"You know..." He stopped, pursed his lips, and looked around at them all. "We have a timeframe, and we have... what was it? A metaphysical slingshot?"
Skulduggery nodded. "Something like that."
"And we have a metaphysical slingshot. And Sanctuary wards. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we're not always in the Sanctuary, and isn't Lucifer supposed to be manipulative?" He looked towards Gabriel. "None of us know what he looks like. We don't know what to be prepared for. Which means we should give him as little ammunition as possible, and..."
He didn't need to finish, and for a moment, it didn't look like he would. Skulduggery had been giving the idea a lot of thought, too. Even so, he waited for Erskine to almost physically work through his own trepidation before speaking again.
"What if he uses Vile against us?"
Skulduggery didn't wait to let another awkward silence grow around them. "Corrival, Ghastly, and I talked about this," he answered, surprising Erskine. "Well, not about Lucifer specifically, but about Vile. Gabe mentioned that... soul-leashes were possible." He didn't like that phrase, but Skulduggery had to admit that it was the nearest accurate one he could find. "To basically spread him out among other people. It's..."
He hesitated, then sighed. "It's something I'd be willing to consider."