Chapter
21: Darkness in the Light
Van
continued to run his fingers through Sara’s golden hair, and when he finally
looked down at her, he realized that she was asleep. He stopped the movie and
gently gathered her in his arms, carrying her to her bedroom. After taking off
her shoes, he slipped the comforter over her body, softly placing a kiss on her
forehead as he slid beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Good
night, beautiful,” Van whispered as he nestled his head on her pillow, but he
couldn’t fall asleep. He watched her, his eyes never once straying from her
sleeping body. She was absolutely gorgeous. Everything about her was perfect;
her face, the way her pink lips curved into a sweet smile as she slept, the rosy
color of her cheeks, her golden hair (which looked better when it was dark
chocolate brown in his opinion), her strong arms, and even strong legs. Sara was
the ideal combination of woman and warrior, and it showed.
Van gently
took hold of her right hand, his fingers interlocking with hers as he brought it
up to his face and looked at the beautiful bracelet on her wrist. He brushed his
thumb over the bright red stone and was sucked into a world that he didn’t
know. It was completely dark. All he could make out were two female figures, a
blonde one pressed up against a wall with a sword through her chest while the
other one, a brunette, continued to dig it further into her body. As he
continued to watch the terrible scene unfold before him, the blonde woman raised
her head, revealing her face.
Van almost
screamed when he realized it was Sara. He wanted to run to her and save her, but
his feet couldn’t move. He was paralyzed as she cried out in pain. That was
when Van finally shot up out of bed, panting, his hair soaked with sweat, his
body shaking as if he had just been stuck in a freezer for a few hours. Sara was
still beside him, except she was now awake and looking at him strangely.
“Van,
baby, are you okay?” she softly asked as she put her hand over his.
He looked
over at her to make sure she was okay. Finally, Van answered, “Yeah, I just
had a really bad dream.”
“Do you
wanna talk about it?” Sara questioned, clearly concerned.
“No, it
was nothing,” he replied, knowing that if he told her right now, everything in
both of their lives would probably change for the worse. Van began to calm down,
but the vision would linger in his mind for days, if not weeks. He looked over
at Sara to see she still had that look in her eye. Van leaned over and kissed
her, making that expression fade into another more typical look that he was
hoping to see in her eyes that night. He tried to move away, but she pulled him
back in for another kiss.
“Let’s
finish what we started a few nights ago,” Sara whispered.
“No,”
Van replied, pulling away from her.
“Okay,
Ray, what’s wrong? What happened in your dream to scare you out of having
sex?” she asked, looking him square in the eyes.
Her
intense gaze scared Van into dropping his eyes. Sara put her hand on his cheek
and gently returned his eyes to hers. She knew something was wrong by the way he
was acting. He was always the one to challenge, but now he was becoming
submissive, afraid.
“I… I
dreamed of your death,” Van stuttered as he tried not to sound all that
scared.
“How did
I die?” Sara asked calmly even though on the inside she felt as if someone had
hit her with a sledgehammer.
“You
were pinned against a wall with a sword through your chest,” he nearly cried
as Sara wrapped her arms around him. She knew what this meant. Someone was after
the Witchblade again, and only Van knew who.
“Who was
trying to kill me? Gallo?” she continued her questioning.
“No, it
looked like a woman your height with dark hair. That’s all I could see. She
had her back turned towards me, I didn’t get to see her face,” Van
desperately tried to explain as Sara continued to comfort him. “I don’t
wanna lose you. You’re the only person I’ve ever felt this way about,” he
whispered, holding her tightly.
“Shh…
It was just a dream,” Sara soothingly replied. “Come on, lie down.” She
rested her back against the headboard as Van positioned himself over her chest,
his head slipping beneath her chin. She ruffled her fingers through his hair,
lightly kissing his forehead and trying to get him to go back to sleep.
“It’s okay,” she said over and over again until he was finally out like a
light.
Sara’s
mind began to wander as she tried to figure out who would want the Witchblade.
It couldn’t be Lucratsia, she was already dead. The same was true about Irons.
Who else could possibly want the damn thing? Sara decided not to dwell on the
thought any longer. She knew to watch her back, and when the time came, she’d
overcome her predicament. Sighing deeply, she closed her eyes and rested her
chin on Van’s head, careful not to hurt him as she dozed off.
*~*~*
Sara was
in the middle of a dreamless sleep when her phone obnoxiously rang, awakening
her and Van at the same time. She reached over to her nightstand and picked it
up to see a familiar number on her caller ID.
“Gabe,
long time no see,” Sara said in a raspy voice.
“Did I
wake you again?” Gabriel questioned, feeling a bit guilty.
“If
it’s ten or earlier out there, yes you did. If it’s not, then I should have
been awake by now,” she replied. Sara stretched out, breathing in deeply and
catching the scent of the beautiful man on top of her. She kissed his forehead
as he looked up at her with sleepy eyes. Van smiled as he softly kissed the nape
of her neck.
“It’s
nearly four, so I guess you should have been up by now. I made sure to give you
enough time just in case. I guess I was wrong,” Gabriel said.
Sara
barely heard him as Van continued to nibble on her neck. “Hey, stop it,” she
giggled softly, catching Gabriel’s attention.
“Ohh…
I really caught you at a bad time, didn’t I?” he replied, getting ready to
hang up.
“No,”
Sara protested as she pushed Van’s face away from her neck and focused on her
conversation with her friend. “Van won’t leave me alone.”
“Van, as
in the guy you absolutely despise, Van?” Gabriel questioned, instantly
becoming suspicious.
“Yeah,”
she answered. “Things between us got much better, so we’re kinda seeing each
other now.”
“Pez,
I’m never gonna figure you out,” he replied.
“So,
Gabe, what’s up?”
“Well, a
few days ago, I called to tell you I was having problems with the lady. I
thought I’d call you and give you an update and to thank you profusely for the
advise,” Gabriel answered. “She’s not mad at me anymore. I just thought
you’d like to know.”
“What
did I tell ya? It was nothing a little begging, food, and flowers wouldn’t
fix,” Sara said, playing with Van’s hair as he looked up at her wondering
what she was talking about. “Anything else?”
“Nope,
that’s it, Chief,” he replied. “I’m gonna get going now. I’ll talk to
ya later. Oh, and Danny wants you to call him as soon as you can. I don’t know
why, but he said it was urgent.”
“Hmm…
Alright. Later, Gabe.”
“Bye,
Pez.”
“Who was
that?” Van asked as he propped himself on his elbow and looked at Sara. She
threw the phone back on the nightstand and looked back at him.
“That
was my friend Gabriel,” she answered, sliding down onto her back so her head
now rested on the pillow beside him.
“Begging,
flowers, and food… makes for an interesting conversation. Let me guess, Ways
to Make Up with Your Girlfriend 101?”
“Right!
How’d you know?” Sara sarcastically asked. Van rolled his eyes at her as she
began to laugh. “Come here,” she ordered, pulling him in for a deep kiss.
“You’d better use those tactics if I ever get pissed at you,” Sara added
as they pulled away from each other.
“I
wouldn’t dare trying anything else… well, maybe. I just gotta see how pissed
off you are,” Van replied.
“So,
what are we gonna do today?” Sara asked as she hoisted herself out of bed and
headed into the bathroom to freshen up.
Van stayed quiet for a little while as he thought about where he wanted to take her that afternoon. The only thing that popped into his head was the beach. “Hey, you wanna go surfing?” he yelled.