Chapter
26: Soul Bearing
Sara awoke
hours later to find herself warm and alone, but there were people nearby. She
could hear voices echoing in the large cavern of the warehouse. Sitting up, Sara
realized she had been sleeping with Ian’s coat over her shoulders. As she
stood, she folded the long garment over her arm and walked into the showroom to
find Van, Deaq, and Ian all talking in the office.
“Hey,
look who finally decided to grace us with her presence,” Deaq announced when
he saw Sara walking towards them. The three men stood from their seats to greet
her.
“How long have I been out?” Sara asked, handing Ian back his coat.
“A
couple hours. None of us had the heart to wake you, so we just let you sleep,”
Van answered as he wrapped his arms around her and placed a soft kiss on her
lips. “Feel any better?”
“A
little now that my brain has settled down,” she said, pushing a few strands of
her hair behind her ear. “So, what’s been the topic of discussion?”
“Well, I
hope you’ll be glad to know, Deaq and I are giving you a hand in teaching Ian
the basics of social interaction. Seeing that we’re both guys, we thought
we’d be better teachers than you in some areas,” he replied.
“Please
don’t tell me you gave him a crash course in beer guzzling or something along
that line,” Sara begged sarcastically. “Because that’s something I was
hoping to give him a hand with.”
Van
smiled, suppressing the laugh that threatened to erupt from his lips. “No,
I’ll give you that pleasure,” he told her. “I mean more along the lines of
how to handle Billie when she comes back.”
“If
she’s just as strong willed as I think she is, then you did the right thing.
Ian might be used to my bitching, but hers is a whole other story.”
“Tell me
about it.”
“So,
Ian,” Sara said as she pulled out of Van’s grasp and walked up to her
stalker, “what have the boys been teaching you?”
“The
only way to get to Billie is under her skin,” Ian answered. “And the only
way to do that is to continually and systematically piss her off.”
Sara burst
out laughing. “Truer words have never been spoken,” she replied. She turned
to Van and Deaq and added, “You guys are good.”
“We aim
to teach,” Deaq said, giving her a sweet smile.
“So,
what’s the bargain?” Sara asked. “I know he’s got to do something for
you in order for you to be helping him with Billie.”
“He’s
giving us a crash course in martial arts,” Van answered.
“Hmm…
This I’d like to see.” Sara’s mind wandered into the implications of Ian
teaching her partners the art of kung fu. A wide smile graced her face when she
realized they’d probably be in pain for weeks on end after their little
demonstration.
“Can we
please get out of here now?” Deaq was whining when she snapped out of her
thoughts. “It’s close to
“Oh, I
don’t think so,” Sara shot back. “He’s mine tonight, and I’m giving
him the proper thank you for what he did to Jake.” When she realized Ian was
still listening to them, she turned to him and added, “I should thank you too.
You’ve done a lot for me. Thank you.”
“You’re
welcome,” Ian replied as she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“I’ll
see you tomorrow. Maybe we can hang out then, without being interrupted by
unwanted guests,” Sara offered.
“Alright,”
he said.
“Great.
We’ll see you tomorrow then,” she turned to Van as he wrapped his arm around
her waist and began dragging her out of the warehouse. “Bye Deaq!” Sara
yelled over her shoulder once they had reached the door.
“So,
what do you have planned for me tonight?” Van whispered into her ear as they
made their way to his car.
“You’ll
see,” Sara answered as she sat down in the passenger’s seat with a sly grin
on her face. Van knew what that meant, and quickly made his way to the
driver’s seat. They made it to the apartment complex in record time. “Van,
slow down,” Sara ordered as he tried to pull her towards his apartment.
“But you
got me all excited!” he whiled, but held back just to please her.
Sara
turned to him and gently pressed her lips against his for a soft and delicate
kiss. “Be patient,” she whispered into his ear. Even though Van could feel
his heart racing, he stayed calm as he opened the door to his apartment and let
her inside. Sara quickly threw off her shoes and made her way to his bathroom.
Van heard
the water running in the tub and thought he knew what she was doing. His breath
caught when Sara returned a few minutes later wearing only a white lacy bra and
matching panties. “Follow me,” she told him, taking his hand and leading him
into the bathroom where the tub was almost filled to the brim with bubbles.
Sara
leaned in to kiss him as her hands slipped beneath his shirt. Van held his arms
up, allowing her to slip it over his head. She threw it to the floor, her lips
soon returning to his, but only for a light kiss. They descended over his cheek,
past his neck, and to his collarbone. Her fingertips played with the waistband
of his pants until she finally decided to pull them off his slender hips.
“Sara,”
Van moaned into her soft golden locks as he closed his eyes, enjoying the
feeling of her fingers running over his back as she reached up and pulled the
beanie off his head. They ran through his hair as her lips made their back to
his.
“Tell me
you love me,” Sara whispered as she pulled away to take in a few needed
breaths.
“I love
you,” Van said, pulling her back into his embrace. He slowly began to fiddle
with her bra strap until it finally unclipped. Her soft, creamy white breasts
fell upon his chest as he removed her panties in the same fashion. She pulled
away from him again and entered the warm water of the tub. He followed after
removing any other unwanted article of clothing from his body.
They sat
across from each other in the spacious 1900 style tub. Sara’s lips curved up
in a devious smile as she almost crawled to him, settling herself just above his
knees, her hands resting on his abdomen. Van reached over to pull her closer,
but she slapped his hands away. “I told you to be patient,” Sara scolded as
she moved back slightly.
“Oh,
please no,” Van begged.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered, leaning into him, her hands on either side of the tub to keep her from falling over as she gently brushed her lips against his. He wrapped his arms around Sara’s agile body, pulling her tight against his chest as his lips ravaged hers in a deep, passionate kiss. When they parted, she breathed in heavily as she laid her cheek on Van’s shoulder.
“Is it
alright if we just stayed like this for a little while?” Sara asked softly as
he held her body in a tight, yet loving embrace.
“Yeah,”
Van replied. He knew why… she was afraid of losing him to those words spoken
earlier that day. But Van knew deep in his heart, he’d never leave her. Not
now, and definitely not in the future. The things that she had told him about
what happened that night with Jake McCarty, he believed them all. There was no
way Sara could have lied to him.
But there
was another reason Van had agreed to wait on sex. He was just as afraid of
losing her as she was afraid of losing him. After that vision of what he thought
was her death, Van didn’t dare want to leave Sara’s side. He feared that
every moment they spent together would be their last. He wrapped his arms around
her a little tighter, reassuring himself that she really was fine and that
nothing bad was going to happen that night.
“I love
you, Van,” Sara whispered, not bothering to move her head.
“I love
you too,” he replied, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder.
“Promise
you’ll never leave me.”
“I
promise.”
*~*~*
Sara ran
her fingers through Van’s soft chestnut hair as he gazed at her with his big
blue eyes shining like diamonds in the early morning sun. They were relishing in
the afterglow of the night’s excursion in his bed, her heart continuing to
skip a beat as he placed soft kisses on her lips at random moments.
“You
know, you still have to finish telling me about the Witchblade,” Van said, his
arm draping over her waist as he pulled her closer to his body.
“What do
you want to know?” Sara asked, allowing herself to be pulled into his strong
arms.
“Everything
you can tell me,” he replied.
“Where
should I start?”
“I think
that’s technically the beginning,” Sara told him. “I found it on my wrist
after chasing down a suspect at the
“So it
found you. You didn’t find it,” Van observed.
“Apparently,”
she answered.
“What’s
happened in your life since the Witchblade found you?”
Sara
sighed heavily. “So much,” she replied. “I’ve found myself in so many
compromising situations where the only way out was to use the Witchblade. I’ve
also met some pretty strange and disgusting people who only wanted it for its
powers. One of those people happened to be Kenneth Irons.”
“Ian’s
ex boss?”
“Oh,
yeah… The Witchblade ‘belonged’ to him before it chose me as its next
wielder. As a matter of fact, he was the one that sent Ian to watch me before we
got to know each other and he became my shadow,” Sara joked, but soon became
serious again. “Irons wanted the Witchblade back and was ready to kill me for
it. We got into this huge swordfight at his mansion in
“What
happened?” Van asked, pushing a few strands of hair away from her face,
encouraging her to continue.
Sara gazed
into his soft blue eyes as her vision blurred with tears. She swallowed hard,
but made herself finish the story. “He was ready to deliver the death blow. I
wasn’t ready to die, so I did what I thought was the only thing I could do. I
swung the Witchblade towards him and… cut… off… his hand. He knew he had
lost and decided to do the second best thing… He killed himself on the
Witchblade.”
Van merely
stared at her in what looked like disbelief. They didn’t speak for a long time
afterwards until he finally replied, “So, he’s dead?” Sara didn’t say
anything. “Who’s running his company?”
“I think
Ian is, but that’s not important. There’s a lot more to my story,” she
said.
“Okay,
keep going. I’m sorry to interrupt,” Van apologized, allowing her to
continue.
“I
thought he was dead then, but I kept seeing him in visions. He kept telling me
everything was connected and whatnot. I didn’t believe him at first, but then
things began to happen. First, Ian tries to have me killed by contacting some of
his former army buddies, but as it turns out, he was being possessed by Irons’
spirit and didn’t know what he was doing.” Van shot her an odd look that
made her pause and say, “Yeah, it’s fucked up, I know, but come on; it’s
my way of life. Besides, I ended up saving Ian’s ass in the end by pulling an
arrow out of his chest. Then there was ‘V,’ which I don’t even wanna get
into since you’ve already read that file and know the important bits and
pieces. Then there was the whole thing with
“As for
what happened with Jake, I know the Witchblade had something to do with it. The
Witchblade weaves one hell of a fucked up web. I think you somehow fit in it,
but I’ve been wrecking my brain trying to figure out how. I guess the longer
the time passes, the more I’ll find out. Until them, I’m happy with the
relationship we have,” Sara finished.
“That’s
so weird,” Van replied, still staring at her a little strangely. “What did
that Lucratsia chick look like anyway?”
“If you
think she’s the same girl in your dream, she’s not. She’s as dead as a
doornail,” Sara answered. “You have no need to worry.”
“But I
do worry,” he quietly admitted. “I’ve lost so many people in my life, the
last thing I need is to lose you. I meant what I said the other night about
never feeling this way about any other girl I’ve dated or met. You’re
special, Sara Pezzini, and not because of the Witchblade. It’s you, your
personality, your everything.” Sara was blushing profusely, and strained to
keep herself from pulling him in for a kiss until he was finished. “And
that’s why I love you,” Van finally said.
For the
first time, she could see his soul through those beautiful blue eyes. He had
bared it for her and only her, and she could tell. This was the first time Van
was telling anyone what he truly felt and it made Sara feel even more special.
She rolled on top of him, her lips quickly catching his for a deep kiss with the
promise of many more to come.
*~*~*
Deaq had
come into the office early that morning, unable to sleep. With Van and Sara
probably doing the horizontal tango, he was out of people to talk to and decided
to boot up Billie’s computer and get online. Boredom continued to be the
feeling of choice as he searched through a few websites and finally decided on
playing games to pass the time until his partners arrived.
It was an
hour before Deaq heard the door slam and looked up to see the familiar face
approaching him. “Billie!” he exclaimed in surprise. “I thought you
weren’t coming back until Saturday.”
“That
was until this new case dropped into my lap while I was in
Deaq
quickly gave Billie her seat and sat down in one of the other chairs around her
office. “What case?” he asked curiously.
“Where
are Van and Sara?” she countered, ignoring his question.
“I…
don’t know,” Deaq answered. He only prayed that they weren’t doing what he
thought they were doing.
“Well,
find out!” Billie ordered.
Deaq
pulled out his cell phone and began calling them, but after several attempts,
neither answered. This only made his suspicions a little more concrete. “Um…
They’re not answering their phones,” he said quietly.
“Time to
do a little home wrecking, then,” she replied, getting up from her chair and
grabbing the keys to the Corvette. Deaq reluctantly followed, knowing that
everything Van and Sara had worked for was going down the tubes in a few minutes
time.
*~*~*
Sara was
on the verge of one hell of a climax as her hands gathered up the soft sheets at
her sides into knots. Her entire body shuddered then became rigid as she raised
her hips, arching her back, in spite of herself. Finally, she let out an earth
shattering scream and fell to the bed, her breathing labored. Van fell on top of
her, unable to move, unable to breathe, his entire body limp in her arms.
“You’re
so good to me,” Sara murmured as she stroked his hair.
Van smiled
then gathered whatever strength he had left to say, “Let’s do that again.”
Sara
couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but when he started up again, she knew
she was in for another wild ride.
*~*~*
Billie
heard the scream from Van’s apartment and quickly pulled out her keys to open
the door. She drew her gun as she stepped inside, her heart racing as she made
her way through each room, careful not to make her presence known. Finally
making it to the bedroom door, she burst through, her eyes widening at what she
saw.
“Holy SHIT!” Billie shrieked.