Chapter
36: What Dreams May Come
Sara awoke that morning at the crack of dawn, her body telling her she had
already had way too much sleep. Her arms were still wrapped around Van, but he
was now facing her, his forehead pressed up against hers. Sara was tempted to
kiss those soft lips that beckoned her closer, but resisted the urge. Instead,
she found herself pulling back a little to stare at him. She wanted this memory
embedded in her mind for the rest of her life, especially with their time
running so short.
A smiled appeared on Sara’s lips as she reached up to move a strand of
his chestnut hair away from his face. Van was absolutely adorable when he was
asleep, especially the way the edges of his lips curled into a light grin. Her
eyes strayed down to find his hand resting on the bed between them. Sara slid
hers beneath it and held it up. She marveled at how soft his skin was even in
this kind of work.
Holding his hand up to her face, Sara spied the magnificent silver ring on
his ring finger. It was nearly half an inch in width, with what appeared to be
Grecian or Mesopotamian symbols carved into it. This was the first time she had
actually taken a good look at the ring, and when her thumb gently grazed the
top, she was instantly thrown into a vision.
Sara was in a room that resembled a Greek or Roman palace with high white
marble pillars and towering ceilings. The entire interior of the room was
covered with soft white linen from the ceiling to the floor to the bed. She
turned around from here she lay naked beneath the covers and gazed at the man
sitting beside her looking out towards the window. Judging from the little light
that filtered through the lightly draped windows, she guessed it was dawn. The
man turned his head and she instantly recognized the deep blue eyes that stared
back at her… Van.
“Xerxes,” Sara whispered in a voice not her own. This was definitely
not her body, but she decided to go along with the dream and let herself be
consumed by the higher powers that controlled her world. She rolled over and
placed herself on top of his lap, her long, dark chocolate hair flowing over her
body and gently brushing up against his. Xerxes reached up and cupped her face
with his hands, bringing her lips up to his for a soft, delicate kiss.
“My Artemisia,”
he whispered back in a voice not his own. “My love, my goddess,” Xerxes
continued as the smile on her face grew.
Sara looked deep into those deep blue eyes and noticed the slight amber
ring around the iris, something she had failed to see before. She detected
sadness, and her mood quickly changed to despair. “How can you continue to
love me after you’ve been ordered not to?” she questioned.
“The same way I continue to see you, in secret,” he replied, his voice
soft and soothing.
“But Xerxes, if we get caught, Marpesia will surly kill you,” Artemisia whispered with concern penetrating her gentle voice as she gazed into his
eyes,
“If she does, will you mourn me as you do now when I am gone with my
legions?” Xerxes asked, taking her hands and held them in his.
Sara looked down at her wrist and saw the Witchblade swirling soft shades
of red throughout the room. She smiled and answered, “Of course, my love.”
After leaning in for a kiss, she replied, “I would mourn you as long as the
moon still rose and the sun still broke through the clouds.”
“And if Marpesia decided to kill you, I would mourn your death until my
dying day and through eternity, until we finally found each other again and
could be together without the threat of separation,” he said to her,
reassuringly.
“I love you, Xerxes. I will always love you, in this lifetime and all
those that follow. You are my guardian, my anchor, and my life. You keep me sane
and protect me from the voices and the demons. Never leave me, or I would not be
able to survive.”
“I will never leave you, my Artemisia.” He
kissed her once more.
Sara could feel the smile grow on her lips once more as she leaned over him to grab a small package wrapped in white linen and a red bow on the table beside their bed. “I want to give you something,” she said, pulling the bow off the package and gently unwrapping the linen in the palm of her hand to reveal a beautiful silver ring with a striking resemblance to the one that Van was wearing at the moment.
“This ring,” Artemisia explained, “is said to have certain powers;
powers that heal, powers that protect, and powers that give wisdom to those who
wear it, if they choose to believe. There is only one other ring like it, but
that belongs to the first guardian of the blade. He…died several months ago
protecting me. Then you came along and became my second guardian. I want you to
have this ring and to continue protecting me until the day I die, either of old
age or in battle. Promise me you’ll wear it always and never leave me unless
you absolutely have to.”
“I promise,” Xerxes whispered as she placed the ring on his finger
then kissed it.
Artemisia smiled, and as they leaned in for another kiss, everything
seemed to fade into darkness.
Sara found herself in an open field surrounded by a sea of people holding
torches. In her hand was a large bronze sword, something she wasn’t accustomed
to. Across from her was another dark haired woman, her arm encased in what was
clearly the Witchblade. ‘Oh, shit,’ Sara thought, realizing this is probably
what Van had seen in his dream. ‘Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, SHIT! I’m so
screwed! What the hell am I supposed to do?’
The other woman began to advance on her, swinging the Witchblade so close
to Sara she jumped back and threw her own bronze sword at the woman with all the
force she could muster.
‘Where the hell is Xerxes?’ Sara questioned as the woman came at her
again, this time with a little more force. Sara made the quick decision to move
out of the way before the blade came into contact with her stomach. ‘God,
please don’t tell me she killed him.’
“You should never have disobeyed me, Artemisia,” the other woman said
with such venom it scared Sara to think about what she had done to deserve this.
‘Oh, so she found out about us,’ Sara thought, quickly putting the
pieces together. “How did you get the Blade, Marpesia?” she yelled over the
roar of the crowd.
“I stole it,” Marpesia replied casually as if it were nothing,
“while you slept.”
‘Bitch!’ Sara’s mind yelled, wanting to pounce on the woman in front
of her, but knew it was a very bad ideas, especially since she had the
Witchblade.
“Artemisia!” Sara heard the familiar voice boom over the crowd. She
looked in the direction it came from, and in that split second where she was
distracted, Marpesia drove the sword into her chest. Sara fell to her knees as a
deadening pain ran through her body.
“NO!” Xerxes screamed as he pushed his way through the crowd to get to
the two dueling women. Marpesia twisted the sword like a skewer through Sara’s
chest, making the pain feel like her heart was being torn out of her body all
while she lived to watch it happen. She grabbed it with her bare hands trying to
keep if from causing her anymore pain.
“Xerxes, no,” Sara choked, feeling the blood spilling from her lips.
Her opponent turned to him as Sara added, “Leave, Xerxes! Marpesia will kill
you!”
“No!” Xerxes yelled as he pulled a knife from his belt and started to
run towards them. Marpesia tried to yank the sword from Sara’s body, but it
stayed there. It was like the Blade knew Xerxes was here to rescue them. He
raised his knife over his head, the sharp edge boring down on Marpesia’s back,
straight through her heart. She fell on the ground, limp, as the gauntlet
morphed back into its bracelet form beside her on the rich black soil.
“Xerxes.” Sara could hear her voice as if it were coming from a
distance. She knew she was dying. There was no doubt in her mind this was
finally it, the end of the line.
Xerxes fell to his knees beside her as his hands gently reached around her
head to cradle it against his chest. “Artemisia,” he whispered, tears
welling up in his eyes.
“Xerxes, I love you,” Sara heard herself whisper as she closed her
eyes.
“NOOOOO!” he wailed, the hand with the ring immediately finding its
way over the gash in her chest. As Xerxes cried above her, Sara could feel
something happen to her body, something she wasn’t expecting. Her bleeding
heart was being mended, slowly but surly.
“Xerxes,” she whispered. He looked down at her as if she had risen
from the dead, which she actually had, but that wasn’t important. He tried to
back away, but her hand quickly grabbed his and held it to her chest as it
continued to mend her wounds. The crowd around them was in awe, moving back as
they witnessed the miracle taking place before them.
Xerxes was too surprised to speak and just stared at her in amazement. His
free hand reached down and gently touched her face to make sure this wasn’t a
dream and that she was still alive. Satisfied that this was real and that it
wasn’t his imagination playing tricks on him, Xerxes whispered, “Artemisia.”
“I told you the ring had powers,” Sara replied in that foreign voice
as a smile graced her lips. “And you chose to believe.”
“I’ve always believed,” he replied, smiling as he leaned down and
kissed her lips, the blood having disappeared from them. Sara closed her eyes,
but when she opened them once more, she found herself lying in her bed. She shot
up, breathing in deeply as she looked over to her side and saw that Van was
still asleep. She sighed heavily and got out of bed, heading to the kitchen to
make some coffee and contemplate what just happened and what she was just shown.
The Witchblade was swirling on her wrist, indicating that it had some
intervention here, but that didn’t give Sara much else to go on.
“So, Van is a part of the Witchblade’s web,” Sara said to herself
quietly as she maneuvered about the kitchen. She grabbed the can of coffee in
the drawer closest to the fridge and filled the coffee pot with water. After
setting it to brew, she sat down at the kitchen table and began to think. That
was the hard part, especially since it had been such a vivid dream. Sara needed
to do something in order to get her thoughts straight. She decided on making
breakfast that morning, something she hadn’t done since high school, but was
willing to give a shot it since her mind couldn’t function with only one task
at hand.
Grabbing the eggs, butter, and bacon from the fridge, Sara set out to make
her meal all the while giving thought to her dream, or was it a vision? She
didn’t know, but decided to leave that aside for the moment while she focused
on the more important things, like what had happened. In her mind, it seemed she
was destined to fall into the same fate as Artemisia. But what if she could
prevent it from happening? That was the thing that troubled Sara. Should she use
her powers of divine intervention to stop this, or should she let it go and see
where fate took them all? That was a tough question that warranted answering.
As she continued to contemplate, Sara could hear a buzz come from the
coffee table in the living room. She stood up and went to grab the ringing cell
phone. “Pezzini,” she answered softly, keeping her voice low so Van
wouldn’t wake up.
“Hey, Chief,” Gabriel replied in almost an elated tone.
“Hey, Gabe,” Sara said as she sat down on the couch. “This is early,
even for you.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep and I had to talk to you because this
couldn’t wait,” he told her. “You know that research you asked me to do
about the past lives of the wielders that didn’t share a relationship with
“I’m listening.”
“In 600 BC, there was a warrior named Artemisia. She was King Xerxes’
right hand woman. She led his armies through battle after battle, winning pretty
much every single time. Speculations arose that that they were sleeping together
behind his wife’s back. When she found out, she got pissed and decided to
fight Artemisia for him,” Gabriel explained. “Now, there are a few different
sides to how this battle ended. The first one, and most common, was that
Artemisia killed the wife, but then Xerxes then found himself another woman, and
Artemisia killed herself because she was so grief-stricken. The second one says
that she killed Xerxes’ wife without the Witchblade and Artemisia and Xerxes
lived happily ever after. The third one is the odd ball. It says here that
Xerxes’ wife stole the Witchblade from Artemisia and used it against her in a
duel. When Xerxes found them, he distracted Artemisia and the wife ran the
Witchblade through her chest. But as we all know, the Witchblade can’t harm
the wielder, but here’s what happened that made absolutely no sense to me.
Xerxes killed his wife and when he kneeled down before Artemisia, she pretty
much died in his arms. This is where it gets extremely hazy. It says here that
some miraculous power brought her back to life. It doesn’t say what.”
“His ring…” Sara nearly whispered, going off into her own little
dream world of flashbacks.
“What?” Gabriel asked, a little surprised by what he was hearing.
“His ring… It was a gift, an object of power that could heal and
protect,” she replied, wide eyed and thoughtful. “Gabriel, I had a vision,
and so did Van…”
*~*~*
Billie awoke that morning feeling relaxed and refreshed with a warm body
on top of her that could only belong to Ian. They might not have done it the
night before, but she still felt like he had pleased her in every way possible.
Her hand brushed thought those long dark silky strands of his hair as she kissed
the top of his head.
“Good morning, hot stuff,” Billie whispered when he raised his head to
look at her.
“Morning,” Ian rasped, still not fully awake yet.
“So, what’d you think of last night?” she questioned, feeling a bit
mischievous.
“Very nice,” he answered with a smiled.
“How about we do it again?” Billie whispered, the devilish grin on her
face providing a look into her mind. She picked up his hand and gently led it
over her stomach and to her breast as her lips fell onto his for a deep and
sensuous kiss. ‘Let the games begin,’ she thought.
*~*~*
“So, explain this to me again,” Gabriel said. “You touched Van’s
ring and you were instantly drawn into a vision about Artemisia and Xerxes. And
you think that Van accidentally touched the Witchblade, which also give him what
you think are the same visions. Well, there’s only one way to find out if you
two are on the same track.”
“No, please, don’t make me wake him,” Sara begged. “He’s been
through a lot lately and he needs some sleep.” She really didn’t want to go
into detail about her little episode the day before. That would only raise more
questions and add to Gabriel’s growing fears and suspicions about the
Witchblade.
“Look, Sara, you need to ask him about these dreams he’s been having.
If he’s having them too, then I’m afraid for what this all means,” he
replied.
Reluctantly, she answered, “Fine, but he’s not gonna be happy, I can
tell you that.”
“Bring him a peace offering,” Gabriel suggested as Sara stood up from
the couch and headed into the kitchen where she poured two cups of piping hot
coffee, taking one with her into her bedroom.
Sara sat down on the edge of her bed, setting the coffee mug on the
nightstand, and gazed over at Van as he slept peacefully, his entire body
covered by her blanket, including his head. She wanted to laugh, but decided
this wasn’t the right time. Tugging on the blanket, she managed to release his
hold on it and pulled it away from his grasp. “Van,” she said softly as she
got a little closer. “Van!” She shook his shoulder lightly. “Come on,
baby. Wake up. I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
When he wouldn’t wake up, she said, “Gabriel, he’s out cold.”
“Try kissing him. That always works on me,” he suggested.
Sara put the phone down and lowered herself over Van’s body, placing a
light kiss on his lips, then slowly deepening it as he wrapped his arms around
her and kissed back. “Now that’s a wakeup call,” Van said as he opened his
eyes and stared at her with a smile on his face.
“Good, but I need you to tell me something,” Sara replied as she gave
him that serious face that told him this was definitely something not to be
taken lightly. “In your dreams, do you remember any specific names or places
or anything like that?”
Van sighed heavily. This was something he really didn’t want to revisit,
but Sara had asked, and now was the time to finally tell her. “Artemisia and
Xerxes,” he said.
Sara grabbed the phone at the edge of the bed and told Gabriel, “I told
you. So, now you tell me what you think this means.”
“Someone close to Van is gonna get jealous about your love for him, and
from the description you gave me about the chick in your dream and your new
boss, it seems like she’s the main suspect,” Gabriel summed up.
“Billie? No! How is that possible?” Sara rejected the idea the second
it escaped from his lips.
“Put together the pieces. She’s the only person that matches that dark
hair, blue eyes description,” he tried to reason with her.
“But it can’t be Billie. She’s falling for Ian,” Sara blurted
accidentally.
“WHAT?” Gabriel nearly shrieked.
Her phone began to beep telling her that she had another call on the other
line. ‘Saved by the tone,’ Sara thought as she said, “Sorry, Gabe. Gotta
run. There’s another call on my other line. Talk to ya later!”
“Sara. Sara!” She quickly cut him off and turned to the other line
that had strategically chimed in at the right moment.
“Pezzini, go,” Sara said.
“Sara,” Billie was panting. “You and the guys have the day off. Tell
Van and Deaq. Bye.”
Sara could hear the dial tone buzzing in her ear and turned off her phone.
The last thing she wanted was another call from Gabriel asking what was going on
between Billie and Ian. At least now she knew and would razz them the next time
she saw them.
“Who was that?” Van asked as he pulled her into his grasp and placed a
soft kiss on her bare shoulder.
“Billie,” Sara replied. “I think she managed to loosen Ian up a bit,
or it might be the other way around.”
Van’s hand slipped beneath her shirt and cupped her supple breast,
sending a hot jolt down her spine. “That’s good for us,” he whispered,
pulling her in closer to his body.
Sara had to snap herself out of this. “Breakfast is on the table,” she
said, trying to keep her feelings from getting to the best of her.
“You have a microwave for a reason,” Van replied, pulling her lips in
for a deep kiss as his hand lightly squeezed her breast. Sara arched against
him, her body his playground.
“Breakfast can wait,” she heaved after they broke from each other for
some air.
*~*~*
Deaq sat back on the couch in the lounge of the Candy Store. He was
beginning to wonder where everybody was and why they hadn’t come in yet. It
was nearly
“Hello?” came Sara’s heaving voice.
‘Oh, shit! I caught them in the middle of it!’ Deaq yelled at himself
before he replied, “Is this a bad time, ‘cause I can call later.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I was supposed to call you and tell you no
work today thanks to Billie. Bye!”
Deaq heard the dial tone before he could say anything more. ‘So, no work
today. I guess that means everybody is off being all mushy and shit,’ he
thought scornfully. Oh, he was really beginning to hate them all now. ‘Why the
hell can’t I find anyone?’ he wondered, making his way towards the door.
When he opened it, he saw a young woman standing outside getting ready to knock.
“Hi,” she said, a little startled but otherwise happy. Behind her were
a couple of large suitcases.
“Who are you?” Deaq inquired as he checked her out. She was pretty
cute with short curly black hair and deep brown eyes. Her skin was a bit pale,
but nothing a little
“I’m Vicky,” she answered with a smile.