Chapter
38: Sensory Overload
‘Why hasn’t Sara told me about her dreams?’ Ian pondered as he stood
beside the stove, scrambled eggs in pan number one and pancakes in pan number
two. ‘And why haven’t I felt anything?’
As if by some divine intervention, his answer came quickly in the form of
a vision. Ian was suddenly caught up in what Sara was seeing at the battlefield.
He knew he was dying, the big question being how. He could feel the blood
running from a gaping wound in his chest, but had no idea where it came from.
Sara was kneeling down beside him, the tears threatening to stream down her face
as she said, “Xavier… No…” She pushed a few strands of his hair away
from his face after removing his helmet.
Ian looked up to find Van, or someone that looked almost exactly like him,
standing behind her. He knew almost instantly that the man was meant to take his
place, and would do so in every lifetime that he wasn’t able to protect the
wielder. “Artemisia,” Ian whispered as he looked into those deep green eyes
and saw her pain. “It’s alright, there is another. He will protect you. Do
not worry.” He took a few labored breaths, indicating that his end was near.
With his last breath he added, “I will always be with you.”
“Xavier!” she screamed as Ian proceeded to close his eyes when they
got too heavy to keep open.
The vision quickly ended, leaving Ian gasping for breath. He couldn’t
believe what he had just seen. It was too much to bear, too much to think about.
Was he destined to die in this lifetime so Van could take over, was their
meeting a mistake, or could this be a possible warning about the future? Ian
didn’t know, nor did he want to. He just knew that it was about time he and
Billie got to know each other a little better before things began to happen.
As if on queue, Billie walked into the kitchen dressed in tight black
pants and a black lacy top cut just above her midriff, her hair still up in a
towel drying. “Hey,” she said. “Where’s breakfast?”
Ian forced a smile on his face as he turned around and replied, “Almost
done. Have a seat.”
Billie almost immediately noticed the change in his demeanor. She knew
something had happened while she was in the shower. “Ian, are you alright?”
she asked.
‘I can’t hide anything from her!’ Ian thought as he finished
breakfast and set a plate of food in front of her. She looked up at him, her
blue eyes hinting at the concern she felt. “I’m fine,” Ian finally
answered as he sat down across from her.
“Don’t lie to me,” Billie retorted beneath a hard glare. “I know
you’re not fine. Something’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he answered, trying to keep his eyes out of her
line of sight. Ian knew he’d give everything away with just one look.
“Look at me,” she ordered, her hand resting beneath his chin and
raising his head so their eyes met, caramel brown to ocean blue. Billie saw the
myriad of emotions that ran through those eyes. Ian was in turmoil. Something
had definitely happened in the last few minutes, and she was determined to find
out what it was. “Ian, what happened?” she softly asked.
Ian knew he had to choose his words wisely. He wanted to tell Billie what
was going on, but he also didn’t want to scare her with the possibility of
losing him. “I had a vision,” he answered after a few minutes of staring at
her.
“What kind of vision?” Billie questioned.
“One that you need not worry about,” he said in that tone that
indicated this conversation was over.
Billie knew not to push her luck with Ian. He was still getting used to
the idea of social interaction, and a fight right now would only set them back
further. She dropped it with a sigh and began eating her breakfast in silence,
her mind running a mile a minute as she wondered how to get it out of him
without pushing. This proved to be an impossible task, but she’d figure it out
one way or another.
“Hey,” Billie said as she finally looked up at him again. “You wanna
go do something normal couples do?”
Ian gave her a strange glance. “Like what?” he asked.
“I dunno, maybe go to a museum or see a movie or just take a walk
through LA,” she suggested.
“Alright,” Ian let his answer linger in the air as Billie smiled back
at him. She reached over the table and placed her hand over his, giving it a
reassuring squeeze.
‘Everything is gonna be alright, I hope,’ Billie thought to herself
when she saw Ian give her a comforting smile.
*~*~*
“So, how do you and Sara know each other?” Deaq was asking Vicky as
they sat across from each other at the diner a few blocks away from the Candy
Store. Their conversation had been light, only getting to the important stuff
now.
“We’ve been friends ever since I started working as the resident ME at
the 11th Precinct,” Vicky answered. “She’s thrown plenty of
interesting cases my way, but nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“An ME, huh? We could use one of you out here, seeing that it takes
forever to get autopsy reports when we send them in. We’re still waiting on
the results from something that happened two weeks ago,” Deaq replied. ‘Then
again, that should be explainable now that we know Sara’s secret,’ he
thought.
“Yeah, well, I’m the best,” she said confidently. “Throw me a case
and I guarantee a two day turn around, no matter how many bodies are lined up on
my tables.”
“Try fourteen.”
“Whoa! Fourteen? What the hell happened, a mass extinction?”
“You could say that,” Deaq replied.
“Let me guess, Sara’s case?” Vicky asked, knowing the answer almost
as quickly.
“Yep; and I don’t know how she managed to do that. We were up against
all these guys, and she’s in a dress, for crying out loud! How the hell she
could possibly pull something like that off is beyond me, unless she flashed
them and they got all googly eyed, but I seriously doubt that,” he explained.
“Yeah, Sara’s a little too good for that,” she said. “But you got
her in a dress? How?”
“Part of the case,” Deaq answered. “We also got her to change her
hair color and overall look as well.”
“You changed Sara’s look?” Vicky asked skeptically, needing to do a
double take in order to make sure she was hearing things correctly. “What did
you do to her!”
“Well, it’s hard to explain. It’s something you’ll just have to
see for yourself.”
“Don’t tell me that! It makes me wanna go see her this second!”
Vicky whined, already antsy about how to react when she saw her best girl
friend. This was all too much information.
“I don’t think that’ll be a good idea,” Deaq advised, remembering
the last time he had barged in on them with Billie. The last thing he wanted to
do was see them going at it again. That picture was still embedded in his mind
from the last time. He really didn’t want to see it again.
“Well, we can go a little later and knock to see if she’s not
occupied,” Vicky suggested hopefully.
Deaq had to think about that for a minute. He really didn’t want to
bother his partners, but Vicky was getting to be a pain in the ass, so he had to
agree with her. “Alright, but if she doesn’t answer, we’re leaving.”
Vicky squealed with excitement. She looked like a little girl again, all
giddy and bubbling. She looked so cute at the moment; Deaq couldn’t resist
smiling at her.
*~*~*
Sara sighed as she pulled herself out of Van’s grasp and got out of bed.
He grabbed her hand, holding her back as he whined, “Don’t go.” She bent
down and kissed his forehead.
“I’ll be back,” Sara promised, grabbing a robe from her closet and
slipping it over her body. She needed some time alone to think about what she
had just seen. Everything was a jumbled mess in her head. What could that vision
about her first protector dying mean? Could it be a sign of things to come, or
could it be a warning, and she was able to prevent it? And what was she to make
of Van’s memories? Was she supposed to help him patch things up with his dad
before he lost him like she had lost her father?
Sara shook her head, her mind unable to process this many things at once.
She sat down on the couch in the living room and stared up at the blank TV
screen. Breathing in deeply, she managed to clear her mind enough to notice Van
standing in the doorway in his boxers gazing at her with those intense blue
eyes. He walked over and sat down beside her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, gently rubbing her back between her
shoulders.
Sara pushed the long golden locks of her hair back away from her face as
she sighed, “All these dreams and visions are getting to me. I keep thinking
about them and seeing them whenever I close my eyes. I’m worried about Ian and
Billie and you and everybody. I don’t know what to make of things. I don’t
know what to do. I just don’t know!”
Van pulled her into his chest and replied, “Shh… Don’t beat yourself
up over it. I know you’re worried. You feel the weight of the world on your
shoulders, but I’m here to help you. You’re not alone.”
“What about you?” Sara asked. “How do you feel about this new weight
being thrust into your life? I mean, you’re extremely calm about this. Did you
know all along, or are you hiding your true feelings?”
“I’ve had this feeling all through my life that I was meant for great
things, that whatever I did would matter. I just wasn’t expecting to become a
superhero overnight,” Van explained. “I guess I’m still in denial. It
hasn’t hit me yet because I haven’t used these supernatural powers. Maybe
when I do it’ll hit me.”
“You’re lucky that you weren’t just thrown into this like I was,”
she replied. “From the beginning, I’ve had to deal with things that I
thought nobody else on earth had to deal with. Then I finally discovered Ian,
and he began to help me even though I refused him at first. Eventually, I also
ended up meeting Gabriel, and he also started to help me. All in all, my life
has gotten a little easier even though the complications seem to keep
compounding on each other. None of my friends know about this thing,” Sara
said, pointing to her bracelet, “but your friends do, so consider yourself
even luckier. I wish I had just as much support as you do now when I first
discovered the Witchblade’s powers and its intent with me. Maybe then I
wouldn’t have gone through so much shit and lost so many people I loved.”
“Sara,” Van said as he held her a little closer. “I can see what
you’re trying to say, but listen to me. We’re on the same plain here. Both
of us have been thrown into a world that we don’t understand, or can even
begin to. We have each other to rely on, and in time, maybe we’ll be able to
figure all this out.”
“But that’s the problem. We don’t have that much time. Things in
Witchblade land happen so quickly, you’re barely able to comprehend them
before something else decides to step in your way,” she tried to explain.
“Every time I’ve gotten close to figuring something out, the rug has been
pulled out from under my feet, and I’ve been left with solving a whole new
puzzle. This thing asks more questions than it answers.”
“Look,” he interrupted. “We’ll figure this out. I know we will. We
just have to take things as they come.”
"Taking things as they come has only screwed up my life, Van!"
Sara barked unable to hold back the anger and resentment.
"So, what you're saying is that coming here and getting to know me
has somehow screwed everything up?" Van asked, his own anger becoming
evident.
"That isn't how I meant it!" she shot back.
"Well, then how did you mean it?" Van angrily replied.
"Van, you know how I meant it!" Sara shouted. She expected this
from Jake McCarty but not from Van, he was supposed to be different.
"No! I don't! Explain!" Van yelled at her.
Sara jumped up from the couch. "I am not having this conversation
with you!" she shouted as she headed to her bedroom.
"That's right! Go ahead! Run away! Just like you always do!" Van
turned around and yelled over his shoulder. "See if I give a damn!"
Sara knew she was running; this is how she dealt with things. It wasn’t
like the last time, though. She was going to come back after she had figured
everything out a little more. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to see
Van's back. "Run like I always do? The least you can do is look at
me!" she hollered, her eyes narrowing on the object of her aggression as he
wheeled around.
"Yes. Run, Sara! Just like always!" Van yelled, walking towards
her. They were at eye level now and his were glowing with anger and aggression
just waiting to get out.
"Well, for your information, I don't always run!" she shouted at
him.
"Oh yes you do!" Van bellowed. "You ran from Jake McCarty
and now you're running from me! Why do you do it Sara?
Make me understand!" He got into her face and added, "I think
you do it because you’re afraid."
"I am not afraid of you or Jake or anything, Van!" Sara shot
back. The Witchblade was swirling an angry red on her wrist indicating that
something wasn’t right. She glanced down at it for a second to see what the
hell was going on, then returned her gaze to those fiery blue eyes now staring
down at her.
"I think you're afraid of getting hurt!" Van shouted.
"That’s why you push people away, so they can't hurt you!"
"I don’t push people away! What would you know about pushing people
away, anyhow? It's not like you’re
the king of normal relationships or anything!" she spit out.
"How come you pushed Ian away then?" If she could bring up his
life, he would bring up hers. "You did it because you were afraid of
getting hurt!" Van answered his
own question.
"How come you didn't shoot the red head or arrest blonde?" she
spat back. "Why did you have to sleep with them and put them in a position
to go free? You didn't want to get
hurt by bringing them down, did you? Well,
I guess I'm not the only one."
Van didn't know what to make of this. He walked around seething.
"Yeah, well...." he growled and trailed off. “That was
different!" Van finally spat out. "I had to do it to keep my
cover!" he finished.
"I can't do this anymore!" Sara screamed as the tears began to
flow. She ran into the bedroom and
slammed the door, falling on the bed as she continued to sob.
"Oh yeah?" Van yelled. “Well, I can’t do this anymore
either! Goodbye Sara!” He walked out the front door, slamming it.
Van paced up and down the hallway thinking until it hit him, 'Oh my god! I
just accidentally broke up with her!' Van walked back into the apartment and
knocked on the bedroom door. "Sara, can I please come in and talk to
you?"
Sara stood up from the bed and headed for the door, wiping her eyes with
the back of her hands along the way. When she thought she looked decent enough,
she opened it and yelled, “What the hell do you want now, Van? Can’t you see
you just ended it? Why don’t you go home and get the fuck out of my life so I
can go back to New York without anymore hang-ups? Or is there something more
you’d like to say? Like you’re happy you got rid of me so you can be the sex
god that you used to be, sleeping with marks left and right.”
Van was shocked by what she had said, but Sara spoke the truth. He had
managed to sleep with two of the women he had been sent to rope in, one of which
he still had feelings for even though they had almost completely faded the
moment Sara entered his life. But she was really making this difficult for him,
and the only way he could react was with anger.
“You did NOT just hit me with that!” Van yelled. “I already
explained this to you once. If I hadn’t slept with them, I would have blown
the case!”
“Bull shit! You still have feelings for one of them,” Sara countered.
“How do you know?” he immediately asked, becoming even more enraged by
the notion Sara was putting forth.
“Because I felt it when I was getting that mental download from you. You
saw someone slap a girl that you liked and immediately got pissed off enough to
nearly get out of the car and kill the bastard. And don’t go telling me that
she means nothing to you, because obviously she does!” Sara was on the verge
snapping his neck. She couldn’t believe the myriad of different emotions that
ran through Van’s eyes. There was definitely something there; she just
couldn’t really pinpoint what it was. But the Witchblade’s swirling red
colors told her all she needed to know. She was unable to believe anything that
he’d say next.
“Cassidy meant nothing to me!” Van started. “She was just another
mark that I had to get close to in order to make a bust. I didn’t love her the
way I love you. I didn’t feel anything towards her like the way I feel towards
you.”
“Why should I believe you when the Witchblade tells me that you’re
lying?” Sara finally asked the question that was on her mind.
“Because,” he answered looking deep into her eyes, “I love you and
no one else. Everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve heard, everything that
I’ve experienced ever since you entered my life has been so wild and
unexpected and unbelievable that I thought I’d go nuts, but you’ve kept me
grounded. You’ve kept me sane. I might be a ‘superhero,’ but I do have
feelings, strong ones that I don’t normally tend to show. You’re the only
person that’s ever gotten me to expose them. I don’t know whether to thank
you or kill you, but I do know that nobody else is going to get me to unravel
myself the way you do, so please, believe me when I say you’re the only
one.”
Sara glanced down at the Witchblade to see it had gone dormant again. She
sighed; it had been her emotions that triggered its response, not Van’s.
“You’re gonna have to give me some time. I don’t know if I can accept
everything just like that. You did, after all, just break up with me. Why should
I give you another chance?” she tactically asked, seeing if he could give her
another good reason to crawl back.
Van took her hand and kissed it gently. “Because we’re connected in
one way or another. You even told me that yourself. So even if we tried to get
away from each other, we’d still end up finding one another in some way,
shape, or form,” he seductively answered, closing the gap between them so that
he was now looking directly down at her. “I’m sorry for causing all this
trouble, do you forgive me?” His soft blue eyes went into kicked puppy mode
making Sara smile unconsciously.
“Fine,” she grumbled. “I forgive you.”
Van leaned into her plush red lips for a deep, soul soothing kiss that
reclaimed their relationship. His hands gently pulled open her robe, allowing
the creamy white silk skin of her breasts to fall upon his chest as they
continued to kiss. Sara moaned softly as he reached up to rest his hands on
them. They slowly made their way towards the bed, kissing and groping all the
way there. Both were ready to take the next step of ecstasy when a knock came at
Sara’s front door, making both their heads shoot up.
“What the fuck?” Sara growled as she pushed Van to the side of the
bed, put her robe on, and walked to her living room to answer it. These damn
interruptions were really pissing her off.
*~*~*
“How did I let you drag me here?” Deaq asked as he and Vicky parked in
front of Sara’s building after finishing lunch. Vicky had been persistent and
relentless in her begging to see her friend that afternoon. She wouldn’t shut
up! Deaq had been forced to take her to Sara’s in hopes that they could
reconcile their differences and talk. But he knew better than to interrupt Van
and Sara on their day off. They needed some alone time, especially after what
happened and with the case that they were getting ready to start within the next
few days.
“Because I explained to you that Sara’s my best friend and I really
need to talk to her because I think she’s still mad at me for bugging her
about leaving
Out the corner of her eye she saw a tall, half dressed man walk out of one
apartment, running frustrated hands through his rich chestnut hair as he paced
outside for a little bit before entering the apartment again.
“Van?” Deaq asked from beside her. “What the…?”
“That’s Van?” Vicky asked, immediately connecting things in her
mind. ‘Uh-oh, better go check on Sara,’ she thought, opening her door and
running out.
“Hey, Vicky, wait!” Deaq yelled after her, catching her just before
she ran up the stairs to the second floor.
“Did you not just see what I saw?” she questioned, trying to get
herself out of his grasp even though it felt quite nice.
“Yes, I did,” he answered. “But that doesn’t mean we should go
barging in on them. The least we can do is wait and see if Van comes out wearing
the rest of his clothes. If he doesn’t, then we’ll go.”
“How long do you think that’ll be?”
“I dunno, five, maybe ten minutes, if Sara doesn’t kill him first.”
Vicky sucked in a ragged breath. She knew her friend was either in trouble
or very pissed or maybe even crying, something she rarely did. The last thing
Vicky wanted to do was wait. It was the thing she hated most. She glanced down
at her watch, counting down the minutes until finally, with no sign of Van, she
ran up to the second floor and knocked on the door.
It seemed to take forever, so Vicky knocked again, this time being met
with a familiar shout, “I’m coming! Give me a minute!”
Sara opened the door, her eyes immediately going wide with surprise as
Vicky tried to keep her jaw from dropping to the floor when she saw the complete
change her friend had made in the last two weeks since she had left
“Vicky!” her friend nearly yelled back as she wrapped her arms around
her neck. “Oh, my God! I thought you weren’t coming in until tomorrow!”
“Yeah, well…” was all that Vicky could manage. She was still trying
to get over the shock of seeing Sara with a completely different look.
“Speak me to, Vic. You’re usually never quiet,” Sara replied, eyeing
her friend suspiciously.
“Yeah, well…” Vicky said again, still trying to figure out what to
say. She was still in shock. “Sara, you look so different!”
Sara began to laugh. “Oh, I guess I forgot to warn you,” she answered.
“Deaq tried to, but he could have NEVER prepared me for this! You’re a
BLONDE! You have a tan! And on top of all that, you’re wearing something
skimpy and actually look comfortable in it! Sara, what’s happened to you?
You’ve become a completely different person! I don’t even know you
anymore!”
Vicky was quickly going into sensory overload. Sara knew she had to
diffuse the situation and fast before her friend had a mental breakdown. “Vic,
why don’t you sit down? I’ll be right back,” she gestured to the couch in
the living room as she peeked out the door and saw Deaq standing outside. She
motioned for him to come in then headed for the bedroom to put on some clothes
and warn Van.
“What’s going on out there?” he asked as she started searching
through her closet for something somewhat comfortable.
“Vicky came a day early. I think she’s about to have a meltdown,”
Sara said as she slipped into a pair of tight fitting yet comfortable jeans and
a black halter top. “Get dressed. Deaq’s here too.”
“I guess I’ll have to apologize later,” Van replied as he slinked
out of bed and quickly came to Sara’s side, his arms wrapping around her bare
waist and placing a soft kiss on her neck.
“Tonight, okay?” she whispered, holding onto him for just a few more
seconds before letting go. Van nodded, untangling himself from her grasp and
picking his clothes up off the floor.
Minutes later, both emerged from the bedroom looking as if nothing had
happened between them. “Vicky,” Sara said. Vicky’s head shot up to look at
her friend and the guy perched over her right shoulder. “I’d like you to
meet Van Ray. Van, this is my friend, Vicky Po.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Van politely addressed as they shook hands.
“The pleasure is mine,” she replied, still a little unsure of herself.
“Van, could I talk to you for a second?” Deaq asked from the other
side of the living room.
Van walked over to his partner and replied, “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
“I think we should give them a little time to talk. Vicky seems like
she’s about to have a heart attack. I really think she needs Sara to explain a
lot to her today, so why don’t we give them a little space?” Deaq answered.
Van looked over his shoulder to see Sara sit down beside her friend and
try to think of something to say to her to keep her from going insane. Vicky
continued to stay rigid, her face twisted with so many questions that it seemed
they would just explode from her at any second. “I guess you’re right,” he
said, walking over to Sara to tell her the plan, or sort of anyway. “Deaq and
I are gonna head out for a little while. We’ll be back soon. If you really
need me, just call me. Okay?” Van softly told Sara as he leaned close to her
ear.
“Alright, I’ll see you soon, then,” she replied, softly kissing his
cheek as he did the same.
After he had gone, Sara turned to Vicky and asked, “So, what do you
wanna know?”
“Everything from the look to the guy to whatever the hell happened just
before Deaq and I got here,” Vicky answered.
Sara smiled. ‘This is gonna take all day,’ she thought then began her explanation.