Chapter
46: Not Again
Alone and
at peace, Sara sat on the beach, her arms wrapped around her legs as she watched
the waves roll into the shore and the people walk around her in their tight
bikini’s or shorts. She sighed deeply, taking in the scent of the surf and
wishing Danny was there to talk to her and tell her everything was going to be
okay. Today’s fight had taught her much about Ian’s powers of deception,
something she thought he was incapable of. It also taught her something about
herself; she could really be a bitch when she wanted to, and if her anger
remained unchecked, she could end up killing someone unintentionally. If she and
Van ever had a fight this bad, she only prayed that he’d back away before
something like this happened.
A tear
rolled down Sara’s cheek and landed beside her in the sand. She could feel
something changing within her. What, she wasn’t exactly sure. She just knew
something was different and that she’d have to put it under the ever
lengthening list of things she wanted to figure out in this lifetime. But she
couldn’t get over that feeling of incredible guilt that nagged at her insides
for what she had done today.
It was her
fault that Ian acted out. She had been a total bitch to him ever since they
first met. Maybe it was about time that he gave her one hell of a slap in the
face, a wake up call actually. She was no longer the driving force in his life,
and that made Sara realized all the more that she had taken him for granted
before Billie came along. But that gave way to so many questions. If he was her
protector, who would he choose when it came down to it, Sara or Billie? That was
a question she hoped would never come to be answered.
Sara
continued to gaze out into the open ocean aimlessly, her mind so far away that
she didn’t know if she’d ever zone back in. She could feel someone familiar
approach her, feeling the Witchblade warm on her wrist like it had about half an
hour earlier, but that turned out to be a false alarm, which prompted Sara not
to even bother looking up this time. She didn’t care who came to bother her as
long as they would leave her alone until she was ready to talk.
“Hi,”
came that soft, familiar voice from beside her. Sara glanced to her right to
find Van sitting next her, his intense gaze locked on her form as she turned
away from those soulful blue eyes before she gave away any of her pain and
suffering. Instead, she sighed deeply and stared at the ocean once more.
“You
don’t have to talk,” Van assured her. He wanted so badly to wrap his arm
around her shoulders but feared she might do something, like pull her gun and
shoot him. He could clearly feel her pain emanating from the Witchblade as it
constantly swirled deep shades of red with the occasional purple or blue,
something he had never seen.
“Are you
okay?” he asked. Sara shook her head, letting it drop to her knees as she
broke down and finally began to cry. Van reached over and took her into his
arms, cradling her as she cried on his shoulder.
“What
the hell is wrong with me?” she questioned, her voice coming out muffled
against his shirt. “I mean, I get angry at Ian for telling me off when he had
every right to. God, I’m such a bitch. Look at me, I’m actually jealous! Why
the hell am I so jealous? I know I shouldn’t be, but I just am. Its like
he’s been in love with me for the longest time, and now that he found someone
else, I feel that I’ve lost a part of myself. But then I look around and here
you are, my new knight in shining armor. And yet I’m still jealous. What’s
wrong with me, Van? Have I gone crazy or something? Why can’t I just be happy
for them? I mean, I was the one who hooked them up. I was the one that pushed
them into this relationship. Did I think he’d come crawling back to me or
something? Oh, God, if I did, someone should just kill me for being selfish and
an even bigger bitch that I thought I was.”
Van gently
stroked her back, placing a soft kiss on her forehead as he replied, “It’s
alright to feel jealous. Everyone does during the course of their lives. Look at
me, I’m jealous at all those people who got to grow up without having to lie,
cheat, and steal for a living. As for the crazy thing… Don’t worry; you
haven’t lost your mind. And I know deep down inside, you really are happy for
Billie and Ian, it’ll just take a little time to get over the initial shock
and realize that they’re good for each other, and that we’re good for each
other, even though sometimes it seems otherwise.”
Sara
looked up at him, her eyes deep red and still spilling tears, searching for
truth in his words. She sniffled as he pushed a strand of her hair away from her
face. “Are you angry about anything I just said?” she asked, sniffling
again.
“No,”
Van answered with a smile as he leaned down and kissed her. As their lips parted
he added, “Let’s go. Everyone’s been worried about you.” He picked her
up and carried her back towards the parking lot to his car. Setting her down,
Van looked Sara up and down to make sure she was going to be okay, especially
with what he was about to tell her next.
“What is
it, Van?” she whispered. “What’s wrong?” Sara could tell by the look in
his eyes that he was hiding something.
“I have
to tell you something,” he said. Having her full and undivided attention, Van
continued, “We had to tell Vicky about the Witchblade.” Sara sighed and
looked away. “Please, don’t be pissed. She was getting really angry and
would have killed one of us if we didn’t tell her.”
“I’m
not mad,” Sara replied as her gaze fell upon him once more. “I’ve been
meaning to tell Vicky and Danny for the longest time, but I haven’t been able
to figure out how without making them think I was crazy. Well, I guess that’s
one down and one to go.”
“So,
you’re not pissed?” Van asked.
“No, a
little relieved, actually,” she answered. “Thanks.”
“You’re
welcome,” he said. They got into Van’s car and drove back to the Candy Store
in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.
Sara knew
she had to apologize to Ian even though it was against her nature to do so. Then
again, she had apologized to Van the night before, so it had to be just as easy
as it sounded. Only time would tell, and that was already running thin as Van
pulled into the parking lot. They both walked into the warehouse, silent and
lost in thought.
Hearing
the door open, Billie quickly peered in its direction to find Van and Sara
coming inside. She sucked in a nervous breath and looked beside her to meet
Ian’s gaze. She nodded her head and stood up to go to her office, leaving him
alone to face Sara. Billie only prayed that their exchange would be a civilized
one that didn’t end in the activation of the Witchblade.
“Ian,”
Sara said softly as she approached him. He looked up at her without saying a
word. “I wanna say I’m sorry about the things I said to you. I really
didn’t mean to be such a bitch. I guess I got a little jealous over your
feelings for Billie. I realized that I was being a selfish, self centered prick.
I’m also sorry that I didn’t tell you about the visions. I should have told
you first, but I really didn’t want to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me.”
Ian sat
there and continued to stare at her, wondering what he should do. This was
definitely one of those times he wished that Billie would have given him some
advice, but all she had said was, “This is your decision to make, not mine,”
and left.
After much
deliberation and debate, he finally said, “I forgive you.”
Sara
smiled and wrapped her arms around him for a tight hug. “Friends?” she asked
after letting go.
“Friends,”
Ian answered.
“Finally,
the fight terminates,” Van said as he walked up to them. “Now, one more
order of business and we’ll be all done for the day.”
“What?”
Sara replied.
“Vicky.”
“Ah.”
“She’s
upstairs.”
Sara stood
up and walked up to the balcony where Vicky was sitting alone, gazing out across
the wide expanse of the Candy Store, her eyes devoid of emotion. Sara sat down
beside her and softly said, “Vicky?”
She
glanced over at Sara and grunted. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me
about this,” Vicky finally retorted. “How could you keep me out of the loop
for seven months? Does Danny know?”
“No, he
doesn’t,” Sara answered calmly. “Look, Vicky, I’m sorry I never told
you. It’s just that I didn’t want you thinking I was absolutely nuts. And…
I also didn’t want you getting hurt or killed, like Danny.”
“Like
Danny? What do you mean?” Vicky asked, the iciness in her voice slowly
dissipating.
“You
remember that day after I brought you the bracelet to make sure it didn’t
belong to the exhibit? Remember how Danny said he got buried alive?” Vicky
nodded. “That was because Irons wanted the Witchblade back, so he used Danny
to try and get to me. I really didn’t want that to happen to you as well.”
“I’m
flattered that you feel this way about me, but that still doesn’t justify why
you didn’t tell me flat out. You should have at least told me a little bit.”
“Vicky,
I know how you get when I tell you even the least bit. You always want more,
then you bug the hell out of me until I tell you,” Sara quipped.
“I know,
but come on, Sara. If Danny got attacked and he didn’t know about the
Witchblade, then I’m probably in the same amount of danger. I know it isn’t
an issue yet, but what if something did happen to me? Could you live with
yourself if you had the information that could have saved my life?”
Sara shook
her head, realizing that what Vicky said was true. “You’re right,” she
replied. “And now that you know, I do feel a little safer.”
“And
your circle of friends grows a little closer,” Vicky added.
Sara
stifled a laugh. “Right… as if it wasn’t big enough already.”
“You
need more close friends, Sara,” Vicky said. “Even though right now, I think
seven is good enough. Sara’s seven.”
“A lucky
number I hope stays that way,” Sara replied. “So, are we still good?”
“Yeah,
we’re good,” Vicky answered, giving Sara a quick hug. “How about you and
Ian?” Sara nodded. “Good.”
“Alright,
now that we’ve got all this cleared up, I think it’s time to go back
downstairs and get down to the real business of the day. These cases have been
sitting on our desks for too long. It’s time we got started on them.” Sara
stood up and made her way down to the showroom with Vicky in tow.
“Finally!”
Billie exclaimed when she saw the two make their way to the office where Deaq,
Ian, and Van were already seated. “First thing I wanna say is one more fight
and I’m kicking you out of here. Got it?” They all nodded their heads.
“Second thing, we need to get these cases rolling. Since it’s already been
decided we’d take on
“I’ll
have to take a look and see, but in all probability they’ll be sufficient,”
he answered.
“The
rest is up to the three of you,” Billie kept going. “As for the club case,
I’ve already started doing some background checking on the murdered men, but
as of yet, I haven’t been able to find a connection to
*~*~*
“Oh,
God, Billie! How could I let you do this to me?” Sara cried from the bathroom
after she had changed into the most revealing outfit she had ever tried on in
her life.
“Come
out and let me see!” Billie called to her.
“No!”
Sara sharply replied. “I look like a ho!”
Sara shook
her head, giving Billie the evil eye and clutching the robe tighter around her
body. She really didn’t want to reveal herself at the moment.
“Alright,
fine, be that way,” Billie replied as she walked away, her hand waving in the
air. Moments later, Van ran up to Sara and pulled the robe away from her body to
reveal the black leather halter top and matching hot pants that she wore.
“You
ASSHOLE!” Sara yelled once she realized what had happened. By that time, Van
was safely on the other side of the room, laughing along with Deaq and Ian. Sara
folded her arms across her chest feeling exposed and vulnerable. This was
definitely not what she had in mind.
“Wow,”
Billie commented. “You do look good.”
“Really?”
Sara asked, a bit skeptical.
“Yes!”
Billie answered. “Van, doesn’t she look good?”
Van was a
little hesitant with his answer. He had to get a little closer to see the full
effect. As he walked around Sara, inspecting every single last curve of her
body, his fingers gently ran across every piece of exposed flesh along her
torso. He came up behind her, his hands running up her bare arms as he finally
whispered in her ear in that soft sexy voice that made her melt, “You look
gorgeous. How about we go upstairs and you show me what’s underneath?”
Sara’s
head rolled back onto his shoulder as she looked up at him and replied, “How
about you start wearing what feels like red dental floss between your ass
cheeks?” Van backed off, quickly realizing that he had just pissed her off
somehow. He released Sara and went back to where Deaq and Ian were standing as
she gave him that evil eye.
“Why is
it whenever I try to be nice, she bites my head off?” he muttered, slumping
down into chair.
Moments
later, Vicky walked back into the room carrying two large cups of coffee. She
looked up at her friend and said, “Damn, Sara, you just keep taking it off!
Can I borrow that the next time we go clubbing?”
Sara
glared at her then realized she held two cups of the only thing that would put
her in a good mood, coffee. She grabbed one and started to drink it, a smile
instantly coming to her face. “Yeah,” she finally replied, “if you wanna
look like a hooker.”
“Ouch!
Down girl!” Vicky scolded, taking the coffee away from her. Sara whimpered,
then tried to get it back by lunging for it only to fall face first onto the
floor after tripping over her shoes. The room burst into hysterical laughter as
she rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, a little dazed from the
fall. She quickly stuck up her middle finger as soon as she regained her
composure only to be met with more laughter.
Van was at
her side moments later, offering his hand. Sara took it, but instead of hoisting
herself up, she pulled him down with her as well. Van fell to the floor with a
hard thud and a cry of pain as he hit the cement with his shoulder. She began to
laugh as she replied, “You’re such an ass.”
“I think
I dislocated my shoulder,” her groaned, lying on his back as he looked over at
Sara with an evil glance.
“Oh,
poor baby!” she sarcastically retorted, getting up off the floor. Van reached
out, wordlessly asking for a hand up. As Sara shook her head and extended hers,
he pulled her down again, this time on top of him.
“Two can
play at this game,” Van whispered in her ear as he grabbed her arms and pinned
her to the floor.
“Oh,
really? And what game is that?” Sara asked, giving him a wily smile. Not
waiting for an answer, she grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him into a deep
kiss.
“Hey,
both of you cut it out!” Billie yelled, trying to break them up after seeing
where this would probably lead. The last thing she needed was the two of them
sneaking off at a time where work was more important than play.
Sara
pushed Van away from her and stood up, grabbing his hand and pulling him along
with her. “We’ll continued this later,” she whispered into his ear, then
walked back towards the bathroom to change back into what she had been wearing
before, but not before turning and giving him a wink.
“Yes,
sir,” Van replied, feeling a little defeated, then returned to his seat.
Sara
stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later in a somewhat better mood. Vicky
handed her the coffee she had pined for earlier, and she greedily drank it. For
Sara, it felt like months since she had last had coffee, and being deprived for
so long had probably caused her mood swing. She kept drinking until the cup was
empty then threw it out when she was done. When she finally looked up and across
the room, Sara found that all were staring at her with questionable expressions
on their faces. “What?” she asked.
“Thirsty?”
Van asked, still a little surprised by how quickly she had downed that coffee.
“No, I
needed my caffeine fix. I haven’t had it in weeks!” Sara answered. “If I
go too long without coffee, you’ll have a repeat of today’s performance.”
“Ah,
okay, then, I guess I’ll be making coffee every morning from now on,” Van
muttered.
“Good,
now let’s get to work,” she replied, standing up from her seat beside him.
“Yeah,
why don’t we?” Billie retorted. “We’ve slacked off long enough.”
“Yes,
sir,” Van replied, then added, “Well, we’ve been doing semi work. Sara
found something to wear at the club.”
“Shut up
and get to work,” she snapped back.
The rest
of the day was spent finding and setting up equipment the team would need in
order to pull off this job while Vicky took a nap in the upstairs lounge, far
from the noise and commotion. With Ian’s help, they selected a few choice
items: semiautomatic handguns, assault rifles, shot guns, several different
lengths of rope, a ten inch hunting knife, a utility knife, and three specially
made suits with built in heat regulators, night vision goggles, and gloves
specifically made for gripping slick surfaces.
“I look
like I just stepped out of the Matrix,” Sara mumbled as she stared at the
mirror in the bathroom, donning her suit, which came complete with black leather
trench coat, black leather pants, black knit top, black leather knee high boots,
and a pair of black sunglasses.
Having
woken up earlier than expected, Vicky made her way downstairs to see what had
happened while she had been asleep. Entering the showroom, she found Van and
Deaq also dressed the same as Sara. Giving them both that odd look of
recognition, she questioned, “Where’s Trinity?”
Van began
to laugh, getting the joke. “I think she’s almost done,” he replied,
trying to keep a straight face as Deaq gave him a questioning look.
“What’s
so funny? And who’s Trinity?” he asked.
“Ever
see the Matrix?”
“The
movie? Yeah… Oh! Oh! I get it. Trinity!”
Just then,
Sara stepped out of the bathroom, a very serious expression on her face as she
gracefully walked up to the three of them. “Damn, we all look good,” she
declared, draping her arm over Van’s shoulder.
Van gave
her an approving glance over. “This gives a whole new meaning to the Candy
Store,” he replied with a smile.
“VAN!
Keep it in your pants!” Billie yelled from behind him as she approached the
foursome. He turned around to find her with Ian following and carrying several
suitcases. “I swear if you have one more of those thoughts, I’ll cut it off
myself with a butter knife!” Van swallowed hard. He knew Billie wasn’t
kidding, especially now that she was pissed for what appeared to be no reason.
Sara’s
hand fell into his and gave it a light squeeze. “Stay calm,” she whispered
into his ear. He took a few deep breaths and let go, walking away from Sara to
keep Billie happy.
“So,
what’s in the case?” Deaq asked, quickly changing the subject. All were more
than happy that he did, especially with the escalating tension between the group
members.
“It’s
your surveillance equipment. I want these cameras planted everywhere possible,
floor to ceiling, including cars, once you get access to
“I guess
it’s time we got out of these suits and had a little chat with Aquarius,”
Deaq suggested, pulling off the sunglasses and gloves.
“Who?”
Sara asked.
“A really good friend of ours,” Van replied, pulling off the gloves as well, but leaving the sunglasses.