Chapter 1



"Gabriel?" Renee opened the door to his shop and stepped in, calling to him once more. "Are you here?"
She smiled as his head poked through a door.
"I've been knocking on the door for several minutes. When you didn't answer, I decided to come in and see if you were here."
"I said I would be, didn't I? I was in the back, so I didn't hear you. You said you had something to ask me about when we talked last night. What was it?"
She hesitated for a second. "Since we haven't known each other for all that long, I know I shouldn't really be asking you to do this."
"Go ahead," he urged, curious about what it could be that she was so hesitant to ask of him.
"Well, my dad's birthday is next week and I was planning on visiting him."
"Okay, but where do I fit in here?"
She hesitated again. "it's just that I haven't spoken to him since I left a year ago. I want someone, you, there with me when I see him again."
"I see. What I don't see is why you were afraid to ask me. Of course I want to meet this other man that your heart belongs to."

Her face lit up with a smile. "Thanks, Gabriel. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Hmm. let's not think about that. I'm not busy right now if you want to go get something to eat."
"I'd love to," she said.
They walked outside, their arms interlocked. Partway down the street, they saw Sara walking toward them.
"Hello," she greeted them.
"We were just going to get something to eat," Gabriel informed her. "You could join us if you want."
She shook her head. "No, that's okay. You two enjoy yourselves."
Watching them walk away brought back memories of Conchobar. They had walked together like that, had looked at each other in the same way. She shook away the memories. It was no use to think of them, he was gone and would never be back.
She walked on to the precinct and her job. Waiting in their office with her usual cup of coffee was her partner, Jake McCarty. He had quit his job with the F.B.I. and had joined the New York Police Department. Whenever someone asked him why, he always answered, "Because I thought I could do more here."

"Thanks, Jake," she said as she took a sip of the hot liquid.
"No problem, partner."
Someone opened the door without knocking. Their new boss, Stephen Richards, walked in.
"I always did wonder why people bothered knocking."
"Ha ha. You think you're so funny, Pezzini." it was the same thing Dante would have said to that comment, only this new guy said it with a smile.
He was only a couple of years older than the two of them. His dark brown hair was cut close to his head and his blue eyes were sharp and alert.
"New case?" Jake asked.
"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Pezzini has a visitor."
*******
After they had ordered, Gabriel told her, "I found out something about your necklace."
Renee laughed. "Gabe, you make this seem like a business lunch. Could we discuss that later?"
"Sure," he replied, smiling at her.
Their meal came and they ate in silence until Gabriel looked up and asked, "Renee, why haven't you talked to your dad since you left? Don't you think he'd like to hear from you?"

Her face started to turn red and she nodded her head. "Yeah. I've thought of calling him several times in the past year, but..."
He put his hand over hers. "What is it?"
She looked up at him and looked down at the table again. "I stayed with him the summer I got out of school. We got into a fight before I left at the end of the summer. I wanted to come here, but he didn't want me to leave." She paused here to let out something resembling a laugh. "I guess sometimes it is a bad thing to be daddy's little girl your whole life."
He smiled at her. "I'm sure he'll still be glad to see you."
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I hope you're right."
"I always am."
She laughed and shook her head. "Gabriel, what am I onna do with you?"
"Keep me," he pleaded.
They both laughed. Once they were finished, Renee paid for their meal. Gabriel had tried to, but she refused to let him. He mentally shook his head. He never thought he could meet someone as stubborn as him, but here she was walking beside him as they left the restaurant.
*******
The man in sara's office wasn't too tall, but he wasn't short either. His dark brown hair was parted down the middle and combed neatly to the sides. She almost couldn't tell that this man was related to Conchobar. When she told him that, he laughed. "Everyone says that. John Patrick took after our ma more. Edward and me resemble our da more. Christopher did too."
"So, Daniel, why did you come here to see me?"
"I promised John Patrick about a week before he was killed that I would visit him. None of us had seen him since he left home." He sounded like he was ashamed of this. "Unfortunately, I was too busy to keep that promise and then..."
"Yeah, I know what happened then." Tears were starting to form in her eyes.
He continued. "Well, that last time we talked, he told me all about you." he smiled. "In fact, that was all he seemed to want to talk about. He said you were his soul mate." He shook his head at that. "He always did believe in those things."

Sara was about to say something when he started to speak again. "I brought his guitar here for you. I thought he'd like for you to have it."
"Thank you," she replied, unsure of what else to say.
He nodded his head. "I never did understand his love of music."
"He told me once that the blood of ancient kings and singers ran through his veins."
He laughed and said, "Yes, that was John Patrick. He was like that even as a lad." He smiled and offered her his hand. "I'll bring his guitar by your place later then."
She nodded. "Yeah, that'll be fine."
Daniel left and Sara went back to work.
*******
The next morning, Renee was at Gabriel's place by nine. As soon as he opened the door Renee started to laugh. His hair was uncombed and he looked like he was still half asleep.
"Not used to waking up in the morning?" she asked, still laughing.
He shook his head. "No, not this early." Stepping aside he added, "Come on in, I'll be ready soon."
She walked in and sat on the couch while he washed his face and combed his hair. When he came back out of the bathroom, he looked like he was actually awake.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. Your dad does at least know that you're coming, right?"
She nodded her head. "I called him last night. Told him I was bringing a friend."
"A friend? Is that what i am?"
She stepped closer, put her arms around him, and whispered in his ear, "You're much more than that and you know it." She pulled her head back and planted a kiss on his lips.
After she pulled away, a smile grew on his face and he said, "Well, if he sees you do that again, he'll be just as sure about that as you are."
"Well then I guess he'll be sure of the truth."
"Renee, you're so...well, you're just so." They both laughed at this.
"Come on, Gabriel. let's get going."
They walked to her car and he put his bag of clothes in the trunk with hers. Then they both got in and Renee started down the road toward home.
*******
Sara looked up from her work when the door opened. Richards was standing in the doorway with a file in his hands. "So much for a peaceful Friday," she said almost to herself.

Taking the file, she opened it and read the case report. She closed it again and asked, "Why do I always get the wierd ones?"
"Guess you're just lucky."
She just looked at him for a minute before asking, "You seen Jake? We need to go check this out."
He nodded his head. "He came in just a couple of minutes ago."
Just then Jake walked in and started to remove his jacket.
"Don't bother, Jake," she told him. "We gotta go."
He followed her outside and to the car. Once they were driving away, he asked, "So what is it this time?"
"Two dead people. Male and female. Look like they were posed," she said, quoting the report. "We'll know more once we get there."
They arrived at the scene and Sara stepped out of the car and walked over to the closed off area. A man was standing there. "You the one that found them?" She asked him.
He nodded his head. "Yeah. I was on my morning walk when I saw them laying there."
She asked him a few more questions, then let him go. Jake came over and he lifted the barrier tape. They went in to investigate.

As soon as she walked over to where the bodies were, the witch blade started to show her visions. She saw a man and a woman walking out of a bar. Then she saw a man following them. The next thing she saw was another man with a knife standing over them.
"Sara?"
Jake's voice cut through these images. She looked over at him. "What?"
"You seemed far away."
"Sorry."
She removed the tarp from the bodies. After taking a look at what was there, she quickly dropped the tarp back down. "Oh my God." was all that she could say.
Both of the victims' stomachs were cut open. There were numerous other knife wounds on their bodies as well. They had been laid beside each other with their arms and legs spread wide. They looked like they were making snow angels.
"What kind of sick pervert would do that?"
"I don't know, Jake, but we'll find out."
*******

"Gabriel, you never did tell me what you found out about my necklace."

"Oh yeah. I was having such a good time yesterday that I forgot about it." he pulled a small envelope out of his coat pocket. Opening it up, he pulled out a sheet of paper. On the top of it was a picture of the necklace. "It's very old. Seems it is a good luck charm."
He scanned the paper for more information. "Comes from Scotland. Laird of Clan Kenzie, Fergus, had it made for his wife, Aideen. This says that the horseshoe stands for good luck, the hearts for true love, and the rose for beauty."
"Well, it's brought me the first two."
He ignored her comment and continued. "That's the original. Some people said that the stone is magical and that's why it has lasted so long."
"How long has it been around?"
He looked at the paper again. "About five hundred years ago."
"Yeah, that was a long time ago."
He laughed. "Yeah, it was. It also says here that from that time, the mother would always pass it on to her youngest daughter."
"That seems strange. Usually it's the oldest that things pass on to."

"Yeah. It says something about that here, too. Seems this Aideen was the youngest daughter of...hmm, doesn't seem to say whose daughter she was." He looked over the paper again. "Want me to check it out when we get back?"
"Yeah. You've got me curious now."
He flashed a smile. "Is that hard to do?"
"No, no it's not," she replied, laughing.
A couple of hours later, she turned into a driveway. it wound up a very steep hill. At the top was a small, green barn. Outside were standing four llamas. A large, white dog came out of the barn.
"I know you said he lived out in the country, but I didn't realize it was out in the country."
She laughed. "Yeah. i always loved coming here. So peaceful."
A little farther along was a two-story house. Renee pulled up in front of the garage doors. There was a man standing there who Gabriel assumed was Renee's father. An orange and white cat ran by him into the garage as he stepped out of the car.
Renee's father walked over and said, "You must be Renee's friend."
Gabriel nodded his head. "Gabriel Bowman," he introduced himself.
"Michael Mackenzie. Renee, you didn't tell me your friend was a guy," he said, turning to Renee with a glint of humor in his eyes.
"Dad!" Her face was beginning to turn red.

Both of the men laughed at her embarrasment. "Can I help carry anything?"
"No, Dad. We each only have one bag."
"Ever know a girl who only needed one bag when going somewhere, Gabriel?"
"Not until now."
The three of them laughed as they walked into the house. Renee led the way to the two upstairs bedrooms. She pointed to the one closest to the stairs. "You can sleep in there. My room's right down the hall."
They put their bags in their rooms and went back downstairs.
*******
When Sara arrived home, she found a guitar case sitting by the door. Attached to it was a note.

Sorry I missed you. This is his guitar. There are some things in the case I am sure he would want you to have. I must return home now. May God bless you.
Daniel Dougherty

She picked up the guitar case and opened her door. She heard the phone ring as she reached the top of the stairs. Picking it up, she said, "Pezzeni."
"Hello, Sara," said a familiar voice.
"What do you want, Irons?"
"I have some information on a case of yours."
"Which one? I have numerous cases."
"The one you were given today," he replied, patiently.
"How did you know about it? The media doesn't even have any information on it."
"Sara." He sounded like a parent trying to explain something to a child. "Do you want to know what I do?"
She sighed. "Yes. I'll be right there."

She hung up the phone and walked back down the stairs. Stepping into the car, she tried to think of what it could be that Irons knew.
*******
After dinner, the three of them sat at the table talking. "How did you meet my daughter, Gabriel?"
Renee looked at him quickly. She hadn't thought of what she would tell him about what had happened. Now he really won't want me to leave, she thought.
Gabriel looked at her and seemed to read her mind. "A friend of my friend got us together."
Well, it is the truth in a roundabout way, Renee said to herself.
They looked at each other and smiled. Gabriel winked at her. Her dad didn't notice this. He said to Renee, "I never knew you for one who would go on a blind date."
"Yeah. They wouldn't let us alone about it. Just kinda pushed us together." In reality, it had been Dante and Orlinsky who had done the pushing.
Michael just nodded his head. "So, Gabriel, you're not really just a friend?"
Gabriel shook his head. "No, not last time I checked." He looked over at Renee. Her face was getting redder as this conversation progressed.
"Dad," she interrupted before he could say anything else. "I'm gonna take Gabriel down to see the animals. We'll be back in a bit."
She walked to the closet and grabbed their coats. Handing Gabriel his, she opened the door and stepped outside. As soon as the door had shut behind them, Gabriel burst out laughing. "Renee, you should see your face. It is red."
"Come on," she said.
She led him down the hill to the driveway. They were almost to the barn when he said, "He doesn't seem to hold it against you."
"What?"
"That you left when he didn't want you to."
"Yeah. I'm glad that he doesn't. He seems to like you."
"Let's hope so. It makes things a lot easier."
"What things?"
Doing this." he pulled her to him and kissed her.
"I love it when you do that," she whispered as they pulled away.
"I know," he replied.
They walked the rest of the way down to the barn and walked inside. "I really just came down here as an excuse to get out of the house."
"I know." He took this chance to kiss her again.
"Getting it all out of your system before we get back to the house?" She asked him with a laugh.
They stood around for a couple more minutes. "Well, I guess we should be getting back now. I'm sure my dad has thought of some more interrogation questions by now."
Gabriel laughed. "He has to make sure i'm the perfect one for his little girl."
They walked out of the barn and Renee closed the door behind her. He took her hand in his and they slowly made their way back up to the house.