Chapter 6: The Tale of Constance

Chapter 6: The Tale of Constance

Irons stood at his window that overlooked the city. It is beautiful. The automatic doors to his office opened with an electronic purring. "Hello, Nottingham." He turned to greet Ian as he slowly walked into Irons' office, head down, eyes to the floor. Irons tilted his head and smirked, "Where have you been? I was worried." Ian knew very well that he hadn't been worried, he kept silent, trying to make amends for the past couple days. "So, you were with Sara?" Ian's head snapped up, his eyes glared into Irons', "Ooo, did I hit a nerve?" Irons walked slowly over to Ian. He stepped so close that he was only inches away from Ian's face. Ian dropped his eyes, he couldn't look Irons in the eyes for too long, it burned his soul. Irons kept looking at Ian and walked around him stopping at his ear, Irons' whisper sent chills up and down Ian's back, "Was she good?" Ian felt as though every word utter was tightening a noose around his throat, "You did sleep with her did you not?" Irons hovered to Ian's other ear, "Proved your manhood." Irons watched as Ian's body started to hunch over, his head drooping to his chest. This was what Irons wanted to break him down, just like he had when he was a boy. All he needed was one more stab to prove to whom Ian was loyal now, "Oh wait, you are not a man." Ian shut his eyes tightly, holding in the furious anger that was rising inside of him; hot tears fell down his cheeks. Irons final words hissed in Ian's ears, like a serpent hissing at its prey, "You are a robot, an unfeeling piece of stone, my precious lethal property. You can never love, can never feel, you will never be loved, you are mine and always will be!" Ian body shot into motion taking Irons to the ground. Ian kicked Irons and fell upon him striking him with both fists. He mercilessly beat him, and stepping off him he looked at Irons while drawing his sword. With a mighty war cry, Ian brought his blade down upon Irons.

Sara and Constance and been talking for over an hour about the Witchblade and it's powers. Sara couldn't believe some of the things that Constance said the Witchblade could do. Most of them were unimportant at the moment, what Sara wanted to know now was Constance's story, it intrigued her.

Constance looked at Sara, "There's more you want to know, I can tell." Her eyes seemed to hold countless wisdom.

"Uh...yes. I want to know about you." Sara smiled at her and offered her more tea. Constance took her third cup of tea and sat back in the big armchair she was seated in.

Her story unfolded not just in Sara's ears, but in front of Sara's eyes. She was seeing it as a vision; Constance was controlling the Witchblade through Sara. Constance's voice echoed through Sara's mind, "When I met Ken I was barely eighteen and very naive. He offered the world to me, and the Witchblade. He seemed so wonderful, everything a young girl would want in a man. I fell in love..."

Sara could see a younger version of Constance standing in a big bedroom. She was wearing a flowing silk bathrobe. Kenneth Irons walked slowly over to her holding a beautiful silver bracelet. "For you, to enhance your beauty." Constance took it from him and slid it on her wrist. Sara watched as Irons removed her clothing, stroking her thin firm body. He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, "You are mine now, you are my magnificent creature, you will be my savior." They fell on a bed in heated passion.

"He promised me everything, the Witchblade provided it, and somehow I was able to still keep my sanity throughout the next two years. I believed everything he told me, I was in love with being in love. It blinded me. Everyday he trained me more and more to make a perfect warrior, every night was filled with passion and the Witchblade ate it up, it loved the sensations I was giving it." Constance turned toward Sara, Sara opened her eyes, "It feeds on the sensations that you give it as well, Sara. The sensations you feel when Ian is around."

Sara looked her and rolled her eyes, "What sensations?"

"You know, Sara." Constance pulled Sara back into the story, "Two years later he and I read his ancient book cover to cover. It spoke of a male child that was going to be born a child that would have special gifts, a child that could wield the Witchblade when he came of age. Irons told me to find him. I used the Witchblade's powers for months and didn't find a thing. Then one day I was walking by an old run down orphanage, on one of the oldest streets in New York. I felt the Witchblade pull me towards it as if it was controlling my body. Once I was inside the building I knew that "he" there..."

Constance walked up to a filthy desk, an old woman was sitting behind it, typing on a typewriter, "May I see a list of all the children you have in your home?" The old woman looked up from her work and slid a pile of tattered pieces of paper toward Constance. Constance flipped through them quickly letting the Witchblade guide her. Her hand stopped above a little five-year-old boy. Constance held out the little boy's name, "May I see this child?"

The old woman looked at the name and hesitated, "He's a strange on, he is. Talks to himself and all, are you sure you want to see him?"

"Take me to him."

Constance was brought down a long hall and into a small room. The room had a two-way mirror in it. The old woman pointed toward the window and walked out of the room. The Witchblade hissed and breathed at her telling her to move to the window. She walked silently to the window and peered through. On the other side was a little boy with dark curly hair, he was talking to himself, "You heard me, drop your weapons!" He was holding out a small tree branch and was swiping it back and forth as if he was slaying a dragon. "Take this and this..." He twirled around the room jabbing at the invisible enemies.

Constance laughed covering her mouth with her hands. She thought he was adorable, but she was there on business, she watched him for two hours, the boy never tired. He was still running around the room. Constance was convinced; this little boy was who they were looking for.

"I went straight home and told Ken, he was intrigued. As soon as Ken saw the boy for himself he was convinced as well. I asked him what he had planned for the boy. He told me that the boy would receive training overseas as soon as possible. I asked him what type of training there would be. He told me that the boy would be trained in the ways of the Samurai and the Knights Templar. I told him that I would help him as long as the boy came to no harm, he agreed and I went and picked him up. The adoption was completed under my name. Ian was mine; he never legally belonged to Irons. I had the boy keep his own name, so he could know where he came from. The trouble started as soon as I brought him home. You already know what happened, Sara"

"Yes, I dreamt about it. What happened after that day?"

"Ken was abusing Ian everyday, beating him and making him do things that a five year old should never be asked to do."

"Like what?"

"Ken made him kill a kitten one time, Ian told me afterwards. Otherwise I would not have ever known what Ken had been doing. Ken had kept it well hidden. I walked in on Ken smacking Ian around; it was shortly after he had called me mother. But you knew that, Sara..."

Constance ran into the large study, yelling for Ken to leave Ian alone, Ken threw Ian against a wall knocking him unconscious. He went after Constance, "He loves you! You have turned him completely against me. Now I have to brainwash him! You were not the one I thought you were!" He grabbed her by the throat, picking her up off the ground with strength that she had never known he had had. She yelled for the Witchblade to help her. "It doesn't hear you! It obeys me now!" He threw her to the floor, she felt her wrist fill with pain, the Witchblade had turned on, it was angry and it was burning her. She tried to pull it off screaming at Irons to help her. He sat on top of her and ripped her blouse open, "Lets make love one last time, like we always did. You, me, and the Witchblade." She screamed and the Witchblade hissed its anger, burning her skin.

"My screams were in vain. He raped and beat me for two hours. Then he released me. The Witchblade had wanted to fight him, it had wanted to protect me, but he had stopped it somehow. When I had given up the struggle was when the burning ceased; it slipped from my arm. It left the scar you saw earlier today and the scars I'll show you now." She pulled her sleeve up to her elbow, what Sara saw was horrible. Constance's arm looked like it had been baked, the skin was discolored and it hung like the skin of an eighty-year-old. Constance covered her arm and went on speaking, "He spared my life and sent me away, but he vowed that if I ever returned that he would kill me. I was so terrified that I ran out without looking back. I left him, Ian, I left him there with THAT man." Constance's cheeks were covered in tears when she had finished. Sara moved towards her and embraced her as she cried silently.