The Angry Flame

By Divamercury

This was is my second favorite chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Ciara exhaled deeply and leaned back into the soft black leather of my couch, closing her eyes and trying to get a little sleep. I snagged my cell phone off the coffee table and went into another room so I wouldn't disturb Ciara, and then dialed the number to Jake's cell.

"McCartey," he answered. Apparently he was still at the station on paperwork duty at(quick clock check) 11:47 PM.

"Pezzini. Hey, partner," I said.

"Hey, Pez. What's going on?"
"I have a serious gold mine of info on the Oakland case, as well as those three other murders."

"Really? Excellent! So, what's the deal?"

"The deal is that I need some serious backup. My source is with me at my apartment and she's scared out of her mind. Frankly, I am too."

"Sara the Invincible scared? Whoa, weird," Jake said. "Why?"

"Because the murderer came after me last night and could quite possibly have succeeded at knocking me off," I said. Jake whistled.

"Why on earth didn't you tell me?"

"Jake, there's a lot of stuff I haven't told you that's been going on lately, but I swear I'll tell you soon. Now, either get some uniforms up here pronto or set up a safehouse."

"I think we've got one open already, so why don't you just come down? And hurry; the crook might have tailed you to your apartment."

"Yeah, that could be true–"

Crash.

My front door busted in, and Ciara screamed from the other room.

Damn!' I thought.

"Well, Jake, you were absolutely correct about that crook. Apparently he just broke into my apartment. I'llhave to call you back," I said hurriedly, hanging up instantly after saying this despite Jake's protests from the other end of the wire.

I sprinted into my living room, cursing to myself at the fact that I hadn't used diversionary tactics on the way to my apartment. Where had my brain been that evening? East was in my living room, holding a gun to a terror-stricken Ciara's temple with one hand and my badge in the other.

"So, Detective Pezzini, we meet again. Unfortunately I didn't learn of your other career until tonight–you seemed to leave that out of your application– or I would have eliminated you earlier," he snarled.

"Well, nobody's perfect," I said, shrugging.

"So, where's that savior of yours now, Detective? Who's going to save your ass this time?" he asked. He obviously meant Ian.

I crossed my arms nonchalantly even though my mind was reeling.

"I don't know. I don't own him; he just shows up when he feels like it. Just like my other little friend here," I said, extending my arm with the Witchblade on it. The stone was glowing a furious red.

"When it turns that color, that means it's angry," I said, explaining like I would to a three-year-old. As it got closer to East, who blanched, it hissed audibly. I know because Ciara jumped at the sound. That surprised me because normally it kept its feelings between the two of us: it and me. I glanced down at it and then back at East with an evil grin on my face.

"It doesn't like you," I said, stating the obvious. It transformed into gauntlet form, complete with sword, and Ciara screamed. East dropped the gun in shock and it slid across the hardwood floor to me. I picked it up with my left hand (my right being somewhat occupied at the time) and brandished both of my weapons at him. Training the gun on him and withdrawing the Witchblade's sword but keeping it in gauntlet form, I said, "Let go of Ciara and back against that wall or you and my friend will meet each other a little too intimately. And that means pain for you." He complied somewhat angrily, standing against the wall opposite me.

"Ciara, get off the couch and stay somewhere behind me," I instructed. Ciara, so thunderstruck by everything she had found out in the last ten minutes, followed my instructions in a mild state of shock.

"So, you were saying, East? Who's got who now?" I said.

"You won't get away with this, Detective. You'll go down for murder."

"Murder? Who said anything about murder? I'm not going to kill you, although my friend here still wants me to, but she's always been a little bloodthirsty, so I won't listen to herthis time. However, you'll be locked up so tight that the sun won't even get through to where you are. I can assure you of that."

All of a sudden Jake and three uniforms showed up, bursting throughair, I guess, because my door had already been defeated. I thrust my right arm behind my back. The Witchblade vanished and reappeared as a bracelet.

"Pez? You okay? I booked it over here when you hung up."

"Yeah, fine. I have reason to believe that this guy is our murderer and plus he broke into my house and threatened to kill my friend here, not to mention that this is the second time he's tried to kill me in the last two days," I said. Ciara looked visibly shaken.

Jake and the other cops swarmed around East, trying to cuff him, but somehow he got his hands on one of the uniform's guns in the struggle, aimed it at Ciara, and fired. He was trying to get rid of the most valuable witness in the case. The murderer could get off without her testimony. My brain didn't register what I was doing until after it happened.

Under normal circumstances I would have just used the Witchblade to make the shot ricochet away harmlessly, but in front of Jake and the three uniforms I had no choice. I couldn't let them know about the Witchblade, and they'd all think East was crazy if he mentioned it. Time slowed down as I leapt in front of a terrified Ciara, and a searing, white-hot pain sliced through my left shoulder. The bullet's impact violently knocked me backward. The last thing I saw was Jake's horrified face and the last thing I heard was Ciara's anguished scream before everything went black.