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IV. Into The Woods

If anything, Kenneth Irons was a patient man. You had to be when you were him. But, for some unfathomable reason, that didn't seem to apply at the moment.

"It is taking too long."

As is the norm, Nottingham remained silent.

"She should have come crawling to me for reprieve. She must be more strong willed that I thought."

The platinum blonde slumped down in his over-sized leather chair. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"I truly do not understand her. There must be some one else helping her."

"Her partner."

Irons looked at his ward, "Who? Ah, yes. Jake McCartey. The enamored surfer. He is quite taken with Ms. Pezzini, isn't he? Actually, he was here a few days ago: to deliver the check for the damages to the Rialto. I took him by the Witchblade Hall. The look in his face was quite amusing."

"He knows."

Few things have surprised Kenneth Irons in his life time, this has been added to the rather short list. He was glad to be seated.

"He knows! Did he figure it out? I thought he was more dense than that."

"She told him. Early this morning."

"She . . . just told him? Like it was nothing?"

"No. I believe in her mind she had no choice."

"And he believed her?"

"Sara showed him the Witchblade. I did not stay to hear the rest."

"We will have to see where this turn leads us."

He resumed pacing his study.

* * * *

"Please don't do this! I'll do anything! Don't hurt me, please!"

"Pain is part of existence."

"Please, no . . ."

"Don't you want to be art? Be free of the mortal world? To go beyond? To meet the others?"

"Please, let me go!"

"You have been chosen. Don't you see? To go and meet God. You should feel honored."

"No, just let me go!"

"I can't do that. You are one of the few. You see what the rest of this pathetic planet can't. You're special. And pain brings even more clarity."

The scream echoed off the walls.

* * * *

Sara Pezzini was entirely too comfortable. This was the first time in months she had gotten a decent nights sleep. There were no dreams to plague her. Or perhaps they were memories. She didn't want to think about it at right now. Only one thing was on her mind: this wasn't her bed, and pillows don't have heart beats. Sara opened her eyes to find herself half sleeping on her partner. It didn't seem strange for some reason. She only wondered how they could both fit on her couch like this.

He was a good pillow.

The nice, hazy feeling of having slept a full night was broken by the loud ringing of the alarm clock.

"Cut the noise. I'm up."

"Machine. Don't know voices."

She laughed at Jake's mumbled comment, and moved to get up.

"Just throw something at it, Sara."

The ringing stopped after the correct button was pushed. Damn noisy thing. Probably humankind's most annoying invention. At least ringing was better than that buzzing thing her last clock did. She turned around to see Jake sitting up right, and vehemently cursing mornings.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"Nah. I'll swipe something at the station."

Strange. She thought it would be awkward now that he knew. It didn't feel any different. He stretched and made his way over to lean on the kitchen counter beside her.

"How are you?"

"Fine. That's the first time I've slept more than three hours. It did me some good."

"Good. Listen, I keep an overnight bag in my car in case I don't make it home. Can I, uh, borrow your shower?"

"You better not use all the hot water."

"I won't."

Jake left her to her cereal and her other guest.

"So, you got a thing for McCartey?"

Danny was back.

"A thing?"

"You know: a thing. On some subconscious level, you like him."

"He's a nice guy."

"Oh come on. You just slept with him."

"Not like that!"

"Ooooo. Defensive. You think he's hot."

She laughed at the banter. Even though he was still around, she missed him. And Sara knew better. If Danny showed up there was another reason.

"No reply. You're guilty, Pez."

"Why are you really here, Danny?"

"Always could figure me out, couldn't you?"

A nod.

"Remeber those windows of perception that we talked about, Pez."

"Okay?"

"Okay, what?"

Danny was gone.

"Nothing, Jake. Bathroom is that way."

Jake kneeled down next to her, "You all right?"

"Yeah. Just thought I saw something."

* * * *

Jonnie was labeled as no good from the first day of school. Nothing but trouble. That's what all of his teachers called him. So did his father.

"Who needs them?"

So, Jonnie had given them what they expected. You name it he had done it. He had a trail of misdemeanors behind him. Breaking and entering, disturbing the peace, and so on. Last year, though, he did a job for some guy. Held up a grocery store. Got away with it too, but that was small time. No, LSD was the way to go. It was good money, and it made him see things. Those stupid law makers didn't know what they were missing.

If Jonnie hadn't had been so screwed up, he might have seen the other person in the alley. Waiting for him to come by, like he did every time he got a fix from the boss.

Jonnie didn't see the knife come down on his back either. Blood pooled around Jonnie's body as his attacker broke into hysterics.

"No! Nononononono! Not the right one! Not the right one! Unworthy!"

He stabbed Jonnie again.

"No! No! How dare you!!"

He left Jonnie there, and staggered away rapidly muttering 'not the right one' and 'unworthy' over and over again. He would wait for the right one. Yes. Yes, there was still time. He would wait.

* * * *

"Hey, Pez, get this. The coroner had the entire underside of the porch roof taken down. I guess that was the only way to get the body down."

"They took part of the ceiling with the other guy too."

The walls of the small office were nearly covered with the crime scene photos. One wall for each body, and the other for any that didn't fit into the other three categories. It had taken all morning to put them up, and most of the afternoon to go through reports and statements. They were down too reading the coroner's reports now. The last thing from a very large pile that had been waiting for them upon their arrival.

"That's it." Jake slammed the folder shut. "The words were starting to blur together."

"I know what you mean, Jake."

"I-"

A knock on the door interrupts McCartey's sentence, and Officer Leeds stuck his head in.

"Hey you two. A garbage crew found some kid in an alley. Multiple stab wounds. You guys take it?"

Sara looks at her partner, "Well?"

"It gets us out of here. Sure thing Leeds."

* * * *

"It's trash day. We was picking it up when Joey found the kid."

"And what time was this?"

"At about three, Detective McCutty."

"McCartey."

"Sorry."

There was someone watching them. Sara could feel it. She used her hand to cover the soft red glow that the stone gave off. The Witchblade knew too.

The Kid, Jon Zumbrota according to his ID, had been dead for a few hours. It wasn't hard too see what killed him. The contents of his veins were spilled across the pavement. Why, was the bigger question. All of his money was still there. So was the ziploc bag full of narcotics. So, nix on robbery. Probably mistaken identity.

A sigh of frustration. Were was that feeling coming from?

* * * *

It was her again. Oh, it made his heart sing to be near her. She was so strong. He was sure of it now. This Detective Pezzini was the one the white-haired man wanted. She was the one he wanted. He could do such great things with her, but he had to go. That nice lady he had sent on this morning was waiting, and there was that other teen he had found. He was strong too. It would be hard to take him.

* * * *

They were all gone. Her warrior women.

She knew what had happened. She fell for their trap. Those repulsive half man, half beast creatures from across the river.

Disgusting really. How they lived. But now there were more of them.

The funeral pyres burned brightly. Lighting the way for her sister's souls. She was their leader. Revenge would be hers.

The man-beasts did not know the forests as well as she did. They dwelled in the plains. Ignorant of the advantage the woods gave their enemies.

She had the tool to bring them to their end. The strange glove she found at the bottom of the lake seven moons ago. It would help her. It hated those animals just as much as she did.

It was only a matter of time, then she would be the last thing that they saw:

Setting their entire camp ablaze.