Inferno

By Divamercury

Thanks for the wonderful reception of my work! Enjoy Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

I was grateful to have a day completely off from the wrath of Dante and all the other people that pissed me off. Holidays were wonderful, even if I didn't have anyone to share them with. My apartment was actually fixed up for Christmas this year (as opposed to previous years where I had ignored the significance of December 25th). The decorations consisted of strings of white lights around the apartment in various places and was completed by my mother's old nativity set (Dad said she had been a devout Catholic) and a small Christmas tree which, sadly, had nothing beneath it. I had to buy my own Christmas presents.

On Christmas morning I awoke expecting nothing unusual, just like every other day off, but scanning my surroundings I remembered it was Christmas. And to my enormous surprise, I noticed that there was a small box beneath my tree that hadn't been there when I went to bed on Christmas Eve.

" What the?" I said, voicing my confusion to no one.

"You might want to open that, Pez, since it is under your tree," a familiar voice asserted, responding to my question. I jumped and whirled around to see Danny appear sitting on one of the two chairs pulled up to my kitchen table.

"Danny! Will I have to put a bell on you or something so you don't terrify me every time you show up?" I asked angrily. He still freaked me out, just popping up out of nowhere.

"I'd like to see you try, Pez. Solidity is something I don't have, and I don't think a bell would stay on me," he said with a satisfied smirk.

"Then how the hell can you still sit on things?" I asked. I often wondered about how a ghost could sit on things in this realm and not slide right through them.

"Who can work out all the enigmas of the afterlife?" Danny said, trying to evade the question and succeeding.

I sighed in exasperation. He was still the same old Danny, just not alive. "Well, is it from you?" I asked, gesturing to the box.

"Pez, I'm dead. It's not like I can just walk into Macy's and pick up something for you, even though I'd love to give you a present."

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that. Well, thanks for the chat, Danny."

"Anytime, Pez. Merry Christmas." Danny smiled, and then vanished.

"Merry Christmas, Danny," I murmured, and then I went over to my small Christmas tree and picked up the package beneath it. It was about the size of my palm and it was neatly wrapped in black paper and had a small gold bow on the top.

"Where did this come from?" I wondered aloud. I turned the box over and spotted a small tag on the bottom that was inscribed in precise, vertical handwriting that I had never seen before. It read:

Merry Christmas, Sara. I truly hope you like this. Irons has had it for several years but it rightfully belongs to you.

Yours always,

Ian

Ian had gotten me a present? Wow,' I thought. Go figure.'

I carried the box over to my table, sat down, and then ripped open the wrapping paper to reveal a white box.

White box wrapped in black paper. Interesting. But then again, I should have expected black, knowing that it was from Ian,' I thought, opening the box to quell my intense curiosity. Inside it, resting on a pad of white cotton lay a Celtic cross necklace. The cross was clearly pure gold and was inlaid with two different colors of blue enamel. In several places the gold showed through the enamel, making it have an elegant appearance. I removed it from the box and clasped the delicate gold chain around my neck.

Wow,' I thought for the second time that morning. I got up from my kitchen table, got dressed in some sweats branded with NYPD on the front of the shirt and down the right leg, threw my hair up in a ponytail, and started my workout of the morning. I picked up some small 6-pound barbells and individually worked each arm, all the while pondering over the mystery of how the necklace I was wearing could have been rightfully mine when I had never known about it. But, I remembered that with the Witchblade, all things are connected. Nothing is coincidence. The hard part was figuring out what the necklace stood for.

* * *

Positioned in the parking deck across the street from Sara's building, I watched her in her routine. I smiled, pleased at her reaction to my gift. The previous night I had come to Sara's apartment, climbing the fire escape and entering the apartment through the window. I crept in silently and approached her Christmas tree. Smiling, I removed my gift from the pocket of my coat and left it under the tree. On my way out of the apartment I stopped by Sara's bedside. She had been lost in the depths of sleep, looking even more beautiful in repose as she did awake. I stayed as long as I dared, not wanting to wake her, and then I left, returning to Irons. I really didn't care about the penalty that would most likely result from my theft of the necklace from the Witchblade Hall, but Cathain's cross rightfully belonged with Sara since she was–or had been–Cathain, and Irons had no actual claim to it. Pleased by what I had seen, I left the parking deck and set off to perform some "errands" for Irons, all the while wishing I was free to stay and watch her for as long as I wanted.

* * *

When I finished my workout, it was time for lunch. I threw a sandwich together and devoured it while flipping channels and scanning mindless Christmas programming. I never thought that I would get bored on my day off, but I did, and I had to bring out some paperwork I order to be ahead for the next workday. I slaved away over paperwork for the rest of the day to keep from going insane from the tedium, occasionally taking breaks, until 10:00 rolled around. At that time, I decided I was done for the day and I collapsed into bed. For once I actually was looking forward to going to work. I doubted that that would ever happen again.