Inferno

By Divamercury

Chapter 9 arrives!

Chapter 9

Ian left the apartment, and I went and sat down by Sara. I was really worried about her. She was like a big sister to me, and plus she was an all-around nice girl. She didn't deserve this. I had this really bad feeling that this was no accident, that someone had made this happen on purpose with nothing but malevolence intended.

I couldn't hope to fathom the depths of Sara's mind, since I hadn't known her all her life or anything, but I could tell that there was something going on between Ian and her because of the way he acted around her. The little things: the looks, the concern, the constant watching. He loved her. However, I wondered if Sara felt anything similar. She would rather die than show how she was feeling, so I wouldn't find out that way. That was apparent. Maybe if I paid close enough attention, something would just make itself known.

I glanced down at Sara. She had quieted down and was now just tossing and turning a little as she slept. I hoped that she would recover from thiswhatever it was. It was really frightening that something like this had just attacked her, striking without warning. Sara, whom up until now I'd thought was invincible, was now fighting for her life. Well, at least she had good help on this side of the dream world. We'd figure this out. We had to.

* * *

Retracing Sara's steps wouldn't be too difficult. There were very few places that she actually frequented: the pool hall, the precinct, an occasional restaurant or two, and her apartment. Oh, and Vorschlag, of course.

Well, those are good places to start. Stop #1: Precinct 11, NYPD,' I thought. I started walking and arrived about fifteen minutes later, all the while pondering what to ask and whom to talk to. I decided that first–unfortunately–would be Jake McCartey. I didn't trust him at all, but I could be very persuasive

I found McCartey as he was exiting Captain Dante's office. Another man I didn't trust. Dante hated Sara for no real reason and therefore was an enemy of mine, since he was an enemy of hers.

"McCartey," I said, not taking time for pleasantries.

"Nottingham," he returned with a quaver in his voice. I noticed that his face had paled to a hue similar to that of refined sugar. I took pleasure in this. I terrified the man. Good. There wasn't a good probability of resistance from him. He was scared to death of me because of the multiple times I had cleaned his clock, as some might say.

"I was wondering if I could speak to you. Privately."

"Um" He apparently didn't know what to say. "Sure. My office."

His office? More like Sara's office, noviceIan, you're being petty. Stop it,' I reprimanded myself.

"That's fine," I said, and we entered the room. I closed the door behind us.

"What's going on?" Jake blurted. "Where's Sara?"
I needed to choose my words carefully. I wanted him to grasp the gravity of the situation but I couldn't tell him too much. He knew nothing of the Witchblade, and hopefully never would. And I didn't want him to come and see her, either. Sara couldn't retract the Blade, so he couldn't be allowed in. This was like walking on thin ice. You had to be alert every moment or else you'd end up doing something that you'd later regret.

"She's at home in bed."

"Did you leave her there?" Jake asked with contempt. I chose to disregard that even though I could have broken his jaw for what he had implied, but I calmly (keeping my composure) said, "Not exactly. She is ill. It seems to be food poisoning or something similar," I said, making that up but suddenly realizing that that was a legitimate possibility. "I was wondering if you had been feeling strangely, so I could determine if the problem came from this location."

"Well, the coffee's been pretty lousy for the past few days, don't know what could have been in there," Jake said. "That's the only thing I could think of, but who knows? I've never heard of anyone getting sick because of coffee before, especially not Pez. She downs it like nobody's business."

"Well, thank you for that enlightening rundown. I believe I will take my search elsewhere. I appreciate your time," I said, and then I left the precinct. I couldn't get away from that creep fast enough; I had been afraid the whole time that I would suddenly jump out and start strangling him. Thankfully I withheld that urge.

* * *

As my watch over Sara continued with no word from Ian, I noticed that her fever was rising again. We had finally gotten it down to 99 but I found out after taking it again that it shot up to 102 again. I did what Ian had instructed me to do in case this happened again: wet cloths. They seemed to help, but Sara was still delirious. Not as much as she was by a long shot, but at first she didn't recognize me.

"Dad? Is that you?" she asked weakly.

"No, Chief, it's Gabriel. You know?"

"Oh, hi Gabe. Where's Dad?"

"He's" I had to be careful. Couldn't say dead, who knew what would send her beyond help in this state? "He's not here right now. It's okay, though, I'll take care of you."

"What about Ian?" she asked. I was surprised that she mentioned him.

"What about him?" I asked her.

"Where is he? Did he leave? Am I that far gone?" she queried, sounding like her old self and not her delirious self.

"No, not even close. Calm down, Chief, he's off trying to find out why this is happening to you. He shouldn't be too long. Just relax. Why, am I boring you?" I asked. Sara smiled weakly. That was the basic adverb to describe anything she was doing: weakly.

"It's not thatI just was wondering if he'd abandoned me."

"He'd never do that, Sara. He" I didn't want to say anything that I wasn't sure of. "He cares more than that, I'm sure," I decided to say.

"You think so?" she asked, sounding like a little kid. This unnerved me.

"Uh, sure. Now get some rest, Sara. You hungry or anything?"

"No, but I'll have to eat something or I'll starve. Let me have a little nap and then force something down my throat if you have to."

"Well, I hope it won't come to that, but I'll see what I can do," I said. "Now just relax."