Inferno
By Divamercury
Hopefully this long chapter will satiate your appetites for a while. :) I will be working my fingers to the bone to get Chapter 13 out, so hopefully it will be out soon. Until then, enjoy Chapter 12 and don't sue me!
Chapter 12
I hung up the phone and tried to calm myself down. Sara was slowly coming to, but she was delirious again, murmuring things I could barely understand. It seemed like time had stopped. The minutes crawled by like eons and I could do nothing but stare at Sara. My eyes raked across her and fell on the Witchblade, unchanged from its gauntlet form. Now that was a story. I was still in disbelief about the whole bracelet/gauntlet thing. How a piece of jewelry could become an awesome weapon, let alone grant the Wielder such extraordinary gifts was way beyond me. The eye of the Witchblade glowed very faintly. It reflected some light from the sun back towards me from its place at Sara's side. As I was in the middle of my reverie, the door to the apartment burst open. Ian was behind it. Barely looking back as he slammed it shut, he rushed over to Sara.
"How is she?" he asked me.
* * *
"Better than she was. I was really afraid we were going to lose her for a minute there," Gabriel replied.
"We can't be sure that we won't lose her," I said, ruing the words. But it was the truth, and I said it.
"So what did you find out on your odyssey? Anything?" he asked, trying to ignore my previous pessimistic perception.
"More than I could have possibly imagined. Irons was behind it all."
"WHAT?!?!" Gabriel yelled indignantly. "What are you talking about?"
"Give em hell, Gabe," Sara remarked from her delirium. I stifled a smile.
"The damned malicious bastard!" he exclaimed. "The mother f–"
"My thoughts exactly," I said, cutting him off. I didn't want to hear the full extent of his vocabulary. Damned malicious bastard' pretty much summed it up. "It seems that he had his pet geneticist and a powerful pharmaceutical company that appears to be under his thumb create a virus specially for Sara and the Witchblade. And I think I know how he did it. I'll explain later. Anyway, there has been an antiserum made–"
"–Great! So"
"So, Irons's share has disappeared, with or without his aid. It's hard to tell. But whatever the reason, we don't have the cure, and from what Irons implied, that could prove disastrous for Sara."
"So, how did he do it? You've kept me in suspense for long enough."
"I don't know how Sara was infected to begin with–it could have been in anything–but I now know the significance of an event that happened a while ago in relation to the creation of the virus," I said. I knew that I was killing him slowly.
"AND?!Wait, you're saying that you had a hand in this?" he asked incredulously, waving a hand toward Sara.
"Accidentally. I didn't know the extent of my master's' evil intentions then," I said. "Did Sara tell you about her run-in with Gerald East?" I had no doubt that she had. I knew little of it, but I knew that it went farther than a simple arrest turned attempted murder.
"She mentioned it. Why?" Gabe asked.
"Sara was wounded in an encounter with him ad lay on the floor bleeding for several minutes before they decided to do anything about it," I said somewhat bitterly. I tried to suppress the thoughts of my lady lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood on the floor of her home. "After the apartment was empty, I was sent to collect some of the blood on the floor in a small glass vial that was provided, and I did so against my better judgement. I only wish that I hadn't. As instructed I returned it to Vorschlag, where the vial was turned over to Immo's control.
"Understandably I was curious as to what they were planning to do with it, but I assumed that it would only be made into restorative infusions for Irons. Therefore I never thought any more about it. But that must have been how he designed the virus. I don't claim to be an expert in the genetic field, but the most plausible explanation that I can come up with is that he took her blood, isolated her genetic code, and created the virus. It has been designed so that it attacks her and only her, disables the Witchblade, and is untraceable. That must be why she isn't healing; the Witchblade's properties in that arena are unable to function."
"So what you're saying is that Irons got this guy to create a virus custom-made for Sara because he wants the Witchblade?" Gabriel asked.
"In a nutshell, yes."
"Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito," Sara murmured from her bed.
Gabriel just stared. Then suddenly something hit me.
"Gabriel, keep watching Sara. I have to go back to Vorschlag."
"What? Why?"
"I have an idea, and if I'm right, then I might just know how to save Sara," I said.
"Well, if it'll help her, then by all means get out of here," he said.
I nodded. "I'll let you know if I find anything."
* * *
Ian left, and I was even more confused than ever. Irons wanted Sara dead. This just added on to the list; it seemed that most of the people that Sara knew wanted her on the other end of a bullet to the brain. Weird.
I glanced at the clock beside Sara's bed. It was noon, my lunchtime. I decided to skip it. I wasn't in the mood for food. As I sat, watching Sara, her home phone rang. After four rings, I heard Sara's voice:
"Pezzini, go."
A few moments later, after the beep, an woman's uncertain voice said, "Umm, hi Sara, it's Ciara. I was hoping that you would be able to come to lunch with me this afternoon because we couldn't do it earlier this week, but I guess you aren't home or whatever soI guess it'll have to be another time. Listen, don't forget that the rehearsal is tonight at 5:00. I'll see you there! Bye!" Click.
"Fat chance," I called to the answering machine. "She's not going anywhere for a while."
* * *
When I got to Vorschlag, I went to Irons's office. Surprisingly, he wasn't in his office. There was only one other place that he would be. In the Witchblade Hall. I left his office and proceeded there, and literally ran into him as he was on his way out. Actually, he ran into me, blinded by rage.
"WHERE IS IT?" he roared at me, lunging towards me. I sidestepped him easily and after he missed he whirled around to face me. I knew what he was looking for.
"What?" I asked as innocently as I could.
"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT, IAN! WHERE IS THE NECKLACE?"
"The what?" I asked, playing dumb.
"CATHAIN'S GODDAMN NECKLACE!" he roared.
"Oh, that. It's not in there anymore," I said, stating the obvious and pointing toward the Witchblade Hall.
He threw a punch at me. I caught it effortlessly in a steel hand.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said. "It won't get you anywhere. Besides, why do you want that cross? It is just another relic in your collection. You have no special need for it."
"You have no idea. That cross is the single most important piece of jewelry to me, after the Witchblade! It is crucial that I find it!" Irons exclaimed.
"Really?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow like Sara would in the same position. Irons let out a sound of extreme exasperation and stormed off to his office.
"I was right," I murmured to myself. "I must return to Sara."
I flipped open my cell phone and dialed Sara's. Gabriel answered on the first ring.
"Ian?"
"Yes. I'm on my way back. My theory was correct. I know how to save Sara."
"You're sure?"
"Positive. You will see," I said. "All wrongs will soon be righted."
