Chapter 10: Repentance

Sara awoke the next morning in utter bliss. She stretched out, her arms rising above her head and her legs extending past the thick comforter she was wrapped in. Someone rolled over beside her and put his hand over her exposed abdomen. She smiled and turned in his direction.

Darren slept beside her, or at least she thought he was asleep. His eyes opened to reveal those beautiful blue sapphires hidden beneath his eyelids. They were even brighter than she could remember in this early morning light. Her hand gently reached over and touched his cheek. He was still a little flushed from the night before, but it didn't matter. She moved closer and kissed him.

"Good morning," Sara whispered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Morning," Darren replied as he pressed his forehead up against hers.

"Last night was wonderful," she commented.

"You were wonderful."

Sara kissed him again. Darren held onto her for a couple more moments before he let her go. He gazed into her emerald eyes and gently brushed a strand of her dark hair away from her face. The picture of her beside him that morning would never leave his memory. Sara was the one every woman would be compared to. In his mind, she was perfect, and no one could replace her.

"What are you thinking about?" Sara asked as she tried to read his expression.

"How deeply I've fallen for you," Darren answered with as much sincerity his voice could carry. "I don't think any woman will ever compare to you."

Sara blushed as she thought about her own side of this experience. Darren had been her Prince Charming, saving her from all the "bad boys" she had ever dated. She never thought dating one of the "good guys" would result in finding her soul mate. 'Soul mate,' she said the words in her mind once more. 'A fitting title for the man that I might have just fallen in love with.'

Sara thought back to her conversation with Gabriel about the man she was destined to be with. Maybe Darren was Sebastian. Maybe this really was meant to be. Maybe she really was in love. 'I'm in love.' Sara smiled at the thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Darren asked.

"I'm thinking about how you're the most wonderful guy I've ever met," she answered.

"And you're the most wonderful girl I've ever met. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. I can't believe it's happened to me," he said. "You know what the first thought was that went through my mind when I saw you at the concert the other night?"

"No, what?"

"Oh, my God, I think I'm in love." Sara laughed at his response. Darren stared back at her in dead seriousness. She stopped laughing when she realized what he was going to say next. "Sara, I really do think this was a case of love at first sight."

"You do?" she asked, the lump in her throat forming as she tried to tell him the same.

Darren nodded. "Do you believe in love at first sight?" he replied.

With the tears streaming from her deep green eyes, Sara nodded. She let Darren wipe them away with his hand, the sensation of his fingers touching her skin making her heart swell to enormous proportions. "I love you," she finally cried, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. He held her as she cried those joyful tears until they finally subsided.

"Darren?" Sara asked as she stared deeply into his eyes.

"Yes, Sara?" he whispered.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

Darren looked at her strangely. He propped himself up on his elbow and stared at her. There was something about his expression that scared her. It was as if she had caught him off guard with the question. "If this is what destiny is, finding the one person that makes your life complete and fills your heart with so much joy, then I do believe in it," he answered, but he was clearly not getting her point.

"Do you think it's possible for love to span eternity? You know, like two lovers that were meant to be finding each other in every lifetime?" Sara managed to catch him off guard again.

Darren simply stared at her, unable to comprehend what she was getting at. Was this a trick question? He didn't know. He tried to formulate the answer in his mind as Sara waited and watched him, and just as he was about to speak up, her phone rang. She stood up and began to rummage through the pile of clothing on the floor until she finally found her cell and answered.

"McCarty, what the hell do you want?" Sara said as she stood by the bed.

"It's nearly nine and you're still not here. I was getting worried. You never show up late," Jack replied as calmly as he could.

"Sorry, last night caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting to sleep in this late," she lied.

"But you're coming in today, right?" he asked. "Because I know you wouldn't want to miss all the wonderful work I did last night regarding the new roadie case. I got that information you wanted about Anastasia Rossini. Turns out she was born in Rome on December 19, 1974. She lived with her father, who was an archeologist from the US. He taught her the art of ancient Roman warfare. She moved to Australia in 1992 and has lived there since. Just a few months ago she was hired as Darren Hayes' personal assistant. As for any priors, she was once charged for wielding a bronze sword in a Brisbane train station."

Sara could feel her heart begin to beat faster. It was as if she had just caught the criminal red handed. "There's more," Jake added. "I did a search for any strange murders in the Brisbane area and found that there were three such decapitations reported, but have remained unsolved. I even went further and used the tour schedule to see if there were any other decapitations reported in the countries that Darren had played, and guess what?"

"How many did you find?" Sara questioned.

"At least one in every country. And in the US, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, and New York were the only places that the decapitations had happened. Most of the people killed were loners, people who were either very quiet or blended in with society, people who wouldn't be missed, people that didn't have a family or were out on the streets with no place to go. The roadies didn't start happening until New York which suggests a change in her style."

"Shit," she cursed. "Do we have enough evidence to bring her in?"

"Unfortunately, we barely have enough evidence to continue pursuing this case," Jake answered.

Sara was lost in thought for a moment as she tried to formulate a plan that might catch their killer in the act. But her mind suddenly clicked into another mode. She remembered the other woman Gabriel had told her about, Amazon, and the fact that she said she would avenge her death. 'Oh, no,' Sara thought in horror. 'She's after Darren and me.'

"Jake, I have to go," she said. "I'll be there soon." She hung up before he even had time to reply.

Darren was looking at her strangely again, except this time, the expression on his face made it clear that he wasn't too happy. "What's going on?" he demanded.

Sara avoided eye contact with him. "I have to get to work," she simply replied.

"What's going on, Sara," Darren said more sternly. "Don't lie to me."

She had already hopped into her leather pants and was now putting on her top as Darren stared at her, his eyes burning with anger. Sara looked up at him, her own eyes trying to stay cool and calm. She knew she had to tell him what was going on. Looking down at her shoes, she finally said, "I tried to stay away from it last night because I didn't want to ruin the evening, but I guess I should have at least mentioned it to you when you were in my office. Another roadie was killed. Anastasia called it in. Apparently she didn't bother to tell you or Leonie."

"What?" he nearly yelled as he shot out of bed. "Who? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Leonard Smith, and I didn't tell you because last night was too good to screw things up with something as horrible as this," Sara calmly replied.

Darren was already running his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner. "Shit, now the press is really going to have a field day," he muttered.

"Look, Darren, I'm sorry. I know I should have told you," she began to apologize, but Darren put up his hand to stop her.

"You know what, I don't want to hear it," he spat. "Just get out."

"What?" It was Sara's turn to be surprised.

"You heard me, get out of my hotel room," Darren angrily answered as he wrapped the blanket around his body and walked to the door to open it.

Sara grabbed whatever stuff she wasn't wearing and left the room, taking the hint quickly. Her anger boiled up inside as she felt the hot tears that stung her eyes. Her heart was in her throat by the time she reached the elevator. As she waited for it to arrive on her floor, she finally broke down.

It had been a long time since someone had broken Sara's heart this badly. This was probably the main reason she stayed away from dating. It seemed that every time she thought she had found Mr. Right, he'd turn around so quickly and become Mr. Wrong. Darren turned out to be another Mr. Wrong. Maybe she should have shut him out like so many other men who tried to make a pass on her, especially Jake. He had tried so many times, but met with no success. The boy was resilient and innovative; Sara gave him that much credit. But, after all, he was her partner, and a relationship between partners was strongly frowned upon.

Sara stopped crying the moment the elevator doors opened. She dried her eyes and dismissed the whole episode as if it never happened, but in the back of her mind it would continue to linger, slowly eating away at her. To take her mind off it, Sara looked down at the Witchblade to find it glowing that angry shade of red again. Her mind told her to head back upstairs and warn Darren about the threat Anastasia posed, but her heart was as cold as ice towards him, and she continued to the lobby towards the valet to get her bike.

"Are you where you wanted to be? Did you get there easily? Did I make you sacrifice? Did you make a sharp left when you should have turned right? Are you where you wanted to be? Did you sell off all of your gold? Did you trade it in? Did you wait for love or settle for somebody to hold?" The lyrics echoed through the lobby as if the sounds of the bustling hotel didn't affect them. Sara recognized the voice as Darren's and almost immediately broke down again. She ran out of the lobby, trying to get as far away from him as he could.

"Barely symphonic, but strangely ironic, moments contained in one glance. Oh how I adored you But now I'm ignored by you. Nowhere a hint of romance, and now it's vaguely familiar; I think I remember sharing every single intimacy. It doesn't seem so strange to me that we barely entertained even the politest of phrases, but sometimes at night I conjure you up in my mind," the song continued to play until she finally burst out the front doors and out into the bustling street.

Sara sat down in front of the hotel on the steps to collect her thoughts. This day has slowly gone from bad to worse. She knew she looked like shit, but going home to clean up and change just wasn't an option. Instead, she opened her purse and pulled out a mirror with a couple of tissues to wipe off any runny makeup and fix her hair. Sara had the valet on duty bring her bike around as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Jake's number.

"Hey, Pez," he almost immediately answered.

"I'm coming," she simply answered when the valet pulled up to the curb with her bike.

"Thanks for the warning," Jake replied as he hung up, not waiting for Sara to say anything more. She was hurt by the fact that he didn't want to talk, especially now when she needed someone so desperately to confide her experience in. She put her phone away and mounted her bike, then took off as fast as she could, trying to release herself from that morning as quickly as possible.