Chapter 12: Elucidation
A throbbing pain from the left side of her head had awoken Sara that afternoon. She kept her eyes closed fearing if she opened them, her headache would get worse. As she rolled over in bed, she felt someone sit down at the edge. Her eyes shot open to find Darren staring down at her, holding a warm towel. He placed it on the top of her head and smiled.
"Afternoon," he said, his sweet Australian accent shining though as he gently dabbed her forehead with the warm cloth.
"What happened?" Sara groaned as she settled onto her back.
"You took one hell of a beating this morning," Darren answered. He grabbed a bag of ice from a basin beside the bed and eased it onto her bruised right hand.
Sara watched him and noticed that the Witchblade was gone. She would have flown out of bed it Darren hadn't held her down. "Whoa, stay still," he said. "You shouldn't be moving around too much."
"But." Sara began, only to have Darren's finger placed upon her lips.
"You're looking for this, aren't you?" he asked, pulling the Witchblade out of his pocket and placing it back onto her wrist.
Sara merely stared at him with wide, mortified eyes, but soon those scared feelings washed away when she remembered the morning's events. The memory of Anastasia trying to kill her replayed in her mind as if it was happening at that moment. She continued to stare at Darren with a questionable expression on her face.
"I know what you're thinking," he said. "And I think I can explain."
"I'm all ears," Sara retorted without meaning to mock him.
Darren let the comment slide as he continued. "First off, I'm sorry about kicking you out like I did. I now understand why you kept the second roadie's death from me. Second, about today and all the odd things that happened, well, I really don't know where to start."
"How about the beginning?" she asked, her voice a little more forgiving.
"After you left, I got really depressed and started drinking. Anastasia dropped in, and she had this really sinister look in her eyes. She really freaked me out. She said something about you not loving me and that she had always loved me. Then she took my hand and we connected somehow. She showed me all this weird stuff that was in my dream just a few weeks ago, but the detail was incredible. I saw you and her at the Roman Coliseum as gladiators. You had her down on her knees and she yelled something about avenging her death in a later life. Then you sliced off her head with that," Darren said, pointing to the bracelet on Sara's wrist. "When I reached the arena, you called it the Witchblade, and you gave it to me for some reason."
Sara looked away, remembering her own strange dream. Darren noticed the somber look in her eyes and asked, "What is the Witchblade?"
"The Witchblade," Sara began, "is a weapon of incredible power. It chooses its wielder, not the other way around. Legend has it only women of unmatched strength of mind, body, and will have ever successfully worn it. Joan of Arc was one of it's wielders as was Achillia the gladiatrix, as am I. You, who were formally known as Sebastian in Achillia's time, were the only man the Witchblade had ever chosen as a wielder, and that was only because Achillia had mastered its powers and allowed it. She and Sebastian were secret lovers, and the way she had secured that love was by having Sebastian wear the weapon during gladiatorial battles."
"So, you're telling me that our love goes back thousands of years, that we were meant to be, and that finding each other was inevitable?" Darren questioned. Sara nodded. "That's why you asked all those questions."
"Yeah, I just wanted to see if you would believe me if I told you," she said. "Do you believe me?"
"If I told you I didn't, I'd be a hypocrite," he answered.
"How?"
"Because then I'd be denying all the feelings I had when I first saw you."
Sara smiled. She knew deep in her heart that he was being truthful. Darren gazed into her deep green eyes, a grin coming across his lush pink lips. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Would you believe me if I told you I loved you?" he whispered into her ear as he hovered above her body.
"Yes," Sara whispered back. Their arms wrapped around each other as Darren initiated another kiss. Just as things were beginning to get heavy between them, Sara's cell phone began to ring. She groaned, rolling over to the nightstand and picking it up.
"McCarty!" she yelled at her partner.
"Pez! Where the hell have you been? I've tried to get a hold of you for the last eight hours, but your boyfriend kept telling me that you were asleep. What the hell have you two been up to?" Jake yelled back.
"That's my business, not yours," Sara retorted, ready to hang up on him.
"Dante's pissed at you for not being in the office. He's ready to skin your hide if you're not here in the next hour," he warned.
"Tell him to screw himself. If he really wants to fire me, then so be it. I don't give a shit," she answered.
"I'll just tell him you're sick," Jake offered.
"You go do that," Sara replied as she hung up and turned off her phone. She turned to Darren and asked, "Now, where were we?"
He wrapped his arms around her once more and said, "Right here," as he kissed her.
*~*~*
Darren was the first to wake up the next morning with Sara's warm body nestled up against his beneath the sheets of their bed. He held her in his arms and watched her as she slept. A growing peace consumed him as he continued to gaze at the woman beside him. She was everything he had imagined her to be, down to the last curve of her body. She was perfect and would remain that way until the day she died. He couldn't help but place a gentle kiss on her bare shoulder.
"I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you're far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Well, every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure," Darren softly sang as he buried his face into the luscious locks of her hair.
Sara could feel Darren's lips upon her skin and hear his soft singing from behind her. She turned around to face him with a warm smile across her face. "Morning, love," he whispered as their eyes connected.
"Morning," Sara yawned, stretching out her arms above his head then wrapping them around his neck.
"How do you feel today?" Darren asked.
"I'm doing better," she replied. "I don't hurt anymore."
"That's good," he said, his hand tenderly moving across her cheek as a smile appeared across his lips. "You look much better. You're not as pale as you were yesterday. I wonder if I had anything to do that," he joked.
"You probably did, I just didn't know it," Sara answered as she smiled.
"I'm just glad to see that you're doing so well. I thought I was going to lose you by the looks of the cuts all over your body. But you take a licking and keep on ticking," Darren cracked another joke. Sara couldn't help but laugh at this one. "So, are you hungry? I'd think you would be because you lost so much energy. Want me to order something from room service?"
"Yeah," she replied. "A big, juicy steak with a baked potato and all the trimmings. Oh, and don't forget the A1 sauce."
"It's six in the morning! I was thinking something more along the lines of an omelet or pancakes," he said, picking up the phone.
"Okay, then I'll have a cheese omelet, two pancakes, three strips of bacon, and two sausage links with a really big glass of orange juice."
*~*~*
With her appetite satisfied and every cut bandaged, Sara was dressed back into her now three day old clothes and headed home. She desperately needed to shower and change before she went back to work. Hopefully Dante had believed the sick story that Jake made up, but she'd still have to explain things to both of them in a way that could be accepted.
'There's already been enough strange shit that's happened in the last few months,' she thought. "Maybe I can get away with one more. Nah.'
Sara began to figure out how to make her story believable. 'Okay, this is what happened. I had this feeling that something bad was going to happen to Darren, so I went to his hotel room to check it out. Lo and behold, there was his assistant with a huge bronze dagger trying to kill us because she had some ancient grudge against us,' was the first idea. 'Hell no!'
'Okay, how about this? I had a hunch that Darren was Anastasia's planned target and that all these roadies were a way of trying to tell the cops about her intentions after he was dead. So I went over to his hotel room, and lo and behold, she was there with a huge sword ready to chop his head off. I started to stop her, but she ran off before I even had time to pull out my gun. But how did I end up with all these cuts and scratches?' Another plan gone awry. Sara stepped into the shower and kept thinking.
'How about I had that same hunch that Darren was Anastasia's next victim, and when I went over to the hotel, I found her trying to kill Darren. I picked up the only object I could find, which was a golf club, and started to fight with her. She cut me a few times with her sword, but then I hid behind a chair and pulled my gun, and she was off like lightening. Perfect.' Sara smiled, the plan devised in her head. She didn't have to worry about if Darren would go with it or not. She knew he had to or there would be some more explaining to do on his behalf.
After putting on some fresh clothes and grabbing a coffee, Sara was back at work in no time, as if nothing had happened in the last two days. She found Jake in her office, pouring over the documents on Anastasia Rossini, Ryan Walters, and Leonard Smith. As he looked up and saw her in the doorway, he said, "Lucy, you gots some 'splaining to do."
"No shit," Sara replied as she sat down in her chair and put her feet up. "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about the part where you rushed out of here the other day?" Jake answered as he folded his arms over his chest and patiently waited for Sara's response.
"Okay, so this is what happened." she began.
A throbbing pain from the left side of her head had awoken Sara that afternoon. She kept her eyes closed fearing if she opened them, her headache would get worse. As she rolled over in bed, she felt someone sit down at the edge. Her eyes shot open to find Darren staring down at her, holding a warm towel. He placed it on the top of her head and smiled.
"Afternoon," he said, his sweet Australian accent shining though as he gently dabbed her forehead with the warm cloth.
"What happened?" Sara groaned as she settled onto her back.
"You took one hell of a beating this morning," Darren answered. He grabbed a bag of ice from a basin beside the bed and eased it onto her bruised right hand.
Sara watched him and noticed that the Witchblade was gone. She would have flown out of bed it Darren hadn't held her down. "Whoa, stay still," he said. "You shouldn't be moving around too much."
"But." Sara began, only to have Darren's finger placed upon her lips.
"You're looking for this, aren't you?" he asked, pulling the Witchblade out of his pocket and placing it back onto her wrist.
Sara merely stared at him with wide, mortified eyes, but soon those scared feelings washed away when she remembered the morning's events. The memory of Anastasia trying to kill her replayed in her mind as if it was happening at that moment. She continued to stare at Darren with a questionable expression on her face.
"I know what you're thinking," he said. "And I think I can explain."
"I'm all ears," Sara retorted without meaning to mock him.
Darren let the comment slide as he continued. "First off, I'm sorry about kicking you out like I did. I now understand why you kept the second roadie's death from me. Second, about today and all the odd things that happened, well, I really don't know where to start."
"How about the beginning?" she asked, her voice a little more forgiving.
"After you left, I got really depressed and started drinking. Anastasia dropped in, and she had this really sinister look in her eyes. She really freaked me out. She said something about you not loving me and that she had always loved me. Then she took my hand and we connected somehow. She showed me all this weird stuff that was in my dream just a few weeks ago, but the detail was incredible. I saw you and her at the Roman Coliseum as gladiators. You had her down on her knees and she yelled something about avenging her death in a later life. Then you sliced off her head with that," Darren said, pointing to the bracelet on Sara's wrist. "When I reached the arena, you called it the Witchblade, and you gave it to me for some reason."
Sara looked away, remembering her own strange dream. Darren noticed the somber look in her eyes and asked, "What is the Witchblade?"
"The Witchblade," Sara began, "is a weapon of incredible power. It chooses its wielder, not the other way around. Legend has it only women of unmatched strength of mind, body, and will have ever successfully worn it. Joan of Arc was one of it's wielders as was Achillia the gladiatrix, as am I. You, who were formally known as Sebastian in Achillia's time, were the only man the Witchblade had ever chosen as a wielder, and that was only because Achillia had mastered its powers and allowed it. She and Sebastian were secret lovers, and the way she had secured that love was by having Sebastian wear the weapon during gladiatorial battles."
"So, you're telling me that our love goes back thousands of years, that we were meant to be, and that finding each other was inevitable?" Darren questioned. Sara nodded. "That's why you asked all those questions."
"Yeah, I just wanted to see if you would believe me if I told you," she said. "Do you believe me?"
"If I told you I didn't, I'd be a hypocrite," he answered.
"How?"
"Because then I'd be denying all the feelings I had when I first saw you."
Sara smiled. She knew deep in her heart that he was being truthful. Darren gazed into her deep green eyes, a grin coming across his lush pink lips. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Would you believe me if I told you I loved you?" he whispered into her ear as he hovered above her body.
"Yes," Sara whispered back. Their arms wrapped around each other as Darren initiated another kiss. Just as things were beginning to get heavy between them, Sara's cell phone began to ring. She groaned, rolling over to the nightstand and picking it up.
"McCarty!" she yelled at her partner.
"Pez! Where the hell have you been? I've tried to get a hold of you for the last eight hours, but your boyfriend kept telling me that you were asleep. What the hell have you two been up to?" Jake yelled back.
"That's my business, not yours," Sara retorted, ready to hang up on him.
"Dante's pissed at you for not being in the office. He's ready to skin your hide if you're not here in the next hour," he warned.
"Tell him to screw himself. If he really wants to fire me, then so be it. I don't give a shit," she answered.
"I'll just tell him you're sick," Jake offered.
"You go do that," Sara replied as she hung up and turned off her phone. She turned to Darren and asked, "Now, where were we?"
He wrapped his arms around her once more and said, "Right here," as he kissed her.
*~*~*
Darren was the first to wake up the next morning with Sara's warm body nestled up against his beneath the sheets of their bed. He held her in his arms and watched her as she slept. A growing peace consumed him as he continued to gaze at the woman beside him. She was everything he had imagined her to be, down to the last curve of her body. She was perfect and would remain that way until the day she died. He couldn't help but place a gentle kiss on her bare shoulder.
"I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you're far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Well, every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure," Darren softly sang as he buried his face into the luscious locks of her hair.
Sara could feel Darren's lips upon her skin and hear his soft singing from behind her. She turned around to face him with a warm smile across her face. "Morning, love," he whispered as their eyes connected.
"Morning," Sara yawned, stretching out her arms above his head then wrapping them around his neck.
"How do you feel today?" Darren asked.
"I'm doing better," she replied. "I don't hurt anymore."
"That's good," he said, his hand tenderly moving across her cheek as a smile appeared across his lips. "You look much better. You're not as pale as you were yesterday. I wonder if I had anything to do that," he joked.
"You probably did, I just didn't know it," Sara answered as she smiled.
"I'm just glad to see that you're doing so well. I thought I was going to lose you by the looks of the cuts all over your body. But you take a licking and keep on ticking," Darren cracked another joke. Sara couldn't help but laugh at this one. "So, are you hungry? I'd think you would be because you lost so much energy. Want me to order something from room service?"
"Yeah," she replied. "A big, juicy steak with a baked potato and all the trimmings. Oh, and don't forget the A1 sauce."
"It's six in the morning! I was thinking something more along the lines of an omelet or pancakes," he said, picking up the phone.
"Okay, then I'll have a cheese omelet, two pancakes, three strips of bacon, and two sausage links with a really big glass of orange juice."
*~*~*
With her appetite satisfied and every cut bandaged, Sara was dressed back into her now three day old clothes and headed home. She desperately needed to shower and change before she went back to work. Hopefully Dante had believed the sick story that Jake made up, but she'd still have to explain things to both of them in a way that could be accepted.
'There's already been enough strange shit that's happened in the last few months,' she thought. "Maybe I can get away with one more. Nah.'
Sara began to figure out how to make her story believable. 'Okay, this is what happened. I had this feeling that something bad was going to happen to Darren, so I went to his hotel room to check it out. Lo and behold, there was his assistant with a huge bronze dagger trying to kill us because she had some ancient grudge against us,' was the first idea. 'Hell no!'
'Okay, how about this? I had a hunch that Darren was Anastasia's planned target and that all these roadies were a way of trying to tell the cops about her intentions after he was dead. So I went over to his hotel room, and lo and behold, she was there with a huge sword ready to chop his head off. I started to stop her, but she ran off before I even had time to pull out my gun. But how did I end up with all these cuts and scratches?' Another plan gone awry. Sara stepped into the shower and kept thinking.
'How about I had that same hunch that Darren was Anastasia's next victim, and when I went over to the hotel, I found her trying to kill Darren. I picked up the only object I could find, which was a golf club, and started to fight with her. She cut me a few times with her sword, but then I hid behind a chair and pulled my gun, and she was off like lightening. Perfect.' Sara smiled, the plan devised in her head. She didn't have to worry about if Darren would go with it or not. She knew he had to or there would be some more explaining to do on his behalf.
After putting on some fresh clothes and grabbing a coffee, Sara was back at work in no time, as if nothing had happened in the last two days. She found Jake in her office, pouring over the documents on Anastasia Rossini, Ryan Walters, and Leonard Smith. As he looked up and saw her in the doorway, he said, "Lucy, you gots some 'splaining to do."
"No shit," Sara replied as she sat down in her chair and put her feet up. "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about the part where you rushed out of here the other day?" Jake answered as he folded his arms over his chest and patiently waited for Sara's response.
"Okay, so this is what happened." she began.