Flesh Wounds
Part Three
Both women bent over the back of Gabriel's desk chair as he gestured, and Athena began to curse fluently, mixing English with a litany of different languages. Jerking out her cell phone, she punched in a number. "Heard? Get agents there. Yes, dammit. Now." Growling, she hung up. "I've got to go, Gabe. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Hey," he caught her hand. "Be careful, okay?"
Bending, she pressed her lips to his for a brief moment. "I will." Tossing Sara a wave, she disappeared.
"Back when I was in high school, she was at an auction I happened to be at," Gabriel answered Sara's unasked question. "We exchanged numbers and became friends."
She merely shook her head. "I've got to call this report in."
"Okay."
-------------------------
"Three more have appeared in Tokyo, and a few more next to HQ. Are we dealing with an entire group?" Xander demanded.
"All I know is that they're not human, and chew parts of their prey. That leaves flesh-eating spirits, demons, and the occasional off-world cannibal…it would take days to go through them all…and we won't even get started on the other types of aliens. Maybe the food supply has somehow warped a group of people, or chemicals in the water, or…messages sent over the TV?" Athena mused, and the two glanced at each other. "Nah," they said at the same time, and a brief smile appeared on Athena's face.
"Internet?" Her Immortal Aide mused.
"No, that's something else."
"What?"
"All I'm getting is that it involves Irons, and I am supposed to stay out."
"That's right, you're not particularly fond of Kenneth Irons, are you?"
"Do the words 'hell no' come to mind? Any man who wants the Witchblade worries me." Stretching out her long legs, she absently thumbed through the reports. "Okay. What do you think we should do?"
"Do you own a warehouse?"
"Three."
"Make one your HQ here…let's see…close to the 11th Precinct would probably be best."
She winked at him. "Very good. I was thinking the same thing."
He shrugged, grinning, as she called her lieutenant. "Diane? Move headquarters to that warehouse near the 11th Precinct. Later." She hung up, tapping the phone against her lips.
"Why don't you go out for dinner with that antiques dealer?" Xander suggested innocently. "I'm sure he would love to catch up."
Flashing him a smile, the girl dialed. "Hey, Gabriel? Hi. Yeah. Listen, um, you wanna get some dinner later? Your place? Okay. I'll be there in two hours. 'Bye."
"So?" Xander teased.
"Oh, my, what am I going to wear?" the girl exclaimed, heading for her bedroom. "Xand, help!"
"Y'know, you seem excited," he commented, helping her pull out various outfits.
"Blame Methos. It's all his fault," she muttered, kneeling among her shoes. "God, why do I have so many clothes?"
"Because all these top designers send these clothes to you, and so on. And I can't believe I'm discussing clothes with the most powerful person in the universe. Hey, how 'bout this?" He pulled out a red miniskirt and halter-top.
She glanced up. "One, too much skin showing. Two, I never wear red. Where did I get that?"
"Hey, 'Thene? Go take a bath. I'll pick something out."
"I'm trusting you here, Xand." She pecked his cheek. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now move."
As she locked herself into the bathroom, Xander surveyed the piles of clothes. "Oh, boy."
-------------------------
An hour later, the teen looked over his handiwork and slipped out of the bedroom, grinning.
-------------------------
Half an hour after that, a stunning Athena spun in the middle of the living room. "How do I look?"
Xander glanced up, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Should I plan on spending the night alone here?"
"What?"
"When that antiques dealer sees you, I don't think you'll be coming home."
"Xander!" She laughed. "You're bad."
"I know. You look beautiful, 'Thene. Go, have your dinner."
Softly kissing both his cheeks, she left, and Xander laughed to himself. "So, Commander Harris, now that you have satisfied your girly quota for the week, what shall we have for dinner?"
-------------------------
Gabriel nervously smoothed back his hair as he waited for Athena to arrive, checking over his table. Just because he was about to have dinner with a girl he had had a crush since, oh, high school, why should he be nervous? Not even an hour of meditating had helped.
A knock sounded on his door, interrupting his thoughts, and he tried to calm himself as he went to answer it. "Oh, w-wow," he stuttered. Athena was in a flattering two-piece, lavender dress, her hair in an elegant French twist, tendrils framing her face. "You…you look beautiful."
"Thanks. You look great, too." Instead of his usual T-shirt, jeans, and large over shirt, he was wearing slacks and a silk button-up shirt. "I didn't even know you owned silk."
"You should see my bed," he grinned cheekily, and was rewarded by an intriguing glint in her eyes. "Anyway, come on in. Dinner's ready."
"This looks delicious," she commented when she saw the meal. "You can cook?"
He coughed rather uncomfortably. "Actually, it's take-out. Cooking is not my strong suit. But, hey, I can do dishes."
"Typical handsome bachelor," she teased.
As they started on their meal, their conversation wandered to different subjects. Afterwards, he gave her a tour of his shop, and they began to playfully argue about the history of some of the pieces.
"Gabe, I was there when this blade was forged, and it was for Cornwall, not Gloucester."
"Then why does it have a 'G' engraved on the hilt?"
The girl lifted said hilt to the light. "You cleaned this lately?"
"Yeah."
She ran her fingers over the engraving. "Then what is that?" Picking at the supposed 'G', she nearly dropped it when the hilt suddenly split apart, depositing a small handful of papers in Gabriel's hands. "Oh," she whispered. "I remember this hilt. Cornwall had it specially made so he could store things. Why, I haven't a clue, but he insisted."
"Athena, this is ancient," Gabriel replied, scanning the papers. "Obviously older than the hilt."
Before she could answer, her cell rang. "Yes?" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "How many? Okay. I'll be right there." Hanging up, she turned to Gabriel. "Can you translate those for me?"
"They'll disintegrate before I can. I'm surprised they haven't all ready."
She glanced at them. "That's strange…they're all ready enchanted so they won't decay. I wonder what's on them…"
"Well, I'll have them as soon as I can." He showed her to the door.
"Dinner was great. Sorry I have to leave."
"It's okay. Be careful."
"I will." Their eyes met…he was not sure what was going to happen…they did not have a chance to find out, for her cell rang again. "Yes? I'm on my way, I said." Sighing, she hung up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for dinner, Gabe."
"My pleasure." As she disappeared, he closed the door with his foot, thumbing through the manuscript. This was going to be interesting.
EAN: Any guesses on who the bad guy(s) are going to be? Five hundred brownie points for the correct answer and I'll make them a character in a future chapter or story…J Hint: It's one of the things Athena mentioned…Review, and on to Chapter Four…
