Flesh Wounds
Part Fourteen
Gabriel and Xander exchanged glances. "I'm gonna check on the girls," Gabriel announced, scooting his chair back.
"Don't let Pez hear you calling her a girl," Danny laughed tiredly.
"Tell me about it," Bowman called back, heading up the stairs.
The two women were now lying still, and Gabriel thoughtfully pulled a sheet over each, then pulled up a chair and sat, studying them.
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"How am I supposed to figure out how to trust you?"
"Even if I knew, I don't think it's something I can say. Why do you trust Gabriel?"
"I…I really don't know. The first time we met, it was like there was this major connection."
"I felt the same when we met over ten years ago. He's got an old soul, one bound to the cycle of time." Athena faced Sara. "What did the Witchblade tell you when you first saw me?"
"Uh…I felt like I had known you for years…that you were the one thing that could explain this thing."
"Well, actually…it kinda explains itself."
"The previous Wielders all trusted you."
"I would imagine so."
"How?"
Athena arched a brow. "Hmm?"
"How could you have known all those women? How could you have forged the Witchblade?"
"You haven't figured it out by now?"
"Obviously not."
The blonde held up her hands. "Sorry. Sara, I'm Immortal."
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Ian Nottingham strode into the warehouse, heading straight for Athena's office. "Where is she?" he asked without preamble.
"You Nottingham?" Giles asked.
"Yes."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Gabriel asked scathingly, pushing by the assassin. "An extra order from your dead master?"
"Where is she?" Ian asked again.
"Upstairs," Rupert replied, gesturing.
Ian jerked a short nod and brushed by Bowman.
"Are you insane?" Gabriel asked angrily. "That was Kenneth Iron's top assassin!"
"And one of Athena's closes friend," Giles answered calmly, cleaning his glasses. "If I didn't believe so, do you honestly believe I would have let him go up there?"
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Ian fell to his knees between the two beds, taking the two Wielders' hands in his, and bent his head, concentrating.
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The ground shuddered beneath the two women, and they fell into a crouch. "What's going on?"
"Ian's trying to help us."
"Ian Nottingham?! What is that nut doing here?"
"Like I said, I think he's trying to help us." The girl glanced down at her bracelet. "Enough of this. Show us what is known. Now."
Once again, the two were overwhelmed with images.
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With a start, the two shot up in their beds, nearly knocking Ian over. "He's going to end the universe," they said in unison.
