Flesh Wounds
Part Seventeen
"Keep working on those documents," Athena said hurriedly. "We have even less time."
Gabriel merely nodded as the girl whirled herself into her usual leather pants and turtleneck. "Love you," she said before popping out of sight.
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Witchblade in full sword form, Sara rolled out of bed and to her feet, slashing wildly at her invisible attackers. Still, the sharp pain was all over her, and she stumbled over her coffee table, landing hard on the floor.
Thrashing, she desperately tried to see her attackers, but there was nothing.
Athena suddenly appeared before her, her gauntleted right hand glowing. Sara's attackers suddenly abandoned her, heading for the new prey. "Can you stand?" Athena called, blood trailing down her cheek.
In answer, Pezzini hopped to her feet. "What the hell is happening?"
Athena didn't answer, just lashed out with her fist at the empty air. "Sara, do exactly as I do when I do it," she said.
The detective nodded, and, as one, they thrust forward. A scream tore the air; a shadow fell. "Ian was right," the girl muttered. "Sara!"
Without even realizing what she was doing, Sara lifted her right arm with Athena, and the two Witchblades emanated a blue glow. An invisible wall formed around them, impenetrable. Shrieks of anger radiated from outside the protection, and both women felt the apartment empty. "Are they gone?" Sara asked quietly.
"Seems so," Athena replied, letting the wall down. "Well, we now know what's causing these murders."
"I thought you said ghosts couldn't do this."
"These aren't ghosts, they're spirits. There's a difference."
Sara made a face, and the Princess laughed tiredly. "Go sit at your kitchen table, and I'll heal you."
"What, are they poisonous?"
"I think so. I think that if you die from their attack, you become one of them. I don't know of anyone who's survived besides you."
"You survived."
"I think we had this conversation some other time, hmm?"
"Oh, right. 'I can simply get up and see if there's any limbs missing, and go on. You, on the other hand, are not afforded that luxury, I would imagine'," Sara recalled, sitting at her table.
"See?" The girl held her hand over Sara's head and concentrated. The detective relaxed as a sweet warmth spread over her, erasing all memory of her pain. The heat left, and she lifted her arm to see no wounds remaining.
"Neat. Can I learn that trick?"
"Sorry, usually helps to have a bit of magic in your blood. No, the Witchblade does not count."
"Damn."
"Quite. Here, get dressed. We'd better get down to HQ, see what's happening."
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Gabriel paced by his desk, holding two of the Sumerian pages next to each other. "Houston, I think we have something," he murmured, laying the two down. Picking up another, he scanned its translation and placed it farther down.
A few minutes later, he called Athena's cell.
"Yes?"
"Hey, love. I've got something."
"Brilliant. What?"
"Those papers? They form an 'I'."
"Let me guess. The top three are instructions, while the rest are the actual spell."
"Mmm-hmm. And it has to be read in the original Sumerian, as far as I can understand."
"Picky bastards. I can't get away right now. I'll pick them up in about an hour, okay?"
"I'll be waiting. Love you."
"You, too."
He smiled and hung up, unaware of the shadow departing from his wall.
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"How many victims have there been?"
"Six hundred sixty-four," an agent named Courtney replied, pushing back her mahogany hair. "Pez would have been sixty-five."
"Two more…probably even more messy than the previous…" She flipped through a book. "Well, listen to this. 'The last sacrifice has to be prepared carefully, or all shall come to a naught.'"
"And that means what exactly?" Xander asked.
"If the last sacrifice isn't done right, he'll fail, we can always hope."
"Princess," Courtney interrupted. "There's been one more."
"Only one?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"Fine. I'm going to Gabe's. I'll be right back."
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Gabriel turned in his chair to see Dasseren. "What do you want?" He asked warily.
"The Princess loves you?"
"Last time I asked."
"Such wit. How amusing." More quickly than the eye could see, the warlock's gloved fist flashed out and hit Bowman's jaw. Gabriel fell out of his chair, spitting up blood.
"What, sand wasn't enough? Now you've got to hit me, too?"
"Oh, that's the least of what I'm going to do, boy. But first, let me deal with these papers…" Taking the documents into his hand, Dasseren blinked his flaming eyes, and the papers dissolved into ash.
"Athena's going to kick your ass," Gabriel laughed, wiping the blood off his jaw.
"Not before all she has been protecting ends." Smoothing back his coppery hair, Dasseren picked Gabriel up by his collar and, almost absently, threw him into a display case. "You see, boy, the last thing she's going to see is you."
"Don't call me boy," Bowman ground out, rolling to his feet and swinging his fist at Dasseren's face. However, Dasseren's face was not there to be hit, and the next thing Gabriel knew, there was a sharp pain on the back of his neck, and everything went black.
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Athena popped into Gabriel's apartment and blinked. The place was in shambles, and Bowman was nowhere in sight. And in the middle of the floor…she knelt and gathered some of the ash in her hand. It was the parchments. They, and her last idea, had been destroyed.
"And he's going to be your last sacrifice tonight," she spat angrily.
