A/N: Sorry it took me so freaking long to continue this story, but the truth is, I've been busy with college, haven't written a thing since January. Right now, I'm writing the 5th chapter as well. Things are pretty much crazy here at the moment, but I hope you like the new chapter. R/R please, let me know if this is going somewhere.
Chapter IV - No Rest for the Dark Side
It was late when Sara finally returned to her apartment, having left Jake at the bar after beating him multiple times at pool. She smiled when she remembered the look on his face as he lost yet another game.
Entering her apartment, she half expected Ian to be there waiting for her. Checking the window near the fire escape for any presence of the ex-Black Dragon, she was surprised when she found no one there.
As she closed the window, the bracelet suddenly gave off a reddish glow. Turning around, she reached for her gun, ready for any intruder to jump forward from the shadows. She let out a sigh when she noticed Danny was her late night visitor.
"Scared you there, didn't I?" He said as he walked around her to gaze out of the window.
"I was expecting someone else, Danny. Why are you here?" She replied, holstering her gun.
He turned to face her, the look on his face telling her that he was afraid of something. "To warn you. Be careful, Sara, the killer is closer than you think. Wherever you go, it's there."
"What's there, Danny? Tell me what you know. Tell me anything that'll help solve this case."
"Evil. It's everywhere in this city. I'm not talking about common murderers, blackmailers or other criminals filling the jails. I'm talking real evil. You have to stop it." Danny spoke, watching her intently.
The room suddenly felt cold to Sara as realization of what Danny was telling her dawned on her. "How can I stop something I can't see, except in visions? The only thing that could've let us to the killer was rotting away this morning. The fingerprints Jake pulled from that hand couldn't be identified, because they weren't on file. Tell me more. Tell me how to find this bastard." Sara replied, pacing.
"By believing the unbelievable. Let the Witchblade guide you, but don't count on it too much. Don't shut the others around you out of this. Someone very close to you can help you through this."
The ringing of the phone caused Sara to look in the direction of her bed. When she looked back at Danny, he had already vanished. Sighing, she rushed to the phone and picked it up.
"Pez, it's me. I got something about that drawing you left this afternoon." He spoke through the phone. "Think you can drop by tonight? It involves that bracelet of yours."
"Yeah," she answered, glancing at the place where Danny had stood only seconds ago, "I'll be there in a few minutes."
Putting the phone down on the bedside table, she reached for her coat, not noticing the dark shadow lurking on the fire escape, following her moves intently.
Racing downstairs, she reached her motorcycle in only a few seconds. Gunning the engine, she sped away in the dark night, unaware of the lurking danger, waiting for the time to come.
Ian opened his eyes, shaking his head to clear his mind.
Looking around, he saw very little, until his eyes had adjusted to the darkness in the room. In the far corner of the room, he saw a figure, seemingly waiting for something to occur. The head was covered by the dark hood and its shadows; as the figure's head was bowed towards the ground.
Suddenly, as if sensing Ian's return to consciousness, the figure looked up and stared at Ian. He tried to make out the figure's face, but to his horror, he discovered the hood was covering nothing; instead of a face, it was covering nothing more than complete darkness.
"What are you?" Ian spoke, his voice echoing in the small chamber.
"Do not expect an answer, Ian Nottingham, for this creature cannot speak." A heavy voice spoke from the darkness. It was followed by footsteps slowly coming closer. "It has no soul, no spirit and it is incapable of thinking for itself."
A tall man, dressed in black, stepped forward and Ian studied him. His face showed scars from many battles, but no emotions at all. Looking back at him were two black eyes, filled with the reddish glow of burning fire.
"Who are you?"
He laughed. "I'm not your enemy, Ian Nottingham. You should not fear me, for I am a servant of the dragon."
Ian tried to stand, but found his hands and feet were chained to the floor. "You say I should not fear you, but you chain me to the floor?"
"You are a Dark Dragon, are you not?" The man asked, stepping closer. "You and I serve the same master."
"The Black Dragons no longer exist." Ian replied, testing the strength of the chains. "I serve only the Witchblade."
The man drew a sword. "The Witchblade…" He watched as light reflected on the blade. "Your master will soon fight at my side," Smiling, he swung the sword in an arch. "Or die by my hands."
He turned to the creature that had been guarding Ian.
"Go, find the traitor and lure him to me."
Silently, the creature turned to obey his orders. With a creaking sound, the heavy wooden door opened and closed again, leaving the two alone in the room.
"Soon, all of them will know their time has come. Then, they will either return to serve their master, or they will die with the rest of humanity."
With a hollow laugh, the man turned and when the door closed for a second time, Ian closed his eyes and sighed. Testing his bonds a second time, he knew he wouldn't leave this room, unless someone handed him the key to his chains.
Jonathan Gibbs stepped out behind the counter and walked towards the glass door. Searching for the keys in his pockets, he saw a shadow slide past his little shop. Looking out the window to find the source of the shadow, his hand found the keys he had been looking for. When Jonathan could find no one out on the streets, he moved to lock the door for the night, but something made him look outside once more.
In front of him stood a man, who he had never seen before. As if he had been paralyzed, he stared at the stranger, who stepped forward, opening the door as if it was still unlocked. When the stranger unsheathed a small sword, Jonathan felt a surge of adrenaline flowing through his veins, urging him to run.
Turning, Jonathan's eyes searched for an exit, coming to rest on the back door, leading to the store's storage room. Just as he started to run, he felt a cold hand clamp down on his shoulder, pulling him backwards. It was followed by a sting in his side, and the feel of something wet under his shirt.
With all his strength, he pulled free and ran to the back room, not looking behind him to see whether the man was following or not. If he would have, he would've seen the cold grin on the man's face.
As it were, the stranger grinned, feeling victorious. Looking down, he watched the blood drip to the floor slowly, forming a small pool of blood. 'This one will bring me pleasure to watch as he dies slowly.' He thought and stepping over the blood, he pursued the fleeing shopkeeper until he had him cornered. He observed him as the man tried the back entrance to the store.
Jonathan tried to open the door one last time, when he felt eyes on his back. Slowly, he turned around and returned the stranger's stare. Hearing a clattering sound, his eyes were drawn to the key ring falling to the floor.
As the stranger stepped forward, crushing the keys under his boots, Jonathan kept staring at the broken keys, until his vision was blocked by the stranger.
"Why?" He asked, his voice not more than a whisper.
"Because you are a traitor and you will serve as a message to the others." The stranger replied, preparing to strike; lifting his sword high and lowering it in a swift move, giving him a deep cut across his chest.
With a scream that died halfway in his throat, Jonathan sank to the floor. Looking down at his hands, he saw them covered in his own blood. He tried to plead to the stranger, but it was return with a cold smile, as the stranger began to work on Jonathan.
Before Sara could knock on the door, Gabriel had already opened it. Pulling her inside, he looked out in the hallway, before closing the door. "Gabe?" Sara asked, touching her friend's shoulder softly."Listen, I don't know what kind of information you've found yet, but this murder… it's not right." He said as he moved to his computer.
"Murder is never right," she replied as she followed him, "what makes this one different?" She finished, watching him open a page on the net.
"Your killer was sent to hell and back, Sara. He's not human." Gabriel pointed at a similar drawing on the computer screen. "This one was found a couple of years back, on an ancient burial site. It was on someone's gravestone."
Sara inspected the drawing. There were a few differences, but other than that, the two drawings matched perfectly. "What does it mean?" She asked, stepping back to give Gabriel more access to the computer.
"According to the matching texts, this is the sign of a warrior sent from hell to battle the good in the world. It's a pretty long story, so if you have time, you could read it completely." He looked at her.
"Print it out for me, I'll read it when I have time." She said, taking a seat next to him. "Give me a summary."
"Well, it dates pretty far back, but from what I can tell, it's about good and evil basically. Both sides have a warrior. They fight and if good wins, the world will do a little better: less disease, less disasters, that sort of things."
"What if the bad side wins?" Sara asked.
Gabriel sighed. "The world is doomed. Floods, earthquakes, diseases, volcanic eruptions, the list grows long. It's the Apocalypse." He replied.
"Where does the Witchblade have a link with this?"
"No one knows who made the Witchblade, right? All we know is that when the world needs it, there's a Wielder for the Blade. According to this story, the swords from the warriors are made from the same metal as the Witchblade. When I read that little piece of information, I knew I was searching in the right direction." He clicked a few more links, until the screen filled with a drawing of three crossed swords.
"What? The Witchblade and the other swords?" Sara asked.
Gabriel nodded. "This is where the prophecies start. It doesn't say much about the Witchblade, except that at the time of the Reckoning the Wielder, that's you, needs to pick a side to fight on." He started narrating part of the text to Sara.
"Before the Reckoning could start, a side must be chosen by the Third One, the Wielder of the Blade."
"Well, that's easy. I just don't pick a side and the fight will never start." Sara spoke up.
"It doesn't go like that. If you read the whole thing, you'll get to the part where both sides try to win the Witchblade for their side. And if you don't pick a side, they'll fight anyway."
"Says who?"
"A bunch of dead wise people." Gabriel replied. He turned back to the drawing of the dragon. "Anyway, the dragon is supposed to represent the evil side. And the reason why that man was killed, is because your killer considered him a traitor."
Sara frowned. "Traitor?"
"Yeah. To announce his presence to his followers, he would assassinate four traitors, bringing the others a message. To return to him and his master, or to die on the coming of the Reckoning. Roughly translated, that is." He looked at her as she studied the text on the screen.
She stood up. "Four people… that's three more to go. Did it say anything about a time span?"
Gabriel shook his head. "Nope. But, I did figure out when the Reckoning is. About a week from now, a group of stars will form a straight line. That's the earliest possibility." He handed her a stack of papers. "The story, summarized of course."
Sara took the stack of papers from Gabriel and folded it to fit in her pocket. "Thanks. Keep searching for more information."
He nodded. "Hey, can I keep this drawing? I might be able to sell it for some price."
Sara eyed the piece of paper for a while. "It's supposed to go into Evidence, but you just told me I can't bring the killer to justice anyhow. Keep it." She replied, opening the door. "Take care, Gabriel."
"Yeah, thanks." He said as she pulled the door shut behind her.
Sara stood still in the hallway for a moment, processing the information she had just received. She remembered the conversation with Danny. He hadn't been lying to her when he had appeared to her in her living room. His concern for her had been genuine.
Walking back to her motorcycle, her cell phone rang. Answering it, she wasn't surprised to hear the voice of Irons.
"Hello Mr. Irons." She replied. "What's the occasion?" She asked, feeling somewhat annoyed that he was calling her. She looked around her, expecting to see Ian hiding behind something, watching her.
"Ian is gone." He replied. "Last night, I send him to follow you, but I haven't heard from him since."
"I haven't seen him either." Sara returned. "Maybe he just hasn't contacted yet, because nothing interesting has happened." Sara offered.
"He always contacts me. Even when it is to tell me nothing has happened."
"Listen, I'll look for him and when I find him, I'll tell him to contact you." She replied. "I'm in a hurry, so I have to go now."
"Good, tell him that. I wouldn't wish for anything to happen to either of you." With that, he broke the connection and Sara sighed.
Looking in the far distance, she whispered in the night. "Where are you Ian? Are you really missing or are you watching me from some street corner?"
TBC
Let me know what you guys think, okay? I hope to have the next chapter finished by tomorrow, if the computer wants to cooperate.