Chapter 6 - May the Fates hold off…
When Sara arrived at work the next morning, she was met by Jake, who came hurrying towards her the minute she had parked her bike.
"What's the rush, rookie?" She asked surprised. She glanced sideways at Feanor who had managed to follow her from the apartment. Jake didn't seem to notice the animal who stared intently at Sara's approaching partner.
"Got another murder, same M.O." Jake replied, handing her a piece of paper with the address. "The victim was found this morning, by one of the employees. The crime scene isn't far from here." Jake spoke as they walked to the car.
They drove in silence, Jake occasionally glancing over at Sara.
She was deep in thought, thinking about her dream of the night before and of the strange vision earlier. Feanor had disappeared the moment she stepped in the car, without letting her know if she could trust Jake or not. Sara shook her head to stop her trail of thinking, not liking the direction it was taking.
'Jake is my partner, I can trust him.'
Looking in the rearview mirror, her heart skipped a beat when Danny greeted her. He simply sat there on the backseat, smiling at her. She had a feeling he knew more than he was letting her know.
"What are you looking at?" Jake suddenly asked, having noticed her interest in the mirror.
Sara quickly glanced at him, thinking of an excuse. "I-I didn't get much sleep last night."
He smiled, keeping his eyes locked on the road this time. "I figured that… you didn't look too awake this morning. Does it have anything to do with the case? I mean, this is a weird one."
She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Is that the place?" She asked, pointing at the small crowd forming outside a small supermarket. When she glanced back in the rearview mirror, Danny was gone again.
"Yeah, I guess that's the place." Jake answered while parking the car. "I hope this one leads us closer to the killer than the other one did."
When Sara got out of the car, a shiver went down her back. Turning 360 degrees, she took in her surroundings, looking for a familiar face watching her. Finding no one, she sighed and entered the store. The little space was swarming with cops.
Her eye fell on the untouched trail of blood leading towards the back of the store. The trail was already dry and numbered for evidence. Slowly, she walked forwards, entering the back office. When she saw the blanket covering the victim; one foot sticking out from underneath it; the vision hit her.
She watched as the killer entered through the door, which had been locked a moment earlier; how the sword was unsheathed; the cry of pain as the metal cut through skin; and finally how the man was massacred.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Sara looked around her. Everything was the same as in her vision. Her eyes came to rest on the body, lying in a pool of his own blood.
"I talked to the coroner. Her best guess is that the guy got killed late last night, early this morning and that the murder weapon is a sharp object, preferably a knife or a sword." Jake said, coming to stand next to her. "No living relatives, lived in an apartment above the store. The girl who found him was his only employee." He pocketed the small notebook.
She took a few steps forward, lifting the blanket to look underneath it. "Do they have any idea where his head is?"
Jake shook his head. "No, they're still searching the area." Sara moved to stand next to him again. "Right, now that we're talking about it, I found a note on my desk this morning." Sara looked at him in surprise. "Well, actually, it was on your desk, but all it said is that they didn't find any missing heads at the other crime scene either. The murderer must be collecting them or something."
"Did they search the apartment yet?" Sara asked.
Jake nodded. "Yeah, they didn't find anything there either."
Ian looked up when he heard the scraping of metal on stone. A second later, the door to his cell flew open, allowing a dark form to enter. He was followed by the tall man in black whom Ian had become acquainted with earlier.
Ian studied the dark form; it was unlike the creature that had been guarding him the first time. When he moved, Ian could clearly see gauntlets on the man's arms; he was a warrior.
"This man defies the Dragon, master." The man in black spoke, his head bowed as he spoke. "He says he serves only the Witchblade now." He added, carefully looking up to see what his master's response would be.
The dark form turned around, studying the man before him. Then, he cocked his head and seemed to be listening to the sounds around him.
"Bring me the heads of four traitors before the Reckoning. Do not interfere with the Witchblade or you will suffer my wrath." He spoke so suddenly that the man in black cringed. "Go now and find me the other two traitors."
Without a word, the other disappeared through the door, leaving Ian behind with the dark form.
Ian stared at him, studying him.
"You have no fear, it seems." The dark form spoke, his voice now a mere whisper. With a move of his hands, the chains holding Ian fell to the floor with a clatter. "You are wondering who I am, who I serve and why you are being held captive."
Ian was silent and looked away from him. Laughter filled the cell, but it made Ian shiver. The sounds felt cold, malicious to him.
"Your thoughts betray you, my friend. Yes, I call you a friend, because you once served me, the Dark Dragon. You were the best of the Black Dragons." He paced around in the cell, occasionally looking at Ian. "Your master, Kenneth Irons, he knows of the history concerning the Reckoning."
"I studied it as well." Ian replied. "You are Aenogh, coming from the underworld to destroy the world."
"Ah yes, the world as you know it, that is. You see, I had control over the world long ago, but mankind had to find cures for diseases and make peace with their enemies." Aenogh replied.
"They stopped believing in the Reckoning." Ian added. "The Wielder of the Witchblade doesn't know of it."
Aenogh struck out in anger. "I will win the Witchblade to my side. Many out there are still my followers. They will make the world believe again."
Aenogh started to fade, his voice echoing in the cell. "Soon…"
Sara entered the darkened apartment slowly, looking around her as she walked to the center of the living room. A ray of sunlight peeked through the closed curtains, shining on a patch of cleared floor. She was surprised when she saw Feanor there, standing in the sunlight.
"I checked the kitchen," Jake reported, coming from a room to the left. "Nothing unusual there. Yesterday's dishes are stacked in the sink and there's cold, leftover coffee in the coffeepot." He looked around the room. "There's nothing here either." He said, sighing.
She looked at Jake, who was looking around, obviously not noticing the wolf. Looking at Feanor with raised eyebrows, the animal barked, scratching the floor with his paw.
Sara walked across the room, lifting things here and there to study them. She stopped in the patch of sunlight, knocking on the floor with her knuckles.
"The floor is hollow here." She bent down on her knees. Jake joined her in her search for a way to open the hidden space.
"Here!" Jake exclaimed, finding a loose floorboard. "I'll get something to flip it open." He said, heading into the kitchen. He returned a moment later, holding a kitchen knife. "This should do it." With the help of the knife, he pushed out the floorboard, revealing a small space, filled with paper and trinkets.
Sara lifted out a stack of papers, rummaging through them. Sighing, she dropped the papers to the floor. "Nothing but old bills." She looked over at Jake, who was holding up a pendant.
"It's a dragon." He said, handing the pendant to his partner. "I guess that's the link between the two murders, but what does it mean?" He asked. "Did you get any information about that drawing we found?"
She studied the pendant. It resembled the dragon from the drawing. "Yes, I did. It was taken from an ancient myth, I didn't think it meant anything." She lied. She still didn't understand last nights dream and she didn't know what to think about everything that had happened lately.
"Well, that's all the stuff that was lying in here." He lifted a piece of paper. "Looks like a page from a book, somebody tried to burn it." He said, whipping of the dirt. "It doesn't make much sense though."
"The protector, Feanor, and the deceiver, class=SpellE>Goloth are…" He narrated, trying the read the faded words. He didn't notice Sara look up in surprise at hearing his words. She snatched the piece of paper out of his hands.
"Hey!"
"Last word is unreadable." She remarked.
"Yeah, I was about to tell you that. The text doesn't seem familiar to me, but then again, I don't read those kinds of books." Jake spoke.
"I think it says messengers… it ends with 'ngers'." Sara said, bagging the piece of paper. Standing up, she looked once more around the room, before heading towards the door. "We're done here."
Jake hurried to catch up with her. "So, have you ever heard that piece of text before?" Jake asked as they exited the building and headed towards the car.
"Nope, so it's time for you and me to hit the libraries." She replied, opening the door to the passenger's seat. Just as she was about to sit down, she noticed something from the corner of her eye. "Could you wait for a couple of minutes?"
"Sure, what's wrong?" Jake asked, looking at her.
"I think I saw someone I used to know. I'm going to check out that alley across the street." Sara answered, pointing to a small alleyway.
Rushing towards the other side of the road, she entered the alley cautiously, her hand resting on her gun. She let out the breath she'd been holding once she noticed two familiar faces.
"Danny?" She asked, coming closer. "What are you doing with…
"Feanor? Why, we're talking about you. It seems that I might as well retire, now that you've got a new spiritual friend." Danny interrupted, petting the animal.
Well, I read about FF.net being down for a couple of days, so I sorta finished off this chapter so you all wouldn't have to wait extra long.
I hope you like this part, please R/R, and I'll be writing that next chapter soon! Off to see 8 Legged Freaks!