A/N: Because I love you guys, I'm posting before I head off to work. (Plus I couldn't sleep very well, because I ate too much chocolate before going to bed…sigh)
Chapter 17: The other shoe
Nottingham walked through the hallways of "the Cornea" back towards his room. The firing range had sated him temporarily, but he now felt an urge to return to Irons and find Sara. Walking past the rooms on level 3B, he felt a strange vibration. Stopping, he closed his eyes, and tried to sense where it was coming from. It was the room at the end of the hall. After making sure that the hallway was clear and listening for any sign of movement within, he picked the lock and entered the room, closing the door behind him. It was completely dark but Ian's eyes quickly adjusted to his surroundings. There was a bamboo mat in the middle of the floor, various candles and papers on a desk in the corner and photographs stuck to the wall. A few of the photos had been removed Ian noted, but one of the ones that remained was of Sara. He stared at the picture for a moment studying the wielder. She was standing on the street holding her signature cup of coffee; her head was slightly turned behind her as if someone had just called her name. It was quite similar to many of the ones he himself had taken, and he felt an urge to take it with him. He stretched out to touch the picture, simultaneously wondering where she was. He could have reached out to find her, but she might sense him if he did, and he had a feeling she wanted to be alone. Nottingham went through the papers on the desk finding boarding passes from Africa and Asia mixed in with receipts and a few newspapers.
There was a small red book on the table as well, that was filled with tiny handwriting. A journal or diary, Ian assumed. Stuck inside was a tattoo template of an ancient rune. Nottingham's eyes narrowed as he realized what it was. He pocketed the book knowing that Genesis would no doubt know he had been here when he returned, and that there was no use in trying to hide it. Then grabbing the photo of Sara off the wall he turned and left the room. Using his thoughts he probed for Sara's location, his need to find her safe more important than her need for privacy. Frowning slightly he stopped when he sensed her, she was driving through the city, over the Brooklyn bridge to be exact, and she was in his car.
A security guard came around the corner just then and Nottingham turned to him. "I wonder" he asked, "Would you be able to call me a cab?"
Kenneth Irons was sweating profusely. It had taken a lot of energy to use the Mehinaku dream stone. He couldn't even really be sure it had worked, if the seeds of doubt had been indeed planted in Gabriel's mind.
He had been livid, when Mr. Bowman had said no to him. He hid it well of course, one does not become a billionaire by throwing tantrums whenever things don't go your way; but inside he was seething. He was rich and powerful; he dressed well and had impeccable manners. He was handsome and tall and he even had blue eyes. 'What more did it take' he thought 'Why would anyone want to say "no" to me?'
He would change Gabriel's mind he decided, on principle alone. He was fairly confident that he would be able to get back the witchblade without his help, but he needed to teach Mr. Bowman the error of his ways.
'All lives are connected,' he thought. 'The same souls meet again and again throughout eternity. At some point in time we have all failed or betrayed one that we love.' He had instructed the stone to show Gabriel a past life with the wielder, one in which he felt responsible for her fate.
Placing the dream stone back into its display case, Irons wrinkled his nose at the odour he realized, he himself was emitting. 'A bath would relax him' he thought, using the intercom to buzz for Helena.
"Yes Mr. Irons" came a sultry voice through the speaker.
Irons grinned with anticipation, 'and if the bath didn't, Helena certainly would. She was not familiar with the meaning of the word no.'
Sara tapped her fingers on the steering wheel to the music on the radio. She was surprisingly enjoying Nottingham's ride, and really wasn't looking forward to giving it back. Normally she hated SUV's, they seemed like cars for bullies and just didn't give you the handling of a bike. But Ian's X5 was actually quite impressive and was perfect for winter driving, though it no doubt had a lot of after market modifications. Switching on the seat heater, she sighed loudly. This was almost criminal she decided, no ones ass should feel this loved. Feeling a sudden twinge of guilt she promised to show her Buell some extra attention the second the weather let up.
Sara's cell phone began to ring and she answered it quickly. "Pezzini…go."
"Sara? What the hell is going on?" said Vicky
"Vicky…what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? How about what your friend Nottingham did to Jake's face."
Sara rolled her eyes. 'Of course Jake would be looking for sympathy, and knew Vicky was the place to get it. She'd almost be impressed if she wasn't so annoyed.' "Listen Vicky, I don't really have all the details on what happened so I…"
"Jake says he attacked him, totally unprovoked …"
"Well I don't know about that" Sara interjected. 'Why was she defending him?' she thought 'It basically was unprovoked…'
'Because, you care…' said a voice from somewhere within. 'Your starting to let him in…'
"Look Vicky" said Sara, ignoring the small voice inside of her, "I'm kinda in the middle of something, but I'll stop by when I'm done okay."
"Sara I..."
"Later Vic okay?" She hung up the phone as she pulled into the cemetery. Parking the vehicle she grabbed the flowers off the passenger seat and got out of the car.
Cyan sat in her office on the computer. She logged on to the Swiss bank account the number in the envelope had stated and transferred the $50,000 into her account. She took the picture out of the envelope again and put it on the table beside the file she had obtained from archives. If you were anybody in this city from a businessman to a lowly thug, you probably had a file in the archives. This one had been easy to find. Jake McCarty was FBI masquerading around as a rookie police officer. The file also hinted at some connections to the CIA, but was unspecific. 'Not that it mattered' she thought grimly, settling into the aura of indifference necessary for her to do her job. 'Soon his only connection would be to his grave.'
Vicky came into the bathroom where Jake was stripped down to the waist and inspecting the bruise on the left of his upper chest. 'Any harder and he could of killed me' he thought.
"Here let me see' said Vicky sliding in between him and the sink. She opened the container of cream she had in her hand and smiled at the look of doubt on his face.
"It's an ancient Chinese secret so says my acupuncturist, I swear by this stuff Jake." He sniffed at it hesitantly. "It's how I get rid of all my cuts and bruises."
"Which you get how…?" he asked.
Vicky smiled at him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She propped herself up on the counter and began to spread the cream over the bruises and cuts on Jakes chest and back.
"I gotta tell you Jake" she said when his back was towards her. "I feel like you're not being completely honest with me about this fight. I mean did he really attack you for no reason?"
She felt him tense a little as he thought about how best to answer. "If you don't want to talk about it…I mean I understand."
"It's not that Vic," said Jake turning around to face her. "It's just that…" He stopped when he looked at her and I mean really looked at her. And for the first time (though he had a feeling it had most likely been there before) he actually saw it. It was probably the same thing that Sara saw when she looked at him, though maybe not to this extent. Vicky was in love with him. The compliments, the jokes, the extra shifts and phone calls from the morgue, the way she would touch his arm when he was near…they all pointed to the same thing. Vicky seemed to sense what he was seeing, her face began to redden and she lowered her gaze.
"Aw Vic" he said softly.
She slid down off the counter careful not to touch him as she stepped past. "Don't sweat it McCarty, I don't have any grand illusions about love…I just"
She stopped as he grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving. The difference between him and Sara was that he was willing to take a chance. You can't live your life closed off from people because you're afraid of getting hurt. If losing Cynthia had taught him anything it was that. Life was too short to be timid and too long to spend alone. He pulled Vicky into his arms, his lips finding hers and cutting off her insistence that Jake was no big deal to her. 'Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice' Sara had often told him. He silently wished she was able to take her own advice.
"I really miss you, you know," said Sara, sitting in front of her ex-partners grave. "I could really use some that "Woo wisdom" right about now. She wiped some of the snow off the tombstone and placed the yellow flowers on top of it. "I know I always seem like the unreachable and untouchable Sara Pezzini, always on top of her game, uncompromisingly focused and ready….but the truth is… that I'm… really drowning here without you Dan." Feeling the sting of tears forming in her eyes she blinked rapidly to hold them back.
"I was closed off before I met…" Sara stopped; she found it difficult to say his name. It had been 6 months since Conchobar had died, but that didn't make it much easier. Taking a deep breath she continued, "But some how, John was able to get through and it was like…perfect, like we were meant to be you know." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I guess nothing really last's forever does it?" Tracing the grooves in the headstone with her finger Sara forced herself to keep talking.
"When he died, I didn't think I'd be able to go on…to go on losing the people that I loved, after you and Maria and my father. And I blamed him Danny, for letting me lose John, because if he was supposed to be my protector, then that meant more than watching my back, he should have also been protecting my heart..…you can't live without your heart" she whispered, lowering her head and allowing her tears to spill onto her lap. "He took this abuse, that came from my eyes when not from my mouth, never failing to still stand behind me. To be there when I needed him, even when I thought I didn't."
Leaning forward, she drew her jacket tighter around her in an attempt to ward off the cold. "It's different then with John, different then with anyone I've ever been with" said Sara thoughtfully "and maybe that's what scares me. With John it was like an unquenchable desire a… fire, consuming me, consuming us both." She rubbed her palms against her thighs suddenly feeling foolish unburdening herself to a tombstone. And yet he was all she had, maybe all she ever had. Danny was the only one she always felt she could tell anything to. Sighing softly she continued. "But with Nottingham I…" Sara struggled to find the right words. "In Ian I find… peace." She closed her eyes as she said it finally allowing herself to accept the truth. If it were possible to find heaven in another person, to calm a restlessness of the soul and bring contentment to the heart, then Ian Nottingham was all of this to her.
The blade on her wrist suddenly began to heat up and Sara quickly looked around the cemetery for the reason. Striding towards her with fierce determination in his eyes was Genesis, and not the vision that appeared in her apartment or haunted her dreams but the real flesh and blood man. Sara was terrified but equally determined to hide that fact from him. Standing she transformed the blade into it's gloved form ready to go down fighting.
"We are short on time" said Genesis stopping in front of her.
"Really?" said Sara checking her watch, "it still looks early to me."
"I would have made you a God Sara, forced the world to bow at your feet."
"Not interested buddy, I prefer to look people in the eye."
Genesis grinned. "You'll come around" he returned and raised his hand.
Sara's body was instantly wracked with pain, it felt as if every fiber of her being was attempting to separate from her. As she levitated off the ground, her chest raised and spine arched backwards her arms flailed wide and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Unable to stand the agony Genesis was inflicting on her any longer she ultimately let loose the scream she was so desperately trying to hold in.
The scream echoed like thunder across the city, causing all those who heard it to look up into the sky with wonder. Nottingham who had just returned home, heard it echoing from Iron's bedroom and dashed up the stairs to check on his father. He found him sprawled out on the floor whimpering softly. Quickly he fell to his knees beside him and pulled him into his arms.
"Father" called Ian, "Father what has happened?"
"…gone" moaned Kenneth "…she's gone."
Ian didn't understand, surely he couldn't mean the wielder, he had reached out to her only a short time ago….
Closing his eyes, he felt for her presence but found nothing. "No" said Ian, "this can't be." He tried again, pushing his mind to the furthest parts of the city, looking for some sort of trace.
"…gone" repeated Kenneth, closing his eyes "…gone."
Nottingham lowered his head, resting his forehead against his fathers. From the corner of his eye, he saw the blue gem in his ring flash once and then go dark. And in his heart he knew it was true.