Please read this Prelude and my Authors Note before jumping into this story.

Copyright: As always, Witchblade, Darkness and Angelus and all related characters do not belong to me. But I wish they did, because then I'd be rich and not struggling from paycheck to paycheck! I'm only borrowing the characters and the universes for a little while. So please, don't sue!

Also, a lot of this Prelude was taken directly from the "Previously" pages in the Witchblade comic. I have paraphrased and changed some of it, but most of it is not my words.

Rating: Mature – Blood. Gore. Scary images. Language. Sex. – The works will be included in this story. Hey, when dealing with Heaven and Hell and the Eternal War, I think the mature rating is called for.

Gods and Generals

Prelude

Previously in "Witchblade" and "Angelus"…

Sara Pezzini already lived a dangerous existence as a New York City Police Detective, but her life changed forever when she came into possession of a powerful artifact called the Witchblade. Though the Witchblade most often takes the form of a mystical gauntlet, in truth it is the offspring of the universe's primal forces, the Darkness and the Angelus, and meant to act as a Balance between the Dark and the Light.

Nearly two years ago, Sara's long-time friend and police partner, Jake McCarthy, fell victim to a supernatural attack. Jake slipped into a coma and was placed in the hospital. Sara was partnered with Detective Patrick Gleason, and the two quickly began dating. When Jake awoke, his body was under the control of a malevolent entity from another realm. This demonic being claimed to be a god and wished to transform the world into a hellish kingdom, with himself as ruler. Sara was to wound the demon enough to temporarily drive him out of Jake's mind. However, to prevent the god from possessing him again, Jake professed his love for Sara and then committed suicide. Unbeknown to Sara, Jake left a detailed letter describing the Witchblade and Sara's possession of it within a safety deposit box.

At around the same time, Sara discovered that she was with child and, not wanting to risk the safety of her unborn baby, she decided to surrender the Witchblade. Both fate and the Witchblade selected aspiring dancer Danielle "Dani" Baptiste, who was the daughter of Sara's police captain.

Sara gave birth to a daughter, Hope. It was revealed that Hope was fathered by the present host of the Darkness, mobster Jackie Estacado. Though he is not part of Sara's life, Estacado has protected her on several occasions, including killing Celestine, a recent host of the Angelus. Though the extent and purpose of her power is yet unknown, Hope has already displayed enormous supernatural abilities over the Angelus and Darkness servants.

Besides Hope, Sara's only remaining family is her younger sister Julie, who has moved in with Sara having recently been released from prison after serving time on a drug-related charge.

In order to save Sara's life, Dani willed the Witchblade to split, giving half of the Balance to the former bearer while keeping the remaining half. The Witchblade split along its light and dark axis, with Sara possessing the half influenced by the Darkness and Dani retaining the half influenced by the Angelus.

Gerald Irons, the immortal son of Kenneth Irons, wove his way into Dani's life, convincing the young woman that he was in love with her. Demonstrating enormous control over the artifact, Gerald stole Dani's half of the Witchblade and battled with Sara for her half. The dark Witchblade refused Gerald's command and Sara was able to defeat the younger Irons. Dani reclaimed her light Witchblade from Gerald before he was placed in prison for a series of recent murders.

However, Sara began to succumb to the Witchblade's dark side. The Detective's demeanor transformed gradually until the corruption was culminated by Dani's plea for help in covering up an accidental killing.

Conflict ensued between the two bearers. Sara emerged victorious and reclaimed the other half of the Witchblade, while the Angelus Force chose Dani as its new host. Dani was able to harness the power of the Angelus to defeat Sara and purge the rightful bearer with primal light.

Once again balanced between the Dark and the Light, Sara must now try to resume her life and career, though her control of the Witchblade has been diminished, and her relationships strained to the limit.

Pursuing a story on the secret of the Witchblade, Gretch, an investigative reporter, recently stalked and spied upon Sara and obtained photographs of the Detective in full Witchblade armor. Soon thereafter, Sara rescued Gretch from the Voodoo Goddess Marinette and in return, Gretch opted to not break the Witchblade story.

Meanwhile, resentful that the Angelus Force had passed her over, Angelus Warrior Lieutenant Sabine began a rebellion against Dani, whom she thought to be dangerous for the fact that the young woman retained her free will, instead of being subservient to the Light. After bonding with the artifact known as the Wheel of Shadows, Sabine attempted to kill Dani in order to earn the right to become the new Angelus.

Subduing Sabine, Dani spared her life but banished the former second-in-command from the Angelus' Warrior Elite. In hopes of averting any other attempts at mutiny, Dani bestowed upon her girlfriend, Finch, the rank of Lieutenant in the Angelus Warrior Elite.

Upon sensing the arrival of a powerful and evil force, Dani and Finch return to New York City in hopes of joining forces with Sara and the Witchblade.

-O-

A/N:

This story follows the plot and established universes of the Witchblade, Darkness and Angelus comics. Because these are monthly publications (or bimonthly, or trimontly or, well, whatever the case may be…), and considerable changes have taken place within the aforesaid comics in recent issues/months, the events of this story will take place at and around Witchblade #137 – but before #139 – and will imagine that the Angelus miniseries concluded the way I told in the italics at the bottom of the prelude. I don't follow The Darkness book, but will include Jackie and some Darkness lore to the best of my ability.

You can find links to my favorite comic-artist's renderings of the main characters this story will feature in my profile.

Up to this point, Stjepan Sejic is the only artist who I believe has created the best menacing, realistic and yet sexy Witchblade. His concepts of the Witchblade armor will be how I envision, and therefore write, Sara and the 'blade in this story (though if you prefer, you can still use your imagination ;) ). Also, he was the main guy behind Dani's Angelus look and Sabine's "starry" look as the bearer of the Wheel of Shadows. And Finch. He was the genius behind Finch's look too. Can't ever forget her!

And this is important…

Because it does not appear that this is a popular fandom to write in on this site, my updates and continuation of this story will depend solely upon the interest this story generates. If I see that nobody is reading it, nobody is favoriting it or nobody is reviewing it, I very well may abandon it.

Therefore, if you are interested in this story and want me to continue it, please do tell me.

Reviews are welcome and wanted. Thanks for reading and I hope you are intrigued!

On to the story!