Chapter Four

Zed sighed and dragged the covers over her head. She felt...good. She had been so tired the night before and it felt damn good to be rested.

She opened her eyes and the beside clock glared at her with bright red numbers.

5:15am.

She stared, almost unseeing. It was still dark. She'd only slept for what...an hour and a half?

"Bullshit." Zed muttered to herself and tugged the blanket down. She rolled onto her side and reached for the curtain. Her hand froze in midair.

Constantine stared at her from his side of the bed, stretched out on his side with his head cradled in his hand. "Good mornin', luv."

Zed gasped in outrage and sat up, the covers falling to her waist. "What the HELL are you doing here!"

"Good question." Constantine retorted with that devilish grin of his.

"Get off!" How long had he been there? And how come she hadn't heard him come in? Hadn't she locked the door? She rolled her eyes at that one—as if a locked room would keep Constantine at bay. "Get off, now!"

At least she'd went to bed with clothes on this time.

She lashed out, pushing against his chest with her hands and he gave a surprised grunt, his body tilting back and off the bed. Just as quickly his arms surrounded her, pulling her body down with his when he hit the floor.

"You have a terrible bedside manner." He commented.

Zed braced her hands against his chest and pushed herself up. She glared down at him as best as she could in the semi-darkness. "How did you get in?"

Stupid question.

"I let myself in. You know, you really need new locks. I jimmied myself in ten seconds flat."

She huffed at his response. "You could have knocked."

"You'd really have let me in?" Constantine asked in irony.

She let him have that one. She wouldn't have let him in. One of his hands swept from the small of her back, to the back of her neck and then back down. Oh, no. No, no, no. "Uh uh, I don't think so, John. I am not one of your play things."

He burst out laughing. She was so startled by the sound that it pissed her off a little. "What's so funny?"

He laughed again.

She slapped his shoulder.

"Does it look like we're playing?"

"No." She said.

"We could." He offered.

Oh, God. "What do you want, John?"

He laughed again and she could have slapped herself for the question. He probably found the situation so amusing because she was straddling him. Him and his ego.

"You called me and wouldn't tell me, so here I am."

That didn't make any sense at all. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. She opened her mouth.

He held his hands up defensively. "You're the last person on my mind, dearie."

Her eyes narrowed further. "I think you just insulted me."

"Well, I said we could—"

God help her, what was with all the innuendos? She almost felt like laughing.

The look on his face changed and then her world tilted as he rolled them swiftly. "So if you're the last person on my mind, this would be the very last thing I'd do."

"Johnn—"

Her words ended on a mumbled 'n' because his lips silenced hers in a teasing, biting kiss before his tongue followed, thrusting into her mouth. Shock filtered through her but just as suddenly as he had kissed her, he reeled back onto his knees with a grin. She tasted brimstone.

"Now go to sleep, luv. You're about to pass out. Nighty night..."

Her eyelids drooped. Staring up at him as his image started to fade into darkness, as her eyes slid closed, she had to wonder, when had she fallen asleep in the first place...

Zed never ceased to amaze him. She never had listened to him. He was almost eager to see her get back to work, he thought strangely. There was no way around that. He wanted to laugh out loud at the little lady.

He'd warned her, he thought as he sank to his haunches and then dropped to recline against her front door. He bent his knees and rested his arms on them. He hadn't heard any movement from the inside of her apartment for at least an hour. He could just break the lock.

Constantine bent his head and lit a cigarette in the pale light of the rising sun.

He'd warned her, he thought again as he blew out a round of smoke. He'd said he would come and find her himself if she didn't tell him what in the bloody devil was the matter with her. She wasn't dying or anything, of that he was sure. Something to do with those bloody damned drawings of hers? And she was seeing things? He made a 'hhmming' sound.

It had been easy to locate her and he hadn't even needed a locator spell. He'd looked her up in the phone book.

He lifted his head when he heard commotion from the inside and then the door opened. He went tumbling backwards, his head hit the floor and the cigarette fell to the pavement. "Mornin', luv." She didn't look happy to see him. In fact, she looked a little miffed. He picked himself up and rolled his stiff shoulders. "Mornin'." He said again.

Zed drew her fist back and punched him square in the jaw.

Constantine stumbled back, grabbing his jaw. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"For last night." Zed lifted her hand against her chest. That had hurt but was satisfying at the same time. As much as she hated to bruise that face of his, she hoped he sported one.

"Good morning, John. How was your night? So good to see you again." Constantine mumbled out, rubbing his aching jaw and then moving it to make sure it wasn't broken. "You started it, not me." He muttered.

"I'm not one of your play things, John. Kiss me again and I'll knock your teeth down your throat. For all you know I'm into women."

What in the bloody hell... "Wait, what? Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Are you into women?" He blurted out the obvious question at hand. For all he knew, she was into women. She'd brought it up, not him.

"What? No, of course I'm not." What was his deal? Zed pulled the front door closed.

"You brought it up, not me." Constantine said warily. She was acting strange, which brought up the matter at hand as to why he was here. He wanted to know what the bloody hell had her so up in knots. The night before when she had called him, she'd asked if he was alright. Why wouldn't he be alright? What had she seen? His eyes dropped to the tote strapped around her shoulder and chest.

Just as quickly his attention was diverted to his still good cigarette that was smoldering on the ground. He stooped down to pick it up and then was towering over her again. He was going to quit smoking. Just not today.

"Next time wait for an invitation, if you ever get one." Zed retorted, though she highly doubted she'd give him one.

He frowned, blowing smoke in the opposite direction of her. "What are you talking about?"

Zed rolled her eyes. "Don't be coy, Constantine."

"I'm not. I was out here half the night. I was waiting for you to wake up instead of picking that lock in fear of what you did just now." He said, rubbing his chin in reference.

"Constantine..." Zed warned softly, lifting her balled fist.

Bloody hell, but she was feisty this morning. He lifted his hands, talking around the cigarette. "I swear, luv. Don't hit me again." What he said must not have been to her liking because he ducked when she swung and then caught both of her wrist in one of his hands. "What's got you so riled this morning?"

Was he really going to play stupid?

"Riled? I've been living a pretty normal life the past two years. And then all of a sudden, boom, I see your face and everything comes back. I can't stop, I can't get the images out of my head until they're out on paper. Just like before, remember?" Zed said, thumping him in the chest. "And then I run in with a Demon and who do I find? You. That's not a good sign."

His lips twitched.

"But it doesn't stop there." She freed one of her hands and pulled out the most recent picture of him, though she didn't flash it in his face. "For some idiotic reason, you show up in my room in the middle of the night, in my bed and then kiss me. You're lucky I didn't break some random body part."

He was staring down at her, his lips twitching. And then he buried his face against her neck, his arms surrounding her in a hug. There was nothing to the hug—it was just that. God, he'd missed her.

Was he crying?

"Constantine?"

She touched his shoulder. It took her a moment to realize he was...laughing.

"It's good to see you, too, luv." John said through a chuckle, hugging her against him. He couldn't help himself. "I love your imagination. If you feel the need to dream about me and midnight kisses...by all means, you know I always keep a condom—"

Zed braced her hands against his chest and shoved him backward before he could even finish the sentence. She wanted to be angry, but there was a sense of humor that came when she looked at him.

"It was just a dream, luv." He said in merriment.

She frowned; it hadn't felt like a dream. But he was clearly enjoying himself. Her cheeks flared pink when she realized that whether or not it had been a dream, he now knew she had the mental image of their lips locked.

Hell.

Fuck. Hell. Piss and damn. Bloody hell, as he liked to say it.

She fell into step beside him when he stepped out onto the street. "How did you find me?"

"Phone book."

Of course.

They were halfway down the sidewalk when he stopped suddenly and grabbed her arm. He turned and pushed her back a step so that she was on the first step of a small alcove overhead. "Sit down." He said and then crouched down in front of her.

She looked the same as she had two years ago. "I'm going to be blunt, Zed. I'm here for one thing. You. I told you once that you can't escape fate." The more she fought, the more difficult it was going to be. "Has it ever occurred to you that this gift you have is as twisted into fate as mine is? There's no escaping it—not yet."

He gripped her forearms gently, his thumbs stroking. "Remember all the fun we had?" His tone held a hint of mockery. It wasn't something he'd call 'fun'. More like a sadistic enjoyment. "Maybe you're losing control because you're not where you need to be. You were like this when we first met. Remember? You weren't half as good as you are now until you practiced and trained under what I showed you. Bloody hell, luv, we're not that lucky. No coincidence here."

"No, we're not." Zed echoed his statement, her shoulders sagging in something akin to defeat. Luck had nothing to do with them.

"Will you at least come back with me? Just for a while." He needed her to come back. As much as he preferred to work alone most of the time, even with Chas, she had a gift that was unparalleled. Manny had once said that they had to work together. They apparently still did. "It's not permanent." He'd went from humorous to serious in under a minute flat.

Zed inhaled. She couldn't do it. She didn't want to. She didn't have to. He looked so forlorn. She looked down at the ground. There was no way she could do it. She was placing her life in turmoil again if she said yes. Even if she'd enjoyed part of that turmoil before. She opened her mouth, the word 'no' on the tip of her tongue but what came out instead was, "This is why I called you. I drew this." She said in defeat with a heavy sigh, paper rustling when she placed something in his hand.

Constantine released one arm and looked down. The sketch was just as detailed as the others, though this time he was dressed fully, even the trench coat and the tie. He noticed it right away. It shadowed him, towering over his body from behind and slightly to the right, as if the small glare of the eyes was watching the person ahead of his image. Looking at the artist, he thought.

"You drew this last night?" He asked.

"Yes." She traced one side of the shadowed figure.

John looked over his shoulder out of reflex, but he didn't have a shadow right now. That was a whole different story.

"It's like, just there." Finally, her fingers moved upward. "But I drew him before."

"You did? When?"

"The Incubus Demon. Sex God, whatever it was."

He shook his head. "That doesn't make sense, though."

"Are you sure you vanquished him?"

"Yes, luv, I'm very sure." He'd done the same ritual time and time again to know when it was done and done right.

"It's just...when I saw it, I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm touched." John said with a small grin.

"I'm serious, John."

"So am I." He was. He helped her to her feet. "Now what do you say we get back to the house and we can discuss this in further detail?"

Zed nodded and then rolled her eyes when he threw his arm around her shoulders.