yeah. sorry about taking so long in between new chapts guys. school and shit, you know?
Okay, uh, don't know how this is gonna be. not a lot of action now, but I'll try and work some in. Glad to have all the great reviews (happy face)
Chapter Three- The Exorcist and The Kid
By the orange light of a street lamp, Chas used his Occult Zine to brush the remaining glass from the cab. He'd given John a basic idea of what had happened back at the parking garage, but had refused to answer any questions until he'd driven the two of them a mile out of the Sin District, going 80 and ignoring all red lights. John hadn't been happy about any of these conditions, especially the driving part, and he'd let Chas know it. At the moment, he was leaning against the hood of the car, lighting up a cigarette.
Chas closed the door and surveyed the damage to the car door itself. He sat down on the curb and was face-to-face with the crushed metal. It was not a pretty sight. Chas's leg was still bleeding from the glass, but he didn't seem to care or even notice. His face was one of pain, but it was for the cab-and the money it would take to fix it. His boss probably wouldn't be too angry about it though; John had exorcised the man's son and had thus secured transportation and an acceptable way for Chas to be involved.
"I don't believe this man," Chas groaned, "This sucks. I mean, I had this thing cleaned up and everything. Was a pretty decent vehicle. Maybe not a chick magnet, but still-"
"What'd it look like?" John asked abruptly as he took a drag.
"Well, obviously it wasn't crushed like this-"
"The monster, Chas," John replied irritably.
Chas's already white pallor became even paler, taking on a yellowish tinge in the orange light.
"Big." was the only word he managed to say at first.
John gave an irritated sigh, smoke accompanying it. "How big?"
Chas swallowed. "I dunno. Bigger than 7 feet. Maybe eight. Looked like it weighed over 300 pounds."
John gave a nod and looked over at the kid.
"Why'd it attack you?" His voice was on the edge of suspicious, almost at pissed. Wouldn't surprise him if Chas had disobeyed him and had ventured too far.
Chas shrugged. "I was just sitting in the cab," he answered simply, though a little defensively. He knew what John was thinking. "Just sitting there, when the cab shook. Then I looked over and saw it and it growled at…" Chas's voice trailed off as his eyes suddenly got very wide. He turned to John. "It wasn't a golem! It couldn't have been, John!"
John raised an eyebrow. "How so?" he asked, taking another drag.
"Golem's can't make noise, cause they're just made out of clay! And this thing made a hell of a lot of noise, John. Sounded like the T-Rex in 'Jurassic Park' put in surround-sound."
John paused for a minute, mulling over Chas's input. True, from what Beeman had briefed him on, golem's could not, or at least did not typically, make noise, and they definitely didn't make as much as Chas was describing. But no way in hell would John let Chas know how big of a break in the 'case' he'd made.
"So what was it?" he asked, more because he knew that Chas didn't have a clue than actually needing his advice.
Chas shrugged. "Got me. Maybe a ha-" He caught the word 'half-breed' and stuffed it back down his throat. After the previous conversation with John, Chas didn't want to give him the satisfaction of admitting error. So instead, he cleared his throat and made an observation: "Looked like that thing from 'Goonies'."
John gave Chas a look.
"What? What's wrong with 'Goonies'?"
John only shook his head as he walked around to the other side of the cab.
"Come on," he said, "Better make sure you don't need stitches."
For the first time since the attack, Chas noticed his leg. He looked down at his pant leg, the denim torn up and stained with his blood.
"Aw…shit."
Chas opened the car door with the greatest of care, half expecting-and not unwisely-that the door would just fall off and shatter into 1,000 pieces. He gingerly climbed into the car-his leg's pain now fully realized and refusing to be ignored again. Suddenly, his left foot stepped on something near the brake.
"What's…"
He reached down and felt something cool and smooth.
"What's what?" John asked form the back.
Chas found himself looking at a pendant or charm of some sort. It was carved out of white stone and in the shape of an octagon and was big enough to fit comfortably in his hand. Images were carved on it, which he made out by holding the pendant closer to the window, where the orange streetlight let him make out the carvings more clearly. There was a crescent moon in the center, and wings were spread out from it, stretching to the edge of the octagon's edge. At the bottom, a snake had wrapped itself around an egg. Chas knew that the pendant was full of some sort of symbolism, but he couldn't place any of it. A hole had been drilled in the top center of the pendant, a broken black string threaded through it.
"What's that?" John asked, seeing the pendant.
"I dunno," Chas said, holding up the pendant for John to see, "Not mine."
John reached over and took the pendant from Chas. He looked at it carefully. The winged moon was very familiar to him, as his widened eyes revealed. But then his brow furrowed. His finger-seemingly of its own accord-traced the snake wrapped around the egg.
"Hey, maybe it's Bigfoot's," Chas suggested, his voice pulling John out of thoughts and memories.
He looked up at Chas. "Did you see him drop it?"
Chas shook his curly head. "I was kind of distracted, John," he said candidly.
John examined the broken string. He had to be sure that this had come from the monster. His eyes traveled to the broken window, jagged pieces of glass sticking up like a demon's teeth.
"Any black threads on the window?" he asked Chas.
Chas turned around and checked out the remains of the window. For a moment, his mind went flying back to his moments in the car when he was attacked. The giant beast reaching in for him… The sound of his own heart pounding in his ears… The climatic moment when the glass shattered, the triumph of feeling the steering wheel under his foot… Now that he actually thought about it, he'd done pretty damn well for himself. Sure, he'd gotten cut up-another wave of sharp pain came across, like it knew he was thinking about it-but he'd survived, hadn't he? He'd used his head, hadn't panicked… And for a fleeting moment, he wondered why John hadn't said anything, but then he almost slapped himself across the face. The Great John Constantine didn't do stuff like that. No, it wasn't his style at all. Chas smiled to himself. It was all right though; John was cool, even if he was a dick.
"Chas, find anything?"
The voice brought Chas back to earth. His eyes came back to focus and, as if by magic, landed on five black threads that were stuck on the broken glass.
"Yeah," he said with a triumphant tone.
He held them up for John to see.
John nodded. "Okay," he pocketed the pendant. He craned his head to catch a glimpse of a street sign, achieved his goal, and determined that he was close enough to his destination to walk.
To Chas, he said "Get yourself checked out at the hospital. Then go home. I'll call." He opened his car door as Chas sat there, confused at the sudden change of pace.
"What? Huh? Where're you going?" he asked.
"The club," John said, readying himself for the argument that he was certain would ensue.
"Oh. Okay," Chas replied, turning back around.
John opened his mouth to argue at the response he'd imagined would come out of Chas's mouth, but caught himself, dumbstruck. He and Chas usually talked about 2 things: that Chas could NOT be present at exorcisms, and that Chas could NOT go into the club. Normally, one would call these 'arguments', but usually when two people argue, there's a chance of two different outcomes. But with Chas and John, John always had, always did, and always would win.
But Chas didn't even seem the slightest bit interested in going tonight. Well, the kid had had a rough night. Inwardly, John smiled, but on the outside, he kept the same composure.
"Right. See ya, Chas," he said as he shut the door.
Chas gave a two fingered solute and drove off, leaving John by the side of the road.
well, that's all for this chapt. too short? sorry. more soon.
