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Chapter Three
The covers went flying off the bed.
"Rise and shine, luv."
Constantine's voice jarred Zed out of the sound sleep she'd been in and she instantly hated him for it. What the hell did he think he was doing? He stood there at the end of the bed, half bent over from where he had yanked the blanket straight off. He straightened as he dropped it at the foot of the bed, efficiently out of her reach.
The bastard.
Didn't he understand that her head was about to explode? Her mouth was dry and filled with what felt like an invisable cotton. She dropped her head back onto the pillow and drew both her legs up, curling on her side.
Constantine's long fingers circled her ankle and yanked.
She kicked out with her foot, narrowly missing his head.
Constantine laughed. He fucking laughed. She was dying and he was laughing.
"Time to get up, luv. You've slept long enough. I even brought you food."
"I. Don't. Want. Food."
Something rattled before clicking on the bedside table and she forced her eyes open again. A bottle of aspirin sat on the edge, along with a glass of water. The bed dipped as John sat down and nudged her shoulder.
She rolled onto the opposite side and closed her eyes.
He nudged her shoulder again. "Time to get up, luv."
"I'm going to kill you." Zed groaned out. As much as she wanted to sink back into the unconsciousness that had claimed her the night before, she knew that that sleep was long gone.
"You and everyone else." Constantine grinned. If this just wasn't the highlight of his day. The clock on the wall read 2:15pm. After last night, he'd been looking forward to waking Zed up out of her dead sleep.
After she'd passed out last night he'd propped himself up on the bed beside her, folded his arms behind his head and crossed his legs. She hadn't made a single sound, hadn't even snored. The poor lady, he knew she was going to have a hell of a headache when she woke up.
He'd eventually passed out. She was the one who'd passed out on his bed. He wasn't leaving his room just because of her, he'd thought with a lazy smirk.
So he'd woken up, sparked a ciggy, ate breakfast and chatted with Chaz. Where she was and if she was alright the blok had questioned, and he'd just let out a puff of smoke and replied "She's fine, mate. Passed out from a long night."
She hadn't answered her door? Well that was simple enough to answer. She wasn't in her room, was she?
He was probably going to hell at an earlier date just for enjoying himself.
John gave a dramatic sigh and placed his hand on the back of her thigh that was bared to him. That wasn't all that was bared. "As much as I'm enjoying the show, luv, you need to eat."
She was up in an instant, her head pounding from the sudden move. The position had left the curve of one asscheek bared and his hand had given a warning squeeze to the back of her thigh.
"Get out." Zed glared as she grudgingly sat up, swinging her legs to the side of the bed.
John stood and handed her the water and two aspirin. "My room."
The aspirin were halfway to her lips when she paused. She looked up at him slowly and then around the room. Her bed should have been across the room. The very exact opposite of where this bed was. In fact, the entire room was backwards.
"My bed." He added, arching an eyebrow, looking far too innocent. "My shirt."
She looked down. The folds of the shirt were white and the long sleeves had been rolled up, though they were half rolled down now and wrinkled from sleep. The hem fell down, covering her thighs.
"Tell me we didn't." Horror filled her expression, disbelief quickly following.
"That's a nice little birthmark you have."
Zed downed the aspirin and water in one move, her throat working as she swallowed. She was up and past the smug bastard in a split second and moving toward the door when he stopped her.
"Forgetting something?" John called out casually.
She looked over her shoulder and dangling from a finger on each hand was a red thong and the matching bra.
"Ooohhh." She groaned and snatched them out of his hands.
"Don't worry, luv." He said as he pulled out a box of cigarettes and stuck one cigarette between his lips. His tone had changed, almost neutral but she didn't miss the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Nothing happened. You only got drunk, broke into my room, stole my clothes, started yelling something about mind fucks, demons and that you liked me."
"I what?"
John didn't mention the part about the beads, but he'd probably bring that up later. After all, the beads that she was currently forgetting, she'd earned 'em.
Zed rubbed the place between her eyebrows, her hair a wild mess around her face. Why hadn't they stopped her? Why the hell had she been drinking in the first place? What had she been drinking? Why had she woken up in Johns room instead of her own? "Where did you sleep?"
He looked up from lighting his cigarette out on the balcony, leaning against the railing. "In the bed, of course."
"Anything else?" Zed asked.
John shrugged. "I have no idea what you did with the clothes you were wearing before hand."
She wanted to hit him. Instead, she marched towards the door, red bundle in her hand and opened the door. Chaz stood on the outside, hand raised as if to knock. He looked uncomfortable, as if he was going to witness something he didn't want to see.
Apparently he'd been a witness last night.
"Nothing happened." Zed snapped out and moved past Chaz. She heard John laughing out on the balcony before she slammed the door closed in her own room. Sure enough, her own clothes were there on the floor.
She wasn't mad, she wasn't even sure she was furious. She was a little peeved. She whipped his shirt over her head and locked herself in the bathroom as she turned the shower on.
Mind fucks and demons? Oh my!
"Coffee." Zed said two hours later as she followed John into a small diner. Chaz pushed into the booth beside her and John opposite of him, leaving her the empty space across to prop up her feet. The waitress nodded, jotting down their orders and giving a pretty blush John's way when he winked.
She'd missed breakfast and she'd missed lunch. Hell, she'd missed brunch. John's "food" had been toast. She was starving. Her stomach had settled and her headache was nearly non-existent.
"What happened last night?"
John looked up at her question, one arm stretched across the back of the booth. "I thought we already discussed that."
"The demon."
"Would be occultist. Oh, nothing much. They didn't take kindly to me interrupting their ritual. Though, Chaz could have warned me about the umbrella."
Zed paused in buttering a slice of toast. "I did warn you." She'd warned him and then Chaz had.
"She did, John." Chaz said, knife cutting through his steak.
"Good that was." John muttered. He was going to pay Chaz back for that one. He just didn't know how yet. "Thank you, luv." John said to the waitress when she stopped by again and gave her one of his teasing smiles, followed by a napkin that he'd folded and handed over with two fingers.
After another thirty minutes of arguing and clearing their plates and paying the tab, they stood. Zed was shrugging into her jacket when the waitress passed by again. Pulling the hair out of the collar of her jacket, Zed straightened the lables. "He's gay." She said in passing and heard John choke behind her.
"I would give myself a double take if I saw myself on the streets."
Chaz snorted.
Zed rolled her eyes.
Once outside John did the inevitiable and lit a cigarette. "I'm going for a drink, mates. Stay out of trouble, Zed."
Zed looked up at the sky. It probably was time for him to put those memories of his out of their misery. She'd slept the day away and even though the sky was darkening, she had absolutely no desire to close her eyes again. They were essentially free of any visions for the moment and being as how John wasn't ready to head back to the Mill House, they were going seperate ways. John was in search of a bar, Chaz was probably going back to his room to read. Zed didn't know what she wanted to do.
She was essentially kicking herself in the ass when she stepped into a bar hours later. She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers momentarily tangling in the curls before loosening. Her fingers itched, almost as if wanting to sketch something that wasn't there.
The notion was simple. She was restless. And her temple was throbbing. That was a reminder of the possible tumor in her brain, a would be example of her visions. Or the other more unbelievable notion to the outside world was an option. She'd seen the possibility of that.
She'd been alone for so long before she'd met John and Chas. Now, she wasn't so sure she liked being alone. She may have been surrounded by people, but they weren't Chaz or John.
One of the overhead lights was green, casting a low glow around the bar. The smell of stale cigarette smoke was strong.
'Bodies workin' on empty
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat
I just think about my baby'
She closed her eyes as the music filled the bar and rubbed her right temple. Someone dropped into the stool beside her, tapping the bar with two fingers in a silent signal for a drink. Sometimes she was scared. She'd experienced first hand what the visions could do if she dug too deep.
"Look what the cat dragged in."
She opened her eyes at the familiar voice and looked over as John tapped his cigarette against the ashtray. "Drunk yet?" She asked.
"Are you?" He returned.
"...no." She stared up at him, two fingers against the side of one temple.
"What's wrong?" He knew Zed. Knew her well enough to know that if he pushed her, she pushed back. She wasn't pushing back.
Zed shrugged. "Nothing." She shook her head and then closed her eyes before opening them. "My head hurts." It wasn't bad. It was barely there. Just...noticable.
John paused at that. He didn't want to hear that. The thought brought on the need for nicatine and he lifted the cigarette back to his lips. He remembered when she'd literally lost it, her body unable to fight against what the visions were doing to her. They weren't so bad now. But the memory was still there. He'd held her when she'd convulsed, her eyes rolling in the back of her head.
"Are you alright?" He'd carry her home if that was the case. Manny had spoken the truth when the angel had told him he cared about Zed. He cared. Just a little too much.
"Yea. It's bound to happen, right?" Headaches were the price to pay for what she willingly put herself through.
'I'm so full of love I could barely eat
There's nothing sweeter than my baby'
"You know I don't mean any of it, right?" The jokes, the mockery, the insults. It wasn't her. It was him. It was his nature.
Zed nodded. "Yea." She murmured. She didn't need him to clarify his meaning, she knew. He may tease her, he may piss her off, but she knew he didn't mean any of it. He wouldn't intentionally hurt her.
John stared down at the woman who had aided him in the past and in the present. The cigarette smoke was thick in the air but he could see her. She didn't have to be here with him. She could have left. If she had, her visions wouldn't have burned out of control like they had.
'I never want once from that cherry tree
Cause my baby's sweet as can be
She gives me toothaches just from kissin' me'
"If you're going to get me a blowup doll for my birthday, make sure you get a pump. I don't want the thing deflating." He said around the cigarette in his mouth.
"What?" Had she just heard him right? She stared at him. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't even smirking. She never would understand how Constantine could pull a straightface like that.
"Last night you said you were going to get me a blowup doll for my birthday."
She grimaced. "What else did I say?"
Taking the cigarette butt between thumb and forefinger he pressed it down into the ashtray. "You hate my guts."
"That sounds like me."
"You like me, too."
"I said that?" She murmured, nearly rolling her eyes.
Two shot glasses appeared and John slid one her way. "Bottoms up, luv."
"Ugh...I am not getting drunk again."
"Oh, I know you're not because I'm not taking care of you again." He picked the shot glass up and held it out to her. "Drink. You need it." One shot wouldn't hurt. Twenty would.
Zed gave in with a sigh and tilted the glass back. Her face twisted as it burned a path straight down her throat. It was horrid, but it settled warmly in her stomach. He'd downed the stuff like it was water.
'When my time comes around
lay me gently in the cold dark earth
no grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her'
"You said you could kiss me, too." Constantine said, his lips finally playing at a grin.
"Shut up." She murmured.
"You said it, not me."
She rubbed her temple again. As terrified as she was sometimes, she knew that if Constantine could do what he did, then she could certainly do her part. Hers was nothing compared to his.
"Head still hurt?"
"Not really."
'Boys when my baby found me
I was three days on a drunken sin'
Her lips twitched.
"What's so funny?" John asked. He'd caught that telltale movement.
Zed pointed upwards. "That song. 'I was three days on a drunken sin when you found me'. When I first met you..." When she'd met him out on the streets, her hands filled with sketches of him. "...you smelled like alcohol."
He signalled for another drink, but only one this time when Zed shook her head. "And you stole my wallet. And it was empty when you returned it."
"You must have lost that, too." She murmured, repeating the words she'd said to him that day.
"You think you're funny." He couldn't reprimand her because he'd done the same thing. He'd broken into her shabby little apartment and went through her trash.
"Oh, I am, John Constantine."
He turned from the bar and then stood, pulling her up with him.
"What are you doing?" Zed asked curiously.
"Dance with me." For once they were reaching common ground. He wasn't throwing little innudoes at her and she wasn't mocking him. That didn't happen very often. She trailed behind him, almost reluctant.
Had he really just asked her to dance with him? They weren't the only ones on the small opening that consisted of a dance floor, but that didn't mean she liked to dance. But she didn't say no, either.
"I don't dance."
"I don't, either." John offered in return. "It's music. Just move to it." She turned to head back towards the bar but his hands landed on her hips, tugging her back a step. "Please?"
'I woke with her walls around me
nothing in her room but any empty crib
and I was burnin' up a fever'
I didn't care much how long I lived'
She sighed, the sound lost in the music but didn't move away this time. His hands stayed on her hips and she could feel the sway of his body behind hers, the heat from his body. She really didn't dance, but she followed what he said, moving to the slow rythm of the music and the rythm of his body behind hers.
His hands shifted from her hips and slid over the back of her hands. He lifted her hands and folded her arms over her stomach, his arms folding over hers so that he held her back against him. He didn't know why he did it. He just did it.
He was close. She could feel the heat against her back, the smell of sweat, cigarettes and the smell that was Constantine.
'But I swear I thought I dreamed her
She never once asked me about the wrong I did
My baby would never fret none
about what my hands and body done
If the Lord don't forgive me
I'd still have my baby and my babe would still have me'
Her fingers curled against her abdomen and she turned her head, swaying against him. She looked around at the crowd but didn't really see them. She was focused on the man behind her, the way he opened his hands over hers and then where her fingers where curled against her abdomen, he inserted his fingers between each of hers.
'When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her'
Zed closed her eyes, inhaling again. She turned her head again but this time left her cheek against his chest, pressed against his shirt and a partial of his jacket.
Constantine tightened his fingers over hers. She was short, the top of her head reaching his chin. "Not so bad, is it?" He murmured.
"Until I step on your feet." She murmured in return and he grinned.
"As long as I still get my blow up doll." He murmured against her ear teasingly. He felt the answering chuckle she gave. He lifted one arm, releasing her hand and then tugged her right hand out, still connected. He lifted his arm high above her head, bringing hers with it and then turned her around beneath his arm slowly until she was facing him.
Zed tilted her head back, looking up at the blonde haired demonoligist. His arms weren't holding her anymore, but he still had her right hand, which his fingers were still entwined with. She could feel a light blush spreading over her cheeks, because this was Constantine. But with the music, her body swaying against his, the dim lighting...she honestly didn't care.
'When I was kissing on my baby
and she put her love down soft and sweet'
The words seemed to echo around her and her eyes fell to his lips.
His actions must have echoed hers, or at least his thoughts did, because the hand that was holding hers slid around and to the small of her back, bending her elbow. He applied a slight pressure, tugging her against his body.
Her heart skipped a beat when he lowered his head.
'In the low lamp light I was free
Heaven and hell were words to me'
Her eyes slid closed when she felt the brush of his lips.
And damn Constantine, he didn't know why he did it.
'When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I'll crawl home to her'
She inhaled when she felt him pull away and for a moment, she didn't open her eyes. When she did open them, his dark eyes were staring down at her.
And the music had stopped.
She could feel her cheeks heating again and she cleared her throat, pulling out of the loose ring of his arm. He released her.
He didn't say anything.
"Ugh...excuse me." She mumbled. She didn't say anything else, just pulled out of his arms and left him in the middle of the dance floor. She needed air. She needed to run her hands through her hair. She needed to figure out just what the hell had just happened. Her eyes found the neon sign through the dim smoke filled interior that said "Restroom" and she high tailed it in that direction.
Relief filled her when she realized it was vacated. She turned into the small alchove and pulled the one person bathroom door open and the light overhead flickered on. It wasn't like with the damn sex demon. That had been an excuse. Now, they didn't have an excuse. What the hell had just happened-
The door hadn't even fully closed before Constantine caught it with his hand.
"What are you doing in here? You can't be in here." Zed said, her voice a little higher than she would have liked as she backed up, pressing her hands against the sink behind her.
He didn't answer her. One moment he was blocking the door and then the door was closing. She heard the sound of the lock clicking into place before the air left her body in a 'whoosh' as he kissed her again.
His body pressed hers hard up against the sink, his hands sinking and tangling in her hair as he kissed her hard, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. Zed moaned, her head falling back under the pressure. She lifted her hands, fisting them in the labels of his jacket and lifted one leg, curling it around the back of one thigh.
His hands shifted direction, moving south at a quick angle before he was gripping her ass. He hauled her upward, setting her on the edge of the sink and then gripped the back of her thighs and jerked her legs up high, hooking her ankles behind his back. He wasn't kissing her anymore, his lips were steadily moving over her collarbone, the fingers of one hand pressing flat against her ribs before he was cupping a breast.
Zed tightened her legs around John's waist when he moved his hips against hers, rubbing and grinding. Oh, fuck yes. She could feel him through the thin khakis, grinding against her before both of his hands were cupping her breasts, squeezing.
She fell back, her ass sliding halfway into the sink. The faucet dug into her back and she groaned before one of his hands was groping her ass again and tugging her forward, holding her in place.
Keeping her legs around his waist, she pushed his hands away from her breasts and jerked at his belt buckle. Instead of touching her again, he dropped his hands to the sink, his fingers curling around the rim. He widened his stance, his legs spread. She jerked the edges of the belt apart and let them hang there on either side of his hips as her fingers fumbled at the fastening to his pants but it wouldn't give. She went straight for his zipper.
Constantine muttered something beneath his breath. "Fucking button."
He released the rim of the sink and used both hands, sliding the button through the hole and the button went flying across the bathroom...
The button went flying across the room...
"Maybe we can burn his cigarettes and he'll stop." Zed said. She flipped a button in the air with her thumb. The dumb thing had popped right off her sleeve.
"Not even I want to see that side of John." Chaz said from his position against the table. "That's just cruel."
Zed made a rough sound in her throat, like shocked denial as the world around her died away. She was still on the sink, perched on the edge but Constantine was no longer there. She watched the scene playback in her head like a movie.
She swore the Mill House was bigger today. Maybe be an inch or two. She knew it was possible because Chaz had once said the very same thing to her. She shrugged at his mention of cruelty. She wasn't above it, though. Piss her off one more time and she'd burn a whole pack.
The ceiling popped.
She looked up, so did Chaz. There was a small flash of light following the popping sound. "What was that?"
She heard Constantine calling her name, but she couldn't answer him. Not yet. He was calling her, asking, asking...
"Zed? Zed. What is it? WHAT are you seeing?"
"The Mill House." She whispered.
"Chaz? What was that?" Zed asked again, frowning.
"I think...someones inside." And then, "But that's not possible." He muttered.
"John's probably back."
"No, he would have disarmed the protection spell. Stay here." Chaz said, starting for the hallway.
Like hell. She followed him. "What's wrong?" She followed him up a flight of stairs so that they could look down at the long entrance way. Hell, they could see everything and anyone if it called for it.
She froze, terror filling her. She recognized the six men, the clothing they wore. And somehow, they'd broken through one of John's protection spells AGAIN. She took a step back. He wasn't going to take her back. He couldn't. Not again. She couldn't go back.
"No, Zed. Don't freak out on me here." Chaz gripped her forearm and forced her back down the stairs. How the hell had they gotten in?
"I told you he'd never stop. He sent them again." She whispered.
"He's not, Zed. John's not going to let that happen." Chaz pulled open the door that led to one of many rooms, the hallway that not even John had fully explored yet. "Stay in here. Don't come out until John or I open this door. I just put a spell on it so John will know where you are when he gets back." There were God knows how many rooms down that hallway, and always changing.
"What-why? What are you doing? CHAZ!" Chaz slammed the door shut, but it caught on her knuckles.
Chaz didn't notice because he turned his back. Blocking the door. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude not to knock?"
"Actually, yes." There was the sound of knuckles against wood. "How about that? Now... let's see just how many lives you have left."
That voice terrified her more than anything else and as she forced the door back open she heard the defeaning sound of a gunshot and the sound of a body slumping to the floor.
Horror filled her as she took in Chaz's limp body and the hole between his eyebrows.
"One." The voice said slowly.
Chaz groaned suddenly and then the gun shifted down and a bullet ripped through his heart.
"Two."
HE lifted his head then and smiled. "Hello, daughter. Why don't you come out and say hello?" HE hadn't just sent his lackeys. HE'D come himself.
Another gunshot.
"Three."
She screamed. "CHAZ!"
"CHAZ!" Zed whimpered as the world suddenly set itself right again and her knees buckled. Constantine caught her before she could fall.
"God dammit, what did you see!" Constantine shook her, forcing her to look up at him.
"I told you, he'll never stop." She finally whispered.
Author's Note:
Writing this chapter was grueling, but oh so fun. I stayed up until probably 3:30 in the morning because I couldn't stop writing. Probably writing for nearly three and half hours non-stop. I had the last episode of Constantine in mind when I was writing this chapter. I was remembering that scene between Jim and Zed, when Jim had kissed her. Then that small part after between John and Zed and that LOOK he gave her.
The song in that episode was 'Work Song' by Hozier. That is the song in this chapter because I feel as if that song fits John and Zed somewhat.
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