Chapter Five
The ride back to the Mill House was long and tedious. They could have cut the time in half if John had opted for a plane. But no, if he got that close to heaven the good Lord almighty would probably smite him just for the hell of it.
Zed stared out at the moving country side, her head tilted against the window. She should have fought John. She should have cursed him to hell and back. But she had the vague impression if she had tried to run he would have thrown her over his shoulder. Just like he'd said he would.
In all honesty, she was tired of running. She was tired of hiding. Was that how she wanted it to be for the rest of her life? To feel free and then have it all ripped away again only to go back into hiding until the next hit?
She was terrified for John and Chas. What made John think he was so capable? She sighed. John had told her to have hope because they were one step ahead.
"I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!"
The loud music pierced her eardrums, breaking the deafening silence and she slapped John upside the head just as Chas jerked up in the passenger seat.
"What the hell, John?!" Chas cursed, AC/DC nearly drowning out his voice.
The cab swerved dangerously to the side before John jerked the wheel, bringing them back onto the road. "Not while I'm bloody driving, luv." John muttered, rubbing the side of his head.
Chas turned down the deafening volume, bringing it down to a much more bearable version. "What the hell was that for, John? Trying to make us go deaf?"
John brought both hands to the steering wheel. "We've got Little Bo Peep with a side of depression back there and Lazarus here was snoring in my ear. AC/DC is on the preferred side, mate."
"Try a more reasonable level of hearing next time." Chas settled back, folding his arms over his chest.
"When am I not being reasonable?" John commented as he moved his leg up slightly and positioned the steering wheel with his knee. He cracked the window and then cupped a hand around the cigarette in his mouth and kindled the end.
"When you're smoking in the cab, John." Chas warned.
"And the library." Zed added.
"You were smoking in the chapel."
"There was a sign at the motel that clearly stated 'No Smoking'." Zed said evenly as she slid to the edge of her seat and braced one arm on both passenger and driver seat.
John's eyes narrowed and he fleetingly met Zed's eyes in the mirror. "I wasn't smoking in the motel. Ganging up on me? Bloody bastards."
"You were smoking in your motel room." Zed said matter of factly.
"You'd know, wouldn't you?" John countered. "And I was on the balcony."
"Not the first time." Zed didn't miss a beat. She didn't remember much of that first night, but she clearly remembered John smoking IN the room.
"Put it out, John." Chas said, his tone brooking no arguement. John always hoped that he'd forget the "no smoking in the cab" rule. Or at the very least, Chas would sleep every mile of the way. This cab was his second baby.
"Bloody hell." John muttered and whipped the cigarette from between his lips and doused it in a cup before dropping it in his shirt pocket.
"Well, if you stopped smoking..." Zed let the offer hang in the air.
"I plan to."
Zed rolled her eyes because his "plan to" was over two years in the making and going strong.
"You know they have patches, right John?" Chas said, bringing his cap low over his head.
"They don't bloody work." He'd tried. The patch had lasted for only thirty minutes after he'd cast a spell and then he was lightying up a ciggy. The patch didn't do shit for the anxiety.
"You could always...suck on something. Candy." Zed said, frowning. She didn't mind the fact that he smoked but not smoking was always the better option period.
"Hickery dickery doc, this bonny lass was sucking my cock. The clock struck two, I dumped my goo and left before the sun was due." John murmured, his voice a little sing along tune.
The car grew quiet.
Zed sat back and folded her arms. Chas sighed and tilted his head back against the headrest, tugging the cap down low over his face.
"Finally, bloody silence." John muttered and accelerated.
They reached the Mill House in record time, though by the time they arrived, her ass hurt from sitting so long. John was craving his nicotine wanted to know exactly what it was that she wasn't telling him. He knew it had something to do with a vision, but John had been vague and forth-withholding.
"See, nothing to be scared of, luv." John said as they stepped inside the welcoming Mill House and stopped at the top landing. He dropped his overnight bag on the wooden floor and started down the stairs.
"Well, John?" Chas demanded as he followed.
Reaching the bottom floor, John turned and plucked the hat off Chas' head. "Think fast, luv." He said and tossed it at Zed.
Zed reached up out of instinct at the object coming towards her. Chas' hat landed in her open hands and the world faded away.
Chas turned, blocking the door and facing the intruder. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude not to knock?"
"John." Zed whispered, freezing on the second to last step.
"Actually, yes." There was the sound of knuckles against wood. "How about that? Now... let's see just how many lives you have left."
"Don't let him do it. Stop him." The world closed in around her at the reocurring vision.
John didn't respond in the way she wanted him to. "What are you seeing, Zed?"
Horror filled her as she took in Chaz's limp body and the hole between his eyebrows.
"One." The voice said slowly.
"One." Zed mimicked the word, her voice low, but it shook. "Stop him, John..."
"It's not real, luv. Keep going." He was hard. He was forcing her to live the vision again.
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. Her father was here to make sure everything was done right.
Another gunshot.
"Three."
Zed could feel her airway closing as the vision tunneled, as she struggled to bring herself out of it. She sucked air into her deprived lungs and threw herself back into the present. She threw the hat at John who let it bounce off his chest.
"What did you see, Zed?" It was Chas who asked this time.
Her hands shook, reminding her exactly who and why she was scared.
"The Mill's safe, Zed. It will take them a bloody miracle to get in here."
"Who is them?" Chas asked, annoyance in his voice.
"Zed's old man. Doesn't seem to understand the concept of no." John murmured as he finally puffed on a much needed stick of cancer.
"I thought we already dealt with that?"
"We did. Guess I didn't do a thorough job."
"Not funny, John." Zed wrapped her arms around her sides.
"I'm not smiling, luv." He threw his trench coat over the back of the couch. "She saw you die, mate."
Chas grimaced. Sure, he'd come back but there was always that point of death that was painful. Hurt like a bitch. He never looked forward to dying. Zed didn't look too happy that John had blurted out that information. "John's always got a plan, Zed."
"This'll be the last time I tell the bloody sod 'no', that's for sure." John muttered. He nodded with his head, not looking at Zed. "Come here."
As much as she wanted to not be here, she couldn't deny that the Mill felt like Home. A very dysfuntctional home, but a home none the less. She stopped in front of John. "What?"
"Give me your hand."
When she presented her hand, he slapped something around her wrist and her hand convulsed before going completely numb.
"Remember this?" Constantine asked, gripping her forearm. She'd better.
"It's the Sinew from Achilles' heel. Get it off."
"Good." Constantine unwrapped it from around her wrist and then dropped it on her hand. "Always comes in handy, but I'd hate to feel it around my cock." He returned her look innocently. "A numb and limp pecker never bodes well for anyone."
"What's this for?"
"Were you not paying attention just then?"
"What's it for, John?" Zed repeated.
"If you need it, use it."
Self defense. She was going to keep the Achilles' close. "Anything else?"
"You've got the whole Mill House on your side, luv."
Chas leaned back against the table and braced his palms on the surface. "Not to pry into your personal life, Zed, but for them to get the Messiah they want from you, don't you have to be a virgin?"
The two men in front of her knew she wasn't a virgin. One of said men had made sure of that, even if by accident. "There are ways." Zed said, watching the floor. She didn't want to think about that.
John stopped in front of the mirror and started looking through the small nick nacks there. Zed's reflection mirrored her inner thoughts and he saw Gary's image. The cigarette threatened to fall from his lips as he spoke. "So you're saying they can unpop that cherry of yours?"
"No, John." Zed said, annoyed at the humor John seemed to find. She refused to look at Chas where John's comment was concerned. She was somehow uncomfortable with the knowledge that Chas knew about her sex life. He'd walked in on the aftermath of it. He didn't know just how recent that 'cherry popping' as John liked to call it, had been.
"Enlighten me, luv."
"It doesn't matter if the body isn't..." Zed paused, searching for the right word. "...pure. If all else fails, as long as the mind is pure."
He hadn't really thought about the fact that they wouldn't want Zed if she wasn't a virgin until Chas had brought it up. But now that the thought was on his mind, he'd been hoping that that would be the case. So it didn't matter if she wasn't a virgin. They just prefered she was.
"Your mind isn't pure, luv. You're almost as dirty a bloody sod as I am. Just as barmy, too." He turned from the mirrror and looked at Chas. "She is, mate. Don't let the sweet latino look fool you."
"Ashes, John." Chas said, clearly annoyed.
"Bollocks." John muttered and tapped the cigarette in a random cup. He continued. "But here's where things get interesting, mates. You're not a virgin." He pointed in Zed's direction. "You're welcome by the way."
Zed glared.
Chas looked repeatitive in the notion.
"They want one of the Ben Elohim to impregnate you. That's where we pull ahead at."
"What's Ben Elohim?"
"It's the same thing as a Fallen Angel, the Grigori and Irin. Beings of superiority who dwell in the highest parts of heaven with God."
Zed really didn't like the thought of having sex with a Fallen Angel.
"You've a knack for unwanted attention where the opposite sex is concerned, luv."
"You included?" She threw right back at him.
"Everyone wants my attention."
"What's your point, John?" Chas said, bringing the conversation back around.
"I honestly don't know." John muttered.
Zed ran a hand through her hair. They were getting no where with this.
"You've gotta trust me, luv. Give me due credit." He lamented again. He wasn't so bad that she couldn't trust him. He'd played her against the forces of darkness before and won. "I've warded the inside of the house and I can't stress this enough, don't leave without Chas or myself. We don't want a repeat of last time."
She'd taken care of herself well enough last time, though. He just didn't want to play that game out twice. The safeguards would hold. No bleedin' sod was getting past his defenses. Not even Papa Midnight had been able to penetrate those forces. He needed to learn how to keep Manny out. Now that would be a fun day to behold.
He started rummaging around again and then finding the book he wanted and a stashed water bottle full of blood, he started back up the staircase.
"Is that blood?" Zed stared at the bottle in his hand.
"Sure is. Pigs blood. Best for conjuring spells and rituals, it is. I'm going to seal the outside of the Mill, so if you don't mind I'm going to chivvy along..."
Zed waved him away.
John dug into his pocket and tossed the discarded button from his pants at Chas. "Be a mate and sow this back on for me. The mother to that is in my bag."
"I really should start charging you for these kind of things, John." Chas said.
John grinned and took the stairs two at a time, their voices fading as he moved past the upper floor and then out the door. He stuffed the still closed bottle of pigs blood in his pants pocket, barely managing to make it fit as he brought another cigarette to his lips.
At the rate he was going, he wasn't even gonna make it to three packs a day. Stress could do that to a man, even more so to a man who had witnessed and felt death. Cigarette hanging limply from his lips, he unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and then rolled them up to his elbows.
"Alright." Facing the Mill he took three steps back and guaging the distance, took another five and then stepped to the left. Chas would probably kill him if he got blood on the cab. He screwed the cap off and then poured a generous amount on each hand.
He rubbed his hands together, going over the ritual in his mind. Symbols first, chant second. He lifted his hands and drew an invisable line first one way and then another. Symbolize the Mill. Check. Symbolize the surrounding forest. He was working on it.
He turned towards the surrounding forest and right into the heavy brunt of a pistol.
"Bloody hell." John cursed before crashing to the ground.
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