Chapter 29: A Feast of Friends Part 2

John and Zed make their way up the front path of the Mill House.

"You're showing flashes of precognition, retrocognition, clairtangence... You're a real bitsa."

"Come again?"

"Come again?"

"A bista. You've got bitsa everything in you." They're almost at the door when Constantine stops, abruptly. "Hold up..." Constantine's POV - the wooden door has been forced open, chunks of splintered timber, lay all around. "A break-in. Pretty clumsy one, too. You might want to wait outside. The intruder - whoever or whatever it is - will still be inside."

Here John's laidback grin tightened at the corners, his entire persona becoming a mite more tense then before.

"How do you know?"

"Magic." Ray and Nate said in unison before turning towards each other with a comedic "Did-we-just-become-best-friends" expression.

"Ol' Jasper went to a lot of trouble to safeguard everything contained within these walls. Almost feel sorry for whatever's inside." The two share a glance before entering.

Constantine and Zed edge along the hallway, eyes peeled.

We hear sounds of scurrying and Zed looks around to see a few beetles darting across the floor.

"Seriously disgusting." Zed makes a face.

"When was the last time an inspector went through there?"

Constantine inspects one - ugly little fucker, an inch long and covered in dense, reddish-brown hair. "Khapra beetles. One of the most destructive pests in the world."

"But where are they native to?" Martin asked.

"You don't need to worry, they're native to South Asia." came the response.

They take a few more steps when the lights begin to flicker before the bulbs blow out. The house is plunged into darkness and Constantine whips out his zippo.

"I'll assume that's not a good sign."

"Pretty safe bet."

The tension builds with every cautious footstep but there's still no sign of the intruder.

Everybody who didn't know what happened leaned forward, intrigued with what would happen. Boy would that change later in the episode.

Constantine and Zed reach the spiral staircase and at the sound of their footsteps, a meek voice calls out -

"John? That you?"

Constantine and Zed look down to find -

Gary Lester. In the space between the mezzanine level and downstairs, floating awkwardly.

Everybody leaned back in their seats at the mildly anticlimactic reveal. Those aware of Gary's fate just tried to hide the pained expressions.

"Bugger me. Gary bloody Lester."

"I knocked but nobody was home so I thought I'd just come in and wait and then-"

"You got yourself caught in the Zero Gravity Trap."

Zed smiles at John, "So you do have friends after all."

John made a mock hurt expression, "Just because you hadn't met them doesn't mean I'm a recluse."

Constantine scowls at her - he'd rather not talk about his friends - given how few of them are left alive.

Gary is now right way up as Constantine pours himself a drink while Zed sprays bugs in the background.

"I came a long way to find you, John. I need your help."

"There's a shock." He replied sarcastically.

"At least he knows when to admit that he needs help?"

"Please, John. Just listen to me. It's important."

"To you, maybe. I haven't seen you since -"

"Newcastles. I know." The mention of Newcastle draws a reaction from John - one that Zed catches.

"None of us knew where you went. You just vanished."

"I feel like everyone would need to vanish after that."

"I needed to get away. Had to straighten myself out, you know?"

Constantine takes in Gary's track marks, "Bang-up job on that, mate."

"With everything that happened... With Astra... I just needed to escape."

"Drugs are never the answer though. Therapy probably would've been a better option." Ray said far to cheerily for the subject at hand.

Constantine darkens, "Well good for you, Gary."

Zed has finished spaying the bugs and joins them, "Who's Astra?"

John just stares down Gary, ignoring the question. "Go on then, what daft mess have you gotten yourself mixed up in now and why is this bloody joint crawling with bugs?"

"It's bad, John. Really bad. But I didn't mean for it to happen this way. I swear it..." Constantine waits for the explanation and the story unfolds in a voice-over guided flashback.

"And this folks, is a perfect warning on what not to do." said John.

We see a strung-out Gary moving through a squalid alley lined with beggars and misfits. Gary looks like a hot mess and wherever he goes, people are quick to avoid him.

"It started out as a bender. I was just trying to forget. One night turned into two, then a week and then, well, I got lost in it all. Don't even know how, but next thing I know I'm in Khartoum, looking to get on."

"How do you just... end up in Sudan?"

Gary approaches an emaciated mute, Okot (17), who is writhing in pain on the ground. Tribal scarification covers Okot's face.

"But as soon as I saw him I knew. He had these containment markings all over his face. You know, power patterns. For binding. Some bastard had trapped a demon in him."

"Probably for a good reason." Sara pointed out.

Gary reaches out a hand for Okot who looks up at him, terror and agony in his eyes. Gary nods his assurance and after a beat Okot accepts Gary's hand.

"I knew what I had to do. Here was my chance to make up for Newcastle. My chance to atone."

Gary guides Okot deeper into the alley and they both disappear into the darkness.

They reach a flop house room. Gary finishes tying down a weak and barely conscious Okot.

"It was like an irresistible passion had seized me. It's not that I wanted to do it - I needed to."

Gary lights candles and chants in latin as the exorcism begins.

"You should've seen me, John."

Okot writhes in agony as his skin starts to bulge but we drift off to find flickering candlelit shadows on the wall, splattered by blood, as a swarm of insects rip through Okot's chest.

"It might've been nicer to just leave him..."

We hear the horrifying sound a mute makes as he tries to scream as the beetles form together in a giant dark mass, hovering above Gary who doesn't flinch, just keeps chanting.

"You really should've seen me."

Under Gary's spell, the swarm of beetles begins to enter the same exotic bottle we saw break apart earlier. The flashback ends.

Out of the flashback, Gary swells with pride, "I did it. I trapped a demon in a bottle. Gary Lester trapped a demon."

"Sounds like the kid got the rough end of the pineapple but so long as you're happy, Gaz."

"I didn't know it would happen like that. But it's like you used to say, John - there's always a price with magic."

"Too right. So you thought you'd bring it to me to dispose of?" Gary nods but shifts uncomfortably.

"Where's this bottle now?"

"I don't think you'll want to know."

End Chapter:

QOTC:

KG: Let the pregnant lady walk through.

AN: Hello for those who stuck this far, I'm back. Temporarily. Not for long. I attend a JMC and my dumbass has signed my life away to the army, so I'll be off to a summer training in like two weeks. In other news, if a tragic accident happens and you lose some friends in a car accident, I suggest therapy (if that is an affordable option) because my broke college student self can't and things are going SPLENDIDLY. After all, there's only been a few days that I haven't gone to classes rather then entire weeks. Also, make sure you A) wear seat belts and B) obey the speed limit.

Anyways, I'll see you next chapter!