Chapter 13: The Darkness Beneath Part 5

Near closing time. Only a few lingering customers remain, including Ellis in his usual spot. Zed enters and looks around for John but can't find him. Defeated, she takes a seat next to Ellis, who slugs on his whiskey.

"Have you seen an Englishman? Wears a trench coat?" she asked the man.

"Well, I've seen two. Rip and Constantine."

"This happened a while ago, you know that right? Besides, Rip wasn't exactly there at the time."

Ellis looked at her, "He stick you with a bar tab, too?" he replied. Zed looks exhausted, defeated. Seeing this, Ellis continued, "My advice. Don't waste yourself on that one."

"Ouch."

"I don't have a choice."

"Yeah, you do. You always have a choice."

Ellis took a moment to reply as he thought of his son, "My son had that effect when he was alive. Had that hooligan's charm. Left behind clutches of weepy girls who swore he was the one to give their life meaning."

"It's not like that. Well okay it is like that, but not for the reasons you think. John means something to me. I just have no idea what."

"But it's totally not like that. Right…"

SMACK! A pillow hit the commenter dead on.

"Was a time when people came to me for answers. Now the bartender gets more confessions in a day than I did in a month of Sundays."

"Your son? Is he the reason you left your faith?" Zed asked.

"I left the church when the mine swallowed him. But I can't say I left my faith. I didn't really have any to begin with."

"You had to believe at some point."

"Oh, I believed. I believed in the power of goodness to overcome evil. But faith is different than belief. It's an unshakable acceptance with no room for doubt", here he paused, "I'll never have that now. The cursed mine has seen to that." He throws some bills on the bar, turns and exits. Zed watches him go.

The first rays of morning light pierce the room. Zed enters, exhausted, shuts the door. She turns on the light and sees John asleep on her couch. He stirs awake. Zed steps in further to see John dragged the couch so that it's sitting in front of her many paintings and sketches of him - slaying demons, conjuring spells, gnawing smokes, and just plain being John.

"Now you're finding out where she lives. What's this about not being a stalker?"

"You leave when I want you, you're here when I don't. I'll make it easy for you. Get out. I'm done with you."

"John does have that affect on people…" Anne Marie spoke up. She said this to no one in particular.

"What?"

"Don't be that way, luv. I had to verify that which you provided. A strict security protocol is in fact required in my business."

"Which you still haven't told me."

John rises and moves with purpose. Tables turned, he scrutinizes a painting of himself. "I, as you have so... conventionally portrayed, am an exorcist, demonologist, and... occasional dabbler in the dark arts. Question is who are you?"

"Still getting those new cards made?"

Cue the chuckles and groans from various members of the audience.

Zed is caught off guard at the question, "You already know... I'm Zed."

"Right, Zed Martin. I found your three-month lease. Why's a Chica Bonita in her mid-20's slumming it in a one-horse Pennsylvania mining town in the middle of Welsh country?" He moves closer.

"I travel. A lot."

"There's only two types who travel a lot. Those in the circus and those on the run - and curiously, I see no funny wigs or face paint."

"I know what I'm running from. Do you?"

John pulls up a chair, very close to Zed, and takes a seat, all but pinning her to the sofa. "Let's get this straight. 'Twas you that came to me. Step into my world, you'll be staring down demons, devils, and the like. Those things in your paintings... they're real."

"Real?" But John's intensity cuts through any skepticism Zed might have had.

"It won't be bad memories nipping at your heels, but the scourge of hell gunning for your soul. And when the bell rings, you'd best be ready, willing, and able to answer with something far more deadly than a charcoal pencil. Think you're up to that, we can talk business. If not, we go our separate ways, and I never see your face again." Zed leans in, a determined look on her face, as John finishes the little speech.

"You need me as much as I need you - I'm not going anywhere."

"Very well. But before we dive headlong into the depths of Hades - I'd like to know who's jumping by my side." John stares Zed down awaiting, demanding, a response, when - The wail of an alarm pierces the quiet morning. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Another collapse?"

"Obviously."

"There's been a mine collapse. I've heard three of those sirens since I've been here." Zed pushes John aside and heads out. John follows her.

"See?"

Coal dust billows from the entrance. Miners stumble out, covered in black. Townspeople come running. Zed and John are among them. Voices call out: "Who's hurt!" "Is everybody out?!" "Where's William? I can't find William!"

"Was William ever found?"

"I don't know."

Zed doesn't hesitate. She rushes to help. John spies a miner stumbling out - it's Ed from the pub. The man can barely see, coal dust in his eyes. John guides him to sit.

"What happened in there?"

"It all came down, right on top of us..." the miner gasped out.

"Before it happened - knocking. Did you hear the knocking?" The miner looks at John through watery eyes, the fear there confirming the truth.

Medical Personnel arrive and take over. John rises, surveys the chaos, and spots - Thad and Owen off to the side. Remembering Thad's warning, John pulls back out of sight but watches them. They're in the middle of a heated argument, too far away to hear. Owen seems the most worked up of the two. Thad tries to calm him. Finally, Thad issues what appears to be an ultimatum and strides off. Owen walks off the other way, walking toward the parking area. John waits a beat and follows.

"This won't turn out well. Being separated from the larger group."

We see Zed helping a dazed miner. She hands him off to his anxious family and then looks around. "John? Constantine!" she shouts. As usual, he's nowhere to be found. She shakes her head.

"Typical Constantine behavior."

A parking area surrounded by mining vehicles and equipment. With the drama down at the mine, nobody is around. Owen enters his SUV and closes the door. As he puts the keys in the ignition, the passenger door opens and John sits down.

"If Thad catches you here…" Owen started.

"Men are dying in your mine." The exorcist interrupted him before letting the man continue.

"Five years ago, Heddwich was dead. NorPenn saved this town. They said the mine was tapped out but we gave it new life."

"Because you're a rogue operation. Digging unauthorized tunnels into regions of the earth where mortal man has no rightful place."

"How would you know?"

"Been down there, mate. Seen your shoddy supports with my own eyes. Only that's the least of your worries now." Owen stares at John, truly afraid.

"It's true, isn't it? What the miners are saying? They hear sounds."

"Take a guess genius."

"Need I remind you that you are talking to a screen."

"And they're gonna keep hearing 'em and good men are gonna keep dying till you shut down the mine."

"Mr. Bowman will never go for that."

"It's the only way to stop the dying." Abruptly, the doors lock. All at once. By an unseen hand. "Now if I'd only gotten to you sooner." John tries the door handle. No good.

"What is that?" Owen asks, fear evident, as he looks down. Black slurry rises around the leg of Owen and John. It rises fast. Over their knees. Up their waists. In only seconds.

"This is why you keep an emergency hammer in reach to break a window."

"We need something to break the window!"

"Emergency hamm-"

"We get it Palmer!"

"Sorry…"

"Check the" Owen is cut off as an arm of slurry rises from the muck, slaps a hand over Owen's forehead, and pulls him backwards into the sludge pool, his seat tilting back with a snap as his head submerges.

John leans over and digs around to fish him out. But in seconds the slurry rises to John's chest. His neck. John strains to keep his head over the sloppy mud - to no avail. His head goes under.

Zed, running, reaches the SUV and sees it full of slurry. She tries the door. Locked. Looking around, Zed spots a pile of mining equipment. She grabs a heavy steel pry bar. Jams it into the passenger's side door. Leans into the bar. Once. Twice. Gives it everything a third time. The door pops open. Sludge and slurry pour out, finally revealing John, who rolls out of the SUV, dripping muck. He spits out the breath he was holding and gasps for oxygen.

"Are you hurt?" she asks, concerned for his well being.

"What type of question is that?" Ray looked incredulously at her for a moment. Zed shrugged.

John, too proud to acknowledge that he was about to die, replies with "I had that under control."

"You were drowning in mud!"

"I was perfectly fine!"

"Right." Zed drew out the word. Chas watched the two with hidden amusement.

"I was thinking a spell in my head. Check on the driver." Zed moves to the SUV and looks in as the receding slurry reveals Owen's head, his mouth agape, oozing black sludge. Zed looks to John and shakes her head. Too late.

John and Zed trudge into town along the sidewalk. Both are mired in sludge, making them a gawk-worthy sight for locals.

"What a sight."

"Don't torture yourself over it. There was nothing we could do for the blighter. And trust me, we don't want to stick around and get involved in a police investigation."

"I still don't understand. What was that inside the car?"

"The price of doing business with yours truly. I tried to warn you."

"I know. And I'm still here." John casts a sidelong glance at Zed. Indeed, this girl's a gamer. Two oglers have stopped in front of them, staring.

"Move along. Nothing to see." John addresses them. They continue on. He returns to the conversation.

"So what's going on?" Zed asks.

"Back home our miners called 'em Coblynau, but you see 'em in every culture. They're the spirits of dead miners. They knock on walls before cave-ins to warn of danger." Zed has seen enough to be convinced that all of what John says is all real. But it is all very new to her.

"So... these "Coblynau"... they're protecting miners? Warning them of trouble, not causing it?"

"That's right. Traditional Coblynau never pop to the surface, and they certainly don't murder."

"What's the explanation then?" They stop as they reach Zed's loft.

"Could be the Rising Darkness. Something's forcing evil to the surface in waves. Changing up the rules. But me? I'm sensing the human touch."

"This Rising Darkness again… What is it?"

"Someone called these spirits on purpose."

"Nothing says payback like a demon assassin. If I'm right, these bad boys were conjured by someone close by."

"Like a miner maybe? I heard them say they're all gathering at the pub for an emergency meeting."

"That suits my thirst. Let's clean up. I'll meet you there." Zed heads to her loft, and John turns for the hotel.

"I could do with a drink right now..."

"Remember Rory, the note said no alcoholic beverages."

End Chapter

The quote of the chapter is

Teacher: The next play we will read is a Norwegian play

Friend (AM): *Looks to me and asks* What does that mean?

Me: It was written by Norwegians

AM: Facepalm