Chapter 23: The Devils Vinyl Part 7
Back in Ian's mansion, Zed paces, worriedly talking on her cell phone. Ian pours himself a drink.
"Really, is it so much to ask for a drink." Mick once more grunted. If people were going to learn of his past soon, he didn't want to be sober for it.
"It's been hours, no word from him. Can you jump a red eye to Chicago? We might need you. Thanks, Chas." Zed hangs up. Jasmine comes downstairs holding the jacketed acetate, which she shoves in a desk drawer. "How's Julilah?" Zed asks.
"She's okay. Finally asleep."
"That's good." Kendra stated, relieved that she would be fine.
"We've got to make this trade. I want that thing out of our lives." Ian announced firmly.
"As you should." John mumbled, still a tad bit frustrated at giving away their names to Midnite.
A gunshot startles them. They turn to see the door fly inward. Creed, followed shortly after by Traylor, pushes in brandishing handguns.
"I'll make this simple. Give us the acetate or everyone dies." Traylor demands.
"Typical bad guy threat."
"What "acetate"? Who are you?" Zed replys, faking ignorance.
"Does that ever work?"
"No, not really."
Traylor kicks Jasmine's sunflower phone across the floor. It slides to a stop by Zed. "Dont's waste my time."
Ray winced. Being the creator of such a device (and many more), he knew exactly how brittle they could be.
"You don't understand, it's too dangerous -"
Creed shoots into the ceiling then aims at Ian.
"Don't hurt him! You can have it!" Jasmine cries out.
"Jasmine, if you give it up -"
"I don't care what happens to me. I'm not letting anyone else get hurt. The desk. Bottom drawer.
"Really? Now it'll be in the hands of two thugs, who probably want to test it on someone, thus causing more deaths." Rip sighed.
Creed goes to the desk and pulls out the acetate. He removes the jacket and checks the disc, turning it in his bare hands.
"You don't want to touch that with your bare hands." Zed warns.
Creed turns toward Zed, steps close, invading her space. "You telling me what I can touch?"
"Hey. Midnite said make it clean. We got what we need." Traylor catches his partners attention. Reluctantly, Creed turns away from Zed and they head out.
Jasmine turns to Zed, "Oh my God. Your friend -"
"Is bleeding out as this is all happening?" John offered.
Anne Marie turned to him, "Well, that's a position you got yourself stuck in."
John made an offended scoff at the accusation, even though he knew she was right.
"Is smarter than they are. So are we." Convinced she missed something, Zed thinks. Then she spots Jasmine's coat on a chair, which gives her an idea.
The two thugs are in Creed's car. They are parked in a dark city street. Engine idling. Traylor's at the wheel, checking his phone. "Midnite should be here any minute."
In the next seat, Creed holds the acetate in his bare hands. Turning it over and over, like there's a mystery to it. "Weird. It's... cold...". He rubs his fingers. Bits of frost drop.
Rip let loose a mental sigh. He knew this would happen. All around him, his future team slowly caught on.
Traylor exhales, his breath frosty. Surprised, he checks the temperature on the dashboard. 60 degrees. "A/C must be messed up."
"A broken A/C doesn't do that." Jax stated.
Entering a sort of trance state, Creed lifts the record toward his ear. He is "listening" with and eerie wonder. "Can't you hear it? The voices?"
"Put it down, man."
"No. You need to hear it... they all need to hear it."
"We're not supposed to touch it. Put it down." Traylor reaches for the disc. His hand closes on the disc, and Creed clamps a hand firmly down on Traylor's hand. "Let go of me!"
The windshield frosts from the inside. Creed holds Traylor's hand on the disc. Eerie whispers build as Traylor's eyes roll back, overwhelmed by the demonic disc. Sound like 1,000 screaming voices screech.
"And that's two people the disc has hurt." Sara stated, remembering Rip's earlier comment.
We are back at the warehouse, staring at the sky. Off screen you hear speaking in a sing-song voice, "There was a poor sod name of J..." The croak/singing continues as camera pans urban blight, "For whom there was no one to pray... he died all alone, bled right to the bone... and for what he just couldn't say." We finally see John, pale and dazed. A widening pool of blood under his arm. Find red eyes nearby. Rats smelling food. One of the braver rats runs across John's chest. "That's right. Have a bite. See what the damned taste like..." The rats suddenly bolt away. Hearing footsteps, John turns as a shambling homeless man approaches, pushing a shopping cart of found "stuff". John sags with desperate relief. "You're a welcome sight, mate. Cut these wires would you? Lives depend on it, especially mine -" but instead of freeing John, the homeless man starts to pull off John's shoes, "No... no, that's my shoe.". He's robbing him. In disbelief, John realize he's really, totally fucked. Exhausted, weak from loss of blood, he closes his eyes and laughs. When he opens them, Manny has taken over the homeless man.
A few chuckles at Johns
"Whatever happened to the John Constantine with the cajones to tell an angel to go to hell?
"Cut me loose and I'll show you, you grinning ghoul."
"We've been over this. You know I can't do that."
"Breaking the rules every once in a while never hurt anyone."
"Note, he is an angel. Rules up there are stricter then down here."
"Bollocks to your rules. I'm bleeding out here."
"I feel your moral compass wavering, John. You're no better than Papa Midnite - you think the recording might have trade value to you. Maybe free a young girl's soul? Seems you've forgotten about the woman you're suppose to be saving."
"What's it matter? I can't help 'em anyway. All I got on my side is you and your bloody platitudes to hold back the gates of hell. Can you blame me for wanting something a little more potent in my arsenal?"
"Not really..." Sara muttered.
"You're not facing some second rate hell spawn. If that voice belongs to the First of the Fallen, there's only one true way to deal with that record. Do you have the courage?"
"Maybe you'll find out - once you SPIRNG ME OUT OF THESE WIRES!"
A couple of the audience jumped at the sudden change of tone.
"You don't need me for that. You've got this situation under control." There's a flash of lightning. John glances skyward. When he turns back, Manny has left the homeless man, who is now making off with John's shoes.
"Next time I punch him." John is weakening. Fading fast. Voice raspy now, he calls out to the homeless man. "Hey hey! Hold on, mate! I've got something for you - all yours if you cut me loose."
The man returns curious, "What is it?"
"Front pocket. You won't be sorry, I promise." The man reaches into John's pocket and fishes out the 9 of diamonds playing card. From the POV of the man, however, it looks like a gold credit card. "It's yours. Buy all the junk and..." He is overcome by body oder, "deodorant you like. Just untie me, yeah?". The man considers the proposition, then reaches into his shopping cart and pulls out a hunting knife, "That's it. Cut me free."
"If you're alive, I can't use the credit card." The man raises the knife over John's chest, ready to plunge it downward when a pipe hits him across the back. The man falls forward, dropping the knife.
Reveal Zed brandishing the scrap piece of metal, "Now get the hell out of here.". The man scurries away. Zed turns to John. "A hug? I knew that was out of character." Using the knife she cuts John free. "You could have just told me you planted the St. Padua nail on Jasmine. You okay?
Zed helps John stand. As they talk, he grabs the bottle of Vitamin K and downs a handful of pills, while Zed pulls off her scarf and wraps his bleeding arm. "I knew you'd follow me into the lion's den. I wanted you to stay with Jasmine."
"For all the good it did."
Realizing what she meant, "Midnite's men? Bloody hell."
"Jasmine's contract is almost faded. She's running out of time."
"May be the least of our worries. That disc is polluted with demonic energy. It wants to be played. You bring my bag?"
"In the back of my car."
"Get the police scanner." Zed helps John, leaning on her shoulder, toward the car.
"Again, why on earth do you have a police scanner?"
"Reasons..."
The two speed down the street and come to a hard stop outside a dance club. It's a crime scene. Police vehicles, an ambulance. Zed and John step out of the car and take in the scene.
The front window of the club is spattered with blood from the inside. Two morgue attendants roll out a body draped in a sheet. Spots of blood are visible on it. The body is rolled toward a row of eight other sheet covered bodies, lined up on the street like victims of a plane crash.
"Bleedin' bastards. They couldn't resist givin' it a spin."
"They never can." John sighed.
End Chapter:
QOTC:
KG: Oh God no, the tape!