FIVE| THE DEVIL'S VINYL

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OLIVIA SAT AT THE TABLE with a bowl of popcorn. At the moment, she was invested in today's source of entertainment: John learning a new spell. She laughed to herself as she watched John jump around in circles, shirtless and coated in blood. He was shouting the incantation chaotically. He looked insane. It was hilarious yet disturbing.

She heard heavy footsteps descending from the metal spiral staircase. She tore her gaze from her father to Chas and Zed who had appeared on the last step. The Latina grinned at the blonde when she spotted her. "Hey." Olivia greeted her with a genuine smile.

"Hi." Zed giggled.

Olivia glanced at John momentarily before abandoning her snack and heading over to them. "What are you doing here?" She asked Zed as she hugged her. Chas was a little surprised that the two seemed very friendly with one another. From the way John spoke about Zed it had given him the impression that she wasn't trustworthy. But his daughter seemed to think otherwise.

"My superpower led me here." She joked as she pulled out of their embrace. Zed carefully studied John's daughter (she still wasn't used to that fact). Her long, blonde, and wavy hair was pulled into a cute messy ponytail that was held up by a black scrunchie. She had light and natural makeup on her face. She wore light blue skinny jeans and all black Nike's. But what caught her attention was the fact that she was sporting a black Star City High School t-shirt.

"Star City High School?" She asked the blonde with raised brows. She could've sworn that city wasn't particularly the best. She heard a lot of stories about how that city was just like Gotham. It was littered with criminals, especially criminals who disguised themselves as politicians, cops, and upstanding citizens. They were wolves in sheep's clothing.

Olivia glanced down at her shirt. "I used to live in Star City until my mom passed away. Now I live here." She explained with a sad smile, and Zed frowned. Her suspicions about what had happened to her mother were correct; she didn't want them to be.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Zed told her sympathetically.

Olivia cleared her throat awkwardly. She didn't exactly want to talk about everything that had happened anymore. She's been hoping to move forward, and she feels like that could only be possible if it was no longer brought up. She gave them the best smile she could muster. "So has Chas gave you the tour?"

"I was in the middle of it." He said before a thought crossed his mind. "Speaking of school, shouldn't you be in one? Did John handle that like I told him too?" Chas huffed in annoyance. He knew it was stupid for trusting John to get this one thing done. "I knew I should've-"

Olivia chuckled. "Whoa, Chas, relax. John and I talked about that already. I'm currently in school, I just decided to do online."

Chas felt his anger dissipate. He must admit he felt a little stupid for his assumption that John would fail to make sure his daughter got an education. "Oh, why? Don't you think it's probably best for you to get out and spend time with kids your own age?" He frowned slightly. He hoped he didn't come off like he didn't want her around. That was far from what he meant. It was just that after everything the poor girl had underwent, he thought maybe she should at least have friends. She should still have a life of her own.

Olivia smiled. She knew he meant well, and she appreciated how much he cared about her. But the truth was, it was always hard for her to make friends. She was a bit antisocial, awkward, and she was never really into things most teenagers are into nowadays. She only ever knew one person back at Star City that she actually considered her friend. And that was Aaliyah Thompson. Her best friend. Her crush....who she's been avoiding for reasons she wasn't even sure about.

"I uh, rather finish school online. At least for this school year." She told him and he nodded. "Besides, we kind of travel a lot so..."

"Alright." Chas then gave Zed a firm nod. "Let's continue the grand tour."

Zed examined the mill house in awe. She grinned widely. She found the mysterious aura that surrounded this place so exciting. "It didn't seem this big on the outside."

"It's not." Chas said. He swung open the door to the hallway that John had banned Olivia from entering. Both Zed and Olivia peeked down the hall with curiosity. This was the first time Olivia had actually seen the endless hall. It was mind blowing. It looked like it went on for miles. It didn't make any sense and she loved that. "I've been measuring the rooms. Sometimes it's off a few inches. Sometimes more."

"That doesn't make any sense." Zed said in wonder. Her sight was still fixated on the hall.

Chas scoffed. "If you're looking for sense, you stumbled down the wrong rabbit hole."

Zed took one step inside absentmindedly and John appeared out of nowhere. Olivia stumbled back slightly out of fear due to his sudden appearance. John was still very much shirtless and coated in blood. He pushed Zed back gently with his right arm. Constantine positioned himself between her and the threshold, blocking her from stepping inside. "Easy, mate."

"Even I'm not ready for that one yet." John shut the door without taking his eyes off the psychic. She returned his glance. "I think what Chas meant was, um, don't go wandering around here without a chaperone, all right?"

Shortly after, the crew gathered around the table. With one look from John, Olivia quickly removed the bowl of popcorn and placed it on the nearest chair. Afterwards, she flashed him a bright, toothy grin. John rolled his eyes as he miserably fought a smile of his own. He then placed the scry map on top of the table besides the latest copy of a Chicago Newspaper. "Each of one of these stigmata represents a place where something bad is going down. Supernatural brushfires, if you will." He explained to Zed and Olivia.

"Me, Chas, and a few others? We're the bucket brigade."

Zed pointed to the paper with the headline about a famous owner of a record labels death. It just so happened that the newest wet dot on the map lied directly over Chicago. "Is this your latest fire?"

John nodded. His face held a somber look. "Bernie was a friend of mine. No way in hell he'd take his own life."

The Latina peered up at him. "Doesn't mean his death was one of your stigmata." She pointed out.

"Bernie lived in the Windy City. And I don't believe in coincidences." He explained with a smirk. John then gestured to the map. "Go on then. See if you get a hit."

Olivia watched Zed almost hypnotically. She loved watching her use her gifts. She found the whole thing so cool. She had to admit she was a little envious. Zed was beyond special, and there wasn't anything special about her. Sometimes she wished she wasn't so ordinary. So plain.

Zed's eyes fluttered shut as she remembered everything John had taught her back in Pennsylvania. She pressed her pointer finger on the newspaper, and was immediately transported straight into a vision. "I smell jasmine." She told them with a small smile.

John smirked at Chas. Chas, on the other hand, found Zed's gift a tad odd. "She's a regular psychic smorgasbord, this one. Picks up impressions from tactile stimuli. Which I'm guessing is a real buzzkill in the sack." Olivia smiled to herself as Zed spun around the room with her arms spread out to her side. She was clearly very into her vision at the moment.

She turned back around. Her arms hugged herself for warmth. "It's cold."

"All right." John said having enough of her vision, which seemed to help pull her out of it. "Well, I'll let you know if any of that pans out."

"No. No. No. No. You're not ducking out on me again." Zed told him strongly. You promised me you'd teach me about my abilities."

John rolled his eyes. She was yet another person he'd promised to play teacher with. "Teaching you is one thing. Letting you ride shotgun on a spiritual scavenger hunt? That's another beast, luv."

John was about to walk away when Olivia reached out and grabbed his hand. He stopped dead in his tracks. He was taken completely off guard. He glanced down at their intertwined hands then at his daughter. She cleared her throat then gently let go of his hand. "The best way to learn is through experience. Hands on learning has been proven to be a far better tactic."

John shook his head with a smile. She was good. "Is that so?" He said sarcastically, and she shrugged.

Zed smirked to herself. "You also said you don't believe in coincidences."

"That's right."

"And I show up just when you're planning to leave. This is my education." She replied.

John eyed both ladies with a vacant expression. "The cabs still down?" He asked Chas suddenly.

Chas nodded. "It is."

He turned back to the psychic. "You got a car?"

"A truck."

"Knock yourself out then, MacDuff."

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"What's in the man purse?" Zed asked John and Olivia chuckled under her breath.

John had set the bag on top of the hood of her truck. He was sorting through its content. "Bits And bobs. Holy water, police scanner, cemetery dirt, duct tape."

Zed pulled a strange object out of his back. She studied it carefully with furrowed brows. It was a medium size rock with two nails attached to it. "What's this?"

John reached for it immediately, taking it back into his possession. "Oh, oh! Don't touch."

Olivia gave him a blank expression. "It's literally just a rock with nails on it."

John gave her a look as if to say she was uncultured. Her mother should've taught her about all of this. But then he remembered she couldn't, cause she didn't know herself. To which that part of his brain nagged him that he could've taught her about all of this if he wasn't such a disappointment and abandoned his own daughter. Of course, he internally told himself to piss off. He told that part of himself that he left her for a reason. So that thing would leave her alone.

"There are nails from the coffin of St. Padua. Patron of lost souls." He explained. "Watch. The nails follow one another." He moved one of the nails around the other to demonstrate his explanation.

He placed the object back into the bag carefully. "Tuck one of these in a bloke's pocket, you got yourself a nifty tracking device. Now if only I brought something to get us through that bloody door."

Zed looked around the area. A man who worked at the morgue walked out of the door, a badge clipped to his shirt. She waited for him to get closer then purposely bumped into him. "Oh, my god! I'm so sorry!" She swiped the badge that would allow them access with ease.

"It's alright." He assured her.

"Clumsy." She added with a laugh. She then waited for him to be gone before showing them the badge. "Like this?" She handed it over to John, and he took it with a look of annoyance. He was clearly jealous that she had bested him.

John walked away leaving the girls a few steps behind. His 'tude, however, didn't bother them. In fact, they found it humorous. They giggled amongst themselves as they engaged in a high five.

They were able to sneak into the morgue with ease. Nobody seem to notice that they didn't belong. But then again the place was pretty empty. "We got minutes at most." John told them as he placed his bag down on a silver tray where they usual kept the equipment needed to examine the bodies.

John peeled back the cover of one of the dead bodies before covering it back up again when it wasn't the person he was looking for. He got to the last one that was left out. His hands hovered over the tarp hesitantly before he pulled it back. He covered his mouth momentarily. "Oh, damn it, Bernie. Look at the state of you."

"How did you two know each other?" Zed asked John sincerely.

John smiled faintly at the memory. "Well, back in Jurassic times, I fronted a punk band called Mucous Membrane."

"Oh, please tell me there's embarrassing videos of that on YouTube." Olivia whispered.

Zed looked at him with humorous eyes. "Yeah, that's right. I wasn't always an upstanding warlock. Bernie here produced our first and only record. He tried his best, but to tell you the truth, were just a bunch of wankers trying to get laid." He told them and Zed laughed.

Olivia chuckled. "And how did that work out for you?" She teased.

John smirked. "Pretty good since you're living proof of those days." He retorted with a playful wink. Olivia smiled to herself. It was no secret that she was the product of a one stand between two teenagers. Her mother was always honest to her about everything. It's also part of the reason why she never had a relationship with her grandparents. They didn't approve of their daughter getting pregnant when she herself was practically still a kid.

John looked back at Bernie's cold, pale corpse. "And here we are. Reunited for one final comeback tour. Courtesy of this." He pulled out an actual hand that looked as if it was transformed to a candle of sorts. "Hand of glory."

Olivia's face twisted in disgust. "Why do you have another human's hand?"

"Cause, you take the left hand of a man that's been hanged, pickle it in amniotic fluid for seven years, say the right incantation, and the dead will rise for as long as the candles burn."

"Here." He gave Zed a bottle of liquid, but Olivia didn't have time to see what it was. "Empty this on the table."

"Okay."

"Hear me, most unnameable of devourers, he who guardeth the golden gateway. I seek an audience with one in your embrace." John chanted as he held the hand close to Bernie. "Come on, old sod."

Simultaneously Bernie alongside every other corpse rose. They shouted frantically. They screamed. They banged on the doors of the freezers that held their bodies. The ones who lied on the bed, enclosed in sheets, clawed at the tarps. Olivia's heart raced. She couldn't lie and say she didn't find this creepy and a little scary. She moved closer to Zed hoping to distance herself from any dead bodies.

"Hold this." John demanded as passed off the hand to Olivia. To which she quickly gave it to Zed disgustedly. "Bernie, Bernie! It's John! Who did this to you?"

Bernie had sat upright. His eyes were opened, but they looked foggy. "The voice! My god! The voice!" He panicked.

"I-I don't understand, Bernie." John shook his head out of confusion. "I don't understand."

"On the acetate. So cold." He explained as begun to lie back down. The candles from the Hand of Glory had slowly begun to burn out.

"No, no." John said as he helped him lie down. "Bring the hand closer! Come on, Bernie, don't leave me. Give me something else. Give me something else, Bernie. Come on."

"Moonrise." He muttered then the whole morgue grew quiet. It was like that never happened.

John frowned sorrowfully at Bernie as he covered him back up. "Rest in peace, mate."

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked him.

"I'm just fine, luv. Just forced one of my old friends to relive the worst moment of his life, but I'm just fine." He replied bitterly.

"You said every spell had it's price. What did this one cost you?" Zed asked him curiously.

"My own mortality."