Rising Light

Chapter 8: Bitter Grace

   Kate's attention skimmed the book, skimmed the words that she didn't think she'd be reading. Research had always been Ben's forte; she'd always been more physical, more in the forefront of the field. She couldn't remember the last time she'd sat still and read for this long.
She pushed the thought from her mind, instead focused on the book tucked neatly inside a recipe book. No one had questioned why she had the book, she knew the meal inside out having cooked it enough times with her grandmother. Then again, she hadn't expected them to. The cover was quite literally a precaution for her own peace of mind more than anything else.
A precaution against what though, she wasn't certain. It wasn't strange that she should be looking into Enochian after what they'd dealt with, researching why an angel might see humans as abominations an offshoot of that.
She continued cutting the onions, even as she heard the din of conversation from the others. She wasn't really listening, but something about the shift in tone caught her attention.
"This twisty little horror show's an Invunche," she heard John explain. Curiosity piqued, she started wiping her hands to go and join them, wondering where he was getting that from. "And it's right up that angel's alley."
As she drew nearer she spotted the picture, Zed's pencil sketch.
"Nice likeness," she noted, tilting her head to get a better look at it. She couldn't deny it was good to see Zed drawing again, that her strength was back up. Even if she was drawing horrors like the Invunche. "Never wanna meet one of those." She shuddered slightly.
"Must've missed that story in Sunday school," said Zed as John flipped the page. A close up of the Invunche's face dominated it this time.
"Invunche don't get a shout out in the Good Book," explained Kate, glad for the reason to look up at Zed, to not see what else the sketchbook held, "but they ripped a few throats back in Noah's day. Horrible creatures. Unstoppable. Luckily they all went out with the last flood."
"Give the history lesson a break, eh?" John handed the sketchpad back as he gently nudged Kate's shoulder. "Do the bloody crossword or something. Or, go back to cooking." He kicked himself off the sofa and wandered off, leaving the two girls to share a look.
"He's got a point," Kate sighed, moving back to the kitchen. "Food'll be ready soon." And, with a quick smile back at Zed, she headed to the kitchen, wondering if maybe there was something about the Invunche in the book she had.
She'd barely flipped the page when she heard Zed speaking again.
"Sorry," she said, moving back to the main section of the room, "I couldn't..." Kate cursed as she spotted a ghost from the past. Her hands instinctively balled by her sides.
"I need him," Anne Marie said, sounding almost desperate.
"Need another scapegoat?" murmured Kate, shifting forwards to stand by Zed's side. "What do you want?"
"I need John. Now," insisted Anne Marie.
Zed chuckled, glancing back towards Kate. Something behind her expression shifted. Amusement turned concern. "What is it?"
"You'll go away once we get him?" asked Kate, eyes focused firmly on Anne Marie.
Anne Marie nodded.
With a sigh, Kate shifted so that she was looking up the stairs he had disappeared up moments before. "John!" she called, just as Anne Marie yelled, "John Constantine!"
John stuttered his complaints as he descended the stairs. Kate was a little glad that he couldn't initially see the woman, that he didn't have to worry about what wrath he might have to face. Not that Kate paid him much heed, she kept looking back to Anne Marie. Ritchie and Gary she could deal with, but this was too much.
"Oh, jeeze. Good God, woman! I'm not deaf, all right? I can hear you. Keep your bloody knickers on." He paused when he was at the bottom of the stairs, when he realised who it was that had called him. His expression dropped. Concern seemed to crackle beneath the surface as he strode forwards. "Anne Marie? Are you all right?"
"Would I come to you if I was all right?" There was something about the intensity of the question that made Kate feel as though she were intruding on a moment. Not that she minded, especially not when it came to Anne Marie and John. Not now.
"You didn't know she was here?" asked Zed, breaking the trance.
"She isn't," Kate murmured, barely suppressing a comment about how that was a good thing.
"Where are ya?" asked John.
"Mexico. I need your help."
"Are you hurt?" Kate could hear the mild panic rising behind John's voice, knew that his emotions were slowly taking over. They always did.
Newcastle. It all came back to that day somehow.
"No. Something stole a baby. It killed the mother. It ripped into her."
"Hey," Zed comforted, but when she went to rest her hand on Anne Marie's shoulder her arm went right through. In any other circumstances it probably would have been funny. But Kate couldn't see it now. "What just happened?"
"Well, I told you she's not here," John explained hastily before turning his attention back towards Anne Marie. "'Ripped' how? Teeth or claws? This thing have fangs? Fur?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know there's not a mortal explanation?"
Anne Marie was silent as she raised the cross from her chest. It was as if it had stayed there though, the burn mark lingered behind.
Kate hissed a soft curse. This wasn't good.
"I wish it had been human. I would've gone to someone else for help. Anyone else," said Anne Marie.
"And what's stopping you? There's plenty of occult experts in Mexico," reasoned John.
"They don't owe me. You do. Avenue Nueva 366. Villa del Carbón. Hurry." With one last look, a quick glance towards Kate, Anne Marie disappeared.
"Avenue Nueva 366," muttered John, moving towards the maps.
"What just happened?" asked Zed as the two women followed John.
"It's called bi-location," explained Kate, glad for a distraction. She was used to these kinds of things, used to the horrors that came with their lives, but this time she didn't want it to be an adventure for them. Anne Marie was involved, and that was never a good thing in her eyes any more. Yet they couldn't turn her away either. There was too much history. "The power to be in two places at the same time. It's the domain of adventurous souls and the occasional saint, which Anne Marie Flynn most certainly isn't."
"She hates my guts," added John with a wry smile. "Must be pretty sodding desperate to be coming to me for help."
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    Kate's bag made a satisfying thump noise as it landed on the table near John's things. Zed was packed for Mexico as well. John hissed when the knife he was taking to one of the silver bowls slid against the smooth metal towards his fingers.
    "Ow! Bollocks!"
    "You should use a spoon," Zed teased.
    "Making a purification bowl. Left my last good one in Puerto Rico. Does the work of a priest. Turns water holy," John explained as he finished up his work.
    Zed opened up her duffel bag and pushed some of her clothes aside. "Well, you know, I could probably put it in my carry-on if you need some space."
    "Well, that would be lovely if you were going with. But you're still on R and R." John looked from Zed to Kate. "And you'll be playing nurse."
    Kate raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
    "Don't worry," he told her. "I'll turn the traps on on my way out. The house will keep you safe as long as you don't leave it."
    She scoffed. "You're freaking kidding me. What are you doing? Trying to keep your precious Anne Marie from me?"
    "So, she is an old flame," Zed guessed from Kate's tone. Kate and Anne Marie had never been close but they had gotten along just fine in the beginning. She thought Anne Marie was too overprotective and Anne Marie would constantly remind Kate of how naïve and child-like she was.
    John gave Kate a hard look before answering Zed. "We slept together... once if that's what you're after. Never should have though. Wasn't the point of us. Magic was my salvation growing up. She hooked me up in the occult scene."
"Is that why you 'owe' her?"
"No," Kate replied. "She was with us at Newcastle."
"She saw what happened. Just like Gary," Zed murmured.
John nodded, stuffing the bowl into his doctor bag. "Swore she'd kill me if she ever saw me again."
"And I threatened to kill her if she even tried," Kate said, flashing back to the night of the fight. Everyone except for Gary huddled in the tiny hospital chapel, screaming their lungs out. Ben was lying in a hospital bed, everyone was covered in bandages, so when Anne Marie went off on John, Kate made it clear who would be the one in the morgue if she tried. It took Frank, Ritchie, and John to pull her out of the room.
"Which is why you aren't coming." John put a hand on her shoulder. She shoved it off as a car horn honked outside. "Sounds like Chas. Remember, stay inside. And, uh, don't go wandering."
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    "These are really good," Kate said, glancing through the pictures that Zed had drawn.
She didn't like it, didn't like being left behind. In fact, she hated it, but she knew that it was more for Anne Marie's protection than her own. She couldn't promise what she'd do if she was physically  face-to-face with the woman. For all her attempts to look for the good in people, she couldn't help feeling some irritation towards Anne Marie. Anything she could do to distract herself, anything to try and persuade herself that she was looking out for Zed and hadn't been benched so that she didn't murder someone, was worthwhile.
She heaved a sigh, standing up quickly, needing to move. She'd been sat for too long, too long waiting to hear how the journey was, how the first meeting with Anne Marie had gone. It was slowly driving her nuts. "Want anything to eat?"
Zed nodded, a small smile on her face. "Thank you."
Kate smiled, felt it pulling a little more than she would have liked. "Put some music on if you want," she called over her shoulder. "This place makes weird sounds to remind you that it's doing things."
She hummed as she started to grab the ingredients for soup. She glanced briefly at the book, the one she had hidden inside the recipes, and shook her head. It could wait, there were more important things to think about now.
She prepared all the different vegetables, the pots and pans that she needed, creating a little noise as she did so, whistling along to it as if it might make some kind of music if she tried hard enough. She tried to push all thoughts from her head, other than the idea of cooking, of making this meal so that they could have a hot lunch. God knew it was one of the things that she was constantly going on at John about.

"I think I heard something," she heard Zed say a little while later.
"Just leave it," she replied, partway through cutting up a pepper. "It's probably just the wood settling or something, yeah?"
She waited. One moment. Two. "Zed?" she asked, moving to glance back towards where the woman had been sitting.
The chair was empty, bar another drawing of an Invulche.
Kate hastily put the knife on the counter and rushed through the house. She knew the place like the back of her hand, but there were still places that she wouldn't really want to wander alone. Least of all if she didn't know what Jasper had been like. What to possibly expect.
It was an odd mix of worry and not worry that she felt when she finally spotted Zed at the end of a corridor. She was fine. At least, she should have been. Kate slowly realised where they were, where the closed door at the end lead to. Which was fine because the door was shut, and it had always had the air of a door that wouldn't open, even with enough force put upon it.
But Zed was opening the door.
She didn't have time to call out her warning, merely rushed forwards, catching Zed by the back of her clothing and then her arm, pulling her back to the corridor and hastily slamming the door shut behind them.
"You don't want to look into that for too long," said Kate, trying to calm her thundering heart. "You never know what might come at you. Anyway," she tugged at Zed's arm gently, "want to learn how to cook one of John's least favourite meals?"
Zed chuckled softly, attention straying back towards the door.
"What was that?" she asked, allowing Kate to manoeuvre her away from it though, despite how her attention remained on the door.
"Nothing good," admitted Kate. "But don't worry about it. That one actually stays in the same place."
Zed looked at her with wide eyes and Kate tried to shoot her a soothing smile. Maybe this was going to take a lot more of her attention than she'd first thought. She just hoped that John was having an easier time. Not that she thought he probably was.
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    It was quiet not having John and Chas there to banter with while they ate. It was just as pleasant of course, just less crude remarks. And of course, John couldn't argue with Kate's cooking tonight. While he loved having someone to cook for him, he couldn't stand her pork roast and they both knew it. It was nice to be able to actually cook it for a change, without hearing him complain that the Mill House stank of it.
    "That was really good." Zed wiped off her mouth with a napkin.
    "Tell that to John," Kate replied. "Maybe he'll actually listen to you."
    Zed laughed. As if John would listen to either of them considering he wouldn't take them to Mexico. At least they would have a few nights without something super weird happening. Well, as much as living in a supernatural house would allow. Zed's laugh died down as Kate got up to start cleaning. "Actually, I was kinda hoping to ask you something."
    "About?" Kate brought the dishes over to the sink.
    "Newcastle."
    She dropped everything, loud clanking filling the room. John was gone. The one who was normally able to cut off the topic before anyone could say a thing about that night. Kate started the water. "Sorry. Um, what do you want to know?"
    "What happened. No one talks about it."
    "You don't talk about your past," Kate reminded her. "It's the same thing. I'm guessing whatever you went through was painful right?"
    She looked up from the dishes. Zed had a hard look on her face. She should've known that not talking about herself would come back to bite her in the ass. Kate continued, "You'll talk if and when you want to about whatever happened to you. I get that. But when I even think about Newcastle -"
    The strobe lights that were still going when Frank busted down the door. The recordings of the screams. Astra... poor, sweet Astra. That thing in the basement...
    "Kate!"
    Her head shot up at the sound of Zed's voice. Zed looked down at Kate's hands. She had snapped a dish clean in half. Her face was wet with tears. The other girl put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
    She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine. Um - I'll finish up here, if that's okay."
    Zed dropped her hand. "Yeah, I'll um - I have to go get some art supplies."
    "John said to stay here."
    "I'll be back in a half-hour," she replied. "Promise."
    Kate nodded. "Okay, okay, just be back quick. The sooner you're back in the wards, the better."
    "Do you need anything?" Zed asked.
    "Yeah. Bring me back all the chocolate you can carry."
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    Kate had finished the washing up quickly, trying desperately not to think about Newcastle. Everything had gone wrong there. In every conceivable way it had been a disaster.
She had tried to keep her mind occupied, between piano, dancing and flipping blindly through her research book, though nothing had worked. It would've been easier if the others were there, John would've shut it down before it had even got that far and even if he hadn't been able to he was a master at avoidance. He'd know what to do to properly distract them.
Her thoughts swirled. A mixture of meeting Astra and flashes of what had happened. She forced herself to focus on boxing though, the only thing that could at least quieten the thoughts a little. The motions of it all, the feeling of the bag under her attacks.
The buzz of her phone startled her. She hadn't even realised how long the other woman had been gone. Guilt unfurled inside of her.
On my way back with someone. A guy's been following me and I want answers.
Kate read the text twice through to make sure that she wasn't missing anything, before nodding. At least it was something else to focus on, something to think about instead of dwelling on Newcastle. Not that she was necessarily happy about. The idea of bringing someone to the Mill House wasn't one she was fond of, but she also knew that it was the safest option. After all, who knew the place better than she did? Who could use it in a similar way to how Jasper had, how John could?
She just hoped that things weren't about to get too horrible. That they wouldn't really need all those rooms that lay behind mundane doors, hiding terrors.

It took just under ten minutes for the door to open. For Kate to hear them moving through the Mill House, conversation flowing easily. How Zed was being so calm about the whole thing baffled Kate, but she was grateful for it. It meant that she didn't need to completely hide. She shifted her grip on the taser, made sure that it was at a reasonable setting.
Just in case.
"Yes, I do have very interesting friends," Zed agreed, and Kate shifted a little uncomfortably as they reached the walkway.
"Whoa!" cheered the man, chuckling as if impressed by the whole thing.
"It's nice, right?" asked Zed, running her hand along his shoulders. Kate wondered if Zed knew she was there, knew that she was ready to act when necessary.
"Yeah," Zed agreed softly, before pulling him in for a kiss.
Kate didn't wait any longer. She moved, zapping his ribs with the taser. He went down, Zed taking a step back before grabbing him. She pushed him against the railing, only a brief look of thanks shot towards Kate.
"Looks like one of us is here already," noted Kate mildly, spinning the taser in her hand.
"I can't wait for you to meet the rest of them when they get home," added Zed, seeming to push him a little more forcefully into the railing, holding his collar and arm still. "They love interrogations. Why are you following me?"
The man panted, as if working himself up to saying the words that were going to condemn him. Kate shifted forwards, as if worried that she might miss what he was about to say.
"Your father wants you home."
"What did you say?" Kate asked, baffled as she glanced towards Zed. The woman was already forcing the guy to look towards her, as if trying to block Kate's view of the whole thing.
"We just want to talk to you, Mary."
"Don't you ever, ever call me that again!" said Zed, hauling the guy up. When he was standing she hit him firmly in the face, causing him to fall.
Kate delicately sidestepped the falling form. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Zed. "Pass his phone," she said, trying to quieten her thoughts for a moment, to make sense of what she'd just heard.
Zed obliged, her expression a mixture of irritated and worried. As if concerned Kate might say something about what had just happened. But she couldn't, not yet.
Instead, she carefully took the phone from Zed once it had been found. She dropped it to the floor and smashed her heel into the screen, grateful for the fact that she had been wearing boots, just in case the fight had to be taken outside. She looked down at the shattered screen before looking back to Zed, wondering what to push and if now was really the time to start her own interrogation.
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    "Rise and shine, asshat!" Kate punched Eddie, using the name he gave Zed, in the face. The sudden motion, the shock of the physical attack, was all it had taken to wake him up. Pain, Kate realised bitterly, really did have a lot to answer for. The girls had tied him up against the bannister and Kate wanted to try and call John or Chas. When she did, Zed took her phone from her. Guess whatever mess she was in with her dad she didn't want him to know about. Probably didn't want any of them to know about.
    Eddie lifted his beaten face and turned his clinical gaze onto Zed. "You don't need to fight. Our father wants what's best for you."
    "Oh, so he's your father, too, now, is he? Funny. I don't remember you from my childhood. Maybe it's because I spent most of it in a locked room."
    Kate raised a brow. No wonder Zed was on the run. Her father was a psycho. Maybe even as bad as Alex Logue...
    "That was for your protection. You know what you mean to us. You're our salvation," he replied.
    "Eddie. Is that even your real name? How did you find me?"
    "We're the Crusade. Our believers are everywhere. We will always find you."
    Kate shook her head. "Oh, so this is a cult. Delightful."
    A fire lit in Eddie. "Don't call it that, you b-"
    Kate drove the taser into his side making him double over the best he could in his restraints. She pulled it away and put her lips near his ear. "Call me that again and I'll work you over with a pair of boxing gloves."
    The front door opened and closed loudly. Zed's eyes widened. Whatever was able to scare Zed this badly was something that needed to be taken down. Kate balled her fists and took a stance near her friend. Zed cursed him, "Damn it, Eddie! You led them up here? You don't know what they are!"
    A man in a white jacket and a blonde woman stood on the other side of the room, the man holding a gun pointed at them. Kate cracked her neck. Two people. Not much of a fight, but at least it would be quick. Not to mention all her pent up rage was about to come in handy.
    Zed pulled a knife out and pressed it to Eddie's throat. "One more step, and I'll kill him."
    The gun went off and Eddie slumped to the ground. Zed covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry."
    "You should be. Could've made this much easier on all of us. Awake or asleep? Dead friend or knocked out one." The man pulled out a syringe, uncapping it to reveal a wicked long needle. "Your choice."
    "Run!" Kate yelled.
    Zed took off, heading for the dumbwaiter. The blonde took off down the stairs as Kate ran at the man. He tried to shoot but he was no match for her speed. She knocked the gun out of his hand before landing a good kick to the gut. He flew across the room, the syringe dropping and rolling down to the main floor.
    The man pushed himself against the wall, eyes wide. "Your eyes."
    Kate's brows furrowed as she looked at the full length mirror. Her eyes were no longer hazel, but red. A glowing bright red. She stared, confusion distracting her. And that's when she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Kate cried out as she felt something being injected into her. "Zed, hide!"
    "Don't worry," the man whispered. "Elder will want to meet you."