CODEX Part 3: Between Heaven and Hell

The next morning, Zoe woke up to the sound of something breaking. She grunted and groggily walked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” She asked and sat at the table.

Charlie only mumbled something to himself in response.

Zoe rolled her eyes and looked at the fairies on the table. Only a few would come around after she got possessed; actually, most fairies she used to see disappeared.

“Morning!” Chen was in high spirits.

“Damn!” Charlie screamed as he hurt himself, “This pan is broken!” He screamed at Zoe.

She scoffed and walked to the counter, turning on the coffee machine and glancing at what he was doing.

“You put too much oil,” Her comment only brought her a glare.

“You shouldn’t talk. You’re no better,”

She narrowed her eyes at him and pushed him slightly.

“I survived for this long with only frozen food,”

“Well, there’s something called delivery if you ever want to try it,”

"Aren't you all-knowing for a bee," she said grumpily.

They continued to bicker like that for the whole morning.

It was a few hours later when Chen walked out of the kitchen and called a friend.

“Hey, long time no talk! I have a favour to ask,”

“Is that why you called?” The person on the other end screamed at Chen but the younger man laughed it off.

“Anyway, do you remember the club we used to go in high school?”

The other man could easily recall those times.

“You used to get really drunk and embarrass me,”

“Those were good times,” Chen was a troublemaker in high school and he never let his friends off the hook, “Listen Eric, I have a few friends who need to loosen up. I know you used to work there on weekends as a bartender.”

“How the heck do you know that?”

Chen’s eyes glinted with malice. Ezekiel just entered the apartment when he saw Chen’s expression. He closed the door and entered warily, sitting next to his friend and listening to his conversation.

“I’m talking to Eric,” Chen whispered and put his friend on speaker, “Yes, I know a lot about my friends. Besides, I knew that information will be useful in the future,”

Eric sighed heavily on the other side.

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow and watched with amusement.

“Really? Then where did Zek work on the weekends?”

The culprit heard that loud and clear and gave Chen a threatening look. Chen could hardly keep his laughter in.

“Well,” He started. Ezekiel’s gaze hardened and Chen’s smile widened, “Zek worked in-“ He couldn’t say it because Ezekiel hovered over him and grabbed the phone, “Hey! At least you didn’t work in a sex shop! Why are you so defensive?!”

Ezekiel glared at his best friend and responded to a confused Eric.

“Hey! Eric! It’s been a while!”

His face was contorted into anger yet he could easily talk like nothing was wrong. Chen tried to get back his phone but Ezekiel pushed him away and kept him there with his foot.

Chen’s nose scrunched in disgust, “Get your foot out of my face, you rascal! Where the heck did you come from? Your socks smell!” Chen coughed when Ezekiel pushed his foot against his nose, “Oi! Ezekiel!”

“What’s going on in here?”

The commotion in the living room didn’t go unnoticed by the ones in the kitchen. Zoe opened the door while Charlie only glanced at the boys over her shoulder.

“Forget it. If they’re not hurting each other it doesn’t make a show.”

She turned to him offended and swore that if she wasn't so conscious of the fact that Charlie was literally a bee in a body, she would have thrown him out of her apartment.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I was making a show when I was hurting people?”

“Well, except Chen you didn’t hurt anyone but yourself,” He suddenly got a brilliant idea and smiled, “What about your former boyfriend?”

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, “What former boyfriend?”

Charlie leaned in and poked her nose.

“Da-niel~” He sung, “Actually, it’s really funny. He came here while you were asleep and possessed and he saw you in that deplorable state. Poor, poor Zoe.”

She glared at the him and scoffed, “What did you tell him?”

Charlie’s eyes shined with bemusement and mischief.

"You were the victim of a stalker. He hurt you because he was jealous. Daniel didn’t have any choice but to believe it, since I also mentioned I am your therapist.”

She bit her lip and looked at him before glancing at the stove, “What about breakfast?”

Charlie waved her off, “Ask your ghost to make something. I’m done with that. I don't even need to eat.”

Her head snapped towards the door when she heard a loud thud before she sighed and rubbed her face. She was surrounded by lazy and crazy people.

“Ezekiel, give me that freaking phone!”

The human glared at Chen and shook his head. Chen jumped over him and hit him without really intending to which led to Ezekiel pushing Chen off him and the younger one fell. He didn’t go down alone because he grabbed Ezekiel’s arm and they ended up on the floor, together.

“Guys, guys! Can you just tell me why you called me for?”

They could hear Eric screaming into the phone. Chen took the opportunity and grabbed his phone.

“Right. I want to take these weirdos out for a drink and I was wondering if you still know the boss of that place,”

Eric sighed, “Is that all?”

Chen glanced at Ezekiel and smirked evilly.

“And Zek used to work in an occultism shop before he started to work the counter at the supermarket!” He added quickly.

Eric hung up right away and didn’t hear Ezekiel scream at Chen.

“Let’s go have fun tonight!”

Zoe and Ezekiel blinked. They were watching TV later that day and weren't feeling like moving a finger.

“Come on! We need some fun in our lives!” Chen moaned, moving his hands in the air.

Ezekiel glanced at Charlie, who was playing on his phone.

“Won’t that be dangerous? I’m not good with alcohol,” Zoe interfered. She was one of those very weird drunks.

“Have you ever been drunk?” Chen’s curiosity suddenly rose.

Charlie chuckled but it only made the humans more curious. She bit her lip and didn’t respond.

“She did,” Charlie knew a lot about her and it was all because of the demon prince, “Only once and I’m sure she will never forget it,” He started to chuckle right after he said it, imagining it in his head.

“So, what happened?”

She glanced at Charlie and blushed.

Thankfully, she got saved by the demons. Iaosur appeared in the living room with Eneizar and the subject changed.

In the end, she had no choice but to agree. When the demons heard of the club, they didn’t seem excited.

“We can’t get drunk,” Iaosur admitted with disappointment.

The boys left to prepare and Ezekiel went next door to ask Mark, Luke and Jasper if they wanted to tag along. The demons got bored quickly and left which left Zoe alone in the apartment and she was grateful for that. She could finally take a bath for as long as she wanted without being bothered.

Before she walked out of her room, Zoe surveyed the living; no one was there, not even a fairy or a familiar. She smiled and walked to the bathroom. Once inside, she surveyed the living room again before she closed the door and turned on the hot water. She took the robe off and entered the tub, sighing in content when she felt the water on her skin; she's been in messy situations for a while and she wanted to rub that off her body.

Now that she was naked, Zoe could finally realize what she had done when she was possessed. She ripped the skin off in some places on her thighs and she had deep wounds on her lower back.

It stung. She closed her eyes and leaned back. It was time to calm down and think of nothing.

Zoe opened her eyes when she felt someone touch her stomach lightly.

She frowned when she saw his face.

"Mehrdir?" She asked, a bit confused.

He looked at her and leaned in, taking her by surprise when he grabbed her neck and kissed her. It wasn't like before, though; this kiss wasn't just emotion, it was passion and desire. She got startled and didn't realize that Mehrdir was practically hovering over her. He stopped the kiss and narrowed his eyes at her before he pushed her head under the water. Her eyes widened and she grasped his wrists; even with her eyes clouded by water she could see that he didn't have anything on his wrist.

Mehrdir didn't have her mark.

He kept her there for exactly a minute. She could finally get up when he disappeared and took a deep breath of air, rubbing her face before noticing something peculiar on the wall.

Zoe frowned and leaned closer to it,

"Stop now or the light won't shine on your soul anymore," She mumbled.

It was written in red in the demon language. She touched it and smelled it, realizing it was blood. The girl looked around but couldn't see the source; not until she looked down at where she was lying a few moments ago: she saw her body under the water, with blood surfacing. Zoe touched the back of her head and felt something sticky: she was bleeding. She turned to her body and leaned in, doing that very slowly. The young commander gasped when her eyes opened and she hissed at herself with those black eyes.

Zoe opened her eyes and jolted. She was in the bathroom but no one else was there; the wall was clean and she wasn't out of her body.

She finished her bath quickly after that and walked into her room. She saw Ezekiel entering and hurried and locked the door. Ezekiel frowned but brushed it off. She was a strange person even without the demons.

She leaned against the door and took a few breaths in and out. Once she felt normal again, she started to change and dry her hair.

It took her approximately two hours to get ready. She spent a lot of time on how to dress, even unlocking the door and calling Ezekiel inside.

Meanwhile, Eneizar and Iaosur arrived, taking their rightful places on the couch, watching their master do some modelling for them.

"What about this?"

Ezekiel was getting bored with it. She already tried half of her clothes; besides, no one was going to notice how she was dressed in the dark.

"It makes you look fat,"

One person who was enjoying it a lot was Eneizar. Even Iaosur was getting fed up with her but Eneizar was seeing it as a chance; a chance to say what he was thinking without getting himself hurt.

"What if I-" He interrupted her and shook his head.

"It makes you look fat. Or maybe you just gained a few pounds," Eneizar chuckled to his own stupid joke.

The rest weren't amused.

"Just take something!" The angst demon moaned, "Human do something!"

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself, "What do you want me to do?"

Iaosur shrugged.

Eneizar sighed and got up. He entered her room and looked through her dresser, grabbing a pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt before throwing them at her.

"Take the jacket over it and the magic is done," The vanity demon mumbled while folding his arms in front of his chest.

She blinked as he walked back and sat between the angst demon and Charlie.

They met Mark, Luke and Jasper outside. The inheritor was still wary of Zoe but she understood and kept the distance. On the other hand, she was the only girl.

"What club are we going to? Juju or the new one in King's Road?" Jasper already knew most of them since he used to visit.

Chen smiled and shook his head, “We’re going to The Phoenix.” He raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes, “This is going to be a long night.” He mumbled having no idea just how eventful it was going to be.