John Constantine stands at the cliff of the building chewing a piece of gum, his new sensitive sobriety to his cigarette smoking bad habits. He looks out into the view. He sees. The world is but the portal into which evil forces can leap. A chessboard for heaven and hell. Where God and Satan have a standing whisper for the souls of all mankind. The rule is that angels and demons cannot manifest on Earth, but half breeds can. They possess and influence people’s judgment by whispering in your ear and making you have urges to do things. There are half-demons and half-angels in this world. Earth is the middle ground. With Lucifer healing him of his smoke and tar-filled lungs, John is cured of his cancer and wounds so that he may prove himself to truly belong in hell. With that Constantine is damned to hell yet again. 

John sits at his apartment, full of works of the bible and god, A four window apartment. With an elongated entrance. Music plays Beethoven’s seventh symphony. The window blinds create a sunny, yet shaded look to the atmosphere. Utility lighting hung on the room of his dormitory. A wooden table sits in the center. John’s room is made of wood. He has a home bar on the wall facing the windows. Full of liquor and bevy. To the right side of the door of his apartment is the hanger. Where he hangs his brown coat. Sometimes, his red tie too. Far off to the side is his table, where he cites writing in his journal or does crossword puzzles in the daily newspaper. Behind it is the bathroom. Next to the small bar in the fridge. Then, the kitchen, plates on the dishwasher, and the sink. A blender, dish rack, seasonings, a cookbook, are held together between two spice bottles. A napkin rack, a bowl full of fruit. Fake and real. A kettle on the counter, A toaster beside the fridge. Microwave on the side. A coffee maker. A rice cooker aside from the rice baker, and a juicer. The fridge holds moldy sandwiches and freshly cut vegetables. John’s lunches for different days. They are marked with a sticky note. The kitchen is adorned with white marble. To the front of the table near the bathroom are brown-reddish sofas. A yellowish box with a bell, an alarm clock, and other necessities for the day lay on top of it. Aside from that is a fresh copy of the bible on the brown counter adjacent to the bathroom. John headed out from his apartment, putting down his newspaper and heading to the exit. Putting on his coat and his red tie he seeks answers to a new quest. He pulls on a lever. Thick wire. Pulling the mechanical contraption down resets the blindfolds of his apartment windows. This lets the sunlight shine into the room. John pulls the wire down now to shut the blinds. The sunlight is obstructed, with no way to sneak in. When he excites the building, a longshot of the apartment is seen. It is an apartment building above the floors of a Bowling alley. It says on the building sign:

BOWL BOWL BOWL

The letters are red, gray, and yellow in that order. The background to the letters is a blue-painted wall. A blue strip above the graffiti walls. The sign is higher up so that juvenile delinquents won’t spray paint on it illegally. Next to the bowling alley is a snack bar. Its background is painted red, although one closer look indicates it is old, and patches of the paint have fallen or have dried off. The wall says in bold lettering:

COCKTAILS

SNACKS

Tales of a kid snatcher and a rapist roam the streets. John searches for this criminal knowing by the tales of the newspaper, that it seems like it is not at all human.

Elsewhere, a little girl is trapped in an alleyway by three other children. The middle one is blonde, the one to her left is black, and the one to the right is a redhead. They begin to tell this little girl how they are all married, although their age is about as close to elementary schoolers as you can get. 

“There is this house we live in,” the red-headed girl tells her. 

“Yes, we’re married to him and He lets us do whatever we like.” says the blondie.

“You are married to him too,”

 The innocent little girl tells them how that is an impossibility since she is only nine,” How can that be? You are all way too young.”

“Don’t worry, you'll grow into it,” says the blonde.

“Our husband has a nice place, with lots of candy, toys, and little play dolls. Do you want to see it?” says the Afro-American girl.

“NO.”

“It’ll be fun, come on,” the redhead says.

The little girl begins to turn and runs away. The girls start kicking her. Kicking her as she lays defending herself in the ground. The Blonde and Black one pick her up with her arms and lead her to the house. The redhead led the way. The grass was meter high and unkempt. The house is a strain with deteriorated steel, lead, mold, and beaten wood boards. The house is dark brown and decrepit. A stair leads to the front door. The three little girls dress the other in a white robe. The dresses they took out from their backpacks. The three restrain the innocent one. They hold her to the front door. It opens with an omniscient and menacing old bald man. He wears green combat pants a pair of boots, and a black undershirt. He opens the door. The little girls are weary to wish for their master to like the newly wedded wife. 

The pope on the altar said, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” 

The pope is the demon himself. Lurking in the corner. He takes the little girls in. Inside, the children see the man, with tattoos of horns, and an X with a curve down the bottom on his left and right ring fingers. Black skeleton wings on his Teres minor and major muscles. On his ribs is a star pentagon emblem on his lower back. On his shoulders are tattooed horns of a sheep. Centered on it is a deformed face. He recalls videos of demonic rituals. He sets videos of them onto his screen. The video plays on his wall. A burning cross is displayed in the video. People dressed in Klu Klux Klan outfits. They circle the cross. The cross was illuminated by flames rising high into the blackness. But as they chant, a  12 feet tall demon manifested from the red, white, and orange of the flames on the Christian cross. It swung his arms, bearing sharp claws that tore the klan's member’s intestines. Blood spills onto the camera. It roars a scream out of his lungs, dragon teeth showing inside his oral cavity. Not much of the creature is seen because of the night shadows. 

Zed met John Constantine on the street road. A wall to the corner is full of graffiti. They are on the sidewalk. Buildings in each block of the city. It pours rain on the pavement. Fog can be seen and felt. It is a clod night out, a regular characteristic of Los Angeles. Fog is considered a type of low-lying cloud. Fog happens when it’s very, very humid. There has to be a lot of water vapor in the air for the fog to form. Carbon dioxide pollution must also be in the air for it to form.

“Hey, are you stalking me? I don't like being stalked,” says john

“I have to show you something,” Zed expresses with imploration. She wished to persuade him.

She brought down her story of how she had always dreamed about him and always wrote about her dreams. Zed took John’s arm and led him to her apartment. There she showed him all her journals about how she dreamt of him. When she opens the door, John sees writings of books towering a thousand pages long. On her walls lay several beautifully painted paintings of him. Or at least the resemblance of him. John points out the connections.

“That painting is a teddy I used to own,” He turns around, “That one is me, ten years old. Those are my parents, They both were normal, but I ran away to pursue the mystic and dark arts. I went to a local church that taught me all I know about exorcisms. A priest but me under his wing. I was like his apprentice. I got to receive training from him. Unfortunately for me, though, I was appointed to Anthony Mathew Flynn, a priest who has lost his faith in God but gets the job done. A nasty reputation for not treating the exorcism victims very well.” 

John finishes his short backstory, and proceeds to comment on another painting, “That is me learning the mystic and  satanic and dark arts.” He points to another, “This is when my dog died, and that is when  I did my first exorcism on a little girl.”

John rips out a notebook. He reads a few lines. 

“This one reads, 'He ran from home searching for fortitude. Came across a local priest who taught him his ways of the dark arts.’ ” John stops reading, looking at the stalker, telling her,  “How the hell do you know me? I sure don't know you.” The shared intimate information grew John’s sense of troubling grief for his parents.

The woman explains, “I’m Zed Martin, I have been searching for you my entire life.”

“Oh, don't be so melodramatic,” replies John begrudgingly.

“I believe it is destiny that brought you to me. Or me to you. We belong together. I was starting to believe you weren't real.”

John scolds it off.

“I do believe in destiny. But not in a romantic comedy. And if that's a joke, It's not funny.  That's a nice play. Bump into a fair-looking fellow and tell him you're his long-lost lover. You're probably here just to steal my wallet. So I think, I’ll sit this one out.”

Before John can tread ahead to the door, Zed tells him, “No, look, John,  I have abilities and feelings I can't control.”

“Oh,  you sound like a teenager. Just a grip.”

Zed begins to act remorseful and full of emotional pain and guilt. The feelings John has for proving himself into the deepest of damnation. Being destined to fail, being destined to belong in hell.

“This pain you said was exactly what I feel. This must only be by the power of clairsentience. Let’s put it to the test.” John says as he rolls his sleeves up. 

John sets potions out of his brown coat. A mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. This is in a small glass bowl. It has a glass lid on it. John kept it in his coat as he always carries special antiquities with him. John removes the lid and pours the slurry into Zed’s hand. This makes her see visions of a rapist hiding out touching four innocent children. She tells John about this.

They exist together, as Zed tells him that she’ll join him. 

“I'll join you, I don't care what you say against it.”

“Fine, just do yourself a favor and try not to get too attached, you'll end up killed or worse, possessed. You step into my world, you'll be staring down demons, devils, and the like. Those portraits of demons in your paintings. They are real.”

In the city streets, John is pestered by two thugs about his pocket change.

“Give us some money, pal,” in a condescending tone.

John takes one by the arm, takes a light cigarette, and lights it on his forehead, burning him. John kicks a thug to the ground. Pinning him down, he takes another, lights it. He stuffs it on the cardboard cigarette bud box and tells him, “Open wide.”

“Ah, no man, f*ck you.”

“Thought you’d say that,” he stuffs the box in the thug’s oral cavity. He takes the light cigarette and lights and the other remaining forty inside the cardboard box. 

”Good, now stay and don’t, swallow.”

He leaves the five thugs like that. The other four astonished, and licitly back away,  three of them,  comradely go to check on their teammate. 

“You guys should get lost,”  John says.

They do. Turning his attention to Zed, John takes her by the hand and leads the way.  This is because she fell. In the movement and chaos of the fighting, she fell. 

“Thanks.”

“No prob,”  John says as they walk together in the dark and caliginous night. 

Zed and John ask people throughout the city by word of mouth and the gossip of a tall tale about the story of this little girl and a pedophile. Eventually, they draw a line. One man with a bowler hat. The man says he’s heard a tale of this before. It was, “When my daughter went trick-or-treating she said some of her girlfriends got lost in the hustle. In looking for doors to knock on, her friend got lost. There, hence the problem. She stumbled upon a nine-year-old girl. Said she was married and that she was to show her a castle that her husband owned. Said they had a pool. And that she was to invite her over to stay. She immediately got out, however, alive enough to tell me and warn me about it, but I dismissed it as folklore from her prankster girlfriends.”

John says, “ Have you heard recent talk of this folklore?”

“Not recently, but I did see something odd when the garbage truck came.”

“Right, thanks,” John replied

Zed and John wait until the sun rises, and the blue garbage truck passes their eyes. They sit on a pavement street bench, eating their lunch. Constantine holds his slice of a turkey roasted dish on a plastic tray. John popes open a wine bottle. 

“Do you always drink?” Zed asks

“Only biblically, the blood and plasma of Jesus Christ. The wine at church.” He says this sarcastically as he knows he owns a home bar.

Zed asks the garbage truck man, after hearing that, “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary? Something to ponder about. Startle the eye around here? Something in the neighborhood?”

The mustache-filled blue-suited garbage truck driver tells her,” The only singular freaky thing I’ve seen was this costume of a wedding gown near the woods, the dumpster had one thrown out.”

“Hmm, very odd,” Zed replies

John tells him if he’s seen a wedding ring in the trash laying around too.

“Oh, no and I think that'd be too valuable, don't you think?”

“Yeah, Or, maybe, it's not marriage at all. Maybe it's just a disguise. I mean who would throw away a perfectly good wedding gown like that? Either because of a divorce or maybe it’s not a marriage at all, but a cover-up,” John explains.

The garbageman is told by Zed, “Tell us where you found this wedding dress. Lead us there. Show us where.``

Skipping to the garbage truck, the three of them ride the night streets looking for baggage disposal hidden in the tree roots of a city forest. Finally, after forty minutes they found it.

Taking Zed’s hand when they step off, John helps her, walks away from the malodorous scent of the truck. John waves goodbye to the truck driver as the truck drives away.

John lifts the garbage lid, showing Zed the wedding dress. She touches it, saying, “Gross, it stinks.”

John adds, “Of course, it does. It’s a bloody, foul trash heap.”

Zed tells Constantine, “Whoever wrote this was not pleased, she felt forced to do something.”

John replies, “Good, then we're off the right track.”

John and Zed enter the ‘Gun’s n Ammo’ store. Entering it is two doors on each side.  The place has utility lights hanging. Red flags of Russia are seen above their heads. Brown packaging boxes lay on silver bunk racks of the warehouse store. Each packaging box has penmanship written out in them explaining their cargo number and what is inside them. The medium, named Fennel, works at an army surplus store. A firearms store. There is a mobile staircase above them. John and Zed walk under it as they pass. The shack is full of gear, and boxes holding clothing. Clothing that seems out of use and second-hand. Full of weapons racked everywhere. Mounted by hangs on walls. John and Zed wait next to the clerk’s desk. Only to be met with hostility by Fennel, who works there as the clerk. He wears a blue denim jacket and a green marine shirt underneath. He rocks long punkster hair, and a two weeks beard, neatly trimmed. Fennel takes out a shotgun from his counter and aims it at John, saying he'll never work with John Constantine. 

“Apparently, one of us has forgotten our deal, Fennel,” John says.

Fennel looks at Zed, telling her, “You walked in with a liar and a thief. Ask anyone you want, I’ll never help John Constantine.” Fennel’s shotgun is taken away from him by John, who aims it back at him, raising an eyebrow. John swiftly smacks Fennel's face with it.

Moments later, they're in the back of the store. In the storage unit. They sit at a dining room table. With  12 wax candle lights surrounding the center of the table. They sit facing an Ouija board game. The purpose is to communicate with the dead. The Ouija board has the alphabet, numbers from 0 to 9, the words «YES» «NO» «GOODBYE» and some extra words depending on its design. It contains a pointer or planchette that is used for pointing the letters. 

Constantine offers to be in Fennel's debt if he helps, “Do this right, and I’ll be in your debt, and that's no small fee. And trust me, You don't want to owe me.”

Fennel foolhardily and unwisely tells John with a reddish-eye stain, “I’ll take my bet to owe you and take my chances as I wish.”

They channel the demon, Geraldine, with Fennel saying in Latin, “A treps ei Asuras ethem or dashura.”

Zed tells Constantine to not break the connection. This is because he and the two others hold hands, dripping with sweat. Before Fennel's mouth opens in a disembodied voice, the players move the needle with two fingers, gently. The weight of their fingers are evenly distributed. On the playing pointer piece. The scared little girl starts to talk to them with the disembodied voice through Fennel’s lips. The players move the pointer to Geraldine’s speech.

“Daddy, what's happening?” the voice says.

John responds telling her, “It’s not your father, sweetie. I’m sorry, but we are here to help. My name is John Constantine.  Your family is searching for you. I read about you in the newspaper.  Where are you, sweetie?”

Before she can tell them where she is, someone else takes control of Fennel's body, as he floats over the tabletop.  The disembodied voice says, “You dare speak to one of my trapped souls!” 

John argues with the voice, cursing it, “Damn you to hell, asshole, Where is the girl? Face me like a man!”

“That is more than you can do. No time to waste on your life. I will, however, feast on it! ” disputes the disembodied voice. It then slurs chants in Latin, “Epulabor, iam tempus est, diabole!” As it says this, it warns Zed and John of the interference with the Devil. Warns that it will feast on their souls. 

Fennel’s body catches on fire. Burning every bone and muscle in his body. After the great demon burns the flesh of Fennel, it turns to ash and leaves the scene. The remainder is a black pile of dust. Zed touches the seat in which the dust is set. Touching it, she has a vision. She is trapped in a forest. One dense with trees. It is pitch black. Where the darkness reflects no sunlight. A glimpse of green leaves is seen. Zed races down a path of trees, feeling a presence chasing after her. A shriek of an apparition.  Zed trips over a twig, a sudden mistake. She fell dragged by the arms through the night and through the grasslands. It feels like two ladies are dragging her. Two women with little strength. At least too weak to be two grown women. Before she sees what the creature's actual facial features are, she is brought back to the present moment.

“She’s in a forest. And there is a demonic presence around her,” Zed informs John.

In front of the trash dumpster is a forest, the density of the canopy cover and black empty spaces for foxes and squirrels. Chattering. They walked through the uneven ground, branches slapping them, as John takes out a stiletto warrior knife. To cut the green arms of the trees and slick leaves. They stretch, wrestling in his path. John and Zed enter what seems to be a labyrinth of trees. Moldy, dirty, scabrous tree trunks. 

When at the gates of the house, John casts a spell on the house. On the interior, John and Zed take footsteps slowly in the darkened rooms. John and Zed see the living room. There is no TV, no gaming console of any kind. Hardly any electricity. The air is cold, thanks to the theater being turned off. The fanlight is off. It squeaks with rust. The doors are unlubricated. John and Zed turn different knobs of different doors. Seeing, the door, opened, John peers behind it, seeing carvings on the wood boards. In another space of the lodge, Zed enters the den. She sees notebook papers neatly nailed onto the walls. Much like her own obsession with painting, this man paints a horned monster. A creature. She glances at one, it reads foreign symbols and English. She tries to make out the words, but they don’t amount to anything, it won't make sense. The word ‘hail’ is repeated however in the text. Back with Constantine, he traces his right hand on the carvings. The carvings to the backside of the wooden door. Out of the cabinet wallboards, to the wall of the room, the rapist jump scares John. He startles him. John deadlifts the rapist’s weight off. Sending him hitting his head with the doorway edge. John’s knee strikes the man. The pedophile springs with his hamstrings, hugging John’s arm. They push themselves back. The black tank top pedophile exchanges jabs with John. John struggles with two uppercuts on the pedophile’s ear. John is chased to the den. They wrestle, throwing each other on a tabletop, then John swings the rapist to the window. John falls from rapturing the wooden tabletop. John takes a wood leg and bats it on the pedophile. After a short break to recuperate, the pedophile lunges at John. John crouches, missing the tackle. The pedophile falls on a wooden bench. Pieces deteriorate, landing everywhere. John runs to the grassy fields. He sees a horse barn in proximity. Dashing towards it, John kicks open the gates. Desperately, searching for a weapon, John takes a hay machine. One that produces and ties a cylinder of hay bail. John hides to the rear of the metal hay baler. The black tank-top pedophile reaches John’s hideout. John presses a button outside the machine, as it hurls the door open. It thrusts to the sky, slamming on the rapist’s right cheekbone. It renders it pink with agony. The machine hurtles a hay cylinder bale. The pedophile spins the side. John’s attempts misfire. John football kicks the pedophile’s head but is caught by his arm. The pedophile pulls John to the grass horse feces soil. They fight around the rooms of the horse barn, treating every piece of furniture as a useful weapon. John notices a batwing horse door. He unhitches it, releasing a back-legged kick from the horse inside. It knocks the pedophile off his stance. The pedophile persecutes John outside the barn. They enter the den once again. John notices a tabletop, he rushes to it. Holding two corner legs of the table, John slams it on the opponent as he comes on the front porch. The table breaks. This fight takes John to the hallways. The pedophile hooks John with his beefy forearms. Being used to drive elbows into Constantine's sides. John jumps off the walls, using his feet to kick back the wall. They both back-flip, landing maturely. The rapist pushes John to the floor. He football kicks John in the stomach, as he rolls down. They both have blood on their cut and torn faces. Both heavily breathing. The rapist walks down. John throws him down with a swing of the arm to the man’s foot. The pedophile slams down on wooden stairs. They break like rock hard candy out of a glass bowl. John jumps his palms to the pedophile’s neck and tries to choke his living breath out. Unfortunately, John fails. The rapist grabs him by the collar and throws him to the basement door. The basement door is bolted onto the wall to the right of the stairs. Zed strangles on top of the man by surprise, holding him down with much difficulty. The man is being self-destructive and hawkish. John casts a spell across wielding his left hand in a motion of a circle. Yellow lines follow his palm. Fire sprouts in John’s hands. He forms this using an Anti demon spell, John waves his hands as they catch on fire, he talks in Latin spelling out bright orange symbols around the wooden house. The papers of the demon-worshipping pedophile blow away. The pedophile owns notebook paper of various prayers he writes to the demon he worships. The man screams, his eyes turning black with red dots. As John screams his spell, the pedophile in the black tank top kneels and yells in his own demonic Gaelic, summoning his demon from the tattoos on his back. It rips his tank top and comes out as a sheep-headed, thorny winged creature. From out of the shadows. The demon: Dargaul. With a thorny scallous body and a spiky 4 feet, tall sword. It swings around like an ape. The demon is around 12 feet tall, crushing the wooden rooftops as it strides. The logs of wood from the attic’s floor fall downward. Zed tries to keep the pedophile pinned down, as John dodges blade swings from the demon. John takes out a fiery pentagram sigil from his powers. A spell of his own, banishing the demon. Pulling him closer and closer into the fire pit of doom. The fire circle portal pentagram pulls the demon inside. John does a circular motion of his left hand, enslaving the demon. Chains wrapping onto it, pulling the Dargual demon in. It yelps and screams. 

John stands still, panting. He faces the pedophile who is fistfighting Zed. The pedophile throws Zed into a mirror, as it shatters. The pedophile uses both hands to do so. John tries to catch his breath, as he tackles the pedophile. John pins the man down his elbows. He looks at Zed to see her. She pulls a shard of glass from the nearby shattered mirror and runs to the pedophile. The pedophile turns John over. Before the pedophile can punch John, however, he is stabbed in the lower back. John says a Latin prayer while holding the pedophile’s face, The pedophile falls to the floor in a deep sleep.

 John casts another spell, saying in Latin, “Per minsterium ecclesie det vobis indulgentiam et pacem, et ego vos absolvo a peccatis vestris. In nomine de Patri, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanders, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.”

Pedophiles share the characteristic of being “without natural affection” (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:2). The phrase “without natural affection” is translated from one Greek word, which means “inhuman, unloving, and unsociable.” One without natural affection acts in ways that are against the social norm. This would certainly describe a pedophile.

John and Zed see a scared little girl hiding in the back of a doorway. 

“Come here, don’t be scared,” says John.

“It’s OK, we’re not here to hurt you,” Zed continues.

The scarred little girl walks timidly to them. 

“What’s your name?” says John.

The girl they rescued is named Emma. The other girls follow Emma out the door. John and Zed walk them out of the hallways and into the exterior of the cabin. Outside.

Outside the house in the muddy forest, the police arrive, medical doctors and psychiatrists arrive as they pull the other three little girls out of the basement door. They explain they are well fed, and cared for with daily toys and TV entertainment, and love. They say the man is very caring. The Psychiatrist explains, “That is what he wants you to believe. Don't worry, We’ll sort this out.”

The girls are taken into the back of a hospital emergency van. The police handcuff the pedophile and lead him to the back of a patrol car. 

Being nearby, outside the house, John sees this and states, “An occultist pedophile who collects wives.”  

Zed tells Constantine, “I’m glad he’s behind doors in prison.”

Constantine chuckles.

“I need to tell you something,” says Zed.

“Right, mate, What do you need to tell me, what’s the matter?”

“The Damnation Army is a legion of lost souls enslaved and pressed into service by the demon Dargual. The group is responsible for a series of mass murders and suicide pacts throughout Los Angeles in the late 1980s. We saved those little girls from this occult. This man was one of them. He had a tattoo of the name of the cult printed on his chest.”

This much was true, except for the pedophile’s tattoo bruise, which left his pectorals reddened and sore from the ink needle. The letters were not yet finished. All that read from his chest was: 

The Damn

Army

“Well, thank you for that much-needed knowledge. Least we know who our enemies are now.” John says as he takes out a gum piece from a pack of gum sets. He chews, clenching his jaw with every bite. 

John and Zed take a cab to a mill farming house. Where the household is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. in a rural setting. whereby farming of domesticated species is a daily habit. Cows, pigs, and horses roam in their specific wooden cages. There is a vast field of grass, full of crops, and hey. Variety of grown fruit and vegetables. nutrients found in soil (from organic matter and microorganisms), soil provides an anchor for plant roots and helps support the plants. Soil stretches a thousand acres long. One, large enough for an extended family farm size.

Inside the mill farmhouse, John asks Zed, “Who do you think has it coming for you. What are you afraid of? You've already told me about the Damnation army. What else are you not telling me?”

She doesn't say anything. John tells her, “I'm only going to keep pushing you till you tell me, so tell me,” John gets irritated, “Look, love, if you don't tell me, how am I supposed to protect you from the evil spirits, half-breeds or whatever cults you have chasing you. Whatever it is, please tell me now,” John relaxes his tone, now with sincere honesty and concern.

She says, “They're called the Resurrection Crusade,  A cult opposite to the Damnation Army, the Resurrection Crusaders. They attempt to cause the Second Coming. The Resurrection Crusade is a fanatic militant Christian group, a cult that thinks I’m important to the future of the world.”

She changes from considerate to desperate, “I want to disappear, John, Let me run away with you! Somewhere far beyond, somewhere where no one can find us. Here, no one can hurt me or you!” 

 But Constantine says she should do it here. When he asks why she's so scared, Zed says with much terror, “The leader of the Crusade is my father.”

Constantine packs a ton of magical gear he got from Beeman prior to his death. He packs it into his chest crate. He places a brass knuckle ring, the Holy Shotgun, holy cross boomerangs, his lighters, Holy water ampoules (grenades), The Screechbeetle from Amityville, Dragon’s breath, a holy cross, a beaded cross necklace, a hunting knife, The Hell Bible, and The Holy Bible. Zed tells him that there's news of dozens of people in Los Angeles that have fallen into unexplained comas. Constantine went to the farm millhouse because that is where he stashes his chest crate and where he keeps all of Beeman’s artifacts hidden. After Verminman infested his lungs, rendering him dead.

 Zed and John flee to safety. They drive in a taxi. At the end of the drive, they open the doors of the cab. John takes Zed’s hand and walks her to the door.

“My friend, Ray Monde lives here. He’ll take care of you and your situation.” 

He brought her to the home of his friend Ray Monde where Zed will spend the night. Somewhere to keep her safe at least until he figures out how to save her. Zed looks at John with thankful eyes. The door opened to see a 50 or 60-year-old, well-groomed and urbane man looking back at them. He opens the door, and tells them, “Oh, sweetie your back, John, and who's this wonderful little friend of yours, she’s hot.”

“She’s with me, Ray and you might want to tone it down a little.”John acts annoyed with Ray.

“But we're only getting to know each other,” Ray says to Zed, “Please come sit here, on this couch, we can talk about boys and beauty products.”

“Now, don't be surprised, as Ray is Christmas, jolly and merry.”

“Oh, I can tell, I would like to have another girlfriend around!” Zed says with cheer and excitement.

Zed and Ray both scream in girly desire for chit-chat. John walks over to the chimney, examining the photographs Ray has of his then-husband, Bill. Zed and Ray take hours upon hours talking. About 5 hours doing so. Catching up on all the gossip in their lives. The clock ticks. It is now nine o clock. John Constantine takes Zed to bed. He shows her room. Ray’s spare room. Zed sits comfortably on the bed. John walks to her.

John and Zed begin to start getting more intimate. “I'm sorry about what happened to your parents.’ Zed says.

John replies, nodding down, with a voice of dispiritedness, “You know I'm damned to hell, Where almost all the inmates are put there by me.”

Zed says, “You'll make it out alive, you always fight for the path of God.”

“You'd think it’d be easier,“ John smirks, at the frustrations of his curse, “If I'm going to die, I want to make you the woman I'll be with for the rest of my life. I'll make you count.”

Zed shares, “All I know is pain, It's right here, these things fight for you, these half-breeds. These demons want our soul, John.”

“I know, I’m dealing with it, Zed. I don't want you to be afraid. Everyone’s got their crap to endure.” 

“You should forgive yourself for your sins, John. I’ve been waiting for you and you found me. I don't know what I'm waiting for and you don't know what you found. The question is: Are we going to help each other out?”

John leans in close to Zed, whispering to her, “Well, maybe life ain’t so bad, Maybe life has its little moments,” With that John kisses Zed on the lips, entering her a desire for his lust. 

They share a sexual tensioned moment, hugging the likes of each other. Zed hugs John’s arm, seeing his shoulder tattoo of a rose flower trapped in a flame or just a burning rose. That and his arm tat of the Gabriel summoning sigil. She caresses it. He follows in, caressing her shoulder. John unbuttons Zed's blouse, he feels her breast. John takes an arm out. Zed undoes John’s dress shirt He pulls his arm out to allow her to remove his undershirt. Zed is kissed on the lower neck onto her trapezius. She kisses him back on the lips. John takes some of her lip gloss onto his lips as the kissing continues. They continue kissing. Through the night, they feel their warmth, keeping them close. John plays with her black curly hair. John begins to admire Zed's Latina features. Eventually, they groan and moan, expressing their affection. The kissing grows into thoughtful eye contact and the exchange of smiles.

That morning, John is sitting up from lovemaking. He searches for his cotton dress tee. He buttons it up and loops his belt around his waist. He buckles it. He grabs the dark brown coat left on the cabinet next to the bed. He throws his coat over his shoulders. Then tucks his arms inside the armholes. Finally, fits the coat on, nudging the lapels, fitting it on his firm shoulders. He opens and shuts the door, softly as to not wake Zed up. John walks in the turbulent wind and rain pounding in the sidewalks. Vapor rising on through the street air vents of the sewer. John strides in the city, chewing one from his pack of gum. The night was bitterly cold. A building is sectioned in the space below. Two big black doors with petal adornments are there. John pushes one of them. Down below, the lights emit radiant red. The entire room is lit in, blood red. Walking down the stairs, there is a large door. A security guard there holds a golden tape. One connecting to two black stainless steel barrier posts. These are the metal poles that create the line. They are made with red fabric. The security guard lifts a playing card, showing it to John. In it, the drawing of Two dolphins flying with wings. They fly in the clouds. The object of the game is to guess with an almost telekinetic ability what the other side is. 

Walking down the stairs,  John says, “Two ducks in tophats, wearing monocles.”

The guard sees the drawing. It is correct. The ducks wear ties and suits. Like the post-war 1910s. The security guard unclips the golden tape to allow John to pass through the barrier posts. John enters a bead curtain. They are mixed with wood and crystal. He pulls the curtain aside, letting himself through. The bar continues the red lighting. Several more adornments attract John’s eye. A trophy is two feet high. With many crystal poles on it. Red LED ball lamps hanging on the bar’s roof. Abundant Chinese lattice screens. Several tables, and wooden chairs. Public fornication. Half-breeds, sipping on bloody marys and taking turns sucking their blood. One takes a sip, while another bites into her bare thigh. They lay on a leather couch. Another group, females, and males take turns on a man. They bite his stomach. When they do this their eyes glow red. On another table, two singed demons, fight for a glass bowl of peanuts. They use their bird-like claws to snatch the other’s glass bowl. John walks, bumping into the multitudes of people. The bar is populous. Bony alien-looking demons, have a wrestling match on the roof, smashing a chandelier Midnight looks up, notices a punch, throws saliva onto his shoulder. He wipes it off. Reaching the chamber room he was looking for. A red leather door. One sewn in with triangle shapes. The light on the door is a bright blue, shining the leather a blue tone. There are no handles on the door, meaning John will have to wait to enter.

 Papa Midnight opens the door, telling John, “Your meeting. You’re here. I thought you'd be late.”

John replies, rhetorically, “When am I ever?”

Papa midnight, a black big man, wearing a white undershirt. Bright red cotton dress shirt over that. And over that a red shearling Ferrier jacket. He wears a golden necklace and black suit pants. 

“Come on in, John. Have you come with relics to sell?” Midnight says. 

He and John sit down in his crystal bar and office room. His bar has different bottles of liquor. Crystal decor. Bamboo chairs and light brown tables. He sits down. Papa midnight’s office table is around one, with a dominant Mulino teardrop table lamp. He has assorted sizes of sculptures on the table. After welcoming John, Papa midnight sits down on his red leather couch. 

He exclaims, “You have scheduled a meeting. What are we here to discuss?”

“No, I’m here to buy.” Says John, “And, yes I need to talk. I need Demon’s blood.”

“Can’t you use some of the fair shares you have of slaving monsters in the street?”

“Not this kind. I need one that repulses angels. Well, one that would prevent the summoning of a Nephilim.”

Midnight, concerned, sees John’s warnings as blasphemy, “You come here, speaking of a premonition of the summoning of Nephilim. Giants, John, You’re talking about giants.”

“Yes, I know how it sounds.” pleads John.

Midnight ignores this, saying louder, “I am happy you are here to buy from me, John, but I believe your worries about Nephilim are false. But in any case.” Midnight stands up and walks away for a moment, grabbing from his shelves of relics. The shelves are full of science hydro flasks. With green and purple bubbles escaping the containers. Two female head skulls. He takes out three veils of red blood. He walks to John, placing the veils on the round table. 

Before John can grab them, however, Midnight says, “That will be $18,32, John.”

John takes out his wallet, giving him the money. One by one John delicately takes the veils and stuffs them in his dark brown coat. 

“As always, pleasure doing business with you, John,” says Papa Midnight.

John’s quippy reply is, “Yeah, thanks midnight. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go save a stalker from her family business.” He stands up from Midnight’s desk and walks away. John is outside the bar, walking up the stairs, pushing the large steel decorated doors. John walks onto the wet street of night falling rain. The street is shrouded with fog.

Later that day, during sunrise, John enters Ray Monte’s home exchanging hugs. 

“Glad to see your back, John.”

John says respectfully, “Same.” John walks past Ray heading to Zed’s bedroom. On the door. He knocks on it three times opens He hears her walk, uses the bathroom sink, and opens the locks at the door. Zed opens it. She was dressed and was just finishing brushing her teeth. Zed takes out her toothbrush, looking at John, saying

“Hi.”

John and Zed’s bodies are blocked by the door. 

“So, I was thinking. I’m hungry, I know a place.  

Constantine and Zed arrive at a street corner, at 7th and Alvero. There the short eating building says, 

Langer’s Restaurant Delicatessen

The building is navy green, with brown brick built-in. The wet street cement is right below. Here only familiars stay. Zed feels eyes looking back at her as she walks with John. They sit down, they order their fish deep-fried chicken wing plates. At Holtville Chicken,  John sits next to Zed. The setting is bright full of chandeliers above the eatery booths, The sofas are light brown and shaped like a stool and sofa ESC. The style overall is of a barbershop. The place is stylized with dark tones of black, white, and brown. The kitchen is Americanized. With a section with chairs on a bar table. The cooks sectioned off to where you can see them if you want to see them working. The sounds of chops and clanks of spatulas, The bubbles of soft drinks, the flames of the stove all add to an experience of the best pastrami in LA. Zed chews on the pastrami, swiss cheese, and homemade coleslaw sandwiched between two slices of their famous twice-baked rye bread.

“Ever been here before?” John asks.

“No, Why are they staring at me like that?” Asks Zed, distrustful and paranoid. 

John calmly tells Zed, “Don’t worry, They just don’t know you. They’re not used to newcomers.”

Zed says, weirdly, “So this is a very local place.”

“Yeah, in the open outskirts of the city.”

“You're not one to succumb to the face of biblical demons or angels. Why are you so afraid of your father?”

“My father thinks of me as a divine messiah. As I told you, the ritual requires a virgin, one that is the messiah. He always preferred me over my brother Eddie. My father thinks I am special for the future of the world. For his Resurrection Crusade. I have always been the rebellious daughter, Mary. But how would you feel if your only family and bloodline treated you like prey to be hunted down and cursed to a diabolical ritual? I’ve been told about the Second Coming my whole life.”

John comments, “But you're not a virgin anymore.”

Zed says, flirtatiously, “No, I’m not. And no, you're not the only man I’ve lain with before. You didn’t steal my virginity.” She then complains about her lineage, “My father is a foolish fanatic to demoniac fairytales.”

John says with witticism and criticism, “Lots of madmen out there, Zed. You don't have to look hard to find them. Just like you don't have to look hard to find sinners. And, no, I wasn’t assuming I took your virginity, that's gullible.”

John keeps conversing, “Your father knows what I know. The world is a parallel plane of existence. Heaven and hell are right here, half-breeds influence people by telling them to do things. Like the devil and angel on your shoulder in cartoons. There are demons half-breeds and angelic half-breeds. The balance, the great di-tance of the Gods. God and Lucifer’s wager. Since I could not prevent full-fledged Ashgar from arriving at this plane in 2005, and then I did prevent Mammon, the son of Satan, now I fear giants will seek to do what the demons could not.”

Zed asks John, “Do what, take over the earth?”

John further explains, “Exactly. Genesis, 6:4, tells us, Nephilim were the offspring of 'the sons of God’ and the ‘daughters of woman.’ They translate to ‘the fallen ones.’ That of giants. In the bible, a section of Number 13:33, says, ‘humans saw the Nephilim, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers.’ Demons or fallen angels having sex with human women produced Nephilim. This occurred in the days of Noah. The bible, Genesis 6.1 also says Nephilim were, ‘the mighty men, who were of old, the men of renown.’ But I am afraid the angels and demons have renewed their lust for human women.”

John and Zed finish their meal, they get up and throw away their trays. In the rain on the street, they call a cab. John waits for her.

The following morning, Zed's father, the apparent leader of the Resurrection Crusade barged into Ray Monde's home and abducted her from the bed. The leader, Elder Martin is a tall thin man in a black suit and a pair of gray glasses. Short brunette curly hair. He is a callous, grumpy man. With no joy in his soul. 

“Come here, my lost lamb, Mary,” Zed’s father tells her when he carries her by the legs and throws her onto his soldier’s restraints. His army soldiers zip-tie her. They push her into marching with them. Another Soldier holds her at gunpoint.

A set of millions of men chanting Elder’s name and Zed’s name of the Messiah. They march in unison. They march on through miles and miles of sand. Climate is extremely hot in the desert and the temperature remains more than 40 degrees most times of the day. On sandy deserts and high mountains of dark brown. Not snowy ones, but ones full of forest and nature. The mighty chunks rise all over the world, including the oceans. They usually have steep, sloping sides. The mountaintops measure 2 500 m above sea level.  They walk around the sharp surrounded ridges. Landforms that rise at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) or more from the earth’s ground. The army brings Zed back to the Ressurection Crusaders’ headquarters. Their headquarters is a steel, timber, and wooden palace. Not one window is seen, in the structure of a stone keep castle. Numerous towers connected by tall walls. It looks like a city of wood and steel houses. Inside one of the chambers in the palace, is a dimly lit space. One in which they prepare her for a spiritual ritual. The ritual required a virgin, but unfortunately for the Crusaders, Zed's evening with John Constantine robbed her of her "purity". 

Elder Martin watches the ritual forego. Her father, a senior member of the fundamentalist Christian group, the Resurrection Crusade. They attempt to offer her to the half-breed. This half-breed sprouts its wings from the ceiling and land on to the bed of the cement, where the sigil has been drawn for the spell in chalk ink. They possess a sigil of angelic power, one with grace. The symbol is of David’s star enclosed in one circle. Not a jewish one, however, one of the names, Phul, Apratron, Bethor, Phallic, Och, Heath, and Opheil. The archangel is not one of these seven, however. It is an unnamed one. Elder’s men bring Zed to the center of the angelic casting circle. Zed sees in shock, how the unnamed angel comes closer, seeking to have sexual relations with her. To rape her against her own will. 

Right at the last second of the angel ripping Zed’s jeans down, Elder and his soldier gaze at John Constantine, opening the gates to the room. The sunlight beaming at the scene. The sun creates a black shadow of John’s silhouette. The massive doors close, creating a shocking thud and shunning the sun.

John unrolls his sleeves. On John’s forearms is a tattooed improvised sigil. The sigil of the triangle with two circles at the ends of the corners. The outer brim is detailed with symbols of slashes and shapes. On the inner rings are the names Gabriel, Micheal, Averiel, Rafael, and Uriel.  An angel is needed for the Crusader’s ritual of conceiving a baby who will become the new Messiah. The half-breed angel fully morphs into a full-on angelic spirit. It leaves the carcass of the human form. Constantine thwarts this, by summoning Micheal, the archangel. He is summoned from the tattoos of John’s forearms. The heavenly rays of light demand Micheal’s presence. Micheal and the other traitorous angels fight to the death, slamming against walls in the room, as they fly and punch each other. 

“Let light fight light,” John Constantine says, as he watches the sprawl.

Diverting everyone’s attention with the fight, John, takes a standard victor 3 blade. He uses it to cut a bit of his palm, in order to bleed. A cut not considered suicidal. He spills his blood onto Zed, who is very confused as to the matter. John takes a veil of demon blood, from the three he bought from Papa Midnight. He drinks it. He takes another bottle and takes a syringe from his coat. He fulls the syringe with the demon blood. He injects the syringe into his median capital vein. He holds it with his uncut palm. His left arm. He injects it into his right. The blood rushes into his body, pouring out of his right. The demon blood stings. John grunts as he does this.

John kneels down at Zed, telling her, “Drink from my palm.”

“What! No! That's gross! I'm not doing that. What are you doing?”

“Just drink it. I'm trying to save your life. That's demon blood, It’s injected into my bloodstream. Now you have to drink it from my palm. Angels are repulsed by demon blood. He won’t rape you if you have demon blood.”

Zed licks from his palm, as the Angel crawls toward them. Each step and hand crawl, getting closer by the minute. John looks back at the angel, scowling at him.

John rolls to his back, allowing the angel to lay on Zed’s front, but the angel smells her. It pulls its head away, dissatisfied. It grows with disgust, flying a few steps back. A divine light, as though a helicopter was flying on the roof of the room. The light pulls the angelic creature into it. Then the light shuts, darkening the atmosphere. 

The Resurrection Crusaders all siege into a fierce armament battle frenzy. John does what he can, but the number overwhelms him. John explodes, in the green light, propelling the Christian followers to the air. The temple on the ground, growing in hate for failing to arrive at the Second Coming. John ducks several swings, He push kicks two, sending them tumbling in line formation. John’s fists and jabs are not enough because once they begin firing standard handguns and assault machine guns like the M4A1 guns. The Resurrection Crusaders fire at John. They leave his cotton dress shirt, torn and red-stained. John lays on the floor, seemingly dead, blood pouring out his mouth and nostrils. Puncture holes all over. Suddenly, the Crusade followers are swung high up, each by the neck. They are held onto the wrapped legs of angels. Female and male angels ascend from heavenly white irradiation. Each angel takes the victims to the roof of the wooden room.

John stomps to Zed, who is kneeling on the floor, pulling up her pants. John looks at her, ardently.

“Here, take my coat,” He says as Zed takes it to cover herself. 

John makes his presence known to God. He tells the LORD, “Let there be one condition to me helping you take the lives of these malevolent. Let those victims of the mysterious comas live. Let them wake up. And let me rise to heaven, Please.”

The LORD ascends down from his throne in heaven. He tells John, “You will live, for your good deeds are sent from an act of good. An act I would do. But I am sorry, John, I cannot accept. You have tainted your blood with that of Satan’s minions. For that, I cannot accept you into the kingdom of heaven. You have essentially birthed a demonic possession inside you and your friend.”

John talks to the LORD, in dying breaths. John’s endowment for adroitness exemplifies the LORD he planned in his coming to speak to him. “Of every soul of the damn Resurrection Crusader’s taken by the angels, let ninety-seven people be conscious, compos mentis. Don’t let them wake up, and realize they’ve wasted their life, please. Have mercy, Father of Jesus. If I had more than one soul, I’d offer it, but I know that won’t be enough.”

The LORD, with much suspense, utters, “Let your word be heard and your prayer be sound. For you are the son of God, created in his image. In my image.”

“Well, if that’s so, then save me. What happened to Sacrifice? I sacrificed myself for Isabel last time, let the comas stop.”

The LORD thinks about John Constantine’s proposal. He intends to do the work of God, let others live more fulfilling lives by the means of a longer and more conscientious life rather than himself who has met the end of his own. 

The LORD said to him, “I will let you live on one condition. That you find out why these commas are happening. And rid yourself and your friend of the demon blood you possess.”

John says, wheezing in pain, “I’ll do it.”

The LORD rehabilitates him and Zed, who sustained minor bruises. John sees the blood evaporate from his clothing, and circulate back into his chest and vital organs. He feels his skin ceiling, and his bones, which had sustained metallic shrapnel, fuse back together. The bullet holes jolted out of his body, an absolute miracle. John presses, his chest, as he sits up, astounded at the fact. 

Zed picks him up, telling him, “Come, on John, we have to find out who or what is causing these commas.”

John feels rattle-headed to the immediateness of the inquiry. Zed grabs John’s hand as they walk away from the wooden room. The one apart of the wooden metropolis.  John and Zed step on wood boards and out upon the rocky street of the mountain village. 

Elsewhere, a female doctor is a surgical resident at LA Community Hospital. She wears curly lifted hair in a bun. Cute glasses. Has large brown eyes. Her lab coat beneath her blue scrub top and her scrub pants. Scrubs are loose fabric clothing allowing for ample room to move around. His nametag spells: Sainna Tate. She and her colleagues work on a patient on the hospital table. The patient is taking a D and C surgery after taking both mifepreine and the misoprostol 48 hours separately. The patient had the painful process of blood clotting and cramping on her home couch. The patient took a blood test to track the pregnancy. After it was announced negative. Dr. Tate and her colleagues work on her. They use medical instruments to dilate the uterus. A 4mm verruca curette to scoop biological tissue from the uterus after the uterine tissue. After this procedure, it is followed by a hysteroscopy. A slim instrument called a hysteroscopy is inserted into the patient in the virgina. The instruments hold a slim camera and light. The hysteroscope releases saline to inflate the virginia. On-screen, the doctors check for any remaining blood clamps, tissue, or polyps. Dr. Tate’s colleagues take tissue samples to check for cancer in the polyps. The tissues are taken into the lab. This is done to see if there are any polyps to remove. It is uncertain which polyps can become cancerous, so all must be removed after the lab result. After the lab results come in, the patient, Nancy Philips, is green-lit for the removal of the polyps. The doctors remove the polyps with forceps. Both the forceps and the endoscopic snare are introduced. The polyp is elevated and the snare is wrapped along the polyp’s base. It is cut off. The forcep and endoscopic snare combo are repeated until all polyps are rid of. After the procedure, Dr. Tate removes the anesthesia mask. Seemingly out of the blue, Nancy Philips seems unresponsive. Unable to react or become aroused to stimuli. Dr. Tate performs a physical exam. She checks for eye movement, facial reactions. This is followed by a complete neurological exam to see where the damage to the nervous system was. Dr. Tate talks to the patient, to which the patient fails to respond. The woman is pronounced comatose. The doctor’s suspicions are altered. This wasn’t supposed to happen. What could have occurred to cause the coma? 

Elsewhere, In Kindred Hospital, LA, another young and otherwise healthy patient, Shawn Whale, also falls comatose during sprained ankle surgery for a recent sports injury. The doctor begins tracing with a marker beforehand to the operation room. Dr. Andrew Lee, an orthopedic surgeon, traces the ankle where the injury is. The patient tells him that is the correct area. The doctor feels the patient's heel. He notices that parts of your tendon are getting thicker and hardening because of tendonitis. The bone spurs or the extra thickness often form with this type. Greater than one cm in growth. The doctor asks the patient, “ Did you feel a pop in the back of your heel?”

 The patient says he did and that he feels pain on the back of the leg, when exercising, and when he tries to flex his leg.”

 The doctor tells him, “Roll your foot, side to side, then in a circle.”

The patient tries, as instructed and replies he still feels pain. The doctors move the patient into the MRI room. In the machine, the patient gets his imagery test taken. Dr. Lee hangs the results on a whiteboard. The black and white imagery shows bone spurs and that the tendon has become calcified or hardened. The bone spur is Anechoic. This term means "without echoes." These areas appear black on ultrasound because they do not send back any sound waves. So they do not appear on the MRI image. 

Dr. Lee explains to his patient, Shawn, pointing things out as he explains with a pointer, “The image shows repeated minor trauma. The Achilles tendon is ruptured in the 'critical zone', which is a region of small amounts of blood flow outside the center of the vascular bed. The blood vessels surround the fibula and the achilles tendon.  The Achilles tendon is supplied by two arteries. Three vascular parts are in the achilles tendon. The midsection is supplied by the peroneal artery. The proximal section. Thirdly, the distal sections are supplied by the posterior tibial artery. The middle of the Achilles tendon lacks more blood vessels. This is the area where it is most common to have fractures. So if this part of your Achilles tendon is weak, it will be more prone to fractures. This is the area you have fractured.”

The doctor tells Shawn, “We are going to perform a tendon augmentation surgery. We are going to drill holes here and here to reattach the tendon. We are drilling suture anchors into the tendon. These are metal very thin bars called anchors with strings called sutures that will hold your tendon together. There is no consensus on the duration of the surgery. You might not feel any pain relief after 3 months after the operation.” The doctor adds, “ but the pain may be alleviated after 6–12 months with no deterioration. So after 3 months, you may feel good, but give it 12 just to be sure.”

In the operation room, Shawn is in the hospice bed with an anesthesia mask. Dr. Lee, the primary surgeon, a resident, and a scrub nurse are near the bed in the operation room. They are ready to perform the surgery. 

The foot is placed outside of the operating table. An incision was made running close to the Achilles tendon. The ruptured end of the Achilles tendon and calcaneal insertion of the tendon were seen from the opening of the skin. Then, healthy skin and bone are taken from one part of the body and is moved to the injured Achilles tendon. Dr. Lee removes the tissue, then attaches it to the broken tendon. This tissue will protect and reinforce the damaged tendon and help it heal. The leg was placed on a long trough. A leg trough is a spongy, supportive brace for a leg for use when lying down. Dr. Lee makes a cut on the calcaneus bone, the back of the foot bone. He makes a cut to ensure blood goes to that area.  Dr. Lee drills holes and uses suture anchors for reattachment for insertional ruptures. Both ends of the suture anchor were passed through the tendon. The injured part of the tendon was inserted into the trough. The light blue strings of the suture anchor are wrapped carefully on the tendon. The wound was sewed shut in layers. The makes a real-time video of the movements inside a part of the body by passing x-rays through the body over a period of time. X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation. The leg is then placed in a long circular cast. Yet again at the end of the procedure, When the doctor takes off the anesthesia mask. After the surgery is over, Shawn is taken to the recovery room, where a nurse watches his condition very closely for a few hours. The nurse checks Shawn’s heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. 

The orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Andrew Lee walks over to his patient to tell him how the surgery went. The nurse tells him he hasn’t woken up and appears to be in a coma. 

“Do the physical exam.” Dr. Lee tells the nurse.

The nurse checks Shawn's movements and reflexes. His response to painful stimuli, and pupil size. She observes breathing again for the cause of the coma. She checks the skin for signs of bruises due to trauma. She checks the head especially to see if he has a head bruise. They check the body temperature and blood pressure once more. His vitals show he is alive, just not reactive. The patient, Shawn Whale, is deemed comatose.

At his apartment, John reads in the daily newspaper that an unusual number of fit, young and healthy people have suffered from a mysterious coma outbreak all across Los Angeles. The souls of these people are trapped in limbo. These victims will lose their years of life in a deep induced sleep. All the same fate. He discovers three similarities among the cases: they all took place in the same operating room, all patients were tissue-typed and some of the comatose bodies were moved to a remote facility called the Los Angeles morgue.

John and Zed walk out of a yellow taxi. In front of them is the Los Angeles morgue. The house of the dead. When they step in, John is greeted by the front office. Two humans greet John at the front office desk. They work in medical examinations. John slides a card of his identification to the register person. She takes it and after reviewing it, allows Zed and John to pass. Leaning on the front office desk is the triumvirate of three demons, The first, the Second, and the Third. These are listed by the order of falling from heaven. After Lucifer fell first as an angel. The first is a demon with spiky-clumped hair to the sides and a red torn cloth cape. He wears black suit pants. He is the nigh-omnipotent ruler of Hell and the embodiment of sin and evil. The second takes the physical astral form of black eternal darkness. Anywhere you see darkness, he is present. The two are much the same in personality. The First stands smoking a pipe, offering it to John. John and Zed are left in an unappealing silent pause with the triumvirate of three demons. Zed feels awkward about the situation, but feels as expected, out of her nerves. She watches John cooly. To see how he dwarfs these pests. The First offers John his pipe yet again.

“No, thanks, I quit.”

The First tells John, “Oh, but what of the matter, it’s just a small inhale. Not like you'll die in one sip.” The First leans into John, as John growls, “No, final answer.”

“Come on, Johnny, boy,” The First purrs. His eyes turn yellow, his teeth release fangs.

John recites James 1:14, “But each one is tried and being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then, the desire when it has become fertile gives birth to sin.”

The First hisses back, and reminds John, “I hate the word of the lord,” as it retreats to its own portal of hell.

John replies, knowing The First already vanished and The Second is there with him, “It’s not only the word of the Lord, Jesus. But also the verse from James, the slave of God.”

The Second, an embodiment of eternal blackness was busily dimming the facility’s utility lights. And darkening the sun’s rays, diverting the plant pots from their photosynthesis. As it does, actual black liquid goo unveils from the corner of the roof. 

John takes out a holy water ampoule from his coat. He throws it at the blackness. It vanishes. The utility lights brighten. 

John motions for Zed to follow as they pass the offices and walk to a push-button door. The entrance of the morgue. Bodies are laid in a file cabinet, like office space folders. John pulls one out. It is one of an overweight male in his late forties. John feels the man’s neck: A slight pulse. 

Alarmed, John turns his head from the body. He mandates Zed to, “Alert the physicians, these people aren’t dead. They’re just in deep comas!”

Zed runs out the doors. 

Moments later, John is facing a room full of homicide detectives and medical homicide examiners. They cross their arms, frowning at John. John, accustomed to negativity, pauses for a while until he can correctly form his words.

“Right, I know you guys don’t believe me, but these people aren’t dead. There is a surge of comas all around Los Angeles. I need you to believe me.”

John thinks for a while. What will he do to make these faithful and faithless people believe him? An idea springs into mind.  John diverts to a means of persuasion. John looks up in prayer, “Please, father, help me out.”

God sends his two crows plunging out of a nearby glass window. They perch on Constantine’s shoulders. John turns his head to one of them. “Thanks,” he says. Crows are the puppets of God meant to deliver justice to those who offend God. To dispense punishment to sinners. 

John knows this unsettles the crowd further, as they start to whimper. 

“If you let these comatose people die. It is not your place to act in the hands of God. He decides life or death. If you pull the plug, God will dispense punishment.”

The crowd promises to John that they will preserve the lives of these innocent victims. “We swear,” one man says. “We’ll do it.” another says. 

When Zed and John leave the morgue, Zed asks John what happens to people’s souls when they are in a coma.

John, expertly replies, “When you go into a coma, Your soul is not in hell or heaven. It’s trapped in limbo. You’re not dead or alive. You're somewhere in between. I need to find a way to import us in there, to figure this thing out.”

Zed asks, “The limbo, you say that like it’s a place.”

John replies, “It is” as he and Zed walk further on the puddled sidewalk of Los Angeles. La’s street corners and alleyways are shrouded in carbon dioxide mist. 

John says, “The Void is a dark place where many souls are trapped in limbo to remain forever, a place which is not meant to be treated by the living, and time does not work like the real world. It is infinitely far away from the material dimension and still, it permeates every inch of it. Souls trapped in limbo have their physical forms appear in a coma because their souls do not inhabit them.”

Zed is intrigued, so she asks John another question, “So, you’re saying these comatose people are trapped in this otherworldly dimension called The Void.”

“Uh, uh.”

Zed continues, “And that these spirits are kindred? If the spirit is in this other world, then what happens to their body?”

John, being one with the mystic and magical arts, explains, “Their physical body is essentially an empty vessel. Demons nor half-breeds can’t do anything to it. Yes, they are kindred. Family and relatives can fall into the Void, falling comatose.”

At Zed’s apartment, John tells her to sit down, “Make yourself comfortable.”

Zed complies and sits on her transformable sofa. Her favorite furniture of the apartment, besides the bed. John lets out a sigh, as he knows he prefers not to travel to alternate dimensions. Much less the Void. 

“Sit, with your legs out, hold a seven-point meditation stance. With your feet crossed and your arms resting gently on your thighs.”

Zed does.

”Sit up straight and relax.”

John holds a desk pendulum clock for her to focus on. 

“Focus on the swinging of the rod, as it swings left to right. Focus on the middle. When you start getting sleepy, you’ll know.“

Zed passes out, her comatose body now lying lifeless on the retractable sofa. John sits in seven-point as well. He focuses on the pendulum swing and hits his hypnosis trance too.

John and Zed rub their eyes,  heavy with dryness. Pushing on the lids releases oil from the eyelids, making them moist again. As they should be. The Void has no major source of light except for those contained in electrical utility lights and is usually in a gradient purple-blue tone effect. Blue-violet colors and shadows are everywhere. It mirrors the material world in Los Angeles. Houses, objects, and landscapes may appear almost identical to their counterparts in the real world. However, the blue-violet effect is radiant everywhere, like a cell phone filter. 

John and Zed are able to project his spiritual form into the shadowy world of The Void. they walk in a densely populated arena of the abyss. John and Zed encounter millions of lost souls, pumping into one another as they struggle to get through. After encountering a spectral apparition of the comatose victims, John and Zed make their way into The First’s lair. The first sits on a thorny throne chair facing John, smiling mischievously.

John says angrily, “Bring these people back from where they came from. You have no right to hold them captive. Or I’ll slay your sorry ass right now!”

John continues, “You think Lucifer will accept your currency? It’s too expensive. He’ll up his price.”

The First laughs at John, telling him, “You think this is about taking over the earth’s humans? Ha! You couldn’t be more wrong.”

John teases and threatens The First, “This the part you tell me your evil plan? Or why don’t we just come send Lucifer right now, so you two can chat about it?”

“Oh, sure,” The First smirks, mistrusting John’s attitude. And knowing John has futile attempts to frighten him. “Send the man over here, right this instant. I’m sure he’ll be more than satisfied to see how many souls I have collected.”

John asserts to the demon, “People’s souls will never sustain a worthy trophy on a pedestal.”

The demon glares at John,  gloating, “He will make me an offer I can’t refuse after this.”

John in consternation realizes what The First is hinting at. John exclaims with a scream, “You are hoping to obtain enough to offer up to Lucifer in order to obtain Lucifer's title as Satan!”

The First flies at John, taking him off guard. John takes his stiletto warrior knife, stabbing the demon’s abdomen. He takes multiple stabs. None are enough. John reaches his coat for his golden cross. He holds it up with two hands to the face of the demon. 

The first spits, “Those relics won’t save you now, Exorcist! Here, in the Void, I am supreme!” The First drops John to the sky in the clouds and darkness of the Void. Into the eternal obscurity. Millions of trapped souls hug John, helping him up. John looks at one of them who saved him.

“You can save us, can’t you?” a soul says. One of an elderly man with a pajama robe on.

”I’ll try,” John says.

John takes to the skies. Clashing with The First. The First's head is pushed into the flames of a burning building. 

Flying, John says, “You, demons don't belong in the Void, Only comatose souls do.” John says this as his dark brown coat gushes in the air like a cape. It stays upright, as John flies to the demon again. 

The First roars, his fangs popping out. 

Meanwhile, Zed is accompanied by various souls. They plead, “Please, help us, I have a baby I need to see where he is at. He’s probably hungry, I need to feed him.” 

Another soul of a 20’s year-old woman in sportswear, tells Zed, “My brother, I haven’t seen him! His wedding! I’m going to miss it. I have to return home.” 

Then a grandfather tells Zed, “My grandkids were going to visit, but now I’m afraid they’re gone. I don’t know where they are. I’m stuck in this blue fog. I tried running  from it, but it seems I can’t.”

Then another mom, dressed in a white dress says, “Please, I have five kids, I have to see them. Help us.”

Zed is overwhelmed by imposition and vexation. 

Back with Constantine, John is trying to fend for his life as the demon, The First sabotages John’s foot, as he swings him to the black ground. John grunts as he places his hands over The First’s hands to pry them off. John struggles and with his might, John’s hands begin to burn in flames. This stings the demon, so it removes his choke grasp from John. John stands up. The demon tackles him again. John punches The First square in the nose. John does stand up now and throws a fire first punch at The First The First braces for the impact, as he takes the punch. John chokeholds The First His left-hand punching, again and again, several times. The First has enough of this onslaught. John is thrown aside. The First hones in on Zed, who is trying to pacify the lost souls. She tells them that it's going to be okay and that John will fight for them. The First flies to Zed, but is held back by John. John caught The First’s torn red cape. John slams The First to the boulder rock hard floor. John mounts the demon. With both hands, he pushes on the demon’s eyes.

John begins vanishing The First with an exorcism, “You will repent for your sins! In Nomine de Patri, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti exstinguere in potestate diaboli sit impositio manus nostrae et invocatio sactea gloriosae el matris virginis Mariae.” John mentions the holy trio and the mother, Virgin Mary in his exorcism prayer.

The First hisses at John. saliva pours down The First’s lips and into his jawline. The demon bench presses John’s bodyweight. With it, he pushes John back. The First uses his boney dragon wings to fly up into the black night sky of The Void. John throws a holy cross boomerang into The Void. He misses, then he throws a second. Yet The First notices the second is caught in his wing. The demon hisses back as it starts to spiral into the ground. A crash landing. John foots over to the area of the crash site. The void is seen with purple cracks along the edges of where the demon struck. 

The first is wounded and hisses at John. He covers up his wings. As they are bleeding. 

John notices the blood. He comments, “Demon’s blood. I got some of that in me too. Now let the souls go!”

The First replies, “You have our blood. Then you’re one of us! You should exorcise yourself. Ha Ha!” The demon is shut when John punches the words out of his mouth with his fiery fist. The flame looks blue from the Void’s violet-blue atmosphere. The First roars at John, but he is burned with the flame. It scars his red cheek and forehead.  

John stands over the demon, winning the fight. He says, “You’re coming with Lu, pal.” John scuffles his feet and shakes his body, yelling, “Now open the portal!”

The First opens his palms, and motions a spell, casting The Void’s white portal from the whist of the ground. It sucks in 7 million 84,000,000 souls out. Back into their sleeping bodies. The Souls stare and wave goodbye at John as the depthless black skies of midnight are foreseen. The skies of The Void part them from their imprisonment. The soul, each and every one of them depart. They awake back into their hospital beds, with joy and tears. Nancy Philips and Shawne Whale awake from their comas and their procedure, healthy and sound.

John circles his hands to the motion of the upside-down triangle, with three hooks at the ends. These hooks point down. The triangle is enclosed in a circle. Instead of God, John summons Lucifer.

A man resembling Peter Stormare floats before the demon. The First is baffled and shocked by his demise. Lucifer is a pale person. He has tattoos of black sharp figures along his neck. Like blades pointing to his head. He wears a white suit. Not to confuse his side and contribution of earth, overpowering God, by using half-breed demons to tempt God’s children to abandon Him. For he is none other than Lucifer, himself. He is followed by the triumvirate. The triumvirate lasts only until the next fourth banishee from Heaven arrives: Lucifer, the most powerful being in existence next to God. 

“Lu, how’s the family?” John says out of routine mannerly behavior. He then says, surprised, “I still have time. I'm just here, for a little… revelation.”

“Tick, tock, John,” Lucifer whispers and proceeds to explain to the mortals why Constantine is here. To free the city from their comas. After a bit of talking, Lucifer realizes some of these humans don’t believe in him. 

“Time to go home, back to Hell, First! And You do know the triumvirate is withheld with a single power. My power.! You are weak and frail without ME! You are an imposter. No one rules the kingdom of Hell as I do! First Mammon, now you. Everyone is looking to stab my back. Well, you know what, I’ll deform you where you lay!” Lucifer looks up at God. He has a conversation with him. He had to first ask God's permission.

The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" 

Satan answered the LORD, "From the vastness known as The Void. A dimension. We demons, devils, angels, and gods do not belong here.” 

And the LORD said, “No, we do not belong in the dimension known as The Void.” 

The LORD asks Lucifer why he is here. The LORD says, “You should be searching the earth, scheming me. As usual.”

 Lucifer tells the LORD, “I was. However, in light of these recent events, I have been occupied. And from keeping track of Constantine’s work, defeating my followers in the dirty, muddy streets."

 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered taking the life of your follower, The First? One of your army of demons?”

Then Lucifer answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that this demon has, he will throw away to challenge me! But be cheated, I will not!” 

The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power. Smite thee." 

“Lu, this stuff happens to you because you surround yourself with bad people. You should surround yourself with love." John says.

“Love is for the lord,” Lu says in disgust. With God’s permission, Lucifer takes out a hand and plunges it into The First’s ribs. It penetrates The First’s rib cage. Lucifer withdraws his hand with the demon’s still-beating heart in it. The heart is pouring, soaked in the demon's blood. As John and The LORD turn their heads in revulsion. Lucifer takes a bite, letting the blood run down his chin and mottle onto his white suit. 

The all-powerful and malevolent, Satan, steps back into a red heat haze. Windy and sandy enough to cause sand tornados. Hell is the literal reflection of Los Angeles. An apocalyptic city. One with sandstorms, smoke, dust, and fire. Fire because all is burnt and all is lit up, buildings are in flames. The burning hotness radiates everywhere so that one can hardly see. Gray skeleton demons and the souls of dead people populate the physical place. People will suffer there in physical torture for eternity. Punishment in hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions in punishment are specific, with damned souls suffering for each of their sins committed. The portal to hell opens, Lucifer steps back to enter it. He smiles at John and waves a hand goodbye. Lucifer’s smile’s glazed in blood.  The fiery portal closes.

John races in search of Zed. After wandering the black violet skies, John finds Zed calling out to him.

“John?” Zed exclaims. She yells to focus on her search for Constantine. 

John walks close to her. Zed smiles fervently at John. John, tilting his head and opens his palm and arms wide. He hugs Zed, who is thankful she found him. 

John and Zed revert back from their astral form into their physical form. They are back in Zed’s apartment living room. The colors and lights of Zed’s room are a nice contrast to the dim blue of the dimension they just came out of. Zed stands up from her favorite couch. John wakes up, gasping for air.

“Breathe, John. Breathe,” Zed says.

John calms down and looks at her, saying, “Thanks.” 

“Do you want to grab breakfast? I know a place.” Zed smiles. Her cute features make John smile.

“Sure,” he says, appreciatively.

Zed and John walk out the door, holding hands. They open the door and leave the apartment. They walk out into the street down the sunny morning of Los Angeles. The sun is shining and the sky is diffused light blue. 

John searches for this criminal knowing by the tales of the newspaper, that it seems like it is not at all human. He heads to the LA Metropolitan City detention Center prison. The building is a tall huge white one. With several towners making up an entire city block. There is a park near to it. When you cross five roads to it. It is adjacent to a bridge highway. Palm trees are lined up on the side of the road. The building has two main predominant bridges that can be seen held by tower walls. This gives the building a face of a capital H. is seen in the back of a city taxi, being driven by the driver. John pays the local city cab. Walking to the entrance of the prison, John is greeted by the guards. One of the guards follows John. 

As they enter a hallway, the guard tells John, “We usually have crazy inmates here, but this one asked for an exorcist. He wants to show you he keeps a demon as a pet. His words, not mine. He calls it Dargual. He has a tattoo on his back he says casts the demon out of him. He also said that if you can defeat the demon, which you did, he will let you deport him. Whatever that means.”

John is puzzled by the request and begins to question the man’s abilities. Maybe he is something more. More than just a man.

 John and the guard walk as he says to John, “I hope you do the right thing, you’re the catholic church’s best contact according to priests.”

John says unsure, “I hope so.”

The guard and John stand in front of a prison gate. The gaurs yell out. Looking at the camera. The camera is mounted onto the roof on the corner of the building. 

The guard yells, “Open on fire!” He refers to the fire of the alarm. The alarm beeps, as the gate opens. One by one a long file of gates upon the sound of the alarms. John and the guard walk through as each gate opens one by one. A barred gate does not open once the one prior has finished closing. 

The guard gives his opinion on the matter, “Well if you ask me, I think it’s stupid to let him call the shots. The inmate starts talking sh*t and cursing at your face. Then he tells the policeman and the guards he’ll show the world demons actually exist. Pff, the man’s a nut, everyone knows demons and mythical creatures like that aren’t real. I mean sure, maybe there is a heaven and hell and all that, but I ain’t see no monsters with wings running around. Second, he did that, I’d shut that sh*t down. But the guard told the judge to accept his proposal. So now, the city governor appointed an exorcist on the judge's demand.”

John listens to the guard and replies, “Well, you know, people get scared. Even the governor. I mean I’m used to these things. I do it for a living.”

The guard jingles his keys. He unlocks the final gate leading to the cell. John entered the darkroom. He faced three cells. John waited, knowing the inmate could see him, knowing it was the rapist he floundered back in the wooden barn. Back in the rapist’s wooden house. The pedophile. 

The guard behind him closes the gates as John stands, putting his weight on one leg. Standing up straight and narrowing his eyes. 

“Mr. John Constantine. I’m glad to see you. You were supposed to save me. All the good acts you’ve done.”

It came from either the one in the center or the one to the left of it. 

But one that seemed familiar just the same. It seemed wise and old.

John’s face turns from serious to surprised to a smirk as he hears the pedophile say, “John, I don’t see your face in the dark. Why don’t you come on over.”

John approached the bars in the center. He fished in his pockets. He found his cigarette lighter. He strick the light and it flared. John saw a small sink and a man with sunken ribs kneeling on the bed, writing on the wall. The inmate looks back over his shoulder at John. Not the pedophile. Not anyone he knew. “Do you mind? I prefer to work in the dark. Thank you so much,” the man said.

John backed away from the bars, turning to his left and noticing that the entire left wall of the man’s cell was covered in a script, not an inch to spare, thousands of cramped, precise lines of it, the words so small they were unreadable unless you pressed your eyes to the wall, the man writes these as he scratches his long fingernails across the wall. John passed to the next cell. The voice, close now, said, “You failed me.”

Teddy’s hand shook as he struck the next match and the wood snapped and broke away against the flint strip.

“I should be free of this place. It's God's work.”

Teddy struck another match and it flew off into the cell, unlit.

“God lied.”

The lighter lit with a sizzle and the flame flared high over John’s finger and he held it to the bars and stared in. The man sitting on the bed in the left corner had his head down, his face pressed between his knees, his arms wrapped around his calves. He was hairy with long luscious locks on the sides and a full brown beard. He was naked except for a pair of white boxer shorts. His bones shook against his flesh. John licked his lips and the roof of his mouth. He stared over his lighter and said, “Hello?”

“They took me back. The sinners. They don't know what they have done. My father will punish them on Judgment day.”

”I can’t see your face.”

“They have sinned, but not you John. You have come to save me.”

“Could you raise your head?”

“They say this is home. I’ll never leave.”

“Let me see your face.”

The flame burned the tip of John’s index finger and the side of his thumb and he dropped the lighter.

The cell vanished in the darkness. He could hear the bedsprings wheeze, a hoarse whisper of the fabric against stone, a creaking of bones.

John heard his name again:

“Constantine.”

It came from the right side of the cell this time.

“I will judge you when you go to heaven.”

John bent at the waist, reaching the floor for his lighter. Once he grasped it, he saw it became wet from water on the ground. John closed it, then reopened the metal casing.

“When. You. Die.”

He struck the cigarette lighter. The bed was empty. He moved his hand to the right and saw the man standing in the corner, his back to him.

“Who are you? Maybe the guard made a mistake. This isn’t the right cell.”

The man spun. His long hair swung as he spun around. Walked toward him. His face was pulverized. A swollen mess of purple and black and cherry red. His nose, teeth, and mouth were bloody. The crown of thorns on his head. His nose was broken and his face lacerated.

“Jesus,” John said.

“In the flesh, my son. Do you like the look?”

“Who did this?”

“You did this.”

“How the hell could I have—“

Jesus said to him, “You have failed me. I have come to judge the living.”

John said to Jesus, the son of god, “But there has to be the resurrection of the dead first.” He recites Revelations, “And they came to life and ruled as kings with Christ for 1,000 years. This is the first resurrection.”

Jesus hissed and morphed his body and face back into his original form. Thus revealing it was never Jesus at all, but the pedophile from before. Apparently, he has the power of shapeshifting. 

“I can talk about the fertilization spree. I can talk about clinging them to my bed in my sexual rituals with Dargual. How I force the three little girls to suck my meat. Oh, how pleasurable it is. I like the young ones. They’re cute and skinny.”

The pedophile speaks again, reminding John, “I know they told you to keep your distance. But I’ll be a good boy. Honest.”

John approaches the bars as the rapist copies him in doing so. The rapist’s lips are thick as dough and black with sutures. “I’m going to show the world what you see and what they don't see. That demons do exist on earth’s plane. I want you to exorcise me. I’m a half-breed. I can shapeshift. Your little battle with Dargual. A rematch. I want a rematch.”

John says, annoyed, “I can’t play games with you. I’m not doing a rematch. It’s over. I already exercised the demon out of you, remember? I knocked you out while we were fighting.”

The rapist smiles, saying, “That’s not true. Whatever it was, it didn’t work. I can feel the demon in me still. I can still summon it! I can still kill you.”

“You can’t be a half-breed and a demon at the same time.”

“You look at me,” The rapist said. “Don’t you look away! You never wanted to expose me to this place.”

“You belong here, in prison, in the lake of fire that burns with sulfur,” John says from Revelations 19:20.

“Constantine,”  The pedophile said, keeping his voice low, grim, “That’s not true.”

“It is.”

“No. What do you think I’ve spent the last year of my life planning for? This. Now. Right here. I want to go to Hell, where I will be raped by more demons. Up my ass.”

John is flustered, saying, “You are one strange fellow. Why? Do you like torture?”

The pedophile tells John, “I’m into kinky sh*t. I like the pain.”

John rolls his eyes and turns away. 

“I can’t,” The rapist said, and the words came out cracked and too high and he could feel screams welling in the center of his chest. The pedophile leaned back as far as he could and still maintained his grip on the bars and he cocked his head so that the ear rested on his shoulder. 

John curses at him, “You’ll never leave this prison, asshole.” 

He walks to exit the building.

John leaves the hallway with the gaurd. He takes a cab in the sunny daylight. He pays the driver to drive him to his apartment. John opens the door. He faces his home bar. A wooden table sits in the center. John’s room is made of wood. He has a home bar on the wall facing the windows. Full of liquor and bevey. Brands such as Jack Danials, Bell’s Scottish whiskey, Cline, Sul, Captian Morgan, Jim Bean, Olmeca, Movana club, Martini Rosato, Red Lebal, Bailey’s, Seagram’s Jin, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Bacardi black rum, Smirnoff vodka, Singleton’s scotch whiskey, and Jameson Irish whiskey. To the right side of the door of his apartment is the hanger. Where he hangs his brown coat and his red tie. John sits on the wooden chair at the long dinner table. He pours himself a drink. A bottle of Chartreuse Tarragona. He drinks from the glass. He lays it back. He pours again. Raises the glass and drinks from it. Place the glass back. A third time. Three is his limit. He walks over to his bed. He sees the sheets are nicely dressed. His bed blanket is a pattern of brown and beige lines. They are covered in light beige cross shapes. That and light beige X marks. John undresses, leaving the suit and coat on the bed. He heads to the bathroom where he will shower. He enters the wet shower room. He turns the heat knob on the wall. The chrome shower head sprinkled hot water on John’s face, neck and shoulders. When John exits the shower room, he notices by a glance at the mirror, a new tattoo on his back. One extending from his neck to his mid-back. The tattoo is not his because he does not remember paying for it at the tattoo parlor. One with tattoos of horns, and black skeleton wings on his Teres minor and major muscles. A face of an angry face in the middle. On his shoulders are tattooed horns of a sheep. The same tattoo of the pedophile. How could this be? Krimmelt, the demon with a sheep’s head on his body, a long, gray muscular torso, and arms. It has no back for its head as its brain is absent. As though his skull was sucked out of his head, like eating an oyster. The demon bicep chokes John. John fends for his life. He sways his body side to side, hitting a bathroom wall. John tries to break the hold. It won’t work. John is pinned down to the floor. The gremlin demon choking John’s larynx. John crawls on the floorboards. Each step is harder than the last. Krimmelt giggles demonically. John sees three possible outcomes that could save him. Option one: Crawl to his bed, where he left his brown coat that holds his relics he could use to slay the demon. Option two: crawl to the kitchen table where he can maybe hit the demon with the edge of the table or use the cooking knife held on the bamboo knife rack. Finally, option three: John could crawl to the furthest wall, where a black Christian cross is mounted on the wall. He could kick the wall, until the cross falls on the demon, or falls, so he can use it as a knife to stab the demon. Instead, John swings himself back, trying to hit the demon on its head. He uses the sink cabinets to slam on the demon by opening and closing them. The Krimmelt demon only laughs harder. John crawls to the toilet bowl.  Using his hands, John pushes the gremlin demon into the bacteria-filled contaminated water of the toilet. He tries drowning it, pushing on the creature’s back. Nothing works. Some of the toilet water splashes onto him. The Krimmelt demon pushes himself back, with more force than John could ever muster. John decides to attack the horns. He snaps one off and strikes backward. The horn stabs the demon’s eyeball. John gets his elbow on the thing. Now, facing the gremlin demon, John uses his free hand to forcefully break off the other horn. Once done, he drives it into the creature’s mouth. The thing shrills. John, wet with toilet water, pushes the demon out of his new tattoo. The dead corpse of the Krimmelt gremlin demon laying there on his bathroom tiles. John decides to bring its contents to Papa Midnight. 

John goes out the door, after dressing. He puts on cologne and shrubs the water off his hair with a towel. He walks to the dead corpse of the demon, but before he does, an idea plants in his brain. John looks at the black cross at his wall. He takes out a stool. He climbs it. He reaches and grasps the Christian cross. He removes it from the nail on the wall. Jumping from the stool, John looks at the cross. He has an idea. John sets the cross at the dinner table. He goes over to the knife rack in the kitchen. He picks one out of its slot. Back to the cross on the table, John carves the wood from the Christian cross. Once he is finished, the cross has a sharp edge. Pointy enough to cause a cut. He stuffs it into his brown coat. Picking up the demon with his arms, he uses his back to lift it up to his shoulder. John closes and locks the door to his apartment. John walks to the streets, carrying the damn thing. 

John lays the body onto Midnight’s desk. Midnight is surprised to see this. 

Immediately, Midnight stood up, saying angrily, “How dare you, John. Why have you come here to send damnation and death to my bar and my office?”

John looks him in the eye, saying, “I need a favor.”

“Fine, you got to convince me to help one side or the other of the di- tance back in 2005. I will help you, but from now on, you will owe me.”

“Fine,” John says. 

Midnight sedans John into a hidden chamber of his bar. One with a white door. On the shiny, clean red brick tile walls. He jingles the keys and opens the door. As he does, Midnight says, “Some of these shifts have been trying to climb out of the shadows and come here for eons. I hate to think what they'll do to this world if they ever go through with it.”

John clarifies, “You’re talking about the shapeshifters.”

“Indeed, I am.”

The room is filled with pages of books and different statues. Ones such as Jesus on the cross, Egyptian pharaohs, angels blowing a trumpet, the earth’s globe, Easter Island heads, little mermaid, Terra Cotta soldier, and Terrace of the lion's lion, and an  Olmec Colossal Head. Surrounding them are various boxes of wood and cardboard. All these collected relic artifacts are kept within a church ground. A white clean church with several ceiling LED yellow church lantern lights. 

Midnight says to John as John drags a hospital bed from a storage space, “Millions of souls have died in this very hospital bed by dose of lethal injection. They all passed through this cotton and steel at Pitesti Prison  It was a penal facility in Communist Romania, built in the 1940s. Most famous for its intense and brutal brainwashing experiments.”

John simply answered Midnight, saying, “Yeah.”

Dragging the cursed hospital bed, John places it on the East side of the globe, pointing to Pitesti, Romania. John lays on the hospice bed, timorous. 

Midnight asks John, “Have you served lately?”

John responds to him, “All the time. I just did about five sorcery rituals yesterday. Oh, and If you're gonna offer me a drink, I’ll pass. I've already had three today.”

Midnight  compliments John, “Smart, Good to be sober or not too drunk before a ritualic death.”

“Yeah.”

Midnight readies the green liquid lethal serum. It will stop his heart from pumping oxygen into his nervous system. Midnight administers the shot to John from the arm cephalic vein. John gasps as his face swells. He sweats profusely having diaphoresis. John exhales, after a while, dying. 

John awakes in hell on the burnt hospital bed. He is at the black version of the church hidden inside Midnight’s bar. He gets off the bed, passing to the location of what he seeks. John walks among riddling and decaying traffic cars. Everything in hell looks abandoned after a nuclear bomb burns everything. Superspeed heat and dusty wind colorize the clouds and the structures. John looks at an incinerated forest fire space. He walks to it. The nearby park near Papa Midnight’s bar. John climbs a dirt hill on the hell version of the park. John sees a military site. A boot camp. Many burnt military trucks and tanks are there.  It is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. The fort is used during training or operations. It is the form of a large campus. It is compact for the United States Army. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, bases are clustered and heavily guarded. Dead soldiers lay there, with their bones decaying. John enters the military boot camp. Skeletons lay leaning on the walls. One turns to nod his head at John. John salutes him. John keeps walking. The cantonment gives John chills up his spine.

Inside, John sees Emma, the little girl, standing in a hallway of the military base. She is wearing a light blue dress and white slippers. She wears pigtails. 

“John,” Emma sympathetically says.

“Emma,” John says, acknowledging recognition.

John is concerned about her, saying, “What are you doing here, in hell? Did you come here from the portal of The Void? You should go back to the land of the living. Wake up, already. Your parents are worried.”

The girl explains, “I did use the portal to hell in The Void. When I exited, the portal remained open. I didn’t know how to close it. Luckily it was a small opening. I ran away to hide. Then I peered back at the portal temporarily fleeing the hiding place. I saw two demons had found the portal I came from. Now they’re trying to enter it. Then as I went to my hiding spot, when I heard you running. So now I went to tell you the demons are here.”

“Alright.:” John says, “You go back to your hiding place. “

“Look,” the elementary schooler says. She points to her right. Her arm is straight up by her side.

John turns his head at where she points. He sees two large demons prying open a portal. A portal of The Void.  One is the 12 foot tall Dargual and the other is  The First. They seem to want to reach The Void. The First is probably trying to regain his soul collection. But why would the other demon, Dargual, be accompanying him? John does not know. Joh runs to the Demons head-on. The demons Roar at him. The roar hits John in his face. He feels the roar echo across the bivouac. Dargual lifts a rusted air fighter plane at John. John Jumps, saving himself. Then Dargual Lifts a tank and aims it at John. John throws a cross boomerang ad Dargual’s hand, letting his hand slip off. With that, Dargual’s tank falls on top of him. John runs to The First while lighting his fist on fire. Dargual slaps his body across the room. 

“NO!” John screams.

As Dargual intends to kick John’s tiny body, John ducks and keeps running.  John manages to research The First. John climbs on Dargual’s foot, then up to his leg. Now at Dargual’s thigh, John jumps tackling The First. This stops The First from prying open the portal to the Void. 

The First lets out a frustrated growl, “NO, You won't stop me from collecting those souls again. Exorcist! I will be free from Lucifer’s clutches!”

John runs to the First punching him with his fire fist. The First punches back. John wipes the blood off his nose. The First throws a hook,then John gives an uppercut. Now John throws a hook, while The First catches it. John burns The First’s hand. John reaches the demon’s eyes. He can't reach. 

“That exorcism won’t work,” The First informs. 

Just before John is eaten alive by The First, John preys open the first's jaw, keeping him from eating his face. John pushed the demon back. The First sinks his fangs onto John's back.  The demon recoils in disgust.

"Oh, yeah. I have demon blood now."

With the demon distracted, John faces Dargual. John runs away as Dargual follows him. John runs across the field of military cargo planes. Ones black with crust. John's legs sprint out of the military base and into a park, where leafless trees fill the geography. The Dargual demon bulldozes his way into the forest. He cuts down hundreds of trees. John keeps sprinting, his arms moving back and forth. John's face strains with effort. Arriving at Emma's hideout, John’s shoes slide to the ground. He quickly gets back up, crouching. John slouches as he walks his way to a burnt version of a military base suburban home. One with a massive hole in the steel gate. He runs. John enters at the back patio. There is no door or window slide door because most places in hell have faint holes in them. He enters the kitchen and finds Emma balled up in the sink base cabinet sink. The little girl looks at John, frightened.

“Don’t worry I’ve got you,” Says John as he opens his arms to lift her up to carry her. 

Emma sits in John’s arms as he carries her legs. She wraps her skinny arms on John’s neck, holding herself still. John sprints as he caries the little girl like a baby. Gray bony quadrupedal demons chase after them. They include no brain and look as though their heads were bashed in with a baseball bat. They growl. Then they start rapidly galloping, and their legs move in the same manner when they gallop. Millions of quadrupedal demons trot after them. Far at the back of the line of demons, run Dargual and The First. They run into burning buildings. The fire pushes into them. John staps back. He looks to the army of demons. They are trapped. They see the army charge at them. John screams at the sky, “Midnight, get the portal open! Open the passageway to the Void!”

John carries Emma as he sees the violet-blue portal has opened. The walk-run though. Just as they do A quadripedal demon’s head passes the Void’s portal. The portal closes, decapitating the beast. “It’s head spins on the ground, tracing demon blood behind. John looks at it for a moment then races to the darkness. 

“What’s your address?” John asks the girl.

“It’s on Avenue D 617,” Emma says. 

John races on away from an army of demons at S Juanita Ave. To his right mortgage homes. John makes it past Avenue A, then B, then C, and finally D.  John makes a hard left turn, taking off on Avenue D. He dashes to the front yard. He runs bumping on mailboxes. John’s legs push as fast as he can. To the last house on the corner, number 617. John thwacks on the front door, breaking the hinges. The door comes off. John looks around, panicked.

“What room?” He asks her.

“Let me think.” the girl says.

John looks behind him, then back at her.

“Hurry up!” John invocates her to remember faster. 

The girl finally says after a pause of suspense, “My bedroom is in the left hallway, then make a straight, then turn right.”

John heads into the hallway, lit up by circular lights on the roof. They shine dark blue from the coloring of The Void. John faces the door of Emma’s bedroom. He opens it. Emma jumps off John’s arms and into her bed, returning to her sleeping body. A hallow head quadripedal demon extends its jaw, sharpening its fangs. It crawls on the wall to the left of John’s shoulder. It leaps into John’s head. But before it can take a bite, Papa Midnight pulls John out of the trance. Midnight’s arms reach to grab tightly on John’s coat. Midnight Pulls with his strength. 

John wakes up on the hospital table. Midnight hold’s John up. John is sitting upright. John pants, shocked. He tells Midnight, “Thanks. I owe you one.”

“You sure do, John,” Midnight says.

“I don't get it,” Constantine says, “I saw Lucifer pull The First’s heart out. He should be dead. But he’s not.” John is baffled.

Midnight reassures him, “Demons are never really dead, John.”

“Right.”

“They live among us now. They cross over to this plane and inhibit themselves into the most treacherous places and people on this earth.”

John feels something wrong inside of him. He looks dazed and shakes his head, then feels his chest.

Midnight asks, “What's wrong?”

He says “ I don't know. I feel funny.”

Just then, John’s eyes turn bright red and his eyes are dark circles. The eye strain causes the blood vessels around his eye to dilate. John growls at Midnight. But Midnight knows what to do. He has a Jamaican ritual just for these purposes. 

Papa Midnight straps John to the hospice bed, keeping the belts as tight as he can. Midnight begins dancing, wearing his golden suit and black suit jacket over it. His stylish fedora is on top of his head.  He dances the Gumbay. The Gumbay dance is an element of Gumbay healing cult. It was performed in the parish of St. Elizabeth and has its origins in Myal. The dance involves a series of long steps followed by vibrating sideways body movements, wheeling turns, and sudden stops with the pelvic in a forward tilt. 

The ritual dance continues and John is being repulsed by the demon, Dargual. 

After he does this, Midnight tells the tale of the Spirits, Death & Duppy. Dubby means spirit or ghost in Jamaican Patois. 

“Check wa check wa wa ah sey ah boh boh. Di English dove nuh kno wen fi him whip mi darkness coming heralded by demons from di duppy. Eff yuh wash yuh face inna unprocessed rice yuh wi si get di ability tuh si duppy eff yuh feel yuh targeted by evil tun wear yuh clothes pan wrong side eff yuh believe dat yuh follow by a duppy light tree match sticks thrown one chrow two but nuh chrow di third dem wi tap an try fi find di third while yuh mek yuh way an eff coming from outside waak back-way fi guh inna yuh yaad wen putting away yuh shoes tun dem \'head an tail\' (alternate) it wi confuse dem OR tun dem outwards pointing outwards di doa dat way dem might get excite an wear dem out wen yuh spit sey \"tek mi spit but nuh tek mi blood\" mek a cross (x) ova di spit. Wi ave di courage tuh name dem an tuh claim di demon dubby.”

Midnight assumes that if the Gumbay dance ritual does not work, the tale of the evil Dubby might. The possessed John bends over, hurting. He convulses meaning the evil spirit is still within him. Midnight keeps trying. 

Midnight comforts John, saying, “Stay with me John, stay with me.” 

Midnight keeps the dance going as finally, John exhales the demon from his system. His eyes turn back to his natural brown color.  His face reverts to his normal skin tone. The redness of his veins and the diaphoresis wear off. 

Midnight asks if John is there, back to his body, “John? Are you there? Is that you? Have You come back?”

John lifts his head, raising his eyebrows, smiling, saying, “Yeah, I’m back.”

Midnight unstraps John from the hospital bed. John detaches the syringe of the lethal injection from his arm. John stands up from the bed after Midnight finishes loosening the belt straps. John humps off. He and Midnight shake hands, settling the arrangement.

John exits Midnight’s bar, pushing the metal barricade gates with metal spikes at the corners. The two big black doors with petal adornments at the entrance of Midnight's bar.