*This story is a work of non-canonical fanfiction that is a crossover between The Dresden Files and Hellblazer universes utilizing characters and elements from each while also incorporating some original characters. The powers and abilities of borrowed characters may not represented exactly as they are in their original universes for the purposes of a combined universal cohesion. The main protagonists will be Harry Dresden, John Constantine, and original character Bishop Raine. Other borrowed characters may appear along with other original characters, but the main characters are those listed. Shifts in story perspective will be marked with a line break and the last name of the character whose perspective the story is being told from*

Part 1

Raine:

Porta, Kentucky isn't a necessarily an old town, it had actually only been around since the 1960's. It was built atop the ruins of the town of Elsewhere in Calloway County. But, it was populated with old families and filled with gossip, rivalries, and prejudices that had been around for many generations. That was why I lived in the forest well outside the city limits.

The Raine family had been looked down on for decades for a variety of reasons. The chief among those is because of our mixed heritage. It was well known that my Scottish ancestors commingled with Native Americans as well as the descendants of slaves making them less than the other families and deserving of their disdain. Another issue lots of the town folk had with us is that it was rumored that we practiced witchcraft.

Not all, but lots of the people of Porta didn't think us mongrels were worthy of breathing the same air as them or eating in the same establishments, but if they needed something they would run right out to us. Need help with a loved one, you go to Mama Raine. If you need to locate a lost object or wanted to know your fortune, my uncle Silas is your man. But, if you need to track someone down, if you had animals causing trouble on your farm, or if you had someone that needed put in their place, you would come to me. And we were all more than willing to provide our assistance for anyone willing to pay. It didn't bother us to take their money, unless of course it was family or friends, exceptions had to be made. So when Krystal, one of my only friends in town, came to me screaming and crying about demons I felt obligated to at least look into it.

I had noticed that things had been a little off, some people had been a little more odd than usual, but the biggest change I noticed was in the animals. For the past day or two they just seemed skittish, but within a few hours of Krystal coming to me they began to flee. First the birds, then deer, and by the end of the night you would've been hard pressed to find a turtle anywhere.

I went into town with Krystal so that she could show me what made her think that there were demons running around Porta. As we walked into town it seemed like the place was abandoned. Porta was by no means bustling, and people weren't friendly to me, but there was usually at least a few people judgmentally staring...not tonight. We didn't see anyone until we got close to the church. For some reason people were mindlessly drudging toward the church and didn't respond to anything. Krystal and I started running for the church and as we did she began weeping uncontrollably. It only got worse as we burst through the double doors of the church to see her father, Pastor Woods standing next to you guessed it, a big-ass demon.

Dresden:

I wasn't in the best of spirits since my mentor and grandfather, Ebenezar McCoy died. He had lived for so long I hadn't ever really considered the possibility of him dying. I mean, he had fought in the French and Indian war, he had killed vampires, and I'm fairly certain he is a direct descendent of THE MERLIN. There was no word of what exactly had killed him, but I suspected treachery within the council itself. It had to be a powerful wizard, or several working together to take him out and leave no apparent trace.

I had spent the last week on his farm in the Ozarks just gathering myself. I had lost many people, but this time it hit me harder than most. Be that as it may, it was time to get back to business. Ebenezar McCoy was the Black Staff of the White Council, which was a vital role with all kinds of perks, and it was time that title was passed to someone else. The White Council had selected a member located in New York. They had given me some information on him to review and tasked me with shadowing him for a bit and bringing him in to receive the mantle of the Blackstaff, or at least to be interviewed about it. Unofficially I was going to scout him out as a potential new member to the Grey Council.

My grandfather had entrusted to me his list of members of the Grey Council, making me the only person aware of all the members and kind of the new leader. And along with the current members he also had a file on this John Constantine significantly more detailed than what the council had given me. He didn't appear to be exceptionally powerful, but that's not to say that he wasn't gifted. He had an extremely vast knowledge base, was apparently terribly cunning, but what was most impressive was his skill as a demonologist and exorcist. He was intriguing to say the least. If I didn't have my own reasons for going I would likely be more concerned with why the White Council specifically wanted me to go. It was most likely to keep me out of their investigation into my grandfathers' murder, but I was just going to work it from a different angle.

Raine:

When Krystal and I crashed the Pastor's party he did not seemed too pleased. The demon on the other hand, had a gruesome smile creeping across his face as he audibly sniffed the air. The demon growled, "AN INNOCENT", as he reached out arm and Krystal soared through the air and into his grasp. Pastor Woods screamed, "ABRAXAS, NOOO! Not my daughter", to no avail as he was swatted to the ground and knocked unconscious. The demon Abraxas snarled in my general direction, "Be goooone" and fell through a portal on the outskirts of town.

I knew I was out of my league. But I also knew what I had to do. I had inherited an amulet from my father that would help expedite my journey to the Big Apple. I personally hated New York, well any big city really, but I had to find John Constantine. I preferred my solitude, and where I come from wasn't terribly friendly toward my family and I. I guess that's partially why it took a full-blown invasion to realize anything was even going on in town. I'm a small-time spell slinger with a few tricks up my sleeve, but I have no real skill with exorcism, and Constantine is the most renowned exorcist this side of the Atlantic so I wasn't ashamed to ask for his help.

Constantine:

The taste of blood filled my mouth as I came careening down on to the hard pavement outside of one of my favourite gentleman's clubs, "Never, Never Land". It was here that big wigs of the magical community came to unwind, where one could find all sorts of unsavory business deals happening in the shadowy corners, where the most lovely mystical mistresses dance the night away, and where one badass were-gorilla on troll growth hormone tossed me out on my rear for getting a little too close to a contact. Little did he know that our little tussle had helped me more than he could imagine.

I had been kind of in a rut lately and I've really been trying to improve myself, so I've been working odd jobs to help people out and such. My most recent was tracking down a dealer of illegal mystical substances that was rumored to work in this club. If I were forced into a straight up brawl with this little fellow they'd be cleaning bits of me from between the bricks, but I am known for not fighting so fair. I taunted the big oaf a bit until he followed me into the alley adjacent to "Never, Never Land" and I trapped him in a binding circle. The magical growth hormone he was taking gave him a nasty little weakness to wrought iron which I fully exploited so that we would give up his source. It turned out to be a nasty little alchemist named Arthur Cromwell who had previously been in a heap of trouble. All that remained was to tie up loose ends. I got up with the New York City Warden Thorin Bakker and helped him Cromwell.

Raine:

I had asked around about where I might be able to find this Constantine and the best lead that I had gotten was that he liked to hang out in some bar called "Regans Leaky Cauldron". The place didn't seem like much at first glance, in fact to a mundane it would appear as no more than a condemned, back alley hole in the wall, but to those who could see through the glamour it was a place for those mystically inclined individuals who just wanted to be left alone.

I had been to a few bars in my day and honestly the oddest thing about this one was the patchwork Volkswagen Beetle parked around the corner. The wards and glamours surrounding this place were powerful and I could feel the shift in energy as I walked in. On the other side of the door I could feel the eyes on me as I made my way to the bar. I was used to it. I'm not the tallest guy, but I'm told a have a rather imposing stature standing at just over 6 foot 6 inches and packing around about 310 pounds of lean muscle. The gazes around the room followed me until I sat down on a barstool next to a kind of scruffy looking guy in a duster and I asked the bartender where I could find John Constantine.

Dresden:

I'm sitting there at the bar nursing my whiskey when this hulk of a man radiating some rather interesting magical energy sits down next to me and asks the bartender where he can find John Constantine.

"Like I told this guy, not two minutes ago, he's with the boss in the back and you can wait for him out here," he says pointing toward me. I just take another sip of my whiskey.

The big guy just kind of grunts and I say as I turn to him, "What a small world? What business do you have with the illustrious John Constantine?" He sits in silence for a moment before replying in a hushed voice, "I need an exorcist." As quiet as he was, apparently several people heard him because a bunch of chairs simultaneously scratched across the floor and the patrons started making their way out. You see, there was a lot of stank that surrounded anything involving demons and it didn't just settle, there was also a nasty trail.

I had had a little experience with a demonic presence or two in my day, but I thought it wise to wait for Constantine to show up and see what he has to say to this behemoth. I raised my glass in a symbolic toast, "well here's to the demon slayer John Constantine." Just moments later a dirty blonde brit emerged from the back room all hugged up to a beautiful lady I could only assume was the boss.

Constantine:

I had just had friendly chat with the most lovely Selkie in New York City, Alanah Regan, but when I step back out into the front room of "Regans Leaky Cauldron" it was mostly deserted. All that was left were a couple regulars who probably couldn't stumble their way to the door right now if you paid them and two yahoos eyeballing me pretty hard. One looked like an urban cowboy and the other was a small giant. I walked over to them, "you gents look like you may have been waiting for me. Big fella, you've got the faint odor of a demon all over you. And you, lone ranger...you must be with the White Council."

The big guy spoke first, "I'm Bishop. I'm here on behalf of the town of Porta, Kentucky. There's a high level demon named Abraxas that has apparently taken over the town and I fear the worst. I don't have the means to stop them on my own, but I'll do whatever I can to help."

Abraxas was nothing but bad news and I had been trying to be the good little soldier lately so I told him I would go check it out. "And what about you Wild Bill, how can I help the White Council?"

Dresden:

I wasn't exactly sure about this guy. The Council wanted me to check him out and my grandad obviously saw something, hopefully I would see it also. Although I wasn't thrilled about potentially mixing it up with a demon, it would be an excellent opportunity to watch him work.

"The White Council sent me to bring you in. It's nothing bad, but they want to have a sit down with you. But for now, I'll go with you two to see what we can do about this demon."

Raine:

Well, not only did John Constantine agree to help me, but we picked up a Warden of the White Council along the way. This seemed like it was going to be much easier than I thought. Constantine even had tricks up his sleeve that I hadn't even suspected. As we all stepped through the doorway of "Regans" he opened up a hole that dropped us right outside the Porta city limits. We looked up and noticed a large flock of birds flying the opposite direction of town. Before I had time to think about that seeming odd there came a series of gutteral howls that sounded like they were heading our way. As they got closer, so did the stomach-churning smell of sulfur. I looked over at Constantine and I saw him mutter, "shit", as he nodded his head in disappointed affirmation, "we've got hellhounds..."