Dallas Texas, 1998
Cali had been staring unblinkingly at John for awhile and he was no more comfortable with it than he had been before. The only thing he could do was look anywhere but at her eyes, and even then it didn't help. She was covered in blood from the spatter across her body, to her arms drenched in the liquid up to her elbows. And all the while, she stared at him.
"What?!" he finally snapped when it drew on his last nerve. "For the love of Christ, what?!"
"How?" she asked. "You shouldn't remember the other night. How?"
John chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment.
"Holy Water-soaked stake in my pocket." He said. She let out aloud, exasperated sigh. "I had hold of it when you compelled me."
"Of course you did." She grumbled under her breath. "And what about here? How'd you know to come to my bar?"
"I didn't." he admitted freely. Given the situation had calmed as much as he assumed it would, John reached into is pocket for his cigarettes. He struck one up without pause and noticed her nose curl a bit. It didn't surprise or stop him. "I couldn't find ya."
She cocked a single, delicate brow. "But you were looking?"
John paused. He eyed her skeptically. When he exhaled his lungful of smoke, he nodded slowly.
"Why?" she asked leadingly, which caused him to narrow his eyes. He felt like she might've been teasing him.
"You scared that bloke, Samuel. And I don't mean worried 'im." He said with his lips still holding the cigarette. "That boy was terrified. I wanted to know why."
She nodded slowly and didn't ask anything else. Instead, Cali's eyes traveled to the room. She began to form a plan on how best to clean up the carnage left behind. Thankfully, it was as easy as letting in the light. She'd take the body parts outside, somewhere they'd be hidden from the public and saturated in sunlight when it came. That'd be more than enough to destroy any evidence.
"So, you some kind of big baddie then?" John asked after a brief silence. The question drew her gaze.
"What makes you ask that?"
"Forgettin' you just eviscerated a half dozen of these bastards without breakin' a sweat," he said sarcastically. "One of them said you's in charge. That true?"
"I suppose." She answered cryptically. She didn't feel like explaining further, but with a glance to John, she realized the irritating Brit didn't seem willing to let it go. Cali sighed heavily. "I'm the oldest." She said bluntly.
"In the city?"
"In the mid-west." She clarified.
John stared at her skeptically.
"You're takin' the piss." He replied. It was a very English way of –basically- saying she was full of shit, but that didn't make her statement any less true.
Cali shook her head. He narrowed his eyes on her again. She didn't look old. Hell, she looked like a teenager, but John was smart enough to realize that was nothing to go by when it came to her kind. And the longer he thought about it, the more he had to know.
"How old are you?"
"Shouldn't a Brit know better than to ask a lady her age?" she jabbed mildly.
A crooked smirk graced his lips as he stumped out his cigarette.
"You ain't a lady."
"Right… well that's the perfect way to get me to open up. Please, keep the compliments coming."
John openly rolled his eyes.
"You're a bit irritating, ya know that?"
"You really think I care what some half-assed Exorcist thinks about me?" she dared. His face dropped. "Yeah, I looked you up, John Constantine. Apparently arrogance is a family trait."
"You know my kin?"
"Not personally, no. Thank god. But they always seemed nearby through the years. I have had a few mess things up for me along the way though, bringing light to the supernatural and in turn forcing me to run." She said bitterly. "You've any idea how difficult a few of your great-cousins or whatever-the-hell-they-were made it to live in Salem? Your family's the reason the Witch Trials even began. I couldn't even walk through town without catching the stink eye from someone after those started."
"The Witch Trials." He muttered. "You tryin' to tell me you're over three hundred and fifty years old?"
"Oh, sweetheart," her condescension was palpable. "I'm so much older than that." He cocked an expecting brow. "Let's see… who would've been your King at the time…' she thought briefly before she remembered. A smile touched her lips when she met his gaze again. "Hm… I don't think Britain had a king back then. Or a monarchy."
John's mouth slowly began to slack. Thankfully, his cigarette seemed stuck to his bottom lip which kept it from tumbling free of his gaping maw. She found his skepticism more amusing than anything.
"England's had a monarchy for a thousand years."
"And?" she countered simply. "My people have had a ruler since the beginning of time, it seems, though not always sane ones." Cali seemed to drift into thought. She suddenly shuddered and shook the feeling of disgust away before muttering a name John and everyone else knew. "Caligula…"
John's face fell further –if it were possible- and he found himself unwilling to believe her. When silence stretched for more than a few moments, she looked up and noticed him still staring at her. Nearly an inch of ash had burned from the end of his cigarette.
"I'm sorry, but have you had a stroke?" she asked.
Her insult seemed to be what shocked John out of his stupor. He met her words with a stern glare.
"I'm sorry," he said sounding more annoyed than anything. "But you seriously tryin' to tell me you're two thousand years old?"
He wasn't sure why, but John's mind seemed to ignore her mention of the lack of English monarchy in favor of her comment about the famed –or infamous rather- Roman Emperor.
"Of course not." She snapped indignantly.
He waited for her to continue. He waited for her to tell him he'd hear her wrong, but it never came. Instead, Cali simply stared back blankly. John gave her a curt, short smile.
"Many Cali's back then?" he mocked. "Name seems a bit modern for someone claimin' to be so old."
Her delicate brow rose in irritation. It was a look John was more than accustomed to receiving.
"Calithea." She said.
"What?"
"My name," she explained. "It's Calithea. Cali for short."
"Of course it is." He replied to himself. "Well, looky here Calithea," the way he said her name made her eyes narrow and he knew it would. "You and me still got things to discuss and we're gonna."
"Are we?" she asked sarcastically. She shoved herself away from the bar she'd taken to leaning against and shook her head softly. "I doubt that. You'd do better just to leave here, and not come back."
She tried to walk away, but John wasn't willing to let her.
"We ain't done yet, love." He said as he snatched her arm.
He should have known better. Cali slipped from his grip easily and spun on her heel. Before he could blink, she had him by the throat and held tight.
"Just because I'm being hospitable, doesn't mean you can lay hands on me." She growled through her teeth. Her grip loosened just enough John didn't have to fear immediate suffocation. "I have neither the time, nor patience to deal with you or your pointless questions. In case you hadn't noticed, I have my own problems to deal with here and I don't need you adding to them." She finally released him entirely. John immediately adjusted himself and cleared his throat as though she hadn't almost killed him. "Do you have any relics on you?"
"What?"
"You heard me." She said shortly.
"No." he grumbled tightly. He felt foolish for the admission instantly. "But I got friends comin'."
She squared herself on him and John felt the familiar tug. Compulsion was coming.
"You're going to walk through that door," she said pointing to the front door to the bar. "And the moment you're through its threshold, you'll forget me. You'll forget my face, my name and the fact we've ever met. As far as your visit here, you're the one who killed the vampires. I was never here. Do you understand?"
He nodded. When she looked away, he was free from her control. While John wanted to be angry for the violation, he felt a question bubble up in his throat before he could stop it.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
She turned to face him, but looked as though she didn't understand the simple question.
"Make people forget you exist." He elaborated. To his surprise, he saw something akin to sadness darken her eyes just a bit.
"It's safer that way." She said sadly.
"For who?"
"Everyone."
