09 Comes a Runnin
John Constantine was sleeping when hell first got its foot in the door.
The door to his bedroom exploded. The noise itself was enough to jerk a dead man out of his eternal rest. It nearly sent John to his. He bolted upright and grabbed the two closet things to him.
His crucifix and his lighter. Now in a practical situation the lighter wouldn't have done him much good. When hell spawn burst into your personal space chances are they're bringing fire with them. The old saying 'Fight fire with fire' won't much apply.
Lucky for John it wasn't hell spawn in the doorway. Just the next best thing.
"Severus." John's voice rasped with sleep. "What is it?"
"Don't," Snape snarled "give me that innocent face. Not after last night."
John blinked. Last night? He'd been Rosemerta's last night. Is he jealous? What? "Severus…I don't,"
Severus was striding across the room, taking big statement type steps. The kind that said 'Here I come, I'm bringing pain.' He stopped at the foot of the bed and raised the slender piece of wood in his hand. "I," he hissed. "can't think of a spell horrible enough for you right now."
"Now I know I'm a bastard and all but…what did I do?"
"Draco. Where is my godson?"
"What?"
"Draco came into my chambers last night shaking with a burn mark on his left cheek! He said you pulled him aside on his Hogsmeade visit and told him you thought he was in danger. You gave him this." Severus dropped a small but heavy object onto the bed. It made a small dent in the covers. A hiss of steam rose immediately.
John yelped and shot out of bed. The little black pentagram singed through his covers, smoke rising from beneath it. John grabbed the emergency bottle of holy water he kept by his bed and tossed it over the talisman.
It hissed loudly in defiance and died, leaving a sulfur-like scent behind.
Severus was staring in shock at the bed.
"Draco did not seriously touch that thing." John gasped.
"Of course he did! You gave it to him!"
"Right…of course I did. Who else would he take it from?" John grabbed his pants and his coat and dashed around Severus.
"Constantine!" Severus roared. John stopped, he feel the burning heat of magic aimed at his back. "Where are you going?"
John whirled, feeling impatient. "To get yer godson back jack ass. Are you coming?" He turned again and stalked out the door beginning a mental list of all the things he was going to need.
"What?"
"You wanted me to get him back!"
"I wanted you tell me what you did to him!"
"I most likely gave him a possessed talisman. No clue where I could have gotten it though." It wasn't Egyptian. Which was weird. Most powerful cursed artifacts were Egyptian. People really underestimated ancient Egypt when it came to dark powers. Unless the talisman hadn't been possessed? Maybe the demon had been introduced some other way and was already lying dormant in Draco when he was given the pentagram? That would certainly explain why he hadn't immediately burst into flames.
"POSSESSED!"
"Yes, that's what I said. Hopefully it's a minor demon, won't be too much trouble. I'm probably going to be the real problem."
Severus was stalking powerfully to keep up. "What?" he growled.
"Wherever Draco is, that's where I'm likely to be. Now, if I was powerful enough to bring that thing to Draco without loosing my mind I'm definitely going to be a pain in the ass." John dug in his pockets. "Here, you're gonna to need this." He handed Severus a small glass sphere.
"What's this?"
"If I get my ass kicked throw that at me and then run like hell…or like hell is chasing you…cuz I will."
"…what??!"
Constantine growled. Why wasn't Severus keeping up here? It was all very simple. "Whoever is impersonating me is a serious badass. That's anti badass juice."
"Impersonating you."
"Yes, my doppleganger. Didn't we already go over this? Y'know, the me who wasn't me who gave Draco that talisman."
Severus looked annoyed. "Actually you skipped that part and went right into a rant about stopping yourself."
"Well obviously to fight myself there has to be two of me!"
The corner of Sev's lipped curled up. "Of course," he sneered, "how could I have missed it. He put the vial in his robes. "Anti badass juice?"
"Holy water. What happened after Draco came into your office?" They were making their way to the dungeons.
Severus still didn't look pleased but he appeared to be ready to cooperate now. "He just ran in shaking all over and told me what happened. Then he just collapsed on the floor. I put him on the couch in my office, he was all but catatonic."
Made sense. The demon would want Draco unconscious while he worked to figure out all of the human motor functions. So he was unexperienced with possession, a newbie. Good. "Then?"
"I went to get a dreamless sleep potion for him, came back, and he was gone."
John stopped. "And then you came barging into my rooms?" he asked.
"Obviously."
Damn. "Damn. Damn, damn damnity damn-it damn!" John started running.
"What now!"
"Didn't ya ever see any horror movies as a child!" John yelled at him. "He was probably hiding in a dark corner waiting for you to leave!"
I know, I know. I'm horrible. Sorry for the delay but there's naught can be done for a four month case of writer's block and I don't own a hammer.
Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter.
Ta luvs!