For all the guests: Thank you for your reviews, they are highly appreciated.

Guest 2/3: Honestly, I do not have the time right now to go beyond a quick final revision before publishing this. You should be glad that I even am able to update once a week. Also, I do not like the use of the imperative. I am doing my best. I don't remember whether she apologized to the others in this story (I've written most of this beforehand) but if she doesn't do it in the text, it's best to assume she apologizes off-screen until I have the time to add that scene.

John shouldn't have had to run. He could have told them he was going to need his blood for research purposes, that he was a little too eager and drained too much. He could have told them the truth; that it would free Astra. He could have just not taken the blood in the first place, but Astra's afterlife was on the line. He could not let her down again. He was not going to let her down again. Unfortunately, this action made the Legends less likely to trust him in the future again or at all. When this whole ordeal was over, he'd explain the situation to them. He owed them the explanation. But not now.

At long last, John reached the entrance of the Underworld he had exited from earlier and started his descent down. it was one steep ramp going ever down, making twists and turns along the way. John could have taken a walk all the way down, but he could impossibly wait any longer and nearly ran. The sooner he was done with this, the better.

Only when the ground started to be less steep and more even again did John walk. Another ten minutes and he was right back in the room he had been kept in, a room at the very edge of Tartarus, where Apate and Hecate were waiting for him. Hypnos wasn't present again. John could not see Hypnos as anything but a lazy prick who rarely showed up when he was supposed to – if Hypnos had been asked to be here, that is.

"Here's your Giant blood," John said and he carelessly tossed the jar with blood to the goddess. Hecate reacted quickly, bolting forward and catching the jar right on time. Apate did not move a muscle and idly watched John while Hecate raced to catch the jar.

"Careful!" Hecate scolded John. John was unimpressed and frowned at the way Hecate cradled the jar as it if was a baby. He understood the concern, but cradling the jar was strange.

"You came back," Apate said. John turned his attention to the personification.

"Of course I did." How could he not return? He did not like the Underworld, but he would gladly return now Astra could have a more pleasant life. It was an opportunity he could not pass up.

"How was he?" Hecate asked him, her voice otherwise indifferent. John had quickly learned any emotions were directed towards their big plan and their jar of blood, their precious final ingredient.

"He wasn't very happy to see anyone," John said as he shrugged. He did at least try to stay away from any civilization for so long. He had not expected any guests and though hidden, he was found and murdered, returning him to Tartarus. As far as John knew, Clytius had done nothing wrong yet. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

"I will bring this to Periboea," Hecate said, glancing at Apate as she spoke. The goddess moved away from them and walked to the entrance, passing John and glancing at him in an intrigued way. John didn't know what was up with that glance and it made him feel a little uncomfortable. But that feeling left along with Hecate; it was now just him and Apate. The transaction was done. He held up his end of the deal; now it was up to Apate to do the same.

"Now it's your turn," he said, eyes on a relaxed and calm Apate. "Where is Astra?"

Apate nonchalantly motioned to the north wall. "Just a bit more to the north of here. In the underage section."

John took one step closer to the personification. "Bring her up." She only glanced at him and then shook her head, an inherently evil grin appearing on her face.

"No."

Damn it!

John shook his head in disbelief, anger, and annoyance. "You bastard! I should've known—"

"Yes, you should have." She moved closer towards him and grinned triumphantly. That was far from true at this moment, but Apate still believed in an imminent victory and the destruction of the world. "I am exactly like my brothers and sisters; a personification with a specific skillset. Could you guess what it is?"

But John didn't want to play her games. "You bitch." If he hadn't been beating himself up about actually believing her promise to free Astra from the Underworld, he may have been able to conjure up a better insult. Either way, Apate was not impressed.

"Not quite," she answered with a smug grin on her face that sickened John. "I might as well tell you now. My name is Deceit and I can make anyone believe anything I tell them."

That explained a lot.

"You used me," Constantine said. He had been such an idiot! Many alternative scenarios raced through his mind; he should've been able to detect the lies she told. Even if she was Deceit, he should've known. He shouldn't have taken up the offer. He shouldn't have taken the bait so easily. He was to blame, even if it literally was in Apate's nature to lie and deceive anyone she came across.

"Don't take it personally," Apate said. "I do this all the time."

"Do you, now?" John answered, his anger still building up inside of him. he was about to reach his boiling point and needed to vent his emotions and especially his fury. Luckily, Apate was still around and it looked like she was not going to leave any time soon.

"Quite clever," John said, a grimace appearing on his face and his glare directed at Deceit. "But you have made one big mistake."

Apate frowned, but he was still amused by the situation. "Which is?" She may not be oblivious to his rage, but she did not feel the energy of magic racing through John's body. After all, he was Hecate's champion. That title alone and her gifts to him made him more powerful than he had ever been. Up until now, he hadn't put serious thought into using his power-ups to their full extent, especially since he had no time to be familiarized with them before he joined the Legends and later fled with the blood. But here, they may just burst out in a fit of passion, all while Apate was too busy celebrating a victory and ignoring the low threat level of this mortal.

"You should not have told me," he responded. The thought of Astra, still all alone in a harsh and cruel environment, was enough to unleash his wrath. He had no idea what he was doing, but he was well aware of what was going on at the same time. Hand and arm movements he had never done before in that sequence came naturally and the words escaped his mouth. Before he knew it, dual fire snakes sprung on either side of him, almost as tall as the room, each one controlled by one of John's hands, each one hungry for destruction.

Apate had no time to think of any countermeasures – she had none to begin with – and she stood there powerless and terrified as the flame snakes feasted on her. Her screams were inhuman and loud and went through flesh and bone, but John held the snakes together by pure willpower. He could not care less about her and enjoyed watching her burn.

What he had conjured exhausted him, drained him of all his power. He almost fainted. At that moment, the flame snakes dissolved into nothingness. Apate lay on the ground while her body was covered in second- and third-degree burn wounds. As John caught his breath, she stirred – a personification could not easily be killed, if at all, and they did not just die as Giants could.

John stood up and walked out of the room. His footsteps echoed in the room and hallways, still clearly audible to Apate. He left her, with nothing to do but to stare at the ceiling and taking the pain like the goddess she was, shouting at the man who burned her so badly it would take centuries to recover.

"I will make your life hell, John Constantine!"

John did not care about that threat – his life was a living hell already, anyway, without the Greeks giving any input. He ignored the words and he ran.

John ran and ran and did not stop to think. He could not run quickly on the steep ramp, but he did keep a considerable pace. He walked until the sun shone on him again. Back above the ground, he fell over from exhaustion.

What a ride!

He eventually sat upright but did not move. He pulled a cigarette from his coat and lit it.

There, sitting on a mountaintop with a small semi-modern city under him, far away from the influences and mind games of Hell, his mind finally cleared and his mind wandered off to reflect on what he had done.

He had allowed himself to be played by old deities – something he had never so willingly allowed before. The mention of Astra had made him weak. Yet, if they hadn't lied to him and if they had transferred Astra from Hell to Heaven, he wouldn't have regretted bringing them the Giant's blood. Either way, he'd helped speed up the process of creating a new monster capable of destroying the whole world. If it was created before anyone could stop the process, the world was going to be in a lot of trouble.

He stood up and descended the mountain. It was about time he told the Legends what he knew about this plan.