John hurried down the stairs to the table of the back club's bouncer. "Pig walking a tight rope." He said, before the bouncer even finished drawing the card. Right as usual, John made his way right in. It was a little after five, so the place was barely alive…if you could say that. He alerted Midnite to his presence psychically, so when he reached the hidden door it was already opening.
"I must be daft, to keep letting you in here." Midnite was starting his dinner, seated at the booth he'd converted into his enormous desk.
"Congratulate me, Midnite. I'm getting married." John pulled a chair up and sat down across from the former witch doctor. Midnite nearly dropped his fork but recovered nicely.
"What demon would that be?"
"Not a demon. I've got a bonefied virgin." Midnite looked up at John.
"You've really gone crazy now. Let me be the first to say it."
John longed for a cigarette but found a stray Chicklet in his pocket and popped it in his mouth. "Another Cherub has gone off the deep end. Not I. Didn't your little brass ball tell you that, Midnite?"
"It makes no difference to me whether you tell me what's going on or not. I don't care, and I won't get involved. Remind me to have that printed up on paper so I can just hand it to you. I'm tired of repeating myself, Constantine." He took a bite of meat; John didn't want to know what that had been once.
"The angel Andrew wants to recreate the whole Son of God story, only with his own half-breed son born of a virgin. And I've got the virgin in my pocket. But condemning her to hell is not on my agenda; so I've got to marry her, fix the small problem of her virginity, and ta-da! Now, for my next trick…"
"A sham marriage won't fool your God. Only is marriage true when two souls are meant to be, and love one another for all time." Midnite silently placed his utensils on the plate.
"You do this to torture me, don't you Midnite. You like fucking up my plans." Constantine dug his back molars into the gum. "Sadist."
"It'll work fine, if you love her and she loves you. But that still doesn't explain why you came here."
"I was going to ask you to be my best man, since you're my only friend left by default."
"I wouldn't perform the ceremony even if you asked. I am neutral."
"Come on Midnite! You can do it! It's very simple really."
Midnite shook his head. "No."
Constantine sighed in frustration. "Look. I can pay you. I've got a lead on two of the silver coins Judas Iscariot was paid with. You only need three more and your set would be complete!"
Midnite just looked at him.
"Fine fine! I have the Jughead glass! I'll throw that in too! Jesus, you drive a hard bargain."
"I still didn't say yes. Answer me this. Once you marry this virgin, what's the rest of the plan?"
Constantine sat; the only movement was a slight fidgeting of his hands. What was the plan? "Well… after the honeymoon she won't be a virgin, so he can't impregnate her."
"That still leaves him open, so if he finds another virgin he can go through with it."
"Ok. Fine. I have to get in there and kill angels. I'm relatively sure God's no longer backing them, but maybe they don't know it yet. That'll render them powerless…enough I would think. Ok, I've never really had to kill an angel before. Why'd you have to bring up that little sticky wicket?"
"That's a show I wish I could sell tickets to. John Constantine versus a whole bunch of very, very pissed off Cherubim. But still, you can't just walk in to their territory and expect not to get taken out."
"I thought you said you were neutral."
"I am, but you're doing a very shitty job of planning. And the girl doesn't deserve to die just because you're stupid."
"Then what, Einstein?
Midnite rose and slid from behind his desk. He punched a few buttons on the keypad on the wall. A minute later a large Japanese man entered through the hidden door. He held a flat box, like a briefcase. Midnite pointed at the desk. The Japanese man laid it down then left the office.
"I'm helping you because of the girl. And because you will owe me a favor John. I can always use a boon from you." His white teeth flashed. "When will she be here?"
"Soon. Not much longer now I'd say." John rose, looking at the flat black case. "What's in there?"
"Let me know as soon as she's here." Midnite gathered the case in hand and disappeared out the door, leaving John to wait alone.
