Chas knocked nervously at John's door, shifting his weight from foot to foot and chewing his lip distractedly. No answer. He knocked again, louder and more persistent this time. After a few seconds, the door jerked open, revealing a disshevelled, angry slob of a man in hastily thrown on pants and an undershirt, a tangled crop of hair and a heavy shadow of stubble on his chin.
"Chas," he began, his voice low and dangerous. "I'm very glad you're awake and all, but you had better have a pretty damn good reason for waking me up at seven thirty when we don't even have an exorcism."
"Yes," Chas said breathlessly, and then stopped. Now he was here, face to face with John, it no longer seemed like such an important problem. In fact, as he arranged his word choice in his head, it began to sound pretty damn stupid.
"I'm waiting, Chas," John said, and his dangerous quiet voice was beginning to change into a louder, more dangerous voice.
"There's this girl…" Chas said, and winced at John's expression. Stupid! "No no, that's not what I mean. Look, let me explain."
"That might be best."
"Since I woke up yesterday, I've run into her three times. Once in the hospital, once yesterday in the street, and this morning I saw her rounding a corner, like she was avoiding me. At least I think it was her. I could only see the back of her head, so I'm not sure, but…"
"Chas!" John interrupted. "You mean you just woke me up from the first decent night's sleep I've had in weeks to tell me about some coincidence with a stranger?"
"Its not just a regular coincidence. Three times in less than two days, John! On opposite ends of town! But that's not the point. She's so… well, you of all people should understand… otherworldly. Surreal, almost. And so completely familiar, but I don't know from where."
"I see," said John dryly, turning to trudge back into the kitchen and pour himself a cup of strong coffee. Chas followed, closing the door behind him.
"Yesterday, she was helping me pick up some books, and when I tried to get a good look at her face, she panicked and ran. I mean, why would she run if she were just a normal girl?"
"Because some weirdo kid was gawping at her like a deranged maniac?" John suggested casually, sipping his too-hot coffee and wincing.
"You're not listening! I know her from somewhere – it was like she was remembering me! I just wish I knew from where. And what does she know about me that would make her run?"
John was beginning to regret letting Chas skip out on those tests at the hospital. "Look, so you saw some girl a few times. Weird, sure, but you're way over-thinking this. What exactly are you suggesting here, that you are being followed by some kind of demon? Snap out of it, kid."
"Well…" Chas began, feeling sheepish. "Its not so improbable. They could be trying to get to you, you're probably number one on Hell's hit list right now. Or… it could have something to do with my recent death… I don't know…"
"Look, until this girl's head starts spinning around and she starts spewing vomit, I don't want to hear about this shit, Chas," John snapped. He's not a pleasant man, even in the afternoon when he hasn't been woken up by a raving kid. "Hey, drive me to the 7-11, would you, I've gotta pick up some smokes."
"I thought you quit," Chas said reproachfully. John brushed him off airily but with a hint of guilt.
"What are you, my doctor? Lets go." With the usual grumpy muttering, Chas pulled out his keys and headed for the cab.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"I wish you'd at least think about it a little, John," Chas badgered as he drove through the honking, yelling jungle of busy traffic. John wasn't listening, instead staring vaguely out the window.
"Drop it," was all Chas could get out of him.
Chas drove in sullen silence for a while. As he turned the corner, a blur of auburn and white seemed to flash right in front of his cab.
"Jesus!" he yelled, and slammed on the brakes, jerking forward in his seat as the brakes screeched. He heard the sickening thud as his car hit something large, hard. John, who hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, smacked his head against the dashboard and swore loudly, adding to the panicked rush of sounds swelling up.
In the shock of the accident, a few long seconds passed as they listened to the cars honking and Chas' panicked breathing
"I think I hit someone." Chas began to panic as John sat back, rubbing his forehead. "Jesus, John, what am I going to do?" he said, his voice beginning to rise to a hysterical pitch. John opened his door. Seeing Chas' drained, shocked face, he knew it would be better if he handled it then let the kid freak out even more.
"Stay in the car," John ordered, and for once in his life Chas didn't mind obeying.
Before John even got to his feet, the victim stood, and Chas' white face grew even paler. It was the woman from his coincidences, the one who had helped him pick up his books. Even more frightening, there wasn't a scratch on her.
The woman stood, looking slightly dazed, stretched her back and worked out a crick in her neck. Slowly, she turned to face the car, and squinted at Chas' shocked face.
"Constantine, that's the woman from my-" John didn't even let him finish. His face had contorted into, surprisingly, rage and hatred, the kind which he usually saved for demons alone.
"YOU!" he bellowed, slamming the door shut and taking off after the startled woman. She got the hint quickly, and tore off across the street, ignoring the screetching brakes and honking horns of other drivers. John tore after her, and Chas raced through the door to join the chase.
Chas was lean and fast, but John was faster, and the strange woman far quicker than she looked. They were getting ahead of him, and he was beginning to feel winded already. He thought it was a trick of the light, but the woman seemed to lift very slightly into the air. Before he could get a good look at what was happening, John grabbed her around the waist and shoved her against the brick wall of a nearby building.
"Remember me, half breed?" John hissed as Chas caught up. The woman was avoiding his eyes. "'Cause I sure as hell remember you. Ariel – wasn't that what they called you?"
"You weren't supposed to recognize me," Ariel sighed. "Either of you. No one remembers the other planes when returned to their bodies."
"Well, I'm not a typical case, am I Ariel?" John spat, shoving her yet more painfully into the building. She rolled her eyes and braced herself against him, shoving him away easily, making him stagger at her strength. Free of his grasp, she made no attempt to run.
"What…. What in the hell is going on, John?" Chas gasped, his eyes unfalteringly on Ariel's haunting features. She wasn't beautiful, really, at least not in the classical sense of the word. Her face seemed to give off an instinctive warmth, setting off some gut reaction in him, as though he instinctively recognized divinity. It was almost hard to look at her. Her face wasn't a beautiful one in feature, but her nature seemed to shine out her eyes, making him feel her beauty rather than see it. How could John hate her so?
"Why don't you tell the kid, half-breed?" John spat, his face contorted with fury. "And while you're at it, tell him why the hell you've been following him."
"Oh, so you believe me now?" Chas said sarcastically. John silenced him with a glare.
"It is not for mortals to know the workings of heaven and hell," she scoffed loftily. John laughed hollowly.
"At this point, lady, there isn't much we don't know about either of them. Spill."
Ariel ignored him, looking instead kindly to Chas. "Are you feeling better, Charles? I was worried waking you so suddenly might damage you, hamper your recovery. You look good, though. I tried to speed the healing process."
"So you're an angel?" Chas said uncertainly. Ariel nodded, smiling. "You woke me?"
"It's a very long tale, my dear, which you will know in due time."
John was laughing again, a laugh without humor and full of malice. "You're all full of concern and benevolence now, angel. Where was that benevolence when I died?"
Ariel's eyes grew sad as she looked upon John. "The rules were very specific about you, John. I couldn't defy them."
"You didn't even try! You watched calmly!"
Chas wanted to interrupt, to ask just what was going on, but he didn't want to draw John's rage to himself. Ariel seemed to anticipate his questions and turned to him.
"It's all very complicated, Charles," she began. "When John died, he was taken to be judged. A council of three demons and three angels were assigned to argue the soul's case. The side who wins takes the soul. John came before me and my peers when he was fifteen. He had committed suicide-"
"And you calmly handed me to the demons, didn't you, Ariel." John began to move threateningly closer to Ariel. "You watched me being dragged away. You didn't say a word in my defense, you goddamn half-breed! You sent me there!"
Ariel looked away. "The law is very specific, John. Do you really think I have the power to defy the laws laid down by God and Lucifer themselves?"
John's voice became very low and ugly. "I don't suppose you've ever been to Hell, have you angel? No, you shelter yourself prettily up there, sentencing us like errant children to absolute torment you are not even capable of understanding. You don't even understand earthly pain. But the pain of hell? The inescapable, all encompassing horror, the pain so great you aren't even human anymore? You can't think, you can't move. You become the pain. You are nothing but a screaming mass of being whose entire existence revolves around torment. You think you can picture that? You can't. And you sent me to that without a word in my defense. You didn't even care what you had sent me to, what you had sent countless others to. You think you are heavenly, divine? You are worse than the demons. You make me sick."
A small tear, like a shining crystal, gathered in the corner of the angel's eye. She flicked it away quickly. "Of course I cared, John. If I could have saved you, I would. It's not so simple. The word of God is inescapable. Your suicide sentenced you, not I."
"Yeah, well, you didn't do a god damn lot to help," John spat, backing off a little.
Chas almost didn't feel right speaking after that outburst, but he was burning to know what she was doing here. "Um… its Ariel, right? Why have you been following me? Why did you wake me up?"
She smiled sadly at him. "Many reasons, Charles."
"M-most people call me Chas," he said, nervous under her gaze.
"Chas," she continued uncertainly. "Many things are afoot here, and it seems you are the key."
"The key to what?"
She looked at him squarely, a dark look in her eyes. "To the war to end all wars."