As soon as Constantine entered Father Isaac's he knew something was wrong. The air smelt funny, and it was, as the cliché states, too quiet. The hair on the back of Constantine's head stood up, his arms tingling. Something was definitely off.

"What's wrong?" Garret whispered after Constantine had put out a hand, preventing his young apprentice from stepping further into the humble priest's abode.

Constantine sniffed. "I don't know. Stay here." Garret huffed, but nevertheless obeyed, watching as his mentor crept into the dark house.

He walked slowly, the high pitched squeaking of his shoes the only sound to be heard. When he came to Father Isaac's kitchen, he stopped.

"Great," he muttered, his eyes cast firmly on the sight before him.

Father Isaac was lying on the floor like a forgotten rag doll, limbs thrown out at different angles. His reading glasses, still perched on his nose, were cracked, and his mouth was open. Poor Father Isaac's whole face was frozen in a look of intense fear.

The worst part of it all was the apparent way he had been killed. A large kitchen knife protruded from the center of his chest, blood still seeping out of the wound. Constantine rubbed his eyes.

Not again, he thought. He dropped his hand from his face and studied the body, looking for a clue.

"You bastard," Constantine said, squatting next to Father Isaac's corpse. "You should have left something for me to find."

"Jesus, John, what's taking so long?" a voice said behind him. "Oh my God!"

"Didn't I tell you to stay outside?" Constantine asked dryly, still studying the body.

"John," Garret said, pointing Father Isaac. "That's a dead body."

"Yes, very good," Constantine muttered absently. He sighed. "There's nothing in here. I'm going to find his study." He stalked away, leaving Garret alone.

"Man," Garret sighed. "I'm always left with the dead guy."

Constantine walked slowly through the hallway, stopping when he reached the doorway to Father Isaac's study. Satisfied that nothing, or rather no one, was in there, he stepped through the open door, and began shuffling through papers left on the desk.

"There's nothing," he muttered with narrowed eyes. Just as he was about to turn away, something caught his eye. It was a piece of paper, hidden in the stack, and on it, was a single word: Jezebel.

Frowning, Constantine folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He walked back to the kitchen slowly, trying to remember if he knew anything connected to the name.

Drawing a blank, he sighed. "Come on, Garret," he said. "Let's go."

Garret was all too happy to go. "Where we going?" he asked, pulling out his car keys.

"Midnite's."

(0)

"John," said Midnite formerly. Constantine waved his hand absently, pulling up a chair and sitting on it.

"How's the wife?" he asked.

"Fine," Constantine answered, a look of suspicion on his face.

"I hear it's her birthday."

"It is," he conformed. "Amazing how fast news travels."

Midnite shrugged. "I have many informants, as you know. I am still a bit hurt I was not even invited to the wedding."

"What can I say?" Constantine said dryly. "It was a spur of the moment thing."

Midnite smiled. "Yes, of course. Here," he said, taking something out of a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a cross pendant on a thin, silver chain. He handed it to John.

"Think of this as a belated wedding present," he said. Constantine grabbed it, studying it in the palm of his hand.

It was old, very old, with a white diamond in the center. Smaller diamonds were encrusted on the limbs of the cross. It seemed to emit heat from where it laid on his palm. Constantine could feel its power already.

"Hmm," he said, taking his eyes off the cross. "Nice, but I don't think it's my style. What is it, silver?"

"White gold," Midnite corrected, "And it's not for you, it's for your wife. I believe her name is Mary?"

Constantine nodded shortly. He pocketed the cross. "I just found Father Isaac murdered in his kitchen. Something stabbed him in the chest."

Midnite sighed. "John—"

"I know," he cut him off. "The Balance. I don't care. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

"I offer nothing."

Constantine gritted his teeth. "Jesus, Midnite…"

"You know where I stand, John," he interrupted. "And still you come to me. I offer nothing."

Constantine stood up. "Fine," he said annoyed. Without so much as another word, he stalked off, leaving Midnite alone.

He will be the death of me, he thought.

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter isn't very long, and a bit lackluster, but some stuff has happened in my personal life and I couldn't find time to write much more. Never fear, though, I shall return with more chapters in a few days or so. I've gotten a total of 4 hours of sleep in the last two days and I just found out I have to write an essay for my English class, plus a ton of math homework. And I might get a job in a few weeks working at a movie theatre. But don't worry, all my free time will be devoted to writing.

Trinity-Neo1818- Yeah, I agree with the whole "how could Constantine and Mary fall in love so quickly" thing, but with everything else going on in the plot, I felt it just had to be done that way. As for Raphael, I don't know if I'll be including him in this story, since I pretty much have the whole basic plot figured out, but you never know! Same goes for Mary having some big secret. Anyway, thanks a lot for your review, and if you have anymore ideas or anything, feel free to give 'em to me!

Until next time…

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