AN/ Here's a nice, long chapter for all of you. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again to the reviewers. Your encouragement does not go unappreciated!

A few hours later John and Angela were in dry clothes and the three of us were back down in Beeman's space. I decided to use my powers beforehand to force the two of them to take a nap before they collapsed from exhaustion. They also had something quick to eat. This was very good because they were both going to need their strength. John let Angela borrow one of his shirts and some pants that were a close enough fit. I suggested to John during our break that he would need some sort of weapon, like a gun. He knew exactly what I meant. He also knew exactly how to make it. I watched him over his right shoulder as he put the gun together on Beeman's desk, fascinated.

While John was busy, Angela was having a curious poke around. She found the novelty can Constantine had given Beeman and turned it over. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. The noise made John and I stop and look at her. I smiled unhappily. The can brought back sad memories.

"Sorry," Angela said. She put the can down and crossed the room. Her movements forced me change my location by John's side, which I did so grudgingly. I couldn't be mad at Angela because she couldn't see me, but it still got annoying when only one person in the room respected your personal space.

The Holy Shotgun John was building was coming together quickly. Angela was interested in it, and knew who Constantine was going to use it on first. "Can you just kill him?" she asked. "What about the balance?"

"Half-breed tipped the scales when he started killing my friends," John replied. "I'm just adding some counterweight." He turned and aimed the completed weapon, pieced together from a piece of a clock, a dagger, a crucifix, the handle from a cane, and many other knick-knacks including the tube of dragon's breath. Constantine fired the gun at a packet of cigarettes, blowing it to bits. Ironically, the largest piece of debris had the Surgeons General Warning label on it reading: Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.

Angela let her psychic power tell her where Balthazar was hiding. This was good because I couldn't remember the name of the building he was in. It seemed at first just like any other office building, except this one appeared to be sculpted out of black glass and had a very foreboding air about it.

We drove quickly through the empty underground parking garage, Constantine riding in the front and me sitting in the middle of the back seat. I felt hairs rise on the back of my neck as I remembered too many stories about people being attacked in places like this. Angela swerved around several concrete support pillars and came to a stop at the main doors to the tower elevator on the C parking level.

John and Angela hesitated only a second before turning to each other. "John, I really want…" Angela began.

She was cut off as John leaned in close and got cheek to cheek with her. I couldn't help but smile. She would have thought he was going to kiss her. I could feel the sexual tension between them and thought that maybe they could have a future together after all of this. I knew what John was really doing though, and I had to admit it was a kind gesture. He clipped the pendant that had protected Hennessey from demons around her neck and pulled away slightly.

"Think of it as a bullet proof vest," he whispered to her.

She looked down at the amulet nestled in her bosom and picked it up, examining and recognising it. She looked back up at him, shaking her head.

"Uh uh. I'm coming with you," she insisted.

"You're staying in the car," John said.

I frowned. Was this a display of male chauvinism, or a simple case of a more experienced person taking over for both their sakes? I could tell Angela was considering the same thing. I settled on him taking over because of his superior experience in the field. I knew it wouldn't make Angela stay put for long, though.

John opened the door and stepped out. I silently slid out through the door closest to the entrance to the building, wincing as my old and new wounds protested. I took a few deep breaths and followed Constantine into the building.

We both used our psychic powers to locate Balthazar. He was several floors up, enough so we had to take the elevator.

"Are you going to interrogate him?" I asked, looking at the ascending numbers inside the elevator.

"You tell me," Constantine replied. I smirked and nodded.

"You're gonna interrogate him. And you're going to do it in your own special way, too. You still got that knuckleduster Beeman gave you?"

Constantine felt in his coat pocket. "Yeah."

I looked him over, my eyes resting on the gun. "And I know you have the Holy Shotgun. I recommend using the dragon's breath to begin with. You have that last holy water ampoule?"

Constantine felt in another pocket. "Yes."

I looked in his eyes. "And the Bible?"

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother checking in his pocket for it. "Yes."

"Plus strength and endurance?"

He sighed. "You might have to help me with that," he said reluctantly.

I smiled. "No problem." I clapped my hands together, wishing I felt half as confidant as I sounded. "So, you're all set then. Let's get him."

That that moment, we reached our floor and he doors pinged open. We stepped out and traced Balthazar's signal to a place behind a wall. I smirked to myself at the image of the half-breed preening in front of a floor to ceiling mirror in a spiffy and expensive office. I was looking forward to Balthazar's downfall. Constantine aimed the gun and blasted the wall with dragon's breath, burning his way through. It was only a matter of seconds before the mirror exploded outwards, striking Balthazar full-on. In my mind's eye I saw him being thrown backwards, landing on the table, his suit only slightly scorched.

"Fire?" he gloated, wondering who would dare attack him with his element. "I was born of this!"

Constantine and I stepped through the raiments of the mirror. "How's Mammon crossing over, you half-breed piece of shit?" Constantine demanded, tossing the holy water at Balthazar.

The ampoule smashed on the left side of his face. The human skin dissolved away on that side, leaving him with a grotesque, two-face appearance. "That's better," Balthazar said, even as pieces of his human flesh were falling away. "Au natural."

Without warning, he lunged at Constantine, lifting him off his feet by his throat and slamming him back into the mirror behind the hole. I cried out and ran to Constantine's side, stepping over his dropped gun. Balthazar was choking the life out of him as Constantine struggled weakly.

"Come on, Constantine," I said urgently. "You can do it. You're stronger than this. Think of Hennessy. Think of Beeman. This bastard killed them. You're not going to let him get away with that, are you?" I touched my assignment's shoulder, giving him a shot of strength.

"Don't fight it, Johnny Boy," Balthazar leered. "Enjoy it." The demon chuckled. He was having fun.

I saw Constantine reach inside his jacket for something and I cheered. "Yes! Get it!"

I stepped out of his way as the gold knuckleduster appeared and slipped snugly on Constantine's right hand. He smashed it hard against the demon side of Balthazar's face. Flakes of demon-skin exploded away from the impact and Balthazar was forced to let Constantine go. Constantine punched Balthazar again, and again, and again, striking him in the head and stomach. He was hitting more than just flesh. I sensed he was striking at Balthazar's spiritual, demonic core. The force of the blows combined with the holy magic in the gold and Constantine's own anger made for an extremely brutal beating.

Balthazar was slugged back onto the table, where he landed heavily. Panting, Constantine crawled up on top of him, grabbed the half-breed by the shirt collar and hit him once more across the face. I climbed up onto the table as well, kneeling and watching my assignment in action with a smug smile. Balthazar was panting, his flesh steaming from the contact with the holy relic. Constantine's physical strength was waning again, so he switched battle tactics. Balthazar was now weak enough and close enough to 'death' for a different kind of attack to take place. Despite this, Balthazar still felt that he had reason to gloat.

"We'll see you very soon," the half-breed rasped.

Constantine lifted himself up. He straddled Balthazar on one knee and reached into his breast pocket for his secret weapon. He removed a small black box. "Not really, no."

"You can't cheat it this time," Balthazar reminded him. "You're going back to Hell."

"True," Constantine admitted, now holding the small, well worn Bible he had removed from the box. "But you're not." He opened it and began to flip to a pre-marked page.

"What are you doing?" Balthazar demanded. It was difficult to detect, but for a moment I thought I heard fear in what was left of his voice.

"I'm reading you your last rites," Constantine explained.

The demon didn't think it was possible. "Spare me your remedial incantations."

Constantine pulled out a small tin of holy oil. "You do know what it is to truly be forgiven?" Balthazar shook his head, though not for a 'no' answer. He was trying to find some way of escape. "To be welcomed into the Kingdom of God?" Constantine rubbed this thumb in the oil and made a cross on Balthazar's forehead, wiping the extra off on the half-breed's ruined suit. Balthazar's skin hissed at the holy oil's touch. "A demon in Heaven," Constantine mused. " Love to be a fly on that wall."

"Me too," I grinned.

"You're not a priest," Balthazar gasped. Now he was really afraid, and was grasping at any technicality he could think of. "You have no power."

Constantine grabbed Balthazar's shirt, lifting him off the table. "Just tell me how Mammon is crossing over and you can go back to your shit hole," he snarled.

Balthazar remained stubbornly silent about this issue. He grunted in pain when Constantine dropped him.

Constantine smiled thinly. "You have him right where you want him," I said gleefully. I was excited about Balthazar getting what he deserved. Constantine knew he was at an advantage now. He had confused and weakened Balthazar into believing there was a chance he could actually go to Heaven, the last place any demon would want to go. It was their biggest fear, or at least this was the case with Balthazar.

"Okay, Bally," Constantine mocked. "Enjoy it."

He sat up and crossed himself, chanting in Latin. He stretched out right hand, still sporting the knuckleduster, over Balthazar's face. Constantine read from his Bible in a loud, clear voice, though I strongly suspected he already knew the passage by heart. Balthazar looked at him past the hovering hand, his eyes wide and terrified. "'May God have mercy on you and grant you the pardon of all your sins. Whose soever sins you remit on earth, they are remitted unto them in Heaven.'"

Balthazar moaned. I had no idea what it must have felt like to him, but it was clear it was torture.

"How, how's he doing it?" Constantine asked.

"No." Balthazar writhed weakly. "No, I can't." He feared Mammon's punishment just as much as he feared going to Heaven.

Constantine stood up, towering over Balthazar and me. I stood as well, grinning. Constantine raised his right hand skyward and shouted the last phrases powerfully. "Grant your child entry into thy kingdom…" He looked down at Balthazar and made a huge sweeping cross over the demon's body. "In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit." He looked heavenward again "Amen!"

"Sangre de dio!" Balthazar shouted, desperate to stop Constantine before it was too late. I didn't know a lot of Latin, but I was able to figure out the translation even without the demon rasping "The blood of God."

The puzzle pieces clicked together in Constantine's mind. He knew exactly what he stricken demon was talking about. "He found it."

"'Whatever killed the Son of God will give birth to the son of the devil,'" Balthazar explained. I suspected he was quoting from Hell's Bible.

Constantine snapped his Bible closed. He had heard all the needed out of the half-breed. He went to go, then paused. "By the way," he said, dropping the bomb. "You have to ask for resolution to be forgiven…" Constantine picked up the Bible's box from the table and stuffed it and the knuckleduster back in his pockets. "...asshole."

Constantine stepped over Balthazar's body and hopped off the table. I did an about-face and jumped off as Constantine bent to scoop up his gun. Bizarrely, Balthazar was laughing. I didn't think it so bizarre when I realised that Angela was about to turn the corner.

"My work here is done," Balthazar gasped.

Constantine and I stopped. "What are you laughing at?" my assignment asked.

"She was my only mission," Balthazar said, some of his old self returning to his voice. Constantine and I turned and saw Angela, gun drawn. She met eyes with Constantine with a look that said "how could you expect me to stay in the car?" before staring at what was left of Balthazar. "And you brought her right to us," the demon added.

I bit my lip, and flinched when Constantine raised the shotgun and fired at Balthazar's face, blowing it to bits. I felt a familiar prickling sensation in the back of my mind, and I knew he was close by…the Snob. "We should get out of here," I said.

We moved quickly down the hall back towards the elevators. "So does this walking fast mean you've found something?" Angela asked, keeping pace with Constantine. I was slightly behind them. Angela had put her gun away, but still kept her hand on her holster.

"Jesus didn't die from being nailed to a cross. He was killed by a soldier's spear," Constantine explained.

Angela knew what he was talking about. "The Spear of Destiny." He looked at her, slightly surprised. "I'm a Catholic, John," she reminded him. "I know the Crucifixion story." The three of us rounded a corner. That prickling feeling I had grew stronger. It took everything I had to hold my tongue. I wanted to warn them, but if I did, the story would change, and that could be disastrous.

Constantine fished a piece of paper out of one of his pockets. We reached the elevators and both he and Angela pushed a button to go down. "Beeman said Mammon would need divine assistance to cross over," John said, unfolding the paper. He looked at it. It was the drawing of the Spear of Destiny he had taken from the little girl's home after her exorcism. "How's the blood of God's only son?" he wondered.

Angela figured it out before I could tell him. "The stains on the spear."

Constantine refolded the paper and looked at her, stuffing it back in his pocket. "Yeah."

"So he gets the spear," Angela said, going into detective mode. "He still needs to locate a powerful psychic."

"Not really," Constantine reminded her. He realised that Balthazar was right; he had brought the powerful psychic right to them.

Then it truly dawned on Angela, the role she would play. "Twins," she realised. We all knew what Isabel did to avoid being used by Mammon. If Angela didn't want the same fate, she would need serious protection.

Constantine's eyes flickered down Angela's neckline and noticed something was missing. "Where's the amulet?"

"I don't know. I must have left it in the…" Her voice trailed off as an odd expression came over her face, like she was experiencing something unpleasant but she couldn't put a name to it.

Constantine noticed the expression and grew concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked, stepping towards her.

She sounded baffled. "I don't know. I just feel-" she looked down, clutching her stomach, like someone invisible had grabbed her around the middle. Then Angela blasted backwards through the elevator shaft, pulled by an incredible force. Constantine and I leapt across the shaft after her. She was dragged through the building at an astonishing speed. Fortunately, the force that was pulling her along destroyed offices, bathrooms, and anything else that was in her path so that Angela remained unharmed.

As fast as Constantine and I could run, we just couldn't reach her. It was ultimately a futile chase. I had known this all along and Constantine realised it too as we skidded to a halt in front of a huge open window. We stared hopelessly out after Angela as she vanished into the night sky. For a minute I thought I could hear the sound of huge wings beating the air. Then Constantine turned and stormed back through the building. I had no choice but to follow.