John slowly turned and faced the owner of the voice: Thomas Constantine, John's abusive father. After a moment of staring at his father with the dirtiest look he could, John turned his furious gaze back to Frankie, someone he thought he could trust. "You tricked me," he growled angrily.

"I'm sorry, John," Fankie replied apologetically. "Your father said it was a matter of life or death." He turned to leave father and son alone, but John grabbed his arm before Frankie could leave.

"Hey, Frankie. Next time somethin' real bad happens, like you actually have a ghost problem? Don't ask me to help. I won't come."

Frankie's eyes tightened slightly, but he nodded curtly and left the room, leaving John alone with his father.

"I thought you were dead," John said as he turned back to his father slowly. "I hoped you were dead."

"Sorry to disappoint," Thomas said with a shrug, not sounding sorry at all.

John pulled another cigarette out of the box and lit it, staring at Thomas with dead eyes. "You've got until I'm done with this to explain to me what was so important you had to trick me into comin' here. Obviously there's something important goin' on, otherwise you would have continued to let me live my life in peace, so what is it?"

Thomas just stared at his son, and Constantine rolled his eyes. "Look, despite what you think I do with my life, I actually am in the middle of something pretty important, so if you aren't actually gonna do any talkin', then I'm-"

"You're the only one who would do," Thomas cut in, his voice scratchy. John raised his eyebrows at Thomas.

"Sorry, what?"

"You're the only one who would do for me to get my Mary Anne back."

"Look, Thomas. I dunno what you've heard about what I do, but I don't bring people back from the dead." John didn't bother mentioning to his father that he'd been trying to figure out a way to bring his mother back for years. "So, sorry I wasted a journey on such a stupid endeavor. Don't try and contact me again."

"You haven't finished your cigarette," Thomas pointed out. John pulled the stick out of his mouth and looked at it briefly before he tossed it on the floor and ground it under his feet.

"Maybe not, but I'm definitely done with it." Constantine turned around and started walking for the front door.

"You can't leave." Thomas' voice was hard as he spoke, and it made John pause for just another moment.

"Ah, there's the Thomas I know," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and turning to face the other man again. "Your word is law. Well, I have to tell you; I'm no longer a child, and I can do what I want, thank you very much." John began to walk towards the door again, but when he grabbed the handle, the knob was stuck fast. Trying again and again resulted in the same outcome, and finally Constantine let go of the knob and looked at his father.

"What're you playing at, Thomas?"

"I told you John. You're the only one that will work, and you can't leave."

John took a few steps forward. "You don't wanna go toe to toe with me, old man," he warned. "I'm not the scared little boy you used to be able to punch around."

"Then you shouldn't have anything to be worried about," Thomas countered. John hesitated momentarily; the feeling that something was wrong once again intensified. "What did you do?" John asked, cautiously moving forward, tensing as he prepared for a fight.

"I did what I had to do to see my wife again," came his father's cryptic reply. "A life for a life."

At that statement, John realized his father wasn't working alone. "Look, Thomas, whatever you've done, whoever you're working with, they're lying to you," he insisted. "Nobody has the power to bring back someone from the dead, not unless they're working with a powerful group...what do you know about the Brujeria?"

"The what?" Thomas seemed genuinely confused, and John knew that his father had never heard of the group.

"Well, either your new friend was lying to you about bringing mum back, or he works for a group that only do things to meet their own agendas."

"Whatever they are, they promised they would bring Mary Anne back."

John felt like hitting his father to try and make him listen, and he even began to move forward, but before he took even two steps, he felt a shove from behind, and he was forcefully slammed into the wall, pinned about two feet off the ground, though he couldn't see his attacker. Constantine grunted from the force being exerted on his body, as well as the force that he tried to use to break free, though it was in vain.

"Alright, you have him, now give me back Mary Anne," Thomas insisted, speaking to thin air. John strained himself again, trying to get down, but whatever was holding him brought him off the wall only to shove him back even more forcefully than before, dazing the man. John's vision was blurry, and he had a ringing in his ears, but even through the ringing, John definitely heard someone respond to his father.

"All in good time, Thomas," a harsh voice said. "The deal was a life for a life, so once Johnny here is dead, you'll have your wife back, but I'm not going to rush. I want to cherish every moment of this."

Thomas sputtered in the background, but John didn't pay any attention to his father; he began whispering an incantation under his breath to banish the entity, whoever or whatever it was. However, before John could finish his spell, he felt a whoosh of wind as the entity materialized in front of him as a dark wavy shape. Unfortunately for the occultist, the shadowy figure had a very solid grip, which wrapped itself around Constantine's throat, cutting off the spell before John could banish whatever it was. John's words died in his throat as he choked and gagged for air, straining against the hold the being had on him.

Casting a hateful glance towards his father, who was still standing in the same place as before, John saw the older man hold out his hands in a helpless gesture. He didn't look like he regretted the decision to sell out his son as much as a normal father would, though. Then again, John and Thomas Constantine's relationship was anything but normal.

John started to feel like his lips were swelling as the being attacking him continued to squeeze his throat. The blond's hands were also pinned down, but suddenly he was lifted off the wall momentarily, and the forces holding his hands were relinquished. John he dove for his pockets. The only thing he could find was his lighter, which was better than nothing. He pulled it out and lit it, shoving the flame right where his attacker's face would have been if the being had a face. There was a pained hiss, but the hold on John's neck wasn't released. Instead, he was slammed back into the wall with such a great force that he immediately began seeing black creeping in on the edge of his vision.

Before the overwhelming darkness completely won him over though, John felt a sharp jab on the side of his neck. He winced in pain, but he didn't have to feel it for long. Within seconds, he was limp, and the entity holding John dropped him to the floor.

"Now will you bring back my wife?" Thomas asked impatiently. "That was our deal."

"You can either wait until our agreement is complete and John Constantine is dead, or I can arrange a quick death for you, since you seem so impatient to visit with your wife."

Thomas paled slightly, and he backed away from the entity, who grinned.

"A wise choice," he purred, turning back to the man who'd lied about being able to help him. "We're just getting started."

0-0-0

Zed wasn't sure what to do. Ever since John had left, she'd been getting the feeling that something bad was about to happen, and it just got worse with every passing minute. She was pacing around the coffee table in front of the fireplace, with the mirror that showed things from the past above it. Zed looked at the mirror and saw Gary staring at her with wide eyes, though Zed knew it wasn't actually him.

"What do you want me to do?" she muttered angrily at the mirror. Breaking her gaze away from the judgemental stare of Gary Lester, Zed looked at the time on her phone. John should have gotten to Nebraska by now, and while she knew John wouldn't call her just to let her know he got in safely, she debated whether or not she should call him. She refrained though, not only because she knew he could take care of himself, but also because she knew if he was in the middle of any sort of demon or ghost purging, he wouldn't answer. Not that he answers his stupid phone anyways, she thought to herself.

When she looked around, wondering what she could do to distract herself, Zed noticed something on the floor; it was one of John's many empty cigarette boxes. She wrinkled her nose at the gross habit Constantine had, but he didn't seem inclined to quit any time soon. When he gets back, we're definitely having a talk about putting things in the trash though, she thought to herself as she bent down to pick up the box. As soon as her hands touched it though, she was suddenly in a very different location, and the sinking feeling in her stomach returned tenfold.

She looked at her surroundings in a panic, hoping that the vision wasn't what she thought it was going to be. The first thing she saw was an older man sitting on a chair, and she relaxed slightly. However, she looked around and saw another chair, and she tensed right back up. John was sitting in the second chair, his head lolling onto his chest, his wrists handcuffed in front of him. They weren't attached to the chair, which indicated to Zed that whoever had John captive was either powerful enough that they didn't need to tie the occultist down, or they were just proud and stupid. The psychic desperately hoped it was the second train of thought.

"John," she shouted, wishing he could hear her. "John!"

Constantine groaned, moving his head around as he started coming to, and Zed hurried over to her friend. She knew that she wasn't actually there, but she tried to touch him anyways. Just as she'd expected, she passed right through him, but Constantine looked up, and if Zed hadn't known better, she'd have said John could actually see her.

"John?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his face. Constantine didn't react, and Zed dropped her hand in disappointment.

As John started to open his mouth to speak, Zed could start to feel the vision slipping away; she fought against it as hard as she could, but the images and settings around her began blurring into each other, and soon she was standing back in the mill, holding John's empty box of cigarettes.

Feeling slightly dizzy, Zed backed up, knocking the back of her knees onto the couch, and she was forced to sit down, which was a good thing; she probably would have fallen flat on her butt otherwise. She knew John shouldn't have gone alone! The psychic growled in frustration, wondering who the man was sitting across from her friend. Quickly, Zed pulled out her phone and dialed Chas, knowing he'd kill her and John both if she didn't tell him what was going on, and unlike him, Zed and John didn't have thirty some-odd lives to waste.

After each ring that passed without Chas picking up, Zed got slightly more tense, and she began biting her thumbnail. Finally, the phone was answered.

"Zed?" Chas asked, knowing that she wouldn't call him on a weekend with his daughter unless something was wrong. "What's going on?"

"It's John," she replied, barely waiting for him to finish asking his question. "He's in trouble."

Okay, there's the second chapter! Thoughts? I still feel like I'm struggling capturing their characters a little bit, so any thoughts on that?

Also, in the past week, I've shown my best friend, two of my sisters, and one other friend Constantine XD I think I need help.