As I'm sure many of you have heard, Arleen Sorkin, the original voice of Harley Quinn, has passed. There have been many iterations of Harley since her inception, but there's no way she would have become as popular as she has without Arleen giving her life. Like Kevin Conroy will forever be the voice of Batman to many, Arleen will be the voice of Harley for many.


There wasn't really anything special about the place. It was rundown, clearly hadn't seen better days in a decade, and was closed for business. There weren't any advertisements or anything. Even the windows were boarded up, an attempt to keep the local riff-raff from breaking the glass. The same could be said for the surrounding buildings as well.

Zatanna had already been in a neighborhood like this today; she didn't like that she was back in another one so soon.

Her alleged drinking buddy didn't look the least bit perturbed. He just flicked his latest cigarette away and led her up to the door. "I hope you're ready for that drink, missy," he grunted.

"I doubt I'll be drinking anything," she snipped back. "This place doesn't look like it's even had a water bill in the last century."

The blond guy actually chuckled. "Appearances are deceiving, something you're 'bout ta find out."

Grabbing the doorknob to the door, he gave it a turn and opened it. He was at least a gentleman about it and held the door for her, Zatanna walking through. Then she came to an abrupt stop.

Unlike the outside, the inside was exactly as promised. An upscale bar room appeared before her eyes. The walls, the floor, the ceiling were all made of wood, the same with the bar. Stools lined the bar at even intervals, each one occupied by formally dressed people. Well, perhaps formal wasn't the best description. While there were certainly suits and the like, there were also capes and top hats and Victorian dresses that strangely fit in with the atmosphere.

That thought was broken the moment she heard the familiar crack of billiard balls crashing against each other as someone started a game. She could hear it even above the droning chatter that filled the room.

"Welcome to the Oblivion Bar, love," her escort introduced her.

"What is this place?" she couldn't help but ask, turning her head from side to side as she tried to get a good look at just about everything.

"A neat little hangout in a pocket dimension for anything and everything supernatural," the man explained. As if to confirm this, Zatanna spotted what looked like a walking snake man. It was dressed in a suit, but its neck stretched far out from its collar until its head formed. It just casually strolled through the bar, heading to a table where a couple of costumed women sat. Yeah, costumed, as in these chicks would have fit in as superheroes rather than having drinks with a snake man.

And here she was, dressed in street clothes. How the hell had she become the odd ball in a room full of...well, odd balls?

In fact, now that Zatanna was paying more attention, she could see all sorts of creatures dispersed in the crowd. There were large monsters, blue monsters, scaly monsters, and all of them looked as if they belonged here. They weren't going on rampages, or anything. They were just chatting with the person next to them, sharing in drinks if they had them, or even playing a game of cards if one table was any indication.

Of course, there were things even stranger than them. For instance, the dark-haired woman spotted a man, or at least what looked like a man, walking by, covered head to toe in dirty bandages, or maybe they were rags. A green cape trailed behind him as he carried a couple of drinks, stopping as he took a seat next to a bald man in purple robes. The bald man glanced at the drink that was offered, took it, then pulled out what looked like some sort of insect, a spider maybe, and dropped it into his cup.

Okay, this was seriously strange.

That's when an arm fell over her shoulders and Zatanna found herself glancing up to her escort. She found herself moving as he guided her to the bar. "Wonder what Eddie's got on tap," he grunted to himself.

Reaching the bar, they somehow found a spot for the two of them to sit. Considering Zatanna hadn't seen a single empty stool, it seemed as if they had magically appeared. Most likely, they had. "Eddie!" the man shouted.

Zatanna waited patiently before she heard this odd slapping sound. Suddenly a head popped up from behind the bar. It was a guy who looked to be in his thirties, had a stubble that badly needed to be shaved off aside from that tuff of blond hair beneath his lip. His short blond hair was stuffed underneath an orange cap and he stared at Zatanna's pal blandly. "What do you want, Constantine?"

"A beer for me and whatever the lady wants," Constantine ordered. The bartender looked at her boredly.

"Get me the same as him," Zatanna decided. She wasn't certain what was here and she didn't really want to make waves.

Eddie continued to stare at her before he shrugged. "'Kay," he grunted before his head dropped below the bar, that slapping sound being made again.

After a moment, Zatanna finally turned to look at Constantine. "I don't think I got your name. What is it?"

"John," the blond man replied. "John Constantine."

"Nice to meet you, John Constantine."

"We'll see." He had an odd smirk on his face, one that seemed self-depreciating. Zatanna wasn't certain she got the meaning behind it. That was when she heard the slapping again and Eddie popped back up, two beer bottles floating in midair before they settled down on the bar. That wasn't the craziest part though.

Two flippers suddenly rose up on either side of Eddie's head and pushed the bottles to them. "You gonna pay for these, John?" Eddie grunted.

"Put them on my tab," John replied.

"You got one more before you have to pay it. Got it?"

"Really? Am I tapped out already?"

Eddie gave him a look. "Yeah, you are. You keep stiffing your bill and the owner's gonna cut you off for good."

Oh, that didn't sound good. Zatanna resisted the urge to groan. She was here with a bar runner. Of course she was with one. She was so not in the mood to be running out the door when the bill came. "I can pay for mine, if that's alright," she volunteered.

Eddie glanced towards her and seemed to be waiting. Oh, he was expecting payment now. Damn, she should have known that. Quickly, she shoved her hand into her little pocket and pulled out her wallet, pulling out a few dollar bills. "How much?" she couldn't help but ask.

Eddie stared at her. "You're new here," he stated.

"Yeah, first time."

"We don't take that kind of money."

Zatanna frowned. "Then what do you take?"

John sighed. He then opened up his coat and reached in, pulling out a sparkling gem. "Will this cover it?"

Eddie's head snapped towards it. "I think you got yourself a new tab." The gem suddenly yanked itself out of John's hand and floated to Eddie, who snatched it out of the air with one of the flippers. "Enjoy," he said before he dropped out of sight again.

Zatanna just stared dumbly at the scene. "Uhh, what?" she couldn't help but sputter out.

"Regular coin ain't accepted here," John explained, picking up his beer bottle and taking a sip. "The Oblivion Bar only accepts magical, enchanted artifacts."

Was that so? "And what did that jewel you gave him do?"

"It's an enchanted rock that makes people think it's more valuable than its worth."

Zatanna stared—again—at him. "You just swindled him, didn't you?"

"I play by the rules; they just never said what sort of enchantment was necessary."

Well, that was one way to bend the rules. Zatanna kinda liked that. Reaching out to her own bottle, she picked it up and took a sip.

Immediately, her face twisted and she had to resist the urge to spit it out. Reluctantly she swallowed the beer, gagging when it was done. John watched her bemused. "Not to your liking, is it?"

"It's pretty bitter," she responded.

"Best swill in the house."

Oh, she certainly hoped not. Otherwise this was a serious bust for her. "So, you wanted to talk about those murders?" she asked.

"Eventually. Let's just sit back and get to know one another. I've got all day."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I say you need to learn to make time."

"Constantine!" a voice roared.

John paused. "Hmm, maybe we should have gotten down to business."

Zatanna looked over her shoulder and saw a tall, dark-haired man storming up to them. The sleeves of his white, button up shirt were rolled back to his elbows, a black tie swishing back and forth as he approached them. The guy was handsome, but right now he was really angry looking. Coming up to John, he grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around on his stool. He then grabbed him by the hem of his coat.

"You're a dead man, John, you hear me!" he shouted in the blond man's face.

"I'd have to be deaf not ta," John remarked. "What can I do for ya, Nick?"

"You can start by giving me back my collection!"

"I'm gonna give it back to ya, don't you get your knickers in a knot. I just needed to borrow them was all."

"You've 'borrowed' them for three months!"

"Has it really been that long?"

Nick drew a fist back and looked ready to punch John. For some odd reason though, he seemed frozen that way, though his face was twisting with strain. It was like he was trying to throw the punch, but physically couldn't.

The dark-haired woman then realized there was a reason for this strange scene. Her magic senses were going off, meaning someone had used a spell, perhaps a paralysis one, to stop the incoming fight. Problem was, she couldn't pinpoint the source of the spell, mainly because this entire place felt like magic.

Then came the slapping sound and suddenly, Eddie was sitting on the bar. Zatanna then realized why she was hearing that sound, and why Eddie was literally popping up everywhere. His body was incredibly small, like a boy's body despite the thirty year old head he had. That and his hands and feet were literal flippers.

"If you two are gonna fight, take it outside," he warned the two men. "I don't feel like cleaning up after you two again."

"You heard Eddie," John said nonchalantly. "Just cool your heels and have a drink with me. It'll be a hell of a lot better than beating each other to a pulp."

Nick threw his fist down, but he didn't look any less frustrated. "He's got my Coins of Obsidian collection, Eddie. I want them back."

A coin collection? That's what this was about? Zatanna felt a headache coming on. Why did she agree to come to this place again? It was like that comic convention all over again.

And no, she wasn't going to elaborate on that.

"And you'll get them back once I figure out where they are," John replied.

There was a silence. Then, "You don't even know where they are?!" Nick bellowed. Clearly that had been a poor choice of words.

Alright, this was about to get real ugly, real quick. Zatanna knew when it was time to look for an exit and that time was five seconds ago. She'd pass on the crap beer and the crap company, and high-tail it back to Xanadu's. Hopefully her loving mentor had found a lead for her and—

"You're gonna pay for this, Constantine," Nick seethed. "I will get my collection back with interest out of your hide. Now get your ass off that stool, blow off that floozy you're with, and get me my property."

uhhh, excuse me?

Zatanna spun around on her stool. "Where do you get off calling me a floozy," she demanded crossly. "You don't even know me."

"And I don't have to," Nick shot back heatedly. "Your 'friend' here always brings the same kind of woman around because they're the only ones dumb enough to fall for his act. You'll figure this out soon, doll."

Zatanna narrowed her eyes. "I think you need to tis nwod dna llihc."

An empty chair from a nearby table suddenly pulled out, scraping across the floor until it came up right behind this Nick guy. The edge of the seat collided with the back of his knees, causing them to buckle. The guy let out a cry of surprise as he fell back, landing on his butt on the chair. Blinking his eyes for a moment, he tried to stand up, but found he couldn't.

That was when Zatanna noticed a deathly silence around her. Gone was the constant drone of chatter. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were staring right at her. John had an incredulous look on his face as he stared at her. Nick was blinking his eyes as his own brain caught up with what happened.

Spinning on his stool to face the dark-haired woman, John then said, "That was an interestin' spell. I think I've done ya a disservice today by not gettin' your name. You wouldn't mind tell me, would ya?"

She eyed the guy. "My name is Zatanna Zatara."

Just about every head perked up, be it human or monster. "Zatara?" Nick repeated slowly. "As in John Zatara?"

Oh, they had heard of her dad. Why did she feel like that wasn't a good thing? Perhaps she was being negative here; she had never heard of a person say a bad thing about her father. The main problem was that people would gush about him—at great length—to her. As if she didn't know how great of a guy he was. This sort of thing could and had gone all day before. "That depends," she replied, also slowly. "Did he owe any of you money?"

"That explains a lot," John murmured to himself, as if he were figuring out some puzzle only he had been working on. "You're Zatara's kid. No wonder Xanadu is teaching ya."

"This is Madame Xanadu's apprentice too?" Nick questioned. Faintly, Zatanna wondered just how much gossip was running around on her. For once, having her reputation preceding her didn't feel like a good thing. "I-I'm so sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to call you floozy."

"Now I'm getting respect," Zatanna muttered. "It's good to know you all act exactly like the rest of the world, what with having to learn my last name to get some recognition. So, who here wants to tell me just how much my dad means to them? Let's get this over with."

"How 'bout we skip that part, eh?" John suggested. "If we actually did that, half the bar is gonna come forward with stories of his great deeds, and the other half is gonna tell ya how he inspired them to study the magick arts."

The dark-haired woman gave that some thought. "You know, you're right, that does sound tedious. Well, if we're skipping through, then I'm getting out of here. I've got a hag to track down and it's pretty obvious I'm not going to get any intel on it here. Enjoy your drinks, enjoy your bar fights, and enjoy watching my ass walking out the door."

"I believe that would be quite short sighted of you."

Zatanna turned her head, feeling quite annoyed. Yeah, she was done with this place, and anyone that tried to change her mind.

She found a man dressed quite dapper standing nearby. He had a rather severe face, one that was complimented with red hair that had a white streak going towards the back of his head. It started just off center of his hairline, though one couldn't be blamed if they thought it was dead center depending on the angle.

"And you are?" she asked archly.

"Jason Blood," he introduced, holding a hand up to her. Out of the good manners her father had somehow instilled in her, Zatanna accepted the hand, though she didn't bother with the shake. "I'm an expert on the occult and demonology. I may be of some help with this hag you seek."

Well, that sounded promising. "If you have some time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter," she said.

"I believe I do indeed have time," Jason told her. "Care to join me?"

Oh yes, yes she would. "Lead the way," she told him.

He smiled at her. "Eddie, the chardonnay," he casually said.

"You got it, Mr. Blood," Eddie responded.


John watched as his best lead left with one of the classiest guys in the dump. He normally wasn't one to let that happen, but there was always a pecking order in life and he was not one to cross Jason freaking Blood of all people. He was up there with Baron Winters, Madame Xanadu, and a couple choice others.

But if there was one thing life had taught him, it was how to be flexible. He just needed to keep his eye on that Zatara girl and meet back up with her.

There was a scraping sound, one that drew his attention back to Nick. The guy was trying to get out of the chair, but it was pretty clear he was struggling. That shouldn't have been a surprise considering the Zatara lass had used her father's patented spell casting technique. Though the results spoke for themselves, trying to undo a backwards spoken spell was a right pain in the ass.

"The least she could have done is lifted the spell," Nick muttered as he kept trying to stand up to little result.

"Here," John offered as he reached into his coat and pulled out a pendant. He tossed it to Nick, who caught it with one hand. He stared at it for a moment before he then stood up from the chair.

"Thanks," he grunted as he moved to take over the now-empty seat next to the Brit. He held the pendant back to him.

"Keep it," John shrugged as he spun around back to face the bar. "Call it an apology for the coins. You'll get them back, no worries."

Nick looked as if he were about to accept the pendant before he narrowed his eyes at it. "This is one of those one-time only artifacts, isn't it?" He then tossed the pendant onto the bar, where it landed next to John's hand.

Well, he wasn't wrong. Shrugging his shoulders, he picked up the pendant and stuffed it back into his coat. He'd had to recast the enchantment later. "That was a surprising display of magic, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was," Nick agreed. "I had heard Zatara had a kid, but I didn't know they had taken after him."

"Neither did I. Should make for a good slobber-knocker this time."

Nick gave him a knowing look. "What are you planning for that poor girl? Whatever it is, she doesn't deserve it."

John nodded his head as he picked up his beer bottle once more, taking another sip from it. "On that, we both agree."


Zatanna found herself being led to a secluded area of the bar. Just when you thought this place was your average joe watering hole, she found herself in what should have belonged in some sort of VIP section of a popular club. Along a wall were these booths, the seating forming a semi-circle with a table at its center. Each was built into the wall, giving off the impression that they were in their own separate bubble.

Jason slid into the booth on one side of the round table, Zatanna going on the other. She could feel corinthian leather against her skin, which was fancy as hell to her. There was velvet carpeting, not that she could feel that, ya know, since she was wearing shoes and all. There were thin drapes, matching the color of the carpet. A blue light tinted the area, making it feel so much more relaxing.

And right on the table was a bottle with two glasses. Jason expertly picked up the bottle and filled each glass halfway, pushing one of them to the dark-haired woman. "I hope this is to your liking," he said.

"I think it'll be a lot better than whatever I had earlier," she replied, picking up the glass and bringing it to her lips. She took a drink and was pleasantly surprised. She had tried chardonnay before, but the others couldn't compare to this one.

"It's an 1887," Jason told her even as he took his own sip. "Not the best year overall, but a fine one as chardonnays go."

"I wouldn't know." Zatanna set her glass down. "Now, I hope I don't offend you or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that last name of yours."

"It is a unique one," the man admitted, his tone hinting at his good nature.

"You don't do anything like blood magic, do you?"

"I try to stay away from such magicks. The price is too great in most cases." Jason raised an eyebrow. "Is there a particular reason why you ask this?"

"Well, I just met someone with the last name Soulfeeda, which was shortly followed by finding a corpse with their soul sucked out of them. It's a little too on the nose if you ask me."

"You're speaking of Anita," Jason responded. "I can see how you made such a connection. Do not worry, I have known her and the Soulfeeda family for some time. No recent history of feeding on souls, I'm happy to report. I hope that relieves any doubts you have of her."

Well, it seemed Anita just had a poorly chosen name for what was going on. First Xanadu, now this Blood guy was vouching for her. More and more, Zatanna was starting to feel like a heel for her assumption.

Jason took another drink from his glass. "Though, it is curious. The last I heard, Anita had gone into isolation some time ago. I wonder what it was that brought her back into the world."

"Well, I have that answer for you." The dark-haired woman straightened her posture before leaning over the table. "She found me and took me to this scene of a withered corpse. Had his soul sucked right out of him for his latent magical powers, or so Anita said. That was the part that worried her."

The gentleman considered this, absently swirling the chardonnay in his glass as he rotated his wrist. "There must be more of such instances to draw her out. As unfortunate as it is, it isn't too unusual for people with unaccessed magick to be victimized by those who use their power."

"Tell me about it. I just shut down a group of Bat Worshipers that were trying to bring demons into the world."

That gave Jason pause. "Bat Worshipers," he repeated, though it sounded as if he were wanting confirmation rather than not knowing of them.

Zatanna nodded. "Yeah. I came across them about three years ago and any time I come across one of their cells, I shut it down. I was finishing doing that when Anita approached me."

"I'm glad you did so." Jason took another sip. "The demon they wish to summon would ruin this world, if not the universe. I'd like to know about their activity when you have a moment."

"I have one now," Zatanna replied, a slight flirtatious hint in her tone. Alright, to be upfront, it just came out that way. You try being professional when a well-dressed man treats you the right way and gives you booze. It was an Achilles heel for her, and she imagined, most women.

Jason just gave her a small smile. "In the meantime, tell me what you know about this soul feeder."

She took a drink out of her glass. "Well, aside from getting an ID on the body, I found out from Madame Xanadu that a hag was involved. She nearly threw me out of her parlor when I showed her the wallet I picked up."

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"Sure." Zatanna fished out the wallet and held it up. She didn't bother placing it on the table after Xanadu's reaction earlier.

It was a good thing she didn't either as Jason's face darkened at the sight of it. "I can sense the hag's taint from that. You may put it away. I can see why Nimue reacted the way you claim she did."

As she put the wallet away, Zatanna paused. Did he just say Nimue? As in Xanadu's real name? A questioning look appeared on her face as she stared at him. The only reason why she knew that was some old friend of hers dropped by the parlor while she was in the middle of training. The way Xanadu had said the man's name had been a big…giveaway…

"Wait a minute," she said out loud. "You're Nimue's Jason, aren't you?"

A bemused look appeared on his face. "What makes you say that?"

"I remember someone coming to her parlor while I was training. She acted like a schoolgirl sighing over their unrequited love. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Perhaps," he non-committedly replied, raising his glass up to take another sip. Whether it was because he wanted the drink, or was just doing something to hide his feelings, well, it hardly mattered.

"You can't hold out on me on this!" Zatanna nearly burst with excitement. Because, seriously, how often was it you met someone that had dirt on your magic teacher? "How do you know her? How did you two meet? Do you have any dirt on her I can use to make her blush like a teenage girl?"

Was this relevant to a murderous hag? No, no it wasn't. Was it important? Perhaps not, in the grand scheme of things. Did Zatanna absolutely want to know these answers?

You bet your ass she did.

"Now isn't the time for such questions," Jason hedged, much to her disappointment. "There are more important matters we need to discuss."

"Would you believe me if I said this was more important?"

A genuine smile appeared on his rather handsome face. Zatanna could see why her teacher was so smitten with him. "Nimue did say how impetuous you were. I see she wasn't exaggerating."

"Yeah, it's a bad habit. Now spill the beans before I cast a spell on you to force you to tell me."

The redhead sighed good-naturedly. "I've known Nimue for quite some time—far longer than you can imagine."

"That far back, huh? So was she covered in pimples when you met her, or was she trying to keep up that regal mystic act she's doing?" she pressed.

"Before the act, but after the pimples," he quipped. "She helped me when I was in great need of assistance, but that is all I will tell you."

"Awww, c'mon! Just give me something to turn her red, okay?"

Jason chuckled as he held up his glass, which was nearing being empty. "Just mention John Constantine if you want to see her turn red."

That caused Zatanna to frown. "You know about that guy?"

He downed his glass before setting it down, picking up the bottle to refill it. "Everyone knows Constantine." She couldn't help but notice where he put the emphasis. "Be careful with him. He is a consummate con artist. Take anything he says with a grain of salt, if that. The one thing you can trust with him is that he is after his own self-interest. There is always an ulterior motive with him."

The dark-haired woman stared at him. "Then let me be upfront with you. I thought I saw him hanging around the body Anita showed me. Then he was waiting outside of Xanadu's parlor, waiting for me specifically. He then brought me here to talk about the hag."

The redhead narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. "This is troubling," he admitted. He paused as he pondered this, which Zatanna was more than willing to let him have as much time as he needed. There were quite a few moving parts here that she didn't know the backstory to, and instead of just blundering around, she'd rather get some guidance.

Her eye twitched then. That was something her father had been trying to teach her for years. Of course, now she would actually consider his advice.

"I think it would be best if we consulted Nimue," he finally murmured. "No doubt she is doing her own investigating if you've shown her the work of an active hag. We'll also need to check in with Anita and see if we cannot pinpoint where this hag is most active. If we are to stop it, we need to know where it is most likely to strike."

She liked all of those ideas. "Is there anything we can do to learn more about this hag? Aside from knowing it can suck out souls and all."

Jason nodded. "I believe I can perform a scrying spell on that, so long as I have an object tainted with its presence."

"Well, as it just so happens, I have a cell phone, wallet, and car keys that stink of its stench. Which one do you want?"

"Whichever you are willing to relinquish."

Again, Zatanna reached into her pocket and ended up fishing out the keys, handing them over to Jason. He never made contact with the keys, however. Instead, he held a hand up, and a rose-colored aura appeared around them. Only then would he draw near them, holding his hand underneath the set of keys. The aura seemed to settle into his palm, causing the keys to hover in midair over his hand. He then curled his fingers into his palm and just like that, the rose-embraced keys vanished from sight.

Alright, that was pretty cool, she had to admit.

"I will be in touch once I find out something," Jason told her. "I also advise you to be careful as well. Just because this hag is currently targeting individuals with latent magical ability does not mean it will not go after a seasoned practitioner. It is only going after the latent ones because they are easiest. Once it amasses enough power, it will go after more difficult prey."

Oh, well, that didn't sound good at all.


Quick note: The Nick character is one called Nick Necro, who is a DC character. I just never found a good spot to give his full name, so that's why he's just Nick in this chapter. I don't have plans to use him further at the moment, but who knows what the future may bring.