In every storm, there was a calm just before all hell broke loose. It was a warning, one that mankind had learned fairly quickly in its survival days. Naturally there were the morons that thought the worst wasn't coming, only to have good ol' Darwin prove 'em wrong.

In this instance, that calm lasted only a second, two if you pressed your luck.

Constantine watched as the demon Etrigan stormed towards the monstrous hag, his lips drawn bag to reveal a couple rows of sharp teeth. The Enchantress had stopped her soulsucking on the Zatara girl, who hung limply in those tentacles. As the yellow demon drew near, the hag released the dark-haired girl, leaving her to drop like a sack of beans to the floor.

With an ear-piercing screech, the Enchantress turned to face her new foe, whipping her tentacles at him. Immediately, Etrigan caught one of the tentacles, which was trying to slap him in the face. He gripped it tightly even as it tried to pull back to free itself. In the meantime, one tentacle wrapped around his left leg, pulling tightly on it. Another one got his left arm, wrapping around it and having about the same amount of luck. That left one tentacle to just wiggle around in the air, not doing much of anything. Seemed a waste of a tentacle to be honest.

Etrigan didn't seem the least bit annoyed by this. Instead, he pulled on the tentacle in his grasp, moving it around so that he could bite down on it with his teeth. Those teeth tore right through the tentacle, dark green blood spilling out of it, and painting the demon's chin.

Enchantress shrieked as she yanked back her injured tentacle, more of its strange blood spurting out of its jagged end.

Etrigan dropped the bloody tip and then grabbed onto the tentacle that was wrapped around his arm with both hands. Fearing that he was about to bite this one off as well, the Enchantress began to pull back her tentacles, unwrapping them as quickly as she could from the demon's limbs. She just couldn't pull back the one that was firmly held by the demon and he grinned maliciously at her.

The yellow-skinned demon then pulled hard on the tentacle, which pulled the hag right off of the floor. Pivoting on his heels Etrigan spun his monstrous enemy around through the air until he slammed her into one of the stone pillars. Constantine expected a wet splat from the collision, but was rather impressed as the Enchantress plowed right through it, sending stone pieces flying through the air. The pieces hit anything and everything, walls, bookcases, the floor, even ricocheting throughout the room. As for the Enchantress, she crashed right into the wall next, falling to the floor soon after.

Etrigan wasn't finished, however. Hands still gripping tightly on the tentacle, he then heaved it up over his head, which caused the hag to be yanked up into the air again. Etrigan swung the hag over his head before pulling her down, slamming her back onto the floor on the opposite side of the room. Coincidentally, she ended up right by the fireplace.

"Get over here!" the demon shouted as he began pulling on the hag's tentacle, using it as a rope to draw her closer to him. Realizing this, the Enchantress flopped herself over, hissing as she was pulled closer and closer to her foe. Holding up one of her swollen arms, a ball of green flames erupted over her palm, which she threw right at the demon.

Etrigan took the green fireball head on, the flames washing over his face. The flames vanished into smoke a moment later, eventually revealing Etrigan looking no worse for wear. "You used fire on a hellspawn?" the demon questioned his foe. "I don't know what backwater realm you come from, but even you should have known the futility of such an attack."

"I'll devour your soul!" the Enchantress screamed as she threw her head forward, her long neck allowing her to stretch towards the demon, their heads smacking against each other with a sickening collision.

Constantine winced, mostly because he knew just how jarring a headbutt could be. He also knew just how desperate the Enchantress had to be to pull a move like that so early in the fight. If he was a betting man—and he most certainly was—he was putting his money on the demon. He had proven his overwhelming strength so far, and then his immunity to the hag's green fire. The Enchantress better know a couple of spells to use lest the demon bit her head off next.

However, something caught the blond man's eye then. Lying over by the fireplace, there was a piece of paper, one that seemingly glowed golden in the firelight. It took him a moment to realize just what it was.

The deed.

Well, if that wasn't opportunity knocking at his door. Immediately, Constantine called upon his magical energies, slightly surprised to feel them flood throughout his body. It seemed with the Enchantress distracted, that annoying spell she took from Alice was no longer in effect. Bully for him. Extending a finger from one hand, he began to rotate it in a circle as he whistled.

In response, the restraint around that hand came undone. He then pointed that finger at each restraint, even the one around his neck, unlocking them in quick succession. The moment he got the last restraint, he then dropped to the floor, landing roughly on his feet. He actually pitched backwards, his back bumping into the bookshelf there to help keep his balance.

The Enchantress was pulling her head back from her foe at this point. Stands of slime pulled away from her face as it stretched out to connect her to the demon's face. Etrigan didn't look the least bit impressed at her. "Is that the best you can do?" he growled.

The hideous witch shrieked, her eyes turning solid black—Alice's trick! Etrigan stared at her eyes as they burned into him, right before he puffed out his cheeks and then spat out a ball of burning spit into her face.

A pain-filled scream rang out. "That parlor trick won't work on me," the demon proclaimed. "You have to try better than that."

By now, Enchantress' face was looking even worse than when it had begun. Her leathery skin was burnt now, parts of it dripping down her face like candle wax. Parts of the skull were showing as flesh and muscle were burnt away, particularly around the right eye socket.

Then the Enchantress dropped her jaw, opening her mouth wide before she began to suck in air. It was quite clear she was trying to suck out the demon's soul, though the familiar sight of an aura being pulled from the victim didn't appear. Instead, it appeared as if a black wind was wafting off of the demon and being pulled into the hag's mouth.

Then Etrigan swung a beefy hand up, his palm hitting the underside of the Enchantress' jaw and forcing it shut. "Poor, deluded hag," Etrigan tutted. "One has to have a soul so it can be consumed—and I have none."

He then raised up his other hand, making a fist with it. He then swung it forward, slamming his fist into the hag's face. Immediately, her head went flying backwards, her elongated neck coiling against itself as it came closer to her body. When her neck could no longer gather against itself, her fat body went flying backwards as well, crashing against the fireplace. She then collapsed into a heap on the floor, her lower body landing too close to the fire still burning within the chimney. In fact, some of the flames leapt out and caught onto the hag's flesh, beginning to burn and devour it.

The Enchantress cried out from the burning, stinging pain she felt, clumsily pushing herself up with her arms. Her head began to raise up, wearily swaying back and forth due to her long neck.

"I must be losing my eyesight!" Etrigan exclaimed then. "Your scent, I know it. Is that you, Succubus? You've really let yourself go!"

"I will damn you to eternal torment, demonic scum," Enchantress spat back, her twisted face glowering at her foe.

Etrigan snorted with derision. "Not the way you are now. If you think that measly fire burning you is painful, allow me to reintroduce yourself to hellfire!"

Oh, great, this was getting out of hand. Constantine just knew this wasn't going to end well, not with Etrigan using hell magic. He wouldn't be surprised if the hellfire burnt the House of Mystery to the ground.

That's when the blond man realized something. The deed, it was still over by the fireplace, where the Enchantress was currently laying. And if the demon was to be believed, he was about to blast that very spot with fire right out of Hell.

And then there was the Zatara girl. She was still out of it, just lying on the floor in a heap. She didn't look like she was in the firing zone, maybe just outside of it. Yet, hellfire wasn't known for being all that safe; more like volatile and out of control. It consumed anything and everything it touched. Right now, the deed was a certainty and the Zatara girl a strong maybe.

Probably more than maybe.

Bloody hell.

Etrigan held up both of his hands before he roared, "Inferno!" A blast of dark red fire erupted from his hands, spreading out wide as it raced towards the Enchantress and just about everything surrounding her.

Constantine gritted his teeth. It was now or never, though he personally preferred never. His eyes glanced back and forth between the girl and the deed. He then lunged forward, running as fast as he could to outrace the approaching hellfire.


An ungodly heat wave caused Zatanna to stir. She felt like she was in Death Valley, the sweltering heat drying out her skin during that one ill-advised hike she had tried to do. She had been young, dumb, and thought there was no way she would die out in the middle of one of the hottest deserts in the world.

Yeah, she had been that girl. Make it young, dumb, and trying to impress this outdoorsy guy, because there always had to be a guy involved. Thankfully, she had turned around just before she reached that point of no return. She barely made it back, exhausted of energy and water. She had spent two days in the hospital getting rehydrated from the experience.

So why was she feeling like she was back in Death Valley?

Moaning, the dark-haired woman opened her eyes. She found herself pleasantly not in Death Valley—thank God. Instead, she was still in that room in the House of Mystery, lying on the floor close to where some…yellow monster in a blue cape was standing, and it was blasting the other side of the room with a spread of fire only a flamethrower could dream of.

Okay, what the hell was going on?

The monster stopped its little—read: ginormous—fire attack, lowering its hands down as a quarter of the room was now on fire. Hell, she couldn't even see where the fireplace was cause that was the approximate area it was. She could pick out a couple pieces of furniture that were now just silhouettes of fire-covered furniture.

Suddenly, someone was at her side. "Time to go," Constantine's gruff voice came out, the man grabbing onto her arm and hauling her up onto her feet.

"Mind telling me—whoa!" A wave of fatigue hit the magician and she found her legs turning into jelly, and not in the good, romantic way either. Hell, she tried to grab onto Constantine and found her arms were about as useful as wet noodles. She was a marionette with her strings cut and about as useful.

Thankfully, Constantine was able to pin her against himself. He had to adjust their positions, but eventually he got an arm around her waist and held her against his side. Somehow, one of her arms ended up laying limply over his shoulders. "I swear, this has never happened to me before," she tried to joke and even that took effort. God, she felt so tired and drained.

"I'd be surprised if you had," the blond man replied. "It's not every day you have a soul-sucking demoness trying to suck out your soul. Can't imagine it feels all that great."

Now that he mentioned it…no wonder she felt drained, because she had literally been drained. It was like she was in magical fatigue, but more icky. It wasn't natural. This had better not be permanent. She had future plans, the most important one being staying alive at the moment. She really wanted to see that one through.

"So, what exactly is happening? I kinda blacked out for a moment there," she asked, each word its own effort. It was surprising she didn't gasp between each one. What a weird sensation of weakness this was.

"Quick version: Blood unleashed a Prince of Hell Hell-Demon and he's been handin' Enchantress her ass seven different ways. Now, we gotta go or we're gonna know how that feels cause these two don't exactly care about collateral damage."

Seeing the burning side of the room, Zatanna had to agree with that assessment. "Lead the—" she began.

Only to be interrupted as some…thing emerged out of the fire. It looked like a normal human figure, so that ruled out the Deadite monster Enchantress had become. Entranced by the sight, she could just make out the bony features of the person, their skin charred black, hair completely burnt off, and…you know, it was probably easier to just call it a burning skeleton with pieces of cooked flesh dripping off of its bones.

However, she didn't mistake the green glow coming from the eye sockets. The source of the glow were two pinprick lights, pretending to be green irises.

Then, as if to remove any doubt as to the identity of this walking, burning skeleton, the Enchantress' voice echoed out of its….well, there was no mouth. The lower jaw was completely gone, only leaving the upper mandible with its enlarged canines. Zatanna would figure out how it was able to talk later—probably magic because that was the answer to anything bizarre these days.

"You will pay for this!" Enchantress roared as she stumbled out of the inferno. "I will not forget this indignity! When I have enough power—"

The yellow demon sucked in air, his chest expanding widely, then he blew the air out, unleashing a powerful wind. The wind rammed into Enchantress, sending her flying back. It also, somehow, blew out the flames, revealing a black-singed room, where parts of the ceiling, wall, and floor had holes burned right through. The skeleton hit the wall just above the fireplace, somehow miraculously not shattering into bone fragments. She then dropped to the floor, lying a quivering mess of bones.

However, there was a bit of a ricochet. Though the wind was blown towards the wall, it bounced off of it and came back the way it came. The force had to be decreased because of the back-and-forth travel, but Zatanna felt as if she were in a hurricane. Thank God Constantine was hanging onto her, otherwise she would have flown to the other end of the room. Heck, she managed to rustle up some strength so she could actually grab onto the guy, albeit weakly.

Once the wind died down, the magician found that she had been squeezing her eyes shut. She had no idea when she had done that, but she guessed the blowback from that incredibly powerful wind might have had something to do with it. Opening her eyes, she saw Jason's demon lumbering over to the blackened skeleton, which was starting to push herself up onto her bony hands and knees.

"You will never have enough power to take me down, Succubus," the demon grunted, a hint of disapproval in its voice. "Make your idle threats; you will always be where you belong: beneath my heel."

The monster then raised a foot up and then stomped it down on the back of Enchantress' skull. Her head was forced back to the floor, where it shattered into bone fragments. It was difficult to tell whether it was from the combined pressure of the floor and the demon's foot, or if the power behind the demon's foot was enough to break bone. Probably both; Zatanna didn't want to offend the thing if it was most definitely its doing.

She and Constantine stared at the two monsters, the demon standing over its defeated foe, and the rest of the hag's skeleton slowly began to crumble into dust. "Fare thee well, puppet," the demon grumbled.

"So, Jason could have summoned this guy at any time, right?" Zatanna asked her human-shaped crutch.

"I imagine he could have, yes," Constantine agreed.

"Then can you tell me why he didn't summon it when we first fought the Enchantress? We could have saved ourselves a lot of time and effort if he did."

That was when the demon turned around, its red-glowing eyes focusing right on them. A malicious grin appeared on its face. "Now, I could go for some fresh meat, raw, dripping off the bone."

It then took a step towards them, clearly indicating just where the fresh meat was.

Oh, so that was why Jason didn't summon this guy right off the bat. Question unfortunately answered. Crap.

"Alright, Etrigan," Constantine said as he began to edge them backwards and away from the demon. "You just did us a solid and I'm more than willing to leave things like that. Ya know, we owe ya one."

Etrigan took a heavy step towards them. "I don't have to smell you to know just how empty an offer that is, Constantine. I know your soul is already claimed by another." Its…his red eyes then flickered over to Zatanna, which made her stomach sink into her guts. "The girl, on the other hand…"

"Hey, she's new to this business," the blond man warned. "She hasn't made her first deal with the devil yet. You wouldn't want to pop that cherry, would ya?"

"She won't ever have to if I eat her here and now," Etrigan pointed out.

"He's got a point," Zatanna said, trying to help convince the hell-demon. "That said, I really don't want to be eaten. I'm just gamey and bony and you'd probably choke on my femur. It just wouldn't be a good day for either of us."

"You're no more bony than Succubus over there."

Okay, that line of discussion went absolutely nowhere. "What will it take for you not to eat me?" she asked, trying her best to sound as pleasant as possible. No reason to be rude to the demon that wanted to eat her whole, ya know?

"It's been too long since I tasted mortal flesh. There's nothing more that I want."

"Please tell me you have some idea," Zatanna hastily whispered to Constantine. "I don't want to be human sushi!"

"I got one," the blond man whispered back, much to her relief. "Think you got enough juice for a blinding spell?"

Did she? Well, she was about to find out. Even if she was out of power and feeling weaker than a rag doll, she'd do anything not to be bloody chunks in Etrigan's mouth. Yeah, she was belaboring that point, but you would too if you were in her heels.

Closing her eyes, she took in a breath of air and reached out for her magical energies. Much to her surprise, she felt it come rushing to her like an old friend she hadn't seen in awhile, even if it was…what, ten minutes? Fifteen tops? Eyes opening, she then chanted, "Hctaw ruoy seye!"

Right in the middle of the room, an orb of pure light appeared, one that grew brighter and brighter until the entire room was bathed in pure whiteness. It was a brief flash, one Zatanna stared right into because no way would her own magic hurt her eyes. So focused was she on her spell that she didn't see Constantine squeezing his eyes shut. She couldn't see the demon either as he was swallowed up by the light.

She heard Etrigan, though. A thunderous roar rang out, followed by curses and snarls. The moment the blinding light vanished, the spell completed, Zatanna saw the yellow demon clutching at his eyes with his hands, stumbling back and forth, side to side. "My eyes!" he screamed with rage. "When I get my hands on you, I'll flay your flesh from your bones! I'll tear your limbs from your body and beat you within an inch of your life!"

Oh, great, she had pissed off the powerful hell-demon. That wasn't going to bite her ass soon—not. Geez, Constantine better come through on his end.

Thankfully, he did.

"Gone, gone, O' Etrigan!" his voice boomed, surprising the magician with how deep and loud he could be. The guy was so full of charm and gruffness that she hadn't expected him to sound so commanding. "Give rise once more the form of man!"

The blackened fireplace suddenly erupted with flames, this time blue. Etrigan barely pulled his hands away from his face, his eyes squinted, refusing to open any wider due to the stinging pain they must have felt. "No!" he shouted. "I refuse—"

The blue fire then rushed out of the fireplace, washing over Etrigan. The two humans couldn't even see a silhouette of the beast as he completely vanished from sight. The room took on a blue tint from the fire as it seemed to swirl around the area Etrigan had been standing.

Then the blue fire pulled back, returning back to the fireplace, instantly snuffing itself out within the black-charred pit. The lighting of the room returned to normal.

And standing where Etrigan had been was Jason Blood, not looking the least for wear. "I hope things ended well," he greeted them.

Zatanna and Constantine shared a look with each other. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," the magician said. "Now, I need to know: what…the actual…hell."


Pressing a hand onto the woman's shoulder, Zatanna shook June, trying to wake her up.

"Hey, June, you can get up now," she said tiredly. Yeah, not the most comforting words to try and wake someone up with, but she literally didn't have the energy to try something more encouraging. She was done and ready to go home and the sooner June got up, the sooner she got to her own bed. "It's done, we can go home now."

You would think such words would be music to a person's ears, but apparently June wasn't one such person. Probably had something to do with her passing out while the fireworks were going on.

Tilting her head up, she saw Jason Blood helping Detective Chimp into a sitting position, the chimp leaning his back against the desk he had been thrown into earlier. He hadn't been caught up in the fighting either, so that was a plus too. He at least was awake, saying something to Jason as the redhead checked him out. Constantine was standing nearby, leaning his bottom against the desk as well, arms crossed over his chest.

Which just left the two ladies. "Come on, June, the boys are waiting for us," she complained. "Wake up before I use a spell to wake you up. I don't really want to, and it may make you stay awake for days."

That wasn't an exaggeration either. With the fatigue she felt, Zatanna doubted she could make a spell that would only wake June up. The incantation would be too broad and it was anyone's guess how long that would last.

Thankfully, June began to rouse. The research groaned as she began to shift her body around. "What's going on?" she murmured as she moved a hand to her face.

"The fighting's over," Zatanna told her, trying to sound kind and gentle and nice. There was another word—encouraging! That was it. She wanted to sound encouraging and hoped she succeeded. "We won. No more hag to harass us."

There was a grimace on her face, but it was partially hidden by the hand June was using to wipe her sleepy face away. Then the magician's words made sense to her. "Are you serious? She's gone?"

"Yep, and you're just in time to hear a story. Jason was the one that took care of things."

Stiffly, June began to push herself up. Zatanna helped her out as much as she could, but she probably was just as much of a hindrance as a help. Eventually, the two women were on their feet, and they trudged over to the men.

They were just in time too as Jason was beginning a tale, the one that really had Zatanna's curiosity. "How did you get in league with the Prince of Hell?" Constantine was asking, shooting a look in the redhead's direction.

"The Prince of Hell," Detective Chimp parroted. "Clearly I've missed something."

"An entire slobber knocker, complete with hags and demons. The demon won, by the way."

"I suppose I owe you all an explanation," Jason said resignedly.

"Considering Etrigan wanted to eat Zatara's kid, I think you at least owe her one."

While Zatanna had no intention of playing that card, she had no problem with it, so long as she knew all about this demon business. She had an idea, but she wasn't quite certain if that was real or not.

"I have not made any sort of deal, which you suspect, John," Jason told the blond man. "No contracts, no promises of any sort. My connection to Etrigan begins when Camelot was in its last throes."

Zatanna had to blink her eyes. Camelot? Oh, right, he had mentioned being a part of that fable; she had nearly forgotten that. Then she thought of just how long ago that was and realized Jason had a literal demon tied to him for that long. That couldn't be a good thing.

"That's a long time," June spoke softly, her eyes wide.

Jason nodded. "As I've mentioned, I was one of Arthur's knights right until the end. His…offspring led a revolt and associated himself with legions of ogres and demons. It was during one attack that a wave of demons nearly overwhelmed us. Etrigan was the leader of the assault and cut down many of my fellow knights. Merlin was the only one of us to keep the demon at bay. To remove Etrigan as a threat, he bound him to a volunteer—that volunteer being myself." A sad smile appeared on his face. "That truly was the beginning of the end."

"Merlin was real?" June spoke softly. "I know you said that you were a knight and all, but even Merlin existed? That…that is incredible."

"Merlin? Seriously?" Constantine responded skeptically.

"He was as real as you are standing before me," Jason assured him. "I know the stories about him make him seem a myth, even to Homo magi, but he was very real. Whether he was human or not is debatable. He was either a man that surpassed what was humanly possible, or some higher being that dwelled among us. I have long stopped trying to solve that mystery."

"A brave sacrifice," Detective Chimp remarked, attempting to return them all to Jason's story. "Your acceptance of this demon. What prompted you, may I ask? It must be a bittersweet memory."

"You're quite perceptive," Jason murmured. He then sighed. "There was a traitor in the castle, who gave entrance to the invaders. That…that traitor was me. We never truly recovered, and I was set to be executed for my actions. Merlin came to me at the height of the battle and made me an offer to redeem myself. I accepted and he bound the demon to my soul. We were able to push back the invaders, but only held out a few more days before we were overrun."

That…that was quite a story, Zatanna had to admit. Somehow, Xanadu fit into this, she was pretty certain. One day she would get that side of the story.

"What happened after that?" Detective Chimp asked. "You have certainly traveled a long way and a long time from that point."

"I assumed the form of the demon, unfortunately. Merlin had instructed me with a passage not to utter unless I was in dire straits. It is the one I used to summon Etrigan here, as you can figure out. Unfortunately, it was many months before I was able to resume my human form. There are still stories and myths of Etrigan terrorizing the English countryside if you know where to look. It is not a period of time that I am proud to be associated with."

"Then I think you've told us enough," Zatanna interjected. "I'm glad this Etrigan guy was able to take care of our hag problem, but you don't need to relive bad memories for our sake."

Jason gave her a thankful smile. "I thank you."

"Now, if all of you don't mind, we have some things to clean up. I'm certain the House of Mystery will tidy itself up, but there is one thing we absolutely have to deal with." At this, Zatanna looked right at June. "What exactly are we going to do with the Sworn Book of Honorius?"


For you Etrigan fans out there, I wasn't up to making the demon rhyme in his speech, so I took a page out of the Justice League show and just made him a snarling, blunt brute. One could say I'm being lazy and you would be right.