The jail cell was plain and boring. There was a bed mattress on a metal frame, a toilet without a lid, and if you had the wingspan, you could touch the fingertips of each hand against opposite walls. Bars acted as a gate to keep prisoners inside.
Johnathan sat on the bed, seething at the injustice of it all. He had all but been thrown in here. The pigs were calling him murderer and monster and trash. Hadn't these guys heard of innocence until proven guilty? They were jumping the gun even before he got a trial.
And these conditions, they had to be against his Eighth Amendment rights.
Most of all, he was pissed. Pissed at rotting away in this jail cell; pissed at not getting the chance of getting the power he had been promised.
And he was enraged that it was that bitch that had caused all of this.
That bitch that practically broke his nose had butted her ugly nose into his business again. She had done…something, he still wasn't exactly sure what it was, but the next thing he knew, he was tied up and lying face down in the dirt. Then he seemed to lose an hour or two, and then he had the police shoving him into the back of one of their cars. They hadn't been gentle either, which was another example of police brutality. They had even denied him his phone call! They were practically treating him like an animal!
One thing he was certain of, he needed to find a way out of here, even if it didn't look like he would. Rajir had to be doing something to help him, right? He had to; he needed to. They were a team.
It just…this wasn't fair! None of this was fair! Why was he the only one in jail and being treated like a criminal? They didn't have anything on him, so they couldn't prove jackshit!
That bitch would pay. She would pay and he would make certain he was the one shoving the knife into her heart. She would regret the day she decided to pick on him and interfere with his business.
He just didn't know when he would be getting out of here.
"Tanner!" a voice shouted. Johnathan jolted where he sat, his head whipping towards the jail cell bars. A cop appeared, a sour look on his face. He paused for a couple seconds before the cell door unlocked and he opened it. "Get up. You've made bail."
Johnathan blinked his eyes. "Huh?"
"I said get up, dickhead. Do it now or I shut the door."
Immediately, the youth was on his feet, hastily walking out of the cell. He came to a stop when he noticed a man in a suit several steps away, a fedora hat on his head that sat low enough to cover part of his face. It didn't help that he had his head bowed as well. "Who are you?" he couldn't help but question.
"Your lawyer," the cop told him. "Now scram."
"Now, now, there's no need for anger," the lawyer gently reprimanded. He had this aura about him, like he was someone's kind grandfather or something. Hell, he could see wrinkles on parts of the guy's face he could see, and were there liver spots on the back of his hands? Gross. "Come, Johnathan. Let me take you home."
Uncertain, the teen slowly walked towards the strange lawyer, who just turned around and walked back the way he had come. He had this oversized coat that rested on his shoulders, though he didn't have his arms in the sleeves. It made it look like he had a cape or something lame like that on. He just followed the guy as he led him through the police station. The entire way, the policemen were glaring at him as if he were some kind of criminal.
"Who are you, old man?" Johnathan couldn't help but ask before they even reached the front door to the police station.
"I'm your lawyer, Mr. Johnathan," the lawyer responded, pushing open the door and standing to one side to let the youth through. "You may call me Mr. Reaper."
Ooooh, as in Grim Reaper, right? How scary—not. "Did my dad pay you?" he asked next.
"Your father is not your benefactor in this matter, I'm afraid. If you would go to my car, you can meet him, however."
Well, if that just didn't scream stranger danger. Johnathan was on his guard. No way was he going to jump into a car with some dying old man.
The lawyer let the door swing close before walking past the distrustful youth, heading right for a…a…
Was that a limo?
Yeah, there was a freaking stretch limo parked right in front of the police station. Reaper walked right up to it and opened the back door, standing to one side and looking at Johnathan expectantly.
"You've got to be shitting me!" the teen exclaimed.
"Please, enter the car, Mr. Tanner," Reaper said again, though the kindly grandfather voice lessened. The request sounded more like an order if he were honest.
"Hey, my parents told me to never get into a strange car," he hesitantly responded. "I think I'm just gonna…walk home or something."
Reaper tilted his head back, causing the brim of his hat to cast a shadow that kept his upper facial features hidden. However, the red glowing eyes that seemed to emerge from the darkness that covered his eyes stabbed right into the youth. "Get in the car, boy," the old man said, no longer keeping up the grandfatherly pretense. Instead, his tone was rough, demanding.
Johnathan found himself walking up to the limo and climbing in. It was as if some force made him do it. He didn't even realize it until he was seated in the car, and Reaper climbed in after him, closing the door behind them.
That was when the youth realized they weren't alone.
Seated on the seat across from him was a strange-looking man. He looked like one of those plastic surgery patients that had gone wrong, what with his face stretched out to the point he had a permanent smile on his face. "Johnathan Tanner, I presume," the man said.
Johnathan just nodded.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Brother Night. You've already met my associate, Mr. Reaper."
The teen's eyes stared at the man, glancing down long enough to eye the really expensive suit he wore. "What do you want?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Why, to help you. I received a call from a mutual acquaintance, Rajir."
That caused him to perk up. Rajir was helping him! He just knew that he would! "Rajir called you?" he eagerly asked.
Brother Night nodded. "He did. He said you were in a bind, so I offered to lend a hand."
"Just how do you know Rajir? I don't mean to be rude or anything."
The man held a hand up, waving it to signal that he was not offended. "Rajir and I have been in constant contact. He's kept me abreast of your activities, and I must say that I have been impressed with your successes. You're so young, yet you've already gotten in contact with a demon. That is mighty impressive."
"Truly," Reaper quietly agreed.
Johnathan glanced from one man to the other. God, they were so old. "So, are you taking me to Rajir?"
"Oh yes, we are. In fact, I will personally see to it that you are reunited with him for the next summoning." Brother Night leaned towards him, a bright glint in his red eyes. "It's time that we received an assurance from our demonic supporter, wouldn't you say?"
Corrigan led the way into the Salem Police Department. Considering he was the one with ties to them, that was for the best.
Zatanna and Constantine flanked the redhead, though they were following perhaps a couple steps behind him. While Corrigan had the look of a PI, the couple didn't. There was an argument that Constantine could get away with the rumpled suit and trench coat he wore—the dark-haired woman had seen such cops before—but Zatanna was a harder argument. She had at least magicked herself into some blue jeans, a white dress shirt, and even a jean jacket. It was what she liked to call a casual detective outfit, though she was basing that off of television. She had toyed with the idea of adding a police badge to her ensemble, but didn't want to give anyone something to look into her about. It wouldn't be that hard to figure out such a badge was fake and put every officer here on high alert.
The three of them headed right for the officer-in-charge, a Captain Leary. They found him in his office, looking over some documents. He was aged, that was for certain, if the wrinkles on his forehead and receding hairline were anything to go by.
"Captain Leary," Corrigan greeted as he remained standing, which forced the two non-officers to stand as well. Zatanna couldn't help but eye a comfy chair. She felt the urge to sit down.
"Corrigan," Leary returned the greeting, his eyes darting between the dark-haired woman and the British guy. "You've brought me company."
"Only fellow investigators," the redhead was quick to say. "You could say we are working the same case and felt it prudent to assist one another."
"I see. And I get the feeling you're here for the boy that was arrested in connection with the Salem Park murders."
Corrigan nodded. "We are. We're hoping he can shed more light on the case, if he is indeed involved."
"Oh, he most certainly is." Captain Leary leaned back in his seat, slouching so much that it looked like his belly was growing wider. "We found him next to a van with his fingerprints all over it. We also found evidence that a few of the murdered kids had been in the van at one point. That's been impounded."
Zatanna resisted the urge to grin. It seemed all of her effort to make certain Johnathan was locked in jail had been a success. It was always good to know that her hard work had been rewarded.
"Then you wouldn't mind if we speak to the suspect," Corrigan said. "Assuming your detectives had finished interrogating him, of course."
The Captain sighed. "I can't let you do that."
The redhead frowned. "Why is that?"
"Because the boy is no longer in our custody."
Zatanna felt her jaw drop. "The hell?!" she exclaimed, earning herself the attention of the room, plus a couple officers in the bullpen just behind her. All thoughts of her work to ensure an arrest were shattered, being replaced with anger instead. "Why isn't he here?" she demanded.
Captain Leary stared at her. "And you are?"
"My colleague, who is out of line," Corrigan interjected, a warning in his tone. Zatanna clamped her lips shut, her face feeling warm from the blush forming there.
The police captain stared at her before deciding to return his attention back to Corrigan. "The kid made bail this morning. Had a high-powered lawyer too, which I can only assume his parents paid for. I've got a couple men tailing them right now."
That was something she supposed. Captain Leary must have been convinced Johnathan was their prime suspect for the murders and wasn't willing to let him walk away peacefully. Eventually, the punk would mess up and they would be able to arrest him again, making bail even higher.
"Who's the lawyer?" Constantine grunted out then.
"Goes by the name Reaper," the Captain answered. "Mostly sticks to Boston, but it's not unheard of for him to pop into town every once in awhile."
Reaper, huh? His first name wouldn't happen to be Grim would it? Zatanna kept that thought to herself, though she really did want to say it.
"I have to say, that's disappointing," Corrigan said. "Though I'm certain you didn't have much of a choice in the matter."
"Damn straight," Captain Leary growled. "The lawyer showed up waving papers and demanding that his client be released, one that is suspected of killing multiple people at the same time. Goddamn defense lawyers."
"Any idea where they're going?" Corrigan then asked.
"I can call my officers for an update. I don't know what you expect to do, but if this kid starts to go after any other children, you better let my officers do their jobs." Captain Leary leaned forward in his seat, giving all three of them a serious look. "I mean it, Corrigan. I don't want that lawyer back in my office claiming a vigilante arrest or something. It needs to be done by the books, so there's no excuse."
"We will do our utmost to allow your officers to do their job," the redhead told him. "That said, if this boy is going to kill someone, we will step in."
There was silence before the police captain sighed. "As long as we understand each other."
"We do. We'll see ourselves out."
The three of them turned and left the office, heading back the way they came. "Fifty bucks says that Brother Night is behind this Reaper guy," Constantine said the moment he was certain they were out of earshot of anyone.
"No bet," Zatanna grumbled.
"That is certainly safe to say," Corrigan added his agreement. "Captain Leary will send me a text when he has a location for us. In the meantime, I believe we'll need to begin our own hunting. If we're fortunate, Johnathan and this lawyer haven't gotten that far."
"I can even take a look into the memory of the police station and that could give us an idea of which way they went," Zatanna added.
Corrigan nodded. "Do that. It'd be advantageous if we were enroute instead of waiting for further confirmation."
That was certainly a plan Zatanna could get behind. Already she was pulling in her magical energies, reading her spell the moment they left the precinct's front door. It was sure as heck better than sitting on their asses.
The limo pulled to a stop. Johnathan couldn't help but look out the tinted window. It was honestly a relief to do so as these old fogies were starting to creep him out. Brother Night had that plastic-surgery-gone-wrong face, never stopping his smiling even as they talked; Mr. Reaper just sat there like a bump on a log, staring at him creepily.
However, the youth was confused as to why they had stopped here.
Every kid in Salem knew the stories of the witch trials. There was the old pioneer village, the monuments to those lost, and so on.
What was less talked about, but was central to the very trials was the courthouse.
The building was obviously different from how it looked over three hundred years ago, but the current one was built right on top of where the witch trials had been conducted. It made the place reportedly haunted with the spirits of those who had been tried and found guilty.
Considering Johnathan had just spent time in a jail cell, he wasn't all that eager to go before a judge at that moment.
"Here at last," Brother Night remarked as he gazed out the window as well. "This is where we go our separate ways, Johnathan. If you would be so kind as to go inside."
"Are…are you serious?" The young man looked at the creepy guy.
"I am. There is work to be done and this is the location of our next contact." Brother Night gave him a knowing look. "A second chance for you to prove yourself. Rajir told me you felt uncertain of yourself after your first contact, so it is necessary to expose you to these occurrences. It is the only way for you to gain confidence in yourself."
"Okay, sure, yeah, but…at the courthouse?"
"The courthouse is closed for renovations," Mr. Reaper bluntly interjected. "You will have the entire building to yourself, so long as you go around back and out of sight. There is an unlocked door that will give you access."
"See, we have taken care of everything," Brother Night jovially said. "Do not fret, we have not set you up for failure; quite to the contrary in fact. Now go inside. We anticipate great things out of you."
Well, what choice did he have? Swallowing deeply, Johnathan opened the car door and climbed out, closing it behind him. The limo stayed parked as he looked up at the towering courthouse. There were signs standing outside of the front door, saying that the courthouse was indeed closed due to renovations.
Taking a deep breath, the young man began walking up to the doors before angling towards one side of the building. He passed by the corner and kept walking until he reached the back of the building, finding a private parking lot for the judges and staff. There was also a back entrance, the same renovation signs posted there as well. Uncertainly, he approached the door, hesitantly grabbing the door handle, and pulling on it.
Surprisingly, the door opened. So it was unlocked like those old guys said it would be. A little more confident, he entered the courthouse, finding a short hallway that led to an intersecting one, giving him the choice of a left or right turn. He took the left, which eventually led him into the main foray, a large room that had a series of doors to the left and right, each door leading into a courtroom. There was scaffolding present as well, construction supplies set up in various spots in the foray, along with tools, paint cans, and…well, Johnathan wasn't certain what a lot of the stuff was, he just knew it went into building things.
Out of all of the doors here, there was one set wide open. Figuring that had to mean something, Johnathan walked to the threshold and peered inside. He found your standard courtroom, with the judge's bench, the jury box, the tables for the prosecution and defense, and the benches for any onlookers.
And standing in the middle of this room was Rajir.
"Rajir!" he exclaimed as he hurried over to his friend. "Thank God you're here!"
"You look well," the bald man returned the greeting, a warm smile on his face while his arms were crossed over his chest. "Our benefactor has remained true to his word."
"That creepy old guy is our boss?" Johnathan quickly questioned.
"He is our silent supporter. In fact, we would not be where we are without his aide." Rajir reached a hand out and placed it on Johnathan's shoulder. "Do not fret about these things. We have much to do."
Johnathan nodded. If Rajir said everything was alright, then everything was. "What do we need to do?"
His friend's smile widened, making him look a little predatory. "Follow me and let's find out."
Brother Night stared as the boy walked around the courthouse, disappearing from sight. The limousine began to drive away shortly after.
What a perfect lemming, if he didn't say so himself.
"You do realize we were followed," Reaper spoke up after a few moments.
"Yes, I am. It's not completely unexpected, but it is an annoyance still."
"Do you wish for me to rectify this?"
Brother Night shook his head. "No, I believe we have a few minions we can use. More concerning is that we have drawn the attention of the Homo magi. They aren't a force that concerns me, but further encounters may cause them to draw more powerful mages, and that is something I cannot abide by."
Moving his left hand, he extended a finger and began tracing it on the leather seat next to him. He drew a circle with the finger, which left a violet light in its wake until he completed the shape. He then traced in a symbol at the four cardinal directions
"I see," Reaper responded, watching him work. "What do you need from me?"
"At the moment, nothing." Brother Night reached his right hand into the inner side of his suit jacket, searching for a pocket in the inner lining and finding it. He reached inside of the pocket and found what he wanted, pulling it out. In his fingers was a small metal figure, one that was the size of a game piece. This one was of a large, bulky monster with a gaping mouth. He set the little figure inside of the glowing circle he had drawn.
"Besides, our little friend here will take care of the police officers following us, as well as deal with the Homo magi. Very efficient, if I don't say so myself."
Officer O'Brien relaxed in his seat. It wasn't the comfiest, but it at least gave him some lumbar support. On a stakeout, those were a godsend.
To say the police station was pissed would be an understatement. They had a suspect, one that was strongly looking into being the guy that killed thirteen innocent kids, and that suspect had been allowed to walk after making bail. Goddamn defense lawyers.
Every damn cop had looked into the case that had shaken sleepy Salem, bringing up the Satanic scare from the 90s. With the history in this town, it wasn't a difficult conclusion to come to.
So O'Brien immediately understood when Captain Leary gave him and Milton orders to keep an eye on the suspect, a nineteen-year-old kid by the name of Johnathan Tanner. They followed their orders to a T, following the kid in a goddamn limousine of all things to the Salem City Courthouse. He had disappeared around one side of it while the limousine eventually left. So now he and Milton were keeping their eyes on the courthouse, making certain they knew where Tanner was at all times. O'Brien was keeping an eye on the front while Milton had the back.
Things had been quiet so far. Part of O'Brien wished Tanner would do something stupid, like try to find a kid and they could arrest him again. Waiting for him to screw up was a pain, but they couldn't just rearrest him just because they wanted to.
The radio in the officer's squad car went off. "Nothing happening out back, over," Milton reported.
"Same in front, over" O'Brien replied the moment he hit the transmit button. They were reporting in every fifteen minutes to make certain neither one of them fell asleep; also to make certain they weren't surprised by sudden action.
"When is this kid gonna fuck up?" Milton suddenly said. "This is a shithead teenager we're talking about. Surely he's doing something arrestable inside the courthouse, which he shouldn't be in in the first place, over."
O'Brien understood the frustration. Milton also made a good point about trespassing. The courthouse was under renovation, so it was locked to the general public. "Let me check in with the Captain," he replied. "If trespassing isn't an arrestable offense, then I don't know what is."
"Do that. I'm—kkkkkkzzzzzzzzz."
A high-pitched squeal cut through the speakers, causing O'Brien to wince. What the hell? "Milton, I just heard static there, over." The static continued. "Milton, do you copy? Over."
The static didn't stop, but before O'Brien could try again, the roof of his squad car suddenly caved in. He didn't even have time to register what was going on as he was suddenly crushed down, pain erupting throughout his body until everything went black.
The sun was setting. In a rustic little town, it would have made it look poetic, picturesque even.
For Zatanna, she couldn't be bothered to give much time to it. She was sitting in the backseat of a four-door sedan, a car that had been left behind with her from her troupe. It had been quite reliable in getting her and Constantine and Corrigan to where they needed to be the last few days.
It was also stuck in rush hour traffic.
The urge to use a spell to let them through was tempting. Just imagine it, a sea of parting cars for them to pass on through. Or they could just fly above everyone. Either way, they would be drawing attention, which wasn't something they wanted to do right now. They were on the tail of some real bad people, and using a spell would certainly catch their prey's attention.
They had heard back from Lieutenant Leary's men. Johnathan had been dropped off at the town's courthouse, a strange location for a wanted killer to be. They usually avoided such places on principle.
Unfortunately, they got swallowed up as people were getting out of work. Salem also thought it was a good idea for there to be a traffic light at every interaction, so they were forced to stop at every light, since the people in front of them couldn't be bothered to actually step on the gas pedal once the light turned green. The timing of each light was off too, so there just wasn't any good flow.
It was infuriating to be honest.
"Which would be faster?" Constantine spoke up then. "Walkin', or waitin' for the end times to come since every road here is a parking lot?"
"This is pretty inconvenient," Corrigan said, shifting around in the driver's seat. Somehow, he had been the one to drive them from the police station. Constantine had taken shotgun, which left Zatanna in the backseat. She felt there was something wrong about this.
As if to prove this, the sound of car horns rang out. They grew louder, becoming a cacophony of combined horns, as if each car subsequently began honking one after the other.
Suddenly, the car in front of them crumbled like an empty beer can. The reason for this was a towering body of muscle. It was peach-colored skin pulled tightly against defined muscle. Zatanna could make out abs, pecs, intercostals, and that was just the torso! A pair of bulky arms were attached, looking like tree trunks dangling at the torso's sides. The legs were…underwhelming honestly. They were thin and small, as if they weren't made for the body they supported, or someone just decided to skip leg day by a decade. As for the head, well, she couldn't see it due to the windshield abruptly ending.
"Run it over, Corrigan!" Constantine roared.
Corrigan, however, had shifted the gear shift into reverse and hit the gas pedal. The car lurched backwards and rammed right into the car behind them. The car blared its horn, stopping them from going back any further.
Two massive fists suddenly slammed down on the hood of the car. The back of the car hopped upwards, causing Zatanna to shoot upwards as well. Her hands grabbed onto the sides of the front seats, her fingers digging in even as her ass left the back car seat. Then gravity kicked in and the car dropped back down onto the ground, meaning it slammed down and sent a violent tremor throughout the vehicle.
The fists then moved, splitting apart, then clamped down on either side of the car's damaged front. With relative ease, the creature swung the car off of the ground and threw it to one side, sending it hurtling through the air. They flew until they hit the side of a building, causing the driver's side of the car to cave in. They then dropped back to the ground, landing roughly on the sidewalk.
All of this time, the three occupants had been battered. The seatbelts kept them pinned to their seats, thankfully, but it didn't mean they hadn't come away with some bruising. "Owww," Zatanna moaned, somehow still clutching at the front seats. She wouldn't have been surprised if her fingers had dug holes into the cushions.
Suddenly, the other side of the car caved in. Letting out a cry of surprise, the magician tried to slide to the opposite side of the car, only for her damn seat belt to keep her pinned to the middle seat. Whipping her head to the right, she was just in time to see the back passenger door get ripped off, followed by a hand reaching in.
Oh, like hell was she going to let it touch her!
Twisting her upper body to her right while leaning back as far as she could, Zatanna held both hands up and let out a war cry. A blast of purple magic fired from her hands, pushing the hand back and hopefully more.
The moment it was over, Zatanna found herself staring out through the missing car door and into the wreckage of destroyed cars. "Nice one," she heard Constantine grunt from the front passenger seat.
"Think I got it?" the dark-haired woman questioned, not certain if she should check or not.
"Why don't you get out and see?"
Yeah, sure, suggest the very thing she really didn't want to do. Shoving herself back up, Zatanna finally undid the seat buckle. No longer did she feel it digging in, which was nice. Unfortunately, now she had to actually get out and check things out.
Grunting, she wormed her way across the seat, grabbing onto the frame of the car once she reached the opening. She stuck her legs out, using her arms to pull herself out of the car until she was standing next to it.
Movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to look down the street in the direction they were going. She saw another heavily muscled beast, this one shaped just like the one that had thrown their car like it was a grape. This time, she saw its head, which wasn't all that attractive. She saw a gaping mouth, with four very long, very sharp incisors. If there were any other teeth, she couldn't see them from this distance. The top of its head was flat, practically sloping downward. There weren't any visible eyes, not that it looked as if it needed them. Currently, it was smashing a van into pieces.
More crashing sounds caused the dark-haired woman to turn to look down the direction they had come and she saw two more such monsters wrecking mayhem as well. It was as if that was all they cared about, destroying cars and that was about it.
There weren't a lot of people around, namely because Zatanna could see that most of them had the sense to abandon their cars and run for their lives. That was good, great even. No doubt there were plenty of people hurt or dead in the chaos already, so anymore would just be pissing her off.
That was when one of the monsters noticed her and snarled. It swung its arms out, pounding its knuckles into the ground. It then swung its smaller lower half forward, landing on its feet only to repeat using its arms to help it rush her.
Zatanna gathered her magical energies in response, holding a hand out towards it. "Daor ezeerf revo," she chanted, the asphalt in front of the charging beast instantly freezing over with a layer of ice. As it smashed its fists into the ice-covered ground, it actually broke and shattered the ice, allowing it to keep itself steady on the slippery surface.
However, as it swung its lower body forward, the moment its comically small feet touched down on the ice, its feet immediately slipped forward. This caused the monster's body to keep moving forward while its arms followed behind it as they lifted up off of the ground. Gravity set in and the monster landed hard on its back.
Keeping her arms aimed at the creature, Zatanna went to her next spell. "Ylf hguorht eht ria!" she called out. The monster suddenly launched up into the air, its momentum keeping it moving towards one side. It ended up crashing into the side of a building, not unlike the first of its brethren that had thrown her car.
After seeing it burst through the face of the building, leaving a hole behind it, Zatanna couldn't help but turn to look at her car and couldn't resist the urge to grimace. It was the definition of totaled, which wasn't going to look great on her insurance. Goddamn whatever these things were!
"Watch your ass, Zee!" Constantine suddenly shouted from the passenger seat.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw another monster in midair, having leapt at her when she wasn't looking. Casually, she raised a hand up and said, "Pots thgir ereht." Instantly, the monster stopped in midair, not even so much as thrashing around. She had a good hold on this one. Forcefully jerking her arm downward, she forced the monster to slam down hard on the ground, causing a light tremor to shake the area.
This, however, got the attention of another monster. It jerked its head towards her, snarled, then began charging at her. Seeing this, Zatanna then swung her arm towards the incoming monster, which caused its grounded friend to fly right off of the broken asphalt. It sailed towards the charging creature, crashing right into it and sending both of them flying away from the magician. Raising up her other hand, one of the crushed cars lifted up into the air.
"Emoceb worran dna prahs," she commanded, which caused the ruined car to crumple in on itself. Soon, it was perhaps the diameter of one of the light poles around her, which caused the former vehicle to lengthen, one end of it looking very much like a stake. Zatanna raised her hand higher, which caused her crumpled metal stake to raise higher into the air. It angled itself as well, so when she was ready, the magician swung her arm to one side, which sent her projectile flying towards the two monsters, which had landed in a heap on the ground. Unable to get back up, they were helpless as the large metal stake impaled one in the back, running through it and into its friend. High-pitched shrieks rang out from the monsters as they were shish-kabobbed to the ground.
Zatanna just stared at the sight before she began looking elsewhere. She didn't see another monster, not until she saw Constantine finally climbing out of the car. The battered car door looked as if it had been forced open against its will, the blond man gingerly patting himself down. "You seemed to 'ave takin' care o' things," he remarked.
"I'm not seeing any more of those monsters," she said, her eyes glazing over as she reached out with her magical senses. She immediately picked up on the pair she had skewered, getting a good idea of what they felt like. Clearly they were magical in origin if she was able to sense them this way. She didn't feel any similar magical signatures like them though. Either that was all of them, or there was something else lying in wait.
She knew which option she preferred, but also the one to expect.
Relaxing herself, Zatanna then returned her attention to Constantine. "Are you alright?" she asked with some worry in her tone.
"I'm better than Corrigan," the Brit replied. "He was on the side of the car that took the brunt of the crash. He's kinda stuck for the moment."
Immediately, Zatanna looked into the car, seeing the red-haired man slumped forward against a deployed airbag. Huh, how did she not remember those going off? "Is he alive?"
"Still got a pulse, but he's out cold," Constantine said. "And we still have to get to that courthouse. We're gonna have to go on without him."
"Without getting him medical attention?!"
"I already cast a little healing magic on 'em. He ain't gonna die in the next hour or so. He'll be sore, no question, but he'd say the same thing I am, and that is us going on without him."
Well, that was hard to argue, even if Zatanna wanted to at least make certain an ambulance was on the way. There were going to be a lot of them if she was right about people getting caught up in the carnage those monsters had caused.
Zatanna couldn't help but frown then. "Where did these monsters come from? They just appeared without warning."
"My best guess, Brother Night sent them after us," Constantine grunted. "They suddenly appear as we're going after one of his lap dogs? After said lap dog was bailed out of jail? That's too much of a coincidence for me."
Oh yeah, the blond man was right about that. So Brother Night didn't want them at the courthouse. Well, he was going to find out that his efforts were completely wasted, especially when the two of them burst right through the front door.