The store was quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the incessant ticking of the clock that hung high on the wall. Dull sunlight flowed through the windows, the only source of light present. It gave the little antique store a forgotten quality to it.

And then the door and wall exploded.

It was sudden and destructive. The door was torn to shreds, the wall crushed and crumbled. Debris was thrown throughout the room, knocking over the paltry number of antiques. Some were broken once they hit the floor, the stands just clattering until they came to a stop.

Smoke quickly dissipated from the initial explosion, which allowed Zatanna to stroll into Rajir's antique store. She was not in the mood to play around, not after he had pulled a Houdini on her.

Johnathan was in police custody at least; she had made certain of that. A phone call to Salem PD about a young man lying unconscious next to a white van had been enough for a police car to come perform a wellness check. It just so happened that the van had an open door with some questionable materials in plain view. Further investigation would reveal a damning link to the kids killed in Salem's park. Fingerprints of Johnathan would make certain he was kept in police custody, along with searching for Rajir.

See how that was all wrapped up in a neat bow? Yeah, that was completely a Gotham thing she was stealing, mainly because she knew it worked. Now, Zatanna doubted the police would be able to track Rajir down, but eventually they would find their way to the antique store. Rajir had to know this, and would either not come back, or he would stop to collect a go-bag. In the off-chance he was here, well, the magician wanted to make certain that the only person that could get hurt was the store owner.

Admittingly, blowing down the front door and a good chunk of the storefront was overkill. However, she wasn't in the mood to deal with any lingering spells or enchantments that may still be lingering here. So she opted to blast them all to hell to make certain they didn't interfere.

Looking at the mess she had created, Zatanna saw no sign of Rajir, just as she expected. She did glance towards the Owl mask and…hey, why was that still on its stand? Shouldn't Rajir have put it out of sight due to her layaway purchase? Still, it had miraculously not been hit in the explosion. Part of her kinda wanted to take it because she had gone to all that trouble...

Now isn't the time for that, she thought, which stop that line of thought. Shaking her head, the dark-haired woman called upon her magic to give her sight, particularly to detect any spells that might be floating around. She didn't see anything initially, but…hey, there was something coming from the door in the back.

Walking over to the door, she held a hand up and flicked her first two fingers, a gesture that caused the door to open all on its own. No explosion this time, everyone. Through the doorway, she saw a few clouds of color floating around, albeit dull. Those were spells, and old ones at that. A quick summoning of a magic aura would keep them from affecting her.

As she passed through the doorway, Zatanna found a set of stairs that went down into a basement. No signs of boobytraps were present, so she went down the stairs. Each wooden step creaked from her weight, something she attributed to age as well.

When she reached the bottom, she felt as if she were on the verge of disappointment. See, she had seen rooms that were filled to the brim with enchanted idols and altars just ready for something bloody. None of that was here. Instead, it was a well-maintained storeroom. There were various antiques everywhere that clearly weren't chosen for the front room.

A quick detection spell, however, told her that these antiques in fact were enchanted. Nothing of world-changing proportions, but there was a mirror that was cursed to make someone vain, a keyboard that enhanced playing ability, and a toy monkey with cymbals that looked as if it possessed an evil spirit. She said look because she didn't feel anything malevolent with it; it was just creepy looking was all.

There was a series of cabinets along one wall, so she walked over to them. Opening a few cabinet doors, she saw that these contained supplies, like candles, rope, handcuffs…chloroform…

Another door revealed a collection of knives, though they were clearly maintained. She didn't see a drop of blood on any of them. There wasn't rust either. A nearly empty bottle of cleaning oil proved that these were taken care of.

Still, it was worth a shot at getting these tested in case there was some trace amount of blood on one of them, and that blood matched one of the murder victims.

Moving away from the cabinets, Zatanna gazed around the room before she noticed a series of boxes, one of which had a silver mirror lying on it. Viewing it through her mystical vision, she noticed quite a few enchantments on this one, including…

What the?

She could feel it, something unholy about the mirror. There was something twisted about it, as if something evil or demonic had touched it. She had heard Constantine and Corrigan mention knowing when a demon was present, and she a feeling this was what they were talking about.

Alright, perhaps she should see just how this mirror became tainted from a demon.

Zatanna closed her eyes as she summoned her magical energies. "Wohs em eht yromem fo eht rorrim," she chanted.

When her eyes opened, the room around her had taken on a brownish tint, the tell-tell sign that she was indeed in a memory. She didn't see anything except the mirror lying on the box.

Well, that was disappointing.

Holding a hand up, she began to wave one back and forth, reversing the memory until she saw Rajir and Johnathan rummaging around the room. Stopping, she then allowed the memory to play.

Which turned out to be a bummer too. Neither man talked as they prepared themselves for their latest kidnapping. Johnathan had a couple duffle bags, ones she recognized from the van the two men drove. She saw the youth pack candles and rope. That was about it.

So she kept rewinding, going through a few times where the men would come down to this basement, make their preparations, then leave. She did see Johnathan badmouth her after she had punched him in the face, and that gave her a little enjoyment.

It wasn't until she came to a time where the mirror had been placed in its current position that she found something of note.

"You seem troubled," Rajir said as the two of them arrived in the basement.

"Is…w-was that n-normal?" Johnathan asked, unable to steady his voice.

"You are referring to?"

"What we did. Speaking to that…thing."

Already, Zatanna didn't like the sound of that. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck bristling from the implication.

"Honestly, I am uncertain," Rajir told him. Great, so they were messing with forces they didn't understand. That certainly was a great idea. "But it seemed to go well. After all, our contact ended favorably for us."

"H-how? How do you know that?"

"We are still ourselves, and the demon agreed to be of assistance to our master." And that just proved that a demon was involved. Perfect, great. Just wait until she told Constantine and Corrigan that a demon had been contacted successfully. She couldn't imagine they'd be happy about that. "I am certain you have heard of stories where contact with the beyond did not go well," Rajir continued. "There is an entire entertainment industry that theorizes on such poor outcomes."

At least they were familiar with horror movies. Zatanna continued to view the memory, not getting much more than Rajir saying he would contact their boss for further instruction. If their hunch was right, then Brother Night was that contact.

The dark-haired woman paused the memory before she began to rewind it again. There had to be some other conversations between these two guys in this room, so she was going to figure out what they were. Maybe she could get confirmation, or at the very least a hint as to what these two idiots were doing. Dealing with demons—what were they thinking?

That was no woman.

Rajir knew what women were. They were weak, fragile, and hopelessly helpless. Women of the west held an arrogance about them that wasn't seen in the east. Yet, no matter the culture, they were inferior to men, be it strength, intelligence, or ability.

But that woman, the one that had been showing up at his store, had shown that she was something else entirely.

With a simple gesture, he had stopped moving and was thrown by some invisible force. It was hard to explain. One moment, he was in full control of himself; the next, he was lying on the ground helpless as the she-devil turned her attention onto the boy.

The boy…

He had lost him to that woman, to that…that…witch. That's what she was, a witch. There was no other explanation for it. Thankfully, Rajir had managed to escape, which was necessary if the plan was to achieve its objective.

However, there were issues. Namely, he had somehow not realized who that woman was before she revealed her true nature. No doubt, the man that had been watching his store was an accomplice of hers, so he either had unnatural powers as well, or he was just a mere lackey, doing the witch's bidding until she decided to take a more active role.

What did she want of them though? Why now? Why…

Was…was this a result of their contacts with the other realm?

The witch had not appeared until contact had been made, right? Did she appear before he and Johnathan had summoned Nebiros? Or was it after? He was having a difficult time concentrating to remember correctly. It was certainly after they had captured the souls of those children, and perhaps after the theft of Martha Carrier's mirror.

Those actions must have reached the witch's attention. And like any power-starved miscreant, she most likely wanted to use their hard work for her own ambitions. He should have expected such lowly opportunists would show before they had succeeded.

First thing was first: Rajir needed to find sanctuary. It was a good thing he had taken the precautions to have safe havens throughout the Boston area in the event someone discovered what he and his master were doing. One did not last long if they didn't appropriately consider the possibility that they would be found out. It was always a possibility, no matter how small.

The location of one such safehouse was in an alleyway near the outskirts of Salem. One could hide out there while attracting little attention, and it also gave the option for quick flight should the location be found. To be precise, the location was an abandoned house in a blighted neighborhood. This house had a cellar, one that he kept locked so that others could not venture in.

The cellar doors were on the outside and behind the house. Pulling out a set of keys, Rajir thumbed through them until he found the right one. Shoving the key into the padlock, he undid the lock and removed it. He then opened the door and held it open with both hands. There was a staircase immediately in sight.

Stepping down the steps, Rajir slowly lowered the cellar door until it fell into place. Trace beams of light that came between the crack in the doors lit up enough of the darkness, allowing him to climb down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom, he held up a flashlight and turned it on. This revealed another door, this one also locked. Finding the correct key on his keyring, he unlocked and opened the door as well.

He entered a dark room, the beam of his flashlight allowing him to find a string hanging from the ceiling. Moving to it, he grabbed the string and pulled down on it, turning on a lightbulb.

The light bathed the room, revealing several sets of metal racks along the walls. Supplies, such as canned food and weapons, were on the shelves. Just about anything one could need to survive the breakdown of civilization could be found here.

Along with Brother Night.

Rajir froze upon seeing his master standing in the middle of the room, his hands behind his back. He had a bemused look on his face, his red eyes dancing with mirth.

"M-master," the bald man stammered before he remembered to drop to one knee, powering his head. "I-I was not expecting your arrival."

"What a quaint place," Brother Night observed as he looked around the room. There was unfortunately a layer of dust present, something Rajir wished he had taken the time to clean the last time he had been here. "I should have known you would have a little place like this."

"I have unfortunate news, Master," Rajir finally confessed. He did not deserve the nonchalance his master was demonstrating—he was not worthy of it. "The boy and I were attacked while trying to collect another tribute."

The man gazed at him, but there was no hint of disapproval or disappointment. He still had that gentle look, one that was more amused than angry. It was a stark contrast to Rajir's previous master. "That is unfortunate. It would seem our timetable has been accelerated too."

Rajir fought the urge to grimace. They had been successful so far because they weren't rushing themselves. Now it seemed that they were going to have to pick up their pace with half of their manpower. "Is it because of the loss of Johnathan?" he questioned.

"No, though it is unfortunate that he is indisposed of. I had an encounter myself today. It is in my best interest if I no longer stay in my own home, thus my presence here."

"Someone…is asking questions?"

"Two someones, both formidable in their own right. They only happened to make the mistake of approaching me in my own territory. From this point forth, we must assume enemies are after us."

This Rajir understood. This was the life that he was familiar with. "What is it you ask of me, Master?" he asked.

"It is not going to be easy operating the way we have thus far," Brother Night responded. He raised one hand up to stroke his chin as he thought, his elbow propped up by the forearm of his other arm. "And it was only a matter of time before unwanted attention was brought down on us the moment our activities became public."

Rajir didn't say anything. Though he had the same thoughts, he knew better than to interrupt his superior when they were thinking, even if they were doing so out loud.

"We may not be in the position to obtain more sacrifices, not with the level of interference we're bound to encounter," his master continued to ponder. "It is likely that we cannot offer Nebiros his toll upon our next contact."

"I don't believe it would like that," the bald man couldn't help but interject.

Brother Night nodded his agreement, but then his lips stretched out into a grin. "Perhaps we can use that as…leverage. Nebiros has already agreed to assist us, so we just need to convince him to give us his assistance if he wishes for success."

"And how would we do that?"

"Oh, I have an idea. Be ready when I tell you to make our next move. Make certain to have that gift I gave you too as it will prove itself useful. In the meantime, I need to see about the young Johnathan. We simply can't abandon him to his fate, can we?"

Opening the door to the motel room, Zatanna was half-expecting to find it empty, which would give her time to wash up, maybe even get a nap in. The dust from her…entrance into Rajir's antique store had gotten into her hair, and it needed to be washed out.

Imagine her surprise to find the boys slumped on each of the beds. They looked tired, though not all that much worse for wear.

"Tough day?" she questioned them as she shut the door behind her.

"Something like that," Constantine grumbled. "How did saving the kids go?"

"Oh, you know, since no kids were taken, I'm calling it a success." The dark-haired woman sauntered over to the bed the blond man was lying on and took a seat on the edge of the mattress. "I caught the punk, Johnathan, and he's currently sitting in a jail cell. Rajir got away though. I went to see if he went back to his store, but it looks like he was smart enough to not even bother."

"It sounds like you had better luck than us," Corrigan remarked.

That caused her to raise an eyebrow. After all that boistering about going after the big bad guy, it didn't sound like they had achieved that. Already she was feeling annoyed. "Don't tell me, Brother Night got away," she groused.

"Right after he got done trying to use his little clubhouse to eat us," Constantine grunted the confirmation. "We screwed up. We should have known we were walking right into his territory, where he was strongest. Blundered in like a pair of silly sods and barely got out. Now he's out on the lam somewhere."

Zatanna closed her eyes, resisting the urge to berate the two of them. Their leading suspect had gotten away. What a goddamn mess. If these two jerks had just gone with her, they could have had both Johnathan and Rajir in custody, and Brother Night would be none the wiser to their suspicions. All they had done was alert him to the fact they were onto him, and he was no doubt in hiding somewhere, planning his next move.

And she was considered to be the amateur between the three of them. Right.

"You know, I feel like this is the perfect time to mention that I told you so, but I'm above that," Zatanna said after a few moments of silence. "No wait, I'm not. I told you we should have gone to stop those two creeps from kidnapping anymore kids. I at least succeeded in that. And you two, with your self-righteousness, said we should forget about dying kids and go after the big bad guy first, and neither of you have anything to show for it. You morons!"

"My apologies," Corrigan responded. For whatever reason, he sounded exhausted. Was that a physical exhaustion, or was it from using too much magic? It was hard to tell. "We definitely erred." He sighed then. "I suppose we'll need a new course of action."

Well, that was something. It was crap considering the situation they were staring at, but at least the redhead admitting he was wrong. Zatanna turned her attention to Constantine, looking at him expectantly.

It took him way too long to respond. The bastard had his eyes closed as if he were snoozing, though she knew he was awake since he had only been talking a couple minutes ago. Plus, his breathing was too fast to be true sleep. She would know, she had seen him asleep before.

The dark-haired woman internally paused at that. Why the hell was she examining this guy like an investigator? Or a detective? Damn it, had she internalized something and it was only now rearing its head? Whatever, questions for later.

Getting more annoyed the longer it took Constantine to respond, she finally prodded him with an arched, "Well?"

The blond man opened his tired eyes. There wasn't a hint of remorse from what she could see, which only irritated her more. "Yeah, we fucked up," he finally said. "Don't mean what we did wasn't the right thing."

"Oh? Is that right?" she sarcastically replied. "Remind me again, you said you didn't arrest the guy, right? And now he knows we're after him, which will only make him more cautious. I'm half-expecting flying monkeys to come bursting their way through the door on the creep's orders so he can eliminate us."

"The outcome ain't ideal, but if we had succeeded, this would all be over," Constantine defended. "Didn't anyone tell you it's better to kill a snake by cutting it off at the head instead of chopping off pieces of its tail?"

"I also know how to play poker," she said pointedly. "And you don't tell the entire table your goddamn hand until the end."

"This situation is what it is," Corrigan interjected, cutting off the budding lover's spat. "We just have to adjust our strategy. Right now we have one of the conspirators in jail—that's a start. We can interrogate him and get more information on what Brother Night was after."

"And failing that, Zee can take a peek into his memories if he ain't cooperative," Constantine added. "Hell, we can do that and cut out any bullshit the kid will most likely spew."

That would probably be the easiest path, honestly. Zatanna was honest if anything, and she had already pissed Johnathan off prior to getting him arrested. No doubt he'd be just as forthcoming after getting thrown into jail.

Plus, this was an excellent segway into what she did after apprehending the no-good punk.

"Well, since you mentioned looking into memories," the magician said, earning herself the attention of the two men. "When I went to Rajir's store to make certain he didn't escape to it, I did some snooping around, looked into the memories of the basement there. Found out Rajir and Johnathan did get in touch with a demon."

Corrigan's face soured. "Did you find out how?"

"Yeah, a silver mirror. It's apparently one that belonged to a Martha Carrier. I did a quick Google search on that and one such mirror was stolen recently."

The man's green eyes glazed over as he took in this information. "There was a full moon recently," he murmured. "That was when they got into contact with the demon—so it was only a communication. Still not good, but it beats them giving it entry into this world."

"It also means that they can call it again, and probably intend to," Constantine added.

Oh, that didn't sound good at all. "So what do we do?" Zatanna asked.

"We'll need to go speak to Johnathan," Corrigan said. "Get as much information out of him as we can. We'll also need to change locations. As you mentioned, Brother Night may take steps to inconvenience us, or simply attempt to eliminate us as threats to his scheme. No doubt he has learned of this location, or will learn of it soon."

"Should we be expecting some kind of monster to show up? Or an army of…of minions, or something?" She had to resist the urge to use flying monkeys again because there were a ton of things Brother Night could throw at them. Plus, using the reference too many times made it lose its appeal. You never knew when you'd need to use the metaphor again.

"No, not right now anyways," Constantine replied. "This bloke has kept himself to the shadows all of this time, even after he did that Mt Diablo business. This isn't someone that'll throw caution to the wind and cause a ruckus. He'll do something subtle, something we won't see comin' until it's trying to eat us."

For a brief moment, Zatanna recalled a man-eating bed and really wished she hadn't. She had just gotten over that trauma, thank you very much, and she didn't need it rearing its ugly head again.

"Agreed," Corrigan agreed. "At this moment, we are likely safe. I would not expect anything to happen until nightfall at the earliest. In the meantime, I will see to arranging time with Johnathan so that we can learn more about our foes. We can look into other accommodations afterwards."

Zatanna found herself nodding her agreement. That was at least a plan, which was better than none. There was the problem of getting her close to the teenager, but she figured Corrigan would arrange some private interrogation room for her to pop in, do her thing, and pop out. Easy, peasy.

Though knowing their luck, things wouldn't be so easy.