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Chapter Text

You had never run faster in your life. The overhead com system blared out its last warning before the train would close its doors and leave you behind, ruining any chance you had at making it to your interview on the other side of London. Just as the doors closed, you slipped right through the little crack and heard the light swish of the locking mechanism behind you. 

You mentally congratulated yourself, your breathing still a bit too heavy for words. You rested your hand over your forehead and let out a heavy sigh, the heels you were currently sporting were certainly not made for the type of extreme sport you had just put them through, your feet were killing you. A second passed before you felt the subway gently rock forward and begin to move. Your hand slid down your face and gently rested over your mouth as you took in the exterior of the car you had found yourself in. Save for a couple of individuals, you were alone, a fact that put you a little more at ease. Your hand fell from your face and rested atop the bag at your side.  Not that it was difficult to put you on edge, you had enough experiences with strange drunk men coming after you on subways. In any other situation, you would have denied an interview that occurred at night. London was not safe enough of a city for you to just feel safe roaming across it. But this was the London Branch of Wayne Enterprises, there was no possible way you could just deny it because the dark made you uncomfortable. And so for once in your life, you took a chance and went after something you wanted, no matter how scared you might have felt.

Scanning the area, your eyes zeroed in on a seat that was furthest away from the rest of the passengers. It was perfect, not only could you focus on steeling yourself for your interview, but you could have a little more peace knowing that if anyone in your car were to act up, there was enough distance between the lot of you, that you would easily be able to leave. Gripping the strap of your bag you took a step and began your slow pace towards your current goal. You could hear how loudly the wind whistled past the windows.

You passed one of the men that were still awake, you glanced at him as you sidestepped by and his eyes met yours. He nodded at you, offering a small smile, a polite gesture. You almost wanted to stare with how attractive you thought he was. You had a little thing for blue eyes. Your cheeks lightly flushed as you nodded back and quickly made your way to your seat. Smoothing your skirt before you sat down, the messenger bag slid off your shoulder and landed on the ground beside you. A quiet sigh escaped from you as you finally took the time to look around the car you were in. In total four people, were in your current car. You, the man with the blue eyes and a young couple sitting on the opposite side of your car, sleeping as though they had never done so before. Lucky Bastards. There was nothing to be afraid of here. A light bump in the tracks made you lurch a little. God how you hated the subway. It was dirty, dark, scary and gave no room to try and comfort its patrons. 

"Just relax Y/n." You whispered to yourself as you took a breath. No matter how calm you were though, the hyper-awareness you were feeling would never die down. But that was something you could live with.

Around 30 minutes had passed by now and you had begun to zone out, the repetition of the train and whistle of the air was mind-numbingly boring. The only other sounds you could hear were the occasional snore or sigh. Your elbow rested on the armrest and your chin sat heavily in your hand. God this was boring, and you hadn't even thought to bring anything to entertain yourself. Not that you'd be able to focus on it anyway. Your nerves were in your stomach at this point. A thump came from the floor. You didn't move but glanced down in the direction of the sound. Your bag had been knocked over and sent your phone skidding across the slippery floor.

What a pain. You readjusted yourself, but before you could even get up to grab it, the man from before caught it between his long fingers and looked it up and down. Your eyes went from the phone to him and caught hold of his gaze again.

"I'm guessing this belongs to you?" He mocked playfully, his voice coming out smoother than you had expected for his hardened yet youthful-looking exterior. You could only smile at his comment, almost like magic the unease you had felt slowly began to melt away.

He stood up, removing the need for you to have to go to him, and walked over to the seat in front of yours.  Setting himself down there, he reached the phone over and offered it to you. You graciously accepted his offering and thanked him, your voice a little breathier than you had intended.

I hope I look ok.

"There's no problem lass," He leaned back in the seat, the same playful expression dancing across his handsome face. "In all honesty, it was just a well-timed excuse for me to come over and make small talk, it's painfully dull on this car, dear, yes?" He confessed.

"Oh I know," You smiled, "Had I known the subway was this boring, gods, I would have just walked across London." You felt your body subconsciously copy his actions and leaned back, much more at ease now. You don't remember random strangers just having this effect on you. IT was strange, it felt as though you didn't have a choice but to relax. Not that it was unpleasant, you rather appreciated the sheer presence of this stranger helping your nerves.

"London's a hell of a walk, I'm not sure I could make it all the way across the city." His hands went in his coat pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes, he extended it towards you, you shook your head no and politely declined. You didn't want to smell like smoke when on your interview. Had this been any other night and not one that was so high stress for you, you would have been tempted. But the fates had other plans for you today.

"Yes, it's long, but it would beat the-" A rush of black flashed by the window behind the man's head, as though a person were standing outside. He kept his gaze on the lighter burning the end of his stick.

"The..?" 

You turned your attention back to him and caught your hand on your cheek, feeling as the heat rushed to them. "Ah I'm sorry, it's nothing...I just thought I saw something out the window." You said, your gaze drifting back towards the glass. You didn't notice it, but his eyes looked up at you. A certain recognition beginning to form. 

"Its just late, no worries Miss...?"

"Y/n." You answered quickly, attention refocused on him. "I never even introduced myself, I'm just a wreck of nerves right now, I'm Y/n L/n. Nice to meet you-"

"John. Nice to meet you as well Miss. L/n."

"Please." You groaned lightly,  rolling your eyes away from him. 

"Just call me Y/n, you'll make me feel official if you call me Miss." 

He breathed out a laugh, "Well, you are dressed rather officially ma'am, I didn't know if I was speaking to an official woman or not." He teased. "Besides, what are ya doing out so late in the first place? What's got you in a wreck, dearie?" He asked curiously, his eyes trained on the light t the end of his bud.

"I'm going to an interview at the Wayne Enterprises building in upstate London." You stated, a bit of pride at telling someone you were headed towards Wayne Enterprises, it was well known that not just anyone got jobs or even interviews there. You had been chosen due to your high ranks at med school. 

"This late at night?" 

"Yes.. but I'm fine with it. I'm a night owl anyway." It was only partly true, while you were a night owl, you couldn't help but have your feelings hurt at how little they cared already about your time and effort to even get to this point. Your time at the Hospital had made you soft and compassionate towards others, but as you were beginning to move away from that job, you noticed that not many people offered you the same compassion that you were too freely willing to give.

"Hmm...well I won't ruin your excitement, Miss. Y/n, but just make sure they don't use you up. Big companies tend to do just that." A shadow flashed behind him again. But this time it stayed on the glass as though it had latched itself onto the side of the train, the glowing of the eyes prominent. The sudden change on your face silenced whatever lecture he was about to give.

"Miss?" 

"..." Its glowing gold eyes stared at you. 

"Did you see it?" John asked, his voice lower in pitch, an entirely new tone lacing his words. You looked over at him, your mouth was sealed shut. What does that mean? Does he know it's there?  Your throat was beginning to constrict at the panic that was setting in, your tongue was growing heavy. You played with one of your fingers. There was no possible way for you to mistake that. It was a tall man-looking silhouette, staring at you. John whipped around and danced his eyes across the window, you could tell he couldn't see what you were looking at.

You kept your eyes trained on the window, fearful that if you looked away for too long it would disappear, and then you'd be in danger.

"I see, so it's picking favorites huh?" He groaned as he took his cigarette out and dropped it to the floor, crushing it with his shoe, "It'll show itself to some poor lass, but not to me." He cursed under his breath as he pushed himself up by the knees. "Bloody coward, really."  As John stood, the black shadowy creature crawled away and out of your direct line of sight. You could feel the panic piercing its way into your heart. 

"Wait-" You called quietly, suddenly feeling as though any loud sound would cause you to see it again. "What am I seeing?" 

He couldn't even process the words before a screeching sound cut through the air and threw the both of you over. "Jesus bloody hell!" John cursed as he rolled and slammed against the door. You fell against the other side, onto the cushions, your abdomen was struck by the metal armrest, and instantly a dull pain shot through your torso. John was quick to come to your aid as he noticed you keeling over on the floor, he bent down swiftly and grabbed your hand, pulling you up to a sitting position. His hand rested against your stomach and you heard his voice calling to you over the cacophony of disaster that was sounding all around you. A gaping hole had been torn through part of the roof. You looked up and saw his lips moving, but couldn't hear anything over the alarms, wind, and screeching. The pain in your abdomen melted away and was replaced with a warm honey-like sensation that filled your body. Every ache and cramp you had been feeling was gone. "Stay on your knees!" He instructed over the wind, removing his hand, "You'll only.... thrown over again." No time was wasted in figuring out what he just did to you, you nodded quickly and held onto the leg of the seat, the small part of his sentence you understood was enough to keep you cemented in place. The car continued speeding down the tracks but the tracks of the train sounded as though they were nails against a board, the loud screeching of friction rung high and loud in the air, near piercing to your ears. Loud sobbing from the other side of the car cracked against the whipping sound of the wind and jerked your attention towards the others who were thrown roughly onto the floor and were copying your actions, holing tight onto their seats. John began to stand when your hand shot out and grabbed his arm. "Oi mate you need to hold on too!" You called, hoping he heard you over everything that was happening. He shook his head, "I have to check on what's happening!" He shouted, his blond hair whipping dangerously in every direction. Freeing himself from your grasp, he quickly stood and jerkily made his way through the door next to you both. He slammed it open and went through.

Along with him went your feeling of safety. It was overwhelming. There were sobs and screams coming from multiple cars, the train itself seemed to scream. It was throwing everything everywhere and you were helpless. Of course, John was a stranger, but he was the only source of security you had been given. You sorely wished for him back. "We're gonna die!" The man screeched, sobs raking his body. It was becoming too much and you couldn't just take it, you clumsily made your way to your knees, sure he told you to stay put, but there was no way you could just let this man go by himself.

If your own anxiety was any sort of indicator for how others must have felt, then there is no doubt that he was scared too. You froze your ascent as the car rocked dangerously close to the walls of the subway again, making you stumble forward, reaching out and catching the seats in front of you for stability. Standing fully you grabbed onto the door, only for the car to jerk violently, your heel cracked and sent you falling straight back to the floor, one more rock of the car and your already floored form was tossed to the side slamming your head violently against the seat legs, rendering you unconscious.

Chapter Text

Your head was pounding. Your body was in a complete state of shock and refused to listen to any of the weak commands your brain sent to it in its current state. You felt as if a wet rag were wrapped tightly around your head, dulling all of your senses and shrouding any sense of familiarity you could have conjured to comfort yourself. Your thoughts were fading in and out of consciousness, the only certainty that you could grasp onto at the moment was the sharp pain of the bare concrete scraping across your skin as your body was dragged across uneven ground. Your lungs were burning alongside your dry throat.

It hurt. You hurt.

"Still looking...finally...even if..."
A voice was beginning to clear up near you, but none of the words being spoken you were able to recognize or came across to you as a coherent sentence. Your mind felt heavy and slow, any thought that came to you was with much effort and felt shallow. Your eyes throbbed. The dull pain reverberating back into your skull leaving you with a pounding headache t accompany it. You were half-dazed and stiff as dry blood caked onto several parts of your body, acting as scabs for the numerous cuts and gashes that decorated your once delicate skin. Though your consciousness was unsteady, you did notice some things.

At first, you felt hands gripping your ankles roughly and dragging you across a floor that you couldn't see. You couldn't see much in fact, unsure if you were blind or if the area was just too dark, you blinked, the simple task arduous in and of itself. The darkness engulfed everything, devouring your chance at recognizing what was going on. The voice spoke once more. 

Second, you could feel as more hands wrapped around your torso and hoisted you onto something solid. Whatever you had been placed on was large and rugged, rough points protruding into different places on your back. Your hands were snatched upwards and bound by something above your head, your feet followed as they too were bound.

"What's...going on?" You croaked slowly, keeping the sentence short as the air moving through your throat felt like sandpaper with every breath. That felt like almost too much as the moment the words were out you grew nauseous and felt your vision blur.

"What the fuck...?" An uneasy man whispered, disbelief soaking into his voice. "Ju-Judas you said they were all dead. You said the crash would have killed every-"

"Nikolai! Buddy!" A much more charismatic voice snaps, charisma lacing every word.

"So what, she's a...little bit alive!" You resisted against the ropes weakly, no strength was left within you. 
Judas placed his hands onto Nikolai's shoulders and crouched down a bit, meeting him at eye level.

"I..I don't know about this...if she's alive then we'll have to..." Nikolai's voice trailed off, he couldn't even say it.

"Buddy.." Judas sighed, turning Nikolai away from your current bound and semiconscious form, "Do you want to be rich and famous like the guy from Maroon 5? Or do you want to be a huge suicidal loser?"

"..Maroon 5." He answered sadly.

"Help me...please..." You cried, your voice not even reaching a whisper. The headache you were fighting past was pulsing in your head.

"Good! Then grow a pair and fetch me the ritual! God." He commanded, sending Nikolai obediently to retrieve the spell. "Honestly, Niko, there was always the possibility people would live, that's the sole reason the whole convent came with us, to make sure we had enough manpower to handle any stragglers too stubborn to die."

"...I know.." Niko said dropping the intimidating book in front of Judas, already open to the correct page. 

"Now, lets begin.

We come here tonight to sacrifice the body of..." He glanced down at you "This chick from London."

"My names Y/n..." You finally managed to push out, your tongue heavy and throat constricted. Your mind was slowly beginning to crank back into gear. Only forcing the realization that your eyes were most certainly damaged, as even through the little light you could make out, nothing would focus into view

"That's fascinating." Judas beamed sarcastically.

"Please...I'll do anything-" 

"I only hump nines and tens," He interrupted, "and you're a seven at best, maybe even a six with all this dirt on you."

You had no more energy to speak, he disgusted you but you couldn't run away. You were stuck with him and everyone else in the room and you wanted to scream. Your throat was certainly raw and how hard it was for you to just take a single breath let you know how close to death you were. And so, with no other hope left, you prayed. You prayed and begged for Superman or for Wonder Woman to burst through the walls and save you. For someone, anything to help you. Tears leaked from the side of your eyes and down your temples, you could barely frown with how weary your muscles were. 

"She's crying! Jesus, I said you were maybe a seven!" He mused, clearly satisfied with himself, "However we haven't got all night someone is waiting for your sacrifice lil lady." He turned back away from you, reemerging with a knife. It was long and jagged, appearing as though its main purpose was to scare you.

"Now I'm gonna carve you like a pumpkin, then you can meet our friend okay?" And with his words all around you chanting sparked from like a wildfire growing in whatever area you were in. Low and steady the voices recited their mantra. You couldn't react, you wanted to sob, scream and thrash, but you couldn't. Every emotion remained trapped within your mind as your body felt dead to you. The chanting grew louder and louder steadily deafening everything in the room.

Without warning, the knife dived down and imbed itself deep within your abdomen, you let out a choked gasp, but Judas' hand found its way onto your mouth.

"Sh. don't ruin it." He cooed.

You didn't feel it at first, a simple dull throb. Then the throb grew into a burning sensation. Your hand weakly crawled up until your fingertips lightly grazed the hand that stuck the blade in you. Your mind was blank. Judas twisted the blade and that's when your screams began. As the blade turned, your insides felt on fire. Every nerve in your core was being ripped and torn. Blood began to pool around you, your howling smothered by the hand covering your mouth. He ripped the blade out and rose it high, driving it down again. He tore it out and stabbed you again. You tried to fight him, but you were too weak. Your body writhed in agony. Your mind was short-circuiting with the white-hot pain spreading through you. He removed his hand from your mouth and your screams bounced off the walls and accompanied the chanting within the room. This was hell. Every inch of you screamed to be released. Again the knife came up and pierced your abdomen, his swings up and down were heavy, each feeling like a punch as it connected with your gut. The flesh around your stomach was torn bloody and no longer was complete enough to keep your innards together. At this point, you couldn't form a thought. You reverted back to your primal desire to escape and only sobs and yells escaped from your throat as you flung your body as much as you could given the circumstances. But even your sobs were beginning to die out as your mouth was starting to fill with blood, you choked on the warm liquid, copper being so prominent in your mouth and nose that you were close to hurling. 

A clink sounded next to you, the knife was finally freed from your flesh and splattered your blood all over the area it was thrown. The blood gushing from your numerous lethal wounds spilled over the table and splattered onto the floor and the numerous people that were close enough to be within range of the carnage. 

"Never gets old." Judas commented, swiping his thumb across his cheek and licking the blood off.

Your body lay on the table, mutilated and destroyed. Your breaths were short and labored. Your hands were cold and still. You felt every last inch of your body surrounding you as though you were suffocating in a suit of flesh.

Then something shifted. The chanting began to slowly leak into your mind as though it were radiation penetrating every pore of your skin. The words seeped into your mind making more and more sense the more they were said. Your body began to twitch violently, blood spilling out of your wounds. It was hypnotic. The chant continued, and soon you found yourself feebly mimicking the words through the blood that was drowning your lungs. You had no choice though, it was as if the words were being pulled from you by a rope and mixed into the air. 

Suddenly the room shook. A heavy and powerful rumble, cracking many parts of the ceiling and crashing them down onto the floor. And through all the pain and chaos, a smooth and low voice echoed in your mind so clearly, you would have thought it was spoken in your ear.

Submit. 

The twitching became more and more violent until you began to shake viciously against the table. The constant stress of the evening throwing you into a mild seizure.

Submit...and I will take your pain. The voice remained just as calm and clear.

Your lungs burned, a distant reminder of the immeasurable amounts of agony every inch of you was feeling. Your vision was blurring, hot tears left trails down your face as your gagged voice gasped for air in between the chanting. Rough and bloody hands grasped onto the sides of your head,

"Why is she not dying!?" Judas screamed, his eyes darting violently across your face. Your eyes were rolled back and your mouth was open, blood spilling from the sides.

You let out a thick and ugly wail as your back arched against the table. Your mind white-hot, nothing running through you but the wail racking your body. Your voice echoed throughout the room, bouncing against the walls and ricocheting back at you in an unnatural manner. And under your voice, another one began to form. Deeper than your own. The sheer agony causing you to thrash and squirm on the table. 

"Something went wrong!" Another voice cried. The people in the room backed up, panic and unease bubbling within their guts.

"She's supposed to be a sacrifice, why is she being possessed!?" 

"Dont stand there! We have to stop this!" Judas yelled, rushing to your side to restrain you. Many others followed and grabbed at various parts of you, pushing you roughly down onto the table, each struggling with just how violently you were thrashing now.

You felt suffocated. There were too many people, there was too much. Your wails devolved into roars and your thrashing became more and more animalistic. The fear in your body smoldered into a rage and burned at you until it escaped you in unearthly screams. Your vision was turning red. Humans were losing their shape and just became blobs of white against a red sea. Your mind was losing its focus and nothing felt real anymore. Your hand broke free from their grasp and shot forward, landing itself through the head of one of the cultists. Your hand warm as it paused inside his skull. You snatched it away and his body fell. Screaming and utter panic arose in the room at what you had just done. The tried to reclaim your freed hand, but failed as you only managed to free the other.

You roared, an ungodly wail falling from your lips. Your voice struck like lightning, booming through the area. You kicked your foot out and it went through the chest of someone, effectively freeing yourself entirely, the momentum of being let go of knocked you off the table and pulled your foot free, your lower leg now slick and warm with the blood of another. But that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the pure rage that coursed through you. You had no control. You scrambled up on all fours and dashed wildly forward. You crashed into a wall and managed to crush a man under your sheer force, his ribs cracking with a wet snap. You dropped to the ground almost slipping with how wet everything was, the man's gasping cries fading into a choking mess of sobs and choking.

More. I want more.

You whipped around wildly and dashed until you caught the cloak of a man trying to flee, your hands shot through the thick skin of his torso. Grabbing his spine, you squeezed as hard as you could, your inner aggression taking itself out on the bone. He began to crumble underneath your hold. His legs gave way and you fell on top of him, your hands still deep within his chest, you squeezed harder, his legs moving involuntarily until again you heard a snap. You hauled yourself up straight, your body covered in blood. Clothes torn.

Before you could take another step, a blindingly gold circle erupted beneath your feet, light shooting up into the air burning you in the process. You screamed, another voice screaming underneath yours. You quickly jumped forward to escape the circle but were roughly launched backward as some sort of invisible force kept you within the confines of the circle. You hit your back against the other side and landed on your hands and knees, you sloppily scrambled upwards. The only thing you could see were the cultists escaping from the room with the newly cleared path. 

Pain shot through your head. You lurched forward, a loud painful groan erupting from your throat.  You fell to your knees once again. The pain a slow and throbbing one, not enough to kill but enough to slow your future movement. You punched the barrier containing you, an immature act of anger.

"I'm afraid that's well beyond useless, lass."  You whipped around, facing the voice that called out from behind you. Growls emitting deep from within you, "Though I'm sure it's not the lass that's in control right now. The poor son of a bitch." He pitied, eyes landing on the mutilated and bloodied woman growling like a caged dog before him.  Not that you would have been able to respond, your mind was reduced down to pure instinct. 

"Alright," The man said, approaching the containment spell a little closer. He swung his hands out and closed his eyes in concentration, his mind looking to search your aura,  "so which one of you dirty bastards is responsible for all this trouble-" His words caught in his throat as his eyes flashed open. His eyes instantly shooting straight for your own. He looked past your gaze and into the eyes of what had its hold on you.

"How the devil did you get here.." He hissed twisting his hand, a spell spinning around his fingers. Without hesitation, a chain formed around your hands another shot up from the ground and went around your throat, keeping you bound to the spot.

You silenced your screaming. You stared at him for a moment before an iniquitous smile pulled at your lips. 

Not seconds later, a heavy and warm sensation covered you. You suddenly took on a pale look, as if you had been painted with white-wash. Then with a single drop of his hand, you collapsed onto the floor like a puppet suddenly released of their strings and everything went dark.

Chapter Text

You jolted upwards. The thin blanket draped around your body fell to your waist allowing for a gust of cold air to dance across your skin, raising goosebumps. Your face was beaded with sweat and your breathing was heavy like you had just been held underwater for too long. Where were you? What was going on? You threw the blanket off of your body and stuck your hand out so you could lift yourself. You quickly fell downwards, misjudging the end of the bed. You hit the floor with a loud thud, the sensation knocking a bit of breath from your lungs. You wasted no time, your feet pushed forward and forced your back against the bed you had just fallen from. Your eyes darted around. A window to your left and a door straight ahead of you. You were in a bedroom, whose room though you had no clue. It certainly wasn't yours. It was kind of small and was filled with only the necessities. Nothing like the clutter that had brought you joy at your own place.

Without warning, the anxiety bubbling within you spiked as the memories of what had happened flooded your head and drowned every other thought you were having. The sudden attack made you gasp. Your breathing picked up and you felt as your head started to get light. You remembered vividly every detail of what happened, the blade taking form in your head and morphing into a feral dog tearing away at your abdomen.
Your hands flew to your stomach in a frenzied panic, the fear bursting out in a long and hollowed wail. Your hands feverishly ghosted across your skin, looking for a cut or scar or anything. But not a single slash or drop of blood covered you. 
In the distance, you heard a door open and shuffling follow it. Who was that? You froze. Damn it. You and your goddamned crying. The few tears that left your eyes froze in place as your body went stiff. Footsteps began echoing from outside the door directly opposite of you. You wanted to run or to go and throw the door open to confront whatever it was that was stalking forward. And perhaps you would have had you not been frozen from the fear and trepidation. You wrapped your hands further around your stomach, a feeble attempt to comfort yourself. 

Manage your emotions. 

A voice whispered. You nearly choked as you whipped your body around, looking for the source of whoever had spoke. 
Who was-

You are safe.

Safe? Safe from those cultists? Who was saying that? Were you going crazy?

"Who are you..?" You uttered, your eyes scouring every inch of the room, no one was there and not a single response came.

"Hello? Don't just stop talking." You pleaded.

Seconds later, a few light knocks sounded against your door. You kept as still as you could for god knows who it could have been. Silence followed, a bit of shuffling, and then a throat clearing finally gave way. 
"I um...Lass? Are you awake?" 

"Y-yes" You're voice cracked, the desperation you were feeling obvious in how pitiful you sounded. You didn't want to be alone anymore, and at this point, you didn't know if you cared who was on the other end as long as they had a face to their voice. The knob slowly turned and the door was pushed open. From behind it, a tall blond man stepped through. 

"Ah lass you look down bad," He pitied seeing you shaking on the floor, he stepped closer to you and took a knee, meeting you at eye level, the gesture easing your nerves just a bit, "I know this is a rather bad question, but how are you holdin' up? You were rather...well let's say ill when I found you-" 

"Where am I? Who are you?" You spat out, cutting him off, the hostility in your voice was not directed at him but rather existed as a product of the rollercoaster of anxiety you were having to process. You kept your arms held tight around your body, a paranoia now existing at the thought of leaving that area uncovered.

"Ah, yes, I should probably explain to you all that happened, huh? Im John Constantine," Something deep inside you growled at the name, an unnatural feeling you knew did not come from you "it's a pleasure to see you up and in the land of the living after so long. What all do you remember?"

You brushed the feeling aside and forced yourself to think for a moment, being careful to avoid any memory that was too fresh. "The train crashed, then I was...harmed. I don't remember anything really past the attack. I felt my vision go black, and then I woke up here." You recalled, thinking back to make sure you hadn't left anything out. 

John sighed softly, "Well lass, this is gonna be a bit of a hard story to tell you." He stated, turning his head away from you. The silence crept back in between you two. You sat there expectantly waiting for him to relive the past for you that you had somehow missed. How were you even alive right now? You had never been stabbed before, but you had dealt with plenty of patients at your job as a nurse who had been. Never had you dealt with someone who had been stabbed as viciously as you that had survived, or even been near any form of life.

"How about I tell you over lunch? I'm sure you're peckish after a week of sleeping." He offered, more so for the sake of delaying the conversation to give himself a little more time to think over how he would present it "You can change into some clothes, and then I promise I won't make you question what's going on anymore, yeah?" You looked down at your body and noticed you were still in the bloodied and torn clothes from before. And at that moment, everything solidified in your mind that it really happened. The train really did crash and you really had been sacrificed or used as an offering by those cultists. Your eyes burned back at the thought. You had finally done something for yourself, and the reward you got was being sacrificed. You nodded your head,  your lip tightening into a line to keep your emotions at bay. Sure you knew it was probably unwise to trust a man you just met, but something about his presence made you feel at ease.   

"Alright." You said through a breathe. Your hands loosened from around your body and fell to your sides.

"Good, now," John stood and walked towards a dresser, inside he pulled out a bundle of clothes and handed them to you. "I checked your shirt size from your tag and then just guessed the rest of the sizes based on that. " You took them and hugged them to your chest, your lack of suitable clothing beginning to bloom into embarrassment in your head. "Tell me if they don't fit," He commented again "you can wear some of my clothes otherwise." With his final words, he left the room and closed the door behind him, locking it tight. Allowing for the silence that had first been driving you stir crazy to creep back in and make itself known. The clothes that were sitting tightly against your chest acted as your one source of comfort. You had no clue what was going on and the permeating sense of anxiety that was weighing on your throat was enough to keep you relatively silent and still. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You hadn't been awake long but already you were exhausted. How long did he say you were unconscious for? A week? You leaned your head back until it hit the bed. You wondered if this was how your coma patients felt. With your head resting against the bed, you simply remained still and let your body absorb the silence that surrounded you. Cars and people were heard from outside the window, a sign you were still within the city. That was good. Those familiar sounds of honking and chatter had grown on you since you had moved to London, it reminded you that you weren't alone in the world and there were others out there who were having similar bad days. And right now, that's exactly what you needed to be reminded of. 

Get dressed.

Your eyes shot open and you bolted up. "Hello?" You called. It was the same voice from before. You know it wasn't John, his voice was lighter and had a thick Liverpool accent. This one was different. It was deep and held a gravel to it that sounded like it would be painful, yet through it all, it was smooth and steady. Very little fluctuation or bend in it. It was inhuman.

"John will know what this is...I hope.." You whispered as you began to change clothes, unwilling to continue staying in a room that was whispering to you.

The moment your new clothes were on - clothes that you were surprised fit you so well - you flung the door open and rushed out. Trying to keep your pace at a speed that didn't seem to be too manic. You followed the sound of dishes and odd objects clinking together down a hallway. Your feet were silent. Strange. It wasn't as though you always stomped when you walked, but the thud of your footsteps connecting with the floor was another thing that seemed to change. Your feet sounded as if they never even hit the floor. It was surreal. As the hallway ended, you found yourself in the living room, a small kitchen to the side of it. John had his back turned to you and was busying himself with something, still yet to notice your presence. You quietly sat yourself down at the island that separated the two rooms and remained still. Your hands folded in your lap and busied themselves with cleaning underneath your nails as you didn't want to bother any of his things. The sound of the tv caused you to turn around. As your eyes caught the screen, images of the news caught your attention. A large train car had been torn from the tracks and lay crushed in on itself. It was the train you had been on. 

"-unknown total casualties, authorities are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong and caused the train to flip so-" The tv flicked off. You turned back around only to meet John with two bowls of cereal in his hand and one offered out towards you. You let the thought of the tv go and accepted the bowl, with all the preparation he was doing you had thought it would have been something he actually cooked. He stood on the other side of the island and leaned back against the counters that were behind him.

"Tell me, Miss..."

"Y/n." You answered, allowing him to completely take charge of the conversation.

"Miss Y/n. Do you believe in an Afterlife?" He asked you, taking a spoonful of his cereal. The question coming out of left field almost entirely. 

"I mean- I don't know. My mother was very religious, so I suppose I should, but I don't know." You answered truthfully, ignoring the cereal.

"What about angels? Or demons?" He pushed further.

"I- I don't know-" What did this have to do with anything? 

"Well lass, the accident you were involved in wasn't accidental." He stated calmly. Dread began to build within your chest. You already knew this conversation wasn't going to mean anything good for you. "It was planned as an act of sacrifice for a rather strong demon."

"Demon? What?"

"It's true, and the spell this idiotic cult used to summon this demon was the wrong spell. They summoned the wrong demon and in turn, angered the demon they did summon. Simply put lass, they offered the orange to the apple demon, instead of the orange to the orange demon as they had meant to. Apple demon wasn't happy and instead of taking the orange, it possessed the orange to kill the people that gave it to him." He kept his explanation short, but the information he provided was enough to throw you completely off. 

"I don't understand-" You uttered. This was making no sense and you really couldn't put up with any more of this demon talk. Your mother had given you enough lectures about them to last you multiple lifetimes. "Demons are real?" You asked dryly, your voice a cold wind against your throat. 

We are all too real. You whisked your head around. 

"Are you hearing its voice?" He asked setting the bowl down and leaning down on his elbows on the island. You could only nod. You kept looking around but gave up the search as your previous attempts had also all been futile. This couldn't be happening. Was that why you were comatose? Because the demon possessed you?

"That's why you were comatose, yes. The demon was healing your body, as the wounds, you had sustained were rather drastic." 

You eyed him for a moment. Who was this man really? The...demon, that was inside you reacted negatively when he introduced himself, and he knows far more about all of this than he should.

"I'm John Constantine, you may not know me lass, but I'm a...petty...dabbler of the dark arts and topics related to it. I know far more about this topic than you would think." 

"Dark Arts..? You mean like...witchcraft?" You asked, witchcraft was not something you wanted any part of.

"I suppose you could call it that, but witchcraft is different. Dark Arts are...well simply put I can do a few fancy tricks here and there to get me out of trouble. Enough about me though, here's where I have my proposition for you, Miss Y/n." He calmly reached into his pocket and pulled a cord bracelet out, leaving the jewelry laying in his open palm.

"The official statement, after the wreck, has been stated that everyone aboard the train is legally dead." He paused, looking you in your eyes. The look was a hard one but held a tenderness within it that forced you to maintain eye contact, not that you would want to look away. John so far has been the most comforting thing for you in a while. "I know some people who can set you up with a new life. New house, new job, plenty of money to get you started, but this would entail you having to come to terms that you will be stuck with this demon having a joyride on your body forever as I will have no way of contacting you and helping you rid yourself of it" he let out a sigh, that option did not sit well in his conscious, "That or you could stay here. The room you woke in is a guest room. You could stay there and I could help try and figure out how to remove this demon from you permanently. This bracelet here is a sort of spiritual...nullifier. It will make it so the demon cannot affect the outside world as long as it is trapped within you. So you won't have to ever worry about waking up in the middle of a blood bath of the demons doing." He finished.

John remained silent, he knew the demon was probably speaking to you. He already knew it was trying to convince you to leave his protection. Your eyes lowered themselves and looked down at the bracelet that lay in his hand. You, however, already knew your answer and didn't need a body snatcher to try and weasel its way into your thoughts. Plucking it from his palm you held it tightly and looked him in the eyes, your brows furrowed together and you felt your chest burn a little.

"I want to stay." Precise words exited your mouth, leaving no room for miscommunication. You were staying and were going to get your life back. Not remain as a puppet for a dummy demon. 

A heavy sigh breathed through John as he slouched even further on the counter.

"That's good to hear dear," He chuckled, tension relaxing under his muscle, "I was worried you'd say no. I feel almost responsible for making sure you're okay."

You smiled softly as you placed the leather cord around your wrist, the energy surrounding it was very warm and instantly felt as though you had been calmed. 

"It's enchanted," John stated noticing your body language change, "I figured you would need something akin to that once you had woken up."

Your hand traced over the bracelet and you couldn't help the emotions that built up, "Thank you." You began to spin it around your wrist, trying to focus your attention to keep tears from escaping. You were tired of crying. 

"So much..so much has happened recently and there's just so much now that I have to understand." Your voice wobbled a little.

I am here. You are not alone.

"I know, and I will do everything I can to make sure this is as easy for you as possible, right lass?" John said in a soft voice, his hand patting your shoulder.

You smiled, you wiped a stray tear, and straightened up, "So what do we have to do first?" 

John smiled softly and laughed a little, "Eager, aren't we? First on the list, is to find out just what in the bloody hell it is that we are dealing with, and who it is that's hitched onto you."

"We're going to research?" You asked a bit apprehensively, watching as John rounded the island and head for the door. You had prayed you would never have to do any more research again after the numerous research projects you had done for Med School. 

"Ay, cant catch a demon if you dont first know his name."