Work Text:
Jack Clarke walked the lonely streets of Dublin city with his hands in his pockets. It was three days since his girlfriend Emily had disappeared without a trace. He had talked to every person he could think of and came up with nothing. He was just about to give up for the day when he saw her wandering past him with a blank expression on her face.
“Hey Emily!” he cried out but she ignored him. He was about to shout out again when he saw a man with bleached blonde hair and a long trench coat following her. The man grabbed Emily before Jack had a chance to act and pulled her into a nearby apartment building. Jack sprinted after him but only got there in time to see the door to apartment 1A shut.
He began to frantically knock on the door but no one answered. He charged the door with his shoulder and knocked it down. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next. Emily was chained to a radiator in the room and the mystery man was drawing a circle around her with his own blood. “Leave her alone!” Jack shouted.
The man turned slowly to Jack and put his hands up. “Listen to me mate” he said “I’m not the one you should be afraid of here”. He spoke with a Liverpool accent. “Oh really” said Jack “then why do you have my girlfriend chained to a radiator?”. “That’s not your girlfriend” the man replied “My name’s John Constantine and I’m a master of the dark arts”.
Jack started to move closer towards him “Well this is just great, my girlfriend's been kidnapped by a crazy person!”. “I already told you mate” John replied “She isn’t your bloody girlfriend!”. “What do you mean?” Jack asked “Of course she is”. “She’s been possessed by a malevolent Demon, goes by the name of Malice” John said. “Three days ago I felt a demonic presence in this city, I’ve been tracking your girlfriend ever since”.
“There’s no such thing as demons,” Jack replied. “Really?” asked John “Then how do you explain this?”. John took a bottle of holy water out of his pocket and threw some on Emily. Her eyes went black, she cried out in pain and she started to speak in a deep guttural voice that shook Jack to his core. “Hello John” the voice said “have you missed me?”. “Not so much” replied John “But I’m looking forward to sending you back to hell and saving this woman’s life”. “You will never be rid of me” the voice replied and Emily started to pull on the chains that had bound her hands and feet. The radiator started to come loose from the wall.
“We don’t have much time!” John shouted “Do you want to help me save your girlfriend or do you still think I’m crazy?”. “I believe you” Jack shouted back. “What do you need me to do?”. “Hold her down!” John replied and then he started chanting “Exsurgat deus et dissipentur inimici ejus: et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie ejus!”. After John chanted the latin quote Emily’s eyes started to turn back to their natural colour and a puff of black smoke exited her body. “Sicut deficit femus deficiant!” John shouted and the smoke slowly dissipated into thin air.
“That’s Malice put back in his box” John said and started to undo the chains around Emily. “Thank you so much” Jack said “you saved my girlfriend”. “No worries mate” John replied “It’s all in a day's work for a master of the dark arts”. “How can I possibly repay you?” Jack asked. “I’ll tell you what” John answered “You ever see anything out of the ordinary, you give me a call" and he handed Jack a card with his name and number on it. Just like that John Constantine was gone as quickly as he had come.
Emily was unconscious and Jack picked her up and carried her in his arms. As he walked back outside his eyes turned black and he heard Malice’s voice in his ears saying “you will never be rid of me”.