Five Years Later, a call in the night.

It was night out in Las Vegas when she got the call. Another one just outside the burbs of the city, her parents found her crawling on the ceiling speaking in hisses and vomiting some black bile that burned the floors before they finally gave her a call. Stepping out of the cab and putting out her cigarette, Zatanna Zatara paid the cab driver and told him to stay there until she was done. Ruffling her long-tailed coat, the pale skinned woman walked up to the door of the house and knocked. A man and a woman opened the door, their faces drawn and scared while the sounds of what seemed like a vicious animal could be heard further inside.

“Mr. and Mrs Sall? My name is Zatanna, we spoke over the phone, please… Invite me in so I can help.”

Giving the woman a look over, the two found her inhumanly pale, almost chalk white in complexion save for her jet-black lips and silky-smooth hair. She wore what looked like a showgirl magician’s one piece made to look like a dress blouse and bloomers, with thigh high nylons and heels. Apart from that she wore a heavy brown coat and a black top hap she tipped in her greeting, taking off the coat and offering it to the man of the house as his wife hastily greeted her inside and let her pass through. Walking down the hallway, she listened as they explained what had befallen their 10-year-old daughter a week ago.

“We thought she was sick with a fever; her skin was so hot but then… She started raving and going into fits of…” Stopping the woman before she began to panic, Zatanna moved in close and hugged Mrs. Sall, a soft glow of indigo light seeming to shine between the two, helping the woman calm down before pulling away. “There is nothing to worry about, I’ve done this before, just trust me.” Getting a nod from the couple, Zatanna quickly turned and entered the girl’s room. Inside she was not disappointed when she found the young girl in her soiled pajamas hissing and laughing at her from the bed, her arms and legs bound to the bed frame and struggling to get free. Her face seemed rotten and weathered, like a child wearing the skin of an elderly man, her teeth yellow and misshapen with glazed eyes leering back at her. Closing the door behind her and locking it with the child’s parents occupying the far corner of the room, Zatanna raised her pale hand to reveal the indigo lantern ring she wore.

“So… What part of the burnings Hells do YOU come from, hmm?” She asked, staring down at the possessed child at the foot of the bed, her eyes glowing indigo along with the ring in her pale hand.

Narrowing her eyes, the possessed little girl snarled, her voice grating and sickly like that of an elderly man. “Zzzzzarrgh, fhoo khaak a breehm kho sa…”

“Ring… Translate.” She whispered, the indigo ring glowing briefly.

“Shee zkaa ghuugh go fuck yourself you top hat wearing vamp tramp, I’ve got a GOOD thing going here, do you know how much pure, undiluted innocent souls go for in Hell?!”

“My name is Zatanna Zatara, I’m going to ask you some questions, THEN you are going to let the girl go.”

Laughing maniacally back at the woman, the possessed child kicked and flailed in amusement, just as Zatanna moved up to the side of the bed and pressed her ring against the girl’s forehead. The moment she did, the demon within the girl screamed in agony, her flails now panicked and desperate. From the door frame, the girl’s parents whimpered and held each other from the sight as their daughter screamed in agony. Pulling the ring away, Zatanna noticed the logo of the indigo lantern corps burned into the girl’s forehead with a thin trail of smoke fizzling out. Panting and coughing, the demon looked up at Zatanna with terror in its glassy eyes.

“That’s compassion, pure and undiluted, I’ve been told your kind has an allergy to that, you are going to answer my questions.”

Nodding the girl’s head frantically, the demon looked up at Zatanna, finally willing to cooperate. “Yeah sure, whatever, just don’t do that again.”

“I want to know where John Constantine is, he was sent to hell five years ago, I want to know where.”

Blinking back stunned, the demon cracked a smile of surprise and snorted, not knowing how to respond to the question. “Are… Are you SHITTING me?! John Constantine? Half of Hell wants to dice up his soul into tiny pieces and glue them all back together wrong for shits an giggles. And the other half want to turn his bones into musical instruments and make his skull an ash tray! You want Constantine? Get in line!”

“Wrong answer.” Outstretching her hand, Zatanna conjured a staff that appeared to be made from bone and yew, elegantly crafted with a pommel that looked like it was made of glass that shone a bright indigo light, that light flooding the entire room with its warmth until it was the only colour in the room. For the two humans in the room, they could only gasp at the sensation; kindness, pure and tangible filled them like it was a balm that could cure an ache or burn, the strange sensation like someone resting a comforting hand on their shoulder and making all their worries fade. But to the demon strapped to the bed, it was something else entirely.

Screaming in blind agony, the demon possessing the girl was wide eyed and wide mouthed with pain. The indigo light seeping into everything in the room and scorching the hell denizen from the outside in. Almost like watching necrosis in reverse, the girl’s flesh bubbled and healed, her complexion coming back in patches that grew by the second, her greasy hair regaining complexion and colour to her glassy eyes. For the demon, he was feeling compassion in its purest form flood over him, and it was killing him. “Tell me where Constantine is… Now.”

“I DON’T KNOW!!!! WHEN HE FIRST ARRIVED, SOMEONE TOSSED HIM INTO THE ABYSSAL DEPTHS, NO ONE GOES TO THE ABYSAL DEPTHS, NO ONE!!!!!”

Turning off the indigo lantern in her staff, Zatanna looked down at the girl, her body and face looking completely healed and free of demonic corruption save for her eyes, the demon’s presence still there but significantly weakened, coughing out phlegm and whimpering. “My girl, Bobbi Joe, please tell me you’re in there.” Whimpered Mrs. Sall as she immediately went to her daughter’s side, wiping her hand over her forehead to check her health and getting bitten on the hand for her troubles.

“FUCK OFF BITCH!” Hissed the demon, glaring back at the woman clutching her hand and back to Zatanna. “No one goes to the abyssal depths because there’s nothing there! It’s a void that’s existed before time began and will exist when time ends, believe me when I say no one wants to go swimming in an ocean to find a minnow… Even if that minnow has managed to piss off half of Hell.”

Breathing in deeply and exhaling, Zatanna tapped her staff again on the floor, filling the room with indigo light and finishing off the demon once and for all. The moment she did the little girl blinked and looked around, confused. “Mommy?” Finally reaching out to their daughter, the Sall’s embraced and untied their daughter from the bed posts and looked back at the woman.

“Thank you… Thank you so much!” Cried Mrs. Sall, hugging her daughter for all she was worth as Zatanna picked up her trench coat and move closer to the family.

“There’s no need to thank me, I do it because I can, and because I… Should.” Looking down at the woman’s bloody hand, Zatanna stared down at the trickle of red, unconsciously biting her lip with her fangs as she felt the thirst. “Should… I should… I should be going!” Storming out of the house, Zatanna found herself biting her own wrist by the time she came back to the Cabby still waiting for her and gesture for him to open the trunk. The moment he keyed the lock to open, Zatanna swung the trunk wide open and rummaged through her bags, panting when she finally found the spare medical blood bag in her belongings and bit down on it, slurping on the blood to sate the thirst for another night. Emptying the bag in seconds, the vampire broke down into tears, cursing herself for forgetting to feed before coming here.

Ever since the ‘War of the Cycle’, Bruce had petitioned Dracula to free her of his command, giving her back her freedom. She was grateful, for everything he did to try and save her, him and Wonder Woman. Returning to the Justice League wasn’t easy, not after the League were given the news of what had happened in Gotham, and losing Power Girl, Batman, Black Canary and John Constantine to the fight. Kara and Bruce were now werewolves and last she heard they were thriving back in New Gotham. Black Canary’s transition into a vampire wasn’t well received anymore when she was forced to tell them about herself. Green Arrow left the League right after that, claiming they didn’t fight hard enough to save her.

Deep down, she felt he was right. But then again, it took Diana to go halfway across the Galaxy just to rescue her soul. Looking down at the simple indigo lantern ring on her finger, she clutched it like a lifeline, the only thing keeping her from being a soulless monster like she did in the war. But the thirst, the thirst she hated the most. It was ever present, every time she looked over to a person’s neckline or noticed a paper cut, it was like a need overtook her, one that grew harder to ignore so long as it wasn’t sated. She hated herself for that, hated what she had become, and hated what happened to John.

The man did everything in his power to save her from Dracula, even going so far as to summon an abyssal demon to break her. After all, if he couldn’t save her, he’d save the world FROM her. And he failed. Clutching the brown trench coat, it was the last thing of his she still owned, the last thing that reminded her of him. For the last five years she had been scouring the states for demonic cults and demonic possessions, trying to get information and save as many people as she could in the process. According to her, if he went that far to try and save her, she felt he deserved the same effort, even if she were to fail or not.

“Hey lady, you doin alright back there?” Asked the cab driver.

“Yeah… I’m good, how about you drive me home.”