Harriet Lily Constantine-Le Fay : HP Book One - Prophecy's are for Chumps

001 - Constantine gets a quest.

It had been a long week for one John Constantine. He flopped down into the huge plush chairs that filled the living room of the House of Mystery. Not caring about the mud and blood covered trench coat slapping against the fabric of the chair. His scruffy blond hair pushed back out of his blue eyes as he stared at a stain on the ceiling. A quick thought runs through his mind as he tries to remember where it came from.

Week. Month. Year. Decade. He was so tired of all this malarky of saving the idiots from themselves. Oh, and Demons. Oh, and corrupted gods. Oh, and from mages that wanted to summon all the above. Rising Dark Lords are so on his fucking shit-list as well.

"Ugh! What do I need to do to get a bloody break around here?! I have got to be cursed I swear!!"

His spine shivered like ice had run down it as he felt a flow of energy fill the room. Not mage craft, it was too powerful. Not demonic, too clean. Not angelic, it tasted far too magical and didn't have that holy tang. This was pure godlike magical power, and it was in his fucking house. "Shit! Who's there?!"

A woman appeared before him, floating above the ground. Her long hair that reached past her feet and was so black that the night sky looked bright in comparison. Speckles of magic flickering around her, sparked like stars in front of that black mass. Her eyes were rainbow swirls and shifted through the spectrum as he watched.

~John Constantine, I am Hecate, one of your patrons. You use my gifts to fight for what is right. I have come to bargain with you. ~

Her voice was like honey in his mind, sweet and full, he wanted to have her record it so he could play it back and use it to lull him to sleep on the nights the nightmares were close.

"Uh. Yeah okay. Hecate. New. Nice to meet you but deals with gods usually end up going sideways for me." Memories filling his mind of every god he'd run into, and every being that claimed to be a god. All of them never ended well unless he managed to cheat a better outcome. Usually meaning there are now several dimensions, and realms where he is now no longer allowed to even whisper their names let alone visit.

The smile on the ethereal woman spreads widely, ~I know, John. This time, it is I coming to you, not the other way around. I offer you a quest. To change the destiny of my chosen in this realm. To do one of your favourite things, cause chaos and save good souls. For this, I will offer you a boon, and put up a veil over this world, to make it much harder for those lesser entities to cause problems in this realm. ~

John Constantine looked at this woman, this goddess. He knew of Hecate, and the deals she makes. Her history is about as clean as mud. There is as much blood on her hands as there are lives that she has saved. His brows furrow, as he looks at her.

"Look Lady Hecate, I know for certain we've been on the opposite side of the fence a few times. Why should I trust you're going to be in our yard this time and not just setting up something for a big endgame, like most of you gods seem to do?"

Hecate's smile was like a crystal sun rising from dark water. Her eyes glittering with delight. ~This is why I like you, John. You always think so squirrelly. It is because the one you will help me with is my chosen one this time. Others have used my name or bargained for boons. But this child is to be my champion in this realm. They will stand with my power at their command, and my name on their lips. ~

Hecate slowly floated around the room, smiling as she touched and fiddled with the small magical objects left haphazardly around by John who hadn't bothered to ask Orchid to clean up recently.

~I am tired of the silly little dark lords and light lords, and other such fools claiming my name, I am tired of seeing magic being laid claim to like it was to be split up and categorized. There is no Dark magic, there is no light magic. ~ her rainbow coloured eyes looked to John, and he could tell that she was waiting for him to say what she is thinking.

John felt like a kid being tossed a question in class, but after his long and illustrious career of a decade and a half. Spanning from his early teens to this moment. He had the answer already, "Magic is Magic. There is no bloody colour, it's like a knife, intent is everything."

Hecate laughed and clapped at his response, ~Exactly! That's another reason why I like you, John. You are a true practitioner of magic. ~ She swirled around in a pirouette before coming to a quick stop, and pointed at the man ~I want you to save a child that Fate has placed into a prophecy, one that a Light Lord and a Dark Lord are fighting over, one wants the child dead, the Light Lord now wants to control the child and use it to complete his power grab, which will end up with Magical Britan the weakest it has ever been, driving magical creatures to the brink of destruction, and setting back magical growth to that of what it was in the dark ages!~ The room had started shaking with the goddess' anger.

Hecate's anger slid away, her eyes now looking pleading, ~John, the child is fated to grow up being beaten, starved and hated. Their magics crushed, their soul damaged, and treated little more than a slave. The seers all cry watching the child grow. We cannot save the child's parent's as you don't have the time. I cannot interfere more than to give you my quest and point you in the right direction. ~ her eyes are now sad, ~We are running out of time. ~

John put his head in his hands, "I'm not good with kids. How long would I have them?"

Hecate's smile returned as radiant as before. ~You would adopt her and raise her as your own. For this I promise 10 years of relative peace for I cannot stop every entity, for a boon to remove your cursed luck. And access to several magical libraries none has touched in many, many years. ~

John would have agreed for the first thing on the list, the second was the clincher, the third was the one that made his eyes glisten, "So," he said as he stood up, whacking his trench coat down on his thighs, "where is the little tike?"

Hecate's grin spread wider, ~The child will be found at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England.~ She held up a hand to the man about to rush off into the night, ~First you must journey to my Fae children, there they will have something to help hide the child, to further protect the child from these foolish mortals. Here, let me send you on your way. ~

John opened his eyes, about to refuse the Goddess' help when he heard her soft giggle in his ear before he felt the world twist under him.