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

002 - Stars unaligned

The stars in the sky had been beautiful, twinkling with the kind of clarity that one never sees in a city. The light pollution was non-existent, and there were few clouds in the sky. The moon had been gibbous, casting a serene quietness over the scene that could soothe the soul.

"John?"

It had been such a long time since he had taken a moment to just enjoy the night sky. He spent so much time down in the dirt and blood, having to fight the demons and evil of the world.

"John, you've been laying there for ten minutes now."

He wondered if there was a way to bottle this sky, a way to trap the image forever with its glittering perfection. He'd love to have this as a picture on the walls of the House of Mystery. He'd put it right over the—

"John Constantine, we are running out of time. Just because you were terrible at teleportation landings does not mean the rest of us have time to wait for you to feel better."

A woman's face moved into his view, her long black hair and eyes of equal pitch black were striking and would have been enough to mark her as beautiful, but the rest of the elfin features brought it to another level of beauty. Her pale-skinned hand lifted to push her hair out of her face as she leaned over him. "Would you terribly mind getting up? I haven't spoken to a human in a while, but I didn't think you were prone to stargazing like the night fairies, even though most of them seem to get over that in their third or fourth century."

John blinked, "Night Fairies? I thought those were called—"

The crinkling of those beautiful brows and her acidic tone was enough to actually shut John's mouth for once, "Call them that disgusting name, and I swear I'll let them deal with you themselves. They are Night Fairies; any other name is something the mortals have slandered them with."

John nodded as he thought to himself, 'No need to piss off the human-sized and probably quite willing to use my insides as outsides Fae lady by questioning that.' He grunted a little as he pushed himself up off the ground, feeling older than he was, life having been none too kind to him over the years.

The Fae woman stood next to him as he gained his feet under him and giggled softly, "You're barely twenty-eight, John. Surely you aren't that unfit?" Her dress was long flowing and silvery, the silver was so dark it might as well be black. It shimmered in the moonlight, her pale skin in contrast to the outfit that clung to her otherworldly curves. "I greet thee, John Constantine. I am, in your tongue, known as Maelis Silverveil of the Fae courts of Night."

John shook off the residual daze and nodded, a wry smile forming on his lips, "Well, Maelis Silverveil, pleasure to meet you. Now, about that whole running out of time thing..."

Maelis gave him a lopsided smile, "I am here to give you this." She passed him a vial of what was obviously blood and a necklace that positively reeked of Fae magics, "This is for your charge when the blood ritual ends. It is something only a mortal can pass to another freely, for its power to work."

John narrowed his eyes, "A blood ritual? I'm not a big fan of those; are you trying to summon the goddess or something as bloody daft?"

Maelis blinked and laughed loudly, wiping a tear from her eye as she spoke again, "No, nothing like that. The plan is to exchange the child with a changeling; it's why you're here, Mister John Constantine. To keep the child safe and to ensure those that wish to harm the child are led on a merry chase. Us Night Fae enjoy a good prank, and this one shall be glorious. Almost as good as that one we gave that Rumpelstiltskin.