Truth to be told, the occult detective had spent the entire day avoiding her. He had left home uncharacteristically early in the morning after leaving her a note saying that he was going to meet his oldest and only friend Chas who desperately needed his help with a very stubborn ghost. It hadn’t been complete a lie – he had met Chas. However, there had been no ghost and John had been the one who had desperately needed Chas’ assistance. He wasn’t proud of it but he had spent most of the day opening up to his friend.
John closed and locked the door behind him before snapping his finger to turn on the lights. Taking off his crumpled trench coat, he sighed in defeat as walked in the sitting room of the House of Mystery, wondering whether he would have to spend the following day the same way. He only then realized that he wasn’t the only one awake. Putting on his best mischievous smile, John tossed his coat on the nearest armchair. “Yes, unfortunately, the rumours are true. I’m cheating on you with the most handsome demon in Hell, love. He asked me to say hello to you for him.”
John had needed something to take his mind off the news about Blayze so he had decided to brush up his knowledge of rare ancient curses. Propped against at least five pillows, John sat on the bed which he shared with Zee, a thick book on his lap. The occult detective looked up from the dusty book when he heard familiar footsteps approach the bedroom. He greeted Cyrus with a quirked eyebrow. “So, how long have you been lying to us?” He asked his other son as nonchalantly as he could. “You know, about the fact that your brother is a bloody vampire.”
The question slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “Did you know that your son smokes?” Knowing that it was too late to take it back, Diana cast a look at him and crossed her arms. ”He asked me for a lighter when I ran into him the other day.” ( @hcllblazcrs )
Diana’s sudden question caused John to nearly swallow his unlit cigarette. That wouldn’t have been the first time for John. “Which one?” He croaked after spitting the cigarette on the ground, unsure whether he actually wanted to hear her answer or not. He also couldn’t help wondering if she had already told Zee. A tiny part of John hoped that she hadn’t. "Because I have never encouraged my children to smoke, love.”
Blayze freezes seeing his father drop the dagger — he wasn’t one to do that with any sacrificial object. Which makes him realize that this might not go as he planned for it to. He frowns now, tears forming at his eyes as John starts to speak. “I — I didn’t mean to. I was really scared, dad. I didn’t understand what was happening to me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner — I — I felt disgusting li—like a monster.” He lifts a sleeve to wipe away the tears flowing down his cheeks. Always the SOFT one.
He looks back over at John, feeling small. “I don’t know who they were. I snuck through this abandoned building to get home faster, but they were there feeding — I saw — so they did this to me so I would keep my mouth shut.” He looks down at his feet as his nails start digging into his palms.
John stared at the dagger on the floor. He knew that it was both incredibly selfish and wrong but for a brief moment, relief was all John could feel. His worst fear hadn’t come true, Blayze’s transformation hadn’t been his fault. He hadn’t ruined his son’s life by bringing this upon him – his wife wasn’t going to loathe him forever. Then anger took over hold of the occult detective again. John was going to locate the vampire coven that had attacked his son and he was going to make sure that the said coven would no longer exist once he was done. With or without Zee’s approval. His hands balled into fists, his knuckles turned white.
Only then did John realise that he was blatantly ignoring his son. Blayze was in tears and he had been too lost in vengeful thoughts to notice it. As much as it pained him to admit it, John Constantine had never felt more like his awful late father. Without a word, he walked over to him and wrapped his arms around him. His son needed him right now, he could save planning his petty revenge for later. “We’ll always love you, no matter what,” John assured him before clearing his throat. “Does your mother know?”
It had taken a long time for Wren to feel any semblance of normalcy, and she tended to be rather standoffish any time that people made her feel otherwise. Especially if she didn’t know the person particularly well. Bending over to pick up the soccer ball, her shirt slipped up her back, revealing part of a nasty scar. Wren didn’t even notice until she looked up and caught someone staring.
Her expression hardened into a glare. “What?” she snapped.
Leaning against a tree, John shrugged his shoulders while holding an unlit cigarette. Sure, the occult detective had noticed the scar on her back (it had been impossible to miss, really), but frankly that was none of his business. It was obvious that the girl didn’t want to talk about it. “Nothing,” He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Well, aside from the fact that I’m hiding from my wife because there’s something that I don’t want to tell her. Also, she thinks that I stopped smoking twenty years ago.”
“Himesh!” Magda exclaims. The small cat looks particularly grumpy, not exactly pleased at being held by a stranger. Magda was surprised that the man hadn’t been bitten or scratched yet. Her face falls a bit when the man talks about having named him, unsure if he’s joking. She certainly hopes so. “He can be a bit grumpy to most people,” she says, trying to reach out for him.
“Grumpy?” He repeats, snorting. Sensing that it was time to let his new acquaintance go, John hands over the cat to the wary looking girl and shrugs his shoulders. “He’s been nothing but an absolute angel, love.” Excluding the couple fresh bite marks on John’s arms that were hidden under his trench coat. John was convinced the only thing that had made the cat stop was the taste of his tainted blood. Maybe Himesh had mistaken him for a fellow demon. “Himesh is a much better name, by the way.” He assures her, holding out his hand. “John Constantine. Master of the dark arts. And cat handling, occasionally.”
There was a secret being kept from his parents for the last two years — a scared boy trying to come to a sense of comfort in living as a vampire. He didn’t understand why this had to happen to HIM, but this was all a punishment for sneaking into somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Blayze hasn’t seen those vampires since that night — something he should be grateful for at least.
He walks through the house of mystery until finding his father, knowing that this will be a good start. “I’m going to tell you something, dad. I don’t know if you’re busy, but I NEED to get it off of my chest.” He takes a deep breath as he tells himself to just rip it off like a bandaid. [ @hcllblazcrs ]
“I’m a vampire. I have been for two years because a group of them turned me into one for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dad — ?” Blayze flashes his fangs to prove that he wasn’t joking around.
At first, John thinks that his son is merely joking. He snorts while examining an ancient sacrifical dagger which he had borrowed from Jason Blood when the occult detective had met him earlier that day. (In all honesty, John was surprised that the man hadn’t tracked him down yet. He was fully expecting Jason Blood’s better half, Etrigan the demon to storm inside the house any given moment.) Ready to play along with the joke, he looks up from the stolen item and grins. Then he notices the fangs. His son had fangs. Fangs that unmistakably looked like vampire fangs.
The occult detective drops the priceless dagger and it hits the floor with a sharp clang. John doesn’t even notice. “Two years,” he croaks with a dumbfounded look. “You’ve lied to us for two years.” He stumbles a step back, shaking his head. He needs a cigarette, he needs a moment to take in the fact there was nothing he could do to help his son. He briefly wonders if Zee already knows. A tiny part of him doesn’t want to be the one to tell her. John rubs his temples and lets out an angry sigh. “Which bastard was it? Who did this to you?”
“Excuse me?” Magda stops the nearest person, trying to hide her mild panic. Himesh would be fine, but her indoor cat had gotten out. And she was very concerned, trying to focus on finding him rather than being worried or angry about who let him out. “Have you seen a white cat? Fluffy, about this big? Please, I really need to find him.”
John turns around with an amused look on his face, holding a cat that matches her description. He had been on his way to home when the cat tagged along. “The poor lad kept following me and I didn’t have the heart to leave him since he didn’t seem like a stray cat.” He admitted with a snort, shaking his head. “I already named him Chas, you don’t mind.”
⎣ matt ryan, cis male, he/him ⎤ I just saw JOHN CONSTANTINE walking around new york they’re 52 years old and go by HELLBLAZER . they had kids with ZATANNA ZATARA and I’ve heard they’re MARRIED . they’re also AN OCCULT DETECTIVE. at their best they’re PERCEPTIVE & WITTY but at their worst they can be SELFISH & DECEITFUL. ( savannah, she/her, 21, gmt )
tw: death tw: depression tw: smoking tw: child abuse
BIO
💀 John Constantine is a walking talking mess from Liverpool, England. He’s an anti-hero, a semi-decent magician, a great exorcist, an excellent con artist and the former leader of Justice League Dark. Also, the former lead singer of occultist punk band Mucous Membrane.
💀 Constantine has always had a bad reputation thanks to his usually highly questionable methods and his incredibly bad luck. Neither other magicians or dark creatures like him.
💀 Although he is a magician, John prefers to win fights by lying his way out of them. For example, he has faked selling his soul to poor unsuspecting demons countless times.
💀 Speaking of demons, John’s body is tainted with demon blood. (That he never lost or recently reacquired oops.) The demon blood allows him to cast (some) spells without a cost.
💀 He has suffered from intense self-loathing his whole life. His mother died giving birth to him and his stillborn twin brother. John was raised by his drunkard, abusive father who blamed John for the loss of his wife.
💀 He began experimenting with magic as a young child. (Yes, this will be a mix of his og origin story and his new 52 origin story, come @ me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) John tragically lost his remaining family when he tried casting a spell that would make him a powerful magician. What John hadn’t been told was that the spell required a grand sacrifice in order to work. John’s childhood home suddenly caught fire and burned to a crisp. That night John lost his remaining family.
💀 As a young adult, John formed a punk band with his first love Veronica and his friend Gary who shared who shared his interest in magic and occultism. The band fell apart when a spell gone wrong caused Veronica love to become a monstrous spirit-killing ghost. John was unable to save her soul.
💀 Afterwards, John focused his energy on studying magic. Once he had learned everything that there was to learn about magic in Europe, he headed to New York to study under a powerful mage, Nick Necro. Unfortunately for Nick, John fell in love with his girlfriend, Zatanna Zatara. John ended up dating Zatanna once Nick betrayed his pupils and disappeared.
💀 John and Zatanna broke up when Zatanna’s her father was tragically killed in a seance gone wrong, all thanks to John. Needless to say, Zatanna wasn’t happy with him. Heartbroken and tired of New York, John returned to England and began working as an occult detective to make a living.
💀 The fate of Astra Logue will always haunt him. Astra was an abused girl from Newcastle who was accidentally sent to Hell by John when he tried to free her from the clutches of demon Nergal. John spent the next two years in the Ravenscar Asylum.
💀 He will also always regret the fate of Oliver, his boyfriend who also ended up being sent to Hell thanks to John.
.💀 He was the leader of Justice League Dark (read: the emo version of Justice League) for a short period of time until he ruined everything (including his sort of rekindled relationship with Zatanna) by acting like a selfish jerk.
💀 Anyways, much to everyone’s surprise (including John’s), he somehow managed to make Zatanna like him again. The two of them somehow ended up getting married and had twins. When John found out that he was going to be a father, he considered fleeing. After all, most people he associated with ended up getting hurt and he doubted his luck would spare his children. (Spoilert alert: he ended up staying.)
💀 He became the kind of father that shows up to a PTA covered in sacrificial blood because he put down the wrong date. He loves his children more than anything and he wouldn’t hesitate to let the world burn in order to save them.
💀 John quit smoking when the twins were born. Well, he tried to. He still smokes in secret whenever he thinks that Zee can’t see him.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
ROSE PORTER (-CONSTANTINE) — John’s semi-canon secret daughter from the Injustice comic verse who would be around 24 -30 years old. :’)
favorite comic character meme: [1/1] favorite character, john constantine.
“john constantine, you have been found guilty of first degree cold hearted bastardy.”
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