A soft creaking could be heard through the house alongside a persistent tik, tok, tik, tok.

Uriel hobbled down the stairs of the mansion, using her wings to balance herself on her wooden leg. It was a makeshift peg sculpted and crafted out of a block of wood and some plastic by Constantine with the help of Mephisto and a few nails and straps. At the bottom, he and Evan were waiting for her. Their faces were trying to be supportive but their sad smiles betrayed their true feelings.

“It works well enough... As a hopeful temporary solution anyway. I can’t even imagine how ridiculous I look though.”

Constantine shrugged sadly. “We’re pressed for time and short on materials. Had I had diamonds and silver-plated metal I’d have made you something more befitting of someone such as yourself.” He laughed. Evan smiled in response. Uriel’s face was unchanged, still ridden with the same shades of deep sadness. Realizing his mistake, Constantine coughed and quickly added: “You still look great Uriel, don’t worry about it. We’ll get you something real good.”

“Thank you... Help me out.” She said, reaching her arms towards them as she reached the bottom of the steps. They both put her arms around their shoulders and helped carry her out of the house. Constantine took a moment to look at Uriel’s wings, awed by their deep black with shades of gray color. Outside parked before them was Katherine’s Cadillac, cleaned of blood and slightly repaired in the back. Its doors were opened and the trunk filled.

“There you go.” Evan said.

“I got it, thank you again.” The angel said as she let go of the two and stumbled slowly towards the car. She grabbed onto the door for support before sitting down in the middle of the back seats, her wings neatly folded on her back. She leaned back as far as she could and closed her eyes.

“Where’s Wrath?” Evan asked Mephisto who was arranging the baggage in the trunk of the car.

“Out, in the forest. She said she needed a moment.”

“I’ll go and get her.” said Evan.

“Did you get all the stuff from the house?” Constantine asked him after Evan left.

“All the food and water that we had left and all the guns and weapons that I could find. Not much is still usable, but enough in my opinion. Pistols, couple of shotguns, even some rifles. A few explosives as well. Also, we should have enough fuel to last us maybe a week at best, couple of days at worst.”

“Good. We’ll be needing all we can get. Did you check the basement as well?”

“Yeah, I didn’t find much worth taking. Trinkets and baubles, your daggers were the only thing worth anything down there.” He reached far into the trunk and pulled out what appeared to be a strange crucifix on a silver chain. “Except this, though you might want this.”

Constantine inspected it closely. The object was similar to a cross with the horizontal part splitting and coiling around the middle stem in a helix pattern before folding slightly down into a pointy tip. It was made from a very hard yet smooth metal colored in a silver-chromium hue. He realized it was similar in shape to Katherine's ear-rings, if slightly larger.

“What’s this?”

“Demonic symbol for hunter, righteous destroyer, bane of the unholy. Demons and beasts of hell fear it, best keep it with you.” Seeing Constantine’s apparent disinterest in the object, Mephistopheles continued. “Words and symbols have power Constantine. They are what we keep with us down there, when the torment on our souls strips everything else away.”

Convinced, he put the chain around his neck, tucking the pendant beneath his shirt. As the cold of the metal seeped into his skin, his mind lingered on the thought of hell. A yawning chasm filled with fire and brimstone. He shook it off but turned and asked. “What words did you keep with you down there?”

The demon stopped, his eyes then trailed away from Constantine’s drifting towards empty space. He licked his lip and opened his mouth to speak.

“Only two... Camael.” He closed the trunk. “And vengeance.”

“Who-”

“You ready to go?” Wrath interrupted the both of them, appearing as if out of thin air behind Mephistopheles.

“Yeah, we are. Let’s go.” The demon turned towards her. Her appearance was that of the almost normal girl that she was when the sun shone down upon her. Constantine looked at her and smiled, and her golden-white eyes shone back at him.

“Wait.” He said, breaking from Wrath’s mesmerizing look and glancing back at the house. “We just gonna leave it like that?”

“The land itself will protect it from most evils. Without anything to devour here no pale shadow will meander around, so no worries there. And besides, this whole area’s been long abandoned by whatever was alive or dead save us and maybe some unfortunate survivors. It’ll be fine.” Wrath told him.

Constantine nodded begrudgingly and went with them inside the car. Mephisto rode shotgun with Wrath driving, Evan behind her, Uriel in the middle, and himself on her right. It was a long and quiet drive. Nearly all of their moods were down due to the sullen atmosphere of the lands they passed on the road. Everything was desolate and ruined. Abandoned villages, towns, homes and buildings was all that greeted them. The sound of Mephistopheles messing around with the radio startled Constantine awake from his half-slumber.

“Anything?” He asked with a yawn.

He saw Wrath shake her head.

“What the hell happened out there…?” He mumbled to himself, changing his position to rest his head on the window against the white overcoat that he used as a pillow. He opened his eyes and saw Evan sleeping soundly, his back standing on Uriel’s left wing that wrapped him gently like a black quilt. Uriel herself was sleeping with her head leaning on Evan’s chest and his arm wrapped around her. Constantine smiled.

“It amazes me how these two can sleep so comfortably after all that happened.” He said out loud, quiet enough to not wake them but loud enough for the others to hear.

Mephistopheles looked back at them and chuckled. “Let them be. We all need the rest.”

“I was just saying… I wish I could sleep like that.” He frowned.

“The nightmares still keep you up at night Constantine?” Wrath inquired.

“How do you…”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I can hear you at night. I can see you squirm when everyone else is asleep.”

“You know, Santa, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were stalking me.” He said with a depressed chuckle.

Wrath laughed. “I can’t help it. Its as natural to me as it is to you to see black and white.”

He smiled, intending to continue the conversation, but a single name from inside his mind stopped him. Feeling the change, Wrath asked: “What do you dream about?”

No response. Constantine stared blankly outside the window. He hadn’t noticed when the time had passed, but it had already gotten dark.

“What time is it?”

“Almost twelve.” Mephisto answered.

“Should we pull over and call it a day?”

“If you two wanna get some shut-eye, go ahead. I can drive just fine at night.” Wrath said.

“Still, we should stop and eat something at least. I’m starving.” Argued Constantine.

Both of them nodded in agreement. “Ok, I’ll pull over into the nearest gas station, which seems to be a couple kilometers off. We’ll stop there for the night.”

----------------------------------------

“All of them?” Katherine asked, her voice aching with melancholy, like a child forced to do their chores.

“All of them.” Kaidan replied.

“There’s… a lot of them.” She continued, her face painted in worry as she peeked over the ruined windowsill and looked down.

“Twelve, to be exact. What, you worried?”

“Oh huh, twelve soldiers with machine-guns, piece of cake right?” She said, annoyed.

“I heard stories of you, you’ve faced worse things, so yes, piece of cake.” Kaidan’s smug voice said.

“Then if you heard stories of me, stop treating me like some mongrel pup you can just order around as you please.”

Kaidan was displeased at her remark, but he subdued his anger with a smirk. “Octavian gave me the command here, and I want to see what you are capable of. You don’t have much of a choice here, love.”

Katherine sighed and looked around at the other man that hid inside the building with them. Samael, or Sam as he wanted to be called, sat across from her. He was a powerful man wide like a brick wall and his armored outfit did not make him any smaller. Beneath his featureless silver mask he hid a thick ginger beard and the scarred gaze of a powerful elder demon. He was very quiet and rarely said anything, unlike the other one. He was currently behind the wheel of a truck a bit farther away from their location. Ronov was smaller and had a more athletic appearance, but a much somber and grimmer gaze. Underneath his blonde fringe hair were two thin cashew eyes that paranoidly judged every action around them. His costume was less armored than Sam’s, being nothing but a vest underneath a long ragged jacket. He would have freaked her out, if she wasn't used to dealing with stranger things.

“I’m guessing you guys aren’t gonna help me?”

“No, we’re here for what they’re holding in there.” Kaidan said, pointing at the large blue crate that the soldiers seemed to be guarding. “ Their envoy has been delayed, thanks to some of our boys, leaving the load ripe for the picking. You go in, kill them, me and Sam put it in our truck and we drive off.”

“Fine.” She spat. “But answer me one thing, are they human, or demons like you?”

“They’re demons.” He lied, but his voice held just enough truth to convince her. Or so he thought at least.

“Well that makes it a lot easier.” She grinned as her black eye turned a scarlet hue that shone with unholy power before she vaulted out over the windowsill.

While falling, she pointed her halberd downwards and wrapped her legs and arms along the handle, bracing for impact. She plummeted onto an unexpecting guard, crushing his spine and a portion of the street beneath him, killing him almost instantly. Dust and debris scattered through the air, obstructing vision, but that did not stop the bullets from gunning towards the cloud from seven different directions. They paused for a moment. A head flew from within towards one of the nearest soldiers hitting him square in the face. He staggered back, and an instant later when he opened his eyes he found his torso cleaved open and his entrails rapidly falling out of him. Katherine ran like a black blur past him, cutting down another two with poor reflexes before either could blink. She then tumbled behind an abandoned car on the sidewalk out of the rain of bullets.

“Haa… haa… haa…” She panted. Bullets kept hitting the metal casing of the car, smashing the windows and slowly, but surely carving their way through. She looked at her left hand, a profane symbol glowed with reddish hues on the center of her palm. She then smashed her hand down onto the pavement, and dashed away from the car.

“Hashri ka da-hurg!” She heard demonic speech screaming before thorn vines lashed out from beneath the pavement. It whipped towards the soldiers and kicked up rocks, cement, and dust, making it nearly impossible to see. The other five soldiers did not stand a chance. Bullets flew aimlessly through the cloud of thorns but between the vines lashing out and Katherine running like a black phantom through them, her crimson blade raining death upon the blood-spattered battlefield, few proved to be effective. When the screams and dust settled only three people remained standing, Katherine and two soldiers in front of the crate. One of them was significantly smaller than the other, his hands shaking as he tried pointing his rifle at Katherine, who was as still as a statue. Even so, the bullets whizzed past her, not hitting anything aside from the ruined cars behind her.

The other soldier raised a hand at him, and the bullets stopped. This one was much bigger, both in height and muscularity, and carried a massive silver shield slightly taller than him. It curved around his body and emblazoned on it was a sword piercing a skull. The man stepped forward, challenging the Huntress to a duel. She nodded, twirling her halberd in her palm. The two paced around each other briefly. Katherine was the first to strike as she rushed towards him, swinging her weapon full force. The blade embedded itself into the metal shield. The soldier quickly and forcefully pulled the shield leftwards and up, hoping to yank the blade out of her hands. Katherine’s hands however, latched to it as if they were chained to the halberd. As she was pulled into the air, she used the momentum and swung around the shield dislodging her weapon from it. She spun as she landed on the ground behind him, with her blade cleanly slicing through his neck. His eyes were wide open in shock as moments later his head tumbled from his shoulders and smashed against the pavement before being crushed by his body and shield.

Katherine rose from the ground, running a hand through her platinum-white hair.

“Amen.” She solemnly whispered. The thorns and vines subsided back into the ground, and the red power that fluttered from her eye vanished. Only a black iris remained. Katherine then turned and walked to the other soldier, who cowered against the crate, his young eyes begging for mercy. “I won’t kill you. I already finished my prayer of death. Move from the crate.” She told him.

“Oh but you will, love. Kill him.“ A voice called out from behind her. She turned halfway and stared at Kaidan, her eyes full of spite. “Don’t glare like that Kath, I said all of them. That includes him.”

“If I start another prayer, it must be finished, and that would include killing you two as well.”

Kaidan stepped forward, staring her down intimidatingly. Their eyes locked.

“Do it then. Starting with him.” He smirked. How she hated his smile. It was a smile full of everything she deemed evil in her life, and would have gladly smashed his teeth if given the chance. She knew however, she was outmatched. Sam was standing right behind him, looming like a stone giant. The holes in his mask where eyes should have been hid a gaze that even then sent a chill through her. Even if she were to take on both, the consequences Octavian would prepare for her would be most severe. She yielded, averting her gaze from Kaidan. Katherine could not bear to watch his smug face for another second.

“Get up.” She ordered the soldier. Her eyes hid hints of remorse beneath her hair.

“P-phleasee!” He babbled, shielding his face with his hands.

“Die with some dignity at least. Get up.”

He stifled a sniff and obeyed her, rising and trying to stand defiant. His shaking knees betrayed him. Katherine turned around and walked away a couple of steps, before she spun around quickly, vaulting her halberd over her head and bringing it down upon the soldier like a guillotine. His eyes stared forward blankly. The light faded quickly from them as his two halves slumped over and splattered against the street. His hands twitched once and then all was still.

“That makes twelve.” Katherine sighed.