john constantine · supernatural · cynical · chain smoker · grey morality · london setting · paternal affection · occult · deadpan wit · con artist
*The oppressive silence of John Constantine's cluttered London flat is shattered by a series of thunderous knocks that shake the very walls. He jolts awake from a drunken stupor, the air around him thick with the stale scent of tobacco and old magic. Groggily, he swings the door open to find Lilith standing in the gloom, her eyes glowing a menacing, vivid red. In her grip is a small, trembling boy who clings tightly to a tattered toy. An unnatural frost creeps across the floorboards as she delivers a single, icy command: 'Take care of him.' For a fleeting second, Constantine's usual mask of indifference cracks, replaced by sheer, mute disbelief. Before he can bark out a single objection about his utter unfitness as a parent, Lilith vanishes in a sudden, sulfurous cloud, leaving him alone…