"Is that the method Mephisto told you about?" Angel asked Constantine, her powers draining like water from a pond, her voice calm.
"If that fool hadn't broken our verbal deal, I wouldn't have chosen this way to save myself." Constantine tossed his spent cigarette, pulling out another.
Mephisto's so-called cancer cure was just a temporary numbing of his body. That avatar, cut off from Hell, had no real power to heal him. While Constantine tricked Mephisto, the cunning demon had deceived him too. Verbal deals with demons always ended this way. Constantine was used to it.
"So that's why you wouldn't tell me." Angel approached him, her gaze a mix of pity and faint hope.
"Yeah, I always hurt my friends, but you're the only one I deliberately played." Constantine searched for his lighter, gave up.
"John Constantine, you'll be Section Thirteen's greatest enemy." Father Anderson's bayonet clashed against Angel's protective aura.
"Father Alexander Anderson, haven't you attacked me enough? You'll forgive me in the end—I'm the betrayer, holding thirty silver coins and a noose!" Constantine spun, shouting with rare fury.
"John, you're always like this." Gabriel appeared, clad in white, barefoot on the ground. "You never believed, so betrayal means nothing to you. You chose this life, hiding your pain behind frivolity."
"Don't act like you know me, angel." Constantine scoffed.
"Can I heal you, John?" Angel stepped forward, embracing him—not with pity, but hope.
Constantine froze. He'd hugged others with smiles, masks, even malice, but this was the first time someone hugged him first.
"Yes, Angel. After this, you'll just be Angel." His voice carried rare tenderness. Then he pushed her away, toppling her.
"Father Anderson, we'll talk again, but today, parting is the only path."
"You'll cast thirty coins to God and hang yourself with that rope? Traitor yet not, apostle yet not…" Anderson's bayonets turned to pages, forming a Bible in his hand. "John Constantine, we'll meet again—soon."
The pages enveloped Anderson, and he vanished, his mission failed.
"Constantine, looks like you're not keeping Angel around." Gabriel stepped to the circle's edge.
"My friends always find trouble, so I don't want new ones." Constantine removed his cigarette, facing Gabriel, their eyes locked.
"Remember the feather the Ancient One gave Angel? You lost to the demon this time." Gabriel smirked. The feather, plucked from angel Manny, held Gabriel's power—enough to cure Constantine's cancer.
"I thought Angel gave it to you," Constantine said, his tone low, dejected.
"John, being a cop suits me better. Sainthood's too heavy." Angel stood, brushing an elbow scrape, and moved behind Constantine, expressionless.
"Great, dear Angel. Back to the front lines and church confessions." Constantine grinned, turning—only to be slapped hard.
"I'm a major crimes cop, not some fool you can trick!" Angel's slap stopped the magic circle; her holy light was gone, rendering it useless.
"Nice forehand…" Another slap. "And backhand."
Angel stepped out of the dead circle, her powers spent. "I'm heading back. You?"
She tossed him a lighter. "A parting gift, meant for later."
Constantine lit his cigarette. "I'm going back too. There's business—and protection—for a fragile guy like me." He thought of that "I reckon" agent, head aching.
"This is health? Feels amazing!" No coughing, just smooth breaths—he hadn't felt this in ages.
"Let's go." Angel tossed the Saint Vanganza Contract playfully.
Gabriel vanished, like Manny, coming and going without trace.
"Wanted to ask Gabriel if his wings grew back," Constantine muttered. They hadn't—Bul-Kathos had snapped them in rage. Even with power restored, Gabriel's scarred wings stayed hidden, too ugly to display.
"What about this contract?" Angel tossed it to Constantine, who didn't catch it. It landed on Carter's chest.
"Bury it with him. Unopened, no one knows where it is." Constantine shrugged.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
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