In a hospital in Gotham City, Constantine was lying on a bed. Leaning against the head of the bed and crossing his arms, he said to Clark, who was in front of him, "Clark, I know you're a simple man, but you have to understand, there are people who live differently from you in this world. You can't force others to accept your way of life..."
"But you're dying!" Clark said very seriously, "The doctor said you have lung cancer, your lungs are almost rotten, but you still smoke like twenty cigarettes a day, you're going to die if you keep this up!"
"I'm not going to die, don't you remember? I'm a magician, magic will save me." Constantine casually lit up another cigarette seeming to not care. However before the lighter's flame could even rise, it was blown out by Clark.
Constantine showed a helpless look, he took a deep breath, thought for a while about how to escape from Clark's grasp and took out a small dagger, slicing his own arm open while Clark turned around.
When Clark turned back, he saw that Constantine's arm was bleeding, he immediately ran to the door and yelled, "Doctor! Doctor! He's bleeding!"
When he turned back again, only blood stains were left on the bed. Constantine was gone.
Clark put his hands on his waist, exhaled in frustration, and saw through the corridor window that there seemed to be a robbery outside. So, he flew straight out of the window, arriving at the scene, he shouted, "Stop it, all of you! Stop fighting!"
Meanwhile, Constantine who had used teleportation magic to escape, found himself in front of his apartment. He shook his head, took out his keys and unlocked the door.
The moment he opened the door, a ghostly figure with a deeply lined face rushed at him. Constantine crossed his arms in front of him and was pushed back two steps.
He removed his arms and looked at the demon standing in front of him. He thought for a moment; this looked like a demon he had tricked about two weeks ago. It was indeed about time for it to exact its revenge.
Just as the demon was about to speak, Constantine extended one hand to stop it, then with a snap of his fingers, flames of a magical circle rose beneath the demon's feet. With a quick 'woosh', the demon was pulled underneath the floor.
Constantine walked forward and picked up the candles from the magic circle, saying, "This magic circle is quite useful, it can not only catch owls, but also hang demons. Maybe I can improve it more..."
He left the door open, picked up the burnt pieces of paper from the floor and casually threw them outside. Just as he was about to close the door, suddenly, he felt a resistance on the door handle.
Despite pulling hard, he found a great force coming from the other side. He let go, causing the figure on the other side to stagger backwards, he then took a step back and looked at the figure clinging onto his door. It was a woman in a uniform, looking dashing.
Before she could speak, Constantine held out his hand to stop her and said, "...There was a misunderstanding before, I'm really sorry, it was my fault. I had no choice and I'm willing to make it up to you."
The woman on the other side was taken aback, and asked with some confusion, "Excuse me, is this the residence of Constantine, the Hell Detective?"
"Uh... is this our first meeting?" Constantine was a bit surprised, but he quickly flashed a warm smile, stepped aside, and gestured into his apartment, saying, "Please come in, beautiful lady."
"Are you Constantine?" The woman squinted her eyes, appearing somewhat suspicious as she took in Constantine's appearance, who now looked a bit haggard.
Previously, he had been working non-stop for over a month, his golden hair had grown long and was yet to be cut, and his beard too had grown unkempt, making him look more like a homeless man than a detective.
"Yes, that's me. What's your name?" Constantine took out his business card from his overcoat's pocket, handed it to the woman who hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Angela Dodgson."
"Alright, Miss Dodgson, what brings you here? Shall we talk inside?" Constantine stepped aside again and Angela walked into his apartment. The scene inside left no room for doubt - she was indeed facing an exorcist.
The apartment had a touch of British style, but there were unerased magic circles around the carpet, decorative feathers hung on the walls, and the shelves and tables were littered with casting materials, it looked really bizarre, and even more strange were the pile of voodoo dolls in the corner.
Seeing Angela's gaze on the pile of voodoo dolls, Constantine looked back at it too, and said somewhat awkwardly,"Ah, don't get me wrong, they are... assembly-line workers, and now they have been laid off."
With that, he waved his hand and magic hid that spot. He turned back and looked at Angela, "How did you hear about me? And why are you here?"
"I..." Angela took a deep breath, seemingly embarrassed about what she was about to say, "Someone referred me to you, they said, you could solve my problems."