The flat above the fish-and-chips shop smelled exactly as Clark had expected it to smell.
Cigarettes. Cheap whiskey. Something spicy that could have been sage or something far more illegal. Stacks of books littered the surfaces; grimoires, occult magazines, water-stained paperbacks, and what may have once been a Thai restaurant's takeaway menu, scrawled with summoning circles in red ink.
John Constantine lounged in an armchair that might have been stylish in another century, a cigarette dangling from his lips, a tumbler of amber liquid on the table beside him. A rumpled trenchcoat, unbuttoned at the throat, concealed a loosened tie, and his hair seemed to have been set with electric clippers and left to fend for itself.
He looked precisely as if he'd been to hell and back. Several times.
"Batman. Superman." Constantine didn't rise to greet them, didn't offer drinks, didn't do anything besides wave a hand at the empty space between them and the cluttered room. "Appreciate you stopping by. Love the entrance - very, very dramatic. The old bird downstairs nearly had a fit when the Bat popped in on her fire escape."
"We need information," Batman said, ignoring the hospitality (or lack thereof). He stood near the threshold, cape wrapped around his shoulders, taking up residence in the room as though he had a right to be there. Clark wondered, not for the first time, if the man had any concept of personal space.
"I'm sure you do," Constantine muttered, taking a contemplative drag on his cigarette. A wisp of smoke curled from his nostrils, hovering impossibly long in the air before dissipating. "Thing is, I know why you're here. The question is, are you prepared for what I'm about to tell you?"
"Try us."
Constantine regarded them both, eyes scanning from Batman's piercing gaze to Superman's inscrutable stare, lingering on each for a fraction of a second too long.
"Right. Well, no use beating around the bush, then." He crushed the cigarette out in a skull-shaped ashtray (real or otherwise, Clark decided he didn't want to know) and reached for another. "Lucky for you, I've got plenty of second-hand knowledge on the subject. Vampires aren't exactly my area of expertise. Demons, angels, elder things with too many syllables in their names, yes. That's my territory. Vampires? They keep to themselves. Mostly."
He paused to take a long drink from his tumbler, his fingers tightening around the glass as if grounding himself.
"The beginning's important, so pay attention. Vampires didn't evolve. They weren't born. They were made. Created. Manufactured, like bloody weapons, off an assembly line."
"By whom?" Clark asked.
"Demons. A particular Hell Lord, mid-tier, as these things go powerful enough to command a significant domain, but not important enough to sit at the big table with the likes of Trigon or Neron." Constantine's voice took on the cadence of telling a story he wished not to be telling. "This Hell Lord, whose name has been quite literally scrubbed from most records had a problem that a lot of infernal rulers have. He needed soldiers. Cannon fodder. Bodies to throw at rival domains in the endless territorial pissing contests that pass for politics in Hell."
"So he created vampires as a slave army," said Batman.
Constantine nodded. "Gave them human souls, damned ones, mostly, that had risen to his domain through the usual channels of sin and self-inflicted misery and reconfigured them into something monstrous. Vampires, strong and fast and resiliant enough to last the wars."
Constantine paused to toss his cigarette into the ashtray.
"But here's the rub with creating a slave race out of humans. They're bloody adaptable creatures. Inventive. Even malicious in a way that demons, for all their variety, never were. Because demons are what they are, while humans become . . . the vampires, following in their masters' footsteps, became something else."
"They evolved beyond their intended purpose," Clark said.
Constantine gave a wry smile. "Eventually. But for the first seven centuries or so, they were what their master wanted them to be. Perfect soldiers. Shock troops for Hell's endless wars."
Batman exhaled, a visible wisp of air escaping his lips. "Seven centuries is a long time to be subjugated."
"It is indeed," Constantine said. "And it might have continued, if not for one particularly nasty individual, who was, without a doubt, the single most dangerous accident in the entire annals of infernal engineering."
Constantine paused again, for the first time in the telling, his face tightening into something more serious, more focused. Respectful, even, something that not even a moment for Batman was used to from the hard-eyed exorcist.
"Her name was Aurelia Vespera."
The name hovered in the smoke that curled above the table.
"Aurelia was an anomaly," Constantine said. "I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. The demons that created vampires placed limitations on their creation. Not in numbers but in power output. Vampires were designed to have a ceiling, a point at which they couldn't gain any stronger or faster. It's standard procedure for Hell Lords to create subservient races, and the last thing they want is for said slaves to rise up and overthrow their masters due to superior power."
"Except she was able to overcome those limitations," Batman said.
"Overcome, circumvent and ultimately shatter them. But not all at once. Definitely not right away, which is what makes her so dangerous." Constantine's cigarette had long since gone out and he replaced it with another. "She was also devious. Smarter than your average vampire. Smart enough to realize what she was and what she could be. Smart enough to understand the limitations the demons had placed upon her kind. And more importantly, smart enough to hide what she was from those who would seek to keep her chained."
"She hid her abilities," Clark said.
"For decades. Possibly even centuries. The information I have on this comes from infernal sources, which is to say, demons don't like sharing details regarding their mistakes. But it's clear that Aurelia trained in secret and secrecy, unlocking potential within herself that not even the Hell Lord creators knew their vampiric playthings were capable of. She learned to use blood magic beyond anything previously thought possible by her kind and mastered techniques on par with the best warriors the demon armies had to offer."
"Until she didn't," Batman said.
Constantine's smile was tinged with something the could've been called respect.
"What she did next is stuff of legend. Literally, there are demonic cultures that still tell legends of that time, the way humans tell legends of natural disasters. She didn't just rebel. She didn't just run away. She singlehandedly caused the total collapse of her Hell Lord and his domain."
Clark straightened. "She destroyed a hell dimension?"
"Collapsed it. There's a technical difference, but you get the idea. The Hell Lord's domain ceased to exist. His armies were decimated. His infrastructure was annihilated. His powerbase was so thoroughly obliterated that other Hell Lords literally split up the remains like vultures picking at a carcass."
"And the Hell Lord himself?"
"Dead. Properly dead. Not banished, imprisoned or temporarily discorporated but dead dead. And that for a Hell Lord, is an extremely difficult thing to accomplish. They are beings that exist thanks to the very structure of the dimensions they are in. Killing them off usually requires dismantling that structure. In this case, she killed the Hell Lord and the domain that gave him life. And she did it with her own power."
The flat was silent except for the distant hum of traffic and the occasional swishh of Constantine's cigarette.
"After that " Constantine continued, his voice quieter now, "she gathered the survivors of her people. All the vampires that had survived their master's death and led them out of Hell."
"Out of Hell, to where?"
"To Earth. The specifics of the exodus are hazy. Crossing between dimensions is not a precisely recorded, but the end result was a decent sized population of vampires on the mortal plane, under the leadership of Aurelia."
Constantine knocked back the whiskey and placed the tumbler on the table with the measured deliberation of a man who knew exactly how many drinks he could take before his hands stopped shaking.
"And here's the thing, because when Aurelia got to Earth, she did the last thing that any violent race in history would have expected her to do.
"She didn't conquer," Batman said. It wasn't a question.
"She didn't conquer, pillage or plunder. She didn't go around turning all the pretty maiden into vampires and drinking their blood. On the contrary, if anything she managed the most impressive feat I have seen in the last few centuries from a race that was built solely to kill, because had she chosen to fight to conquer, this world would be reading a different history book."
"She imposed order," Clark said.
"More than that, she imposed civilization. She created laws, rules of conduct for her people, restrictions on feeding and territory. In essence, she forced an organized society upon her people. A society that, while predatory, did not behave like a typical pack of wolves that the vampire race has always been compared to."
"What kind of rules?"
"Mostly not to attack every passerby, not to turn them into vampires and not to interfere with human affaires more than necessary. Laws designed to draw as little attention to the vampire race as possible." He ticked off each rule on his fingers. "In essence, she told her people to co-exist with humans as equals and as partners on the planet."
"That explains why vampires have only been a footnote in human history up until recently." Batman remarked.
"Right. Aurelia's restrictions kept the vampire population in check for centuries and not because the vampires weren't powerful. Some of them are complete monsters in regards to raw power, but they are also ruled a rather harshly, with the emphasis on ruled."
"She was their queen," Clark pointed out.
"Indeed, and not just any queen. The vampire queen of the Night, a title she wore long before the first human kingdom was even conceived. Her authority was absolute among vampires. If she told any vampire to jump from a cliff they will only ask which cliff without asking anything else and actually do it."
"But she didn't stop them from amassing resources," Batman added.
Constantine offered him a cigarette in salute. "Still sharp as a whip, Bats. No, she didn't. Aurelia understood that an unresourced species is a doomed one. While she forbade the vampires from interfering directly in human affairs, she allowed and even encouraged them to build their resources up through legal means. To invest in long term ventures, to accumulate power within the systems of men so that no matter what happened to the human world, the vampire world would endure."
"Playing the long game," Clark said.
"The absolute longest. Vampires are immortal. They have the luxury of thinking in centuries. And Aurelia made certain they had the resources to survive... no matter what happened to humanity. It's actually quite shrewd when you examine it from a business perspective. When the authorities came to liquidate the vampire holdings, they were going to have to remove assets from a system wherein those assets made up the backbone of legitimate trade and economy. Far more damage would be done in extracting than in leaving it in place."
"But now the rules are being bent," Batman said. "The vampires we took in were actively cultivating rich humans, getting them to invest in vampire holdings. Preparing them to receive the immortality the vampires would grant in exchange."
"Then we come to the question on everyone's lips," Constantine said. "What happened to Aurelia?"
A beat of silence.
"You don't know?" Clark asked.
"I told you, I don't have a great deal to do with vampires. Aurelia Vespera is a name I know because of some research I did in the interdimensional ledgers, not because I ever had any direct contact with the woman herself." Constantine shook his head. "There's no reason for me to have done so, either. Up until recently, the vampire problem hasn't been a very big one. If her people have violated the edicts she laid down for them systematically enough for it to be an issue for us, the likely explanation is that either she's authorized the change..." He trailed off.
"...or she's no longer in a position to enforce her own rules," Batman finished.
"Precisely. And based on what little I know of the woman, a vampire queen capable of singlehandedly flattening an entire hell world to rescue her people isn't likely to be inclined to bend her rules for anyone."
Clark turned to Batman. The same thought was coming to both their minds.
"If Aurelia is incapacitated," Clark said, "the recent vampire activity has been unauthorized. Her underlings are violating her orders in order to promote their own agenda."
"Meaning there's no need to wipe out a major portion of the vampire population," Batman replied. "If we can find Aurelia, determine what happened to her or ensure she's returned to power, she may be able to rein in her people directly."
"A very large 'if'," Constantine reminded him. "Finding a vampire queen who doesn't want to be found is never an easy task. And if something has happened to her - if she's been deposed, imprisoned or killed - her replacement would doubtlessly be less inclined to listen to us."
"We'll deal with him when we find him," Batman said. "For now, we find Aurelia. Do you have any contacts who might know where she is?"
"Not personally," Constantine said. "But I know of some people who might. Some of whom I could persuade to help. A few of whom would rather kill me than lend an ear. And one who isn't currently in a body this plane can support."
"Can you reach them?"
"I can try. Give me a week's time. Maybe ten days. I'll dig around, call in some favors, kick a few cages loose from the rafters. If Aurelia's still in this neck of the woods or the next one over, I'll find a way to bring her in."
Batman nodded. "Do that. Call me when you find anything."
"I will. Now if you don't mind, I've got a bottle that's not going to drink itself and your combined presence is giving me indigestion."
Clark pushed away from his perch by the window. "Thank you, Constantine. I know this isn't-"
"Don't!" Constantine snapped. Then relaxed. "Don't be melodramatic about it, Superman. Just be gone, and next time, use the door instead of the fire escape."
Batman was already halfway to the door. Clark was right behind him, only just managing to squeeze under the lintel.
Constantine leaned back against the corner of the apartment, lit another cigarette, and stared at the ceiling.
Aurelia Vespera, he muttered. Haven't heard that name in a while, and I was hoping to forget it ever existed.
Drained the bottle.
It was going to be a long night.
----------------
Beautiful transition
----------------
Six thousand miles away, Diana of Themyscira fell through clouds that parted around her.
Themyscira opened up beneath her, an island untouched by time that no normal person could ever hope to reach.
The sun shone on the white sands, and the green forests that had watched over the ancient greek city for thousands of years, and the majestic looking temples were all visible from the air.
Home.
Diana hadn't been back in a few months, and she had barely thought about the island in the past few weeks. The hunt had consumed her, and it had taken up most of her time over the past several months. The vampire case just kept getting bigger, and Batman's report hadn't done any better in its case to solicit help from her. Whatever happened next, the league just simply didn't have enough information.
They needed to know more than what humanity already knew, more even than what their demon sources knew, and that meant they needed to learn what the Amazons knew.
Diana landed in the courtyard of the central palace, black boots echoing on the polished marble hall. Soldiers she had trained, and sparred with, and bled with all in her long lifetime took their posts at the door to the inner palace.
She barely had time to take it all in before a messenger came rushing to meet her.
"Princess Diana. Queen Hippolyta asks that you come to the throne room at once."
Diana's heart clenched in her chest. Her mother would never call her to the throne room without a good reason.
"Does she know about my investigation?" Diana asked.
The messenger shook her head. "She says it's urgent. That it has something to do with you."
Diana's heart began to pound. Urgent business in the throne room.
Her mother rarely used the throne room for anything besides matters of state, and even then only the important ones. Matters of war, of making treaties, and of declaring independance, that sort of thing.
Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she strode toward the throne room, her heart hammering in her chest.
The throne room of Themyscira was not designed for the ostentation of power display typical for many human kingdoms and empires. There were no gilded walls, no lavish decorations, no opulent furniture, and no other extravagances to impress and intimidate anyone who might have dared enter the chamber. The Amazons had no need for such frivolities.
The stone walls were clean, but the room itself had seen better days. White marble columns held up the ceiling, where the ancient paintings told the epic stories of the Amazonian battles fought and won. The floor was worn in places by the countless boots of warriors who stood and gave their reports to the queen or received orders from her. Sunlight streamed in through the high windows, casting long shadows that stretched and danced on the floor with every turn of the sun.
Hippolyta sat in a simple chair, made of granite, carved with exquisite precision and has been her throne long before the fall of Troy. She did not wear any crowns, and even if she did, there would be no need to adorn her head with gold or jewels. Even the Amazon queen did not need to make others feel small in her presence, at least not in public or before her warriors.
The queen appeared tired, and that, more than anything else, scared Diana.
Her mother never allowed her to see such an expression on her face, not when she was among her people, not when she had to deal with matters of state, and certainly not when her daughter was present. It was not in Hippolyta's nature to expose her emotions, not even to Diana.
"Mother," she kneeled in respect and then straightened up, "you called me."
"I did. Come, have a seat, my daughter," Hippolyta said, her deep voice betraying the unease that was not meant to be there. "There is much to say, and I doubt very much that it will be easy."
Diana sat down, her fingers tightening around the arms of the throne. "You can tell me anything, Mother."
Diana took the chair that had been set before the throne, not a supplicant's seat, but an equal's, placed at the same height as the throne itself. Hippolyta's concession that her daughter was no longer a princess, but a warrior who had earned the right to sit as one.
"Your investigation into the vampire activity," Hippolyta started. "What have you learned?"
"More than you might expect. Batman has uncovered a coordinated infiltration of human government and power structures. We've captured twenty-eight vampires in various cities around the world. It's a well-organized operation. There appears to be a central leadership that has directed the vampire army around the world." Diana paused. "I come to you seeking history. Amazon records that might explain the vampire's organization."
"I can provide more than the records that are archived in this Island" Hippolyta's hand placed on the side of the throne tighten, "Infact I can provide firsthand testimony."
Diana went still
"You know about the vampires," she stated, not a question
"I know about their queen," Hippolyta replied, closing her eyes for a moment, a gesture so uncharacteristic for her that Diana's heart quickened in her chest, "Her name is Aurelia Vespera and she was my friend."
Shock echoed in the throne room.
"Your friend," Diana repeated, almost in disbelief.
"My ally. My sister-in-arms. My confidante during one of the most challenging epochs in Amazon history," Hippolyta divulged, her eyes opening to reveal a vulnerable expression not often seen in three thousand years of her life, "It was centuries prior to your birth, even prior to most of the current generation Amazons first drawing breath. The world was different back then, younger, wilder. The lines between our reality and other dimensions were more permeable allowing entities to cross over that shouldn't have been allowed to. Including, Aurelia and her people."
"The vampires came from a hell dimension," Diana mused, "We've surmised as much."
"They came from bondage," Hippolyta's voice took on an edge, "Seven centuries of slavery at the hands of a demon lord, who used them as expendable soldiers. When Aurelia liberated his domain, when she exterminated him and his followers, they came to us broken, shattered souls. A race of bloodthirsty monsters who'd never known anything but rape, pillage and murder were given a taste of true freedom for the first time in their existence."
"And they came to you,"
"Not right away," Hippolyta shook her head, "Aurelia always played things close to her chest, for good reason too. She and her people set up isolated colonies in remote areas of the globe before contacting anyone outside of their kind. She spent centuries building a framework for vampire society before making any formal approaches."
Hippolyta rose from the throne and walked up to the window, gazing down at the ocean. The light, coming from the windows, was reflecting off of Hippolyta's cheekbones. Lines of worry and pain, that should've been smoothed by immortality, marred her face.
"When she first made contact, it was through intermediaries. They were carefully vetted, tested, and she wanted allies, not masters. She had just freed her people from one tyranny and didn't want to replace it with another."
"How did you meet her?"
"During a war, as most relationships start. A group of lesser demons, having survived the purge of their hell dimension, were following the vampires to Earth. Demons that survived, knowing that the bane of their existence was dead, should've been easy prey. They swarmed the vampire settlements in what is now eastern Europe."
"And you helped them?"
"The Amazons weren't restricted to Themyscira then, we still had a presence all over the world. We got word that a band of demons was attacking a free society, and I gathered a party to help them. Aurelia and I fought at the front lines for three months, until we pushed the demons back beyond the rift that lead to her realm. We collapsed it so they could never return."
Diana was studying her mother's face. The emotions that marred it were varied, but all ran together into one general feeling. Love, pride, loss, and something else entirely. Something that looked an awful lot like guilt.
"What happened to her, mother?"
Hippolyta stared at the ocean for a long time.
"The liberation campaign was not without cost. Aurelia was injured during the final battle. Severely. The kind of wound that would have killed a high vampire instantly a demon blade infused with the essence of her former master, designed specifically to destroy the beings he had created in case they ever rebelled against him."
"That means He wasn't able kill her."
"He very nearly did. She survived because of her willpower and lied to us all in the long run. No one knew about her injury, not even me. She ruled over her people, wrote the laws and guidelines for her race, and set up the economic systems that sustained them for the centuries leading up to present. She established a system of government that gave her subjects autonomy without taking power away from her."
"She was dying."
"She was enduring. There is a difference, though the outcome is often the same." Hippolyta sank back down on the throne, but did not sit. Not really. She leaned against the throne, her hand pressed against the cold granite of it. "After the vampiric settlements were fully established, the laws written, the council formed and had begun to function, and the economy put in place to generate a sustainable resource base, Aurelia came to me."
Hippolyta walked back to the throne, but instead of perching on it, she stood next to it, resting one of her hands against the cool stone. "When her people had new homes, when all the laws were written, when the councils were formed to rule the different classes of vampire, and when the economy was stable enough to support her people, Aurelia came to me personally to say goodbye."
"When was that?"
"Two hundred and thirty years ago."
Diana inhaled sharply.
"She told me the truth. About the injury. About the toll. About how she'd been waging a slow battle against decay for centuries, having to expend more and more of her will just to maintain her power and authority."
"And she went to sleep," Diana said, the puzzle pieces snapping into place.
"A healing sleep. Intense, deep, the vampire version of a coma, except this time it was by her design, so that her body could devote all of its energy to the repair process, instead of having to split it between repairing old age damage and retaining absolute control over her physical being." Hippolyta's fingers curled tighter around the throne. "She tasked me to keep an eye on her people in her stead, to make sure they didn't abuse the power vacuum, and to stop them if they did."
"And did you?"
"At first I did. For the first century, I kept in constant contact with the council, making sure they didn't slip up, that they followed her guidance to the best of their ability." Hippolyta's lips pressed into a thin line. "Themyscira became more isolated as the centuries wore on, and the world outside stopped paying attention. I had other problems to attend to, other responsibilities, and the vampire council... they kept doing what they were told, more or less. Following in the wake of their queen, obeying her every law, edict and regulation."
"Until now."
"Until now," Hippolyta said, settling heavier against the throne. "If what you're saying is true, and the vampire population has been systematically infiltrating and taking over influential positions in the human governments for the last several decades, with the express intention of replacing the leaders with vampires, and with the resources at their disposal, despite every law and regulation Aurelia placed upon them..."
"They've decided she is dead to them, either literally or figuratively," Diana finished, frowning. "And that she'll never return or return after am extremely long tjme, so they might as well carve out a new empire for themselves."
"That's one way to put it, yes."
The throne room was silent. The Mediterranean sun shone patterns of light over the floor, oblivious to the weight of the words that had just been spoken.
"Where is she?" Diana asked. "Aurelia. Where is she sleeping?"
Hippolyta met her daughter's gaze.
"That information was given to me alone. Aurelia's condition is such that if her enemies were to discover where she was sleeping while she was in this state, they would be able to take advantage and finish her before she was able to fight back. She entrusted me to keep that information from them."
"Mother, if tracking her down is the only way to stop what's going on-"
"I know." Hippolyta raised a hand, and Diana fell silent. "I know what's at stake. And I will share with you and your people the location of her slumber. But there is one thing you must know."
Hippolyta straightened, the fire in her ancient eyes burning bright.
"Aurelia fell asleep two hundred and thirty years ago. The wound that she suffered was from an implement that was designed to kill her. The reason she is in this state is because she forced herself into a healing sleep in order to survive. There is a chance, a very real chance, that when you find her, she will not be able to awaken. That the injury was too great, and that the queen that your investigation requires is beyond your reach."
"And if that is so?"
"Then the vampires have no queen. No power to command the obedience of her people. And whatever it is your council is planning, it will be able to happen, with no one to stop it."
Diana rose to her feet.
"We need to find her then. Before the council can act."
Hippolyta nodded. She pulled something from beneath the folds of her breastplate, something that made Diana's heart lurch in her chest. A medallion, ancient, indecipherable runes marking the edges in a language that Diana was familiar with. Vampire language. Old vampire language predating their landing on Earth.
"This will take you to where she sleeps," Hippolyta said, pressing the medallion into her daughter's palm. "Keep it safe, child. And Diana-"
"Yes?"
"When you find her... if you find her, and if she can be awakened..." Hippolyta's voice shook slightly, "Tell her that Hippolyta kept her promise. For as long as it was in her power to do so."
Diana nodded and clasped the medallion in her hand, feeling the warmth of it, the life it contained. She turned and walked away from the throne room, the feeling of a soldier who had just been charged with a duty that she was determined to see through to the end.
Hippolyta watched her go, and sat down heavily on the throne. Two hundred and thirty years.
She had kept the secret, and now it was time to stop watching over it.
The last of the light from the windows was swallowed up by the gathering night as Hippolyta closed her eyes. "Wake up, old friend," she murmured to the empty throne room. "Your children need you."
The Mediterranean wind carried her words out and away into the night air, over the wine-dark sea, and towards a world on the brink of destruction.
--------------------------
T/L: God damn this took too long to translate. Give me power stones or something