No one says a word, they only look back at him with big, solemn eyes. “What?” he asks, knowing straight away that they are hiding something, but then the penny drops. “You have already formed a plan,” he states flatly.
“Of sorts,” Rosalina says. “It will require you to drop the wards for a second.”
“And I have told her that I do not care who she is, those wards are not being dropped. A second is all it takes for Delinda to get kidnapped,” Remiel says heatedly.
“What is the plan?” Constantine asks wearily. Why can’t they all just be left alone now to get on with their lives? Why must these things always get in the way?
“You drop the wards and I capture one of the Clerics and interrogate him,” Rosalina says quickly before Remiel can interrupt her.
“No, absolutely not,” Constantine says immediately. “The rest of them will be in here quicker than you can blink. I am not putting my wife and child at risk for this.”
“We need to know what the Hunters are up to,” Devon says.
“They are after my child,” Constantine says witheringly.
“For what purpose?” Devon asks. “You are not telling me that they are going to all this trouble before she has even been born just because she is, maybe, half a Vampire.”
“Not ‘maybe half a Vampire,’” Constantine says, seething with anger. “She is special.”
“And not born yet,” Devon presses. “It makes no sense. I think they are here for Lizzie.”
“Either way, it’s not happening,” Constantine says. “If they take Aefre, they have my child.”
“Which is why we need to stop them from taking her,” Rosalina interjects.
“Fine,” Constantine snaps, pissed off with everything and everyone now. “But we do not leave an inch of these grounds unattended. Fan out. And make sure that you have the person next to you in your eyesight. When the wards drop, you kill any-fucking-thing that crosses that wall. Got it?”
“Yes,” everyone replies in unison.
Constantine nods and marches out of the library and onto the grounds of his castle.
Rosalina swiftly follows him and everyone else trails out behind them. He storms across to the gates and stands there, feet planted apart and his hands at the ready. Rosalina joins him to his far right and Remiel to his far left. Devon calls out that he is on the other side of Rosalina, then Lincoln in Wolf form–he is glad to note–howls from the back corner and then Vito at his six at the back and then Frederick to Remiel’s left. The grounds are extensive, but they are covered. Just.
Good. He nods his head and then looks back up to the windows of the bedroom he shares with his wife. All seems quiet, so she still sleeps.
“Ready?” he calls out. He receives various affirmatives and then glances at Rosalina. “You get one second.”
“It’s all I need,” she replies and holds her hands out, ready to draw in the nearest rogue Cleric by magickal force.
“Do it,” he shouts out as Remiel also needs to drop his “backup wards” at the exact same time.
Constantine sees the shimmer of the wards breaking and then all Hell breaks loose.
Rosalina pulls one of the Clerics to her and once she has her hands on him, Constantine and Remiel reset the wards, but some Hunters have managed to get in during that second’s drop, as he knew they would. He spins on his heel and in a flash. One of the Hunters is nearest to Devon, and Constantine is about to dive into the fray, but he stands back in a surprising state of admiration as Devon tears his claws into the Hunter, killing him instantly, all the while Lincoln, having dragged a Hunter into his eyesight, is taking a rather large bite out of the second one. Tasting the poisoned blood, he spits and splutters, but remains in control long enough to finish him off.
“Anymore?” he shouts out.
“No,” comes the reply and then he watches as Rosalina knocks her rogue Druid out and then drags him back up the garden by his collar.
“She is something else,” Devon mutters, also watching this display with fascination.
Constantine gives him a fierce look. “Touch her and I will rip your hands off and shove them down your throat to pull out of your ass.”
Devon turns to look at him with a laugh and holds his hands up. “Keep your pants on, old man. I am strictly a one-woman man.”
“Oh yeah, since when?” Constantine growls at him, but Devon doesn’t reply. He is already sprinting back towards the castle, eager to see what happens next.
Ponte, Italy, October 2014 - Aefre