Hellblazer #262 February 2010). John faces up to Mumbai's demon while forces around him plot and scheme.
Plot summary[]
With the demon advancing, Constantine throws a binding spell on it but it does no good - this monster is too old and powerful. It skewers Constantine on its sword, but the effect is mental, not physical - good news, as The Sahdu seen in the last issue chooses that moment to appear and scare the colonel-demon off.
Vikram Dhawan is meeting with Meeta again when Charles Pankhurst-Hawke bursts into his office. Meeta leaves swiftly and the two start talking business. Charles says that Meeta would be a perfect candidate for Colonel Burke's twisted desires and Vikram says that he won't give her up to the demon. He adds that he's surprised that Burke hasn't turned up for his 'reward' yet, but assures Charles that Constantine is undoubtedly dead.
He isn't, of course - he's talking things over with The Sadhu, who says that he'd tried to use dark sorcery to kill Burke but had only succeeded in placing his soul in a 'dark and lifeless plane'. There he festered and grew into a monster until Vikram and Charles freed him. He says that if Constantine helps him fight Burke, he will reunite him with Phoebe.
Constantine breaks into Charles's ashram and asks why he never got back to him. Charles asks what he wants and Constantine asks him about the bindi he'd applied the day before.
Out by the marina, Charles tells Vikram that Constantine was unruffled by the demon and it's making him nervous. Vikram asks if John knows how the bindi works and Charles says he's not sure, but reasserts that they need to stop Constantine from destroying all they've built.
Burke makes his demand
Meanwhile, Constantine has had the bindi reapplied - and it turns out the primary ingredient is the ashes of a 15-year-old girl, something that is sure to lure in Burke. He sits in the alley where the last girl was killed, waiting for the demon to emerge.
But Burke's not there - he's at his 'home', where Vikram is trying to appease him with tea. But Burke won't be appeased: he's furious that he wasn't warned about Constantine's abilities. Vikram asks again for him to kill John and Burke agrees, but only if Vikram will hand Meeta over.
Back in the alley, Constantine is startled when the young boy who saw the last murder runs up and warns him that the place is dangerous. Constantine tries to scare him off, but the kid refuses so John slips him some money and asks him to keep his eyes open for unusual sights while he returns to the hotel to sleep.
Police politics
John doesn't realise that Dev and Singh, the two police officers, are watching him at first. But with the possibility that a white man is behind the killings - something that India's politicians wouldn't mind - in their heads, they begin tailing him. Pretty soon he knows they're behind him - but a little trickery throws them off his scent.
Back at his hotel, Constantine is told by the hotel staff that there's an English woman in his bedroom. He runs up the stairs, hoping to find Phoebe...
And on the film set, Vikram applies the calling bindi to the unwitting Meeta's forehead, having finally sold her to Burke...
Continued in Hellblazer issue 263.
Continuity[]
- Constantine mentions Norfulthing, 'the demon with a big prick who terrorized poor Astra'; he is referring to the events seen in Hellblazer issue 11.
- John says he's been dead a few times - probably referencing his alleged death in a prison riot in Hellblazer issue 150, his alleged murder in an S&M club in Hellblazer issue 170 and his sort-of death after being buried alive in Hellblazer issue 222.