Constantine - The Novelization - Whoa is (Not)

Constantine cooked a pan of religious relics on the stove, melting them together. Small rosariesall of silver, a gold cross that'd belonged to Joan of Arc while she was still in the Dauphin's goodgraces, the very first St. Christopher's medal, a silver cross that'd supposedly belonged to KingArthur, the specific coin that Jesus had spoken of in the Bible ("Whose face is on it? Give toCaesar what is Caesar's...."), an iron arrowhead that had pieced St. Peter in his martyrdom, acouple of Judas's molars...On a counter nearby was a mold, something to pour the molten relic-fundament into - anotherloaner from Midnite.Watching Constantine melt and grind relics together - things he himself would never havecombined so haphazardly - Midnite shook his head and gave Constantine a look that seemed tosay, Only you would do it this way.The kitchen was big, set up for cafeteria-size crowds of employees, a thing of bright clean tileand stainless steel sinks and an enormous stove capable of unusually great heat. Chaz had abrooding air about him as he watched Constantine - the young man had been a bit disturbed by acurious peek into the walk-in refrigerator. Its frozen goods included some human body parts -Well, Midnite had said, they were just dead convicts, after all, child molesters and the like; theguards sell them to me from the prison morgues on the QT. And you know, some of my employeesare not human - and yet, ha ha, oddly enough, they can only eat human.On other shelves had been two frozen Yorkshire terriers, a frozen poodle, one anaconda, adead Eskimo in furred parka (Long story behind that one, Midnite had said), the glassy-eyed headof a zebra, what looked like an earthworm as big as a python, an entire barracuda, a six-foot-longsquid, a small bear replete with fur, a number of beetles and disgustingly large spiders in plasticsandwich bags, six roosters in full feather, the hearts of various unknown beasts, six kinds ofbrains, several cocoons (including one that seemed to contain a human shape), a trilobite, and acoelacanth. Also hundreds of chickens, hams, sausages, and turkeys, some frozen pizzas,Jamaican spiced beef, and seven gallons of Breyers ice cream."Is that really going to get hot enough to melt that metal?" Chaz asked, chewing a knuckle."Oh yes, we have to have some tremendous heat here," Midnite said. "Especially when you'recooking entire bodies down..."Chaz winced, wishing he hadn't asked."Anything else blessed and portable enough?" Constantine asked, shaking the pot with aprotective glove. "Even sacramental or totemic."Midnite hesitated, then made a long low growling sound that seemed to express his annoyancewith himself for giving in to Constantine so much, as he slid a gold ring off his finger; it bore theimage of an ankh.He held the ring up so it glinted in the fluorescent lights. "Do you have any idea what thiscost?""Yeah - I sold it to you. Don't worry, it's fake."Midnite threw him a sharp glare."What?" Constantine said, mugging like a borscht belt comedian. "Kidding here."Chaz cleared his throat, wishing Constantine wouldn't be so easy with his sense of humor.Midnite was notoriously mercurial. If he started throwing around lightning bolts or something,Chaz could get caught in the cross fire.Midnite dropped the gold ring into the pan. He grimaced as he watched it start to melt."It's not just the fellow with the spear who concerns me," Midnite said. "A thing like thistakes centuries of planning."Constantine knew what Midnite meant: Mammon would have taken every possibility intoaccount. But then, he thought he had taken Constantine into account by sending assassins to killhim. Maybe by sending the cancer, too. And yet Constantine was still around.Constantine beckoned to Chaz for the casting mold. Chaz picked it up, got a good grip on themetal container's handle. He was afraid that Constantine - who'd been drinking Midnite's cooking