The streetwise, chain-smoking con-magician John Constantine finds himself in receipt of a most perplexing birthday gift: a memory wrapped up in a warning. As Constantine tries to figure out what it means, the brutal African war-mage known as Mako hits London--and he's taking no prisoners...

As bloodthirsty war-mage Mako carves a bloody swath through London's occult underworld, John Constantine tries to rally his former allies. But he has burned a lot of bridges lately, and he's starting to look like a man with a target on his back.

Just a few hours away, there is a room at the heart of the Vatican known as The Confessional, where any act may be committed without fear of guilt or sin. Here, the temptations of the flesh are drawn out and expunged through indulgence. But when something goes horribly wrong, a priest with a terrible secret is forced to turn to an outsider for help ... an outsider named John Constantine.

John Constantine finds himself ensnared in a web of scandal that penetrates to the very heart of the Vatican. But Constantine has friends in low places, and his own hidden agenda that revolves around an ancient book buried deep within the Vatican's forbidden library.

Collects: John Constantine: Hellblazer Vol. 21 collects John Constantine: Hellblazer #239-249 and Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine #1-4