 In a rare change , Milligan 's run on the title starts with John living in domestic <unk> with a nurse , Phoebe . Over the course of the first storyline , several new characters are introduced , including Epiphany Greaves , the <unk> daughter of a notorious London gangster , and Julian , a Babylonian demon . Over the course of the run , John dealt with a demon taking revenge on people involved in the Liverpool <unk> ' strike gone insane and sought help from Shade , The Changing Man , after <unk> off his own thumb , seen Phoebe die at the hands of Julian , and traveled to India to try to find a way of saving her . Following this , he realised that he was in love with Epiphany , and married her in the <unk> issue . However , the events of this wedding turned Constantine 's niece Gemma against him , due to the Demon Constantine sexually assaulting her in the <unk> . The strain of this traumatic incident turned her against John , and she enlisted the help of a coven of witches to kill him , which later came to a head when John was forced to fight off a brutal Demon summoned by them using John 's iconic <unk> to target him . 
