Me: The sequel has arrived! (No pun intended) Hope you guys like it. Trust me, Raven's not gonna be at this party forever. The next chapter, we meet Robin's 'old friend,' Ravens meets a guy, and there's a slight twist! This is just the beginning...

Chapter 1: 'Thanking' Party

I cut off rather abruptly last time, didn't I? I'm afraid I didn't have the opportunity to continue with what happened afterward. I also know of another question that is on your minds. Why haven't I shown any vampiric tendencies? That is not difficult to answer.

I had locked them away, held by chains in the deepest reaches of my mind. My emotions guarded it constantly, for to let it go was to incite insanity. Insanity was not something I could afford, now that I was living with others.

Something else I neglected to mention was my quick dismissal of Trigon's threat. I knew I had no brothers, or sisters. It was an empty threat, or just something to make me worry, and therefore, make a mistake. I would not worry.

My lover tells me I must write the truth, if I must feel free. Even if that means telling my deepest secrets, my deepest fears. So I will tell you the truth. I was overconfident.

I believed nothing could hurt me. The several battles in which I hadn't gotten even a scratch had bolstered my confidence far too high. I dismissed Trigon's threat with a wave of my hand, not considering, refusing to consider, how his threats had always seemed to come true.

I was sure. I had nothing to worry about. I had no brothers or sisters.

"No. I refuse." I told Robin with a fierce glare. He returned my glare tenfold. "You have to. I will not take no for an answer."

I growled and turned away. "Fine." I started walking, not caring if Robin heard my complaints or not. "Stupid bird-brain. Needs to get a life, instead of ruining mine. I should rip-"

"Oh, and Raven? Don't forget to look nice." Continuing to grumble I went into my room, slamming the door with my power.

How dare he! After a year of refusing to go to thousands of 'thanking' parties, how does he have the gall to make me go to this one? What made him so special?

If I had ever wanted to go to any of these parties, didn't he think I would have gone? What gave him the power to order me about like some kind of slave? It didn't matter that he hadn't forced me to go to the others. I glanced around, listening for the sound of anything breaking. My emotions had been far too expressive recently. After this party, I would meditate immediately.

I sighed, my wrath concluded, and began to get ready. Now that my anger was no longer clouding the issue, I realized that Robin's request really wasn't all that unreasonable. I mean, as I had said, I had turned down numerous invitations, and Robin was always polite enough to ask, on the off chance I might want to go, but he had never insisted.

I sighed once more, resigning myself to constant stares and sneers, as if I weren't human. Which I wasn't, at least not much, but nonetheless, they didn't need to stare at me like I eat small children. I took out the dress Starfire had gotten me for Christmas.

I didn't have the heart to tell her I wouldn't wear it, so I had put it in my closet with great ceremony. I swear, you couldn't have seen someone smile larger than she had. One thing I did like about it however, was that it was vaguely reminiscent of the High Priestess robes that I still wore. But only on special occasions.

I chuckled, remembering when the team used to think I was just like normal girls, wanting jewelry and such. It was Robin who figured it out first though, and I was lucky he did, else I would have had a bigger collection of useless objects then I do now.

I slipped into the silken dress. The deep purple matched my eyes, and I admired the way it made me look. I almost looked normal. I pinned up my short hair into a bun, but allowed the longest pieces to lie upon my shoulders.

It felt nice, dressing up again. I hadn't done it in about three years. I put my gold and amethyst earrings with a matching necklace. I slipped Azar's ring onto my hand, which I had started taking off a month into my new 'job'.

It looked nice, and it matched. If ever I needed patience, wisdom, and the rest, it would be tonight. I slipped on a pair of high heels and made my way down to Starfire's room. No doubt she would be eager to do my makeup.

Though she was still extremely naïve, she definitely knew what looked good on people and what didn't. As I had expected, she was overcome by overwhelming joy at the thought of doing my makeup. Like I said, she was naïve.

We went downstairs at the same time, her beauty far outshining mine, which is what I wanted. I never liked to be the center of attention. All it did was cause trouble. Cyborg, Beastboy and Robin were all wearing their best tuxedos, though Beastboy's was green.

As Starfire immediately latched to Robin's arm, I resolved myself to be escorted by Beastboy. Though Cyborg would have been nice, he had brought some other girl. "Hey, Rae. You look hot." Beastboy grinned.

"Next time, try to find something green to wear." I answered, walking ahead of him. Robin was gently opening the door for Starfire. "I can't do this." I hissed after he had closed the door.

"Please, try. As soon as Beastboy finds some other girl you'll be home free." He answered, guiding me to the other side of the limousine. "Yeah, free to watch those hypocrites smile and act like I'm inferior. I don't think so." I whispered, but still, with a sigh, slid into the seat of the car.

"Thank you." He whispered back with a smile, and closed the door. I leaned back in my seat, ignoring Starfire's idle chatter. This was gonna be a long night.

Me: So what did you think? Raven's attitude is a bit different, I know, but I just can't seem to get her in character! -grrr- The reason people would 'stare and sneer' at her is because she isn't beautiful (compared to Starfire) and she is considered morbid to those who don't know her. Which is, essentially, almost everyone.