Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. You guys should know that.
The Demon, The Witch, And The Ghost--Prologue
The nights in the industrial section of Jump City were dark. All nights were dark but not like this. Smog, steam, gas, and smoke pumped from the large, humming smokestacks that jutted up from the black outlines of factories and power plants. Massive skyscrapers, used as office buildings and businesses, dotted the district; the combination of chimneys and skyscrapers gave the horizon a distinct jagged look: black shapes looming up like sentinels in a night sky.
No moonlight nor starlight could be seen on nights like this; a foul mixture of natural fog and the haze from the factories obscured the sky and made the night nearly pitch black, save for the lights of the buildings. The industrial district was always busy, always populous.
However, as a young woman in a business suit exited the revolving front door of an office building, digging absent-mindedly through her purse as she walked to her car for the nightly drive home, the street seemed oddly absent of human presence. The only company that offered itself was the wind that hissed and sighed through the buildings; occasionally, a powerful gust would blow through a tight crevasse between two buildings, resulting in a plaintive wail.
The woman shivered, closing her business coat up a bit and picking up her pace; her heels tapped nervously against the slick, glinting pavement. She hurried up a slope next to the building she'd exited from, going into a large structure marked 'Parking Garage.' She walked through numerous rows of automobiles before reaching a sleek black car.
The businesswoman sighed tiredly, rummaging through her large purse for the keys. After a bit of digging and searching about, she finally felt the cool, jagged surface of a set of keys and heard a metallic jingle. Taking hold, she pulled them up from the purse and began sorting through the keys one by one.
"… Shhhhhhhhhaaaaaaa……"
The woman turned around with a quick jerk and a flinch. She'd distinctly heard a sound, like a long hoarse sigh. Then, realizing it was merely wind, she turned back to her car door, inserting the keys in; she prepared to unlock the door…
"Shah… hah…ha…ha… Haaaaaaah…"
Once again, she turned around with a start; her wide eyes darted anxiously around the car garage. She gulped and took a shaky breath. "… H-hello…?"
Silence.
"… Is someone there…?"
As if to answer, the wind picked up and wailed mournfully into the night; it was cold, chilly wind. But… there was no sound like she thought she'd heard.
Abandoning all pretenses, she hurriedly entered her car and cranked it up, soothed somewhat by the sound of the radio playing soft guitar music. She sighed and put it in reverse, preparing to back out of the parking lot; her eyes drifted towards the rear-view mirror to make sure no one was coming behind her.
Four red, beady, pupil-less eyes were blazing in the dark behind her car.
She gasped aloud and hit the brakes, shutting her eyes tightly; she held in a cry. Her eyelids fluttered open warily, and her gaze involuntarily turned back to the mirror again.
There was nothing at all behind her.
Fairly nervous, but insisting that these were the effects of overwork and sleep deprivation, she backed out, exited the garage, and began driving towards home.
The night lights of the city shimmered dimly, bathing the whole industrial district in a sort of dim, dirty light that barely penetrated the black haze that choked it. Other cars were visible, but only because their headlights were on bright. She stopped in an intersection, preparing to turn left…
… And a figure stood out in the turn-lane, still as a statue; its quartet of piercing red eyes trained on her car. She did a double take, but the second time she looked it was gone.
Her hands clutched the steering wheel tightly, small knuckles bloodless-white with fear, cold, and the force of her grip. No longer thinking about it, she punched the accelerator and sped off into the night, hurrying on home; she flew past the speed-limit signs and red lights without stopping, reckless with terror.
Finally, after thirty minutes or so, she reached her apartment building and turned a hard left into the garage. She parked the car, got out frantically, and began running to the front door. She flung it open and stumbled into the lobby. No one was there, of course; no one ever was there because she got home so late.
She hurried up the stairs to her room, opened up her apartment door, and fell down on the couch shakily. She stayed there for several minutes before getting up and walking towards her bedroom, hoping she'd be able to get some sleep. She walked slowly down her long, bland hallway; the further she went the stronger the sense of foreboding she felt in her chest.
Walking into her bedroom, she changed into some pajamas and switched off the lights; the woman lay down in her bed and pulled the refreshingly warm covers over herself. Just as her head started nuzzling the pillow and she curled up whilst dozing off, she rolled back a bit.
She rolled into something solid and lumpy.
Gasping, she jerked awake and hopped out of bead hastily. There, in front of her, there was a large lump in the covers. Slowly it rose…
As the woman pressed herself against the wall, heart pounding and body trembling, the lump rose up and the sheets fell off, revealing a human silhouette with two pairs of glaring, unblinking crimson eyes that leered angrily, nearly mockingly, at her. She ran to the door with a yelp, trying to yank it open but… as if by some dark, higher force it was locked tight.
Before she could even turn around again, she was grabbed by the throat. Her last hope was to alert someone, anyone! She tried to scream, but managed only a strangled, gurgling whimper as her lungs burned from lack of air. She was yanked around; the figure raised something in its fist…
… A curved, serrated, scythe blade.
Four red eyes were the last things Anne Underson ever saw.
"Oh God… I c-can't believe it, I just can't… poor Anne…"
"Have you heard? She's dead!"
"… Blood all over the floor…"
"Had to search the whole apartment to find all of her…"
"… Who'd kill an innocent woman…?"
"It's murder!"
The small restaurant, Randell's Bar & Grill, was abuzz with talk, though most of the patrons' hunger had diminished to a nearly non-existent level. The subject of the talk…?
Murder.
That morning, at seven o' clock sharp, the newspaper-delivery truck had made its rounds around Jump City, just like it did every day. Crimes such a theft, fraud, and blackmail had almost always been common fodder for the media, even though the presence of the JCPD (Jump City Police Department) combined with the formidable Teen Titans—lately bolstered by the addition of two new members—Heavily discouraged law-breaking and kept the crime rate very low.
Today, however, instead of the usual weather report or commentary on the city's latest minor problems… there was present a large headline in bold print. 'BLOODY MURDER IN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT! POLICE BAFFLED!'.
This was as much of a shock to anyone as an earthquake or tornado would have been. There were very few murders in Jump City… ever. So when news of one came 'round, it was big stuff.
"I hear the door and windows were locked…"
"How did he get in?"
"But what if the killer was a 'she'?"
"(Sobbing) Why? Why Anne? I knew her!"
"I was there… on that next morning. It was horrible…"
"… A few lumps under a blood-stained sheet on a stretcher…"
"Dreadful… simply dreadful business…"
"The apartment owners will never get the blood stains out!"
Several Blocks Away At The Police Station…
"This is great, just great." Grumbled a rather large man with a brown suit-coat and a matching cap; he muttered darkly to himself and propped his feet up on his desk. "… A murder that should've been impossible, and we haven't even found so much as a fingerprint."
He sat up with a 'humph' and whipped open a desk drawer. After thumbing through several heaps of paperwork, he finally found what he was searching for: a large folder with 'Murder Case' written neatly on the side; he opened it up and began re-reading it again for the thirteenth time that day.
'At 8:34 A.M., the cleaning lady of Moon Sky apartments knocked at the door of Anne Underson, employee at local accounting business. There was no answer. After several more tries, she had to go find the apartment master key and open it herself. Upon entering, she discovered the remains of Ms. Underson. We were called, and reported to the scene immediately. Evidence was gruesome: a few, mutilated organs and limbs along with a sort've "Sludge" of blood and body fluids, blood stains everywhere. A few strands of hair and some ripped Pajamas red with blood. Oddly, no attempt to conceal or clean the remains seems to have been made; they were left open to discovery as though by intention. No evidence at all pertaining to perpetrator has been found; as of yet, there are no suspects.'
Every time the chief of police—for that was indeed whom he was—read this, he grew just a bit more sick to his stomach. He'd been there with the first squad when they'd answered the call of a hysterical cleaning lady at a local apartment complex. The reports didn't even do justice… if he forgot everything else, became senile with old age… on his deathbed, he'd remember it.
There were things… things the report had left out simply because they'd been designated 'Too Disturbing For Police Record.' On the day he died, the picture of that hellishly torn about room and the non-recognizable remains of that poor girl heaped all around would dwell with him on his deathbed; of this, he was sure.
He flinched a bit at a loud knocking on the door. "Who's there?"
"The Teen Titans have come as you requested, sir." An officer in blue uniform announced.
"Good… good. We need all the help we can get… I'm glad they could make it."
The officer dropped a bit of his formal tone and sighed. "Chief… any luck? Finding anything else out, I mean…?"
He sighed heavily in response. "Nope. Nada. Whoever did this, they knew what they were doing; their crime's air-tight."
"… Right. Well, I'll go ahead an' send 'em in, then." The man responded, exiting the room hastily and leaving the police chief alone again.
A couple minutes passed before the door opened again and a few people walked in: a black haired youth in a cape and a mask, a dour looking girl in a blue cloak, and a tall redheaded girl; these were, of course, Robin, Raven, and Starfire. The others had elected to stay at the tower.
Robin shook the police chiefs hand respectfully and was the first to speak. "You… called for us, sir?"
"Yes." He said grimly. "I hate to bother you on such short notice, but… we have an urgent situation."
"So we've gathered." Raven said dryly, referring to the headlines in the newspaper… yes, even Titan's Tower gets the morning paper delivery.
"We've already searched the place… no evidence whatsoever." He continued, ignoring Raven's sarcasm. "… Look, I just need to ask a favor. Would it be possible for you guys to… patrol or something? Just… keep an eye on things around the city?" He asked.
Robin nodded. "Well… I don't see why not. Are the police going to be patrolling the area as well?"
"Yes. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for suspicious individuals. And we'll keep working on trying to figure out who or what did this."
"We'll look around tonight." Robin assured. "But… Jump City's a big place. We can't guard everything…"
The police chief looked at him and sighed sadly, suddenly looking years older and very tired. "I know… that's our problem, too."
The next week was not kind to the citizens of Jump City, or the Titans, or even the JCPD. The murder was not a one-time ordeal.
It had been only one week since the initial murder and there had already been twenty-eight more. The victims had nothing in common; they seemed to be randomly targeted and then torn apart by some mysterious force that could vanish at will and leave nothing behind.
At Titans Tower, Robin was studying paperwork and descriptions of the murders feverishly, trying in vain to find something, just one shred of evidence, which might shed some light on the situation.
The others had been patrolling the city at night, as per request, but to little affect. Smoke had sat outside a bank all night once holding his shotgun, along with Mammoth, and they had reported no suspicious activity.
Raven had spent several nights wandering dark alleyways and corners with Jinx, but they'd not found anything unusual.
Cyborg and Gizmo were trying out all sorts of scanners and things on the crime scenes but they found nothing.
Sub-Zero had acted as a bodyguard of sorts for important citizens each night, but none of them had been attacked.
Beast Boy spent a couple nights buzzing around the city as a fly on the wall, looking for anyone suspicious… nothing.
Starfire and Blackfire flew around the rooftops, getting an aerial view of everything that they could, but that didn't help any either.
Nothing seemed to be working, and the murders were becoming increasingly violent and strange. The killer had yet to be apprehended by the police, and even the Titans hadn't been able to catch him.
The Titans were currently sitting in the living room, new members Gizmo and Mammoth included, trying to work out was going on and what should be done about it.
As the rest of them chatted and argued amongst themselves, Raven sighed and laid back on the cough, trying hard to block out their loud voices; Smoke, Blackfire, Mammoth, and Cyborg were especially loud…
Wearily she glared in the other direction so as not to look at them. The long hallway towards the Titans' rooms was dim and quiet; for a moment, she considered just going back to her room and reading. All this debate didn't seem to be doing any good anyway. She stared at the hall, and… for a moment, an instant only, something shimmered reflectively.
Slightly startled, she remained silent and looked back at her friends who were still to busy in their conversation to have noticed this. She looked back.
There was a boy. A boy standing there, about five foot ten with short, neatly cut hair. It was white… just like the rest of him; he was white and transparent, and she could even see the hallway behind him through his body. He appeared to be wearing a robe of some kind…
She went slack-jawed, prepared to say something, alert the others to his presence, but… like a light bulb going out, he suddenly blinked faintly and disappeared mere moments after he'd appeared.
"But I'm telling you, if we could just…" Robin stopped mid-sentence and stared at Raven, who was reclined back on the couch and looking much like she'd just seen a ghost.
"Huh…? Rae… is something wrong…?" He asked concernedly. The others' worried gazes, she suddenly felt trained on her as well. She swallowed the lump in her throat. With one glance back to the now-empty hallway, she looked back at them and forced a nonchalant shrug.
"I'm fine."
They continued in their heated talking, while she stared at the spot where the strange… apparition… had been. Suddenly she felt a lot more wary of waking to her room. Deciding to wait 'till everyone else went to their rooms and to go with them, she sat back up and engaged in the conversation a bit, trying to put the bizarre occurrence from her mind.
But things are never quite that easy… you can put problems from your mind, but you can't get rid of them... you never can...