Mika stared out the window as the sun came down on the horizon, sinking the city in darkness. The bay looked beautiful with the sinking sun on one side and the tall buildings, and city lights on the other. She was so immersed in the view she didn't notice her girlfriend approach.
"I like watching the sunsets…" said Raven.
"It's beautiful… but it's also kind of sad." answered the vampire. "With the safe warmth of the sun gone, the monsters come out to hunt."
"Yes… but without the dark we wouldn't be able to appreciate the light. One cannot exist without the other."
"Are you always this optimistic at nightfall?" wondered Mika.
"Well… it's hard not to when I know it means my love is to come."
They both smiled and looked at each other lovingly. Mika caressed her face and cupped up her chin as she approached to kiss her. Raven's hearth began to hammer hard on her chest; she was amazed how she managed to do that every time. But before her girlfriend could seal the kiss, she stopped her by putting a finger over her lips as she blushed deeply.
"We are in the living room." explained the Titan.
"So? There's no one else here."
"What if they come in?"
"Well, if they do, they might learn something…" explained the vampire in a patient tone. "Besides, it's just a kiss. It's not like I'm going to grab your cute ass in the process."
"Well… What if I can't restrain myself and I grab yours?" hinted Raven in a playful mood.
"Vixen!" teased Mika and quickly grabbed her girlfriend and kissed her deeply. They melted into each other; after a month's separation they longed for contact. But their private time didn't last for long.
"Oh, you are in so much trouble."
The lovers broke up the kiss as they heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the elevator. When they turned around there was Caroline, along with a tall redhead in a lab coat. She had an icy stare and a wicked grin. Raven couldn't help think she looked like a femme fatale.
"I thought it was odd when Caroline brought me to Titans Tower, but now it all makes sense…" said the newcomer. "What did you told our clan leader?"
"Nothing… and I trust it remains that way Katherine, as a personal favor."
The vampire smiled mischievously, obviously plotting the best way to employ the information. She then turned to look at Raven from head to toe before asking. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Right! Ehm Raven, luv, this is Dr. Katherine de Jagger." said Mika introducing them. "Kath, this is my girlfriend Raven, of the Titans."
"Nice to meet you Raven. I must admit I'm dying with curiosity as of how that happened considering Mika's always liked to remain low profile…"
"It's a long story."
"I bet it is."
At that moment the door to the bedroom quarters opened and the rest of the team poured out. Nightwing walked in front with both Starfire and Cyborg flanking his sides.
"So she's finally here… Welcome, I'm Nightwing, the leader of this team." greeted the Titan as he extended his hand to give her a handshake.
"Katherine." answered the vampire accepting gesture, as she quickly analyzed each one of them. "So, to what do I own this unexpected pleasure? I'm sure I wasn't brought here just to get the latest gossip on Mika's love life."
"Well no, as interesting as that might be, Mika here told us you are a doctor, and we are in need of one." answered Cyborg.
Katherine turned to look at him quizzically. "I would presume the Titan's would have no problem in getting medical attention from the state."
"We are in need of a very special kind of doctor right now." remarked Nightwing. "Please, follow me."
They all stood in the medical wing of the Tower watching the vampire doctor check Changeling's vital signs. He was unconscious and breathing through an oxygen mask. The youngest of the Titans looked pale and skinny. His fever had not gone down.
"You are saying this was caused by a vampire bite?" questioned Dr. Katherine.
"Yes."
"That's…"
"Impossible?" helped Mika.
"Unlikely." corrected Katherine. "I would need to run some tests on him and your prisoners, to see if they were carrying any disease."
"We'll get you everything you need to work." offered Cyborg.
"I will also need access to his medical records since birth; and his parents for that matter." requested the doctor.
"Why do you need so much information on him?" inquired Nightwing suspiciously.
"You kidding right?" mocked the vampire. When the Titan's leader didn't seem to follow her line of thought she rolled her eyes saying: "He is green… that's not a normal person's condition. I need to know what I'm dealing with."
Nightwing sighed, last he needed was another smartass vampire. "Alright; we will need you to sign a confidentiality contract though."
"Fine…" replied Katherine coldly. "Now on to more important matters… how are you planning to pay me?"
"Kath…" chided Mika in a disapproving tone.
"What? I don't care if you are banging one of them. I don't do charity work, you know that." answered the redhead.
"It's ok. Just put a number and we'll get the money." hurried Cyborg.
"Now you see, that might be a problem. My services are not paid in cash."
The Titans all looked at each other confused.
"What is it that you want if it's not money?" inquired Cyborg.
"When one can live for as long as we can, money loses its value. For vampires, for the immortal, the currency we live by are boons. Favors we ask to be repaid later." explained Caroline jumping into the conversation.
"That's a very… dangerous coin." their leader did not like the way things were turning out.
"If you want you can choose how to pay me beforehand." offered the vampire trying to ease the situation; but then turned to look at Gar. "I would recommend though, that you think fast."
They all looked at Gar in the hospital bed. It all seemed surreal. The beeping sound of the machine he was hooked up was the only sound in the room. The air felt heavy with expectation. No one dared break the silence.
Richard breathed deeply. "Ok, we'll think of a way to repay you. But first tell us if you can actually help our friend."
"I'll only charge if I can save him. That's more than you can ask of any doctor. Do we have a deal?"
There was a long silence. The Titans considered all the possibilities. Mika did mention she was not completely trustworthy, so they were unsure of how to proceed. At that moment, Gar's heart beat monitor began beeping faster. His body began convulsing. Katherine ran to his side to check on him.
"What's going on?!" demanded Cyborg in panic.
"We are losing him." Katherine took out a syringe and began preparing a formula.
The metallic man looked on the verge of tears. "Can you do something!?"
"Yes." answered the vampire. "Do we have a deal?"
"Yes, we have a deal." finally accepted Nightwing.
"Very well; bring me the defibrillator, now!"
Cyborg paced back and forth in the living room looking miserable. Starfire floated around hanging alien looking flowers she said were used by her people to repel sickness. Raven meditated near the window chanting her usual mantra, ignoring everybody. Nightwing immersed himself in work in his laptop. Meanwhile, the vampire twins looked quietly at the scene.
Mika finally walked towards the Titan's leader. "Nightwing…" he stopped typing and turned to look at her "Don't you think the Titans should be out patrolling?"
He turned to look at his comrades, and then turned around to face her again. "Our friend is dying…"
"Yes, I know." continued Mika "That's why I think you should go out and patrol. There are monsters loose in the city. You can do nothing here… but you might be able to do something out there."
"Why do you tell me this? Why don't you go to Raven?"
"Because she won't listen to me." the vampire turned to look at her lover. "Not right now. But you are their leader… they have to listen to you."
"Then why don't you do something yourself?" spitted the masked vigilante.
"I can't fight against my own kind."
"Bullshit! You said vampires kill the loose cannonballs. I doubt your vampiric father would oppose you getting rid of the competition." answered the Titan in a sour voice. "What are you hiding? I don't know you so well… but I can tell you are lying to protect yourself from something. What is it?"
"Only the eldest amongst us can call for a blood hunt of the rogues. There is no vampire ruler in Jump City; because there are supposed to be no vampires in Jump City." explained Mika.
"Your sister said something around those lines. Why are there no vampires in Jump City?"
"A city with vigilantes is a dangerous city for us due to our nightly activities. If I expose myself I would have to claim dominion over the city."
"Why don't you? You are egocentric enough to rejoice in the title of ruler." demanded Nightwing.
"Yes I am. But that would also open the gates to the vamp population that has kept at bay. The last thing I need is to get myself in vampire politics; especially because politics are handled with blood for my kin." explained the vampire.
"Why did you come here then? Why not stay at your father's state?" inquired the young hero.
"Because I wanted to be left alone." admitted Mika. "I don't hunt; I have not done so for several decades. So there would be no problem for me to live here."
"You really expect me to believe you haven't hunted in Jump City ever?"
"I haven't gone out to hunt since the 70's, not here, not anywhere…" remarked Mika losing her patience. She really did not want to justify herself, let alone to him.
"You became a flower child in the 70´s?" teased the Titan's leader.
"No, she dated one." interrupted her twin sister.
"Caroline!"
"What? Is not like your girlfriend will get jealous of a dead woman." replied the vamp innocently turning to look around.
Everyone had gathered around Mika and Nightwing; knowing their past history, they wanted to make sure they would not rip each other's throats. Raven just shrugged. It's not like she expected to be Mika's first, although such information thrown out so casually did made her uncomfortable somehow.
"Anyway, I guess we should go out and patrol. You are right, we are not helping Gar here." admitted the Titan's leader.
"Actually… I have a different assignment for you Titans." interrupted Katherine as she entered the room. Everyone turned to look at the doctor.
"How is Gar?" asked Cyborg worriedly noticing she had a somber expression and expecting the worst.
"He is alive... but truthfully, I don't think it's going to be for too long."
"What's wrong with him?" asked Starfire.
"I made some very interesting findings. There is a virus inside of him and your prisoners. It destroys certain brain areas and triggers the most primal functions. In the case of a vampire it would be to hunt and feed. In the case of a living being I guess it would kill it… or turn it into a zombie…"
"Katherine, you have to stop playing horror games." scolded Mika.
"I know it sounds Resident Evil, but it is there." huffed the vampire. "Apparently it's highly contagious through blood exposure. I am going to have to test all of you in order to determine if you are not carrying the same virus from fighting the zombie vampires."
"Yes, of course, we should all be tested right away." immediately said Richard, worrying about his fellow Titans.
"Is there any way to help Gar?" wondered Cyborg.
"I'm working on a vaccine, but I don't think he will be able to hold it for that long."
"I am a healer… maybe I can help." added Raven. "Maybe I'll be able to prevent further deterioration until you finish."
"Guess it's worth the shot…" answered the doctor in apprehension.
"Katherine, you look gloomier than usual." noted her friend.
"Mika, this thing is very dangerous… for everyone."
Everyone froze at these words. Dr. Katherine had looked unfazed as Gar convulsed in the brink of death and had taken the opportunity to have them make a very dangerous deal with her; but now she looked worried, uncertain. Fear crawled down their spines realizing they were probably facing a potential Armageddon.
Finally Nightwing regained control of the situation. "Alright, let's give the doctor all the help she needs."
Raven asked to be left alone with Garfield. What she was going to do was very delicate and she needed all the space they could give her. The beeping sound of the monitors made her a little edgy, but she breathed in deeply to calm her nerves. She took his hand into hers.
He would always make us smile… - commented Raven's melancholic side.
"He will make us smile again Raven. Just focus…" the empath took a deep breath and began chanting "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
Raven closed her eyes as she repeated her mantra over and over, until she felt her consciousness leave her body. It was as if she were submerging into a deep, cold pool, with the waves of darkness drifting her to a timeless place.
Suddenly she opened her eyes and she was floating on top of a wooden board no larger than a door in the middle of the ocean. Next to her, was a little green boy; he was cuddled up and shaking.
"Gar?" asked Raven a little surprised by the sight. He looked to be at most 5 years old, so she had probably accessed a long buried memory inside his mind.
"Why didn't I drown?" asked the little boy pulling her back to the scene in front of her.
The empath looked around confused. They were floating in the middle of nowhere. "Gar, what happened?"
"Mommy and daddy are gone… why didn't they take me with them? Why did they leave me behind?"
Raven finally understood she had probably gone to the point where his parents had died in the boat accident in the African coast. She wasn't sure what she was doing there, but he looked so frail and helpless the sight was breaking her heart.
"I want to go with them." said the little green boy looking out to the sea beyond.
"No!" exclaimed the empath horrified. The little boy jumped startled, and his eyes glazed as if about to cry. Raven breathed in deeply to calm herself, and remembered she was here to help him hold on to life for a little longer. "It's not your time yet Gar. You still have a lot to live for."
The little green changeling turned to look at her with big, scared eyes, before asking: "Like what?"
Raven was caught in the turmoil of pain that washed over her, but before she could recover to answer back the scene changed and she was standing in an alley in the middle of the night. In the distance she could see a pair of thieves loading merchandise from an electronic store into a truck.
Where is Gar? – asked worriedly a part of her subconscious.
"We are in his mind. He'll probably show up any minute now to stop the criminals from…" she was cut midsentence by the sight that followed.
Her green friend was probably 8 and he was carrying appliances and loading them into the thieves' truck. He looked frail and scrawny as he carried a big TV in his thin arms.
"Hurry up freak! Those radios are not going to load themselves." barked one of the man as he pointed a gun at the kid, making him walk faster and dive inside the truck's cargo.
"Give the kid a break man; he opened the door without triggering any alarms." defended the other guy. The two men soon began arguing with each other.
Raven teleported inside the truck, and there she found Gar hiding in a corner and holding his hands over his ears, as to drown all sounds. The demoness got by his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Gar, what are you doing here?"
His green emerald eyes shone with unshed tears as he turned to look at her. "I want it all to stop."
The dark Titan couldn't help but think of her little tykes and she hugged him tightly. His pain and desperation was too great to be contained in that small body. She closed her eyes trying to contain the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, but when she opened them again she was no longer holding her little friend.
"What the…"
"And cut!"
She was standing in the middle of a TV set. The intense lights above her blinded her momentarily but then she saw him. Gar was almost the age when she had met him. He was wearing a goofy space suit and was following a script he had on his hands. The scenery looked like something from a space movie.
"You idiot!" yelled the director at him "I don't want a goofy alien for the character of Tork! Stop fooling around and learn your lines already!"
Gar left the set and headed outside. She quickly followed behind him; and approached as he sat in the sidewalk with slumped shoulders and head down.
"I know I've asked you this before, but what are you doing here?" wondered the empath.
"Don't you see? I want to be famous!" exclaimed the green teen perking up. "As a TV star, all the chicks will want to be with me!"
Raven was confused. "I didn't know you had worked at a TV series… when did you become a superhero then?"
"I'm no superhero material." answered Beast Boy with disdain in his tone "My foster parents think I'm a disappointment at that… so I quit."
"And you think you are better off as an actor?" asked Raven bewildered.
"Yeah! As soon as the show airs I'll have millions of girls all over me!"
"So, you are doing this just to get girls to like you?"
"Yeah, I mean, look at me… am green… what girl would want to be with me?" admitted the changeling.
"Gar, looks are not all that matters." commented Raven trying to lift his self esteem, but that only got her a look from the changeling. "Besides, being a hero you can get a lot more attention than that."
"Yeah, but I sucked at that!" retorted the beast man. But then he laughed halfheartedly. "I also suck at this actually… they think I'm too goofy."
"Why do you make so much silly jokes then?"
"If I didn't joke like that all the time, after all that's happened to me, I would probably lose my mind…" answered Garfield in an uncharacteristic serious tone.
Raven then felt the cold, hard truth pierce her heart. After so much time together, living under the same roof, fighting side by side; she finally understood all the pain inside of him.
She was about to express her feelings when everything changed again. The Titan was standing in a cave. She turned to look again for her friend and he was sitting in the ground in front of a statue… It was Terra.
"Everyone I love, everyone I care about betrays me or dies… or both." sighed the Changeling before Raven could ask anything.
"I care about you, and I love you… all our team does and we have not left and we have not betrayed you."
"Still, sometimes I just make things worse for everyone with my stupid comments. I don't know why you haven't. Sometimes I can't help but wonder why I didn't die instead of my parents." whimpered the teen filled with nostalgia.
"I'm sorry about everything Gar. I'm really sorry, but don't say that. You have done a lot of good since then. You have saved a lot of people. And to keep doing that you have to get well, you have to keep fighting for your life."
He breathed in deeply as he looked at Terra's memorial. "Good thing I never acted on my feelings for you, maybe you would have ended up as a statue as well…"
"Wait… what?" asked Raven in shock.
"Sorry, it was out of place; especially considering I can't compete with your hot girlfriend."
Raven blushed by his straightforwardness. "Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"
"Probably because I'm going to die soon… I didn't want you to remember me only as the guy that made lame jokes at everything."
"… I like your jokes, I think you are funny." Raven grabbed his face in her hands and looked at him warmly. She passed her hand though his hair and smiled at him. "You know, if I were not gay I would actually consider you handsome."
"You are only saying that because you know I'm dying." teased Changeling sourly.
"No, I'm saying that because I don't want you to. Because I want you to have something to hold on to until we find a cure for you."
He looked at her with sadness in his eyes. He looked so vulnerable, just like the child she saw stranded in the middle of the ocean.
Raven sighed, but then lighted up as an idea came to her mind. "Please Gar… besides, you would hate to miss a double date with me and Mika and her twin sister."
"Mika has a twin sister!?" gasped Gar surprised.
"Yeah, and she's totally straight! You are so going to be drooling over her."
He smiled for the first time since Raven had entered his mind. "Fine… just hurry, this thing is eating at me."
"We'll do everything we can." reassured Raven. She was turning around to leave when he stopped her.
"Raven…" Changeling took hold of her arm and with the other hand caressed her face. He closed the distance between them and gave her a chaste kiss in the side of her mouth. It was soft and sweet. Raven stood frozen, confused by his boldness.
"Thank you for coming… I can't do this out there, so…"
Raven felt herself drowning in his green eyes. She was sucked into them and she felt herself being pulled away. Suddenly she was looking again at him in the infirmary bed. She had gone back to her own self. They were both alone with only the beeping monitors to irrupt the silence.
"You are going to be alright… just hold on."
She drew closer to him and planted a chaste kiss on the side of his mouth.
To be continued…