CHAPTER 7: Blow Out the Candles
Raven watched through one of the windows in the main tower of Azar's Temple, as the other Titans were outside overseen the demonic army's departure. The Azarathian monks had opened several portals for the demons to travel back home and everything looked like it might go back to normal in no time.
"Congratulations my child." said Azar as she entered the room.
They were in the infirmary wing where the Titans had taken Raven to recover. It was a nice, clean place and it allowed Raven to meditate in order to heal more rapidly.
"Thank you Azar." bowed the Titan as she spoke "But I had help."
"Yes. Your half brother proved to be trustworthy after all. Still, you overcame the ordeal." Azarath's ruler smiled kindly at her. "I hope you are not too tired, it is still your birthday, and we still have time to go on with the Zarathian Passage..."
"I'm not going through with it." interrupted Raven "I don't belong here. My place is back on Earth."
Azar breathed in deeply and looked at her with puzzling eyes. But after a few seconds she finally nodded in understanding. "Well then, you have to at least allow your people to celebrate your birthday. Everyone was preparing a big feast for you."
"Let them better mourn their loved ones that perished in the first attack, and feed the injured." said Raven as she was really not one for big celebrations.
"You've always being very considerate."
"No, I've just always been very antisocial."
They both smiled at this, and then turned to look through the window to see the monks finally closing the portals. The Titans would be back to check on her in no time.
"If you don't mind Azar, I have to go back. Someone is waiting for me back home."
"Ok guys, she's gotta be here somewhere. I know the Tower is big but we don't have many places left for her to hide."
Bumblebee, Aqualad and Speedy walked around Titans Tower looking for their escaped prisoner. Mika had successfully tricked Mas and Menos to power down the electric current in her cell bars and then grabbed Menos from the neck. As Mas was forced into opening the cage, they where both bitten and knocked unconscious in the process.
"Guys you think it was safe to leave Mas and Menos in the infirmary alone?" asked Speedy.
"I doubt she will go after them. If she had wanted to kill them she had plenty of time." reasoned Aqualad.
"No, I mean what if they wake up as vampires or something and try to eat us as soon as the sun goes down!" yelped Speedy in evident panic.
"Vampires?" muttered Bumblebee. "Boy you have to stop watching so much TV."
"Come on, don't you think that's what she is?"
"Well, that might explain why there's being no noise from her since the sunrise." agreed the Atlantian hero. "But that might also put us in trouble. The sun is about to go down. Maybe we should go check on the twins just to be sure."
"According to my calculations we'll be arriving at the Tower right after sundown." Cyborg commented as he winked an eye at Raven "Just in time for smooch fest with your girl."
"Oh Azar…"
Raven's mother walked towards the Titans carrying magic supplies. They were back on the little floating island that homed Arella's cottage after saying goodbye to the temple folk. Raven was preparing a portal near the lake, big enough for everyone to go through and return to Titan's Tower.
"Don't worry Arella, I doubt Mika will be that bold with you around." said Raven smiling at her mother. "Thanks for coming by the way."
"Hey I'm not going to miss another of my daughter's birthdays ever." replied Arella "Plus I do want to meet that girlfriend of yours."
"You are going to like her. She is beautiful and charming like..."
"Like a vampire? That's what I fear actually." interrupted her mother.
"She is not a bad girl... she just pretends to be for show off; but she's actually harmless as a cub." defended de goth Titan.
"Yeah, a panther cub; with fangs and claws." quipped in Nightwing.
"Not helping Richard."
"I wonder what Mika has been preparing for our arrival." everyone turned their eyes towards Starfire. "Your lady friend probably prepared something big as a surprise, don't you think?"
"Well this is unexpected; they don't look dead… yet." said Speedy as he approached the twins that were lying in bed in the infirmary of Titans Tower. He had woken them up poking them with a stick.
"Speedy stop it." chastised his leader.
"Estamos bien, sólo nos faltaba descansar un poco."
"What?"
"They say they are fine." clarified Aqualad "Why don't you learn some Spanish?"
"What!?" exclaimed Speedy shocked "Why don't they learn English already? We live in the US!"
"Qué amargado es este tipo."
"What!?"
Suddenly the alarm in Titan's Tower went off and red lights began to glare all over.
"She triggered the alarm. I set it so no one could escape." explained Aqualad. "I think you are right, she is a vampire. She tried to escape as soon as the sun went down."
The Titans ran to the main room to look into the monitors, to see if they could now catch her movement. But as soon as they entered the common room, a chocolate brown wolf grabbed Speedy from the collar and threw him hard, making him crash into the kitchen. The beast growled at them as it looked like they were blocking its path towards the exit.
"Wooow… either the zoo lost a furry friend or we are dealing with the supernatural." Bumblebee quipped in starting to believe the vampire theory.
"I think I'll go with the supernatural." agreed Aqualad.
"Guys stay away from the twins! Tonight's a full moon; they'll turn into werewolves any minute now!" yelped Speedy from the kitchen as he removed a frying pan from his head.
"A werewolf?! Really?" said Mika in shock as she morphed back. "I'm insulted."
"Titans get her!"
The original team arrived to Titan's Tower in a swirl of blue smoke. But as the fog cleared and the buzz from their interdimensional trip faded they landed in the devastated war zone of what used to be their living room. They were in shock, first thinking maybe someone had broken in; but then they saw them. Mika was riding Speedy's back as she used him as a human shield to prevent electro shocks from Bumblebee.
"Get her away from me! She's going to kill me and turn me into… whatever it is she is!" yelped Speedy in panic.
"What the hell is going on?" called Nightwing over the mayhem.
Everyone turned to see the team had returned home. In the distraction Mika jumped to Raven's feet and hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you are home!"
"Mika what happened?" asked Raven concerned as she inspected her girlfriend that clang to her. "Why are your clothes bloodied and thorn?"
"Those maniacs tried to kill me!" answered the vamp as she pointed in the direction of the young heroes from the east.
"What!? She tried to kill us!"
Everyone began arguing at the same time making it impossible for the team to understand a word they were saying. So Cyborg loaded the mainframe computer into his own system to figure out what had happened from the security cameras.
"Ok everyone quiet! Apparently Mika was goofing around the Tower when the Titan's east came along and confused her for a criminal. They also busted her hacking the main computer to play online poker."
Everyone turned to look at Mika who looked back with guilt written all over her face.
"I was bored! And online poker is not illegal… well maybe the hacking."
"Mika…" chastised Raven as she started to lose her patience.
"Come on, the big screen is too tempting!"
"She also took my stuff for a ride!" yelped Nightwing offended as he retrieved information from the mainframe.
"I put it back!" immediately defended the vampire "And how do you know that?"
"I keep tabs on the Nightcycle mileage in case it gets stolen."
"Dude, that's so paranoid." groaned the vampire.
"Am I?"
"Hey I didn't break it or anything! I actually put it to good use while you guys were gone. I saved some miners from a cave in, stopped a robbery, and saved 2 kittens!" continued Mika "You should be grateful, after all, you are going to take the credit for it you jerk!"
"Ok, am confused... Why would you pretend to be Nightwing?" asked Raven as she tried to imagine what could have possibly possessed her girlfriend into paroling around as her nemesis.
"You told me to pretend to be a hero!"
"That's not what I had in mind… but I'll let it pass considering we did leave the city without protection."
The Titans actually seemed a little guilty at leaving the city without calling for backup. The alarm at Titan's Tower had obviously been still active and Mika had answered for them, so they were not really sure what to make out of it.
"That still, doesn't explain why you guys trashed the place and broke my gamestation in the process!" shrilled Beast Boy disheartened as he lifted a broken controller from the floor; bringing everyone back to the present situation that didn't really make sense. So Bumblebee took a deep breath to calm down and start explaining.
"After our first misunderstanding we figured out she was your girlfriend."
"You know?" asked Raven mortified.
"Yeah, Cy told me about her. Although he failed to mention that she could potentially try to eats us."
"They forced my hand..." jumped in the vamp.
"Mika just let her continue."
"Then a distress call came and we took her along to face Johnny Rancid." continued explaining Bumblebee.
"Johnny Rancid? He is at the top of my shit list... He is very dangerous." reasoned the Titan's leader. "Why would you take her with you? A couple of kittens doesn't suddenly turn someone into a superhero."
"That's what I told them!" finally agreeing with Nightwing "But those assholes wouldn't listen! That fucking bastard impaled me with a metal rod! And my favorite t-shirt got ruined!" said the Vampire as she pointed at her midsection, where there was a big hole in her clothes from where lots of blood had gushed out splattering her shirt and jeans.
"How did you survive that?" asked Raven still a little shocked at her appearance. She looked like taken out from a horror movie; dirty, bloodied, and with crimson eyes. "Wait… Isn't that shirt mine?"
"Luv, the advantage of being gay is that your wardrobe gets exponentially bigger…" at that the vampire took a second look at her girlfriend. "Speaking of wardrobe..."
Mika looked at Raven up and down with a lascivious smile inspecting her new costume and brand new tattoos. The Titan had decided she liked the new robes. Instead of a leotard she had a skin tight long dress with opening to the sides to show her legs, knee height boots, gloves, gold belt, and her robe. Everything in her favorite color: dark blue. So after the quick inspection the vampire turned into a wolf and howled. Raven only rolled her eyes and Arella cleared her throat to defuse the attention from her daughter.
"And who the hell are you?" asked Mika rudely as she noticed the stranger.
"Mika that's Arella... My mother."
"Your mother..." she suddenly straightened her back and opened her eyes widely "I suck at first impressions, don't I?"
"Yep. You do."
At sensing the tension Starfire tried to bring everyone back to the most pressing matter. "But that does not explain why you Titans ended up trying to capture Raven's lady friend."
"She almost killed Johnny Rancid, so we put her in a cage." stated as a matter of fact Aqualad.
Again, everyone turned to look back at the vampire.
"Almost being the keyword here..." Mika tried to play it cool but as Raven crossed her arms over her chest she knew she was in trouble "I'm sorry, I lost a lot of blood. I couldn't control myself. Hadn't I being dead already he would have killed me."
"So you tried to kill him?" asked her girlfriend stomping her foot in the floor, waiting for a good explanation.
"I'm sorry. I won't try anything stupidly heroic again... I'll leave the stupidly heroic part to you from now on, ok."
Raven just sighed and rolled her eyes. She had tried to convince everyone that her girlfriend was perfectly harmless and good natured, but Mika had stupidly thrown everything out the window trying to play hero.
"Why did you put her in a cage anyway?" resumed the questioning Nightwing, hoping to finally end the subject.
"We didn't know if she was dangerous."
"No, she's not dangerous, not most of the time anyway. She's just stupid, and that is most of the time." said Raven as she looked at her girlfriend who was sheepishly looking down at the floor. "Now can we just forget everything; only because I'm still trying to celebrate my birthday and I've had enough family drama for a lifetime."
After finally making peace between the vampire and Titan's East they all took off to the roof of Titan's Tower. Since cleaning up the living room would take some time, they decided it was best to just forget about it for now and prepared the grill for a midnight barbecue by the moonlight. They turned on the music, and set a table for their dinner, and as Raven was being forced into wearing a crown of meat prepared by Starfire; Arella had approached Mika that had stayed in the sidelines watching.
"You really think you fool everyone?"
"Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from your daughter?" answered the vampire coolly.
"I know your type. I got in lots of trouble because I was also attracted to your type. You like to play it cool, and pretend to be harmless so everyone falls for your charms."
"I'm not trying to play good." corrected Mika "Actually, I really enjoy playing bad. You should see Nightwing squirm with my jabs."
"Are you always this shameless?"
"Don't worry about your daughter Arella. This is just for show off." said the vamp pointing at her fresh set of clothes all in black. She looked more decent now without all the blood, but she was still in her bad girl garb. "Dog that bark does not bite."
"Well I know as a fact that you do bite..." remarked Arella.
"Well your daughter can do more than bite, I know that. Maybe I should be the one worried about the hard ass demoness with the sexy tattoos." replied Mika as she turned to look at Raven stuffing her mouth with ribs from the grill "What's up with that anyway? I thought she was going through some passage ritual of some holy shit, and stuff… and she definitely doesn't look holy."
"It's a long story… let's just say she is Azarath's greatest hero."
"No doubt about that. She's got the appetite to prove it." then the vampire turned to look at her "Aren't you going to eat with the others Arella? Or is it that I'm really so important as to miss dinner?"
"No, I'm a vegan." she said chucking, as she knew that was the word Raven used to describe her girlfriend "Although I haven't eaten meat in such a long time that am actually considering indulging myself, Cyborg is actually insisting I try it."
"Why if I say the same thing I feel I won't get so positive encouragement?" asked Mika with a playful smirk.
"Yeah, I wonder why." Arella couldn't help smiling; she had to admit her daughter was right when she said Mika was extremely charming, but still she had her doubts. "You really think you are up to her?"
"No... I am not." admitted Mikaela shamelessly. "I've always known that, and she's always known that too. Yet she looks at me in the eyes and she sees kindness in me, and she makes me feel there might be some hope for me too, just like there was for her. And that's good enough reason for me to try and make this work."
"So I don't scare you, do I?"
"Why would I be scared of the long lost mother who never tried to contact her daughter in several years until now? You might be her birth mother Arella, but don't pretend that you know her or that you know what is good for her. And don't pretend to know what I am like either."
"Fair enough." said the acolyte finally giving up "I see now what she sees in you. You have the backbone to not be put down easily."
"Why would I be put down by someone so much younger than me?"
"I guess… if vampires are immortal how old are you?" inquired Arella intrigued.
"Old enough."
"Mmmh… I wonder if Raven's demonic blood will also make her live young for a long time like it did to his half brother… if that were the case maybe you might actually be a more suitable partner for her." said Arella considering her thoughts.
"Let's hope that's the case."
They remained in silence for a while watching the Titans enjoy their time. They were all laughing loudly as Raven had thrown a piece of cake on top of Gar's head. They both seemed content with just watching from afar.
"Please don't disappoint her." finally asked Arella as she walked away towards her daughter. It was almost time for her to go back to Azarath.
"Oh, I probably will... But I give you my word I'll try." whispered the vampire as she saw the woman hug her goodbyes to the Titans.
"What were you talking with my mother?"
Raven and Mika were snuggled on Raven's bed. The party was finally over. Raven had opened a portal for Arella to go back home, and the Titan's East had returned to their own Tower as well. The night was almost over and the lovers were finally alone.
"Oh she was just giving us her blessing."
"Liar." chastised Raven as she rolled her eyes.
"Just because I decided to wear a Bad Girl T-shirt spluttered with blood when I met your mother and broke my vegan diet, you think I'm lying?"
"Also because you trashed the Tower." added the Titan.
"I didn't trash the Tower... It was Bumble Bitch, Stupidy, and Aquafag."
"You also hacked in the mainframe computer and stole Nightwing's stuff."
"I didn't steal it, I put it back. I just borrowed it." corrected Mika.
"And you went through my stuff."
"Ok... That I did." admitted the vampire.
"I don't like you going through my stuff." said Raven as she playfully straddled Mika while holding her down on the bed.
"What are you going to do? Punish me?"
"Yes, you have been very bad."
Raven pinned Mika to the bed and took hold of her arms over her head. The Titan began kissing her subdued girlfriend in the neck and roamed her body with her free hand. But as the make out session was getting steamier, Mika stopped her.
"Oh wait; before we have amazingly hot, steamy sex, I have something for you!"
Mika easily picked up Raven from top of her and placed her on the bed. The Titan realized they were probably evenly matched in strength so it was no wonder she had easily impersonated Nightwing. The only reason she allowed her to hold her against the bed was because she wanted to be held there.
The vampire stood up and walked to the drawer from where she took out a small, chocolate cupcake with a single red candle on top of it. She ceremoniously walked to Raven and presented it to her with a smile.
"A cup cake?"
"Not just a cupcake! It has a candle!" exclaimed Mika happily.
"Ok… not to sound materialist or anything but a cupcake with a candle is all you thought as your big surprise for me?" asked Raven a little disappointed. Mika had always showered her with gifts for all random occasions that, even though she hated it, she was actually expecting to find a huge surprise waiting for her. Especially after all that she went through the past few days; she was kind of hoping to be pampered.
"You expected diamonds luv?"
"No, but I already had cake… lots of it." answered the Titan trying not to sound too annoyed or disappointed.
"Yeah but you didn't blow out the candles. You didn't make your wish."
"Wishes are for kids… I mean all my life I wished to be normal and look at me."
"Pfff normal is overrated!" answered Mika still lighthearted despise Raven's lack of enthusiasm "Plus this candle is special."
"Why special?" inquired the birthday girl.
"Because this is the kinky candle." explained Mika "you can only make kinky wishes, and your kinky girlfriend will make them come true."
"Ooohh I see." Raven was finally starting to see Mika was actually thinking of something more besides the cup cake as a present. "But I'm not supposed to tell you my wish, or else it won't come true. How are you supposed to make it happen then?"
"Well, guess I'll have to use my imagination to come up with all kinds of kinkiness until your wish comes true. Although that's going to be expensive, I mean, am gonna have to fill the bathtub with chocolate, buy lots of scented candles, build a Jacuzzi in the loft, rent an airplane, probably even buy off a Hollywood star for a threesome… so many things to get."
"You are an idiot!" shrilled the dark Titan finally bursting into laughter.
"Yeah, but that's why you love me." Mika smiled back playfully and lit up the candle "Ready luv?"
Raven looked at the candle in front of her, and at Mika behind it. She thought about her wish and all the fun she was going to get out of her girlfriend. Yes, she was a half demoness who fought crime and dated a vampire. Yes, her family drama was always going to be of apocalyptic proportions. Yes, she was never going to be normal.
She blew out the candle and as the smoke dissipated in the air she thought about everything that had happened since arriving to Earth, and smiled.
Yeah… normal is overrated.
The End… For now.
Don't miss my next fanfic: Darkness in Me.
