Yep, consider this an all hallows eve present. Enjoy it. Oh, and thanks for reviewing! :)

AN- This was an extremely hard to write chapter…tell me what you think of it.

Disclaimer: see chapter previous.

Chapter 8

The door hissed closed behind her, she had taken him to the only place secure enough to insure their privacy and that there would be no distractions. Her training room was relatively well stocked for medical emergences, but she knew near fatal wounds to the extent X had would be pushing any facility. Placing him gently on the padded mats of her equipment room, she kneeled next to his rapidly cooling body, ripping off her mask. Not caring about potentially exposing her secret to the unconscious man, she flicked out a gloved hand and summoned the med-kit. He had lost an awful lot of blood and her sensitive hearing was capable of picking up his slowing heart and distressed lungs. His body was systematically shutting down, one vital function at a time. Suppressing the urge to cry, she instead focused on the massive task before her.

With more force than was necessary, she tore the lid from the kit winging it to the far corner of the room, then placed the container within reaching distance near her left hip. Franticly, she sought the zipper to his suit, needing to get a better view of his injury. Unlike her suit, his zipper was located very unfortunately in the precise location she had thrust her knives. The metal teeth of the zipper were bunched and torn in spots, making it nearly impossible to open without assistance, or it would be for a normal person. Using her abnormal strength, she grabbed a hold of either side of the opening and pulled with all her might. A monumental 'rip' sounded in the silent room, the outfit giving and peeling apart. Whisking it from his body, she didn't stop to think on the implications of undressing an unconscious man. Freeing the wound to her inspection, she set to work cleaning it and swabbing at the vast, two inch deep incision. Fresh blood oozed sedately from the gaping hole, its sluggish response making her stomach clench in fear.

The wound was beyond the power of normal human methods to fix. He had lost too much blood and was in immediate danger of heart failure. There was no choice, if she let him die she would be nothing but what her father and everyone that knew she had a demonic half suspected she would eventually become. Saving him was as much crucial to him as it was to her. Snapping the clinchers at her wrists, she drew her right glove off tossing it carelessly behind her. Placing the bare hand over his heart, she drew the other glove off with her teeth, spitting it to the floor. Her left hand she placed on his forehead then prepared her mind to channel power into his body through the two most powerful charkas in the human body. If her mind was not completely void of all outside thoughts and feelings, she might be drawn into Red X's conscious and they would both die. Settling her thoughts, she focused on the dark crashing force of her energy, channeling it through the strong mental and physical link, similar to the one she shared with Robin, into his body. If one was to describe her strength in energy mass it would be equivalent to the ocean, you could see and feel its surface, but there were depths there that no one knew. Then, considering X's dire status, his energy to hers was like a raindrop. She focused on feeding that drop, forcing her aura to coil around it and mold together. The energy level in his body swelled, their very souls linked for a brief moment in time, two separate bodies one entity.

Feeling him reach the maximum level his body could handle without overflowing, she disconnected the flow and felt a brief pang of loss, steadily ignoring it, she was still in extreme danger of dying if he did, she focused on diverting the energy to the places he needed it most. Methodically, she repaired blood vessels, forced tissue to multiply and grow sealing the skin on his side. Then she set to work compelling his blood to rapidly regenerate the cells he had lost and fused his broken ribs. All the while, she had used her own heart and lungs as surrogates for his, her body's natural reactions had been linked to his own, each time she breathed he did, each heartbeat they shared. Blinking back tears of pain and exhaustion, she knew she was in jeopardy of passing out and making all her work for naught. If she collapsed now, they would both succumb never to awaken. Thoroughly, she scanned him one more time seeing that other than bruising, so long as he could awaken, he should live none the worse than a few bad bruises and scratches.

Withdrawing her essence was like peeling the skin from her muscles. It was a painstaking process and it cost her a lot of precious time and caused a whole lot of pain. Grinding her teeth to stay in the land of awareness, she shut off each connection; his heart began to beat steadily on its own, his lungs sucking in air in accordance to his body's demands. Her complete release was gained with a large gasp and was bitter sweet. The immense pain she was in stopped, but in its place she felt cold and lifeless. Her energy at a new low, she blissfully embraced Morpheus as ebony darkness invaded her mind.

!*!*!*!*

A repetitive rumble punctuated by moments of blissful silence drew her to the land of the living relentlessly. Struggling to clear her blurry vision, she realized she lay on her back, caked in dried blood and staring balefully at the softly humming florescent lights above her. Groaning, she rolled to her side, jumping when a loud rumble came from her left. Glancing over her shoulder, she scrambled to her feet, staring at the man lying nearly naked on her training room floor. The deep rumble that had awoken her turned out to be loud peaceful snores coming from Red X. Cocking her head to the side she began to worriedly study his sleeping form. She knew it had been hours since her desperate move to save his life. If she were to be honest with herself, she was shocked at her actions. Not the part that she had selflessly thrown her all into his rescue, but that she had gone to the extremes she had. It wasn't a simple thing sharing your essence with another being, and to do such an intimate act with a complete, might she remind herself, criminal, stranger was absurd. Now, like Robin, he was in her mind, a constant companion in her thoughts, an inescapable tie.

It was about then that she realized she was staring at the extremely well toned leanly fleshed, muscled body of a scandalously unclad man. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment and she whirled about to stare at her own pale face sporting twin crimson spots of color. Eyes widening, she registered that she had done an about face only to be staring at the mirrored wall. Behind her, she could see the stretched out form of her nemesis. Feeling it was useless to continue to attempt not looking at him, she turned slowly, the irrational need to be as stealthy and silent as possible so as not to alert him she had chosen to invade his privacy and sneak a peek. Gliding toward him, she sunk to her knees next to him. The urge to laugh settled in, he looked ridiculous. In her efforts to save his life she had stripped him of his clothing, but she hadn't even attempted to remove his mask, which was still firmly in place. The white skull on the black shiny material mocked her curiosity, taunting her itching hand to grasp it and find out who was beneath it. Curtailing the want, she drew her gaze to his unclad chest and followed the defined muscles to his ripped abs. A dark narrow patch of crisp hair forced her eyes to travel down his navel only to come up short at his boxers.

The black material with grinning red skulls wasn't exactly surprising, or shouldn't have been, but considering she had never even thought to wear anything under her suit, it was a bit of a let down to her more lustful emotions. Blinking, she glanced up at the ceiling, her face a flame. Somewhere behind her, a thick metal bar snapped, her heavy dumbbells crashing to the floor and rolling violently to the other side of the room. She startled at the sudden noise, even though she had been the cause, almost sending herself sprawling atop X's prone figure. She caught herself by placing her hands on his warm, hard chest, her face inches from his veiled features. Gaping at the up-close-and-personal view she had of each individual stitch in his mask, she reared back. Her hands left the warmth of his body briefly before she found them pressed firmly back in place held immobile by a strong grip.

Cerulean eyes snapped up to the face that was still lying innocently on the floor. Skeptical, she narrowed her eyes into a look of suspicion. It didn't last long, in an unforeseen move; the agile thief tugged hard on her hands, her already off-balance state causing her to fall full against him, her face pressed to his stomach. He released her quickly, his hands moving to her waist, where he gave her a shove. Emilia found herself sprawled face down on the mats, her mind rapidly processing what had happened in the brief two seconds since she realized he was awake. In that time, Red X had raised to his knees, only to fall acrossed her prone form, his arms pressed painfully into her shoulders, his legs pinning hers down. The filtered breathing of the mask rasped in her ear, his face close to the side of her head.

"What the hell happened?" The question was barked in a husky, gravelly voice, sending shivers down her spine. Flicking her head to remove her hair from her line of vision, she glared at his mask from the corner of her eye. Wiggling, she froze when he pressed hard against a vertebra, the threat to snap it if she moved more than clear.

"I brought you back to my home to save your life." Any villain would have been proud to be able to say the crisp, frigid tone of her voice belonged to them at that moment. Behind her, X stilled, his body tense enough to keep her in place, but she could feel the confusion and mistrust from his frazzled mind. Not wanting to be paralyzed, she stayed perfectly still, waiting for him to sort it out himself or belt out questions. It seemed he would do both when he rolled off her and sprang to a crouch. She merely flipped her position and slowly sat up. Seeing she wasn't inclined to attack, he eased his stance a bit before she felt him react to her missing mask.

"Emilia Ramsey?! What the hell? You're Silent Night?" She cursed her stupidity for checking him out instead of preserving her identity. Knowing it was useless to deny what he already knew; she folded her arms under her chest and blew her bangs from her eyes.

"Yes. Now that we established my secret name, can we move this along?" He eyed her silently for a minute before she felt him grin mockingly. How did she know he grinned with the mask in place, she could feel it. Relaxing his position, he rested on one knee, and propped his head in his hand. She glared at him, her entire being radiating hostility.

"Well, that explains a few things…but it doesn't tell me why you left my mask in place when you had the opportunity to utilize my condition, why you attacked me like you did, or why you then proceeded to somehow miraculously heal me? Care to enlighten me?" The sneer that marred her pretty features was dark and fierce.

"No." He actually dropped his head in surprise, his jaw surely hanging open in astonishment at her blatant refusal. Regaining his composure, he stood, purposefully towering over her tiny figure.

"Oh, you're going to explain or I'm going to anonymously tip off the police and the Titans to whom you really are." The threat was hollow to her, so she was just as astounded as he was when she jumped to her feet in a fit of temper. A small finger jabbed him mercilessly in the pectoral, her eyes flashing indigo flame.

"So you're an ungrateful bastard, and a rat! Figures!" The stiffening of his muscles was the only warning she got before he launched himself at her and tumbled them both to the ground. His larger frame easily overpowered her smaller one, her wrist captured over her head in one of his hands, while his legs pressed firmly on her own. Anger ran away with her mouth and she was hissing rudely in his face before she gained control of her tongue. "Do you get a thrill out of holding me down, you damned pervert!"

"Yes, and I'm not a rat. I think you owe it to me to tell me what the hell is going on. And who is the real pervert? I'm the one in nothing but my boxers here! Actually, if you want to wait on that explanation it wouldn't hurt your cause to even out that unfair advantage." Her face flamed in a mix of irritation, outrage, and embarrassment. Growling, she bucked up attempting to dislodge her captor. It failed, and she felt him leer down at her flushed features. "Keep that up and you might lose the chance to strip for me on your own…" The sexual intonation in his words made her face go ashen then flood with color all over again. Foregoing the damsel in distress bit, she tapped into her demonic strength and wrenched her wrists free of his grasp. Drawing her hand about rapidly, she was slightly appeased when her hand made a noisy landing on his cheek, snapping his face to the side. It never occurred to her to wiggle free from underneath him. Bringing his face back to hers, he could openly read the vehemence and fulfillment swimming in her normally expressionless eyes.

"Don't ever do that again." He warned through gritted teeth. His face stung like hell, she had managed to hit him in the exact same spot as where she had punched him last night. She feigned fear, widening her eyes and letting her cherry lips form a perfect 'o', before she glared at him again and raised her hand to do it once more. Her wrist was snatched out of the air and forced back above her head, the other one quickly joining the first. Freeing one of his hands by holding both of hers in a single grip, he shocked her by wrenching his mask up level with his nose. In the space of a breath, before she even had a chance to register what was to occur, he slammed his lips against her own, his tongue battling with hers, the kiss fierce and passionate. It was nothing like the sweet kisses that turned her to mush that Richard had given her, no; this set her every nerve a flame and sizzled through her blood like a forest fire. Just as quick as it had begun, she was left disgruntled and alone on the floor.

X had stood in one fluid motion leaving Emilia with her eyes squeezed shut below him. He waited for her eyes to pop open in confusion and stunned disbelief before he turned and snatched up his suit from the ground where she had discarded it.

"Since I know who you are we'll finish this conversation whenever I feel like it." And with the familiar 'shink' he disappeared into thin air.

Okay, so I don't have the heart to kill off a sexy bad ass. And LOOK a kiss! Things are starting to heat up between our thieves, yes? Will Robin reclaim his right to Raven's heart? Or is X stealing the show? Review, tack a 'TRICK OR TREAT' to it and maybe I'll make the next chapter juicy…