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Demon's POV
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Somehow I found myself at the diner that Terra had brought me to for pie. I was glad to see they were still open. I walked in and sat down at the counter. The elderly proprietor approached taking out a small note pad. "What'll it be?" She asked not even looking at me. "Can I get some pie, Terra says it's awesome." I said, ordering the same way I did when I was here before. The combination of my voice and words sparked her recognition. "Demon?" She asked. I took off the glasses so she could see my red eyes. "Well I'll be damned." She said smiling, at least one citizen isn't scared shitless of me. "You cleaned yourself up sense last time I saw you." She said, stating the obvious. "The titans didn't want me leaving blood stains on their couch." I joked. "You're with the titans now?" She asked surprised, "I'm surprised they'd put up with your killing." She said surprisingly casually.
"They don't want to, but they don't really have much choice considering the circumstances." I explained. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. "You'll see it on the news." I answered. She went to the back and brought back a slice of pie as the front door opened. Two men and a young woman entered the dinner, all wearing long black coats and dark glasses. I took my pie and sat at a table facing the window as they approached the counter. I watched their reflections in the glass very carefully as I ate, something didn't feel right.
"We hear you're the person to talk to about demons." The taller of the two men said leaning on the counter. "One was in here a few nights ago if that's what you're asking." The old waitress responded. "Describe it to us." He said as he slid into the seat I had occupied moments before. She described me to a 'T', "He was about 6 foot tall with a slender frame and skin that looks like it's too small. He also had bat like wings and a tail like a monkey's". "Sounds like a shadow imp. But I never heard of one being so big." The young woman said after digesting my physical attributes. "imp?" I said quietly to myself, I thought imps were those little guys that crawl up your ass and claw their way out your stomach. I cringed slightly at the memory. "You guys demon hunters?" The old woman asked.
"Something like that." The young woman said before continuing, "Can you describe its behavior?" she asked. "He was actually very polite, he smiled and said please." The waitress responded. "It spoke!?" The younger woman asked in surprise. "Yeah…is that bad?" The old waitress answered. "Shit…" The young woman said turning away from the counter. "What's wrong?" The short man asked. "Its not an imp." She said as she started walking toward the door quickly. She stopped suddenly next to me. "Where did you get those gauntlets?" she asked after staring for a moment.
The two men came over to me to see what she was talking about. "Found em on a dead guy." I responded truthfully after they had a chance to see them. "Do you have any idea what they are?" The woman asked sitting across from me. "Yeah, demon slayer gauntlets forged by the ancient order of monks that imprisoned Trigon the terrible in hell." I answered as I took another bite of the pie in front of me. "How the hell do you know that?" The shorter of the two men asked, surprised by my knowledge. "It was in the book of Skath." I said after swallowing. The woman across from me quickly stood up and grabbed me by the collar, knocking over the table in the process. "How did you know about the book of Skath!?" She demanded. Again I answered honestly, "Found it on the dead guy next to the dead guy I found the gauntlets on."
She released me and looked stunned for a moment. "Show us where these dead guys are." I straightened my collar. "Not until you buy me another piece of pie." I said, being completely serious. The two men grabbed me and drug me toward the door. I twisted out of their grip and shoved myself backwards, both gaining distance from them, and considerably ripping my coat. "Well….shit." I said as I pulled the tattered remains off my shoulders. "It really doesn't have to come to this." I raised my hands slightly in a submissive posture as I spoke.
They didn't say anything in response, they instead drew their weapons, all appearing to be very old, and very painful. The tall man held a mace, the head appeared to be made of two dozen or so hook-like blades surrounding the shaft of the weapon. The short man had a short sword. It was saw toothed on one side of the blade, the other side curved into a hook halfway down the blade, obviously meant for gutting. "Why do these holy weapons look like they were forged in hell?" I asked trying to delay the hurting. My question seemed to stun them for a moment. I ran for the door before they snapped out of it.
Unfortunately I didn't make it…at least not in the way I had hoped. I was in mid air jumping over the tall one when everything went black as I felt a crushing energy around me. The energy dissipated as quickly as it set on. Before I could make sense of anything I hit the corner of a brick wall going at least seventy miles an hour. "FUCK!" I shouted as I climbed to my feet. The task was far more difficult than you could imagine, it felt like everything in my right side was broken.
The three strangers ran out of the diner across the street. "We REALLY don't have to do this!" I shouted, the effort sending waves of agony across my body. "Demon's don't typically plead for their lives." The tall man said as he crossed the street. "It's most likely a remnant," The woman said as she followed him. "They are highly unpredictable so be careful." She finished as they got to the curb on my side of the street.
I fell to a knee as they approached. I waited as they cautiously continued their advance. I mentally tracked their distance. Ten feet…five feet…The tall man brought back his arm readying a deathblow as he entered my three foot radius. As his arm brought his wicked mace down I sent a quick burst of energy into his wrist. The result was him losing his grip on the object throwing it behind me as pain shot through his arm. I healed as much of my wounds as I could before it dissipated. I was still in no condition to fight, but at least I could move.
I moved for the mace, the more weapons I had the better. The second it was in my hand my leg was filled with searing pain. The shorter man managed to impale my right leg with his sword, the teeth shredded ligaments and muscles as the hooks caught and ripped flesh. I hit him in the shoulder with the mace, burying at least seven blades into his flesh. I twisted the handle ensuring the hook-like serrations had a good hold on his muscles. I pulled as hard as I could freeing the weapon while removing a considerable plug of muscle and skin. His pain healed all my wounds except the one inflicted by the still present sword.
I threw him off me and gripped the hilt and ripped it free. The shredded flesh was extremely difficult to mend, I assumed it was because of the weapon that inflicted it. Luckily for me the pain I inflicted in response was powerful enough to fuel its re-growth. I stood, a weapon in each hand. "How can you wield our weapons?" The woman asked clutching an amulet on her chest. "Easy…like this." I said rushing forward burying the mace into the tall man's kneecap. I continued forward toward the woman, leaving the man and the mace behind me. Again I was enveloped by the strange energy. When it dissipated again I used my wings to slow myself as I flew through the air again. I managed to catch the wall with my hands stopping myself completely before falling back to the ground lightly.
"Listen to me, I don't want to kill you." I said as I turned around. I held the sword out in front of me before dropping it. "I'm not here to hurt people, I'm here to stop Trigon." I explained. She looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" She asked letting her hand drop away from the pendant I assumed was the source of her power. I ignored her as I approached the shorter man, who had passed out due to blood loss, I had ripped out some major arteries. He would die if I didn't do something. "Get away from him!" The woman shouted, gripping her pendant again. I surrounded myself in an orb of energy, forcing her power away as I knelt. I placed my hand over the wound and focused, again it was difficult to heal because of the conflicting magic in the weapon that had caused the wound. I managed to heal him, though not completely, he would be scarred for life.
The other man was in no danger of death, so I left him on the ground writhing. I turned to the woman, the only one who had not suffered my wrath. "Remember how this could have gone, but didn't." I said sourly before taking flight, leaving the confused demon hunter to tend to her fallen comrades. I didn't go back to the tower until I was sure I wasn't being followed. I sat on the roof looking over the book of Skath, I know I missed something….
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Raven's POV
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I had a troubled and restless night. Every time I would fall asleep I was assaulted by images of my father, and the destruction he would bring. I stopped trying to sleep around five in the morning. After a cup of herbal tea I decided to get some air. I was surprised to find the Demon sitting silently on the edge of the roof, staring at the city. "Did you stay up here all night?" I asked as I walked to him. "No…" He said without looking at me. I turned to go back inside after a long moment of silence.
"We need to talk." He said as I gripped the handle of the stairway door. "About what?" I asked. He responded with a list, "Me, you, your father, and how we can stop him." I sighed, if there is one thing I hate talking about its my father. "Let's start with you." I said as I walked over and sat next to him.
"I recently discovered that everything I have been doing to defy your father has actually been helping him." He stated, his voice and demeanor were very serious. "What do you mean?" I asked, growing concerned. "Let's start at the beginning. I believed that killing you in Azarath would destroy your father's chances to invade earth. Acting on this belief caused your mother to send you to earth for protection, thus fulfilling the second part of the prophecy" He took a breath before continuing. "After escaping hell and coming to earth I sought to reclaim a portion of my humanity, and reverse the corruption on my soul. This led me to try to reason with you instead of just kill you. This caused you great emotional distress which allowed Slade to inscribe the runes, thus fulfilling part three." It did seem like a pattern was forming. "Now, I've agreed to protect you, which will insure that you are nice and healthy for when the planets align three days from now." He finished, his voice was accusatory. "I didn't ask you to protect me." I said in self defense.
"Yeah, well that doesn't really matter, because as a soulless entity, I am bound to my word." He said sourly. "What?" I asked, shocked at his self description. "Things without souls can't lie, even if they want to…it's all in this book." He said handing me a large tome. "This is the book of Skath!" I exclaimed after realizing its significance. "Yeah, found it on one of the cultists." He explained. "I also found these gauntlets." He said raising his hands to show off his new attire. "They were made by an ancient order of monks who imprisoned Trigon in hell." He continued. "They give me fire powers and are capable of seriously damaging demons, but they won't come off and I can't use my claws anymore." He explained their pros and cons.
"So…you're a demon….wearing demon killing gauntlets?" I asked sarcastically. "Yeah…bit of a contradiction isn't it?" He responded. We both sat in silence for a while and watched the sunrise. "You have no idea how beautiful that really is." He said as the sun climbed above the horizon. I almost laughed. "I didn't think demons had the concept of beauty." I said jokingly. He seemed hurt by my words. "That's enough about me for now." He said, almost spitefully.
"Why do you help people?" He asked, being far more serious than I was used to seeing him. "Because of my destiny, I know I'm going to destroy this world. I want to make their lives as good as I can before I am forced to rip it away from them." I answered truthfully. He laughed, but it wasn't out of happiness or because something was funny, it was bitter and cruel. "You are truly heartless." He said after he finished. His words sent a wave of anger over me, but I forced it back. "The better their lives are, the worse hell will be for them." He finished his explanation. "I don't want them to go to hell!" I shouted at him as my anger began to grow. I closed my eyes as I tried to force the emotion back again. Since my father started preventing me from meditating, self control has been increasingly difficult.
"Stop it!" He shouted at me. "Stop what!" I shouted back, his interruption only intensifying the growing emotion. "How can you save these people if you can't even save yourself from your own emotions?" He asked, his voice was venomous. I couldn't hold it back any longer. I punched him in the jaw. How dare he accuse me!?
He responded by backhanding me, the force of the blow knocked me away about two feet. Before I could get up, he was on top of me. He pulled his arm back to strike me again. I moved my head to the side as his fist came down. It struck the roof instead. I grabbed him by the ears and pulled his head down as I brought mine up. My forehead struck him in the nose causing it to spurt foul smelling blood. I rolled us over so I was on top. I began to punch wildly at his face as he tried to protect his head with his arms. I pulled back to strike again, but his leg caught my arm and pulled me onto my back. I felt his cold metallic grip around my ankle before pain shot through my leg.
I used my powers to separate us. I threw him as I lifted myself into the air. I smiled with grim satisfaction as he struck the metal pole supporting the volleyball net. He bent backwards at the impact and howled in pain. I laughed maniacally. "Can you see now foolish creature? You are nothing compared to me!" I shouted in triumph. "Don't count on it." He said climbing back to his feet. "You dare feed off me!" I yelled realizing why his back wasn't broken. "Yes, and you are delicious." He said with a grin. His audacity caused more rage to seethe from within me.
I sent out tentacles of dark energy to crush the life from his pitiful body. He rushed forward striking at the tendrils of my energy with a flaming blade of his own. His newfound powers seemed to disrupt mine. I quickly became frustrated as he closed in on me. I sent out a claw of energy as he leapt into the air toward me. It hit in the dead center of the chest and pinned him to the roof. I prepared to deliver the final blow. I copied him, forming a blade of energy and sending it directly at his head. He avoided the attack by sinking into the roof. Before I could react to this change in circumstances I felt great pain in my hips. Somehow he had managed to get behind me and dig his clawed toes into the flesh on my hips. He grabbed me by the shoulders as we fell and opened his wings slowing our rapid descent.
Even with him slowing our fall, I still hit the roof hard. The abrupt landing combined with his weight on top of me robbed my lungs of breath. He got off me as I gasped for air. I climbed to all fours, still struggling for breath. I exhaled what little air was left in my lungs and held my breath, relaxing my agitated diaphragm, before inhaling again. I was completely drained, both mentally, and physically. I could fight no more.
"Feeling better now?" The demon asked standing over me with a smile. "I'm tired, bruised, cut, and sore." I responded sourly. "But you're not angry anymore are you?" His question surprised me, as did my answer. "No." It was the truth, all the seething anger and rage had completely dissipated, leaving contentment in its wake. "Neither am I." He responded as I felt his heavy hand on my back. My body was filled with warmth. He helped me to my feet, there was still some pain in my ankle but it wasn't serious. "Like I said, just let it out every now and then and you'll feel a whole lot better." He explained the purpose of the fight. "We can continue our conversation over tea if you'd like." He offered. "Ok." I accepted. It was odd, the connection I felt with him seemed to be strengthened by our fight. "Anytime you need a punching bag…" He began, as we walked toward the door to the stairs. "Use Beastboy." He finished his joke as he opened the door. I laughed freely, and for once, I embraced the emotion.
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A/N: Sorry for the wait, there's a whole list of reasons, so I'll pick my favorite. Shit happens.
So…Raven has learned something from the demon and the demon learned something about himself. Hope it was worth the wait, but I doubt it is.