Chapter 9: In the Citadel
"You're lying," Raven said after a silence that felt far longer than it actually must have been. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. That's why Trigon needed me so badly."
Veneficus shrugged. "Perhaps I misspoke. I am only your half-brother- the human Arella was no part of me. My mother was a demon of middle rank. But I do not lie when I tell you this, Raven- Trigon was your father, and mine."
Raven felt a cold chill that had nothing to do with the temperature, but she quickly quenched it. Maybe Veneficus was lying, and maybe he wasn't- you could never tell, with demons- but if she could figure out what he wanted from her, it might be the first step in getting her friends and herself out of this mess. "All right then, brother," she said slowly, "assuming you're telling the truth, what do you need me for?"
Veneficus smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere," he said. "I was little more than an experiment of Trigon's, one that failed. I was more powerful than many demons, true, but I could not grant him the thing he desired above all else- freedom to conquer universes beyond this one. He didn't destroy me, but neither did he acknowledge me as his son- he kept me on only as a pet, of sorts, while he turned his attention elsewhere. But I grew strong enough to become a lord in my own right, and then he took me as one of his lieutenants, but kept a close watch on me, as he did on all his lords, to make certain we did not betray him. And so even as he hungered more and more to walk free of this place, so did I come to desire to be free of him, and my own master.
"Of course, that was impossible- until you, Raven. The child of two worlds, who unleashed Trigon upon earth and then turned him back, undoing his work in the process. I knew you could give me what I wanted, and so I arranged for you to come here, now, to listen to me." He leaned close; his features seemed to fill with a feral desire. "You have the power to break open a portal between dimensions powerful enough for a demon lord to pass through completely, not just in spirit, or for a brief time. Do it! Bring me into your world, I beg of you!"
Raven took a step back, mind reeling. She wasn't about to give this creature access to Earth, not matter how politely he talked. This was the demon who had dragged the Titans here and cursed them, and he was a being of raw power and dark magic. She didn't know what he'd do if he materialized in the middle of Jump City, but she doubted it would be pretty. "No," was all she said, in a tone that left no room for argument.
"No?" Veneficus asked, and then he laughed, high and cold, a sound that was utterly devoid of humanity or mirth. "I think you forget who you're talking to, little sister." He glided down from his throne and held one hand palm up in front of Raven's face; mist swirled into it and formed into the images of her friends. "I hold their lives in my hand, Raven. I can give them back, if you only do this one small favor for me. Or you could walk away, leave them to rot. I won't stop you." He smiled again, baring his fangs visibly this time. "But of course, you'll then live the rest of your life knowing that, when push came to shove, you were more like your father than you'd ever care to admit. It's your choice."
Raven swayed slightly, trying to seem weak and overcome. "Just give me some time to think," she said, "somewhere quiet and alone. You don't happen to have a library around here, do you?"
"I do," Veneficus said. "You can have time. I know you'll see it my way in the end."
Unless I find something in one of your books that will tell me how to fix what you did to my friends, Raven thought darkly. Then we'll see who's really winning.
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Starfire launched a blast of energy- too large and powerful to properly be called a starbolt anymore- at the barred door of the prison cell that held the four cursed Titans. The energy blasted off the bars and ricocheted around the cell, causing the Titans to duck, before it dissipated. Starfire, who now resembled a brilliant green light shaped roughly like a Tamaranean princess, sank slowly to the floor in defeat. "It is not working," she said, her voice now echoing slightly. "That is the fifth time I have hit it, but the door does not move."
"Don't get down on yourself, Star," Robin said; he reached over to pat her shoulder, but the scorching heat of her forced him to pull his hand back, which caused the Tamaranean to look even more downcast. "Whoever's behind this, they've got us good, but it's not your fault. We just need to get out of here, and then we'll get them." He clenched his fist, and tried to ignore the power that surged through it- and the surge of anger that accompanied it.
"Hey, guys!" Beast Boy called. "Could use a little help. I'm melting over here!" Robin turned to face him, and saw that while the shapeshifter was exaggerating, it wasn't by much. Beast Boy's body was running like wax, and then suddenly reformed itself into the shape of a green lion, which held briefly before it started to run as well, forcing him to change into yet another animal- a gorilla, this time, who snorted irritably.
"His shapeshifting's gotten stronger," Cyborg said, his voice echoing metallically from within the armor that now almost covered him. "But he can't control it as well as he used to. That's why he can't hold one form for very long- at least, that's my take."
"Well, how do I stop it?" Beast Boy demanded, human again. "I mean, getting to turn into anything I want might be kind of cool, but I want to be able to stay me long enough to eat, and play the GameStation!" He lowered his voice. "Going to the bathroom's not bad either."
"I can't help you there, BB," said Cyborg. "This is Raven's area, not mine."
"Where is Raven?" Starfire asked. "Why was she not put in here with us? You do not think she is…" she didn't finish the thought.
"No," Robin said firmly. "She's alive. She was the only one of us who wasn't hit by that curse. I think she's the one that guy in black really wants. The rest of us, we're just leverage- or bait."
"I hate being bait," Beast Boy muttered.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Cyborg asked.
Robin stood and paced to the bars, glancing through them at the two demon guards who sat outside, eating something (he didn't particularly want to guess what it was). "We stick to the plan," Robin finally said. "No prison's foolproof, and if Dr. Light can break out of one, so can we. We find a way out of this, we save Raven, and then we settle with the sorcerer."
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Veneficus's library, Raven had quickly determined, was rather too dark and creepy even for her tastes. Perhaps it was the fact that everything was completely wrapped in heavy shadow except for where it was illuminated by dull red torches at the ends of the aisles, or that the most powerful spellbooks were bitterly cold to the touch and seemed to be whispering to each other in a language she didn't understand, or that several of them seemed to be covered with demon (or even human) skin. "Gloom, I don't mind," she muttered under her breath. "Gloom that's talking to itself about killing me and turning my skin into a book is a different story."
Still, Raven had managed to find something that might very well hold the answers- a huge black-bound book that had been hastily put away and didn't have even a thin film of dust on it. If this was Veneficus's most recent piece of reading material, as it looked to be, then it seemed very likely that the curse he'd put on her friends was in its pages.
Raven seated herself against the end of one of the shelves, opened the book in her lap, and conjured a small ball of glowing energy in the air above her, not trusting the demon-lamps. Quickly she began to flip through the pages- she'd been right, it was a spellbook, and a very powerful one. Most of the spells were cruel either in purpose or what components they required, and she skimmed over them, but a few she lingered on, thinking they might come in handy before this was done. Finally, in the back of the book, she found what she was looking for.
"The Cursa Demoneus," she read quietly to herself, "allows the caster to cause the target's darker nature to increase dramatically in power, changing them into demonlike beings after approximately a day if cast properly. Once the effects have reached the final stage, the spell is irreversible save by the intervention of a godlike being; however, before it reaches this point it may be undone by less powerful effects, including powerful blessings and transporting the victim through a powerful portal, which would strip the spell away." Afterwards followed a description of how the spell was to be cast, but Raven ignored it, slamming the book shut.
"Clever demon, Veneficus," she said quietly to herself. "Not likely to get a blessing from anything down here- which means the only way to help my friends is to play right into his hands." She stood quickly, tucking the book under one arm. "I bet he wanted me to find this. But I'm not giving up yet. I need to find the others and get us out of here before he can make me create a portal for him." Quickly Raven leaped into the air and glided from the library, still clutching the book and reaching out with her will, trying to find the place where the Titans were imprisoned before it was too late.
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Veneficus waved his hand, clearing the image of Raven from his scrying bowl. He'd read his sister well, he thought to himself with pride. Raven would rush to the aid of the Titans, to get them out of this dimension before the spell took permanent hold, but when she reached them, he'd be there already.
"And then," Trigon's son said quietly to himself, "the fun will really begin…"