Titans' Tower: Renseia had fainted right before the horrified eyes of Solstice. "Renseia!" was the last thing she heard. At least, in that world.
But there are more worlds than these. During her loss of consciousness, she dreamed. She dreamed of a crowd of cold-eyed people, all staring at a medieval castle. She dreamed of a tall man with black hair and blue eyes yelling, shouting, as the castle went up in flames. And she dreamed of seeing Terra pierced through the stomach by a man with glowing red eyes.
Renseia shot up from her bed, a wild look in her eyes, and practically knocked Solstice on her butt. "What the EARTH! Renseia! What the Earth just happened? You fainted! You fainted? You NEVER faint!"
"It…it was just a dream. I, I've been missing sleep…"
"And so naturally, you just fell asleep right in the middle of the floor. And are out most of the night. Riiiiight. Happens all time. Come on, 'fess up. YOU FAINTED. Now, that begs the question: WHY? And why are you crying? I've never seen you cry before." Neither of them said anything for a moment. Then Solstice said, softly, "You had a vision, didn't you?" Renseia nodded, still not trusting herself to speak. "What was it about?"
"I…I don't know if I can…" But then she drew a deep breath. Solstice was one of her best friends. If she couldn't tell her, who could she tell?
"Well, if you feel you just can't tell-"
"No, no. I'll tell you, but…I need some time to, to, I guess put it into words."
"Okay. You know that sometimes visions are highly allegorical, right? What you dreamed about may not actually be what's in store. Just something similar or resembling the event."
Renseia smiled tiredly. "Why can't visions ever be pleasant? I mean, what would be wrong with a vision that shows everything is rosy in the future?"
"'Cause they're warnings. You don't warn about good things. Now come on. It's almost time for morning report, and the others will be wondering where we are."
"Let me clean up first. I'll be right on down."
"Alright. I'll see you there." And Solstice teleported herself down to the meeting room, leaving Renseia with her thoughts…and her fears.
Renseia went into the small bathroom there in her room, and splashed some water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. "It was just a dream," she muttered. "Just a stupid dream. Didn't have to be a vision, didn't have to be a vision at all. Just a dream." She straightened up, found a brush, and brushed some of the tangles out of her silver hair. "Just a stupid dream. I'm overwrought about all these things, so of course I dream about the whole thing going straight to Sheol and beyond. Naturally." She paused, then put the brush down and splashed some more water on her face. "I guess I'm lucky I'm not talking to myself."
Renseia made her way down to the conference room.
"Ah, Renseia. Good, good," said Robin. As usual, he was the first to notice her entrance. It had occasionally occurred to Renseia that, for a human, he had an almost preternatural sense of his surroundings. Was he fully human? She guessed it didn't matter. "I was just about to report on the incident last night."
"Incident?" The way he'd said that seemed to indicate, to her, that it was more than a purse-snatching.
"Yes. It seems three young girls have gone missing."
"Missing?" said Raven, in her usual monotone voice. "I gather you've more information than that." The Titans did not usually take on missing-persons cases.
"Yes. Missing. But what's peculiar about their disappearance is that, in at least two cases, their friends reported that they'd both gone into a very dark place, in one case a deserted construction site, and in the other, an apparently empty alley. Now, in this day and age, I think it safe to say that even the most manic young person would realize that dark places are dangerous, so to me, that indicates something else at work, some sort of deception."
"And the third?"
"Basically the same type of young person. Young girl, age eighteen, height, five and a little. In other words, largely identical to the other two. Data seems to indicate somebody's collecting young girls. But why?"
"It could be that presence I warned you about," said Renseia. "Demonic influence. Demons are experts at the art of manipulation. A sufficiently powerful or skilled demon can make someone think they're perfectly safe, or that the alleyway is well lit, even when it's not. A group could even take on the appearance of the victim's friends."
"But only in the darkest of dark places? I wonder why that is," mused Robin, rubbing his chin.
"Sunlight. Electric light has some effect, but sunlight tends to dispel demonic influence. And before you ask, no one's completely sure why that is. One popular theory is that it's not that the demons are actually hurt or harmed by the sunlight as it is a, a psychological weakness. The same way some people can't stand the sight of blood."
"Well, whatever it is, it looks like we're on the job, at least unless we can determine something. Raven? Any luck with those charms?"
"Some. Keep in mind these won't shield us completely from such forces, but they will give us a fighting chance."
"Alright, something's better than nothing. Cyborg, you and Beast Boy will head out east of the city, Solstice and Starfire, you take the south. That leaves me, Raven, and Renseia to cover the north and the west. We'll have to leave in thirty minutes, so get ready." Raven sat where she was. "Raven? Was there anything else?"
"Hm? Oh," the dark sorceress shook herself, as though she'd fallen asleep. "No. I…have nothing more to add." Only Robin, who was sitting closest to her, heard her mutter, "Nothing of importance."
Raven distributed the charms. "Wear them no matter what. It's like Renseia said, demons are masters of the art of deception. Don't let anyone—or anything—talk you into taking them off."
After the Titans had filed out, Renseia turned to Solstice. "Anything?"
Solstice gave one very sorrowful shake of the head. "Nothing. Nobody seems interested in getting their hands dirty." They both turned to go to their rooms when Starfire appeared. She had evidently lingered behind the others. "Friend Renseia? Friend Solstice? I notice you seem to have words with each other you do not share with us, your friends."
"Uh…" began Renseia. They frankly had underestimated the Tameranean, thinking her to be an airhead.
"That is all of right. The two of you have known each other much longer than you have known us. It is natural that you should have a private conversation." But here, her expression darkened, and her orange-hued face took on a remarkable resemblance to Raven's. "But one trusts it is nothing that is any of the importance in the upcoming battle."
"No, Starfire," breathed Renseia. They may as well come clean. "To tell you the truth, Solstice and I were trying to drum up some support, some allies among our own kind. Vlad is immensely powerful—I mean, seriously, you've no idea…no, wait. You've fought Trigon; he's close. But we haven't been successful. That was what we were talking about."
"I see. Tell me, how does one defeat these demons of which you spoke?"
"There's only two sure ways: sunlight and exorcism. The charms Raven gave all of you will help, but they won't do anything for someone already possessed."
"Do you think it likely we will find ourselves in battle with superior forces?"
Renseia looked at Solstice. "I can almost guarantee it."
"Good."
Renseia raised a surprised eyebrow. "'Good'?"
But Starfire's face had transformed once again, this time into a feral creature neither of them would have wanted to meet in combat. "It is only in battle with superior forces that one achieves one's greatest victories."
Two o'clock: The Titans headed out, on their assigned routes. "You're pretty sure we'll encounter demonic activity?" Robin asked Renseia, from the seat of his bike.
"Almost positive. Demons are creatures of impulse. If they were active last night, they'll be active tonight. No reason for them not to be."
Two hours later: "Anything to report, anyone?"
"Nope," said Cyborg.
"Not so far," came Raven's voice.
"Friend Solstice and I have not located any of the shadows of evil yet, beloved." Starfire knew Robin always blushed whenever she called him that in public, so, of course, she called him that every chance she got.
But then they both chanced to see something odd down by one dark alley. It was like a shadow had suddenly shifted, the way shadows shift when a light source shifts, but no light source had shifted. "Down there!" cried Solstice.
The two flew down closer to street level. In the back alley, they saw a being seemingly made of shadow advancing on a young girl. The girl herself didn't seem aware of any danger, but looked on the approaching horror with…
…affection?
Starfire's eyes glowed green as she shot her starbolts down into the shifting mass of the shadow creature. It screamed and withdrew, and the girl suddenly jolted, as though she'd stubbed her toe. Her eyes flew open, and she looked around fearfully, as though she didn't recognize her surroundings. "Careful!" Shouted Solstice, even as she fashioned a lightning bolt and flung it at the creature. "She's been mesmerized! She's just waked up; she could panic and bolt!" Just as she spoke that, the girl turned and ran, fortunately, not right into Solstice's lightning bolt, but stumbled over some loose crates in the back of the alley, falling flat on her face. Her cries reached the descending heroes. Their attention drawn, the two focused on the girl, while the shadow demon escaped.
"Did we destroy it?" asked Starfire.
Solstice was shaking her head, her attention riveted on the girl, when a moving shadow emerged from the corner of the building and attacked the Elemental's shadow, seeming to bite into the shoulder.
Solstice screamed in surprise and pain, and clutched at her shoulder, which had started to bleed. But she quickly recovered, and, holding her shoulder, began to glow blue as she readied an ice bolt. Meanwhile, the shadow demon lunged at Starfire, clawing her with its immaterial claws, leaving claw marks on her abdomen. Her natural healing factor shifted into high gear, and the marks began to close, even as she readied more starbolts. The bolts seemed to disorient the creature, long enough for Solstice to mark out a magic circle with a shaker of salt she'd thoughtfully appropriated from the kitchen table. "Hey, ugly, over here!"
The shadow demon turned and made straight for her until it was only four feet away—at which point the trap sprang.
A brilliant light sprang up from the circle, trapping the creature, and Solstice began chanting the exorcism spell in a language that had been old before humans could walk upright. Suddenly, the monster roared in pain, flared brightly, and was gone, leaving no trace.
The alien princess flew to her friend. "Solstice! What happened?"
"I banished it by exorcism. Salt makes an excellent magical barrier. But we need to let Robin and the others know at least one demon's gone. And that we have injured," she said, motioning to the girl who'd fallen. The girl didn't seem hurt, but she'd had the wind knocked out of her. Solstice was still holding her shoulder, obviously in pain. Starfire looked on worriedly, but called the others, who soon arrived.
"Right," said Robin, calling for an ambulance. "So: report. What happened?"
Solstice related the encounter, and the banishment of the demon. She was still holding her shoulder, and Raven noticed. "You didn't tell us these things could attack us through our shadows," said the dark sorceress.
"That's because—uhf!—I—make that we—didn't know they COULD." Solstice had encased her wound in ice, and was summoning up her own healing factor. "Not everything about these demons is known to us, you know. They can still surprise us. This one," she said, "sure surprised ME."
"Great," intoned Raven. "So now we have to watch out, not just for ourselves, but for attacks on our own shadows. I confess, I didn't know that, myself."
"Raven?" Robin asked, "Will the charms protect us from that kind of attack?" The ambulance had arrived, and the EMTs were helping the disoriented girl get to her feet. Robin looked their way, signaling to them, "hold up a minute." He turned back to Raven.
"I don't know," said Raven, with a sigh. "As Solstice said, this particular form of attack was…unexpected." But I should have expected it, she scolded herself. After all, I'm half demon myself.
"We'll, see what you can do." He walked over to the EMTs and the girl. "Miss? Could I ask you a few questions?"
Solstice straightened up. Renseia walked over to her. "You okay?"
Solstice nodded. "But I shoulda been on my guard. This isn't like it's my first bout with shadow demons; I know they all have these little surprises. Hate being taken like a newbie."
"You know shadow demons. Sometimes one has a power others don't have. So don't beat yourself up over it."
"…no, just…I thought I was, was meeting a friend. I, I could have sworn I got a text from him, and he said to meet me here…" The girl was still shaken, and Robin couldn't really blame her. It was like waking from a pleasant dream into a nightmare. "Soulshock," Raven had once called it. Sometimes mortals reacted badly to an encounter with the supernatural, more so than others. Some had to be hospitalized.
"What's your friend's name?" He saw her look of hesitation. "We're not trying to pry, miss. We just want to make sure he's okay, too, that he wasn't attacked first."
"Oh! Okay, I, I understand that…now." She gave him a name and address. "Okay, we'll check and make sure he's alright." Robin walked back to the others. "Cyborg, can you check on this guy? I hope he wasn't attacked, and his identity used to attack her."
"Doubtful," said Solstice. Her shoulder was healing rapidly. "Remember, what drew us to these attacks was the similarity in the victims. This one's boyfriend," she gestured, with her head, at the girl, still being tended by the paramedics, "was certainly in no way similar to the rest."
"Yeah, but sometimes human predators seize on someone in order to get the information they need to go after someone else. It may be her friend was targeted in order to get to her." Solstice frowned; that was a possibility she hadn't thought of. She was coming to realize just why Robin was the leader. In so many cases, his experience and attention to detail counted for more than a super power.
"That's true.
"Well, we'd best keep searching," said Robin with a sigh. "I've a hunch these things are going to be a bit more difficult to get rid of than just this." Probably like flies. For every one you destroy, there's still about ten million more. It would have discouraged anybody else.
"Shadow demon at two o'clock!" Ravcn's call carried to the rest.
With one smooth motion, Robin drew a birdarang and threw it straight at the creature, just then coiling up out of a pocket of deeper shadow. The birdarang exploded in a flare of light—light especially designed to mimic sunlight as closely as possible—and the creature roared and disappeared.
But it had not been destroyed. It leapt out of another shadow and flew straight towards Robin.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven's dark energy reached out, grasped a nearby truck, and hurled it at the creature. It dodged…straight into one of Renseia's shadow-demon destroying arrows. Roaring in pain, it glowed brighter and brighter, than all at once disappeared in a flash of light.
The others had covered their eyes. "What's with the light thing, anyway?" asked Robin. "I thought they were shadow demons."
"Shadow absorbs light. That's how they maintain their cover. Usually, unless there's some other reason, when one is destroyed, it releases the light pent up inside," answered Renseia calmly. "That's one way you can tell if the demon's been destroyed, or if it escaped. Flash of light equals destroyed demon. Mostly." This last word was said under her breath, so that none of them heard. Then she frowned. "But that was too easy. Usually shadow demons put up more of a fight."
A beeping sound interrupted their discourse. "Hey, Rob, Cy and I are fighting with Gizmo and Mammoth over here by the old power plant. There's something weird about them. More—oof!—so than usual, I mean."
"On our way. Hold your ground." He closed the communicator, looked at the others. "Let's go."
The old power plant: Beast Boy and Cyborg were having a hard time with the two villains. Cyborg charged his sonic cannon and centered Gizmo with a reduced charge. The pint-sized inventor was flung backward a good ten feet, but got to his feet almost immediately, grabbed his own laser gun, and fired. Cyborg threw up an arm to shield his face, the reflective surface deflecting the beam.
Beast Boy had changed into a gorilla, and attacked Mammoth. But Mammoth simple picked him up and threw him against a nearby wall, almost knocking him unconscious. "Seriously, dude," said Garfield, "you couldn't even ACT impressed?" Neither of their opponents said anything, but simply made to close with them again.
"Beast Boy was right," observed Raven, as they emerged from her teleportation shadow. "These two have been possessed."
"Well, this shouldn't be difficult," said Renseia. "Robin! I need to get close enough to touch them!"
"Roger that. Titans, go!" And the group attacked, Starfire's starbolts hammering away at Mammoth, while Robin's birdarangs, reinforced by Cyborg's sonic cannon, systematically driving Gizmo back, ever back. They were aided in this by the fact that Gizmo himself possessed no powers of his own. If they could just keep him from using his technological arsenal, then they could beat him.
But strangely enough, Gizmo seemed more resilient to their combine fire than they had remembered. He climbed back to his feet, and reached for another gadget on his tool belt.
Cyborg's sonic cannon hit him again, and again, and Gizmo finally went down. Cyborg turned just in time to see Robin and Starfire manage to tag team Mammoth.
"Dude," began Beast Boy, as he morphed back to human. "Was it just me, or did these guys seem….more aggressive than usual?"
"It wasn't just you, Garfield," said Raven. "They've been possessed by shadow demons. I presume," she added, with a suspicious look at Renseia, "that the added stamina was another thing you neglected to tell us?" Renseia nodded guiltily. "Well, anyway." Fields of dark energy grabbed the two and pinned them against a wall.
"Alright, this part shouldn't be difficult," said Renseia. She went up to the two and placed her hands upon their chests. Immediately, they started to glow, and seemed to writhe in pain a moment, then slumped back down. "It's alright now. You can let them go."
"And how did you do that?" asked Raven, as she released the two. "I thought you said only sunlight or an exorcism could dispel shadow demons."
Renseia held up the palm of her hand. It was glowing slightly. "Stored up sunlight. I had a hunch it would come in handy."
"Indeed it did."
"Did the two of you see any shadow demons?" asked Solstice.
"Yeah, we ran in Ghostly right before these two showed up. We popped a cap, and he took off, came back with reinforcements." Cyborg indicated the two villains. "I'm guessing he used some kind of spell on them. Why? Is it important?"
"What did it do after that?"
"After?" Cyborg scratched his chin. "Ah, I think it made this swirly thing and disappeared into it."
"It made a portal while you two were distracted," frowned Renseia. "But to where?"
Solstice looked grim. "I'm afraid I know."
Meanwhile, in the Mythic Forest, Gevea was reading the letter Renseia had sent her. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips. "I guess I'll have to be more careful," she thought. "It looks like things have taken a turn for the worse." Another sigh. "We won't be going back to the human dimension anytime soon." Then she glanced up.
Terra was practicing making magical clones of Lilith and Ray. She was actually getting very good at it. But…
"Do you HAVE to make me naked?" complained Lilith.
"Hey, clothes are the hard part! I'm working on it!"
"Don't change anything on my account," said Ray, leering at the naked clone of Lilith. "I like things just as they are." Lilith shot him a hard look, and balled up a fist. "Hey, would you rather I'd have said, 'ew, take that away?'"
Okay, so he does have a point, thought Lilith.
Gevea walked out of the treehouse and approached the trio. "How's it going?"
"Fine," grumped Lilith, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away." If you don't mind R-rated clones."
Gevea laughed. "I'm sure she's working on it. But Terra, it's important that you practice other skills, too." Especially if we come under attack, she thought. "Why don't you give it a rest for a while, though. We'll move into something more challenging later.
For now, why don't you and your friends go into the house? I've gotta go pick some herbs."
"Sounds good. Say, you didn't by any chance make any more of those scones, did you?"
While the three of them were eating fresh-made scones, Gevea went hunting for healing herbs. But such was her concentration that she failed to notice a black vortex swirling up behind her.
The shadow demon was upon her before she ever saw it.
Gevea fell to her knees, a terrible pain shooting through her skull. Then, moving jerkily, she got up and headed back to the treehouse.
"Oh, Gevea! You're back!" said Terra, even while she was eating on a scone. Then she took notice of Gevea's unnatural gait, and blank expression. "Uh, Gevea? We didn't eat them all…"
"Look out, Terra!" screamed Lilith, even as Gevea raised a hand and prepared a bolt of energy. Lilith tackled a confused Terra, picked her up bodily, and ran towards the forest surrounding the treehouse, with Ray right behind.
"Lilith-OOF-what is—OOF!—going on?" asked Terra, as she bounced along on Lilith's shoulder.
"That's not Gevea. She's been possessed." The three of them tore through the bushes and brambles, the half-demon and the merman making better time that Terra could on her own.
"Possessed—OOF! How…?"
"I dunno how. Say, have you been putting on weight? Just how many scones did you have, anyway?"
"I'll carry her," Ray volunteered. "You find us a safe, or at least safer, location."
Lilith didn't hesitate. "My place," she said, handing Terra over.
"Hey! I CAN run on my own, you know!"
"Not as fast. Come on, Ray. This way."
"Right." He slung Terra around to his back. "Here. Hold on, arms and legs around me, okay? Hold on tight."
Terra did, and Ray broke into a dead run to equal Lilith's. He seemed to have some magical way of avoiding the worst of the thickets.
It seemed to take them an hour, zigzagging along, but was probably only half that. "This way!" shouted Lilith, dodging a bolt of blue energy as she ran, with Ray and a piggyback-riding Terra close behind. Another bolt blew up a tree on the other side. Terra hoped the forgetful leprechaun Gevea had told them about was somewhere far away.
As they ran, Terra noticed something odd happening.
Bouncing along on Ray's back, arms and legs locked around him, she began to notice that this…
…felt kinda good.
Good? It felt…really nice. "Mm. You feel nice," said, murmuring in Ray's ear, her head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry! I'll watch out for the ice!" He couldn't quite make out what she was saying.
Another blue bolt overhead. "Soooo niiiice," whispered Terra.
"Right! No ice!"
They came to a cliff overlooking a small lake. "Everybody, get ready!" said Lilith. "Ray! Come on!" And they all leaped into the air.
Lilith simply flew, but Ray couldn't actually fly. However, he could do something almost as good.
In mid-air, he changed, transforming back into his mer form. His tail, which was a horizontal cetacean configuration rather than a vertical fish type, combined with his powerful back muscles, served to propel him through the air for a short distance. Then, still with Terra clinging to his back, he quite deliberately dove for the water. "You go on! I'll catch up!" he shouted to Lilith.
"Sooo niiice…."
"No ice here, Terra!" And into the water he plunged.
Lilith flew on ahead. She well knew Ray's top speed in the water was almost the equal of hers in the air. Already she could see the smallish, one story ranch house on the shoreline…
For his part, Ray stayed on the surface, since Terra couldn't breathe underwater. It slowed him down somewhat, adapted, as he was, to swimming under the waves, but he managed. Splashing along at top speed, he followed Lilith.
Lilith landed just in front of the nondescript little house, fumbling for the key. She threw open the door, and shooed Ray, who'd transformed at the water's edge, still with a semi-conscious and dreamy-smiling Terra on his back, into the living room. She ducked in and slammed the door shut, holding it closed with both hands, leaning up against it. "I think…we lost her," said Ray.
"Think again. She's an Elemental; they can teleport. The only reason we got this far is, she didn't know where we were going. Gevea's never been here." She straightened up and looked around at him.
Terra was still clinging to his back, with only one foot on the ground. Her left leg was still partially wrapped around his hips, and her hands were moving back and forth across his chest. She had laid her head against his shoulder and had a dreamy expression on her face. "Sooo nice…"
"Uh, Terra? You can let me go now."
"Do I have to?"
Lilith looked closer. "Pheromonal trance. Ray." Her accusing eyes looked into his. "I thought you said you'd had your shots?"
"I did!" He spread his hands, glancing back at Terra, who was still death-gripping him from behind. "I guess they didn't take."
"Or you forgot. Hold still." Lilith marched up, looked searchingly at Terra's forehead, then abruptly tapped her forehead sharply with the heel of her hand.
"Ow! Hey, what'dya do that for?" Terra fell back, releasing Ray, her hands going to her face.
"You were in a pheromonal trance. You were groping the hell out of Ray. I had to hit a pressure point on your forehead."
"I was groping Ray?" Terra looked at the merman up and down. He did look like something off the cover of a paranormal romance novel. "Damn. And I don't even remember it."
Ray smiled a naughty smile. "I'll be glad to help jog your memory."
"Down, boy. Terra? What do you know about your aunt? Any way of stopping her?"
"Er," began Terra, still holding her head. "Not…not that I know of. I mean, I don't know what her, like, kryptonite is."
"What's kryptonite?"
"You said she was possessed," said Ray, becoming serious. "Okay. How do we go about UN-possessing her?"
"I don't know if we can under these circumstances," said Lilith, frowning. "First, we'd have to get her to hold still. That won't happen, not as long as she's like this." Her frown deepened. "I don't have enough raw power to stop her myself. The only person I can think of who'd have a prayer against her is dad, and he's not due back for another week. A cattle buying expedition. We've lost too many cows recently."
"Wait. Your father was gonna be gone a whole week and you didn't tell me?"
"Do you EVER think of anything else?"
"Once in awhile!"
Terra looked at Lilith, short, slight of build, and then at Ray, bare-chested and fabulous. Not for the first time she wondered just exactly what their relationship was. "Uh, Lil? How—how old are you, in human years?"
"Fifteen. Why? Has that got anything to do with-="
"How long you been hangin' out with Ray?"
"A little over a year now. Why?"
Terra thought, her gaze focused on nothing for a moment. Then SHE smiled a dirty smile. "Yeah, I think your dad's definitely gonna be going through the cows regular-like, starting now."
"Look, none of that matters. We've gotta figure out what to do when Gevea catches up with us-"
KABOOM! Something hit the front of the house like a bulldozer, and the whole room rocked. Dust motes drifted down from overhead.
"WHICH I THINK SHE'S ALREADY DONE," shouted Lilith over the echoes of the blast. "Quick! Everyone! Back into the back part of the house!"
Another thunderclap-like blast hit the house. The trio ran down the hallway to a small, cozy bedroom with a square queen-sized bed and a girl's vanity on the far wall. "Here. I've put wards around my room; they should hold a little longer-*
"This is your room? I don't think you've ever showed me this part."
"That's because I didn't want you to show me your parts. I—wait. Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That's just it. The blasts have stopped." Lilith listened some more. She cocked her head, first one way, then the other. "Could've sworn I heard somebody say something about 'pro' and a 'bear' and 'tempus'? What…?" She went to the window, opening up the blinds.
"Lil! Watch it!"
"Don't worry, the wards are around my ROOM, not my WALLS. Opening the window won't…" And her voice trailed off, as she stared in astonishment. Terra went to look over her shoulder. Anything that could render Lilith speechless had to be some spectacle.
Gevea had gone nowhere. She still stood in the middle of the front yard, her hands halfway raised, readying another energy bolt. But she was standing completely still. She wasn't even blinking.
Even as they were trying to make sense out of the tableau in front of them, they heard a voice from the nearby hillside. "Are-are y-you guys alright?"
….
The trio in the ranch house tumbled out the front door. Gevea stood in the middle of the yard, unmoving. Automatically, their gaze went to the hillside where they'd heard the voice.
A figure wearing some sort of large, floppy robe was running down the hill. As they watched, the figure's foot snagged on a root, tripped, and tumbled down, head over heels, the rest of the way. "Ooof!"
They rushed over. It was a girl, seemingly younger than Lilith herself, with long blond hair, similar to Terra's, and watery blue eyes. Eyes that were squinting in confusion. "My glasses! I can't see without 'em!" The girl began to feel around on the ground.
"Here," said Ray, handing her a pair of large, round, coke-bottle-bottom style glasses. She quickly put them on, then looked up to see who'd spoken. Her eyes widened behind the glasses as she took in the gorgeous merman. "Oh, my God," she breathed.
"Actually, my name's Ray, but if you want to call me God, I won't complain."
"Back, Spawn of a Thousand Minnows," Lilith said, interposing herself between the merman and the girl, who couldn't have been more than fourteen. "Who are you?"
"I, I'm Sepia," said the girl. She looked around, found a high pointed hat on the ground, and put it on. All of a sudden, her attire made sense to Terra. "S-Sepia St. Martin. I-I'm a wizard." Then she looked embarrassed. "Well, a-actually, I'm a wizard IN TRAINING."
"Well, we're definitely glad to meet you, uh, Sepia," said Lilith. Sepia couldn't seem to take her eyes off Ray. Lilith felt a bit strange, watching that…
…Oh, shut up, she told herself. "We're glad to meet you. Er, what, exactly, did you do? How did you stop Gevea?" she cocked her head at the motionless Gevea,
The little wizard girl goggled. "T-that's Gevea? Like, THE Gevea? Oh my god! I, I had no i-idea!"
"Well, look, you did good. She's possessed, and it was causing a bit of a problem for all concerned. But what did you do to her?"
"Oh. I-I didn't a-actually do anything to her. I wasn't sure I could without hurting her. So I-I stopped time around her."
Lilith was taken aback. "Stopped time?"
"Yeah. The 'Prohibere tempus' spell." She fumbled in a pocket of her voluminous robe and pulled out a thick, musty looking book. Terra was reminded of some of Raven's books. "I-it's right here." She pointed to a spell on the page. "I-I wasn't sure i-it would work, b-but it was the only thing I could think of."
"Well, you did a great job," said Ray, giving her a quick, one-armed hug around the shoulders. "Nobody could'a done any better. You probably saved us all." He was completely oblivious of the girl looking at him like a kid meeting Santa Claus for the first time.
I see I'm going to have to have a looooong talk with Ray, thought Lilith. "Well, introductions. I'm Lilith, this is Ray, and this is Terra. Now." She turned to the still motionless Gevea. Now that their attention was drawn to it, Gevea wasn't completely motionless. As they watched, they could see her eyelids beginning to blink, and it looked like one finger had moved an infinitesimal amount. "How slow is time, for her?"
"I, I'm not exactly sure. B-but pretty slow. I-it'll take her maybe a thousand y-years to raise her hands."
"Okay, that gives us time, er, no pun intended. Ray? You go get the salt shaker from the house. You know where it is; you've eaten here enough. Terra? You doing okay over there?"
Terra was still rubbing her forehead. "Yeah, just still got a headache. And I bet there isn't a single aspirin in the entire Mythic Forest."
"You'll just have to deal with it," said an unsympathetic Lilith. "If I hadn't hit that pressure point, you'd have ended up raping Ray."
"To the immense enjoyment of us both!" came a voice from inside the house. Terra remembered just how acute merfolk hearing was, and blushed.
Somehow the notion of riding Ray was altogether too much fun for her to contemplate, considering that she had a boyfriend back in Jump City. She found herself feeling guilty, thinking of Beast Boy. What would he think if he knew about…this?
Okay, Terra, just put it out of your mind. Everything's cool; nothing really happened. So. No problems.
Ray came up with the box of salt. "I figured a box might be better." He handed it to Lilith, who was about to shake out the pentagram when Sepia cleared her throat. "Yes, Sepia?"
"Uhm, m-may I?"
"Are you up to it?"
"I, I think so."
"Thinking so isn't good enough. Maybe I'd best do it."
Ray came up to her and took her by the elbow, led her off a ways. "Lil, when was the last time you fed?"
Lilith thought. "About two weeks ago. Why?"
"Because your eyes are blood red. And your fangs are protruding so far I'm surprised they don't cut you. You know what lack of feeding does to you." Meaning that sometimes vampires become careless when "hungry."
Lilith thought. She WAS feeling the pangs of hunger. "Oh, alright. Here," she gave the container of salt to him. "Let the little wizard do it. Just watch her and make sure she does it right."
Sepia sprinkled the salt all around Gevea's motionless form. "O-of course, in order for this to w-work, I'll have to drop the time spell."
"Can you time that that exactly? I mean, she was in the midst of attacking us…"
"I, I believe I can." And, once the magic circle was complete, Sepia pulled out her thick book, turning pages rapidly. "O-okay, here we go. There isn't one release spell, but there is this. G-get ready.
"TEMPUS FUGIT!"
Immediately, Gevea came back into the here and now, readying and hurling other energy bolt. But Sepia was ready. She intoned a complex spell from her book. Gevea, or rather the demon inside her, screamed in pain, and spiraled out of her, leaving the Elemental gasping, on all fours on the ground. "Okay…what THE HELL just happened?"
"Oh, Gevea, you're back!" Terra ran up and hugged her aunt.
"Back? Where did I go?"
"You got possessed by a demon," said Terra. "Sepia here, stopped you and helped us exorcise it from you."
"Sepia?" Gevea turned to the little wizard. "I owe you a world of thanks. I, I don't know what I'd do with myself if I'd ended up harming Terra or her friends." And she came up to the blushing girl wizard, putting her hands on her shoulders. "Far as I'm concerned, you're family."
"I, I am?" Sepia seemed thunderstruck. "I really am?"
"You really are."
It was a crying Sepia who wrapped her arms around Gevea and clung to her as though to never let her go.
"Well," said Gevea, "Let's get back to the treehouse. Obviously, if Vlad's demons can reach us here, we'll have to make some changes. Uh, Terra? You didn't eat ALL those scones, did you? All of a sudden, I have the most FANTASTIC sweet tooth."
"Hang on just a moment," said Lilith. "Gotta go, er, do something." And she disappeared into the house. Not many minutes later she rejoined them. Her eyes were no longer blood red. "Had something in the fridge I hadda take care of."
"Oh."
….
Back at the treehouse, Gevea was treating them all to fresh-baked scones. "You all are welcome to spend the night, if you like. From what you've told me, it was quite an ordeal." Lilith nodded.
"Dad won't be back for a few days; he won't miss me. Ray?"
"Hey, keep feeding me these scones and I'll stay forever."
"I want to thank you all for helping Terra—and me—in our time of trial," said Gevea seriously. "Sepia?"
"I, I don't think I c-can stay. My master wants to know where I am every second."
"Who is your master?"
"The Magus Azrael. He's, he's very powerful. A-and very strict."
Gevea could understand that. One of the requirements for any wizard-in-training was to avoid contact with the opposite sex. And here was little Sepia, in the company of a testosterone-driven merman. Yes, her master would have every right to be concerned. "Well, tell you what. If you want to stay over, I'll have a word with your master, let him know there's plenty of chaperones. Can't guarantee anything, but I'll give it a try. It'll be a kind of a sleep-over, with you and the girls."
"Yeah! It'll be fun!" enthused Ray.
"Now, Ray. You know you can't sleep over with the girls."
Ray's shoulders slumped (and, Gevea noticed, so did Sepia's). "Okay, I understand. Maybe I'll just head home….Lucy's probably wondering where I am, anyway."
"She probably is." So it was a dejected Ray who left, shortly before sundown.
It was a dejected Sepia who watched him go. Really, she thought, would there have been any harm in JUST A LITTLE-
"Sepia!" The little wizard girl jumped as though pricked with a pin. "Whaddya say we give Lilith, here, a make-over?"
"Not. Hap. Penning. Fuggedaboutit. I'm fine the way I am."
"Oh, but you'll look fabulous, Lil! Promise!" And here, Terra's voice turned crafty. "And a certain young merman will be VERY appreciative!"
"He's altogether way too appreciative as it is! NO! En Oh. I am NOT gonna suffer the indignity of—*"
Shortly, Lilith was suffering the indignity of what she felt was a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY make-over. The hardest part, aside from having to sit completely still, was listening to Terra, Gevea, and Sepia giggle and whisper as to how "oooh, that looks sooo hawt!" and "he'll REALLY like that!" Lilith didn't know what "hawt" meant; she hoped it was a compliment.
"Oh, and Sepia? I spoke with your Master, Azrael. He's okay with you staying over tonight. But he does want you back tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. Said he wants to teach you transmogrification spells. WITHOUT your book."
"WITHOUT MY BOOK!" shrieked Sepia, "But, but, I, I haveta have it!
"Well, he says he's gonna teach you how to cast spells without it. That'll be okay, won't it? I mean, you can't go around depending on a book the rest of your life."
Sepia's shoulders slumped even more. She could see disaster on the horizon. Cast spells without her book? She had a hard enough time as it was. "Okay," she said.
Meanwhile, Ray was picking his way home in the gathering twilight. It wasn't far, and he could transform into his mer form and swim the rest of the way. Boy, would he have some stories to tell Lucy.
He didn't even notice the black vortex forming behind him.
The sleepover was a complete success, in that the girls got practically no sleep and ate way too much sugary food. There wasn't any television to watch, but they entertained themselves by telling stories about their greatest adventures. Terra told them about the time she'd fought Slade, there in the volcano, and how she'd turned into a stone statue ("I always wondered about that," said Lilith). Lilith, for her part, sorted through her memories and came up with one where she accompanied her father to the city to buy cattle, and the cattle had smelled "demon" on him and stampeded. It had taken the combined efforts of the city guards, her father, and herself to herd them back into the stockade. Even then they were nervous. Terra got the impression that Lilith was searching for an adventure that she felt would be suitable to tell, especially with little Sepia there. She also told one about going swimming with Ray and Lucy and encountering a pod of whales, which had rubbed up against them all, completely unafraid. "Wow," said Terra, "that would'a been sooo cool."
"Hey, Sepia. It's your turn." Immediately, the little wizard girl got nervous. "Well, I, I don't really h-have any great stories to tell. Just-just, y'know, everyd-day stuff." She seemed to shrink into the folds of her voluminous cloak, as though trying to hide.
"Aw, c'mon, Sepia! You must know some story! What about your parents?"
Now Sepia looked down at her hands. She was kneeling on the bed, and she seemed even more embarrassed. "I….I don't have any. M-my Master, Azrael, found m-me in a d-dumpster in Los Angeles, on Earth."
"WHAT! Sepia…are you kidding?"
"I wish I were."
"Oh, Sepia," said Terra, going over and hugging the little wizard, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a bad memory. But that's terrible! You were abandoned?"
Sepia turned and hugged Terra in return. "I, I guess. My Master said he-he looked for my p-parents, but never could find them. I guess you kn-know what that means."
Lilith and Terra nodded to each other, understandingly. A powerful wizard, or even a mediocre one, could have found the girl's parents—if they'd still been alive. That he hadn't meant…
"M-maybe my f-folks put me in t-there to, to hide me, to save my life. Or something." And both the other girls could hear what Sepia DIDN'T say: at least I prefer to believe that.
"Let's…talk about something else," suggested Lilith, soothingly.
…..
Morning: "Wake up, girls! It's time for breakfast!" Gevea was way too enthusiastic for this hour of the day, Terra thought.
The others began to stir. Terra, Sepia, and Lilith had fallen asleep on the king-sized bed, with Terra's arm around Sepia. She still felt bad about her questioning Sepia about her parents, only to discover that the wizard girl didn't have any. She, Terra, had had some horrific experiences with "parents," from which she was just now recovering, with the aid of her friends and her new-found family. But to be abandoned in a dumpster…that brought its own kind of pain. "You've got family now, Sepia," she'd told the little blond wizard. "And we'll stick by you, no matter what."
Hearing that, Sepia had cried most of the night. Both of them had just held her while she did.
Gevea didn't believe in such a thing as a "light" breakfast. She had emptied the larder: sausage, bacon, biscuits, eggs in various forms, toast, gravy, and a host of other things Terra couldn't easily identify. "Eat up, now. We've got a big day ahead of us." This last directed at Terra, who gulped nervously. Evidently getting demon-possessed hadn't interfered with her training schedule.
Sepia left just after breakfast, skipping along towards her Master's treehouse. She felt light as a feather. After all this time, she finally found someone to call "family." Master Azrael was kind enough, but he was very stern, and she had a hard time thinking of him as "family."
Which really was the way it should be. Master and student were supposed to be just that: Master and student. Any other relationship was frowned upon as distracting, to both parties. That was why even accomplished mages often sent their own offspring off to be trained by someone else. It was really better for all concerned.
"Sepia?" said a voice behind her. She whirled, recognizing that voice. Ray stood just a few yards away. How had he gotten so close? Not that it mattered…he was here. Once again, Sepia felt all tingly inside just looking at his bare upper bod. "Sepia? I just wanted to say a personal thanks for all you did. If that demon inside of Gevea had done anything to Terra, everything we've fought for would have been for naught." He moved closer. In the back of her mind, something sounded a warning bell, but her own developing hormones told it to shut up. She couldn't take her eyes off the gorgeous merman. And, and he was so close…. "So I just wanted to say thanks. You really came through when we needed you most." And here he leaned over and gave her a small, chaste kiss on the forehead.
The pain was the last thing she remembered.
"Try again," sighed Gevea. "It doesn't come naturally; don't be discouraged." Terra was trying to enter sage mode in the middle of her magical cloning.
"But why can't I enter sage mode first? That'd be easier," she'd said.
"That's precisely why. Suppose you're attacked? You have to be able to enter sage mode even in the middle of something else. So, try again." So far, all of Terra's attempts had resulted in several kamikaze clones. Lilith was still brushing off dust from the last exploding clone. "Good thing you used dirt," she observed, dryly.
Terra was the first to notice Sepia. Concentrating on something else as she was, she didn't notice the blank look on the little wizard's face, nor her jerky movements. "Hey, Sepia! I thought you had to get back to-"
"GET DOWN!" yelled Lilith, tackling Terra. A bolt of black energy missed them by inches.
"What the' hey?"
"That's not Sepia! She's been possessed! Gevea! Do something!"
"I will." The Elemental concentrated, casting her own bolt of energy. She couldn't make it too powerful; she didn't want to hurt Sepia.
But Sepia just dodged, pirouetting easily out of the way, and threw her own bolt.
Gevea threw up a force-shield just in time, but was knocked back several feet by the sheer force of the blow. "Great Elements," she gritted, clenching her teeth together, "Where did the kid get THIS kind of power?"
"Gevea! Don't hurt her!"
"I'm trying not to! But I gotta get her to hold still long enough to exorcise that thing!"
"I can help there," said Terra, and concentrated, her eyes and hands glowing yellow. Terra might not have mastered sage mode yet, but she knew all about how to use her old powers.
A spiral of earth sprang up from the ground around Sepia, coiling around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Sepia struggled against her bonds, but it was no use. Language like they NEVER expected to hear from little Sepia escaped her lips. "Hurry, Gevea, before she thinks of something else!"
Quickly, Gevea summoned a magic circle, and intoned the words. The shadow demon screamed in pain and spiraled out of the little wizard, who hung, panting, in the stone prison Terra had conjured. "Wh—what happened?"
….
"And you say the last thing you remember is Ray kissing you? Uh, where?"
"Out b-by the grove. Uh, why?"
"No, I meant where ON YOU did he kiss you?"
"Uh, m-my forehead. I-is that important?"
Gevea nodded understandingly. The four of them had gone back to the treehouse to regroup. More scones were called for. "It's alright, Sepia. I wasn't trying to pry. But it confirms a theory of mine."
"What's that?" asked Lilith, mouth full of scone. Remotely, Terra wondered how Lilith could eat regular food. She guessed that "something in the fridge" must've been blood. Or something sufficiently similar.
"Shadow demons prefer to possess villains. That's not to say they can't possess just about anybody, but…well, Ray had Sepia all alone way out in the middle of nowhere. He COULD have done a whole lot worse to her than a simple kiss. But he didn't. I think his own better nature held him back. That's why, I think, shadow demons prefer to possess villains: not as much 'better nature' to fool with." She sighed. "I guess I need to make some calls." And she called up her floating crystal ball.
The first person she called was Lucy. "I know what you're calling about, Gevea," said a grim-looking Lucy. "We already know. Ray showed up possessed to the gills, literally. Our own magi had a devil of a time—no pun intended—getting the demon out of him. Of course, he remembers nothing. He didn't hurt the girl, did he?"
"No."
Lucy sighed, not as easy thing to do underwater. "Well, good. How is she?"
"Fine now. Of course, she has no memory of the incident."
"I would've been very surprised if Ray had…hurt her. It's just not like him."
"Demons apparently have to make do with what they can. I guess we're lucky it was Ray. Someone else…" She left the statement hanging, but Lucy could fill in the blanks. "Well, anyway, I need to call this Master Azrael and let him know what happened." I don't look forward to that, she thought to herself.
She attuned the floating crystal ball. Soon, it filled with the image of a man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a wizard's robe. His features were stern, and he himself radiated a sense of power, power almost the equal of any Elemental Gevea had ever encountered. "Ah, yes, am I speaking with Master Azrael?"
"You are. I presume you are calling about my wayward student, Sepia?"
"Yes, sir." And Gevea proceeded to relate the events of the past twenty-four hours to the magus. "So, you see, sir, her tardiness was not her fault."
"I see. And this merman of yours…did he…hurt…her in any way?"
"No, sir. He…wouldn't do that. The most the demon could do was make him kiss her. On the forehead, yet."
"Hm." And Gevea received the distinct impression that if Ray HAD hurt Sepia, he probably wouldn't live to see another sunrise. "Very well. But I expect her back as soon as possible." Here he paused and looked Gevea right in the eyes, a piercing look that actually made the Elemental uncomfortable. This individual might not be an Elemental, but he was still a force to be reckoned with. "I do not take kindly to my student being victimized like that."
Gevea bridled. "If you're implying we had anything to do with—*"
"I am not, and you misunderstand." He paused, and Gevea could see what looked like a lightning bolt crackle behind his eyes. "I'm saying, you now have an ally."
….
Far away, in Lianna, Vlad was watching the entire exchange. That was the thing about clairvoyance: people thought it could only be used to foresee the future. But when did the future begin? One could as easily focus in on events transpiring in the here and now. "Well," he said, through clenched teeth, "THIS isn't working. Those incompetent shadow demons…not a functioning brain cell between them." He paced back and forth in his throne room. The guardian demons shrank back in fear. When the Master was displeased, he wasn't above taking it out on the nearest target. "Well. Attacking her directly doesn't seem to be working. Every attack, she gains more allies." He paused, putting a finger to his chin. "Hm. If I can't attack her directly, and attacking her friends doesn't work…perhaps the thing to do is attack her homeland. Yes." And he rubbed his hands together in evil glee; sparks flew from in between them. "Yes." He brought up an image of a castle on his scrying ball. "Yes. Markovia is long overdue for an invasion, I think. Heh."
To be continued…
hey guys sorry if this chapter is late I've been busy lately hope you guys enjoy it.
