Nicole Tanis, my creepy lawyer-cultist extraordinaire, is not nice. Neither is her language. You've been warned.

Hey all- I'm still out between a cow pasture and a cornfield. Internet access is spotty, and the internet's the slowest dialup you'll ever hope to meet. It took awhile, but I'm picky and wanted to get the characters just right. Enjoy, and don't be too anxious for the next chapter- I have six weeks to go.

Chapter Ten
Nicole Tanis was not pleased.

In fact, she was pissed. She was swearing enough to make the new finds scramble for cover. She didn't know why they bothered to keep bringing in more lost little children. Only one in twenty showed sign of magical ability, and actual prowess was extraordinarily rare. Those with prowess were usually clever enough to stay far away from anything involving a fucking demon.

She liked her lifestyle, and what girl wouldn't want some power? What she didn't like so much was the responsibility that came with the very nice wheels and ritzy apartment. She had moved from New York to California, fine. That was at least something she could do. After the mess with precious little Angela, they had needed to move base. Changing it to California was no hardship.

Now, however, Trigon had spoken directly to the people in the cult. Daddy dearest wanted his little brat back. He, of course, hadn't said things that way. Whenever the newest recruits were watching, he put on a show. Towering flames, echoing voice, gigantic throne, bones strewn around like confetti- some new to the cult cowered, some snuck glances at the demon. Nicole waited.

He had given her the more direct version in a private consultation. Raven's magic was weakened. The few weeks after the sudden teleportation could be the only window of opportunity for the cult to bring her back. If events were to continue as planned, he needed the girl back.

Nicole cursed again. This was her only chance to find any weak places in Trigon's hold on earth. If he could not intercede without their help- what was to keep her from leading a coup? Only one of the senior casters had enough power to be a challenge, and he could easily be distracted. He was idiotic enough to think himself a temptation, and that any woman would swoon at the thought of a night with him. Nicole fed his ego, once in awhile. She might need it someday.

The task sounded easy enough. Find Raven.

The magical signature alone would do it. All Nicole needed was one small spell, one tiny slip. It could even be one of the unconscious guarding spells Raven knew, and Nicole would have a location. All of her spells were neatly in place to find that magic and trace the caster. There was only one problem with her careful setup.

Raven wasn't using magic.

She was on earth, at least. The cult hadn't been tracking portals, but it was in their interest to know when portals opened to or from earth. If they couldn't find her using magic, they would have to use a more generic spell. They didn't have a way to find her essence, but they could use a few key facts to drastically narrow a field of over six billion.

Nicole stalked over to a moderately competent magic worker working through the short list of half-demons. "Status."

"W-we're still working on it, Tanis," the girl said. "Kyoto was a bust, and-"

"Why the fuck would she be in Japan?"

"The o-orders were to check all leads, Miss Tanis, so we did. One of the senior casters had a contact in Tokyo, so it only took a little expense to follow that dead end. Male half-demon."

Tanis took a deep breath. Maybe she should have asked names before, but she had learned long ago to not let the new members know too much. "What's your name?"

"L-Lauren."

"Focus on countries she would have heard about," Nicole said. Being patient was hard, but she needed results fast. Four days had already passed without a single trace. She had sent trusted initiates over every accessible inch of Jump City. "Specifically, countries that speak English. Japan might have an English-speaking population, but she will be somewhere that prints street signs in English."

"Like England?"

"She might have tried the United Kingdom." Nicole tapped her nails against a diagram. "You're heading the other initiates, Lauren. Divide up the work as you see fit, but make sure the best are focusing on the likely locations."

Lauren gulped. "Might I make a suggestion, Miss Tanis?"

"Shoot." Not quite interested, but not dismissive- that was the right tone for this.

"Have you tried her mother?"

Nicole paused. How in the world had she missed that? "Lauren?"

"Yes?" The girl didn't even cringe.

"Call me Nicole. We will need a sixth for a casting."

Lauren's eyes shone. "Of course, Nicole."

It was too easy. Just like that, she had a new gopher among the initiates. Willing workers always did a better job. They were like puppies. Easy to please, easy to chastise when they pissed on the rug.

Nicole wondered if she had ever been that pathetic.

Probably, she thought with disgust as she walked away. Lauren was already trying to give orders without offending anyone, or letting anyone notice who was getting the more important assignments.

Fuck. Nicole knew why she hadn't mentioned that little detail. It meant that she was going to be dealing with Angela again.

.-..-..-.

"Jason? I think I left my coat at your place," Angela said cheerfully. She had teased him about being paranoid even while helping create their code phrases. Someone had just probed at the shields around her house, and she had an idea who it was. "Uh huh, no big deal. I was just looking for it while I was cleaning out my closet- yes, the black hole of improbable clothing-to-space ratios."

She opened her laptop. Her additions hadn't all been magical. The cult could have changed, but she doubted it. A few very small cameras monitored the hallway outside her apartment, the common areas of her building, and the outside. She was a little paranoid, as well, but the cult was very interested in her. From all she had learned, very few women lived to give birth to a half-demon child.

Angela took a deep breath. Thinking about that period of her life just made her feel sick. Jason wanted to know more about the cult, but he was being a gentleman. She still didn't know if that was a good thing. She wanted to get it all out of her system, but she wasn't sure just how much she would feel comfortable saying. He was a knight of the round table, for crying out loud, and sometimes that was obvious.

The cameras were clear. Someone had tried to find her, but the shields held. Jason had placed them for her. She could do it, of course, but that would defeat the purpose. Her shields would give her location.

"Sorry, I zoned out. Yeah, yeah, save it. If I'm old, you're Tithonus- yes, that was Greek mythology. The guy who-" Angela paused. This just wasn't a good day. "So brush up on your mythology." Of all the myths to pick- Tithonus loved an immortal goddess. He was granted immortality, but he wasn't eternally youthful. Over the years, he became so hideous to look at that his lover had him changed into a grasshopper.

"Could you bring it over here?" Angela asked. "I'm having one of those days. Not just the forgetting the coat, either."

"Sure thing, if you'll swing by a corner store and get a few ingredients. I'll read off the recipe- yes, I know the contents of my kitchen. That's one of two rooms that should always be organized." Angela's kitchen and magic room were always spotless.

Her mind wandered as she read from a battered recipe book and catalogued her kitchen. This was one of the few things she had from her mother, a present from her sixteenth birthday. She'd always liked cooking. Funny, how cooking had seemed like magic to her. She had talked about going into culinary school, before her bad year. She'd called it her hell year, while she was living it.

Focus, Angela. "Of course I have cinnamon," Angela said, feigning offense. "You picked up on that, huh? I was trying to keep my head out of the clouds, but that's not working so well. We could try something easier. Any suggestions?"

She peered into a cupboard. "We can break in a new pan. It sounds great. I wouldn't dare attempt a soufflé, today."

"You think?" She closed her laptop. "Don't worry too much about the coat. I only thought about it for a few moments, but the forecast looks clear. Yes, of course I want you to come over anyway- it's always more fun if someone else pays." Angela laughed. "You got it. See you in a bit."

Angela had a few habits that she was trying to break. She bit her nails when she was nervous, she swore when she was very angry, and she looked in the mirror whenever he was coming over.

She scowled at her reflection, but stopped almost instantly. She didn't want her dose of reality that fast. Scowling that way gave her some very lovely wrinkles. Wrinkles were normal, and a natural part of aging. Unless a magazine was peddling some revolutionary new anti-aging cream, that was their line. Angela tried the deep breath thing again. Maybe that would stop her mind from hyperventilating. She wasn't old. She was thirty-four.

And he's a millennium and a half.

Some days, Angela really didn't like that pragmatic little voice in her head.

The phone rang way too loudly, startling her from a perfectly melancholy reverie. Angela looked at the caller ID out of old habit, and completely lost her sulking mood. The call was either very good news, or very bad.

"Hello?"

"Hello."

Angela kept her relieved sigh to herself. Raven called once a day, unless Angela had visited. Angela didn't know what had started that tradition, but she wasn't about to take the risk of asking.

"What have you been up to today?" Angela asked. There were two people in her life who could make her incapable of sounding like a thirty-something professional, and her daughter was one of them.

"Shopping?" Angela asked mildly, blessing her years on Azarath. No other culture would have prepared her to ask that without betraying any hint of emotion. "Shoes, huh? I can't help you there, Raven. I don't understand the preoccupation with shoes, or how a mall can support so many stores devoted to them. You noticed that too? Yes, people can walk in them. It's not nearly as hard as it looks, but you don't need to tell the boys that."

Angela laughed. "Boys aren't supposed to make sense, Raven. You're living with three super-powered versions. Worse, they're teenagers. Uh huh, I know, but remember. If they made sense, they'd be girls."

Out of habit, she checked the cameras again. It didn't hurt to be careful. The cult wasn't particularly interested in her, except as a way to get Raven. Angela wasn't interested in being bait.

"No, there isn't a way to politely tell someone he's knocking holes in his mind. How do you know he's doing that? Hm, I see- total repression and knocking things back, instead of coaxing that part of the mind into working with him. You could fix that? I thought so." Angela didn't mention Raven's problems with emotions. She would love to spend more time with her daughter, or at least talking about her daughter, but she had to be patient. Raven loved her space, not people.

"No, I don't think there is. Maybe- no, that wouldn't work either. I'm drawing a blank on this one. Break it to him as gently as you can?

"You would? You'd be the best one for the job, Raven- of course I think that. I don't lie. Of course I could just say that, but it's your choice on whether you believe me or not." Angela glanced at the laptop's screen. A tall, red-headed man was balancing two bags as he fumbled for her buzzer.

"Yes, that was mine- could you give me a sec? Thanks."

Angela pressed the intercom. "Come on up, Jason."

"Illusion spells?"

"You're paranoid. If they get your aura right, Mr. Blood, they certainly can break through shields," Angela said. "Come on up."

"I could stay around for a few minutes, if you'd like to talk," Angela continued on the phone. "You will talk to him? Just remember that he hasn't had the same training, and he's a boy besides. Boys can have very, very thick skulls. Yes, I am still voluntarily subjecting myself to dinner with one. I found one who can cook."

Angela smiled. "Best of luck, Raven. Good night."

"Good night," Raven said as she set the phone back onto the stand. Talking to her mother was much easier than wading through the crowds at the mall. She had taken a couple precautions, of course. Her mother's friend, or whatever Angela was calling Jason at the moment, had made a portable way to shield her from general spells. He couldn't make a portable version to conceal essence, but she could directly counter that spell. The more solid shields were set around the Tower. Starfire and Cyborg would tell Robin eventually.

Four hours at the 'mall of shopping' had been… interesting, perhaps even educational. Raven wouldn't make a hobby of it, but Starfire had lit up when Raven agreed. Literally. Someday, Raven would get used to Tamaranean physiology. In Raven's world, lighting up was a very bad sign.

She frowned. Of course, she had a new world now. It wasn't the most secure of worlds, with the cult probably looking for her, but it certainly was better than the last. The Titans weren't as bad as she had guessed, and they hadn't thought about asking her to leave. As long as she was staying with them, she might as well talk to the Titan who was having a few problems with control.

Her mother hadn't been able to think of a tactful way to bring it up. Raven was pretty sure she would scare people if she tried to be gentle.

"Excuse me," Raven said politely. If she couldn't be tactful, she could be polite. "May I speak with you about something personal?" So far, she probably hadn't said something insulting.

As expected, the Titan was mildly stunned. Raven wasn't very fond of conversation.

"Um, sure," Beast Boy said.

He was looking at her like she had sprouted an extra head, but puzzled was much better than scared. "Do you ever feel like if you lost control, something else would take over?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. He was too angry, too fast, and too scared for his reply to be true.

Raven didn't ask. She sat on the couch so she would be at his eye level. "You know precisely what I am talking about. Continuing as you have been is ill-advised. You're going to hurt yourself, permanently. All damage so far can be reversed, if you are willing to learn a better way to control another part of yourself."

"Just what does that involve?"

"First, accepting that it's a part of you." Raven ignored the backlash of emotions from him. He wasn't nearly as loud to that sense as Starfire. "If you push it away, you'll only make it stronger. You're letting it have the hate and fear. Those are strong emotions. If you keep feeding it, it will get away from you someday."

"If that happened- the accepting thing- what's next?"

"Learning how to keep that part quiet, and just when you might want to use it."

"I wouldn't-"

It didn't take more than a glare to hush him. "As I say, you might need it someday." Raven stood. She didn't feel as awkward as she had anticipated. "Everyone has that side. Some sides just come with their own face."

"Someone told you?" he asked. She imagined that was what a child would sound like.

Raven shook her head. "I don't need a mirror to recognize emotions. If you want to start having better control of your other side, find a way to define it. It's part of you, but separate."

"Like a name?"

"Like a name." Raven started to walk away, but paused at the doorway when he spoke again.

"It already has a name," Beast Boy said. "Beast."

Interesting. Raven supposed this was the time where she said something personal. It wasn't quite a trade, but that was how conversation worked. She only remembered one occasion where she had completely lost control, but that had been enough. She knew what happened when Anger, Intellect, and Pride were in full agreement. The world turned to flickering yellow, orange, and red.

Just two weeks ago, she had wanted to return to that state of mind.

"Demon." Raven didn't say another word as the door closed behind her. Maybe conversations weren't so bad.