A.N. As you know from previous chapters, this story contains graphic depictions of violence. It's not gratuitous, just reflects the reality of life at the League of Assassins (the clue is in the name).

However, it would be remis of me not to issue a warning at the beginning of this chapter that there will be some disturbing scenes. For those who don't wish to read it, I recommend skipping sections four and six (sections are separated by 'xxx'; this author's note does not count as a section).

There, I gave a warning, my conscious is clear.

Enjoy,

LP

xxx

xxx

"I'm sorry," Raven had to raise her voice to be heard over the shouting of the man. "I didn't mean to scare you; I just wanted to see the baby."

Beating a hasty retreat out of the room, she closed the door behind her. It didn't do much to muffle the raised voice of the father, the terrified sobbing of the mother or the screaming of the infant. At least those sounds of discomfort came from a healthy pair of lungs now.

"I don't know why you bother," Raven turned to find Damian standing behind her. "They didn't even thank you for healing him."

"They're frightened, that's all. Besides, it doesn't matter if they hate me," she replied, brushing past him as she walked down the corridor. "At least their baby's going to live."

"So, what do we do with them now?" asked Damian, making virtually no sound as he followed her. "We can't keep them here; this is the League of Assassins, not a charity."

Raven glanced at him. "You'll actually let them leave?"

"It has been discussed; since you transported them here via a portal, they don't know our actual location and they haven't seen anything that we are concerned about our enemies discovering. As long as you use a portal to take them to their destination, they can leave."

She nodded in relief. She hadn't really thought out the implications of her actions when she had brought the family to Nanda Parbet, she hadn't really been thinking at all. Raven was just grateful that she hadn't condemned them to a life of servitude to Assassins.

They continued walking in companionable silence until they reached the level of the living quarters. Here, the corridor to the left lead to where the women slept and the one on the right lead to the men's rooms.

Raven was looking forward to her bed; it had been a long day of training, both from Damian and her father, and she had given up some of her precious sleeping time to visit the family. Well, she wouldn't make that mistake again. If anything, the man and woman were more frightened of her now than they had been when she had burst into their tent with a strange man. Members of the League had had to restrain them whist she had healed the baby. The mother had screamed as though she was strangling him, and Raven had felt a horror that went beyond fear for her son's life. She had never sensed that emotion before, and it frightened her; it had been a desperate feeling.

Mentally shaking herself out of her melancholy, Raven turned to bid Damian goodnight. Only to find him staring at her strangely. If Assassins expressed any facial expressions, she was sure he would have been frowning down at her.

She stared back. "What?"

Blinking slowly, he shook his head slightly. Without another word, he turned and swept down the men's hallway.

That boy was just…annoying.

xxx

"Your form is sloppy today, my son."

Damian had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out as his chin met the floor with a crack. Springing to his feet, he spun around quickly, just in time to see his mother's foot aiming for his groin. He managed to jump away in time; using Talia's temporary loss of balance to aim a kick of his own. She grabbed his foot and pulled it upwards, bringing Damian crashing onto the floor.

"There is something very wrong with you," She stated, coldly.

Winded, with his head still spinning, Damian lashed out with his other foot. His mother fell backwards, managing to roll with the fall, as he should have done. She was back on her feet in moments, but so was he. They circled each other slowly; Damian constantly spitting blood onto the floor. The tangy, bitter liquid was coming from an unknown location in his gums; and he was careful to move in ways that would least aggravate his ribs, several of which were bruised if not broken. Once this was over, he would need a splash of water from the Lazarus Pit.

"Is it the girl?"

Damian hesitated. Talia lunged.

As they were trading blows, Damian began to panic slightly. If his mother thought he was losing his skills because of Raven… Talia was determined that her son would exceed his parents and grandfather in strength and skill, and she would do anything to ensure that happened, Damian was certain of that. And yet, he could not lie to her; she was his mother and his superior in the League.

"It's just puberty mother," he replied during a pause in the melee. "I'm sure it will pass."

There was a long silence in which Talia examined him critically, before relaxing out of her battle stance.

"You had best go and heal, my son." She said, eventually.

Damian gave himself no illusions; his mother was not happy. But, what would she do? Raven was here on his grandfather's orders and Talia could not exactly just kill her, especially with Raven's father being who and what he was. However, his mother was unpredictable and had a history of seeking revenge, even if it went against her own self-interest.

There was only one thing to do. He had to tell his grandfather.

Either Ra's al Ghul would prioritise keeping Raven's father happy, or he would decide that the distraction she caused his grandson was too high a price to pay. Either way, his decision would be final and not even Talia would openly defy it.

Damian headed straight for his grandfather's study. Ra's al Ghul would spend most of his time there when in Nanda Parbet and, sure enough, upon begging for entry at the door, it was his grandfather who answered.

Sliding the wooden door frame closed behind him, Damian moved to stand before the Demon's Head. His grandfather was sitting in front of a computer. The modern device looked out of place in the traditional room, surrounded by ancient furniture.

"What is it Damian? I am about to have a call with some very important associates."

"I am sorry for the interruption grandfather, but I have to inform you that I believe my mother will attempt to kill Raven in the near future."

The news didn't even make Ra's blink.

"Why would Talia kill the devil-child?"

Damian hesitated; even though his grandfather would decide the correct course of action, he still hoped that ending Raven's life was not the choice that would be made. He quite liked her and she seemed to understand him, as a fellow child born with certain expectations placed upon them.

The truth was, Damian really didn't want Raven to die. But, Ra's al Ghul had lived many lifetimes, and if he decided it was best that Damian have no such entanglements, then he would accept it.

"Mother thinks that I am becoming weak. She believes me infatuated with my student."

Ra's looked at him with those old, cold eyes. "And are you?"

"I'm not sure," said Damian, truthfully. "I do find myself noticing odd things about her, like the way her hair smells and the colour of her eyes," talking about emotions and feelings was odd enough, to do so with his grandfather was a distinctly uncomfortable experience. But, he would do as he was asked; awkwardness was for the untrained. "But I certainly do not act like a buffoon when around her and I have never treated her any differently to the other members of the League."

"That is good to hear at least."

His grandfather's piercing eyes board into him until Damian felt as if he were going to be punished severely for having such feelings. But then, surprisingly, unbelievably, Ra's al Ghul smiled. It was a self-satisfied smirk of triumph.

"Do you think the girl reciprocates your feelings?"

Damian was stunned, but he did not hesitate before answering.

"I am not sure, grandfather."

"Oh well, there is still time," the older man muttered as he walked around his desk towards his grandson. "My call can wait. I will go deal with your mother boy, just don't let your infatuation affect your training too much. And, a little word of advice when dealing with women," he tuned to Damian, his expression serious once more. "Never trust them."

xxx

The demon-girl was infuriating. Didn't she understand that those people she had saved were idiots? Didn't she realise that they were petrified of her, even though she had rescued them from poverty and violence? Of course not. For a girl whose father was literally the embodiment of evil, she was unbelievably naïve.

Damian lounged by the door to the room provided to the family. He had been surprised by his grandfather's indulgence in Raven's quest to help them, but the man had only seemed irritated when Damian had voiced his incredulity. Which was odd, as recently Ra's had begun to encourage Damian to question his decision making; if he was to take his grandfather's place one day, he needed to learn as much as he could about deciding on the best course of action for the League.

He sighed as the din inside the room became even louder. Apparently, this time Raven wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. The man was screaming at her to leave and the woman was merely crying, but Raven was also shouting, trying to tell them that their son was unwell again. She just wanted to heal the boy, but the parents were determined that she would get nowhere near him.

The sound of furniture breaking was followed swiftly by Raven storming out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"They're idiots!" she screamed, as soon as she saw him. "Morons! Their baby is sick again, and they won't let me help him!"

"Apparently, they think your magic is evil," said Damian, conversationally. "He has often said that you are a Shayṭān, trying to corrupt their son in his infancy."

Raven started at him in disbelief. "How do you know that?"

He merely stared at her; after a moment she blushed and looked away. As well she should be ashamed; it was a stupid question.

"But he'll die," she whispered, sorrowfully. "Don't they know that?"

She looked devastated. Damian felt both sympathy and satisfaction; Raven genuinely cared about the fate of the infant, but this experience was teaching her the harsh reality of human idiocy.

"You could always use your magic to keep them from interfering and heal the child anyway."

"I don't want to make them even more frightened," she said in exasperation. "I mean, I'll do that if there's no other option. But I want to try and to gain their trust first."

Personally, Damian thought that Raven was fooling herself.

xxx

Raven had given the family a week to accept her help, but she couldn't wait any longer.

"He is going to die!" she yelled at the infant's father. "Look at him! He can barely breathe!"

"You won't go near him, Shayṭān. Leave my family alone!" the man may be emaciated, but he was desperate. She could feel it; his frantic determination to stop her from coming near them.

"What do you want from me?" Her face was heating up in anger, she was probably flushing an unpleasant red; but she didn't care, as long as it was not the red of her demon-side.

"We want you to let our son die with his soul intact!" The words came from the mother, who had, until now, been kneeling with the babe in her arms, chanting prayers.

Raven could barely move. All the colour drained from her face and she began to feel light-headed.

They knew he was going to die; they weren't ignorant of that fact. But they believed that if Raven healed him, his immortal soul would be forfeit.

Would it?

She had learnt how to heal from the monks of Azarath, they had taught her that the power came from taking the other's pain into herself, thereby allowing their body to heal rapidly. But her father was able to heal too and had even created the Lazarus Pits to tempt mortals. As soon as a person used the magic waters to evade death, their souls were forfeit to Trigon. Could she be certain that her healing powers held no risk to the other soul? What if she was unconsciously binding them to her, or to her father?

Blankly, Raven stared at the huddled family.

Was it best for her to let the child die?

A tiny hand appeared from the swaddling clothe, raising feebly into the air.

She couldn't help it. She had to save him.

Calling on her demonic magic for strength, she froze the two parents in place. Striding determinedly forwards she was inundated with their terror, but she ignored it. Kneeling before the woman, she reached out and touched the baby's near-blue face. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on compartmentalising the evil magic being used to hold the adults, and called on the pure light that was the power of Azar. At once, the infant's breathing eased and Raven began to relax as his skin started regaining a healthy pallor.

But she must have relaxed too much, as the next thing she knew, the mother had wrenched her arm free of Raven's control and had plunged a small dagger she had been hiding in the folds of her sleeve into the baby's heart.

"No!"

Raven wrestled the bundle out of its mother's arms.

"No, no, no."

Desperately, she began healing the fatal wound, but found herself wrenched backwards by the father.

"Now there is no soul for you to corrupt, Shayṭān! Our son is with Allah now!"

"You killed him," Raven sobbed, her eyes squeezed shut as though she could make it untrue if she didn't see. "You killed him."

"Poor little bird," crooned the deep voice of Trigon, echoing throughout her head. "Now do you understand what pathetic creatures they are? Now do you understand that eternal torment is what they deserve?"

"They only wanted to save him," Raven tried to say. "They only wanted to save him from you." But her voice was small and weak, she could barely hear herself over the roar of anger filling her; the rush of blood surging through her body; the seductive pull of vengeance.

Somewhere back in the physical world, Raven heard a commotion.

Wrenching herself free of the connection with her father, she found Damian – when had he arrived? – standing between herself and the dead baby's father, his sword pointed at the other's face.

"Wait," she said, her voice low and calm. "Don't kill him."

"You can't be serious?" he sneered, taking a moment to glance at her.

As soon as he saw her face, he froze. Slowly, he lowered his blade, and stepped to the side.

"They are pathetic, Raven. Show them what true pain is." She was only dimly aware of Damian muttering these words into her ear as she moved passed him.

The roar in her head was louder now, it was the combined joyful laughter of Trigon, and her own overwhelming sense of freedom. Oh, the possibilities.

But now was not the time to punish them; there was work to do on Earth. No, she would send them to her father's realm for now, let his minions torment them until she was able to do it herself.

A portal appeared, unleashing a flood of evil energy into the world.

A smirk on her face, she watched as the two humans, overwhelmed with terror, began to be sucked towards the purple and red glow. Hands, rotten and insectile and corpse-like reached from its depths, clutching the couple, dragging them into eternal damnation. The woman took her knife and slit her own throat, but there was no saving her now; her soul already belonged to Raven.

"It is time to close the gateway now, Raven; we don't want any of those creatures coming through again."

Turning, Raven stared at Damian.

The young man looked right back at her, stony faced and closed-off as ever. Impressive; she was exuding quite the evil aura, surely even he could feel it. There was much about Damian al Ghul that was impressive.

Smiling wickedly, Raven allowed her eyes to travel up and down her 'teacher's' body. She had seen him naked before; she knew exactly the well-toned muscles that those dark clothes hid.

Licking her lips slowly, she stalked around the Arrogant Teen. He didn't move a muscle as she circled him; he wasn't tense, just seemingly unimpressed. How exhilarating. She bet she could make him tense, make him weary of her. The thought of the challenge was…thrilling.

Stopping in front of the assassin once more, she allowed the glowing portal behind her to close; she didn't want any interruptions.

Reaching up slowly, she stroked her hand along his cheek. He was warm, mildly surprising given his cold demeanour. She was just about to move her hand to his hair, when his own hand came up to stop her.

Raven glared as he forced her hand down. But to her astonishment, instead of shoving it away, he brought it to his lips and kissed it.

Her eyes widened. His glinted.

Before she knew what was happening, Damian had her pinned against the wall, his lips pressed against hers in a hungry, searing kiss.

xxx

Why on Earth was he doing this? Did he have no self-control?

He needed to end this now.

But, instead of pushing her away, he found his hands clutching her to him. As he pressed his own body more firmly against hers, he began to feel light-headed from lack of oxygen. He waited until the last possible moment before pulling out of the kiss.

As Damian started regaining his breath, Raven seemed to study him with those incredible glowing eyes of hers. He had never been close enough to notice before, but she still had irises when in this state, all four of them were a darker shade than the surrounding red, but he was still unsure of where the source of the bioluminescent light came from. He couldn't quite say why, but he had the strong impression that those eyes were able to penetrate the darkest shadow as if they were flooded with sunlight.

Raven lightly ran one of her hands up and down his chest, whilst the other was used to explore his face. Delicate fingers dancing along cheek, nose, brow and chin. There was an air of wonder coming from the touches, as though he was something she had never seen before.

It gave Damian a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach, a gnawing pang of savage hunger that demanded he act. He took his time kissing the demon this time, wanting to prove to this powerful being used to getting her own way – for this side of Raven was not one to be ignored – that he was in control. His hands moved over her body, eliciting small groans and moans from her lips which he swiftly silenced with his own.

Her own hands continued to explore him but with harder, more desperate touches now. Damian did not allow himself to react, even when he felt sharp nails slice through the flesh on his shoulders as easily as a knife through butter. She didn't cut deeply though and he made her pay when he lifted her from the ground and pressed her painfully into the wall. The small cry was music to his ears as her legs wrapped around his waist.

He watched her sharpened teeth bite her lower lip in pleasure when he ground himself against her.

"Gross,"

Quick as lightning, Damian released Raven and whirled around. Only to see his cousin Mara framed in the doorway, leaning casually against the wooden frame.

How could he possibly have allowed Mara to sneak up on him?

"Just so you know," called Mara, looking over Damian's shoulder towards Raven. "Grandfather has sent me to inform you that one of your father's artifacts has been found."

She turned her mis-matched eyes back to Damian, an ugly sneer distorting her scar-littered face. "She's not even human," she said in disgust, before pushing herself into an upright position and stalking out of the room.

"If you don't kill her one of these days," mussed Raven. "I think I will. Maybe introduce her to my brothers. I think Ruskoff especially will like her; he has strange tastes."

Damian heard her words but didn't acknowledge them. He was still staring at the place where his cousin had been standing. He had been careless; he had let lust and greed take control of his mind. Hadn't he trained his entire life to prevent that from happened?

He sensed Raven approaching him. She snaked her arms around him and rested her head against the small of his back.

With great effort, he retreated into the fortresses of his mind, slamming the iron doors shut, and barring all of his emotions outside. Inside these mental walls, he was cold and logical; and all lust, anger, confusion and anything else outside the fortress belonged to someone else. Belonged to a teenage boy named Damian, in here he was an Assassin.

Coldly, he disentangled himself from Raven, forcing her wandering hands away when she tried to move with him. He expected anger, he expected rage. Instead, he found a sort of bemusement on her face.

The demon smiled a smile that would have chilled anyone who had not blocked out all such emotions to the core.

"Delicious," her voice seemed distorted somehow, layered, as if several people were talking at once. "You could pass for a demon with that cold heart of yours." She sauntered past him, waving her hand lightly to produce a purple portal. She paused on her way to it to whisper in his ear. "Next time, I won't allow you to stop."

xxx

"I like him father," she mussed. "There's something in him, a darkness that I find…intoxicating."

Trigon hummed in agreement. "He has potential, for a mortal. But Raven," his voice darkened. "Don't forget where your loyalties lie."

The cloaked demon laughed as she split apart a road, the crack widening into a huge canyon as the two sides were forced further and further apart. From the depths of the divide, a river of molten hot lava burst skywards, peppering Raven and the surrounding tarmac.

"It's just a bit of fun father! Besides, he seems even more determined that you take command of this realm that you yourself."

"I take control?" there was amusement in her father's booming voice. "I will conquer this Universe Raven, but it will be yours to rule."

She froze, allowing a child she had just ensnared time to dart away after its parents.

"Mine? But father, I…I thought…"

Trigon chucked, odd how such a joyful sound could be made to instil abject terror. "Little bird, you are my favourite child. I have never given any of your brothers the gift of their own dimensions; they are simple and crude. But you? You empathise with the beings beneath you, you have taken time to understand them. So, when you do hurt one of them," with a quick flick of her fingers, Raven took control of the body of one of the child's mothers and made her kill her wife and daughter. "You really make it suffer."

Raven smiled as she saw the woman, once more in control of her faculties, tear at herself in anguish over what she had done.

"Thank you, daddy."

She would make him proud, the only one who had ever cared for her. Screw her bitch mother, with her tales of harmony and abject hatred for her daughter. Trigon had always wanted her, had torn apart dimensions in his search for her.

This was what she had been born to do.

This was her destiny.

With a wave of deliciously vile magic, the entire city around her began to fall; the buildings crumbled and feel, the trees disintegrated to ash, the whole area set ablaze with the blistering heat of Hellfire.

It was like she was home in her father's realm again; the acrid sulphur and smoke, the stench of burning flesh, the terror of countless souls crying out in pain and suffering, and of course the heat. Delightedly, Raven realised that, for the first time in over a year, she was no longer cold.

Satisfied with her work and with her bloodlust sated, Raven reluctantly let go of the Hell magic and created a portal back to Nanda Parbet. She had a job to do, and training to complete.

Just as she was leaving, she felt a shadow fall over her. Glancing up at the sky, she saw figures silhouetted against the moon, growing larger by the second. The Justice League.

Smirking wickedly, she walked through the portal.

xxx

Thank you to everyone who is reading and enjoying this, once again I encourage you guys to leave comments as they really inspire me. Also, I am publishing this story on Wattpad as well (same title, same username) and would very much appreciate it for anyone who also has an account there to find this story and vote for their favourite chapters.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to enjoy the rest of the story,

LP

xxx