A/N: Muahahaha, the plot thickens!

XP

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

The Raven, By Edgar Allan Poe

XD

"All I wanted…was to be someone…you would call…your sister…"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

BWEEEP BWEEEEP BWEEEEEEP!

Raven gasped, jerking straight up in her bed, (which seemed to happen often nowadays) and sweating. Her heart was beating way too fast, she could still hear the screaming, she remembered the unfamiliar voice. That dream was too real, far too real. She could feel the knife that had been jabbed into her center, feel the magic that it worked, the power of the ritual that had been used by the one who wished her dead. Those had been her dying words, full of pain, betrayal, and sorrow.

Raven snatched her notebook and wrote down that sentence, it burned in her mind, just like the last one. This voice was different, but she had seen those blue green rimmed eyes again, and they looked the same as they had in her last dream, which was like this. This time, it was like she had been the one speaking. But the scream…the scream had come from something deep inside of her, not from the dream, her.

Wait, the alarm just went off! What was she still doing in bed! Raven tried to get up, but it was like suddenly a pair of invisible hands were pulling her back onto the bed, leaving her panting, exhausted, and her bullet wound searing with pain.

She rubbed her stomach, the pain in it had become faint now, as the after effects of the dream were wearing off. She didn't cry that time, that was a good thing, though she wanted to rather badly.

Suddenly her door opened, she looked over and found Rorek was coming to her. "You're awake?" He asked, slightly surprised. She noticed he had a note in his hand, probably one to set down beside her in case she woke up and no one was there.

"The alarm woke me up." She answered. A lie, yes, but it would be best not to worry him right now.

"You're not going to try to come with us, are you?" He asked in a wary tone of voice.

"I can't, I can barely move from my bed." She answered him, the irritation rather apparent in her voice.

"Good, don't. We'll be back as soon as we can." He said, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"Rorek! Come on!" Zacroma's voice called.

"I'm coming!" He yelled back. He turned to Raven, "Are you going to be a—"

"I'll be fine." She said in an exasperated voice, causing Rorek to smile slightly in spite of himself.

"Okay, just don't come after us." He told her sternly before leaving.

Don't go after them, as if I had a choice! Raven thought, hating herself for being so frail. Malchior's spell was refusing to let her spend any energy on even getting up, much less argue with them. And the wound was almost healed too! Sigh, why couldn't the emergency come tomorrow night? She thought.

Raven closed her eyes for a moment, but only to be greeted by the unpleasant questions of the newest addition to her dreams. She didn't feel like writing it down, frankly she didn't think she'd forget them anytime soon, nor would she forget the emotions that were burning inside of her, fogging up her thoughts.

Raven sighed and began to clear her mind, she really needed to meditate more often, and if that meant kicking Malchior or Rorek out of her room than so be it. She'd never even handled one relationship, much less two. And she needed her space, she needed her alone times where she would cut herself off from the others, not because she was getting depressed, just because she really needed to be alone.

This wasn't working. Raven took a deep breath and gently brought herself up from the bed, waiting to see if she was going to be overcome with exhaustion again. When nothing happened, she sat on up and crossed her legs. "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos." She chanted, floating only a few inches off her mattress. She had to empty herself of all worldly thoughts, of all emotions, and all of her desires. The physical world was not real, it was merely a place for the soul to possess a body, once you were able to push past the flesh, nothing in this world mattered. Everything the flesh sees would one day be lost, but the soul is eternal, the mind can forever wonder the limitless expanse. Once you were able to empty yourself, and then to release yourself of these physical bindings, infinity was possible. Nothing could touch her, nothing could harm her in any way. She was free of all emotion, of all thoughts, she was limitless.

She couldn't talk, or rather she didn't talk, she just made sounds as we cleaned her, gave her food, and healed her wounds. I never got close, I was afraid to touch her, I even refused when Mother asked me to help with more than just bringing things.

She kept, she kept eating herself, chewing on her fingers and trying to rip off her skin with her teeth. Mother continuously tried to teach her not to, while re-healing the wounds she placed on herself. Soon we discovered that she couldn't stop, she was thirsty, thirsty for blood.

That should have been the last straw, Mother should have turned her away, gotten rid of her somehow. But she didn't, again she merely treated her like a special case.

Raven's eyes shot wide open. What was that! She thought. Swiftly she scrambled for some paper to try and write it down, but before she could her communicator seemed to turn on, she stared at it, but it just sat there making odd sounds like…like someone being hurt.

"Robin?" She asked into it. "Someone? What's going on?"

"Raven! Don't—" Robin's voice gasped. Raven's eyes widened.

"So that's where she is, is it!" Demanded an all too familiar voice, coming closer to the communicator.

"Balegor!" Raven hissed, "What the heck do you think you're trying to prove!" She demanded. "Trigon's dead, in case you haven't noticed, and you—"

"AND I AM STILL BROTHER BLOOD, Raven." He yelled, obviously trying his best to stay calm in spit of the raging fury that was inside of him. "Yes, Trigon may be dead, but I had yet to be stripped of my position through ritual. I am still Brother Blood in spite of Trigon's orders. I'll have you as my bride, even if I have to sacrifice each and every one of your little friends." He said, his voice took on a tone of sardonic pleasure.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" She yelled.

"If you'd like to see them alive again, you'd better hurry up because the ritual begins at midnight." He said.

"What are you talking about!" She demanded.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I'd sacrifice your friends. I think I'll start with that spunky traitor too." He told her.

"NO RAVEN, DON'T!" Robin's voice yelled.

"Silence!" Balegor hissed, "You have one hour. Better hurry."

She heard the sound of something, probably the other communicator, hitting the ground, and then there was a rush of static. Nothing more.

Not losing any time, Raven changed her clothes and teleported into the living room. She could find out where the emergency was on the computer and go from there, hopefully.

XD

Raven fell to her knees, panting, and gripping her left shoulder as the pain came back to it. It had taken a little too much power to teleport all the way, but she had little choice. There was no guarantee her friends would be at the exact location, which would mean it was going to take her even more time finding out where they were. And it seemed she was right.

After gathering herself back up, she took a moment to survey the area. It was a children's play park, and everything seemed normal. It had a swing set, jungle gym, slides, a few of those little animals on huge springs that you'd ride, and of course a marry-go-round. It all seemed so quiet too, normal. Illuminated by street lamps and surrounded by select trees and a hiking trail into a forest behind her.

The forest was probably where they would be, somewhere anyways. She would start there.

"Raven?"

Raven spun around swiftly, a ball of black lightning ready in her hands in case the unfamiliar voice was hostile. But then she saw the silhouette of a cloaked figure and she let her guard down. The pair of points on top of the head told her who it was, "Batman!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing. Where's Robin?" He questioned. "And the others? Why aren't you with them?"

"An old enemy named Balegor somehow managed to kidnap them when they came to investigate the disturbance. How he did that, I have no clue. He was a bungling idiot before, and he had a source of power then. But we've destroyed the source so he must be working with someone else again. As for why I'm not with them, they didn't let me come because I am currently recovering from a bullet wound." She answered.

The pair of white eyes widened slightly and then narrowed, "In that case you should still be in bed. Let me handle this." He said.

Raven crossed her arms over her chest, "No way, you don't know what's going on and you're liable to be in more danger than I am, seeing as how you lack any magical prowess. Besides, it's me Balegor wants, this is my fight and no one else's." She told him plainly. "Now you answer my question."

"Very well. I've been trying to track down a certain circle that have been using human sacrifices in order to gain more power. I just recently discovered that there would be a very…involved ritual taking place in Jump City, but when I tried to contact you, no one answered. So I came here." He said.

"You were very fast in getting here."

"I had been tracking them for a while, I was just outside the city when I found one of them and interrogated them." He told her.

"I don't know what the ritual is, but I do know that they're planning to use the others to do it, and it's going to take place at midnight. If we're going to save them, we might as well work together." She said.

He nodded in a reluctant agreement, and then turned his attention to the marry-go-round. "There," He pointed, "That's where he said the entrance would be." He said.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" Raven exclaimed. Her dark energy engulfed the marry-go-round and caused it to fly up out of the ground, revealing a tunnel large enough for two men. Without a word, Raven flew down the tunnel, Batman following her, using his grapple to keep himself from falling to fast in case the distance was too far.

"Sewers, of course." He muttered in disgust.

"The circle you've been chasing is called the Blood Clan," Raven explained as they swiftly made their way down the tunnel. "Balegor, also known as Brother Blood, is their supposed leader. But we defeated their master, Trigon, only a few weeks ago. They can't possibly have gathered enough power to pose a threat so soon." She said.

"Trigon, isn't that your father?" Batman questioned.

"Yes." Raven said. Her voice had such a menacing tone in it that not even the great Batman was willing to press the subject.

"What does he want now?" He questioned.

"I'm not entirely sure. There's a prophecy that says Brother Blood and Trigon's Chosen would wed and conceive a child to bring about the apocalypse, but now that Trigon's dead the prophecy should have been destroyed. Brother Blood claims that this ritual will make that happen, but I don't see how." She answered. Suddenly a sphere of blood red light shot straight at them, on instinct Raven pulled up her shield, causing the blast to dispel. "Sanguineus Factus Spiritus, Factus Fulmineus!" She chanted. Pure lightening began to charge in her hands, granting her its power to manipulate and control. "Jump!" She ordered. Without hesitation the dark night did so and Raven filled the entire tunnel with the destructive charge. Several cries of shock and pain echoed through the tunnel, telling her where they were.

"New trick?" Batman asked as she dispelled the lightning around her hands.

"I have more." She answered, flying towards the source of their attack.

Three priests had apparently been sent to guard what looked to be a doorway of some kind. They were still alive of course but only one of them was still conscious. So Batman grabbed him. "Where are you keeping the Titans?" He demanded. But the priest only gave him a week glair.

"Here, let me try." Raven said, feeling more and more testy by the minute, she grabbed him and looked him in the eyes, "Tell us this instant!" She ordered, her eyes glowing red with her anger.

The priest's face twisted in fear and realization. "Th-the dungeons! They're being kept in a stone room!" He stammered.

"All of them?" She questioned.

"N-n-no! Th-the dragons are s-somewhere else!" he exclaimed.

"Dragons? What dragons?" Batman questioned.

"Malchior and Rorek, I'll explain later. Where are they then?" She turned back to the priest.

"I don't know! Th-the woman took them!"

"Woman? What woman?"

"Th-the tainted woman, sh-she has the dragons, she was the only one powerful enough to control them." He gasped out. "P-please s-spare me Lady Raven!" He begged.

Raven huffed out her exasperation and tossed him aside. She gestured her hand to the door, engulfing it in her black energy, and flung it to the other side of the tunnel.

"We'll need a map of some sort." Batman said. Raven turned back to the priest, who instantly tossed a red gem to her.

They had not walked inside for a moment before Raven suddenly collapsed onto the floor, panting and sweating in sudden exhaustion. She grabbed her shoulder, trying to help the pain by applying pressure to it. "Raven? Are you alright?" Batman questioned, kneeling down beside her.

"I'm fine." She said, waving his hand away. "Just, give me a minute." She said. If she was going to get through this, she would have to take off Malchior's spell. It was draining far too much energy. And besides, the wound was healed enough. "Retexo." She murmured.

Pain shot through her shoulder and arm, but her strength was returning to her. She pulled herself together and continued on, refusing Batman's offers of help.

XD

Raven panted, holding herself as she tried to rest against the wall for a little. She was still far too weak from the wound to continue fighting against the priests, at least Batman was there as well. Though he would have surely died a long time ago had he tried taking the fortress on by himself, his stealthy attacks were good when they had the element of surprise, and by casting a shield around him when he was about to be killed by a spell, the team effort was much easier for her to deal with. But it was still leaving her all but breathless.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can go on like this." Raven confessed.

"How long have you had to recover from that wound?" Batman asked her, peering around the corner to make sure they were okay to rest.

"A few days." She answered.

"Impressive, I'm surprised you're still standing. Here, drink some of this." He said, holding out a canteen for her.

She sipped the spicy liquid, almost choking on it. "This isn't water!" She gasped.

"No, but it'll give you more strength." He said.

"I didn't know you were an alchemist." She said, taking a few more sips.

"I'm not, I prefer science to sorcery." He informed.

Well, whatever it was, it helped quite a bit. She stopped panting and felt like she had enough energy to proceed. "We should be at the dungeons soon." She said, checking the jewel. She held it close to her eye and let its magic flow into her vision so that she could see its information.

"Good. Which way?" Batman questioned.

"This way." She answered, turning to the right.

"Is that it?" Batman questioned as they approached a door where several guards were positioned.

"Yes."

"Halt! Who goes there!" Demanded one of them, preparing a spell. Batman threw several of his boomerangs (Baterangs?) at them while Raven prepared to cancel their spells.

It all seemed to happen so fast. Raven had only a moment to realize they were surrounded before she was shot in the back with several blood arrows, all going through her back and out her front, causing her chest and stomach to become covered in blood the next moment. She fell to the ground, fighting against a darkness that was threatening to consume her. She could hear Batman crying out for her as he fought as best he could against the collective magic of the Blood Clan. But soon he would be dead, she would be dead, and her friends would all be sacrificed in only a quarter of an hour. And what of Rorek and Malchior? Would they be sacrificed too? Where were they now?

Hot tears welled up in her eyes, how could she have let this happen? They had come so far, so far, she couldn't let her friends be killed. Everything had happened so fast…

You want to kill them, don't you? A voice questioned in her mind. These people, they claim to serve our father, and yet they commit such foul crimes against us, we should torture them until they beg for death, and then death is what they shall receive! They dare harm those that we love! Do they think they will not suffer the concequences of these actions? Do they think that they can defeat us? Such fools! We shall kill them all!

Who, who are you? Raven asked.

I am you, Raven, I am the demon inside of you. The natural will to survive has awakened me, but I have become cleansed, as cleansed as a demon can be. Your happiness is my happiness, your sorrow is my sorrow, and your love is also my love. We are one and the same, accept me and you can save your friends.

How do I know I can trust you?

Do you trust yourself? As I have told you, your will is also mine. I am not another person inside of you, I am you, and you will still have your own control.It answered. But you must hurry, or your body will not allow the transformation.

Alright! Give me the power to save my friends! Raven answered finally.

Raven's eyes shot open, she could see Batman kneeling beside her, his blood mixing with the pool of her own. He was fighting with all his might to stay conscious before the haughty looks of their enemies. Raven pushed herself up just enough so that she could see her blood drawing itself back into her body. No, it was moving with a life of its own, becoming dark and full of power as it twisted and turned, engulfing her in its embrace as she pushed herself up off the ground.

She could feel her wounds mend themselves, she could feel her blood boiling with power, shifting her body, changing her, giving her a power she had always feared and dreaded. Her muscles became firm and coursing with unimaginable strength, she felt lighter, faster, more agile, and more powerful. Her hair turned black, her skin became white as snow, a second set of eyes opened from above her brow, glowing red like her first set. A pair of fangs grew from her jaw, and they were aching to be used.

When the blood dispersed, returning to her body, she looked down at herself. Her costume had turned completely black, the gold changed to silver, and her rubies became darker. Her claws were itching to be used, and she knew exactly what to use them on.

The tormented screams and cries of pain felt like a morbid kind of music to her ears, the warm blood of human mixed with demon tasted bittersweet on her lips, but the power to crush a man's skull with her bear hands, to be able to rip them apart like paper dolls, it was this power that caused excitement to rise inside of her. She had never been able to accomplish this, had never known real strength like this. Her enemies couldn't even touch her, their spells seemed to bounce off of her skin as if it were made of silver.

Soon, all of them had either fled, or lay dead before her, their blood being absorbed into her own body to fuel her and give her power. She turned slowly towards Batman, who was regarding her warily from the side, having to hold himself as he was still on the ground. She walked over to him and laid one clawed hand upon his shoulder, "No need to fear me, mortal. I wash myself of my father's evil and kill no innocence. You see only the body and power of a demon lord." She told him. She filled him with purified human blood and took his wounds into her being, where they were healed by her body's new chemistry.

"You'll forgive me if I have a hard time seeing you as an ally." He said standing up.

"You of all people should understand that darkness is not always so unholy." She said. She turned and gestured her hand to the door. It broke and flew into the dungeons at the force of her power.

"I don't claim to be innocent myself." He said.

"I can certainly understand that. Therefore you should understand that I fight with you as Raven. Though, not the Raven you know, perhaps as Dark Raven then." She said.

"It'll be pointless to argue with you, and we don't have much time." Batman said.

"Then take this and find the Titans. I will see about the Tainted woman." Raven said. She held her hands up and called forth her powers to form a red crystal blade. She held it out to Batman, "You don't have to trust this body, but I am going to ask you to trust me." She told him.

"Robin had better have a decent explanation for this." He muttered, taking the sword reluctantly.

"I doubt he will be able to tell you everything, especially in the small amount of time that we have." She informed, turning to go the other way. "But that sword should easily dispel any magic that tries to harm you, and you should be able to destroy solid stone with it if the need arises." She said.

"Thanks, I think." Batman said under his breath as the demon girl disappeared in a swirl of black smoke.

XD

"Is it fixed yet!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"You know what? Maybe you should just sit down in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes!" Cyborg snapped. "I am working on it! But it's hard to do anything without proper tools. It needs to be a little smaller." He said, holding the screwdriver out to Zacroma. She took it, made the necessary changes, and handed it back to him.

"I'm just asking…" Beast Boy said.

"You've been asking enough, Cyborg needs to concentrate." Robin told him.

"I need a small wire here." Cyborg said, pointing. "As small as you can get it."

"What type of metal?" Zacroma asked.

"Aluminum." He answered.

"Uuuuuh, dunno if I have that…" She said, looking at her gem.

"Can't you make it?" Beast Boy questioned.

Zacroma gave him a, 'you're kidding right?' look. "Noooooo, all I can do is manipulate it. Why do you think I have this gem? It holds different metals for me to use when I need them." She said.

"Well, I guess steel would work just as well, but you'll need to be careful about putting it there." Cyborg said.

"Steel I can do." She told him, waving her gem over the broken communicator. A small blue light came from it, gently turning into an itty bitty wire that attached itself between the requested parts.

"Perfect! Alright, now I think we're getting somewhere!" Cyborg said triumphantly.

"What do you think is happening to our friends?" Starfire asked in a worried voice.

"You'd think those two would have been able to wipe the floor with that dork! Where'd that freaky lady come from!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Hey, did you notice that they—" Robin began, but was interrupted.

"Robin! Are you in there?" Asked a stern, deep voice that he knew all too well.

"Batman! What are you doing here!" He demanded, running over to the stone door and glass window.

"I'll explain later. For now it looks like you need some help, step away from the door." The other instructed.

"Dude, Batman's here!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"It won't work, I've tried blasting it, those freaks put too many spells on it for anything to work on it!" Robin told him.

"Just do it!" He snapped in irritation. Robin rolled his eyes but stepped away from the door anyways.

Suddenly, it looked like a strange red light had made a diagonal line on the door, and the next moment the stone crumbled to the ground, revealing the Dark Night himself holding a sword that looked to be made of some red substance. "Here, you take this." Batman said, shoving the sword to Robin, who was still gawking in shock.

"How did you—" Robin began.

"Your friend Raven made that sword so that I could release you. She has gone to find your 'dragon' friends. I expect a full explanation when all of this is over, but currently we should focus on stopping the ritual at all costs." Batman answered.

"Wait, Raven's here too? Oh no, this is bad!" Zacroma exclaimed.

"She shouldn't be out of bed!" Beast Boy cried, pulling on his hair.

"She should, but thanks to her you've escaped death. However, I don't think you have to worry about her very much." He said.

"How so?" Robin questioned suspiciously.

"I am not very sure myself, but she somehow managed to transform into a demon without loosing herself in the process." Batman answered.

"She what!" Zacroma cried, "But that's, that's not, I didn't think she was strong enough to…" She trailed off, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that everyone was staring at her.

"What do you mean?" Batman questioned.

"Well, it's never been done before, because all of the half-human children Trigon had he killed off because they were inadequate to be his Chosen. But Azar once believed that a child like this, if cleansed, could one day gain the ability to become greater than any full demon by calling upon the power of their blood, and yet still have their own consciousness as well. But it was all a theory, with a slight basis in what Azar had seen in Raven as well as the question of why Trigon always killed off his half-human children instead of just casting them away or even taking them to serve him like his other full-demon children. But, the body would have to be extremely powerful to withstand such a change, I didn't think Raven would have ever been able to do it." She answered.

"What sort of after-effects would this change have if she was?" Robin asked in concern.

"Well, at best she'd just be a little tired after changing back, but that's with a lot of practice and adequate strength." Zacroma told them.

"And at worst?" Beast Boy asked, almost not wanting the answer.

"She'll die."

XP

A/N: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! CLIFHANGER! Yes, I know I'm evil. BIG ENEMY IN NEXT CHAPTER! Betcha'll are even more confused about those dreams now! MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem, anyway.

Not much to say about reviews, I mean, most of you are like 'this is cool! Update!' A little less demanding, and a little more reviewing please! J/k! I know you guys are doing your best, or are you?