A/N: Thank you very much for the kind reviews. And the saga continues…this ff will update twice a week at random.

Notes: An incubus in lore was a spirit that would…ehm… molest people in their sleep. You could also call a particularly vivid or disturbing nightmare an incubus. I'm going for the latter- in this story these 'incubuses' are personified nightmares of a sort – bogeymen to be simple. These things will probably be better explained next chapter.

Robin roared down the broken street in his motorcycle, a growing sense of foreboding gnawing in his head every inch he traveled. This was something that he had never encountered before…sure, as a superhero he had seen his fair share of blood and gore, but the sight that surrounded him, the scene that lay before him…this was utter carnage

He'd never been particularly squeamish, but all the same, it takes someone with a heart of iron not to feel a little queasy when human entrails are dangling off flickering light posts and dismembered limbs lay scattered like morbid confetti on the sidewalk. Whatever it was that was causing all this butchery was definitely no normal supervillain…who knows if this thing even had an ounce of humanity in its being.

He stopped his motorcycle by the edge of a curb and got off, pulling out his communicator. He tried to call Beast Boy, to see if there was any word on Raven (he had never really trusted for Beast Boy to call on his own anyhow). The communicator showed nothing but static. "Strange…" he thought, placing the communicator back on his belt. The warm, summer wind ruffled his hair. The street was eerily quiet. The entire solitary ride from where he split up with Cyborg and Starfire had been quiet. He'd been half-expecting for to encounter some sort of assault by now, some ambush, raid, bombardment, even something just popping out of the shadows and saying 'boo'. Instead there was nothing but a queer silence screeching throughout the city.

He was about to head on forward when he felt something swiftly dash behind him.

He swirled around quickly, pulling off his helmet. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, a cold sweat forming on his brow. Suddenly something fell with a large clatter behind him, causing him to jump around in surprise, his retractable iron bar at the ready. A trash can lid rolled out onto the street and swiveled a bit before settling itself nicely on the concrete. A cat hissed somewhere.

Robin took a few steps back, his heart beating like a scared rabbit. "Right Robin, you're making a fool of yourself. There's no reason to be afraid. You're Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, formerly the legendary Batman's sidekick. Batman's sidekick knows no fear."

"Indeed, sweet birdie."

Robin almost gave a yelp as a soft, malicious voice whispered behind him. He turned around ready to strike, but nothing was there except the wind.

"Great, now you're hearing things. Nice way to intimidate your enemies Robin." He muttered to himself. Then someone snickered, the laugh reverberating down the street. Robin tensed, tightening his grip on his bar, and yelled, "Whoever's out there, stop hiding and show yourself!"

"Sure."

If it hadn't been for years of this happening, Robin's head would've been rolling down the street from the huge, eloquently decorated carving knife that had sailed past his neck. Luckily, our intrepid leader had just managed to duck it, somersault, and stand back up, facing his assailant. He gasped in shock when he discovered who it was.

"Raven!"

A pair of pearly canines appeared as the creature under the ruby-red coat grinned, her blood-lusting eyes blazing, carving knife in hand. "No…" she hissed, "But close enough."

Rage shot up into the air, and raising her hands, dropping the knife. "Hah!" She cried as suddenly five incubuses appeared beneath her, their spear-like claws dripping with blood. They snarled and growled, drool seeping from their flesh-filled mouths.

Robin tensed, determined not to let the fear he felt show upon his face. This was definitely not Raven…but he couldn't deny that Raven had something to do with this…if only his damn communicator worked, then maybe he could get some answers…

"Get that pigeon!" cried Rage, and the minions sprang forward, screaming in wild fury.

Well, there'll be time to worry about that later.

One incubus lurched towards him, his mouth open and emitting a spine crawling shriek. He aimed for Robin's stomach, expecting to meet soft skin encasing juicy organs, but instead got a mouthful of metal instead. His jaws clamped furiously on Robin's iron bar, Robin using all the strength he had to send the creature flying into the nearest phone booth. The next one attacked behind him, its claws outstretched, hoping to impale the boy wonder right through his neck. Robin thrust his bar backwards, catching the incubus in the stomach. He leaped in the air, extending his steel-soled boot just in time to crunch the face of the third embodied nightmare.

He landed with a soft thud on the ground, then reached inside his jacket for a handful of flying bombs. The sunlight caught their shimmer just as he threw them at the remaining two minions. They screeched as they exploded, turning into nothing but puffs of smoke.

Robin was breathing heavily by the end of this, sweat dripping down his face in torrents. One of the incubuses had managed to scratch him in the arm, leaving a deep, burning gash, which had begun to pulsate unbearably. Yet he managed to retain a smug smile as he called up to Rage, "That's all you have to throw at me? Now I know you're just an evil, cheap imitation of Raven."

Rage scowled, her crimson eyes narrowing. She reached out her hand, and the carving knife levitated up to her grasp. With a cry of anger she hurled it at Robin, yet with one swift movement he managed to deflect it with his iron bar. It dematerialized into ebony smoke as it touched the ground. He gave a small chuckled as he called back up, "Well, I didn't mean you to take that so literal-"

He didn't manage to finish his sentence because by then, one large, razor-sharp claw had impaled him through the shoulder. He slumped to his knees as the incubus behind him snarled, pleased with himself. Robin's iron bar dropped to the floor, and blood spurted from his mouth. Rage smirked as she hovered down to the ground, and with one slender hand picked up his bar.

"Raven always thought you were a great leader." She murmured as the incubus retracted his claw, leaving Robin collapsing on his hands and knees, shaking in pain and exhaustion as an endless sea of blood oozed from his mouth and chest, dripping onto the floor in a sickening cascade. "But she always found you to be a little slow

Then, in one vexation-driven movement she cracked him in the head. And Robin knew no more.

She tossed the bar behind her as the five incubuses rematerialized before her. "Take him away. Place him with the others," she growled, staring at Robin's body sprawled on the shattered concrete, blood now seeping from a wound in his temple.

"Now all we have to do is wait for that stupid green changeling, and then my dear Raven. And this happy reunion will be complete."

--

"Dude, do you even know where this demented mutation of an emotion is?" Beast Boy cawed, flapping his wings nervously.

I didn't answer him immediately; rather I scanned the city, in hope that the black magick that filled it would give me some clues. Sure enough, it ebbed away near the outskirts of the city, where we are, yet I observed that as we traveled deeper inside the city, the satanic matter multiplied, and increased in power. Yet a drawback was that the energy was constantly moving and churning, never remaining in one spot for too long. I sighed in frustration; this was going to be harder than I thought.

"We can find Rage by following the dark energy that she produces. I think her power condenses and grows stronger as we get closer to her. However, by the looks of it, it appears as if she's moving…and fast. It'll be hard to track her."

Beast Boy opened his beak as if to add something, but shut it abruptly. He peered down below, his jade-tinted eye widening in shock. He looked back up to me. "Raven, look, there's someone down there being attacked by those freaky bogeyman things!"

Hi-pitched screams penetrated the sky from the street below, obviously coming from a young girl. Beast Boy had already begun lowering himself down, obviously to help. I cried after him in panic, "Gar, we have no time to help! Every moment Rage is left undefeated she grows in strength!"

Beast Boy shot up at me angrily, "So we're just going to ignore her? We're superheroes, and superheroes are there to save people. Go on without me, I'll catch up with you later. I'm going down to do my job."

He continued swooping down, ruffling his viridian wings, intent on saving this damsel in distress. I rolled my eyes; this is why I hate human morality. Always obsessed with the small details instead of the large picture. "Gar, wait!" I cawed after him, diving down. It wasn't because I wanted to save the girl, more that I'd have to save Beast Boy's sorry ass when he realized what type of mess he was getting himself into.

By the time I had landed a robust, brawny-hided rhinoceros was already charging the large, nightmarish specter that was terrorizing a scrawny five-year-old, who whimpered silently, huddled over in a corner of a dank alleyway. The incubus had no time to react as Gar sunk his weathered horn into its ink-like chest. It gave an unholy shriek and reached behind itself with a twisted, spike-covered arm to grasp Beast Boy by the neck using its clamp-like claws. He wrenched Beast Boy from his back and threw him against the rust-colored alley wall, sending him flying through several rooms of a dingy apartment.

"Gar!" I cried out, feeling a small sense of panic. "Damn idiot doesn't know what he's dealing with," I thought as my eyes clouded with dark shadows and I levitated myself into the air, above the incubus. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a small dumpster. Black orbs formed around my hands as I yelled, "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!" aiming my energy at the dumpster. I heaved it at the brut, knowing that while it wouldn't kill it, it would slow it down for a while. It flipped and landed on the incubus, making it dissipate in a wisp of smoke.

I lowered myself to the little girl, who's bright cerulean eyes where the size of teacups now. "Are you alright?" I asked in a deadpan voice. Not that I was really concerned. She nodded vigorously, only stopping after I lay my hand on her shoulder muttering, "Alright, alright, you're okay. Good." Her eyes never blinked or left my face, and she kept caressing a worn, ash-colored teddy bear, even though it had gotten its head ripped off. Creepy. I predict therapy sessions with several specialists and lifetime mental health care support in the future for this tot. If there is a future.

I turned around to go look for Beast Boy, when I heard several gurgling noises from under the overturned dumpster. I circled just in time to see the incubus's crooked hands pop out from under the dumpster, and catapult it towards us. In a second, I created a dark energy sphere to ricochet it, yet the sound caused by the offending aluminum container sent the already severely disturbed girl into a fit of tears. And wailing children always do wonders for my concentration. The incubus had already begun attacking the force field, using his long, saw-like claws to rake into the field, and the throbbing in my head had resurfaced again. Every scratch the beast made sunk into my soul self, wearing down on the field, every second that passed the eternal pulsating in my head intensified.

I gritted my teeth, prepared for the worst. If need be, I can form the remaining field into an energy ball and blast it at the incubus, and then –

"ROOOOAAAR!"

A giant, green, grotesque Tyrannosaurus Rex lunged its head at the incubus, heaving it into the air. It landed like an atomic bomb, forming a huge crater in the middle of the deserted street. Any windows that weren't already demolished spontaneously combusted, spraying glass everywhere. I turned around and shielded the young girl from the blast, my coat deflecting any stray shards. I then turned to watch the G-Rex tackle the demon again, dangling it in his large mandibles. I could see the incubus struggling to keep Gar from completely clamping down, yet with another large bellow Gar opened his mouth completely for a split-second, and then sent his upper jaw snapping down on the malignant spirit. Nothing but black fumes escaped from Beast Boy's jaws.

One word. Ew. Incubus for lunch. Tofu's bad enough. Seriously.

Gar's blanched eyes suddenly widened, and he began emitted hoarse, grunting noises from the back of his throat. It took me a second to realize he was choking. I flew rapidly to his side, were he lay on his hands and knees, grasping his throat, gasping and sputtering. I murmured "Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos," under my breath, laying a hand on the back of his neck. His neck glowed for a second, then he gave on last violent cough, and spat out a ball of what at first glance appeared to be jet-black grease. It jiggled and began sliding to and fro for a while, and I knew at once that this thing would begin rematerializing soon if I didn't eradicate it immediately.

I walked up to it, placing my index finger and middle finger together on both hands and bending the remaining fingers. I paused right before the ball, which was beginning to grow in height and diameter. I needed to act fast. I placed on hand facing upwards and the other downwards, and began chanting softly,

"Creature of Azarath, son of my breath,

Death to birth and birth to death,

Hold all evil safe at bay,

Day to night and night to day."

My eyes clouded once again and a faint, dark light began glowing around me, hazing and flickering. Then my face contorted in pain as I felt my soul self wrench itself from my physical self, slowly fighting the constraints of my earthen body.

Then something inside of me exploded, and emerged. The first lines of my incantation etched themselves in silver on my chest as a gigantic, misty, almost formless raven appeared before me. It cried out into the blood red sky, extending its colossal wingspan. By now the incubus was regaining its form, its body bubbling as new, larger spikes exploded from its arm. It snorted; rancid steam puffing from its distorted nostrils, and it raised his arm, about to strike.

Then it froze, its large, mucous snout agape. In an instant, the raven I had summoned had shot right through it, leaving nothing but a gaping hole in its chest. Then it began convulsing, smaller holes rapidly burning through its body. It stared at its hand in disbelief as it disintegrated before it, and clawed the air in quick succession in one last attempt to destroy what was destroying him. The raven simply hovered a good few feet above him, watching him, an almost sardonic glint in its eye. The incubus gave one last violent shudder, howled to the heavens, and shattered into nothing.

I raised my coat to shield myself from the sonic boom released by the nightmare as a final act of goodbye. When I lowered it, the giant raven had gone. So had the lettering on my chest. I sank down, my energy almost exhausted. Then I remembered Beast Boy.

I walked over to him, where he sat, a look of surprise playing on his boyish face. "Well," he said, still clutching his neck from his little consumption catastrophe, "That's something new."

I crouched down next to him, pulling back my hood. "It's part of the incantation I'm going to use to defeat Rage. It's supposed to summon a sort of spiritual familiar, something that can destroy all manner of malignant beings. Really it's a personification of one's soul power, and the incantation acts as a sort of catalyst, amplifying that personification."

"A raven for you; fitting," said Beast Boy observantly.

"However, the spell in itself is extremely exhausting. It took a lot of my energy to kill one simple incubus, and I only recited the first few lines..." I raised my hand to my head, adding softly "I don't want to think of having to kill hundreds or thousands of them. And then Rage…" The sheer task of it all was overwhelming.

"I could die…I could die…"

I felt Gar nudge me gently on my shoulder. "Hey, funnily enough, that raven didn't seem tired at all…didn't you see the expression on its face after it took out that brute? It was laughing. It was really proud of itself…it was happy. Even if you don't think you can do this, it does. And so do I. Besides Rae, you're not doing this alone, so for the millionth time, get that through your thick skull-"

I raised an eyebrow. "My thick skull. I was the one who was snacking on some spirit from the netherworld, mind you."

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, muttering, "I wasn't trying to eat it, it just kinda slipped down to my throat by acci – Hey, we're having a moment here, don't ruin it!"

I rolled my eyes, a half-hearted smile creeping upon my face. "Well, thanks for pulling off the whole 'savior-coming-in-at-the-nick-of-time' thing…my energy field was wearing thin, I'm not sure what I would've done if it had gotten through…"

Gar raised his hands up in mock humility, and he spoke in a fake low, macho drone, "No worries ma'am; I was jus' doin' mah duty."

A small whine emerged from the back of the alleyway, slowly erupting into a blown-out bawl. I almost forgot, the girl. We walked up to her, Beast Boy holding his hands to his ears in a feeble attempt to block out the noise pollution. "What are we going to do with her?" he called out over the din. I sighed.

"Gar, you'll have to take her to one of the safe houses on the outskirts of the city- there'll be people there who can look after her there."

"But what about you?"

I placed my hood back up. "I'll continue on."

Beast Boy had morphed into a gorilla and was trying to cheer up the blubbering babe making…monkey faces. Ha, ha. Her screams only intensified. "Good luck with that," I added, morphing back into my soul self. I was about to take off when Gar called out, "But wait, how will I be able to catch up with you?"

I looked back at him, my amethyst eyes piercing his jade ones. "Follow the dark matter – wherever Rage is I'll be. Or use your, and I quote, "mad tracking skillz". Turn into a cheetah or something."

I flapped my wings, gaining altitude, when I heard Gar shouting, "Hey, be careful! Don't go all self-sacrificy on me, okay?"

I nodded, and took off.

Down below, Beast Boy watched continued watching me, carefully picking up the sniveling girl. "Tcch, knowing you, that's exactly what you're going to do."

Notes: I'm sure there's got to be safe houses or something in high-evil-villain prone areas like Jump City…raises eyebrow.