"Princess!"
Raven woke with a start. Bleary eyed she flailed, undignified for a moment as she untangled herself from the bed coverings.
In the seconds it took for her to sit up she had registered that something was wrong. She had only been in this place for a few short weeks, but in all that time she had never heard so much screaming and yelling. Panic and fear assaulted her senses in such magnitude that she could almost believe she were back home.
"Please princess," shouted a panicked voice from the doorway. "The church is under attack. We have to get you to safe…"
A heavy thud made Raven pause in her hasty dressing. Whipping her head around she saw the woman lying prone, half in the room.
In the next instant a dark figure was blocking the light from the hallway.
Before Raven could even register his presence, she found herself on the ground, face pressed against the floor, with the weight of a fully grown man pressed into her back. She sneezed and then sneezed again, hard. What was that? Dust?
Instantly, her head began to swim. She felt oddly disconnected from her body and she seemed unable to form coherent thought.
She had no idea how long this lasted for; she barely remembered anything of the next … however long it was. All she knew is that when she was next able to take in her surroundings with a clear, if throbbing, head, Raven found herself staring at a man dressed in black.
Or at least, she thought it was a man. He had on a cloak that ended in ragged edges and an elongated head with sharp ears pointing straight up. She didn't quite know why, but Raven found him intimidating – and she had grown up surrounded by the foulest of demonkind.
"Do you know me, witch?"
His voice came out in a deep growl that made Raven flinch.
She shook her head mutely, before berating herself for her cowardice; she was a demon, the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, she could rip this mortal in half without a thought!
"No," she said, without fear. "Should I?"
The man's eyes – white voids in the sea of black – narrowed.
"I am being patient with you," he growled. "Because I have been informed that, were I to harm you there would be … consequences. But make no mistake, I will kill you and gladly accept any possible recriminations if you continue to show me such disrespect."
Raven gave him a bemused look. What should she do to him? Set his bones on fire? Infest his brain with maggots? Oh, she would decapitate him, but keep his brain alive so that he could still hear, talk, feel and taste, but he wouldn't have a body to command!
Smirking, Raven twitched her fingers slightly.
Nothing happened.
What. The. Fuck?
She tried to cast another spell. Nothing.
Shit! What was going on?
Desperately, she glanced back at her hands, bound at the wrists behind her back.
As her eyes skimmed the floor, she froze.
That bastard! She was in a supressing magical circle. Her powers wouldn't work here.
She glared up at the stranger. This explained why she hadn't felt any emotions from him either; she was unable to access her magic!
He was just standing there, glaring at her as she realised the situation she was in.
Raven gave a short, angry sound, defeated momentarily. There was nothing she could do after all. Though she would make this human pay. His torment would be cruel and eternal.
This was the happy thought she clung to as she calmly looked up at her captor, waiting for him to make his demands or whatever it was he wanted her for.
"You seem surprisingly calm for a demon," he commented. "Klarion informed me that your power comes from your emotions; I had expected you to descend into a fit of rage." He nodded slightly and Raven got the impression – even without her empathic skills – that he approved.
If only he knew. Raven may appear calm on the surface, but internally, her blood was boiling.
"I am Batman of the Justice League," the man growled – Raven assumed normal speech was beyond his capabilities. "The so-called Church of Blood was deemed a terrorist organisation and has been eradicated. The only reason you remain alive is that the organisation's late leader, Brother Blood, made some fairly large claims about you and your lineage in his last moments."
He paused here, as though expecting Raven to react. When she merely blinked at him passively, he continued.
"What can you tell me about your father's connection to the Lazarus Pits?"
"The what?" Raven asked in as polite a tone as she knew.
The Batman narrowed his eyes again.
"The Lazarus Pits," he moved his arm, offering Raven a glimpse of the body armour under the cape – black of course – and pulled out a small glass vile from a compartment in his chunky belt. "This."
Raven stared at the shimmering green liquid for a moment before nodding slowly.
"Resurrection Water," she said. "Father likes to scatter pools of that stuff all over the place, to tempt mortals. How many died in pursuit of the source for that one?"
She grinned wickedly, but her captor just remained staring stoically at her. After a while her smile slackened.
"Apparently your world was lucky enough to be gifted Resurrection Water by Trigon. Even the smallest drop takes a vast amount of energy to create. He can easily take that energy back, just like that," Raven snapped her fingers, but as her hands were currently bound behind her back, it didn't have quite the dramatic effect she'd been aiming for.
It seemed to work though. Batman growled softly – a contemplative sound more than an angry one – and stowed the glass vile away.
"Is he likely to do that? Drain the pits of their powers?" he asked.
Raven shrugged. "He hasn't done it before. But then again," despite the magic circle she could feel a trickle of her demonic heritage taking over her features. "No one has imprisoned his daughter before."
Batman's expression didn't waver for a second.
Despite herself, Raven was impressed by the human's resistance to even a glimpse at her true form. After several members of the Church of Blood's congregation had feinted or fled at the sight of her when she had first arrived, Brother Blood had managed to persuade her – eyes downcast throughout the entire conversation – to assume a more human countenance. Raven had complied, not because she was particularly worried about not having humans worshiping her, but because she was a Princess of Darkness and required servants to carry out the many menial tasks that were beneath her.
The tall man remained standing over her, just long enough to prove he was completely unafraid of her, before he turned, his cape billowing around him impressively, and stalked out of the room.
xxx
"I swear," pledged Raven, kneeling before the assembled members of the Justice League. "To uphold the honour of the Justice League; to follow and obey the laws it dictates; and to destroy its enemies. I make this vow in the name of my power."
She had to stop herself from glaring at Batman. He had made her give this ridiculous promise, one that she didn't want to keep. But, she supposed, that's why they made her do it. And it had been this or death for the teenager. Even so, her pride was bruised by the exercise and she was pleased to have found a loophole in her vow. For now though, she had no choice but to go along with this group of mortals.
"Well, that's great," the silence following Raven's words were punctuated by a man in head-to-toe red. "Now we have two magic guys!"
"Excuse me," this from a man with a large, ornate headdress. "I wield the Trident of Neptune, that's magic."
"And my lasso was also a gift from the Gods," sniffed a tall, impressive woman.
"Alright, alright," the man in red held up his hands in surrender. "There's a lot of magic in the room."
"I don't like magic."
The room fell instantly silent. Everyone's attention was focused on the man in the centre of the room. He was taller than the average human, well-muscled, with a broad chest and shoulders. He primarily wore blue but his cape was a bright red and there was a large symbol on his chest; a diamond-shaped yellow crest with a red 'S' running through it.
The man – Superman, Raven had been told by Batman before the meeting – was glaring at her with undisguised mistrust.
"Count yourself lucky, witch," he said, dangerously. "That Batman thinks we need another primary-magic user in our organisation. If it were up to me, I would have done to you what we did to Zatara and Doctor Fate and that Constantine." He practically spat out the names.
"But I promise you," in an instant, he had her hair in his fist and Raven was forced to crane her neck painfully and look into his eyes. She was pretty certain that she wasn't imagining those tiny red sparks in his pupils. "If I ever even suspect you of betraying me, I will rip your heart out with my bare hands too."
He shoved her head into the floor, causing Raven's head to spin and sting painfully. When she had managed to clear the ringing in her ears enough to register the sounds around her again, she realised that the adults were in full conversation.
She ignored their chatter, instead focusing on how she would take her revenge on that blue prick for the first 100 years of his torment in her father's realm. That is, until she saw one of them gesturing at her and realised that she was the topic of their conversation.
Raven started to listen.
"The Titans are the only place for her really," said the red man. "I mean, she's a teenager and it's the Teen Titans. That's why we made the group."
"But she's magic," wheedled a boy, not that much older than Raven herself. He was skinny, dressed all in black and held a cat in his arms. The cat's red eyes were focussed intently on her. A familiar… "I should be the one to train her."
"No," Superman said firmly. His tone brokered no opposition.
The boy with the familiar seemed to sulk at this.
"Klarion has a point though," said the fierce woman. "She wields powerful magics, will Damian be able to handle…"
"Yes," growled Batman. Again, the tone was absolute.
"It's not as though they don't have a magic user already," said the man with the headdress.
"Yes, Ocean Master," said the woman. "But Kaldur'ahm is …"
"Atlanteans don't use magic," interrupted the skinny boy in a needling voice. "Not real magic, not powerful magic like me and the girl."
"Perhaps we should agree to disagree on that point; we are losing focus of the conversation," Raven's attention was drawn for the first time to a man with dark red complexion. He was floating inches from the floor and wore a yellow suit which appeared to glow dimly. For the entire meeting, Raven had felt a faint tugging at her senses and she was now sure that somehow, he was the source.
"Sinestro's right," said Superman, glaring between Ocean Master and Klarion who still looked like they were ready for a fight. "And I say, she goes to the Titans."
He looked around at his companions in what seemed to Raven a specific order.
Batman gave a small nod of consent; the warrior woman nodded as well; the yellow-clad man tilted his chin in agreement; a man wearing a form-fitting black outfit with a stylized white bolt of lightning running down the centre at the back of the room who had remained silent the entire time closed his eyes briefly in unmistakable acquiescence; the nervus looing red man nodded; the boy with the familiar grunted his agreement; and finally, the man with the headdress bobbed his head too.
They all turned to look at Raven.
xxx
"Ya know, the Titans are good and all, but they know nothing about magic."
Raven said nothing, doing her best to ignore the pest.
"But me on the other hand. Well, let's just say that if you need any assistance, I'm happy to do a few one-on-one sessions with you."
She kept her face deliberately smooth and breathed deep, calming breaths. It would not do to lose control of her powers now, in an alien realm, at the mercy of mortals she had no doubt could kill her despite their lack of magic. Still, if that boy continued hitting on her…
A strangled cry came from the beautiful cat in his arms.
"No Teekl, ya dumb cat," spat the annoyingly high-pitched voice of the chaos witch. "It's called flirting; she's not angry, she's turned on."
"So," said the Flash loudly and quickly.
It was a good thing too; Raven had been about to turn the boy to ashes with a stream of Hellfire!
"Is this your first time in a team?"
Raven said nothing, just continued to stare at the landscape of white, fluffy clouds, quickly zipping past the vehicle they were travelling in. Yes, she could fly, but she had never flown in this world before. It was disgusting up here. Everything was so bright and … hopeful, inspiring. She couldn't wait until it was in flames, the cotton-like clouds evaporated with the searing heat from the Earth. Screams would fill the air so that even mortal ears would be able to hear them from this far up. And there probably would be mortals this far up too; it was fun to throw them, it took them so long to hit the ground…
"Raven?"
She didn't acknowledge the call, but continued to stare ahead. She pushed her anger at the Flash to the back of her mind, storing it away for future use. Maybe he would be one of the mortals thrown to the ground.
He cleared his throat nervously and appeared – wisely – to change tact.
"How is Cass doing by the way Diana? She's been with the Titans, what? A year now?"
The warrior queen – Wonder Woman – was at the controls of the contraption that was taking them to their destination. Technology was nothing new to Raven; her father controlled many Universes and countless worlds, some of which had peoples with highly advanced technology. Tech that would make this invisible flying vessel look as mundane and inspired as a rock. Not that it had helped them in the end.
"I suppose it has been about a year Barry," said the Amazon in a flat, uninterested tone. "I understand that Damian and Kaldur'ahm have done their best, but she remains disgracefully weak in battle."
It was interesting; despite her board tone, there was a spark of resentment in Wonder Woman's emotions, and more than a bit of anger.
"Who's Cass?" asked Raven.
"She's Wonder Woman's ward," chirped the Flash, delighted it seemed by Raven's involvement in conversation. "She's her, erm … what was it Diana? Niece? Cousin?"
"Half. Sister." Raven didn't have to be an empath to hear the bite in her voice.
"Ah," the Flash scratched his head nervously. "Right. Well," he turned back to Raven. "Cass joined the Titans a while back. Heck, she's probably delighted that you're joining the team; now she won't be the newbie anymore." He laughed, before coughing and adding seriously. "There's nothing wrong with being the newbie by the way; they're…great kids."
The hesitation didn't pass Raven by. She didn't quite understand the Flash. Superman – strong, domineering, brutish – she got. Batman – highly intelligent, secretive, violent, sad – she could deal with. Wonder Woman – born warrior, lives for the fight – she respected. Even the other members of the Justice League: Sinestro, Black Adam, Ocean Master, Klarion the Witch Boy; their motivations she could understand. But Barry Allen? A ruthless killer he was not. But he also didn't strike her as a coward. So why was he associating with such merciless bastards?
"Look," the Flash pointed below them excitedly. "We're here!"
Raven looked down, past her feet. A gigantic, T-shaped glass structure had been erected ludicrously on a tiny rocky hillock barely five meters above the water. Raven couldn't help but wonder about flooding risks.
The vehicle they were in circled the building several times as it made its slow decent.
By the time they were standing on the little island, several people had made their way out of the building and were assembled in a very organised fashion. Raven took one look at the straight line of straight-backed figures and groaned internally. This was not going to be fun.
But there was no alternative; she had already given her oath to obey and if there was one thing unassailable about demonkind, it was their word. A demon never goes back on their word. It's just not done, it would be … a disgusting and grotesque thing to do, and not in a good way.
As she made her way towards the Teen Titans, Raven became aware of new emotions touching her senses. Some of them were very strong; there was one person in particular, whose exceedingly vein and narcissistic personality practically lit her up from a mile away. The girl – tall with a lot of purple hair and vivid eyes – was currently feeling scorn, probably for Raven. The demon would soon teach her who was going to kneel to whom.
The party of adults and Raven came to a stop.
"How goes it, Damian al Ghul?" greeted Wonder Woman.
"We are well, warrior."
Raven's eyes were drawn to the front of the line. She had to stop herself from licking her lips hungrily. The boy before her was the most delicious thing she had ever seen; tall, strong, a jawline that could cut glass and his eyes … a stunning deep green that she could see from even this distance. There were no feelings coming of him, no emotions that she could detect. Instead, there was an unmistakable aura of danger around him, of quick, violent deaths.
The demon realised suddenly that she was shaking slightly. Oh, if it weren't for her father wanting her in this dimension and that stupid oath, she would have dragged him to one of her pocket dimensions and licked that cinnamon skin off his muscled body.
"Um, Raven?"
She had to stop fantasising. With what felt like enormous effort, Raven dragged her eyes away from sex object and focused her gaze on the Flash. Who flinched. Violently.
He was petrified. Why? Of her?
Fear and uncertainty permeated the air.
Wonder Woman was looking at her askance with narrowed, weary eyes and the rest of the Teen Titans seemed on edge too.
A girl at the very opposite end of the line to their leader seemed on the verge of running; whereas as a tall boy in red and black standing right next to their leader seemed ready to attack.
What was going on?
There was a stifled giggle behind her.
"Erm, demon-girl," she turned to face the chaos witch who was grinning with delight. "Your true-self is showing."
Eyes widening in shock, Raven realised that he was right; staring down at her hands she saw that her skin had darkened to the blood red of her father's. Most likely, her features had transformed too.
Closing her eyes, Raven tried to calm down. Damnit, but she hated being calm. Being a demon meant revelling in your emotions; if you felt good, you had fun; if you were feeling like crap, you took it out on the nearest unfortunate soul to cross your path. Emotions fuelled her powers, but she couldn't afford to drive the mortals out of their tiny minds with fear now, could she?
It took her a few minutes, but eventually, by the slowly relaxing emotions of those around her, she decided she'd returned to her human-form.
She had to say she was impressed by their fortitude; even the girl who had wanted to run had stayed put. Their decision to stay indicated either great courage or great stupidity, the two things not being mutually exclusive.
Unembarrassed by her momentary fit of primal savagery, Raven glided towards the entrance to the tower, passing through the gap between the mouth-watering leader and his second-in-command.
"I assume there's a room ready for me?" she glanced at the object of her desire and felt her insides throb as he looked down at her with those eyes. Oh, fuck, she needed him.
He nodded slightly, expression impassive and Raven realised that, for the first time in her life, she couldn't read his emotions. Not one, not even this close, and she was close enough to be able to reach out and tear his clothes off. No emotions, but that sense was back and stronger than ever before, like an instinct, like a warning inherited from long-dead ancestors from back in the day when eyes bored into you from the depths of the trees and meant only one thing: death.
xxx
A/N: This story is also on Wattpad ( LabPartners)
