"Well, how do they fit?" Damian's rough voice asked.
Raven twisted herself in the mirror of the dressing room, looking at herself from every angle she could. The black leotard clung to her like a second skin, but this one was made of spandex and had inbuilt bits of fabric to act like a bra, or so the sales girl had said. It certainly felt different from the latex, and lifted her breasts up slightly, but it breathed much better. Loops at the end of the sleeves kept them from riding up her arms, while the bottom was a high cut thong.
"It fits well," she said, pulling back the curtain and stepping out into the shop. She turned slowly, letting him get a good look at her. "What do you think?"
"It-," he started to say, then his voice cracked. Damian coughed angrily, then started again, his voice forced deeper. "It fits."
"As I said," she replied dryly. "I asked you what you thought."
"It...looks good," he said, looking away with a blush. She took that as a compliment. Regally, she turned to the sales woman.
"I'll take six, including this one," she said. "Do you mind if I wear this one out?"
The woman shook her head, looking slightly dazed. Raven gave her a single, gracious nod. Now, at least, she would not be forced to walk around in one of Damian's shirts. Wiping down the latex leotard had proven insufficient to clean it, in the end, and she didn't want to risk using her magics and damaging the precious gift.
Ignoring Damian's conflict between being bored out of his mind shopping, and staring at her exposed ass, she floated over to the shoe section of the alternative clothing store he had found for her. The boots she'd bought had proven untenable with their sharply pointed toes that compressed her feet in tight leather. A sensation that was extremely pleasant when applied to her breasts, groin, and torso was the opposite when applied to her toes.
"Miss, perhaps you haven't had your foot measured properly," the sales woman said in a breathless voice. Raven felt the sexual desires flowing through the woman to the point where it was clouding her thoughts. She'd never met a lesbian before, but if anything the woman was easier to manipulate than the young man she'd come across.
"Perhaps," Raven said regally, taking a seat on the edge of a chair. She crossed her legs and held out one delicate foot to the woman. "Measure it, then."
The woman gently guided Raven's foot onto a metal measuring device, her fingers playing on the half-demon's soft skin. Damian looked on in a mix of disgust, disdain, and an envy he would likely never admit.
"You have lovely feet," the woman said breathlessly. "Have you ever thought of being a model? I'd love to hire you to show off things in my shop."
"I will consider it," Raven said languidly. The woman glanced at Damian, a flash of jealousy burning through her lust. Yes, the woman desired her, and hated Damian, thinking him Raven's paramour. She wanted to seduce and convert Raven to being her lover. One of many, stolen from boys in a fit of vengeful peak with the promise of expensive clothes and not so subtle emotional manipulations.
The woman was an intriguing puzzle to Raven. Not so much her desires, Raven understood lust and desire and need well. It was the feelings underlying them. Jealousy, envy, anger. The woman lusted not out of love, but out of a twisted sense of hatred for the world around her, and herself. She doubted the woman even realized it, beyond the flash of sadistic pleasure she got when she seduced some young girl away from her lover.
"Alright, I think I have several styles that would fit you," the woman said, setting aside the measuring device, but still holding on to Raven's foot. Adoration, lust, and a hint of greed filled the woman's eyes.
"I want something that comes up to my ankles," Raven said, glimpsing what the woman desired in lustful thoughts. "And nothing with pointed toes."
The woman looked disappointed, though she hid it well. Raven wasn't going to fulfill her fetish, not today, but she hoped in the future if she gave the young girl a good deal and service. Seduction was a game, after all.
Raven glanced around the footwear on offer and spotted something she liked. Standing up, she pulled her foot away from the woman and walked over to a pair of ankle boots labeled as block heel, platform hiking boots and picked them up. She turned to the woman and arched a brow.
"Do you have these in my size?" she asked.
"Yes, Miss," the woman replied. "I'll go get them now."
Raven and Damian watched the woman vanish into the back of the shop. The young man was almost as displeased with the woman as she was with him, though for mostly different reasons. Despite his lust for her, Damian was showing remarkable restraint towards her, even after she had embraced him.
"Perhaps I need a dress," Raven said, looking around. "Or something other than leotards to wear."
"What is your obsession with leotards?" Damian asked, his tone absent. He had his eyes locked on where the saleswoman had vanished.
"Frater Simon," Raven said, her voice tinged with sadness. "He brought me pictures of women's fashion from above. There was one of a woman wearing a leotard like the one I've been wearing. I thought she was the most beautiful, powerful woman ever and I wanted to be just like her."
"I see," Damian said, casting a speculative look her way before returning his gaze to the back of the shop.
"Since I've left home, however, I see that women have many fashions," Raven said. She ran her hand over a dress made of shiny red latex. Perhaps best to avoid that material till she could figure out how to care for it. Plus, she didn't have unlimited money. "I suspect leotards will limit where I can go."
"Put a skirt with them," Damian said. "Then no one will care most of the time."
Raven pursed her lips in thought, then nodded. By the time the sales woman had returned with the required shoe box, Raven had picked out three skirts. Two were mini skirts, one black, one red, that would cover her ass. The third was a black one that fell to her knees with a slit up the side to her hip.
"Add these to my order, please," Raven said. The sales woman tallied up her order. Damian's eyes boggled at the price, but Raven merely pulled out a gold pendant with ruby the size of her thumbnail and placed it on the counter. "Will this cover me?"
"Well," the woman said, "I don't know..."
"I assure you," Raven said, locking eyes with the woman, "it is a more than fair trade."
"A-alright," the woman said, snatching the jewelry up before Raven could change her mind. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
"Not now," Raven said. She picked up the crimson skirt and wrapped it around her hips, then proceeded to put on her new boots. Yes, these were much better. "Damian, will you get my bags please?"
"Yes, Miss," Damian said, his voice tight. He gathered up the bagged purchases and followed her outside. She felt his seething rage, along with the seething lust in the sales woman. She put an extra bit of sway in her hips for both their sakes till they left the store and were out of sight.
"Thank you, Damian," Raven said, turning and taking the bags from him. She slung them over her left shoulder and looked around the streets. "I am sorry for putting you in that position."
"Whatever," he said sullenly.
She was about to put her hand on his arm, when there was a horrifying crack that filled the air, followed by a thunderous boom. The sky blazed with fire, the wind turning into a hurricane as something super heated and blindingly fast shot by overhead.
People screamed. Anything not nailed down went flying through the air, and it was only thanks to quick acting with her powers that Raven's purchases didn't join them. She found herself pressed against the wall of the nearest building, Damian's body shielding hers. Without thinking, she clung to him, burying her face in his shoulder.
Fear and panic filled her. Was the world ending? Had Trigon come early? How?
There was another explosion, followed by another blast of wind, then deathly silence filled the air. Slowly, she looked up and watched as the scattered people picked themselves up. Fear, confusion, and panic filled the air, assaulting her senses. Only the constant seething anger that burned in Damian's heart provided shelter, and she found herself clinging to it the same way she'd clung to his body.
"W-what was that?" she tried to ask. Only silence and a ringing in her ears answered her. Before she could try to ask again, the sky lit up several buildings over. Emerald and violet bolts of plasma filled the air, followed by a multitude of smaller explosions and fires.
A vision hit Raven. A young woman, taller than her, with slightly golden skin and raven black hair, firing bolts of violet energy. They needed her, needed to help her.
Despite Damian's protests, she wriggled free of his grip and stripped off her skirt, stuffing it in one of her bags. Ignoring his silently shouted questions, she pulled out her cloak and put it on, then flew up to the roof and put her bags somewhere she'd thought they'd be safe.
"What the hell?" Damian's voice shouted weakly as she snatched him up and flew towards the explosions. "Raven!"
"We have to help," Raven said. Damian pouted, but in mere moments they were there. A crater filled the street, filled with the wreckage of something metallic that still glowed white hot. In the center, wearing tattered bits of fabric that barely shielded her modesty, was the young woman Raven had just seen in her vision. An expression of fear and righteous fury filled her features and she fired off bolt after bolt of violet energy in an ever weakening defense.
Three figures, armored and armed with some sort of plasma rifle, flew through the air. Raven didn't see any sort of jet pack, so she guessed they had found another way to fly. As one, the twisted in the air and brought their weapons to fire. Emerald energy blasted the young woman and she went down in with a scream of agony.
The figures landed and started towards the prone figure of the young woman. One of them pulled out what looked like a pair of heavy manacles, while the other two covered him. An alien language came over the speakers of a helmet, but the message was universal.
"Surrender, or we kill you."
Raven let go of Damian, trusting he would handle landing on his own, and flung herself through the are.
"Mea voluntas manifesta!" she shouted, black power snapping out through the air. A shield formed around the prone young woman, while another blasted the trooper with the manacles through the air and into the nearest wall. The other two spun, raised their weapons, and opened fire. Raven managed to get a shield up in time, but the power of the blasts that slammed into it stunned her.
There was a whistling sound and a pair of blinking lights appeared on the troopers' armor. They looked down just in time for the miniature bombs to go off. The damage was minimal, but it was enough of a distraction for Damian to come flying in.
Raven wasn't sure where he'd hidden the blade, probably along his spine, but the blade made quick work of the two men. Like a viper's strike, it slid through the chinks in their armor.
In a matter of seconds, both were laying on the ground, dead.