Umbra Angelus.

Yay! I'm back! They locked my account again. Go figure. Anyway, I wanna say thank you to two very special people (I think).

First: dragonofraven, you may not always be nice, but your truthful and I appreciate it. Plus there's the fact you've reviewed nearly every single chapter I've written. Something my so called best friend can't manage. Thanks.

Last: Lain. Superstar, you are wonderful. You're comments mean the world to me. Thank you for reviewing. It makes the total of 3 reviews less prominent. Thank you soooo much.

Hugs for both of you. Now... on with the story.

"Hi, it's Iliana. Can I speak to Rachel please? Yeah, I'll wait."

Iliana sat beside Nefara on the counter of the kitchen, biting her nails. "Hey Raksha!"

"Hey Iliana, how have you been?" Raksha asked from the other side of the phone.

"We need you to come meet some... friends of ours. We need you to tell them about what you know."

"Why can't you tell them?" Raksha asked, her voice getting high.

Iliana sighed. "You know our promise binds us from telling anything."

"I know, I know. But- I-"

"Don't worry." Iliana comforted her. "They're very understanding. It'll only be two of them."

Raksha sighed. "Okay. Tomorrow. One o'clock. See you then." And then she hung up.

Robin looked disbelieving at the vampires. "So, we have to talk to a paranoid girl who gets premonitions, because she can tell us what you can't?"

"Basically." Nefara said with a shrug. She and Iliana were filling Raven and Robin in on Raksha.

Iliana shot Nefara a reproachful look. "When you see everything good and bad that will happen, you start to get scared. She's already had the premonition of her own death and she's only fifteen. Her ability is a gift like the Trojan horse."

"So we should pity her?" Raven asked.

Nefara shook her head. "No, not pity. She knew what was happening to her from an early age. She knows her fate. She'll do what she can to help us." She told them, showing her softer side. "It's amazing that she agreed to meet you at all. Her name is Raksha. That is her real name, the one given to her in her premonition's. Her mother knows her as Rachel. Be gentle around her. No yelling or sudden movements. She can tell you what we can't. What our promise binds us from telling." Her face crumpled and she snarled at Robin. "And you better be nice to her, because this idiot," She jabbed her thumb at Iliana, "Told her you two were 'understanding'."

Robin held his hands up against Nefara's tirade. "Don't worry. We'll be very 'understanding'."

Nefara mumbled under her breath. 'Make sure he keeps in line, k?' She asked Raven telepathically.

Raven nodded slightly, to show she'd understood.

Iliana sighed. "Ignore, Nefara. She's just worried about Raksha. She get very protective, don't cha?" She asked, nudging Nefara in the ribs.

She glared and stalked out of the room, muttering.

Iliana sighed again. "She's just moody."

The four arrived at a plain house. There was a movement at the curtains, signaling Raksha had seen them.

Iliana walked to the front door, Nefara beside her, and knocked on the plain pine door.

A tall red haired woman opened the door, smiling at the two. "Iliana! Natalie! Great to see you!"

"I had to change my name, so not to cause suspicion." Nefara muttered to Raven.

"These are our friends." Iliana said, gesturing to Robin and Raven, who were in civilian clothes. They waved complacently. "Robin and Raven."

The woman bit her lip. "Are you sure Rachel doesn't mind you bringing them?"

"Yes." Iliana told her confidently. "That's we wanted to ask her yesterday on the phone."

The woman nodded and let them in the door. "She's in her bedroom."

The two vampires lead the teens up the stairs to a small bedroom, painted black.

"What do you want to know?" Asked the girl who was stood in the corner of the room next to the window. She had bright red hair and amber eyes. Her arms were folded and her face was defiant.

Robin and Raven looked taken aback with her directness.

"Well," Stammered Robin, "We want to know about what's coming to Jump City."

Raksha waved her hand. "Sit down. Please. You're making me uncomfortable."

The group sat down, all their eyes turned to Raksha.

"I've known you were coming for about a year now. I've seen it coming." She sighed, suddenly looking old beyond her 15 years. "Shadow. That's what he's usually called. Or Umbra. Or his real name, Kristopher. Whatever you want to call him. He's like a demon. Except he used to be human. The powers of the earth movers, the 'wizards' changed him. The first vampire. But he became too corrupt." Raksha turned her bright eyes on the group. "Iliana and Nefara remember that time. When he became corrupt. And he made his fledglings promise never to utter another word about it. And since Iliana, Nefara , their blood sister Morrigan and one other vampire, Nikolai were the only vampires, it has never been spread." Raksha's eyes fluttered and she muttered, "Blood. It's all the same..."

Her eyes flicked open and she sighed. "That's it. That's as far as the vision goes."

Nefara got up, smiling gently at Raksha. "Tell them what else you saw." She told her, turning to the window.

"I saw how I was going to die. Again." Raksha told the group. "I've known what I have to do. I'm ready. I will fight."

Robin ran his hand through his thick hair. "How will you fight?"

"With the best tools I have." Raksha told them. She ran her hand under the bed and pulled out a long box. She opened it revealing five guns in various sizes. "It comes in handy, having a past life."

Nefara lay a hand on Raksha's shoulder. "I think you've got some training to do. And we better be going."

Iliana nodded and gave Raksha a hug. "See you soon superstar."

Robin waved and Raven simply nodded.

Nefara stalked out of the house and into the shadows, disappearing.

Iliana sighed and turned to the two Titans. "I'm sorry about her. She gets protective of Raksha. She's soft really. She also doesn't like talking about Nikolai or Morrigan. Bad memories, I think."

Raven pulled up the hood of her black top and shoved her hands into her pockets. Her eyes shone from under the hood. "So what are vampires? What can you do or not do?" She asked, changing the subjects.

"There are a lot of myths about us." Iliana explained. "We can go out in sunlight, but clear days are very painful. We drink blood, but not necessarily mortal. Animal is just as good. Churches, crosses etc don't affect us. We are immortal and can regenerate if a body part is cut off." She stopped her spiel, thinking. "The only way to kill us is, I guess, is being shot through the heart with wood."

Robin's eyes widened. 'You mean, that story's true?"

"I said there was a lot of myths." Iliana smiled. "I never said none of them were true."

Robin shook his head, smiling. "What about Nefara? She's been in the sun, and it didn't hurt her."

"Well," Iliana explained. "Nefara is Egyptian. Natural defense against the sun." She looked at Robin's watch. "We'd better be getting back."

And here we reach the writers block. Might take me a while to post the next chapter. Love ya all.
Umbra