A.N: Hola! Chapter 3 is here! There's still no action, but things will get more exciting soon! Just keep R&Ring. This chapter also has some hinted BBxTerra and BBxRae, if you squint. :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Believe me, I do not own Teen Titans, or Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. I forgot to mention this before, but I also don't own the song I'm Taking You With Me by Relient K, where I got the title for this fic. Okay, no more. You can go read now.

Beast Boy

"Hello, birthday girl."

It took so much self control not to go down there and rip off Slade's little metal covered head Beast Boy thought he would explode. Somehow, he convinced himself to wait and see what happened. I totally just imagined that smile. Raven's going to kick Slade's butt before he can blink.

"Slade. Why are you here?" Raven asked a little nervously as she landed lightly on the floor to face Slade.

Okay, she's going to hit him in three . . .

"You have no idea? Nothing's happened yet today, nothing unexpected?" Slade asked in return. Raven hesitated.

Two . . .

"Ah, there was something," Slade said. Had he just noticed her hesitation, or did he really know what had happened that morning?

One!

"What do you want?" The Goth girl crossed her arms, and looked up into Slade's mask with more irritation than anything else.

Uh, Raven? Less talking more butt kicking, dude! Raven?

"I'm going to assume you've already heard of the Church of Blood," Slade said, relaxing his stance a little now that he knew she probably would not outright attack him.

"The Church of Blood? When I lived in Azarath they tried to make a dimension portal and take us over. Robin and Starfire mentioned them this morning. . ."

"How did they know about them?" Slade demanded.

"I . . . I don't know. In all the confusion I forgot to ask how they knew," Raven said with slight embarrassment.

"Confusion over what?"

Raven looked at the floor. "I shouldn't even be talking to you."

Yeah, Raven. You shouldn't. You should set off the alarm right now so I can come down there without looking like I was spying on you that much.

"Yet you are, so why don't you tell me your part of the story and I'll tell you mine?" Slade suggested. Beast Boy thought he sounded particularly evil. Not for any real reason, just that he was acting too, uh, normal-like toward Raven.

Dude! Don't tell him anything! He's a bad guy, remember? Don't even listen! That's what Terra did and look how she . . . turned . . . out . . .

"Well . . ." said Raven hesitantly.

Beast Boy tried to send telepathic messages to his friend by staring hard with his compound eyes. Come on, Raven! Say no! Kick him out! You don't need whatever he's selling!

Raven?

Come on, Rae . . .

Just say no.

"Fine. I'll tell you."

Raven

She sighed and began her summary of the morning's events. "Okay, so last night I was out pretty late, so I didn't wake up very fast this morning. But when I did wake up there were markings all over me, the same ones you burned on me last year. I guess I kind of . . . freaked out. Then Robin and Starfire came in and said the thing about the Church of Blood. They woke up Cyborg and Beast Boy, but nobody could do anything about the marks. Then, about five minutes later, they just disappeared. Robin started freaking interrogating me so I came in here. That's it."

Raven considered how she had ended the story. Was it wise to let Slade know she was angry at Robin? He might use that for something. Use it for what? You don't even know what tricks he has up his sleeve.

The voice of Brave in her head said, If he even has any tricks up his sleeve. I say we go for it!

Remember what happened to Terra, said the small voice of Timid.

Who cares? We are so much smarter and tougher than her, snapped Brave.

What are we going for? Listening to him tell his half of the story? We already agreed to that. Just be quiet and listen, said Knowledge, silencing all the other voices.

Raven tuned into Slade, who had just started talking. He said, "That was less than what I expected to happen."

"Oh, so sorry to bore you. What do you do that was so exciting?"

"Not so much exciting as illuminating," Slade replied. "I was summoned by the now Father Blood, former headmaster of the HIVE Academy. He wants me to help him in his plot to assist Trigon in returning to this dimension by delivering you to his son, the new Brother Blood."

Raven was slightly confused by this. "They're going to do what Trigon himself already tried and failed at doing?" I never thought they were brilliant, but that's kind of a new low for them.

Slade shook his head. "Not quite. They intend to use Trigon's old plan, but with his grandchild."

It took a second for this to sink in. "You mean Brother Blood wants to . . . oh gods." She sat down on the edge of her bed. Raven felt stupid for reacting like this, but somehow it had never occurred to her that a quarter-demon portal could work as well as a half-demon one or that anyone would make a plan centering on raping her.

She was aware of Slade seating himself next to her, but did not look at him. "'And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming . . .'"

"'And the lamplight over him streaming spills his shadow on the floor.'" said Slade softly.

Raven looked up at him in surprise. "You read Edgar Allen Poe?"

Slade nodded. "Yes, but I don't think now is the time to discuss that. I came here to ask you if you would like any help."

"Help? But-hey, did you agree to help Blood or not?"

"Not."

"Then why does he seem to expect your help?" Raven asked. She was definitely getting his story cleaned up before she decided anything else.

"I see I'm not going to get anything past you, Raven. In exchange for my help Blood gave me my old powers back, along with . . . taking something from me."

"Taking what?"

Raven's eyes widened as Slade grabbed her by the wrist and held her hand against the left side of his chest. "Anything missing?" Slade asked in a voice that was suddenly harsh.

She stared him in the eye for a second, trying to figure out what he was doing. Then she realized why he was doing this. "A heartbeat," Raven whispered.

Slade released her. "Exactly, my dear. So do you see my motive to help you?"

Raven nodded.

Don't trust him, he'll turn on us, said Fear.

He has more reason to help than to hurt us, reasoned Knowledge.

If you would just help Trigon and fulfill our destiny this wouldn't be a problem, said Rage.

SHUT UP! shouted all the other voices in unison. Rage slinked into the background to wait for another opening.

Aw, come on Raven, Happy said. How bad can it be? Maybe he can help us get out of this mess, and he is pretty hot . . .

Raven saw Love nod in agreement and shut off the voices quickly before things could get totally insane in her head.

She stood, and Slade did the same, looking at her as if for an answer. Raven said, "I accept your help, Slade."

Slade nodded. "There is one condition," he added. "You may not, for any reason, tell your friends about this."

Raven thought about it, but only for a second. The other Titans would probably find out on their own if she didn't tell them. "Fine. But I have a condition for you."

"And what is that?"

"You can't attack the Titans while we're, um, allies," Raven said, leaving no room for argument in her tone. After a pause, Slade nodded again.

"Then we have a deal," he said, holding out his hand to shake on it. They shook hands, Raven arguing to herself that the tingling she felt when they touched was completely imaginary.

The alarm went off. Raven glanced at her door, and Slade rolled his eye. "I'll be seeing you soon," he said, and to Raven's surprise jumped out the window. It wasn't until the middle of the Titans' battle with Mad Mod that she realized that with his new powers, Slade could fly.

A.N: Hey, I hoped you liked that! It's a little shorter than the last chapter, but it's still important. Review please!