Honeythief
Chapter Four
"Sometimes I doubt the path I chose, Sometimes my dreams feel all on hold" - Honeythief, Halou
)O(
Awkward was an understatement.
In fact, Cyborg was sure this whole situation had moved past "awkward" and into "Bizarro-Land". He sat next to Raven and stared at Robin as if he'd grown another head. Although, now that Cyborg thought about it, a second head would have been more believable than what Raven had just told him. A second head would also be more accepted among the rest of the Titans. A vampire wasn't something he knew how to contend with.
A vampire made him think of Dracula, of dark and stormy mountains, of young girls being dragged off into the night in a cloud of superstition. The word didn't draw up any ideas of his spikey-headed, fearless leader with a love of pizza, who had been too stupid to call in back-up. He looked over at Raven and scratched his head, still feeling lost.
"Really?" Pause. "Okay, let me see if I got the story straight? I wouldn't want to botch any details." Incredulous was also an understatement. He jerked his thumb at Robin. "The genius Wonder Boy over here ran off without us, got into a fight with Jinx, who nearly killed him, but in an act of some kind of twisted charitable kindness turned him into a vampire?"
"Yes." Raven blinked and sighed, looking taxed. Cyborg couldn't blame her; she'd been through hell and back again just to keep Robin remotely sane.
He sighed, and leaned back into the sofa to about the logistics of "Bizarro-Land" a little more. He was trying to keep an open mind about this, but a vampire? The dark thing of legends… well, sort of. He looked back at Robin, who was parked in a stream of sunlight coming through the window, and sipping a soda. His face remained calm and placid, but Cyborg knew better. He could see the hidden storm tearing him apart inside. The same storm that ripped through everyone in the room: if Raven didn't find a way to fix this mess, then… Cyborg squashed that thought, and decided not to traverse down that option.
Failure wasn't an outcome, not with Robin.
"Uh-huh." He turned his confused stare toward Robin and raised an eyebrow. "And now the plan is to let him munch on you every night until you fix this?"
Raven opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't have a chance. A pad of paper went flying through the air and smacked Cyborg dead in the face. He gave a start and looked down at it in his lap. Robin's messy scrawl filled the page. I don't munch on Raven every night! And it's not like I want to! I don't have a choice! Robin glared at his friend as he looked up.
Cyborg sighed and was about to say something to the only sane person left in the room, but her face was stained with a dark shade of crimson and she couldn't look him in the eyes. She coughed slightly and stood up to head into the kitchenette, avoiding the situation. Cyborg rolled his eyes to the ceiling, knowing there was some other undercurrent neither one of them was telling him. And he had a good suspicion that he didn't want to know what it was.
"Look, I don't know what is going on between you two, and I don't care. But, I want to know how we are going to deal with this situation. Starfire isn't going to stop looking for you, and even if we tell her you're safe she'll demand to see you every five minutes." Cyborg tossed the pad of paper back at Robin. "And Beast Boy isn't going to be very understanding… he's already pretty sour because we eat meat. I can't imagine he'd be accepting of a cannibal."
I am not a cannibal! Robin glared at Cyborg who just grinned back, obviously meaning it to be a joke. Robin didn't find it very funny, but Raven snickered politely behind a hand. Robin glared at her. It's not funny, either of you. This is serious.
"I don't think whining about it is going to fix anything, Robin." Raven riffled around in the cupboards, looking for tea. After all, that was her security blanket when things went haywire. "We have to be level headed about this, practical."
Robin grunted and grabbed the paper. You're always so damn practical.
"Some one in this situation needs to have sanity, and it certainly isn't you." Raven puffed out a breath of indignant air and turned away from him, continuing to look for tea. Robin shook his head, but wisely chose not to respond. He leaned back into the sofa and fidgeted with the straw in his glass.
Something in Cyborg twisted painfully at the sight of Robin. He looked so dejected, like he'd been stomped on and crushed until there were only a few pieces of Robin left in his unusual, new body. Everything about him had changed, it was subtle but it turned him into a new person. He looked taller, broader, and there was this constant shine of onyx in his eyes. Robin looked every bit the predator he had become.
Robin picked up the pen and wrote. So, what should we do now? We can't just assume this is going to fix its self. There was a long pause as everyone gave it some thought. Cyborg wasn't even sure what they could do. This was a darkness no one knew how to fix, let alone understand. This was something even Raven wasn't sure of. He rubbed the back of his head and looked at his two companions, who were both deep in thought.
Raven had give up her search for tea and returned to the sofa. She flopped down next to Cyborg and sighed up at him. "Well, you brought by books, so at least we can get started somewhere. I know of similar creatures that exist in other worlds, but I am not familiar with them. I need to study plenty before I can suggest anything to you, Robin."
Robin ducked his head slightly and nodded. Cyborg saw the shame in him, the guilt he felt at taking Raven away from her normal life, of dragging her down into the hell he found. Robin knew he had done something irrevocable to her, something he may regret for the rest of his life. Cyborg sighed and tried not to think about what was happening to his friends. He tried to think back to yesterday, when their greatest threat was a jewel heist. Those times seemed so mild in comparison to this.
"I think the best thing for us to do, maybe not right now but eventually, is to return to the source." Raven's calm voice pierced Cyborg's thoughts and made Robin turn to stare at her. There was a long moment as Robin's face melted from shock into fierce anger. The air stilled, as if Robin was silently daring her to continue, given what the consequence may be. Raven frowned at his expression, but went on, despite the threat. "My best plan for us, Robin, would be to find Jinx and ask her what she knows. She is the key right now."
Cyborg leaned back into the sofa, his fingers toying with the tassels on the cushions. Robin's eyes narrowed, and he let loose a low, feral growl. The air turned pungent and acrid at the suggestion and Cyborg realized that Raven had hit a very sensitive nerve. Of course he would react like that, what Raven was suggesting was the same as a piece of bacon deciding to go visit the butcher after it had already been sold, fried, and devoured. Robin felt betrayed and angry, and Cyborg couldn't blame him. But, Raven was right.
"No." Robin snarled at her.
"I know you don't want to hear it, Robin, but I was hoping we could talk to her. If she's a vampire, she should know what to expect. Maybe she had a slightly less violent turning. Maybe she knows why you can go out into the sunlight, and eat eggs. I don't know. The only thing we can assume right now is that she knows more than us, and that puts us at a disadvantage." Raven sighed and rolled her eyes, uncaring of the storm brewing inside him. She was going to face the truth, why couldn't Robin? Jinx was their only true link to what was happening to him. His attacker was the only one they could turn to right now, the only one with concrete answers. She stood up and faced her companion, keeping her face blank to avoid stirring the pot. "It's worth a shot."
"No!" Robin threw the glass he had been holding, and it shattered against the far wall. The air stilled for a second time and no one dared to breathe. Raven stared at him for a long while, and Cyborg could feel the threads between them tie, untie, and rearrange until it felt as if every emotion was going to burst, and things were going to be said that could never be retracted.
There was a long, heavy silence before anyone moved. Raven's lips turned down into a frown and even Cyborg could see she'd been hurt. She was only trying to help. "Fine. Have it your way, you spoiled little brat. Just sit there for the rest of your supposedly immortal life and munch on every human you pass."
She snarled back at him before storming to her box of books. With what dignity she could muster, she gathered them up, her small, powerless body trembling under their weight. "I'll be in my room. Don't bother me unless the apocalypse has started, or Robin comes to his senses… although I suppose the former will happen first." She gave Robin another glare before heading into her room and closing the door. There was the sound of the books falling on the floor, a muffled cry, and then the door lock clicked into place.
The silence was deafening.
"You really are a fucking dick." Cyborg shook his head and glared at his friend, Robin at least had the decency to look a little sheepish, even if he was still indignant. But, that did nothing to help Cyborg's desire to punch him. "She's really sticking her neck out for you, Robin, and you don't even realize what she's been going through. Are you so fucking blind you can't see that she's given up everything to take care of you. Her powers, her friends, her safety, everything. And you go and throw a temper-tantrum like a child."
Robin stood and walked to where the glass shattered. He stared at it for a long minute, as if he could piece it back together. Cyborg let out another deep sigh, wondering what he was thinking, what he was feeling, anything to understand this abomination he was becoming. Robin was known to have violent bursts of emotion, but never at Raven. Something was stirring in him, and Robin didn't want to face it. Robin made a strange, breathy sound and bent down. He cleaned the mess he made with deliberate slowness, as if doing something normal was going to take away the sting.
"Robin. We can't ignore this, we can't pretend that Jinx didn't do this." Cyborg waited for a response, but nothing came and he continued. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this, I know it makes you angry. But Raven is right. We need to find Jinx, we need to sort this out. And, truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised if she came looking for you again. She turned you, a piece of her runs in you now, no matter how much you want to deny it."
Robin growled, but didn't stop his task of cleaning. He was looking for a shred of sanity in this world, and Cyborg couldn't blame him. He sat back on the sofa and waited for Robin to finish looking for normalcy. It took a few minutes before he joined him on the sofa, the pen and paper in his hands. I didn't want to yell at her. I know Raven is really trying hard for me, but I can't be around Jinx right now… I crave her.
Forget "Bizzaro-Land" this whole thing had turned into another dimension. Cyborg stared at the paper for a long minute before he could find his voice. "What? I'm sorry, did you just write what I think you did?"
Robin nodded and picked up the paper again. Well, that's not exactly true. The vampire in me craves a vampire mate, and Jinx is a healthy, ovulating vampire with a womb. My vampire wants her to procreate, to establish a clan, but my human side is still dominant. It's like a war inside of me, but the two halves have kind of settled on a compromise. Someone dark enough for the vampire, but… Robin stopped writing abruptly and turned away, his face flushing red.
Cyborg stared at Raven's door and then back to Robin. "Oh, for the love of God. This couldn't get any weirder if it wanted to. You're telling me that there's a war between your vampire side and your human side over Raven and Jinx?" Robin nodded before Cyborg continued. "And if Jinx comes here you're going to jump her so you can have bouncing, bloodsucking babies?" Robin nodded again. "But Raven is part-demon so your vampire side can settle with her?" Nod. "But it really wants Jinx because she's a vampire?" Nod. "This is ridiculous, Robin."
That's an understatement. Robin rubbed his face and looked away from his friend, before he wrote more. I just want to strangle Jinx before she has any idea what she's done to me. Robin's pen was perched precariously above the paper, and Cyborg had a feeling that he and Robin had just come to the same conclusion. The pen slammed onto the paper with such force, Cyborg was surprised he didn't break the coffee table. SHE TURNED ME BECAUSE SHE WANTED A MATE.
"I wouldn't put it past the pink-headed bimbo." Cyborg had the sudden desire for a very stiff drink at this point. What in the world had they gotten themselves into? Robin had jumped to his feet and began pacing the room, looking like he was on the brink of insanity. Cyborg wasn't even sure if there was anything he could say that would bring him back down, too much had happened to him over the past few hours. Robin reached out and threw a vase against the wall, before letting out a guttural noise, somewhere between a cry of anguish and a moan.
Raven's door flew open and she looked between Robin and Cyborg. "What happened?"
Robin looked up at her, his face sallow and pale from shock. He blinked a few times before he pointed to the vase. "Fell."
"Uh-huh. Well, don't break anything else, or I'll be more than irritated." She retreated to her room again, hiding behind her books. Robin stared at her door for a few minutes before he moved. He looked slow and sluggish, but Cyborg saw the rage, the anger, the desolation hiding behind the now onyx eyes. Robin looked torn and beaten, and Cyborg had never seen him in such a way before. His fearless leader had always been strong, and brave, sometimes to the point of being stupid, but to see him falling apart at the seams made Cyborg realize that everyone had a breaking point, and Robin had reached his.
"Robin, maybe you better rest… just until we get this figured out, okay?" Cyborg placed a hand on his shoulder, and Robin stared up at him, his eyes empty. He looked so listless. Cyborg felt his heart tug at the sight, and he sighed again. "I promise, I'll make sure Raven takes care of you, okay?" Nod. "Alright. Well, go rest… I've got to speak with the demon herself."
Robin didn't try to do anything else, he just retreated to his room, and locked the door. It felt like Robin had just retreated into himself instead, hiding from what the truth was. Hiding from everything that happened to him. Cyborg shook his head. What in the world had he gotten himself into? Vampires? Mating? Clans? This was one big mess, and he knew he was going to be eternally regretting the fact that he had stuck his nose into it. He knocked on Raven's door, and there was a rustle from inside.
"Hey, Rae, can a talk with you a moment?"
"Come in."
He poked his head into her room, looking around. The books had been opened and laid out on her bed in a semi-circle around her. She was flipping through a rather misused book, and one of the pages had fallen into her lap. There was no doubt she was angry and frustrated, and Cyborg couldn't blame her. After everything that she'd been through, he's have been frustrated too. "Hey, Rae."
"Hi, Cyborg. Is Robin out breaking anything else?" Raven turned the page without looking up. There was a cold severity to her that told Cyborg she was still upset about his comments.
"No, just being… Robin." He wondered if he should tell Raven the truth, if that would fix anything. "He's sorry for snapping at you, he's just…"
"Torn." Raven finished, her face blushing. She closed the book and looked up at him, a storm of emotions rushing behind her eyes. "I know. I heard you two speaking… about Jinx." She turned away quickly and coughed, trying to avoid the subject. "And me."
"Mm, then you know the whole situation?" Cyborg sat on the end of her bed. "About Jinx?"
"I guess." Raven opened another book and thumbed the pages. The scent of aged paper filled the room, and Cyborg was distinctly reminded of Raven's room back at the tower. She stopped near the middle of the book and stared at a passage. "This doesn't change anything between us, you know. It's a chemical reaction to vampiric hormones, according to my books vampires and demons have similar ancestry. He's just responding me, that's it." Her cold eyes looked up at him. "I'm not going to entertain any emotions of anything more than friendship."
Cyborg raised an eyebrow and let a frown appear. "I wasn't implying you should, I was just making a statement." He paused for a moment, before deciding decided to stick his nose farther into the mess. He was already neck deep, what was a few more inches? "You know… you and Robin… well, you have a lot in common. You've always had a special bond with him that none of the other Titans could touch. You're the only one whose ever known about his past."
"Pfft." Raven returned to the book. "Thanks for lying. I'm a sister to him, I know that better than you think. I know he likes pretty redheads with innocence abound; I know he'd prefer June Cleaver over Poison Ivy any day. I'm not stupid about what he wants, and I'm not it." She raised an eyebrow, but still didn't look up. "Further more, I don't see how it's any of your business?"
"It's not my business, I was just stating an observation." Cyborg rolled his eyes, of course she was going to be snarky with him. "But let me give you one more observation before you blow up: he contacted you the first moment he discovered that something was wrong. He called out and reached for you. Not Starfire, not Beast Boy, not even me. He was looking for you he knows who and what you are, and he trusts it. Now, tell me what that means?"
"It means you're misinterpreting events." Raven sighed and looked up at his steeled expression. "I'm a demoness, Cyborg. A creature born in the depths of hell. At what point did you think I had any chance with a human, let a lone Robin?"
"Funny, he isn't a human anymore is he?"
"Don't be such a douche." Raven tossed the book to the side, and another page came sliding out. She rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply. "I need to get out of here and meditate, all his raging emotions are making me ill."
"You need to look after him, Raven."
"I need to breathe before something blows up."
"You're powerless right now, I don't see what the fuss is about."
"You really are a douche." Raven tossed a pillow at him, but he caught it easily.
"Just stating a fact." He looked out at the skyline and sighed. "Another storm is coming through tonight. I'd watch him carefully. There's no telling what he might do in this state."
"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled up at him, but it looked weak and it never quite reached her eyes. "Thank you Cyborg, I really appreciate you coming here."
"I know." He smiled and started for the door. "Please be nice to Robin, Raven. He means well… he's just…"
"Torn. I know, Cyborg."
"Okay. I'll back off." The door closed lightly behind him and Raven sighed. This was more than she wanted to handle, more than she knew how to handle. Robin was a complete enigma to her, and this physical and emotional change in him made him even more enigmatic. Raven let her head fall into her hands.
"How can I do this?"
)O( )O( )O(
And there we go, sorry it took so long, I just started a full-time job and it's crazy! Surprisingly, this chapter was influenced mostly by this band I've recently discovered called Katatonia, they're a fantastic band if you haven't heard of them.
So, I hope you enjoyed this piece, and I'll hopefully get the next part out soon!!
Xaph!
