Chapter 7: A rich meeting

He didn't really know what happened. One moment, they were having dinner and the next they were practically throwing knives at each other. Jason jumped out of the way as one particular sharp knife speared the wall next to his face. He knew she could hit him, crush him even, yet she didn't because of the bond.

He knew that he entered thin ice when he asked about Raven's upbringing, but he was just trying to start conversation. He had not, by any means, meant to insult her mother!

"I said I was sorry!" Jason yelled as he jumped away from another set of knives and forks.

"You didn't have to bring it up!" Her eyes were glassy with tears and yet she threw like she was a sniper.

"I didn't know it was insulting!" He tried.

"Bullshit! You knew, no, you know how thin that ice is in." Raven threw another knife, this one speared his shirt and stopped his movement. He tried to move again as she got closer with another sharp knife. Where did she get those knives? He asked himself. "You know what I feel about your people after they killed her. You know how I've felt for you since the day we meet. If it weren't for the blood bond I would have killed you by now." She threw the knife an inch away from his face, he jumped as the knife speared the wall.

Raven gave him one look of disgust before going out the room. As she walked, Jason was reminded why she hated vampires again, first her mother, then the scar on her back was making its appearance.

He sighed after she left the room. I'm so stupid! He yelled at himself. He tried to remove the knife that held his shirt, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed again before ripping his shirt free. I liked this shirt, he thought.

As Jason walked to Raven's room, wanting to apologize for his actions, he stopped a second before knocking. What was he going to say?

He knocked on her door gently, Jason spoke before she could yell at him. "Raven, I'm sorry, I know how sensitive the subject of your mother is. I wanted to apologize for what I said, it was uncoldfor and rude. I promise, it will not happen again." He waited for her to answer, when none came he placed his ear to the door. There wasn't even the sound of a breath.

His eyes narrowed as he slowly opened the door, he expected her to attack him once he entered, but the room was empty. He looked around for a minute before his eyes catched the curtains moving. Moving them aside, he was lucky it was dusk and the sun had gone down. The window was open, his eyes narrowed as he looked out in the pine forest underneath the castle. It may only had been an hour, but she wasn't that fast, or perhaps she was.

xXx

Raven ran through the pine trees of the forest. Insulting her mother had been too much, she needed to get away. The blood bond may have kept them from hurting each other, but it said nothing of running away. She knew Jason would be on her as soon as he found out, she just needed to get somewhere. Somewhere she knew.

She ran into a clearing, a clearing she knew well. It was the same clearing she had left a few years back. It was in pretty good shape, she had come to the camp once a week making sure it was in a good state. It had been awhile now, but it was still in a good state. The carriage was still there locked with a lock Raven always had with her, she still had it. She kept it in a hidden pocket in her shoe.

Taking it out she unlocked the door and went inside. It was pretty dusted up. She smiled gently at it. Home sweet home, she thought to herself.

It wasn't long after that she had set up a small camp there, lighting the lantern. Now she sat in front of the wooden cross with a wildflower in her hands. She smiled softly at the grave. "Hey, mom. I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry… I've been a little busy. I… I wish you were here to help me, I really need your help. If I could even a minute with you to help me…" Tears formed in her eyes. "I'm sorry mother!" She cried. "I failed, I've gone into a deal with one of the highest ranks of vampires! I can't stop him even if I tried." Tears began to fall to the ground, watering the other wildflowers she had placed there. "I wish you were here, please." She looked up into the sky as the tears ran over her cheeks.

"Raven?"

She expected it to be Jason, but to her surprise, it wasn't. Raven turned to find the faces of her family. Victor, Richard, Kori, and Garfield, all of them, they stood in slight surprise at the sight of her. Then, they all ran up to her. Raven had just gotten up from the ground before she was tackled by them and hugged dearly.

"Raven!"

"We missed you so much!"

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"How did you escape?"

Their questions and cries of joy was drowned in their cries of joy. After a few minutes of hugging and crying, the others gave Raven some space. "Hey…" She muttered. Her eyes glancing across the forest, she had the feeling that Jason was watching. "How did you find me? Here of all places?"

"We looked in your journal with the map, we thought maybe we could help you kill that Jason." Richard said while smashing his fist into his palm.

"I wish you could, but I cannot train you. A vampire hunter is not trained, they're born or created. To be like me, you'll have to make a deal with the head of the hunters, which is harder when people are older and without anger." Raven explained. "You wouldn't be able to convince the head of the hunters anyway."

"What makes you think that?" Victor asked as he took a step forward.

"I'm the head of the hunters." The others blinked at the information. "I'm not going to put you into that danger. Not now, not ever. Not for me, not for Gotham. Never." Raven turned back to the grave, she didn't want to face her family right now, but she kept talking. "My mother was the old head of the hunters, when I was born she said she didn't want me to be forced into being a hunter so she took me with her on a trip. Of course we did encounter a few vampires and she taught me the basic of how to kill and survive. It was one year before my mother died the court said they needed a replacement if my mother died, she said I would be the next one. She would train me until I became one of the elite..." Rain began to fall over them, coating the logs and ending the fire. "But things didn't go as planned, my mother was about to take me here to Gotham to train. Gotham has been one of the most haunted cities in the kingdom, sadly she didn't make it. I made it on my own, raised myself, fought, trained, became one of the elites like my mother wanted. Before Maribelle took me in, I was about to head back to the court taking my throne, per say." She laughed.

"Wait, your mother was the last head of the hunters and she wanted to train you, her own daughter, instead of protecting you?" Richard pointed out.

"I was in danger from the day I was born. Not training me would have gotten me killed long ago." Raven shrugged and looked past her family and at the wooden cross. "My mother was a great woman, the best in her job, the best I ever had, and I failed her." The rain had finally soaked the family and the only light was from the lantern hanging from the carriage. "I made a deal, a bond, with a vampire. One I was supposed to kill. Now I can't."

"Then let us."

"I can't. Not once in my life did I expect to have friends or family, I'm not risking your life. I will go back to Jason's castle and live out my days there if it means you're all safe."

Kori took a step forward. "Please, Raven. We just want you back, we have missed you so much, we cannot lose you again." She wiped away a tear.

"You're not losing me, I'll be there, just not visible for you." Raven walked into the carriage and began to look through a box, finding what she wanted she hid it underneath her clothes. She walked back outside. "Now, I need you to leave."

"No, we're family, Raven." Garfield said. "We're not losing you to anyone again."

"I made a foolish mistake running away tonight, for all I know half of Gotham could be slayed by now. I either have to go back or…" She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. "Now go."

The family hesitated before slowly backing away, they turned to walk but would look over their shoulder and look at her.

"Don't come back either, there's no hope in stopping Jason," She pulled a rope from under her clothes and looked at it. "... And it's my fault…"She was sure the others weren't in sight anymore before she tied the end of the rope in a loop. She tied it up in a branch just tall enough for her to not reach the ground with her toes, she stood there and looked at her mother's grave from on top of the stepstool she brought out. Her mother's grave was just across from where hers would be soon.

Raven lifted the loop and placed it around her neck.

"...All my fault…" She kicked the stepstool away from her.

xXx

Short chapter, next chapter will come very soon, maybe even the same day.