Raven couldn't decide if the study was designed to impress, or if Dante actually enjoyed having a ridiculously extravagant room. Probably the latter.

Raven entered the room cautiously, glancing around the room to make sure she wasn't setting off any booby traps. Dante had sworn that nothing would happen to her while she was in his study, but, judging how he had thrown Robin into a dungeon without a second thought, Raven was going to take Dante's promises with a grain of salt.

The study was a comfortable size, the walls gleaming obsidian and framed with intricately carved golden edges. There were several chairs and couches on the room made of a dark wood and cushioned with red leather. A solid gold chandelier glimmered above Raven's head, the candles flickering with scarlet flames. The back wall of the room was an obsidian bookshelf, the shelves themselves traced with gold carvings. Surprisingly, there were only a few books in the bookshelf, only filling half of one of the middle shelves. Apparently Dante wasn't much of a reader.

In the center of the room sat an enormous writing desk, made of a wood so dark it was almost black. The edges were framed in, unsurprisingly, more gold, and nine intersecting circles were carved into the front of the desk, forming a chain-like pattern. There were only a few items on the desk. On the left side on the desk sat a small collection of expensive-looking amulets. Judging from their condition, though, it appeared that Dante had taken several of them apart, trying to cobble together some new piece of jewelry. Glancing at the shattered pendants thrown across the room, now hastily shoved in a corner and half-hidden behind a small marble statue of a bird, Raven could tell that Dante hadn't been pleased with the outcomes of his experiments.

On the right side of the desk, contrasting sharply with the dark color scheme of the room, rested a glass vase, completely filled with pure white roses. The flowers were so out of place in the study that Raven was transfixed by them, staring at the small bouquet for several moments. Tearing her eyes away from the vase, Raven immediately began searching the room for anything that could give a clue on where on earth she and Robin had ended up. She wasn't exactly expecting a GPS, but a receipt, a local postage stamp, or even a tag from a piece of clothing would work. Nothing. All the wastebaskets were empty, there were no signs of letters (who would write to this freak, anyway), and there wasn't a single article of clothing in the study. Dante did a pretty good job of keeping himself hidden.

Raven ran her finger across the few books in Dante's study. There weren't many, but Raven recognized the tomes he did have. The Divine Comedy, the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe, and Macbeth were a few of the titles. Raven had read all of them before. The rest seemed to be chemistry textbooks, an odd addition to the room. To be honest, Raven really didn't care. What Dante read in his spare time wasn't of any interest to her. She just wanted to find a way to get Robin out of the dungeon first, and then get them both out of this little prison, hopefully dragging an unconscious Dante behind them.

Raven's gaze fell back upon the roses. Something about them bothered her. For all intents and purposes, they seemed to be completely normal roses, albeit a rather unusual pure white. Still, something about them put Raven's teeth on edge.

"Go ahead. Take one."

Raven jumped, startled. She immediately whirled around, forming an orb of dark magic as she did. Sure enough, Dante stood behind her, leaning casually on his cane as the last wisps of smoke disappeared into the air. Raven noticed small magical tendrils shrinking back into his staff. Whatever he was doing with Robin in the dungeon, it probably had used a lot of Dante's magic. That didn't bode well for Robin.

Dante gestured towards the roses, his mask grinning at Raven. "Go on. You can take one. I don't mind."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Right. I doubt that. What's the catch? Poisonous thorns? A knockout-drug hidden inside the flower?"

Dante sighed, flipping his cane over his shoulder and walking over to his desk. "See? This is what I'm talking about. How can we expect to have a civilized conversation when you constantly accuse me of trying to kill you? It's quite rude, to be honest."

The idea of being rude to Dante wasn't exactly terrifying Raven. This boy had kidnapped them, thrown Robin into a death trap, and was now requesting proper etiquette? Undoubtedly insane.

Dante plucked one of the roses out of the vase. Within an instant, the white petals of the rose darkened. The entire flower turned a deep red, the very edge of the petals a bright scarlet. Dante didn't seem surprised by this. He turned the rose over in his hands, holding it out so Raven could see.

"No thorns, no poison, no traps. Can't a boy just give a girl a rose without being accused of murder?"

Raven sighed. She didn't particularly want the rose, but the sooner she took it, the sooner Dante would shut up, and the sooner Robin could get out of the death trap. She took the rose from Dante's hand, fully intending to toss it into a wastebasket the first chance she got. To her surprise, the rose darkened even further as soon as it touched her fingertips. The petals turned as black as midnight, every part of the flower darkening until it was almost a silhouette of a flower.

Dante stared at the rose with fascination, studying it carefully. "Fascinating," he murmured, his eyes locked on the now-black rose.

Raven pushed the rose into her belt, hiding it from Dante's view. She could study it later. Right now, there were more pressing concerns.

"What do you want?" Raven demanded. It had been about five minutes since Robin had disappeared into the dungeon. She didn't want to waste any more time trying to get him out.

Raven could tell Dante was raising an eyebrow under his mask. "What do I want?"

"You said you had demands. What are they?"

Dante chuckled. "Ah, yes. We should begin our negotiations. As you wish, sorceress."

Dante sat down in the elegant chair behind his desk, leaning the cane against the armrest. He gestured to the simpler chair across from him. "Have a seat. Would you like anything? Tea perhaps? A glass of wine?"

"No thanks," Raven said simply, adjusting her cloak before sitting down. "Let's just get this over with."

Dante shrugged. "As you wish. You don't mind if I make myself comfortable, do you?"

Before Raven could respond, Dante clicked the jaw piece off of his mask, allowing a small cloud of steam to escape. Raven half-expected Dante to turn away to cover his exposed skin, but was surprised to see Dante simply set the jaw down in the table, peeling his gloves off as he did.

Raven studied the little skin exposed. Dante's flesh was white. That isn't to say he was Caucasian, or had very pale skin. Dante's skin was blank, as white as the roses in the vase in front of him. Clearly visible beneath the flesh were a network of veins, blood red and practically glowing. Scratch that. The blood vessels were literally glowing, an identical color to his ruby-red magic. Raven had never seen anything like it. For some reason, however, Dante seemed strangely familiar. Raven couldn't identify it, but she was sure she had seen Dante somewhere before.

Dante grinned, revealing pearly white teeth just below the edge of the mask. "Now, shall we begin?"

Dante's voice was clear now, no longer muffled by the mask. Still, it sent a chill up Raven's spine. She was sure she had heard his voice before. Dante's pronunciation was different, along with his tone, but Raven recognized the voice. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

Dante cleared his throat. "Stay focused now, sorceress. Don't crack yet. We've only just begun."

Raven snapped out of her trance. She couldn't space out like that. She needed to finish this as soon as possible, to get Robin out of the dungeon. "Just say what you want."

Dante smiled. "Simple. I have three demands. And, conveniently, they all involve you."

Raven fought the urge to vomit. "If any of your demands are physical, I'm going to punch you."

Dante chuckled. "Of course not. Well, at least not in the sense you're thinking of." Dante twirled his hand, and a roll of parchment paper and a writing quill appeared in his hand in a puff of smoke. He held the two items out to Raven. "Here you are." Dante noticed her hesitation and chuckled. "Calm yourself. I'm not trying to kill you. I don't have an acid touch."

As soon as the words left Dante's mouth, he snapped his fingers, like he had just remembered something. "Acidic touch. That would have been brilliant. Well, better late than never."

Dante placed the roll of parchment and quill in front of Raven, and then rapped his cane on the floor. A handful of sparks flowed out of the top, cascading down the sides of the cane and disappearing into the floor. Raven didn't know exactly what had happened, but it probably didn't bode well.

Raven picked up the parchment and unrolled it. Written on the parchment appeared to be a lengthy contract. Raven groaned. Evil contracts. The staple of wannabe villains. Raven began reading through the document. Most of the calligraphy was dedicated to legal documentation (ironic, under the circumstances), but Raven finally reached the demands.

"Two cups of my blood," she read aloud, allowing her bewilderment to show, "a voluntary donation of magic, and… my cloak? Is this a joke?"

Dante's expression turned cold. "Why would I be joking?"

Raven gestured at the paper incredulously. "Did you even think before you wrote this? First of all, I can't 'donate' magic. That's not how it works. Second, my blood and cloak? Really? What are you trying to do, clone me?"

Dante leaned back in his chair, fingers to his lips. "Cloning…" he mumbled, as if mulling the idea over. "Possible… but a lack of a source. No, a terrible idea." Then he looked up at Raven, scowling. "Of course I'm not trying to clone you. I simply need these for personal reasons. Now, if you don't mind, sign the contract."

Dante twirled his hand, and an ebony bottle of deep scarlet ink appeared in front of Raven. He stared at her expectantly.

Raven gave an exasperated sigh, setting the parchment back down onto the desk. "I told you, I can't donate magic. It's impossible. You're going to need to rethink what you're-"

Dante pounced, switching out of his reclining position instantly. Before Raven could react, Dante's hands slammed down on top of hers, pinning them down. Raven tried yanking her hands back, but it was no use. Dante's hands dug into her skin like claws. The tips of Dante's fingers began crackling with dark red magic, jumping from fingertip to fingertip.

Dante leaned across the desk until his face was inches away from Raven's, his expression as dark as the obsidian walls around him. "Don't toy with me, sorceress," he growled, steam beginning to slither out from between his teeth and fog his silver mask. "You do not want to see me angry. Now, sign the contract, or I'll be forced to break a bit more than a few promises."

Raven stared back at Dante coldly. Making sure to act outside of his gaze, Raven pressed her feet against the front of the desk. One sudden tug could yank Dante out of his chair, over the desk, and send him crashing through some of his expensive furnishings. Then Raven would have time for a counterattack. Assuming that her plan worked. Assuming Dante wouldn't teleport, blast her with magic, or anything that he had proven he could do so far. Assuming Dante hadn't glued himself to the chair. Yes, that last one was ridiculous, but Raven wouldn't put it past Dante. Maniacs tend to be paranoid.

"I'm going to tell you this once," Raven said coldly, her eyes narrow. "Let go of me, or you're going to have bigger problems to deal with than your little contract."

Dante gave a sinister grin similar to the one on his mask. "Okay, sorceress. Let's see exactly what it takes to get some magic out of you."

What would have happened next is anyone's guess. The standoff was interrupted rather abruptly. At first there was what sounded like the hissing of ice dropped on a hot griddle. Dante barely had time to turn around. Then the wall behind him exploded.

(Note: I do not own Teen Titans) Yes, I know, a short chapter, and it didn't a have a lot of action either. Please bear with me, I'll try to make up for it in the next chapter. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this.