"What were you thinking?" Bruce Wayne's voice echoed throughout the cave, not because he was raising his voice, but because no one present had made a sound since they arrived.

Raven swallowed, located only a few steps from Damian. To say that Bruce's presence was strong for a human was an understatement. Even for a vampire hunter, his presence was clearly distinguishable.

There was no question why no one connected the Bat's nocturnal activities to billionaire Wayne. He knew what he was doing.

Raven wondered if he had trained with a vampire, but she didn't say it out loud.

"You told me to keep an eye on her," Damian replied, calm though, already used to his father. The flat tone he used as he crossed his arms over his chest, as if it were a logical conclusion, only made the air more tense. "I couldn't have done it alone otherwise when Drake called."

"Now, that's a fucking lie!" Tim objected, moving dangerously close to Damian, as if that would make him back off. "You might have avoided the cameras in the mansion, but not the one on the streets. You guys were out even before Jason and I found those vampires' hideout."

"Oh, are you by any chance implying that the boy went on a date with this vampire?" and of course, Jason's mocking comment was not lacking.

Although, Raven felt that he did it more to lighten the mood, since —as far as she could see and understand —that was normally Dick's role.

To her unsurprise, though, the only thing that gained him was a roll of his eyes from Damian.

"Shut up, Todd," Damian clucked. "If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have found the van or captured that annoying vampire."

The astonished silence of everyone wasn't discret at all.

"Wait, wait. Is our little Damian praising someone?"

Damien exhaled. One of his hands quickly went to his sword to draw it.

"Say that again and I'll cut your tongue out," he threatened, though Jason barely seemed on guard.

"Just try it."

"Seriously, what's wrong with you guys," Barbara grumbled, getting everyone's attention, only looking back at them for half a second before continuing to type on the computer. Although she was probably doing something else, a live news feed clearly showed the street they had been fighting on, and the havoc they had wreaked. "You caused quite a ruckus. Luckily there were no security cameras there."

Raven pressed her lips together and hugged herself. She wasn't sure when to intervene or if she should. It didn't seem fair that Damian was the one receiving all this negativity when she'd been the one who'd convinced him to take her with him.

But at the same time, he had never looked at her again.

Not since he told her about his mother.

Raven watched him for a few seconds, worried. Maybe he'd said more than he planned to say, or maybe he really hadn't felt as comfortable with her as she had with him, but then… Had only she been aware of the moment they'd had in that building in the center of the city?

The truth is that she refused to believe it.

"I asked him to take me with him," she decided to speak then, drawing the attention. She pressed her lips together and took a breath, still not used to it. "I was hungry."

Batman frowned, but it was Tim who spoke.

"Wait, wait," he said, reaching up a hand and bringing it to his head, before looking back at Damian. "Did you take her out to eat?"

"Or did you take her hunting?" Jason narrowed his eyes, completely forgetting the joke about the date, who could very well have followed up on that statement.

Damian raised both eyebrows, clearly offended, but before he could retort, Raven decided to intervene again.

"A rat," she said, looking down. No matter how many times she had done it, it was still embarrassing and disgusting by not only human standards.

And from their looks, she knew she would have to explain it all over again.

Barbara and Tim's looks were skeptical, to say the least. Bruce as usual didn't show any particular emotion and Jason just seemed completely indifferent.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Tim said, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

Bruce didn't comment on it, seeming deep in thought as he rubbed his chin.

"And you haven't caught anything?" Jason was the one who asked the question out of line, but Raven didn't mind at all.

In fact, she was hoping someone would be curious about it so she could clear it up.

"Never. And I haven't infected anyone with anything either," she explained, trying to sound as undisturbed as possible.

It might seem weird, but Raven had never been sick. Not even the flu, so a disease caught from animals was much less likely.

She was immune to what affected humans after all.

Once again they were surrounded by silence, as if each one was considering the probabilities that it was true or false, until a high-pitched sound, similar to an alarm, coming from the computer caught their attention.

Barbara was the first to arrive to turn it off, frowning.

"Looks like the little souvenir Raven and Damian brought us has already regenerated enough to move," she said, before turning her gaze to Batman. "What should we do?"

The response was immediate.

"Let's go."

It shouldn't have surprised her that there was more of the cave from what she had seen so far.

She should have expected it, in fact, that with the push of a button, something new would appear. A new path, another door, stairs. Yes. Raven must have figured it out.

But it hadn't been like that, so she only started walking when everyone else did.

Along the way, Bruce discussed the vampire's human identity. A man who used to deal drugs with a gang in the back alleys of Gotham.

He hadn't been much of a threat as a human. In fact, he was probably the last in the hierarchy of the gang he worked for, so he was the first to be turned as part of an experiment.

Curiously or not, the man was successfully converted. Even though he was a middle-class vampire, he was still much stronger than a normal human, so it was no surprise when he killed the gang leader and took his place.

"I really can't believe what she's saying," Raven heard Tim speaking as Bruce finished explaining the vampire's background. "That she's only drunk animal blood since she was turned... Isn't she too strong for it to be true?"

Raven frowned. However, she didn't say anything about it when she sensed a scent.

A scent that made her mouth go dry and smack her lips when no one was looking. Her senses shot up for a few seconds before she was able to calm them down.

And who did say something, when they all reached the other area of the cave, was the vampire who was imprisoned.

"Then she must be dying inside," he said, and Raven swallowed.

His head still had a hole in the middle, basically from his nose to his forehead, but you could already see the shape it was beginning to take upon regeneration. At least, it was enough to see his full smile and part of his cheekbones.

"Ugh," Barbara made a face and it was no wonder.

The vampire's clothing was dirty and torn, covered in what was dark blood and some liquids that any normal person would refuse to recognize. His arms and legs were bound to the chair, every bit of his skin red hot from the silver alloy they were using to restrain him.

His eyes may not have been on his face yet, but from the way he turned his head towards them, Raven knew it wasn't a major loss.

Especially when he seemed to address her even though she was sure that the special glass between them, which kept him closed like a fish, was tinted from his side.

"Tell me, child, don't you feel the withdrawal?" he asked. "The way your throat dries up, the way it suddenly seems like every sense is suddenly working a thousand percent until you want to smash your head in with a hammer—?"

Raven clenched her fists.

"Stop this nonsense," but Batman cut him off, banging on the glass and causing all but Damian and Jason to flinch. "Tell us what you know about a vampire who calls herself the Queen."

The vampire laughed.

"Oh, and what's in it for me?"

Tim crossed his arms.

We don't end you," he said, irony gracing his words. "Along with a hospitable life in Arkham. It's a bargain, if you ask me."

"Ha… Hahahaha!" the vampire started laughing out loud and didn't stop, as if someone had told a very funny joke. Raven wondered if it was just the part of his skull that had been pierced that was controlling his emotions, since he was starting to get more creepy than scary.

She swallowed and stepped forward, tilting her head as if she could meet the vampire's nonexistent gaze.

"You knew about me and what happened to my mother," she narrowed her eyes as his laughter faded little by little, until only a macabre smile remained. There was no way he wasn't connected to the Queen. Raven would even go so far as to say that it was her who worked with his gang to experiment on stupidly ambitious humans. He just had to admit it. "How—?"

"Oh, little girl," but he cut her off, no shame at all, perhaps quickly guessing what she was thinking. "We all know about the traitor who refused to accept the Queen's help—"

BAM!

If the blow that Bruce gave to the glass had been strong, the one that Raven gave had no comparison. His siblings were ready in less than a second and his father frowned under the mask, as if she might lose control again at any moment, but from her hard expression and the lack of crimson in her eyes, Damian knew that it would not be so.

The glass didn't have a single line when Raven pulled her hand away.

"Being a traitor would imply that at some point I was on your side," she pressed her lips together and soon her nails turned into claws. His siblings' reaction may have been purely instinctive, but Damian didn't blame them when she suddenly began to release more of her strong presence.

The bound vampire's smirk faded from his damaged face.

"These hunters are merciful enough to offer you prison instead of years of torture. I'm not so much," Raven took a breath and Damian kept his gaze on her more than on the locked up vampire. He didn't think it was a real threat. All her behavior and what she had said and shown him indicated that she wasn't a ruthless killer and that, on the contrary, she was even more human than many of the people he had come to know. But he couldn't deny that whatever it was that she was doing, even getting himself and his father to get their hands on their weapons just in case, only added to the tension that had already built up when they arrived.

She didn't meet his gaze, though, and just continued talking.

"You just have to tell us her plan."

For a few seconds, maybe just a moment, it seemed as if the vampire was seeing his worst fear through the tinted window. His mouth twisted and he began to strain against the restraints, as if the pain from his red-hot skin no longer mattered at all. If it wasn't for the fact that he was obviously a proud being, he probably would have torn out his throat with a deafening scream by now.

But he didn't, and then Damian sensed movement to his right.

His father put a hand on Raven's shoulder and as if pulling her out of a trance, she blinked a few times, turning her claws back to normal nails and losing her balance.

Without realizing it, Damian had already moved to help steady her, placing one hand on her waist while the other held onto her arm. Raven murmured thank you.

"That's enough," Batman said, only to ignore her when she nodded and looked back at the vampire, who was now panting as if he had subconsciously run a marathon. "Tell us her goal."

The vampire sucked in air through his mouth. At least the hole in his head no longer revealed the other side of the room, but the inside of his skull.

"…The city," he said, between each breath. "She wants to… take over Gotham… At least that's what she's told us."

Damian frowned, Raven still leaning her weight on him.

"Even if you want to stop her now, it's not possible," the vampire continued.

"We'll see about that," Batman declared, turning on his axis to head for the exit.

Jason, Tim, and Barbara began to follow him, discussing possible locations she might be hiding in as well as what they would do next, and how they would approach the situation without starting a war in the middle of the city.

Damian was starting to walk behind his family, too, when Raven struggled away from him to lean against the glass. Her face was pale and she was also breathing heavily.

It seemed that she was suffering.

Whatever she had done was taking its toll on her.

"Havoc from just drinking animal blood?" the vampire commented, well aware that they hadn't left the cave yet. The smirk he showed her was probably just meant to annoy her.

"You…" but she ignored him completely. "How did you know about my mother?"

The vampire scoffed. "Everyone knows about the traitor that the Queen personally went looking for, although I must admit, from how they described you, you seemed younger."

"I was only 13!" she raised her voice then. The anger and frustration showing in her tone of voice. "Of course I was younger."

And that was enough to make not only Damian suspicious, but his entire family to turn.

Barbara, who had been only a few steps behind Bruce, spun around, then dodged around Tim and Jason and closed in on him, taking the lead as if suddenly trying to protect him.

Damian frowned, but Barbara paid him no attention.

"The dates don't add up," she said. "Arella Roth was last officially heard from 20 years ago."

"Besides," Tim also retraced his steps, crossing his arms. "Vampires don't age. The moment they are converted, they stop aging, but you don't appear to be thirteen."

Raven pressed her lips together, taking only a few seconds to respond. A few seconds in which Batman and Red Hood also returned, either because of the gossip or because it was really something very relevant.

And when she did, her voice didn't have the same intensity.

"I never said that I had been turned."

"HAHAHAHA!" the vampire's laugh cut through the silence that threatened to form.

Damian glared at him, but it was as if he was only more stimulated.

"So that's what it was about, you're a half-blood!" he exclaimed. "One as strong as a high-class vampire, no wonder the Queen wanted you on her side!"

Raven just exhaled in response, straightening her back again as if she had already recovered.

"Well, too bad I'm not," she said, looking back at Damian. "I swear."

Theoretically, her being a half-blood didn't affect the goal they shared. It was just an irrelevant fact that she hadn't mentioned for the simple fact that it had nothing to do with what they were doing, but for some reason, for a moment, Raven felt guilty.

Not saying something wasn't a lie, but it wasn't a truth either.

"Your help will prove to no avail," the vampire finished laughing to add. "It is said that the Queen is almost as strong as Trigon. That little trick you pulled a while ago, it won't affect her or the madmen under her command. She…"

"Trigon?" Bruce repeated in a mumble, only to be heard by Damian, before sinking into thought.

Trigon, the vampire lord, was a myth. An urban legend that was talked about for a long time by both vampires and hunters. A creature so powerful that it was said to have been the first demon to come down to earth to convert what would be the first noble blood vampires.

Stronger than upper class, wilder than lower class. They were supposed to have been uncontrollable and irrational creatures that ended up disappearing due to exhaustion by unleashing chaos, completely forgetting that they needed blood to maintain their abilities, not before turning many normal people into vampires.

Either she was a direct descendant, or she was just a glorified charlatan. In any case, Damian and his family had never faced someone who claimed to have that much power, or even knew someone like that.

Without another word, his father turned away, leaving the vampire talking to himself, muttering and incoherently elaborating due to his withdrawal.

This time everyone followed him, including Raven.

When they reached the main base of the cave, she stopped. For a moment she thought that the others would ask her about what had happened, ask explanations or accuse her of hiding other things, but no one —except Damian, who seemed to have something else to do— stopped with her.

Raven took a breath and wiped her hands on her cloak, annoyed that they had started to sweat and most of all, tormented by what had just happened. Her throat had felt dry again and she had a feeling it was because of what she'd done to scare off that vampire.

Raven remained strong even without drinking human blood, it was true, but she knew that everything had a limit. The vampire who had taught her all this had made it clear enough.

"Are you OK?" then Damian's voice made her look up, surprising her a bit.

"Just... exhausted," she replied, regaining her composure, but soon looking away as if that would make the embarrassment she felt disappear more quickly.

Damian's greenish gaze made her feel like she had done the worst thing in the world, when he treated her with such warmth.

"Good," he said, nodding, only to go to one of the furniture in the place to get something. From where she stood, Raven assumed it was more weapons.

His hands moved quickly between the drawers, silent, making Raven wonder if it was okay to leave him alone or if maybe she should wait for him like he had, but she wasn't sure where they were standing now. If they were just acquaintances who worked together, or if they could already call themselves friends… She didn't know how to ask.

Although, from the feelings that swirled in her chest with incredible speed and confusion, she believed that it was impossible that they were just friends.

"Why didn't you say anything from the start?" he questioned then, without looking at her and with an indifferent tone as if he was just looking to bring up a topic of conversation, although obviously it was more than that.

Raven shrugged.

"You never asked," she replied even though she knew it didn't sound very good. She inconspicuously walked over to one of the tables and leaned against it, looking down as she continued, "I know half-bloods are… rare, and you assumed I'd been turned, so I figured it was the easiest way."

To not feel rejected by something she had no control over.

Damian looked up at her.

"Is there anything else you missed?"

Raven pressed her lips together for a second.

Yes.

"No."

If Damian heard the doubt in her voice, he didn't show it as he suddenly lunged at her, sword drawn.

Raven's eyes widened and she dodged almost successfully, except that she stumbled at the last moment, falling backwards with the tip of his sword inches from her nose.

She held his gaze from the ground, trying to search for any hint of anger or hostility that would allow her to instinctively defend herself, but Damian's expression was composed. Amused even, if Raven knew him better.

"What was that for?" she asked, sitting up.

Damian shrugged.

"You have a lot to learn and practice if you want to get justice for your mother," he told her, holding out a hand so she could get up. Raven took it, noting the difference in size to her own, and met his eyes. There was no mockery in them, but only sincerity. "Brute force is not enough."

Raven felt like smiling.

Without noticing it, she was slow to let go of his hand.

"I don't get it," Barbara said, watching on Tim's tablet the interaction Damian and Raven were having. She had never seen her younger brother so… open with someone, and that someone being half vampire didn't sit well with her. With narrowed eyes,s he handed the device back to Red Robin and looked back at Red Hood, who had already removed his mask. "How can we trust her when she didn't tell us about her identity?"

Jason shrugged.

"To be honest, Babs, which of us says who we are right off the bat?" he exhaled, reaching for one of his weapons to wipe it clean. "Also, the boy seems to like her, isn't that a good sign?"

"Damian likes his grandfather, too, and we all know that man is crazy," Tim commented, his face crinkling at the memory of the man who purposely sought to become a vampire to 'cleanse' the evil of humans.

"Touché."

"Weren't you the most reluctant to work with her?" Barbara accused, feeling slightly betrayed, to which Jason shrugged.

"Our enemies are the vampires," he said, perhaps intending to simplify their mission, but looking thoughtful instead. "Half-bloods are in a gray area as far as I'm concerned."

Barbara and Tim shared a look. For a person who hated vampires so much, it was rare for him to admit that easily.

They had no record of half-breeds surviving this long, after all. It wouldn't be unusual to mistrust her or what she was saying, even when there was no longer any other plausible possibility to explain her clear differences from the normal vampires they always faced.

Maybe Jason and Damian had empathized with her story.

Barbara sighed and looked at the place where Bruce had gone next to Alfred as she finally removed the Batgirl mask. Her finger hit the table repeatedly.

Sometimes she wished she had super hearing like vampires just so secret meetings wouldn't be so secret.

Inside the large library and behind closed doors, Bruce Wayne searched for one of the writings he hadn't read since he was a child.

With Alfred's help, they both placed themselves on different shelves.

"I understand that you are worried about the young master, Master Bruce, but was it necessary to leave the others out of this?" Alfred asked, flipping through the inside of one of the old books he'd checked out.

"This isn't about Damian, Alfred," was what Bruce replied, frowning as he had to move to the next shelf.

The truth was, he didn't want others to overreact when it wasn't necessary.

The book the butler closed not only echoed, but also released enough dust to make Bruce wrinkle his nose.

"No. It's about Miss Raven," Alfred sighed. "She seems like a nice girl, even though she's a vampire."

"That is the thing, Alfred. She's not a vampire," Bruce sighed before looking up again. "She's a half-blood."

There were a couple of seconds in which Alfred absorbed the information. His brows furrowing as time progressed.

"You're not implying…?"

But Bruce's phone, which rang suddenly, didn't let him finish.

His first protégé's name appeared on the screen and Bruce promptly answered.

"I read your message," Dick said instead of saying hello. "Are you sure it's her?"

"No," Bruce was quick to reply. "But that's why I need you to look into it. You have to go with Sebastian Blood."

"What?" the disbelief in Dick's voice was plain to hear. So much so that if he had been facing Bruce, he could easily be gesturing with his arms like he normally did. "Do you really think that going to talk about a vampire prophecy with the leader of a cult that worships vampires is a good idea?"

"Not exactly," Bruce almost rolled his eyes. Honestly, it was a job he'd do himself if it wasn't for the fact that Dick was so much closer to their headquarters than he was. "I didn't say you were going to talk to them. I said to investigate," he leaned against one of the library furniture while Alfred seemed to find what they were looking for.

"Oh, then I have to go for information. I have to steal information from a sect. Good. Nothing special."

The irony almost made him smile.

"Don't get caught," Bruce said his goodbye, but before he could hang up, Dick spoke again.

"Wait, what will happen to Raven?" he wanted to know and Bruce wasn't surprised.

Dick was a boy with a heart of gold after all and surely he already figured that hiding her nature hadn't been a good move.

But Bruce wasn't planning on missing the opportunity.

"She said she's on our side," he replied simply only to hang up the next second, giving Dick no chance to question.

Setting his phone aside, he motioned for Alfred to come over.

His butler brought with him a thin old book, surely even moth-eaten. A book that Bruce hadn't opened in years.

"It's still as incomplete as the last time you read it, master Bruce," Alfred warned.

And Bruce nodded resigned. In his mind, the poem, which some writer from centuries ago had left, was blurred, but he hadn't forgotten it.

He carelessly opened the book and found the only page that was torn inside, which he read once more after so many years.

The poem had no known title or author. The date was unknown, but an expert he had spoken to years ago, when he still believed that his parents' deaths had something to do with said prophecy, had made it clear that it was obvious that this was not just about any noble vampire. That it had been written during the time of the so-called Trigon.

It sounded like a myth, like the story of Atlantis or the Greek gods. But the truth was that vampires were still a myth for most people, so how to tell what had been real and what hadn't?

Bruce frowned, reading the last verse left before the page had been brutally cut, as if the book's original owner had done it in a desperate rush.

…

Beware the half-blood child of night,

Her power brings both dark and light.

She'll walk a path of blood and pain,

Leaving only ruin in her wake.

…

For many years he had searched for the continuation of the poem, trying to make sense of the contradiction that the verses had, only to discover that no normal person knew of its existence. Only the families of the hunters did, and the Waynes were the only owners of a part of the supposedly prophetic poem.

Even within their family, only Dick and Alfred were aware of what it entailed. So there was no doubt that it was something completely confidential.

So Bruce took a breath.

If what he assumed was correct, at least they were on time.

He would use the half-blood to defeat the one who called herself the Vampire Queen, before she had a chance to destroy them.