Knock knock.

Raven's eyes shot to the door. In an action as familiar to her as walking, the witch let her magical senses flare. She flicked out two fingers (the other hand still holding a book) and a purple glowing energy turned the lock of the door and pushed it open.

Eyes studying the ancient words before her, Raven said, "Hello Constantine."

The Liverpudlian leaned against her doorframe, arms folded. His thick accent and brown trench coat were trademarks of the crass magician. "Hiya love, y'aright?"

"Good thanks," Raven set her book down, open on the armrest of her charity-shop armchair. Old, worn, and comfortable as hell. "Zee came by a few days ago- dropped these off," she tilted her head towards the tower of tomes on her desk "I've learned a lot."

She reconsidered the magician. "I digress. What brings you here?"

Constantine pushed the unruly blond mess off his forehead and shrugged, "I was in the area. We've still got work to do 'round here: a troublesome occult in the region. Normally nothin' to worry about, but this lot're trying the big stuff."

"How big?"

"We're talking summoning rituals- trying to host for fuck's sake!"

Raven's voice raised an octave, "Host?" She cleared her throat, "Surely not...?"

"Gods." Constantine filled in. "They're trying to host deities. I don't mean minor gods, I'm sayin' bloody A-listers. The majors. Bloody...Hades and Sekhmet and...Odin and who knows!"

The witch forced her mouth shut.

"You're sure they have that kind of capability? I sensed a collective magical presence here, but I didn't feel anything particularly strong."

Constantine laughed humourlessly, "That's what we all thought, until your old man arrived. Lesson learned: we don't underestimate cults."

Raven pursed her lips. You couldn't argue with that.

So she returned to her original thought, what should have been her first question.

"Then shouldn't you be dealing with the occult rather than over here?"

Her question wasn't meant, nor was it taken, as her wanting to get rid of the visiting warlock. Constantine was a good friend of Raven's, one of the first she had upon arriving on Earth: having sensed a huge source of demonic energy, Constantine had come to inspect the situation, guns a-blazing; he had found a child, a little girl on no more than ten years old; Constantine and Zatanna had opened that path to her to find help- which came in the form of the Teen Titans.

Steely, but as clear and cunning as ever, Constantine's eyes considered the teen in front of him. Raven easily could have been a pawn in her father's game. Another bloodthirsty demon. Yet here she was, doing all in her power to be pure of heart and mind. That brought a grin to his mouth.

"I was actually hopin' you'd come along, little miss demoness. It's been donkeys since I've seen you in action- from what Zee says you're twice as powerful as before." He gestured to the stack of books, "And you can put all that studying to good use. The books can only do so much."

"Really? You want my help?"

"Sure! I've given Kori the heads-up that you're probably on-board. I'm going to scope out a base of theirs now, fancy popping along?"

Screwing the lid down firmly on her excitement, Raven shrugged, "Yeah, sure. What the worst that could happen?"

***

"Well this is awkward." Constantine commented, warily eyeing the dozens of robed forces currently surrounding them. His hands were alight with a swirling mass of amber runes awaiting purpose and direction.

"No shit Sherlock." Zatanna growled between gritted jaws.

Suffice to say, with all their combined stealth, the three magicians had still managed to trigger the magical alarm systems placed by the occult. Their base had been easier to penetrate than expected, and now it was apparent why.

"I count twenty-ish." said Zatanna.

"Nah love, more like thirty."

Zatanna snorted, "Oh and I suppose you know better than me?"

"Well..."

"Oh for Hades sake," Raven rolled her eyes, "They Want To Kill Us!"

The first wave of robed cultists surged forwards, withdrawing what looked like...magical...dagger...things...
Very much the hilt of a dagger of small sword, but with a blade hewn entirely of magical energy- as if one were to draw the 2 dimensional outline of a blade and set a charge running through the lines.

"What the-"

Constantine's words were left hanging in the air as he jumped out of the way of an occultist, shouting a word in the ancient tongues and sending the closest four enemies flying in to the rows behind.

Meanwhile, Zatanna and Raven had managed to knock out at least a quarter of the present forces: Raven had trapped them in a translucent purple sphere, cutting off all escape routes, whilst Zatanna drained the oxygen from within it, rendering them unconscious.

As the tides appeared to be beginning to turn in the magicians' favour, a swarm of yellow-cloaked individuals issued through a door none of the three had clocked. The odds had tipped out of their favour.

"Fucking 'ell." Constantine sighed.

And yet, their was still hope. Hope, in the form of two masked figures, leaping out of the shadows and in to the dim artificial light.

Raven quirked an eyebrow, "Fancy meeting you here Robin."

"Good evening Raven." He quipped, unable to help that little bastard smirk of his.

A.N:

I'm so sorry that was late and really short and shittily written! I've had a lot on my plate recently to deal with- it feels like life's pulling me in five million different directions.

The next chapter should hopefully be a lot better. Again, I'm really sorry about this.

-Bats