A.N: Wow, this far already?!

Complete silence.

A pin-drop could be heard it the abnormal quiet.

Satisfied that they were all ready to listen intently, Damian started to explain, knowing that Adyn and Raven would pick up where appropriate.

"Yes, the human legend of,", all three grimaced, "vampires does come from the Children of the Night, however, humans have altered the image of a Child of the Night so far, it is almost insulting."

Though Damian's tone was irritated, the coy smirk playing at his lips showed  his amusement at the notion.

"Honestly, first it was 'sunlight kills them'-"

"Bullshit.", Raven commented, shaking her head, earning her a sharp look from Kori.

"Then 'they all live in Transylvania'-"

Adyn snorted.

"Now they sparkle!", Damian completed, faux sighing and hanging his head in despair.

Raven chuckled, leaving many stunned at her lightened mood, "I think Stephanie Meyer broke the poor thing.", she patted Damian on the shoulder in fake sympathy.

Jaime watched as the Robin glared playfully at Raven, holding back a fit of happy-dancing at their adorableness. He laughed alongside the others at Raven's teasing, content with watching the two interact.

Damirae needed to happen-and fast- the anticipation was driving Jaime insane!

His reaction, however, was quite a contrast to Batman's.

Bruce's brow was furrowed, not because he was irritated or angry, but because he was piecing together information. Thoughts not even crossing the way Damian and Raven were acting together, Bruce's mind was occupied by all that had been said, cataloging the information on the forms of preternatural beings- and fitting it alongside the history of Hell, regarding the Al-Ghul and Ad-Djinn.

Having done so, he put forward the question, "So what are these Children of the Night, seeing as they aren't as imagined by humanity?", steering the room directly on to the topic at hand.

As if a cold air had descended, the room's occupants stilled, turning once more to Damian, Raven and Adyn, waiting for an answer.

It wasn't surprising that Bruce had such an effect upon the Justice League, Titans and his adopted children- the authority carried by the Dark Night was unquestionable.

Clearing his throat, Adyn looked to Raven and Damian for conformation that he could open the response.

Receiving nods, he began, "The Night Children are...", he scratched his head, searching for the right phrasing, "distantly linked to our kind in the sense that.. we'll-", he searched for a way around the problem of not wanting to blatantly state the nature of demons.

"There are similarities in-uh, there's no way of sugar coating this,", Raven sighed,massaging her temples.

Ripping it off like a bandage, Damian said, "Both need blood to survive."

"WHAT THE WAFFLE??!"
Obviously Stephanie.

"Holy fucking shit that's fucking messed up like what the actual fuck that's not right! I mean... SHIT!"

Yeah, pretty clear too.

"I knew that conspiracy theory was true!", Tim exclaimed triumphantly, the only person in the room who wasn't mortified.

Drowning out the commotion, Damian braced himself for the mental torture that this explanation would bring- there was no turning back from here.

"Can you quieten down so we can explain?!", Damian ground out through clenched teeth.

Pointedly ignoring his father (having not even looked at him to gauge his reaction), Damian started...

***

"Wait so, let's get this straight. You guys have to... drink every once in a while to, like, keep sane and not, like, kill everyone but they just, like, kill and drink and stuff whenever but this council thing -which you guys hate for some reason- gives them blood in, like, bottles in exchange for them not killing people and drinking their blood.

I've got that right, right?", Barry concluded, stunning the room with deja vu.

"Um, I guess.", Adyn nodded.

"Pretty much.", Raven nodded.

"Mmm.", Damian nodded.

That summary, odd though it may be, was a fairly accurate summary. If only the Flash was more understandable and didn't speak at 150mph. It did make the issue less of an eminent danger than the three had explicitly made it.

"Oooookay... so, uh, are we done here?", Bluebeetle asked awkwardly: the endings of these 'meetings' were always awkward and uncomfortable, no one really knew what to say.

Of course, it was left in the hands of Batman to deal with these situations of non-surety.

Battling a wave of conflicted emotions, Bruce surveyed the room dramatically- a move he pulled all too often for it to be considered normal. Dick and Kori stood together, she with a hand involuntarily placed over her stomach. By the window, to their left, Hal, J'onn, Victor, Diana and Clarke were congregated, stances easy. Nearby, the Titans stood together, an unintentional sign of solidarity (one Wonderwoman found both symbolic and sweet).

"All of you may return to whatever you were doing beforehand.", Batman concluded quite uselessly powerfully.

Jason snorted at Bruce's antics, making his way over to Diana, his favourite Leaguer- she was so awesome!

He could always look to Wonderwoman for a friend and guide.
When Jason...when he died, Diana was heartbroken, she adored the mischievous young Robin- he always came to her with his troubles, laughing them away till called off by Bruce.

Coming back from the dead, Jason didn't know what to expect- shock?-anger? What he didn't anticipate was a harsh lecture about his 'crimes' as the Redhood, then being swept in to a bone-crushing hug of maternal affection.
Jason could still recall the way Diana held him like a mother to her lost child- something he had missed out on in his childhood.

Smiling behind his mask, Jason tugged on the collar of his leather jacket- an item he wore with the ruggedness of a true rebel.

"Jason, why are you still wearing that mask, honestly!", Diana laughed at him, making a move to pull it off.

Smile turning to a smirk, the Redhood took of his mask, shaking his hair out.

Catching a glimpse of the white streak reading on his brow, Jason's mind flitted back to what Damian, Raven and Adyn had spoken about. Demons needed blood to survive, which meant that Damian would have had to- God, it was strange to think of. But did it explain the tendencies Jason gained after resurrection: a strange sensation in the presence of blood and a liking towards extra rare meat, among many of these tendencies.

"Why the long face?", Diana asked, a hand at his shoulder.

Looking up at her, Jason gave a small smile, "Na, it's nothing."

***

"Well okay J'onn- just leave without saying bye!", Hal called after the Martian Manhunter.

J'onn spared him a glance before continuing to walk, holding back a smile. He had other business to attend to besides hanging around with those that had decided to stay after the meeting (one which he had considered not attending, like Aquaman, before remembering that he had a strong reputation to keep up amongst the Leaguers).

Watching J'onn go, Hal sighed, "Always so serious, sheesh."

Turning to Barry he asked, "So, what're you doing now?", knowing he could rely on the Flash.

Barry shrugged, "Nothing.", then, as though a lightbulb had switched on in his head, he jumped, "Hey, how's about we go to that new arcade that opened up downtown? I heard it's really great, plus, Bart's meeting me there in,", he checked the clock, "'bout half an hour. You game?"

Upon hearing his boyfriend's name, Jaime perked up, "Bart's there?"

From the couch closest to the door, Damian smirked, meeting Raven's eyes across from him.

"Yep! Are you coming?", Barry popped the 'p', grinning at Jaime's reaction.

Answering in the positive, Jaime stood up, leaving the room with Hal and Barry- one of whom was teasing him about his relationship with a certain Impulse. In a flash of blue at the doorway, Bluebeetle changed to his civilian self, clad in the usual casual jeans and plain shirt.

Before fully crossing the threshold, Hal asked the room, "Anyone else wanna come?"

Exchanging a brother-sister moment, Stephanie and Jason looked to each other then at Hal.

"Sure!"

"Nightwing go with them.", Bruce ordered, side-eyeing the pair.

"We don't need a babysitter!", Jason whined, frowning at Diana, "Tell him! We don't need looking after."

Shaking her head, Diana laughed, "I don't know... how bad was the last time?"

Damian stepped in from his seat on the sofa, "He got completely drunk off his face in half an hour."

Diana raised her eyebrows at Jason, leaving him with no other choice than to pull the 'it wasn't my fault' face, with his arms raised in protest.

Damian added, "You also managed to find the time to have sex with an unknown girl-"

"Or guy- you never know.", Stephanie added.

"-yes, thank you waffle-addict. I belief you have issues Todd."

Bruce held a hand to his forehead, knowing where this was going- he saw that Stephanie already had her phone out and -hold on, where did Cassandra come from?!- she wasn't there beforehand yet here she stood besides the Batgirl!

Retirement really did sound wonderful.

"Oh yeah, well how do you know that, huh?", Jason sparked, stalking over to the sofa.

Besides Damian, Jon looked like he was on the verge of shutting himself (because of fear or laughter, we will never know).

In the most deadpan tone possible, Damian answered, "Barbarian, you were practically marinated in lipstick imprints."

He rolled his eyes at the outrage on Jason's face.

"Well why were you looking?", Todd sassed quite stupidly, ignoring all common sense at the fact that everyone could see BRIGHT RED LIPSTICK.

Stephanie cackled as Damian sneered, "That's entirely ridiculous Todd, whatever you're trying to infer-"

He was cut of by the amused voice of the one and only Raven Rachel Roth- who was clearly trying to hold back chuckles, "All questioning if Damian's sexuality aside,"

"RAVEN! Are you serious?!!!", he shouted, mouth agape as the others rolled around the floor with racking fits of laughter.

"SHAAAAME!!!", Stephanie screeched, still recording.

Tim went to far as to give the half-demon a standing ovation for that comment.

"...CAN'T...BREATHE...", Jaime gasped, leaning on Adyn's shoulder for support.

Between chuckles, Raven persisted, "All questioning aside,"she waited for the raucous laughter to quieten, "there's no denying that you were completely wasted and had some form of sexual activity with someone who you had met for less than half-an-hour. Don't even try denying it."

Jason looked at his feet, a tad ashamed at her belittling tone.

Wiping the smile off her face, Diana said, "Dick, you had better watch this one."

"That was GREAT footage- thanks Raven!", Stephanie cheered from out of the blue, having just finished recording, "So can we go now?"

With a few more words, they left, leaving the Titans, Adyn, Tim, Bruce, Clarke and Diana in the immense room.

"I think we had best leave now.", Damian told Raven, standing up.

"Where are you going.", Jaime beat the others to the question.

"Investigating.", Raven answered, eyes flashing towards Bruce, indicating exactly what they were investigating.

Receiving a small nod, the two made there way out of the room.

"Do you require any assistance?", Adyn said, an eyebrow raised.

Damian and Raven shook their heads, leaving without a word.

"Well that was odd.", Donna said, meeting Jon's gaze for a moment, "Very  odd."

A.N

Guess who just updated a day early- moi! Because guess who has time on their hands- moi!
The holidays are great!

Anyway, I hope you liked that chapter- it was a bit of a filler too and was just calm and light-hearted. It'll get darker though 😈 hehe.

Well, there's not much more to say besides thanks-  we've gone all the way past 9k, which is a true blessing.

😊
-Bats :3