Raven opened her eyes.

An abyss of black faded to an inferno of crimson before settling back to the cool amethyst flames they usually were.

"Eighteen blocks away, the old warehouse besides the care home."  she told Damian, glancing at the Titan in her periphery.

He snorted, "A warehouse, how cliche."

Surveying the bold nightlife of Gotham, over the edge of the roof, Damian asked, "How many?"

Raven followed his line of sight, "The aura is strong, I'd wager between twenty and twenty-five Night Children.", she grimaced, "I can practically smell the death, it reeks of bloodshed even here. You can feel it, can't you?"

He nodded.

Straightening up, Damian turned to Raven, a hand placed loosely at the hilt of his katana. At his full height, the Robin hadn't realised how close they stood. A few centimetres would close the distance between them.

Meeting Raven's eyes- god, they were so deep, one could almost fall in- Damn it Damian focus!- his shock turned to a smirk at her breathlessness.

"Uncomfortable?", he teased, cocking his head, disregarding the increase in his pulse rate.

Raven chuckled, "Oh, you wish."

With that, she smirked, shaking her head in mirth before running across the rooftop- and cursing her damn heart for pumping so fast. Damian followed at her heels, mind disregarding the prior tension, opting to focus on the task before him.

The two stopped on top of a block of flats adjacent to the warehouse and opposite the care home. Noting the pungent fragrance of au de sewage and blood in the atmosphere, Damian wrinkled his nose, mildly disgusted.

Sharing an unfazed look with Raven, Damian heard the barely noticeable rustling of a cloak behind them.

"Batman.", Raven said, not turning to face the vigilante as he moved to stand besides Damian, overlooking the warehouse with them.

"You managed to locate the whereabouts of these Children of the Night?", the name was foreign on his tongue as he addressed the two.

Damian answered, "Tt. Raven was able to pinpoint their location."

Raven clarified, "Of course, there are others still in the city, however, this is the only large congregation of Night Children. Between twenty and twenty-five."

Batman turned his unreadable stare upon her, "You're positive that all this information is correct?"

His turn of phrase made it sound like less of a question and more of a demand- as with all of Batman's speech.

Raven nodded her head, "My 'hunting' abilities are beyond reproach with regards to location and species identification."

There was no hint of hubris, no ego shining through her voice, Raven was simply stating a fact. She had a keen sense of what she was and what she wasn't. That was clear. If Raven was proficient in a certain sector, there was no sensibility in modesty where it was merely custom for it to be present.

Batman's expression remained impassive, "Are you able to take down this many of their kind."

Damian scoffed, quite insulted, "Of course. Our kind's creation is based around controlling the numbers of beasts like them."

"It wouldn't be an issue if there were twice as many.", Raven added, sneering    at the thought of the filthy bloodthirsty savages.

Without a moments hesitation, Raven and Damian leaped on to the warehouse roof, having already located an entrance clear of Children of the Night. For once, Batman was the one left alone on the rooftop, not the other way around.

Deciding to shadow the two and only assist if assistance was required, the Dark Night headed after Robin and Raven, keeping his distance.

***

Raven slipped silently behind the door, Damian in her wake. Attention solely centred on the situation before her, Raven whispered to Damian , who stood behind her, a tad too close for her breathing to be steady.

"Dramatic?"

"Why not?", he answered. "They already know we're here. Might as well give them a show."

She could picture the smirk painting his lips: those dangerously perfect, alluring li- WHAT THE FUCK?! Get it together girl!

Shaking her head, Raven lifted it to stare momentarily at where the Batman was concealed as if to say 'just watch'.

Damian met his father's eyes, smirking. Batman stood on a railing opposite them, melding in with the shadows- all was hidden save his human scent: the Night Children would notice it soon, not before Raven and Damian had finished them off, of course.

Meeting the all-too captivating gaze of his fellow Titan, the two exchanged a moment of clarity. Then they jumped off of the suspended metal catwalk and right in to the centre of a cesspool of Children of the Night.

A second of pure silence passed, only to be broken by Damian. With all the cockiness and daring that was true to his nature, the heir to the Demon pulled on a truly mortifying grin.

Faces illuminated wickedly by the dull lights and darkened by the harsh silhouettes surrounding, Raven and Damian need not explain their demonic heritage- it was laid out for all to see, striking terror in the Night Children.

Damian chuckled darkly.

"Well hello."

Raven let out what could be considered a cackle, "You know what we are so let's make this quick. Two choices, the hard way, or the hard way.", her eyes flickered to the evident 'leader' of these mongrels.

"Pick."

With a vicious, feral snarl, one of the Night Children closest to Damian charged forward clawing at the air with three inch, pointed nails- a truly grotesque yellow in colour.

This prompted the rest of his kind to attack, barrelling forwards chaotically.

Fleshing varying on shades of grey (depending on age), eyes jarringly white and opened maws revealing daggers stained and dripping with red, the monsters gnashed their teeth, straining to tear at the skin of the intruders.

The part demons spared these abominations no mercy, disregarding all notions of righteousness to exterminate the creatures before them. No killing? Pah!- these were of the darkest of beings to walk the Earth (apart from humans) hell-bent on bringing death to anything with a pulse on two legs. Anything besides demons; however, seeing as Damian and Raven were only part demon, their blood would do the Night Children well for a night feast.

Not holding the patience to use magic or swords, Raven and Damian tore the masses to shreds, tearing apart limbs and not bothering to watch as blood spurred from dismembered bodies and sinew ripped apart.

Of course, the two had their justifications.

The Children of the Night, so perfectly made in imitation of humans, held no empathy. Within, a vast hole made of the need to consume, and consume alone, rested where the soul should be.

Disgusting.

Raven narrowed her eyes, spinning around to kick off the heads of three Night Children, holding back an insane laugh at the decapitated state of their bodies as blood spurred across her midriff.

Satisfied by the snap that came from tearing off the arm of a female Night Child, Damian chuckled, now rendering one headless with a swift and precise kick to the Adam's apple- as Raven had done- all the while thanking the gods that these creatures, despite their sharpened teeth and nails, had the most fragile bodies of any humanoid preternatural. It was almost comical.

Any demon on the hunt was a fierce thing to behold. Two demons -part demon or not- of royal blood on the hunt against Children of the Night, oh Hades, that was a spectacle.

On the hunt, the speed and agility of demons increased beyond that of almost any preternatural. They were cold-blooded killers when the time called for it- and a den of Night Children was most certainly the time.

In moments, only five people remained in the warehouse: the heir to the Demon; the heir to Hell- an rightful Queen-; a male Night Child crouched defensively; Batman overlooking the scene; and a poor little thing that had just stopped sobbing in the corner.

The Night Child moved his arm by a millimetre.

"Don't fucking try."

***Fast-forward a few minutes***

Having sent the remaining Night Child to a holding cell hidden in the Batcave -Azar knows what else lay in every nook and cranny of the Batman's lair- Raven and Damian turned their attention to the being curled up in a cage in the corner: Batman had opted to travel with their 'prisoner' through a portal made by Raven and see it put securely in the cell.

Making short work of the cage door, Raven opened her senses, testing for any magical traces on the rusted metal bars- the Night Children could very well have placed runes or had a magical practitioner cast upon the cage.

Finding nothing, she stepped through the opening, leaning down to assess the state of the person still curled up in a ball.

What she saw brought on such an immense fury that the half-demon visibly shook with rage.

"Raven? Raven what is it?", Damian demanded, not able to see over her shoulder.

Voice trembling with both anger and despair, Raven said, "It's a child. And I think I know her."

A.N

Guess which biatch updated AGAIN? Me! I just have so much free time- the holidays have granted this story LIFE!

*whispers in the back with major voice-cracks*

Well, when life gives you lemons
Dun. Dun. Dun. Dun. DUN.

Damnit vine.

Anywhoooo... who is this child? What's going to happen to their new prisoner? What does Batman feel about the whole ordeal?

Find out next update! Mwahahahahaha *cough* my throat can't deal with this

Aaaaand... WE'VE PASSED 10K

Give yourselves a round of applause, that is just fabulous. I can't thank you all enough, I genuinely can't. 😊

-Bats:3