The Things That Bind Us- Damirae

Chapter Two

"That's enough...brothers. Leave these mortals. I know you're searching for me." Raven said.

She wore a cloak of magic and her skin blazed with the fury of a Red Sun. Raven knew how she'd look- the true princess of hell, Pride incarnate with the black eyes to boot. She'd seen the look on people's faces when she would take this form- let a little demon loose- and she knew the immediate kinship that her father's brood would feel, staring at her: she was daddy's little favourite (a title earned in pleas and tears) and her brothers knew it.

Fuck it, Raven was as terrifying to behold as we was terrified.

The empath felt about for Constantine- he'd been behind her a minute ago- and came up empty. She hoped that it was because he was cloaking himself, but somehow doubted that theory a lot more than she wanted to.

But she couldn't worry about Constantine, or the two vigilantes she saw in her periphery (crouched, observant and ready to spring). The one that kicked Wrath- Jared- was...FUCK it's Batman! Oh Azar have mercy...

So much for ignoring them.

"Well sssisster? You are returning with us?" Envy- Jesse- held out a clawed hand and smiled emptily.

Raven saw Batman and the other one shift. She wouldn't have noticed it if their aura's hadn't been so suddenly overloaded by adrenaline.

A flicked of shadowy aura flared behind her brothers. The comfort of Constantine was all she needed.

Raven planted her boots firmly on the ground and tossed her hair out of her eyes decidedly, "Yes, I am..."

She built up the same glowing purple around her hands that she would need for a portal, feeling the same tugging in her gut that magic always brought on. Constantine's aura sparked and he appeared in full view.

"In your dreams!" Raven shouted. "Azarath metrion zinthos!"

Magic poured from her hands and slammed in to the demons.

The vigilante's leapt to.

Constantine withdrew a card from his inner coat pocket. Ace of spades. He threw it in the direction of the demon brothers. In the same moment, he nodded to Batman and -Raven realised- Robin. The two were seasoned combatants and understood his meaning instantly.

Raven's magic had struck them full square. As they'd fallen, Batman and Robin's fists, knees and the like had rained hell with no pushback. Now the vigilantes withdrew, at Constantine's indication, and the ace of spades planted itself on the gravel.

The magician spoke a word that sent shivers through Damian but meant nothing to his father.

Raven stood clear. She looked at the younger of the crime-fighters, properly looked at him, but for a moment. He looked back at her and she knew he'd felt Constantine's spell.

Robin was striking: his face was marked by little scars and his aura was far too, profoundly sad for one whose body was so possessed by aggression. He looked sharp- at a first glance. Raven wasn't allowed a second one; Constantine's spell activated.

Red lines aglow on the floor made a dooming pentagram, beneath the staggering figures of the demons. Wrath, Lust, and Envy raged towards Constantine first. They were stopped short, slammed against an invisible barrier. It became visible only as it rippled red with the collision.

The demons were encased in a dome, the centre of which was the ace card.

"Nifty that eh?" Constantine raised an eyebrow and casually held a cigarette between his lips. He lit it and ignored the bangs and hisses of the three demons.