30 Days of Demonfire

Talia al Ghul

Damian and I are on our way back to the apartment. It takes so much longer now that Damian's supposed to go the Batcave instead of Firewall.

I'm tired. Damian's not, but in the month that he was transitioning into batman he was able to change his hours at Wayne Tower so that he's working later. He doesn't even really have to be there, honestly, but when I mention that he gripes about being a lay-about. Because being Batman from midnight to five in the morning almost every single night is laying about. I, however, have finals coming up in two weeks, so I'm pretty tired.

He's pretty much dragging me by the hand because if I had my choice I'd curl up against the brick and take a nap now.

Damian freezes suddenly and I walk into him. "Hey," I grumble, "what—?"

"Sh," he says sharply, and I snap my mouth shut. "Did you hear that?"

My hearing is generally better than Damian's and most humans'. Not like Superman; it's just that I have heightened hearing, not super-hearing. But I'm so tired I was putting all of my energy into not falling asleep. "Um, no."

"Listen."

At first I don't hear anything, but then I definitely hear the sound of boots on brick. Which is not good. "Damian," I say, confused, and he tightens his hand around mine.

But in the next instant, I'm being jerked back and wrenched away from Damian. A chain was looped around me, pinning my arms to my sides, and being pulled like that hurts. I strain my arms but the chain is reinforced and it bites into my skin. Whoever's got me is behind me, and I could flip upside down and shoot eyebeams at them but that would trap me more firmly in the chain.

Something cold and heavy is snapped around my neck and after a mechanical whirring a painful shock makes me cry out, and as I'm shouting a gag is shoved into my mouth and tied behind my head.

Well, this isn't very good at all. I don't know what's happened to Damian, but he's putting up a much better fight than I did. Then again, he wasn't attacked with a chain and an inhibitor collar set to my specifications.

My hair's yanked back and I can feel the blade of a sword against my neck, and that's when I start to get scared because now I know who jumped us.

Damian does that growly sigh thing that he does when he's mad, and he says, "Drop it," in Arabic. The sword comes away from my skin but it's still uncomfortably close to me. I can look around now, though, and there's a group of four people dressed in black with large hoods over their heads, obscuring their faces.

We've been pulled into an alley, and it's kind of hard to see. Damian's standing across from me, though, and sarcastically he says, "Darling, I believe it's time that you meet my mother."

There's a sharp, feminine laugh as Talia al Ghul steps into the alley. She's a really pretty lady, honestly, but that's probably not what I should be focusing on right now.

She speaks in Arabic to Damian, but he answers in English. By the way, he's really being very calm, considering that I've been shocked, gagged, hit with an inhibitor collar, and there's a sword at my throat. I hope he has something planned because I sure as hell don't. And I'm still really tired.

"My son," she says joyfully. "My, how you've grown."

"Yes. No thanks to your ten year long hit on me," he snaps.

"You left us. You did not complete your assignment. You understand," Talia says with a wave of her hand. "Besides, you performed very well, Damian. I would like you to know that I've decided to drop the hit, however."

"Thank you," he bites, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I am, however, putting one on your friend."

"What?" he demands, surprised and angry. He raises his hand, but the sword comes back to my throat above the inhibitor collar and Damian relaxes against the alley wall.

I'm freaking out a little. Talia al Ghul's gonna try to kill me. There's no way I'm coming out of this one alive, especially since now I'm basically useless and the chain's cutting into my arms so tightly that I can't feel my wrists. I'm freaking out a lot.

Talia walks over to me and I have to focus really hard on not shrinking into the wall like a scared kitten. I hold her gaze as she looks at me until she starts to observe my pendant.

"Your knife," she says to one of the hooded figures, and now I'm really, really freaking out.

"Mother," Damian growls, and he moves toward her. The person who just handed Talia the knife attacks him, and they fight but I'm not watching. Talia brings the knife up in front of her eyes, observing it theatrically and really just giving me a chance to look at it.

"This is an all-blade," she explains to me in lilting English. "It can cut through most anything: the jumpline Bruce is so fond of using, the blade of a katana, bone." She lowers the knife to the hollow of my throat and she pulls my pendant out from under the inhibitor collar.

One of the other hooded figures leaves and I don't dare look away from Talia but I think it's because Damian beat the shit out of the first one. In one clean motion, she slices through the chain Damian gave me last Christmas that's supposed to be unbreakable and the hologram shimmers and fades.

She takes my chin in one hand and tilts my head back and forth. "It would have been very much better if you had left my son alone," she hisses.

I can't even answer because the gag's in my mouth, but man, does she have it wrong. I literally went to a different planet when I realized that I started liking him.

"Do not be so afraid," she tells me haughtily, which is kind of embarrassing. "I will not kill you now, child. My beloved would never forgive me."

Another one of the hooded figures leaves and I glance over Talia's shoulder at Damian but she jerks my chin back into place so that I'm looking at her. "If you end this sham of a relationship I will drop the order and no harm will come to you. You understand. I am only trying to protect my son from the same pain I allowed your… grandfather…" She wrinkles her nose like it's my fault that Bruce adopted my dad and she has to pause before continuing. "—to inflict on my heart. End it before you destroy him," she tells me.

No pressure, Mar'i. None at all. I really wish that I could talk, even if I'm not sure exactly what I'd say. Really, I feel more like I want to comfort Talia than anything, which, considering that she shocked me, bound me with chains, slapped a power inhibitor around my neck, and threatened me with a wicked sharp knife, doesn't make any sense at all. But she seems so sad.

Damian yanks the last hooded figure off their feet and Talia nods at me. "I am asking you to do the right thing."

She throws smoke capsules on the ground and thick smoke billows out from them, making my eyes water. The smoke is black, not like the kind we use, and it's very creepy.

Somebody squeezes my arms and I snap my stinging eyes open because I'm like ninety percent sure that they're going to shove a knife into my skin, but a hand tilts my chin up and it's Damian.

"Are you all right? What did she say to you?"

The gag's still in my mouth so I can't answer and Damian's too busy fidgeting with the collar to pull it down for me. He gets that off and as soon as it's gone my hair catches fire.

"Sorry," he mumbles, and he pulls the gag down and presses a quick, reassuring kiss against my lips. I'm not sure if he's reassuring me or himself.

"I'm okay," I tell him. "Can't feel my arms, though."

He stoops and picks up the all-blade that I guess Talia dropped and he unwinds the chain from around me. Rubbing the circulation back into my arms, he asks, "What did she say to you?"

"Nothing," I say, and he narrows his eyes at me doubtfully.

"Mar'i, if she offered you a way out of the order, it's probably best that you—"

I shut him up by kissing him, and I murmur, "I love you, okay? Now can we please go home and get some sleep?"