Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As gently as possible, Raven moved the small child so that she was curled up in her lap. The movement apparently woke the poor thing from her state of subconsciousness.

Raven's resolve almost shattered as the girl's tears soaked through the material of her suit.

"P-p-please...d-don-don't-"

"Shh, it's okay,", Damian knelt besides Raven and the girl, "You're safe."

"You're safe with us.", Raven said, letting her take as much time as she needed to adjust to the new situation.

Slowly, and still staking shuddering breaths, the girl sat up, removing her hands from over her eyes.

"T-the scary people... did they- did they go?", she said, not looking at either of them.

"They're gone Bella, we got rid of them."

Bella's head shot up at the sound of her name, turning around to face the person whose lap she was sitting on, ringlets bouncing in the process.
At her bewilderment, Raven lowered the hood of her cloak.

Eyes wide she gasped, "Miss Roth!", taking in the part-time T.A's getup, her cherubic face brightened, "Are you a superhero?!"

Damian chuckled, strangely pleased at Bella's already inclining mood, "She sure is."

Immediately, her attention diverted to the person in front of her. The look on his face was friendly, not like those bad people. They were so scary, sharp teeth and sharp claws and evil eyes. At least they were gone.

"Who are you?", Bella asked plainly, brow scrunched up so adorably it took all in Damian's power not to melt.

Smiling softly in a way Raven had seldom seen him do before, the Robin said, "I'm a good friend of Raven's."

She beamed toothily, "Hi! I'm Bella! Well, Belladonna- but I don't like that, it's looong! So what's your name? Oh wait- did you say Raven? Miss Roth, is that your name? I like it! You look like a Raven, or maybe a Rachel! Yeah, that would be nice? You look like... a Dylan-no, no, no, something fancier"

Laughing airily at the bombardment coming from the adorable child on her lap, Raven suggested, "Well, how's about we get out of here, huh? Then you can ask us all the questions you need to. Is that fair?"

Bella nodded her head vigorously, dark curls bouncing, "Yep!"

As if telling a secret, Robin whispered, "I'm Damian!"

Playing along the girl responded, " I knew it was fancy!"

Securing Belladonna in her arms, Raven stood up, signalling to Damian with a nod of her head in the direction of the numerous dead bodies outside the cage. He dipped his head, stepping out of it first.

"Okay, Bella, please, just for a second, don't look behind me, is that okay sweetie?", Raven soothed, face to face with the five-year old.

Behind them, Damian had pulled out an inexpensive, disposable phone and was dialling a number, evidently agitated.

Bella once more pulled that too-cute thinking face, "Why? What's there?"

Raven sighed, trying to find a way around the matter.

"I-well, when we came here to get rid of the nasty people, we got very, very angry so-", Raven began before being cut off by a surprisingly understanding comment from the child.

"Oh, so you don't want me to see what you did to... them.", Bella shuddered at the thought of her captors, eyes starting to well up.

Quieting her with soothing words, Raven gave the girl a tight hug, letting her bury her face in Raven's shoulder. The undiluted relief and distress issuing from the poor thing was shattering Raven's heart- how could anyone hurt such innocence?