Mad Jyhad

"He's fed on his Sire and has gone Caitiff." Jones lit a cigarette and took a long drag.

We uncovered several bodies, twisted husks all drained dry and left to be covered by the falling snow. Nightwing looked vaguely ill as he stared at the bodies. Jarred shook his head muttering something about a horrible way to meet final death. Batman was completely impartial as he observed the bodies looking for clues.

"It is what we suspected he would do." Sabastian nodded.

Batman and Nightwing stood off to one side as we spoke quietly among ourselves. Niculaie crossed his arms over his chest and flexed his clawed fingers against his biceps. Andrew kneeled in the snow looking down at the bodies while the other four searched the lair again for any indication of where the other Sabbat cells could be staying.

"He will go to ground before midnight at this rate. If he feeds on anyone else tonight he should bloat and go into a kind of stupor." Niculaie said looking over at the two humans among us. "That might give us a little time to catch up to him."

"He might run to familiar digs." Jones added. "The first night is often confusing to fledges. They tend to run to someplace familiar if they can't be with their Sire."

I nodded. "I ran home after my Sire was killed. I just sorta...woke up...in my father's basement."

"Where would the Joker call home?" Andrew looked up at us.

"Arkham." Batman whispered.

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Arkham Asylum.

It had been close to being destroyed and rebuilt a dozen of times over. Always with the promise of holding in what society wanted to keep out. Each incarnation holding darker secrets and beings than the one before, each incarnation failing at its one true goal, to harness evil!

We had sent the other vampires home. For all their power they would have proven more of a liability than an asset. It took a lot of persuasion on my and Nightwing's part but finally they returned to their lairs to wait for news. Sabastian carried the direct link to Oracle with him. It was the only way we could convince him to leave.

Niculaie returned to the Prince's haven much to my amusement. Nightwing raia cua curious brow at the news, but dismissed it for another time. I suspect that he didn't actually want to think about it...ever.

I stared up at the forbidding building. What separated them from me? A desire to kill? The fact that they were insane? That the line between reality and fantasy blurred?

Wasn't I all those things and more?

The fact that I was a monster?

Certainly monsters lived within the confines of those walls.

What made it all right for me to be allowed to move about and them to be hidden away from all eyes?

Dick would say that it is because I have chosen not to act upon those impulses whereas they have. But what is to say that I would not some day be unable to deny them? What about my Prince and his childer? I was not so naïve to belithatthat they have never fed upon a living breathing human being.

Did I fall under the same category as an animal and should be exempt from the same morality as humans? If so, what is to stop someone from putting me down like a rabid beast? Shouldn't I be put down?

I kneeled in the snow looking up at the building thinking those thoughts, frightened of the answers that could be attached to the questions I had. Frightened that, in the end, I would be little better than the wretched beings kept in the only place the Joker could call home.

Nightwing placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "Don't let it bother you." he whispered.

Batman looked down at me and tilted his head. "Is there a problem?"

"We didn't tell you about the clans." I swallowed before continuing in a near whisper. "Malkavians are, by their very nature, insane. Even if as a human we were perfectly normal, once embraced we lose our mind."

"You are Malkavian? The same as the Joker?" Batman asked. His voice was as intense as ever and he seemed to be weighing me carefully with his eyes.

"Yes, as is Sabastian and Jones. Niculaie is Gangrel; they are shape shifters." I answered.

Nightwing nodded. "Niculaie is one of my ancestors. Gangrels tend to be loners and most are fierce warriors. They prefer the wilderness and revel in their inner beast. After a Frenzy they can develop animalistic features, that is why Nic has the claws and um...ears."

"But Robin is Malkavian?" Batman asked again.

"Yes." Nightwing answered. "But don't let it... Don't... don't underestimate him. Please?"

Nightwing's hand was still on my shoulder and he squeezed it again. Batman looked from one to the other of us before quietly asking. "What exactly is going on between you two?"

Nightwing shook his head. "I haven't figured that out yet."

I stood up slowly. "It won't affect our performance if that is what you are worried about. If you are worried about my age, don't be. Things changed as soon as I was turned. The magic that keeps me from aging physically automatically matured me to whatever level I would have eventually have achieved naturally. It works that way for all of us, regardless of our sanity level. It is a matter of survival, one of many the ale all are gifted with to insure that we can live centuries at a time. It would not do for us to have the minds of children and live as predators."

"In other words, you may look sixteen but you have the same mind you would have at the height of your maturity?" Batman asked.

"Yes, but, to be honest, it is tainted with madness." I nodded. "The stars cry tonight. They cry in fear that I will fail once more."

I saw him take a step back in surprise but could not bring myself to apologize.

"Your stars have nothing to worry about, you won't fail. WE won't fail!" Nightwing told me.

Batman schooled his features carefully and nodded. "We will not fail. The Joker will be stopped."

"The question is... is he even here?" Nightwing asked.

"The dead guard over there by the gate is a pretty good indication that he is." I pointed.

"You can see that far?" Batman asked, bringing out his binoculars.

"Yes. Of course I can."

"I can see where having you around could be a definite asset!" Batman whispered. "What else can you do?"

I smiled as I let the celerity take me down the small hill and jumped lightly over the fence onto the other side of the gate. With a flick of a switch the gate slowly opened. A second later I was back standing beside Batman. "Oh, I can do a few interesting things."

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