Hey there folks. You may think that by writing this that I am stopping my "Son of a Hunter" story. Well...I am not. This idea has been gnawing at me for some time and I just had to get it out. It will be my second fanfic involving Artemis and the Hunters, as I really simply like the group.

We all know that Artemis hates men. We all know that she makes her hunters make the vow to forsake romantic love forever. But what happens when a certain group is formed by a certain man...and one of that groups goals is to annihilate the hunters and to permanently incapacitate Artemis? The War of the Hunters is about to begin...

Thalia breathed out warm air on her hands, in an attempt to warm her numbing fingers. The air of the winter night was lit bright by the stars, and the air was chilling straight to the marrow. She pulled her hunter clothing tighter across her body. She peered out in search of her prey, a powerful moose that she had been tracking for several hours. But alas, she did not spot him.

She slowly arose from her perch and began to stealthy walk across the snow, taking pains to avoid making any significant noise. Lucky for her, the hunter abilities allowed her to walk almost completely silently, a skill that came in handy during some of her "stickier moments". She stopped and listened for a moment longer, and finally heard something moving in the distant area to her right. She trained her ears to listen for the tell-tale sounds of nature, and answer it did.

The call of a moose sounded aloud, and she grinned in triumph. Her bow formed in her hands, and she began to stealth walk toward the sound, hearing it once again as she approached. Her senses heard the animal snorting and grunting. It clearly was anxious of something, but what it was, she did not know. It gave her pause, actually, to ponder it. She had done nothing to reveal her position. Why would it act like something was close? She trained her senses once again for signs of other wildlife, predators of some kind. But she heightened senses detected nothing, and she was content with that.

She entered the grove of trees and came across a clearing. She looked around for some sign of her quarry, yet it did not reveal itself. She stopped for a moment, wondering what was going on. She had just heard the creature making noise in this very clearing. Where was it? Then she heard another noise. The snapping of a twig. She spun around, looking for movement, but saw nothing. Then she heard another sound, almost like a small chuckle. She raised her bow in it's direction.

"Who's there!" She called. But nothing answered.

She heard light crunching of the snow behind her, and spun around. But all she saw was the sole of a boot that completely filled her vision. She had just enough time for that to register as a boot, when it smashed into her face and she was catapulted backward, to land on her back. But she did not stay down for long. She lunged forward and was on her feet in seconds. Just enough for the assailant to smash his foot into her chest. This time, she managed to see that it was a boy.

Again, she raised herself up, and the boy did not continue his attack. She finally managed to get a good look at him and saw that he was about her age, physically, and had a small sword in his hand, with a small shield strapped across his back. He wore clothes strangely similar to the hunters, only black with red woodland stripes. He had blonde hair and was sharply muscled, though not built like a bodybuilder. His eyes, blue like hers, bore into her with such malice that she was caught off guard by his gaze. He looked at her with pure hatred.

He chuckled, a clearly insulting move. Then his lips formed into a malicious smile, and he tightened his sword in his hand.

"I knew that you hunter bitches couldn't resist the call of prey. You girls are so pushy when you think you have the upper hand."

"Who are you!" She demanded.

"What is it going to matter little hunter, when I run you through?" He snarled. Then he lunged.

Thalia jumped back just in time for his sword to slash through the air, inches from her face. She formed her sword in her own hand and met his next strike with her blade, but when she tried to strike, she was caught off guard by his next blow, which came upon her from above. She back-flipped and tried to get some distance between herself and this boy, but when she straightened herself, she found his blade thrusting at her mid-section. She barely had time to slap it back with her sword, and tried to slash at him, but he parried effortlessly and delivered a slashing cut to her side, which nipped her just below her armpit.

She yelped in pain, but had no chance for recovery, as he was then making a move to cut her head from the rest of her body. She also managed to just barely block it and came to realize that he was toying with her. She made a jump backward, out of breathe, and was relieved to see the boy was also breathing hard, allowing her to gain a few second of rest for a few seconds of his own.

"I guess you aren't all just unskilled little girls after all." he breathed.

Thalia did not know how he was doing it. As a huntress of Artemis, she was suppose to be faster than the average half-blood. She was also suppose to be stronger and have much better coordination. But this boy was forcing her on the defensive, when she was suppose to be pummeling him. He was just a simple boy, and she a hunter. She could logically assume he was a half-blood, but still!

"Why are attacking me!" She yelled, eager to keep him distracted.

"Because the world is a better place without you little bitches of hunters running around. And because he says so..."

"Who?"

"Why do you care? What you should be worried about is the boys of mine coming up behind you."

Thalia whirled. Sure enough, two boys, armed with bows, were approaching from behind her. She knew that she was going to have only one chance to escape, and that was to take them by surprise. She bolted toward them.

When they saw her coming toward them, they smiled, sliding arrows onto their bows. This would be too easy. And that was their undoing, for she chose that moment when they raised their bows to fire to flip over them, forcing them to stay their fire, for fear of accidentally hitting their apparent commander. They snarled curses and whirled around, both firing.

Thalia managed to dodge the arrows, though one nicked her shoulder. She gritted her teeth and ignored the pain, still running.

Behind her, she heard the boys laughing, actually laughing. One of them shouted out.

"You can run bitch, but you can't hide. The Hunters are dead meat!"

She finally managed to reach a sizable distance from them and paused to catch her breathe. She nibbled on a piece of ambrosia, feeling the wounds mend themselves. When her mind cleared she had only one question.

"Who were those boys? And what did he mean that we were dead meat?"