The telekhine raised his hackles and licked his lips in anticipation. It had been so long since he had eaten. Telekhines didn't generally do well on their own and, once he had been separated from his pack, he had had to survive off pollutant-filled fish and sea birds. But now there was a half blood. He looked tough, but the telekhine was in peak physical condition, eight feet tall with rippling muscles under sleek black fur, this little demigod didn't stand a chance. He may be slightly worn out from the lack of food, but he had killed half bloods before, this would be no different.
Something about this one though that made him hesitate, something he couldn't explain. There was the faintest scent on the air, like sea salt, that made no sense this far in land. There was something in his bearing as well, the way the clear green eyes smoothly scanned their surroundings, as if he was automatically on alert.
The telekhine studied the boy carefully. He was dark haired and walked confidently. He about six foot, with a lean, toned body. All that muscle the telekhine thought, saliva dripping from his teeth, all that young, fresh meat. That made up the monster's mind.
He surged from the corps of trees where he had been concealed as the boy neared, claws extended, fangs bared. The telekhine expected the boy to scream, he expected the boy to run. But he didn't. Instead the boy simply spun out of the way, a sword seeming to leap into his hands from thin air, and turn to face his assailant. Demigods were tough meals in general, but this boy was something else. The telekhine had been known in his pack for being the fastest and most brutal, but this boy had moved aside almost faster than the monster's brain could register.
The telekhine snarled and almost lunged again but hesitated. He could see it in the boy's eyes, if he moved the boy would slice him in two. Instead he decided to scare the little whelp, soften him up before going in for the kill.
"Half blood, you dare stand against me? I will cleave your meat from your bones!"
"You'd be surprised how many people have said that to me" the boy's gaze didn't waver.
"If you put down your sword I shall make your death quick and painless" the telekhine rose to his full height and gave the boy a glare that had made many a previous victim weak at the knees.
"I don't know man, I like my sword, I think I'll keep it if it's all the same to you. Here's a better idea, you come here and I'll stick it into your head?"
The telekhine stopped mid-snarl. What was wrong with this kid?
"Have you ever seen a telekhine before?" he asked, confused by how unfazed the boy seemed by the encounter. The kid was wary, but didn't even show a hint of frear. The boy smiled wickedly.
"Yeah, one or two I guess. Didn't I see you at Sea World with a ball on your nose?"
"What? No, you impudent child!" the telekhine had had enough at this point, and was about to slash the boy to pieces, sword or no sword, when a woman turned the corner. Mortal the telekhine could smell it. Well he wasn't about to let some human interrupt his feast! He spun towards the woman and growled, stalking towards her on all fours. He thought that she would should something about a rabid dog and run away screaming, as most mortals did when they saw him. But no, she took one look at him and shouted
"Get away from my son!" she picked up a stone and threw it at the telekhine, hitting him right in the snout. The monster roared in pain and confusion, charging towards her in a blind fury.
"Mom!" the boy cried out, and suddenly he was in front of the telekhine, sword raised and eyes blazing. The telekhine stopped right in his tracks and stared at the boy. The monster had thought his own glare had been intimidating, but this was different. The boy's eyes paralyzed him, hinting at a barely contained power that promised to burst forth at any moment. He was young, no more than seventeen, but his eyes seemed old, as if he had seen and experienced more pain and suffering than any single person should in a lifetime.
"I am about to kill you," the boy snarled, actually making the telekhine take a step back with the strength of his fury "but I just want you to remember my face, remember my voice, so the next time you come to the mortal world you will know that if you ever try to hurt my mother again, you're basically buying yourself a one-way ticket back to Tartarus."
"W-who are you?"
"I'm Percy Jackson, and you had better not forget it."
The telekhine just had time to register the boy's words and think "Percy Jackson? The Percy Jackson? Oh gods, this was a mista-" before he felt a blinding pain in his chest and crumbled into dust.