[Edited June 1, 2014]

CHAPTER 1

SPIRIT OF ELYSIUM

DISCLAIMER: All recognizable works do not belong to me.

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TWO AND A HALF MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE.

"Let go of me, you pig!"

Her captor laughed.

The beautiful girl glared at him. She had tried everything; pleading, fighting, biting, but nothing slackened his grip. She was starting to feel a bruise form on her bicep. He was going to regret messing with her.

"Where are we going?" she growled. They had been navigating a network of underground tunnels for what felt like forever.

Just that morning the sun had been kissing her skin. Her long, wavy, blonde hair was blowing beautifully in the wind. And she had every guy within a five mile radius waiting on her hand and foot. None of those guys had caught her eye like the brown haired hunk of man though. His skin was a beautiful pale, his face cut from the finest marble by the greatest artist, and he was looking right at her.

Who knew the guy would turn out to be a creep?

He yanked on her arm, pulling her closer to him. "You wanted seclusion."

She squirmed at his warm breath. And why did she smell blood?

He chuckled. "All you girls are the same."

She bristled. That went too far for her to just let it go. She had one last trick up her sleeve. If she couldn't break his grip, she was going to break his willpower. "You know," she purred, doing a complete one eighty and switching back to seduction. "I like a man with experience."

He didn't even break his stride. They were quickly coming upon a door.

It was now or never. Who knew what was behind that door?

"I am like no other girl," she growled. As she said it, her features started to change. Her hair went from dirty blonde to flaming red, her sun kissed skin turned white, red eyes and fangs distorted her beautiful facial features, her left leg turned bronze, and her right leg became that of a donkey's.

The man paused and took in her new changes.

The empousai smirked. Her true form had him paralyzed, just like all the others before him. She was going to feast on his blood and then get away from this creepy place. She had only come this far out because she was tired of those irritating kids slashing her back into the depths of Tartarus. It was only two months after that wretched battle in Manhattan and all she wanted to do was feast on as much blood as she pleased.

"Nice trick." Before she could wipe the smile off her face, the man tightened his hold on her arm and shoved her through the doorway.

It hadn't worked. Why hadn't it worked? Her true form always paralyzed the man who was unfortunate enough to witness it.

She couldn't think. Her ability to think and talk flew out of her as soon as she saw what lay beyond that door. Bodies. Dead bodies thrown everywhere, their eyes wide open and their mouths open in a scream that never made it out. She was no stranger to blood drinking, and she knew that's what happened to these people. She looked up and found the perpetrators.

The scream flew out of her instantly.

The people in the room, the pale skin ones, had red eyes.

Darkness overtook her. They had not touched her, but her senses shut down. Her screamed cut off abruptly. She couldn't see, couldn't hear, and couldn't talk. She stood before them, an empousai in her true form, in a catatonic state.

The red eyes in the room surveyed her; from her flaming red hair to her prosthetic bronze leg.

Aro Volturi smiled. "Interesting."

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FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE.

"Oh!" Alice Cullen gasped.

Jasper appeared directly in front of her tunnel vision, an unfortunate side effect of her visions. "Alice?" he asked. "What's the matter? What did you see?"

Esme appeared behind him, though Alice hardly noticed. "Was it Edward?"

Alice finally snapped out it. She shook her head, clearing the fogginess of her vision away. When she looked up she found that everyone was watching her, something she was used to by now. Esme looked especially worried. Alice hurried to ease her nerves first, "No, Esme, it's not Edward." Emmett plopped back down on the couch.

They had been keeping a special eye on the youngest Cullen. He hadn't been the same since Bella's death, always introverted and hiding out in his room. It had taken Rosalie four months to coax him out of his room and to go hunting.

"What did you see, Alice?" Carlisle gently asked her. He moved forward, wrapped his arm around Esme's shoulders, and pulled her back to give their daughter some space.

Alice thought back on her vision. "I – it was foggy, so I can't be sure...give me a minute…"

They all stayed silent as Alice pondered it more.

Finally, Alice sucked in a breath. She jumped to her feet, forgetting that she was looking at a fashion magazine before the vision happened. Her eyes, bright with panic, immediately found Carlisle's.

"It concerns them –" there word for the Greek world. They hadn't dared say anything relatively close to that world, not with Edward in such a fragile state.

"What about them?" Carlisle asked.

"Carlisle, I think – I think the Volturi have captured a Goddess."

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Nico di Angelo stormed into Camp Half-Blood. He nearly trampled a group of newbies as he raced past the Pegasus stables, but he hardly cared. If there was ever a justified reason for shoving people aside, that time was now.

His lungs were burning and a stitch was forming on his right side. In fact, he was eighty percent sure that he left a lung somewhere behind him in the strawberry fields. His body wasn't used to running for so long. If he hadn't used up all his energy traveling to France for a croissant, he would have simply shadow traveled into camp. It was, after all, his preferred method of travel.

"Hey!" some girl yelled at him. The glare he sent at her was enough for her to scurry away without another word. Sometimes being a child of Hades had its moments.

When he reached the house he flew up the stairs and inside. The door swung open with a bang behind him.

"Annabeth!" he hollered, sure that she was in the house.

"Nico!" Annabeth came barreling out of one of the side rooms. Nico skid to a stop. He bent over, resting his hands on his knees, taking in huge gulps of air. "Did you find him?!" Her hands grasped his shoulders, pulling him up to meet her gaze.

Despite it all, Nico winced at the hopefulness in her stormy grey eyes. It honestly disappointed him to have to shake his head. "No, I'm sorry, Annabeth."

Her hands fell back down to her sides. She dropped her head, shielding the fact that her eyes were tearing up again. "Oh, alright."

"Wait," he reached out to stop her from turning away. "I have to tell you something though. Something I saw in the city." He hoped she could sense the urgency of the situation.

But Annabeth had only been focused on one thing since the end of December, four months after the battle for Olympus. She wouldn't stop until she found him. For Annabeth, finding Percy Jackson was the only thing that deserved her time nowadays.

She used the back of her hand to wipe her tears away. "What is it, Nico? I'm kind of busy right now."

Nico almost growled at her. He understood how important it was for her to find Percy. It was important to all of them. Nico, himself, had been jumping in and out of shadows so much that he was prone to passing out from exhaustion at any given moment. But for Annabeth, she was desperately searching for her boyfriend. But even a daughter of Athena had to realize that there were other priorities that needed dealing with. And what Nico had to say was just bumped to the top of the list.

Before Nico could spit it out, hooves could be heard moving towards the two demigods. Chiron appeared around the corner in his full centaur form.

"Mr. di Angelo, a pleasure to see you," he looked between the two demigods. "Have you brought news?"

Nico nodded. "Where is Mr. D? He might want to hear this."

Chiron scuffed his hoof on the floorboard. "Dionysus has been called away to Olympus."

Annabeth's eyebrows wrinkled together. "He was?"

"Yes, apparently there has been an emergency meeting called."

"Do you know what it's about? Have they found Percy?"

Nico couldn't hold it in anymore. "The mist is failing!"

Annabeth and Chiron froze. Annabeth slowly turned back to face Nico. "That's not possible, Nico. The mist is –"

"I saw it," Nico replied. "A Cyclops was walking the streets of New York. One second no one notices him, and then the next, people are running away screaming in terror. You can't tell me that a whole group of random people all just miraculously started to be able to see through the mist."

Chiron stayed silent while Annabeth shook her head in denial. "No, it's not possible. The mist isn't something that can be stopped. It's controlled by a goddess. Maybe one of the Hecate kids got a spell wrong."

Nico didn't like being undermined. He knew what he saw and for Annabeth to stand there and practically call him a liar? He could feel anger coursing through his veins. He had been working on controlling his anger. Bianca had not wanted him to be angry, as anger lead to grudge holding and that was the fatal flaw of the children of Hades.

"Nico's right."

He completely forgot about his anger as Grover limped into the old house.

"Grover!" Annabeth gasped. She rushed forward to offer her aid. And then because it was all she could think about, she asked, "Did you find any sign of him?"

Grover bleated. Nico had to smother a smile. It amused him to hear Grover act like a goat.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, but we now have a bigger problem to worry about."

Nico had to force back an, "I told you so." He was already seen as a child because of his time in the Lotus Hotel and Casino; he didn't need Annabeth of all people to see him act like one.

Grover spoke directly to Chiron. "What Nico saw was the mist failing, but it gets worse."

"How much worse are we talking, Grover?" Chiron asked.

Grover audibly gulped. "The other satyr's have reported incidents of the mist failing in other states as well. Chiron, the mist is slowly disappearing everywhere."

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I'm baaack!

I've taken some time off, but now I'm ready to start the sequel.

Guys. I have huge plans for the sequel. Be excited.

So leave a review telling me how pumped and surprised you are for this story to happen.

Thank you, and uh, welcome back!