Sweet Little Dragonfly

Chapter One: Luke...

"Thunder only happens when it's raining

Players only love you when they're playing

They say, women, they will come and they will go

When the rain washes you clean, you'll know

You will know"

- Fleetwood Mac, Dreams

The first time Delilah Banning saw Luke Castellan she was twelve years old.

She had been walking back to Aphrodite's Cabin after training with her younger brother Tanner. Her hair had been pulled into a high pony tail and was bobbing up and down with each step. She was wearing a pair of white Nike shorts, a too big black Fleetwood Mac T shirt, and she was barefoot.

Delilah was almost to her cabin when she saw that Chiron was giving a tour to two new campers.

"This," Chiron said pointing to the Aphrodite cabin "Is Aphrodite's Cabin." He told the two children as Delilah walked up to them.

"Ahh, and here we have miss Delilah Calliope Banning a daughter of Aphrodite herself." Chiron told to the newcomers. "Delilah, this is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." Chiron introduced.

Delilah gave the young Annabeth a curt nod before returning her eyes to the other new camper, a boy, who was staring at her intensely.

She was used to boys staring at her in such a way by now. But never had she wanted to stare back. "And this," Chiron continued, "Is Luke Castellan, son of Hermes." At this the boy stuck his hand out at her. Delilah gracefully reached out and shook it with a slight smile.

Chiron looked between the two and smiled. He told Annabeth that he wanted to show her the Athena cabin where she would be staying and ushered her towards it.

Luke looked at her shirt then back at her with amusement. "Fleetwood Mac?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You listen to Fleetwood Mac?" Humorous ridicule present in his voice.

She smiled sweetly at him, then she opened her mouth and sang.

"And when the roses are half-bud soft flowers
And lovely as the king of flies has come
It was a fleeting visit, all too brief
In three short minutes, he had been and gone

He rested there upon an apple leaf
A gorgeous opal crown sat on his head
Although the garden is a lovely place
Was it worthy of so fine a guest

Oh...
Oh...
Oh...
Oh...

Dragonfly, dragonfly ..."

He stood with his mouth agape staring at her dumbly. She had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.

She giggled and stuck her index finger out and pushed his jaw shut with it gently and turned her heel and skipped back to her cabin giggling.

That was ten years ago.

Today Delilah was twenty-two years old and it had been an entire year since Luke's death.

When Percy and the others had told her the news she had fainted. When she woke up she thought it had all been a dream. But it wasn't a dream. Luke was dead.

The thing that bothered her most was that she had not spoken to him since he left Camp Half-Blood all those years prior to his death.

She remembered the last time she saw him.

After she found out that it was he who stole Zues' Bolt she was hurt and angry and Luke was no where to be found. One night he sought her out. He desperately tried to convince her to join him but to no avail. Finally he turned his back on her to leave, he looked over his shoulder and said "I'm sorry Delilah...I love you" and as he opened the door to leave she yelled for the first time that night.

"I HATE YOU LUKE CASTELLAN! YOU'RE AN EVIL, DISHONORABLE, PRICK! AND I NEVER LOVED YOU! IF I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN I HOPE IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE IN A CASKET! NOW GET OUT!" She ripped a silver bracelet off her left wrist, breaking the clasp, and threw it at his back.

Luke turned again to look at what it was and his face contorted in pain.

And then, he was gone.

After she left Camp Half-Blood last year she moved back into her father's house in L.A. The house was two stories and had five bedrooms and six baths. Her father was a famous movie producer before he died in a car accident when she was ten and her brother was nine. They had no other family so when Chiron came to claim them they were all but relieved.

Both she and her brother had a very large amount of inheritance money from their dead father. Enough to where neither of them would ever have to work in their lifetime, still live luxuriously, and then some.

Tanner Banning was currently attending Harvard Law. Therefore Delilah was a bit lonely in the large house. Especially today.

She walked into her kitchen and glanced at the calendar. August 18th.

She sighed deeply and grabbed a vitamin water from her fridge and snatched the crimson lanyard that her brother had sent her from Harvard off the counter. It had all her keys on it and a broken silver bracelet tied on with a pink pipe cleaner.

"Keep those pretty eyes closed little dragonfly." Luke said as he lead her to the water. He got her into the small boat and rowed them out quite aways before he stopped and said "Okay open."

She opened her eyes and realized that she wasn't in water like she had originally thought. The boat was hovering about 100 feet in the air above the middle of the lake. The view was amazing she could see the entire camp.

"Oh Luke, it's amazing! But how-" She began to ask but he put his finger over her mouth and pointed beneath the boat. Delilah looked over the side and saw various shoe strings tied to gather making a net. The strings were attached to about ten pairs of Hermes flying converse.

When she looked back up he was smiling at her with love in his eyes. "I have something for you." He said and pulled a box wrapped in pink paper from behind him.

Taking the box from his hand she excitedly giggled. She hastily tore the wrappings away to reveal a black velvet box, slowly she opened it.

It revealed a silver bracelet with the words "I love you, little dragonfly." engraved on the front. She turned it over and found another engraving. "Your's forever and always - Luke"

"If you don't like it I can get you something else..." He said unsure of himself when she stayed quite for a long while just staring at it. Her head shot up. "No! This is the absolute best gift you could have given me!" she moved to his side of the boat and he clasped it around her wrist. "I'll never take it off!"

Later that night they made love for the first time.

As she walked to the door that led to her over sized garage she caught her reflection in one of the many mirrors in the house. She stopped and admired her gorgeous face and her long platinum hair that hung just below her waist. Her eyes fell to examine her out fit. She was wearing faded jean short shorts and her still slightly too big Fleetwood Mac T shirt. The tie of her pink bikini was showing since the neckline of the shirt had been cut so it now hung slightly off one shoulder. Nodding at herself in approval she smiled at herself and headed out the door.

She climbed into her father's Aston Martin, pulled out of the large driveway, and unlocked the gates leading out of the property with a little black remote.

The big iron gates groaned and opened and she drove away, the gates closing behind her.

Wanting to go to go for a swim she drove down PCH and soon ended up in Laguna Beach.

On her drive she decided it was about time she got a boyfriend. Honestly, she didn't deserve to call her self the daughter of Aphrodite. In her twenty two years of life she had only ever been with one single person. It was time to move on.

When she found a meter on Ocean Avenue and she quickly parked. She filled the meter for four hours and pulled out her iPhone from her Gucci bag. She needed company today to go boy hunting. "Come meet me in LB."

A grin spread across her face when the reply came. "Already in Laguna, lol. I am at Maine Beach on the beches by the b-ball court."

Delilah walked to the court and laughed at the sight of her best friend and fellow daughter of Aphrodite sitting on a bench with about ten guys surrounding her offering to get her refreshments, an umbrella to shade her, ect.

Lauren spotted Delilah and jumped up, running to her and giving her a big hug. They walked down the beach and found an empty spot and Delilah lay down the towels she brought. She shed her shorts and shirt.

"Want to swim?" Delilah asked Lauren as she started to the water. "Nah, you go ahead. I'm gonna work on my tan" This caused Delilah to laugh because they were both so tan they could pass as Apollo daughters.

About an hour later Delilah made her way back to Lauren.

"Lilaaaaah!" Lauren whined. "You're blocking my sun!" Delilah dried her self and wiped her feet free of sand. "Come on I want Starbucks" at this Lauren jumped to her feet "Yum!" She exclaimed and Delilah pulled her clothes back on over her bikini.

"I have decided to get a boyfriend." Delilah told Lauren as they entered Starbucks. Lauren beamed at her "finally! Lilah, this is so amazing, and you have definitely come to the right town. I mean look around, it's a boy buffet." Delilah laughed.

They ordered and Lauren went to pee. Delilah was standing by the counter waiting and scanning the crowds looking for potential boyfriends when her eyes landed on a group of tanned shirtless guys outside the window with their backs to her. There were about five of them and three of the five had matching tattoos with the letters USMC on their right shoulder blades.

A Marine might be nice, Delilah smiled to herself. Lauren returned then.

"Hey Lilah I am so sorry but I have to go! My phone alarm just went off! I have class in five minutes! I gonna be so late!" She hugged Delilah, grabbed her drink that just arrived at the counter, and ran out of the coffee shop.

Lauren attended Chapman University in Orange and Delilah was surprised she hadn't been kicked out yet since she barely ever attended class and when she did she was late.

Delilah sighed and took her drink. She walked out, sat on a chair, and leaned back closing her eyes trying to prevent the thoughts of Luke to enter her mind again. But failed.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice that some one was standing in front her staring at her intensely.

An amused voice sliced through her mind interrupting her thinking.

"Fleetwood Mac. You listen to Fleetwood Mac"

Her blood ran cold and she opened her eyes. She couldn't quite make out the mans face since the sun was glaring around him. She slowly stood and he came into focus.

She stared at him and tears threatened to fall down her face. The man gave her a confused look. "Are you okay?" He asked, the amusement replaced with concern.

Delilah reached her hand out and cupped his cheek.

"Luke?" She whispered. He gave her another confused look.

And then...she fainted.

Delilah felt strong arms holding her up.

She kept her eyes closed thinking that she was at home and it was her brother holding her after another nightmare.

"Oh Tanner. I had another dream about Luke. Me and Lauren were at the beach and she left and it was the anniversary of his death and I was sitting there wallowing then he made fun of my shirt just like at camp and...and..." she trailed off when she realized Tanner was at Harvard.

Her eyes shot open.

There he was again. Luke held her and was giving her a wary look. She poked his chest with her index finger a few times and then grabbed his face and examined it. At which point he sat her back in her seat and gave her an awkward chuckle.

Then Delilah smiled and pounced on him knocking him over.

She kissed him vigorously. She pulled back and looked him in the eye "Baby I lied. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. You're not evil and you are the farthest thing from dishonorable! You are a hero! Oh and you definitely are not a prick, I mean you have have nice one but you know that and I do love you! I love you so much that I haven't been able to be with anyone else even after Percy told me that you killed your self! And I never wanted you dead I only said that because I was angry with you! But you're not dead! You're not!" She said in one long rushed sentence with tears streaming down her pretty face.

"Dude, you didn't tell us you had a girlfriend!" Said a deep voice from behind them. Delilah, suddenly embarrassed at realizing where they were, quickly stood up and Luke followed suit.

"I didn't either" Luke said forcing another awkward chuckle.

Delilah looked at him and then at the group. She didn't like the feeling she was getting.

"Luke what happened. Why are you still alive. Why did Percy lie?" She asked looking at him with growing confusion.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Look miss, I don't know you or this Percy guy. You must have me confused with somebody else. My name isn't Luke, it's Brian. Brain Marshall." He uncertainly offered her his hand to shake.

She looked at him as if he had just ripped her heart right out of her chest and stomped on it and for some reason he felt guilty even though he had no idea who this beautiful but delusional woman was.

"Bring him home and call the others." Aphrodite's voice chimed through her ears. "Use your charm. Lie darling."

Delilah quickly regained her composer. "Wow..." She giggled. "That was really embarrassing! I am super sorry. Let me make it up." she said.

She turned to his friends and said "I live in L.A. and I am parked on Ocean Avenue. Why don't you boys meet me at my house later, I am having a few friends over tonight and we would love the company."

Her entrancing ability she inherited from Aphrodite worked. They all nodded and "Brian" gave her a warm smile. "Thanks for the invite and don't worry about what happened it's totally fine." He said.

"Hey Brian why don't you ride with me. I let you drive my car." Delilah said and he gave her a look "It's a pink car isn't it?" He asked and she laughed.

"No. It's black and I think you'll like it." She said "Here boys, this is my address." She wrote it down on a napkin "see you there!"

With that she grabbed Brian's hand and ran towards her car.