Chapter One

I entered the apartment angrily, throwing my coat on a hook, hanging my crossbow up beside it. I rolled my shoulder experimentally, wincing when pain shot down my spine. Rubbing my shoulder I walked into the bright kitchen. I stopped short when I saw my dad sitting at the counter. Swearing under my breath I approached the counter. I knew I was in deep trouble; I was three hours past curfew and my dad looked pissed beyond belief.

"Lyssa," my dad started, "Bad night?" he gestured to my bad shoulder.

"No. It was perfect thanks," I replied shortly, my words more clipped than I'd meant for them to sound.

"Lyss," Dad set down his coffee mug. I took a quick look around the kitchen. There were four empty mugs on the counter. It was clear that he'd been waiting up for a while, "What were you doing?"

"Surviving. Isn't that what you did?" I gazed steadily at him. This was the beginning of a, recently, very frequent argument. In Dad's day there had been relatively safe places for people like us, people like me. Demi-gods. Or more correctly termed, half-bloods or heroes. Nowadays, nowhere was safe. It was each person for themselves. The great Titan War was a myth now. It'd been years since any of the half-bloods had fought or even trained together. At least as far as I knew.

"I fought and killed when I had too. I didn't go out looking for trouble. Besides, since when do seventeen year-old boys fall under the 'dangerous' category?"

I shrugged, wincing in pain, 'Note to self: Shrugging is bad,' "First of all, I don't go looking for trouble. I hunt monsters. And secondly, I never said he was dangerous, I said he was a pig. It's not my fault he broke his arm when he fell," I knew this wasn't necessarily true, but I'd fallen into an old pattern. And I hated when my dad actually tried to be a parent. He was better as a teacher at the public high school.

"The way I remember it is that you flipped him over your hip and he broke his arm when he landed. Correct me if I'm wrong. Please."

I ground my teeth, "He groped me. His fault. He deserved it," 'And I got expelled,' I thought miserably.

Dad ran a hand down his face. He looked haggard, "Lyssa. Why can't you just get along at school? Try to fit in and make friends?" Dad had this hopeful look on his face he always got when he thought of a normal life for me.

"Dad," I stressed the word, "I TRY. Really, I do. But I see through the magic and the glamours. It's kind of hard to pay attention to math class when there's a harpy sitting across the room from me."

My dad sat up with a start, "There was a harpy at school?"

"Noooo," 'Right,' I kicked myself mentally, 'No mention of dangerous school things,' "I was being figurative Dad. No dangers at school. No monsters. It's all good."

Dad relaxed slightly, "Oh. Ok."

"You know, can we like… finish this conversation later? I'm REALLY tired, and I've got school tomorrow…" I made a dramatic show of yawning.

"I guess…" he didn't sound thrilled, but I got up and headed for bed anyway, "But Lyssa…?"

I turned around slowly, already dreading whatever was coming next, "Yea Dad?"

"Just… Be careful out there… You're not the only bad ass thing out there," He smiled thinly. I walked back over and hugged him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"You got it Dad," He smiled and I went upstairs to take a hot shower and get some much needed sleep. Tomorrow was the real danger, school, and the ultimate test. How long would it take for me to get kicked out of another private school.

I shrugged on my backpack, careful to avoid my sore shoulder. Getting thrown into a wall can really mess a girl up. I gulped down my breakfast in about three bites, waving a quick goodbye to my dad before running out the door.

Brennan Academy didn't have a bus system so it was up to the students to find their own ride to the prestigious school. My ride of choice was my friend Stephanie's car. Although Steph never let me drive. She was weird like that. I was OBVIOUSLY the better driver, but hey, whatever floats her boat.

The ride to school was a quiet one, Stephanie was still half asleep. I felt that way too, and I'm sure I looked it as well, but I was on high alert, my muscles tensed for the slightest sniff of monster. If you knew about your blood then you were fair game; monsters would crawl out of the frikin' cracks to find you. If you didn't know… well you were a little better off. But it was really only a matter of time before they found you. And you better pray to the gods that you found out before they did.

Steph shook me out of thoughts when she parked the car in front of the massive school. I must say, as much as I hate Brennan Academy, it is pretty impressive. It had four stories, one for each grade. Freshman on the bottom floor, sophomores the second, juniors the third and seniors the top floor. The building itself is a work of art. I'd always compared it to an ancient Greek temple. It had massive columns, reaching from the ground floor up to the roof itself. It was dark grey in color, with white wood surrounding there surplus of windows. There was a basement I'm pretty sure but nothing was down there. Just storage. I think…

Stephanie and I walked up the steps to the school, parting ways at the second floor. I was a junior while Steph was senior. Our parents were friends, which was the only way we knew each other. Our school was strict about the whole 'in grade friends'. Some crap about class unity and strength or some shit like that. I thought it was all B.S. But hey, what could I do about it? Nothin', so instead I just sucked it up and tried to stay out of trouble.

Unfortunately trouble just seemed to find me. Miss 'I'm so much better than everyone else' Katy Verince stepped into my path as I headed towards my homeroom.

"Oh, Lyssa!" She cooed, her voice fake and sickly sweet, "They let you back in here? Wow. I'm surprised. Who'd you have to do THIS time?" She raised her voice, looking around the hall for the other students' responses.

"Oh you know, the same people YOU had to do to get INTO the school in the FIRST place," I smiled coldly, sidestepping around Katy and checking her with my hip.

She stumbled, falling into a boy passing by. She didn't look pleased. I was really tempted to stick around for a fight but I knew how bad my record was. If I got in another fight, or anymore bad grades, that'd be the end of it. I'd be expelled from my newest school. See school and I don't exactly get along… Like I've been kicked out of at least twelve in all my school years. Not exactly the greatest record to have.

Fortunately the warning bell rang before anything could really get out of hand and I made a mad dash for my classroom, narrowly missing Katy's fumble for my hair. I sighed in relief as I slumped into my seat, front row. Mr. Parker, my math teacher walked in, glancing at our class over his round spectacles.

Katy sauntered in halfway through class, going straight up to Mr. Parker's desk, "Mr. Parker," She said in her high nasally voice that grated on my ears, "I need to borrow Lyssa Blake," She smiled sweetly at him, "Is that ok?"

'No that is NOT ok!' I wanted to scream, but I shut my mouth, gritting my teeth. Mr. Parker nodded, giving me the two finger point and then gesturing for Katy and me to leave. Katy grinned, the expression not particularly reassuring.

I stood slowly, grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder as I followed Katy out into the hall. Katy grinned again, grabbing my wrist as she pulled me along, "Katy! Stop. Where are we going? I'm really not in the mood to fight you."

Katy giggled, "Oh, you won't be fighting," I frowned trying to pull my wrist out of her grasp but her hold was like iron.

"Katy let go!" I yelled, yanking on my wrist again. She just laughed, opening the door to an empty classroom and pulling me inside.

Releasing my hand Katy stepped back, leaning against the teacher's desk, "You have been very tricky lately. Hard to follow," She seethed, all bubbliness gone from her voice. I gaped at her as her appearance shimmered. I suddenly realized what I'd been missing these past months. The mist. It was all around Katy and I was seeing through it now. Her skin lost all it color, her eyes changing from green to a bright red. And her legs? That was the weirdest. One looked like a donkey leg, and the other seemed to be made out of metal.

"Empousa," I whispered as my heart missed a few beats. How had I not seen this coming? Katy laughed as she advanced on me, "But I'm not a male! What do you want with me?" I cried.

"Why, to kill you of course! I don't need to feed on you to do that. I'm perfectly capable other ways," She grinned exposing her long fangs. I backed up, hitting the wall.

'Great,' I thought, 'The one day I FORGET my weapons is the day I actually need them at school! Did I bring ANYTHING?' I frantically searched through my bag, looking for anything that could help me. Katy just laughed again, pushing desks out of her way. Finally my hand scrapped the bottom of my backpack, coming in contact with the dagger I'd thrown in there weeks ago.

I pulled the knife out triumphantly, taking a defensive stance. Katy paused for only a moment before she lunged at me. Hissing in pain when she impacted with my shoulder, I tried to kick her away. I slashed at her, my arm barely dodging her fangs. The dagger bit into her arm eliciting a pained hiss on Katy's part.

She glanced down at her shirt, "You ripped my shirt! That was Chanel you bitch!"

I shrugged, choosing that time to strike at her, stabbing her in the leg this time. Katy screamed, throwing herself at me again. I threw my arms up, wincing at the unwanted movement of my shoulder, covering my face as I tried to get a few swipes in. Just as my knife made contact with her stomach she rolled away. I stood, crouching low as Katy circled me. This time, when she lunged at me, I was ready. My dagger up, I stabbed her through the heart as she flew through the air. With an enraged howl she turned to the golden dust that signified the death of a monster.

Breathing heavily I leaned on a desk, clutching at my arm. There was a short gash from my wrist halfway up my arm. It stung like hell but thankfully wasn't very deep, and was no longer bleeding. Wincing I reached down, pulling a hoodie out of my bag. I ripped a strip off the bottom of my shirt, tying it around my cut before I donned the sweatshirt. I rolled my shoulder as I had last night, vowing to ice it when I got home. That and more effectively wrap my wrist. I gathered my things, shoving the knife back in the bottom of my bag before I exited the room.

The school halls were deserted as I walked back to math class. Our little skirmish had taken mere minutes and obviously attracted no attention. It was so nice to know that when my life was in danger my school was so willing to jump to my defense. I worried that someone would miss Katy and ask me where she was. I didn't have an answer for that one. Not that I felt bad, I was only worried about my own skin.

I stumbled back to class, ignoring the glare Mr. Parker sent me as I sunk into my seat. For the rest of the day I was distracted. I jumped at every sound, only able to answer questions after they'd been repeated a few times. Thankfully none of those questions involved Katy and her strange disappearance. As the school day went on I managed to avoid everyone, taking a public bus home instead of catching my normal ride from Stephanie. She didn't mind, it only opened up room in the car for her to take her boyfriend and some others home. Boys weren't allowed in the car when I was around.

I walked slowly into my house, my shoulder and arm aching. I dropped my bag on the floor, shrugging out of my sweatshirt as I hung that up with my jacket from last night, "Lyssa? Is that you?" I ran a hand down my face. Carly was here.

Carly walked into the hallway then, wiping her hands on a dish rag. Her hair was wavy, long, and this week she'd died it blue. Today she was wearing a fairly normal outfit, just jeans and a flowy white shirt. Carly leaned against the doorway, giving me a small smile. She and Dad had been dating for a year or so now. She was young, twenty something. We got along fine, she was somewhat like a big sister to me. Which was strange seeing as she was likely to become my new mother but that's just how it was.

"Hey Carls. Dad here?" She shook her head, her blue hair swinging behind her from its ponytail, "Ok, well I'll be upstairs if you need me."

Nodding, Carly's eyes narrowed as she took in my appearance, "Lyssa, wait. What happened to you? Your arm? And your shoulder?" She added when I shrugged and then winced in pain. Heaving a sigh Carly walked over to me, "Come here. I'll fix you up."

I smiled, "Thanks Carls," She did as she said, cleaning my cut, wrapping it and applying ice to my sore shoulder. She didn't ask the details, didn't want to know. Dad and I had sat her down, explained what we were and the things that went on with us. Carly had kept her cool, taking it all in. After we were done she'd just nodded, said, "Is that all?" and then proceeded to ask us what we wanted for dinner.

Dad was home late that night and I could see the tell-tale signs of a fight. His clothes were wrinkled, parts singed. There was a long cut in one pant leg, but no obvious wounds. Carly and I looked the other way. It was best not say anything. Dad was one of those independent types, he didn't like it when we commented on his… monster activities.

There were a lot of things not spoken about in our house. Monsters, training, any sort of demigod camps, and most importantly my mother.