I had this random idea in bed the other night because I thought it would be interesting. I always did wonder what happened to those werewolf scratches Nico got from Lycaon. This may just stay as a one shot, or I might turn it into a multi chapter story. to be honest, I should probably be updating my other crossover instead of writing this, but hey! Enjoy and please tell me what you think.

Werewolf

[ˈwɛːwʊlf, ˈwɪəːwʊlf, ˈwəːwʊlf]

NOUN

Werewolves (plural noun) · werewolf (noun) · werewolves (plural noun)

(In folklore) a person who changes for periods of time into a wolf, typically when there is a full moon.

Nico stared at the dictionary Annabeth had lent him. His mind raced over that one word again and again. Werewolf. They existed of course. Every demigod who wanted to stay alive knew that and he and Reyna had the misfortune to meet a pack during their long journey back to America with a 40 foot tall giant woman who threatened to smite them every minute. Werewolves weren't impossible to defeat – all you had to do is use silver on them – but due to the fact Nico didn't happen to have any silver on him at that exact moment, he had been at a clear disadvantage until Reyna had the genius idea of strapping silver coins to her dagger. Reyna's extreme intelligence was beside the point though. The point was, Nico had been scratched. And not just any werewolf, oh no. Nico just had to be maimed by the king – Lycaon. Typical. The fates really hated him.

The dim light of the Hades cabin cast shadows across the dog eared book and one of the torches on the wall flickered and died. Nico shivered. Through the window, he could hear shouts of glee coming from the campfire where Percy would inexplicably be singing some stupid song that involved grandmas and armour and being the seaweed brain he was. Nico wouldn't be there. He couldn't.

Every time he dared to think he could find acceptance, he was just shut out again. After the titan war, he had quickly overstayed his welcome and withdrawn to the underworld. Even now, after all he went through at the hands of Gaea's army and after everything he had done for camp half blood, they still shot him disgusted glances and looks of fake pity. No. a child of the underworld could never belong with the living. Especially if the suspicion Nico had was correct.

Reyna had told him scratches didn't transfer lycanthropy. He had believed her. Why wouldn't he? Now, he was having his doubts. Once in the lotus hotel, he had read a fantasy novel which listed the symptoms of lycanthropy.

· No illnesses – check. Since the fight, Nico had noticed he was not getting ill. Sure he did try to spend as much time as possible in the infirmary to see Will, but he was rarely ill.

· Animalistic instincts – check. The ghost king once found himself growling at Percy during one of their friendly sparring matches which was incredibly awkward and caused a lot of questions which he couldn't answer. Another time, he had scared Hazel half to death with a sudden roar that came out of nowhere. (The same noise had caused Frank to turn into a lion and try to match it, terrifying poor Hazel even more.)

· Need to kill – check. Recently, Nico had a rather disturbing lust for blood and murder. When there was a smaller animal nearby, he felt the need to tear it from limb to limb in a way that caused even a child of Hades to have nightmares.

There were many more symptoms which Nico couldn't be bothered to name but found himself experiencing in recent months. On the next full moon he came to a final conclusion. It was just a shame he was too late. Pale skin turned to ebony fur, shadows leapt joyfully towards him and a low whimper escaped his gaping throat.

A soulless howl echoed through the night like a plead for help, but no one answered the call.

Nico woke up miles from camp half blood with no memory of what he had done.

He assessed his surroundings, trying to work out where he was. From the trees and grassy ground, Nico assumed he was in some sort of forest, but the noises of a bustling city told him otherwise. His head fuzzy from his furry situation, Nico stumbled out into a clearing, straight into a girl.

She wasn't anyone exceptional. It wasn't one of those happy ever after stories where guy meets girl in a wood, they fall in love and live happy ever after at all. Nico didn't even like girls that way! This particular specimen of the female gender had chocolate coloured skin and frizzy hair in two pigtails. She was wearing a sleeveless top, ripped jeans and converse trainers, giving her an 'I don't care' vibe. The only thing that was vaguely special about her was the scratches on the side of her neck. They looked like… it was almost like someone had… bitten her? It was these scratches that caused Nico to look up and decide to say something. He opened his mouth and something very intelligent like "uh…" came out.

The girl laughed. "Uh, to you too! Now, what are you doing in some woods at four in the morning?"

Nico frowned. "I could ask the same of you."

"I have an excuse."

"What?" Nico asked challengingly.

"What would you say if I said I was a werewolf?" she said in a joking manner. Nico winced and rebounded quickly. This did not go unnoticed by the girl. "You flinched." She noted. Nico simply nodded. "You know about the shadow world?"

"The what?" Nico asked in confusion.

She shook her head in exasperation. "You don't know. I'll be leaving now."

"Wait!" Nico shouted. "Don't go. You said werewolf… are you one too?"

Now it was the girl's turn to recoil. "So you do know about the shadow world."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nico insisted. "All I know is that I transformed last night and woke up here. I've been having symptoms of lycanthropy for months and I got scratched during a fight with the freaking king of werewolves. Yes I'm a werewolf, yes I know what they are, and could you just tell me what the heck is going on before I stab you?"

She put her hands up. "Jeez. No need to get angry; I think I'm going to call you small angry child. Cute nickname."

Nico glared, not putting his stygian iron sword down.

She carried on. "The shadow world is a world that exists apart from the mundane or human one. It consists of all the creatures you can think of – vampires, faeries, warlocks and yes, werewolves. There is also a race called Nephilim or shadowhunters who hunt and kill demons. The creatures I mentioned before are called downworlders. Now, you're one of them."

"But…"

"There's this guy I know who puts it this way." She said. "All the stories are true. I'm Maia by the way."

"Nico." Said the demigod, completely bewildered. Gods, monsters, and titans he could deal with. He could even manage different pantheons but this… there was no rational reason as to why he couldn't believe this. After all, if most people heard they were the child of a Greek god, they would laugh and scorn. If he could believe that, why not this? The girl – Maia – put out her hand.

"Come with me, you can join our pack!"

He took it and she pulled him, struggling to keep up out of the clearing and through the trees laughing. Nico shook his head once, and then let all his fears out, running alongside Maia, throwing his head back in pure joy – something he hadn't felt for as long time.

And that, my friends, is werewolf Nico! just in case anyone is wondering, if this does end up with more than one chapter, Nico won't get together with Maia. he has Will, she has Jordan and it just wouldn't work. Hope you enjoyed.