Silver blurs dashed through the snow-covered forests of upstate New York. The blurs were nearly invisible to the naked eye; the only sign showing they were there was snow softly falling from the trees of which they traveled through. As cars rolled and trucks roared over the highways that surrounded the quiet countryside, the blurs sped by.

To a mortal, these blurs would likely appear as a pack of wolves, which was not far from the truth, as silver and white blurs on the ground panted and growled in anticipation for the kill. These "blurs" were the legendary Hunters of Artemis, and they were on a rescue mission.

In a small village near Buffalo, the hunters panted with baited breath as they awaited the order to advance. A girl resembling a Persian princess, complete with a silver tiara on her head, held a clenched fist, then signaled for a half dozen hunters on her right to move up. This was Zoë Nightshade, daughter of Pleione and Atlas, and Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis.

The armed maidens stealthily dashed up to one of the houses, keeping watch with bows drawn and arrows notched. A man ran out onto the front porch, looked behind him and shut the door, and was promptly grabbed by the hunters, and castrated, before a hunting knife was driven into his head. The deep red blood seeped into the soft, white snow around the house, staining its purity with the darkness of humanity.

The other hunters moved into place, and as Zoë went to open the door after it had been closed, the door was crushed as a man with a empousai on top of him was thrown through it, screaming- well, gurgling, actually, seeing as a chunk of his esophagus was missing- as the vampire-like shedemon tore another hunk of flesh out of his chest before being killing by a silver arrow.

The hunters charged in, staring at the gory mess created by the monsters. A young boy, no more than 6, lay in a pool of blood, still clutching his teddy bear. Though man haters, a few of the girls felt tears in their eyes as such a young and innocent soul was brought down to the realm of Hades.

As Zoë turned a corner, a Hellhound pup leapt at her, teeth bared. Her eyes widened before a loud crack was heard, and Zoë watched in slow motion as a gleaming bullet punched through and exited the beast, before travelling behind her and hitting another, both dissolving into golden dust. Zoë whirled around to see a teenage girl, covered in monster dust and blood, standing with a old mortal rifle- an M14 from the 1960s, she mused- that was still slightly smoking from the discharged round.

As the girl stared at her incredulously, another empousai charged from down another hallway, followed by more monsters. The girl snapped the rifle in their direction, loud bang! noises produced by the rifle as empty casings fell from the chamber to the floor. The monsters charged still, though a few dozen silver arrows stopped those few.

The girl, clad in what was somewhere between pajamas and outdoors clothes, ejected the magazine, twirled it, and Zoë saw a small red glow emit from the empty interior, which was soon refilled with 20 rounds. Her eyes widened- again- as Zoë gazed upon the magical weapon. It was the first she'd seen of a modern mortal weapon that was infused with magic.

The unknown girl had sandy blonde hair, dyed dark red at the tips. She had bright blue eyes, and could almost immediately be identified as a daughter or Hermes. However, her eyes held no mirth at the moment, and her face was questioning and stoic.

"Who the hell are you people," she asked harshly, eyes flitting over each of the hunters. Her eyes lingered on Zoë slightly, but she took it as curiosity at her circlet signifying her rank.

Zoë stepped forward, announcing, "We are the Hunters of Lady Artemis, and we were sent here to rescue a powerful demigoddess. I take it that is you?" The girl squinted before leveling her rifle right at Zoë, and firing as she screamed, "DOWN!"

Zoë instinctively ducked and saw a Cyclopes take multiple rounds to the chest before dissolving. The Hunters scrambled out of the way of a charging horde that tore through the walls of the small home.

Many fell to bullets and arrows, but there were too many. "THIS WAY!" the girl shouted, gesturing out a screen door. The hunters dashed through it, blending back into the tree line. The small army of monsters stayed hot on their tail, though.

"Anyone have an empty water bottle?!" half-asked, half-screamed the daughter of Hermes. A hunter tossed her one, and she pulled out a knife and cut out holes in it. Zoë looked at her weirdly; well, as weirdly as one can when running for their lives.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, vaulting over a fallen tree. The girl slipped the open bottom of the bottle over the muzzle of the rifle and grinned. "Something stupid," she retorted. "Keep running and I'll draw'em off. There's a waterfall that has some nice defensive positions a few miles up ahead. I'll meet you there later, beautiful," she continued, making to move off, before a hand gripped her arm.

"Are you trying to get killed?" Zoë screamed; face slightly red- from running, she assured herself. The daughter of Hermes smirked, fire lighting up in her eyes. "Don't worry 'bout me, just keep that pretty face of yours wrinkle-free and I'll be fine," she flirted, before dashing off and firing. The extra escaped gas diminished the noise the rifle made greatly. A large portion of monsters followed her, Hellhounds howling in excitement.

Zoë tried (and almost succeeded- almost) to control her blush, fueled by rage and embarrassment. The daughter of Hermes dashed off, the constant firing lighting up the pre-dawn forest.

"Hunters," she yelled, "keep moving!" The hunters gladly obliged, and took off full speed. The silver blurs rose again.

Back with our unnamed (for now) heroine...

To say Gabriella Angela Daniels was having a bad day would be putting it lightly. First, being told she was a demigod by her mother, her grandfather dying of an infected leg wound he sustained in Vietnam, then her constantly abusive stepfather. Her little half-brother, Simon... she couldn't think about him. Not now.

She ran, everything her grandfather and mother taught her coming to control her actions. She knew her father was Hermes. Her grandpa was a son of Mars. Yeah, big controversial issue right there. They got over it.

Her rifle grew warm enough to keep her palms and fingers from freezing off. Maybe running out in a WWII jacket, thin tank top, pajama pants, and sneakers wasn't the best idea... In her defense, she WAS being attacked by dozens of monsters.

The said-monsters closed in, and she smirked; time to put some of these powers to good use. As they got too close for effective rifle fire, she clicked on the safety, and the rifle transformed into a hog's tooth necklace. She ripped her grandpa's dog tags from her neck, and held twin combat knives, honed to perfection.

As a Hellhound leapt at her, she ducked and raised one knife, gutting it, before leaping over the snapping jaws of another, driving the knives into its skull. A Cyclopes lumbered towards her, pulling up a 20-foot pine tree, and raising it to smash her.

An empousai with a blood-stained mouth grinned at her, mockingly saying, "I do wish you could be eaten, my dear. I hope you taste as good as your brother." That did it.

With an almost inhumane scream of rage, as the tree club descended at her, Gabriella glowed bright red and gold, and as the tree connected, it shattered down the trunk. The monsters froze in fear- who WAS this demigod!?

A traditional Greek shield shoved the tree off, and a Roman gladius was raised into the air. A scream reverberated throughout the forest.

"AVE, MARS ULTIMA ET HERMES!"

A female came out of the dust, clad in a blood red bronze breastplate, a golden Spartan helm, bracers, and a Roman style armored skirt. The most intimidating thing? Her eyes were glowing bright blue and blood red.

The empousai barely muttered, "Oh shit," before she was cut down by an angry demigod. Gabriella raised her shield and crouched low, peeking over the top.

"Come at me," she growled. The army of roughly 140 assorted monsters charged. None survived.