A/N: I own nothing. This is an idea that came into my mind, it's set after the Percy Jackson series and somewhere in the first season of Supernatural. I hope that you enjoy this!
Trying to prove oneself was always hard. Trying to prove yourself as a demigod, worse. Valerie had worked that out long ago.
Even now, 8 years after first coming to camp she was still trying to prove herself. What kind of a joke was she? A daughter of Ares that hadn't gone on a single quest. Hell, she barely looked like a daughter of Ares, when she'd first been claimed her siblings had almost shoved her off to the Apollo kids. Apparently they weren't too keen on having the small girl with the blonde ringlets.
She was grateful that Clarisse had stood up for her and had taken care of her.
Even now they kept going with the comments. It didn't matter that she had fought in all of the battles that had gone on, that she had survived all of them. Nor did it seem to matter that she had proven herself a child of Ares, the ability to instinctively use any weapons she got her hands on and even curse them.
She was labelled by the blonde curls, blue eyes and lean body. Features typical of the children of Apollo.
At least now it made sense why she had all of that.
A legacy, that was what the Romans had called her when she had said that she was a child of Ares. There didn't seem to be a doubt in their mind, or anyone of her own friends, that she was somehow of some relation to the other Greek god. The least he could've done though was also give her some kind of ability to heal people, so that she'd be useful after the fighting was done. But no, what she'd gotten from Apollo was her looks.
Growling in annoyance at the looks she had kept receiving, and the taunts from her own siblings, she had gone to the forest. It was dangerous, yes. But usually the forest was quiet, and if there happened to be a monster, then good. She would be abel to take her anger out on it rather than end up going off at some other demigod that caught her in this foul mood.
She moved deep into the forest, not worrying much about getting lost.
Valerie knew how to get back. If she didn't know the way, then she'd easily figure it out and retrace her steps. She always did.
When she reached a clearing, the hair on the back of her neck was standing up. There was something that instinctively made her reach for a bow and arrow. Having them was more comforting than a sword. With a bow and arrow she could take down monsters before they had a chance to get her. Proficiency with a sword was still something she prided herself on though.
An odd smell was emanating.
It was a smell that she wasn't familiar with, which was putting her further on edge. She seemed to be standing one something yellow. Her eyes scanned the trees around her very quickly, trying to evaluate whether there was any immediate threat. When she was relatively certain there wasn't something waiting for her to let her guard down, she placed on of her arrows back in the quiver on her back. Lowering herself into a crouch she looked at the substance on the ground. It looked similar to the gold dust left behind when monsters were sent back to tartarus.
The consistency was off though.
"What in Hades name?" she couldn't help questioning that aloud.
'Run,' a masculine voice in her head told her. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. That didn't matter though, she trusted the voice in her head as weird as that sounded. She let the quiver on her back turn back into a necklace, the bow into a ring as she bolted in the direction of camp. All of her senses told her that she was running for her life.
And she honestly didn't doubt her instincts by this point. They had saved her often enough over the last few years.
"You can't outrun me," she heard another voice. It was female, but this one was completely foreign. She couldn't tell whether or not it was in her head, or it was actually called after her. Either way, it fuelled her on to push herself into a sprint. She could feel her blood pumping faster, the telltale sign of the adrenaline flowing through her body. She almost laughed, this was the most alive she had felt since the last battle.
Valerie supposed that she counted as an adrenaline junkie these days.
Her vision was fading at the corners of her eyes, her body felt it was on fire. She knew that this wasn't something that was normal, she had better stamina than that. Her body felt like it was being torn apart, a shriek slipping through the demigod's lips. She stumbled, falling onto her knees. It wasn't hard for the blonde to push herself up, continuing to run.
The darkness was crawling over her eyes again, trying to keep going, to reach the others. The others could help, there was safety in numbers.
Her limbs were going heavy, her eyes finally slipping completely into darkness.
'Father please,' she begged in her mind. She knew that he wouldn't listen to her, he would think her weak for this. With that on her mind, her mind slipped into the same darkness that her body had fallen into.
A groan of pain slipped by her lips before Valerie was fully conscious.
"Aren't you an interesting one?" a female voice mocked her, it was the same one that she had heard before whatever it was that happened to her. Her eyes blinked, trying to adjust to the room that she was in. She tried moving, only to find she couldn't. Looking down, she realised that she had been tied to the chair that she was in. "You know your kind are practically extinct?"
"What are you on about?" she hissed out, struggling to see how much leeway that she had to move.
"I almost thought that the witch would be unsuccessful, that she wouldn't find anyone," the woman commented, ignoring her. The blonde girl glared around the room. She couldn't catch a glimpse of whoever it was, but that was probably the point. The woman was undoubtedly trying to keep her on her toes.
"Well I'm here, what do you want?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could. Shifting she tried to evaluate her situation. She knew she had her bow and arrow, but those were out of reach, and they weren't all too useful at the current time. Considering she had those, it made her fairly confident that she still had her sword and dagger on her as well, but right now she wasn't sure how she was going to reach them, or get out of here alive after she did that.
The bobby pin that was her dagger was slid over the pocket of her jeans, she knew that there was no subtle way to reach that.
"Leave her alone," a deep voice broke her from her train of thought. The newcomer didn't seem to be on the side of the woman. The enemy of my enemy is a friend, Valerie reminded herself, trying to get a view of the opposing sides.
"Don't you like my new vessel?" the woman asked mockingly, walking passed her in the direction of the male that had entered.
"I don't like the sound of that," Valerie interrupted before anyone could say anything else on the matter.
"Leave her alone," the voice repeated, and Valerie was really hoping that the man could actually do something. And maybe tell her where she was and what the hell was going on.
"I collected her because he wanted me to," the woman said teasingly. Her dark hair covered any features that Valerie might have been able to make out. But she did have a nice body. With her facing away from the demigod, she shifted, trying to reach the bobby pin.
"What does he want with the girl?"
"Didn't I already say? She's going to be my next vessel, after we prepare her that is."
"I'll throw myself in tartarus before I allowed that to happen," Valerie muttered, squirming a bit more.
"Prepare her?" in that moment Valerie felt like yelling out something along the lines of 'Hey dude, save me then worry about the chick'. She managed to keep herself quiet though, managing to reach the bobby pin. A smile crossed her face at that.
"So that I can inhabit her naturally," the woman said, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. The concept of being taken over like that, in a similar way that Luke had been taken over by Kronos, honestly terrified her. And it wasn't happening. Ever. "You should know John, she isn't some mortal that you have to save. She's just as much of a monster as I am."
"What is she?" he asked, though the man's eyes narrowed at the demon, his eyes briefly flickering to the girl. She couldn't be older than 20, and she looked human. But then again, in his experience looking human didn't mean much. A human was a convenient disguise for most monsters.
"A demigod," the demon practically purred as she approached him, the smug look on her face. John froze up at the mention of the other monster.
"They don't exist anymore," he said, tightening his grip on the weapon he was holding. It wouldn't do too much to the demon, but it would at least be a distraction so that he could get out. In his experience, they didn't like being shot.
"You're looking at one right there, I summoned her myself. So are you going to leave me be, or are you going to kill her while I leave?" the woman said. She moved closer to him, smiling flirtatiously. At that moment she flicked her wrist, throwing him to the wall and pinning the hunter there. A gasp escaped her lips, the hunter dropping to the ground once again watching with wide eyes as the woman dropped, the demon seemingly trying to escape but not succeeding.
"I really don't like either of those plans to be honest," Valerie hissed in the woman's ear, watching as she fell to her knees. Watching on he watched her fall to the ground, but there was no visible wound. John tightened his grip on his knife as he watched the demigod cautiously, moving over the girl. "She's mortal?"
"She used to be," the hunter confirmed the girls question. Her blue eyes looked up at him, before shifting down to the woman in question, who was now gasping for air. The demigod was definitely concerned, which was something that surprised him. She started softly humming, trying to calm down the hyperventilating woman.
"Call 911," the girl across from him said, trying to keep her voice low so that she wouldn't agitate the woman anymore. John, who knew nothing about demigods other than the lore, looking on cautiously, but did as she asked anyway. It was only an hour later that he had taken the girl to a diner, after giving their statements to police and watching the woman be taken away by an ambulance.
"How did she survive being stabbed?" the older man asked her, his eyes narrowing at her. She'd recognised the cautious nature with which he approached her, even when she was in the car with him he hadn't taken his hand off of his gun. Based on their circumstances of meeting, she supposed that it was normal, especially because she hadn't heard the last part of the conversation between the man and the woman.
"Celestial bronze," the daughter of Ares answered honestly, watching as the man across from her tilted his head in an unasked question. "Doesn't harm mortals, passes straight through them… which is why I have to ask what happened?"
"She was a demon," John admitted. "Or at least she was possessed by a demon… your weapon must have killed the demon but left the human alive."
"Huh," was all that came out of her mouth, as a burger and chips were placed in front of her. She was aware of how stupid it sounded. But she didn't know how else to respond to that, settling for taking a large bite of the burger.
"You're a demigod?" he asked, his brown eyes boring into her. The word demigod was almost spat out, and at that moment she realised that demigod wasn't a good thing. That was something that surprised her.
"Uh… yeah?" was her, once again dumb, answer to the question. "Look I appreciate your help and everything, but I need to get back to camp…"
"The camp on Long Island?" was what he asked in return, and her eyes widened in shock. "That hasn't existed for over 60 years."
"I was there though… before whatever happened and I ended up with that chick talking about using me as a vessel," Valerie replied, almost frantic. Her appetite had left her at that point, as she moved to get up. John looked at her, eyes narrowing as he thought about it.
"We can check it out," he offered. Though he wasn't sure why he was doing that. Demigods, from all accounts before the wiping out of the camp, were violent and cruel at best. The girl across from him wasn't living up to that though.
The blonde nodded, almost desperately. There was concern evident in her voice as she moved quickly, getting into his car.
He didn't miss the fact that her eyes were constantly scanning the area, tapping her fingers and also her foot. It was something he had picked up before as well, how on edge she was, but her concern was now increasing that. Somehow, the hunter was almost hoping that it was nothing but a rumour that they had been destroyed.
Assuming that they were all like her. If they weren't, he was going to have to kill them himself. Especially if the demon that had killed his wife was now interested in using demigods for his own purposes.
His phone went off, breaking the silence. Valerie had looked at it, watching as it vibrated.
"Aren't you going to pick that up?"
"No."