Children of the Night-Part I

It was the coldest December in recent memory.

New Years was soon and Annabeth couldn't wait. A year had passed since the war with the Giants, and nothing could be better. Oh there was the occasional monster attack and Percy being a seaweed brain, but nothing unusual. Just after the war, Annabeth had received letters from several universities outside of New York. Places like UCLA, or Stanford. But they always went missing after a while. Percy claimed that he had nothing to do with it, but Annabeth doubted that. She knew that he wanted her to go to one of New York's Universities, like Columbia, but Annabeth never got one from them.

Bundled up in a black parka with a scarf loosely wrapped around her neck and a beanie, Annabeth could still feel the wind chill her skin. New York really was the city that never slept. The lights never seemed to truly turn off and there was always an ever present background noise. It was unlike any other city in the world. That she had been to anyway.

The new apartment that she and Percy lived at was only a five to six minute walk, barring traffic problems or a monster attack, from the Starbucks that she worked at. It was in central Manhattan and not too far away from Central Park or Times Square. Because the rent was rather expensive and Percy was rather busy with school, Annabeth got two full time jobs. On the weekends she was a tour guide at a nearby Museum and during the weekdays, Annabeth was a barista at Starbucks.

Shivering as a cold breeze passed by, Annabeth crossed the street. The apartment complex was just in front and their room was on the 20th floor. Annabeth preferred to take the stairs as opposed to the elevator. Having two fulltime jobs was time consuming and Annabeth barely had any time to exercise, so running up the stairs substituted.

After sprinting up twenty sets of stairs, Annabeth finally made it to their apartment. Sprinting nonstop didn't even make her sweat a little bit. The place was empty and the lights were off. Oh that's right. Percy's off babysitting Maia. His mortal half-sister. It was likely that Percy would be staying the night at his mom's. Sally was partying with Paul. There was a tiny part of Annabeth hoping that Percy would be getting another sibling.

Giggling lightly, Annabeth moved to switch the lights on. Nothing. Frowning, Annabeth did what any sensible person would do and flicked the switch up and down a couple of more times. Again, nothing. With a sigh, Annabeth looked outside the window. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed something moving abnormally fast out of the shadows. A monster? Agh, I don't have time for this!

Quickly rushing back down steps, Annabeth saw the figure duck into an alley. I am so going to regret this. The alley was empty. There was no one there. At least that Annabeth could see anyways. And then she saw the figure again. It was large and hairy and pushed her to the ground. Looking down at her and growling was a…wolf? Before Annabeth could respond, the giant wolf bounded past her. Was that a hellhound? It wasn't like any other hellhound that Annabeth had seen before. Dark grey fur and blood red eyes. And the fact that it walked on two feet like a human.

Regardless of whether or not that thing was a hellhound, Annabeth couldn't just let it roam around attacking whoever in its sight. After making sure that her trusty dagger was on hand, Annabeth rushed down the street. Whatever it was, it was fast. Annabeth noted how it was running in the shadows and doing its best to avoid the streets.

"That must mean that it's something that mortals can see…" Monsters usually weren't one for keeping themselves hidden. It wasn't like the mortals could see them anyway right? But apparently this one could be seen without needing the ability to see through the mist. "That doesn't make sense though. All monsters are hidden from mortal view by the mist. Why is this one so special?"

Central Park soon came into view. Annabeth could feel her eyes widen when the monster leapt from a nearby building and into the trees of Central Park. Whatever this was, it definitely wasn't human or anything that Annabeth knew. Could it be a werewolf? The story of Lycaon and Zeus were well known to her and Thalia had on more than one occasion run into Lycaon himself. But this beast wasn't anything like what Thalia described Lycaon and his pack to be.

Then Annabeth remembered Magnus. Perhaps this was from the Norse side of things? Annabeth shook her head. She didn't know nearly enough about the Norse to make that judgement. And she was pretty sure that Egypt didn't have any wolves. Whatever this was, she'd get to the bottom of it. But Annabeth didn't feel comfortable just calling it…it. So werewolf it was for now.

Just as she was getting close, the werewolf looked over his shoulder and leapt into the trees, disappearing into the foliage of Central park. Stopping on a dime, Annabeth reached into her parka and drew her dagger. It wasn't silver, but she could still try. "Listen. Maybe we can talk this out. I don't have any silver or…" Crap. What else were werewolves weak to? Garlic? No those were vampires. Mercury? It was often called quicksilver in the Middle Ages, so perhaps mercury could work. There was also wolfsbane. It was a type of plant that supposedly werewolves were weak against, but that was found in northern Europe.

All Annabeth got in response was a distant growl. From the shadows, the werewolf lunged out at her so fast that Annabeth couldn't even bring her dagger up to defend herself. The force of the blow lodged her dagger free from her grip. Seeing this, the werewolf lunged once more.

"AHH!" The werewolf's sharp claws ripped through Annabeth's parka and cut into her skin. She stumbled into the snow, clutching her side. Annabeth could feel blood. Her eyes darted to the dagger lying on the path just a few feet away. Athena's favoured daughter didn't think that the werewolf would let her retrieve her ineffective weapon. There had to be something that she could use to ward off the werewolf. Even a stick would do. Wait. That's it! A stick! This was Central Park. Surely there had to be a stick or something nearby.

Before she could even look for a stick or anything, the wolfman was already on her, hands raised and ready to maul Annabeth's face off. In desperation, Annabeth reached up and began to feel for his eyes. "Get off of me!" Annabeth screamed as dug her thumb into something. An eye socket or nostril or earhole. Whatever she hit, it worked. The wolf howled and backed off, but not before swinging one of his arms wildly. The stray swing hit her dead on. Her parka was entirely cut open and a long gash ran from underneath her left breast all the way down to her hip.

Annabeth somehow managed to find the strength to lift herself up and support herself onto a nearby tree. She was bleeding profusely. The snow around her feet stained crimson with blood, her lungs felt like a leaking basketball. Another cold breeze passed by, as the werewolf slowly advanced on her. As she gripped the tree for support, Annabeth noted how the bark was rather loose.

In a last ditch effort to get away, Annabeth tore off a handful of bark and chucked it. With her assailant momentarily distracted, Annabeth made a run for her dagger. There was no way that she would be able to take this monster out. Not in her current situation or state.

The favoured daughter of Athena, just barely managed to duck underneath the monster's swipe. Behind her, the tree fell in two. Quickly turning around, the Monster lashed out at her. Fortunately, only the tips of his claws grazed Annabeth, tearing into her jeans. Annabeth bit back a yelp. She leapt over a fallen branch. Her fingers touched the hilt of the dagger.

"You're not going anywhere!" Annabeth yelped as she felt the werewolf grip her by the feet and swing her into a tree. The force of the hit made her black out for a split second. "You know human, all I wanted to do, was to be left alone. But you just had to see me." Annabeth whimpered as the werewolf put his face right against hers and snarled. She could feel herself slowly bleeding out.

"And you couldn't leave me alone. Well…This is what you get." His claws dug into her jacket. He then ripped them off. She could feel saliva drip from his mouth to her chest. Bile piled up in her throat. He lifted her up. Annabeth stared straight into his blood red eyes.

No…It can't end this way.

Of all the ways to go. It wasn't the weight of the world crushing her into nothing. It wasn't against Arachne covering her in a silk cocoon. It wasn't in the worst place ever, the Tartarus swallowing her up in eternal darkness and nightmares. And it wasn't against the Giants. It had to be a just a simple monster.

The werewolf suddenly looked up. He snarled once more at something among the trees before disappearing into the night. After falling to ground unceremoniously, Annabeth's head felt dizzy. She was losing consciousness. Was she going to die here? Alone? Annabeth felt around for a wound and felt a significant amount of wetness. She could barely lift her hand to look at it. Blood. A whole lot of it. She noted that skin was turning pale and that her fingernails were turning blue. Her skin was clammy and cold. Although it was already cold before.

The familiar sound of sirens reached Annabeth's ear. She rolled around onto her back. Almost instantly, she regretted that decision. Even if the ambulance gets here in time, what the hell am I going to tell the police? They won't believe me. Damnit. All around her, the nymphs of the trees began to pop out. One of them was about to approach. Annabeth couldn't hear and see whatever it was that the Nymph saw and heard, but whatever it was, it was enough for all the nymphs to return to their tree forms.

The last thing that Annabeth saw before losing consciousness, was a figure walking up to her dressed in all black with startlingly blue eyes.

Percy…

Annabeth didn't expect to be waking up. And even if she did, she expected it to be in a hospital or back at camp. So when her eyes opened and she was greeted to the sight of the interior of an under construction skyscraper, Annabeth was a bit confused. Looking down, her ruined clothes had been replaced with a black sleeveless blouse and a pair of leggings. A breeze flew by and Annabeth instinctively tucked her exposed arms in, waiting for the cold to kick in. It didn't.

"Why aren't I feeling the cold?" She also noticed how her tan skin was now almost pale white and silky smooth.

"That's because you're dead. The dead don't feel cold. Or any temperature for that matter."

Her head sharply turned to face the voice. He was shrouded in the shadows, leaning against an I-beam. Stepping out of the shadows, Annabeth could see that the voice belonged to someone appearing to be in their early 20's. He was wearing all black. A black shirt and black jeans with a dark silver skull shaped stopwatch around his neck. His skin as pale and silky looking as her own and his blue eyes reminded her of ice. Shirt and jeans in this weather? Then again, sleeveless clothing in the winter?

Instinctively, Annabeth's hand moved to her chest, where her dagger was hidden. Or, it used to be. Now her parka was in shreds and Hades knows where her dagger was. The man clicked his tongue and faced the New York skyline. "Don't worry. If I wanted you dead I'd have left you there bleeding out to death. And if you're looking for your dagger, here." He reached into a pocket and tossed her beloved dagger over his shoulder. When Annabeth caught it, her reflexes felt…quicker?

"Who are you? And where am I and what did you do to me?"

"Adam." He turned to face her. "And you're in what mortals think is an unfinished skyscraper. In a month or so I'll change it to Stark Tower. And after that, the Baxter Building. Maybe even Wayne Enterprises tower. Heh. Mortals."

"What?" What was he talking about? Stark Tower, Baxter Building, Wayne…Well, that Annabeth knew was something from Batman. "Why did you take me here? Why not the hospital? And you still haven't answered my last question."

Adam shrugged. "If I brought you to the hospital you'd be dead right now. I brought you here because it's my hideout. A hideout for all the vampires in the city of New York. A haven away from prying mortal eyes." His eyes narrowed. "But you're not really a mortal are you?"

"Vampire?"

"Yes. Vampire. The undead blood sucking creatures of the night that you only hear of in stories. An ageless monster ruined by popular culture. Forever thought of as overly effeminate, and sparkling in the sun. Is it so hard to believe that vampire's exist, demigod?" Annabeth shook her head. Of all the things she had seen, vampires were the least surprising. But what bothered Annabeth was that they didn't fit in with any pantheon that she knew of. Or at least this kind of vampire didn't. "Do you want more proof?" Adam opened his mouth and bared his teeth at her. All of his teeth were razor sharp, like a shark almost. Those looked like they could actually tear off skin to drink blood.

Perhaps it was because the fact that she was a now a vampire still hadn't set it, that Annabeth didn't react much to that statement. Or perhaps it was because that the dead simply didn't have any emotions. But still, she was vampire? Well, at least she was still…Alive? Or was it was undead? Or something in between? Like she wasn't really dead, but she wasn't really alive either…I'm just going to go with undead.

"T-then you…You turned me into a vampire." Adam smiled sadly. "Why?"

"It was the only way to save you. You lost too much blood." Annabeth was shaken. She was dead now. And now she was also a vampire. It would be mandatory to drink blood and if she didn't, then she would die. Annabeth clenched her fists. She stood up and almost stumbled. Her head ached. "You haven't drunk any blood yet. Here." Adam walked over to a table in the dark part of the high rise and chucked a bag of blood towards her.

"Blood…"

"Yes. Blood. Still pretty fresh if I say so myself. The ache in your head and all your wounds will be healed once you drink the blood. Your supply on blood is rather low. Lost almost all of your blood when you went after that Lycan." He shot her a weird look. "Why did you go after him? You may be a demigod, and you may be skilled in fighting monsters, but you were not prepared to fight against a werewolf. No silver or mercury."

"I didn't know it was a werewolf. Styx, I didn't even know that kind of werewolf existed!" Annabeth shot back. "And if you were there, why didn't you help me?"

"But I did help you."

"Y-you know what I mean. You could have left me to die there. You had nothing to benefit from my being alive. And you turned me into a vampire too. Why?"

Again, Adam shrugged. "It's just what I do. I help people regardless of if it benefits me or not." At Annabeth's shocked look he smiled slightly. "Vampires are often characterized as arrogant, pretentious in literature. They see humans as nothing more than cattle. Livestock. Those certainly do exist. But as usual, not every Vampire is like that. And I already told you. There was no other way to save your life."

"Annabeth." He furrowed his brow in confusion. "I just realized that we've had this entire conversation without you telling my name. I'm Annabeth Chase. Turned 18 in July. Now, I don't suppose I can just walk back to my apartment alone in the night can I?"

Adam shook his head. "No, not unless you want a Lycan or ghoul to attack you. As a vampire, you might stand a chance. But not when you're in this state. Now drink the blood and I'll take you deeper into the hideout." She looked down at the blood and hesitated.

"Where did this come from?" Adam sighed.

"It was the blood of some mugger that was stupid enough to attack me. Now drink up. You won't last long without any blood in your system. Even more so now that you're one of the Children of the Night."

The blood tasted nothing like she thought it would. It tasted not of iron or metal, but was just like water. Actually, no. Not water. It was more like wine. The more Annabeth drank of it, the better she felt. The ache she had been feeling in her head had slowly begun to disappear and she could feel the numb pain in her side slowly ebb away.

After she was done, Adam gestured for her to follow along. He stopped at the edge of the skyscraper. "Ladies first." Then without warning, Adam pushed her off the edge. Annabeth closed her eyes and screamed. She half expected to end up splattering the ground. Instead, she landed on a patch of water. Or what seemed like water.

Opening her eyes, Annabeth was greeted with the inside of a massive room. Immediately the architect within her began to analyze. The room that she was now in was about half the size of the throne room of Olympus. Supporting the ceiling were four giant pillars equally spaced out with runic markings etched into them. If Annabeth had her notebook still with her she could've been jotting them down. Instead she had to settle with inscribing the markings into her memory. In the ceiling were various beams of varying sizes and design. They were too far up for her too see all of the details, but still, it was a sight to see.

"Nice place you've got here."

"Don't ask. It was here before I was ever a vampire. Supposedly at least. Now come on." Adam led her into a hall full of beds. It looked like there was enough beds for more than thirty people. It was empty. "Oh yeah, everyone's off doing whatever. Well, everyone except Mia. Okay, Annabeth, as a recently turned vampire, or as we call you, newborn, you won't have any control over your powers or any urges that you may have. So, in the event that you lose control over your bloodlust, I'm going to have Mia watch over you."

"Mia?"

"Yeah, she's just recently managed to get her urges and powers under control, so she'll be able to help you control any urges much easier. Come on, she should be in the entertainment area. After that, you'll be able to go home."

Home. Percy…I wonder how he's doing. He's probably out there. Looking for me right now. She shook her head. No. He probably thinks I'm dead. There's no way the police didn't see all that blood and think that something didn't happen. "How long have I been…out, Adam?"

He looked back at her. "Hmm, you've been unconscious for 2 weeks." Two weeks!? "That's actually pretty fast. Most of the time when someone is turned into a vampire, they're usually unconscious for around a month or so."

"I see. How long does it take for someone to control their urges?"

"It varies. For normal newborns it usually takes two to three months, for nobles-'"

"Nobles, normal, what? How do I know which one I am, and do they mean anything?"

Adam chuckled and opened the door to a room that looked like it belonged in an arcade or game convention. Giant TV monitors with posters of anime and video game characters. In front of the TV's were consoles of all kinds as well as a PC. All around were couches and sofas of all sizes and brands. "For one, they're types of vampires. Normal vampires, are normal. Nothing special about them. They're stronger and faster than average humans. Most of the vampires you're going to meet are normal. Then there are the Noble vampires. They are far stronger and faster. Think of them like being superhuman."

"Which one am I? I don't really feel any different."

"That's because you're neither." Annabeth blinked. "You didn't let me finish. There's one more type of vampire. Royal. Only a Royal vampire can create another Royal. We are at the top of the chain. The masters of blood. The sons and daughters of Lucifer. There are usually only one or two of our type in the same country. But now…"

"There's three."

Rubbing the back of his head, Adam sighed. "Yeah. Every time one of our type dies or is born, the Scarlet Council holds a meeting. I am so going to be in trouble. But never mind that. Mia! Come over here!"

"Fuck off Adam. Can't you see I'm busy here?" A blonde girl slouched in a bean bag chair called out. She was wearing a black bunny headset and just like Adam, was wearing all black. A black tank top, black tights. In her hands was a PS4 controller. "Oh wait…Just got disconnected. Whatever. What do you want?" Her skin was also pale and silky. Her green eyes bore into Annabeth.

"This is Annabeth. Uh…she's a newborn. And since you've just learned to control your bloodlust and powers, I'd like you to help teach her how to survive the dangers of the night."

"Isn't this the demigod chick? Dude, whoever her parent is, they're gonna be pissed-'"

"I know, which is why I'll be in my office trying to contact Celine. She'll know what to do. I'm just hoping that nothing else happens." After that, Adam slinked off to a room in the corner, leaving Annabeth with an irritated Mia.

"Well, whatever. It's not like we can do anything about it now. Anyways, time for introductions. I'm Mia Fowler." Mia lifted a hand. Annabeth took it and shook firmly.

"Annabeth Chase. Nice to meet you, I guess. So how is this thing going to work?" Mia shrugged. "Wait, you don't know what to do?"

"I didn't say that. It's just that each vampire controls their urges in different ways. And as a side note, there are certain triggers for every kind of vampire that illicit a state of uncontrollable bloodlust."

"And what are these triggers?" Again Mia shrugged. "How in the name of Zeus do you not know?"

"I don't know. I've never encountered my trigger and apparently they're very rare. The last time someone got put into that state was a long time ago." Annabeth then followed Mia back outside. The sky was like black ink and instead of the concrete jungle that was New York, Annabeth was suddenly in a forest. The capstone of a skyscraper peeked over the trees of Central Park. "First things first. You need to learn how to hunt."

Annabeth blinked. "Hunt? Hunt what?"

"Blood. You can't expect to just have blood handed to you. You'll have to hunt it directly. Most of the time we get our blood from stray dogs and cats, sometimes criminals and the occasional subhuman."

"Subhuman?"

Mia's lips curled up into a smile. "You'll see." And then she disappeared into the abyss of night.