CURSED BLOOD
(a/n: I don't know if this story is good, it's up to you guys. Anyway hope you enjoy. )
Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
"Whew, you sure know how to fight don't you?" Nikki panted as she hefted her sword and shield against her sparring partner, who was me by the way.
"Well, I am the best in our sword fighting classes, besides I only need one sword. No shield required, you on the other hand missy", I smirked at her, "already have both and you still couldn't beat me.", she sneered and took her battle stance, I raised my blade, Artemis silver glowing in the sunlight.
"Think you're tough son of Hades? Think again." She said as she feinted a strike above my head and used her leg to sweep my feet off the ground. I tried to get up but I was faced with a sword point. I raised my hands.
"Alright, you got me." I said.
She sheathed her sword and helped me up; I sheathed my own sword as well. A horn blew in the distance and it only meant one thing: dinner time.
"Come on Nick! We're going to miss dinner!" Nikki said as she dragged me by the hand towards the pavilion, all our other campmates were already there, sitting at their respective tables. The air smelled of roast beef, hamburgers, and a whole lot of ice cream.
"See ya later Nick!" She said as she let go of my hand and went to the Hecate table to be with her sisters. I sighed as I went to my own table. The Hades table was clear so I was the only one sitting on it. As I sat down a girl with golden eyes and chocolate-brown skin sat opposite me.
"Hey baby brother, it's not fun to sit alone you know. You remind me too much of another sibling we have." She said. I smiled; I knew exactly who she was talking about.
"Hi Hazel, where's Frank?" I asked her, she wasn't usually alone like this. Most of the time she was with Annabeth and Piper, and then she was with her boyfriend Frank, Praetor of the Legion of camp Jupiter.
"Oh, he's over there at the Ares table, but I promised to take him away because he can't stand his siblings. We're going to sit at our table." I looked behind me and saw the new table at the end of the pavilion. It was the table for the Heroes of Olympus, and it was the only table where different people of different cabins were allowed to sit together, as long as you were part of the seven demigods who stopped Gaea last year.
"I've got an idea!" Hazel said as she snapped her fingers, "Why don't you come sit with us!" I looked at her with amusement; she knew Mr. D would never allow it.
"Mr. D won't allow it you know, he's already allowed you Romans to live here, and he allowed different cabins to be together in one table. I don't think he'll be lenient with this one." I said, and she made a face.
"Oh come on, we don't want another Nico." She said as she rolled her eyes. I chuckled, Nico Di Angelo was another son of Hades, but from what I gathered from Hazel and the others he was a real loner in the past. Now he's too busy spending time with Reyna, another Praetor of camp Jupiter.
"Fine I guess, but don't blame me when Mr. D goes ballistic." I said as I stood up and followed Hazel to the Ares table where they were busy having a food fight. Frank was busy dodging or blocking the food with his plate.
"Hey Frank, we're here." Hazel called out to him; he looked at us with a happy expression on his eyes and stood up from his table. A piece of apple pie went straight for his face but he ducked, making the pie hit another Ares camper.
"Hi guys, thank the gods that you came to get me. It was a food slaughter fest back there." He said as he held Hazel's hand and kissed her on the cheek. "So, shall we go to the table?" he asked us.
"Yeah, Nick is going to join us as well." Hazel said, Frank nodded at me and said to Hazel, "Mr. D is going to go nuts, you know that right?" he said with a nervous expression on his face.
I laughed, "That's what I tried to tell her Frank, but she won't listen." I said. Anyone who didn't know Frank would immediately deny the fact that he was a son of Ares, but underneath that gentle and nervous demeanor was someone who did brilliantly in battle. Also as an added bonus, he can change into any animal at will. And despite all those amazing things, his life was attached to a tiny piece of firewood which was currently stored in my cabin in a fireproof pouch. And it was under Hazel's pillow of course.
"I don't care; the others would like him to join us." She said, me and Frank just shrugged. We walked towards their table and then there they were. The heroes of both camp half-blood and camp Jupiter. Annabeth and Percy sat together as always, she was complaining as Percy covered his blue pancakes with blue maple syrup. Seriously, that guy never ate anything but blue food. Piper and Jason were eating breakfast with their hands together under the table, Leo was playing with fireballs and Calypso splashed him with water from her goblet. As the three of us sat down, they all smiled at me.
"Hi Nick, finally decided to stop being like Nico?" Percy teased; I opened my mouth to retort when two people stepped out of the shadows behind him. I closed my mouth and smirked. This was going to be good.
"And what do you exactly mean by being like me Jackson?" Nico said as he and Reyna sat down. Percy paled and the whole table exploded into laughter. Percy whispered, "Please don't kill me."
"Don't worry Percy I won't kill you before breakfast, although I suggest you eat fast or else Jules-Albert is going to chase you with a hockey stick." Nico said with a smug look on his face, Reyna was giggling beside him, the others were grinning and Percy paled more. He ate his pancakes fast and began to run when Annabeth pulled him down to sit again.
"No running after eating Percy." She said with a smirk, he looked helplessly at her and then at Nico, he just grinned and continued on with his breakfast. I felt something brush against me and saw Nikki sitting beside me.
"And what do you think you're doing here, Ms. Moonlace?" I asked her, she smirked at me and straightened her glasses, gods, I love it when she does that.
"I joined you for dinner Mr. Grayson, any problem?" She said, we looked at each other for a few seconds and laughed. As I returned to my favorite dish from home I noticed the entire table looking at us with interest. "What?" I asked them, Piper just smiled and the others face palmed. Nikki however, didn't notice anything. Instead, she asked me about the food I was eating.
"What in Hephaestus's bolts are you eating Nick?" she said with a horrified expression, the others noticed it too and they waited for my answer. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
"Uh, it's a dish in the Philippines called champorado.Since mom originally lived there before she went to live here in America; she cooked this for me whenever I asked for it." I explained, they all looked at the brownish, lumpy stuff in my bowl. "Its chocolate mixed with rice and goes perfectly with milk." I added, and to prove my point, I dumped my whole goblet of milk in my bowl and mixed it with the dish, I tasted it and it was creamy as ever.
They just blinked at me, and Jason was about to say something when the horn blew again, but it was a different sound this time. It was a high-pitched roaring sound which meant one thing: the camp's walls have been breached.
"Drat the luck, come on Nick, we have to see what's broken through!" Nikki said as she unsheathed her sword. That got me and the others moving, Percy had already uncapped his pen and riptide was in his hands, Leo withdrew a hammer from his tool belt. Nico and Reyna also drew their weapons.
Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Calypso, and Hazel ran for the cabins where they left their weapons. Meanwhile me, Nikki, and the others ran toward the camp's border. The monster that broke through was a basilisk, but this thing was bigger than any basilisk I had ever encountered. 10 feet long, green scales as tough as dragon hide with petrifying yellow eyes and poisonous breath and venom. Yep, this thing is not a good thing to fight.
Frank changed into a weasel and the basilisk hissed loudly and struck its tail at him, he dodged and turned into a lion, pouncing on it and clawing its tough hide. Nikki and Leo charged at it from the left, while me and Percy on the right, Nico and Reyna coming from the front. I slashed my blade across its armor and it just bounced off. The others were hacking, slashing and thrusting as well but their weapons just bounced off it. Frank was thrown to the ground and the basilisk struck like a snake. Before it reached him however, I threw my sword straight into its eye and it roared with pain, the sword came loose and fell on the floor with a thud, it looked straight at me with its single eye and I recoiled a bit before regaining my composure. Normal people would've been petrified, but I was a demigod, I wasn't scared of it. It struck again; I rolled to dodge it, pulling out my silver dagger in the process.
"Normal weapons can't hurt you huh? Let's see what you do about this." I thought, I cut my palm with my dagger and my blood gushed out and formed into a sword with a leaf-shaped blade. The basilisk hissed menacingly and reared to strike again. I noticed the others closing it on it.
"Stay back this one's mine!" I shouted, Percy and the others backed off. It lunged towards me and I rolled under it and came up to impale it through the middle with my sword. The blade cleaved through its hide like cream as I slashed my sword downward. It had a huge wound on its belly now, it struck again and I cut my left palm for my blood to come out and it formed into a shield just in time to block it and stop the basilisk in its tracks. It hissed loudly as its hide and flesh melted away. It tried to slither away until Percy and the others converged on it and within seconds the monster was yellow dust.
My blood came back to my bloodstream and the wounds on my palm healed. My knees gave way and Nikki caught me as I collapsed. I was dead tired, partly because of my anemia and the battle.
"You did great." I said to her.
"Nah, that was nothing. You on the other hand, completely annihilated that thing." Nikki said as she ran her hand through my hair. I noticed a cut on her left cheek; I brought my finger up and touched it gently.
"You should have that fixed." I said. And then I passed out.
When I came to, I was in the camp infirmary. I sat up and saw a sleeping Nikki at my bedside. I smiled and brushed her short, brown hair away from her beautiful, bespectacled face. I wouldn't admit this but, truth is I have feelings for this girl. Problem is I don't know if she feels the same.
She stirred and woke up. She looked at me with half-closed eyes and said, "Morning"
I ruffled her hair, "good morning sleepyhead. How long was I out?" I asked, she rearranged her hair and rubbed her eyes.
"Just like last time, a day." She said, "Also, uh…..we have visitors."
"Who-?" before I could finish, a familiar voice rang across the room. "Both of you are too close!"
I smiled, I knew that voice anywhere. I turned around and saw a 17 year old girl with black, spiky hair wearing a silver hunting jacket and black tights. On her head was a circle of glowing silver.
"Thalia, it's a pleasure to see you again." I said as I bowed, Nikki did the same.
"No formalities here Nick, but I do have one complaint with the both of you: you're too close each other!" She said as she parted us a bit.
"So, what exactly is the lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis doing here at camp?" I asked her, she looked nervously at the ground and looked at me again.
"Take a look around Nick." She said. I looked around and saw many hunters lying down in the infirmary.
"What in Hephaestus' bolts happened to the hunt Thals?" I was shocked, the only time I saw the hunters badly injured like this was during that one time where the hunter giant Orion had infiltrated the base of the amazons in San José.
"Lycaon happened. Him and his dirty wolves ambushed us in Texas and managed to capture Lady Artemis."
I blinked; the goddess of the hunt was captured by the hunted? Damn, no wonder Thalia was embarrassed.
"So, what are we waiting for?" I said as I got out of bed, the two girls jumped at my sudden movement and stared. I wondered what they were staring at and I looked down. I was wearing my underwear.
I yelped and immediately went under the hospital bed covers.
"Can somebody get my clothes?" I asked, Thalia chuckled as she grabbed them from a rack of clothes and threw them to me. I closed the curtains around my bed and proceeded to change. After at least 10 minutes I got out and Thalia looked at me.
"I see you're beginning to even dress like Nico." She said, I looked at myself in the mirror. She was sort of right, I was wearing a black T-shirt with matching black jeans, "yeah I guess you're right Thals. Although to be fair…" I said as I put on my blue crystal necklace and blue hoodie. "not all of my wardrobe is black."
She rolled her eyes, "whatever, bonehead. We'd better get going though, Chiron has been waiting for you to wake up ever since Nikki got a prophecy from the Oracle."
I looked pointedly at Nikki, "you got a prophecy?"
She grinned sheepishly, "I didn't want to stress you out as soon as you woke up. But yes, I did get a prophecy. Don't worry though, I told everyone that I won't tell it if you haven't woken up yet."
I adjusted my sword and dagger. I walked towards the door and saw them still standing there.
"well? What are you guys waiting for? Let's hear this prophecy." I said as I grabbed Nikki by the hand and went outside towards the big house.