So here's the deal. This is post - Heroes of Olympus, with a few concepts picked up from Supernatural and Shin Megami Tensei. But otherwise, it's in Rick Riordan's world, so enjoy! I update every Saturday, so read, review, comment, critique, whatever. But have fun!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to have created the characters made by Rick Riordan or his universe, I have not made them or his universe nor do I profit from it. This is (obviously) just a fan fiction tribute. Legal stuff out of the way...

PART I: CHASING THE LIT FUSE

CHAPTER 1: WE GET ASSAULTED BY A FAIRY

The rain thundered on the asphalt like the mighty beating of a thousand drums. A few cars droned on in the distance, the sound of the rain nearly drowning out their fuel deprived engines. The whole town was drenched grey beneath the acidic dye of rainwater, colour bleaching out of what little light there was, bleeding through the streets and into the rusty gutters. On a day such as this, in a sleepy town like that, you wouldn't necessarily expect a lot of people to be outside, yet despite that, it almost seemed as if all of the world's sound had been concentrated into one corner of excitement, people armed with umbrellas and raincoats huddled outside and in a small restaurant placed in its own neat little corner. Riley stood with her back facing the street, analysing the restaurant. Sure enough, it was the same place that Chiron had described to her: a sign that looked too fresh to have been there for long, an assortment of pies and other confectionaries visible between the gaps of people huddled by the windows. She looked around, her eyes cast suspiciously to the shadows. Nothing abnormal. Not yet at least. She turned her attention back to the restaurant and proceeded to push and shove her way through the mass of flesh to the warm innards of the building. Beyond the congregation of hungry civilians, on the other side of the counter, were two uniformed individuals. A young red-headed woman frantically weaved from the back to the front of the counter, disappearing behind closed doors to arrive moments later with numerous cakes and pies in her hand.

"Two Victorian sponges right here, the apple pie for the customer in glasses, drenched in maple syrup like you asked. Who wanted the banana bread again?" She looked completely overwhelmed as excited customers practically shoved money into her face as they snatched and grabbed at the food before she could even place it on the counter. The other clerk was a large stern looking man, an almost inappropriate eyepatch stretched across his face as he silently and swiftly entered and exited the back room with stacks of elaborate cakes and exotic looking pastries.

"Excuse me, pardon me, just… freaking… get… out!" Riley forced her way past two slim teenage girls that would probably double in mass if they ate a single thing from the store, but was rebuffed by a skin headed man in a tank top. She clenched her fists, her blood bubbling and churning in her veins like a great cauldron. "Calm down Riley, they don't know any better…."

"Tough crowd huh?" a voice said next to her.

"Yeah…. I mean, come on, it's just pie."

"They've been like this for the past two weeks. Driving the others out of business already, it's crazy. It's almost impossible to get a bite to eat nowadays." Riley turned to the source of the voice. Standing next to her was a slim, lanky looking boy, maybe the same age as her, a grey beanie slotted on top of an unruly mess of black, almost grey hair. His eyes were mainly hidden by the fringe of his hair, but she could just barely make out a pair of silver eyes staring absentmindedly ahead. If he hadn't spoken up just then, she wouldn't have even noticed him. In fact, his complete lack of presence was astonishing considering the large brown trench coat that he wore, clearly failing to disguise just how small he was, and accentuating it instead.

"How long till everything calms down?" He rolled up a sleeve to glance at a black sports watch.

"Give it a few seconds, tops," he said. Sure enough, the eye patched sailor – type baker stood up from his stool (Riley hadn't even noticed he was seated until he began to tower over all his customers) and opened his mouth.

"Alright everybody, we're closed for the day, time to clear out, alright? Nothing else is in stock." The displeasure sounded obvious, and bordered on violent, but then the red-head jumped up to save the situation.

"If you come bright and early tomorrow, we'll have even more for you all! And don't forget, it's pie Friday!" The people grumbled as they slowly shuffled out of the restaurant, but Riley lagged behind, staring at the fiery haired woman. After a while she finally acknowledged the intense gaze on her persons, turned to Riley, and smiled. "I'm sorry, but we're closed for the day. Time to go now kid."

"Oh, I'm not here to buy anything," Riley said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "I just wanted to ask a few questions." The lady turned to the old man, who simply shrugged and retreated behind a door, lights going off in that room.

"Sure thing kiddo, but you better be quick! What's up?"

"There's a lot of people here, why's your food so special?" The women beamed a sugary sweet smile at her.

"Because we make our food with love of course!"

"So there's no secret ingredient or anything?" She shook her head. "I'm just wondering, 'cause this place is pretty new, and small too." Her smile dropped slightly into a tiny smirk.

"Tell me about it, we really need a lot more than just two people now, huh? I guess it's just that everyone wants something to talk about it, and this place works for it." She frowned as she stared harder at Riley. "I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"

"Riley." The lady nodded her head.

"Riley huh? Well, my name's Leona. If you're here for a while, come by again. I recommend the milkshakes, so long as you're not on a diet!"

"Actually, I'd like to try one myself," Riley replied, placing some crumpled notes on the table. "Extra large, surprise me, as long as it's not caramel."

"Well we're really meant to be closing, but since I like you, no problem." Leona placed the notes in the cash register before swivelling on her heel to start preparing it. Riley waited patiently when a hand clasped her shoulder firmly. She felt her heart almost leap out of her chest as she quickly grabbed the wrist, twisting it and its owner around until they were face-to-face, her fist held up apprehensively.

"Hey, take it easy! I didn't mean to scare you!" The hand's owner said. It was the same boy from before. Riley relaxed, letting go.

"You were still here?" she asked, slightly creeped out that she hadn't even noticed him again.

"I really don't recommend that shake," he said. "Totally overpriced, and way too much sugar."

"No problem, I can handle it."

"No, I really don't think that you should try some." Riley wasn't sure what it was, but the boy seemed far too serious for him to just be worried about her health and wallet. Before she could reply, Leona returned, an extra-large milkshake in her hand.

"Here you go, extra-large shake, chef's specialty. Don't drink it all in one go!" She nodded her head, stirring the milkshake with the pink bendy straw that was poking out of the top. She took a tentative sip, the thick, ice cold liquid pouring into her mouth and down her throat. She felt her eyes widen in pleasant surprise. The strawberry cooled and refreshed the throat she didn't even know was dry, the taste almost dancing on her taste buds, coaxing her into taking yet another lengthy draught from the magical drink. It was like drinking sparkles reflected off a crystal clear lake at midnight. The woman stared at her, the sugary-sweet smile back on her face. "Good huh?"

"It's excellent!" Riley replied. The woman looked pleased, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "Food of the gods and all that."

"I know right?"

"What did you mix into this?"

"Well, that's a closely guarded secret, I can't exactly tell you."

"I thought you said that it was love?"

"Exactly! And that's all you really need, so you'd better get outta here, lights are nearly out." The old man had returned, flicking another switch that bathed half the room in perpetual darkness.

"Get outta here," the old man said. Riley looked between Leona and the old man, planning out her next moves.

"Just one last question then. This… secret ingredient, your 'love' or whatever, all of your food is made from it, right?"

"That's a pretty weird way to put it, but yes."

"Well then, I think that you better stop what you're doing." Leona frowned, her smile diminishing slightly.

"What? Why? We're just selling pies, that's all."

"Three weeks ago, a whole bunch of demigods travelling across the country were mysteriously assaulted and robbed just a few miles south of here, all their belongings, gone. Two of them were severely injured, it's a wonder they even escaped alive. Demigods. Robbed. I highly doubt ordinary crooks have the kind of power to do that. A few days later, and this sketchy restaurant opens up, outselling everybody in minutes. But nobody notices that the food's just a little bit too addictive, even for the perfect apple pies. I wonder why?"

"Hey, what're you talking about? What does that all have to do with us?" Leona asked nervously. "And what's wrong with our food? Everyone loves it, is it a crime to make stuff that people like?" She isn't wondering why I said Demigods, Riley thought. Looks like I was right after all….

"It's definitely a crime to steal the ambrosia of the gods just to start up a bakery. Aint that right, old man?" Leona fumed, opening her mouth to retort, when the old man finally spoke up.

"Get out of my store," he said. "This is no place for kids who can't understand my art."

"And don't want to enjoy it either!" Leona said with a humph. The boy (how could she keep forgetting he was there?) tapped her on the shoulder, temporarily taking her attention.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. "Are you trying to piss them off?"

"Why are you still here?" she asked. "Hurry up and go home already, watch TV or something."

"No, you need to get out of here, this is really dangerous!" Leona coughed, interrupting the two of them.

"I don't know how you heard about the ambrosia, but this is none of your business you little brats. Now, get out of the way!"

"Just wait-" Leona waved her hand, Riley getting launched into the air, as if by some invisible force.

"Hey, girl!" In a few short moments, he'd been sent flying as well, landing with a crunch on one of the tables.

"That's enough!" the old man yelled. "You promised that you wouldn't hurt anybody else!" Leona strolled back to the man, ensnaring him in her slender arms.

"But they were going to hurt you. To hurt us. I'm just trying to keep you safe, that's all." Riley got up with a groan, trying to steady herself again.

"Hey, old man, believe me when I say this, but you do not want to get involved with her."

"She's right," the boy said. "That thing's not human, it's a monster."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far but…."

"No, she's actually a monster, a fae specifically. That's a Leanan Sidhe."

"A what now?" She looked at him in surprise.

"A Leanan Sidhe. Isn't that why you're here?" Riley looked at the woman who was now getting up, hostility clear in her eyes.

"So she's a monster, right?"

"Right-"

"That's all I needed to know." Riley said. She dashed towards her, pulling out a small concealed dagger. She swung rapidly, Leona weaving side to side, dodging each blow with ease. She grabbed Riley's knife arm, slamming her palm into her elbow. Sharp pain darted up and down the length of her arm as she dropped the blade, before Leona then spun her around, hurling her into the wall. She tried getting to her feet before receiving a swift kick to the face, knocking her down again.

"Hey!" Leona turned to the source of the voice just to see the boy holding a black 9mm pistol in his hands.

"Aww, what're you gonna do with that little toy?" she asked. "I'm a fae, lead bullets don't work on me."

"Who said they were lead?" He fired, his whole body shaking from the recoil. The room echoed with the sound of the gunshot, like a thunderbolt had just gone off inside everybody's skulls. Leona screamed, a sizeable chunk of flesh disappeared from her shoulder as she clutched it, the wound burning like it was a lightsaber cut. He fired a few more times, smouldering chunks breaking away from her body with each bang of the bullets. She snarled, leaping for him instead. He rolled out the way as she landed just where he was stood a moment ago, but she spun around almost instantly, kicking his wrist as he dropped his weapon, the gun sliding away beneath a chair. Riley yanked her knife off of the floor, charging for her again with a backwards grip. She stabbed down with it, but she grabbed her wrist at the last moment.

"Nice try kiddo," she said with a sly grin. She didn't look so pretty anymore, her red hair now standing on end, moving and flickering like a flame. Her skin had turned ghostly pale, glowing red veins visible beneath it, and her eyes were now crimson. Before she could do anything else, the sound of splintering wood accompanied a chair smashing on the back of her head. It looked like it had almost no effect on her, but that one second of confusion was just enough time for Riley to escape, punch her just hard enough to make her stumble, swivel around and run, trying her best to ignore the searing pain her knuckles were in. Her jaw must have been made of iron or something harder. She turned her head around just long enough to see the boy pull out an oversized shotgun from his trench coat and fire it at the monster. She screamed as her whole body disappeared seemingly into thin air, but that didn't stop him from turning and following after Riley. They made their way to the back exit, tore open the door and slammed it shut behind them.

"Okay, why the hell do you have a gun on you?!" she asked. "Two guns! You're definitely too young to be carrying those!"

"And why are you strong enough to punch a monster in the face, and have it actually work?!" he retorted. "In case you didn't notice, I broke a chair over her head!" He got to work blocking the door, placing a few trash cans and some planks of wood in front of it.

"Is it dead? What is that thing anyway?" she asked. He shook his head gravely.

"No, just pissed off. It will reform soon enough. That, was a Leanan Sidhe. They're faes that can bless people with enormous creativity and inspiration, with music, poetry, painting, all sorts of things. This one must have been helping the old man here with his cooking. But, there's a cost. They drain your life energy over time, leaving the victim as an empty husk that dies early. For all we know, that guy could have been in his late twenties, not his fifties. So I was here to kill it." The banging on the door caught both of their attention, the door splintering and cracking with each blow.

"How do we kill it?" Riley asked.

"They're weak to iron, but not much else, and nothing short of a stab to the heart or decapitation. Salt slows them down, but it won't kill them." Riley looked around her rapidly, spotting a pipe running up against the wall. She grabbed it, tearing it off the wall moments before the door was launched against the other side of the alley. Leona was stood in front of the door looking suitably pissed, her eyes falling on the boy. Her hair was now actually fire at this point, almost no semblance of its former self. With superhuman speed, she moved right in front of him, punching him deftly in the jaw. His legs crumpled beneath him as he fell to the ground, disoriented. She kicked him in the stomach as he rolled over from the impact. Riley hefted the pipe over her shoulder before swinging it like a baseball bat, but she caught it just moments before impact. She howled in pain as her palm bubbled and boiled where it had come into contact with the pipe. She yanked it from Riley's hands, nearly taking her whole arm with it, and kneed her in the stomach, Riley rising four feet into the air from the impact. She clutched her stomach in agony as Leona stood above her.

"This will teach you to get in the way of our art…."

"Telekhine!" A bright spark of red and blue light filled the entire alleyway. Both Riley and Leona shielded their eyes from it before finally turning to it as it began to die down. The boy was standing upright, holding some kind of portable device in his hand, a Gameboy or something similar. Except that it was glowing completely blue, along with his whole arm, skeletal wire-thin arcs of electricity around it. Next to him was what at first looked like a perfectly upright, seven foot seal, which was hard enough to process on its own, but upon further inspection it looked like it had hands and feet, albeit small and stubby ones, and its head had been replaced by a Doberman's long canine snout. It also had an absurd small blue waistcoat for some reason.

The boy pointed at the Leanan Sidhe. "Sic 'em." It growled before diving for her, jaws wide open for tearing and shredding. It dug its fang into her arm as she struggled to get it off, waving her arm around and slapping it violently. He looked at Riley. "He can't restrain her forever. Hurry up and finish her off!" Riley swallowed her shock and nodded her head, pulling out her dagger. The Leanan Sidhe slammed the creature against a wall, the very ground shaking from the impact as the limb was engulfed in dust and debris, yellow dust flitting around inside it. Satisfied that she'd eliminated the pest, she turned away from the wall, just for her eyes to widen in shock as a dagger embedded itself in her chest. She looked down at the blade that was up to its hilt in her chest, then looked up slowly at the Riley, her arm still extended from throwing it. Her mouth opened and shut, mouthing inaudible words before fi\nally letting out a shrill scream, disappearing in a cloud of yellow dust. Riley collapsed onto her rear, gasping for air after having it all kicked out of her, the unnoticeable pain in her limbs now slowly catching up with her body, and the shock of seeing a random monster actually help her was still something she had to get used to. She looked at the boy who stared back at her, and both of them knew they had questions for the other.

"Who are you?" they both said at the same time.

"You first, seeing as I'm the one who got the last blow in," Riley said. He looked around, noting the rapidly encroaching dusk.

"Can we do this somewhere a little safer please? With a little more light maybe."

After doing a full sweep of the restaurant, and trying to explain the events to the rather crestfallen (and now talentless) old man, they found a few pouches of suspicious looking liquid that Riley was fairly sure was ambrosia. They left, and after a horrifyingly overpriced taxi drive, arrived at a seedy looking motel. The kid seemed to have enough money at hand to pay for two cheap rooms, and even a fake id in case anybody wanted to know how old he was or where his parents were. (Admittedly, two very good questions) They both hunkered down in Riley's room first, the maroon wallpaper slowly peeling off. The furniture looked like it had seen better days and Riley just hoped that the bedsheets were actually clean, but there wasn't much she could expect from a random kid's pocket money. She collapsed on the bed, not willing to admit that her hand was still hurting. She heard the boy pull up a chair and plop himself down in it.

"Alright, you start," Riley began. "You could see through the mist and hunt monsters. You're not from Camp Half-Blood?"

"Camp half… um, no. I'm not… from wherever you said. My name's Zachariah. I'm pretty much a demon hunter. Well, a demon hunter in training. You see, my mom's a demon hunter, she travels around the country hunting down supernatural creatures. Empusas, telekhines, wendigoes, dracaenas, rakshasas…."

"Okay, is it weird that I've only heard of half of those creatures?"

"You must be new to the business then." Riley resisted the urge to punch him in his big stupid looking face. She'd been doing this all her life, what did he know? "Anyway, because of that I'm always changing schools and stuff. But now my mom's gone missing. Ain't exactly the best time for me to be stuck in class. So I'm trying to find her. That Leanan Sidhe was just a little pit stop." Riley nodded her head, trying to absorb all of the information. "Well I've said something about myself, what's your story?"

"Well, I'm Riley. I'm a demigod from Camp Half-Blood, and I was sent here on a quest to…." She was interrupted by Zachariah's raucous laughter as he nearly fell off of his chair, clutching his sides. "What?! What's so funny?!"

"I'm sorry, you're a demigod? From Camp Half-Blood?"

"Yeah, what's so wrong with that?"

"I'm sorry, but I just plain can't take that seriously! That's like somebody telling me to watch out for the tooth fairy!" He stopped to catch his breath, wiping the tears from his eyes, then broke out into a second verse of laughter. Riley's face was turning more and more red by the second.

"What's so unbelievable about that?"

"Hey, Raleigh-"

"Riley!"

"Riley, I've seen a lot of things, stuff that your nightmares would run from, stuff that you'd have to take a really heavy acid trip to even think of, so I've got a high tolerance for the insane, but I'm pretty darn sure that half human half gods don't exist anymore, and if they did, they sure as hell wouldn't be struggling to take out a simply fairy. If that was it, then maybe I'd be cool, but a camp? Like, a little supernatural summer camp?"

"It's not much more unbelievable than your stupid little story!"

"Yeah, well I have proof. The fake ids, the cool demon-slaying gun, heck you saw me fighting that thing!"

"And you saw me finish it off! Wait a second, so that means you're not a half-blood?" He shook his head.

"One-hundred-per-cent human," he said, emphasising the figures.

"That doesn't make any sense. Then how do you know about monsters? How do you even see them? Shouldn't they be shrouded in-"

"The mist? The all-too-mythical fog that hides the monsters from the eyes of salary-earning-God-fearing folk? Same way you do probably: Jedi mind tricks." That hadn't answered anything, but Riley had long since given up on trying to find out anything from him. The longer they talked, the less made sense to her.

"Just… just get out of my room already. Let me sleep." Zachariah shrugged his shoulders and slowly got up. Just before leaving, he pulled out a piece of chalk from his pockets, hunched down on the floor in front of the door and started scribbling something on the floorboards. "Um… what are you doing?"

"Drawing a devil's trap. Demons you know, can't predict them." Riley just shook her head and closed her eyes, sinking deeper into unconsciousness.

"I'm not sure I want to wake up tomorrow…."