Saving the World Was Just the Beginning
by Benji the Vampire Confuser
The Percy Jackson, and Heroes of Olympus serieses were created by Rick Riordan. The web series Spade was created by John Johnson and Darkstone Entertainment. I do not own any of this.
Chapter One
Mr. Shrub
Virginia, 1995
The first thing Spade noticed when he found Wesley in the cemetery was that his roots were starting to show. When was the last time the boy had bleached his hair? When would he have found the time? He'd already stopped putting on the make up fairly soon after getting caught up in Spade's battle to save the world. He still wore all black, and his skin was still really pale though. But through it all the boy had somehow found the time to keep his hair that unnatural shade of blond. And the black tips. Good grief.
Spade stood beside his friend, looking at the tombstone of Wesley's mother. This was likely the first time he'd been able to visit since her death. He hadn't even been able to attend the funeral. The two stood side by side in silence. This was partly due to Spade trying and failing to think of anything to say that wouldn't make him sound like a jackass. He didn't do serious well.
He kept opening his mouth, realizing he was about to say something bad, and closing it again. Finally, all he said was; "I'm sorry."
Wesley just nodded.
After a while, he turned his head to regard his friend. They'd been through a lot together. It'd only been two years that Wesley had been involved in the fight, but it seemed like longer. And now it was over. The world was saved, the Devil was dead.
Spade had killed, the Devil. Wesley hadn't been there to see that fight, he'd been busy elsewhere. But it'd left Jack Spade in a coma for three days. And left him with...
Wesley pointed to the eye patch. "He took your eye?"
"Kinda." Spade shrugged. "I think he left part of himself in there."
"Yikes."
Spade nodded, a trace of his signature grin returning to his face. "So Wesley. I've been meaning to ask you."
"Yeah?"
"Any idea why the creepy grounds keeper guy over there keeps staring at you?"
Spade pointed to a tall tree about halfway across the cemetery from them. Sure enough a man in a jump suit was staring intently at them.
"No."
"I'll ask." Instead of heading in the man's direction, Spade lifted the eye patch just a tiny bit. Wesley could make out that it was a new shade of blue before he realized that the instant the patch went up, his friend's face changed. The mischievous grin twisted into an expression of pure, malicious evil. The smile belonged not on the face of any human, and Wesley backed away.
Spade quickly dropped the patch back into place and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I will not be making a habit of that." he grumbled.
"We all appreciate that."
Without looking, Spade pointed towards the grounds keeper. "That man, is not human."
Wesley looked at Spade, back to the creepy guy who seemed to walk with a limp as he came towards them, then back at Spade.
"The fuck you say."
Spade braced himself up on the tombstone before them. "Thank you my lady." he said to the grave. Then he pointed at the approaching grounds keeper. "Not human." Then he pointed to the eye patch. "This'n sees all. You know, when he's not blindfolded." Then, he pointed behind Wesley. "It's entirely possible that yon approaching breasts are likewise, not human. But I'm afraid to look."
Wesley knew it would be pointless to say anything about what a jackass thing Spade had just said. Why were they friends again? But he turned to see an extremely beautiful woman approaching them.
From one direction, the grounds keeper picked up his pace. His limp had turned into a strange, loping gait. He was brandishing a shovel. The woman didn't seem to be making any threatening moves at all, just approaching with a dazzling smile.
Their past adventures had taught both boys that things were rarely, if ever, as they appeared. So neither of them were actually particularly surprised when the groundskeeper yelled for them to duck.
They did, and the shovel flew through the air, tumbling end over end. As it did so, it turned into a kind of war club. A big knobby one made out of a stout tree branch. The approaching woman hissed like a snake and dodged out of the way.
"I hate you Spade."
The grounds keeper leaped up on a nearby tombstone between them and the woman. Wesley stared at his feet. They were hooves.
"I thought you killed the devil." he muttered.
"The devil didn't have hooves." Spade said. "Or horns or a tail. I was very disappointed. I dunno what that thing is."
"I'm a Satyr, Cupcake." the thing growled, eying the woman. She was glaring at him now, trying to edge around him. "Name's Hedge."
"It is very nice to meet you Dumpling." Spade grinned. "Why is her hotness a threat?"
"She's after the kid. Get him out of here."
Spade hadn't saved the world by running away. But, perhaps he could save his friend by doing so. Besides they weren't armed. They needed Tanya and Whistler. But mostly Tanya.
"Where's your bat?" Spade asked as they ran for the car.
Wesley looked back in time to see the Satyr do some kind of flying karate kick, knocking the woman down. "Back at the house."
"Which reminds me, how is your father?"
"Oh, about the same."
"What the hell is he doing here?" Mr. Morgan demanded, when his son came inside with Spade. Mr. Morgan was of the opinion that Spade was to blame for the events surrounding his wife's death. And apparently he was endangering his son yet again.
"Saving your son's life Sir." Spade said, as respectfully as he was able. "You're welcome."
"Wes," his father said, worried, "What's going on? I thought you said it was over."
His concern was likely due to his only son opening the coat closet, and pulling out a baseball bat, wrapped in electrical tape. Wesley had been unable to get the angel blood off the wood, so instead he'd wrapped the bat to hide it.
"I'm not sure dad." Wes said. He'd tried to hide what was going on before for a while, but once his mother had been killed, he'd given up on that. "We ran into a Satyr who attacked a lady in the cemetery claiming she was after me."
Wesley's dad tried to digest that. If he hadn't witnessed some of what his son had gone through himself, he'd likely have thought the boy insane.
Suddenly there was a pounding at the door. Spade gestured for the Morgans to get back, and drew Tanya, his gun. Then he threw open the door.
The Satyr, bloodied, but apparently victorious stood there. He looked grumpy.
"Mr. Bush!" Spade shouted. "You live!"
"It's Hedge." the Satyr growled.
"You say tomato, I say salsa."
"She wasn't my mother?" Wesley said, stunned. He sat on the couch in the living room, his head in his hands.
"Or he's not your father." Spade shrugged. "Mr. Shrub wasn't that specific."
"It's Hedge." the Satyr said through gritted teeth. "Gleason Hedge."
Wesley had expected some kind of retort from his father as well, but he said nothing. He was just looking distressed.
"Dad?"
Finally Mr. Morgan looked at his son. "Wesley I wanted to tell you, but your mother wanted to wait."
"So tell me now." Wesley said bitterly. "She's not here to object is she?"
Mr. Morgan paled, and even Spade winced.
"We found you, on, on the doorstep, shortly after we were married. I wasn't sure we were ready for children, but your mother insisted we keep you. She said you were a gift."
She'd often said that to Wesley. She called him a gift. Every time he did something to make her proud, hell, even every time he did something that drove them nuts. Like when he started bleaching his hair and wearing makeup.
"So, who's my real, I mean, my biological mom? Or dad?"
His father looked even more distressed now. "We, we don't know. Both of us had, uh, dated a lot back in-"
"Okay!" Wesley shuddered. "Don't need those details. So for all we know, neither of you are my biological parents. And one of those, is a god. Or goddess."
"That about sums it up."
"And the sexy evil, she was a Koosa?" Spade asked.
"Empousa. A kind of vampiric demon. Monsters are drawn to Demigods."
"What do we taste good or something?"
"That and there's a lot of bragging rights to killing one."
"Fan, fucking, tastic."
The next day, Wesley was packed and ready to go.
"You're seriously leaving?" Leena asked unhappily. She and Wesley had gotten drawn into Spade's quest at roughly the same time, and she'd practically adopted him. "First Luther, and now you. So you're a magnet for monsters, so what?" Like she and Spade wouldn't be able to protect him? Not that he wasn't good on his own of course. He'd taken on that rogue Angel single handed.
"Leena this isn't about running away." he said. "This is about finding out who my real mom or dad is. I have to find out what this is all about."
"You sure you don't want me to come with?" Spade offered.
"Please I'm gonna get into enough trouble on my own." Wesley retorted. "I don't need you attracting even more."
Spade grinned, and clapped the boy on the back. He had taught his sidekick well.
Leena gave him a hug that nearly cracked his ribs. Not that he'd be complaining about that any time soon. "You'd better fucking keep in touch." she told him. "Or gods or no gods we'll come kick your ass."
"You comin' or not Cupcake?" Hedge yelled from the passenger seat of Mr. Morgan's car. The man had generously donated it to the cause of getting his son to Camp Half Blood. Hedge, as gruff as he was, had waited until it looked like the goodbyes were about done.
"Guess I'd better go before Gunney there blows a gasket." Wesley said.
Spade nodded. "Goodbye Cupcake." He waved to Hedge. "Take good care of him Mr. Weed!"
"My name is, ah forget it."
"Victory."
To be continued...
