Octavian woke up with his head at a weird angle. He cursed before settling his hands at each side of his face before snapping his neck back to its normal position. As it snapped back into place he groaned in pain. He rolled his shoulders trying to ease the pain, but his neck throbbed and remained stiff. Only blood could cure it.

"Dude, you 'ight?"

Octavian snapped his attention to the voice. A guy across the parking lot with sagging jeans and tight shirt was walking his way; he didn't get that far. Before the guy could register he even moved, Octavian moved at a vampric speed to the hooligan and sank his teeth into his neck. The warm blood instantly eased his broken neck and warmed his taste buds. Once he had drank him dry, he let him crumple to the ground.

"You weren't really using it, were you?" Octavian said as he wiped the blood from his lips. Now that he had quenched his thirst, he only had a taste for revenge. Revenge on Jason Grace.

Jason ran one hand through his hair frustrated, as the other held his cell to his ear.

"Annabeth told me what happened." There was a pause. "He's back isn't he?"

"Yea, Percy, He is. I gave him a nice broken neck last night, so next time we see him, he won't be happy."

Percy cursed on the other end of the line. "Do you think we'll have to kill him?" Jason sighed.

"I think so." A pause. "Damn. I didn't want it to come to this."

"Don't beat yourself up. You tried everything and from what I've seen Octavian is ruthless."

"I know."

"Besides, if we don't, you know what he'll do…" Jason looked to his left where Piper stood still in her white tank, one strap laid low on her shoulder, and blue striped shorts. Her hair was still messy and tangled, her eyes tired but radiant. She moved her head to the side looking confused and a little worried. Jason's heart swelled at the thoughts of what Octavian might do. "he'll go after Piper." Percy finished.

"I know. We'll take care of it before that happens." Jason hung up on Percy and focused on Piper.

"Morning." He said with a smile as he strolled over to her.

"What's going on?" Piper asked curiously.

"We're going away for a bit. Somewhere you'll be safe until we can find Octavian." Jason said as he kissed her forehead. He settled each of his hands at the side of her face, scooping her face up. "I will keep you safe. I promise you."

Tears brimmed in Piper's eyes. His words were so strong and firm; it gave her such hope.

"Where are we going?" Piper asked.

"Not far, but it's well hidden. I hate that you got dragged into this, but Percy and I want to make sure you and Annabeth are safe while we search for Octavian."

Piper nodded understandingly. She hated that she couldn't help, but if she tried, she would just be a weakness for Jason.

"Hey, don't look so sad… Everything's going to be alright." Jason promised. Piper gave him a small smile before he continued, "Why don't you get ready and I'll make us breakfast? How do pancakes sound?"

"Perfect." Piper said with a smile. Jason kissed her head before turning and heading for the kitchen. Piper's smile immediately faded as she headed to the bathroom.

Piper closed her eyes, trying to gather herself. Yesterday still felt like a dream, like it never happened. But she could hear the rattling of pans, water running from the faucet and the soft strokes of a whisk as her vampire boyfriend made pancakes in the kitchen. But the moment where it really hit her was when she slowly opened her eyes and beheld the reflection of herself in the mirror. She hadn't realized she was covering the wound on her neck until then. She moved her hand from her neck where there were two deep puncture wounds. The wounds were healing, but they were red and inflamed. Seeing it for the first time made Piper's heart begin to race, her lungs felt heavy making it hard to breath, and tears welled in her eyes. She could feel her knees weakening and her hands shaking.

Piper took a few deep breaths as a few lone tears escaped. She could pull through this. She knew Jason would protect her; she just had to be strong. Letting out a deep breath, Piper stepped into the shower. She welcomed the warm, steamy water that left goosebumps on her skin.

10 minutes later, Piper was showered and changed. Feeling a little better, Piper chowed down on Jason's delicious chocolate chip pancakes. As they ate, they chatted casually, which was nice; it helped Piper get her mind off of the supernatural stuff.

"Done?" Jason asked.

"Yep." Jason reached for Piper's plate, but Piper swatted his hand away and grabbed his plate instead. "I'll do dishes. You still need to get ready."

Not too long later, Jason showered and changed back into his clothes. Piper was chilling on the couch when Jason came out of the bathroom.

"I just got a text for Percy. He and Annabeth will be here soon." Jason said casually.

Piper felt bad for the way she talked to Annabeth; she was glad she's coming so she could apologize, but she was scared Annabeth might be mad at her.

"When do we leave?" Piper asked a moment later.

"As soon as they get here and pack you a small bag. It'll just be for a few nights." Piper nodded even though she had this weird icky feeling in her stomach. Jason saw the flash of uneasiness in her eyes; he quickly crossed the room and popped a squat next to her. He used his hand to guide her chin up so she was facing him.

"Hey, it'll be okay." He said firmly before leaning in and capturing her lips. Her lips were so soft and felt perfect against his; she was perfect. Sometimes Jason thought he didn't deserve her. But he couldn't think like that, he couldn't doubt himself at a time like this. Mayyyybe afterwards, but not now. Not when Piper's life depended on him.

Their lips brushed, once, twice, before Jason claimed them. Their lips moved at a slow, torturous pace that drove him crazy, making him want more every time their lips met. Piper wrapped her arms around Jason's neck, digging her hands into his soft, blond hair. In that moment, everything felt normal until there was a loud knock on the door before it busted open. The couple jumped away from each other as Jason got up inhumanly quick ready to defend himself and Piper if necessary. But it was just Percy, Jason's vampire best friend. Moment of normalness lost.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Percy asked nonchalantly.

"No" Piper replied as Jason said, "Yes"

Percy chuckled as Jason gave him a half-kidding glare. A figure entering the apartment caught Piper's attention. Suddenly the apartment was silent as Annabeth hesitantly entered the apartment. She was wearing the same navy blue scoop neck shirt under her army green jacket and faded jeans that she wore yesterday. Their eyes locked for a long moment, Annabeth looked on edge and uncomfortable. Her muscles were rigid and tense. Piper gave her a small smile and she seemed to relax.

"I need to go pack a bag…" Piper paused, "Annabeth?" She perked up. "Will you help?"

Annabeth smiled and followed behind her to her room. Annabeth softly shut the door before turning to Piper. Just as she finished turning Piper threw her arms around Annabeth in a bear hug.

"I'm so sorry, Annabeth. I shouldn't have said those things to you." Piper cried.

Annabeth wrapped her arms around Piper. "No, No it's okay. It wasn't your fault. I-I should have told you."

"I would have never believed you. I still wouldn't. I mean, Vampires? I feel like I should be locked up in a insane asylum." Piper said half-kiddingly.

Annabeth laughed, "I thought so too, but there's something you should know…" Piper nodded as they moved to sit on her bed.

Annabeth spoke softly, whispering, "Remember Luke?" Piper nodded. "And my 'scarf phase' I went through while I was dating him."

It seemed to make sense, even on the hottest of days in the summer Annabeth would wear one of her scarves around her neck. She always wore it, even around the house. Piper always took it as a stupid style phase, even though she was never into modern trends.

"Yea… I found out just two months into dating him. He used me as a blood bag for over a year until I broke it off." She paused. "I was so scared of the things he could do…"

"It's okay. He's gone now. Besides you have Percy." Piper added with a smile. A small smile rose on Annabeth's face at his name. It was all over her face that she had it bad. Piper had a feeling though that Percy needs her more than she needs him. Jason said he's new so controlling his hunger and all that jazz is hard, but Annabeth has experience with this vampire stuff so she'll be good for him.

"Enough boy talk, the past is the past. We need to get packing." Annabeth said with a genuine smile.

It took about 10 minutes to put a bag together for each of them; a few shirts, a pair of jeans, sweats, jacket, undies, etc… They then headed back to where they left the boys. Both were chilling on the couch watching TV, but they perked up when they heard their footsteps and hushed voices coming down the hall.

Once they had surface Jason asked, "Ready?" Piper nodded. Everything seemed easier now with her best friend beside her.

…..

The rest of the day flew by.

Nico drove Annabeth and Percy in a small Dodge Neon, while Piper and Jason kept Leo company in his brown Jimmy SUV that he called Buford. It took about a half an hour to get to their destination with a quick stop to Little Caesars for Hot and Ready Pizzas, aka Lunch, just before they got to their destination. Their hide out for the next few days was an old abandoned house just outside Oradell, New Jersey. From what Piper could tell was it was huge, at least 3 stories tall with a few acres of land around it covered with thick layers of pine trees. The scenery was eerie and gave her chills as she stepped out of the car.

The gravel driveway crunched under her feet as she walked into the house. The faded, decaying wood creaked under her steps as she stepped onto the wraparound porch. The vampires quickly ushered them inside; Nico and Leo stayed back to do a check around the area. Percy set dinner on the table, but wasted no time digging in. He grabbed his own box and headed for the couch.

Vampires must have a really high metabolism because Percy doesn't look like he'll stop eating anytime soon, Piper thought as Percy munched into his 3 slice within a minute. Piper wished she could just inhale food like that.

Did vampires even breathe? Did they need to eat anything other than blood or did they just choose to eat to look normal? Piper needed a manual for all this supernatural stuff. Shaking her head, Piper grabbed a slice and sat on a stool. She wasn't feeling very hungry, but she picked at her slice.

The day had just begun and she felt exhausted. Jason made it better in some ways. He was being supportive yet still giving her some space. Piper still really liked him, which never changed, but vampires? Him being a vampire didn't scare her, but the fact that there are so many out there. And if there are vampires than what else is there? Now that was a scary thought.

The rest of the day, Piper got settled into her room on the main floor. She tossed her bag onto an old fashioned chair in the corner of the room and flopped onto her bed. She let her eyes rest for a few moments, but only for few moments because if she stayed lying down for too long she would think. If she thought too much she might go crazy. Picking herself up, Piper jumped off the bed and began settling in.

She made her bed and set her toiletries out on the dresser. It had a thin coat of dust on it, but Piper didn't mind. Piper couldn't help but think that Annabeth might go crazy because of Spiders crawling around everywhere. She laughed; it was only a matter of time.

A few hours later, once Piper decided she couldn't hole out in her room any longer, she stepped into the living room area. To her surprise, only one person was there. It took a moment for Piper to recall his name, it was Leo; he was hard to forget though, with curly brown hair and tan skin with a face and stature that reminded Piper of an elf. He was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. The soft glow of the orange fire radiated onto him giving him a soft halo of light.

Gingerly, she approached him walking carefully over; he seemed lost in thought. Piper stopped three quarters of the way there deciding she didn't want to bother him. She started to turn back when a voice chimed in.

"I was wondering when you would stop staring and come talk to me." He said mockingly, "I don't blame you; the ladies can't get enough of this."

Piper busted out laughing; Leo turned raising an eyebrow at her, but cracked a smile.

"How rude, I was being serious." Leo sulked. Piper rolled her eyes as she popped a squat next to Leo on the couch. There was a long pause as Piper stared into the fire.

"So where did everyone go?" Piper finally asked.

"Jason and Nico went out hunting for Octavian, Percy and Annabeth are upstairs 'settling in'" he air quoted, "Jason and Nico should be back before sunrise."

"Doesn't Octavian want to kill Jason?" Leo shrugged. "So why Jason would go out looking for him? Shouldn't he be hiding out here with us?"

"Jason's the strongest of all of us and Nico is next in line after that, so that makes him best on the search and destroy party."

"I thought Percy was stronger?" Piper asked.

"He can be, but he can't control any of his powers. It's all in the heat of the moment which we can't rely on."

"Still walking around the streets looking for Octavian is stupid. Why don't we just put a big target on his back?" Piper could feel herself getting angry. Could he be any more stupid? Worry and the want to slap him upside the head swirled inside of her.

"See you've gotta see it from his point of view. If he stayed here, he might lure Octavian here. Right to you." He turned to Piper with a shielded look in his eyes. She quickly looked away. It scared her seeing Octavian again. If they met again, she didn't know if she would make it out alive. Last time she was lucky that Jason walked in, but would he be there next time?

….

Sure enough, Nico and Jason strolled in around 6, when the sun was beginning to set, with Chinese carry out. They each had 2 big bags of food in their hands. Leo jumped off the couch towards the food they set on the island. Silently, Piper took a plate of food and set out for her room. The boys caught up, from what Piper heard they hadn't found anything; there was no sign of Octavian; they even tried retracing his steps from the grill. No such luck.

Their conversation started to die out as Piper headed to her room. Jumping onto her bed, she sat Indian style and enjoyed the food. In these crazy days, it really was the simple things that made life seem better.

….

Piper didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she had woken up.

Darkness had settled around her, only the soft bustle of the wind was heard just outside her window. Piper shifted, turning onto her side, to get more comfortable. She laid there for a few moments, but a chilling feeling ran down her spine. Opening her eyes, she blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The darkness started to shape into a person. Wait, a person? That didn't make sense. Piper rubbed her eyes, but the shape was still there.

Her breath stilled. Slowly, she turned. The moonlight cast a shadow over there face, but she didn't need to see it to know who it was.

"Octavian.." she whispered, barely audible.

A joke-like grin spread ear to ear and everything went black.