So sorry that it took so long to update! But I think this chapter is well worth the wait ;) Read on, my friends!
Annabeth P.O.V.
Night fell quickly over the camp that night. She strolled through the training grounds, wandering alone, lost in thought. She didn't particularly care for or trust Vlad and Daphne, but she didn't want them to die, especially knowing Hera wanted their deaths. What Annabeth couldn't figure out was why. What was so special about these two that Hera wanted to make sure they died? And why did she want them dead anyways? None of this made sense.
"Want some company?"
Annabeth smiled and turned around, relieved. "Percy." She said. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show."
Percy walked over to her and put his hands on her hips. "Not show? For you? Never."
He bent his head down and kissed her, lightly at first, but the passion grew until his arms were encircling her waist and her hands were in his hair. Kissing him felt so good, like a release of some sort. She didn't have to be perfect with him, but their kisses and stolen moments together were. He loved her, and she loved him, and some days she thought that was all that mattered.
As he pulled away from her and pressed his forehead to hers, Annabeth's heart dropped. She felt so amazing with Percy, like it was more right than anything in the world should be allowed to be. She knew she'd die for him, for their love, without a moment's hesitation. Maybe they weren't the best together, and maybe people thought it was wrong, but she wouldn't give him up. Is this how Daphne and Vlad feel? She wondered, feeling guilt. Like they belong together no matter what anyone else thinks?
Suddenly she wasn't so sure about their plan to tear the two apart.
Selena P.O.V.
Selena and Daphne walked back to their cabins together after dinner. Daphne was chattering about something or other ; Selena wasn't really listening. She kept looking at her friend and thinking, Will she survive the prophecy?
"Sel? Are you listening?" Daphne asked.
"Huh?" Selena asked. "Oh, uh, yeah."
Daphne laughed. "No you aren't. You seem really tired. Go on and go to sleep, I'll tell you tomorrow."
Selena smiled and said goodnight to her friend before entering her cabin. She brushed her hair, put it in a pony tail, threw on her pajamas, and fell into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Selena dreamed again of Daphne as if from ancient Grecian times.
Daphne was running through a city, knocking people out of her way in her haste. Footsteps thundered behind her, along with shouts of "Halt!" and "Catch her!" Finally one of her pursuers—a guard of some sort—grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her.
"We've caught you now, girl." He sneered in her ear. "No one can save you from the law."
Suddenly a man appeared, seemingly from thin air, next to the guard. He was a gorgeous creature: well-kept, sandy hair; bright blue eyes; and a body that would attract any girl to him. And he looked very, very pissed off.
"Let her go." He said in a commanding tone of voice.
The guard holding on to Daphne smirked. "Sorry, boy, but she's coming with me."
The mysterious man's eyes hardened. "Actually, she's not."
Everything went white. Then, suddenly, the mysterious man and Daphne were standing in a field, alone but for the two of them.
"Who are you?" Daphne asked, backing away from the stranger that had somehow brought her away from the city in a matter of seconds. "Where are we? What's going on?!"
"Calm down and I'll explain everything." The man said. Seeing that Daphne was silent, he continued. "I am Apollo, god of the sun."
Daphne's eyes widened. "Y-You…you're…you're Apollo?"
"Yes, child. I am Apollo. Do not bow to me," he said, for Daphne had begun to get on her knees. She stood back up. "We are far away from the city. You are safe here. I'm going to tell you something, something that you will forget until the moment you need it."
Daphne took a deep breath and nodded her head, indicating that Apollo could continue.
"You and your lover? You will die. You will die for your love many times, for many years. When you are finally in the right time, you will finally be together. But, you will have to fight a great battle. Many lives will be lost. You will be betrayed. Through the bloodshed and betrayal, you must remember the strength of your love."
Daphne's eyes were wide. She opened her mouth to say something….
And Selena woke up. Dammit, she thought, what was she going to say?! As she lay in bed, looking at the ceiling, Selena thought about the dream over and over, making sense of it. Apollo told her she won't remember it until it's time…time for what? Selena wondered. Is there going to be a battle? And betrayal…that was in the prophecy too, wasn't it?
Selena sighed. What do I do?
Percy P.O.V.
The next day began as normally as any at Camp Half-Blood. Percy was trying desperately to beat an Ares kid in a fight—a battle he was destined to lose—when suddenly the sky turned black. Not just it-was-about-to-rain black. The clouds that rolled in out of nowhere were literally pitch-black. Percy could only think of one reason for the sky to look like that: some god was pissed. There was a crack of thunder so loud Percy's fellow campers clamped their hands over their ears and winced.
"Everyone inside!" Chiron yelled. Into the Dining Pavilion the campers ran.
"Percy!" He heard Annabeth call out. He turned to find her, and then she was in his arms, briefly, but still. "What's going on?" she asked.
"I have no idea."
"Percy! Annabeth!" It was Vlad. "Where's Daphne?"
"Probably with Selena." Annabeth said. Vlad nodded and ran off to find the girls. "I know Chiron told us not to, but I still want to keep them away from each other." Annabeth said to Percy.
"I know. So do I. But we have to follow orders."
Percy caught sight of Vlad standing across the room, finally having found Daphne and Selena. The two girls looked slightly afraid. He seemed to be comforting them.
The room was flooded with choruses of "What's going on?" and "Which one of the gods is mad and why?" Everyone knew Mr. D would probably be useless, seeing as he was laughing loudly, red in the face and quite drunk. Chiron stepped to the center of the room and took charge.
"Everyone quiet!" he yelled. No one spoke.
As the room went silent, a booming voice could be heard throughout the camp. "Demigods! This is Hermes speaking." Knowing he had everyone's attention, the god continued. "We have a very serious problem that has angered the gods. Someone has kidnapped Aphrodite."
All of the Aphrodite kids immediately freaked out. Percy tried to comprehend it. A goddess had gone missing from Mount Olympus. How in the hell had that happened? Mount Olympus was the home of the gods, and one of them had been kidnapped from there? What the hell was gonna happen next?
Hermes' voice was gone, his message over. Outside, the sky was still black, but everyone was panicking. Would their parent be next? Where was Aphrodite? Who could be powerful enough to invade the home of the gods and kidnap one?
Suddenly, somehow, a tapestry in the corner caught on fire. Screams echoed through the hall as the campers flooded out to escape the flames. As soon as everyone was outside, mysteriously, the flames died down.
"What's going on?" Percy wondered aloud, suddenly suspicious. He looked around for anything out of the ordinary, and then…
"Daphne! Look out!" he yelled, but it was too late. A shadow surrounded her, black and thick, billowing up like smoke. It came from behind. As soon as she saw it, her eyes became filled with terror.
Somehow the shadow pulled her down. She hit the ground with a loud thud. Finally she could scream as it dragged her away, too fast for anyone to process.
"Daphne!" Vlad shouted, running alongside Selena to catch her.
He dove, and his hands touched hers, and for a minute Percy thought he was going to save her. But then, with a sickening, terrified scream, Daphne vanished into the shadow, into midair. She was gone.
The whole camp stood, frozen, petrified. That certainly hadn't been one of the gods summoning her, which could only mean one thing: someone had somehow infiltrated the camp's barriers.
"Everyone to your cabins, now." Chiron ordered, his voice deadly soft. Slowly the onlookers made their ways to their respective cabins. "Except for you, Vlad and Selena. I want to see you two in my office." Without even waiting to see if they'd follow, Chiron turned and walked away.
"Should we go too?" Annabeth whispered to Percy.
Percy shook his head. "No. He didn't ask us to come. Let's just go to bed."
Reluctantly, the two left the scene, casting glances back at Vlad and Selena as they went.
Vlad P.O.V.
Right there. She'd been right there, and she'd slipped from between his fingers. When his fingertips had brushed against hers, he'd felt the absolute terror that was reflected in her eyes. It hadn't yet left him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He realized he was still lying on the ground, but in that moment he could've cared less. "Vlad." It was Selena. "We have to go see Chiron."
"She was right there, right in my reach, and I didn't save her." Vlad whispered.
Selena tilted his head up until he met her eyes. They were beautiful, sure, but they had nothing on Daphne's. "Chiron will help us save her. Come on, Vlad."
Slowly, and with Selena's hands on his arm and back, Vlad stood up. The two of them walked together to Chiron's office. He was pacing back and forth, apparently talking to himself. When he finally noticed them, he hastily motioned for them to come in.
"No immortal could've breached the security." Chiron said in a rushed tone. "It was no god, or titan, or immortal, or even demigod that did this. In fact, it was no one from our side of the tracks, so to speak."
"What are you saying?" Selena asked, but Vlad understood.
"You think it was someone from my past."
Chiron nodded while Selena looked at him in shock. "That's right. No one else could've gotten here. I know your memory is fuzzy, but do you have any idea who might want to hurt you, or who might want revenge against you? Anyone at all?"
Vlad thought hard for a long minute. Come on, memory. He thought. I really need you to work right now. But nothing came except fuzzy images that hurt his head. "I'm sorry," he said, shoulders slumped, "but I can't—"
He froze as a wave of a memory hit him. "Vlad?" he heard Selena ask. "What's wrong?" But he couldn't answer. Black gloves. Black clothes. The Lucis. The Pravus. An Elder.
"D'Ablo." Vlad said suddenly, looking straight ahead, clenching his fist. "That bastard must've found me somehow. He's been trying to kill me for two years now."
"Do you remember anything else about him?" Chiron asked.
"I thought I killed him with the Lucis, but he got healed. He hates me for being the Pravus, he wants my powers. And he's an Elder, as well as being the president of the Elysian council."
Selena looked impressed. "Wow. That came back quick."
"That's all I remember. No face, no voice, nothing but that."
"Still, it's enough." Chiron said. "I need to be advised. You two may go, for now."
As Selena and Vlad left, Selena started crying. Vlad pulled her to a secluded area where no one would see. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm being ridiculous. It's just..Daphne is my best friend. I don't want anything to happen to her." Selena sniffed.
"Trust me, neither do I." Vlad said. "But I promise—"
"Wait, there's…something I need to tell you." Selena bit her lip. "Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron wanted to plot to keep you two apart. They pulled me in on it. Percy used you having a girlfriend against you, to convince you to walk away from Daphne. But she really likes you, and I didn't want to hurt my friend."
Vlad blinked. That sneaky little… "Why are you telling me this?"
Selena met his eyes. "Because I trust you, and I want you to trust me. Because we're the only ones who are going to be willing to do literally anything to get Daphne back. We're going to need to trust each other if no one else. And I don't think we can trust Percy or Annabeth. I think at the end of the day, they're going to want to do what they think is best. Everyone believes you two are the lovers in the prophecy; they're going to have the camp's 'best interest' in mind as opposed to Daphne's, whether they're right or wrong."
"What are you saying?" Vlad asked.
"I trust you. I need you to trust me. That's the only way we'll be able to work together to get her back."
Vlad nodded. "Alright. You're right. I trust you."
Selena smiled a little bit, but it faded quickly and was replaced with a tear rolling down her cheek. "We'll get her back, right?"
"Yeah," Vlad said. "I swear we will. I'll make sure of it."
Daphne P.O.V.
It was cold, and dark. She was alone. The thick smoke had choked her, clouded her eyes. The next thing she could see was a few feet around her in some kind of room. The floor was stone, she could feel, and froze her skin when she touched it. She became aware of pain in her knee, the one she'd landed on when she got pulled down. Squinting in the darkness, she found it was scratched up and bruised, but not too badly injured otherwise. In the distance she heard a door squeak open, and then footsteps. If there's one thing I've learned from horror movies, it's not to ask if anyone's there, Daphne thought, clamping her mouth shut. The footsteps grew louder and louder until finally, a few feet in front of her, they stopped. A light flicked on, so bright she had to blink rapidly to adjust her eyes.
Quickly Daphne took in her surroundings. She could see now that she was in some sort of cell. It was maybe seven feet by eight feet, give or take a few inches. The floor was, in fact, stone of some sort; it looked like cement. The walls were made of cinder blocks. The ceiling was maybe ten or twelve feet above her. There were no windows or any means of escape except for the bars blocking her into the room. Finally she looked up at the person that had entered the room. He wore all black, including black gloves, and looked to be around the age of an average adult. His hair was dark and slicked back, and the smile on his face sent chills down Daphne's spine.
You are the child of a god, she reminded herself, do not show him fear.
"Hello, Daphne." The man said. "I understand you know a boy named Vladimir Tod. This is lucky for me, but for you?" He tsk'd. "That boy has just signed your death warrant."
The man bent down and pressed his face close to the bars that held Daphne in. "Such a shame. You're a pretty girl. He could've made you a drudge, if he wasn't the Pravus."
The Pravus and the ocean's son! Daphne remembered. "Alright, I bite. What the hell is a 'Pravus'?"
"He has told you nothing, has he? Ah, wait, he probably can't remember. Thank goodness Gaea awoke mine."
Daphne didn't even bother hiding the shock at hearing Gaea's name fall from the man's lips. He smirked at her expression. "Yes, I know who you are. You're the daughter of a god. I honestly didn't believe it when she told me, but then again I didn't believe that I'd be here either. I don't want to hurt you. I honestly want nothing to do with you. But she wants the same thing as I: for Vladimir to be dead. Unfortunately, she gave me by summer's solstice to do it. Which is where you come in." Daphne felt her stomach drop. "He will find you, faithful to his friends as he is. He will find a way. Once he is here, I will kill him, and the boy that Gaea wants will die as well. What was his name again? Perry? Pearly? Oh, yes…Percy."
"Why do you want them dead?" Daphne asked.
"Oh I don't want the demigod dead, just the Pravus. That's right, you don't know what that is. Care to know?" He took Daphne's silence as a cue to continue. "He is the only vampire who was born, not made. His father, Thomas Tod, had relations with a beautiful woman named Mellina. She became pregnant, which has never before happened. So they stole away to the little town of Bathory, where they were safe for nearly ten years. But then, tragically, they died in a fire, leaving Vlad orphaned and in the care of Mellina's best friend, Nelly. The Pravus is rumoured to have remarkable powers, and I want them. To obtain his powers, I must kill young Vladimir. Do you understand? It's nothing personal, just business."
"You bastard." Daphne spit out at him.
The man's smile widened. "That's one word for me. But I would prefer if you called me by my name. D'Ablo."
Hope you enjoyed! Please rate and review NOTE: I was not sure how D'Ablo was described because I couldn't remember. If you know how he actually looks, please comment and let me know and I will change it pronto. Thank you
Vlad: He kidnapped Daphne to get to me! That son of a b—
Percy: Let's watch the language here, kids!
Selena: PERCY SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Percy: Well now. That was rude.
Selena: My best friend was just kidnapped by a psychopath. Call me rude again and I will put you on a plane to Egypt.
Percy: But but but I don't like planes!
Selena: *evil smile* I know.
Annabeth: Hey guys! Let's all calm down and just keep swimming, just keep swimming!
Vlad: And these are the idiots I'm relying on to help me…where's Henry when you need him…
Me: Knowing Henry, probably snogging some cute girl. (I love that word—snogging is so fun to say)
Vlad:….This is true….
Me: Bye readers!