A/N: I kept wanting to write something, then holding back when I realized I wasn't that far in the plot yet.

Chapter 29-Showdown

Percy's POV

They slowly emerged from the trees, all in one big pack. I couldn't see how many there were, but it was a crap-ton.

"We think at least sixty of them, my lady." Thalia was right beside us, after getting the estimate, "They outnumber us three-to-one here."

They started circling the house. Artemis and I followed their progress step for step.

"What are they doing?" I asked, frustrated at not knowing my enemy.

"They're wolves." Artemis answered, "They're looking for a weakness that they can exploit. I've provided that weakness."

"But aren't they human, too?"

Thalia chuckled, then Artemis spoke again, "They'll discount the biggest weakness they find, knowing that it's probably a trap, and hit the second weakest spot."

The wolves passed through the woods again, and vanished for a few minutes. Then I could hear shouts of alarm from behind me, on the other side of the house.

"Di immortals!" Artemis swore, "They're going after the first one!"

We ran through the house to find Hunters desperately holding off the entire pack of wolves. I could see three were already on the ground, bleeding from claws. As we got there, the rest of the Hunt arrived, firing arrows into the pack. The wolves adroitly dodged most of them, only a few getting wounded by glancing hits.

About ten of the twenty Hunters drew silver hunting knives. Each Hunter apparently had one in addition to their two Celestial Bronze ones. I concentrated, forming a thin edge of blue flame at the very edge of Light. This would have to work.

A werewolf leapt at me, but I ducked under and brought Light down. It nearly burned all the way through the wolf, killing it. I heard another scream of pain as a Hunter, Aiko, was sliced by the werewolves.

Turning, I could see more wolves surrounding Aiko, who was holding her knife in her left hand. Aiko's right hand was bloody, torn up by the wolves. I poured on the speed, then slammed Light down in a vertical swing. An arc of fire flashed out of the blade, burning the wolves in front of the Aiko and making the others lunge back.

Aiko stabbed one through throat, killing it, then stomped on another's skull. She nodded her thanks as I turned away, rolling under a werewolves' leap. I burned through it's stomach in midair, then cut another that was trying to race past me.

Just then, more arrows flashed from the forest across the yard. The rest of the Hunters, ten of them, were firing from high up in the trees. The surprise volley hit the wolves in the back, letting most of the arrows hit. Wolves yelped and fell, most taking two or more arrows before dying. Just as things started to go right, however, the werewolves broke through the Hunters who were fighting hand-to-hand, and struck the bow-wielding figures behind them. Four more Hunters were badly injured, out of combat for the while.

And I was on the opposite side of the yard, with a good forty werewolves still between me and the rest of the Hunters. I started burning my way through, but I could tell I would be too late. Then a figure in black with a hooded cape cut in front of them, her scythe carving wolves into pieces.

Behind Saracen, the line reformed, and held against the werewolves again. Artemis was cutting her way towards the group of Hunters as well, until one wolf in particular morphed into a man with clawed hands, carrying a Stygian Iron sword and hypaspist's shield. Lycaon.

Artemis attacked him with her two silver hunting knives while I was burning wolves. Lycaon caught her blows on his sword and shield, and tried a punch with his sword hand. Artemis did a handspring backward, and unslung her bow, bringing it up.

A werewolf blocked my vision for a few seconds until I killed it with a quick slice of my sword. I saw Artemis deflect his sword with the bow, and hit him in the gut. It didn't seem to faze Lycaon, though, who swung the edge of his shield up, the rim catching Artemis in the side and threw her away.

A werewolf crashed into me, throwing us both to the ground. My fist found it's flank as claws racked down my chest. I rolled, throwing him off, then buried Light into him. I pulled it out before I realized the blade passed right through it, as it should. Concentrating, I burned through it's neck, which did kill him.

Now maybe twenty-five wolves were still fighting, but at least half of the Hunt were out of the fight, nursing injuries too bad to continue fighting. Arin and Gwen were fighting back to back, Arin's staff whirling around and smacking werewolves. Gwen, on the other hand, had light her fists on fire and was punching the wolves. They were doing well. Saracen was alone, Crescent Moon cutting through the air and forcing the wolves back. The line of Hunters was holding, but all of the Hunters that were formerly shooting from behind them had taken a place in it. The Hunters in the trees were still shooting, though, but the wolves were still dodging.

We were winning, the wolves gradually backing up to the forest. The Hunters started pressing away from the walls of the Wolf House, fighting harder. Then a loud howl ripped across the field. I turned to see thirteen or so wolves jump from the top of the Wolf House, landing on the eight Hunters holding the line. The line shattered, most of the Hunters gravely wounded.

Artemis glanced over, still fighting Lycaon, then gasped. Lycaon took advantage of this, bashing Artemis with the shield and cutting her in the thigh. I took a deep breath, bracing myself, then teleported us all on top of the downed line of Hunters.

Artemis was shocked, but quickly went to work defending the fallen Hunters with Saracen, Arin, and I while Gwen started dragging the wounded Hunters back. I could tell this was a last stand, and the werewolves knew it too. Lycaon was striding forward, smirking, with more then twenty wolves still alive. The fighting stopped as he stepped out from behind the werewolves.

"You have lost." he gloated, "My Pack is stronger than your Hunt."

"We're not dead yet." Artemis shot back, "And if we fall, I will take you with me."

Just then, however, six figures charged out of the woods, smashing into the back of the wolves. Lighting flashed down from the sky, hitting Jason's sword, and arced out to hit a good fifth of the wolves. Connor, Travis, Martin, Frank, Hank, and Jason all attacked with silver swords and spears while the five of us started fighting again. Artemis lunged at Lycaon, and fought with renewed spirit, pressing him back into the horde of wolves.

Saracen, Arin, Gwen and I kept killing the werewolves, carving our way to where Artemis was fighting Lycaon. There was one last line of maybe ten wolves between us and the duel. We were winning again. Then I saw Lycaon make a small gesture, and I lunged forward. A werewolf charged at Artemis, its jaws snapping. It leapt at Artemis while she caught Lycaon's sword in crossed knives. I jumped, shoving myself in between the wolf and Artemis. Its jaws closed into my shoulder for a brief second before I tore it off me and killed it.

Artemis was slammed with Lycaon's shield. It sent her to the ground right next to me, unmoving. My shoulder was on fire with pain, so much more then anything I had experienced before. I pushed myself up on one hand, before spinning and blocking Lycaon's sword as it came down on Artemis.

I climbed to my feet, using two hands to push his sword upwards. I was exhausted, the product of using my powers for so long. His shield swung at me, but I threw myself to the side, stumbling and falling.

Artemis had gotten up, and caught Lycaon's sword as is swept down at me. Then Saracen buried her scythe into his back, and jerked it out.

Lycaon screamed, "This isn't over!"

He disappeared, along with those of his wolves that were still alive, maybe fifteen or so, including injured.

I groaned on the ground, trying to get up. My shoulder felt like it was dipped in acid and light on fire, then put through a meat grinder. Saracen rushed over to me, while Arin checked on Artemis. I could barely move, but Saracen knew what to do. She took out my flask, and poured a bit into my mouth, then moved my hand over my shoulder. Grimacing, I healed it, but the pain was still there. I could get up, though, and went to Artemis. She was bleeding from cuts and stab wounds all over her body. Lycaon had beaten her thouroghly. I moved from wound to wound, healing most of them, then moved onto the other Hunters. Artemis was healing them too.

Most of them had claw wounds, which I healed quickly. I had another mouthful of my gunk, and kept working. Most of them, I just healed until there wouldn't be a risk of dying, then moved on. There were two left. Pheobe and Diana. Pheobe's arms and legs were heavily lacerated, so it took me quite a while to heal. Then I turned to Diana, but when I felt her skin, it was cold. There wasn't a pulse, either.

She was nine years old, a Hunter for a month at most. The last Hunter I had brought in. The youngest Hunter. I sat there, weeping over Diana's body. Picking her up, I walked outside, still crying. She was dead.

The six questers were all high-fiving and celebrating, but Artemis was standing there, alone, while Saracen, Arin, Gwen were talking solemnly.

They all turned, to see me carrying Diana's body. Artemis looked at me, and I nodded, confirming she was dead.

"What happened?" Arin spoke.

"I was too slow." I replied, my voice cracking, "I couldn't heal them fast enough."

"I'm sorry." Gwen, normally so upbeat, looked sad now. The death of a demigod was never good, and it was even worse for a Hunter. "She was so young."

Saracen walked up, putting a hand on my shoulder, "It isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself."

"But if I was faster-"

"No. It wasn't you. It was Lycaon and his pack. They are the ones you need to blame." Saracen cut me off, then closed Diana's eyes, "Now we can lay her to rest."

I nodded wordlessly. Artemis took Diana from me, and said a few words over her, "May the judges decide your fate favorably. You deserve Elysium"

Then she looked at me, "Saracen is right. You did not kill her, the werewolves did. You guarded us well, and did the best you could."

"I wasn't good enough!" I shouted back.

Artemis glared at me, "You were. My planning was flawed. I thought I could trap them, but they dodged it. If I had planned it better, she would be alive."

Meanwhile, the three demigods from Camp Half-Blood were watching like they couldn't believe what they were seeing. The Roman demigods looked like is was crazy, talking back to a goddess known for hating men.

"Both of you. Shut it." Saracen said in a deadly voice, "No amount of arguing will bring her back. And we have another problem on our hands."

She pointed at the six demigods from the camps, "What's your story?"

Jason spoke first, "We heard fighting, and ran to investigate. We ran into these three just inside the treeline, but after seeing the lycanthropes, we decided to work together."

That distracted me for a while, and I had something to say, "Ok, then. Connor, Travis, and Martin, meet Jason, Hank, and Frank. Jason's the lightning guy, Frank's the big one, and Hank's the one with brown hair. Connor and Travis are the twins, and Martin's the blond guy."

"We have a lot to talk about." Artemis said, both to me and the six other demigods. Around us, the Hunt was getting up from their injuries. This was going to be a long night. . .

A/N: And you have your action. Yes, Lycaon survived, and no, he doesn't have the power to flash by himself, so who helped him? And, the Pack beat the Hunt, mostly because I really like wolves, but partly because they outnumbered the Hunters two-to-one. The reason they outnumbered the Hunt three-to-one there was because some of the Hunt members were in the woods, waiting to spring a failed trap, if you didn't pick it up.

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