Dearest Readers,

Thank you all for sticking with me! I took a day off on the schedule cuz I had gotten crazy busy but now I'm back and ready for some more updates :) I'm restarting my Harry Potter story, Lawfully Wed, today as well, so be sure to check that out, too!

As always, let me know what you think about this chapter. I had been waiting to let some of this steam out from the other demigods for a while.

XOXO Ally Layne.

Holy Water

Chapter 23: Demigod Intervention

"You certainly took your time in getting back to the motel. I was wondering if I was going to die of old age before you came back," Persie said, crossing her arms at the eldest Winchester.

Before he had even shown up, she knew that Dean was worried about her. She did, especially considering he had allowed Sam to call in the reinforcements when she knew it was the last thing he'd ever agree to in a normal situation.

Besides, the look of relief that crossed his handsome features after he saw her spoke for itself.

He walked forward and wrapped her in a strong hug, not realizing even when she let a groan out from the strain he put on her ribs.

Even after being able to take a shower and get cleaned up, she still felt like shit.

"Where were you?" Dean asked, his lips in her hair

"I was waiting for you all here when you guys went to where the vamp was holding me," she explained, slowly pulling herself out of his arms to look up at him and his own green eyes.

"When we saw those girls…" Pain shrouded his features.

Persie's eyebrows scrunched together. "Annabeth told me that their heads were ripped off."

Dean nodded, before turning to look where Sam and Annabeth were now huddled together by Sam's laptop. "Do either of you have a plan?"

Thalia snorted from where she was leaning against the wall next to Jason and Nico. "You're not realizing that the woman always has a plan."

Persie rolled her eyes. "Well I can count a few times where-"

"Persie!"

"Sorry, Wise Girl."

Rachel walked over to where Annabeth and Sam were standing, peering over their shoulders to look at the screen. "Do we have any idea where that one vamp guy is?"

"You mean, the one we didn't kill?" Nico asked, depleted of any tone in his voice.

She grinned. "No, Death Boy, I meant the dead one."

Dean looked down at Persie. "And he's the son of Hades, right?"

She nodded. "The shoe definitely fits, doesn't it?"

He nodded.

Nico scowled over at them and gave Persie the middle finger.

Will smiled at them from where he was standing next to Frank, Hazel, and Reyna across the room. "He does."

"You're supposed to be on my side," Nico told the blond son of Apollo.

Will shrugged. "You're acting like a stereotype, babe."

The rest of them pretended not to see the pink flush on the goth boy's cheeks.

Although, in her head, Persie was squealing in excitement for her OTP. She figured that oughta count for something.

Rachel sighed. "So is everyone's silence telling me that I have to scry again? You all know that I get awful migraines after doing that."

Persie winced. "Sorry, Rache."

The red-head shrugged. "If it helps save a few lives, I guess it'll be worth it."

"How heroic," Clarisse deadpanned, from where she sat with her back against the wall, picking out whatever gross stuff she had accumulated underneath her fingernails. It could've been the blood of the enemies or tears from babies.

But Persie doubted it was both at the same time. That'd be too much.

"I just want to say thank you for all of you showing up when you thought I was missing," Persie said, walking over to put an arm around Rachel's shoulder and threw a wink over at the grumbling Clarisse. "It really shows me how cared for I am, you know?"

"I just think we came because no one here wanted to deal with Annabeth if you were missing again," Thalia said, crossing her arms with a low smirk. "She was unbearable the first time."

Persie rolled her eyes. "You're just slightly jealous that I'm her best friend."

Thalia's eyes narrowed into a glare. "You are not-"

"If the two of you start a fight, at least don't do it inside where you'll kill all of us," Annabeth cut them off. "And if you both don't mind, we're trying to find a psycho killer on the loose, so please shut up."

"Are you really going to need all of us for this?" Reyna asked, looking at Persie and then back at Annabeth. "There should be some of us at camp to make sure that the two camps don't suddenly start killing each other."

Persie looked at the leader of the Roman camp with a firm nod. That actually didn't seem too far off in the realm of things that could start happening if everyone had gotten together. "Winter solstice gathering, or what?"

Jason nodded. "It's why we were all together and so easily accessible for Annabeth to pick and choose when she needed us."

Annabeth rolled her head over to glare at the son of Zeus. "I did not pick and choose-"

"Yes, you basically did," Hazel commented, leaning against Frank.

She looked over at Hazel in slight shock. "I thought you were on my side!"

"But essentially even the Hunters are going to need me to look out for them when things start to get a little testy with Capture the Flag," Thalia commented.

Persie felt a faint smile across her lips. "I miss playing that."

Annabeth snickered. "I miss beating you in it."

Thalia smirked. "So do I."

"So, is no one going to ask her why she left, or will it just be me?" Clarisse voiced, looking at the others before turning to stare down the daughter of Poseidon with a deep, concealed anger.

Jason let out a low cough.

"Clarisse, we talked about this-" Annabeth tried to interrupt.

The daughter of Ares shook her head. "No, shut it blondie. I think it's time we actually get some answers from our so-called savior and see why she left us." She glared at Persie. "You abandoned us, Persephone. We fought for you, some of us died for you, and you left us."

Dean straightened. "Woah, hold up here-"

"I'm not talking to you, mortal. This is between your dear little Persie and the rest of us," Clarisse spat.

Persie walked over to Dean and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's fine, hotshot. They're just mad at me."

"Yes, we are," Frank spoke, pulling Hazel closer to his side as he did so. "You left us all to deal with what we had left after the war to ourselves. We needed you, we needed our friend."

Hazel shuddered in his arms. "We lost enough."

Persie could feel the spark of fire that used to emulate from her friend that had passed on what seemed like so long ago. "Guys…"

Clarisse grumbled. "You don't have the right to try and run away from all this, Jackson. Not when we went through most of it because of you."

Persie stiffened.

This time, Dean placed a hand on her shoulder. "Seph?"

"Clarisse, that's enough," Annabeth demanded.

Nico crossed his arms. "She's not entirely wrong."

Will grabbed one of his wrists. "But that doesn't mean anyone should blame her, you know this…"

Persie wrapped her arms around herself. "No, Will, Annabeth… they're both right. A lot of it is my fault, and I'm sorry."

Dean squeezed her shoulder. "Seph, don't-"

"But it wasn't your fault, Kelp Head," Thalia butted in, glaring at the daughter of Ares and completely ignoring her shadowed cousin next to her. "This was all out of your control. You taking blame for everything would be like I should take blame for being turned into a friggin tree."

Dean blinked. "Wait, what?"

Sam looked up at Annabeth. "Did she just say-"

"Yes, newbies, I was a tree for a few years, get with the program," Thalia grumbled, before turning to face Clarisse with a visibly intense frustration. "You need to stop trying to blame everyone else for what happened to us instead of just accepting the fact that we aren't in control of our destinies. We can't control what will happen tomorrow. And just because Persie was willing to step up and take charge when the rest of us weren't doesn't mean that this all lands on her shoulders."

"She's right," Jason said. "If you all start blaming Persie for the wars, then the Romans should be blaming me, too. I was the one who was the center of the prophecies on our side of things."

Persie felt her eyes water slightly at the bravery of the siblings. "Thanks, guys."

"But that doesn't mean that you have a free pass to keep running from whatever you're running from, Persie," Thalia added, looking at the other girl knowingly.

She pursed her lips. "I'm not-"

"I'm calling bullshit on that one," Rachel cut her off, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes at the one who introduced her to this world. "You're definitely running from something, and I have a feeling-"

"Oh, I can't stand your feelings," Annabeth muttered

Rachel rolled her eyes at the blonde. "I have a feeling that it's not as bad as you think it is."

"So we're all agreeing that she's definitely running away from the demigod world and still found her way into chasing and hunting down monsters?" Reyna voiced. "Because I find something very continuous about this chain of events."

Many of them nodded in agreement, but Thalia and Clarisse were still glaring at each other while Nico was still staring off into space. "But I do believe that we should let her figure this out on her own," Will spoke. "I probably know her the least out of all of us, but I still think that these sorts of things are something that a person should figure out for themselves."

"Even if it gets her killed?" Hazel asked, her eyes looking at Persie intently. "You are going to get yourself hurt if you keep going down this road, Persie."

Persie rubbed the back of her neck. "I'll be careful."

Thalia's eyebrows raised. "Tell that to Annabeth giving us a wake up call this morning telling us that you were missing again."

Dean wrapped an arm around the girl at his side. "I will make sure she stays careful."

Sam nodded from where he was still by Annabeth. "I will, too."

Persie rolled her eyes. "I don't need-"

"Yes you do," Everyone spoke in tandem, freaking her out.

"Uh… okay, then?"

Quickly after that brief discussion, Annabeth started to order people around, and a few of the demigods decided to head back to camp to make sure things didn't go terribly wrong while they were gone.

Hopefully Chiron was able to manage the two groups, considering there weren't any other adults that were mature enough to make sure no one died.

Sometimes, Persie wondered how she survived as long in life as she did while being forced to go to camp.

It wasn't exactly as safe as they made it out to be.

Now, the only ones that remained with Persie and the Winchesters was Annabeth, Jason, Thalia, and Nico- although the son of the god of the Underworld was starting to nod off from all the energy he exerted from shadow travelling the others back to Camp Half Blood.

Persie turned to Annabeth. "Was Rachel able to find him?"

"She was only seeing cellphones- di immortales!"

Dean looked over to them from where he was brooding out the window. "Are we ever going to learn what that means when she says that?"

"She's basically saying motherfucker," Thalia explained. "But not really saying it at the same time."

Dean nodded slowly. "Okay, makes sense, but not really at the same time."

Annabeth snapped out of her fit of shock and stalked over to where Sam was still hunched over his computer. "Give me your phone," she demanded.

His eyes widened. "Uh… okay?"

She turned to Dean. "You, older Winchester, cough up your phone."

Thalia, Persie, and Jason looked at their friend as though she lost her marbles. "Wise Girl, why do you want their phone?" Persie voiced her confusion.

Sam handed the blonde his phone without question while Dean tossed it over after a stern glare from her gray eyes. "Gordon might know their numbers," she explained, before pulling the SIM cards out of the phones. "If he does, he can use the cell signal to track them down."

"Oh," Dean said, clearly not having though about that before. He looked to Sam who was looking at Annabeth as though she was a goddess. Well, she was half-goddess, but apparently in Sam's eyes there wasn't a big difference there. "Thanks."

Thalia blinked. "Damn, that's cold."

"It's how monsters are able to track our scents. The cellular signals amplify whatever it is that make them attracted to us, so it's as if demigods have big neon signs saying "eat me" pointing down at our heads," Annabeth explained.

She smashed the phones, handing Thalia the remainder of the pieces. "Feel free to zap these to oblivion for good measure."

The boys looked over at Thalia curiously. "She can do that?" Sam asked.

Annabeth nodded, smirking down at Sam. They watched as lightning seemed to form from her fingertips, blowing the pieces of phone that were left into nothing. "She's a daughter of Zeus, of course she can."

"This is taking some getting used to," Dean admitted, before looking at Persie with wide eyes. "Not that it's a bad thing, but-"

Persie laughed. "It's been over a decade since I found out I was a demigod, and I still haven't gotten used to it."

Dean nodded to her with a small grin. He then was walking back over to the curtains and glancing out them before looking back at Sam and the demigods with a new look of determination on his features. "Sammy, stay here," he said before his eyes flickered over to where Persie was standing. "You too, Seph."

"What?" Sam looked up from his laptop. "Where you going, now?"

Dean pulled the Colt out of his bag, making Persie sigh at his actions as he began to check it. "I'm going after Gordon."

"What?" Sam demanded.

"You heard me."

"Not alone, you're not," Persie corrected as she crossed her arms. "We outnumber this asshole…" She looked at the others briefly, doing the mental calculation, "Eight to one."

Annabeth tilted her head. "It's actually Seven to one-"

"Then I guess I count as two people," Persie cut her off with a glare.

"Look, I don't need you guys to sign me a permission slip, okay?" Dean spoke, and turned to Sam. "He's after you, not me, and he's turbocharged. I want you to stay out of harm's way," he looked over at Persie meaningfully. "The both of you. I'll take care of it."

Thalia let out a cough, but Sam cut in standing up as he said, "You're not going by yourself, you're gonna get killed."

"Just another day at the office."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "A dangerous day for the office."

"You're not helping," Dean deadpanned at the blonde demigod

She shrugged. "You're not thinking."

Sam shook his head at his brother. "So you're the guy with nothing to lose now, huh? Oh wait, let me guess. Because, uh, it's because you're already dead, right?"

Dean shrugged. "If the shoe fits."

Nico raised a hand. "I can say this man is not dead."

They ignored him.

"You know what man?" Sam slammed a hand down on the table, making Persie jolt. "I'm sick and tired of your kamikaze trip."

"Whoa, whoa, kamikaze?" Dean asked. A small smirk crawled onto his lips. "I'm more like a ninja."

"That's not funny."

"It's a little funny," Dean argued.

"No, it's not."

"What do you want me to do, Sam, huh?" Dean crossed his arms, shaking his head at his brother. "Sit around all day writing sad poems about how I'm gonna die? You know what? I got one. Let's see, what rhymes with shut up, Sam?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dude, drop this attitude, Dean. Quit turning everything into a punchline. And you know something else? Stop trying to act like you're not afraid."

Persie winced.

"I'm not!"

"You're lying," Sam said fiercely, narrowing his eyes at his brother. "You may as well drop it cause I can see right through you."

"You got no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, I do. You're scared, Dean. You're scared because your year is running out, and you're still going to Hell, and you're freaked."

Thalia, Jason, and Nico looked to Persie, who shook her head.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I know you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've been following you around my entire life! I mean, I've been looking up to you since I was four, Dean. Studying you, trying to be just like my big brother. So yeah, I know you. Better than anyone else in the entire world. And this is exactly how you act when you're terrified. And, I mean, I can't blame you. It's just…"

Annabeth placed a hand on Sam's arm, and he gave her a grateful look.

Persie walked over to where Dean was standing, fists clenched as he stared down his brother. "What?" Dean demanded.

"I wish you would drop the show and be my brother again," Sam said, his voice cracking slightly. "'Cause… just 'cause."

Dean stopped in his tracks, looking at Sam who was now looking back at him with sorrowful eyes. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Alright. We'll hole up, cover our scent so he can't track us, and wait the night out here."

Persie grabbed his hand with her own.

She didn't say a thing when he squeezed hard enough to break a lesser person.

She knew exactly what he was going through.

"The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap

A single choice will end their days

Olympus to preserve or raze."

Persie shuddered.

Yeah, she knew exactly what he was going through.

.

.

.

.

A little later on, Dean, Thalia, and Jason were working together to barricade the door while Persie and Annabeth worked on the windows. Nico was helping Sam light some incense to block their scent.

The son of the god of the Underworld was the most connected to the monsters and the other side, so Persie didn't argue when he jumped up to help Sam.

"You didn't tell me all of that," Annabeth scolded her friend as she put up another board for Persie to hammer into place.

"What? That Dean's going to Hell?"

Annabeth swallowed, frowning at her friend. "You know I didn't mean it that way."

Persie sighed, rubbing her forehead when she finished and the nail held the board in place. "Look, Wise Girl, I'll talk to you about this later, okay?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "You better, Kelp Head."

All of a sudden, Dean's new phone went off.

Everyone paused.

"You've had that phone for two hours, Dean," Sam commented as Dean grabbed his phone with a small frown. "Who'd you give the number to?"

Dean paused before he answered, looking at his brother. "Nobody." Gruffly, he answered the phone. "Hello?"

All the muscles in his body seemed to tighten like a coil. Sam and Persie walked over to him, watching as his body became more and more tense as the phone call went on.

At the end, they knew there was something very, very wrong.

"He kidnapped a girl," Dean grunted once the phone went dead.

Persie tightened her lips.

She knew she should've killed the bastard when she had the chance.

"He'll kill her if we don't meet him," he continued. "He gave me their location."

Thalia raised a brow. "He'll try to kill the girl either way."

Persie nodded. "So we stop him before he can."

Annabeth nodded as well, rubbing her hands together as the rest of them could see the gears turning in her brain as a new plan started to build itself together in front of her.

Sam looked at Annabeth. "What are you thinking?"

The daughter of Athena felt a grin sweep across her lips, and she looked over at Dean with a small smirk. "Mr. Ninja? You're gonna like this one."