The Darkness Within the Sea

by GallifreyanDemigoddess

Persephone Jackson, the two-times Heroine of Olympus, was not recovering well after the war(s) and Tartarus. She moves to a small town in Virginia with her family, hoping to have a normal life. There was only one problem: Mystic Falls was a monster-infected town. There, as new friendships are formed, she explores the darkness within the sea (within herself) in an attempt to heal.

17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Trials of Apollo, Heroes of Olympus, The Vampire Diaries, and The Originals do not belong to me.

English is not my native language, so I apologize for the mistakes I might have.

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Chapter 17

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The daughter of Poseidon found herself, once again, on the passenger seat of Elijah's car as he drove her home from the Darcy's art studio. It seemed like it had become normal occurrence for them, and for once, the demigoddess didn't particularly mind; they had things to discuss, and she loathed having to walk back home.

Emma seemed delighted when Elijah offered Percy a ride home, oblivious to the fact that they knew each other beforehand and that the only motive for them to be together was a deal they'd made regarding her adoptive father. She liked how they looked together, and that was a thought she'd never imagined she would have, but they had some kind of natural chemistry that allowed the sweet girl to imagine them having a nice time together.

She didn't know she had it all wrong- that, their "natural chemistry" was due to the fact that they were familiar with one another, and that, as soon as they entered the car and it disappeared around the corner, they'd discuss serious matters.

"I don't think it would be favourable for us to attend the picnic, Ms. Jackson," Elijah's hand on the wheel tightened briefly before he seemed to adopt a more relaxed posture. "There are too many things at stake."

"I promised my parents I would be there," Percy replied carefully, though she considered his words for a moment.

Her parents- her mother- wanted her to be at the picnic with them, to have a good time doing something normal, together as a family in front of the whole town. She had promised she would be there, and as much as she felt annoyed with the thought of a picnic in a house she had never been to, surrounded by people she wasn't familiar with, she wasn't in a position to continue breaking the promises she made to her parents; they deserved better than that.

"Ms. Darcy promised her father she would accompany him, too."

The demigoddess' attention was caught at that specific phrase. She turned in her seat to stare at him, taking in how angular his jaw looked from that perspective, and, judging by how tense he looked, the old vampire wasn't as unfazed about the situation as she previously believed.

"I'm aware it's not my place to know, but-"

"My brother raised her."

The Original vampire kept his eyes on the road as he admitted one of the few things that were still considered a secret about his family. His brother attempted to keep Emma a secret for as long as he could, being aware of the fact that Marcel- and everyone that became close to them- ended dying for being associated with them.

Percy wasn't surprised, muttering a quiet, "Yeah, I figured that much," as she tried not to think of the complications that would most definitely come afterwards.

Elijah voiced exactly what she had been thinking. "Emma is a very kind and compassionate girl, but she won't forgive the fact that I want to take away from her the one person that she loves the most in the world." For the first time on their short trip, he allowed himself to glance in her direction for a moment before looking back at the road, "And she won't forgive that her best friend helped."

The demigoddess felt a pang of guilt that she tried to replace with indifference. "That's not our main issue, though. You heard what she said, she's going to the picnic with her father. Does that mean that your brother will finally make an appearance?"

Elijah's hands tightened around the wheel once more.

Facing Niklaus was something he didn't feel prepared for, much less when he knew that his brother had lied to his face.

Elijah spent years imagining the worse, thinking that their siblings had perished and that he would never see them recover, drowning in the guilt that came with allowing Niklaus to harm them. He always stood with his brother in everything, even at the times that he stuck a dagger through their hearts without a valid reason, and after he was told that he had thrown them at sea, the thought that if he had only stood by them instead of by Niklaus' side, they would still be alive was the one thought that haunted him deeply.

"You're scared," Percy noticed, the words coming out of her mouth before she could think them through.

Instead of portraying annoyance at her words, the dark-haired vampire allowed himself a quiet nod of acceptance.

A short silence covered them, the air around the car filling the tense space between them.

He halted the car to an abrupt stop as they reached a red light, his right hand holding the wheel so tightly that the demigoddess wondered how long it would take him to accidentally break it.

"I know you have not asked for my opinion, and I certainly don't intend to change your mind in any way, but I just want to tell you that-" She swallowed for a moment, feeling that she would, most definitely, end up regretting her words to him sometime afterwards, "-it's normal, considering what you recently discovered about your siblings, if you want to desist of your initial plans of murder. He's your brother."

"He has done horrible things-" Elijah stopped himself.

Percy forced a smile in his direction, regretting the words that came off her mouth afterwards: "Haven't we all?"

"The things he has done to his own family-" Elijah spat, hands tightening on the wheel once more as he attempted to collect his thoughts and his emotions before they could get the best of him. "I cannot forgive him."

"You don't have to forgive him. But you also don't have to kill him."

"You speak as though you've been in my position before," Elijah stole a glance at her.

A mirthless smile graced her face.

It was all too familiar: A dysfunctional family surrounded by lies, a man harming those that he was supposed to love for his own benefit, people trying to make amends while realizing that, even though the other person was a monster, they loved each other because they were family.

She said, "I don't think this is something you'd find much comfort in hearing, but I have been under the same pressure and indecision that you are right now, Mr. Mikaelson, and I just want to tell you that I understand what you're going through right now."

She looked out of the window as he drove, attempting not to feel concerned about how different things would be if Elijah decided not to kill his brother.

It was a decision only he could make, one that Percy would never dare to give her opinion to, because if the cases were reverted, and she had to kill one of her siblings, she wouldn't appreciate having people trying to change her mind in any way.

She had fought family members before, those that had sided with the worse part of their family. But, the more she thought about it, she realized that there was no such thing as the worse side of their family.

The gods weren't exactly good, but the titans weren't worse than the gods.

It was all about what perspective people wanted to look at it.

Titans wanted to slave humans; gods used humans as slaves but allowed them to live, however controlled by their orders their life was.

And in that moment, when she was considering the fact that, perhaps, she had always sided with gods because they were closest to her than the titans, she realized she didn't want to dwell more on those thoughts.

That was the kind of thinking that had turned Luke Castellan's bitterness and heartbreak into rage and vengeance. It was what allowed his grandfather to use him.

"If I choose to forgive my brother, and I'm not saying I will, where would that leave us?"

The demigoddess sighed. She was aware of what choice he would take, even if he wouldn't bring himself to admit it for the time being- always and forever was a promise that seemed to remain through all the complications they faced.

"Our deal will continue to stand," Percy said carefully. "I gave you my word I would find your brothers and I will. All I ask of you in return is to honor your word, I need my mother and step-father to be protected from your family and away from any problem that might occur in town because of them."

"I gave you my word before, and I do it now once more," Elijah allowed himself to lock eyes with her, brown and green meeting. "Your family won't have to deal with mine in any way."

"We talked about this before," Percy continued, nodding in acceptance of his words. "But I feel like I need to remind you: my main duty as a demigoddess is to protect mortals around town, no matter what happens or against whom I have to stand. You mentioned there could be casualties caused by your brother's wrath and his plans to break his curse. I'm afraid I won't be able to step back and allow that to happen."

"I understand," Elijah assured her, though severely tense at those words. "If the occasion comes, and you have to stand against my brother, I won't take a side. Your deal is with me, not with Niklaus. And certainly not with my other siblings. I know it's your duty as a heroine to protect mortals."

It had been a long time since someone had referred to her as a heroine. It brought back the satisfaction that she used to feel after being successful in a mission, after saving fellow campers or even simple mortals.

Unfortunately, it also brought back an awful lot of unwanted memories- the battles she wasn't able to win without having to pay a price, the friends she had lost because of the gods, all that had crumbled because of her status as one of the Seven of the Prophecy. The anger that she felt at all times came back at her with full force, to which she gritted her teeth and forced herself to look away.

If being a heroine means having to succumb to the gods' wishes, I'd rather be anything else but that.

Startled by her own thoughts, Percy forced herself to push all those unwanted memories aside.

"What a dreadful thing it is," Elijah muttered quietly, his voice echoing through the silence that had surrounded them just moments before "-loving your family, even after all they've done should've made you hate them."

The daughter of Poseidon could relate to that statement, though perhaps not as directly as Elijah as he thought about his brother.

She hated that the gods had used her for their personal gain, and that they planned to continue using their children for their own plans, but the horrible thing was that demigod's loyalties tended to be strongly inclined towards their divine parents even when they received no attention from them. It was the demigods' curse: wanting their parents to be in their lives, even if they weren't the best.

She hated it.

She wanted to make the gods pay in any way for all they had done- she wanted them to see their mistakes. She hated that demigods were supposed to care for their family even when their parents ended forgetting they existed once they weren't useful for their plans anymore.

But it was how things were- how things would always be; because gods were selfish beings that didn't seem to care or understand the fact that their children couldn't comprehend their lack of interest in them because they inherited their emotions and their empathy from their mortal parent.

Demigods were more alike to mortals than to deities and it was something that the gods seemed to ignore. The few demigods that ended inheriting more from their immortal parent than their mortal one were considered a threat to the gods because they couldn't understand them.

Gods allowed themselves to be selfish, and cruel, and monsters without giving it a second thought, but as soon as one of their children portrayed any particular sign of being just as cruel, arrogant, and selfish as them, they marked them down as threats and destroyed them.

It was what had happened to others.

It was what happened to many of Poseidon's children through the eons.

It was what, as Triton seemed to believe, would happen to Percy Jackson if she didn't learn to control herself and appease the anger that started to possess her after Tartarus.

Inheriting the wrath of a god was not unusual in most cases, but what Persephone Jackson held within herself was both the wrath of a powerful deity and the wrath of the sea. That was the real threat.

She saw them approach the neighborhood where she lived, and said a soft: "I think that's the price we have to pay for being part of an immortal family."

Elijah considered her words for the rest of the trip, silence surrounding them.

Once they approached the house, he stopped the car besides her fence, and said a distracted: "I'll pick you up in an hour, is that all right for you?"

Percy nodded, already out of the car as she said, "See you later," and without sparing him a second glance, she moved towards her house, carefully closing the fence behind her back.

When she got to the porch, she realized that the vampire was still parked in front of the house, wanting for her to enter the house before leaving.

Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Percy offered him a small wave before entering and closing the door behind her back.

She had noticed that Paul's car wasn't in the garage as she moved towards the house, so when she found the house to be empty, she wasn't surprised.

There was a post-it note on the inside part of the door, and it was written in such a simple way that she didn't have to struggle much to read it.

We're at the picnic. See you there! -Mom

And a few lines down, in what she could recognize as her stepfather's handwriting, was written: We were going to wait for you, but your mom was hungry.

And then, the last line of the note was in her mother's handwriting, and it read a simple: Sorry.

Percy felt amused by that, but it slowly dissipated as she leaned against the door, the weight of the many things that were happening at the same time overwhelming her.

Percy wanted to concentrate on only one thing first, but as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to slid down the door and into the floor in a sitting position, her mind became crowded with everything at once.

It started with her discovery of Apollo's punishment, and ended with the realization that Emma wasn't as innocent as she pretended to be, and that, apparently, she fancied being a groupie to the Original family.

When had things gotten so out of hand? Percy couldn't be sure.

It stressed her how complicated things were in Mystic Falls, and how everyone seemed to be involved in some way with each other. And, as much as she couldn't understand it, everything seemed to be tied to the doppelgänger.

It seemed to be an endless battle where the teams were divided and there was no space for those that didn't care about said battle. On one side was the doppelgänger and her gang (the Salvatore's, the Bennett witch, Caroline, Alaric, Elena's little brother Jeremy), and on the other side, those that could endanger her life (the Originals, and those affiliated with them).

The worse part of it all was that Percy didn't know which side she belonged to in that separation.

Elena wasn't special. The demigoddess could never consider her safety more important than the safety of the other mortals around town, which was the complete opposite to Damon's and Stefan's point of view.

But, just as she didn't care about the doppelgänger, she didn't care about the Originals.

As long as they controlled themselves and did not harm any mortal around town, Percy had no reason to encounter them.

It was better not to be involved in what didn't concern her, demigods had to be smart enough to acknowledge what creatures they couldn't afford to have as enemies, and what battles were not theirs to fight.

Feeling desperate with how out-of-control everything had turned out to be, she found herself closing her eyes and guiding a hand towards her face, an exasperated sigh leaving her mouth.

It would have been easier to stay in New York.

As soon as the thought crossed her head, the green-eyed girl disregarded it. Staying in post-war New York wouldn't have made a difference at all.

Everything had changed after the war, the things that she used to love about the city only felt foreign afterwards. She missed how things were before the second war was announced, right after Kronos was defeated and things seemed peaceful and as normal as they could get.

"I wish I could turn back time," It was the one statement that she never dared to voice out-loud before, but it was also the one that portrayed exactly how she felt most of the time.

She wished she could close her eyes and go back to the life that she used to have, to the Camp that had been her home for years, to the friends that were always by her side; to the laughs alongside the eleventh cabin as they pranked the other cabins just before a game of Capture-the-Flag, to the intimate moments, loving dates, and the soul-healing kisses that her golden love graced her with, to the shared smiles and internal jokes with her Wise Girl, to the times when she wasn't forced to lie to her mother...

Percy's breath died on her throat.

She wanted it back; she would give anything of her new life in Mystic Falls to have her old life in Camp Half-Blood back, anything.

She would give it all if it meant her problems and all that came with falling into the Greek's epitome of hell would disappear and she could just be who she used to be before all went wrong.

It's wrong to cling to the past, Asclepius had told her one of the times when he tried to be her therapist. Nothing is ever going to be the same, things are constantly changing at all times. You can't focus on the things about the past that you miss, or otherwise you'd end up missing the ones that your present holds. It's all about healing and letting go- it's about working with what you have.

She agreed with him- but how much she wished she could go back.

"Be careful what you wish for," Said a familiar voice coming from the hallway in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness enough to form a figure that seemed to appear from the shadows.

"Some things happen because they have to happen, because it's meant to teach us a lesson."

The person stepped into the light. A blond man on the verge of adulthood, with sparkling eyes and a soft smile that, upon longer inspection, portrayed a severe amount of mischief. His handsome features were obscured by a large scar that moved from the bottom of his eye to his chin.

A groan escaped the raven-haired girl's lips. The least she needed in that moment was to see him there. She had enough on her plate without the constant reminders of her instability.

Triton's words came back to her in that moment. "You're not the first of Poseidon's offspring to go on a killing spree," His words were devoid of any emotion, though there was something on his eyes, an emotion that she thought was impossible. She pushed that away, concentrating on his words. "Every ocean has a dark side. Our father tends to push away those children he cannot control."

She rose from the floor and attempted to storm away from the hallway, but his cold fingers laced themselves to her arm, preventing her from leaving.

A shiver went down her spine, an uneasy feeling settling on her stomach.

Were hallucinations supposed to be able to touch you like that?

To stop you from moving?

She swallowed down her fear and said: "Go to hell, Castellan," while pushing him away from her.

"I made a promise, long ago, to never let another sibling of mine go down a path of darkness and destruction." Triton locked eyes with her, the same emotion Percy couldn't quite decipher vividly present on his eyes. "So, yes, I loathe you, but I won't let you become a monster, like many of our siblings have."

Percy felt too overwhelmed to know what to say. She had never expected her brother to say those things, so she did not know how she was supposed to react.

She thought the gods had turned their back on her, and there he was, the god she would've never imagined to be willing to protect and defend her, acting in ways that he thought were suitable to defend her.

"Do you want to know what my lesson was, Percy?"

She ignored him, moving upstairs.

"I'll give you a clue," The figure called from downstairs. "Your lesson will be the same as mine. The gods will destroy you."

Percy slammed the door to her bedroom shut, successfully blocking his voice away.

"I hope to see you well the next time we see each other." Triton walked towards the thin line where the sea met the sand. He looked back and locked eyes with her. He had cruel smile on his lips, one that Percy had expected from him since the very beginning of his arrival. "If, for any reason, you do not work for your mental health to improve, I will forget about my oath, and end your existence once and for all."

She had found a startling motivation to aid her into ignoring her hallucinations- Triton's encouraging words.

Of course, what the sea deity considered encouraging was a series of death threats and insults that, after a while, she had grown used to.

But it was nice, having something to keep her focused.

She moved slowly towards her closet, wondering what would be suitable to wear for that specific occasion. Her first thought was jeans and a simple blouse, clothes that would allow her to fight comfortably if things got out of hand with Niklaus at the picnic, but then she remembered that the whole town was invited, and that Elijah was going to escort her.

He was always extremely well-dressed, she didn't want to look underdressed.

Thirty minutes later, just as she was getting out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body as she moved towards her room to get dressed, she heard a knock on her window. Scowling, she turned and found Damon Salvatore perched on her window, smirking as he sarcastically waved at her.

"Seriously?" Percy rolled her eyes. "I've been here for like an hour and now that I'm naked you decide to visit?"

Damon's smirk widened as he tried- and failed- to give her an innocent look. He knocked again on the window, and she rolled her eyes again as she moved towards the window to open it. Since he had never been invited inside the house, he was only able to sit closer to the edge of the window than before.

"Claws down, kitty," Damon teased, his eyes roaming her long legs. "I swear I didn't know you were naked. I'm glad I came, though. This is a sight for sore eyes."

Percy snorted. "You should go hit on your doppelgänger instead of on me, you know?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?"

The green-eyed girl moved towards the hallway with the dress she had planned to wear to get dressed away from Damon's curious glance.

She heard him mutter a: "You could've asked me to turn, you know?" and she found herself giving him an amused look as she came back into the room.

"Would you have listened?" Percy pointed out.

Damon seemed to admire her now that she was fully clothed. Instead of her usual choice of clothing, she had opted to wear an olive green, floor-length dress that cinched at the waist, was flowy from the waist down, had a plunging neck, and slit from the bottom to mid-thigh.

He couldn't tear his gaze away from her, curiosity written on his features. "I'd never seen you with a dress before."

"You have," Percy corrected him as she moved to her vanity mirror to have a look at her hair. "The night of the masquerade."

"Right, but I wasn't focused on how you looked, I was thinking about your hot, blonde friend." I was also thinking of murdering my ex-girlfriend whom I still loved at that moment. Damon shook his head, watching the movements she made as she brushed her shoulder-length hair.

The demigoddess rolled her eyes at the reminder that her vampire friend felt attracted to the daughter of Athena, whom she hadn't seen or heard from in months. The lack of communication between her world and her was starting to be an annoying topic- she couldn't even Iris-Message her friends, as she did the first months of her stay in town.

She didn't even know if Camp Half-Blood was all right, for all she was aware, something could've happened in those months she was absent.

You chose to leave Camp, Grover had reminded her when she complained about it to him. That's the consequence of your actions.

Percy turned to face him, tying a long necklace to her neck, choosing to disregard the Camp Half-Blood necklace since it wouldn't look good with the dress she wore. The one she chose was long enough to perfectly go down through all of the plunging neckline and between her bust.

"So," She said as looked down at herself. "You're going to the picnic?"

"Bodyguard duty," He sounded a little annoyed, but in reality, he fancied having an excuse to be around Elena for longer than necessary. "You look really hot. Are you going on a date?"

Percy snorted. "With whom, one of the idiots around town?" She didn't have anything against them, it was just that she couldn't see herself dating one of them.

Mystic Falls was a small town- which meant that everyone knew each other. If she dated someone, she wanted it to be a private matter, not something for everyone to gossip about.

Her relationship with Apollo had been extremely private up until the other gods found out- they'd been in a date in a place that, unknown to them, Hephaestus had filled with his cameras because it was a place that Aphrodite and Ares used to frequent together, and he wanted to humiliate them; long story made short, the sight that his camera caught humiliated the wrong couple and started a quarrel between Poseidon, Zeus, and Apollo.

Poseidon thought, as anyone else would think given the situation and given the long tragedy of ex-lovers that Apollo had, that the sun god was using her only to fulfill his sexual desires, and, on the other hand, Zeus was furious that his son would dare to defy one of the rules he'd imposed about gods interfering with mortals.

It was a problem that lasted for a long time- almost two months in which Percy was prohibited from seeing Apollo.

The daughter of Poseidon was never good at following rules, for the sea didn't like to be restrained, and refused to allow her father and her uncle to get involved in her personal life. Apollo, on the other hand, refused to give up his happiness just because his family didn't approve. He had an immortal lifetime of heartbreak since his first love turned into a laurel tree, he refused to let go of the one person that loved him as much as he loved her.

Seeing how desperate the sun god was to see her again, Poseidon was forced to sit down with him to discuss the situation, man to man. It was then that the lord of the sea was able to recognize that his nephew had fallen for his daughter, and that, considering the fact that they'd been together for months and she remained a virgin, he wasn't using her for sex.

It was strange for a god to thoroughly fall for a mortal- it was something that almost never happened.

But no one could overlook the fact that the sun god had fallen hard for the daughter of the sea.

It was for that reason that Aphrodite, moved by the love that she felt coming from them, found a loophole that allowed them to be together without breaking the rules that Zeus had created on the matter.

After that, their relationship had been anything but private.

Titans and other monsters referred to her as Apollo's slut, which angered them both because she wasn't an object, and most of all, she wasn't his property. The sun god had been raised to respect women- he was Artemis' twin, and she was quite passionate about equality, a trait that they'd inherited from their mother- and he loathed when someone belittled women.

Demigods were impressed, and even a little amused, at the bold heroine that managed to get into a serious relationship with an Olympian god.

Some weren't as kind as the daughters of Aphrodite, who constantly congratulated her on dating one of the most handsome deities in Olympus, and shared the same thoughts that some monsters did: that she was a whore, a slut. It was well-known that the gods' main interest was to procreate and seek pleasure. Some whispered behind her back that she must've whored herself to him, that it was a wonder she wasn't pregnant, and some even thought that he was only in a relationship with her as a diplomatic way to portray the renewed interest that gods promised to have on demigods after the war.

It had been pure hell at first.

Apollo's kids felt uncomfortable around her. Most of them were her age and considered her a friend, some others had fought alongside her multiple times before. They had nothing against her, but it was strange to know that the same girl that laughed with them during their campfire's sing-along songs (which were silly in purpose, it was meant to distract the youngest demigods in camp from their problems) was in a relationship with their immortal father.

As time passed and they remained together, people stopped speculating and moved on to other gossips, but it didn't diminish all the complications their rumors brought them.

She wanted to avoid all that unnecessary drama on her next relationship; she wanted privacy, something she doubted she could get dating someone from Mystic Falls.

Damon found immensely amusing how she seemed to loathe the idea of the eligible men in town, and made it known with one of his familiar smirks. "All right, so you don't have a date. Does that mean you're also going to the picnic?

"I am, though I'm not exactly excited for it."

The blue-eyed vampire snorted at her words, knowing his friend would have rather stayed home than be surrounded with people she wasn't familiar with. "Who would honestly be excited about it? It's a nightmare." He rolled his eyes, "Your parents left with the car earlier, do you need a ride?"

Percy's amusement died away. "I thought you said you had bodyguard duty?"

Going with an Original vampire to the picnic was something she didn't think through beforehand. Damon didn't know that she had met Elijah already. She had heard him complain about the Original vampire and his plans for weeks. He didn't trust him, not when it came to Elena's safety, and he tried constantly to convince Elena that the older vampire was not someone they should trust.

Percy was worried about his reaction; the least she needed was to have a fight with the one friend she still had in town.

Damon shrugged, not giving it much importance. "You know how things are, Elena is going with Stefan. I wouldn't mind your company." He shot her a smirk, "We can criticize people together."

Percy laughed. "I swear to the gods that you sound just like an old lady when you say that. It's a tempting offer though, we'd have the whole town to criticize."

The face the blue-eyed vampire made was indescribable, his features morphed into a grimace. "You have such a strange way of wording things. Gods, as in more than one." He had noticed before, but never brought it up on their previous conversations. "I know you have Greek ancestry or some shit like that, but just how deep are you into it?"

Percy forced a smile into her face, drowning the paranoia that came with his words. Had Alaric told him about her status as a demigoddess?

"If you're asking me what my religious beliefs are..." Percy cocked an eyebrow in his direction, trying to act like his curiosity hadn't frightened her.

Damon shrugged his shoulders, it wasn't a question he would've asked before had he not found curious how she worded several phrases in that way.

He wanted to get to know her better, because if he allowed himself to admit it, he was also curious about her other side of the family. She never talked about her father, it was a subject that constantly sparkled his curiosity because he wondered if she'd inherited her abilities from him (he was certain that Sally didn't have any inhuman abilities, he knew her pretty well considering they were neighbors).

"Curiosity killed the cat," Damon agreed, amused as he continued, "-but satisfaction brought it back."

She decided to indulge his curiosity. "I don't know, man. I believe in a lot of shit."

It wasn't as though she decided to believe in the gods, like most people did with their chosen religions, she was born into a world where the gods were real and would still fuck your life no matter if you believed in them or not.

"Acceptable, but seriously, what's with that expression? The gods? Do you believe in the gods like the old Greeks did, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, those fuckers?"

The demigoddess couldn't help but laugh at his choice of words. He held no respect for the gods whatsoever because he didn't believe in them, and she loved that. She loved that he treated them so disrespectful, because it was what they deserved.

"I do," Percy said, sounding almost defeated about it, and continued with a statement that interested Damon because it was the first time she mentioned her father to him. "I suppose I could say my father believes in them and passed that belief into me."

"What about-" Damon had been looking at the street, hearing a car approach their neighborhood and knowing that it was for either one of them because there were only two houses in the street, the Jackson's and the Boarding House.

He scowled when he recognized the person driving, and his curiosity was instantly sparkled when the vampire, instead of going to the Boarding House as Damon had thought he would, stopped right in front of the Jackson's house.

The demigoddess recognized Damon's tense posture and approached the edge of the window that divided them, wondering if he had tensed because of a problem that involved both of them, or if he had tensed because of something related to his beloved Elena.

Her concern was replaced by a cold feeling when he said, in a voice that barely contained all the anger and confusion that he felt, "Percy, why is the Original vampire parked in front of your house?"

Percy had no words. "I-"

Realization shone on Damon's face. "You're going to the picnic with an Original?"

The demigoddess shook her head at the disgust on his tone. "Do you really think you're the most suitable person to criticize whom I chose to spend my time with?"

Damon's eyes were hard as ice, his whole posture extremely tense. She was surprised that he was still there- he had the tendency of leaving in the middle of a conversation if he was furious, it was startling that he wasn't refusing to hear her out.

"If the case was reverted and you saw me going out with someone that posed as a threat to you and those that you cared about, would you still have the same posture about the situation that you do now?"

Those words made her feel like an awful person, but she had expected something similar coming from him.

He constantly acted like he had no care in the world, but she had grown to realize that he worried about those around him more than he was supposed to. He saw the Original vampire as a threat (which, to be fair, he could be) and it made him extremely concerned.

Percy remained calm as she told him in a gentle voice, not wanting their fight to be prolonged: "Damon, I know it can be easy to forget this, but I'm very much capable of defending myself against vampires. I am not worried about Elijah in the way that you are, mainly because I don't care much about Elena and her role in the Originals' plans. But I assure you, there's an explanation for my sudden alliance with him."

"Explain!" Damon spat through gritted teeth. "Explain why my best friend is going the picnic with a man that can, in any given moment, turn around and murder Elena-" He remembered she didn't care about the doppelgänger and attempted to fix his words, "-murder us all."

For a moment, the demigoddess could only stay right where she was, confused as how things had gotten more complicated in a matter of minutes.

Just the night before, they had been closer than before with one another and things were fine between them. It was so easy to concentrate on how caring he was with her that she found herself forgetting that he was also extremely impulsive- realizing that she was involved in a way with Elijah made him explode.

It wasn't the first fight (and it certainly wouldn't be the last) that they had during their friendship, but it felt like the one that was never meant to happen- it was pointless. She understood his point of view and imagined how betrayed he felt, but he had to understand that there were things about her that were too personal to share.

However, she found herself muttering a: "I have a deal with Elijah."

It was the first time she used his name out-loud instead of the usual Mr. Mikaelson, it felt foreign coming out of her mouth, but the vampire in front of her didn't seem to notice.

"What could an Original want with you?" Damon demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and roaming his eyes through her face in search for answers. All he found was annoyance and irritation, which only made him feel more frustrated.

"I was very clear when I told you I didn't want you getting involved in my life," Percy protested heatedly, "It's part of our deal, Damon. You stay out of my business and I stay out of yours. We might be friends, but you cannot act like this about something that doesn't concern you."

Damon's face morphed into a grimace of stress and annoyance. "I allowed myself to get involved in your life because I love you!"

There was a long pause after his words.

He seemed to realize what he had said, and panic settled over his whole body.

In a heated argument with Elena the other day, he found himself saying those same words. I love you! Elena had been keen on sacrificing herself and being a martyr when it was not necessary, to which the words had just slipped out of his mouth in a desperate attempt to protect her.

But the doppelgänger had simply given him an emotionless look, claiming that his love was what caused them problems.

Damon swallowed thickly, bracing himself got the words he imagined would come out of the demigoddess' lips.

I never asked you to love me, Elena had said. That is your problem now.

He could almost picture the beautiful, young girl in front of him saying those same words, and it pained him deeply to imagine her rejection to his friendship. He wasn't one to be very vocal about his love, it had slipped out of him in the heat of the moment, and he was now scared of the consequences of his words.

A lump had formed into Percy's throat at his words, a warm feeling settling on her chest and making her smile softly. "I know that you do, Damon." She saw the vulnerability on his face, understanding that it must've been hard for him to open up enough to say that, and then she found herself muttering a quiet: "I love you, too," surprised to find that she meant it.

She had grown to love him, as annoying and problematic as he could be most of the time, he was a dear friend.

That was not what the handsome vampire had expected to hear. Wide-eyed, he found himself taking a step back from the window, his mind slowly realizing the fact that she had said the complete opposite of what his beloved Elena had.

"I-" Damon couldn't find words to continue. "I don't-"

The green-eyed girl crossed the distance between them and allowed herself to sit on the edge of the window. He remained quietly where he was, then after a slight hesitation, he moved back to the window and sat by her side.

She remained giving him a soft look that he wasn't used to seeing- she was usually fiercer when he tried to involve himself on her life, he didn't know why she was acting different that night.

"I need you to remember that we're standing on two sides completely different. We're friends, but we don't share the same concerns. I'm not involved in the same things that you are."

Damon didn't break the eye contact with her as he nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "I know that. It's just- it's easy to forget you're not normal."

Percy chuckled, softening her stance once more. "I'm not under any kind of harm, I promise. I've dealt with worse creatures than a vampire."

"How come he approached you to make a deal?" Damon narrowed his eyes as the realization hit him. "He knows what you are?"

He felt offended that someone else knew what she was, and he, who was one of her best friends in town, didn't have the remotest idea.

"I didn't tell him-"

"What's that supposed to mean? That since he's old he can just smell you out of the crowd?" The sarcasm on his voice was extremely thick, as was the ice on his eyes.

"Damon, there are several species old enough to have heard about my kind before," Percy corrected him, not being able to find another way to approach the situation. She sighed deeply and laid her hand on his arm, attempting to appease his offense, "Elijah knew who I was before he stepped into town-" She found it extremely hard to get the next sentence out, "-because I'm not exactly a nobody."

There was a long pause between them.

The blue-eyed man had a lot on his mind, but he couldn't shake the feeling that his young friend could be in danger around the Original vampire. Once he processed her words, his confusion grew. She implied she was well-known through the world, but he had never heard of anyone bearing her same powers, nor had he heard her name before she came into town.

He voiced his thoughts. "What do you mean?

She hesitated, something that he noticed and stored away to use against her later, but at the end, she decided to be as sincere as she could without risking much.

"I was born out of a broken oath. My father and two of his brothers made a promise not to have more children, because it was said that a child born from one of them would either destroy or save them. It was a risk that none of them were willing to take."

Damon haven't expected her to answer his doubts, but the fact that she was willing to trust him appeased his offense and made him listen intently to her words.

He couldn't completely understand most of her words, but he hoped that once the tale ended several things would start to make sense.

He thought about her words and realized that his previous theory was correct: she had inherited her powers from her father. However, as he continued processing her words, his thoughts took a darker turn. She was more dangerous than he had previously imagined if her father had been forced to swear not to procreate children. The part about destroying or saving them made the vampire nervous, because it sounded an awful lot like the old prophecies portrayed in Greek films, the ones with gods, offsprings of the gods which were half human, half gods, and monsters.

He pushed those thoughts away, reminding himself that the young woman in front of him was not a monster.

Damon considered himself a monster, and Percy Jackson wasn't like him.

He didn't know what she had done, what events about her past haunted her constantly, but he couldn't imagine it being worse than what he had done through the curse of his immortal life. She wasn't a monster.

"But you're here," Damon pointed out, "Your parents took the risk and had you."

The demigoddess shook her head at his words. "It wasn't like that. They didn't plan to have me, they didn't want to have a child. Mom was young and innocent, a beautiful woman that had just started college and longed for an adventure. Dad was an older man, married, with long list of several children through the eons."

Damon's face lost all of his color. Percy's father was immortal?

She continued, not noticing his reaction. "I'm the result of a summer fling."

"Is that the reason you're well-known through your kind?" Damon inquired, confused. "Because you're a ba-"

Percy shot him a look, "Don't use that word on me."

Once more, the reminder of those old movies that included gods and their powerful children crossed his thoughts. Percy's family was from Greece, that much she had told him before, and she mentioned she believed in the old Greek gods. Her father was immortal and had sworn not to have children because of the immense power they inherited. The answer to his doubts was there, it had been right in front of his face all this time, and he knew it. Part of him knew already, but he wasn't sure he was ready to face what it truly meant. He decided to push those thoughts away, knowing that it was better to wait for his friend to trust him enough to confess what she was. Speculating wildly wouldn't get him nowhere.

"Because you're the daughter of a married man that swore he wouldn't have children?" Damon rectified himself.

The demigoddess hated the word bastard.

It reminded her of the rich, white kids in her private boarding schools that made fun of her; it also reminded her of her abusive ex-stepfather, Gabe, who constantly insulted and belittled both Percy and Sally.

"At first, but things changed when I grew up. I did a lot of things that made people hear about me," Percy explained distractedly, lost in memories. She was thinking about all the abuse they endured from Gabe, all the times she couldn't protect her mother from his blows, all the times she couldn't protect herself against him. She thought about her mother's defiance to him, how she started making all their food blue just because he had claimed there was no such thing as blue food. She thought about how free they felt when Sally turned him into a statue with Medusa's head. "And, in the end, I was forced to make a choice.

"To save or destroy them," Damon recalled her previous words, watching as she distractedly nodded.

He thought about her words, about the fact that she never spoke about her other side of the family, and that she seemed to have gone through hell and back. Sometimes she bore a look on her eyes that made her seem older, a look that portrayed all the horrors she had seen, a look that he had never been able to understand before, because she was young, and it had a melancholic edge that he had only seen on the eyes of his soldier friends.

"You chose to destroy them?" Damon inquired carefully, thinking that there was no better way to be thoroughly known through a whole species than to bring pain and destruction; her eyes portrayed the sorrow that only a war could cause.

"I chose to save them," Percy thought back to the decision she had made, about the look on Annabeth's face when she realized Luke wanted to sacrifice himself for them. She thought about the gods and how they hadn't given Luke the credit he deserved for his death as a hero. He was forever marked as a traitor (even when he changed his mind and did the right thing at the end) and she was forever marked as the Heroine of Olympus, even when she hadn't been heroic enough to be able to save everyone.

Percy had chosen to save Olympus; and yet, it was the gods that destroyed what was left of her life.

"And Elijah?" Damon went back to their original topic, having appreciated her act of trust and feeling less annoyed than before.

"Elijah means no harm to me," She sounded sincere that the vampire had no choice but to believe her. "Our deal doesn't affect me in the slightest. And, it also doesn't concern you."

In the distance, another car approached, though this time it parked in front of the Salvatore's Boarding House. A loud sigh left the vampire's mouth, and he gave his friend an apologetical look.

"It's Elena. I have to leave."

Percy tore her eyes away from the window and nodded. "It's all right, go. We'll talk later."

"See you at the picnic?" Damon hesitated. "Please, be careful around him. I don't trust him."

She nodded in acceptance. In a blink, he was gone.

The moment Damon was out of the house, there was a soft knock upon the door.

Percy sighed tiredly, moving to have one last glimpse of her in the mirror before going downstairs to meet the Original vampire that caused her troubles with her best friend.

When she opened the door, she found Elijah glancing at the wind-chimers her mother had put around the porch.

"Hi," She greeted politely, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

The first thing that came out of his mouth was: "I apologize if my presence caused you trouble with your friend," as he turned to meet her gaze.

Percy took a moment to observe his appearance. He had disregarded his usual suit, but remained elegant with a white dress shirt that clung to his well-built body; it was a nice change, one that seemed to go according the occasion.

It was one of the quirks she liked about the Original vampire, that since he was always well-dressed, it meant he fought his battles looking poised.

In a way, it reminded her of Aphrodite, who would rather fade away than be seen in simple clothing.

"It's not your fault, Damon has a... difficult personality," Percy waved his apology away. "You heard our conversation?"

Elijah nodded. "Forgive me for violating your privacy, Ms. Jackson, it was never my intention. My advanced hearing made it impossible to miss a word you said."

Once more, she waved his apology aside. "It's all right, most of what I said you must already know."

He agreed. "I'm not a stranger to your story, Ms. Jackson. Though I admit, there are several rumors about you, several stories about your heroic missions, that I would prefer to hear from your perspective."

"I assure you, I'm overrated." Percy said sarcastically, waving aside his curiosity.

Everyone constantly wanted to know from her point of view what had happened, but she wanted to keep the past as far from her as she could. A few weeks had gone by without an incident, she wanted to keep it that way.

Elijah smirked at her words, offering her his left arm.

This time she accepted without her previous hesitation, and, together, the two of them walked towards his car.

"You look very handsome," Percy teased him, though was sincere on the compliment. "I thought seeing you with a suit was what made you the perfect eye-candy, but I see now that I was mistaken."

Elijah laughed, fondly looking at her. He had decided before that he liked Persephone Jackson, she wasn't what he had expected her to be. She was unpredictable, like the sea, and also dangerous. He could feel her strength coming out of her in waves. But the young woman was also amusing and easy-going. There was not an ounce of arrogance on her attitude, and the best of her was that she wasn't trying to involve herself in his personal affairs. She was centered on her deal, doing what was asked of her and no more. Personally, he liked that she wasn't scared of him, she teased him shamelessly and grinned at him without any hesitation. She was normal.

The Original vampire fancied being able to know that part of her that most didn't imagine.

He knew there was a sea of rage inside of her that should never be allowed to come out, he could sense it. She often bore a familiar look on her eyes that made him remember all the hell she had gone through on her young life.

He could see that Percy didn't know how to control her anger, and in that sense, she was similar to his brother Kol. Elijah didn't know if it was their similarity which made him like her, but he found himself thoroughly enjoying her company nonetheless.

"You look completely stunning tonight, my dear," He complimented her pleasantly. He opened the door of the passenger seat for her and gestured her to enter. "We'll turn heads tonight."

"As long as your brother isn't on the list of people that will be surprised to see us arrive together-" Percy raised her eyebrows. "Fine by me."

Elijah sighed. "Let's hope for the best."

...

Niklaus Mikaelson stole a glance at Emma Darcy, who had been behind a blank canvas for a long while, her hands grabbing one of the brushes, even though her eyes remained distracted, portraying how while she was there, her thoughts were somewhere else.

"What consumes your thoughts, dear?" He inquired.

Emma looked up, a strange gleam to her usually cheerful features. "I just- my friends are going to be there. They'll notice something is different about me."

The blond man softened his stance at her words, understanding that she was frightened. "You don't have to do this for me if you don't want to, sweetness. I can find someone else. I can use the vampire-hunter, he's close to my doppelgänger and her clique, it could work."

"I want to help you," Emma swallowed thickly, hands trembling so noticeably that she closed them into fists and hid them on her lap.

It was going to be a difficult process- it would certainly be a painful one, that much she could recall from what the witch told her. She tried not to show it, but she was extremely scared.

"No one will notice you're not yourself," Niklaus appeased her initial nerves, not knowing how to address her fears. In the past, when something bothered her, he took care of the situation and protected her, but now he was the cause of her fears. It overwhelmed him; he never wanted to use her. "I promise."

"Perhaps not everyone," Emma pointed out, biting her lower lip as she contemplated what it meant. "But my close friends will know something's off. They know me."

It was the second time that she mentioned her friends, and Niklaus was grateful that, since he was standing with his back towards her, she couldn't see the smirk that threatened to overcome his young, handsome face. He found himself interested with her friends, specially the one that Greta mentioned was different.

However, he could understand her preoccupations.

Complications could rise if someone noticed he was possessing her, but it was the perfect occasion to torment his doppelgänger without her obnoxious vampire bodyguards/boyfriends getting in the way.

Even if he allowed the occasion to pass, there would still be another time- he would still be forced to pretend he was Emma around her closest friends and biological family some other time.

"Your friend," He tilted his head to the side. "What's her name, again?"

Emma fidgeted, her cheeks burning. "Persephone. Like the goddess."

Niklaus' suspicions only grew after hearing her name.

There were stories all around the world about a famous demigoddess of that same name, Persephone. He had his suspicions about Emma's friend since his witch, Greta, mentioned that she had a different aura than most mortals around town, but the thought of it not being just any demigod made the situation a thousand times more interesting.

"Her surname wouldn't be Jackson, would it, love?"

"It is," Emma paused, frowning. "Why? Do you know her?"

He'd heard a lot about the famous demigoddess that managed to defeat two ancient forces of evil being only sixteen-seventeen years old. His whole family was fascinated with the interesting stories that they'd heard about her through their trips through the world; demigods were one of the few species that had managed to sparkle their curiosity enough to interest them.

The first- and also the only- demigod that the Original family met had been a son of Hypnos.

His relationship with the blonde vampire, which started as something purely sexual, ended being his death- he thought he could stand against Mikael, but he perished on his first attempt.

Some half-bloods weren't meant to be fighters, and the son of the sleep had never been one, but he had tried his hardest to protect those that he cared about.

Since then, Rebekah vowed to never allow another lover to get close to her father, no matter how powerful they thought themselves to be. She had lost several lovers to her father's hands- first it was Marcel, then Christopher (Hypnos' son) - she wasn't in any position to allow someone else to die because of her.

Finn never cared much about the son of Hypnos, but he thought that his attempt had been a brave one, and he found himself sympathetic of the pain his sister portrayed because of his death.

It was his younger brother, Kol, who had taken a special interest in demigods after being able to see how much power they held within themselves, and how useful they could be.

Though he had been staked before the birth of Persephone Jackson, he had heard the initial prophecy about her.

A half-blood of the eldest gods

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

And see the world in endless sleep

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap

A single choice shall end his days

Olympus to preserve or raze

There was nothing that interested Kol more than that prophecy. He had gotten obsessed with what it would mean for a creature of such power to roam the Earth- because, as he had explained to his siblings- an offspring of one of the three main gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) having enough power to destroy Olympus was someone they needed to have on their side.

On another hand, Niklaus never found the prophecy nor the half-blood involved appealing. What did he care if a demigod could bring Olympus' downfall? It wasn't their world.

But a lot of things had changed in seventy years.

Once the rumors of the prophecy starting to unfold reached the Originals' ears, Elijah made sure to collect all the information that he could about the matter, knowing that his younger brother would want to know once they awakened him.

But it never happened.

The years passed and the only two awake were Elijah and Niklaus; with their father still roaming the Earth looking for them, it was too dangerous for all of them to be awake at the same time.

Finn was peaceful most of the time, but he had proven to be unstable in certain situations. Rebekah felt too much, her emotions could be their downfall- when she loved, she concentrated only on her own feelings and tended to forget that they had to take precautions not to be discovered. Kol was unstable in every sense of the word- he fancied playing games and ended killing more than was necessary, which always brought attention to them; not to mention that he seemed to constantly be harboring plans to punish Niklaus.

It had taken a toll on Elijah, to see their siblings daggered while the two of them remained awake.

"Nik?" Emma asked carefully, recognizing the farewell look he had on his eyes. "What's the matter?"

The ancient vampire shook his head imperceptibly, pushing his thoughts away and concentrating on what mattered the most: his family, his lovely Emma.

He needed to break his curse to be powerful enough to defeat Mikael, to be able to wake his siblings without fearing for their safety, to be able to have his family whole again.

He gave his daughter a soft look of adoration, moving one hand to caress her face. "I will make an effort to remember all you tell me about your friends, love, because I don't want to cause you any trouble with them once you take possession of your own body again."

Emma smiled at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. "The only friend that matters is Persephone." Her eyes took a gentle look as she talked about her best friend. "She's fun, I'm sure you'll like her."

A lot had changed in seventy years indeed- Niklaus had begun to realize that, perhaps, his brother had been right to feel interested in the immense amount of power that half-bloods had.

After all he had heard about the Heroine of Olympus, he couldn't deny the fact that he was extremely curious about her.

He couldn't hide the smirk that covered his lips, "I'm sure I will."

Even if he wasn't interested in her or what her presence in Mystic Falls could mean, part of him couldn't shake his curiosity away.

The fact that she was friends with his daughter came to be a slight shock- she was only a teenager.

There were so many rumors about her going around that it was easy to overlook how young she had been during those wars; how young she still was. Niklaus tried to picture her as the heroine that the rumors mentioned, but after knowing how close she was with his daughter, he could only picture her as a small teenager, as someone similar to his dearest Emma.

However, the Original vampire knew perfectly well how deceiving appearances could be, and reminded himself to take the necessary precautions so that she wouldn't notice he was possessing Emma. He thought that it did not matter that Persephone Jackson was young- she still held an extreme amount of power within herself, she was still the demigoddess of the prophecy, the one with enough power to bring Olympus to its knees.

He wanted to see her with his own two eyes.

Only because his brother couldn't; because he had taken away Kol's opportunity to see her, and the guilt was starting to eat him alive.

"Everything is ready, sir," One of his witches announced as she entered the room, looking at the young girl with what could only be described as sympathy, to then stare at her boss, waiting for an order.

Niklaus looked at Emma in concern, hearing her heartbeat grow erratic. He reminded her, in a gentle voice, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"My biological father is going to pick me up for the picnic in a few minutes, and I cannot hide something this big from him, I'm not a good liar. But if you-" Emma couldn't bring herself to say it. She wanted to help him because she loved him, but the process she'd have to go through to do so was a little concerning. "He won't notice that I'm not myself. He never notices anything about me."

Niklaus was quiet for a small moment, then he nodded as he respected her decision. Holding one hand out for her to take, he said: "Whenever you feel ready, love."

The sweet girl took a deep breath and moved forwards to take his hand. She didn't think she'd ever be ready to be a prisoner inside of her own body, but it was something that needed to be done. "Let's do this."

...

Just as they were about to cross the threshold of the Forbes Residence, a shiver when up the demigoddess' spine and made her tense her shoulders at how familiar it had felt. She glanced around, but found nothing unusual about the place nor its guests.

Percy couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "Mr. Mikaelson-" She stopped herself, shaking her head to push those thoughts away.

It was more than just the realization that something felt off- it was the fact that she felt consumed by an undeniable feeling of pure rage. Out of nowhere, with no explanation for it whatsoever, with no unwanted memories in between, it was just there.

Discretely, she touched her fingertips to the edge of her cleavage, where she had hidden Riptide in case something happened.

Immediately, Elijah's attention was on her. He looked at her as she allowed him to escort her inside the house, seeing the precaution written on her sea-green eyes.

At last, he said: "Do not hesitate to elaborate on your thoughts, Ms. Jackson. I'm here to listen," as he had no idea what was crossing her mind.

Percy pursed her lips, a frown making its way into her young face. "I think something's wrong. Don't you feel-?" She hesitated, wondering if she was just going through one of her mood swings.

"Displeased?" Elijah forced a thin smile into his face, nodding once he saw her inquisitive glance. "I was in a delightful mood earlier, however as soon as we crossed the door and moved to this room, I cannot help but feel slightly vexed."

The demigoddess scanned the crowd, accepting the fact that it wasn't her imagination and that there was something different in the room that casted those unwanted emotions into its habitants.

"I don't understand," She admitted at last. "I can't see what the cause is. But look around, we're not the only ones feeling it."

Around the room, several people bore grimaces of disgust accompanied by scowls of annoyance. One woman stormed out of the room after casting a reproaching look at her partner, who rolled his eyes disdainfully and turned away, refusing to follow her.

Elijah attempted to diffuse the tension by saying: "Perhaps it is the fact that this event was called a picnic, and yet all the food and the celebration is held inside the house."

She managed to shoot him an amused smirk, though realized his attempt to diffuse the tension and ignore the concerning sensation that surrounded them. "It could be. Should've been easier to just say dinner party instead of picnic."

The demigoddess caught a glimpse of the food table and started to walk in its direction. Since their arms were still intertwined with one another, she was forced to stop when Elijah did not move with her.

Percy turned to face him, confused as though why he hadn't followed her, to then notice the grimace that started to cover his handsome face.

"Hey," Percy said gently, placing her free hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a kind gesture. "What's wrong?"

Elijah met her eyes.

Startled, Percy took a step back, heart momentarily stopping at the sight she was met with.

Dark veins had appeared under his eyes, which had changed to a crimson color. His mouth was tightly closed, but it was morphed into an uncomfortable bulge that attempted to hide his fangs. She had seen multiple times other vampires show their real faces, but she had never expected to see his.

Percy couldn't hide how unnerved she felt seeing the stoic man morphed into his beast within. She never thought she would see that particular vampire lose his patience enough to allow his real face to appear; he was always so stoic and collected, so polite.

She wasn't scared (she'd seen more hideous sights), but she also wasn't as stupid as some people thought her to be. Taking a step back was the smartest thing to do considering they were in a place filled with mortals.

"I need air," Elijah said without moving his mouth much, a helpless look on his red eyes.

"Go on," She said cautiously, watching his movements with tense shoulders. "I'll wait here."

He opened his mouth to apologize for his lack of control over his emotions, then seemed to realize it wouldn't change much. Offering her one last embarrassed look, the dark-haired vampire walked out of the house and away from the chaos of conversations and the turmoil of emotions hanging on the air, needing time to collect himself before going back inside.

Alone at last, the demigoddess scowled and looked around, scanning the crowd of people as she made her way towards the small bar by the corner of the living room, having lost her appetite after seeing Elijah's real face.

She hadn't seen her parents around, which meant they were probably outside with the rest of the guests, but it didn't appease her mind.

There was something causing those emotions to erupt in them, and it was something familiar; there was a little voice telling her she should know what it was, but nothing came to mind, to which she blamed the way that some events were still difficult to recall since Hera erased her memories.

She was thoroughly concerned; there were mortals all around the house, and a bunch of vampires inside. If the turmoil of emotions was strong enough to affect an Original (who had proved to have excellent self-control), she didn't want to imagine how the weaker vampires would react. She didn't want a fight to break, not when her parents were in the house and could be affected.

A more concerning thought came to her: if Niklaus came to the house and felt that, what was to say he wouldn't attack?

She took a seat on the bar's stool, continuing watching around as she ordered a drink for herself.

Someone slid into the empty space to her right on the stool, and thinking that Elijah had managed to collect himself sooner than expected, she muttered a distracted: "Did you forget something?"

A cruel-sounding laugh reached her ears. Startled at the familiarity that came with said sound, she turned around, already knowing who she'd see at her side.

There was a huge, muscular man with a vicious sneer staring right at her. The first thought that anyone would have when presented with his presence would be danger. He wore black jeans, combat boots, a black leather duster, and a red muscle shirt under a bulletproof vest, which was not the clothing style anyone would've chosen for a celebration where the whole town was invited. She scanned him with her eyes, taking in the fact that he had a large hunting knife strapped to his left tight, and that, as usual, his eyes were hidden behind red-tinted sunglasses. He was handsome, but not in the usual way; his good-looks had a brutal edge to it, which was perfectly portrayed in his knife-scarred cheeks.

His presence there made no sense, but it explained the annoyance that surged through the whole house and that it was strong enough to affect many of them.

Percy felt stupid for not having thought of him before, but no deity had arrived in town for many months. She wasn't expecting to see one of the gods that held a grudge against her.

"Ares," The name slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. The lack of Lord at the beginning made the air around them feel tense and dangerous.

A cruel smirk made way into his angular face. "Not who you expected, punk?"

Before she could answer, someone else slipped into the empty seat at her other side. Without hesitating this time, she glanced in their direction, confused as to who else could be there.

The man at her other side was one of the few gods she actually, sincerely, was fond of. He was built in a muscular way, with dark, curly hair and intense blue eyes. His features were elfish, his grin commonly filled with mischief. He wore a green dress-shirt with a phone poking out of its frontal pocket, accompanied with dress-pants and dress-shoes. Percy hadn't seen him in person in several months, though he'd been in some of her recent dreams alongside the goddess of the moon and her twin brother. His presence there, however, made a warm feeling travel through her chest. She brightened the second she saw him and was unable to hide it, directing a wide smile at him, her eyes sparkling like the ocean on a sunny day.

"Percy," Hermes offered her a smile.

She looked between both gods, moving one hand through her hair as she fully processed their presence at the Forbes celebration, a small scowl replacing the smile she'd unconsciously bore after seeing an old acquaintance.

It was common for one god to approach a half-blood to deliver a mission, but two Olympian gods in the same place? It couldn't mean anything good.

"What happened?" Percy inquired, her blood running cold at the multiple scenarios she imagined could've happened to make two gods approach her simultaneously.

She was the Heroine of Olympus, the demigod that all deities knew was strong enough to protect them, to do their dirty work, to be their perfect pawn.

Percy knew that they'd immediately force her to participate if another war raged, they wouldn't care that she had a life of her own, that it was the first semester she managed to spend without any complications.

They wouldn't care.

Ares raised an eyebrow. "Is that how you decide to speak to us?"

She turned her eyes on him. "When have you talked to me with any kind of respect?"

"Don't start," Hermes warned them both. Recognizing the concern on her gaze, he added a: "We're not here to assign you a mission, Percy, this is a friendly visit in which we will discuss certain things that are considered important at the moment."

"In other words," Ares continued over Hermes, making both turn towards him once more. "We're here to give you a heads-up."

If she was confused before, his words only accentuated said confusion. "Uh, about what?"

It was a strange combination- Ares and Hermes- and it was what startled her the most.

"Father is furious," Hermes' blue eyes observed the demigoddess' reaction carefully. "Mortals weren't meant to hear about Apollo's punishment just yet."

That was what it was all about- Apollo and the sight she beheld that morning at her house.

She felt her fears melt away, her shoulders relaxing slightly. There were no missions, there was no danger lurking towards Olympus, no reason for her to fear another upcoming war. It was only her uncle being his usual self.

"It's not like I was snooping around, searching for clues," Percy deadpanned, the presence of the god of War making her feel several kinds of anger. "It came to my house."

In the distance, a soft echo of the water pipes around the house trembling furiously against each other could be heard. She tried to appease her emotions and settle down, not wanting to give Ares the satisfaction of seeing how much his aura affected her, but it wasn't until the messenger god placed his hand on her shoulder that she managed to clear her head.

"Your insolence knows no boundaries, does it, punk?" Ares raised one eyebrow in a challenging manner. The demigoddess could almost see the flames of his eyes burning through his dark sunglasses; she looked away from him, choosing to glance at Hermes instead. "We know you attempted to discover his punishment for months."

"Our father doesn't care for those technicalities, doll," Hermes' calming presence contrasted greatly against his brother's own furious aura, successfully allowing the demigoddess to be freed from the effects that Ares' presence had on the mortals that surrounded him. "He wonders to what length would you be willing to go to save the love of your life."

"What?" She frowned at them, offended and confused by those words. What exactly was Zeus implying?

"We know very well how..." Ares sought a word, smirking to himself, "-deep your feelings are when it comes to our brother. Now, personally, I don't give a single fuck about his fate or yours, but our dear father has planned a series of obstacles in case you decide you want to be a heroine and save him from his upcoming punishment."

Hermes continued in a gentle tone, imagining how she must've taken those words. "Your fatal flaw is loyalty, doll. It's nothing personal-" he ignored how his brother claimed that it definitely was something personal, and said: "Apollo's actions guided our father to believe you two had planned something."

"What are you two even talking about?" Percy stressed, looking both confused and exasperated with their words. "I haven't seen Apollo since we broke up six months ago. If disappearing from my life is a sign that he wants me to save him-"

The gods shared a look, both handsome faces narrowing at her words.

That action alone made the demigoddess glance at them in curiosity, recognizing that, given their reactions, there was more to the situation that she had previously believed.

Then, out of nowhere, Ares started to laugh, which made the mortals around the bar shuffle around nervously, his aura making them nervous even in their ignorance of who he really was.

Percy glanced at the mortals around them, but since they brushed their uneasiness aside and continued their normal conversations with one another, she allowed herself to gaze at the two gods sitting in the stool at her side.

"What?" She questioned, a little offended. "What's so funny?"

Hermes met her gaze. He didn't seem to share Ares' amusement in the slightest. His face was serious, his eyes having lost the usual mischief that characterized him. "Percy-"

"Beauty but no brains," A cruel look crossed Ares face, one that his brother recognized very well. Before he could stop him from provoking her, the flame-eyed god was already leering at the demigoddess in a crude way that made her feel extremely uncomfortable, "That explains all the goddesses that Apollo rejected for you- a decent fuck is worth so much more when the person is as small-brained as could be."

The god had expected the daughter of Poseidon to explode after his words. It was what he wanted- he needed to see her lose control; he heard the rumors about her wrath and he wanted to have a taste of what her newest powers were like, to see if she would effectively become the threat that everyone thought she would be. But his words didn't get him the reaction he had hoped for.

Percy sent him a cold glare, a disgusted grimace making way into her young face.

She knew very well what he wanted- gods couldn't attack a mortal unless the mortal attacked first. However offended and annoyed his statement had made her, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of it- he wasn't worth it.

"I'm not twelve years old anymore, dear cousin," Percy sneered at him, unable to show him even the slightest bit of respect after his words. "You have to do better if you want to provoke me."

Ares slapped the table, which made one of the bartenders jump and quickly move to the other side of the bar. The god leaned towards her in a menacing manner, though there was also an edge of curiosity on his features. "It seems like Tartarus made you grow a backbone, punk."

Percy forced a smile into her face as she held his stare steadily. "I always had a backbone, Ares. Tartarus only opened my eyes to the truth."

"It also allowed you to discover certain new abilities, let's talk about that," Ares smirked when the demigoddess in front of him tensed greatly at his words.

"No," Hermes scowled at his brother, "We didn't come here because of that."

"I don't know about you, but I only came for a drink," Ares turned away from them, apparently having grown bored of their conversation, and ordered himself a drink. A couple of second later, he could be seen flirting with one of the most attractive bartenders, a young woman that seemed to be attracted to the dangerous aura that the handsome god emanated.

Percy gave one last disgusted look at him before settling her attention on one of the gods she still respected.

"You have to forgive him," Hermes said in annoyance, stealing a glance at his brother. "He's still the same asshole that he's always been."

Percy nodded quietly. "I wasn't expecting anything different from him." She paused for a moment. "I don't mean to sound like it's not nice to see you, Hermes, but why did you come here?"

She wasn't stupid, the "heads-up" that they claimed they wanted to give her was nothing special, just the information that her uncle still held a grudge against her and was still trying to find ways to complicate her life. Everyone knew that, it was old news.

There was something else that they wanted but couldn't say.

The god hesitated, something that surprised the demigoddess.

It was rare to see a deity consider his words before allowing them to be heard- they had no concerns whatsoever in the world. But the god in front of her looked like he was carefully considering what the appropriate response would be.

"I was worried," He admitted at last. "I've been trying to reach you for months, but there's something about this town that makes it almost impossible to find you, hence the lack of attacks you've received while here. And then, we heard in Olympus what happened this morning-" He shook his head, amazed. "Apollo got through."

"I don't understand," Percy admitted at last, scowling as she felt clueless. "It's like I told you two already, I haven't seen him in months. What I saw this morning scared me to pieces, I thought it meant that he was-" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

The relationship she had with the god in front of her was different to the dynamic she had with the rest of her immortal family, with him she allowed herself to speak freely about her concerns without fearing it to backfire, but she couldn't bring herself to say out-loud that she had feared Apollo had faded away.

She was supposed to be over him, but part of him was always going to be important for her, it didn't matter what happened or what changed. He was her first love. She thought that no matter the circumstances, a part of her would always love him. Not many understood that, though, which is the reason that she didn't dare voice her previous fear to the messenger god.

Hermes was one of the most helpful and caring of the Olympian gods; he had aided her in multiple occasions, had never blamed her for not being able to save Luke, and had been as close to her as a god was allowed to get to demigods. Gods don't have mortal friends, but if they had, she would consider him one. They'd spent an awful lot of time together, he was Apollo's favorite sibling and closest friend, which meant that when the demigoddess went to Olympus to visit her boyfriend, she constantly found the two of them together.

Hermes' once serious expression softened, understanding flashing through his eyes. "You have it all wrong, doll."

A spark of hope rekindled on her chest. "So, he's not-"

Hermes shook his head. "His punishment is to become a mortal, yes, but for the meantime, he's still going through the process of being stripped away from his divinity. Usually, it doesn't take much time, but our father is making this be as hard and long as possible."

Percy tilted her head to the side. "He's- he's still a god?"

Hermes watched he carefully, understanding then what she had thought that morning after seeing a part of Apollo in her house. "You thought you'd seen only his divinity?"

Percy looked embarrassed, but nodded. "I didn't know what to think."

The god explained to her what had really happened. "Apollo managed to escape his imprisonment for a brief moment, to see you one last time. He's getting weaker each passing day, which is the reason he couldn't appear to you as he normally would. But, even when he wasn't strong enough to portray his physical form to you, you still recognized him, did you not?"

The demigoddess nodded slowly, a heavy lump settling on her chest. The realization that it had been him and not just his divinity what she'd felt and seen around her house...it left her breathless.

He had been at her side again, so close and at the same time so far away. She couldn't hear his voice, couldn't see his features, but he had been there, she had felt him.

Hermes question almost amused her. After all that she and Apollo had gone through, she was sure her soul could recognize him no matter what appearance he decided to take. It was the same with Annabeth; they were both an important part of her, and she would always hold them close to her heart, her soul would always recognize theirs.

"I did," Percy said at last, voice slow and cautious.

It was then that she could, at last, understand the reason for Zeus to send his sons to personally give her a warning.

"It made his punishment worse, didn't it?" Percy couldn't hide her concern. "It's the third time he breaks the rules for me."

Hermes didn't have the heart to tell her that her assumptions were correct. His actions had made their father extremely furious and had made his punishment a thousand times worse, but the young woman in front of him didn't need to know that.

"Apollo wanted to see you one last time," Hermes explained carefully. "We don't know how long this process will be, and, with all due respect, you're mortal. He couldn't fathom the thought of you-" The handsome god grimaced at the thought, and, out of respect, he refused to finish the sentence.

Percy understood well. Time was different for immortal beings. A human lifetime was a mere blink for the gods, which brought Apollo to cherish every single moment he spent with Percy.

There was a brief pause, and before it could escape her mind, she stole another glance at the war god, and questioned Hermes about his presence there.

The messenger god shook his head. "I think he wanted to see how deteriorated you were," and after a small pause of consideration, he continued, "As the god of war, he has the tendency of wanting to see how a recent war has affected the heroes that fought them."

"And," Ares directed his attention to them after having grown bored of the mortal he flirted with. The demigoddess couldn't meet his gaze after being told he was trying to see how affected by the war she was. "I had nothing better to do."

"Aphrodite has been staying at Hephaestus' place this whole month," Hermes told Percy, hiding a smirk when his words successfully dampened his brother's arrogance. "Ares is worried she's going to choose our brother over him."

"Don't be ridiculous," Ares drowned in one gulp the remaining liquid on his glass, and moved closer to them, leaving behind all his unbothered pretense as he observed the curiosity written on the demigoddess' face. "Eventually, she'll grow tired of her hideous husband, and once it happens, she's coming back to me, as she always does."

Hermes' phone vibrated, which made both Percy and Ares look at him in curiosity as he took it out of his pocket, observing who the caller was, to then roll his eyes with a sigh. "It's our father," He told Ares, to then give an apologetic look to the demigoddess, "I'll be right back."

Percy watched him walk away until there was a considerate amount of distance in between them, observing how the messenger god answered his father and started to listen to his demands.

She didn't want to look away from Hermes, mainly because she didn't want to have to look at Ares. Being at his side made her feel uncomfortable, on edge.

"I know what you're going through," Ares said casually, motioning for the bartender to refill his glass.

The cruel god didn't want to have to approach the situation, because he had never cared about her. If he was honest with himself, he could admit that she was brave and that she deserved her title as heroine, but he hated her guts ever since the first time they saw each other. She was too explosive, too rebellious; their personalities didn't mix well, they had never managed to have a civil conversation with one another, not even when she joined the Olympian family on their family-dinner nights, hand in hand with his golden brother. He didn't expect it to change, he didn't want it to change. It entertained him having a good fight with her. But he couldn't bring himself to ignore how affected the wars had left her.

She was young still, about the same age of some of his children.

Ares had visited Camp Half-Blood to see how the demigods were holding up after the war ended, and had found a bunch of teenagers suffering greatly from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.

The most affected seemed to be the ones that fought both wars; Nico di Angelo, Annabeth Chase, Travis and Connor Stoll (though the brothers hid their anxiety fairy well, attempting to distract people with their jokes), his daughter Clarisse, and now that he had a glimpse of the daughter of Poseidon, he couldn't ignore how damaged she was.

Demigods had lost a lot in the last two wars: their loved ones, their normal lives, their friends, their families...

The god wasn't affected by any of it- he was also the god of bloodlust, for which he adored when wars started, he adored all the brutality that they brought upon everyone, and he loved the pain it caused. It was his forte, it was his domain.

But Aphrodite had insisted that he needed to show more compassion to demigods. They were the ones fighting their wars, they were the ones being affected. Ares didn't care much, but he wanted his girlfriend to think that he could be as compassionate and good as she wanted him to be.

The daughter of Poseidon was not in the mood for his games, she simply muttered a, "You know nothing," while she remained observing her cousin talk on the phone on the distance.

"PTSD is-"

"Please, don't," Percy grimaced, finally turning to meet his gaze. "We both know you don't want to have this conversation with me, and I don't want to talk about it either."

Ares observed her for a moment, then nodded in acceptance of her words. He said, "You're a good soldier, Jackson," which was his version of a nice compliment, and offered her a hard pat on her right shoulder. "You have done well."

Percy bit back all the sarcasm she wanted to bombard him with, deciding to settle for simple, "Thank you," that she didn't mean.

"But," Ares continued, nodding thoughtfully, choosing to ignore the annoyance he felt coming from her at his presence. He wasn't happy to be there either. "You need time to recover now. Good soldiers aren't invincible, all of us need to heal in our own ways, do you understand? It's normal to feel how you feel, and it's normal to seek care. It doesn't make you less strong."

Percy watched him carefully, reaching a conclusion. "You're worried about your kids."

Ares raised a challenging eyebrow in her direction. "My children are everything for me. If I push them a little hard, it's because I want them to be successful."

It was strange to hear Ares mention that he cared about his kids, because gods were awful parents. Percy knew he threatened his kids when they failed at something, but Ares had also shown proudness at his kids' achievements, going as far as praising Clarisse in front of the other gods. She wondered, not caring enough to give it much thought, if violence was how he portrayed love.

Hermes appeared at their side, which saved them from further conversation.

"I'm ready to roll," Ares told him, desperate to leave.

Hermes nodded in agreement, knowing they couldn't keep delaying their stay there. He drew the demigoddess into a gentle hug, an act that startled his brother. Gods didn't show physical affection to mortals unless they were their children or their flings, Percy Jackson was neither of those to Hermes.

"Be careful," Hermes whispered against her shoulder. "Remember your brother's words."

Percy moved from the embrace, confused. "What?"

Hermes gave her a pained look, unable to say more about the situation. It wasn't his place, there were too many laws forbidding him to speak. Apollo had shared with him part of a vision he had, and he couldn't help but worry about her well-being when the Originals were concerned. Triton had managed to give her the message without anyone noticing, but the messenger god was tongue-tied at the moment, having his father watching closely their interaction.

"You must remember his warning," Hermes stressed, trying to portray with his eyes the words that his mouth couldn't say.

Ares tilted his head to the side, having known from the beginning that his bother would try to enlighten her further than he was supposed to. He wasn't surprised, deep down, the violent god imagined that it had been Hermes' main intention when he accepted to go into town to visit the demigoddess.

The green-eyed demigoddess knew what he was referring to, Triton's message, one that she had forgotten as weeks passed and nothing extraordinary seemed to occur. There's a great danger coming to town, one you'll mistake as a friend.

She nodded, understanding then that it was the heads-up that his cousin had wanted to give her form the beginning.

"You've gotten smarter," Ares snorted disdainfully. "You know who it is?"

The demigoddess nodded quietly, the rest of her brother's words crossing her mind.

Be wary of those that you do not know and that try- out of nowhere- to befriend you. In that same way, be wary of those two friends that you already have here, you might never know what kind of darkness of their own they might be harboring

She only had two friends in town- Damon and Emma.

The later had just reencountered her "father", who happened to be the immortal hybrid that could destroy Percy's peace in town. She hoped to be mistaken, but, so far, she was almost sure that the friend she needed to be careful of was no other than Emma Darcy.

Hermes knew what the outcome of the Original's presence in town could be, his brother had shared a lengthy part of his vision, but he didn't know what to think. He sincerely hoped she could be smart enough to know what choices were the right ones to take; the future wasn't written in stone, as Apollo remembered those that criticized his visions, things could change.

"You don't have to," Percy offered him a sincere smile, "Thank you. For the heads-up, and for the visit."

Hermes moved forwards, leaning down to leave a kiss on her forehead. "I hope to be able to come back to visit soon, but, on the meantime, stay safe."

It was an affectionate gesture that, once again, startled Ares enough for him to raise his eyebrows in contemplation.

The green-eyed demigoddess swallowed an uncomfortable lump that had settled on her stomach, an empty feeling making its way into her chest. Poseidon had never even thought of being as affectionate as Hermes had been with her in that moment.

Hermes had done for her more than her own father ever had- he was there with her, he had visited her twice and cared about her well-being, while Poseidon had disappeared as soon as the wars ended. However, she knew that Triton wasn't a reliable source, her brother loved seeing her suffer- he could've lied when he told her Poseidon didn't care about her. It could be a lie.

But he wasn't there, and Hermes was.

She found herself wishing to be his daughter instead, an abrupt thought that embarrassed her deeply.

Gods weren't good parents, though Hermes seemed to be the exception. He tried to be there for his children, he portrayed an awful lot of times that he cared about them (he had mourned Luke even before he died), and Percy feels selfish for her thoughts. Some of his children in camp had never seen him before, some could only wish to receive affection from him, and yet she was on the receiving end of his affections constantly. It wasn't fair for them, but it was just how things were- Poseidon wasn't there for his only living (mortal) daughter, but Hermes, who only her cousin, was there without a doubt; the messenger god wasn't always present for his children, though he tried.

She felt as though she were stealing Hermes' kids from something valuable, but pushed those thoughts aside.

Ares was staring right at her as though he could read her thoughts, something that both embarrassed and angered her to no end. "Keep out of trouble, punk," He said as his goodbye, "That way I won't have to see you ever again."

That was a thought the demigoddess enjoyed.

As soon as both gods left, peace seemed to surround the whole place. Mortals started enjoying themselves without feeling an irrational amount of anger. Laughter filled the room in a pleasant way, and everyone seemed to be in better spirits than before.

Personally, she didn't feel as delighted as she thought she would after the main source of annoyance (Ares) left. Her thoughts were plagued by their warnings, and their words about their brother escaping his punishment to see her, along with the imminent dread that came with remembering that, apparently, her mortal friend could cause her complications.

Just as the demigoddess turned to move into the garden to look for Elijah, she collided against the same woman she had been told to be cautious of.

Emma wore a blue dress that accentuated her figure and made her look like an angel. She had been walking side by side with a middle-aged man that Percy couldn't recognize, but that looked an awful lot like her.

A dreadful feeling arose in her stomach- she wasn't there with the hybrid, she was there with her real father.

Her heart stopped, a shot of adrenaline coursing through her veins. "Fuck, Emma, I'm sorry."

The demigoddess had expected her friend to laugh about their collision against each other, as she would usually do, considering that Emma could be a little clumsy most of the time, but the young woman stared at her with a seriousness that didn't characterize her.

"It's all right," Emma replied distractedly, a forced smile on her face.

There was something strange about the air surrounding her mortal friend and her father, almost something similar to the tension that surrounded the Mist when monsters were around clueless mortals. It wasn't quite the Mist, because the demigoddess knew how it looked and how to use it in her favor, and what covered the mortal girl was of a different nature.

There was also a smell lingering through the air, a familiar stench that made her feel intoxicated.

Percy had been able to recognize the smell that mortal monsters emanated since she first entered Mystic Falls; she had almost grown used to the one the Salvatore brothers emanated, but this one was different.

It was strong enough to make her feel breathless, similar to how intoxicated she often felt around Elijah Mikaelson. Originals had a different stench than common vampires, less nauseating, but more intense. It wasn't unpleasant, just unusual most of the time.

The smell that surrounded Emma Darcy was as strong and intoxicating as Elijah's, but with a different edge to it. It made her briefly remember the werewolf she'd killed all those months before, Mason Lockwood, because it seemed to be a mixture of both the stench of a vampire and a werewolf.

Niklaus.

Percy wanted to scream in frustration, remembering her best friend considered the immortal hybrid a father figure. The fact that his stench came out of her in waves only allowed the demigoddess to know that they'd been together that day, that the hybrid was indeed in town already, that while he wasn't at the party, he'd been close enough for his smell to remain on Emma in such a strong way.

"Sweetheart," The man at Emma's side spoke, gaining both their attentions. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Disgust was a palpable emotion on the petite girl's face at the endearment with which her father spoke to her, something than the older man wasn't able to notice. The demigoddess wondered if their relationship had always been as uncomfortable as it seemed to be in that moment, or if the hybrid's reappearance in Emma's life had influenced how she felt about her biological father.

Percy had never seen her friend that serious before. Emma was usually easy-going and joyous, and, most definitely, she had never given her such a calculating look before. It was as though she couldn't recognize her, which was absurd.

"Father, this is my friend," Emma gestured towards the demigoddess, forcing a smile into her face, though it was noticeable that it didn't reach her eyes. She kept stealing discrete looks to the rest of the room, as though looking for someone in particular.

"Pleasure to meet you," Percy shook Mr. Darcy's hand, nodding politely at him. "I'm Percy."

"That's curious," Mr. Darcy raised one eyebrow, his tone of voice dry as he observed her. Percy was a man's name, and what was in front of him was most definitely a woman. "What does it stand for?"

Emma's attention was now completely fixated on them, no longer glancing around as though searching for something or someone, having heard Mr. Darcy's question and feeling interested about the answer. There was something she had overlooked while she desperately attempted to find the doppelgänger on the sea of people around them. She observed the young woman at her side, taking special interest to her features, going from her dark curls, to her sea-green eyes, to the way she held herself, to the few scars she couldn't hide with clothing.

"Persephone," The name slipped out of Emma's mouth before she could stop herself, a new gleam appearing on her once sweet eyes as her unwavering gaze remained focused on her person. That was Persephone Jackson, that was Emma's friend. His witch had been correct in her assumptions, and most of all, he had been right when he guessed that the Heroine of Olympus had befriended his daughter, that a demigoddess resided in his town.

At the sight of Emma's bright face, Percy felt herself relax.

Perhaps her friend had simply been distracted, or perhaps even affected by her biological father's presence at her side. As soon as she mentioned her name, Emma had graced Percy with one of her usual smiles, a sign that there was nothing wrong between them.

"Well, Persephone," Mr. Darcy offered her a polite smile that didn't reach his eyes. "We were on our way to one of the tables outside, would you like to join us?"

Percy couldn't accompany them even if she wanted. She needed to find Elijah, to get him out of the house before Emma's father saw and recognized him.

And, most of all, Triton's warning continued to echo through her head like a hypnotizing chant. She couldn't trust her friend, specially not after sensing Niklaus' smell on her, and certainly not when she had been acting so different that night.

"It's all right, Mr. Darcy, thank you. I was actually on my way out." Percy felt uncomfortable enough to want nothing more than to leave their side as fast as she could. She offered Emma a smile, hoping to hide how she felt about the situation, and said, "I'll see you around in school."

As she walked away, Emma's attention was solely focused on her retreating back. A small smirk started to appear on her lips, a dark look crossing her features in a way that didn't suit her gentle face. As beautiful as the sea, indeed.

...

Elijah had been about to enter the house to look for his companion for the night when she appeared right in front of him, which made him raise his eyebrows once he noticed how startled she looked. "I was on my way to look for you-"

"We need to leave," Percy told him seriously, shoulders tense as she interrupted his words. "Now."

Behind the Original's back, Percy saw a group conversing animatedly with one another. She didn't need to look twice to recognize them. Her parents, the Salvatore brothers, the doppelgänger and her family were there- everyone she was concerned about was there, laughing with one another.

"Very well," Elijah didn't question her. Instead, he leaped into action, taking his keys out of his pocket and walking away towards where he had parked his car. "I'll get the car while you deal with your parents."

Percy nodded, walking towards her parents, her dress almost floating behind her back with every long step she took in their direction. Her mother beamed and beckoned her closer when she saw her, while Paul merely offered her a gentle smile, and the others simply observed her, having seen her encounter with the Original vampire.

Damon raised his glass in her direction, "And the goddess decides to arrive."

He attempted to act unbothered not to allow his brother or the doppelgänger to make a scene of what they all saw- that Elijah and Percy had come to the picnic together. He could feel a heat of anger coming from the doppelgänger and wanted nothing more than to ignore her. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Elena's fear that everyone that associated with her enemies was out to get her, it was irrational.

"Where were you, sweetheart?" Sally questioned, still smiling.

"I have to leave," Percy whispered quietly, turning so her back was towards the vampires. She saw her parents' faces drop, their smiles slowly evaporating at her words. "I need to go back home to take care of some things, is it okay?"

"But you just got here," Paul pointed out, scowling.

Sally gave her a look, "You promised you'd be here with us," her voice having a reprimanding edge to it.

"I received a visit," Percy admitted, gesturing them to move further so that the others in the group couldn't hear their conversation. She knew it was a lost cause with the vampires, but there were two mortals in the group, the doppelgänger and her brother. Percy didn't want them to know anything about her life. "From Hermes and Ares."

In an instant, her parents grew serious and attentive.

"From Hermes it was to be expected," Sally recalled all the times she had seen the messenger god visiting her daughter at their apartment in New York. It had worried her at first, that her daughter seemed to be involved with two Olympian gods, but as time passed and she realized that the messenger god was constantly around because he was the sun god's best friend, she felt better about the situation. "But Ares?"

"I was as shocked as you are," Percy shrugged, not giving it much importance. She needed to get out of there before her best friend's father recognized her companion. Elijah had been clear about what could happen if Mr. Darcy discovered the Originals were back into his daughter's life. It would be chaos, something she didn't want to deal with when her pregnant mother was in the same house as them.

Sally's safety was what Percy cared the most about.

"I promise I'll explain everything later, but at the moment, I need to go home."

The Salvatore brothers eavesdropped on their conversation as discretely as they could, while the Gilbert siblings observed the interaction without being able to hear a word. The vampire brothers weren't as startled as the doppelgänger would've expected them to be, and realized it was because they trusted her. They didn't feel threatened by her actions; they imagined she must've had her reasons. It annoyed Elena, who was thoroughly worried about the possible meaning of it.

Stefan had known since Grover's visit that there were things he could never understand about Percy Jackson and her world, and he had made peace with that. Everyone had their own secrets, she had a full life behind that no one seemed to know about. It didn't bother Stefan as much as it should, he was content with simply knowing that she was their friend and that she had their back whenever they needed it. He didn't need to know much about her- he knew that some things were better left in the past. He also knew, however, that his brother wouldn't rest until he could be able to understand her completely.

As Damon watched her, he couldn't help but feel concerned. He had thought that he could handle seeing her interact with the Original vampire, but a mere glimpse of them together left him fearing the worst. There were a million scenarios on his head about what could go wrong, Elijah was almost impossible to fight off, his strength unlike any other Damon had felt before. He didn't want to begin to imagine her going against him- he dreaded what could happen to her.

The names she had mentioned while talking to her mother, though, left a sinking feeling on his stomach. Hermes and Ares. Once more, his initial thought of how some movies portrayed Greek gods having children with mortals crossed his mind, though he forced himself to push those thoughts away. It was impossible, those were just myths. Percy was real, she was not a myth.

When she moved to leave, her green eyes met his blue ones through the small distance that separated them.

Please be careful.

She offered him a reassuring smile, and Damon felt himself relax.

Even if he couldn't trust Elijah, he had to trust her.

...

When the demigoddess entered the car, the Original vampire drove away immediately, putting enough distance between them and the Forbes Residence before daring to inquire what had gone wrong. She explained everything as briefly as she could, and he was able to understand the hurry in which she had approached him.

"You know, Ms. Jackson, you didn't have to leave with me," He pointed out, remembering that her parents had wanted her to stay. "You could've stayed at the picnic."

"I could have," Percy agreed, not giving it the importance it deserved. "But I didn't want to."

"Can we talk?" Elijah inquired politely. "About my siblings."

Percy agreed immediately, knowing they had matters to discuss. "Like I told you, your brothers weren't in my domain, but that doesn't mean I don't know of ways to find missing people."

"I must ask, however, why did you agreed to help me look for them if you already did your part?" Elijah was curious, though grateful. "I only came to you because I thought they were at sea."

Percy hesitated, then decided to be sincere. Deceiving him would not help their deal in any way. "I'm a firm believer that a busy mind doesn't have time to dwell on the past. Meaning, I need the distraction that it offers me."

Elijah considered her words for a moment, then nodded. "I appreciate your honesty, Ms. Jackson. Now, what do you have in mind?" He asked without missing a beat, the anticipation of being able to have his siblings back rendering him impatient.

"I need something that belonged to them, something that still has their smell," Percy had thought about it for a while, and had reached a solution that could work. She wasn't completely sure it would help, but, at the very least, it was worth a shot. "I'm going to get my hell-hound to track them."

"I-I apologize, Ms. Jackson, but I'm afraid I'm a little lost," Elijah spoke slowly, accentuating every word. "A hell-hound?"

Their trip towards the Jackson's house was short and precise, the vampire engrossed with the things she was telling him about hell-hounds and how she had planned to find his siblings using Mrs. O'Leary, her pet hound.

When she entered, waving goodbye at him as she closed the door behind her back, she had a small flashback to the morning. There was a presence lurking in the house, though this time she was aware that it was not Apollo- instead of light, there was only blackness surrounding the living room.

Alert, she guided one hand to her cleavage, pulling Riptide out of it. With an almost imperceptible movement, she uncapped it and allowed her sword to take its real form. It glistened against the darkness of the room, illuminating briefly the place.

A quiet chuckle echoed through the darkness, and then someone moved out of the shadows.

Percy's tension left her body immediately, being overcome with confusion, and then with delightfulness once she recognized who was in the house with her. She turned Riptide back into its pen form, and moved forwards to be closer to the person coming out of the shadows in a slow pace. "Nico?"

"Hey. A little birdie told me you need to find dead people." A cynic smile crept into his young face. "There's no one better than me."