A/N: So here's the next chapter! I hope you guys like it!

POV: Annabeth (I thought it'd be interesting)

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any of the characters or ANYTHING: it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer and Rick Riordan. (I guess I do own the plot, however. It IS a fanfiction.)

Chapter 4: Battle

Percy and I were still hugging when we heard the alarm sound; someone shouted that there had been an attack on Thalia's pine. Percy and I split apart and instinctively grabbed put weapons before running off towards the tree. Clarisse was shouting orders at everybody as usual."Percy, Annabeth, you're in front!" she shrieked. We approached the border and, when we were close enough, we attacked.

We all ran into battle without trying to devise a plan on how to kill the monsters effectively. They were all protectively hovering around a child of theirs, or at least that's what it looked like. I gripped my dagger tightly, and my knuckles turned as white as the Maeonian Drakon bone knife I held.

I looked at Percy; his face was grim like mine. We'd faced way too much in the past seven years. More than enough for over a lifetime.

We ran past the protective border created by Thalia's pine tree and straight out attacked the monsters. I gasped when I saw them clearly; they were all inhumanly beautiful, with buttery golden eyes and bloodthirsty expressions.

I took on a black-haired female who looked about my age, maybe a year younger because she was so small. Her hair was chopped off short and wispy and stuck out in every direction. She fought me, and even though I grew tired really quickly, she looked like she wasn't even trying; it seemed easy for her to battle me. Every time that I tried to trick her, she anticipated it and blocked my attack as if she could see my decision. Her eyes, while we were battling, changed from a beautiful golden color to an ugly, bloodthirsty black. I saw the restraint in her eyes, how hard she was trying to prevent herself from… doing something. I wasn't really sure I wanted to know what that something was.

Eventually, though, I managed to hit her with my knife. It was pure luck. However, the monster didn't start wailing, didn't disintegrate or dissolve - well, my knife wasn't Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, so that made sense. But her skin wasn't even punctured - not a hole, nothing. She just looked at me, eyes wide open.

I risked a look over at Percy, who was battling against a male with bronze hair and equally gold-black eyes. He seemed to be restraining himself as well. Percy stabbed the monster with Riptide multiple times, but the monster never disintegrated as it should with the Celestial Bronze sword. He never seemed to tire, either.

I looked back at my opponent, at her unfailing beauty and strength, and my mother's genes kicked in. There was no way we'd win this battle.

"RETREAT!" I screamed as loud as I could, and everyone started to back off at once, back to the safety of Thalia's pine tree.

Once everyone was behind the border, panting and exhausted, I looked back at the monsters, who were still as stone, standing in the places we'd left them. I counted nine of them, including the offspring. Four males, five females. They didn't attack; they stayed put, still as statues, and stared at us. How strange.

I then dared to speak. If we didn't talk to these monsters at all, how would we figure out what they were, why they attacked, and why we couldn't kill them. "What are you?" I asked as loudly as I dared, still gripping onto my drakon bone sword as if my life depended on it. Percy's arm was around me protectively as soon as I spoke.

"The question is what you are. Who are you?" responded a blonde male who I assumed to be the leader of the group.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Now will you answer my question?" I responded, courage swelling in my chest. Percy let me lean on him, and I let him lean on me. We both needed it; we were exhausted from the fight.

However, instead of answering my question, the monsters looked at me in confusion. Startled. Bewildered. If they weren't Greek monsters, which they most certainly weren't (especially since they had no idea who I was), then what the Hades were they?

One of them sighed and murmured something I couldn't hear, but the rest of them looked at him as if he'd just swallowed a car. He was the bronze-haired one that Percy had been fighting just minutes ago. What was that? I couldn't hear you. I asked sarcastically in my head.

"I said, we're vampires," he repeated, more annoyed now. My jaw dropped to the floor. Did he just read my mind? "Yes, I did." Oh. My. Gods.

"Can someone explain what's going on, please?" Jason asked quietly from behind us; he and Piper had joined us during the battle.

"Your friend over there, Annabeth, I think-" He read my mind again, "-wanted to know what we are. And I just told you. We're vampires." All of the other monsters gasped at his words, as if saying, how dare you reveal that secret?! He turned to face his family."I had to. They're demigods, half-bloods, whatever you want to call them… they're half Greek god or goddess, half human." I was suddenly very annoyed at how much of a know-it-all he was.

"Yes, that's right. So, now that you know all about us, why don't you tell us more about you vampires." I heavily emphasized the word vampires, and they all flinched at the sound of it. I crossed my arms expectantly and leaned further into Percy's chest.

"Well, it's a really long story," the one with bronze hair said, stalling.

"We have time. But how about, number one, you come into the camp so we don't have to stand here all afternoon, and number two, you tell us your names," I suggested. "I'll allow you in, otherwise you won't get past the border," I explained.

"Alright… but…" the same one said, a tinge of frustration to his voice.

"But what?" I demanded. Everyone else was silent - they knew better than to speak. I was a leader here, and I'd accepted it, no matter how much I hated it.

"Well… don't be alarmed by us in the sun."

"What? Oh, you mean you'll burn in the sun. Got it. Sorry." I understood. After all, weren't all vampires supposed to burn when exposed to direct sunlight.

"No, we don't burn. That's just a myth." The bronze-haired one clarified. "It's just a little strange. They were all still under the shade of Thalia's pine tree, not one of them exposed to the tiniest bit of sunlight.

"Alright, then. What are we waiting for? I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!" I remembered the last time I'd said that, when I was allowing Tyson the Cyclops to enter Camp Half-Blood to help defeat the bronze bulls nearly five years ago.

The group of vampires walked slowly towards the border and crossed into the sunlight. That's when I figured out what the bronze-haired one had meant by "don't be alarmed by us in the sun". They were all sparkling like multi-faceted diamonds, the sunlight glittering off of their skin as if they were disco balls. They walked towards us. By us, I meant Percy and I.

Everyone else was staring at our unexpected visitors with their mouths hanging open in awe. I cleared my throat and said, "Everyone's dismissed. Get back to your daily activities!" At this, the rest of the demigods closed their mouths and sped off. Percy and I were alone with nine vampires in no time.

"Well, now that everyone's gone, would someone please care to at least tell me your names?" I asked.

"Yes. Sorry about that." The bronze-haired one explained. He looked like he was Percy and my age, about seventeen, but way more beautiful. Clutched close to him was another vampire, a female around seventeen or eighteen as well. "My name is Edward Cullen, and this is my family, Bella, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and my daughter Renesmee." He motioned to each of his other sparkling family members, and extended his hand. I shook it and was shocked at how cold it was - if I held it for longer than thirty seconds, I'd probably get frostbite. I looked at the little girl, Renesmee, who was only faintly sparkling - barely at all.

As if reading my mind - no, wait, he was reading my mind, Edward said, "Renesmee is not fully a vampire. She's half human. I'll explain later."

"Ok then." I looked up at Percy, who shrugged, his eyebrows adorably knitted together. "I guess we'll take you on a tour of camp."

But before anyone could move, we all heard a wail in the distance.