The strength of the shockwave threw Percy off his feet. The windows of the kitchen shattered, throwing glass and wood paneling down on top of him. Phone and Isabella abandoned, Percy scrambled to his feet and raced to the living room where Cassidy had once been sleeping peacefully. The breaking of the glass had torn her free from sleep, and she had begun screaming in terror. Closing the distance and darting over the back of the sofa in a blur, Percy appeared in front of Cassidy.

"Sweetheart, I need you to look at me," Percy ordered, grabbing the girl's cheeks softly in both of his hands. "It's going to be okay, but I'm going to need you to do everything I tell you, all right? Can you do that for me? Just nod or shake your head."

Cassidy nodded her head, and Percy picked her up. In a blur of movement, Percy was darting through the small home. The home itself had not yet caught fire, instead, the flames seemed, for the moment, contained to the barn. But with the sheer size of the blaze, it was only a matter of time before the flames began spreading in their direction.

Kicking through the front door, Percy raced through the front yard. He raced beyond the truck in the middle of the parking lot, and towards a small shed near the edge of the property. He crossed the distance in a blink of an eye and shot inside. The interior of the shed was rather bland and unassuming. Looking like just a regular toolshed, although it was anything but. As Percy crossed through the threshold, he let loose a blast of divine energy and the appearance of the shed vanished as it morphed into what could only be described as a make-shift bunker.

Percy hadn't thought he'd ever set foot in the damn thing. Let alone show it to someone. But circumstances changed. Someone had attacked him. His home. While he was there and inside. As far as he was concerned, that meant taking absolutely no chances with Cassidy.

"You'll be safe in here," He said as he placed her on the ground, "No one is going to be getting to you inside here, you'll be safe. I'll come to get you soon."

He didn't give her a chance to respond, as he slammed the door shut.

He wasn't worried about the horses. Pegasi were magical creatures and the fire, as far as Percy could tell, was mortal. The natural divine magic of his father blessed the creatures and would keep them from getting singed by non-divine flames. That didn't mean it wouldn't annoy the holy hell out of them, and more importantly him. Still, he needed to get them out of the barn. It wasn't too far of a flight from there to Long Island, and the pegasi could rest at the Camp there until Percy called for them again.

Instead of the horses, Percy was far, far more concerned with whatever damn fool thought themselves strong enough to set fire to his goddamn property, and get away with it.

As he walked away from the shed, he swore as he remembered that he had been on the phone with Isabella when his farm had gone blown up. Continuing his line of colorful swearing, he jogged back to his house. It took a little searching through the kitchen, but after only a minute or so he managed to find the phone, lodged under a mess of glass and wood paneling.

Brushing the glass and dust free, he was almost surprised to see that the call to Isabella was still connected. She must have been holding out hope that he would pick back up. Her lucky day he supposed.

"Isabella," he said his voice a show of absolute calm and control.

"Percy," she breathed in relief, "Where-" she began, but Percy cut her off.

"Cassidy is safe, I got her tucked away in a place nobody is going to find her. You just get here. I'll call you when I got the fires put out and some wolf pelts decorating my goddamn front lawn."

The last bit came as a roar, but he didn't care. They already knew he knew what this town was. And Percy had already been attacked on his property once. He wasn't telling Isabella anything about him or his situation that she didn't already know.

Before Isabella could say anything to him, he ended the call and tossed the phone onto his ruined countertop. First things first, he needed to get his animals out of the pens. Taking off at a meandering jog, Percy made his way to the stalls. Casually summoning a storm cloud overhead and causing a minor thunderstorm. The rain began to fall in large, heavy drops. Each drop caused a small "hiss" as it peppered the rising flames of the barn fire. Percy threw open the door to the barn.

Percy didn't bother with subtly anymore. His home had been attacked twice now, and he wasn't among mortals. With a grunt, Percy hauled the door off its hinges and carelessly tossed it aside. The pegasi, despite their natural magical immunity to fire, were still throwing a hissy fit. Anna, one his more emotional mares, was kicking out at the rear of her stable, ranting and raving about her mane and getting coated in soot.

She was a vain little thing, always had been.

"Relax," Percy grunted, as he broke the locks off of their stalls with little difficulty. "Not like you're going to burn, and your man will grow back." That earned him a rather colorful remark from more than a couple of the pegasi, which he did his best to ignore.

"Get to New York, they'll take care of you until I call and let you know it's safe for you to come back." He said to the group at large as they began to canter steadily through the opening in the stalls Percy had created. He received a couple of keening cries from the pegasi in response, before their enormous wings spread wide and they took off high into the air.

Percy watched them go for a little while until they had disappeared into the clouds. With an aggrieved sigh, he turned back to the blaze. With a wave of his hand, Percy collected the rain he'd summoned into a condensed ball and dropped it onto the fire. The mass of water slammed into the inferno, smothering it almost instantly. With that annoyance dealt with, Percy could turn his attention to see if the assholes that had started this fire were sticking around.

Heading back to the kitchen, he grabbed his phone and scrolled through his notifications. Sure enough, his security system had been pinging him that there had been moving along the perimeter of his property line. He must have missed the notifications while he was on the phone with Isabella. That had been stupid. But he would dwell on that another time.

The bastards were still lingering around in the tree line. Likely trying to feel him out and get an idea of what they were dealing with. Not a terrible call, he grudgingly admitted. All they knew was that he had managed to kill and disappear half a dozen of their buddies, and they were waiting for him to make the first move.

He snarled, equal parts thrilled and furious at the sudden attack on his home. As much as he might try to deny it, he could all but feel his blood sing in delight at the prospect of fighting once again. The primal, divine part of him that strived for him to conquer. To dominate. It relished in the task ahead. But his more rational, the human mind was preoccupied with something else entirely.

Cassidy.

It was one thing to come after him and his animals. Percy was a grown man. A demigod. He could fend for himself and be more than capable of dealing as much and more with someone as they did with him. But Cassidy was a child. Supernatural or not, she was still just a kid. A kid who had been put in the line of fire by some short-sighted wannabe gangbangers who thought they were bigger shit than they were.

It made his blood boil, and the weather reflected his mounting fury. A crash of thunder punctuated by a crack of lightning arced through the sky. As another bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, Percy took off. Kicking up dust and fallen twigs and leaves as he raced through the trees. He felt a mass in front of him, somewhere off to his two o'clock. Shifting his direction, Percy took off in the direction of the new mass.

He would need to work quickly, as the pack animals were probably already onto his game, and were likely converging on his even as he closed the distance to his target. If he didn't kill this first wolf quickly enough, the rest of his hunters would be on him, and while he was still confident he would make it out alive, he wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect of fending off a dozen wolves all at once.

Even with the embers of the fire casting an eery orange glow in the distance, the interior of the forest was covered in seemingly impenetrable darkness. But Percy was comfortable in the dark. He had spent much of his youth hunting in similar conditions, and his eyes were as finely tuned to darkness as it was to daylight. As such, he was easily able to see the large black mass of fur, trying to hide amongst the leaves and twigs of the forest floor.

His face contorting into a snarl of excitement and fury, Percy leaped at the wolf, covering the dozen or so feet left between them in a single jump. Percy's sudden attack surprised the wolf, who had not been expecting the man blundering through the underbrush to suddenly jump the length of several cars and land on top of him.

They collided in a tangled mess of fur and flesh, tumbling and rolling along the forest floor as Percy dug his fingers deep into the mane of the wolf. The sudden collision had dazed the wolf enough for Percy to wrestle it into a standing position. With a grunt, Percy whirled the oversized mutt through the air and threw it as hard as he could. The wolf tumbled through the air, bounding end over end like a small doll, as it broke clear through the trunk of a large oak tree. A large splinter broke off from the trunk and embedded itself in the hide of the wolf as it bounced along the forest floor. The dazed creature barely had time to even register that it was hurt, however, before Percy was bearing down on it once more.

Percy's fist buried itself into its snout, and the massive maw of the wolf snapped back, bouncing off the ground and stunning the creature even more. Stepping on the creature's neck, Percy dug his fingers between the wolf's upper and lower lips. With a grunt and a jerk, there was a painfully loud and sickening crunch, as the jaws of the wolf were forcefully broken. The wolf shuddered before it fell limp. Percy's attention was drawn to the sound of heavy footfalls on the forest floor, and Percy reacted on instinct.

He spun, reaching into his pocket and wrapping his hand around a small ballpoint pen. Pulling it out, Percy stepped off to the side as he flicked the cap off the pen. A brilliant, shining gold gladius materialized in his hand. He stepped off to the side as the body of a snarling wolf soared past him. His arm arced out, and dragged the edge of his blade along the neck of the wolf, slitting its throat and covering Percy's arm in a spray of blood.

The wolf fell to the ground, its legs still twitching as it slowly bled out from the untreatable wound. The beauty of divine metal? It kept magical creatures from being able to recover from wounds inflicted by non-mortal means. Percy spun the blade back across his body, simultaneously cleaning the blood off the edges and bringing the weapon back to a ready position.

He ducked and a furry, silver-gray claw shot over his head. The wolf overextended, and Percy closed in. As Percy rushed the wolf's guard, Percy brought the blade up and and buried it to the hilt in the soft underbelly of the beast. Percy was aware of a third of the beasts trying to flank him from behind, as another was about to leap down on him from the trees. Swiveling on his heel, Percy whipped his arm forward. The wolf, still impaled on his blade, was thrown free from his weapon and slammed into the charging wolf, which was thrown off-balance and toppled to the ground.

Whirling back around, Percy managed to catch the wolf as it leaped down at him from the trees. Percy managed to keep the wolf's snapping jaws from clamping down on his neck, as he placed his hand around the neck of the beast. He squeezed, feeling the bones in the wolf's neck shift and shudder, the Percy slammed the beast into the ground, stunning it. Blood and fur exploded into Percy's face as he slammed his weapon to the hilt into the chest of the wolf.

But his preoccupation with the wolf provided the next wolf, a deep navy with silver highlights, enough time to slam into him, tackling Percy to the ground as its jaw dug into his clavicle. White-hot pain roared through his shoulder, and he could feel blood pouring down the front of his shirt. Less than a second later, another wolf, this one as dark as night, sank its teeth into his legs.

Percy roared in a mixture of fury and agony, as he thrashed violently. Reaching out blindly, he pressed his plan into the face of the wolf ripping his shoulder apart. With a snarl, he forced his thumb into the eye of the creature, destroying the eye in a torrent of blood and mucus. The sudden pain of the attack caused the wolf to cry out in agony, and loosen its grip on Percy's shoulder.

Swiveling onto his side, Percy reared back his free foot and slammed the heel of his work boot into the muzzle of the black wolf. The attack sent the creature flying, crashing through a nearby tree before landing in a heap on the ground. Splinters and bark protruded from its mangled fur. The remaining wolf, blood seeping from its ruined eye, howled in fury, before charging. Percy reached his hand out, and with a simple command, his gladius extracted itself from where it was still buried in the chest of a nearby wolf and raced through the air to Percy. He caught it, and in one smooth motion, he ducked under the wolf's attack and dragged the blade along its underbelly. He split the beast from head to tail, as it collapsed to the ground, its organs and blood falling free and congealing in a mess as the wolf fell silent.

Breathing heavily, Percy spat a wad of blood and phlegm onto the corpse of the wolf. He reached up and checked on his shoulder, grimacing in pain as he felt how deep the wound was. His leg wasn't in much better shape, but he could still put weight on it, and the adrenaline seeping through him would keep him semi-sedated until he had time to medicate. Luckily, he kept a stash of nectar and ambrosia in the bunker, he could grab them when he secured Cassidy.

He sighed and gazed at the corpses around the forest, his expression sour. This wasn't a problem that was going to be going away any time soon. This needed to end. Immediately. If for no other reason than to keep Cassidy from getting into the crossfire. After all, he had no intention of pulling away from Isabella and her little girl any time soon.

But he'd need intelligence before he could mount any kind of an offensive. His eyes moved over to the body of the wolf he'd kicked through the trees. Even in the dark, he could just make out the soft rise and fall of its chest as it lay unconscious.

Percy smiled.

BREAK

Sury and Paulaskaite were waiting on the tarmac for her as Isabella's plane touched down in Marquette. She turned a frosty glare on both of the men, who shrank slightly under the gaze and averted their eyes. Sury opened the back door for her, before sliding into the passenger seat as Paulaskaite took off, driving away from the tarmac.

"Any particular reason," Isabella snarled through clenched teeth, "Why you two are here instead of with my fucking daughter?! Like I told you to be!"

Sury and Paulaskaite shared a look, and Isabella yelled again.

"Answer me!"

"Erm, we were, ma'am." Sury hesitated. "We were already on site when the fire started and was about to go in after Ms. Cassidy when we saw Jackson carry her out of the building. He put her in this shed on the edge of the property, and when we tried to get her erm…" he trailed, looking at his partner desperately for help.

"He's magical, ma'am," said Paulaskaite. "Has to be."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because when we tried to get her out of the shed, there was nothing in there," explained Paulaskaite, "Just an empty shed. Tried tearing the fucking place apart, but nothing was real. We couldn't do a damn thing."

"So we just sat on standby and watched," said Sury.

"Watched," asked Isabella, eyebrow raised. "Watched what?"

"As Jackson killed seven fucking wolves with his bare hands and a golden fuckin' sword," said Paulaskaite with a snort.

"It wasn't even a fight, not really," said Sury. "Looked like he was barely even trying, and he tore them to ribbons." He shuddered, "I don't know what the fuck we're dealing with here boss, but whatever that thing is, it ain't human and it sure as shit ain't anything I've ever seen before."

"And my daughter?" She demanded.

"He pulled her out of the shack a little bit later, after he'd put on something that wasn't covered in blood…" Sury glanced at her quickly but turned his gaze away just as fast. "He put her in his truck and drove her to your place ma'am, they were there up until we left."

"And you decided, in your infinite wisdom, to leave my daughter in the hands of this man?" She turned her icy stare on each of the men in turn. Her fingers elongated somewhat and dug into the leather behind Sury's head to emphasize her point.

Isabella wasn't angry with the men, there was no way in hell that Percy was going to hand over her daughter to a pair of strange men whom he had never met before. especially not if he was riding high after killing a handful of wolves. Moreover, Percy had already called her while she had been in the air, and let her know exactly where he and Cassidy were and what they were doing. But sometimes it was important to remind them exactly who she was, and why she was running the show.

Truth be told, Isabella wasn't sure there was anybody on the planet that she would trust more, at that moment, to look after her daughter's safety than Percy.

"Boss, no offense, but I watched that thing drop-kick a fully grown wolf through a tree, and break another's mouth in half. I make no illusions about what would happen if we had tried to take Ms. Cassidy back."

Isabella couldn't fault the logic.

Humming in thought, she leaned back in her seat and considered things. What the hell had Packard been thinking? Percy had already supposedly killed off a number of his men and had connections to the DSI. What the hell would drive Packard to go and provoke the man like that? Moreover, why the hell was Alex signing off on this? If he even was. It was becoming more and more probable that her concerns were becoming a reality. Something was going on, something that hadn't been brought to the attention of the rest of the council.

But she was far more worried about Percy's response to the situation. How would he respond? The fact that he was, thus far, acting calmly and rationally both assuaged her fears…and also deeply concerned her. Percy had been attacked twice now, in nearly as many months. He was not the type to take such blatant hostility lying down. She shifted in her seat, suddenly dreading the homecoming. She wasn't sure she was emotionally or mentally ready for the kind of conversation that she was certain she was going to have to have when she got back home.

She heaved a sigh. It had been a long day. Entirely too long.

And she knew it wasn't ending any time soon.