Chapter XIII

Disclaimer: I only own the mortals and plot. All of the other characters and stories belong to Rick and the CW.

James panted harshly as he ran. His blood rushing in his ears was perfectly in time with the pounding of his feet on the sidewalk, and his brown hair was covered with sweat.

Thump, Thump, Thump

He was tiring, and the stranger was not. He needed to stop running, but how? Then he spotted a dark little alley. The boy let out a breath of relief as made a sharp turn into a side alleyway and pressed his back to the wall of a building. James hoped that this stranger was dumb enough to run straight instead of following his shadow down the alley.

Thump Thump Thump

When James finally peeked around the corner his pursuer was nowhere to be seen. He relaxed, but still did not dare to leave the alley way for fear of the man returning.

Thump Thump Thump

The day had started normal enough. He had been on the way to his favorite cafe for a little morning caffeine when he first saw the man. James noticed the man first, but then a horrible stench reached his nostrils. In front of the man there was a smoking pile of ashes that James realised with shock was the source of the smell. He attended enough burials at camp to know what that smell was; it was the smell of burning flesh.

As if he had heard James's revelation the man turned to look at James. He stood still for a moment as his eyes trailed up and down James's body, examining him. James was frozen as the man stared at his. This was no mythological monster; this was a mortal one. He had no idea what to do in that situation. As much as he would like to, he couldn't just go around attacking murderers with his sword.

Eventually the man's eyes settled on James's tattoo - the one he received from the Roman camp once he became a full legionnaires. When he saw the tattoo, he lunged at James and he ran as fast as he could away from the man, and onto the streets of New York City.

James waited in the alley way for almost five minutes before he felt safe. When he was about to leave the alleyway, the side door of one of the buildings opened. Before James knew what was happening, the man grabbed him from behind and plunged something into his heart.

"It's nothing personal, but I can't have you telling your demigod friends about me," the man apologized as he laid James down in the alley. He dug into the boy's pockets, and pulled out a golden drachma. "There you go, for the afterlife." He laughed a little at the silly tradition, and left the alleyway.

As soon as the man left him, James used his last bits of strength to summon a rainbow and tossed the heavy coin in. Reyna's usual stern face greeted him, but when she saw the blood staining his shirt, her expression morphed into one of horror.

"What happened? Where are you?" she demanded. "James, who did this to you?" She could see the boy was dieing and whoever did this could not go unpunished.

"Mid City Alley, New York," James answered. His breathing was becoming labored and short. The boy was not going to last much longer.

"Go find Jason and Mrs. O'Leary. Tell them to shadow travel to Mid City Alley in New York," Reyna ordered one of the legionnaires that was in the room with her. "I'm sending help, James. Mrs. O'Leary, and Jason will find you. Just hold on 'till they get there," Reyna commanded. "James, you need to me who did this!"

"It was . . ." He paused, coughing uncontrollably, "It was a man. It was . . ." He was slipping away. He tried to fight, but he knew he would lose. He was going to die before Jason found him.

Reyna cursed. "James! Stay with me, James!" But her efforts were in vain. His eyes rolled back in his head and his limbs fell limp. "No!" Reyna shouted. She angrily slashed her hand through the mist and stormed out of the Principia.

Thump Thump

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Kol smirked through the blood of the young brown haired man he had just killed. 'Ready to die, Little Gilbert?' Kol thought as he drank his fill. Ever since Rebekah had told him about demigods and her new art teacher, he had been obsessed with planning how he would kill Jeremy. At this moment he could not decide if he wanted to gouge out his eyes then skin him alive or burn him alive after hacking him with a meat cleaver and spraying him with acid. Experience made him partial to the former, but he liked the irony of the latter.

He had been killing people who resembled the boy to test out which form of killing he liked the most. The aforementioned pair were his favorites, and his least favorite was impalement; it was too boring. He was enjoying himself, and could not wait for the real thing. He had gotten his revenge on Finn, but Jeremy had been allowed to walk around scott free after killing Kol. Kol was determined to end that freedom, and Jeremy's life.

Kol put the body, or what remained of the body, in a dumpster and began to make his way to Klaus's apartment. He had promised to go with Klaus and one of Klaus's witches to that camp place to inspect the barrier. Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah were full on in 'protect the family/Always and Forever' mode; Kol didn't really care about the pledge the other Mikaelsons made towards one another. Not like they included him in their fun anyway. Until today.

He knew a fair amount about Greek and Roman myths because of his interest in the afterlives of other cultures. But if demigods weren't useful or a threat, he wasn't interested in what they were doing. However, Klaus had not so subtly hinted that a dagger bet involved if Kol said no to helping him, so Kol decided to play nice.

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Percy, Will, Nico, Annabeth, Thalia, Frank and Hazel were all playing Mythomagic because Percy believed it would be good for everyone, especially Nico, when an IM popped up over their cards and action figures. Since the message was facing Frank, everyone gathered around him.

"Reyna?" Frank exclaimed in surprise when he saw who was on the other side of the message. The other Praetor did not use IMs unless absolutely necessary. She looked distressed which was rare for her. She usually hid her emotions.

Reyna took a deep breath. "Frank, James is dead." Despite her aloof air, Reyna cared deeply for the campers under her command and was very shaken up by James' death.

"What?!" Percy interjected. "What happened?"

"That's what we don't know," Reyna explained. "He IMed me after being stabbed in the chest by this." Reyna held up the murder weapon. She and Jason had decided to put it in a plastic bag in case this was a moral murder.

"He IMed you?" questioned Annabeth. "Did he say anything about whoever did this?" Her brows were furrowed as she attempted to figure out just what happened to James.

Reyna swallowed back tears. "He said where he was, and that it was a man that stabbed him, but he didn't say anything else." She was a war hardened warrior; death no longer shocked her, but she felt responsible. James was a legacy of Venus. He had only just become a full member of the legion, but she had encouraged him to go visit his mom, who was a former member of the legion, in New York City. She should have known that he was not ready to defend himself and now he was dead because of her poor judgement, because of her failure as a leader.

"I can't believe James is dead," Frank sniffed. He had been the one to stand for James when he first came to Camp Jupiter, and had really grown close to him. "Should Hazel and I come back sooner that we planned for the funeral?"

Reyna shook her head. "No, we'll wait 'till you finish your trip. Besides, Frank, James was away visiting his mom in New York when he was killed. Could you, Hazel and maybe some people from Camp Half Blood look into it? I want to find who or what did this. They will pay for what they have done." Reyna's eyes were filled with anger, and she looked down right murderess.

Percy leaned away from the image in mild fear when he saw Reyna's face. "We'll help you out. Between Hazel and Nico, we'll be able to get some information about the sicko that did this." Even though he had never met James, Percy still wanted to get justice for him, and put away whoever was responsible for the death of this innocent boy.

While was Reyna telling the group where exactly James was killed, Annabeth was puzzling through the details of the murder. Judging from the weapon, whoever did this was very strong, and most likely an experienced fighter. Even though James was new to the legion, he would have been able to overpower most attackers with his training. Also, the location Reyna named was in a Hell's Kitchen, a very nice residential area of New York. People don't get murdered there anymore. The whole thing was just so weird.

She also couldn't help but feel this was related to what happened to Elijah. Both of these murders happened in the - a stabbing from the back. But both the victims were two completely different people. Elijah came back to life, but James didn't. Something was telling her, that these crimes were connected in more than one way. Annabeth just didn't know how.

Annabeth had to pause her brainstorm when the message ended, and it was time to go get something to eat. They had decided earlier to give Sally and Paul a dinner without a bunch of teens around to annoy them.

Everyone was pretty shaken up, so the walk to their favorite pizza place was pretty quiet. Hazel and Frank were comforting one another as they walked. They were the most saddened by the lost because of their personal connection to the deceased, but the others still acutely felt the loss of one of their own.

When the seven of them arrived, they went to their usual table and began to contemplate what how much pizza they wanted to ingest. Which wasn't very much frankly. How could they eat after one of their own was slaughtered?

Will looked over his shoulder and could not believe what he saw. "Guys!" he hissed. "Look who's here."

The rest of the group followed his gaze and saw their new art teacher, Mr. Gilbert, sitting at a small table, alone. He had a small pizza and was drinking a beer. Nico, Will, Thalia, Percy and Annabeth shared a look that emphasised the awkwardness of seeing one's teacher outside of school while Hazel and Frank just looked at the man in confusion.

"I don't get it. Who is he?" Hazel whispered. Both she and Frank had never seen this man before in their lives.

"He's our new art teacher," Annabeth explained. Just then Jeremy noticed them. Recognising them from class, he smiled and waved. His greeting was cut short, however, by the sound of the door chime. Mr. Gilbert's eyes darkened in hatred when he saw who had entered the pizza parlor. He continued to glare as the newcomer casually made his way to the teacher's table and sat down.

Annabeth gasped "Do you guys remember Rebekah?" she asked Frank and Hazel. When they both nodded, she continued. "That's one of her brothers, Klaus."

"How do they know each other?" asked Percy.

"Rebekah said they lived in the same town for a while. Apparently there was a lot of bad blood between their families," Thalia supplied. She had been listening in on Rebekah's conversation once again in art class that day she told the humans.

The group fell silent as they attempted to eavesdrop on the conversation before them. Everyone wanted to find out just how much these families dislikes one another.

"Jeremy Gilbert," Klaus greeted. "It has certainly been a long time since we last saw one another." He smirked at Jeremy.

"Not long enough," Jeremy muttered. "What do you want, Klaus?" Jeremy could see that Klaus was just playing nice, and he was kind of over the act.

Klaus wagged his finger at Jeremy. "Now, now, there's no need to be hostile. I simply want to know what you are doing in New York." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he waited for Jeremy's response.

"Teaching," Jeremy dead panned. He knew he was safe in such a public place. He also had his hand on a spare stake just in case he needed to make an escape.

"I've heard. You should have seen Kol when Rebekah told him about your new career path. His eyes lit up like his birthday had come early." Klaus smirked at Jeremy. He knew he had just dropped a huge bomb on the younger man.

"Kol is here?" Jeremy asked. He kept the fear out of his voice, but could not keep it out of his eyes.

Klaus smirked and leaned in. "Oh yes. As you can imagine, he is very much looking forward to killing you. Last I heard he was trying to figure out the best way to do it. He's been experimenting,"

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "You obviously want something, Klaus. Just spit it out already." He hated Klaus's games and had no intention of playing them tonight.

"I just want you to tell me what a Hunter, such as yourself, is doing in New York of all places," Klaus answered innocently. He needed to figure out what Jeremy was doing in New York before he caused any more problems.

"I told you. I'm teaching," Jeremy insisted. If Klaus really believed getting information was going to be that easy, he had lost his touch.

Klaus's eyes narrowed. "If you're just teaching then why was a dagger stolen from my house and used on my older brother?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jeremy snapped.

Klaus scoffed. "Don't play dumb with me. Why else would you be in New York?!" Klaus's paranoia had officially set in, and he was convinced that Jeremy was here to hurt his family.

"Look, Klaus, I didn't even know you guys were here. My reasons for being here have nothing to do with you. I'm just here to go about my life."

"Fine, but If you try anything, I'll tear your throat out before you can even blink," Klaus threatened.

Jeremy's eyes darkened at Klaus's warning. "Now that you've made your threats, can you please leave me to eat in peace, or do you plan on ruining the rest of my meal?"

Klaus's pleasant smile returned to his face. "I'll leave you, but remember my warning."

Jeremy didn't relax until Klaus had left the restaurant. He knew that Klaus was not bluffing, but he had no intention of cowering at his threats. He was going to go about his business no matter Klaus's warnings or the looming threat of Kol. If he was afraid of the Originals, he would have left the second Rebekah entered his classroom.

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After witnessing the conversation before them, the demigods all shared a look that said Let's wait to talk about this 'till we are in private. They didn't want to risk their teacher knowing that they had been listening in on his conversation. The group finished their meal with quiet chit chat and somber faces. After all, their comrade had just been killed.

Mr. Gilbert left before the demigods did, and waved on his way out. He had lost his earlier anger and was now smiling, but not as brightly as he had when he walked in earlier. The group of teens waved and smiled back. Both parties seemed to be ignoring the spectacle Klaus had made.

Eventually, the demigods left as well. It was pretty late, but they were all eager to talk about what they had just witnessed so they decided to go back to Percy's house.

When they got back to Percy's house and were all settled comfortably in the living room, but no one was comfortable enough to address the elephant in the room. Thalia was the first to speak.

"Wow," she mused. "Rebekah was not kidding when she said there was bad blood between their families. They seemed to seriously hate each other."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Are you kidding me? Klaus basically gave death threats to our art teacher." Percy, like a lot of other demigods, sometimes forgot that someone doesn't have to be mythical to be a monster. Even though Percy had suffered through Gabe's abuse, he found it hard to believe Rebekah's older brother to be capable of murder.

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know, Klaus seemed pretty serious when he said that Kol was going to kill Mr. Gilbert. He even made it sound like Kol was killing people to get ready for killing him."

"Wait! Kol, as in the Kol at my birthday party?" Hazel questioned.

"Yeah. He's another one of Rebekah's brothers," answered Will.

Hazel cocked her head with a look of confusion upon her face. "But, he seemed so nice. He talked to me about my family's history in New Orleans. For some reason he knew a lot about witches." Hazel's own mother dabbled in the art of witchcraft herself before passing away.

"Klaus seemed nice when we met him at Percy's house, but we can't ignore the facts here. He was just threatening to tear Mr. Gilbert's throat. And by the looks of it, Mr. Gilbert had to throw some punches too," Nico argued. "I don't trust that family. Something about them just seems wrong."

"I don't trust them either," agreed Thalia. "Something else was bothering me, Klaus called Mr. Gilbert a hunter. What could he have possibly meant by that?"

Frank shrugged. "He may have just meant that your teacher likes to hunt. Like you Thalia, only instead of monsters, he hunts animals." Because he and Hazel hadn't been around the Mikaelson's as much as the others, both of them thought their friends were being a little paranoid. This family might be a little strange, but they didn't seem like a family of sociopathic lunatics.

"If it is just a sport, then why would Klaus call him a Hunter. It would be like calling someone dancer or skater. I think it might be code for something like a rank or profession," Annabeth hypothesised.

"He said that guy, Jeremy, stole a dagger and then used it on someone. Do you think he meant that your teacher killed someone?" Hazel asked her friends in disbelief. This was the first she had heard of the dagger, and was more than a little confused by it.

Thalia rubbed her charm bracelet anxiously. "They always mention that dagger. Rebekah and both her brothers are always talking about who stole it. Originally, Klaus thought Kol had taken it, but, now, I guess Mr. Gilbert is the top suspect." The whole dagger thing was starting to get on her nerves. Why were all these people obsessed with a dagger? It made no sense.

"Oh," Hazel said. "There was another thing. When they were talking about the dagger, I couldn't help but be reminded of the guy at camp, Elijah, who was stabbed by a dagger. Is it possible that he was the brother that Klaus was talking about?"

Will shook his head. "I don't think so. Even if he wasn't being truthful about who stabbed him, Elijah seemed genuinely clueless about what the dagger was and how it worked. All of the Mikaelsons seem to be very clear about what dagger is and what it can do." The rest of the group nodded in agreement with Will's statement. Even though Elijah's story had some holes in it, the demigods believed that he not lying about his lack of knowledge regarding the dagger.

"I'm too tired to really think about this," confessed Annabeth. "For now, just keep alert. As weird as the Mikaelsons are, the most important thing is figuring out what happened to James." With that, the group began to split up for the night. Before they all left, the demigods made a plan to go investigate James's murder after school the next day.

Sorry I was late, again. I have a little game. Ever since chapter eight, I have been using the names of chapters and episodes from fandoms I love. The first person to comment with the fandom that the chapter name belongs to will win. Last chapter's title was from Lord of the Rings. Thank you for reading and thank you to ronlol2, Sky, xPsychoxXxGirlx, daughterofthetrident, and OphiuchusIXII for reviewing. Thank you to all the people who followed, voted and left Kudos. Also, I wanted to give a special thank you to OphiuchusIXII for helping me with this chapter. I really value your help and insite. Thank you for all of your help and advice. You made this chapter worthy of posting. As always constructive criticism is loved and appreciated, so please review.