Author's Note - Hello everyone! I finally was able to get chapter six of this story done. It took me a bit and I apologize for the wait! I wanted to mention that I've decided to make a posting schedule for myself to help encourage me to post more consistently. So if you're curious of when I'll be posting certain stories, feel free to check out my schedule on my profile! I'm also doing a poll at the moment as well, so if you'd like, go ahead and vote on that!

Also, I've noticed there was a bit of confusion about who Cole Tanner is, so I hope that this chapter helps clear that up a bit. Another thing I thought I'd mention in response of if he's a demigod, is no. He's not a demigod. He's actually a normal human. Hopefully things will make a bit more sense with this chapter regarding that.

Anyway, with that said, here's the sixth chapter! I know you guys have been eager for the plot to pick up in pace, so hope you enjoy! The action finally begins.

Cole Tanner

8:00 AM

"You wait here, I'll go try to find something to eat."

It was dark out – without the street lights and other various city lights, it would have been impossible to see. At the start of all this, it felt kind of stupid. A sixteen year old and a fourteen year old running away from home to try and live on their own. Even if their dad was abusive… living under an actual roof with actual food was a lot better than this. He had to admit that he had his doubts when they first set out and those doubts still lingered. Grabbing his sister's sleeve, he tugged her back into the alley they were in. In spite of her being older than him, he was a bit taller than her. "Bree. Are you sure this is a good idea? It's barely been three weeks and things aren't looking too good."

"It's better than being near him." Bree replied simply. He expected that'd be her answer, he wasn't really keen to return to their father either, but the nagging feeling still refused to go away. He felt like something awful was going to happen. "Now just wait here and stay low—I'll be back soon." She told him, disappearing around the corner of the alley without another word.

If only he'd gone with her that day—or stopped her from going. She had always been a shy person—not really one to try and draw focus to herself or anything. However, she was also very determined and worked hard. He wished he would have helped her more, but back then he hadn't known the first thing about living out on the streets.

He did now, of course, but it was too late.

She was gone.

"Cole."

A soft sigh escaped him, and he opened his eyes. He was laying out on one of the park benches, and he glanced over. A young blonde man stood above him, his expression slightly sympathetic. "You were thinking about her again, weren't you?"

Cole sat up, rubbing the back of his neck with a grimace. "Fred. Yeah, I guess. Are you and the others ready?"

The other glanced towards the sky—it was cloudy and almost looked as if it could rain. "We're almost ready. I wanted to take a moment to speak to you, though."

"Oh?"

"This is merely a suggestion, but I think we should give up on this operation," He turned his gaze back to Cole, "Going around and taking your revenge out on rogue vampires crawling through the city is one thing, but the Volturi are a completely different animal. Even the combined forces of that Olympic coven and werewolf pack over by Forks had trouble dealing with them—our scrawny coven wouldn't have the chance in the slightest." Fred narrowed his scarlet eyes. "And frankly, I don't want to put the others at risk. My coven is a safe haven, not an army."

Cole nodded slowly. "I understand. I won't make you guys fight if that's what you want… I just can't forgive them."

Fred sat down next to him, his eyes darkening a bit. "I can't forgive them either. However, I blame Victoria and Riley the most for dragging us into this world. If not for them, she would have been still alive and all of those newborns wouldn't have gone through that pain."

"Are you sure both of them are dead?" Cole's fist clenched slowly.

A smile lifted his companion's features. "Oh definitely. They've been dead for a while. Only three of us got out alive—myself and those two others I introduced to you a while back—Steve and Shelly."

"And they never thought to join up with you? I feel like having numbers would be a good idea."

Fred gave a shrug. "I did offer it to them. When we first crossed paths after the war, I made them an offer to join up with me. I told them that I was going around searching for those of our kind who may need help and a safe place, but they refused and I didn't see the need to force them to join something they didn't want to take part of."

"I'm not your kind."

A chuckle escaped the other. "No. But you're a special case—besides," A smirk edged at the corners of the vampire's lips. "Despite being completely human, you're one of the best fighters in the coven. Apart from Jace, of course. I'm still a bit impressed that the vampire hunting techniques you've read up on have actually worked so far." The blond stood, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Let's head out. The others are waiting."

Percy Jackson

{Ten hours earlier.}

There was a point during the night when Seth ended up leaving Leah and I to ourselves and for a while we just sort of sat in silence. Both of us had finished our meals, so that was one distraction we couldn't use. Personally, I've never really been much of a talker - no, never mind, - I did like to talk, I just never really liked leading the conversation. Usually I'd let the professionals handle that and I'd pitch in wherever it was needed. After feeling her gaze on me a few times, I decided to talk first. "I'm really glad Billy invited me. There's a bonfire that I go to back at home with my friends there so this kind of reminds me of that." I said, taking a sip of water.

Leah glanced over curiously and then her lips curled up a bit in amusement. "You don't have to force yourself to small talk with me if you don't want to. I'm fine with the quiet."

I blinked. "Oh, good. Wait - I mean, not good," I quickly corrected myself, "I just mean..."

She was already chuckling before I even had a chance to finish. "Don't worry. I know what you mean. Besides, the only reason why Seth left was because he was hoping there'd be a chance we'd end up hitting it off." I nearly choked on my drink at that, I've been doing that a lot lately, and I looked up at her, she was already staring at me - almost as if she was taking in my reaction. "But you already have a girlfriend."

"How...?"

"It's not that hard to guess," She shrugged, "You just seemed a bit uncomfortable whenever Seth tried to nudge us together."

It was a bit weird because I heard a hint of disappointment and sadness in her voice. At first I thought I was just imagining it... I mean, the two of us had only met after all, but when I glanced back at her, the disappointment was written on her face - as much as she was trying to hide it. A strange feeling began to creep through me after seeing her expression - it was an odd feeling mixed with guilt that tugged persistently at my gut and it almost felt as if a steel cord was trying to pull me close to her. In that brief moment, I saw a vision flash before my eyes - a vision of her and I sitting out in a meadow together. We weren't alone either. There were two boys running around chasing each other and before I could focus on their faces, a voice in my mind dissolved the vision.

Annabeth. It was a firm whisper - almost sounding like my own voice, and I blinked, snapping out of my stupor.

As I came back to, Leah was giving me a look of concern. "Are you okay? You're pale."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," I replied, though I didn't really feel fine - I actually felt a bit lightheaded, "I was just thinking. I do have a girlfriend, but I definitely don't mind being friends." I gave her a smile. I wasn't sure if the vision I just saw was real or not, but I couldn't help but feel a bit shaken. In that brief instant - it was as if all thoughts about Annabeth and the future we were planning had ceased to exist and suddenly Leah had filled that space.

I've experienced some very weird stuff before, but never that. Leah didn't seem evil at all, but I still had a weird sensation that she was responsible in some way. Maybe she's some sort of monster I've never heard of. Maybe some sort of land walking siren..? It didn't feel like the vision involved any sort of charm speak, though. And honestly, she didn't really seem the type to do that.

"Friends sound good." The disappointment from before had left her expression, and she gave me a smile in return.

"Percy!" My chair was nearly knocked over when someone suddenly ran up to me, hugging me tightly. "I'm so glad you're still here!"

"Nessie?" I bit back a grunt when she hugged me tighter – you would never guess it, but she had a strong grip. "I didn't expect to see you here."

She let go of me, giving me a beaming smile. "I only got here. I wanted to see Jake."

"Your friend from earlier?"

She gave a nod, grasping my hand. "I'd like him to meet you if that's okay. You don't have to get up though," She glanced towards Leah, offering her a smile as well. "It's nice to see you too, Leah."

Leah simply nodded and the two of us watched as she disappeared amongst the crowd once more. Once she was out of earshot, she turned her gaze back to me. "So how are you doing with all of this? It must be a bit shocking to find out that you've had family that you've never known about."

"It was a bit surprising," I admitted, but then I shrugged, "But I think I can get used to the idea. My mom seems to be happy."

"So as long as she is, you'll be." She guessed, another smile hinting at the corners of her mouth. "That's nice of you." She looked up suddenly and I followed her gaze. Nessie had returned with a guy in tow. He looked quite similar to the other guys I've seen around here and he glanced curiously between the two of us.

Nessie was the first to speak up. "This Jake – he's a close friend of mine. Jake this is my cousin, Percy."

I offered him a hand to shake – I felt like today has been nothing but handshakes and greetings. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Finally?" He frowned.

"I saw you briefly at the Cullens' place when visiting them. And Nessie told me a bit about you." I yawned, leaning back in my chair. "How's everyone back at home?" I scooted a bit to let Nessie sit up next to me.

"It's boring," She grumbled, "You should visit again, though!"

Part of me felt like this investigation wasn't going anywhere so far – and I wasn't sure how much longer we were going to stay either. The only thing that was somewhat suspicious was the mention of people getting murdered and having their blood sucked from them, but even if that was a rather large hint, it still wasn't enough. There was a light tap on my arm, and I glanced over to Nessie who was frowning up at me. "Are you okay? You're really quiet."

I nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about what a few guys were talking about earlier. They were saying something about some sort of serial killer going around. I was just hoping that La Push and Forks will be okay."

"It's pretty safe here," Leah was the one who spoke up, her tone was a bit neutral, as if she was completely sure, "I heard about it on the news as well, and while they do sound fairly dangerous, I don't think they'll target someone like us."

I glanced at her in the corner of my eye. I wasn't as great at reading people as Annabeth was, but something did feel a bit off to me. Maybe I was just being a bit paranoid, but it almost seemed like everyone I was bumping into lately knew a bit more than they were letting on. Taking a last sip of my drink, I decided to test something out. "That's good to hear. From the sound of it, it almost seemed as if a bunch of vamps were on the loose – people can be really creepy sometimes."

Ah, that got a reaction out of them. I could feel Nessie stiffen just a bit beside me, and Leah and Jake exchanged a brief look.

"Vamps?" Leah finally asked, sounding a bit wary.

"Yeah," I answered, shrugging a bit as I put on a puzzled look, "The story on the news said that the victims were being drained right? I didn't mean actual vamps or anything," I chuckled, "I just mean the method the killer was using."

All three of them seemed to relax a bit, and Leah smiled a touch. "Oh yeah, right. It is really gruesome." And the night continued after that.

I got my answer, though. There was definitely something going on with vampires, but I pretty sure that these vampires weren't the same vampires I was used to and I wasn't sure what their connection was to the people of La Push were, nor the Cullens... I am pretty sure that the Cullens are vampires themselves, I'd still have to dig a bit deeper, but just from that brief meeting of before I could sense something had been different about them. While I never was really fond of the gods popping in and out randomly, in that moment I sort of wished Hermes would. Maybe he'd make better sense of all this. "I'm gonna head over to the water and check it out. I haven't seen the Pacific in a long time." I stood, careful not to knock against Nessie as I stretched my arms. Being by the water should clear my head a bit.

I could feel them watching my back as I headed for the water's edge. The beach wasn't really want I was used to – there wasn't really much sand and it seemed a bit more pebbly and rocky. However, the familiar crash of the waves against the shore and the smell of salt was enough to ease the tension in my shoulders. It was dark out, so it was a bit hard to see the water itself clearly, but it was still nice.

Lord.

A quiet voice made me pause, and with a frown I looked around.

Down here, lord.

I squatted and finally found myself eye to eye to a small squid. It lifted one of its tentacles in what I assumed was a greeting. "Um, hi." It trended water as it moved up and down with the coming waves. I was used to random sea creatures coming up to me and talking to me, but I don't think I've ever spoken to a squid before.

It stared at me unblinkingly, not seeming to pay much mind to my awkward greeting. Myself and some of the other creatures nearby noticed your presence here, lord. We were worried that you might not know of the dangers. You're far from home.

"Dangers?" I frowned, turning my head briefly to make sure no one was sneaking up behind me. It'd be a bit hard to explain why I was talking to a squid.

Yes. It's dangerous here. I've never seen them myself, but I've heard the orcas speak of large wolves hunting along these shores.

"Wolves?" I titled my head. "I don't think I'm in much danger then. I don't think wolves would approach humans."

One of the squid's other tentacles flicked, almost as if it was dismissing my words. I thought so too, lord. I don't know much about wolves. There was an unspoken "I'm just a squid" at the end of that sentence, and it was hard not to smile a bit, But the way the orcas spoke of them it made it sound like they were scared, The squid shivered, And not much scares them. They've even decided to avoid this particular coast because of it.

Now that was strange. I've bumped into a few orcas before and knew that they were pretty fearless. Especially when they were hunting – they were scary and would literally beach themselves just to snatch seals off the shore. So for them to be spooked enough to not want to approach a certain shore – by wolves for that matter – just didn't add up. "I'll be careful then." I replied.

The squid bid a quick farewell after that – it probably had mustered up all the courage it had to approach me. Especially if it knew that this shore was possibly dangerous. The gesture was honestly a bit touching. So now there's large wolves too… I stifled a sigh. The encounter did give me an idea, though. Maybe more of the sea life around here knew more about what was going on around here – they would likely be willing to give answers. "Percy?"

My mom's voice made me turn my head sharply, and I almost grimaced guiltily when I saw her expression. By the looks of it, she had caught the end of the conversation. "Hi Mom."

"Who were you talking to?" She asked suspiciously as she approached, scanning the water briefly, before turning to me.

"Ah, just a squid," I rubbed the back of my neck, chuckling nervously, "It was curious of why I was here and stuff."

She didn't seem convinced. "And what did you mean by "I'll be careful"?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I promise. Hermes just has me on a quick side quest while I'm here, and—"

"Hermes?"

Crap. I didn't mean for that to slip out. It's always been hard to stretch the truth around her.

"Don't worry, Mom. I promise it's nothing dangerous. He just popped in real quick the other day," I lifted my hands, trying to calm her, "I know we're all on vacation so it's nothing that'll last for too long."

Even with my reassurance, it seemed like the damage was already done, and I could already see the worry wrinkling on her face. Usually she was pretty calm when it came to this sort of thing – but her emotions were a bit off the norm due to the pregnancy and she seemed to get more worried than usual. It was too public to be talking about such things around here, but I knew with the look she was giving me that she wasn't going to let up that easily. I'd likely be interrogated back at the hotel.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the three of us packed up into the car and headed back to our hotel. It was quiet for the most part apart from their hushed voices in the front seats and the car's humming and I could feel myself drifting off a bit. I must have ended up completely dozing off, because a loud screech broke the silence, jolting me awake in an instant. I could feel my heart leap in my throat, sleepiness forgotten as the vehicle started to flip violently.

It was only my reflexes that helped me make sense of what was happening. Something had crashed against the side of our car, causing Paul to lose control and when we stopped flipping, I groaned when my head smacked hard against my window, causing my eyes to blur a bit. I felt the pain begin to bloom at the back of my head and arm as darkness consumed my vision.

The last thing I heard was Paul's urgent voice asking if my mom if she was okay.