A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 17
Perci POV
The party was boring. Twenty minutes after arriving, and I had grown so bored, I had taken to messing with people's -mainly Mike Newton, the pest wouldn't stop asking me to dance- drinks. Aphrodite had left me a shorter dress much like the one I had worn to the graduation ceremony for the party, and it was getting me more attention than I would like while waiting for the members of the pack to arrive. I was wearing a few new accessories though, graduation gifts from the few that had left them. In my hair was a jeweled hair clip that turned into a trident from my father, on my wrists were celestial bronze bangles that turned into my new hunting knives from Tyson.
Triton had given me a necklace with a small conch shell, which was his symbol, that was basically a panic button to call for him. All I had to do was speak into it, telling him I needed help, and he would come. Hades had given me a pair of aquamarine earrings, Hestia, a lighter filled with hearth fire, and Zeus had given a written one time pass to fly.
Sighing, I waited until Newton brought his drink to his mouth again, before spraying him in the face with the contents, earning cursing from him, and a familiar low chuckle from behind me.
"Now, what has Newton done this time to annoy you into messing with him subtly?" Paul asked, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
"Wouldn't stop asking me to dance. It's the downfall of this dress, I swear." I complained, before looking at him in confusion as he chuckled again.
"No, Princess, it's the downfall of being as beautiful as you are. You didn't just look like a goddess today, Perci, you always look like one. Newton's just having even more trouble than usual because it's the first time anyone has seen you in a dress, much less a short one. Where's Annabeth and Grover, I thought they would've been here?" He told me fondly, before searching the dance floor.
"They got a call that they were needed back at camp, and had to leave. Dad and my brothers had to head back home as well, and mom and Paul 1.0 have a red-eye tomorrow back to New York." I informed him, noticing we were now swaying slightly where we stood, but not commenting on it.
"That sucks, the pack was hoping to talk to them some more before they left." He said, and I hummed in agreement.
"Do you want to dance?" I asked suddenly, surprising even myself. Paul smiled at me, before sighing and dropping his head in annoyance.
"Just when I'm about to say yes, Jacob needs us." He grumbled, making me groan as he pulled me away from the dance floor and up the stairs to someone's study.
"What's the problem, and it better be good. I was about to enjoy a dance with my beautiful imprint." Paul said as we walked in, shutting the door behind us as it appeared everyone else was present.
"There's been an emergency, the situation in Seattle has escalated." The coven leader, Carlisle, I guessed, informed us.
"Either way, the army is coming, and there aren't enough of us to protect the town." Jasper said, sounding quite commanding.
"Hold up, what damn army?" Jacob demanded, while the others and I traded mildly alarmed looks.
"Newborns, our kind." Carlisle said shortly.
"We'll help. I'm not gonna chance someone on the rez getting hurt because an army of newborn vampires was too much for you to handle." Paul said after casting a glance at Jacob, who nodded.
"No way, you'll get yourselves hurt." Bella protested, only to be ignored.
"Do we know what they're after?" Embry asked, trying to get more information.
"They were passing around Bella's scent, a red blouse." Alice said, looking grim.
"They're coming for Bella? What the hell does that mean?" Jacob demanded irrelevantly.
"It means an ugly fight with lives lost." Carlisle said softly. I sighed as I tuned out the conversation slightly, rubbing my head gently as a bunch of possibilities ran through my mind. I guess this was Athena's graduation gift. I could now come up with battle strategies as good as Annabeth's.
"Bella, this is what we do. Besides, we have our secret weapon to help us." Jacob's voice said, breaking me out of my stupor.
"What secret weapon?" She asked in confusion.
"A veteran of two wars that were kept secret from the rest of the country, who's been through hell, quite literally. You'll meet them soon, don't worry." He assured, and I bit back a smirk. While I dreaded to don my armor again, it would be interesting to see Bella's face. The apparent war meeting came to a close soon after, with the agreement of meeting tomorrow afternoon. Not in the mood to return to the Party, the pack and I left, with me all to eager to get away. When we got back to Sam and Emily's, I walked straight up to the alpha's imprint and pulled her aside while Jacob filled in the rest of the pack on what was happening.
"I need you to cover for me with Charlie, tell him I'm spending the night with you." I told her, voice serious.
"Anytime, but why?" She asked, looking concerned, making me sigh.
"Sam will likely fill you in, but long story short is, there's a battle coming, and I've been asked to join. I need to get my armor, and pick something up from New York. I should be back in the afternoon, but I need you to cover for me until then, please." I told her, making her eyes widen.
"Of course, good luck." She said, and I nodded before sneaking out and walking into the waves.
Paul POV
After filling in the rest of the pack, I turned to look for Perci, panicking slightly at not finding her.
"She went to get a few things for the battle." Emily's calm voice said from the kitchen, drawing the attention of the rest of the pack.
"What things?" Quil asked, while I calmed down from the near panic attack.
"Armor, and apparently something in New York. She said she'll be back by afternoon, but I'm covering for her with Charlie until then. Don't worry Paul, she'll be back. I just think it'll be a side of Perci that we've never seen before that returns." She said, making me sigh sadly. I knew, as we all did, that Perci was tired of fighting. When Jacob had mentioned her as our secret weapon, he had meant it as our strategist, since she'd been through two wars. But, her fatal flaw was loyalty, and she had told us that she would fight for what she was loyal to.
"Well then, tomorrow we go in wolf form until Perci arrives. After she gets there, any who wish to phase back, can, but not before." Sam ordered, and nobody had a problem agreeing. I just hoped she would be okay, revealing her secret to people she didn't trust. Knowing that her mom and the other Paul might be worried, I sent a quick text letting them know Perci went to Atlantis for something, and that she was sorry to miss seeing them off. Seconds later, I got a response that read only one sentence. 'Protect my daughter in whatever battle she's about to go into.' Well, at least it was something I was already planning on doing.
The next day seemed to come far too quickly, and soon we were heading to the clearing the Cullens told us to meet in.
"'I hope she shows up soon. I'd like to see the looks on those leeches' faces when they get shown up by someone they know.'" Quil said, making me huff out a wolfy chuckle.
"'Tell me about it. Leech lover's face will be especially priceless.'" I agreed.
"'Enough. We've arrived.'" Sam said, and we all quieted down.
"Thank you for coming." The head leech, Carlisle said.
"'We will watch and listen, but no more until our secret weapon arrives. We do not trust you enough to take human form without them being present.'" Sam said, which the freaky mind reader that was leech lover's boyfriend repeated.
"That's more than enough. My son Jasper has experience with newborns, he can show us how to fight them." Carlisle said, making me roll my eyes.
"'We know how to fight, we've been trained by our secret weapon. Or did you forget already that we mentioned they're a veteran of two secret wars and has survived going through literal hell?'" I asked, smirking inwardly when Sam didn't even reprimand me as the mind reader repeated what I said.
"I doubt you've been trained to fight newborns. They're uncontrollable, vicious. Our kind are never more physically strong than we are in our first year of life. There's a couple things to remember when fighting them. First, never let them get their arms around you, they'll crush you instantly. And second, never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose." Jasper said, and this time I wasn't the only one to roll my eyes. Still, we watched as Jasper called up the big one who nearly crossed the border for a spar, kicking his ass in seconds. As the sparring partners differed, I wondered idly how Jasper would handle a spar against our secret weapon.
"'He'd lose, and we all know it. Well, he doesn't but we do, and that's what makes it funny.'" Jared said, making me snort. The mind reader scoffed like he didn't believe Jasper would lose, but we knew the truth, which just made it all the funnier.
"When is your secret weapon supposed to arrive?" The big one, Emmett, asked.
"'They should be here any minute now. They just had to pick up a couple things.'" Sam informed, which the mind reader repeated.
"Who is your secret weapon anyway?" Alice asked, seeming irritated for some reason. I guessed she couldn't see our secret weapon and it had her pissy. Before any of us could respond though, the sound of large wings beating alerted us to something coming, and we all looked to the sky. It was actually quite funny seeing the jaws of the leeches and leach lover drop as a pitch black fucking Pegasus landed in the field.
"Their secret weapon is the daughter of Poseidon." Perci's strong voice called as she climbed off of who must be Blackjack.
"Sorry I'm late, I had to stop and get doughnuts for Blackjack since he was mad I didn't bring him when I moved out here." She said, walking straight up to me and pressing a gentle kiss to my furry cheek. When she stepped back, I finally took notice of the armor she was wearing. It was a bronze breastplate, which I guessed was made of celestial bronze, which had a design of a trident with three pearls at the tip on it, arm and leg bracers, and a sheath at her side which held Riptide, while her new knives and trident were in their alternate forms around her wrists and in her hair.
"Perci? You're their secret weapon?" Bella asked, her tone completely incredulous. It was hilarious.
"Yes, Bella. Allow me to properly introduce myself as the secret weapon of the La Push pack. I am Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, earthshaker, father of horses, god of the sea. I am the hero and savior of Olympus, veteran of the second Titan War, and second Giant War, survivor of Tartarus, newly immortal, blah, blah, blah. This is my faithful companion, Blackjack. He's carried me into battle more times than I care to count, and I'm not about to go into this one without him." She said, smirking at her cousin's disbelieving look.
"'Dude, if we looked that shocked when we first found out, I'm glad it was in wolf form.'" Jacob said, laughing inwardly.
Finally, after about a minute of standing there gaping at my imprint, Carlisle broke out of his stupor enough to speak, knocking the others out of theirs.
"So, the stories are true then?" He asked, earning a nod from Perci while the rest of his coven, and the leech lover just looked confused.
"Yes, your kind were created by two Greek gods. Hades and Aphrodite to be exact, after some idiot mortal insulted them. Since we Greeks are big on curses, those two cursed the mortal to become what you are now, and he bit another, and another, and boom! Vampires are a growing population. Now, did I miss anything important?" She asked, and I took that as my cue to go phase back, coming out of the trees a moment later to sweep her up in my arms, not really liking the feel of the armor.
"Just a couple of spars, Princess. Of course, the pack is more than prepared due to yours and Lord Triton's training. Call me crazy, but I feel much more confident receiving training from someone who managed to best the god of war at age 12, over a vampire, no matter how much experience he has with the subject." I said, subtly bragging about Perci's accomplishment.
"I don't remember Jasper saying anything about fighting a 12 year old." Emmett said, puffing himself up. Perci blinked once before looking at Jasper and busting out laughing.
"You're the vampire that calls himself the god of war? Oh this is priceless. Ares actually hates you more than me, since you tried to claim his actual title for yourself, even among mortals. If I handed you to him for a spar, I think that would actually end our rivalry since he wants to show you who the real war god is so bad." She finally choked out once she had calmed down. When I looked at Jasper, I nearly laughed myself as I had never seen a vampire actually pale before, much less look like they would shit themselves.
"Ares, the god of war?" Jasper asked, his voice sounding a bit higher in obvious panic that he pissed off a god.
"Oh, yeah. He may hate me for humiliating him multiple times, but jeez does he hate when mortals try to take his title. When it comes to his war domain, he's got more pride than Annabeth does, and her pride is what landed us in Tartarus." She said, making me look at her sharply as she had left out that detail when she told us about it.
"The Greek gods don't exist though, so Jasper has nothing to worry about." Edward said, a cocky look on his face, which just made Perci shake her head in amusement.
"I'll make you a deal, Ed-weird. I'll spar any member of your coven, and if I win, you shut your trap about the gods not existing, and allow me to tell Ares about the fake he's been pissed at for over a century. Your person wins, I won't participate in the battle." She offered, making me struggle to bite back the laugh. Whichever vamp was chosen was toast.
"Jasper." Edward replied with narrowed eyes, ignoring Carlisle telling him not to agree, and I stepped back gleefully, while Jasper stepped forward and Perci handed Riptide off to me.
"Begin!" Edward called, and Jasper ran at Perci. I smirked as I watched her twist and weave around the leech, enjoying every time Edward's face fell when Perci got a hit in, before finally seeming to get bored and slammed Jasper into the dirt.
"Well done, Princess." I complimented, holding Riptide out for her to take again.
"Please, I've fought gods, titans, giants, monsters, primordial beings, and bore the weight of the sky with Atlas' curse. Fighting one vampire was nothing." She said, making the vamps and leech lover pale once again. It seemed they had finally realized why she was our secret weapon, since they would never come across a fighter like her ever again.