A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 28
Perci POV
When Paul and I returned from a few days in Atlantis for our honeymoon, Leah informed us that she and Hephaestus were going to take things slow, but they had both accepted the imprint. Hera had grudgingly done the divorce, and Hephaestus came to visit Leah on the weekends. Leo, when he had found out, had informed his cabin that they'd be getting a new step mother, and had started calling Leah mom. According to Jacob, her face had been absolutely priceless, and when Seth showed the pictures he had taken, Paul and I had to agree. The rest of the month passed by rather quickly, with the only excitement being Renesmee's alarmingly fast growth rate, and her (hilariously), wanting to go as a mermaid for Halloween, something Triton had made sure to rub in Bella and Edward's faces.
The first weekend of November brought the first snowfall of the year, and Bella, Jacob, and Ren had gone out so the now 6 year old looking girl could play in it. After they had left, Paul and I had gone home so I could ask Leah if she would be coming with us for the winter solstice meeting on Olympus.
"Am I even allowed to go to something like that?" She asked, once I had finished explaining what it was.
"As Hephaestus' soulmate and soon to be wife, you could if you wanted. We might not be allowed in the meeting itself, but we can still hang out on Olympus while it's going on, before going for the party afterwords. Frankly, I wouldn't mind missing the meeting since I've been in a few, and even once or twice as the subject of said meeting. Just relaxing around Olympus for a while would be nice for a change. Paul's coming with me before we come back for Christmas, but it's up to you if you want to come or not." I said, shrugging.
"Well, who are you going to hang out with?" She asked, looking interested.
"Triton for the most part, but I'll hang out with a few other minor gods. They like me a lot more than they like Zeus, but that's mostly because I got him to give the minor gods the respect they deserve. The muses generally give a concert, and they occasionally take requests, so we could hang there for a bit, or I could get permission from your imprint to show you his forge there. I doubt he'd want me near it, but I could show you where it is." I said, smiling sheepishly at her curious look.
"Why wouldn't he want you near his forge?" She asked, making Paul snort in amusement since he knew exactly why.
"I kinda blew one up on accident. You know the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's a few years back? Yeah, that was one of his forges, and I blew it up." I said, wincing slightly at the jaw-dropped look I was now getting from her.
"You blew up Mt. St. Helen's?" She whispered in apparent shock.
"It was an accident, but yeah." I said, shrugging.
"Anyway, you going to come?" I asked, changing the topic. She seemed to think for a little bit before nodding.
"Yeah, sure. I've just gotta let my mom and Seth know I'm gonna take a plane to New York for a couple days." She said, stopping when she saw my amused grin.
"You don't need a plane, all you need to do is trust me. I plan on vapor traveling us to Olympus, since there's a fountain there." I said, making her eyes go wide.
"Right then. I'll just let them know that I'm going to be in New York for a few hours then." She said, before heading back to her house. Turning to Paul, I gave him a flirtatious smirk.
"So, dear husband of mine, what do you say we go to Port Angeles for dinner? Bella told me at one point about an Italian restaurant up there, and I want to try it." I said, receiving a smile in return.
"Sounds like a great idea, my beautiful wife. I'll make a reservation, and we can spend a bit of time up there." He said, pulling out his phone.
After we had been in Port Angeles for a couple hours, and had enjoyed our dinner, my phone rang, just as we were heading into a department store to get Paul some more jeans for cut-offs. Groaning, I pulled it out and answered once I saw it was Bella calling.
"What is it? Paul and I are enjoying some time out, so this better be important." I said, not even stopping myself from going in.
"Renesmee was spotted by one of our cousins from Alaska." She said, making me frown in confusion, before giving a thumb's up to a pair of jeans that Paul held up to silently ask my opinion on.
"Not seeing a problem here, it's family, isn't it?" I asked.
"Irina has a grudge against the wolves for killing Laurent last spring, Perci. She saw Renesmee catching snowflakes, and has gone to the Volturi with the assumption my daughter is an immortal child. They're coming for us, and we seriously need help here. Jacob's agreed that his pack will help us look for witnesses so we can prove she's not, but we need help. Is there anyone you can think of that can help?" She asked, making me groan and rub my hand over my face. This had to be the Fate's payback for giving me a perfect day for my wedding, I just knew it.
"They worship the Greek gods, I can ask Triton to stand as witness. He likes Ren well enough, so I don't think he would mind. We won't be able to ask any of the Olympians though, not unless it becomes life and death for Triton, or I. I'm only included in that because Olympus won't want to lose such a valuable, loyal ally, so Leah won't be able to get Hephaestus to come. Triton though, is a minor god, so he can afford to be missed for something like this. I can see about asking Nike if it comes down to it, being the goddess of victory and all, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The Fates hate me, after all. I can see about getting Leo and Calypso, but I want that to be a last resort. The amount of monsters that came for the amount of demigods in one place for my wedding was large, and it was only the presence of the gods that kept them away." I said, holding up a finger when Paul shot me a curious look.
"It's enough, thank you. I've got to go, we've got to prepare for making trips to gather witnesses. Carlisle's going to ask his friends, so we're splitting up to track them down." She said.
"I got ya. Paul and I will be over tomorrow to greet anyone who shows up before you get back." I told her.
"I'll let the others know, thank you so much." She said, before hanging up.
"What the hell did we just get dragged into?" Paul asked, a small stack of jeans hanging over his arm.
"Someone mistook Ren for an immortal child, something that was outlawed for good reason, and went to the Volturi. They're looking for witnesses to prove that she's not, people to watch her grow, change, the usual things that vampires don't do. I told her I'd ask Triton if he could come witness as well, and that we'd stay at the Cullen's place in case someone showed up before one of them got home, since they're splitting up to track down Carlisle's friends." I told him, making him sigh as he lead the way to the register.
"Bella gets into too much trouble for her own good." He grumbled, making me nod in silent agreement.
The next morning, I was woken rather urgently by Paul, who was holding a piece of paper that looked to have been torn out of something.
"Perci, you've got to get up, we need to get to the Cullen's place, now." He said, making me sit up in alarm.
"What is it?" I asked, my instincts on alert.
"Jared just came by to drop this off, he said Alice and Jasper asked for an escort to the sea last night, and gave this to him to deliver to the Cullen's. Jared has work in a few, and he knew we go over often enough." He said, holding up the piece of paper, which I now recognized to have been torn out of a book. Within five minutes, I was dressed and running out of the house behind Paul. We reached the Cullen house in no time, catching just as they seemed to be getting ready to leave.
"We've got bad news." I said, holding the piece of paper out to Carlisle, who unfolded and read it, looking crushed as he took in the words.
"They've left us." He said, folding the paper back up and looking to the members of his coven/family.
"Can I see that?" Bella asked, stepping forward to take the paper when Carlisle held it out. I had read it myself, wondering if it had been a note telling the Cullen's where they had gone and when they'd be back, but all it had been was a warning of when the Volturi would come when the snow stuck to the ground, so it would likely be around the first of the year, or just after Christmas, I imagined. We had a little over a month until the Volturi came. Fan-freaking-tastic.
By the time Christmas rolled around a month later, there were 27 vampires in Forks, and it made Paul rather twitchy. The many covens and nomads staying at the Cullen's house, made it him uncomfortable to be there, though he sucked it up since I enjoyed having water fights with the Egyptian vampire, Benjamin, who could influence all of the elements. Most of the vampires there had been shocked to discover the origin of their race, and even more shocked to discover that I was a child of the Greek gods. Benjamin's creator, Amun had been in extreme denial, that is, until Triton had shown up. The Spanish cousin of the Cullen's, Carmen had been quite interested when Triton had mentioned the gods' short stint in her country, and the two had enjoyed an interesting conversation. The vampires Paul had an issue with the most though, were the Romanian vampires, Vladamir and Stephan, though I didn't blame him, the two were creepy.
At the moment though, there were no thoughts of the Volturi coming, or thoughts of Dracula 1 and 2, as Jacob had started calling them. Right now, Paul and I were at Charlie's house for Christmas with Bella, Edward, Renesmee, Seth, Leah, Hephaestus, and Sue Clearwater, who Charlie had begun dating. Paul and I had gone to New York for Thanksgiving, even going to the parade so he could experience it in person, so my mom didn't mind Paul and I having Christmas in Washington. I did have to tell her what was going on to keep her from coming though, which had been interesting to say the least.
The god of the forge showing up though, had been a surprise, but a pleasant one, since Leah had been sad that he likely didn't celebrate Christmas, and so wouldn't come to spend it with her. He had snapped up a bag of gifts, not needing to hide who and what he was within the house, and had happily passed out gifts that he had made himself. Charlie had been rather impressed with the fishing sonar that the god had made him, apparently having gotten into a conversation about his love for fishing during my wedding. Sue had gotten a small robot that would clean her floors at a command, which she had loved. Seth and Paul had gotten game systems that would play any type of game for any system on it. Needless to say, the two were in love with their gifts, making Leah and I roll our eyes at their childlike behavior. I had gotten gotten a bracelet that looked like stacked bangles at first, until he had told me to flick my wrist, making it turn into a whip.
"You need a long-range weapon too, cousin. I understand you do best in close-range combat, but long-range doesn't hurt." He had explained at my look of wide-eyed awe.
"This isn't celestial bronze." I pointed out, noticing that it looked more silver to black than anything.
"I asked Leo to talk to Nico Di Angelo for me. Nico convinced our uncle to allow me some stygian iron to make that for you. The only catch was that it had to be a gift from Hades as well, so it's from the two of us." Hephaestus said, giving me a warm smile.
"I love it, thank you. I'll have to IM uncle Hades later to thank him as well." I said, flicking my wrist again to make the whip turn back into the bracelet. He nodded, before turning to Leah, and pulled out a necklace, putting it around her neck.
"It'll act as armor for you until we get married, and my father grants you immortality. The necklace will grow to fit your wolf form, so you can use it even as a wolf." He explained, getting a sweet smile in response, before Leah pressed a hesitant kiss to him, making me and Sue visibly bite back our squeals of excitement.
"Thank you, I love it, and I promise I'll never take it off." She said. The rest of the gifts had been passed out after that, Bella and I both glaring playfully at each other when we discovered that we had both thought along the same lines to get gag gifts, by getting the other skimpy sleepwear. Our relationship had definitely improved since Ren was born, since we were now hanging out quite often. I had even started teaching her Ancient Greek, along with Paul. Leah was getting taught by her imprint, but Seth was getting lessons whenever he was phased with Paul. The rest of Christmas day went by happily, with everyone inside the Swan household behaving like family, something Hephaestus seemed thrilled to experience, including the teasing, and nagging.
After Christmas had passed, everyone was on edge, the tenseness returning to the atmosphere, before Edward stated that it was beginning to look like Alice's vision before she had left, and we had gone to camp out by the clearing the Cullen's generally used for baseball.
"Alright, a pre-battle bonfire, telling war stories. Or just standing there like freaking statues." Jacob said excitedly, before catching sight of most of the vampires just standing around the fire that Benjamin had just lit. Suddenly, Garrett, a former soldier in the Revolutionary War, was on one of the logs in front of the flames.
"Name any American battle, I was there." He said, a bragging note to his tone.
"Little Bighorn." Jacob challenged, resulting in Garrett mentioning how close he had come to draining Custer.
"Try Oleg's assault on Constantinople, he didn't win that one on his own." Kate Denali said, zipping over to sit on Garrett's lap.
"If you're talking battles, you're talking the 11 Year's War, no one leads a rebellion like the Irish." Liam, a member of the Irish coven stated proudly.
"You lost the 11 Year's War." Garrett deadpanned.
"It was one hell of a rebellion." Liam pointed out with a smile.
"I've fought monsters, giants, demigods, gods, titans, and the earth itself, and have borne the Titan's curse to hold the weight of the sky. I think I win here." I stated, calmly and primly sitting on Paul's lap. I smirked when I saw every head turn to look at me in shock.
"You have our attention." Peter, a friend of Jasper's stated, as everyone came to sit around the fire. Smiling slightly, I looked over at the Amazonian vampire with powers of illusion.
"Can you show them what I say? Sorry Bella." I said, looking at my cousin in remorse since her shield wouldn't allow any mental abilities to affect her, getting a shrug in response that plainly said 'what can you do?' Zafrina nodded, and I began to tell the tales of my quests and the two wars I had fought in, Zafrina doing an excellent job of recreating everything for the others to see. By the time I had finished, every single vampire was looking at me with respect, before the Romanians began talking about their rule before the Volturi took over. I left the fire once the two had started talking, curling up with Paul to get some sleep before the impending confrontation. I wasn't looking forward to standing on the opposite side of a potential battle field from another fellow demigod again.