Luke stood beside the demigod, ready for the swooping death spirits. As they closed in Luke used his vampiric strength and agility to jump up at one, grabbing it by a leg and pulling it out of the air. While the teenage demigod put his sword to use, swinging it at one of the keres, scoring a gash along the creature's stomach, the beast's lifeblood spurted out, black ichor staining his face and shirt.
Luke made quick work of the creature he'd grabbed, tearing it's head from it's shoulders. The vampire turned, hearing his fighting companion cry out; the last keres had slashed it's horrid claws across the young demigod's face, he fell back, clutching the wounds. Luke snarled in anger, moving in a blur he jumped over to the beast, gripping a wing and ripping it from the creature's body. "Eeck! You won't escape us forever, your unnatural soul will be ours!" The keres gasped out. Before Luke punched the creature in it's frail chest, snapping bone with the force of the blow, the keres fell back to the ground, disintegrating into dust.
Luke quickly turned to the fallen demigod, rushing to his side. The boy was bleeding, blood trickling from the multiple scratches on his face, Luke felt a small tug of blood lust, but it wasn't as strong as with humans, so he resisted without much effort. Luke quickly knelt by the boy, lifting him and cradling him in his lap. The demigod opened his eyes, they were glazing, but he managed to focus on Luke, "Ghhh…, take me to Camp. Ambrosia…." The dark haired boy mumbled out, hand weakly gesturing to the right.
Luke looked where he was pointing, and could just make out the shape of buildings through a small expanse of forest. The vampire turned back to the boy, seeing that he'd passed out, whether from pain or blood loss, Luke didn't know. The vampire lifted the boy into his arms, then stood, holding the boy with ease thanks to his vampiric strength. Then Luke turned in the direction the boy had been pointing and started running.
He came into a clearing, with Greek style buildings scattered all around it. Luke had heard of the demigod camps during his two hundred years as a vampire, and he recognized this as one of them. The vampire spotted some teens standing near a cabin, so he tried to act as human as possible and called out to them. A blond girl rushed over, followed by a few more teens. "Oh gods…, Percy!" The girl gasped out, face paling when she saw the wounds on the demigods face.
"What happened!" The girl demanded, looking accusingly at Luke, her hand going to the dagger at her waist. "Keres' attacked us, I didn't do this!" Luke defended himself, not liking the girl's accusing glare. A blond boy rushed up to Luke's side, gesturing the unconscious boy, "Give him to me, I'll take him to the infirmary." The boy said, holding out his arms. Luke tentatively handed over the teen, knowing he'd have some explaining to do since the demigods were in close enough proximity to recognize that he wasn't human.
Once the unconscious boy—who Luke determined was named Percy—was gone the blond girl took a step back, keeping her hand on the dagger at her waist. "What are you?" She asked, voice somewhere between anger and accusation. Luke knew this wouldn't go well, he was already being mistrusted, "I'm…, a vampire. But I didn't do that! You saw the wounds on his face, and if I'd done it why would I have brought him here?" Luke defended, trying to reason with the girl.
The girl seemed to follow his reasoning, but she still remained cautious. "Why did you bring him here? You could've just left him to die." The girl said, puzzled as to why a vampire would go out of his way to save a demigod. Luke honestly didn't know that answer himself, but he felt connected to the demigod he'd saved, he'd felt the need to protect him. "I couldn't have done that, I'm not heartless, well not emotionally…." Luke said, hoping the girl would just believe him.
The girl seemed to look Luke over for a minute, then shook her head. "Aren't vampires supposed to be blood thirsty monsters?" She asked skeptically. Luke sighed in frustration, "We are, sort of…. But your demigod blood doesn't interest me, it's not like human blood. And besides, we can control ourselves when we're sated." He tried to explain, hoping the girl would listen.
The girl glared, "So you admit you've killed a human recently?" she accused as much as asked. Luke groaned, preparing to make a run for it, not wanting to kill these demigods unnecessarily. "I have no choice, I didn't choose this 'life'!" The vampire said, backing up slowly, about to turn and run.
The girl seemed puzzled, "Wait, don't leave…. You saved Percy, so I guess you're not all bad. But if you try anything, we won't hesitate to kill you." She said, sounding uncertain. Luke gave an unneeded sigh of relief, he wanted to see this Percy again, though he didn't understand why it was important to him. "Thank you, I won't do anything." Luke promised, grateful that this girl was allowing him a measure of trust.
The girl's hand left her dagger, and she gestured towards the building the blond boy had taken Percy, "Come on, let's go check on Percy." The girl said, turning in that direction. Luke followed beside her, keeping at a comfortably safe distance for her sake. "So, what's your name?" The girl asked as they walked. "Luke, and yours?" The vampire answered, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Annabeth. So, Luke, what were you doing out here?" The blond girl asked. "I was just going for a run on the beach." Luke lied, sticking to the story he'd told Percy. They reached the infirmary then, and walked into the open sided pavilion. Luke spotted Percy at once, he was lying on a cot with two teens standing over him, one muttering some sort of prayer, and the other feeding him small blocks of a strange substance.
Annabeth quickly moved to his side, and Luke followed her, they stood a few feet away, watching the two demigods work to heal Percy. Luke felt a strange need to know who Annabeth was to Percy, "So, is he your boyfriend?" the vampire asked, hoping the answer was no. "No, I'm his best friend." Annabeth answered, sounding almost remorseful.
Luke inwardly sighed with relief, happy that Percy appeared to be single; since no one else had come to check on him, the vampire assumed that if the dark haired demigod did have a girlfriend, she would be here now. For some reason the thought that Percy was single made Luke glad, and strangely hopeful.
Percy started to come to, he groaned and his eyes fluttered open, instantly locking with Luke's. The vampire felt a strange flutter in his stomach, and quickly looked down. While Annabeth moved closer to Percy, "Percy. Are you okay?" She asked hopefully.
Percy nodded, "Just caught me by surprise…." He said, sounding stronger now. The demigod looked back to Luke, "Thanks for saving me." He offered, "And sorry about being rude to you before…." He added apologetically. Luke offered a smile, "It's alright, you had every right to be suspicious." He said graciously.
Percy smiled somewhat sheepishly, sitting up on the cot, "Did you kill the other keres'?" he asked, sounding slightly embarrassed about getting hurt as he had. Luke nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that; it may have been my fault they were there. The keres' have been hunting me for a while, because I'm alive when I shouldn't be…." The vampire explained.
Annabeth seemed to tense slightly, angry that Luke was responsible for getting Percy hurt. Percy seemed to be more understanding, "It's alright, no real harm was done." Percy offered, sounding genuine. Luke smiled in thanks for the boy's kindness. Annabeth turned to Luke, "Well, I guess you should get going, we wouldn't want to waste your time any more than we already have." She said rather rudely.
Luke nodded, catching the thinly veiled hint; he wasn't wanted here. "Yeah, I'll be going now, goodbye Percy." Luke said, trying to keep his sorrow out of his voice. Percy scowled at Annabeth, "Wait, you don't have to leave…. I mean, you could stay for awhile, if you want…." The demigod said, sounding slightly nervous.
Luke smiled at his kindness, "I would hate to impose…," the vampire started, looking at Annabeth as he spoke. Percy quickly cut in, "It wouldn't be imposing, I'd really like to get to know you better. And it's really late…. Vampires sleep, right?" he said, trying to find reasons for Luke to stay.
"Yeah, we sleep. But are you sure the camp directors would be alright with me being here?" Luke asked, thinking he most likely wouldn't be allowed to stay, even for a little while longer. Percy grinned, "Yeah, Chiron and Mr. D wouldn't mind at all, vampires don't even drink demigod blood, right?" he said.
Luke shook his head, "No, demigod blood isn't even really tempting." The vampire said, offering a small smile. Percy grinned again, "Okay then, you can stay, I mean…, if you want too." The demigod said, sounding slightly awkward.
Luke nodded, "I'd like that." He said, and Percy smiled, climbing up off the cot. One of the demigods who'd been attending his scars gave Percy a little jar, "Here, put this on the scars, they might not fully heal, but this'll help them stay sealed." The boy said, then turned and walked out of the pavilion. Percy reached a hand up to feel his face, running his hand over the three scars; one starting at the right side of his forehead, and ending after running through his left eyebrow, one starting at his right cheek bone and running down just above his lip, ending mid-left cheek, and the last one running from mid-right cheek over the right edge of his bottom lip, and ending at the left side of his jaw.
Percy winced slightly as he ran his hands over the scars, but just shrugged afterwards, then turned towards Luke and Annabeth, "Come on, let's get out of here." Percy said, then started making his way out of the infirmary. Luke and Annabeth followed after him, the blond girl throwing a slight glare at the vampire. Percy was moving towards the cabins, They stopped outside of his cabin for a little bit talking, then Annabeth had to leave, because it was time for curfew, leaving Luke and Percy alone.
Luke didn't know where he was supposed to sleep, so he asked Percy, "Oh, you can sleep in my cabin, if you want. You're technically not a demigod since you're a vampire, so you can stay in any cabin." Percy explained. Luke nodded, "Your cabin is fine, if you don't mind having me here…." The vampire said, trying to stay polite.
Percy nodded, "I don't mind at all, and besides, I still want to get to know you." The demigod said with a smile. Luke offered a small smile of his own then followed Percy into the cabin, looking forward to getting to know the young demigod….
(From Vampiri Amare to explain some stuff):
A/N: Okay so what'd you think? Oh and I forgot to mention this before but; in the previous chapter I mentioned that Luke wanted to die, but the only way to do so is for someone who loves him to free him. What I meant was is; the only way for his soul—yes vampires still have souls—to survive the death is for someone who loves him to set him free, otherwise his soul dies too. But yes, his physical body can still be killed, but it is ofc very hard to do so. Anyways, review! Please? I honestly live on reviews…. They keep me alive and writing, and without them, I could shrivel up and die…. And you wouldn't want me to shrivel up and die, would you?
PS: I still forgot to properly mention this; when I said Luke wanted to die, I meant he wanted his souls freedom, as in release from eternity. When the keres' try to kill Luke, if he would let them that would just result in soul death. The only way for soul release is for someone who loves him to set him free.