Chapter 5

Nico's heart was beating fast as he stepped back from the man that was definitely the murderer. The man growled and before Nico could even react, he raised his fist and hit the demigod across the jaw. Nico only felt pain as he stumbled back, not even having time to recover when the fist hit his body again.

The man was fast and strong, throwing Nico down and beating him. The demigod avoided some of the hits, but those he couldn't avoid hit him hard. Nico began to defend himself, hitting back with force, scratching his face and spitting on him. The murderer realized that he was fighting against someone, who had experience. He grabbed a knife and aimed at Nico's throat. Nico growled and gripped the blade of the knife, trying to keep the sharp thing away from his throat. He was gritting his teeth, not even noticing the sharp pain that the knife gave him. The palms of his hands began to bleed; the red fluid was dripping from his fists. But Nico held onto it. He was not going to give up. The knife was getting closer, the man's snarl louder, but then something big lunged at him and threw him to the side.

Nico gasped and shook himself. He stumbled to his feet and towards Percy, who was furiously wrestling against the murderer.

Had they been in a city or village, the shouts and growls would have woken up the neighbors. But they were in the middle of nowhere and they couldn't count on help.

Percy and the man stumbled together, refusing to stop fighting against each other as they crashed against the window and fell outside.

Nico ran to help his friend, but someone pushed him aside and he slipped into the bathtub. Nico yelled in disgust. The blood soaked his clothes. He fumbled to get out, but he was distracted by the second man, who stood over him with a large blade in his hand. The blood of the previous victim hadn't been washed from the deadly weapon. Nico yelled again and punched the man on his face with his shoe. The murderer yelped and screamed in pain. The blade slipped off his fingers and Nico had enough time to get out of the tub. He growled now seriously furious. He could hear Percy wrestling with the other man in the background, but to him there was only the other man. The sound of the screaming victims ringed in his ears and he attacked the monster before he could attack him again.

He jumped at him with an animalistic growl and took the man down with him. They started to wrestle and beat each other. They were both strong and agile, giving well-aimed hits to their opponent.
Eventually the man rolled Nico onto his back and gripped his throat. The son of Hades tried to pull the deadly hands away, hitting the murderer in the face but he only snarled, showing his crooked teeth. Nico's sight was getting blurry. He stopped fighting the man, searching with his hands for something he could use against him. His fingers came in touch with something hard and he took it without hesitation. He raised his arm and punched the man with the brick. The murderer groaned in pain and Nico rolled him onto his back and hit him with the brick again, again and again until he was tired and the man's face was unrecognizable.

Nico dropped the weapon and fell onto his back in exhaustion. His heart rate was fast, he was breathing hard. The realization that he had just killed someone didn't dawn on him yet.

He could hear the screams of Percy and the other man as they continued to fight. Then he heard a shout and how someone hit the other against the wall over and over again. Then it was deadly silent.

Nico got to his feet slowly. His body ached everywhere. His hands burned and his tongue tasted blood. He ran a hand through his face and frowned when his skin came in contact with somethin wet and warm. He looked at his hand and found it red with blood. He jumped when he heard footsteps behind him, but relaxed again when he saw Percy.

Percy looked bad. His face was bruised. His jacket was in tatters and his knuckles were bleeding. But what caught Nico's attention was the blood stains on his face and shirt. He looked at Percy's eyes. They were wild, uncontrolled and crazy, like the sea during a storm. He was shaking and his eyes widened as he studied Nico. The son of Hades looked down on himself and was shocked and a little scared to find his clothes red with blood. It wasn't his blood. He knew who the owner was but he couldn't bear to look at the corpse.

"What- what do we do with them, Percy?", he whispered.
Percy took his time to answer. Eventually he said: "Leave them here. If someone finds them, they'll think it was self-defense."
Nico nodded. Percy put a hand on his shoulder and led him out of the haunted house.

- Clarisse -

Clarisse kicked a branch aside as she stomped through the forest. The day had not gotten better and she was tired. Stupid quest. Her father couldn't have send monsters. No, she had to find this stupid thing for his… lover. Clarisse almost said stupid, but she knew that offending Aphrodite could have serious consequences. And Chris and she had just bought a house in New Athens. She wasn't one to threaten her life now that it was almost perfect.

But still. Her father was a god. If she was Aphrodite she would have asked Ares to personally buy a gift instead of asking his daughter to do it for him.

Men are stupid, Clarisse thought. Except for Chris, but he is different.

Clarisse stopped on her tracks and raised an eyebrow. What if every girl thought that her boyfriend was different? Maybe all men were the same but girls didn't notice it. If so then girls were equally stupid.

It was mid-day, the sun was high and the warrior was glad that it wasn't summer. It wasn't hot, but all the walking had made her warm and she was sweating. She didn't dare to take off her jacket in fear of losing it.

Clarisse's eyes narrowed. There was something behind those trees that caught her eye. She held up her spear, prepared to pierce anything that looked threatening. As she pushed away the branches she noticed with a frown the ruin. It used to be a house, but in Clarisse opinion this thing didn't deserve to be called like it. It was a ruin; a house for monsters. The door and dark windows glared at the demigod, daring her to come closer. But Clarisse had had enough. The man in that old hut had been enough and she didn't thing she was ready to face a monster. It was still daytime, meaning it would take a few hours until the sun started going down. Until then Clarisse would not enter any house, hut or cave.

She decided to go around the house. It didn't look better from the side. It was just as ugly as from the front. She walked faster, chuckling at the thought of those monsters inside the house. They would wait for her in vain. She began to whistle a song. And then she stopped in her tracks. She was sure she had imagined it, but she thought to have seen a man lying against the wall. She hesitated. She didn't have to turn around and look; it was none of her business. But the smell and the silence didn't fool her. She turned her head back and gasped.

The window was broken and the glass lay on the ground. The earth was stained with blood. And with the head against the wall, his arms hanging to his side was a man. He was big, his nose was broken and his face had bruises. Blood ran over his face and Clarisse knew that someone had hit his head against the wall. He was dead. Clarisse walked slowly, almost hesitant to the broken window, looking through it and her heart stopped. The room was covered in blood and on the floor laid a person in his own blood.

There were no monsters in this house. Something awful had happened here.

Clarisse cursed herself for sticking her nose in things that didn't concern her. She turned and ran away, far away from this haunted house, where two men had found their death. She wanted to get away from this cursed forest, where she had found nothing but cruelty and madness.

She ran as if the furies were behind her. She didn't feel the branches scratching her face or the roots under her feet. She ran only thinking about leaving this damned place. She was so focused on leaving the forest behind that she didn't notice that the forest ended and she fell down and hit her arm. She stayed there; too exhausted to notice the two surprised men sitting in front a fire. She saw was a familiar face hovering above her with a curious look on his face.

"Nico?".

I'm quite pleased with this chapter. Did you like it? And YES Clarisse finally meats Percy and Nico.

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I also want to thank for the reviews I got so far. They made me very happy =D