(A/N) I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY AND I HATED MYSELF FOR NOT UPDATING IT'S JUST THAT I STARTED THE SEQUEL TO ANOTHER ONE OF MY STORIES, WHICH WAS ONE OF MY MOST POPULAR ONES, AND I HAD TO PUT THIS ONE OFF FOR A WHILE AS I ALSO WROTE A NOVEL WHICH STILL HAS YET TO BE COMPLETE BECAUSE I AM A LAZY-ASS PERSON.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters but I do own the alternate universe they live in.
"Dakota's dead." Nico said as he barged out of the crappy bathroom into the equally crappy main room of their incredibly crappy motel room. "Reyna and Frank just sent me an Iris message." His face was plastered with grief, for he had considered Dakota a good friend in his time in the Fifth Cohort. He wrung his hands behind his back, hiding his anxiety from his two companions. Jason and Will leapt to their feet, completely abandoning their game of Go Fish with their gritty deck of cards, which they had found forgotten in the drawers of one of the dressers. They went spiraling to the floor as the demigods' weight had lifted from the edge of Jason's bed, though everyone was in such a state of shock that they didn't bother to pick them up.
"What happened?" Jason asked, utterly stunned. He stood rooted to the spot, processing the information that had been given to him, his blue eyes brimming with grief, though there was no sign or oncoming tears in sight. Nico felt a twinge of pity for the son of Jupiter; the blond-haired boy had known Dakota longer than anyone else in the room, not that there was much competition when it came to Will.
"He was practically torn open." Nico replied grimly, recounting how Frank's voice broke when he had said this, attempting to keep it together. He had to leave soon after to tend to Camp Jupiter's activities since the camp, mourning the death of one of their most esteemed Centurions, was having difficulty functioning, due to the fact that the Fifth Cohort was virtually crumbling. Had Frank been there Reyna would have spared all of the gory details, however that was not the case as, with an obviously heavy heart, Reyna described the incident.
Nico continued and relayed all the information that the Praetor had presented to him. Dakota had been on sentry duty with a probatio named Amalthea, and the shift had been uneventful, or so it seemed to the rest of the camp. When their shift was over two other demigods went to replace them, however what they had found was much worse than anything imaginable: Amalthea had been ripped to shreds, and some of her organs had been missing, as if they had been eaten by some savage creature. The event had not occurred long before they had arrived, however there had been an incredible car accident within the tunnel as well. Dakota was still conscious, clinging to life, huge claw marks slashing through his armor and digging deep into the soft flesh of his stomach.
Right before he had died, the son of Bacchus had said the creature had had a message for them: "We're coming." Then he had died, and there had been nothing they could do about it. Ambrosia and nectar had been useless, unable to work their magic for some reason, and therefore everyone had had to watch as Dakota crossed over to the other side.
Jason paced back and forth as it all sunk in, clenching and unclenching his fists. Nico could see Wills hair starting to stick up like Einstein's as electricity and static began to crackle through the air at the son of Jupiter's rage. The lights flickered on and off and the TV and radio began going haywire causing the sons of Hades and Apollo to clamp their hands over their ears.
"Jason." Nico yelled firmly over the static of the TV and the crazed whirring and screeching of the radio, his hands seemingly unable to keep out the cacophony. "Jason stop." The son of Jupiter halted, his muscles so taught that he may as well have been as wound up as a coil. He took a few deep breaths, attempting to compose himself, and gradually the haywire electricity came to a halt, plunging the three back into a sweet quiet. They heard confused talking through the walls to their left and right, and Nico supposed that they weren't the only ones that had experienced such freaking technical dilemmas. The son of Hades took a moment to marvel at how powerful Jason was as a demigod, and had the love of his life not been Will, he would have started to develop a slight crush.
"Sorry, guys. I was just so…" Will placed a reassuring hand on the other boy's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it." he replied with a shake of his head. "We all have to blow off steam sometimes." The son of Apollo's voice was firm, reassuring, and rather convincing, and Nico was reminded of the reason why he had chosen Will over some guy like Jason. He would have kissed him right then and there, but he didn't want Jason to feel uncomfortable. The son of Jupiter nodded, his eyes thankful, and Will let his hand fall to his side.
There was a long stretch of uncomfortable silence before Jason said, "So you think Perseus is behind this?"
"How can he get from the tristate area to Camp Jupiter?" Will asked, incredulous as he plopped back down onto the bed, whose springs squealed like a dying animal as they supported the demigod's weight.
"Shadow travel, maybe." the son of Jupiter replied with a shrug. "He is a demon."
"No it wasn't Perseus. Reyna told me that Dakota had been given a name; the creature had told it to him right before it attacked." Nico stated and his two blond companions perked up, their blue eyes sparkling with interest. "Lilith."
"Lilith? It does ring a bell, but if it wasn't Perseus then what other creature could it possibly be? A hellhound? A very angry cyclops? A group of empousae? A hydra?" Will asked, his brows furrowing together in a rather endearing way.
"Maybe a drakon or a sphinx. Possibly a rabid group of bloodthirst dracanae?" Jason added.
"No, none of those really match. There was no evidence of poison and neither Dakota nor what was left of Amalthea suffered from burns, so that rules out drakons and hydras. Cyclops usually rip their victims apart with their hands, but Amalthea was clearly shredded by some sort of sharp weapon; her…err…seams were too neat as stated by Reyna."
"Eww." Jason and Will hissed in unison as they shifted uncomfortably, causing the springs on the bed to scream bloody murder.
Nico continued, "Dracanae either stab with weapons or constrict, and of course none of them were constricted. No weapon anyone has ever seen can tear apart Imperial Gold like that. Sphinxes usually dwell in caves and do not attack or confront people unless said people were trying to pass, so that's out too. Empousae are out of the picture because they drain their victims before tearing them apart, and so are hellhounds because their claws aren't strong enough to tear apart armor like how it was, nothing is. Though Reyna said that Hazel was telling her how Lilith was the name of the first demon."
"The first demon? As in first, first?" Jason asked, gaping and running his hand through his hair in exasperation. The son of Hades waved him off, chuckling.
"No, Lilith is just some made-up demon from this show she watches called Supernatural." he replied with a roll of his eyes. "She's completely obsessed."
"Does she ship Destiel?" Jason asked, and at first Nico thought he was kidding. That, however, was not the case as his blue eyes blazed with seriousness.
"I don't…know." Nico replied slowly. "But it doesn't matter."
"Babe listen for a minute. Is it just some freaky coincidence that two Romans were mauled beyond belief by something named after the first demon while we work on a case involving demons?" Will questioned. "Didn't Chiron tell us that there isn't really such thing as coincidences?" Nico considered this, but didn't understand how a real, living, breathing demon that killed three families could relate to a fake demon from the TV, who never really killed anyone.
"Wait a minute." the son of Hades said suddenly, an idea forming in his head. He grinned. "Why didn't I think of this before?"
-Ω-
"Ella was scared. She doesn't like traveling by magic." Tyson said crossly, regarding the red-feathered harpy, who was perched precariously on the cyclops' burly shoulder. The son of Poseidon's soft brown eye was clouded with worry, and he glared at the three demigods. "This better be good."
"Ella doesn't like fast. Ella might be sick." she muttered, her red hair and feathers slightly ruffled from the trip.
"I'm so glad you came, Tyson." Nico said, a grin spreading across his face as he was enveloped in a crushing hug.
"You're my blood brother. Helping is what brothers are for." The peanut butter-loving leader of Poseidon's cyclops army had improved his linguistics drastically since the last time Nico had seen him, which had been a while. The son of Hades only then realized how much he had missed the gentle giant, as well as the super-smart harpy with the photographic memory. The two had teleported using nereid pearls, much like the ones Nico, Will, and Grover had used to escape Hades' palace on their first-ever quest, much to Ella's distaste; she wouldn't stop ranting about herself in third person on how she despised traveling "fast."
They were all standing in a copse of trees that obscured them from prying eyes, however they were smack-dab in the middle of a park. That, however, had not prevented them from calling Tyson and Ella for help. It was reaching the end of the day and light filtered through the foliage of the trees above, which rustled in the slight breeze that wove through their boughs. Leaves crunched and twigs snapped whenever the assembled group shifted or moved, and light filtered through the leaves, leaving spiraling patterns of dancing shadows across the ground. They could see mortals making their way down the park's cement paths, some pushing strollers, some holding their children's hands, others absorbed in their phones, and the rest jogging or walking with earbuds in their ears. It was such a normal sight, so normal that it made Nico ache for his life before he had been taken to Camp Half-Blood. Sure, it had been a living hell, but at least his mother and his sister had been there, and now he had to stay at camp 24/7.
"We need both of you to help us." Will explained, jolting Nico out of his thoughts. His boyfriend was slightly ruffled from his fair share of cyclops hugs, but nevertheless his blue eyes still sparkled like diamonds, his hair like a golden halo as it caught the light. It stole Nico's breath away, and it took the son of Hades a few moments to get it back. "With demons." At this, Ella stiffened, somehow managing to tremble even more.
"Demons. Demons are bad. 2 Peter 2:4 'For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment.'" she whimpered.
"So you know about demons?" Jason asked hopefully, his voice reserved due to the fact that he did not wish to startle the harpy any more than he needed. Ella, delighted at being given a task, nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, yes, yes! Psalm 106:37-38 'They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.'" she quoted, all without taking a breath. Nico nodded encouragingly, however on the inside his stomach was churning at the image of crazy people sacrificing innocent children to horrible and wretched beasts like Perseus.
"Do you know anything about killing demons?" Will questioned. "And leave out all the nonsense; what's the real way?" Ella considered this for a moment, and it was the first time Nico had ever in his life seen the harpy pause to think about it. Then the harpy grinned, her eyes sparkling.
"Perseus 5:7 'And thus he plunged his blade into the demon's abdomen, and it withered and died from its divine power.'"
"There isn't a Perseus in the Bible." Will said quizzically. "I mean, I'm not really for any religion since the only gods I know are pagan gods, but I know there's a Paul and a Psalm, but not a Perseus."
"Not the Bible, silly!" Ella squawked as she hopped to Tyson's other shoulder, still ginning. "The demonic one!"
"You mean like the Satanic Bible?" Nico asked, wondering why he hadn't checked it yet. Then again, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter's archives didn't really contain it.
"No, worse." Ella replied.
"Then how did you get your hands on it?" he asked.
"Can't say." the harpy sang. "Can't say, can't say, can't say, can't say!" Nico could see the clear irritation on his companion's face, and Tyson was beginning to fidget nervously.
"So what you're saying is that we need an angel to kill a demon?" Will questioned, his blue eyes sparkling in the light of the setting sun.
"Not necessarily." Ella said, her grin becoming quite sly. "Author: Perseus. Perseus wrote how to kill a demon in the demon bible. Perseus is a demon. Therefore, a demon can only be killed by another demon."
-Ω-
"This is quite nice, wouldn't you agree, O'Leary?" The hellhound only replied by licking the demon's face with her large tongue. Her red eyes burned as saliva dripped from her jowls, and when it came to other beings she would tear them apart piece by piece, however when it came to the black-haired green-eyed demon that served as both her master and her best friend, she was a complete sweetheart. Perseus chuckled, leaning against Mrs. O'Leary's coarse hide and running his fingers through it. Despite the fact that it looked wild and matted from a distance, his fingers were able to comb through it easily.
"I can sense my brothers and sisters. I am not alone." The hellhound grunted huffily at this, causing the demon to grin, his expression almost as wolfish as Mrs. O'Leary's, and added, "Of course, I was never alone with you around." Perseus wondered why he hadn't summoned his hellhound more often; he relished her company, and it was the same vice versa. She showed emotion yet did not reply, and Perseus did not like others advising him to be more careful or tell him how to live his life. Therefore, he was content with Mrs. O'Leary's silence and Mrs. O'Leary was content with belly rubs and back scratches.
A navy sky stretched before them, spangled with stars beyond belief. The only houses that could be seen were mere dots that were scattered here and there which, aside from improving the scenery, caused it to become a hassle for Percy to find food. Mrs. O'Leary fed herself and for that Perseus was thankful, and he decided that his hellhound was, indeed, a friend. He had never really had friends, being a consumer of human flesh and all, on top of the fact that he had not seen another of his kind in centuries, but at least he had Mrs. O'Leary.
The two were sprawled at the edge of a cliff in the Catskills, the hellhounds' shadow-traveling abilities making the journey less than a minute's trip. It overlooked a very breathtaking group of huge mountains that rolled along as if they were blown-up versions of hills. The trees were like grass, each leaf being a single blade, the large boulders swept onto their surfaces from the Ice Age mere pebbles underfoot. And the small burrows called houses were home to little families of mice that scurried about and did their business, completely unaware of the higher powers that resided above. But now a population of cats had been thrown into the mix, and now that the mice had completely taken over, destroying the ecosystem completely, they needed something, or a few somethings, to thin their population out.
Perseus watched, and due to the fact that demons really had no concept of beauty, was neither awe-inspired nor breathless at the scenery that sprawled before him like a gateway to the world. His pupils had dilated and he could see perfectly despite the fact that the moon was merely a dark smudge in the night sky. The constellations seemed so far away, however
"You know, O'Leary." The hellhound's ears perked when she heard her name, angling towards him to show that she was listening, however she had laid her head down to rest long before. "I feel great, better than I've had in a millennia. I think 'Nobody can ever feel as good as I feel now' but then I realize, mortals are feeling this way every day. They wake up, knowing they aren't the only ones left in the world, and go about their mortal day in their mortal town. The last time I was this happy, humanity had not even been created yet. Then again, the creation of humanity was when it all started going downhill.
Perseus continued, "I really like it here. It's probably better than Hell. Then again, I've never been to Hell, ya know?" Mrs. O'Leary grumbled in agreement, stretching out as her joints popped and then settling back into place again. There was a long, drawn out moment of time that could have lasted years for all Perseus knew. He just sat there and watched as the stars twinkled down at him, undoubtedly glaring in disapproval, but he didn't give a crap about what the judgmental stars thought. Just because they were in the sky didn't mean that they ruled, and Perseus was perfectly content with his current situation. That's when his stomach lurched, snarling as savagely as Mrs. O'Leary when she was irritated.
"Mortals are supposed to be filling!" Perseus groaned, his head making a muffled sound when it landed on Mrs. O'Leary's cushiony fur. Why do I have to go through the hassle of killing them and keeping it hush-hush if it only fills me up for three days? I need a week at least or else I'll be going through them like a how a teenage mortal girl goes through clothes."