"WHAT!?" The hunters screamed and started asking questions at the same time.
Thalia just closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Who is she?!" was the question most commonly asked.
"Alright! A-a-alright. I'll tell you guys who she was" A says stuttering. He reached for a necklace inside his cloak—his hands were trembling. He took out a pendant which looked more like a rock.
"This is the rock that the hunter threw at the Cyclops that was trying to kill us before we met the Ace. We threw a rock each and it both hit the Cyclops's eye. Before she joined the hunt, she gave me the rock and I gave her the rock that I threw." A shifted the rock and there was two letters engraved in it: JC
"J-Josh?" A hunter says in shock and the moment she did, everyone quieted.
"Hey, Cassandra" A—no, Josh, says.
"Oh gods!" Cassandra says happily, went her way towards A, yanked down the cloth over his mouth and threw his goggles away.
"The Camp—Dray said you ran away and got killed by a monster!" Cassandra explained and was about to hug her when A step backward avoiding the hug.
"Josh?" Cassandra said confused with a hint of hurt in her voice. "Er, I don't know if I can hug a hunter" A says carefully looking at Artemis who—for the first time—smiled at a boy that was not the Ace or Percy Jackson and made a gesture that says 'go on'
And that's all it took for Cassandra to hug A and A to swing her around. Cassandra laughed and the hunters had to smile. It's been a long time since they heard their sister laugh like that. When A put Cassandra down, she punched A in the guts.
"Ow! What the! Cassandra?!" A says. And Cassandra was now glaring him. "YOU IDIOT"—punched him in the chest—"YOU RAN AWAY WITHOUT TELLING ME"—another punch—"MADE ME BELIEVE YOU WERE DEAD"—this time it was a kick—"AND ALL ALONG FOR THE PAST MONTH, YOU WERE SO NEAR ME AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME!" –one more punch—"How could you?!"—this time it was a slap.
There was a tear running down Cassandra's cheek. Josh went and removed it with his thumb. The hunters stiffened and was ready to pounce at Josh at any time. He was too close to Cassandra and wiping a tear did not do well with the hunters.
"I'm sorry, Cassie. But you were gone with the hunters. And the condition to join the Pack was to cease to exist. And if I ever told you who I was, Hestia would've just wiped your memory. And I did check up on you, Cassie. Our missions coincide more than you think, and I always checked if you were okay. And the more I looked at you, the more I couldn't tell you who I was. I saw you, Cassie. You love the Hunt. And telling you my secret could've cost you leaving the Hunt. I couldn't do that, Cass. I wouldn't either. I'll never"
And with that, the Hunters relaxed a bit. At least the boy had no intention of taking their sister away from the hunt.
"Alright, alright, 'nough of the reunion. We have to continue the story" L said and Cassandra and Josh plus the hunters glared at him. "What?" L asked and J shoved him away before L was castrated by the hunters.
"Alright. I'm J. And before anyone asks, I do not have relations with the Hunters. But, I think I'm going to reveal some of us who does have one in my part of the story. Before I start, you guys want to take the juice offer from us now? J says. The hunters paused and thought before nodding. The Pack summoned glasses of juice asking the hunters what flavour. This time there was less…hostility between them when they asked.
"If you girls need refill, just ask the nearest Pack member. Please turn your attention to the fire now. Great! Let's get started
I never really went to camp. My father is Mars, and I've inherited something I'm not…proud to admit" J scrunched his eyebrows and looked away.
The Hunters could feel the hesitation in the boy's voice. "If you don't want to tell us, then…it's okay" It was Thalia who said it. J shook his head. "No. If I'm not man enough to tell you then I might as well admit being weak"—which was a very child of Mars thing to say—"I…oh right. Since I've never been to camp and all my mortal relatives are dead, and the only people I consider family are the Pack and the Hunt"—the hunters were slightly surprised at the easiness he said this meanwhile the Pack just nodded in agreement—"You guys can't dig any info on me, besides, I trust everybody here with my life" Again, the Pack nodded in agreement which the hunters including their goddess took in a surprise.
"So with that, I've got nothing to lose" J says and takes off his cloth and then his goggles. He had jet black hair, but there was two strands that were coloured red. His eyes were yellow, but had a speck of red on the side
The Hunters have got to admit, he was pretty handsome.
"My mother was a demigod, a daughter of Aphrodite"—the hunters nodded in understanding. No wonder he looked like that—"And so, I'm three quarters a god. That's why I sometimes where the red cloak, because if Zeus knew how powerful I was, then he'd have me killed as if my existence was 'illegal'" J spat. The hunters didn't understand. So what if he was a son of a daughter of Aphrodite and a petty child of Mars? Sure, Mars' children were great fighters, but not that powerful
"Back to my inheritance, truthfully, if you want to know who the most powerful demigod among the Pack then there's a possible tie between the Ace, our Lieutenant, and L. Next to them, there's another tie between B, C, M, and me. We're the next powerful.
I hate my power…even until now.
You see, when I was a kid, my mother married a mortal that worked in a perfume company to confuse the monsters sense of smell around me. This is one thing my Ace and I have in common: our mother married crappy step dads to make sure our scents were masked from the monsters.
My step dad would always…hit me. Being the son of Mars that I am, I always tried to hit him back. I gave him bruises, you know? It humiliated him that a child could actually hurt him so he started…" J took a gulp of air "He started hitting my mother just to get to me. I think…I think if it wasn't for my mom's charmspeak, it was weak but you didn't need much to charmspeak a mortal, then he would've done worse."
The hunters glared at the thought of a woman being abused
"I could also charmspeak. But for some reason, my charmspeak was more prominent than my mother's. My mom said Aphrodite blessed me that when I was born. That's one of my powers that made me so…dangerous.
I could make my step dad angry with one word, taunt him to a fight, or something, but still, I was a kid, there were limitations then. And when I was a kid, my charmspeak was weak—though stronger than my mother's—too. The older I got, the better at charmspeak I was.
Things turned worse when I was seven. I got into a fight at school and then I got into a yelling fight with my classmates. And then another yelling fight with my teachers. And then again with the principal until the yelling was so hard that my voice was too hoarse to charm speak.
When I got home my step dad was drunk and then we got into an argument too and my mom threatened to finally leave him and that's when he decided to…to rape my mom"
Gasps here and the hunters were so angry that you could see black aura around them. The Pack was glaring too.
"I couldn't do a thing damnit! I was kid who was strong—but not strong enough, and I couldn't charmspeak anyone because I was stupid enough to get my voice hoarse!
I was so angry.
Angry at myself for being weak. Being stupid. Being the reason for every bad thing that happeaned to my mother
But most of all, I was fucking angry at the shithead that was about to rape my mother. That mother fucker.
That was the first time I used the ability I've inherited from my father. That was the first time I ever activated the blood trance" J shivered at the name
"The bloodtrance?" Artemis asked.
"It's why I can be as powerful as B and C. I…it's impossible for a demigod to inherit it from Mars or Ares, you know? If a demigod uses the blood trance, let's just say it'll burn your mortal side and you'd be left…er…looking inhumane. But since I have more godly blood in me being three quarters god—"
"You can withstand the power, right?" Annabeth said in realization. J nodded his head.
"What exactly is the bloodtrance?"
"It's awesome!" "It's terrifying" the guys from the Pack were saying until J spat "It makes me a monster"
The Pack's eyes widened and they looked guilty. "Sorry, J. We shouldn't have praised it like that"
"S'okay"
"Why? What's so bad about it?" someone asks and J's eyes were suddenly turning into a scary red. L squeezed his shoulder, "J, control" he warned. J took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. It's just that…the blood trance is why I have these red locks of hair. When I activate it, the longer I spend with the bloodtrance the more strands of hair turns red. And you could see my eyes as if the red was creeping on the yellow. It usually goes back to my natural colour when the bloodtrance is over.
So anyway, I was in a bloodtrance. Suddenly, I could feel the strength of everything and everyone who was around me. I could feel the blood running through my step dad's. I felt strength. My eyes turned to bloody red, and I punched my step dad.
He crumpled in pain and he was going to attack again, but everything was in slow motion except for me.
I…I was seven and I…I killed him.
Gods, you guys don't understand how…traumatic it was. And you know what was worse? I couldn't stop myself from killing him. A-a-and, while the bloodtrance deactivated slowly, I liked what I felt. Shit. After I was done, gods, gods, gods, fucking gods, I gutted him like a pig. His organs were all over…"
The Hunters were looking away from the camp fire because of the grotesque images it was showing
"….and I was a damn seven year old! My mom tried to calm me down, but I was afraid that the next time I got angry…oh gods, I ran away because I didn't want my mom to suffer just because her kid was a monster
I was sixteen when my father offered me: a satyr to take me to camp, or the Pack. I didn't want to chose anything afraid I'll just kill everyone.
And my father laughed at me. He said, 'you maybe my kid, Zared, but don't be cocky. If you're not careful the Pack will kill you and not the other way around'
Upon hearing this, I gladly made my choice. Glad to know someone could kill me before I could kill so many more.
I met the Pack. At that time, it was just the Ace, the lieutenant, A, and G.
I found them while G was crying. G was seven. And her fourteen year old sister abandoned him for the Hunt"
"What?!"
G took a deep breath and removed the cloth from his mouth and his goggles.
"Hey sis" He said in a nervous smile.
"Garsiv?" a hunter asked in shock. "You have a sister, Atalanta?" Thalia asked surprised. Thalia knew Garsiv had a sister in the hunt, but she didn't know who exactly
And then the two got reunited. On to the story!
"And then they noticed me.
'My father sent me here' I told them.
"Who's your father?" Ace asked me
"Mars" and they started to grin but that's when I attacked them in a bloodtrance.
You see, by the time I was sixteen I was being eaten by guilt. I came to them to die. And if I killed them instead, well, maybe I'd get guilty enough to the point that I was mentally unstable and some monster would kill me.
I was actually sceptical that they'd beat me. I was expecting the latter of the two outcomes.
You know what was surprising? Ace fought me one on one and I lost in three minutes"
"What?!" The hunters said. They'd been saying that a lot now.
"Wait! Isn't the Bloodtrance like the Blessing of Ares? How could he beat you?!" Annabeth demanded
"Yeah, Bloodtrance is exactly like the blessing of Ares—only that in bloodtrance, in exchange for invincibility, I had to make sure I kill and gut everyone"
Some of the hunters cringed "So how could he beat you?"
"Let me continue the story
Usually, everything is in slow motion, but the Ace wasn't. He was moving in normal speed.
And my strength? Ha, he overpowered me!
But I had one trick out of my sleeve. I tried to remember my anger towards my step dad.
I tried to remember the feeling of blood in his veins—until I could feel the blood in Ace's veins—until I controlled the flow of the Blood in Ace's veins—"
"WHAT?! YOU CAN CONTROL BLOOD?!"
Even Artemis demanded the answer to this. She couldn't believe Mars would just gift this child with such dangerous power!
J decided to ignore them and continue with the story
"And so, I felt that tug in my body and tried to control his blood. The moment I did, I could feel my own blood boil. That's the draw back. Even after years of practice, it just hurt my blood more. That's my limit. My godly blood could only take so much, afterall, I wasn't completely a god. I can only do so much as make the enemy freeze via their blood for a moment. But usually that was enough for me.
But the thing is, I couldn't control the Ace's blood"
"What? Why!?"
"Is he a son of Mars too?"
"The identity of our Ace will remain secret unless the Ace himself is the one who reveal it" L said
"I froze
And the next thing I know, he has his sword on my throat
"What the hell are you doing attacking us?!"
And that's when I told him my story. He got angrier
"YOU IDIOT! Mars sent you here because you're family, stupid"
"But—"
"But what? You gonna kill us? The only person you can probably kill is Garvis over there. If you really want to do anyone some good, join us. Hestia'll give us missions to save demigods like you or trigods or whatever"
"But—"
"And if you ever go to bloodtrance mode, will kick your ass, Zared. Speaking of missions, we got one in Hawaii. HA-WA-II. OH YEAH" the Lieutenant said.
"Hawaii?" I asked them then because I had no idea what they were saying.
"Yup, welcome to the family, little bro"
And that's what sealed the deal.
Everytime I lost control, the Ace and the Lieutenant would stop me, and when L came, he stopped me too. One time, I lost so much control that L let me drive my sword into his sides.
"L," I said.
"Have you got your brains back, Zared?" he says
"I'm sorry"
"Ha, don't ya remember? Family, Zared, I promised" And then he coughs out blood.
"L!"
The Lieutenant came out as if from the shadows then. "Zared?!" he said. "I'm fine. I'm fine! It's L you need to worry about!" I told him but he shook his head.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fuckin fine! L is bleeding to death!"
"Don't worry about it, idiot. Ace will heal him in no time. Are you sure you're okay? You didn't use blood control? No blowbacks or boiling blood?"
"L!"
"Chill man, it's gonna be fine. If he didn't let you stab him, I'd kill L. Family protects family"
And that's my story"
"Well, you guys, it's almost midnight or something. Let's call it a day, ne?" L said.
The hunters and some of the Pack had their eyes half closed already.
"Alright" Artemis said. "We'll continue this tomorrow."
The Hunters trudged to their campsite. 30% drowsy 80% mind blown.
They still couldn't think of the Pack as…as….brothers. The hunters shivered at the thought. The hunters with brothers?! That's just wrong.
But their eyes widened when they saw their campsite.
Just by the border of their camp, werewolves were lying dead everywhere. And on the border line of their campsite, tigers and lions prowled as if guarding their territory.
Artemis knew who this doing was. She searched the bodies of wolves but when she didn't find what she was looking for "Send an arrow to the Pack! Now!" Artemis growled. "Attach a note and tell them that Lycaon attacked the camp while we were story telling but his body is still nowhere to be found! Warn them!"
Phoebe nodded and shot an arrow to the Pack's campsite.
But just as quickly, an arrow struck near Phoebe's foot which made her yelp. "What the?!" she says and plucked the arrow from the ground there was a note that was attached. It said:
We know. Don't worry. We have empathy links between our companions…though we don't die when they die. We made sure not to get a single drop of mutt blood on your camp. Don't bother putting up watch guards. We know you're tired. Lions and Tigers are very territorial, they'll take care of everything. And don't worry about them either. They get their energy from us. Goodnight, sisters.
Family protects Family
—L
Artemis stared at it dumbfounded. Phoebe passed it on for the other hunters to see.
They too were shocked.
Thalia just smirked warmly.
The Hunt all had one thing going through their minds: family protects family
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they at least give the Pack the….the what? The Hunt wondered. The benefit of doubt? No. That wasn't it. Maybe they'd give the Pack a…small chance. Yeah. That's it. A small chance.
Family protects family