AN: Ah! A new story! Lol, this just popped into my head after an odd idea for Rise. Truth be told, this prob won't be updated very often at all, but I wanted to start it anyway. And if you haven't noticed, I changed my pen name to xDarion'sKeeperx. I like it better.

Some things to know—

-Thalia left the hunters in order to live a normal demigod life.

-This takes place in the beginning of the summer after TLO

-The title is from the band Crossfade and the definition of the term. Some of Crossfade's songs depict the story quite well, plus they're awesome songs. You guys should check them out

Intro

"Hey Perce, go outside for awhile! You spend too much time watching that blasted TV!" my mom called.

I rolled my eyes at that, she always thought I was inside too much, but I was feeling lazy lately—and who could blame me? It was the last week of school, the last week before going to camp again with all that exercise. Still, I got my lazy ass up and switched off the TV.

Right before exiting the apartment I called out, "A'ight, mom. I'll be back in a little."

Out in front of the building, I paused for a moment, deciding where to go. I settled on the beach, no duh, and started jogging the closest route.

Once I was there, I waited for a time when no one was looking and dove in; loving the water and the strength it gave me. I was in my element. The fish all came and rubbed up against me in a form of 'hello' and I aimlessly followed different ones around.

After maybe an hour—it's hard to tell down there—I came out and lied on the beach in the setting sun. Yes, my mom was crazy enough to force me out of the house that close to dark, but she knew I'd be fine. I mean, what could really hurt me out here? Some gang? I doubt it, my fighting is far superior to theirs and any monster that came near would be instantly vaporized by Riptide.

The sun went down as my musings did, and I figured I should head back, so, for the second time today, I dragged my lazy ass up from my comfortable position and started jogging back, but I was rather hungry, and figured mom wouldn't be making or ordering anything for at least an hour, so I made a little detour and stopped at one of those shabby little convenience marts—you know the kind, run by people who can barely speak English, and look like a hosting for a drug trade, but are actually pretty cool and cheap—and grabbed myself a bag of Doritos, munching on them while walking at a leisurely pace back to my mom's.

After that I wasn't too sure what happened. All I remember was some dude, getting real lightheaded and some liquid—unlike anything I knew—dripping into my mouth.

-I was going to leave it there, but that'd kill yall and it's way too short-

Waking up, I was sore all over. My breathing was labored, and my head throbbing, and I had no clue where we were.

Wait. We?

Sure enough, tilting my head a bit, I could see some dude—the same dude from before—sitting not too far away, his head in his hands. He was muttering something over and over, and it took me awhile to tell what it was.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me, lords and ladies. Forgive me."

That made me feel a teeny bit better—at least he was from my world.

Just then a sharp pain exploded in my chest and I gasped for all I was worth until it calmed, groaning when it left.

Suddenly, mystery man was hovering over me and I got my first real look at him.

The first thing I noticed was the eyes. Blood red. Really, they were. It was almost scary.

After that I saw the snow-white hair and the pale skin. It wasn't like the dude had no blood—more like he hadn't gotten a tan for awhile.

Then I noticed his expression—concerned and weary.

Struggling, I asked in a raspy voice, "Who are you, what happened?"

The man looked pained, turning his face away and saying, "I am Joceus. As for what happened…first let you know that I am sorry, forever times sorry, and I never meant for it to happen…I just…"

Joceus looked broken almost and sat down next to me with a plop.

Running a hand through his hair, he told me, "First you must know that I am a…vampire." I gave a startled gasp and tried to wiggle away, having no success, but still this seemed to pain the Joceus bloke.

"I wanted to see America, get a feel for it, so I came," he started, "but I was not smart. I ran into you almost immediately…and your blood, infused with ichor, I don't know what happened. I usually have such control, but alas, I haven't hunted in awhile. So I bit you. Then I remembered that taste…you were a demigod, a son of someone powerful, and I immediately came to my senses and stopped, but it was too late. You had lost too much blood. The only thing I could do to save you was give some of my blood in return…"

Finding a surge of strength, I quickly slid away and said nervously, "Hold up. What…what would that do to me?"

Joceus looked pained again, answering, "Half vampire."

I swear my heart stopped. And I did actually fall over.

There was no way…no way that could be true…I couldn't be…never.

"Child, I know it is hard to believe, but it was the only thing I could do apart from letting you die." He said, that fiend said.

I stood up—surprisingly—and glared at him, saying, "You can say nothing! You turned me into this! A monster!"

Joceus chuckled nervously and rose also, saying, "It's not that bad, especially for you. It'll be like almost nothing has changed, I swear. Your senses will improve and you'll recover faster and you'll be better at physical activities and you'll be able to shadow jump. Mostly, it's a good thing."

That actually sounded pretty cool…but what about the other things? I asked, "And the negatives?"

Joceus looked away and said, "You'll have to feed once a month, once you get fully developed. And your fangs and bloodlust might show in times of extreme emotion, but other than that, I don't think there are any."

That…wasn't…so…bad. Whoa! Once a month!

No. Fucking. Way.

I will not do that.

Glaring at Joceus again I said, "No. I won't, so you can just leave me alone. For all I care, noting ever happened."

After that, I stalked away, leaving him stunned before he called out, "Wait, Nikolai! You cannot leave! I need to tell you things!"

Freezing and wheeling around, I said venomously, "What did you call me?"

Joceus looked a tad bit frightened, and said, "Nikolai. Whenever you are around my kind or even your kind, that shall be your name."

"My name is not Nikolai and I have no affiliation with your kind, beast." I spat, and then returned to my departure.

"You will, and be prepared for it. You cannot ignore this, Nikolai." He said, and then—don't ask me how—I knew he was gone.

Muttering about crazies, I walked further until I found my bearings and then jogged to my apartment.

Mom threw a fit because I was coming in at about seven, but I reassured her I just lost track of time in the ocean. She seemed to believe this and we—Paul, mom and I—ate a nice dinner before they shooed me off to bed so that I 'would have plenty of brain-rest for my exams'. As if I'll pass them anyway, well, with more than a really low C. My grades have getting better.

I got ready for bed and all, but-shh, don't tell mom—texted Annabeth for awhile until going to sleep. Yeah, demigods can text, it's just calls we have problems with. Anyway, she nagged me about not studying, too, but we still held a nice little conversation. She was, of course, up studying as best she could with dyslexia and ADHD.

I did actually go to sleep at a reasonable time—if you call eleven reasonable.

Nice start? I promise it'll get better...once I find time to write it! So hang on, I can't promise regular, or even near-each-other updates, but they'll happen, and then, if you really like the story, you can be happy all day because one of your favs updated. huh? not convincing? drat...

Forever, xDarion'sKeeperx