Chapter 1. This is a warning- Jasper is with someone else and Nico is 17. This song is called worth dying for by rise against. Review.
Set me off like dynamite strapped tight around my waist (Let's go!) Take a breath and explode like bullets tearing through the wind
We are the ones in competition but claim this ain't no race
Cut me up with a razor blade that tries to separate the skin
Nico pov
I sighed as me and my cousin Percy, sat in the underbrush with our swords out and scratched in the dirt with them. We had currently been playing tick-tack-toe and waiting. Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend for the last several years, had ordered us out here to guard during a capture the flag game. The hunters were here and we were on guard duty. Greaaaattttttt! I hate those damn hunters!
He scratched the last x in and won. He wore a big goofy grin on his face as he swung his arms around whispering, "Go Percy, go Percy..."
`I cut him off with a shhh and a finger to my lips as I heard something rustle out a foot away from us. He immediately stopped and stiffened up and I did the same. I heard another rustle and a soft grumbling sound. I slowly gripped my hand tighter around the hilt of my black sword and tensed in waiting.
Percy caught my eye with his and held up a hand with three fingers up. I nodded at his sign and he counted down. When he hit three, we jumped up and through the brush above us. I felt a few thorns scratch us, but I was quickly over it when the hunter, in silver camoe color, turned around with a bow drawn. I felt a silent chuckle go through me when I saw it was Thalia. Her electric blue eyes hardened at the sight of us and she spoke with a serious voice, yet was ruined by the words that came out of her mouth. "I'd back down now, boys, unless you want to get hurt?" It came out as a question and I knew that we might get a little scratched, but we could take her out easily.
She flipped her spiky black hair over her shoulder and Percy let out a grunt. "Pinecone face, you couldn't hurt me, and Nico is way more powerful than you, by now. Let's face it, you're the one going down." I chuckled a tiny bit at this, and without warning, Thalia let loose an arrow at us.
It zinged past me as I dodged and Percy rolled away. He pulled out riptide, his sword, but I told him that Thalia was mine. I could take her. He rolled his eyes, but still capped the sword and let me go at it. Thalia smirked at my over confidence, and said in an overly loud voice, "Bring it on death-breath!"
I launched myself at her and she pulled out a set of daggers, which she used to block my first strike. I curved my sword though, and pulled back, only to strike at her hip and fake it to her upper arm. My fake didn't work and she spun in a dance, which I was pulled into as our swords and daggers clanged against each other endlessly. It reverberated against the trees and echoed around us as other sounds of battle could be heard deeper in the forest.
After a few minutes, Thalia was worn down, and uselessly threw her dagger at me, which I dodged. It turned out to be a distraction though, as I looked and saw Percy fighting another hunter and Thalia taking off through the trees and towards... Oh crap! Zeus' fist! The flag's there!
I bolted after her, but was considerably slower, which in my case, was a very bad thing, but I made up with the fact that I was stronger, and she was wore down. I flitted between trees, seeing hunters and campers alike fighting each other. Flashes of silver and orange were all that could be seen as I ran faster, away from the fighting and towards the girl who was making this a lot harder than it should be.
Shit! Shit! Where is she? Where the Hades am I? I asked myself mentally as I slowed to a jog and noticed that I was in unfamiliar territory. None of the sounds of fighting could be heard and the torch light that we usually had in the dark was gone. The only sounds that could be heard was the crunching grass beneath me feet and my heavy breathing. I slowed down and stopped, spinning in a circle and trying to figure out where I was.
I noticed no familiar markings that might be able to tell me where I was, and my eyes, though they were better in the dark than normal demigods since I was a child of Hades, could barely see ten feet in front of me.
I heard a soft growl behind me, and turned around, and saw something that would have scared me like crazy a few years ago, but still made me stop in my tracks, and brandish my sword. Just about a few feet away stood an enormous black hell hound, easily the size of a bulldozer. It's eyes glinted red and it's snout scrunched up as it looked at me with hunger plain on it's face.
I lifted the sword up, but didn't have a chance as the monster launched at me and I barely sidestepped and slashed it's scarred hide with my blade. A long, but not deep gash graced where my sword had touched.
The beast howled and swiped a paw at me, which I tried to dodge but couldn't as I felt pain explode on my side. I looked down, and noticed the extremely deep claw marks that extended across my ribs. I barely was able to stand up and defend myself as the hound came back for seconds and tried to bite me. I dodged and dodged and dodged, trying to avoid it's claws and teeth, and still scratch it.
After a few minutes of this, I was feeling faint with exhaustion, and blood loss, and had barely gotten in another two scratches: One on it's snout and one on it's hind leg. I tried to dodge one last swipe, but was unsuccessful and got pinned underneath it's huge paw, which hindered me immobile. I struggled against it, but stopped when the hell hound's face came within a foot of mine and I could feal it's hot breath and strands of salive hit my face full on.
I felt my will leave me as my blood started draining away, and I grasped onto my sword, and let out a gasp as my ribs were punctured. I plunged the sword into the hell hound's snout and pulled out, causing it to retreat a few feet away.
I used my distraction well and willed the shadows to coverge around me, and get me away from the monster. I felt the exhilirating pull and the sense of all my energy leaving me as I shadow traveled, thinking of going anywhere but here. Anywhere, my thoughts echoed as the feeling left me and I blacked out completely, all my life nearly drained from my body.