A/N: Sooooo... Apparently, I'm just a horrible person with next to no work ethic and need to learn to make myself sit my butt down and write. Especially since this has technically been done for a while. Or at least, I though it was. Like, two days ago I decided "You know what? I don't like this very much. Lemme just add to this real quick." Three hours later, I was done...sort of.

Anyways, last time someone asked if they were supposed to understand that dragon reference. The answer is: not particularly. I was kinda shooting for a Merlin reference, but if you don't (or didn't, I guess) watch that, you should not have understood that. Let it just be Percy being himself. Anyways, on to the summary.

Hunters in the Way of Hunters - The Hunters of Artemis know all about the other other hunters. Incredibly meddlesome, constantly showing up and shooting werewolves with silver bullets, making everything twice as hard as it has to be. And everyone knows that the Winchesters are the worst.

Hunters in the Way of Hunters`

Thalia leaned down to touch the human track in the ground. Well, human except for the claw marks instead of toes.

"Freaking werewolves," she muttered.

Aubrey noticed what Thalia was looking at and sighed. "More of them?"

"Yeah. I doubt it's Lycaon's pack, though. Probably just another decoy."

"I don't even think it's a full pack," Katie chimed in, coming up behind them. "We could only find the one set of prints, and there weren't enough bones to indicate a large enough amount of meat.

"Woah woah woah." Grace held up her hand in a timeout gesture. "We're hunting a solo werewolf?"

Thalia nodded tiredly.

Grace groaned. "But that means hunters will probably track it down!"

"Yeah," Aubrey spoke up, "I thought we swore off of solo werewolves after last time."

Grace frowned. "Wait, what happened last time?"

Thalia sighed. Grace was new to the hunt and wasn't quite as experienced as the other members, but one of the first things the girls explained to her was how annoying hunters are, and what they usually like to go after.

"Let's just say that Lady Artemis was able to double the jackal population in less than half an hour," Thalia replied. "This just means we're going to have to move even faster. The werewolf is holed up somewhere in these woods. Let's find it before it kills anyone and brings the hunters running."

Thalia snorted as her girls spread out to search for a fresher trail. Yeah, she knew all about hunters. Those silly mortals fixated on the "supernatural", as they called it. They were so damn annoying. They always showed up with their rock salt and holy water and screwed everything up! And werewolves? Werewolves were the worst! A werewolf was a sure way to summon a hunter, complete with silver bullets and insufferable attitudes.

Once a hunter was there, they could really only do two things. One, finish the thing off before the hunter had a chance to investigate, and two, pray to every god of every pantheon or other religion that their last name wasn't Winchester. Everyone knows those two screw up more hunts for the Hunters than anyone else. The Hunt is supposed to remain mostly secret, so Thalia had been forced to resort to some pretty extreme measures to prevent their discovery. This generally just meant more people died. Not to mention the fact that the Winchesters let Lucifer out, who stole Thanatos from the Underworld and made everyone think Gaea had somehow partially woken up and was trying to rise again. Ugh. Winchesters, with their deep voices and their flannel and psychological issues.

Artemis glided forward from the tree line to stand next to Thalia. "What news?"

"Solo werewolf," Thalia answered. "We're thinking it might be a former member of Lycaon's pack, but he's not here anymore."

"No matter," Artemis dismissed with a wave of her hand. "We'll take care of the beast just the same."

Hannah, who had just jogged towards the pair, cleared her throat, and Thalia and Artemis turned to face her. "Um, boss? We got a problem."

Artemis cocked her head. "Let me guess...hunters."

"Yep," Hannah confirmed. "Two of 'em. Apparently, the werewolf already killed some people in town. They tracked it out here. It gets worse though."

"Did you happen to see what they were driving?" Thalia asked.

"That's the problem," Hannah sighed. "'67 Chevy Impala, black."

"Styx!" Thalia grumbled.

Artemis said nothing at first; she merely smiled. But after a pause, she ordered, "Call everyone back."

Hannah nodded to the black wolf that stood by her side. The wolf sat back on its haunches and howled.

Over a period of a few minutes, young girls in silver seemed to melt from the trees, followed by black wolves, until there was a sizable group gathered.

Artemis nodded to Thalia, and she stepped forward.

"Listen up! A couple hunters showed up." Groans echoed from all around the group. "Unfortunately," Thalia continued, "they're not just any hunters." The girls stayed silent, too horrified by the prospect to process what she was saying. "We have been granted the honor-" there were snickers from many- "of a visit from the Winchester brothers. Now, we need to find the werewolf before they do and put it down. I don't feel like dealing with them tonight."

"What else is new?" Aubrey smiled.

At a nod from Artemis, the Hunters all dispersed, except for Grace. "We'll find it, Thalia," she reassured. "Those hunters don't have anything on us."

"I know," Thalia sighed.

Then, in the distance, a lone wolf howled.

Thalia straightened immediately. "That's one of ours."

Without another word, she, Grace, and Artemis took off running in the direction of the howl, more of their own wolves following behind. There were definitely certain perks to being immortal, edurence being one of them. Any one of the Hunters could full on sprint for more than five miles. And then there was Artemis, who could easily sprint five thousand miles without even drawing a breath. In any case, they ate up the distance like gazelles, girls in silver swarming to the call.

Thalia was closing in of the location of the wolf who had given the signal when she heard something else. A gunshot. Wonderful.

"You heard that, right, my lady?" Grace checked from Thalia's left.

"Yes," Artemis confirmed. "I believe the Winchesters have found our werewolf too."

"Should we head out?" Thalia asked. "We don't want them seeing us."

Artemis considered the question for a moment before responding. "No. We'll watch from a distance. If it appears that the Winchesters will not finish the hunt, we'll finish it for them." Artemis turned to one of the wolves running at her heels. "Give the rest of the Hunters the signal to retreat. Thalia, Grace, and I will handle this."

The wolf bobbed its head once and took off running in the opposite direction.

The three of them put on even more speed than before, and were soon joined by Hannah, who merely nodded grimly in greeting. "Sorry, my lady," she said with an apologetic smile, "but I didn't quite get in all my cardio work for tonight."

Artemis smiled in return. "I expected at least one of you to disobey the order."

"Stupid excuse," Grace groused good naturedly. "We don't need to do cardio to stay in shape."

Hannah put a finger to her lips.

The four Hunters skidded to a stop at the edge of a small clearing, taking their bows from around their shoulders and loading them.

"Styx," Grace muttered.

Thalia glanced up and saw two tall shapes darting around the clearing, firing at a smaller shape with their handguns almost indiscriminately.

"I think we can say that this hunt has gotten...out of control," Artemis said coolly. "Permission to fire granted, ladies."

Thalia raised her bow and started focusing on her sight picture, taking her sweet time. "I should shoot them right now." Or she could just conveniently stand here until they ran out of ammo, and then kill the werewolf...after it killed them.

"Peace, my lieutenant," Artemis reprimanded her. "Hunters are to be left alone. Otherwise, they will begin to hunt us. Not that they would have much success, but it would be...annoying."

"They're annoying now," Hannah grumbled.

Thalia let her arrow fly straight at the smaller shape, which she assumed was the werewolf. The glowing silver shaft seemed to leave a trail in the sky, but Thalia knew it was just her eyes messing with her. The werewolf howled as it took the arrow in the shoulder, but didn't drop dead as Thalia had hoped.

"SON OF A-" it screamed.

Thalia lowered her bow, her fellow Hunters doing the same. "Um, I don't think that's a werewolf."

"DEAN!" the tallest shape shouted.

Three more arrows, fired from Grace, Artemis, and Hannah's bows soared into the clearing as the rest of the Hunters filed in behind the four. All the arrows hit their mark, the second tallest figure, felling the beast instantly.

"Styx," Thalia grumbled. "I thought I had him."

Artemis gave a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure you did not mean to hit one of the Winchester brothers."

Thalia whipped her head around to stare at her mistress. "Was that sarcasm, my lady?"

Artemis smiled.

Faintly, Thalia heard someone shout, "Where the hell did that come from?"

The two figures left in the clearing spun around to face the group of Hunters, the shorter one clutching his shoulder. Thalia felt everyone collectively stiffen, except for Artemis. Even so, after skewering one of them, Thalia didn't feel very inclined to run away.

"Just great," Grace muttered. "It's times like these I wish we didn't glow silver."

"Go," Artemis commanded camly. "Get ready to leave." Thalia turned to go with the rest of the Hunters, but Artemis called her back. "Stay, Thalia."

Thalia turned back to Artemis, eyebrows raised. "You want me to stay? Are you sure?"

"Yes. As my lieutenant, I trust you can keep me from turning them into jackals?"

"Maybe, if I don't electrocute them first. Or shoot them again. Are you sure it's wise to let them approach us? The Hunt is supposed to be mostly secret, especially from men."

"Yes, well, despite their various...screw-ups, as you would say, they are quite good at what they do. They are also important to the angels."

"Angels?" Thalia was taken aback. This was the first she had heard of angels existing. Chiron had always given the impression that God was real, but he never said anything about angels.

"Yes," Artemis responded with a nod.

"Okay. Didn't know those existed. Good to know. Good to know."

By this time, the Winchesters had reached the treeline where Thalia and Artemis stood.

"Who are you?" the taller of the two demanded, pointing his gun at the pair.

"What are you?" the shorter one corrected, pointing his own gun at them. One-handed, Thalia noticed with a smug smile.

Thalia maintained her stoic silence, trying to control the electricity running up and down her body. Artemis cocked her head and looked at the brothers calmly.

"We both know your guns are empty."

The Winchesters glanced at each other, but continued to point their guns at Thalia and Artemis.

"And how would you know that?" the short one asked.

Artemis smiled. "I'm the Huntress. It's my job to know these things, Dean. Besides, the gun you carry can only fire - what, seven, eight rounds?"

They seemed taken aback, but the tallest one spoke first. "You know who we are?"

"Of course we know who you are," Thalia snapped, finally breaking her silence. "The freaking Winchesters who screw up all our hunts because you won't talk about your issues with each other. You're lucky I missed."

"Look, kid, you're the one who shot me-"

"I'm twenty-seven," Thalia said through gritted teeth.

Artemis extended an arm in front of Thalia. "Calm yourself, Thalia."

A wolf howled in the distance, distracting all four for a moment.

"Thank the gods," Thalia exclaimed. "I believe that's our cue, my lady."

Artemis nodded and looked over at the Winchesters. "You are lucky it was my lieutenant who was angry with you, and not I. If I had been, you would be jackals by now."

Thalia and Artemis turned, ready to sprint into the woods, but halted when another gunshot rang out around the clearing.

The two Hunters froze and slowly turned back towards the Winchesters.

"Extra capacity," the tall one said with a cocky smile. Then he realized that neither of them appeared to be hurt, and his face fell.

Artemis's face was thunderous. "You shot at me," she said matter-of-factly.

The Winchesters automatically began backing away as the air figuratively (and literally) crackled with power.

Thalia glared at the brothers, but put a hand on Artemis's shoulder. "My lady," she said warningly, "you asked me not to let you turn them into jackals, remember?"

Artemis growled and snapped her fingers.

Twenty miles away, Sam and Dean popped into existence in their motel room. The brothers spun around in confusion, wondering how they got there. It only took them a second to notice the blond, smiley guy chilling out on the dresser by the TV.

"So," the guy said with a smile, "you just shot at my baby sister. How do you feel?"