You'll Learn to Love Me (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 60: Cupid

I wrote this during Pride month, gotta love it. 

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"So." The voice rushed past Laylana's ear like a bullet. When she turned, no one was there. "You come to claim the sceptre."

Nico stood at her and Jason's backs, the three of them forming a defensive triangle around each other. Laylana took a deep breath, trying to do the talking while she could.

"Cupid," Laylana called, "where are you?"

The voice laughed. It definitely didn't sound like a cute baby angel's. It sounded deep and rich, but also threatening. It sounded oddly similar to her father's voice, which made her all the more uneasy. 

"Where you least expect me," Cupid answered. "As Love always is."

Something slammed into Laylana and hurled her across the street. She toppled down a set of steps and sprawled on the floor of an excavated Roman basement.

"Lana!" She heard both the boys call for her. 

"I would think you'd know better, Laylana Jackson." Cupid's voice whirled around her. "You've had that thought on your mind lately. What does love feel like? You are quite infatuated with that boy, but you still deny your true feelings."

Nico scrambled down the steps, kneeling next to her. "You okay?"

Laylana nodded as both he and Jason wrapped an arm around her biceps and hauled her to her feet. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just your average day as a demigod."

"Oh, did you expect me to play fair?" Cupid laughed. "I am the god of love. I am never fair. Even if you are technically my niece."

This time, Laylana's senses were on high alert. She held her daggers close before she felt the air ripple just as an arrow materialized, racing towards Nico's chest. She intercepted it with her daggers in an "X" formation, deflecting it sideways. The arrow exploded against the nearest wall, peppering them with limestone shrapnel. Together, they ran up the steps. Jason pulled Nico to one side, Laylana dodging to the other, as another gust of wind toppled a column that would have crushed them flat.

"Is this guy Love or Death?" Jason growled.

"Ask your friends," Cupid said. "Frank, Hazel and Percy met my counterpart, Thanatos. We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder. Laylana would know."

"We just want the sceptre!" Nico shouted. "We're trying to stop Gaea. Are you on the gods' side or not?"

A second arrow hit the ground between Nico's feet and glowed white-hot. Nico stumbled back as the arrow burst into a geyser of flame.  

"Love is on every side," Cupid said. "And no one's side. Don't ask what Love can do for you."

"Great," Jason said. "Now he's spouting greeting card messages."

"Fucking hell," Is all Laylana said before she felt the movement behind her. She spun, slicing her daggers one after the other through the air. Her blades bit into something solid. She heard a grunt and she swung again, but the invisible god was gone. On the paving stones, atrial of golden ichor shimmered – the blood of the gods.

"Very good, Laylana." Cupid said. "I expected nothing better from the daughter of Erebus. At least you can sense my presence. Even a glancing hit at true love is more than most heroes manage."

"So now we get the sceptre?" Jason asked.

Cupid laughed. "Unfortunately, you could not wield it. Only a child of the Underworld can summon the dead legions. And only an officer of Rome can lead them."