Seal of the Betrayed

Irony at its Best

Ch. 8

"Pull!"

A girl in a silver huntress uniform sprinted through the trees, weaving her way in and out as quickly as she could. After a full minute of running, the girl thought she had made it.

She was wrong.

Her body stiffened.

She looked down at her chest to see blood flowing out at an alarming rate. She put a hand to the exit wound to stem the flow but it was too late. She tried to open her mouth to cry out for her mistress but the metallic taste of her own blood stopped her.

She dropped to her knees and she struggled to keep breathing but it was hopeless. The light slowly dimmed out of her blue eyes as she felt the darkness overtake her.

A hundred yards back, a late-teen looking figure was laughing and giving congratulations to another one who was watching the huntress die through the scope of his rifle.

"You know what I always wondered, why did we always fight with such primitive weapons? I mean, it's the twenty first century, why were we trying to save the world and nothing more than bows and arrows, swords and those stupid demigod powers? I mean, couldn't we have just melted down some celestial bronze and sat at the foot of the Empire State Building blasting any monster foolish enough to come within range?" Nico asked as he took completely black eye from the scope of the rifle and glanced at Percy who looked amused by the question.

"Yeah, like Zeus wanted a bunch of underprivileged and neglected demigods with weapons that could kill from hundreds of yards away. Besides, swords are cool. Nothing like slashing through a few dozen monsters at close range to get your blood flowing." He answered chuckling.

Nico smirked but didn't reply.

"How many are left?" Percy asked looking back towards Luke.

"Only two and one of them is Thalia." Came the response from a few yards away.

Percy grinned, "Let the last one go. She's already spoken for."

Another girl clad in the silver uniform of a huntress was shoved towards where Percy and Nico stood. She stopped a few feet away, the fear evident in her eyes.

"Tell me huntress, how many monsters have you killed on your little hunts?"

The girl steeled her nerves, "Hundreds but in my centuries killing the filth of the world I have yet to come across something as evil and vile as you Jackson."

"Woo-hoo, this one's feisty." Nico commented as cocked the rifle.

Percy shook his head to his friend before looking back at the huntress.

"Well, today the tables are turned. Today you are the prey. The predator? My faithful Hellhound Mrs. O'Leary. If you make it to the edge of the woods, you're free and we won't come after you. You don't make it, well, she drags you down to Hell for an eternity of fun and games."

The girl's eyes widened making Percy grin. "You get a ten second head start. Go!"

The huntress took off sprinting while Percy just looked down at his watch with amusement. After a full ten seconds, he whistled loudly.

"Go get the soul, girl! Get the soul!"

With a loud bark and the thudding of heavy footsteps, the invisible hound off in the direction of the huntress. It took only another twenty seconds before the screams of the hunter echoed through the woods.

"And then there was one." Percy muttered as he and Nico turned and walked in the direction where a bound girl, around sixteen years old, with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes was glaring daggers at Luke.