Vampwolf (Solangelo Au)

Nineteen

"What do you want?", asked Nico suspiciously as he and Walt Stone walked through the hallway.

"Carter asked me to talk to you since you  were upset that the dryads didn't like you.", Walt shrugged.

"I don't care", Nico huffed.

Walt raised an eyebrow. "Cats can tell when your lying." He smiled. "Speaking of which..."

The hybrids turned the corner and stopped in front of metal doors. They were fairly large and bolted shut. Walt pressed his amulet against it and the door opened.

"Don't let anyone out", Walt said.

"Like who", Nico asked. The door swung open and it revealed...cats. And not just any cats, skeleton kitties.

"These little guys are sabertooth tiger kittens", Walt informed Neeks. "They are honestly very comforting when you're upset. They also work with hybrids well."

One of the skeletons crawled up to Nico and rubbed his leg. "This one likes me."

Walt nodded. "You can keep him if you want."

Nico eyes lit up. "Really?" Walt nodded. "Thank you!", he exclaimed as he hugged the taller boy.

The two hybrids played for a while and became more comfortable with each other. Walt started expressing his struggle with being different.

"As a child, I loved being with the nature spirits. However, when I was experimented on and became a dragon, they were afraid of me because of my third soul. I was honestly very sad about it, but it helped me realize something."

Nico looked at him. "What?"

"Certain species don't mix. That's how nature works. That's why a hybrid can't mix with a dryad."

Silence. "You're right. So I can't be friends with a dryad or naiad."

"That's not what I said. I said nature doesn't work like that."

Neeks was lost, then he caught on. "Oh."

Walt smiled. "Now you get it."

Smirking, Nico said "I'm so cool I break the laws of nature. And nature can't handle that."

"Hell yeah!", they high fived.

"That's why the cats connect with us so well. They break the laws of nature too."

"Quick question, why can't we let the cats out?"

"Because the last time they escaped, one ended up in Sadie's room and snuggled up to her while she was sleeping. When she woke up, she was so scared she flew out the window unintentionally and fell like three stories.", the neko chuckled. "She was in a full body cast for a month and every time she saw a cat she hissed at it."

Nico laughed. "So what did you do?"

"Every time I saw her I would intentionally turn into a cat just to spite her."

"You're wrong for that."

Meanwhile, Will looked for Nico around the mansion to tell him it's time to go. He looked for what felt like hours until he found the room of skeletons and saw Neeks cuddling one with the cutest blush on his face.

So cute, he thought, my cute little hybrid.

"So Nico, is the blond your boyfriend?", someone asked. Will listened closely. Who was that? Is that the boy Carter sent after Nico?"

"Um, I don't know.", Nico muttered. "It's not something we talked about."

"Is he your mate?"

"Yeah."

"Then you should start calling him that, even if it's unofficial."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I almost lost Sadie for that very reason."

"To who?"

"My dragon, Anubis."

Nico blinked. "You nearly lost your girlfriend to one of your souls?"

"Yeah", the neko said to Nico.

Nico opened his mouth to say something then noticed Will from the corner of his eyes. "You know it's not nice to spy on people. And since you're gay it's called being a pervert."

"Haha", Will mocked. He turned to acknowledge Walt. "Hello."

"Hi, the name's Walt."

"I'm Will."

"Sunshine", Nico said, using his nickname for extra points. "Can I keep him? The cat."

"I don't know, you want to?"

Neeks nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright."

Death Boy and the skeleton cheered. "Yay (meow)!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group left the mansion with promises to visit again. Everyone had a awesome time. Jason and Will got some of the dryads' numbers, which they instantly threw away. Percy hair was purple and blue from the last prank that was played. Nico had his kitten curled up and snuggled in a blanket.

But the most transformed was Bianca. She had combat boots (courtesy of Sadie) with a bow and arrow. The vampwolf was decked out with army pants and a turtlenecked white tee shirt. Her hair was freshly washed and combed and it was braided in one large plait. All the boy's mouths hung open.

"Wow Bianca, you look...", Jason trailed off.

"Stop it bro, you have a girlfriend", Percy whispered.

"You look like you was blessed by Artemis.", Grover added, eyes glossing over.

"Well sis, you're certainly are catching the eyes of boys", Nico mumbled. "I'll have to chase them off with a shotgun."

Will and the others laughed. "You look great B."

Bianca stared at him in confusion. "B?"

"Yeah, that's your nickname."

She put a hand to her chin and thought about it. "Hmm...B...I like it."

"Ha I told you she would like it!", Sunshine bragged to Nico.

"Really?", asked Nico. Everyone laughed again.

"We'll miss you Jason", some female dryads called out.

"Bye girls", Jason waved to them. Some of them clutched their chest and fainted.

"Lol, Jason got all the girls", Grover joked.

They group continued their trip and stopped at another restaurant and evaluated the prophecy. They decided to do that because they felt like they were just wandering.

"I think the beginning was about B", Will said as he shoved a fry in his mouth.

"Me?"

"Yeah, And hope is restored to the love that he finds. You're the love I'm assuming."

"Yeah but what hope and the past collide with the future? It has to be more than B.", Percy turned to her. "No offence."

"The second part seems to be more about Will", Jason dipped his chicken nugget in his milkshake. "Maybe he'll find his family."

"Well that'll be nice", Will grumbled, "maybe they can explain why I was abandoned."

"Come on Will, it'll be a good thing right?", asked Neeks.

"Totally."

"But there's nothing about Reyna or what we can do to help her.", Jason sighed.

Everyone thought on it as the waiter brought dessert. But then, Nico's kitten got bored and crawled out to play. Chaos transpired and the group ended up leaving with the food "on the house".

"Don't do that again Leroy.", Nico scolded.

"Leroy?", asked Percy.

"Leave me alone."