The Dove's Brother: Origin Story

Chapter XV: Hunters, Heartbreak and Heroes

Heroes, Heartbreak & Hunters - I

Third Person POV:

Stephen was not having a good evening. It was supposed to be his first date and yet the universe seemed to think it was the best time to bring his nightmares to life. He always had the problem of hallucinating and it seemed to be under control with the various medications he took but today was not the case. He cursed softly under his breath and closed his eyes, taking in shaky breaths. He wanted nothing more than the hallucination to leave him alone, so he could enjoy his evening.

A delicate touch on his shoulder brought his scattered thoughts back to reality and he opened his eyes to see his date looking at him with worried eyes. A small frown marred her youthful features as she held up a glass to him and spoke, 'Are you okay, Stephen? Here drink this. It's just lime juice' Taking the offered glass and gulping down the drink in nearly record time, Stephen took a few steps back and leaned against the wall and rested the back of his head against the wall. He was soon accompanied by Alice who mirrored his posture and asked, 'Am I really that bad of a date or you want to talk about it?'

Smiling to himself he replied to the smirking girl beside him, 'I think we both know the answer to that question. But I am curious how did you find out about it?' he asked refering to his problem of hallucination. She simply replied, 'The twins'. Stephen merely chuckled in response while she continued, 'They are really worried, you know. They did not want anything to happen to you, they still don't.' Stephen just hummed in response before saying, 'They are the closest thing I have to family. Hell, they are my family at this point. I should be taking care of them not the other way around. They are just kids, they shouldn't be training for war. Ughhh... Sorry for ranting. I just worry about them.'

Before Alice could respond, they were interrupted by the last person he ever wanted to see in his life. Coach Thorne stood in front of the couple, a scowl etched on his face and his hetrochromatic eyes burning with barely concealed hatred. Grabbing Stephen's hand, he said, 'What have you been upto Mr. Stephen? I have seen you conversing with outsiders. Did you facilitate the entry of those delinquents onto the campus?' Stephen tried to pull his hand back but the coach's grip was surprisingly tight. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the coach began dragging them off towards the gymnasium. Stephen knew that talking to strangers would end him trouble but he chalked it up to misfortune that Coach Thorne of all people had seen him talk to the blonde couple. The two blondes were rather peculiar.

The blonde boy had barely said a word, merely glancing around occasionally while the girl asked him an range of questions about someone named Grover. Stephen had apologetically told them that he had never met any such person and off they went towards the throbbing mass of tangled bodies on the dance floor.

But that short conversation was enough to get him into trouble and Stephen knew it. Dispelling his thoughts of fear, he focused back on the situation at hand. The situation being his coach dragging him by hand to the gym and his date running behind them. Gathering some courage, Stephen pulled his hand back with a considerable amount of force and freed himself from the grip of the coach as well brought their short journey to an abrupt halt. All of a sudden, he was slammed into the wall and inches away from his eyes, staring into his soul were the gleaming hetrochromatic eyes of his coach.

His head throbbed from the impact into the concrete covered stone walls of the corridor. 'Something isn't right', he thought. Before he could contemplate any further, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, followed by a steadily spreading burn. Turning his head, he saw a blade impaling his right shoulder into the stone wall. The dripping of his blood on the floor of the empty corridor resonated in his ears. Fighting off the drowsiness, he reached up with his left arm, trying to free himself when he felt another sting of pain followed by another wave of drowsiness. The last thing he saw before the world turned to black were a pair of familiar chocolate brown eyes filled with panic.

Luke loved Grover as his brother but at the moment all he could think of was focusing on not strangling the young satyr. After finally meeting up with the protector, the blonde demigods wanted them to leave with the potential demigod as soon as possible but due to his distraction (something about enchiladas and soda cans), they lost sight of their charge. The trio had searched through several closets, classrooms and corridors, yet they couldn't find the young student. After hurriedly searching through nearly half the eastern campus, the trio of campers reached the corridor leading to the outdoor gymnasium. It resembled every other empty corridor they had searched through save for two distinct indents in the wall and blood stains on the floor. The already anxious teens were now instinctively thrown into battle mode. Their senses heightened as they followed the blood trail through the corridors.

The trail eventually led them out onto the open parking lot, near the cliff overlooking the sea. Out in the hallway they were met with a rather frightening yet spectacular scene. In the light of silvery white full moon, two onyx-eyed twins were locked in intense battle with a massive beast that moved too quickly to be seen clearly. A few feet away from the battle, a teenage girl in a baby pink dress, ushered two children to hide amongst the vehicles, while she kept track of the battle raging around them. The two blondes immediately rushed into battle. Even though the daughter of Athena would never say it out loud, she actually cared for the two siblings. They were campers of the camp and to an extent even behaved like her annoying younger mortal siblings.

Meanwhile, unsheathing his sword, Luke charged towards the battle accessing the ongoing struggle. It was then he noticed that the mortal girl had removed her heels and was following the battle just as him but slowly inching towards something along the edge of the parking lot. Proneing slightly to the left, he saw a blonde boy slumped over and bleeding severely. It was the demigod they had come to escort to camp.

The beast was nothing more than a blur of black, blue and orange as it took swipes at each of them or ocassionally flung mysterious projectiles at them. Nico used his spear and shield, which was a gift from the ghost who visited him, to block the projectiles while swiping at the beast. Bianca was swatting at the beast and it's projectiles with surprisingly accuracy and speed, it appeared that the two twins were practising their skills. Annabeth was moving towards the beast trying to flank it while she donned her cap, giving her the cover of invisibility. All of this would take nearly a minute or two for others, but for him it took nearly a few seconds.

His father's domain powered him. His father's greatest power wasn't his speed but something else all together. His thoughts flashed back to the texts he read, stories of the ancient cults back in the time of the Hellenics. Growling slightly he focussed on the task at hand, before rushing into battle and providing cover for the mortal as she saved the wounded demigod. Sure he wasn't aware of her intentions nor her reasons why, but Grover had told him that they were dating. So this girl had staked her life to fight an immortal beast to help her boyfriend, it was highly unlikely that she even knew it was a mythical beast an an immortal at that. The mist could keep them fooled but he had no idea what she saw and he didn't like it. She could attack them for all they knew, thinking they were enemies as well.