Betrayal

15

Hazel looked at where her brother disappeared to and while she had questions, she figured since Percy had allowed it, he would be fine. It was at this moment, the hidden doors parted and a platoon element of armed demigods swarmed out, weapons bristling and pointed at Percy. A girl with blonde hair stepped forward, ignoring Frank and Hazel.

"Who are you and how did you find us?" she asked.

"Send your mother out to me. I don't speak to her children, especially not one who's brains aren't nearly at her other childrens levels."

Annabeth ground her teeth. "And who do you think you are to say that? I've never met you in my life."

"Well, for one you came charging out of a secret bunker designed to hide your presence from monsters just to confront one that you know was already facing your Praetor-"

"I'm no Roman. I don't have to answer to Frank, let alone some skank who ran off and got herself killed along with my ex."

Percy's aura flared again and the fear palpitating everyone's hearts made it difficult to breath. "I dare you to call her that one more time. Do it and I promise I'll explain to your mother why she has one less child as I still proceed to claim her as my wife. And by the way. Yes, Annabeth. You do know me. And I have the unfortunate issue of knowing you all too well. Seen any cyclopes lately? Still wish Luke hadn't been an evil prick? How was that fight with Arachne?"

As Percy got more and more aggressive with his questions, a new level of fear could be seen to be growing in Annabeth's eyes. "You can't be..."

"Oh I very much can be. And I very much am. You're lucky as a child of one of my soon to be lovers, and holding no powers, your blood is safe." He paused then raised his voice seeing more people crowd at the entrance to the bunker. "Any of you cross me, and I won't hesitate to kill you and feed on your blood. No idea if demigods can make me stronger, but I have no qualms testing it out on the ones that intentionally piss me off.

"I came back to help you fight off this menace and here I find the lot of you being stupid and opening the bunker doors for a presence you already knew you had zero chances to defeat. You had no faith in what we all built to hide and protect you. And trying to attack the general your Praetors appointed? Not to mention. I don't give a FUCK if you're Greek or Roman. You answer to the Praetor's whether you like it or not. When they step down, if you prove yourself you can replace them, regardless if your Greek or Roman. There is no distinction now. You are all children of the gods. Who cares if its a different god or just a different aspect of the same one? Stop whining and causing dissent and discord in my ranks."

The women behind him came up and hugged him from behind before an elegant woman came out from the bunker. You could tell she had a regal bearing but was exhausted. "Annabeth. Quiet. He is my betrothed. You have no more room to question him than any other demigod. You are at best, a glorified secretary at this point since we have lost Olympus. Do not bring any more shame upon yourself or me."

Annabeth stood there stunned. Her own mother had rebuked her, in front of everyone no less. She didn't have any idea what to say any more, so she turned and fled the scene. Athena watched her go from the corner of her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to feel upset after all her daughter had done. Not even she could dredge up enough pride to attempt to cover for all those mistakes. Plus, during their time sparring on Olympus, she had come to enjoy Perseus' presence, despite what she had thought. While she'd never admit it, at least not yet, she couldn't deny to herself that after her millennia alive, she had started to develop true feelings for a man.

Frank held up a hand to stop everyone else. "What did you mean by that, Perseus? I cannot simply let something like that go. Regardless of whether you're truly who you say you are or not, as someone who just threatened those under me, did you think I wouldn't honestly stop you?"

Perseus' cold gaze turned to Frank. "Which part are you referring to? The part where I wouldn't hesitate to kill them? Or did you mean the part about sucking out their blood to get stronger?"

Frank's eyes narrowed. "Both," he said lowly, his hand reaching for his customary sword, despite it not being his preferred weapon.

"Frank. I wouldn't do that," Perseus said. Underneath the calm tone he used, you could almost feel the danger that lurked beneath the surface of his statement. "I'm controlled right now, but you go drawing a weapon on me, and even I'm not sure I can keep the monster in me controlled. I'm not feared down there just for my fighting skills. I'm more feared because I don't hold back. I don't care if you're the weakest person alive, I will go at you with my full strength. Anything less is not only an insult but a danger to me."

Frank's hand froze halfway to his sword. A look of frustration, anger, and resignation descended on his features. "Then what would you have me do? Let you waltz into our home after threatening the lot of us?" he ground out, his teeth clenched.

Perseus smirked menacingly. "Yes. That's exactly what I expect you to do. I've had all this time, and trust me, I could have killed every single person living here at least three times over by now. But I haven't. Clearly, if I wanted you dead, then that's how it'd be. We wouldn't be talking right now, I'd be drinking blood from your skull. I'm a monster Frank. But I'm not your enemy. I feed on other monsters. While I'm sure I could drink your blood, it doesn't seem very tasty to me, and none of you could give me a fight so it wouldn't be worth my time to even do anything."

Frank was a tad bit relieved. Despite basically being called bottom barrel trash in Perseus' eyes, he also implied that their blood didn't seem to excite him like it did other monsters. After being both insulted and yet reassured, Frank didn't want to push his luck and finally acquiesced and started herding all the demigods back inside while Perseus and his entourage followed behind.