"This is a very dangerous world kids, you don't understand what you are getting yourself into," a second male voice spoke up, again familiar yet strange.
"Look pal, we know exactly what we are going up against," Thalia said with a low growl, Percy could tell she didn't like restraining herself, but again, it was necessary.
"Oh? And what do you think we are dealing with?" the first voice asked, "a little demon possession? Hm? Is that what you think this is? Something we can cure with a little spell and some holy water? Get real kid, Monica is in danger, and we are here to help her."
"Enough Jet, it's not their fault for wanting to help, stop giving them grief," a third voice spoke, this one was also familiar and was female. Suddenly Percy was hit with the realisation of where he heard those voices, and who these people were.
He smiled, 'of all the people in the world....this has to be fate or something.' Percy walked out of the trees and to his friends.
He looked at the two mean from before. One was tall, he wore a red button shirt over a black t-shirt and a set of jeans. He had dark skin, latin in origin, with brown hair and a gun holster on his side.
The other man was shorter, about Percy' height, with light brown hair. He was bigger than the first man, but also more muscular. He wore a blue and green jersey with the number 3 on it and a open zip hoodie over it. He also had a gun strapped to his side but he was currently holding a baseball bat with nails in it.
Percy smiked, "you know, you guys still haven't changed in all this time."
Thalia smiled along with the others in her group. The two men however jumped a little in Percy' surprise entrance.
"Who are you?" the man with the baseball bat asked as he leveled it at Percy.
The demigod chuckled, "oh please, I managed to overpower you when I was 12 Jet, do you really think I can't kick you ass again now?"
Jet looked shocked, "do I know you?"
Percy rolled his eyes, "seriously? How many 12 year olds do you know that can kick your ass?" Percy turned to the other man, "come on John, please tell me at least you remembered."
John also looked shocked, "I'm sorry, but no. Who are you."
"Percy?" the feminine voice spoke up again. Percy turned and there sitting in a wheelchair inside the van was a woman with red hair and bright green eyes. She wore a red shirt with a black leather jacket over it, she had a gun holster strapped to her chest with a celestial bronze blade sheathed to her side.
Percy grinned, "hello Christy, it's so nice to see you again."
"Wait, Percy?!" Jet yelled in shock, "what the hell man! How have you been?!"
Percy chuckled, "good, good. Trying not to die, so far so good."
"What are you doing here?" John asked in disbelief, "last place I would ever expect to see you would be in the middle of the road!"
"I'm not here by random John, I go to Yancy Academy, and these guys," he pointed to the kids, "are my friends."
"So, they are like you and...." Christy began.
"Luke? Yeah, they are like me and Luke," Percy nodded finishing for her.
"Luke?" Thalia asked in surprise, "what does Luke have to do with anything?"
"Perhaps we should talk about this inside," Christy moved into the van inviting them in.
Percy and the others followed suit, John and Jet locked the door behind them and quickly got into the front two seats.
Percy whistled at the back of the van, it was completely customized. The entire back was removed and fitted with a computer, cameras and even a mini satellite dish that seemed to be broken. There were also various other gadgets piled in the back, overall it reminded Percy of one of those portable station vans the cop would use during a stakeout.
"Where did you get all of this stuff?" Michael asked as he looked at the tech they had in the back.
"I'm guessing Edward hooked you up?" Percy asked as he and the others sat down in the back with Christy sitting in front of them.
"Yes....these hasn't exactly been the same since...well, you know," Christy sighed.
"Actually, we don't know," Monica said looking confused, "what's going on here? How do you know Percy Christy?"
"Wait is Christy the friend you knew who was coming to help your demon problem?" Percy asked.
Monica nodded, "well, yeah. But how do you know her?"
Christy sighed, "well, it was what? Two years ago?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, about that long."
"Two years ago my friends and I went on a camping trip in the forests of Indiana. Everything was going fine....until...."
"Until the Nokken," Jet completed for his struggling friend. "It killed us one by one. Soon there were only four of us left."
"We thought we were done for, until Percy, Luke and Grover showed up. They helped us track and kill the thing," John completed.
"So wait, you fought a monster?!" Tyler asked as respect and admiration filled his eyes.
Percy chuckled, "yeah, I guess I did." He then turned to Charity, "now it's your turn. Why the Hades are you three here?"
"Since that trip we couldn't properly readjust to simple life," Christy explained, "we tried, we really did. But after finding out the truth of the world was....we couldn't just sit by and let the monsters roam free. We needed to protect those who couldn't protect themselves."
"And so you three became what? Monster hunters?" Percy narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, we did, and we are damn good at what we do," Jet spoke up, "just last week we tracked down and killed a pack of harpies."
"Oh dear," Clarisse said, "you should not have done that."
"What? Why?" John asked.
"Because they serve Hades," Michael explained, "and he is very territorial about his servants."
Christy looked confused, "right, anyway, for the last two years we have been going around the country finding those that need help and getting rid of the monsters."
"And how exactly are you paying for all of this?" Percy asked looking at the van and gadgets.
"Edward helped us out at first, but eventually we managed to find others like us and with their help we managed to create several fake credit cards for us to use," Christy pointed at a box of old used cards that had either been cut in half or had their metallic strip rubbed off.
"Wait, others like you?" Thalia asked, "what do you mean?"
"Hunters," John supplied, "we call ourselves Hunters. We are basically a group of men and women who know what the real world is like and will do everything in our power to protect mankind."
Percy blinked, "you're joking...." they stared at him, "...okay....not joking."
"Why do you think we were joking?" Christy asked with narrowed eyes.
"Because you guys just told me you were hunting monsters....humans. Hunting. Monsters. Why wouldn't I think that's a joke."
"You think just because we are human we can't hunt them?"
"Yes."
"And why not?"
"Do I really need to give you a reason other than the fact that they are monsters?"
"And we have something that can kill them," Christy pointed at the celestial bronze blade she had at her side.
"And how exactly are you planning on doing that when one third of your team is blind?" Percy asked. Only Christy was clear sighted, the others were not.
"Not any more," Jet answered, "ever since the trip we have been able to slowly see more and more the supernatural world. We may not be able to see everything like Christy, but we can still see enough to put a bullet in it's head."
Percy was surprised, he never heard of anyone developing the ability to see past the Mist. But now that he thought about it he remembered how Nancy was able to see the Gergosa, she must have also somehow developed this ability while hanging out with Percy, who was also part of the mythological world.
'But that means the rest of the mortals I'm hanging out with also have a chance to see past the Mist. But maybe like Jet mentioned they can't through all of it, maybe....I need to research more on this, but later.'
"Fine," Percy sighed, "you guys can come along. I suppose it wouldn't hurt having a few extra hands with us."
"Wow, didn't realise we needed your permission short stuff," Jet scoffed.
"Actually yes Jet, you did need my permission, Monica is my friend and if you were any other normal human who was just wanted to chase ghosts I would have sent you away."
"I'm sorry but exactly gives you the right to act all high and mighty?" Monica asked crossing her arms.
"Simple," Percy shrugged, "I'm Percy Jackson."
Tyler rolled his eyes, "and they say I'm the arrogant one."
"Dude, if you only knew have the shit he did you wouldn't be saying that," Michael said, "he's just trying to keep you guys safe. We all are."
"And what thinks you can keep us safe?" John asked.
"Well..." Michael looked at Percy, [should we tell them?]
Percy sighed, [maybe. Christy and the others already know half of the story, kind off. It wouldn't matter if they did or didn't.]
Michael shrugged, "you see we four go to special camp. And at this camp we are trained specifically to fight monsters. It's kind of like our job."
"What type of camp is this?" Christy asked.
"A Camp for those who can kick ass," Thalia supplied, "anyway, what we are trying to say is when we encounter the demon leave the fighting to us."
"Really? And what exactly can four teenagers do against a demon?" Jet asked.
Thalia looked at the man and smiled, "you'll see."
Christy sighed as she rubbed her temples, "I so need a drink after this. Fine, we are all in agreement, we are going to help Monica get rid of the demon, yes?" Everyone nodded.
"Great, so where do we start?" Percy asked.
"Oh so the great monster hunter is asking us now huh?" Jet scoffed, "thought you went to a monster fighting camp which trained you for these kinds of things."
Percy shrugged, "we mainly deal with monsters, not demons. And mostly Greek stuff, nothing else."
"Either way this is a unique case even for us," Christy admitted as she turned to her computer. "Most demons possess humans and be done with it. This thing however is acting like a leach, from what I understand it took over temporarily twice, once last night and the other today afternoon."
"And it's doing so through this," Monica took out the black book she risked her life to obtain.
Christy sighed, "I think you might have just stumbled upon a cursed item. Though this is definitely going bigger than a curse item. What if.....wait a minute, Monica you said that you were possessed by a demon, why do you think so?"
"Because Percy told me," Monica shrugged.
"Why did you say that Percy?" Christy asked.
"Because I felt demon mana come out of her by the bucket load," Percy shrugged.
"And how would you know what demon mana feels like?" Jet asked with narrowed eyes.
"Because I fought one, duh."
"Sure, you fought a demon," Jet rolled his eyes, "I totally believe you."
"Like I care if you.....wait, that's it!" Percy's eyes sparkled, "oh I'm such an idiot for realising this sooner!"
"What? What happened?" Clarisse asked.
"I'll just asked Marcia about the demon!" Percy yelled as he opened the van door and walked back onto the street.
"What are you talking about?" John asked.
"He's going to summon a demon," Thalia replied.
"He's going to do what?!" all the humans roared as one, but the demigods didn't pay them any head.
Percy closed his eyes and poured mana into the crystal. Smoke poured out of his forehead as Marcia appeared before him in her wolf form and bowed, "master."
"Marica, I need your help," Percy said scratching the winged demon wolf behind the ear.
The other humans stared with open jaws. Tyler's eyes rolled into the back of his head, Monica looked like she might just follow him. Jet and John looked like they just saw a woman naked for the first time and Christy's jaws were wide enough to swallow a pumpkin whole.
Sometime Later;
"Dude! You have a pet wolf!" Jet yelled out in amazement.
"A pet demon wolf!" Christy cried out in horror.
"I am no pet" Marica growled as she bared her fangs shocking the gathered humans. She looked to Percy and purred, "I'm his slave."
"Ah, is that wolf making bedroom eyes at Percy?" Tyler asked Thalia.
The demigoddess shrugged, "yeah, it kind of likes him."
"Is no one else freaked out by the fact that it can talk?!" John asked and was ignored.
"Marcia we need your help," Percy mentally took out the leather bound book from Monica and presented it to the demon wolf, "I think a demon is using this book in order to possess my friend. What can you tell me about it?"
The wolf sniffed the book over, she looked at Monica with narrowed eyes, "where did you find this girl?"
"I-It was buried in campus, I found it using clues left behind by Churchill," Monica confessed.
"Churchill? Hm, I don't know what he would have to do with demons, but I can tell you what this is. This book is an anchor so to speak, we demons use anchors to feed us strength, if I was to guess this demon isn't possessing your friend, but feeding off of her."
"Then how did it take over?" Percy asked, "last night she was able to climb up the side of a building with her nails, and today she basically sent out a shock wave of demonic energy."
"A side effect of the feeding," Marica growled, "one that we demons avoided if possible. When the host transfers energy to the demon, some of demon's energy is fed into it. But so does the demons personality, making the host insane."
Monica's eyes shot wide open, "wait, so I'm going to go insane?!"
"Yes, you are."
"How can we stop it?" Christy asked.
"You would have to destroy the demon," Marica said with a shrug, "but that's easier said than done."
"Any clues on which demon did this?" Percy asked his servant.
"No, I can't tell, sorry. All I know is that it is powerful, very powerful."
"Stronger than you?" Percy raised an eyebrow.
"There are many demons stronger than me master," Marcia cooed, "but few smarter. If it was I using this book the girl would be dead before she even knew what was going on. This demon is sloppy, he's left himself exposed."
"Or he's just trying to lure us into a trap," Clarisse spoke up. Everyone turned to her in disbelief, "what? Come on you guys think about it. It wasn't to feed on humans. What better way to do that-"
"-Than to bring more of us to it," Percy completed.
"So now all we have to do is find where this demon is, fall into it's trap, somehow survive and then kill it," Jet shrugged, "so easy."
"Only we have no clue where the demon is," Monica spoke, "it's using this book as an anchor, and I'm guessing it doesn't have to be near to feed on me."
