So He Knows Magic

Olivia was sitting down at the kitchen table tapping her foot impatiently as the door closed behind Liam. She waited and waited for him to come out or for something for some noise, something at least. What actually happened was much worse than what she expected.

In the span of a few seconds, dead silence switched to low growls and hissing as a bright light flashed underneath the garage door followed by her baby boy yelling out in pain. Almost immediately, Liam's mother stood up from the kitchen table and rushed over to the door.

As she tried her best to pull down the handle the only thing that came to her mind was, It's locked?

Olivia started to put more of her weight behind the door as more yelling and hisses came from behind it. Then she heard it.

A wet, almost fleshy sound rang out with a series of loud thumps as the hissing noises came to end. It sounded like something was being eaten with the low growls slowly starting to fade away.

All of a sudden, the pressure building on the inside of the handle burst through as the metal bent down towards the ground. Liam's mother gave out a small grunt as the pressure changed then pushed open the door as fast as she could.

Coming into that room was a bloody affair.

It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but as the black slowly let her eyes through its veil, Olivia was horrified. Kneeling just a few feet away from the door was her son. To his right was the meat tenderizer from before covered in bloody gore.

Below him was an ever-growing puddle of red with little chunks spread throughout. His back was to her and from what Olivia could see he was covered in the stuff as well. Liam was hunched over some type of little creature that had the back of its skull crushed in. His blue jeans were ripped with mindless abandon too, but that wasn't what the worst thing she saw.

No, the worst would have to be what Liam was doing to the poor thing.

"Li...Liam." she stuttered.

Liam's torso turned towards the noise showing Olivia a face not even a mother could love. His eyes were glowing an angry red while his mouth was covered in what she could only assume was blood. Peaking below his lips were two large fangs that made him look even more monstrous.

Olivia's face contorted with fear before something in her seemed to break. She wouldn't, no she couldn't make sense of what was in front of her. Her mind couldn't comprehend what was happening other than a small part of her brain screaming, "She shouldn't see this!"

That part of her brain was right and for all intents and purposes, she wouldn't be at least not for much longer.

Her eyes seemed to lull as a system that has been in place since monsters stopped walking among mortals wrenched the scene from her mind. All in all, it took less than a second, but the job was done. She wouldn't remember it, at least not the truth. (1)

Olivia then did what most mortals do when they come across something they don't understand. She ran.

As fast as her feet could carry her, Olivia turned back and sped up towards the master bedroom of the Davis residence. For her the action wasn't even conscious anymore; it was nothing more than pure instinct demanding that she get away from whatever it was that she saw.

Liam's mother reached the bedroom then as quickly as she ran she pulled herself inside. After a small "Click!" rang out in the room she knew she was safe, for now at least. The primal part of her brain having done its part slowly pulled itself back as Olivia was left to sort through what she had laid her eyes upon.

She'd do better than Liam at least.

-Back Inside the Garage-

The only thing he could do was to yell out, "Wait!" before she started running. It was mortifying in a way to see that look on her face. Fear wasn't even enough to describe it, terror would do better. His mother, his own mother looking at him like he was some kind of monster.

Liam couldn't stand it.

His red eyes abruptly dimmed as he ran after her, not that it would help any. Sneakers impacted the hardwood floor as Liam bounded up to where his mother fled. The building sense of fear started to turn into despair as he reached his parent's bedroom.

Jiggling the locked handle Liam said, "Mom...I'm fine, I can explain!"

He waited a few seconds for a response, for anything at all, but when that never came, Liam began to get much more worried. Frantically Liam started knocking on the door, almost pounding on the poor thing trying to get his mother's attention.

"Mom! Please just talk to me!" he begged as his bloodied face looked more and more panicked.

The begging and pleading would go on for quite some time. Ultimately, Liam would sit in front of that door for half an hour before he gave up. The frantic knocking slowly started to die out as a depressing thought ran through Liam's head.

What if...what if she hates me now? Liam thought with a dejected look on his face.

Slowly his eyebrows furrowed in anger as he stomped on the ground while facing the wall to the left of the door. Another look of pain came to Liam's face as he thought: hah, what difference would it make?

The memory of a certain old hag came to his mind.

"It's a shame you know?" called out the old crone.

Liam's eyes were darting around the room, looking everywhere except her eyes. It took him a second to work up the nerve but he finally asked, "W-What is?"

The hurtful gaze she gave Liam would be something he'd remember for years. The woman pushed up her gunmetal glasses then replied with, "That such good people get stuck with a demon child like you."

Pulling Liam out of the memory was the last thing she said, demon child. Absentmindedly, Liam brought his left hand up to his mouth and rubbed at the fang underneath his lip. His face became an almost emotionless mask as he muttered, "Well, I guess she was right."

With what little time Liam had left in that house, it was spent doing two things. The first one was packing what he could into his school bag. After a couple of minutes of pushing and prodding, Liam was able to fit in a blanket, an extra set of clothes, and some other bare essentials.

After doing that he quickly changed into what his father called their Hiking Gear before washing off the caked blood on his face. It wasn't much but having on cargo pants, a thick shirt, and a fitted jacket would help him out for a while. They also didn't have dark red stains covering them, that was a plus too.

The second thing that ate up Liam's time was a phone call, but to really understand that you'd have to know someone.

That someone would be named Sam Greenwood. To Liam, he was one of his only two school friends. The boy was fairly short for his age and having a limp didn't really help any. It made him an easy target for the Dean's child Nick.

That's how Liam and Sam met in the first place.

For Liam, it was just like any other day. He'd look down, keep his mouth shut, and he'd be fine. For Sam, it was his worst nightmare.

Sam, or how his friends called him Sammy, was just trying his best to mind his own business. Then came one Nickolas Von Der Lippe, better known as Nick. For reasons that most could not even begin to fathom Nick decided it was the day to fuck with the cripple.

To make a long story short, Liam ended up doing what he usually does when Nick was involved. After a short fight in which Liam kicked the pretentious kid in his crying face, multiple times, Sam started to hang around Liam more.

At first, Liam thought it was him trying to say thank you in some weird way but a few weeks passed, and he stuck around. Sam was almost pushy in the way he wormed his way into Liam's life. Not that Liam didn't like having someone to talk to other than -Liam involuntarily shuddered- that green-eyed, red-haired witch.

All that was without getting into the whole summer camp thing. Liam frowned then thought, What was the name of that place again? He always wanted me to come.

Looking down at the contact saved in Liam's phone labeled 'Sammy' Liam quickly muttered, "Half-something or another? Eh, it doesn't really matter. He just liked the strawberries from there anyway."

Apprehensively, Liam put his thumb down and pressed the call button. For a second it rang and rang before a tired voice picked up. On the other side, a blonde and tired teenager mumbled, "H-huh...Liam what do ya want? It's getting late."

Taking a deep breath Liam answered him.

"Y-You know how you wanted me to call you if something weird happened?" tentatively asked Liam.

The tiredness on Sam's face seemed to melt away as he pushed himself upright off his bed. Worried he acknowledged, "Yeah. Did something happen?"

"I, uh. I might have gone out late again and...uh." stuttered Liam as he thought of the best way to say this.

Angrily from the other end, Sam chided: "Come on Liam! I told you to stop with that crap. You could have died or worse!"

Trying his best to make the conversation light Liam chuckled, "Well about that..."

"I may have come across a woman, who might have been a...a vampire. You know that park near my house right?" said Liam recounting the day before.

Liam heard Sam quietly murmur, "gods dammit." before saying, "Continue."

"I don't know how, but when she talked I just couldn't resist. It-it was like magic! Then she..." commented Liam before a wave of very familiar anger bubbled in his chest. Sam didn't say anything so Liam went on growling out, "She bit me."

Trying his best to not portray any emotion Sam asked, "How in Had-" Sam stopped correcting himself "-How'd you get away?"

A memory of broken ice and bone-chilling water surfaced in Liam's mind before he answered with, "The lake. The one in the park, she pulled us out onto it. The ice, I-I broke it and we fell underneath. That was the last thing I remember, I woke the next morning with the groundskeeper pulling on my arm."

Sam pulled the phone away from his ear before he softly worried, "Di Immortales. I thought it was...crap. Crap! He said you'd be safe for another year at least. You don't even have much of a scent."

Liam subconsciously raised one eyebrow then asked, "Scent?"

"Liam it's not important right now. You need to stay off the phone and get to me. If all else fails go to the camp. Please Liam, promise me that you will. You still got the card right?" ranted Sam with fear easily noticeable in his voice.

Liam frowned slightly before replying with, "What do you mean? I still have more to tell you, and why in the hell would I want to go to that summer camp anyway?"

From the back of Liam's mind, he could almost swear that he heard the voice give out a low growl at the mention of the camp.

"Listen, Liam, every word you say here is like a beacon to them you need to get off the phone. My place is just a few blocks away, run for it if you have to! I thought it was Khione not... Just leave your phone and come meet up with me!" chattered Sam in much the same grave tone as before. (2)

Khione? Thought Liam in confusion.

With his rant finished Sam hung up the phone and went about his business. He reached far underneath his apartment's bed gripping a familiar handle. Sam would get Liam there one way or another. This sure as hell wasn't going to be a repeat of Grover's disaster a few years back.

Meanwhile, Liam was staring at the call ended screen on his phone. He didn't know what to make of it; once again Liam's world was being blown out of the water with none of the real answers being given to him.

Gritting his teeth Liam angrily put his book bag over his shoulders and onto his back. The small blue thing wouldn't look out of place if not for the kid wearing it. There was one last thing Liam needed to grab before he went out.

Liam strolled over to his nightstand and opened up the drawer on its front. After a few scarce seconds of pushing around his junk-filled drawer, Liam pulled out a small book. After taking a single glance at it, Liam pocketed the thing and started his not so joyful trudge down to the front door.

Looking at the still locked master bedroom, Liam felt heat in his chest. Maybe she'll..he thought before sighing then quickly looking down at the floor.

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"It's no use." lamented Liam.

With one more apprehensive step, Liam started his journey down the stairs and to the house's front door. He trembled a bit as he pulled down the handle. The door opening was much easier than the footsteps that followed.

Liam gave one more glance over his shoulder before whispering, "This is it then."

-Two Blocks Away from Sam's Apartment-

As Liam started trudging through the somewhat empty streets of New York he started thinking that maybe he didn't really need his jacket. The wind was there sure, as well as the occasional snow flurry, but he couldn't really feel the cold.

The boy could feel the wind blowing against his cheeks and face, yet somehow it didn't feel bad at all. It was almost pleasant in a way, like a summer breeze on a warm day. The bone-chilling wind made him feel at home.

His little walk went without any real interruptions until he reached about halfway there.

That night the city was fairly quiet with the usual abundance of people being noticeably less so. Liam saw a few party-goers and some homeless people but not much else. The streets were, in a way, quiet for once.

Then he saw her.

A younger woman with some local high-school uniform still in place over her skin. She was what most would describe as beautiful. Blonde locks fell haphazardly from her head while not a blemish was seen on her face. The uniform seemed to hug her body in just the right way, she was nothing short of a real knockout.

What drew Liam's attention to her was altogether different. It was the smell.

Ever since Liam was 'turned' more and more supernatural things started to pop up, with this newest addition being his uncanny ability of smell. It wasn't like he was a bloodhound nor was it particularly noticeable unless he paid attention to it though.

The only thing he could really track was blood. Liam could smell the substance like a shark; he could even swear that someone nearby had cut himself recently due to the honey-like smell. It almost made Liam sick to his stomach. One more thing that made him a monster.

Which all comes back to the girl.

The only way Liam would be able to describe the smell is as 'different.' It wasn't bad per se but it had a distinct scent when compared to everyone around her. The scent was reminiscent of when Liam and his father went on a spelunking trip when he was younger.

She smelled of the underground, of the Earth and caves and that was without getting into why she was out and about so late for someone so young. Well not that he had any room to talk.

Liam scrunched up his nose some as he kept his pace hoping for the best. If everything went well she'd just continue by walking past him, and Liam would not have to deal with any other weirdness tonight.

As the two past each other on the sidewalk the high-schooler stopped dead in her tracks. Almost immediately Liam let out a low "Tsk." as she started walking behind him. The street came to an end, and Liam stood at the light waiting for traffic to part.

Low and behold the girl behind him stood with her eyes narrowed at the back of his head. She shifted her gait towards her left leg. A metallic hue rang out at the light as Liam took a quick glance over her shoulder.

Her jade-colored eyes met his then she commented, "You smell weird."

Liam didn't respond but he began to impatiently tap his foot while watching traffic. He was getting worried now; the high-schooler could be like that crazy bitch, or worse.

Giving another quick glance over his shoulder Liam thought But she doesn't look like it though. She's not pale at all. -he stopped to look down at her feet- Besides her smell and...whatever the hell that sound was she looks normal. A prosthetic maybe?

Seeing the kid ignore her and start to stare the would-be cheerleader chided, "It's rude to stare you know?"

Deciding to finally put an end to whatever she was trying to start Liam asked, "What do you want?"

The blonde woman's face lit up in a smile as Liam finally paid attention to her. She brought her hand up and pulled one of her long locks behind her shoulder. It revealed where the uniform was from.

Goode High-school. Read Liam before quietly asking in his head, Isn't that where Rachel is going to next year?

"It's not every day I come across something that smells like you. So tell me what are you?" inquired the blonde while doing her best to keep eye contact.

Liam began to feel something awfully familiar from the way she was talking. Her words sounded like liquid gold to his ears; there was something begging for him to listen. Liam's face went from a flash of fear to anger before he growled out, "Stop that!" (3)

Liam sure as hell wasn't going to let some pretty words control him again. He brought his hand down to his thigh trying to be discrete and gave it a painful squeeze. Keeping his face as stoic as possible Liam squeezed harder thinking It'll let me think straight.

Amused the would-be cheerleader gave him a smile then bragged, "Oh, but don't you want to hear my pretty voice?"

A hard stare was all that met her attempt.

"Oh fine, you sourpuss," she said as the smile dropped from her visage.

The blonde gave the air another whiff then asked, "Oh but I wonder, what are you? You smell of ice and blood yet unlike any halfling I've come across there's nothing divine. It's delectable."

The light in front of the two switched to red. Liam started to cross before he angrily called out, "I don't know but if you keep following me I'll call the cops, creep!"

She let out a snort of amusement before responding with "Oh, I'm sure you will. See you soon!" and a wave.

It's been so long since she's seen anything new like him. Another pantheon perhaps? The offspring of a monster and a mortal? It doesn't matter; I -The woman's hair seemed to burn at its tips as she let out a reverberating growl- must have a taste.

Meanwhile, Liam was already across the street heading towards the rundown apartment building in the distance. The concrete establishment was small for what you'd normally expect out of New York. It had only five floors with a parking lot out in front of it.

It wasn't much, but it was cheap. At least that's what Sam told him anyway.

Liam quickened his pace towards the building; he wasn't outright running but speed-walking wouldn't be a bad way to describe it. As he walked throughout the rather large parking lot up to the double doors of the building Liam felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Liam gave a cursory view to his surroundings. It only took him a few seconds to spot what was wrong. In a nearby alleyway was the same high-schooler from before hidden in what for most would be complete darkness. Her eyes were following him with a pang of inhuman hunger. Hurriedly Liam looked away and hoped that she did not notice.

Night vision does have its perks I guess. Thought Liam before he hurried inside the apartment building.

The inside of the place was just as run down as the rest of it. A dilapidated wooden counter was the first thing to meet Liam's eyes. It had wholes and scratches all over it with what looked like a small monitor faced away from the entrance.

The floor was covered in a mangy carpet that was obviously stained from years of misuse. A look of disgust came onto Liam's face as he thought I don't even want to know what some of these stains are. How in the hell does Sammy live in a place like this?

The expression slowly went away as he saw Sam sitting on a nearby wooden chair. His rather long blonde hair was pushing itself out from his hat like usual. He was dressed in dark blue jeans and a bright orange t-shirt; the shirt had some faded logo on the front. Sam's face was a little bit above average for a teenager, at least he didn't have acne. His cheekbones were the most noticeable thing there along with his tanned skin that gave sharp contrast between his blonde hair and coppery skin.

As soon as Liam came through the two glass doors in the front Sam stood up and walked over with his face full of worry. It only took a second for that to change.

Sam's nose scrunched up before his stature seemed to lower. It almost looked like he was getting ready to run or to try and jump. Either way with his noticeably crippled legs it just looked silly to Liam. Sam's eyes started to dart around the room and he took glances outside into the dark parking lot.

"Liam we need to go-" Sam stopped mid-sentence and fumbled around in his jacket pocket before pulling out what looked like a gold coin and a small spray bottle. Confused at the seemingly two random items Liam asked, "What are those for?"

"Give me a second, I need to send a message real quick. We're gonna have to go on foot, I don't...hmmm wait! We can take a bus to Long Island." rambled Sam as he started to spray the bottle in the air.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." plead Sam before he threw the coin into the mist.

Iris? Though Liam before he said "What in the hell's that gonn-"

As the golden coin contacted the mist the object seemed to shimmer before fading away. The water vapor started to form a multicolored rainbow as Sam called out, "Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." As soon as the words left Sam's lips an image came into place.

It was a surprised middle-aged man with dark brown hair. He had what looked like the beginning of a comb-over and a rather long pointed beard. From what was shown on the image he looked like the man had on some type of business suit as well.

The lower half wasn't really present but Liam thought he saw some white fur.

From the magical video call, Chiron's look of surprise quickly fled his face before he calmly asked "Sam, what's the matter? I thought you wouldn't be..."

The man's eyes slowly drifted over to where Liam was standing with utter bewilderment present on his face. As quickly as they came across the young man they turned back towards Sam before he prompted, "Well?"

"Something went wrong. H-His scent it changed; Liam came across an Empousa." began Sam as he self consciously scratched at his scalp.

Chiron's eyes betrayed his stoic face. The two orbs drifted towards the ground before he muttered, "Then how is he...?"

Sam continued one with his report stammering out the details stating, "He got away somehow, Liam said it was something to do with ice. I think you were right."

The older man quietly inquired, "Khione?"

That wintery harlot has nothing to do with us. Seethed the voice from the back of Liam's head.

Liam grimaced at the grating sound but didn't argue. Having something to finally bring him out of his stupor, however, was something to talk about. Absentmindedly, Liam thought I've been doing that a lot lately, haven't I?

Liam took a deep breath then interrupted both of them yelling, "Can one of you two just tell me what the hell is going on?! First I come across that crazy bitch, the lizard demon thing, and now-" Liam gestured to the image in front of him "-he knows magic!"

A sympathetic look came over Chiron's features before he implored, "Just please listen to Sam and be cautious. All of this will be explained when you get to camp. After what happened at Yancy I-"

Suddenly the image faded away as the water in the bottle reached its end. Sam dropped the bottle and let out some kind of curse. It wasn't anything Liam could understand though. As quickly as he could Sam walked towards the door motioning for Liam to follow.

Looking closer at him now Liam noticed something new to his clothes.

A sheath? Liam thought as brown leather stood out from Sammy's blue jeans. Looking down Liam corrected himself then asked, "A dagger?"

The weapon looked like it was made out of some type of brownish metal with an almost supernatural glow. The blade itself was curved while the handle seemed like it was made of weathered wood with the same metal being in the pommel. It wasn't pretty, but it would do its work.

As they both reached the door Sam looked down at the bronze dagger then said, "Just to be safe."

The front door of the apartment building opened and the two headed out into the poorly lighten lot that awaited them. They would have to journey through the night for a while yet, luckily enough for Liam the trip wouldn't be boring.