Percy Jackson thought that he'd seen everything complex in his line of work as a detective but no one had prepared him for this; a psychopath is going around killing child psychologists with sadistic pleasure leaving nothing but the bodies and a very bloody message with it. But with the help of his reliable team he'll have to be more cunning than the murderer before it's too late.

And to complicate things he needs to protect a very talented psychologist, Dr. Nico di Angelo who in some way is involved in all this mess and could possibly be the killer's the next victim…

…maybe Percy should include the fact that Dr. di Angelo is not only brilliant but freaking adorable too; and somehow he's also slowly falling for the mysterious doctor. Damn! When had his life turned so problematic?

Rated M. Story Contains graphic description of violence. Be warned! I do not own PJO/HoO

Chapter 1

"Bad Love. Bad love. Don't give me the Bad Love.

Bad Love. Bad love. Don't give me the Bad Love." -Bad Love (Jonathan Kellerman)

"Katie Gardner-Stoll 38 years old and her sister 19 year-old Miranda Gardner was found decapitated this morning, the husband—Travis Stoll 41 years old was poisoned while their 10 year-old child—Connor wasn't fully found, the neighbor was the one who found them, I'm giving this to you now so you'll be prepared for later. Put your feet down, Percy" Annabeth walked in holding a file on her left hand and a coffee on the right, she was wearing black slacks and heels and a lab coat over her green blouse, her blond hair was done in a messy bun her grey eyes looking stormy —always looking terrifying—.

"Hello to you too, Annabeth" Percy removed his feet from the table and took the file from Annabeth; he scanned the photos and grimaced. He was definitely glad that he got held up earlier, he wouldn't want to be the one doing the forensics; he suddenly felt pity for Jason and Annabeth for doing it. The photos were much more gruesome than the description Annabeth gave him, the photo looked like a family dinner only the women's heads were placed in the plate in front of their bodies which were tied to a chair, the husband was sitting in a chair in front of the women with an axe in front of him he was tied to it too, unlike the ladies his head was intact but was bent in a weird angle, though the weirdest part is the giant cooking pot sitting in the middle of the table. He was about to give it back to Annabeth when he noticed something—.

"What the hell is that? Is that a carpet or something?" He snatched the photo and scanned it, it looked like one of those old fashion carpets with pictures in them, the carpet has something in it; a man and woman and at the bottom of it was a BAD BLOOD BAD LOVE written in blood.

"What's Bad Blood Bad Love? Is this some sick joke in depicting terrible sex or some bad porno?" Annabeth took the pictures from him and examined it too.

"It's a tapestry you dolt, it's a cloth weave normally decorated with figures, though this type of tapestry is very rare now; and it doesn't seem like they're having sex, well they are but something is different I think the guy's raping her. I don't understand this, the way the murder was done made it looked like Mr. Stoll killed the women and committed suicide after but he was tied to the chair too, the sliced up child, thi—"

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Sliced up child? The hell! You told me the child—Connor wasn't found!?"

Annabeth looked uncomfortable for the first time, she always get sensitive when a child is involved and it seems like that this is as gruesome as the others. She flipped through the pictures and shoved him a photo of the giant cooking pot inside it was stew but there were some little floating things that he couldn't make out, Annabeth took a deep breath her face turning emotionless "Percy, I said Connor wasn't fully found, he was sliced up by the freaking bastard and was made into stew. Stew! Those floating little things in the photo were his fingers; I saw them much clearly when I was taking photos and his extremeties were found in it with some of his organs but no head."

Earlier when Percy was looking at the photos of the three victims he didn't feel that sick but now he feels like his gonna hurl, whoever the murderer was, he definitely has some sort of grudge against this family, but even if he's feeling a little sick he needed to know who this bastard is before he decide to go on a killing spree "I need to see the bodies, we might find something in there" he stood up and left the office Annabeth following behind, it seems like the bastard who did this was doing something poetic or roughly along those lines—the tapestry; the type of murder; bad blood bad love—he turned to Annabeth and saw that she's thinking really hard probably thinking the same thing as him "so wise girl, what is this Bad Blood Bad Love?"

"I don't really know but it seems that those are terms used in psychology, though Bad Blood is a intense and usually long-lasting feeling of hatred and anger; Bad Love on the other hand I have no idea, I'll try searching later for it" Percy snorted at the part of intense anger he kind of figured that out with how the whole family was murdered.

When they reached morgue everyone was there, their director Reyna; Percy's partner Jason Grace; forensic examiner Leo Valdez; Annabeths' partner Frank Zhang and the coroner Calypso Valdez, looking at the four tables inside; from the looks on their faces the bodies are much more gruesome than he thought. He took a deep breath and step inside.

Percy really can't enjoy his coffee after what he saw at the morgue, he feels like he's going to throw up again, the corpses were pretty recognizable even though the women were beheaded though Miranda's tongue was cut off, the only one that can't be visually identified is Connor without his head plus all his body parts were chopped and skinned any person wouldn't think they belong to a human being; Mr. Stoll on the other hand was poisoned slowly and if Calypso and Annabeth's theory is right then the killer fed Mr. Stoll with stew—where his son was cooked—laced with Poison Hemlock and probably a large amount at that, the whole family was dead for possibly two or three days, whoever this murderer is; he's definitely a very sick and a sneaky bastard.

"We need to find who did this before he decides he wants to be a very popular serial killer" Jason muttered looking as sick as him, they were currently in the Underwood café since Percy's best friend Grover and his wife, Juniper, owns the place and even though they're done with work they sometimes discuss different cases in here even though Grover closes up early he always welcomes them here, the place helps them think and is much more private; though right now they're more focus on the massacre of the Stolls. Frank looked up from his phone and sighed "That's going to be hard considering the murder was done cleanly as possible without any trace of the murderer"

Percy nodded and glanced at Annabeth, "We'll just have to be more cunning and clever than this psycho, so Annabeth did you found anything on this Bad Love Bad Blood?" Annabeth sipped her coffee and looked at him, her eyebrows were furrowed and she was frowning, Reyna squeezed her hand and Annabeth turned to her and smiled, "no, I've been trying to search for it for hours and only one thing came up, a child psychologist: Dr. Gaea de Bono, she was one of the most popular child psychologist for almost 30years apparently those jargons were coined by her; The only thing I found about her was an article saying that all of her works were banned and removed from public records due to reasons which wasn't clearly discussed on the article. That's it! Nothing else I'm getting really frustrated, Leo wanted to hack the APA's system to be able to look into their records but that would definitely cause problems and asking for permission would take time and we couldn't afford to wait" She sighed.

Reyna raised her eyebrows "Weren't the wife and spouse psychologists too?"

"Yes, child psychologists to be exact. Leo and I are thinking that the victims have connections with Dr. de Bono, and it's possible that the murderer is a frustrated patient who went psycho or a colleague who has a grudge."

Percy turned to Jason to ask his opinion but stop since Frank and he seems to be having a stare down, Percy cleared his throat and both their heads snapped to him. "Do you two want to share something?"

Frank muttered "Hazel's gonna bury me alive" Percy raised an skeptical eyebrow, Hazel Levesque-Zhang was the nicest and sweetest person he ever met, then Jason cleared his throat "three days ago I got a call from a friend, Hazel's younger brother: Nico, he sounded tense when he told me about a mail that was sent to him just that morning the mail contained a tape and that when he played it; it was voice of child —emotionless and lifeless like a robot—that was exactly how he describe it, though that wasn't the weird part; it was repeating the same phrase over and over again —Bad Love. Bad Blood.—he also told me about a horrifying scream. So I went to his apartment to check it and it was real; I thought he was pulling my leg, I asked him to file a report about it but he refused saying he didn't want some idiotic cop to help him with it and that he was only asking for my opinion. He thought that it wasn't something to worry about probably some prank. But I still tried looking for the phrases in the tape in our database and I didn't find anything. And well this happened." Jason ran his hand through his hair looking frustrated; Percy couldn't really blame him if a close friend of his got the same tape he would've been worried.

Reyna looked like she was contemplating what Jason said, "So you're saying that your friend and Frank's brother in-law might have a link with this murder?"

Percy raised an eyebrow at Jason and said, "Or are you perhaps suggesting that he's an accomplice to this crime?" Frank turned to him and scowled, "No! Darn it! Nico would never do something like that; what Jason is trying to say is that Nico might be in danger or worse case scenario he's gonna be the next one. Nico's assertive, he'd likely investigated it by himself and he could possibly answer some of our questions. We didn't say it earlier since Jason, Hazel and I were worried that he'll be involved too much."

Jason sighed and slumped on his seat, "Too late for that. If this psychopath is targeting child psychologists related to Dr. Gaea then Nico already has a mark across his forehead and said psycho is probably stalking him right now." Annabeth perked up at what Jason said and stared at him, "This Nico knows about these jargons and also a child psychologist that's related to Dr. de Bono? Why didn't you tell us earlier or warned him?"

"I wasn't able to put two and two together but when you mentioned Dr. Gaea I kind of figured it out; He was with a client, so he wasn't able to answer my calls."

"How does your friend know Dr. Gaea anyway?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think he mentioned her once but they don't seem to get along; though I assumed she was the one who dragged him kicking and screaming to teach in her school, but after a month Nico left; practically removing any or all contact with the de Bonos'."

Percy glanced at Jason and smirked, "So partner, can your friend meet us this weekend?"

Jason shrugged, "I'll tell him later since I'm gonna head at his apartment to pick Piper up, he's helping her with her new novel." The others started bribing Jason into telling them spoilers regarding his girlfriend's new novel.

Percy on the other hand is too excited to pay attention to them. He is definitely prepared to meet Nico di Angelo tomorrow. He finally feels like they're unto something; Finally!

Apparently Percy wasn't prepared to meet Nico di Angelo; he should've asked Jason or Frank to describe Nico so Percy wouldn't be imitating a fish —like what he's doing now. In any case Annabeth seems to be caught off guard too; no one could really blame them, they expected the psychologists to be old enough to be de Bono's colleague or someone normal. But Nico di Angelo is nowhere near normal or plain, he's gorgeous that anyone would be rendered speechless with his exquisite allure even though he looked thinner than normal with his age and he seemed like he didn't get enough sleep. Everything about him is so unique; his curly jet black hair, pale skin, cute nose and those enticing lips; but what Percy found most beautiful about Nico is his big dark eyes that look so tempting. Percy could probably go on poetically about Nico's eyes but Jason interrupted his thoughts.

"Morning! Sorry were a bit late." Jason grinned at him while Nico just rolled his eyes but gave them a small smile and let them in. When they entered the apartment three things caught Percy's attention; a) How The apartment feels homey and warm which is unexpected with all the black that Nico wears b) The big Labrador lying on the floor sleeping and c) Piper Mclean sitting on the dining table looking like someone possessed her as she typed away, completely ignoring her boyfriend as Jason kissed the top of her head.

When everyone was seated on the sofa Jason cleared his throat, "So guys this is Dr. Nico di Angelo, Nico these are my coworkers Annabeth chase and Percy Jackson"

Nico nodded at them and he gave them a wry smile, "I'm guessing you're here to see the tape and interrogate me about the de Bono's?" Jason looked like he wants to speak but Nico glared at him and he shut his mouth, even Percy had to admit that Nico is intimidating in a very sexy way. Annabeth cleared her throat and focused on Nico, "Something like that, I don't think we have to warn you about the cost of your involvement and I am sure that you have the general idea of what'll happen if the murderer finds out your following his every steps."

Nico ran his hands through his curls and looked at them, "I've helped in solving some crimes before in California so I'm familiar with the risks, I didn't know there was a murderer before I thought it was just a harmless prank though that's what I keep telling myself but when Jason mentioned the words to me and Dr. de bono I kind of figure it out."

Percy recovered from ogling the really-cute-possibly-single doctor to being completely professional and asked, "So Dr. di Angelo how did you know Dr. de Bono? Judging by the way that Jason described your relationship with her it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies."

Percy watched Dr. di Angelo for any signs that he might be a possible suspect but the dark-eyed man didn't show any signs of probable involvement with the murder and he didn't seemed shock at Percy's question instead the Doctor's lips just quirk like he's trying not to smile and nodded at him.

"You're not my patient agent, so Nico's just fine; my relationship with Gaea and her son isn't really…nice. Gaea was one of the most renowned psychologists for a very long time, even when I was a student she was already known, so it isn't surprising that many would follow her especially since she's a very forceful woman. Though I met her 8 years ago when she invited me in one of her seminars that involved fixing children that are as she said were defective; I can't really say that she's a terrible psychologist if anything she has really amazing opinions."

"But as remarkable she is with the children's parents she isn't as remarkable with the kids; she treats them like they're science experiments that she needs to solve." Nico sighed while twisting his skull ring.

"This school, what kind of school is this anyway?" Annabeth said looking like she's piecing everything together. Even Percy already has a vague idea about this school with the way Nico had describe Dr. de Bono even an idiot could get the hint: a juvenile institution. Percy pursed his lips he's all about the discipline but he knows what they do in Juve so he isn't thrilled to hear about what Nico's going to say; and as Percy looked at Nico's eyes he knew that this isn't their killer.

"De Bono's Institute is a very well known school for the past years or so, people bring their children, niece, nephews or the likes that are beyond their control as legal guardian to this place. You need to understand Dr. Gaea isn't really a warm person, I really can't tell you that much about that school since I only attended the seminars and I didn't get the chance to actually teach or talk to the students. But there are only two types of kids at that school that I often saw. Those who are new and still cause trouble and…" Nico looked torn and tired with all of this and Percy wanted to reach out and touch him which is weird since they've only met but he can't really fight the urge all of his senses are screaming at him, there is something about Nico di Angelo that Percy couldn't quite place but it makes him want to know the doctor more and more. Instead of touching Nico, Percy settled for a smile which seemed to have calmed the doctor since he smiled back.

"The second one is those who act more like…robots, they act like dolls without any function not to play or to be creative. It's scary how you manage to switch off that part of a kids' mind. It's unnerving"

Annabeth was silent the whole time absorbing everything Nico was saying while Jason was petting the huge dog whilst listening throughout Nico's explanation, and then he stared up at Nico and asked him in a very serious tone "do you think Dr. Gaea is our suspect?"

Nico shook his head and stared at his dog while it walked toward him to be pet, "No. I don't think so, if there is something I learned back then it's that the de Bono's would only use their words to get rid of someone they don't like."

Jason pursed his lips and glared at his shoes acting like he knew what Nico meant while the doctor on the other hand seemed lost in thought. Percy didn't really like how this two are acting right now so he turned to Annabeth to diffuse the tension, "So wise girl what do you think?"

"Nico, can we see the tape?" Annabeth said in a gentle voice smiling slightly at Nico. The black-haired man nodded and stood up from the couch to put the tape on. When he did Percy was seriously contemplating about the tape being a prank with all the static in the screen but then all of a sudden a scream; not just any scream but like someone's being tortured and sliced to pieces; everyone in the room jumped at the sound even Nico who'd already seen it and Piper finally looking up from her laptop eyes widening at the sound, Nico's dog flattened its ears and covered its eyes.

"Turn the damn thing off!" Percy said over the noise, Nico who had been frozen in his spot shook his head and told them to wait, though just as he said it the tape stop and everyone in the room stop and stared at the screen and then there it is; the voice of a child with no emotion in the words, the kid almost sounded so dead. Chanting repeatedly:

Bad Love. Bad Blood. Don't give me the Bad Love.

Bad Love. Bad Blood. Don't give me the Bad Love.

Percy had seen and heard many things but not anything like this. This is probably much more hair-raising than the crime scene at the Stoll household. At the sound of the tape going back to static Percy finally realizes that they're dealing with something much more than an angered patient but someone more cruel and cunning.

They need to arrest the psychopath before he does something much more horrifying.

Thank you so much for reading!