Chapter 7

"Talking"

'Whispering'

'Thoughts'

Third Person POV

(Six months after the end of Ch 6)

After Drake and Percy were teleported to camp the entire camp threw a giant celebration over the success of stopping a war between the Olympians. Many of the campers were still wary around the two, but the unease toward them was quickly dissipating. At the end of the summer, Drake decided to stay at camp while Percy went back to stay with Sally who was returned after Hades received his helmet back. Drake spent most of his time training his abilities and even managed to unlock another of his domains, Carpentry, Drake was confused on why that was one of his domains, but he wasn't going to question the Fates. Drake was confused once again when his mother summoned him to Olympus. When Drake arrived at the Empire States Building he went up to the desk clerk and cleared his throat. When the desk clerk looked up at Drake recognition and fear flashed in his eyes and hastily gave Drake the key.

"Thank you." Drake said with a small smirk and moved over to the elevator and inserted the key and ascended to the 600th floor, all the while coming up with many song suggestions to replace the elevator music. When the doors opened Drake started to make his way towards the throne room. When he reached the large doors he knocked on the doors, which were opened by an 8-year-old Hestia who flashed a smirk and motioned Drake in while signaling him to be quiet. Drake once again became confused but complied and silently walked in and immediately heard Artemis ranting loudly about something.

"I don't care who it is your thinking of Hera, Me and my Hunters don't need any help with this new type of monster! Give us enough time and we can figure out how to deal with them!" Artemis exclaimed loudly from her silver throne while glaring at Hera with an annoyed and grumpy expression. Hera sighed and then noticed her son standing next to Hestia and gave Drake a small smile.

"Well Artemis, my choice has arrived, and I believe you may reconsider when you see them." Hera stated before motioning Drake to move to the center of the throne room. Most of the gods looked as if they expected Drake to come, a few snickered, two glared at the Son of Hera, Athena looked to be thinking intently, Aphrodite was eyeing Drake like a piece of meat, and Artemis seemed to be having an internal conflict. Drake turned to his mother and bowed to her, all the while ignoring Zeus, which served to piss off the King of the gods.

"What do you need of me Mom?" Drake asked in a relaxed manner. Hera smiled at the way her son was so relaxed, and how he was agitating Zeus.

"Well recently a new type of monster has appeared, and they have been causing trouble to the Hunters and the numbers and variety have been growing over the last few months. The monsters are unlike any other monsters that any of us have seen. The monsters have the appearance of animals with black fur/skin with a bone-like armor and red markings. The monsters don't turn to gold dust, they just disintegrate. They also seem to be able to sense emotions from what Artemis has been able to tell. The reason I called you here is so you can aid Artemis and her Hunters with learning where they come from and find the best way to keep them back or get rid of them." Hera finished explaining to her son who looked surprised about the reason he was here. Suddenly Athena shot up with a look of realization and looked at Hera.

"So the reason you called him was because of his Rage domain. To an extent, he should be able to track them or lure them to gather more information. Am I correct?" Athena asked of the Queen of the gods, who gave a simple nod with a smile on her face. Artemis then shot out of her seat after seemingly finished with her internal debate.

"My Hunters and I don't need any help, especially from a male!" Artemis exclaimed. All the gods looked annoyed with the usual outburst. Artemis seemed to think for a moment before sitting down. "But if he swears on the Styx not to flirt with my hunters I will let him come, only because the points Athena made were accurate and he would be useful." Artemis grumbled out surprising all of the gods except Hera who smiled brightly at Artemis. Drake for his part understood where Artemis was coming from with the request.

"I, Drake Jackson, swear on the Styx to not flirt with any of Artemis' Hunters." Drake recited with the usual thunder in the distance to signify the oath. Artemis nodded and sat back in her throne. Meanwhile, Zeus was looking quite giddy at whatever he was thinking at the moment. Zeus then pounded his Bolt into the floor causing a rumble of thunder.

"If that is all then I hereby adjourn this meeting." Zeus thundered before flashing out in a bolt of lightning. Many of the gods flashed out as well until it was only Drake, Hera, Artemis, Apollo, and Hestia. Apollo walked up to Drake and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Good luck with my sister and her Hunters. As a gift, I will enhance your healing capabilities with your fire 'cause you're gonna need it." Apollo stated before pushing some energy into Drake making him glow for a second.

"Thanks, Cousin." Drake said with a grateful smile. Apollo returned the smile and flashed out. Hera and Hestia then came up to him and they both hugged him at the same time.

"Be safe, and don't let the hunters push you around too much." Hera quipped before handing him a small square of black cloth. "This is a tent. It has a king-sized bed, a full wardrobe, and a bathroom so you don't have to worry about risking an encounter with the hunters. All you have to do to set it up is to throw it down on the ground and it will set itself up immediately, and to fold it back up, just press the delta symbol on the post. You are the only one who can enter it unless you invite them in. Oh, and it's also fireproof." Hera explained.

"Thanks, Mom." Drake said as he hugged his mother once again. Hestia wished him luck and safety as well before they both flashed out leaving Drake and Artemis alone. Artemis walked up to Drake with a neutral expression before breaking out into a grin and poking Drake in the forehead with a glowing index finger.

"I just gave you the ability to tell where the Hunt is at all times, and improved night vision. You will need it to aid me and my Hunters. Honestly, you are the only one I would allow to even come close to my Hunt." Artemis confessed with a genuine smile on her face. Drake looked confused before realization struck him.

"You were one of the few who knew about my birth at the beginning weren't you?" Drake asked with surprise evident on his face. Artemis chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, I knew of your birth at the beginning. I was the one to grant you your stealth skills. I have been watching you as you grew and I can tell you are one of the few decent males in this world. Now I will teleport us just outside of the Hunt so you're not teleported in the middle of the Hunters, possibly making them angrier than they will be." Artemis stated before grabbing Drake's shoulder and flashing them out of the throne room.

(A Forest within southern Colorado)

Drake and Artemis appeared within a lush forest and Drake could immediately tell that they appeared about 20 yards from the Hunter camp. Artemis turned to Drake with a serious expression.

"When we enter the camp let me do the talking and don't try to antagonize my hunters." Artemis said with a warning glare. Drake put up his hands in surrender and let out a low chuckle.

"Don't worry, I don't have a death wish. Besides the only people I antagonize are people who deserve it." Drake stated while thinking of a specific overdramatic lightning god. Artemis seemed to know what he was thinking and shook her head with a small amused smirk and turned and lead the son of Hera towards the camp. When the two cousins were about 5 yards away from the camp Drakes danger sense lit up like a flash fire, and he reacted quickly.

"Get down!" Drake exclaimed while pushing Artemis out of the way of the swarm of arrows that flew at them. Drake managed to dodge most of the arrows, but one caught him in the shoulder and another went through his left thigh and was sticking out the back.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning." Drake grunted out as he pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and healed the wound with his fire abilities. He then broke the fletchings of the other arrow and pulled the arrow out and healed that wound also. Drake noticed that the Hunters were standing at the edge of the camp with their bows drawn with arrows nocked and pointed at him. Drake looked to his left and saw Artemis looking at him with shock.

"Are you alright Drake?" Artemis asked of the large teen. Drake just shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, I've been through worse. Though honestly, I expected worse from the Hunters when they saw me." Drake spoke too soon though because a moment later two blunt arrows came flying at him and in the next moment he was on the ground holding his crotch with pure agony on his face. "There it is." Drake squeaked out in a high pitch voice filled with pain. Artemis shook her head in sympathy but expected this outcome. Artemis then turned to her hunters with a slightly disappointed expression.

"Zoe, gather all of the hunters and meet me and our guest in the dining tent." Artemis instructed of her eldest hunter who nodded and leads the hunters toward the large tent in the middle of the camp near the fire pit. Artemis leads a now recovered Drake towards the back of the large tent, and when the two entered Drake was met with many hate-filled glares, which he just shrugged off and summoned a wooden chair for him to sit in. The hunter's gaze turned to Artemis who sat at the head of the table. Artemis looked around at her hunters before letting out a small sigh.

"Before I start I want you all to be quiet until I finish." She looked around and after receiving nods from all the Hunters she spoke up again. "After the most recent encounter with the dark monsters, I went to the gods about our findings and what our status was. After hearing about the trouble we had both Zeus and Hera assigned someone to aid us in our hunt and to gain more information on these monsters. The person they assigned it the male sitting to my right. He is the son of Hera and he will be a useful aid in fighting against the new monsters." Artemis explained to her Hunters. Once she finished talking one of the older hunters shot up.

"We don't need any help! Especially from a male!" The hunter exclaimed while sending a piercing hate-filled gaze at Drake, who returned the glare full force while pushing some of his main domain into his body to show that he knew what they were implying. All the Hunter flinched back at the amount of anger behind Drake's glare.

"I thought that too, but when I saw that it was Drake here who Hera recommended because I have kept a close eye on him since his birth and he has shown to be unlike other males and is probably one of the most decent males in history." Artemis informed of her hunters. While the younger seemed surprised and cut back on their anger towards him, but the older ones only faltered slightly because of their deeper hatred of males. Zoe then stood up and looked at Artemis.

"If you believe that of him then I trust your judgment, but no offense Lady Artemis how will He be able to help us in regard to the monsters?" Zoe asked before sitting down with a questioning gaze at her mistress and Drake. Artemis made to speak, but Drake cut her off.

"I can probably explain that better because I know more about my abilities." Drake started before he was cut-off by the hunter from before.

"Like you know anything. You're just a disgusting male that probably only accepted the job to flirt with us." The hunter scoffed, she prepared to say more but was cut-off by Drake.

"First off, I don't care about what you think of me. Second, my mother recommended me to do this and was asked by Artemis to aid all of you. Finally, I swore on the Styx that I would not flirt with any of you in my time here, nor do I like flirting, or even want to flirt with any of you because I know what the outcome would be and I don't have a death sentence. Now, why don't you shut up and let me explain your fellow hunter's question." Drake stated shocking all of the hunters and including Artemis that he was brave enough to talk back to a hunter. Drake then turned to Zoe with a much calmer expression.

"Zoe was it? Well, the reason I was recommended was because of my abilities. You see I'm essentially a god stuck in a demi-god body. I'm not immortal but I do have domains and I can use them but on a much smaller scale. Because of my main domain, I am able to sense, repress, take away, enhance, and alter emotions to an extent. Since the monsters are able to sense emotions I will be able to help in the regard of tracking, studying, and killing the monsters." Drake finished explaining to a wide-eyed Zoe, and all of the other hunters had similar expressions upon realizing what he is, and what he will become. Artemis then stood up and got the attention of her hunters.

"Because of his abilities, he will be very helpful in the fight against these monsters. Return to your duties, except you Zoe, I want you to give Drake a tour of the camp and show him where he can set up his tent." Artemis instructed of her hunters, who all moved to follow their mistress' orders with most of the older hunters sending small glares toward Drake, who just ignored them. Artemis flashed out and Zoe walked up to Drake with a neutral expression.

"This way Drake." Zoe ordered as she turned and walked out of the tent with Drake shrugging his shoulders at her order and followed. Drake Kept following her until she stopped in front of the firepit. "The tent we just left is the dining tent, where we eat our meals and plan out hunts and attacks. Connected to the back of the dining tent is the kitchen tent, where we cook all of our meals. We hunt our food daily, and only keep produce for long periods of time." Zoe explained before moving on and walking over to a large tent next to a wide area with targets, straw dummies and a large ring.

"This is the armory tent and training field. In the armory tent, we keep our arrows and sharpen the blunt ones, spears, and other weapons suited for hunting. The training field is comprised of a target range for archery, practice dummies, and a sparring ring." Zoe informed before walking over to a smaller tent with a fence surrounding it.

"This is the wolf tent. The wolves are out on a hunt of their own currency, but they will be back within the next few days." Zoe explained before walking over to a large group of smaller tents. "This is the hunter's tents. The larger one at the end is Lady Artemis' tent. You can set-up your tent in the area behind the other tents. Once you're done meet Lady Artemis in the shooting range." Zoe instructed before walking off. Drake was slightly off-put by her obvious distrust, but also expected the hostile tone underlying all of her words. Drake walked around the tents until he came across a small area set back far enough from the hunter's tents so he didn't feel like he was to close. Drake pulled out the black cloth square and did as his mother instructed and threw it on the ground. Once the square hit the ground, it started unfolding until it became a tent that was a size in between Artemis' tent and the hunter's tents. It was a black cloth with red edges, and the wooden poles were dark brown wood. Drake smiled at the appearance of the tent and entered his tent, but when he entered he froze, but not in amazement, but in disgust, fear, and terror. The problem was that everything was pink. Hot Pink. Everything was the same shade, but what really made him freeze was the person laying on the bed.

"Hello there Drake, why don't you come over here and keep me company." Aphrodite purred as she eyed up Drake with the same look she gave him in the throne room. She was also wearing just a pink skimpy bikini. Drake did the only logical thing in this situation.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He ran screaming out of his tent straight for the center firepit of the hunter camp. All of the hunters including Artemis ran into the center of camp with their bows drawn, looking around for the source of the screaming. Then as one, they all saw Drake running at them with pure terror on his face, and they could all see Aphrodite giving chase behind his still only in a bikini. Artemis shook her head in exasperation but was surprised when Drake ran past her and the other hunters and dived into the middle of the firepit and curled up into a ball.

"So much pink. Too much skin. Too much PINK!" Drake mumbled out unaware of the hunters staring at him sitting in the fire and not being hurt. When he did look up he noticed that Aphrodite was standing at the back of the crowd. "No! I will not fall under your spell!" Drake exclaimed while pointing at the goddess. He then grabbed wood from the wood stack and started building a wall around him. Once the last log was in place the hunters and the two goddesses could hear him mumbling incoherent things in terror. Artemis then turned to Aphrodite with a pissed-off expression.

"Explain." She ordered the goddess of love while crossing her arms over her chest and leveling a piercing gaze at the other goddess. Aphrodite had the decency to summon some clothes on her.

"Well you see I might have changed the color of the entirety of the inside of his tent to hot pink, and I might have tried to seduce him. I even tried charmspeak, but for some reason, it didn't work." Aphrodite explained only feeling slightly wary under the piercing glare of the moon goddess.

"I honestly expected better of you Aphrodite, but it seems I expected too much of you." A new voice reprimanded the guilty goddess. Everyone turned to see an older Hestia holding a still slightly cowering Drake in a comforting hold. Aphrodite let out a quiet 'sorry' before flashing out in a puff of pink perfume. When the love goddess left Drake seemed to calm down immediately but didn't leave Hestia's embrace.

"Thanks, Auntie Hestia. Oh and if it's not too much, could you change my tent back to normal?" Drake asked of his godly aunt. Hestia smiled softly and sent out a flame that entered Drakes tent, and when it came back it was a deep pink and then Hestia snuffed it out.

"Thanks, Auntie Hestia." Drake said as he gave his aunt one last hug before she flashed out in a flash of flames. Drake then turned to the hunters and Artemis who all had questioning glares pointed at him. "Heh-heh, sorry about that. When I saw Aphrodite, the form she took in my eyes was not an image I ever wanted to see, especially in the clothing she was wearing." Drake explained while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"What did you see that was so horrifying?" Drake noticed it was the hunter that was talking down on him earlier, and said hunter currently had a mischievous grin.

"Well just before entering my tent I was thinking about my mother and how much I love her, and how generous and supportive she is, and for some reason Aphrodite's powers took the parental love I was feeling and thought it was romantic love and made Aphrodite look like my mother in my eyes, hence my freak out. Also, I don't like mass amounts of pink." Drake explained with a shudder at the memory. The older hunters all gagged at Drake's explanation with varying degrees of disgust.

"Ok, everyone get back to your chores. Drake, I need to speak to you." Artemis stated. The hunters all dispersed and went back to what they were doing. Drake turned to Artemis, who waited for all the hunters to leave before addressing the lone male.

"As long as you are with me and my hunters you won't be just lying around. You will be added to the chore schedule. Everyone is assigned a chore and the chores are rotated daily. Tonight you will be on kitchen duty, so you better prepare yourself because you will be cooking a lot. Dinner is at 6 o'clock." Artemis explained while giving Drake a smirk. Drake let out a sigh and looked at his watch.

"4:45. Might as well head over there now." Drake said to himself before walking over to the dining tent and setting up a small table off to the side for him to eat at. Drake sat down at his table and pulled out a chunk of wood and a small knife and started to whittle away at the hunk of wood while waiting for 6 o'clock to come. When the hunters started filing into the tent and sitting down at the main table Drake pocketed the wood and knife before standing up and walking to the empty end of the table.

"Drake, where is the food? I gave you plenty enough warning for you to prepare it." Artemis inquired of the male, who just smirked and clapped his hands together.

"Well then, what would you like to eat?" Drake asked of the goddess.

"Hmm, I would like Venison alfredo pasta with garlic bread and a glass of iced tea." Artemis gave her order with a slight smile when realizing what Drake implied. Drake smirked and snapped his fingers and in a flash of red flame, Artemis' order appeared in front of her. All of the hunters stared in shock at the meal appearing exactly as Artemis ordered. Artemis picked up her fork, and when she took a bite a pleased smile broke out on her face. "Very good Drake, it's delicious." Artemis complimented. The other hunters started calling out their orders frantically.

"One at a time, please" Drake stated. The hunters all quieted down and Drake went hunter by hunter taking and summoning orders. The older hunters all gave him a glare before eating, while the younger hunters kindly thanked Drake before eating. Zoe just nodded to him in thanks with a neutral expression. Drake calmly walked over to the table he set up for himself and summoned himself a pulled pork sandwich with barbeque sauce and coleslaw along with a soda, and he quietly ate. One everyone finished Artemis stood and addressed all the hunters.

"Tonight I want you all honing your skills and continue training with close-range weapons. Dismissed." Artemis ordered of the hunters, who started leaving when Artemis allowed them to leave. Artemis then turned to Drake and stopped him before he could leave.

"After you clean up the dishes come to the training field. I want to assess your skill level and see where you need improvement." Artemis stated before walking out of the tent. Drake just sighed and got to work cleaning the dishes and tables. When he finished he went to the training field to see the younger hunters shooting arrows, while the older hunters were training with knives and other close-range weapons. Drake turned to Artemis with his hands in his pockets.

"What do you want me to do Artemis? Drake asked of the goddess who just smirked at his relaxed attitude. The older hunters, however, became angered that he was not showing the proper respect to their leader.

"I want you to take a bow and shoot ten arrows into a target to get a gauge of your archery skills." Artemis explained while mentally chuckling at the task because Drake was blessed by Apollo so he should have no problem. Artemis could hear the hunters whispering amongst themselves.

'I bet that he won't even be able to hit the target.' Artemis heard along with similar condescending comments toward the lone male.

"Do I have to use a specific bow, or may I use my own?" Drake asked of the moon goddess.

"You may use your own." After hearing Artemis' permission Drake smirked and pulled on the dog tags on his neck, summoning his crossbow and matching quiver. All off the huntresses gasped at the beauty of the weapon. Drake loaded an arrow and took aim at a target and pulled the trigger. Drake loaded arrows in quick succession of each other. Drake soon had all ten arrows in the target with each arrow splitting the previous arrow in the center of the target. Artemis turned to her hunters to see that they all had flabbergasted faces while all the older hunters were hand money to Zoe who wore a smug grin towards all her sisters that betted that Drake wouldn't even hit the target. Artemis was about to instruct Drake of the next test but stopped when Zoe approached Drake with a competitive glint in her eye.

"I would like to challenge you to further test your marksman skills. Whoever hits the farthest target wins." Zoe stated with the same glint in her eye. Drake only smirked and nodded in acceptance. Zoe looked towards Artemis who nodded and snapped her fingers and a target appeared.

"Just tell me when to stop moving it back." Artemis stated as the target started getting farther and farther away. After about 500 yards Zoe stopped it and took aim with her bow. When she let the arrow fly it arched high and fast. Once the arrow hit the target Artemis brought it back to show that the arrow was about an inch away from the bullseye. All the hunters praised Zoe for her ability, and the older hunters all had triumphant smirks believing that Drake wouldn't be able to best Zoe's shot. Drake nodded to Artemis who summoned a target, but before she could start moving it Drake stopped her.

"Could you put it at about 2000 yards please." Drake said. Artemis just nodded and the target quickly moved. All the hunters thought Drake was crazy for thinking that he would be able to hit a target that far away. Drake then spun the ring on his right hand and a long sniper rifle appeared in Drake's hands in a flash of red light. The huntresses and Artemis were surprised at the sudden appearance of the large firearm. Drake shouldered the rifle and took aim.

"Sorry, but you never said that it had to be a bow and arrow." Drake stated before pulling the trigger, causing a loud blast from the bullet firing. After a moment Drake nodded to Artemis who summoned the target back, which had a large one-inch hole in the dead center of the target. All of the hunters had shocked expressions on their faces at the precision of the rife. Many of the hunters started protesting Drake's actions in using a firearm while Zoe looked slightly impressed, but mostly she looked annoyed.

"Quiet. Since Zoe issued the challenge it is her decision to make." Artemis stated while looking at her lieutenant. Zoe exchanged looks with Artemis for a few minutes before looking towards the sole male in the camp.

"I realize my mistake with the previous challenge so I wish to do a retry, but with a different challenge. We will spar, no powers, win by unconsciousness, held killing blow, or yield. Do you accept?" Zoe asked with the same determined gleam in her eye as before.

"Of course I accept, I've been wanting to see why Artemis decided to make you Lieutenant, besides being the eldest member." Drake stated with a smirk. Zoe nodded and lead him to the arena, and all the hunters stood to one side of the ring cheering Zoe on. Zoe pulled out her bow and got in a ready stance, meanwhile Drake calmly set his hands on top of his axes and took a relaxed stance. The Hunters became angered by his apparent cockiness. Artemis stepped up to act as a referee.

"This is a fight between Zoe Nightshade and Drake Jackson, no powers, win by held killing blow, yield, or unconsciousness. Are both fighters ready?" After receiving nods from both she continued, "Then, Begin!" Both Drake and Zoe stand still waiting for the other to make the first move. Zoe is the first to attack and fires an arrow at Drake only for him to calmly dodge out of the way, but Zoe expected this and followed the first arrow with many more arrows, not giving Drake much chance to counter. Zoe slowly moved closer to Drake hoping to land a definitive blow on the male. Drake was quickly dodging the arrows with some difficulty due to the speed and amount of arrows, with a few making small cuts along his skin. Drake was aware of Zoe becoming steadily closer to him and lightly smirked. When Zoe got about 5 feet away Drake suddenly dropped to the ground spinning while summoning his chain hooks. When the chains hit Zoe's legs they wrapped around her legs binding them together and sweeping her off of her feet and sending her towards the opposite edge of the ring. When Zoe got back up she saw that Drake was now standing with two handguns in his hands.

"You're pretty quick on your feet, but let's see if you can dodge a bullet, and don't worry they're non-lethal, but it will still hurt like Hades." Drake informed before unleashing a volley of rubber bullets. Zoe managed to dodge a good amount, but the ones she couldn't dodge left behind some nasty bruises and welts. Zoe managed to stop the gunfire before it overcame her by throwing one of her knives at Drake forcing him to stop firing and dodge to avoid getting stabbed. Drake looked back to Zoe to see that she had drawn a second dagger along with a short sword and started rushing him. Drake smirked and managed to draw his axes in time to block the attack from the senior hunter. The two traded blows back and forth for a few minutes before Drake gained the upper hand and disarmed Zoe before spartan kicking her to the ground and brought down his axes in a powerful overhead slam, but held the attack right before hitting her face. Zoe stared at the twin axe heads inches from her face in shock before the axes were pulled from her face and were replaced by a large hand. Zoe took Drake's hand and let him pull her up. When she was fully upright she looked at Drake with an approving smile. Drake smirked at her as they shook hands in a show of good sportsmanship.

"That was a good match, Drake, I do realize my mistakes and I hope to have a rematch in the future." Zoe stated while speaking to him with no malice or hatred towards him. Drake nodded in agreeance and then the two turned to Phoebe who was stomping angrily towards the two, or more specifically Drake.

"That was a fluke. I refuse to believe that you beat Zoe. I challenge you, no holds, win by unconsciousness. Do you accept male, or are you going to chicken out?" Phoebe taunted the large male. Zoe was about to reprimand her second in command but stopped when Drake stepped forward with a different expression than he had a moment ago. Drake wore a look of annoyance, seriousness, and anger.

"I will agree, but not because I wish to fight you, but because you insulted one of your sisters, and to teach you a lesson." Drake stated. The two moved to the center of the field while Zoe moved to stand beside Artemis with a worried look on her face. Phoebe took a stance with two daggers while Drake took a relaxed stance with his arms crossed over his chest, all while keeping the same expression he had when Phoebe enacted the challenge. Artemis then stepped up to start the fight.

"This is a fight between Phoebe and Drake Jackson, no holds, win by unconsciousness. Are the fighters-" Artemis was cut off when Phoebe suddenly threw one of her daggers straight at Drake's head. He barely managed to dodge the sudden underhand attack by twisting his body in the same direction as the blade was being thrown and leaning back. When Drake turned back to his opponent his previous expression was replaced by pure anger along with a thin cut across his cheek bleeding slightly, and his eyes became black with red irises, and his muscles grew to give him an extra inch of bulk. Phoebe froze when she saw Drake's piercing glare and could feel the anger rolling off of him.

"Attacking an unprepared opponent is one of the most dishonorable acts you can do, and I honestly expected more from a Hunter of Artemis. Now you only proved that I need to reach you a lesson." Drake stated as he drew his axes and planted them in the ground, he then took off his dog tags and hung them on one of the axes, next he summoned his two handguns and threw them next to his axes, and then he took off his chain bracelets and also threw them next to the rest of his weapons. He then cracked his knuckles and neck a took a fighter brawler stance and made a 'come at me gesture' to Phoebe, who snapped out of her hesitation and became angry and rushed Drake with an extra dagger she had on her and slashed furiously at the unarmed male. Drake easily dodged or deflected each of her slashes. When Phoebe started to slow down Drake went on the attack. Drake rained down powerful and precise blows on Phoebe, who despite being the daughter of Ares was not able to keep up with attacks and was quickly brought down by the blows, and the last thing she saw before succumbing to unconsciousness was the piercing red and black eyes of Drake. When Phoebe fell unconscious Drake paused and let himself calm down, and his body returned to normal. When he opened his eyes he looked to the hunters, and he could see the evident anger in their expressions, but was surprised when most of the anger was directed towards Phoebe. Drake was expecting the hunters to be mad at him for beating the two top hunters, but he sensed that there was only a small amount of hatred towards him, and that was mostly coming from the older hunters, but all of the hunters were angry at Phoebe instead for the completely dishonorable act of attacking an unprepared opponent, male or not. The ones most angry at the second oldest huntress were Artemis and Zoe who both locked their faces in ones of anger and disappointment. Artemis then turned to one of the older hunters with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Ashley, heal her and wake her up. I need to speak to her immediately." Artemis ordered. The hunter nodded and quickly got to work and laid her glowing hands on Phoebe's head. Phoebe slowly opened her eyes and looked around and saw the angry faces of her sisters, the furious expressions of Artemis and Zoe, and the blank face of Drake, who she realized won the match. She started to get angry, but her anger dissolved when she met the livid glare from Artemis and Zoe.

"Phoebe, what you did at the beginning of your fight was a dishonorable act. To attack an unprepared opponent I'd one of the most dishonorable things you could have done." Artemis stated while keeping her glare on Phoebe.

"But he's a MALE, that most likely took this job just so he could indulge in the perverted nature of all males!" Phoebe exclaimed, and made to go on, but was cut-off by Zoe slapping her in the face, hard.

"It doesn't matter whether or not your opponent is a male. What you did is a completely dishonorable act. And don't you remember what happened earlier with Aphrodite. If he won't go after Aphrodite when she literally throws herself at him, then he won't go after us." Zoe reminded. Phoebe looked ashamed for a moment before looking around in surprise.

"Where did he go?" Phoebe openly asked and everyone looked around and noticed that Drake disappeared. Suddenly a large pitch-black bear with bone armor came charging out of the forest straight towards the hunters. Artemis reacted quickly and shot an arrow into the bear's head, killing it instantly.

"These are the beasts that we were hunting. Everyone get ready there are most likely more coming!" Artemis instructed. The hunters got prepared just in time for a swarm of different dark animals with similar bone armor to come charging at them from all sides. They managed to move the fight to a nearby clearing to avoid damaging the camp. The hunters managed to quickly find the kinks in the bone armor and were accurately shooting arrows into the vulnerable places on the dark animals. Any that got past the barrage of arrows was met with some of the more skilled hunters with close-quarters fighting. They managed to stay in a group for a while but had to split up because of a few avian beasts attacking from above. Zoe stayed with the younger hunters and helped to protect them, while the other hunters split off into groups and Artemis was on her own. Each group was holding their own well, except for Phoebe's group because Phoebe was still fatigued from her battle and her healing and she was running on fumes. Suddenly she was knocked down by a werewolf looking creature. She sat there thinking that this was the end and closed her eyes and bracing herself for what was to come, but was surprised when she didn't feel the slashing of claws or sharp teeth tearing into her. When she opened her eyes she saw that the wolf was being held by its upper jaw clasped in someone's hand. The figure then pulled the beast back and grabbed it by its lower jaw and was ripped in half separating the front from the back. The figure was revealed to be a bulked-up Drake who had a pissed off expression and was covered in blood. Phoebe was shocked to see that her savior was the same male that she dishonorably attacked earlier. She went to say something but was stopped by Drake cutting her off.

"We can talk later. For now, we need to get rid of these creatures." Drake stated before drawing one of his axes and throwing it at a bear that was about to blindside a hunter. He then ran up to the bear and ripped out his axe and chopped the bear's head in one swift motion. With the arrival of Drake, the hunters were able to push back against the creatures and manage to kill all of them with no casualties. As a now normal Drake was pulling his axe out of the corpse of a creature he heard someone walk up behind him, and when he turned around he was met with the annoyed face of Zoe who was glaring at him.

"Where did you run off to? We were almost overwhelmed. And why are you covered in blood?" Zoe asked. Drake smirked and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"I was dealing with the rest of the herd, and they gave a good fight, but unluckily for them, I had some anger to work off." Drake stated looking visibly less stressed. All the hunters looked shocked at his statement.

"Wait you killed all of those?" One of the hunters asked while pointing to the slowly disintegrating corpses.

"Well, not all of them. I managed to trick some of them to attack each other using my powers." Drake stated. The hunters looked surprised for a moment but remembered what his domains were. Artemis then approached Drake with a neutral expression.

"Did you learn anything about the creatures?" Artemis asked of the male.

"Yeah. First, they're attracted to negative emotions which is why so many attacked us just now," Drake stated, and at this Phoebe flinched though nobody noticed, "Second, they work under a pack mentality, so they all come from one place or the same person, like a queen or an alpha. Also, the exterior bone is no harder than normal bone, so it doesn't offer that much protection." Drake explained. Artemis nodded with a satisfied smirk and relaxed her stance.

"Good. I will inform the pantheon of this news tomorrow. As of now let's fix camp and then you can make dinner." Artemis ordered with the last part pointed at Drake. The hunters all nodded and moved towards the camp while Drake did a two-finger salute and caught up to Zoe and started going over the battle that just ended. Artemis smiled, happy that at least Zoe was acting friendly with her cousin. Artemis noticed Phoebe was lagging behind the other hunters and stopped her. Phoebe stopped and turned to Artemis and bowed, but wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Phoebe, while I understand why you did what you did, Hades If it were any other male I would have let it slide with some slight anger, however, Drake is one of the males who has earned my respect. He has not made any advances towards any of us. And without him we would have lost hunters in that last attack. I don't expect you to be friends with his or even like him, but please be respectful to him." Artemis requested and upon seeing Phoebe become more down cast got an idea, "And if it will help you can prank him as much as you want, but don't go overboard. And depending on the prank I might join in." Artemis stated before going back to camp. Phoebe perked up at the fact that she was allowed to prank the sole male in the camp, and started to plan pranks.

Rage: Hey. Guess what I'm not dead!

All OC's: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?

Rage: Sorry, I got caught up with my new job and my first year in college started and I barely had time to write. And I was being lazy. But in my time of not writing I have planned out my stories and I should be able to write chapters faster. Next is Brothers in Aura.

Drake K: YES!

Rage: Anyways I will try to update as fast as possible. You know the drill. And as always

ALL: See Yah!

-Rage721