Disclaimer: I do not own this art. It was one Pinterest and credited to sealiz. I only own the mortals and plot. All of the other characters and stories belong to Rick and the CW.

"This is, indeed, deeply disturbing," Chiron said gravely. He frowned and clopped his hoof on the ground in agitation.

"Do you think it was a monster that did this?" Annabeth asked. The demigods and Reyna, who had shadow traveled with Mrs. O'Leary to New York that morning, had decided to discuss James's death with Chiron before going to check out the scene of the crime. It was very likely that Chiron possessed information that could help in their investigation. He had been talking with Mr. D and Elijah when they arrived, but the news that the demigods brought back from New York took precedence over whatever they had been speaking about.

"Possibly. I honestly don't know, Annabeth. It doesn't sound like any monster I have heard of." Chiron sighed. "It is also possible that James was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He sighed again. Every time a demigod died, Chiron felt a sharp pain in his chest. He loved being a teacher, but the death rate of his students was horribly depressing.

Percy ran his hand through his dark hair making it even more messy than usual. "You don't know at all?"

Chiron shook his head. "No. I don't, Percy, not without more information. If you find something while you're investigating I may be able to figure it out, but currently I need to know more. And take Elijah along, maybe something about the place may help determine if there is a connection between the two events."

"Well, we should go and look at the scene, now, and then IM you when we find something," Hazel proposed. They all agreed to the plan, and the demigods left for the alleyway that had sealed their comrade's fate.

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When the demigods and Elijah arrived at the murder scene nothing really stuck out to them. Jason had already recovered the body and there was no other obvious evidence that someone had been killed there. The group fanned out and began to look for clues as to what exactly had happened there the day before.

After a couple of minutes of searching, Nico suddenly jerked out of the sort of trance he had been in while attempting to locate where in the alleyway James had been stabbed by the mysterious man. "I found it," he exclaimed.

His friends rushed to the place where he was pointing, and began looking in the spot for clues, but, other than a couple spots of blood that most likely belonged to their fallen comrade, there was nothing helpful to be found. Unable to believe that there would not be a single thing that would give some sort of information, the group continued to search the alleyway.

They were so intent on their task that they did not notice the man the entered the alley. He watched them for a moment before clearing his throat to alert them to his presence.

At the sound, the entire group of demigods jumped in surprise at being interrupted and whipped around to look at the newcomer. To their even greater surprise they recognized the man; it was the art teacher, Mr. Gilbert.

"Hey guys," he greeted with confusion evident in his voice. He had expected the alley to abandoned, so he was very surprised to see the same group of kids from last night along with a girl that he had never seen before. She was tall with a regal face and thick, shiny, dark hair. Her poker face was perfect, but her eyes were sizing him up. Honestly, her expression reminded Jeremy of Elijah, perfectly poised on the outside, but on the inside searching for threats to herself or those she loved. The similarity made Jeremy a little uneasy.

"Hey, Mr. Gilbert," responded Will. The rest of the group except for Reyna just waved in greeting. They all felt more than a little awkward, but Reyna was very confused as well. She had never seen this man before, but clearly her friends knew him. She was still carrying the murder weapon, so she quickly put the bag behind her back before the stranger could see it.

"I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" Reyna asked the dark haired man.

"I'm Jeremy Gilbert. I just started teaching art at Goode, so Will, Percy, Annabeth and Nico are all in my class," Jeremy explained. "Nice to meet you to meet you." He held out his hand for Reyna to shake.

As they shook hands, Reyna introduced herself."I'm Reyna. A friend of theirs from summer camp,"

"And what about you two?" Jeremy asked, pointing at Hazel and Frank.

Hazel shook Jeremy's hand. "I'm Hazel and this is my boyfriend, Frank. We go to camp with them" Frank shook Jeremy's hand as well.

"So what are you all doing?" Jeremy asked. Their behavior when they first saw him was a little suspicious. It was like they had been caught doing something illegal red handed. Sort of reminded him of his early high school days.

"Just wandering around," Thalia replied. "Hanging out."

Jeremy raised his eyebrows at the group of teens before him. "Hanging out? I hope drugs and alcohol are not included in your definition of that phrase."

Annabeth shook her head. "Don't worry, it's not. Plus, we have an adult with us." She looked around, and tried to spot Elijah. "Where is he?" The rest of the group just shrugged at her. "Elijah?"

The dark haired man walked out from behind one of the many dumpsters in the alleyway where he had been looking for clues. "Yes?"

Jeremy's jaw dropped in shock. "Elijah? You're the adult supervising them?"

He could not fathom why Elijah Mikaelson of all people with his pristine suits and immaculately styled hair would be escorting a group of teenagers around the alleyways of New York. Whatever reason he had; it couldn't be good. That family's actions always ended in death and destruction, and he didn't want these innocent kids to be caught in the middle of whatever was going on with the Mikaelson family. When they were talking the night before, Klaus had mentioned something about someone daggering Elijah recently, so he was probably out for blood.

"I'm an adult that is with them, but I would not go as far as to say that I am 'supervising' them," Elijah corrected.

"So, Jeremy, what are you doing with your life now? Not continuing with old habits, I hope." His expression was warm, but there was a warning in his tone. The message was clear. Continue to hunt vampires while you are around me and my family and you will be considered a threat that needs to be eliminated.

Jeremy smiled tightly at the other man. "Well, you know what they say, 'old habits die hard'.But I have been teaching art lately."

"Really? Teaching is, indeed, a noble profession. It's nice to see that you are following a similar path to, oh what was his name . . . your guardian . . . Alaric. That was his name. Sorry, I have a bad memory for small details." Elijah smiled pleasantly, as if he hadn't threatened the same fate as Alaric for Jeremy. Normally, he would be more civil in this situation, but Jeremy's refusal to back down and mark himself as a non threat was frustrating him.

Jeremy's eyes narrowed in response to the threat. "Yeah, Ric actually helped me get the job. And I'm really liking teaching. Some of these guys are even my students. In fact, Rebekah is in the same class as them."

"Oh, that's nice. I have not heard from Rebekah or her brothers for quite sometime. I have been a little 'out of the loop.' Besides, the Mikaelson family is a very hard family to keep up with if you aren't constantly in touch with them," Elijah explained. His pointed look at Jeremy just seemed like he was commenting on how crazy the Mikaelsons were, but Jeremy knew that Elijah was telling him to roll with the lie he was telling.

"Yeah there is always something new with them," Jeremy agreed. Even though he didn't want to help Elijah with anything, he most likely had a good reason to lie about his family. With the amount of family pride they had, it would take a lot to make him pretend not to be a Mikaelson. He had already been pushing Elijah, and he didn't want him to snap with innocents arounds. Besides if Jeremy ran into an issue with the Mikaelsons, and needed one of them on his side, Elijah was the most likely candidate.

"Wait!" Thalia interjected. "How do you two even know each other, and how do you both know Rebekah?" She, like the other demigods, was very confused as to the relationship between the men. They seemed friendly enough with one another, but they were also being very cold and formal. Well, Elijah was always formal in his address, but Jeremy was always very open casual, so his behavior toward Elijah seemed a little odd.

"We used to all live in the same town, Mystic Falls. It was a very pleasant small town, very boring." Elijah chuckled at his own little joke. After all, Mystic Falls was anything but boring, and both he and Jeremy were well aware of that unfortunate truth.

"Yep. Good ol' Mystic Falls," Jeremy agreed also smiling at the joke. "Well as nice as this little reunion has been, I have to get going. Don't skip my class. Elijah," He nodded at Elijah, waved to the group of teens, and then turned and left the alley way to go about his business.

Once he was sure that Jeremy was out of earshot, Nico turned to his friends, "I'm going to need to talk with James face to face. I'll summon him tomorrow night." Nico had found all he could find in the alley way and was ready to go home and hang out with Will. Between all Elijah getting stabbed and James getting killed, he and Will hadn't had much alone time to just relax and be with one another.

Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Tomorrow? That's a whole day that James's killer will be walking around scot free even though he killed an innocent boy! Why can't you summon him tonight?" Reyna needed to get justice for James. It was almost a form of closure for her. Her way of paying her respects to her dead legionnaire was making sure his death was avenged.

"I need to get all of the stuff, and get someone to dig in the cemetery. Plus I won't be able to call on his spirit tonight because it may not have gone through judgement yet. Spirits can't be contacted until they are in their assigned afterlife. By tomorrow he should be through judgement and be somewhere in the Underworld, probably the Elysium fields," Nico explained. His agitation showed in his hand movements. He had not lost the habit of talking with his hands that he shared with Bianca, and the movements looked just like they had when Percy first noticed the habit all of those years ago in Westover Hall.

"Okay. I understand, but we need to do it as soon as possible. I want to catch this guy as fast as we can," Reyna conceded. "Besides, Frank and I need to go speak with James's mother, Sophie. She doesn't know about James yet because I wanted to wait to tell her in person. I was hoping we could tell her that we had gotten justice for her son when we told her, but it would be cruel to wait any longer to tell her even if we don't know who or what killed him yet." Reyna hated telling mortal parents the fates of their fallen demigod children because it made her feel like she had betrayed the parent's trust that she would keep their child safe, but hopefully James's mother, being a former legionnaire and granddaughter of Venus, would understand the danger and likelihood of death that came with being a Roman soldier.

Nico nodded somberly at Reyna. "I'll shadow travel Elijah back to camp while you two are doing that." He knew from experience that hearing about the death of a loved one from a large group of strangers was not at all pleasant. Besides he had barely known James. It would be best if Reyna and Frank told James's mom about his murder since they both knew him pretty well.

"That's a lot of shadow travel for one day, death boy. Are you sure you can handle it? I mean you already went to camp and back this afternoon, and now you are going again. I'm not sure that's a very good idea," Will pointed out to his boyfriend. Even though it had been a long time since the giant war, Will was still very worried about Nico's health when it came to shadow travel.

"I'll be fine, Will. Don't worry." Nico pretended to be annoyed by his boyfriend's anxiety, but he secretly liked it. Will's worry made him feel wanted, and that was a feeling that he didn't often get.

Annabeth looked at her watch. "It's getting kind of late. I think me, Percy, Thalia, Will and Hazel should all IM Chiron before he gets worried. That way Nico can rest up before traveling back and not have to worry about updating Chiron."

Reyna sighed and straightened up. "Ok. Come on Frank. She lives a couple of blocks from here. It's only about a five minute walk at most." With that, Reyna strode off, dragging Frank behind her.

Once the pair left, the rest of the group said their goodbyes and split up to complete their respective tasks. Nico grabbed Elijah and shadow traveled to camp while Percy, Annabeth, Will, Thalia and Hazel all walked towards home together. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Reyna's hand hovered over the door of James's mom's apartment. She knew that once she knocked on that door, there was no going back. The raven haired girl took a deep breath, straightened her posture and schooled her expression into one of somber calm before sharply rapping on the door three times with her knuckles.

The woman who answered was medium height with caramel colored hair and warm cocoa colored skin. "Can I help you?" Her voice was hoarse and rough, and it's sound made Frank and Reyna exchange a worried look.

"Sarah Martin?" Reyna asked the woman. She had heard about the legendary legacy of Venus, but had never seen her before because Sarah was before Reyna's time. When James had shown up with a letter of recommendation from Sarah, he was immediately admitted into the 5th cohort, his mother's old cohort. Despite only being a legacy, Sarah was one of the best legionnaires in the past half century, and Reyna was a little starstruck.

"Yes. Who's asking?" Sarah answered. Because both Reyna and Frank were wearing sweatshirts that covered their tattoos, Sarah did not know why the two teens were knocking on her apartment door.

Reyna rolled up her sleeve to show Sarah her tattoo. "My name is Reyna Ramirez Arellano and this is my colleague, Frank Zhang. We have come to speak to you about your son, James. May we come inside?" Reyna nudged Frank with her elbow, and looked pointedly at her own tattoo. Frank looked at her with confusion before figuring out what Reyna meant, and rolling up his own sleeve to reveal his less impressive tattoo.

Sarah examined both Frank and Reyna's arms before nodding and gesturing inside. "Please come in." She walked back inside the apartment with Reyna and Frank closely following her. "You'll have to excuse the mess. Things have been kinda hectic with work and everything and I haven't really had a spare moment to tidy up." She led them to a living room with two, large, pea green armchairs, and a squishy, grey, sofa with a glass coffee table in the middle of the formation. The floors were dark hardwood, and the room had a light and airy feel. She hadn't been kidding when she said that it was a little messy. The cushions of the chairs and couch were in disarray, there was a trash can full with used tissues, and the room was full of all sorts of clutter. However, the concerning part of the mess was the pictures that were strewn about the room. They were all of James. "Here, have a seat," Sarah said straightening the cushions, and directing them towards the sofa. "Would you two like anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? Juice?" Her kind demeanor reminded both Reyna and Frank of her son. James always showed kindness and consideration to everyone no matter who or what they were. But there was also something off about Sarah. She seemed listless and like she was just barely holding herself together.

"I'll just have water please. Thank you," Reyna replied as she sank into the deep recesses of the sofa. She attempted to sit up straight but failed as the folds of the couch threatened to envelop her.

Frank was having the same struggle with the squishy couch as his colleague. "I'll have water too, thanks." He and Reyna shared a nervous look as Sarah went to go get their drinks. While they were waiting, they both stared at one of the photos on the coffee table. It was of Sarah and James in Times Square, holding up "Wicked" Playbills. Sarah was holding a very young James tightly to her side, and the pair beamed at the camera. The woman in the photo seemed so bright, so full of life. How could they tell her that her one and only son was dead?

"Here we are. Two waters," Sarah announced walking back into the room with a glass of water in each hand. Even though she tried to hide it, Frank and Reyna both noticed that Sarah's hands were shaking as she carried the waters. She gave the two Romans their waters and sat down in one of the armchairs so that she was facing both Reyna and Frank. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Reyna set down her glass on the coffee table. "Well, Mrs. Martin—"

"Please, call me Sarah. Mrs. Martin really isn't necessary ," interrupted Sarah.

"Well, Sarah, Frank and I are the praetors of the 12th legion," Reyna paused to gather herself, "and recently James saved a bunch of new campers while he was on guard duty. Without his help, three demigods would have perished, so he was made a full member of the legion. He was on his way to visit you here in New York when he was attacked." Reyna broke off once again. She was having trouble finding the words to tell Sarah about James. "And I'm afraid James didn't make it. I'm so sorry, Sarah, but James . . . James is dead." Reyna blinked back tears and bit her lip. "I didn't keep him safe. I'm sorry." The dam broke, and Reyna started sobbing.

There were tears slowly sliding down Sarah's cheeks, and she looked down at her hands with a sorrowful and resigned expression. "I know." Sarah put her arm comfortingly around Reyna's shoulder. "I've known for a while. He told me that he was going to visit, and when he didn't arrive that morning, I knew that something had happened. I was just about to contact the legion when you two showed up." Sarah choked a little as her sobs became more intense. She swallowed her tears and continued. "It wasn't your fault, Reyna. It's the unfortunate truth of being a Roman. He knew what he was getting himself into just as I did when I was his age. He chose his fate, not you." The dam broke once again, and Sarah was consumed with convulsive sobs. Sarah was devastated, but she was a warrior. She had seen many a loved one die. She also knew that to feel responsible or guilty because of a hero's death, was to dishonor their sacrifice. "Frank, would you mind grabbing that tissue box over there?" She pointed to the box, and Frank brought it over. He was also crying. There were fat, hot tears rolling down his cheeks and he was sniffling.

After a minute of crying Reyna pulled herself back together. "Sarah, I promise you. We are going to find who did this and make them pay. James will have justice. I will ensure it." Her tone was strong and commanding. Despite it being a totally justifiable reaction to James's death, Reyna was very embarrassed that she had been crying in front of other people. After all she was a Roman, not some weak, injured, animal.

Sarah nodded through her tears. "Be sure you do. And when you do find out, make sure you let me know. I want to see the thing that took away my boys life. I want to be the one to bring it to justice." Her eyes burned with a vengeful fire. She had decided a long time that the best way for her to get rid of grief was through anger and vengeance. She was going to avenge James; no matter what she had to do.

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Klaus slammed his fist down on the kitchen island. "You can't kill him yet, Kol! I need him alive!"

"What do you need him for?" Kol demanded. "Are you planning on waking up another deadly ancient immortal?"

He glared at his older brother. The two had been arguing for the past ten minutes about the fate of Jeremy Gilbert. Klaus had already been considering keeping Jeremy alive despite his threats the previous evening, but when Elijah called to report his interaction with the youngest Gilbert that day, Klaus decided that Jeremy was definitely more use alive than dead. Kol, however, was still inclined to gut him like a fish and then boil the remains.

Klaus glared back with just as much intensity. "Don't make me dagger you, Kol." He had had enough of his younger brother's disobedience.

Kol rolled his eyes at the threat. Klaus was like the boy who cried wolf. It Klaus actually went through with that threat every time he made it, Kol would never be awake.

"There you go again with the same old threats. Can't you come up with new material?"

"Look, Kol, we just need you to leave him be long enough for us to figure out what is going on. Can you at least wait to kill him?" asked Rebekah. She was tired of the argument and thought both of her brothers were being stupid.

"Fine, but I won't wait very long, so you had better hurry. Otherwise we will never know why little Jeremy Gilbert was at an unofficial crime scene." Kol paused and scoffed. "Personally, I don't see why you care about what he is up to. It's not like he's clever enough to actually be a threat to us."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Says the idiot who managed to get killed by him." She laughed bitterly. "Didn't he kill you with your own weapon? And you say he's the stupid one."

"That was purely luck. They wouldn't have had a chance to kill me if you two had just given up on the cure. It's your faults that I had the stake and was at their house in the first place. Besides, he doesn't have any white oak now. The last of it is gone. He can't do anything to us."

Kol was fuming. The only thing worse than the actual process of death was how embarrassing it was. Somehow, a newbie vampire and her Hunter brother had managed to overpower and kill him.

"What about Hope?" Klaus growled. "She can be killed. What if he goes after her? What if he is working for someone who is trying to hurt her? We can't take that kind of risk." Klaus straightened up and stared down his younger siblings. "I can't take that kind of risk. The Hunter stays alive until we know more, for Hope's sake. Is that understood?" Klaus put his hands behind his back and waited for his siblings' response.

"Yes," both Rebekah and Kol grumbled. They both knew that arguing with their brother was unwise. When it came to Hope's safety, Klaus would do anything, and both of them would rather not be caught in the crossfire. They also both really cared about Hope, and saw the logic in Klaus's claim. Sure, his worry was a little unnecessary, but they couldn't take any chances, not with Hope.

I was at dance camp for two weeks and they don't allow phones or computers so I got a little behind on writing. I have a little game. Ever since chapter eight, I have been using the names of chapters and episodes from fandoms I love. The first person to comment with the fandom that the chapter name belongs to will win. Last chapter's title was from Teen Wolf. Thank you for reading and thank you to ronlol2, and OphiuchusIXII for reviewing. Thank you Ani1717 and Juzoni for adding my story to their reading lists. Thank you to all the people who followed, voted and left Kudos. Also, I wanted to give a special thank you to OphiuchusIXII for helping me with this chapter. There were a lot of mistakes that would have ruined the story, but you found and fixed them. As always constructive criticism is loved and appreciated, so please review.