Chapter XVI

Disclaimer: I only own the mortals and plot. All of the other characters and stories belong to Rick and the CW.

"Wow. Even after finding out about Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Norse gods, the existence of vampires is still shocking," Frank admitted. He took a bite out of his fish taco and continued. "I mean, to a certain extent all the ancient gods make sense, but vampires are an urban legend, not a religion."

Nico frowned. "The legend had to come from somewhere, though. Kind of like how the Greek myths come from actual events that people now think are made up."

"Should we call camp?" Hazel interjected. "The information we learned about James is important."

Annabeth shook her head. "No. Have Reyna come here, so we can tell her, but don't tell anyone else."

"Annabeth, you don't really believe what Mr. Gilbert said. We're half bloods! Our lives are in danger no matter what. Telling Mr. D. and Chiron about vampires won't magically put them on some supernatural hit list," Thalia scoffed. She was miffed that Mr. Gilbert wouldn't tell them more about vampires. He claimed he was withholding information for the sake of their safety, but she didn't want or need his protection.

"That's not why I don't want to tell them," Annabeth insisted. "You guys all saw the vampire's skin when it died. It looked exactly like Elijah's when he had that dagger in his chest." She lowered her voice and leaned into her friends. "Plus, Elijah knew Mr. Gilbert."

"True, but what does the two of them knowing one another have to do with anything?" Percy pondered.

Nico picked at his meal. "It matters because of what they said to each other," he answered. "I think Elijah was asking Mr. Gilbert if he was still a Hunter when he asked about old habits. They seemed to be threatening each other. Like two wolves circling one another before they fight."

Thalia shook her head. "If there is something more to Elijah, we can't just keep Chiron in the dark. We have to tell him and Mr. D."

Annabeth shrugged. "I want to wait until we know more. We don't have enough information to accuse him of anything."

"How are we supposed to get this information?" Frank asked. "It's not like we can just go to the library and pick up a book about vampires." He sighed and shook his head.

Annabeth smiled slyly. "Sure, we don't know anything about vampires, but Mr. Gilbert does. We have art tomorrow. Let's confront him, try to find out more." She hated not knowing things, and she hated that she couldn't just go to the library and read about vampires. Vampires were supposed to be myth. There were no reliable sources on them. No resource except for Mr. Gilbert, who had made it pretty clear, that he did not want to tell them anything.

The rest of the demigods agreed with a mixture of nods and murmurs.

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"Good morning, Percy, Annabeth," Rebekah greeted the blonde. The original leaned against her locker and watched Percy and Annabeth unpack their books.

Percy opened his mouth wide and yawned in greeting. "Morning." He yawned again and stretched.

Annabeth slammed her locker shut. "We're going to go to the library to kill some time before school starts. See you later, Rebekah." She and Percy then began to make their way towards the library.

Rebekah lazily waved at the couple's retreating backs. "Bye," she called and then turned to finish unpacking her rucksack. She had just finished dealing with her books when her phone buzzed with a text message from Klaus.

"You need to interrogate the Hunter!" the text read.

"I know!" Rebekah texted back. "I am about to go talk to him." She let out an indignant huff and shoved her phone in her pocket. She then stalked off in the direction of the art room.

Ever since Elijah discovered that a hunter's stake had killed the demigod when he saw the murder weapon in Reyna's hand, Klaus had been obsessed with finding out what was going on with the Hunters. He did not trust that Jeremy was telling the truth when he told the demigods that he had not killed James. Rebekah had been able to convince Klaus to let her be the one to interrogate Jeremy in order to maintain the diplomacy that Elijah seemed to think was of paramount importance.

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Jeremy sighed as he worked on setting up the canvases for his first class of the day. He already had too much on his plate with this rogue Hunter, and now he had to deal with this Greeks. He was so lost in thought of his current troubles that he did not realize another had entered the room until he felt something tap his shoulder. He whirled around and found himself face to face with a familiar blonde.

"We need to ask you something," Percy explained, gesturing to himself and Annabeth.

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows. "I've already told you more than I should have. I'm not going to just tell you everything you want to know. That kind of information could get someone killed."

"You keep saying that, but we don't need your protection. We hunt and fight monsters on a daily basis. I think we can protect ourselves against a couple of fast mortals with long teeth," Annabeth retorted. She was getting tired of Mr. Gilbert not telling them information that they needed to know because he was "protecting" them. "All we want to know how to tell if someone is a vampire. That's really not that much to ask."

Jeremy snorted. "That's what you want to know?" He laughed and shook his head. "And what are you going to do when you find one. Are you going to hunt it down like those monsters you kill on a daily basis?" He looked at them challengingly.

Percy crossed his arms over his chest. "If they are hurting people, yeah. Why shouldn't a species that kills innocent people be considered monsters? Besides, isn't that what you do? Hunt vampires down and kill them?"

"So you want to know how to identify vampires so that you can come after them? That seems like the opposite of keeping safe. I can hunt vampires because I went through heavy training and was meant to hunt them."

"We want to know because we think someone could be a vampire. We don't want to become a junior Van Helsing squad," Annabeth interrupted. While Percy's commitment to helping innocents was something she had always liked about him, it was just making Mr. Gilbert less inclined to tell them what they needed to know. "We just want to make sure that someone very close to both me and Percy is not a vampire."

Jeremy sighed in defeat. "Ok, but there really isn't much to tell you about vampires. They blend in perfectly. Until their face changes or they use any of their powers, they don't seem any different from you or me. There isn't any magical way to find them. Sorry to disappoint you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish setting up for my class." He watched the couple as they left the room, and did not turn back to his work until he was sure that they had left.

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Someone else was watching the couple's exist from Mr. Gilbert's classroom. Rebekah, who had been standing behind the door silently waiting for the couple to be gone, then entered the art room. "Strange," she remarked sarcastically. "This doesn't look like the library. I wonder how those two ended up here when they said they were going to the library." She feigned a confused expression and tapped her finger on her chin. "Youth these days, so backwards in their thinking." She shook her head condescendingly. "It must be those mobile telephones they have their noses stuck in all the time."

Jeremy raised his eyebrows at the blonde original, clearly not amused by her jokes. "What do you want, Rebekah?"

"Well, I was coming to discuss what happened between you and the demigods yesterday, but it seems they beat me to the chase," she responded.

"So Elijah told you all about what happened yesterday. Why am I not surprised?" Jeremy asked mockingly. "You Mikaelsons are all about trust and transparency."

Rebekah rolled her eyes at the insult. "You are aware that if you keep telling these kids things about vampires, Klaus will kill them." She dropped her voice and began to speak with more urgency. "I don't want them dead. Most of them are my friends, but if Klaus thinks they are a threat, there is nothing I can do. And if they become a threat to my family, I won't lose sleep over neutralizing the threat."

"You don't think I don't know that?" Jeremy answered in the same tone. "I am trying not to tell them anything because I don't to be responsible for my students becoming collateral damage in one of Klaus's paranoid temper tantrums. I only told Annabeth enough information to keep her from digging any more."

Rebekah scoffed. "You're kidding me right? Annabeth won't stop until she finds out exactly what she wants to know. You're half assed answers won't do anything to keep her from learning more."

Jeremy frowned. "What if you were to compel them to forget about vampires?"

"We don't know if it will work. Demigods are trained to resist the mist. They're minds are strong. If the compulsion doesn't work we will just be left with a bigger mess than before." Rebekah shook her head. "I'm supposed to ask you about the dead demigod," she said, changing the subject. "Did you kill him, or know who did?"

"I already told your brother. I don't know anything except that he is a rogue Hunter," Jeremy answered. "The Hunter was the reason I was in town in the first place."

"Why didn't you tell Nik that then? It would have saved him a lot of time and plotting if he had just known why you were here."

"Your brother is a bully. I wasn't just going to tell him why I was in New York because he tried to intimidate me. I was standing up to him."

"I agree that Nik is a bully, but it was a dumb to risk everything to stand up to him. Trust me, I've done it and watched countless others do it. It has never worked out well for anyone." Rebekah sighed sadly as she remembered Emil falling to his death after attempting to defend her honor. "I'm going to have to tell Nik everything about this conversation you know. I think not keeping things from him is the best way to reduce the amount of collateral damage."

"I knew from the moment you stepped in here that nothing I said would be private," Jeremy stated matter of factly.

"Good. I'll be on my way then. See you in class later." Rebekah turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

Jeremy shook his head at her retreating form. He had accepted long ago that each and every one of the Mikaelsons were complete lunatics, but their audacity and scattered morals continued to surprise him.

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"Guys, I have an idea," Hazel announced when the rest of the demigods arrived home from school. "When I lived in New Orleans, people would always tell me stories about vampires. If my mom was really a witch, then maybe some of those stories about vampires were true. Frank and I are going to take Mrs. O'leary to New Orleans and ask around. We think someone may know something about vampires. It's a long shot, but it is worth a try."

Thalia frowned in thought. "I guess, but I wouldn't count on finding anything. I doubt you will just stumble upon someone who knows everything about vampires and is actually willing to tell you, but if it is the only way of finding out more, you have to go."

"I agree," Annabeth announced. "We need more information as soon as possible. If Elijah is a vampire, then we need to tell Chiron soon. We will wait until you and Frank get back from New Orleans to make any moves, but you should try to get back quickly."

Hazel nodded at Annabeth and Thalia. "We will. I know the city well enough to know where to look for information about this sort of thing. Don't worry 'bout a thing. Frank and I have it handled."

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Hazel inhaled sharply. "Wow," she exclaimed softly while observing Bourbon Street. "It's really changed since I was last here." She breathed in deeply, attempting to rid herself of the wave of anxiety that had washed over her consciousness.

Frank shot his girlfriend a look of concern. "Hey," He reached for her hand. "Hazel, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"No," Hazel smiled reassuringly at him. "I'm fine. It's just a lot to take in. I'll be fine. I just need a second to adjust." She kissed his cheek and led Frank down the street to a voodoo shop that had been owned by a rival of her mother's back when her mother was "Queen Marie."

The chimes on the door jingled as Frank and Hazel stepped into the shop. "Hello?" Hazel called into the shop. "Is anyone here?"

The pair waited in silence for a few moments before footsteps began to fall upon the floor and a tall figure soon became visible to Hazel and Frank. "Sorry the owner isn't---" The man stopped short as his eyes feel upon the young people standing by the door. "Hazel?" He asked in shock. "Hazel, is that you?"

Hazel wore an expression identical to that of the man standing before her. "Marcel?"

Frank looked back and forth, between the two, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Hazel, do the two of you know each other?"

"I knew Marcel when I used to live here with my mom," Hazel answered. "He was a friend of my mother's."

Marcel's face broke into his signature smile. "Well, I've seen a lot of powerful witches in my day, but that is some pretty potent magic you've been using. I mean the Levesques were a powerful family, but I never knew your family's magic was that strong. Keeping yourself young for so long without access to the ancestors? Now that is an impressive feat."

"I didn't use my magic to keep myself young." Hazel replied incredulously.

"Then how did you do it?" Marcel asked. He raised his eyebrows challengingly at Hazel.

Hazel shook her head. "It's a long story. One that I don't really don't want to share right now."

Marcel chuckled and put his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, If you don't feel that telling me, that's cool. Keeping it mysterious, just like your mom."

"If you knew Hazel when she lived here then how are you still alive?" Frank asked Marcel. "Did you use magic?"

Marcel shook his head. "Technically yes, but I don't have magic of my own to use. Abominations to nature are not allowed to have magic, plus I just wasn't born a witch."

"Abominations?" Hazel repeated. "You don't mean . . . that . . . that you're a vampire?" She looked at Marcel in disbelief, hoping that he would laugh and correct her.

"I always knew you were a smart one." He laughed and shook his head. "So what brings you and your friend to a voodoo shop, Hazel?"

"We are looking for information," Hazel admitted. If she played her card right, Marcel might be able to give them the information that they needed. "Can you help us?"

"Aww, Hazel, you know I'd love to help, but it depends on the type of information. I can't just go around telling anyone any old thing, even if they are old friends." Marcel smiled and put a friendly hand on Hazel's shoulder.

Hazel smiled back at him. "It's about vampires. You see, I knew my mother was a witch, but I only just found out about vampires. I just have some questions that I need answered." She looked at Frank and he quickly nodded in agreement with her statement.

Marcel spread his arms. "Well in that case, why don't we go talk about those questions of your's in a more suitable environment. There's a great little place near here, Rousseau's. We can have some food while we talk. Follow me."

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"Klaus!" Sally exclaimed in shock. He was standing the doorway with his hands behind his back and his signature smirk on his face.

"Hello, Sally." He greeted her, still smirking in a way that made her slightly uneasy. "I hope I didn't disturb you." His expression morphed into one of exaggerated concern with sarcasm simmering just underneath the surface.

"No not at all. Can I help you with something, Klaus?" Sally asked remaining ever polite and kind to her friend despite his current strange and frankly sinister demeanor.

Klaus's smirk returned to his lips and his blue eyes sparkled dangerously. "As a matter of fact, you can. May I come in?" He took her silence as an invitation and quickly made his way into her kitchen.

"Well, then, Klaus," Sally said becoming increasingly concerned about her friend's questionable mental state. "What can I help you with?"

He laughed in response and leaned close to her. "Oh, It's quite simple really." He suddenly spoke with a low, quiet voice, that was somehow more disturbing than the falsely cheerful tone he had been using before. His pupils dilated and he leaned even closer to her as their noses almost touched. Gone was the smile, and in it's place was a sinister frown. "I need you to listen to me very carefully."

Sally nodded. Her eyes were locked in his and she had a vacant expression upon her face.

Klaus leaned even closer to her, and for a moment he seemed to be planning to kiss her, but then his lips changed their course and moved to her ear. He whispered something to her as she nodded in agreement.

"You think you can do that for me, love?" Klaus asked the women sitting in front of him.

"Yes, I can." Her voice was monotone and her face blank, but she nodded with intense conviction.

"Good." He stepped away from her and studied her face. "You're going to forget that I said this to you, and you will think that we just had a lovely conversation about my painting and I just left to go apply the ideas you gave me."

Sally nodded once again.

"Good. I'll see you soon, love." Klaus patted her shoulder and left the apartment.

When Klaus was out of her sight, Sally shook her head and got back to what she had been doing before he had come to her door. She looked over to the door of the apartment. Such a nice man. She thought. I hope his painting goes well.

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. Congrats to MieczyslawStilinski8(wattpad), annie_marie_le_roux (Archive of our own), Snowflame (ff.net), for guessing the chapter title. Thank you for reading and thank you to Angelica Herondale, tarahahahah703, MieczyslawStilinski8, Snowflame, annie_marie_le_roux, and ronlol2 for reviewing. Thank you to all the people who followed, voted and left Kudos.