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greenconversesFic: Death's Dare
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Rachel/Nico,with appearances from the rest of the cast and the gods
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Summary: After an attempt on her life, Apollo decides Rachel needs a bodyguard and who better to take the job than a certain son of Hades? Too bad they're not going to make things easy for each other, especially when it comes to their feelings.
Notes: Holy shit you guys, I wrote a 5,300 word chapter in two days. That's pretty good for not having a working laptop around, IMO. But this chapter was just so much fun, it practically wrote itself. Hopefully I can have something else put out by the end of the week before college really starts to get going. Enjoy!
Chapter Three: Boundaries
“I am going to kill her.”
“That rather defeats the purpose of you being her bodyguard, doesn’t it?”
Nico picked up his head from where it had been buried against Percy’s scratched and worn kitchen table. His friend was leaning back in his chair, a familiar, concentrated look on his face – Percy Jackson was trying not to laugh and was failing miserably.
“I hate you,” Nico said, slamming his head back down onto the table. “I hate you so fucking much.”
“Oh, come on, Nico,” Percy replied. “You haven’t seen me in a year, and this is how you treat me? I feel so loved.”
“Maybe I’d love you more if you had warned me that your best friend was a psychopath. I can’t believe I thought she was normal all these years. She had to be crazy to even think about being the Oracle in the first place.”
“Rachel’s not that bad.”
Nico looked up from the table and stared at Percy in disbelief until the other boy shifted uncomfortably and said, “All right, so maybe she some annoying and slightly crazy quirks. Has she listened to Tuvan throat singing at full volume during the middle of the night yet?”
“Is that what that was?” Nico didn’t ask why Percy knew what kind of music Rachel played in the middle of the night. Questioning Percy’s devotion to Annabeth was rather pointless as those two were still as ridiculously in love as they had been for the last seven years. It’d take something bigger than Rachel Elizabeth Dare to tear them apart. “I’ve had nightmares set to that music for the last two nights. She’s insane.”
“She’s artistic.”
Nico rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table. At least Percy wasn’t going to scream at him for ten minutes for putting a scratch into his table with his boots like Rachel had. For someone who claimed to be apathetic about how her nice things were treated, Rachel sure could shriek when he so much as touched something expensive in her apartment.
“If that’s a nice way of saying we should have her committed, sure, I’ll go with it.”
Percy narrowed his green eyes at him. Nico knew he was probably pushing some buttons by trashing Percy’s best mortal friend, but the last week with Rachel had not left him with a good impression of her. And for some bizarre reason, he was still attracted to her like crazy, no matter how nasty or exasperating she had been to him. This bodyguard job was turning out to be the most frustrating experience of his life.
“Like we’re ones to talk. I mean, I’m the freak who can’t be hurt and you’re the freak who can summon the dead,” Percy replied tensely. “Rachel’s weird, but at least she’s not making her skeleton minions follow you around the city.”
Nico groaned, and ran a hand over his face. That had been an incident that had not gone over very well and had actually led to several dishes being thrown at his head. In fact, it was also the reason he was over at Percy’s place and Rachel was out with Annabeth – they probably would kill each other if left unsupervised together much longer.
“She told you about that?”
“I was there when she called Annabeth. She was so furious, I could hear her screaming from across the room.”
Percy’s expression had turned from Your-Misery-Amuses-Me-Please-Continue to his This-Is-No-Longer-Amusing-And-I-Might-Have-To-Kick-Your-Ass-Now scowl. Annabeth often said the second was his “heroic” look, but it only inspired a heighted level of terror in Nico.
“It wasn’t like I wanted to do it, but how else am I so supposed to protect her when she tries to lose me every time we go out in public? Did she tell you she got me thrown out of a club the other night by telling the bouncers I was sexually harassing her? Which I was most certainly not doing, by the way,” he said, catching Percy’s darkening look. “She didn’t even tell me where she was going that night! I’m lucky if I notice her leaving at all, so that’s why I set the skeletons up to follow her. Now she just thinks I’m being creepy and misogynistic and a whole bunch of other fun vocabulary words that are impressive but I have no idea what they mean, when all I’m trying to do is keep her safe. I don’t think she realizes how much danger she’s in.”
Percy leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table.
“Do you even know how much danger she’s in?”
“See, that’s the thing. I don’t think anyone really knows who’s behind this – or if the gods know, they’d rather us bumble around like idiots first before telling us what’s going on. My father said it was some ‘old enemies’ of Olympus, and that’s a pretty long list to go through,” Nico explained. “For all I know, it could be some bitter Titan, a pissy minor god, or maybe even one of the primordial deities.”
The older man shuddered at the thought, and then rose from his chair.
“I think I’m going to need a beer to get through this discussion,” Percy said as he took a few strides over to the small refrigerator and opened it.
“If I knew what I was up against, maybe I wouldn’t be so paranoid about her safety, but I’d rather be a nuisance than get her killed because she doesn’t want to be inconvenienced,” Nico continued as Percy rummaged through the fridge. “Do you have anything stronger than beer? I need something that will make me forget this week ever happened.”
“Who said I’m giving you anything?” Percy said with a teasing tone. “You’re still underage, and I don’t want to get caught for contributing to a minor.”
“Fuck you, Jackson. My birth certificate says I’m old enough to be your grandfather, and if you don’t give me some alcohol, I’m really going to do something to make your neighbors call the cops.”
Percy grinned at him and said, “How I’ve missed your foul mouth and threats of death and dismemberment, Nico. And sorry to disappoint, but all we have is beer.”
Nico groaned miserably, his feet falling from the table to the floor.
“Just toss me whatever you have then. I don’t care if I have to drink thirty cans of shit American beer, I just need to get drunk.”
“That’s probably not a wise thing to do, considering you’re still going to have escort Rachel home at the end of the night.”
“Fuck,” Nico said, and his head returned to the surface of the table. “It’s like she exists to ruin my life!”
*
“I’m telling you, it’s like he exists to ruin my life!”
It wasn’t the first time Rachel had had to shout that over the music at the bar tonight, but that might’ve been because she was more than a little inebriated. She usually wasn’t much of a drinker, preferring to let everyone else make fools of themselves while she watched from the sidelines instead, but she’d had her fair share of shots the moment she and Annabeth had walked into the bar.
“Here,” Annabeth said, slapping another shot glass full of something clear in front of her. “Have another one. It’ll make you feel much better.”
If someone had told Rachel eight years ago that Annabeth Chase would one day be one of her best friends, she would’ve laughed in their face. But once they’d stopped feuding over Percy, they’d actually found out they had a lot in common and got along extremely well in social situations. Percy was still slightly horrified that the two most terrifying women in his life were best friends, mostly because he believed they plotted ways to make him miserable when they got together. Which wasn’t true – most of the time.
Annabeth was much more drunk than Rachel; she was getting giggling and balancing precariously on her bar stool. Out of all of them, Annabeth had the worst tolerance for alcohol. It took a lot to get Percy drunk, but when it happened, it hit him hard and fast, so Rachel had been able to drink him under the table several times and was quite proud of that fact. Nico, however, seemed like he’d have a strong constitution so he might be a challenge –
At the thought of that demigod menace, Rachel threw back the shot and winced as it burned its way down her throat.
“Ugh, that was some shit liquor,” she said and Annabeth nodded in agreement, her grey eyes closed in concentration. “You okay?”
“Fine!” she replied, opening her eyes and smiling sloppily. “I’m just thinking about how much more I need to drink, that’s all.”
“I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in the world to fill my needs right now,” Rachel said. “I told you he wants to follow me to class, right? I mean, as if I’m not the biggest freak in the art department as it is, he wants to add a stalker on top of all that.”
“Well, NYU is almost halfway across the city from your place. He can’t do his job if he’s not nearby, Rachel. And you don’t want to die, right?”
Rachel still had the mindset that this whole, “People are trying to kill you!” thing of Apollo’s was a slight overreaction on his part. She hadn’t seen any sort of monster or dangerous looking thing since the attack on the subway, and she knew Nico didn’t know anything more than she did. She only hoped Apollo realized he colossal mistake before she got on Hades’s bad side for murdering his son.
“I don’t have a problem with him hanging around on campus or anything, but he wants to follow me into the classroom! How would you like it if Percy was following you around to class and watching who you’re hanging out with and stuff?”
Annabeth’s face darkened at the thought of it. “You’re right. I’d kick his ass if he even thought about doing something like that. This madness must be stopped.”
“I know, right? This would all be so much easier if he wasn’t so damn good looking – ”
The blonde girl snorted into her other drink.
“Wait, wait, wait, back up a second here,” she said, holding up a hand. “Did I just hear you say that Nico is good looking? We’re still talking about the same son of Hades, right?”
Rachel moaned and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t meant for that come out – damn the alcohol for loosening her lips like that! – and now Annabeth was never going to let her hear the end of it.
“I’m not saying another word.”
“Oh, come on! You can’t say something like that and not tell me anything else!” Annabeth reached across the space between them and shook Rachel’s arm. “Come on, Rachel! I’m dying to know over here!”
The unfortunate thing about getting Annabeth drunk was that was usually the only time she ever wanted to do “girl talk.” She was worse than a boy when it came to talking about her feelings when sober, so everything always came out after she had a few drinks. They’d broken up Rachel’s complaining about Nico with Annabeth’s worries that Percy was never going to propose to her and a whole host of other issues she’d never let out otherwise.
“Fine, but you have to swear not to tell Percy a single word of this conversation,” Rachel said, leaning forward on her barstool to whisper to Annabeth. “Because I know he’ll tease me about it forever.”
“Forget about Percy. I’ll tease you about it,” Annabeth replied with a drunken giggle. “I still can’t believe you think Nico is hot. This whole chastity thing must be making you desperate.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?” Rachel asked defensively. She knew there was nothing wrong with her taste, even though she’d wished there was during the last week. It was a depressing fact of life: Nico was devastatingly attractive.
“Oh…probably my last year of camp, I suppose. I know he stayed with Percy for a while, but I was always in Boston when he was around,” she replied, taking another sip of her drink. “I just remember him being very short…and very pale…and pimply.”
“Well, he’s none of those things now,” Rachel grumbled, not-so-secretly wishing there was something wrong with him. “He’s practically – and you cannot laugh when I say this – godlike now, I swear. And Apollo told me all Hades’s kids were unattractive – puhlease.”
“Is he better looking than Percy?” Annabeth whispered.
Rachel had to think about it. Even though her crush on Percy had been long dead and buried, she still could admit that he was good looking. He and Nico both had that classic athletic thing – tall, slender, and fit – going on, and they had similar coloring with the dark hair and tan skin. She supposed they’d share some similarities, considering they were first cousins and all, but Rachel found Nico to be the most attractive out of the two…probably because he was the available one.
“In a different way. Nico’s got that dangerous air about him that Percy just doesn’t have, you know? I suppose that’s why he drives me crazy because I like dangerous stuff. Sometimes.”
“But you can’t – I mean, with the chastity thing and everything – ”
“Oh, believe me, I know. But I can look, can’t I? Besides, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to do anything with that prick. He’s personality flaws pretty much kill whatever limited attraction I have for him.”
Annabeth’s grey eyes were watching her carefully, analyzing her like she was one of her blueprints and she was looking for some kind of flaw in the design. Rachel looked away from her and downed the last of her beer, unsettled by her gaze.
“You know,” Annabeth said slowly as she drank. “I think part of the reason you might be mad at Nico is that he doesn’t return the attraction.”
Rachel had to control the urge to spit out her beer all over the bar.
“You’ve got to be kidding, Annabeth,” she said, staring at her friend in shock. “I’m not – he’s not – I could care less about whether or not he finds me attractive! He’s an insensitive wart and – and – oh my gods, I can’t believe you think that! It’s not true at all!”
“Me thinks the lady doth sputter in protest too much,” Annabeth said with a sly smile. “You want Nico di Angelo to think you’re cute!”
“I think we need more to drink if this is the direction our conversation is heading,” Rachel said, signaling the bartender over again.
*
“So, tell me,” Percy began as he cracked open his sixth beer. Nico was still nursing his second, and stared at him jealously. “How much of your problem with Rachel stems from the fact that you think she’s hot?”
Nico was thankful he wasn’t drinking anything at the moment otherwise it would’ve gotten spewed all over Percy’s furniture.
“What? No. No! That has nothing to do with that.”
Percy looked skeptical.
“So you don’t find Rachel attractive in the slightest?”
“It’s her personality I have a problem with, Percy, or were you not listening to the last two hours of my rantings and ravings?”
“You’re avoiding the question,” Percy replied with a grin and wagged his finger in Nico’s direction. “You think Rachel’s hot! Just admit it already. It’s not like I’m going to go blab to her about it.”
Nico grit his teeth and looked at the ceiling so he could avoid seeing Percy’s triumphant smirk.
“I think she’s fucking gorgeous, okay? I’d have to be completely dead not to be attracted to her. Which, despite popular belief, I’m not.”
“Ah,” the older boy said sagely. “That’s probably the root of your problem right there: Unresolved sexual tension.”
“No way. I admitted Rachel was pretty, but there is absolutely no sexual tension between us. At all.”
Usually, Nico was a fairly convincing liar, but either Percy was determined to make him miserable tonight or it was painfully obviously that he was lying through his teeth. More likely, it was a combination of both as Percy never failed to try and create misery in his life.
“C’mon, Nico. You’re telling me you haven’t at least thought of doing Rachel at least once this entire week? And that she hasn’t thought about doing the same thing to you?”
This time, Nico did spit out his drink, although it didn’t do much more than dribble down his chin. Percy laughed, and Nico furiously wiped at his mouth with his sleeve.
“Rachel hates me, Percy. I doubt she thinks about me naked, let alone…that other thing.”
“Does she bite the inside of her cheek whenever she’s around you for a while?” Nico thought about it, recalling that happening during several arguments throughout the week, and nodded reluctantly. “That means she’s trying distract herself from kissing you. She used to do that around me all the time.”
“When she was fifteen.”
Percy shrugged. “People don’t change their habits that much. So if she’s biting the inside of her cheek, then you know she’s interested in you.”
“Or that’s she’s trying to hold back a scathing tirade about my family history and personal hygiene,” he replied, trying not to acknowledge that Rachel could possibly be attracted to him because that would open a whole different can of worms that he didn’t want to deal with. “All right, let’s just go along with your crazy theory and say that we’re both attracted to each other. You know we can’t do anything together – ”
“Exactly!” Percy exclaimed, leaning forward and jabbing his finger on the table in emphasis. “Its unresolved sexual tension, I’m telling you. You’re both upset because you can’t have sex with each other, so you take it out your frustrations out by arguing and getting in fights all the time. That’s always a big problem when you have a roommate you’re attracted to. Trust me, before Annabeth and I started having sex – ”
“Oh gods, I don’t need to hear this,” Nico interrupted, putting his hands over his ears. As much as he liked Percy, he hated hearing about the other boy’s intimate relationship with Annabeth because it was like listening to his older brother talk about these sorts of things. Nico would acknowledge that his sex life did exist, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear the dirty details about it.
“ – we drove each other insane when we were living together that summer before college. I mean, living with another person usually takes some getting used to anyway, but I personally think living with someone that you want is a lot worse,” Percy continued, pausing for a moment to chug from his beer. “You and I argued when we lived together, but it was over stupid stuff like where the remote disappeared to and stuff. It’s nothing like what I argued about with Annabeth or what you’re experiencing with Rachel, right?”
Nico nodded, finding that there was some truth in Percy’s explanation. Percy hadn’t nearly driven him as crazy as Rachel had been, and they’d settled their serious arguments by beating the crap out of each other. But the difference between Nico and Rachel and the other two was that arguing was like foreplay for Percy and Annabeth. He and Rachel liked to argue because they genuinely pissed each other off, and because they didn’t have much in common to hold a civil conversation over.
“What’s your solution then? We obviously can’t settle our problem how you and Annabeth do, and I know Rachel isn’t going to take kindly to the way you and I settled disagreements.”
“Boundaries,” Percy said in a reverent way, as if that one word held all the answers in the universe. “You have to make a list of boundaries. Like when Annabeth’s over, I can’t interrupt her during Jeopardy and she can’t rearrange my sock drawer. Once you talk about what annoys you, it becomes easier to avoid doing it.”
“That sounds…easy enough.”
It did, but he didn’t know how boundaries were going to solve his attraction to Rachel. It wasn’t like he could ask her to stop being pretty, after all.
“Oh, and I wouldn’t follow her to class,” Percy added. “Rachel’s very independent and there’s nothing she hates more than someone encroaching on her independence. You’re never going to get on her good side if you remind her of her dad.”
Nico had figured as much. Perhaps it would be for the best if he sat down and talked about security measures with Rachel from now on. It was her life he was guarding, after all, and she should have some say in how it would be guarded. Provided she wanted to talk to him, after everything that had happened between them.
“Thanks for the advice, Perce – ”
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
“ – do you know what time it is?”
Percy made a grab for his cell phone just as it began to ring. Almost all monsters east of the Mississippi River knew were Percy lived, so owning a cell phone wasn't as dangerous for him as it had been in years past. Nico was deeply amused to discover that the ringtone was set to “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid though. Percy caught him laughing and grimaced.
“It’s Annabeth’s ringer, all right? She gets mad every time I change it because she thinks it’s cute,” he made a gagging face and flipped his phone open. “Hello? Hey, Wise Girl. You done for the night?” Percy paused to listen to his girlfriend on the other end. He rolled his eyes and mouthed, ‘She’s drunk,’ at Nico. “Yeah, yeah, we can come pick you up in a few. We’ll be outside waiting, all right? Yes, I love you too. See you in a bit.”
He snapped his phone shut as Nico drained the last of his beer. He set the can on the coffee table and crushed it with his flat of his palm.
“Nice,” Percy said, getting up from his armchair and setting his own can on the kitchen counter. “You’re going to have your hands full tonight. If Annabeth was slurring her words, I don’t want to imagine what Rachel’s going to be like.”
“Great, a drunk Dare. That’s exactly what my week was missing,” he said, rising from the sofa and wiping his hands on his jeans. “Who are you calling now?”
“A cab,” Percy replied, dialing a number. “Duh.”
“We don’t need a cab,” Nico sighed in annoyance, walking over and grabbing Percy’s upper arm. “Come on, into the shadows we go.”
“Wait, Nico – shit, you know I don’t like shadow traveling when I’m waaaaasted – !”
The rest of Percy’s complaint was lost in the darkness and the howl of the wind.
*
When she and Annabeth walked out of the bar (walked was actually too kind of a word for what Annabeth was doing, draped all over Rachel like she was) a few minutes after her phone call to Percy, the men were already waiting for them like they’d said they would. Except Percy was leaning over a garbage can and emptying his guts into it, and Nico stood by, looking amused.
“Shouldn’t have drank so much, huh?” Nico said smartly.
Percy mumbled something that sounded like, “I hate you so fucking much,” before ducking his head back into the garbage can.
“Well, if it isn’t the mighty hero of Olympus and his sidekick, the Dead Boy Wonder,” Rachel exclaimed loudly as they wobbled over to the men. Rachel wasn’t nearly as drunk as Annabeth, but she was rather close. “Come to save us from the perils of consuming alcohol, I suspect?”
“Dare,” Nico said, acknowledging her with a sardonic smile. He glanced at the other woman next. “Annabeth. Long time, no see.”
Rachel watched as Annabeth’s eyes bugged out at the sight of Nico, and she gave the boy a very obvious once over.
“Rachel was right. You did get hot,” Annabeth slurred, letting go of Rachel and walking over to her boyfriend. “Seaweed Brain, can’t I take you anywhere in public without you throwing up?”
“Excuse me for not having a stomach of steel,” Percy replied, finally resurfacing from the garbage can. He wiped his chin on his sweater and then wrapped an arm around Annabeth’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get out of here and call a cab before crazy over there decides to shadow travel us to the Underworld without warning. Hi Rachel. See you, Rachel.”
“Try not to kill him!” Annabeth added merrily.
“You’re welcome!” Nico shouted at their retreating backs, and Percy gave a weak wave over his shoulder. Then they were around corner and out of sight, leaving the two of them alone.
The tension between them had dispersed a bit, but Rachel was still furious with Nico and she was wiling to bet his anger had not abated either. But she decided it was best not to get into a fight with him when she was drunk; she might say something she didn’t mean to.
“I see the demon bike is no where in sight. Are we planning on walking?”
“That’s the plan, unless you’re as uncoordinated as Miss Chase was. Then walking a few blocks back to your place might become an adventure.”
Rachel sniffed at him, determined to prove that she still had all her coordination and it was still in prime condition, and started walking in the direction of her apartment. She only stumbled when she got to the street corner, and Nico caught her and pulled her back just before she tumbled in front of a moving car.
“Guess not,” he said with that insufferable grin of his that made her heart flutter.
She hated that he had this affect on her, and that she loved the way his arm felt wrapped around her waist or the way his fingers were caressing the skin of her wrist. Damn it all, how was she supposed to stay mad at him when every single cell in her body was screaming at to kiss him already?
“Rachel,” he said, snapping her out of her trance. She directed her eyes away from his lips. “Can you walk, or do you need me to carry you back to your place?”
She scoffed, pushing his hands away and straightening herself.
“No, I’m perfectly capable of – shit!”
It was at the moment the last bit of alcohol she had guzzled at the bar decided to kick in, and her head started to spin rapidly. She leaned against a parked car, willing herself not to pull a Percy and heave her stomach onto the pavement.
“You’re sure?” Nico asked, amused.
“All right, all right. Carry me if you like, just – just stop standing in two places at once, okay?”
Nico laughed and squatted down beside her. Wordless, she clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and setting her legs near his waist. He stood up, gripping the backs of her thighs in his hands and started walking down the street.
“Aren’t you worried about me strangling you?” she asked after they had walked in silence for a little while. Her chin was resting on his shoulder, and her lips were right by his left ear. “I’ve been tempted to do it all week, you know, and now I’ve got you right where I want you.”
“Nah. You won’t.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“Because then you’d be out of a free ride home and you’d have to stash my body somewhere inconspicuous. You’d never manage it.”
“I can be very crafty when I’m drunk. You have no idea.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you, Dare.”
It struck Rachel as rather pathetic that their first somewhat civil conversation in days had to come about because she was drunk and incapable of doing anything except talking. But it was rather hard to summon righteous indignation while he was being nice to her and giving her a piggyback ride through the Upper East Side. If only her father could see her now…
“So, did you really tell Annabeth that you think I’m hot?” he asked, taking it upon himself to break the silence this time.
Rachel groaned and closed her eyes. She should’ve known he wouldn’t have missed that part of the conversation.
“I cannot be held accountable for what I did or did not say under the influence of alcohol,” she replied primly.
“That’s a yes, then?”
“I’m sure you and Percy talked about much more fascinating things than what Annabeth and I discussed,” Rachel said, trying and failing to change the subject smoothly. “So spill, Dead Boy. Did Percy say when he was going to propose to Annabeth yet?”
“No,” he said, turning down a different street. “We talked about boundaries.”
“Boundaries?”
“Yeah, you know…we’re supposed to air our grievances and make up some rule so we don’t annoy the fuck out of each other from now on.”
“Like no sending skeleton soldiers to follow me on the way to the grocery store?”
She could feel Nico’s shoulders tense under her.
“And no going to the grocery store without telling me?”
Rachel rolled her eyes skyward. “Can this wait until morning? I would only like to address my grievances while sober.”
“Whatever you say, Dare.”
“Why are you still sober, by the way? You must be, if you were talking about boundaries.”
“I’m on the job 24/7, remember? I can’t guard your ass if I’m tripping over my feet and telling my friends how cute I think my demigod bodyguard of death is.”
Rachel balled up her fist and whacked him in the shoulder. He laughed – something she wished he’d do more often. He always looked so sad and angry all the time, and, even if she didn’t want to admit it, it kind of broke her heart…mostly because he reminded of her of herself, and she had no idea how to fix that.
Rachel closed her eyes and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. She felt safe and content clinging to Nico’s back as they walked in the dark, and although she wondered how much of those feelings were caused by the alcohol, she wanted it to last as long as possible.
She must’ve dozed off for a few moments because the next thing she remembered was her elevator dinging as it reached her floor. She stirred on Nico’s back, but he didn’t let her down until they were inside and in the hall by her bedroom door.
“Thanks,” she said, looking up at him. Without thinking about it, she reached up to brush a stray curl of hair out of his eyes. “You know, you’re not half bad when you’re not being a childish little prick.”
“And you’re not too bad when you’re not being a stark mad raving lunatic,” Nico said, patting her on the shoulder. “Good night, Dare.”
“Night, di Angelo,” she murmured, watching him walk down the hallway before ducking into her room.
*
Screetch.
Rachel had only just fallen into a very light slumber when she heard it.
Screetch.
Groggily, she raised her head from her pillow, wondering what on earth could be making that noise. Nothing in her room made any sort of noise like that. She heard it again, just a little bit louder, and decided the sound was coming from her balcony door.
Some kind of warning was trying to get through the drunken haze of her mind, but she ignored it as she threw her covers off her bed and stumbled over to the balcony.
Screetch.
She drew back the curtain, and the misshapen black shadow scraping at her window glass glared at her with glowing red eyes.
Screeeeeetch.
Rachel screamed.
Next
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Rachel/Nico,with appearances from the rest of the cast and the gods
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Summary: After an attempt on her life, Apollo decides Rachel needs a bodyguard and who better to take the job than a certain son of Hades? Too bad they're not going to make things easy for each other, especially when it comes to their feelings.
Notes: Holy shit you guys, I wrote a 5,300 word chapter in two days. That's pretty good for not having a working laptop around, IMO. But this chapter was just so much fun, it practically wrote itself. Hopefully I can have something else put out by the end of the week before college really starts to get going. Enjoy!
“I am going to kill her.”
“That rather defeats the purpose of you being her bodyguard, doesn’t it?”
Nico picked up his head from where it had been buried against Percy’s scratched and worn kitchen table. His friend was leaning back in his chair, a familiar, concentrated look on his face – Percy Jackson was trying not to laugh and was failing miserably.
“I hate you,” Nico said, slamming his head back down onto the table. “I hate you so fucking much.”
“Oh, come on, Nico,” Percy replied. “You haven’t seen me in a year, and this is how you treat me? I feel so loved.”
“Maybe I’d love you more if you had warned me that your best friend was a psychopath. I can’t believe I thought she was normal all these years. She had to be crazy to even think about being the Oracle in the first place.”
“Rachel’s not that bad.”
Nico looked up from the table and stared at Percy in disbelief until the other boy shifted uncomfortably and said, “All right, so maybe she some annoying and slightly crazy quirks. Has she listened to Tuvan throat singing at full volume during the middle of the night yet?”
“Is that what that was?” Nico didn’t ask why Percy knew what kind of music Rachel played in the middle of the night. Questioning Percy’s devotion to Annabeth was rather pointless as those two were still as ridiculously in love as they had been for the last seven years. It’d take something bigger than Rachel Elizabeth Dare to tear them apart. “I’ve had nightmares set to that music for the last two nights. She’s insane.”
“She’s artistic.”
Nico rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table. At least Percy wasn’t going to scream at him for ten minutes for putting a scratch into his table with his boots like Rachel had. For someone who claimed to be apathetic about how her nice things were treated, Rachel sure could shriek when he so much as touched something expensive in her apartment.
“If that’s a nice way of saying we should have her committed, sure, I’ll go with it.”
Percy narrowed his green eyes at him. Nico knew he was probably pushing some buttons by trashing Percy’s best mortal friend, but the last week with Rachel had not left him with a good impression of her. And for some bizarre reason, he was still attracted to her like crazy, no matter how nasty or exasperating she had been to him. This bodyguard job was turning out to be the most frustrating experience of his life.
“Like we’re ones to talk. I mean, I’m the freak who can’t be hurt and you’re the freak who can summon the dead,” Percy replied tensely. “Rachel’s weird, but at least she’s not making her skeleton minions follow you around the city.”
Nico groaned, and ran a hand over his face. That had been an incident that had not gone over very well and had actually led to several dishes being thrown at his head. In fact, it was also the reason he was over at Percy’s place and Rachel was out with Annabeth – they probably would kill each other if left unsupervised together much longer.
“She told you about that?”
“I was there when she called Annabeth. She was so furious, I could hear her screaming from across the room.”
Percy’s expression had turned from Your-Misery-Amuses-Me-Please-Continue to his This-Is-No-Longer-Amusing-And-I-Might-Have-To-Kick-Your-Ass-Now scowl. Annabeth often said the second was his “heroic” look, but it only inspired a heighted level of terror in Nico.
“It wasn’t like I wanted to do it, but how else am I so supposed to protect her when she tries to lose me every time we go out in public? Did she tell you she got me thrown out of a club the other night by telling the bouncers I was sexually harassing her? Which I was most certainly not doing, by the way,” he said, catching Percy’s darkening look. “She didn’t even tell me where she was going that night! I’m lucky if I notice her leaving at all, so that’s why I set the skeletons up to follow her. Now she just thinks I’m being creepy and misogynistic and a whole bunch of other fun vocabulary words that are impressive but I have no idea what they mean, when all I’m trying to do is keep her safe. I don’t think she realizes how much danger she’s in.”
Percy leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table.
“Do you even know how much danger she’s in?”
“See, that’s the thing. I don’t think anyone really knows who’s behind this – or if the gods know, they’d rather us bumble around like idiots first before telling us what’s going on. My father said it was some ‘old enemies’ of Olympus, and that’s a pretty long list to go through,” Nico explained. “For all I know, it could be some bitter Titan, a pissy minor god, or maybe even one of the primordial deities.”
The older man shuddered at the thought, and then rose from his chair.
“I think I’m going to need a beer to get through this discussion,” Percy said as he took a few strides over to the small refrigerator and opened it.
“If I knew what I was up against, maybe I wouldn’t be so paranoid about her safety, but I’d rather be a nuisance than get her killed because she doesn’t want to be inconvenienced,” Nico continued as Percy rummaged through the fridge. “Do you have anything stronger than beer? I need something that will make me forget this week ever happened.”
“Who said I’m giving you anything?” Percy said with a teasing tone. “You’re still underage, and I don’t want to get caught for contributing to a minor.”
“Fuck you, Jackson. My birth certificate says I’m old enough to be your grandfather, and if you don’t give me some alcohol, I’m really going to do something to make your neighbors call the cops.”
Percy grinned at him and said, “How I’ve missed your foul mouth and threats of death and dismemberment, Nico. And sorry to disappoint, but all we have is beer.”
Nico groaned miserably, his feet falling from the table to the floor.
“Just toss me whatever you have then. I don’t care if I have to drink thirty cans of shit American beer, I just need to get drunk.”
“That’s probably not a wise thing to do, considering you’re still going to have escort Rachel home at the end of the night.”
“Fuck,” Nico said, and his head returned to the surface of the table. “It’s like she exists to ruin my life!”
*
“I’m telling you, it’s like he exists to ruin my life!”
It wasn’t the first time Rachel had had to shout that over the music at the bar tonight, but that might’ve been because she was more than a little inebriated. She usually wasn’t much of a drinker, preferring to let everyone else make fools of themselves while she watched from the sidelines instead, but she’d had her fair share of shots the moment she and Annabeth had walked into the bar.
“Here,” Annabeth said, slapping another shot glass full of something clear in front of her. “Have another one. It’ll make you feel much better.”
If someone had told Rachel eight years ago that Annabeth Chase would one day be one of her best friends, she would’ve laughed in their face. But once they’d stopped feuding over Percy, they’d actually found out they had a lot in common and got along extremely well in social situations. Percy was still slightly horrified that the two most terrifying women in his life were best friends, mostly because he believed they plotted ways to make him miserable when they got together. Which wasn’t true – most of the time.
Annabeth was much more drunk than Rachel; she was getting giggling and balancing precariously on her bar stool. Out of all of them, Annabeth had the worst tolerance for alcohol. It took a lot to get Percy drunk, but when it happened, it hit him hard and fast, so Rachel had been able to drink him under the table several times and was quite proud of that fact. Nico, however, seemed like he’d have a strong constitution so he might be a challenge –
At the thought of that demigod menace, Rachel threw back the shot and winced as it burned its way down her throat.
“Ugh, that was some shit liquor,” she said and Annabeth nodded in agreement, her grey eyes closed in concentration. “You okay?”
“Fine!” she replied, opening her eyes and smiling sloppily. “I’m just thinking about how much more I need to drink, that’s all.”
“I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in the world to fill my needs right now,” Rachel said. “I told you he wants to follow me to class, right? I mean, as if I’m not the biggest freak in the art department as it is, he wants to add a stalker on top of all that.”
“Well, NYU is almost halfway across the city from your place. He can’t do his job if he’s not nearby, Rachel. And you don’t want to die, right?”
Rachel still had the mindset that this whole, “People are trying to kill you!” thing of Apollo’s was a slight overreaction on his part. She hadn’t seen any sort of monster or dangerous looking thing since the attack on the subway, and she knew Nico didn’t know anything more than she did. She only hoped Apollo realized he colossal mistake before she got on Hades’s bad side for murdering his son.
“I don’t have a problem with him hanging around on campus or anything, but he wants to follow me into the classroom! How would you like it if Percy was following you around to class and watching who you’re hanging out with and stuff?”
Annabeth’s face darkened at the thought of it. “You’re right. I’d kick his ass if he even thought about doing something like that. This madness must be stopped.”
“I know, right? This would all be so much easier if he wasn’t so damn good looking – ”
The blonde girl snorted into her other drink.
“Wait, wait, wait, back up a second here,” she said, holding up a hand. “Did I just hear you say that Nico is good looking? We’re still talking about the same son of Hades, right?”
Rachel moaned and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t meant for that come out – damn the alcohol for loosening her lips like that! – and now Annabeth was never going to let her hear the end of it.
“I’m not saying another word.”
“Oh, come on! You can’t say something like that and not tell me anything else!” Annabeth reached across the space between them and shook Rachel’s arm. “Come on, Rachel! I’m dying to know over here!”
The unfortunate thing about getting Annabeth drunk was that was usually the only time she ever wanted to do “girl talk.” She was worse than a boy when it came to talking about her feelings when sober, so everything always came out after she had a few drinks. They’d broken up Rachel’s complaining about Nico with Annabeth’s worries that Percy was never going to propose to her and a whole host of other issues she’d never let out otherwise.
“Fine, but you have to swear not to tell Percy a single word of this conversation,” Rachel said, leaning forward on her barstool to whisper to Annabeth. “Because I know he’ll tease me about it forever.”
“Forget about Percy. I’ll tease you about it,” Annabeth replied with a drunken giggle. “I still can’t believe you think Nico is hot. This whole chastity thing must be making you desperate.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?” Rachel asked defensively. She knew there was nothing wrong with her taste, even though she’d wished there was during the last week. It was a depressing fact of life: Nico was devastatingly attractive.
“Oh…probably my last year of camp, I suppose. I know he stayed with Percy for a while, but I was always in Boston when he was around,” she replied, taking another sip of her drink. “I just remember him being very short…and very pale…and pimply.”
“Well, he’s none of those things now,” Rachel grumbled, not-so-secretly wishing there was something wrong with him. “He’s practically – and you cannot laugh when I say this – godlike now, I swear. And Apollo told me all Hades’s kids were unattractive – puhlease.”
“Is he better looking than Percy?” Annabeth whispered.
Rachel had to think about it. Even though her crush on Percy had been long dead and buried, she still could admit that he was good looking. He and Nico both had that classic athletic thing – tall, slender, and fit – going on, and they had similar coloring with the dark hair and tan skin. She supposed they’d share some similarities, considering they were first cousins and all, but Rachel found Nico to be the most attractive out of the two…probably because he was the available one.
“In a different way. Nico’s got that dangerous air about him that Percy just doesn’t have, you know? I suppose that’s why he drives me crazy because I like dangerous stuff. Sometimes.”
“But you can’t – I mean, with the chastity thing and everything – ”
“Oh, believe me, I know. But I can look, can’t I? Besides, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to do anything with that prick. He’s personality flaws pretty much kill whatever limited attraction I have for him.”
Annabeth’s grey eyes were watching her carefully, analyzing her like she was one of her blueprints and she was looking for some kind of flaw in the design. Rachel looked away from her and downed the last of her beer, unsettled by her gaze.
“You know,” Annabeth said slowly as she drank. “I think part of the reason you might be mad at Nico is that he doesn’t return the attraction.”
Rachel had to control the urge to spit out her beer all over the bar.
“You’ve got to be kidding, Annabeth,” she said, staring at her friend in shock. “I’m not – he’s not – I could care less about whether or not he finds me attractive! He’s an insensitive wart and – and – oh my gods, I can’t believe you think that! It’s not true at all!”
“Me thinks the lady doth sputter in protest too much,” Annabeth said with a sly smile. “You want Nico di Angelo to think you’re cute!”
“I think we need more to drink if this is the direction our conversation is heading,” Rachel said, signaling the bartender over again.
*
“So, tell me,” Percy began as he cracked open his sixth beer. Nico was still nursing his second, and stared at him jealously. “How much of your problem with Rachel stems from the fact that you think she’s hot?”
Nico was thankful he wasn’t drinking anything at the moment otherwise it would’ve gotten spewed all over Percy’s furniture.
“What? No. No! That has nothing to do with that.”
Percy looked skeptical.
“So you don’t find Rachel attractive in the slightest?”
“It’s her personality I have a problem with, Percy, or were you not listening to the last two hours of my rantings and ravings?”
“You’re avoiding the question,” Percy replied with a grin and wagged his finger in Nico’s direction. “You think Rachel’s hot! Just admit it already. It’s not like I’m going to go blab to her about it.”
Nico grit his teeth and looked at the ceiling so he could avoid seeing Percy’s triumphant smirk.
“I think she’s fucking gorgeous, okay? I’d have to be completely dead not to be attracted to her. Which, despite popular belief, I’m not.”
“Ah,” the older boy said sagely. “That’s probably the root of your problem right there: Unresolved sexual tension.”
“No way. I admitted Rachel was pretty, but there is absolutely no sexual tension between us. At all.”
Usually, Nico was a fairly convincing liar, but either Percy was determined to make him miserable tonight or it was painfully obviously that he was lying through his teeth. More likely, it was a combination of both as Percy never failed to try and create misery in his life.
“C’mon, Nico. You’re telling me you haven’t at least thought of doing Rachel at least once this entire week? And that she hasn’t thought about doing the same thing to you?”
This time, Nico did spit out his drink, although it didn’t do much more than dribble down his chin. Percy laughed, and Nico furiously wiped at his mouth with his sleeve.
“Rachel hates me, Percy. I doubt she thinks about me naked, let alone…that other thing.”
“Does she bite the inside of her cheek whenever she’s around you for a while?” Nico thought about it, recalling that happening during several arguments throughout the week, and nodded reluctantly. “That means she’s trying distract herself from kissing you. She used to do that around me all the time.”
“When she was fifteen.”
Percy shrugged. “People don’t change their habits that much. So if she’s biting the inside of her cheek, then you know she’s interested in you.”
“Or that’s she’s trying to hold back a scathing tirade about my family history and personal hygiene,” he replied, trying not to acknowledge that Rachel could possibly be attracted to him because that would open a whole different can of worms that he didn’t want to deal with. “All right, let’s just go along with your crazy theory and say that we’re both attracted to each other. You know we can’t do anything together – ”
“Exactly!” Percy exclaimed, leaning forward and jabbing his finger on the table in emphasis. “Its unresolved sexual tension, I’m telling you. You’re both upset because you can’t have sex with each other, so you take it out your frustrations out by arguing and getting in fights all the time. That’s always a big problem when you have a roommate you’re attracted to. Trust me, before Annabeth and I started having sex – ”
“Oh gods, I don’t need to hear this,” Nico interrupted, putting his hands over his ears. As much as he liked Percy, he hated hearing about the other boy’s intimate relationship with Annabeth because it was like listening to his older brother talk about these sorts of things. Nico would acknowledge that his sex life did exist, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear the dirty details about it.
“ – we drove each other insane when we were living together that summer before college. I mean, living with another person usually takes some getting used to anyway, but I personally think living with someone that you want is a lot worse,” Percy continued, pausing for a moment to chug from his beer. “You and I argued when we lived together, but it was over stupid stuff like where the remote disappeared to and stuff. It’s nothing like what I argued about with Annabeth or what you’re experiencing with Rachel, right?”
Nico nodded, finding that there was some truth in Percy’s explanation. Percy hadn’t nearly driven him as crazy as Rachel had been, and they’d settled their serious arguments by beating the crap out of each other. But the difference between Nico and Rachel and the other two was that arguing was like foreplay for Percy and Annabeth. He and Rachel liked to argue because they genuinely pissed each other off, and because they didn’t have much in common to hold a civil conversation over.
“What’s your solution then? We obviously can’t settle our problem how you and Annabeth do, and I know Rachel isn’t going to take kindly to the way you and I settled disagreements.”
“Boundaries,” Percy said in a reverent way, as if that one word held all the answers in the universe. “You have to make a list of boundaries. Like when Annabeth’s over, I can’t interrupt her during Jeopardy and she can’t rearrange my sock drawer. Once you talk about what annoys you, it becomes easier to avoid doing it.”
“That sounds…easy enough.”
It did, but he didn’t know how boundaries were going to solve his attraction to Rachel. It wasn’t like he could ask her to stop being pretty, after all.
“Oh, and I wouldn’t follow her to class,” Percy added. “Rachel’s very independent and there’s nothing she hates more than someone encroaching on her independence. You’re never going to get on her good side if you remind her of her dad.”
Nico had figured as much. Perhaps it would be for the best if he sat down and talked about security measures with Rachel from now on. It was her life he was guarding, after all, and she should have some say in how it would be guarded. Provided she wanted to talk to him, after everything that had happened between them.
“Thanks for the advice, Perce – ”
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
“ – do you know what time it is?”
Percy made a grab for his cell phone just as it began to ring. Almost all monsters east of the Mississippi River knew were Percy lived, so owning a cell phone wasn't as dangerous for him as it had been in years past. Nico was deeply amused to discover that the ringtone was set to “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid though. Percy caught him laughing and grimaced.
“It’s Annabeth’s ringer, all right? She gets mad every time I change it because she thinks it’s cute,” he made a gagging face and flipped his phone open. “Hello? Hey, Wise Girl. You done for the night?” Percy paused to listen to his girlfriend on the other end. He rolled his eyes and mouthed, ‘She’s drunk,’ at Nico. “Yeah, yeah, we can come pick you up in a few. We’ll be outside waiting, all right? Yes, I love you too. See you in a bit.”
He snapped his phone shut as Nico drained the last of his beer. He set the can on the coffee table and crushed it with his flat of his palm.
“Nice,” Percy said, getting up from his armchair and setting his own can on the kitchen counter. “You’re going to have your hands full tonight. If Annabeth was slurring her words, I don’t want to imagine what Rachel’s going to be like.”
“Great, a drunk Dare. That’s exactly what my week was missing,” he said, rising from the sofa and wiping his hands on his jeans. “Who are you calling now?”
“A cab,” Percy replied, dialing a number. “Duh.”
“We don’t need a cab,” Nico sighed in annoyance, walking over and grabbing Percy’s upper arm. “Come on, into the shadows we go.”
“Wait, Nico – shit, you know I don’t like shadow traveling when I’m waaaaasted – !”
The rest of Percy’s complaint was lost in the darkness and the howl of the wind.
*
When she and Annabeth walked out of the bar (walked was actually too kind of a word for what Annabeth was doing, draped all over Rachel like she was) a few minutes after her phone call to Percy, the men were already waiting for them like they’d said they would. Except Percy was leaning over a garbage can and emptying his guts into it, and Nico stood by, looking amused.
“Shouldn’t have drank so much, huh?” Nico said smartly.
Percy mumbled something that sounded like, “I hate you so fucking much,” before ducking his head back into the garbage can.
“Well, if it isn’t the mighty hero of Olympus and his sidekick, the Dead Boy Wonder,” Rachel exclaimed loudly as they wobbled over to the men. Rachel wasn’t nearly as drunk as Annabeth, but she was rather close. “Come to save us from the perils of consuming alcohol, I suspect?”
“Dare,” Nico said, acknowledging her with a sardonic smile. He glanced at the other woman next. “Annabeth. Long time, no see.”
Rachel watched as Annabeth’s eyes bugged out at the sight of Nico, and she gave the boy a very obvious once over.
“Rachel was right. You did get hot,” Annabeth slurred, letting go of Rachel and walking over to her boyfriend. “Seaweed Brain, can’t I take you anywhere in public without you throwing up?”
“Excuse me for not having a stomach of steel,” Percy replied, finally resurfacing from the garbage can. He wiped his chin on his sweater and then wrapped an arm around Annabeth’s shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get out of here and call a cab before crazy over there decides to shadow travel us to the Underworld without warning. Hi Rachel. See you, Rachel.”
“Try not to kill him!” Annabeth added merrily.
“You’re welcome!” Nico shouted at their retreating backs, and Percy gave a weak wave over his shoulder. Then they were around corner and out of sight, leaving the two of them alone.
The tension between them had dispersed a bit, but Rachel was still furious with Nico and she was wiling to bet his anger had not abated either. But she decided it was best not to get into a fight with him when she was drunk; she might say something she didn’t mean to.
“I see the demon bike is no where in sight. Are we planning on walking?”
“That’s the plan, unless you’re as uncoordinated as Miss Chase was. Then walking a few blocks back to your place might become an adventure.”
Rachel sniffed at him, determined to prove that she still had all her coordination and it was still in prime condition, and started walking in the direction of her apartment. She only stumbled when she got to the street corner, and Nico caught her and pulled her back just before she tumbled in front of a moving car.
“Guess not,” he said with that insufferable grin of his that made her heart flutter.
She hated that he had this affect on her, and that she loved the way his arm felt wrapped around her waist or the way his fingers were caressing the skin of her wrist. Damn it all, how was she supposed to stay mad at him when every single cell in her body was screaming at to kiss him already?
“Rachel,” he said, snapping her out of her trance. She directed her eyes away from his lips. “Can you walk, or do you need me to carry you back to your place?”
She scoffed, pushing his hands away and straightening herself.
“No, I’m perfectly capable of – shit!”
It was at the moment the last bit of alcohol she had guzzled at the bar decided to kick in, and her head started to spin rapidly. She leaned against a parked car, willing herself not to pull a Percy and heave her stomach onto the pavement.
“You’re sure?” Nico asked, amused.
“All right, all right. Carry me if you like, just – just stop standing in two places at once, okay?”
Nico laughed and squatted down beside her. Wordless, she clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and setting her legs near his waist. He stood up, gripping the backs of her thighs in his hands and started walking down the street.
“Aren’t you worried about me strangling you?” she asked after they had walked in silence for a little while. Her chin was resting on his shoulder, and her lips were right by his left ear. “I’ve been tempted to do it all week, you know, and now I’ve got you right where I want you.”
“Nah. You won’t.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“Because then you’d be out of a free ride home and you’d have to stash my body somewhere inconspicuous. You’d never manage it.”
“I can be very crafty when I’m drunk. You have no idea.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you, Dare.”
It struck Rachel as rather pathetic that their first somewhat civil conversation in days had to come about because she was drunk and incapable of doing anything except talking. But it was rather hard to summon righteous indignation while he was being nice to her and giving her a piggyback ride through the Upper East Side. If only her father could see her now…
“So, did you really tell Annabeth that you think I’m hot?” he asked, taking it upon himself to break the silence this time.
Rachel groaned and closed her eyes. She should’ve known he wouldn’t have missed that part of the conversation.
“I cannot be held accountable for what I did or did not say under the influence of alcohol,” she replied primly.
“That’s a yes, then?”
“I’m sure you and Percy talked about much more fascinating things than what Annabeth and I discussed,” Rachel said, trying and failing to change the subject smoothly. “So spill, Dead Boy. Did Percy say when he was going to propose to Annabeth yet?”
“No,” he said, turning down a different street. “We talked about boundaries.”
“Boundaries?”
“Yeah, you know…we’re supposed to air our grievances and make up some rule so we don’t annoy the fuck out of each other from now on.”
“Like no sending skeleton soldiers to follow me on the way to the grocery store?”
She could feel Nico’s shoulders tense under her.
“And no going to the grocery store without telling me?”
Rachel rolled her eyes skyward. “Can this wait until morning? I would only like to address my grievances while sober.”
“Whatever you say, Dare.”
“Why are you still sober, by the way? You must be, if you were talking about boundaries.”
“I’m on the job 24/7, remember? I can’t guard your ass if I’m tripping over my feet and telling my friends how cute I think my demigod bodyguard of death is.”
Rachel balled up her fist and whacked him in the shoulder. He laughed – something she wished he’d do more often. He always looked so sad and angry all the time, and, even if she didn’t want to admit it, it kind of broke her heart…mostly because he reminded of her of herself, and she had no idea how to fix that.
Rachel closed her eyes and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. She felt safe and content clinging to Nico’s back as they walked in the dark, and although she wondered how much of those feelings were caused by the alcohol, she wanted it to last as long as possible.
She must’ve dozed off for a few moments because the next thing she remembered was her elevator dinging as it reached her floor. She stirred on Nico’s back, but he didn’t let her down until they were inside and in the hall by her bedroom door.
“Thanks,” she said, looking up at him. Without thinking about it, she reached up to brush a stray curl of hair out of his eyes. “You know, you’re not half bad when you’re not being a childish little prick.”
“And you’re not too bad when you’re not being a stark mad raving lunatic,” Nico said, patting her on the shoulder. “Good night, Dare.”
“Night, di Angelo,” she murmured, watching him walk down the hallway before ducking into her room.
*
Screetch.
Rachel had only just fallen into a very light slumber when she heard it.
Screetch.
Groggily, she raised her head from her pillow, wondering what on earth could be making that noise. Nothing in her room made any sort of noise like that. She heard it again, just a little bit louder, and decided the sound was coming from her balcony door.
Some kind of warning was trying to get through the drunken haze of her mind, but she ignored it as she threw her covers off her bed and stumbled over to the balcony.
Screetch.
She drew back the curtain, and the misshapen black shadow scraping at her window glass glared at her with glowing red eyes.
Screeeeeetch.
Rachel screamed.
Next
