𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 ─── minor death threats and the like

[ Damien ]

∘☽༓☾∘

𝔇amien Lebedev was a notoriously hard teenager to scare. In fact, most demigods in Camp Half-Blood had never seen the teenager look terrified, not even when Mr. D was shouting at him and threatening to turn him into a dolphin.

Yet, the Aphrodite cabin knew better.

Yes, Damien Lebedev was hard to scare, but if there was one person who could, then it was his eldest sister. That was the reason that Damien was avoiding all eye contact and his sister glared down at him.

"Damien?"

"The sky is wonderful today." Damien muttered, looking for an escape plan, but Silena was unforgiving. She would get an apology out of him, even if it was slightly like trying to get blood from a rock. "Wow, I've never seen it look so good."

"The curtains are closed. Stop it." Silena folded her arms across her chest, one eyebrow cocked as Damien gulped. So, Silena was very annoyed with him. "I thought I told you to help the newbies?"

"I did." Damien nodded, finally making eye contact with the older woman, who's eyes were narrowed.

"Do you want to try that again?"

"I did?" Damien rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans, still trying to keep the grin in place. Don't show weakness, he kept muttering to himself. Don't show weakness.

"Sure. And you remember when we had that conversation about not traumatising children because it wasn't funny?"

"Vaguely."

"You do. We had that conversation three hours ago." Silena corrected.

"Oh yeah, we did!" Damien shot his sister another grin. "Why is that relevant?"

"The new children are curled in a ball, looking terrified." Silena flicked Damien's ear quickly, before he could dodge, causing the fifteen year old to hiss and try to get away from her. "Traumatising children is not funny, Damien Lebedev! What did you say to them?"

"Nothing!" Damien cried, looking for an open window to pitch himself out of. "Nothing at all."

"Liar." Silena snapped. She was the eldest of Damien's siblings and exactly like their mother. She was tall, graceful and held their mother's ability of charmspeak. In fact, she was the perfect child. Compared to her, Damien was the black sheep of the family.

Unlike all of his other siblings, his powers lay in one of their mother's lesser known aspects; her shapeshifting ability. If Damien focused hard enough, then he could will himself to change the appearance of himself. With further training, Chiron had assured Damien that he'd also be able to change the image of others around him, as the Mist did. It was an interesting power, but one that Damien preferred to use for his own gain, trying to get away with things that he normally wouldn't be able to.

Plus it was amusing to blame things on other people, and it also helped him get more food.

"Go and get them some things from the camp store and then you will tell me what you said to them." Silena commanded, a look on her face that warned Damien not to try her patience. "If you steal it, or change into any Hermes children to steal it, I will be furious."

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing. I won't do anything." Damien rolled his eyes, scrabbling away from his sister and out of the Aphrodite cabin. Smoothing out his jacket, Damien shot his sister one last infuriating grin, before rushing off as she picked up a shoe to throw at his head.

He continued to jog away from the cabin, not trusting Silena to not throw it at him despite the distance. Damien only slowed when the camp store came into view, though he got sidetracked at the sight of a head of blonde hair coming out of the Athena cabin.

"Where are you off to, Smarty Pants?" Damien's eyes lit up, leaning down to talk to the shorter daughter of Athena. Annabeth's head snapped up, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the cheeky grin on Damien's face.

"I've told you not to call me that." She hissed, brushing past Damien as he followed along behind her. "It's annoying."

"Precisely why I still do it." Damien replied, before catching sight of the money in her hand. "Camp store?"

"Yes."

"What are you getting?" He was curious now, an eyebrow cocked in question as Annabeth flicked the coins around in her hand.

"Some supplies." Damien waited for her to explain further, his head tilted. "Grover found some new demigods at the school he was looking into, and called for backup. So Thalia, Percy and I are sneaking into the school dance tonight.

"Smarties, are you making me miss seeing you in a prom dress? You're killing me here." Annabeth rolled her eyes, before a small smile appeared on her face, "and Thalia and Percy sounds like a sure recipe for disaster. You sure you're gonna be alright?"

"If anyone can keep them in line, it's me." Annabeth pointed out. "Why are you going to the camp store?"

"Silena wants me to get some things for the new campers. You know, the basics and all." Damien huffed, as Annabeth looked up at him.

"What did you do?"

"Why does everyone assume I've done something?"

"Normally, Silena only asks you to go to the camp store if she wants you out the cabin." Damien couldn't argue with that point. Silena held little faith that he wouldn't steal things from the store. "What did you tell the kids?"

"Nothing." Annabeth cocked an eyebrow. "Nothing too bad. Just a little joke. You know, that if they wanted to be in the Aphrodite cabin, you had to carve out a heart and sacrifice it to our mother. See, it was really nothing."

Annabeth stopped dead in her tracks, turning to look at Damien with a raised eyebrow.

"You said what?" Damien began to chuckle to himself. Sometimes, he made himself laugh. "How is that not 'too bad'?"

"I told the last new campers that they had to drink their crush's blood," Annabeth sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Hey, it stops Silena from asking me to help with the newbies."

"This is why everyone thinks you should have been a son of Hermes," Damien shrugged, taking it as a compliment.

"I think I should as well if not for the, you know," He morphed into Annabeth, who shuddered and waited for him to change back, which took a moment. "That kind of throws a spanner into the whole Hermes thing."

"I still find that weird," They reached the camp store, which was being run by a daughter of Demeter, Katie Gardner. "Hey Katie. I need some mortal money, ambrosia and nectar, please."

"Sure thing," Katie grinned at Annabeth, before glaring at Damien. "What do you want?"

"Ouch," Damien placed a hand over his chest, pulling a hurt face. "That hurts me right here, Katie. I need some newbie stuff for the twins in Aphrodite cabin."

"You gonna pay for it?"

"Of course," She raised an eyebrow, placing the two kits down in front of Damien, who slid some money to her. "Thanks, Katie."

"Go away. Here's your stuff, Annabeth," The blonde girl nodded, placing more of the money down and grabbing the things, as the pair walked back up the trail towards the semi-circle of cabins.

"Well, Smarties, I'm sure that this will all go well for you," Damien stated, nudging her gently.

"Thank you." Damien grinned at the words, taking the stuff from Annabeth's hands so she could put the money back into her pocket. "It's only going to be a short thing. Just go, grab the kids, leave and then get back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You'll be back in time for my birthday. You timed it perfectly." Annabeth nodded as Damien walked her all the way back to the Athena cabin's door. "I'm hoping for a cake specially delivered from my favourite daughter of Athena?"

"You'll get nothing if you keep being a pest."

"I'll be on my best behaviour until you get back then. It'll be like a changed man." Annabeth hummed in a disbelieving sort of way. He grinned, before letting his smirk drop into the smile he saved for special occasions, such as speaking to Annabeth. "But seriously, good luck and stay safe."

"I will. There are three of us going, so we'll be okay," Damien nodded, tapping wood quickly, before he waved goodbye to her and disappeared back to his own.

"Hey Silena, I'm back," She shot him a glare, as the newbies watched him with terror in their eyes. "Got the stuff."

"What stuff?" One of them stuttered out, as Damien smirked.

"The stuff you need to carve people's hearts out," Both of them squeaked, as Silena stamped on Damien's foot as hard as she could. The boy hissed in pain, holding onto his foot as he collapsed onto a bunkbed.

"Finally, this fool is Damien. He likes to play jokes and scare people, but he is actually nice." Silena shot Damien another look that clearly said behave. "He's a lot of fun to be around, he's just got to learn how to not traumatize people."

"Thanks, Silena,"

"I'm still mad at you."

"Message received loud and clear."

Hiya,

First chapter and I had to do it for Damien because he's so much fun and really adorable. Plus, he simps for Annabeth majorly, and they have a really fun relationship together.  Just to note about this act, it will be from Damien and Aelfdene's POV with some mentions made to Kamea and Jasmine, though their POV's come later in the book for both of them.

Let me know what you think of Damien, his ability, and him and Annabeth,

Love Li xx