The Keeper (A CHBP story)

Chapter 2: May

After checking her mom in their house, and snack stop at Jollibee, May met up with Blessie and the other hunters at Rizal Monument, a park dedicated to a child of Athena, though some of the girls are disgusted to the fact that the park is made because of a "MAN".

"May, thank the gods you got here. Lady Artemis and others just left to start the hunt." Blessie explained to May as she arrived. "She said that we should spread out so that we can finish the job faster and easier. This is part of our group." She gestured to the other hunters that were waiting for her.

"Hmph!" She heard from one of the girls. "It is about time you show up. Can we get out of this place already? I can't stand it if I have to stay here a bit longer." The other girls nodded in agreement and walked ahead leaving May and Blessie behind.

May knew that the other hunters hate her since she still has some respect towards men, not to mention there rumors going around about May being Artemis’ favorite. "Where on earth did that rumor came out?" she thought. Artemis favored everyone in the hunt, not just her. “Don’t mind her,” Blessie said “Camille is just pissed off because of that joke we did to her a month ago.” May grinned, they then followed the rest of the group.

It had taken them a while before they found their first prey. A couple of hellhounds were walking along Quirino Ave. There were around of twenty of them, with one that is twice as big as the rest. Blessie whistle. “That one is huge.” she said, pointing at the biggest. “That must be the leader of the group.” May concluded. “Wow! I didn’t know that! Thanks, Lieutenant Obvious!” Camille said with a sarcastic bow. The other girls chuckled. May frowned. “Ok, let’s get this over with.”

With that, ten silver arrows flew toward the monster group. One of the hellhounds noticed the attack and was able to block the volley of arrows. While most of the hellhounds didn’t get a scratch on them, one didn’t get lucky and was on the ground with eight of the arrows on its back.

As soon as they saw their dead ally, the hellhounds made a run for it. All moved in different directions. Camille screamed. “After them and don’t let them get away!” All eight girls ran after them, except May and Blessie who were shocked in what just happened. Did they just saw that? A monster died? It is a fact that, unlike mortals, monsters don’t die. Their body just turns into gold dust, and their essence will go straight to Tartarus, where it will take them a while before they could come back to the mortal world. But, what they saw was dead hellhound, lying on the ground. Red blood was flowing on the floor. Some of the mortals screamed at the sight of the dead monster.

May snapped out of the shock first and said. “Come on! We can let them get away!” Blessie nodded, and both of them ran after the hellhounds. They found two of them running in the same direction; the biggest hellhound was one of them. As soon as it saw the hunters, they split up in different directions. “Go with the small one, I will handle the big guy.” May said as she went where the big hellhound was heading.

“But--”  

“Go!” Blessie nodded and went after the small one.

May continued with her chase and was able to hit some arrows on its back. The hellhound stopped by an alleyway, clearly weakened from the arrows. May closed in on the beast, ready to deliver the final blow, but she froze. She felt a sharp pain on her backside. Then, the next thing she knew, she fell to the ground, her body wounded from the stab.

A man appeared by her side, holding dagger that was clearly celestial bronze. She couldn’t see her very well since the man was hooded and her eyes were blurry from the pain.

“You are a demigod. But, why?” she crocked.

The man grinned at her and said, “Nighty-Night, little--” Then, she fell into deep darkness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In her dream, she was in her old cabin at Camp. Not in Cabin 8, but in her father’s cabin. She remembered this, this was her birthday. This was her last birthday before she joined the hunters. It felt weird for her to be in this cabin again after being a hunter. As soon as a she stepped out of her cabin, she was greeted with a little surprise. A guy appeared, holding a hose, hitting her with white liquid. She tried to make herself dry, but glue isn’t part of her dad’s domain. So, she stayed wet and sticky. Then he threw a bucket of fish scales and sequins at her.

“And that,” he said, trying to control his laughter. “Is how you turn ‘Fishgirl’ into a ‘Fish girl’.” The look of May's face was a mix of anger and annoyance.

A couple of other guys joined in with the laugh. “Or," he told his friends. "You can put two shells on her, and she can be the Little Mermaid!” May's face looked like someone who could kill a person. The other boys stoped laughing and backed away as the guy kept laughing, clearly enjoying the prank.

He laughed so hard that he didn’t notice the two giant water balls floating in midair. “How about I kill you first?” She said with a sweet voice but evil voice.

The grin on his face faded and backed away. “Can we talk about this?" he asked, hiding the fear in his eyes.

“Bye.” She smiled at him. But, before getting the pleasure of killing him, her dream shifted.

In this dream, the hooded man was holding a man by the sleeves of his shirt, his eyes full of anger. They were in a dark room with only one window, making it hard for anyone to see their faces clearly. Although May can't see him very well, she knows that hooded man was really pissed

“I told you not to kill anyone!” he screamed at him.

“Relax, Keeper. I didn’t kill her.” The man said to the hooded man in a calm voice. She was impressed that he can still be calm even with the hooded man holding him, who is called “Keeper” for some reason.

“I hope so, I don’t want this small mistake to be the cause for the plan to be ruined!” he said to him as he pushed him aside.

“It won’t happen again.” the man said, with a bit of fear in his face.

“For your own good, it is best that you do that.” Keeper said before looking the window. “Damn Hunters! First they went after the hellhounds, and now the Hyperborean Giants!” He looked at the man. “I will be back. And don’t expect that I forgotten what you did today.” And, with that, The Keeper disappeared into the shadows.

As soon as the Keeper left, the man looked at May. “Hello, my dear.” He said to her. “I think it is time to wake up soon. I do hope you don’t mind the, uh, change.” Before she can ask what did he meant by “change”, and her dream faded.

When she woke up, there were a lot of questions in her head. What did that dream mean? Who is this “Keeper” and why is he protecting the monsters? What did that man mean by “change”? Before she could think of it any further, she heard a man's voice. "Oh, you are awake. Thank the gods!" he said.

By instinct, she summoned her bow and aimed directly at his face. "Before I will kill you," May said. "I will give you 30 seconds to tell me what the heck is going on."

----------------------------------------End Chapter-----------------------------------------