Hunters of Artemis Don't Fall in Love

Crazy acorn throwing squirells

"What was that for?" I continued ranting but lowered my voice when I noticed a few of the restaurant patrons looking at us strangely.

"He was flirting with you." he said simply.

"I can take care of myself besides you flirt with me all the time!" I glared at him and sat down at our table and Mark sat down across from me and I glared at him in silence. The waiter brought out our food winked at me. When he did I was positive that Mark looked he was going to pull out his bow and run him through with an arrow. Mark and I didn't talk through the whole meal. After we had finished and I had paid with some money I had saved up for such emergency's. As we were walking out of the restaurant the waiter stood in front of me and handed me a piece of paper.

"Theirs my number can I have yours?" he asked with a flirty look in his face.

"Leave me alone or I will send you to the deepest pits of Tartarus! I snapped. I was so annoyed by the waiter dude and his flirting and Mark and Mark's flirting that I had lost all patience. The waiter looked at me with a stunned look on his face while Mark was chuckling softly to himself.

"You don't flirt with a Hunter of Artemis!" I yelled back as I walked out of the restaurant.

"You told him." he said laughing.

"I did." I said feeling very proud of myself for the great comeback.

"Though your comebacks do need some work." Mark said. Can he read my mind because it's starting to feel like it.

"Do not insult my comebacks!" I said laughing.

"You broke the all time rule of not telling mortals about the gods." I shrugged.

"They will probably think I am crazy and won't pay any attention." When we reached the outskirts of the tiny town Mark let Amy out of the backpack and she promptly grew into a gigantic fox. I shivered slightly but let Amy lead us through the snow and hopefully toward the Hunters. A bark sounded in the distance and I quickened my pace a little thinking of Laelaps.

"It's just a dog." Mark said laughing "Seriously you are so paranoi-" He was interrupted by a large dog jumping out of the tress directly in front if gigantic Amy. Amy instantly took off in the other direction.

"Stupid dog leave me alone!" she yipped. The dog snarled in response.

"Laelaps!" I shouted in exasperation. "I just killed this monster. It's supposed to take monsters at least months to regenerate!

"Well obviously it didn't take it months. What are we supposed to do?" he asked softly. I thought hard for a minute. As much as Amy creeped me out I admitted we needed her to lead us to the Hunters. I sighed thinking hard when suddenly an idea popped into my mind.

"This is going to sound really stupid." I said but you need to trust me. I quickly told him my plan. He nodded but looked like he didn't believe it was going to work.

"Ok just try to keep them in this general area." I said "and don't get killed."

"I'm touched you care for my welfare." I have him a slight shove before running as fast as I could to the little town. Please have a dollar store, Wal-Mart, flea market something I thought. I pounded down the Main Street and looked at the stores feeling myself start to give up hope but at the very end of the street I noticed a Dollar Store. Thank the gods, I thought before rushing inside. I probably looked a little bit crazy to the cashier. My hair had come loose from my fishtail braid and I was covered in snow, dirt, and who knows what else. Also I still had some gold monster dust in my hair from the first time I killed Laelaps.

"Dog........Treats." I panted.

"In the back. On the Pet row." He have me an odd look as I rushed toward the back of the store. I grabbed the first bag of dog treats I could and rushed to the front of the store. I threw a five dollar bill on the counter as I rushed back with the cashier calling to me.

"Do you want your change?"

"Keep it!" I said rushing across the grass. I ran with the dog treats in my hand having difficulty opening them while running. I finally managed to rip open the top flap spilling dog treats into the snow. As I glanced up I saw Laelaps chasing Amy but no Mark.

"Mark!" I screamed "Mark, Mark!" I was on the edge of tears. Had he tried to save Amy like last time and Laelaps had killed him? Or maybe some other monster had caught our scent and killed him. What could have happened to him in the five minutes I had been away?

"Hey Mutt!" I screamed shaking the treat box. Laelaps looked up from his chase and as I was reaching to grab a knife an arrow came out of a nearby tree hitting Laelaps making the dog explode into dust. That arrow was Marks. Relief blossomed in my heart. That had been part if the plan. I was supposed to distract Laelaps while Mark shot it. He was supposed to stay VISIBLE and not hide in a tree like a secret agent archer or something. I watched as Mark carefully climbed out of the tree and landed in the snowy ground.
Amy ran up or him yipping "Thank you! Thank you!"

"Mark!" I yelled running up to him and throwing my arms around his neck.

"I'm glad to see you too." he said jokingly.

"I thought you were dead."

"Well, unless I'm a ghost I'm not dead." He smirked playfully. I stepped back and glared at him.

"If you ever scare me like that again, I will kill you and then you'll be dead."

"I've got it no more making you think I'm dead."

"Why were you in the tree anyway?" I asked.

"No reason." he said looking down quickly.

"He threw a rock at Laelaps missed and hit a squirrel. The squirrel started chasing him and so he climbed the tree. The squirrel was halfway up to getting him when you came and scared it off with all your yelling." I burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"What?" He asked.

"You were............chased into a tree by a...............SQUIRREL!" I giggled imagining Mark running away from a tiny squirrel.

"I forgot about your Snow White power." he muttered darkly. "Thanks for being a tattle tale Amy. She didn't need to know."

"You've fought monsters, a physco dog, and have a giant child eating fox as pet but you ran away from a squirrel?" I giggled. "And why did you climb a tree? Squirrels can climb trees!"

"You try having a crazy squirrel chasing you around! It was throwing acorns at me!" After a few minutes of laughter Mark finally joined in. After I was finally done giggling and laughing Mark said "Are you ready to go?"

"Ready to walk through ten feet of snow while the sun sets and the temperature just keeps dropping? Sounds like fun!"

"Your so optimistic it's amazing." he said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, let's get a move on." I said. Mark nodded and we set off through the snow.

"Follow me!" Amy barked softly and we headed away from the small town and deeper into the forest.