The Vampires of the Night: Chapter 28

Evan's P.O.V.

My head hurt. Throbbing pain coursed through my brain. I moaned loudly.

I guess driving isn't my thing.

I glanced around to see trees. A lot of them. I was laying in soft grass. This looked like a place someone could get married.

I slowly got to my feet and leaned against a tree. Where was I? We were around California when we crashed... and then the pegasi were taking us into the air... The last thing I remembered was spiraling down towards a mountain, and everything after that was black.

Then I realized where I was. I was in the Garden of the Hesperides. But where was Luna, Mikmak, and Josh? They had to be somewhere close.

I started to walking uphill so I could get a look around the Garden. Then I pulled out my sword, since I was on Mount Orthrys. There was hundreds of monsters, and Ladon, if they got in my way.

Suddenly a scream echoed in the distance. I immediately recognized the voice: Luna.

"LUNA!" I yelled, running toward her direction. I sprinted through the trees. Another scream came, followed by a monstrous snarl. What was it? A chimera? A Hellhound?

I burst through a clump of trees to see something much worse. Ladon himself. And guess where Luna was?

Right on top of the tree with the golden apples of immortality.

Only Hercules was able to get past Ladon! How could Luna have done it? No, now isn't the time for questions. Now's the time for fighting.

I quickly pulled out Stoicheio and sent a shockwave at Ladon. He skidded twenty feet away, and I jogged towards Luna, who was shooting arrows at each of Ladon's one-hundred heads. I climbed the tree in an instant, and sat next to Luna in a high branch.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"I was on the Pegasus when we fell. I landed right on top of this tree, and Ladon immediately attacked me."

Suddenly ten of Ladon's heads snapped at us. Luna pulled out a large silver hunting knife and said, "We gotta kill him, or at least get away from him."

"Turn invisible," I told her, "I'll distract him."

She turned invisible, and we both jumped off of the tree. I then sent another shockwave at him. He fell back, and I threw a volley of flames at some heads. Behind him, Luna chopped off heads in groups, causing him to moan in agony.

Then I thrust my sword inside his body. I released an immense shockwave, causing him to explode. He wasn't dead, but he was unconscious. Then Luna and I cut off the rest of the heads as he was subdued.

"Good job," I told her.

"We're a pretty good team," she suggested.

As we started to leave, I looked at the tree one last time. I started to reach for an apple, but Luna immediately hit my hand and said, "Control yourself! You don't want to be immortal, do you?"

I mumbled something inaudible and we walked away. "Let's find the rest of them, okay?" I told her.

Suddenly Ladon's heads started to grow back rapidly. We both sprinted to the top of the mountain, hoping that we could find Josh and Mikmak.

Wish us luck?