Watched (OPEN)

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey kept glancing over her shoulder as she hastily walked through the strawberry fields with her hands in her pockets. For some reason, the last couple of days she felt like she was being watched. Did someone find out about her possibly running away with a boy? Was Artemis keeping an eye on her now? Hailey felt like she was being watched constantly and that her days of being a human and a hunter were severely numbered.

She kept her head down as she watched her feet kick at the dirt. What was wrong with her? She hadn't seen Vincent in ages. Princess was worried that her ex was watching her and been keeping a low profile. And to top it all off, Hailey hadn't seen the head huntress in a while either. What was going on?

Hailey took a deep breath as she checked over her shoulder one more time, making sure nobody was following or watching her.

[Deleted]

Vincent hadn't meant to disappear. Even if he had, he wouldn't have wanted it to be for so long. It wasn't exactly his choice either. An old friend had reappeared. One he had thought to be dead. Of course if Carlson was alive, then it was likely that Vladimir was too. He wasn't completely sure how long he had spent under Carlson' eye. The bastard had a knack for talking to people, and their violent conversations seemed to last for days until Vincent barely got out. Now, he was back and still felt the need to hide. He wasn't sure why, but he forced himself to remain invisible in everyone's eyes for as long as possible, until he found her. Eventually he did find her. She was good, she couldn't seem to see him, not with his powers, but she could feel it.

Patiently he waited, long after his gut had started to burn and scream at him for holding his powers up for so long. He waited until she had walked off alone and went for a walk, failing to recognize how much of a stalker he was being. Finally though, after she looked behind to stare in his general direction then back ahead of her, he let his powers go and exhaled slowly, ignoring the pain in his abdomen. He put on a smile and waited, simply standing there waiting until she looked back at him again. "You miss me, redhead?"

[Hailey Nichols]

Nobody was there, like the last several times Hailey checked. She looked forward again as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No matter how many times she told herself that it was all in her head, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched... or stalked... She just knew she wasn't alone at that moment. Maybe just one more time...

Hailey screamed as she saw someone very close to her as she checked over her shoulder again. She didn't recognize him right off of the bat and didn't hear what he said as she reached for her hunting dagger holstered at her waist. It was all a blur in her mind as she spun around to defend herself from the creep, but when her dagger was digging into his flesh, Hailey realized who it was.

"Oh my gods!" she shrieked as she let go of the dagger. "Vincent! I'm so sorry. I didn't realize..." She looked at the damage she had done to the boy. "We need to get you to the infirmary."

[Deleted]

Screaming? That was an appropriate reaction. He did appear out of nowhere after all. Pulling out the knife on him? Still felt like an appropriate reaction. She obviously felt like she was in danger. Stabbing him? That felt like it was dancing on the line of appropriate. The pain in his gut from holding up his powers for so long was nothing compared to this. The blade pierced his skin just below his rib cage on his right side, thankfully, he was left handed, so when she let out another scream and let go of the dagger it didn't hurt him too much to instinctively reach for the blade to stop it from moving.

Yet the movement still nearly made him pass out. A loud groan, full of pain, escaped his parted lips as he tried to hold his hands still. He was shaking quite a bit, had been for a while though. Then his coping mechanism kicked in. Quietly, he clenched his jaw and ground his teeth together before he turned to try and flash a smile at Hailey. "You stab all the guys you like, redhead?" He let out a small chuckle only to have another groan follow right behind it. With a shaky breath he nodded.

"Yes..." He gave her a soft smile. "Yeah...the infirmary would be very nice. As long as there aren't any more daggers in there." He laughed again only to wince and groan more.

[Hailey Nichols]

"Only the ones that stalk me," Hailey quipped back as she put a hand on his shoulder as she reached down for the dagger. Her hand paused as she had second thoughts, since it was stopping any potential bleeding. She took deep breaths as the adrenaline in her veins kicked in. "There won't be," she told him as she moved her hand from his shoulder so she could wrap her arm around him so he could use her as a crutch. "That is my only dagger. I can't promise with the Apollo kids though."

She made sure that he was comfortable as he could be with a dagger protruding out of his side before she walked him to the infirmary. "Where the Hades have you been anyway?" she asked as she looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. I was starting to think you were just setting me up or something."

[Deleted]

The laugh that escaped him at her remark made his side ache. Pain shot up from the wound at the sudden quick movements in his abdomen before he quickly turned to a groan in the middle of his laugh. "Ow..." He commented. The soft hand that touched his shoulder made him smile. It was nice to see her again, to feel her touch. It was much better than the other things he had dealt with over his 'vacation.' "Good. No more daggers is definitely a good thing." The pain steadily grew and grew as the two of them walked. Well, the redhead walked, he dragged. "This is my favorite jacket." He chuckled lightly as he looked down at the stain in his side. Her question nearly cut his laugh, and then groan, short though.

Without thinking about it, he pulled away from her to stop for a moment and lean against one of the outer walls on the big house. Unconsciously he wet his lips and finally looked up from his red and grey jacket to stare at her. "A friend of mine needed a favor. He..." He groaned and started to unzip his jacket. "...he was looking for someone and thought I knew where he was." Vincent quietly dug his heel into the dirt beneath him and leaned forward to catch her hand. With a small tug he tried to pull her closer to him.

"I could never do that to you."

[Hailey Nichols]

"So you decided to skip camp and not tell me?" Hailey rolled her eyes as she glanced off into the distance as she kept dragging him to the infirmary. "You know, a little note or something would've been appreciated. I thought you ran off with another girl or hunter or even a toad." She glanced over her shoulder once more, since even though she found out that Vincent was stalking her, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was still being watched. She turned back to Vincent before she ducked her head to whisper into his ear, "Next time you abandon me, you'll be worrying more than me stabbing you."

It took them a while, but they finally reached the infirmary only to be greeted by screaming Apollos. "What happened?" one of them shrieked as they tried to rush Vincent back so he could get fixed up.

[Deleted]

"Sorry?" He gave her a small apologetic smile at her comment. He had skipped camp without telling her. He should have said something. No matter how important his trip had been, it didn't feel as important as she did. "You're right." He stated as she continued talking. "I should have left a note or sent you an Iris message or something. I was wrong not to." Each step and breath was like someone was trying to twist the dagger around inside him, and it took everything to not call out with each movement. He caught the action she made, when she turned to look behind them and he slowly moved one hand closer to the dagger in his side. She had been right that she was being followed when he was the one doing it, there was no reason for her to be wrong now. Then she took him by surprise. Slowly he turned to look at her after she finished talking and smiled softly. "I love you too." He whispered back, his small smile widening slightly.

"It was the strangest thing." He groaned loudly and moved to sit on one of the beds in the infirmary. "I was attacked by these bat-things with chef knives for feet. I think they're a new type of monster." He watched an Apollo circle him with bandages. "I've decided to name them ass-kickers, whaddya think?" He grinned widely as a good number of the 'doctors' groaned in annoyance. "I'm fairly certain they can breathe fire too. It looked like they could." More groans. "I must have broken off a foot or something because it seems to still be in my s-" He was interrupted mid sentence as they pulled the blade from his side and put something against the wound.

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey's mouth dropped as he said those words to her. Her heart pounded in her chest as her face heated up a bit. For once, she was at an absolute loss for words. Was she supposed to say it back to him? She mentally smacked herself. Of course she should! She barely got to open her mouth to respond to Vincent, but they had already reached the infirmary and the Apollo kids had taken him into their care. She swore underneath her breath as she waited patiently for them to tend him and fix him up.

It was agonizing for to wait for the Apollo kids to do their magic, but finally they allowed her by his bedside as they attended to other campers. She sat down on the chair next to his bed as she reached out to stroke his cheek. "Are you feeling better?" she asked as her face flushed a bit as she thought about what she was going to say to him. "Vincent... I love you..."

"I KNEW THERE WAS A TRAITOR IN MY MIDST!" boomed Artemis as she appeared in the middle of the infirmary in her twelve-year old hunter self. Anger filled her eyes as she glared her hunter down. "A year as a huntress has taught you nothing?" she hissed as Hailey cowered in her chair trying to get away from the goddess. "M'lady, I can explain..." Hailey tried to reason, but was rudely interrupted.

"THERE ARE NO NEED FOR EXPLANATIONS HERE!" she declared as she raised up her hand as a glowing orb formed in her palm. "I KNOW WHAT I SAW AND THERE IS ONE PUNISHMENT FOR THIS! FAREWELL!" She threw the orb at Hailey and the hunter screamed. Hailey was encased in the light as she felt her body shape and morph. Once the light fainted away, Hailey was now a reddish jackalope on a chair. Artemis chuckled to herself before she vanished from the infirmary that suddenly went into chaos.

[Deleted]

He turned to look up at her when she asked him if he was feeling better and couldn't hold back the smile that appeared on his face. Not in the least, but she didn't have to know that. Instinctively, he pressed against the hand against his cheek and nodded. "Yeah. I'm definitely feeling better now..." He whispered softly and raised a hand to place on hers only to hesitate when she said it back. The hesitation ended once he managed to comprehend what she said and he quickly gave her hand a squeeze. That squeeze turned out to be louder than it was supposed to, or so he thought.

The thundering voice that shook the camp scared made everyone in the infirmary jump. The way the goddess appeared in an instant had terrified everyone, until they all realized who was the center of her wrath. The flame of hatred that could be seen in Artemis' eyes was gigantic, and some of the people around them could understand why. Vinnie could not. Whenever he tried to speak, he found himself unable to. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. At least until after the glowing orb had formed.

"NO!" He shouted as the goddess swung her arm at Haley. Vincent was on his feet in a second. His battle instincts working for him. He quickly lowered down and readied himself to jump in the way before pain shot up his side. The knees that had bent to fling himself in the way only buckled beneath him and he found himself collapsing to the floor and clutching at his side. Vincent was forced to shut his eyes at the light encased the redhead and he cried out. This couldn't be happening. But it wasn't what he thought it was when he opened his eyes. When he looked at where she had been, he found himself staring at...What?