Disclaimer: Neither the books nor the characters belong to me. This takes place during The Lost Hero.
It was only meant to be a quick stop, a chance to give Festus and the half-bloods a bit of rest. They'd landed in a clearing in some woods so that the mortals wouldn't freak out at seeing a few dozen ton bronze dragon, but the metal beast wouldn't stop roaring clouds of flame into the sky.
"Leo, you've got to make him stop that," Jason said, and with reluctance Leo had obliged.
"Sorry, boy," he'd said as he'd flipped the switch on the control panel that he thought reverted him into his suitcase form. "Oops, wrong one," he said sheepishly after oil had shot out of the dragon's maw, drenching them all in the black liquid. He found the right switch without any other incidents.
After a while, when they'd gotten cleaned up, Jason had voiced his unease, saying he felt like there was something in the woods.
"Like what?" Piper had asked, and he'd merely shrugged.
"I think we should get going, though," he'd said and Leo, grumbling, had started the transformation of the suitcase back into their mode of transportation, remarking that it would be a while before Festus would be airworthy. A moment later Jason had left to scout their surrounding, promising to return momentarily.
While he waited, Leo experimented with his tool belt to see what it had for Festus. When he asked for Tabasco sauce it gave him a bottle, much to his surprise, but it was hardly enough for the enormous dragon.
"Can it give you anything you want?" Piper asked in awe, watching as he tossed the bottle aside.
"Not anything," Leo said with a shake of his head. "It's all used up for now, but even if it wasn't it couldn't give..." He trailed off as a shadow, moving much too quickly to be human, flicked past his peripheral vision. He glanced at Piper to see if she'd noticed, but she was gaping at something behind his left shoulder. Spinning around, flame dancing up his arms, he was face-to-face with two of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen. He heard Piper scream behind him, and as the women lunged forward he couldn't help thinking that being killed by beautiful women was a lot like drowning in chocolate.
Everything darkened.
When Leo awoke, he heard someone shouting his name.
"Ugh..." he moaned in reply, jerking his arm to wipe at his eyes, but he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. Glancing up in alarm, he saw that he was being suspended in the air by his wrists on a cuffed-chain, the toes of his boots barely touching the ground. Glancing to his right, he saw that Piper was trussed up the same way. They seemed to be in the main room of some sort of cabin- complete with the coffee table and bear rug-, and although they were the only ones in there he could see one of the women standing guard outside one of the windows.
"What happened?" he asked groggily, tugging lightly on the chains. "Where are we?"
"In some cabin in the woods," she answered. She had a nasty cut on the side of her face, he noticed, and she had twigs and leaves in her hair. He probably looked about the same. "Leo, I think I know what those things are. They're empousai. They feast on the blood of, well, men, and I think we landed in their camp."
"Well, that's just- woah, wait, I'm a men! Uh, man, I mean!" Leo blinked. Try saying that three times fast.
The front door slammed open, and a girl, equally beautiful but still younger than the others, entered. "That's right!" she giggled. "You are a man, and with the most interesting smelling blood."
"Wait, time out," Leo said, heart thumping loudly in his chest, making the sign with his hands over the chains. "I mean, I'm freaked out and all, but doesn't that just make you a model vampire with a strong bias for guys?"
The demon scowled; her hair caught fire and her legs morphed, one bronze and one hoofed, "Do I look like a vampire?" she screeched, revealing sharp fangs, and Leo quickly shook his head.
"Nope, not at all, sorry for the mix-up."
She snarled at him, stalking closer. "Drinking the blood of a half-blood will be my initiation into the group, and I will enjoy killing you!" She faced Piper. "But first, we have no need of the daughter of Aphrodite." Piper paled.
"Woah, woah, wait!" Leo shouted desperately to gain her attention. "W-what I meant was, you're much too gorgeous to be a vampire!"
The empousa turned to him skeptically. "What did you say?"
"You're stunning! You're a knockout!" Leo said, nodding vigorously. For a moment she simply stared at him, and Leo stared back, offering a coy smile. Suddenly she was at his side, her breath on his neck, and the mechanic nearly had a panic attack.
"Leo!" Piper screeched, her chains rattling as she tried in vain to pull herself free.
Oh gods, he thought as he chewed on his lower lip, his dark eyes wide as he stared straight ahead. I'm about to become Leo-chow for some demon chick from Tartar Sauce or Tartarus or whatever! He shuddered as her forked tongue flicked against the curve of his jaw.
"No man's ever told me I'm pretty while I was in my true form before," she whispered into his ear, and Leo blanched as it suddenly dawned on him that the empousa was flirting with him.
"Oh, well, um, yeah, I th-think you're beautiful," he choked out, trying to angle his body away from her, but he could only move so far before his manacles stopped him. "Y-yeah, and I bet you'd be even more beautiful if I wasn't chained up! So, why don't you go get the key and we can see where- see where this goes from there?" Her hand was sliding down his back, and suddenly he jerked and winced as it reached its destination. "Gods, woman, think of the children!"
Suddenly there the came the screams of empousai from outside, and through the doorway, holding his golden sword stood Jason. The empousa unlatched herself from Leo, much to his relief, and charged at the intruder, but a swift cut of the sword turned her to dust.
"What'd I miss?" he asked in confusion as Leo gasped and slumped over, muttering his thanks to the gods under his breath.
"Leo saved us both by putting the moves on that demon you just slayed," Piper said, sounding both shocked and like she wanted to laugh.
"No, really."
"Just find the key and let us go, man!" Leo groaned in exasperation.
Jason couldn't find a key anywhere in the cabin, but thanks to a little lock-pick he pulled out of Leo's tool belt the three were soon back in the woods and calming down Festus. The dragon seemed to have panicked when it had fully been turned on and couldn't find them, setting fire to and knocking down trees. Soon they were back in the air, and Leo could have sworn he heard Jason and Piper laughing at him.
He sighed, wishing his flirt-tactics worked on mortal girls.