I should be thinking about a strategy to fight the empousai. But my heart and mind suddenly fixate on my dad saying he loves me. And my chest starts to cramp up a bit…and for some reason my eyes are watering up.

I guess when you don't hear it all the time, it means a little more.

Perhaps maybe too much.

I uncap Riptide, take a deep breath, and charge out of the booth like a madman, hoping the 'Shock and Awe of Stupid Percy' strategy might just unsettle them enough to run right back out of the cathedral.

No such luck.

I catch sight of one down the very pew walkway I started running down. She is a pretty brunette with green eyes when the mist is working. When it's not, like right now, she has teeth the size and color of candy corns, only about four times as many as a human.

Was she startled when I first started running out? Yes. Is she startled now? Not so much.

Her friend is still near the front door of the church. She appears Asian, but it's hard to tell with the mist and the distance involved. But one thing is crystal clear, they don't want me leaving.

We all regard each other for a moment, and then the brunette quickly pulls out two long daggers and charges towards me down the same pew aisle. No banter about kissing, or about how they just need a snack.

This is just a hit job. A pure and simple mafia-style hit job.

Tactically my position is terrible. The floor space in between the pews is so narrow I can't set my feet properly, and if you can't set your feet properly than you're not fighting with swords so much as fencing with swords.

In other words, I'm screwed.

She makes a strong and low thrust with one of her daggers that I parry away rather easily. This is followed by some pretty convincing swipes and crosses, which I dodge instead of involving my sword for defense all the time. One of the biggest lessons I learned from Quintus was to dodge when appropriate so that you don't keep your sword committed all the time. When the time is right, and your opponent is out of position, your sword will be ready for the killing blow.

Unfortunately she is so aggressive and quick with her attack, all I can do is move back and hope she wears herself out. But out of the corner of my eye I see her partner moving in step with us along the wall of the back of the sanctuary, and I realize with some concern…okay maybe more than some…that they are attempting to push me towards the other corner of the church.

This is bad.

I resolve at that point that a little offense is in order. I slash Riptide at about her chest level and she ducks, but before she can raise one of her daggers to strike me where it would really hurt, I drive my knee into her chin and she reels backwards, dropping both of her weapons.

I raise Riptide over my head for the killing stab while she lays on the floor in between the pews, defenseless, when I suddenly hear a war cry from the other empousai. I turn to see her literally launch herself over the pews and fly towards me with her arms extended. I never thought they could get that kind of lift with a metallic leg and all, but here we are.

I duck behind the pew and raise the tip of Riptide up to skewer her, and skewer I do, but the momentum of her aerial assault has caused my sword to stick in her temporarily and out of my hand. I raise my head to see the empousai disintegrate as she flies past us in an almost fireworks display of orange sparks. Riptide clatters harmlessly to the side of the front of the church and out of view.

I attempt to run after it, jumping over the empousai that I had only knocked down a moment ago, but she grabs my ankle and I take a nose dive to the floor and skid toward the center aisle of the sanctuary. As I turn over to get on my back again I see that she has not only gotten back up but she has effectively positioned herself in between me and my sword.

Awesome.

I get back on my feet, and contemplate bolting for the door behind me, but dragging her to Rachel's place…or back to my place for that matter…is no option at all.

"I've heard Poseidon's children taste very salty. Today I get to see if that's true," she says with a crooked smile.

I pause and take another sideways glance at the door.

"You might want to skip me then. I could be horrible for your blood pressure," I respond. She's being pretty lippy for somebody with no weapons.

Then again…I don't have one at the very moment either.

"I'll just have a salad for dessert," she says right before charging.

I take a nice hard swing with my right hand, which she blocks with her left arm. This allows her to step in really close and pop me with her right elbow. Even though I'm reeling backwards and probably already have a concussion, I can appreciate how much trouble I'm now in. She knows some kind of martial arts, and about all I know of how to street fight is based on the time my mom dragged me to see that West Side Story musical. Shouldn't we be snapping our fingers in rhythm and dancing by now?

Apparently not, as now I've been kicked in the stomach, probably by her metallic leg as the force was enough to cause me to skid several feet back towards the door. Before I can get up and make a break for it she is on top of me straddling my hips. She raises her hand to reveal very prominent claws and slashes my shirt open, tearing fabric and skin with equal force.

That was only the beginning of the pain, as she has taken her left index finger and driven it into a pressure point at the spot where my pectoral muscle meets my shoulder bone.

I open my mouth and let out a silent scream.

This…"girl"…for lack of a better word…knows what she is doing. And I might not ever get a chance to tell anybody about it.

I open my eyes to watch her licking blood off of her fingers.

"Just so you know, you're seasoned perfectly…" she says, a slow smile forming on her lips. That is when I notice the legs for the stand of the holy water basin

I wince, but I'll be damned if I go out like this.

"Can I refill your water?" I manage to gasp and then lunge for the stand.

The water looked brilliant as it waved over us. I caught the faintest image of it splashing her head, disintegrating her flesh and bone almost instantly. She barely had time to scream before she poofed out of existence.

But her repressed scream was replaced by my scream as I suddenly felt waves of pain pulse out of the slash marks on my chest and the hole that is now in my right shoulder. There is smoke everywhere, and it is coming from me. I look at my wounds to see the holy water causing them to burn furiously with white bubbles. It's almost like acid.

"What is going on out there?" I hear the voice of who I assume is Father McGloin from a back room of the sanctuary. I bring myself up again, painfully zip my jacket up, and run like Hades out of there.

TBC