With a frustrated sigh, she turned back to Rachel. "I guess… we don't have the upper hand with those empousai. Maybe, with two more…"
The girl smiled slyly from behind her red hair. "I knew you'd cave."
Annabeth threw her a bitter look. '"Knew' as in freaky, Oracle of Delphi crap, or 'knew' as in annoying, bratty ginger crap?"
Rachel tapped her chin. "Maybe one, maybe the other. You never know when the freaky Oracle of Delphi is inside an annoying, bratty ginger."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. We're going to trust these girls- but if you and your doppelganger start raising Kronos or something, I'm gonna have a big, fat I-Told-You-So to chuck at your face when this is over."
"All right, I accept that. So are you ready to fight some ugly vampires?"
They strode back into the room. "We have a problem," Annabeth piped up. Rachel opened her mouth, about to dive into a whirlwind of information, but Annabeth held up a hand to silence her. "We have a few… monsters to catch. But they keep escaping. We can't find them anywhere. That's why we were on that roof and eventually… in it." She made a little plunging motion with her hand. "We also have another problem. You two."
Isabelle pulled her blade but Clary held her back. "We also have a problem, as you heard," the girl explained. "A few rogue… 'monsters' have been terrorizing the city. That guy you just met had a hand in giving us that problem. We don't know how many there are, and we can't kill them all. But maybe with a little help…"
"We could both get what we want," finished Annabeth. The girl backed off, nodding.
"You don't have to accept," she said. "But if you don't, then there's a good chance we'll follow you back to wherever you came from."
"And bury a knife in your back." Isabelle assured. Clary elbowed her, but the message had been received.
The blonde girl nodded. She turned the idea over in her head. Could she trust these girls? They were dressed in black, holding knives, and they had just killed somebody with them- monster or not. There was every reason to doubt, she thought. But no, she had promised she would trust them.
That was a big deal. Annabeth wasn't the trusting type. She had been through a lot in her young life: her mother being more than human, the gap between her and her father, Thalia being turned into a tree, Thalia no longer being a tree, countless deaths, Luke betraying everyone. The last one hurt the most. All these things… they gave her trust issues. Percy had an effect on her that somewhat mended the scars, but he wasn't around right now, so…
If only he was.
But now Annabeth could do something on her own. She could trust someone… on her own.
Well, she wasn't entirely alone. There was Rachel. She was another cause for trust issues. Maybe if this ended with both of them alive, and a pile of slain empousai at their feet, she would have less of a problem with the girl.
At the moment, they were standing face-to-face with a potential enemy. Two skilled warriors with weapons- and possibly backup. They had a story. Annabeth knew a lot, but she didn't know who or what these girls were. Not monsters, necessarily. Not demigods. Not actual gods. Not naiads or dryads or anything of that sort. They seemed… human. Mortal. But unfamiliar power almost glowed from their marked skin. She couldn't put her finger on why.
"Are you going to tell us anything about yourselves?" Annabeth inquired.
"Are you?" replied Clary.
The blonde girl nodded. "Right. No questions policy. If anyone objects," she pulled the dagger from her belt. "Say 'I.'"
No one did.
Isabelle smiled. "Then let's go vampire hunting."
The four warriors made their way to the other side of town, darting through streets and alleys that reeked of monster activity. They walked in silence, seeing no need to attract more creatures than those they were looking for. Annabeth thought of different ways to tackle the problem of the empousai. There were an infinite number of places they could be hiding out, and an unknown number of reasons they would scuttle away from a fight scene like that.
She picked over the thought. The creatures only ditched after they lunged or got in a good scratch. They were trying to grab the attention of Annabeth and Rachel. Why? The girls knew they were there. The empousai must have been trying to tell them something- but why not just say it?
Then it hit her: The answer, and a body flying out from the dusty brick shadows.
Annabeth unsheathed her dagger and struggled to flip her attacker. She was lying on the dirty New York street, an empousa holding her down.
It hissed. "Annabeth Chase! So nice to see you! I've heard a lot about you. Never met you though. Now it seems I finally have the honor." It grinned between blood-red lips, two fangs peeking out. She said the word 'honor' with sarcasm as heavy as she was. The demigod fought to fill her lungs with the creature's weight on top of her.
The empousa's claws dug into her shoulders. It- or she- was wearing a shabby, red-and-white cheerleader's uniform with the words "GO TEAM!" on the front. It smelled of flesh and mothballs, a strong concoction that made Annabeth drowsy.
Annabeth bent her knee and jabbed it into the empousa's stomach. The creature gasped and the girl brought her dagger down. The empousa rolled out of the way, then managing to pin her before she could get up again. Where were the others? Why weren't they helping her?
"Don't worry," snarled the empousa with the annoying, high-school-girl voice most of her kind had. She fought to keep hold of the girl. "I don't want to hurt you. Or your friends. Don't worry about them, either. They're just up ahead- with my friends."
Annabeth strained her neck to see Rachel, Isabelle, and Clary, each with an empousa trapping her. All four of them could've fought off their attackers with ease any other day. She had the feeling it had something to do with the smell the monsters carried on them now. Not as sickly-sweet as chloroform, but enough to keep them dozy. The work of the Mist, she thought.
The creature returned her gaze to Annabeth. "I don't like your new friends. What happened to your hot boyfriend, anyway? He didn't join you? You two are dating now, right? I suppose he doesn't care enough to come with you."
"Shut up!" shouted Annabeth with more intensity than she intended.
"Oh, but I wish I did!" The empousa licked her lips. "Black hair, green eyes, long lashes… He is allllll the rage around Olympus. And New York. You don't know how much I would just love to sink my fangs into him."
A little revolted, Annabeth said, "That's not why you're here."
"Right. Well. I just came to tell you that we've been trying to show you something. So, come check it out when you get the chance. I'm sure you'll love it." She grinned a horrible grin and darted off with the three other empousai. Annabeth was unable to see where they had gone; she was lying on the ground, and too tired to catch up.
After several moments, she sat up. Isabelle approached her and knelt to offer a hand. Annabeth took it. "Your boyfriend sounds hot," the tall girl stated.
Annabeth rubbed the stupor out of her forehead. "Thanks."