Elsie ducked and lunged, her knife skimming the man's stomach.
He laughed mockingly, swirling his sword at his side as if it were a baton.
"You're just like your mother. Hot-headed and impulsive."
"How'd you know my mom?"
"Let's just say she kept me company for a little while." Elsie dodged to the left and stabbed at his arm, silently ecstatic at the bleeding gash she had caused on his bicep.
He actually snarled at her, lunging forward and nearly decapitating her. Elsie rolled forward, between his legs, came up kneeling and threw her knife at the small of his back.
With inhuman speed, he spun round and slashed the knife from the air. Elsie backed up, weaponless and starting to feel the trickles of fear settling into her stomach.
An arrow whizzed through the air, slamming into the man's shoulder. He staggered from the impact and cursed loudly. In Greek.
Demigod for sure, Elsie thought. Luckily, the man's attention was diverted and he prowled to the other end of the alley, his sword raised.
Another arrow collided with the back of the man's knee.
"I used ta be an adventurer like you until I took an arrow to the knee." (Couldn't help it, sorry :D )
"Mom…" Elsie breathed. Her mother was well hidden and Elsie couldn't pinpoint where Louisa's voice sounded from.
"Louisa, it's been a while."
"Fortunately, yeah."
"You ruined my plans the other night." The man turned and faced into the alley again. An arrow embedded itself in his uninjured shoulder.
"Yeah, well, I've got a habit of doin' that shit."
"I noticed." Elsie scanned the alleyway, trying to spot where her mother was hidden.
Suddenly, she was hauled from where she stood and the blade of the man's sword was pressed to her throat.
The man chuckled evilly. "Come out; come out wherever you are, Louisa." Louisa didn't say anything.
Elsie tried not to panic, but a sword held dangerously close to her throat and trapped, held in place against the man by his arm made it difficult to remain calm.
That's when the storm rolled in and the man tensed. Elsie noticed he didn't seem as smug as seconds before.
The man forced himself to relax and he regained a little composure. "Enough of these games, Louisa." The sword pressed against Elsie's skin. "I think it'll be quite interesting how your daughter's blood will look splayed across the alley, don't you?"
Thunder boomed overhead and the wind picked up, thrashing around violently. Elsie swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat. Where was her mother?
As soon as she had thought that, Louisa walked calmly out of the shadows from the other end of the alley. She may have walked calmly, but her expression said otherwise. It was a death stare worthy of Hades and then some.
Louisa moved past Elsie's friends and the injured figure without a sound, loading her metallic green-blue bow with a matching arrow.
The man laughed triumphantly. "I thought that would get your attention."
Elsie was staring at her mother, as if seeing her for the first time.
Louisa seemed different, powerful. There was this violent green glow about her that made Elsie want to run and hide. Louisa's normally soft emerald eyes were now vicious, darkened and flared with anger and power.
Elsie looked up at the storm as the wind whistled through her hair. Her mother was doing that, she was sure of it.
She looked up at the man as Louisa stopped twenty, twenty -five paces away, the arrow aimed at the man's face.
"My mom's gonna kick your ass."
