"S-save you?" Johnny said in confusion as the girl sobbed on his shoulder. "You mean, like…"
"Oh, we've been prisoners here for so long we no longer even remember what real sunlight feels like," a girl said and Johnny's hears sunk at the sight of the incredibly sad pretty being.
"Prisoners? Who would…?"
"The empousai," the dark girl from before explained. Now she was looking at him with big beautiful eyes full of hope. "It all started in the 60's when the freethinking movements formed. The hippies were the largest and most well-known one, which was originally started by Dionysus's followers – us. The empousai started hunting down more and more men thanks to this movement but most of these men were already under our influence and… well, I suppose their blood wasn't good enough to be drunk."
"Yes," another girl chimed in. "Then they decided to capture every single one of us because we were prettier than them and had more people to have fun with."
"True, but they have always been stronger physically and we just couldn't resist as they took every single maenad, thyad, baccha and mimallonede that they came across. Some of them managed to escape or hide but we were taken," another explained.
"Hey, don't forget about us!" a girl said from the back of the room. She stood there with a few more girls that didn't quite look like the rest—they were… different. "They started persecuting us just as they did you."
"Right. Nymphs and Dionysus followers. They even have some daughters of Aphrodite in the next room."
Johnny was overwhelmed by the information. He knew that pretty girls didn't like competition but this was a whole other level of resentment. He remembered two girls from last year who'd been fighting for some tiara… it had been an awful catfight.
"And then one of ours spoke of a dream she'd had," the girl in Johnny's arms said after she composed herself. "She spoke of our leader's child who'd be captured and would help us escape! Up until now we believed it would be a girl but you…"
"So you think I'm the son of Dionysus?" Johnny was somewhat hopeful when he heard that. That would mean all those girls were his followers. Ha! He couldn't wait to rub that in Barry's face.
"Well, aren't you?" the girl looked at him with a hint of doubt in her eyes and Johnny felt his whole scheme about to take a turn for the worst.
"No, no, no, no! I mean yes, yes! I am. I am the son of Dionysus," he hurried to say and heard a collective sigh. Oh, well… he could be the son of Demeter, but he couldn't tell them that. Not now at least.
Now he had to think of a way to get the hell out of this place without getting his blood drained by a bunch of mental vampires. When he realized every single girl was looking intently at him, he took in a deep breath and looked around.
That's right, boy! Show them your resolve, show them who's their daddy, the voice was saying with a laugh. Johnny wanted to shut it up but then it told him something important. Now listen. Tell them who you are. Tell them you'll free them and they'll be yours forever! Do it! Tell them who you are!
"My name is Jonathan Rae Keller," he said in a loud clear voice full of determination and power (he had no idea how he'd managed that…). "And I am here to help you to your freedom!"
The room rang with the roar of cheers and applauds.
Johnny had never felt more alive.
"Okay, why don't we just break through the windows?" Johnny asked. The committee of rebellious prisoners shook their heads.
"There are no windows on this level, my lord," the appointed leader of the bacchae said. It was that same dark girl with black hair from before. Johnny blushed and waved a hand.
"D-don't call me that, please!"
"Well," she was a bit confused. "What then…?"
"Master Jonathan, we can't escape this room," the maenad leader said. She was a tall lady with very curly, very red ginger hair and vivid green eyes. "We have tried countless times but the wards…"
"Please, just Johnny. Johnny is fine," Johnny was saying pleadingly.
"Master Johnny," the maenad said, "these wards are made especially for the likes of us. We can't cross them."
"What are these wards," he asked. An idea was forming in his head. It was something Barry had told him a while ago: what stops other people doesn't necessarily stop me. Maybe he'd be able to cross these wards.
"Well, we aren't very certain. They are daughters and followers of Hecate—they are bound to know some magicks," the mimallonede leader said quietly. She was a small girl but she was very lively and very beautiful with her wavy ash blond hair and bright amber eyes. She had a thin tiara on her head made of pretty colorful flowers and grasses.
"I think I might be able to do something about it," Johnny said and saw how the girls' faces lit up with excitement.
He was more than happy when he actually managed to cross the doorway.
Bless Barry and his thieving stinking logic!, he thought with a smile on his face. He turned to his wide-eyed followers and grinned as he bowed as if receiving applauds on a stage. "Thank you, thank you," he was saying and the girls laughed and clapped.
There was one problem now. How the hell could he deactivate the stupid wards? He looked around for a lever or a button or something but then he had to remind himself that magic didn't work like that. Damn.
"Okay… now how do I deactivate them?" he asked the girls and they all looked at one another in confusion. They hadn't the slightest clue. Johnny pitied them for a moment (so beautiful and so helpless, god help me I want to be the one to protect you forever) but then he ran fingers through his curls and comforted them. "Hey, don't worry. I'll figure it out; you just stay here and wait for me to return, okay?" They nodded and he was off.
The corridor was a small one but it was richly decorated. There were beautiful woodcarvings on the ceiling, the walls looked like they were taken from a French palace, and the lamps were shaped like exquisite bronze candelabrums. The floor was covered with a thick carpet that looked quite expensive. Johnny walked for less than minute before he reached a door. After it the hallway curved to the left.
Johnny, being used to snooping around with Barry, placed an ear on the wall beside the door and when he didn't feel or hear anything, he moved his head to the door.
He could hear voices now, quiet, almost undetectable, but they were there—girl's voices. Tired girls' voices.
Okay, he said to himself and placed his hand on the handle. He was just about to walk in when he stopped himself. What was he doing?! First, he could be walking into a room full of vampires. Second, there might be another barrier here and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to pass it this time. So he gulped and with a nearly trembling hand, he opened the door but stayed in the hallway, as far away from the room as possible.
The room was just like the other one only smaller. There were only several girls inside, looking nothing alike. The only thing in common was their beauty. These must be the daughters of Aphrodite that the girls talked about, he thought. When the girls saw him they were frightened for a moment. Then, when they didn't see a threat in him, they came to the door with hopeful smiles on their faces.
"Oh, you're here to save us, aren't you?" one said.
"Oh, thank the gods!" another added.
Then they were all talking very loudly over one another and Johnny felt like his head was about to explode.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy, ladies," he said and they quieted down. "First you have to tell me who, or what, you are."
"We are prisoners! We—"
"Yes, yes, I know," Johnny said. He didn't feel very comfortable in their company and he wasn't sure why exactly. "Are you the daughters of Aphrodite?"
"Yes! Yes, we are!" one of them almost cried.
"And two daughters of Cupid, two of Selene and one of Apollo! Please, you have to help us!"
"Yes, but don't come in!" a small thin girl said from the back. She had pale skin, beautiful full lips, almost invisible freckles, long ash blond hair and eyes dark blue and endless like the night sky. Johnny had spent quite a while with a bunch of insanely beautiful girls that no one would be able to resist but none of them had looked like this one—she was different. Not really prettier, that would be impossible, but if he had to choose it would be her. With no hesitation. Her voice was strong and clear even though she looked tired and drained from being a prisoner here. "There are wards on the doors and we can't get out. If you're a demigod you would be stuck here like the rest of us," she said grimly and Johnny instantly wanted to break the arms and legs of whoever locked her in here. He took in a deep breath and looked at her—directly at her—even though the rest of the girls thought he was speaking in general. He wasn't. He was speaking to the small girl in the back with night skies for eyes.
"I will find a way to free you, I promise," he said and it was the most serious he'd been in ages.