A/N: This chapter was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Harmony and SPQR-Alan for the lovely reviews, I'm so glad you guys like it! ~ Emma
"Where's Rory?" Emma snatched her dagger out from where it was tucked in her boot. She knew it was foolish to show her weapon but the instinct had been too strong. Mia just pouted and shook her head.
"Oh come on now. No need for that in here, darlin'. He'll be fine... As long as you come quietly. If you don't, well I guess I'll just let the boys have him. They haven't eaten in a while."
The nearest seemed to corroborate this with a snarl.
For a moment she thought about it. She could go with Mia, walk right into Bahrams open arms and sacrifice herself, but she was too smart to believe it would end there. Rory wouldn't be safe even if she did go quietly. Bahram wasn't stupid enough to let him go free when he would be used as leverage over her. She didn't believe Mia for one second. The only way out was to fight her way out.
"Ermoli." Mia called out to her followers. "Would you be a dear and let Dameera know about our guests."
One of the giants grunted and started to move toward the door.
Think, Emma, think.
Who, or rather what, was Mia? Maybe the way to defeat her was to work out what she was. She was undeniably beautiful and had plenty of curves, so Emma guessed she was some kind of seductress. Mia's teeth looked sharp enough to tear through flesh and bone and she clearly thought Julian looked like a snack. Not in the way he wanted her to though.
Mia couldn't be a siren, they wouldn't venture so far from the sea and by now Emma would have been able to have seen an Empousas bronze and donkey pair of legs through the mist. Plus that wouldn't explain the giant men who also seemed to have an interest in devouring them.
"Hold on a second." Emma tapped her lip as she thought. "Is Mia short for something? Lamia perhaps?"
"Oh gosh darn it, she's good." Lamia smiled, almost looking proud of Emma for working it out. "No one ever guesses first time. I always get Mormolyceae or Empousa, it's so rude. What gave it away?"
"The Laestrygonians. Man-eating giants who lived on Lamos, the city you either ruled or had named after you. Which was it? I've always been curious." Emma slid the knife back into its place, while Julian stared at her in confusion, clearly not understanding her strategy. Emma was hopeful she would come up with a plan while she kept the monster talking that would not involve killing every monster in that room. She hadn't seen Julian at camp, he lived in LA for gods sake, so she had no idea how well he could fight or if he had any abilities that would help.
"I was then what I am now. Their leader. Their queen." Lamia held her head up high. "But I don't blame you for not knowing. None of these modern sources can make up their minds about anything. I mean, one even tried to claim I was a man! Do you know how much that hurts a girl's feelings."
"I can imagine." Emma nodded sympathetically. "Alright. How about we hold up this whole altering Dameera thing for a few hours, so we can go online and alter your Wikipedia page so that it's more accurate?"
"You know how to do that?" Lamia's face lit up at the thought.
"Yeah, I actually fix a lot of the Wiki pages about Greek Monsters, it's kind of my speciality." Emma shrugged, allowing an aura of confidence to shroud her.
"She's really good at it actually." Julian chimed in, finally catching on.
"How would you know?" Lamia glanced between them, suspicion creeping onto her face. "She didn't even know you were a demigod."
"He must have read the page I updated on The Empousa." Emma casually brushed off Liamias concerns. "It's had millions more views since I corrected it. It's probably why people keep assuming that's what you are. When a page is clear and correct it gets so many more views."
"She's right." Julian nodded eagerly. "Emma's pretty famous for setting the facts straight. I just loved the one you did on Hellhounds. Man, I'm telling you. That page really was a fixer upper before Emma got to it."
"Alright. You can come with me, but he stays here." Mia pointed at Julian, before shouting. "Ermoli! Hold on a minute, will ya?"
Her only response was a grunt that she seemed to take as 'sure'.
"How do I know the Laestrygonians wont eat him?" Emma pointed out.
"Hmm." Mia paused to think. "How 'bout I let him keep whatever weapons he's carrying and they'll only eat him if he tries to attack them."
"Seems fair." Emma shrugged. She knew it was the best she was going to get and pushing any harder may have soured Lamia's inclination to trust her. Emma started working out ways to get Julian back in her sight the moment she left the room.
Lamia led Emma to the reception computer and Emma noted that the family zone was now empty. She had hoped that Lamia was holding Rory out here but she couldn't see him anywhere.
"Have a seat, darlin'." Lamia cooed, patting the office chair. When Emma sat down Lamia didn't move far, peering over her shoulder.
Emma loaded up the Wikipedia page for Lamia and started editing a few details before saying, "Sorry, is there any chance you could give me some space. I don't work well when I'm crowded." Emma smiled politely and, to her surprise, Lamia did as she asked.
Lamia moved round to the other side of the desk as Emma asked her various questions about her life. Where her eyes really removable? Did she primarily consume children or men? Did she have any snake features?
"I do, but nothing like that drawing! Edward Topsell, that absolute weasel." Lamia wrinkled her nose. "I may have eaten his newborn nephew, but that was no reason to go ahead and depict me like that! So rude. I can shapeshift into a snake, but I much prefer my natural form."
Alrighty then. Emma thought turning back to the screen. When she had gone through each line of the Wikipedia page, she hurriedly typed in red at the bottom 'Error 386: Cannot upload due to high number of spelling and grammar mistakes.'
"Right we're all ready to go." Emma announced, sitting up straight. She hovered the mouse just left of the publish button. "If I just click here…"
Emma clicked and then frowned. She moved closer to the screen, feigning confusion.
"What? What happened?" Lamia storming round to see the screen.
"Oh no." Emma sighed, sitting back in her chair and shaking her head in disappointment. "See I always have someone check my work, because I'm very dyslexic and my spelling isn't the best. I won't even be able to spot where I've gone wrong because the letters just move around in my head. I really need someone to spell check it for me."
"But… English ain't my first language. How am I meant to do that?" Lamia exclaimed, pointing aggressively at the screen.
"Julian might be good at it. We could always get him in here and see?" Emma looked up at Lamia, her eyes innocently wide. "I'd hate for all these corrections to go to waste for everyone to still believe you have a snake body."
"Fine, but he has to be quick." Lamia snapped after rubbing her rubbing her forehead in exasperation.
Lamia had Julian brought in accompanied by two of the giants. Emma wasn't sure why the rest didn't come in as well but she supposed Lamia was giving Emma the space she had asked for. Monsters vanity was all too easy to prey on. Julian looked at her as if to say 'what's the plan here?'. All Emma could do was to give him a look in return and hope he understood the silent message. 'Trust me.'
He read through the page, made a couple of changes and stood up again, but didn't move far.
"See if that works." He said, without much confidence. Emma sat back down and pretended to click the button again.
"No, still not working." Emma shook her head with feigned frustration. "You must have missed some."
"Oh, did I mention I'm dyslexic as well?" Julian gave a shy smile. "Guess I couldn't spot enough of them."
"Look Mia, can I call you Mia?" Emma tilted her head as Lamia nodded dismissively. "I didn't want to ask this, because I know you want to keep him away from me, but I really think it's the only way to set the record straight about the fact you are the most beautiful man slash baby eating woman who ever roamed the earth. I need Rory to check it. He checks all my work for me. My hellhound page was alright, but you know what really made the Empousa page famous? There wasn't an error in there. That was all down to Rory."
"Do humans even care about that kind of stuff?" Lamia narrowed her eyes, suspicion lay all over her face, but Emma could see she was close to breaking. Emma let out a laugh and nudged Julian to join her. They laughed for a few moments to wear down Lamias resolve.
"Uh, do humans care spelling Emma?" Julian said between fits of laughter. "Humans care about spelling more than anything else. It adds to the aesthetic of the page. Excellent spelling and grammar is what makes or breaks a webpage."
"Oh Mia, you are so funny. I love it. Bet that gets you all the guys." Emma added. "But seriously, if you want to be as well known as the empousa, you've got to up your game."
"Alright, Alright. You've convinced me. Ermoli, get the other boy." Mia waved him, but Emoli just blinked blankly at her. "Now!"
Emma had never seen a giant scamper away in such a cowardly manner. Emma felt her nerves building. The plan was going well and, in her experience, that only meant something bad was about to happen. She resisted the urge to share a nervous glance with Julian. She couldn't give anything away to Lamia.
When Rory walked in hands bound she felt her heart pounding in her chest and undeserved relief washing over her. They weren't safe yet.
Rory looked shaken. He looked around as if seeing the room for the first time. She could tell he was trying to hide the fear on his face but she knew him better than that. His brown curly hair hung in his eyes and his cheek sported a red mark. Her stomach twingned.
"He may just be human, but that means his skills don't lie on the battlefield." Emma smiled as she slowly walked over to Rory.. "I know how much you can do. You basically run this Wikipedia editing show with your amazing… spelling and grammar skills."
She could only hope he would put the pieces back together. In a smooth motion she grabbed her knife from her boot, cut the ropes binding his wrists and gave him the dagger. She didn't even have time to make sure he'd got the message about running as she drew her sword to slashed it across the chest of the nearest Laestrygonian, vaporising him. Lamia screamed with anger as Julian ran to her side, pulling a tie out from his jacket that promptly became a spear with a golden head. That was not celestial bronze. She wasn't sure where he had got his shield from but fought with such discipline, stabbing rather than slashing. It reminded her of… Ah. So Julian was a demigod, just not a Greek one. They defended the exit, giving Rory a chance to escape. They cut their way through wave after wave of Giants but they were not slowing down. Emma could feel water pipes in the ceiling right above them, but she didn't want to just burst them and risk Julian getting hurt.
"Fall back." She shouted over the noise of the fight.
Juilian glanced at her, his face unreadable. "I'm not leaving you."
"I'll be out in a second. Just trust me."
She was asking for an awful lot of trust so far this evening, but there was no time to explain as another Laestrygonian snapped his teeth at her neck. She only narrowly avoided him. Shermans training was coming in quite useful.
After downing a few more of the man-eating giants, Julian started to retreat toward the door. Emma could feel the path of the water and knew Julian was far back enough now. She pulled at the pipes with all her might. She felt the metal strain against her as she dragged the currents down, toward the army of Laestrygonians in front of her. She let out a cry as the pipes split and the jets of water shot out, bustling back the rows of giants coming toward her. She took a shaky step back toward the door. Then another. Then another.
Lamia dove through the water with a scream, landing directly on Emma. Emma was thrown to the ground and dropped her sword. She had to use both hands to try and keep the monster off her. Lamia snapped her sharp teeth inches from Emma's neck. She couldn't divert the water or she would risk the arms of Laestrygonians rushing on her and she would lose. She struggled and kicked out, her leg mustering just enough force to throw Lamia off her. She grabbed her sword and shot to her feet, almost slipping on the water around them. Seriously? She could control the water and yet still slip on it?
Lamia charged again, but Emma was ready this time. She raised her sword and swung it, cutting Lamias arm clean off. Black ichor poured out as she began to turn to dust. She snarled and hissed the words;
"I can never truly die. But I will see to it that you do."
