And now for the long-awaited fight scene! *gets cookies for the show*

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(PS: Each cookie costs $1 Canadian. So unless you have Canadian currency and know where I live... back off.)


VI LEO

JASON TOOK OUT HIS WEAPON and Leo summoned fire to his palm.

"Empousai," Piper sneered.

"Demigods," the vampires snarled back in perfect unison, advancing slowly. Leo suddenly realized how easily those talons of theirs could slice through him.

"Fight or flight?" he asked Jason, the battle expert.

"Oh, do stay and fight," one of the empousai crooned. "We would be honoured to be the ones to kill you."

The first one leaped, and Piper thrust the side of her blade at her chest. But she was too slow, and the vampire ploughed into her, sending them both tumbling across the street right in the path of a speeding motorcycle. The driver tried to slow down, but the two girls—both the demigod and the monster—were hit head-on and sent flying. Piper cried out, and the empousai screamed. Car tires squealed and mortal pedestrians gasped in fear and terror.

"Piper!" Jason yelled. Forgetting the remaining two vampires, he ran over to the street. Piper was stumbling to her feet, but she fell back down, hurt. The empousai was left sprawled on the street. She didn't move.

"Leo, watch out!" Piper gasped. Leo turned away from his friends and barely dodged decapitation from one of the other vampires. She sent him a kick to the shins with her mechanical bronze leg, and he fell backwards on his rear end. Okay. That totally wasn't embarrassing.

He forced himself back to his feet. The empousai grinned, her hands on her hips. "I'd expect more from you, demigod," she taunted.

Leo summoned another fireball and chucked it at her. She wasn't suspecting this and it caught her in the chest, causing her to stumble back a step. Her fiery red hair turned a dark shade of blue, and she screeched. It was a horrible noise, one that would be left ringing in Leo's ears for hours. Mortal civilians began to scream and flee the scene in terror. Leo barely had time to consider what they saw when the empousai lunged at him.

Her sharp fingernails went through his left shoulder, leaving five claw-marks that had an uncanny resemblance to a dragged dog's paw. Back at Camp Half-Blood, Leo had participated in a game of capture-the-flag, and someone on the other team had cut his shoulder during a fight. But after a sip of nectar and a good night's rest it was all better. This was so much worse.

He fell backwards against a nearby building wall. His clothes were on fire, which would have been funny on normal circumstances. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of Jason fighting the final vampire himself, while Piper remained knelt on the road, badly hurt.

Leo swung his fist in a wide arch at the vampire's neck, fire racing through his fingertips. The empousai shrieked and tried to scramble away, but her metal leg wasn't good for back-pedaling. He shoved her against the building wall, and blisters began to form on the monster's neck as his hand blazed. She screamed, and sucker-punched him in the face.

Leo cursed in Spanish and stumbled backwards, arms pin-wheeling. The skin on the vampire's neck was melting right off in disgusting bubbles of happiness and joy.

"You have condemned me, demigod," she told him, advancing slowly. Her steps were limped and slow. The vampire's eyes were blood red, filled with rage and fury. Her hands were clenched so hard her fingernails pierced her own skin and drew blood. "My wounds are beyond healing. But if I must die, I want you to come with me."

"Uh, no thanks," Leo told her, pulling out a screwdriver from his tool belt. His hurt shoulder felt hot and sticky. "I don't really like you that way."

When the empousai leaped, Leo was ready. He swung his screwdriver, holding the sharp end toward the outside, and the vampire ran into it. He drove the mechanical tool downwards and the vampire melted into golden powder.

The first thing that hit him was the pain. It had been bad during the fight, but now that it was over… oh, gods. Leo fell to his knees, clasping his left shoulder. The empousai's claws had fallen off when she disintegrated as spoils of war, landing on the sidewalk with five soft pings.

Jason's vampire seemed to notice all her sisters were dead. She shrieked at the demigods in fury, then turned away and bolted down the street. Jason didn't bother chasing after her. He knelt beside his girlfriend, but she wasn't interested in herself.

"Leo…" she groaned.

He turned and discovered the horrible condition of his other friend. Jason helped Leo to his feet, and leaned him against the building wall.

"Ah, man," he cursed. "That vampire really knows how to"—he winced—"…get under someone's skin." Leo kicked at the remaining five claws lying scattered at his feet.

He looked around. The harbour was practically empty. Sirens could be heard in the distance. "We need to leave," he said, and Jason nodded. He had to help both his hurt friends board the Argo II. It was completely deserted.

"Where are the others?" Leo managed as he was leant against the ship's foremast. Jason fished out some ambrosia from the nearby crates and gave his friends some to lessen the pain. Piper even managed to find the strength to bandage Leo's shoulder.

"The others… that's a good question," Jason replied.

"We need to look for them," Piper decided. For the first time Leo seemed to notice how trashed the upper deck was. Fresh slash marks decorated the wood, and pools of what appeared to be dying acid slowly ate away at the framework. Crates were scattered around aimlessly as if a blindfolded man were told to run through them. The soot marks of fire decorated the ship.

Leo nodded. "On it," he said, standing. It hurt to walk, but he made it over to the helm. He picked up his Wii controllers and hit the HOME button. The ship rose into the air.

"Hey, Piper," he called out. "How did you know those four girls were monsters?"

She delicately nibbled on her ambrosia. "Charmspeak," she replied. "Empousai have it, and they were using it." She shrugged. "Not my problem men are so susceptible."

"Hey," Jason commented with a grin, "was that a joke?"

Piper smiled. "Maybe," she said, but her expression grew serious again. "Come on, Leo. The sooner we leave this place, the safer I'll feel."

-o-O-o-

? ? ?

It's been several weeks in Ogygia, although I've lost track of the actual days. Calypso kept her distance, but sent me food and drink twice a day to show she remembered. And as much as I loved it there, I missed my wife and family. I wanted to go home. And I still do. Calypso insisted that I shouldn't… or can't. But here I am, leaving.

Now, as I sit here, watching the endless blue waves carry me toward my crew and home, I reflect upon my visit to Ogygia. I wish I could have done more to help the goddess. But I have the crystal, which should be enough…

Leo stopped reading. He set the parchment down on his night table and rubbed his tired eyes with the pads of his fingertips. His shoulder still throbbed. The five empousai claws lay scattered on his bed.

He also knew what the astrolabe was going to help them with.


And yes, I know what the astrolabe will do. I won't make it up last second, don't worry. (Maybe, unless something happens to the planning.)

-o-O-o-

Agent of Chaos: It's not Americans. It's the freaking hipsters that annoy the heck out of me. (And I would know, because half of the girls that go to my school are hipsters.)

-o-O-o-

Review? I'll lower the price of cookies to .60 British pounds.