Harry's POV

Tomorrow was our deadline, tomorrow we had to find Aphrodite. None of us actually had the slightest idea where she was, and why she was taken. I felt really homesick. I wanted to go back to camp or Hogwarts. I'd just figured out something though, I would never have to go back to the Dursleys' ever again. That was one good thing about being a demigod, and, my dad wasn't dead! We were currently walking along a pavement in a town called Riverside. There wasn't a river in sight that was the funny thing about this place. Cars drove past, honking their horns loudly. I hadn't been in a town for a while. I'd always thought of America being really busy, but this part had been quiet, really, really quiet. It was just fields and mountains and the occasional village. This was the biggest place we'd been in, and it was smaller than Little Whinging. We walked along a street, that strongly reminded me of privet drive, dull matchbox houses with small neat lawns. All the houses tightly packed together and absolutely nothing vaguely exciting. This street was called 'Pine Tree Avenue' although there were absolutely no pine trees. There were some stumps at the side of the pavement, so I guessed that there had once been pine trees sometime.

The rhythm of four pairs of feet and one pair of hooves clattering against the pavement was making a loud tune. One, two, one, two, one, two. I listened to the clacking tune and the birds tweeting in the treetops. It was nearly the end of the day and I was sure nothing extraordinary would happen today.

Hermione was walking briskly along ahead of everyone. She really wanted to get this quest finished, I knew that. And after her near death experience yesterday, she probably did not want to have another one of those. Yesterday she could have died, and we all believed that she had, even her. Annabeth lagged at the back, her backpack weighing her down slightly. Percy walked back to her. "Let me help you with that, Wise girl," he said, trying to take it from her.

"I can manage by myself, seaweed brain," she said indignantly, speeding up and walking alongside Hermione. Percy folded his arms and sighed. I stifled a laugh.

We were coming out of the town now and into a forest. There was a nice small path twisting and turning through the trees. Birds tweeted in the treetops and everything was peaceful.

Suddenly I heard branches snapping.

"Do you hear that?" I asked the others.

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

"Shh!" I said, holding my finger to my lips.

Branches snapped, but I couldn't pinpoint where from. I looked around frantically.

Hermione spotted something. "Look! Over there," she pointed to a tree. At first I didn't see anything, but I noticed a woman, hiding behind a bush.

"Empusa…" Annabeth muttered. She had long flowing dark hair and eyes like rubies. She was deathly pale and wore a long black robe. But what really was creepy about her was her teeth; two white, pointed, sharp fangs were protruding from between her lips. She licked them ferociously. She was almost beautiful, except for her eyes, like blood. She looked vampiric, but that was what she was, basically, a vampire.

"You killed my sisters," she hissed. "I shall have my revenge!"

We immediately sprang into action. I had my sword in one hand and my wand the other. Hermione was readying an arrow. Annabeth's held her bronze knife and Percy held riptide, whereas Grover, he had stones he'd just picked up. She jumped out in front of us, hissing, her teeth gritted, ready to bite. We were ready too. I swung aimlessly at her – missing.

Not a good move.

Annabeth stabbed at her from behind, creating a small gash in her leg. That just made her even angrier. Somehow her fangs elongated and now they were sharper and pointier than ever.

"Blood… blood…" was all that escaped her mouth. Her mouth was open and she was longingly looking at our necks.

Hermione fired an arrow at her stomach. Hermione had killed her. "Yes!" she exclaimed.

But Empusa merely pulled the arrow out. It was covered in blood. She snapped it in half. "Do you really think you can destroy mewith an arrow?!" She clung on to the last letters of each word, holding them for a long time.

"As we've seen, no," Hermione said in her best know-it-all voice, trying to hide her fear.

"Empusa…" Annabeth was wracking her brains. She jumped up. "Empusa! The only way to kill Empusa is…" she lowered her voice so that only we could hear her. "…To stab her in the heart."

Now we knew how to kill her, it would be easier. We readied our weapons and Grover picked up an especially sharp stone.

"Demigod blood…" her mouth was open and her eyes were almost popping out of her head, "You really think you can destroy me?!" she repeated.

"Yes," Grover said confidently. Percy elbowed him in the ribs.

She scoffed. "I shall have to suck your blood…" her mouth was open, dripping saliva. "Blood…" She was insane.

She leapt at Hermione who shrieked loudly. Empusa's teeth were hovering over Hermione's neck. She tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but to no avail. I couldn't help my best friend. Empusa's teeth pressed Hermione's skin, almost in- SMASH! The sound of stone hitting bone sounded, and I realised that Empusa had been hit in the head by a rock, one of Grover's rocks specifically.

Empusa screeched in pain and doubled over. I took my chance and lifted my sword above Empusa's heart.

"This is for hurting my best friend!" I drove the sword into her heart. Her screaming stopped and she crumbled to dust. I took my sword out of the dust and quickly ran to Hermione.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Hermione nodded. "I think so. It's just a little cut."

I nodded and turned to Grover. "Well done, mate," I said, patting him on the shoulder.

Percy agreed. "Yeah, well done, G-man," he said.

"Blahaha, it was nothing."

Annabeth hugged Hermione tightly. "Those two are getting close," I remarked.

"I know. They're practically inseparable," Percy replied.

Hermione walked over to Grover. "Thank you, Grover," she said.

"S'alright," he replied.

We were all safe now, after that near death experience, especially for Hermione. But what we didn't know was what would happen tomorrow, the last day of our quest. Oh we couldn't imagine what was to come when the sun rose the next morning, one of the hardest days of our lives…

A/N: So there's chapter sixteen. God, sixteen already? Anyway, thanks for the reviews, percyjacksonfan135 (my ONLY reviewer!) and the reason I didn't update was because I got hardly any reviews! Reviews motivate me! So if you want an update sooner review! anyway, one more chapter before the finale five (yes, that's what I'm calling my last few chapters.) Anyway, I don't want to bore you with a really long author's note, so bye for now!

P.S Please review!