Ch. 11 – Our Trio's Down to Two

Accorting to Troy's wrist watch, the train went on for almost a complete day before it stopped and no one complained when Dexter detrained without a word. They could see workers everywhere, driving tractors and trucks, unloading the freight cars. Fortunately, the darkness around the spotlights were thick enough for the workers too not notice them and the motors of the vehicles were noise enough so the trio didn't need to be quiet.

Not that any of them ever bothered.

They were all too hungry to be able to think about anything else than finding somewhere to eat. Even Terrwyn moaned repeatedly for food while they crept out of the rail yard. After a few hundred meters, they spotted a building with a large sign saying "GODLY DELIGHT" they all agreed on looked like a diner. Moaning they hurried across the road and entered.

Loud music and the smell of cooked food hit Dexter in the face when he opened the door and made his mouth start watering. The restaurant was that crowded that Dexter had to push himself through the people to get to the counter.

Dexter could feel Terrwyn pulling in his jacket, gesturing him to bend down towards her "This doesn't feel good" Terrwyn mumbled in his ear.

"Same here" Dexter replied "My stomach feels like it had been turned inside out!"

"No, not-…" Terrwyn continued, but Dexter ignored her and slammed his fist onto the bar table to get the hostess' attention.

"I want three portions of anything" he shouted to the woman, trying to be heard over the loud music "Just make it quick!"

Troy pushed forward and sat on a barstool next to Dexter "Yeah, Anything" he grunted, laying down his head on the wooden surface "Quick. Starving"

The woman, whose nametag said Lamia, looked down at the three, her eyes narrowed. She leaned forward as to take a close look at them and sniffed the air. Then she tilted her head and smiled warmly down at the three "Of course, young ones" she said with a silky voice "Wouldn't you like our buffet, then? It's a special offer for -ah- your kind"

"Buffet?" Dexter beamed at her "Sounds great"

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Troy said and an old man next to him grunted offensively. "What?" Troy snubbed at him, but didn't wait for an answer since the hostess showed them the way to their table.

Lamia led them to a separate room of the diner. Walls, tables, chairs and the table cloths had all hues of deep red along with the table holding all different sorts dishes and sweets.

Dexter's stomach roared and his already watered mouth overflowed that drool started trickle down his chin.

"What are you waiting for, heroes?" the hostess asked and smiled at them "Dig in!"

Dexter laughed and rushed towards the buffet, looking at all the food. There was pizza, chicken wings, pasta sauces and all different sorts of salads. Lamia poured up any drink they wanted in golden cups and kept refilling so the cup never became empty.

Filling his plate with as much he had room for Dexter then sat down at one of the tables and started wolfing. Troy sat down next to him, but with two full plates instead of one. Terrwyn on the other hand had put one single pizza slice on her otherwise empty plate.

"Are you not feeling well?" Dexter asked her, scowling down at her plate "You said you were starving just a moment ago!"

"Not…Yes…I mean…" Terrwyn mumbled nervously and poked her pizza with her fork. "I'm fine"

"Well, you gotta eat then!" Dexter said, picking up a chicken wing with his fingers "Who knows what'll happen next on our quest"

Terrwyn discreetly shook her head and Dexter scowled back at her.

"What is it?" He asked while chewing on the wing "You're acting weird"

"Leave her be" Troy sighed, taking a sip from his glass "If she's not eating, then it's her problem"

"But, hey!" Dexter frowned at Troy "Who aren't hungry after not having food for a day?"

Freezing with his fork halfway to the mouth, Troy straightened and looked from Terrwyn to Dexter. "Maybe…" he said after a moment of silence "That sounds quite weird"

"Is something wrong, my dear child?" Lamia asked and poured up more Fanta in Dexter's glass.

"No, not at all!" Terrwyn answered with a squeak "We're all fine!"

Impressed, Dexter looked at Terrwyn. He hadn't heard her tell any stranger even a sentence, and now she had uttered two!

"Are you sure?" the woman insisted, still smiling widely "You don't seem like have eaten much. You should really need some more flesh on your bones!"

"I'm not so hungry" Terrwyn's trembling voice wasn't much more than a whisper. "We can leave now"

"What?!" Dexter and Troy looked offended at Terrwyn

"If that's so, then" the smile on the woman's face stiffened and she then turned towards Dexter "How about we go and take care of that payment?"

Dexter blinked, staring up at her.

"Your friends can wait here and maybe get to eat some more" the hostess said, throwing a glance towards Terrwyn and then back at Dexter's shades.

"O-okay then" Dexter slowly stood up from his chair, quickly whispering to Troy to prepare some doggie bags before he smiled innocently at the hostess.

Lamia led him away further back in the diner. Dexter was surprised how big it actually was, from the outside it looked pretty small.

They entered a room on the other side of a corridor, also colored bloody red. The room was quite small and the walls and floor was just naked concrete. In the far end of the room was a big pile of dirty rags and buckled metal scraps. A chill crept down Dexter's spine, causing the hair on his body to stand on end. Why did they have to enter such a room to pay for some food?

Lamia had closed the door behind him and turned towards him, smiling.

"You know what" Dexter said and took a step backwards "I just remembered I paid last time we ate; I think the other's got more money…"

"Oh, sweetheart" Lamia said in her smooth and silky voice "You won't need money. Here we've got another… currency here"

Dexter's face flushed almost as red as the walls of the corridor outside. "H-hang on!" he stuttered, taking another step backwards "I can't! That's immoral… and illegal!"

Lamia stared shocked at Dexter for a short moment before she threw her head back and laughed coldly and wicked. Another chill was sent down Dexter's spine and he took a step backwards. She looked at him with bloody red eyes and snickered, slowly walking towards him.

"Don't think yourself lucky, you naught boy" She said and snickered. Her face was slowly changing. It seemed like melting and dripping off, revealing a wicked and distorted face. The skin crumpled and turned ash gray, followed the shape of her skull more precisely. Her nose steered off to the left with a horrible cracking noise and her mouth stretched wider, bursting open her lips and revealing a set of needle sharp fangs.

Dexter shrieked, stumbled backwards and fell over the pile of garbage. He found himself sitting on a dented shield and a crooked sword stuck up right next to him. Scowling, Dexter took another look at the sword. It looked familiar. The same bronze color and it had the same sort of glow as the blades of camp half-blood. It was celestial bronze!

Feeling his whole body shaking, Dexter looked up at Lamia's misshaped face. He didn't have to guess what happened to the owners of all this trash. Godly Delight, how come he hadn't seen that before? Dexter swallowed, feeling nausea climbing up his throat. What had it been in the food they had eaten?

"You…" Dexter croaked, his mouth felt as dry as a desert but he forced himself to talk. Distract her. Put her on other thoughts while he tried figuring out how to get out alive "You're serving demigods? Like in, making food of us?"

The hostess chuckled. "Oh, yes my dear child" she answered and wetted her lips "Your friends will be such a delight for my hungry customers outside. Especially that big one, much beef on his arms"

Dexter gulped, almost too scared to ask her next question. "The buffet…was it…?" Dexter started, but Lamia cut him off

"Why should I waste such fine godly meat to feed you?" she snapped and hissed angrily "No, that was a stray dog and a few overrun cats"

The nausea sank down a bit. Relieved that he at least hadn't become a cannibal, Dexter almost smiled. Then he remembered that he was as good as dead anyways and tried to focus on coming up with a plan.

"So… ehm…" Dexter started, but Lamia snorted irritated and lunged herself forward. Dexter yelped and tried to jump out of the way, but he was too slow. Lamia's long and clawed fingers grabbed around his throat and pressed him towards the wall.

"Don't you think others have tried the same trick on me, child?" she hissed, spitting him in the face. "They've already tried, look what happened with them" She nodded at the pile of belongings of her previous victims. Her other hand stroke Dexter's baby soft cheek "You're not of the finest sort, almost too old" she said in a disappointed voice "But I'm starving"

"Wait!" Dexter wheezed "Please, don't!"

Lamia laughed "You're such a whiney coward" she said and her eye twitched "Not at all like my eldest son. He was brave, the same age as you. Right about to turn into a man when she took him from me" Her voice trembled of anger and hatred "She took away all my children!"

"Why don't you talk with her about it" Dexter whimpered, smiling hopelessly "I don't have anything to do with that"

"Why do other gets to see their children grow up to fine heroes, but not me?!" Lamia yelled in Dexter's face, spitting salvia all over his face "I'll kill you! I'll eat you! I'll make the dogs suffer the same pain I did!"

Lamia roared as she gaped as much as her jaws allowed and leaned forward, as if trying to bite Dexter's face.

Dexter yelled and kicked around with his legs in panic, eventually kicking her in the stomach. Wheezing, the grip Lamia had around his throat loosened and Dexter took this opportunity to push her away from him. Attempting to run for the door, Lamia roared and Dexter felt something hitting him hard on the back, causing him to fall over.

Hissing and growling furiously, Lamia pinned Dexter's arms against the concrete floor. "You. Are. Mine!" she roared and Dexter felt a sudden pain in the external part of his right ear. Lamia chuckled as her teeth buried deeper through his ear, but then she grunted of annoyance. Dexter's shades had come in the way and got stuck between her teeth. When she couldn't spit them out, Lamia was forced to let go of Dexter's other arm to winkle it out.

As soon as his arm got free, Dexter hit the she-monster on the jaw several times. Lamia howled and let go of Dexter's other arm. He spun around from under her and pushed her away from himself.

"You won't get away!" Lamia spluttered and readied herself to lunge at him again, but she froze in the action.

"What now?" Dexter asked, sneering at her in triumph "Feeling scared?"

With his aviator shades dangling from between her teeth, Lamia stared into Dexter's ice-colored puppy eyes.

Lamia trembled and fell down onto her knees, but she didn't break their eye contact. Neither did Dexter. His icy blue eyes stared back into her blood red ones, seeing how her anger and hatred turned into pure horror. Lamia flinched as Dexter took a step towards her, reaching out his hand and snatched his shades from her mouth. Then he turned on his heels and ran for it.

Hurrying out of the room, Dexter sprinted down the red corridor. He could hear crashes and thumps from inside the buffet room. When entering the room, Dexter was met by total chaos. The whole place had been turned upside down; tables and chairs were knocked off their legs, broken in two and smashed to pieces. Shattered plates were spread all over the floor and cutlery stuck out from the walls, as if someone had used them to practice dart.

The worst of all were the monsters and there were a lot of them. There was everything from one eyed giants and women with serpents for legs to weird looking seal-dog hybrids. There was even a horned centaur; the old man who had grunted at Troy. Some of the monsters were fighting each other, but the rest had their attention on two demigods standing in a corner.

Troy had his crooked blade leveled and a shield on his left arm, trying to hold off the monsters. Terrwyn stood behind him with a dagger in her hand and her back pressed against the wall, staring up at the monsters. She didn't move at all except for her hands, trembling violently that she could drop her dagger any moment.

"Guys!" Dexter cried and attempted to run towards them, but then he suddenly yelped. Someone was clinging onto him, digging their claws through his leather jacket and into his shoulders. Lamia hissed like an angry cat and tried to drag him down onto the ground.

"Get…Off..!" Yelled Dexter, trying to throw the demigod-eater off his back.

Stumbling around bumping into tables, Dexter did his best to stay up on his feet. It wasn't an easy task with a heavy monster on his back, pulling in his jacket and scratching his head with her blade-like claws. Dexter then slipped on a gobbled and fell over with Lamia on his back. She hit her head on the edge of a table and slid off Dexter's back to collapse on the floor.

"Kill her!" Troy yelled from the corner. "Unsheathe you freaking knives for Ares's sake!"

Dexter winced and looked down at his belt. That's right! De did have weapons to defend himself with. He summoned a knife, held it up in the air above Lamia and looked down at the unconscious humanoid. She were completely defenseless in her state, was it really right to stab someone like that? Wouldn't that be…murder?

"What are you hesitating for? Finish her off!" Troy yelled and Dexter looked up at him.

The room was almost completely empty on monsters, only the old centaur were left and Troy had an advantage, that horse body were too clumsy and the centaur slid around on plates and slippery food. How Troy had managed to take care of all the monsters by himself was astonishing. That boy really knew his thing; Dexter had seen it himself while spying on him at camp.

"Watch out!" Troy cried over his shoulder

A fist hit Dexter under the chin and

"I'll remove those eyes of yours!" she hissed, but with her mouth full, Dexter couldn't hear much other than spluttering noises. She started crawling over Dexter, about to pin hon to the floor.

Panicking, Dexter tried to kick her off himself, but she pressed him to the floor and locked his legs. With an evil and horrible cackle, she licked her lips. Dexter tried to peek between his arms and catch her gaze while avoiding to get his eyes poked out, but Lamia was not looking directly at him but at somewhere around his forehead.

"Because you're so troublesome, I'll have to kill you first" she said with a soft voice, but she had low and demonic undertones, which send chills down the tall blonde's spine. "Usually, I like to eat my food fresh and alive" She continues, biting her lip "But thinking about how much trouble you've caused me…" With an angry hissing noise, she spat him in the face "You'll pay for everything you've done!"

Lamia leaned forward and Dexter felt how her hands searched for his throat. "No!" Dexter wheezed and tried to push her away from him "St-…op"

Then Lamia suddenly froze, her eyes widening and turned down at the blade sticking out of her chest. Letting out a final gasp, the demigod-eating monster dissolved into golden dust.

Dexter panted, massaging his sore throat and looked up at Troy. "T-thank y-…" Dexter croaked, but Troy cut him off with a painful slap on his cheek "Whatthe…?! WHY?"

"Shut up, you useless piece of crap!" Troy snapped and harshly pulled Dexter up on his feet "Take your shades and that thing over there before we get in more trouble!" Troy gestured towards the corner where Terrwyn still was standing.

"'That thing'…? Wha-, Terrwyn? She's a person, Troy!" Dexter stared at Troy, not believing what he just had said.

"I don't care!" Troy turned on his heels and hurried out of the now empty diner.

Dexter quickly picked up his ray-bans, grabbing Terrwyn by the hand and dragged her along and hurried after Troy "What are you saying?! " Dexter hissed at Troy "She's another human being, your friend, you don't objectify-"

"My friend?!" Troy spun around and faced Dexter, catching himself right before looking him in the eyes and decided to glare down Terrwyn instead. "Hiding like a scared rabbit, leaving me alone to deal with a bunch of monsters, she's not my friend!"

"She was scared!" Dexter stepped in front of Terrwyn, shielding her from Troy's glares. He intentionally kept the shades in his hands instead of putting them on. Come at me, Troy!

"That's the freakin problem!" Troy glared up at Dexter's forehead. "She starts whimpering if one even looks at her! She's a worthless coward! Camp's cursed loser and the worst possible being for going on a quest at all!"

"Cut it out, Troy!" Dexter growled clenching his fists as anger started boiling up inside him.

"And you, you good-for-nothing idiot! Can't even kill a single monster-!"

"SHUT UP!" Furiously Dexter screamed and stomped on the ground, his hands shaking of anger and his breath wheezing through his gritted teeth.

Taken by surprise, Troy had flinched and stared up at Dexter, meeting his eyes.

"That gives you no damn reason to insult her!" His voice trembled as he spoke "We're not the same training-maniac as you, Troy! You're maybe the best at fighting, but I'm sure both of us can do stuff you can't do!"

Troy didn't answer, only stared back at Dexter with great terror. Dexter closed his eyes, he didn't like seeing people get that terrified. Troy dropped down on his knees and whimpered. "Fine!" he finally whispered "I'm done. You can go on with your suicide-mission!"

"What?" Dexter blinked in confusion, forgetting his anger "You can't leave us!"

"I'm not planning to die for a quest that's doomed to fail!" Troy got up on shaky knees and faced away from Dexter and Terrwyn "Good luck without me, you'll need it!" and with that he left, walking down the dark street and turning a corner.

Dexter stared emptily at Troy for a quick moment and the anger returned. "What about Apollo being imprisoned?! Are you just going to ignore the maybe only chance to save the world from the eternal darkness?!" he yelled after the brunette, but he was never to receive an answer "Yeah, just leave you! Go back to camp and tell them all how you abandoned the world, just to save your own skin! Who's the coward now, huh?!"

Dexter grabbed Terrwyn by her hand again and dragged her along back towards the trains.