The Kid Lich Awakens

Deleted Scene 1 Will P.

Neutralized Threats and Lost Love

From the Desk of 0VFive: Hello, readers. This chapter, what was originally called Billy the Kid Lich Pt. 23a, was the first ever deleted scene. So fair warning, this never happens in the story, and it will end abruptly. If you want a conclusion or closure as to what happens after this; too bad. The idea of uploading this was to just include something most DVD-ROM film purchases included. Except you have to pay for those, and reading this is free.

Anyhow, I actually wrote this scene first, as far as real world chronology goes. The chapter you read in the book, and the scene that replaced this one, is subtitled The Set Animal's Slaughter. That is part 23, if you're looking for it on the table of contents. Anyways, the focus here was more on dialogue and character interaction, not the actual action itself. Enjoy!

After a sound like a whip crack, Billy and Sobek, surrounded by their protective sphere, appeared before the Huntresses of Artemis. One of the Huntresses, which could've been anything ranging from full-blooded human, to forest nymph, to naiad, to demigod, said: "What the hell?" Another said: "Where on Earth did they come from?" Oh boy, Billy expected rampant sexism to be baked into their beliefs, since it was all they knew, and since they were all surrounded by other powerful independent women who had enjoyed a years, sometimes decades, long power trip killing monsters, and only spoken with others who held their beliefs, creating what political scientists call an "echo chamber". An apt name since Artemis was involved with the tragedy of Echo and Narcissus.

"Sanford, Florida." Billy had replied to the second Huntress. "Oh... well at least he's honest." Said the first woman. It wasn't lost on Billy that since their quarry was already slain, the huntresses had now all knocked arrows and pointed them at Billy and Sobek. "Go ahead, fire. I dare you." "Bold, this one. We should kill him now."

Billy was a little interested to watch a bunch of female minds deliberate upon his fate as if he wasn't standing right there, listening to every word. "No, we should capture them alive, disarm them, and deliver them to Lady Artemis for interrogation." "I second the first motion, for the record." Huntress no. 5 said. Billy began numbering them in order of speech. The one who wanted to kill him was Huntress no. 3, at least until he learned her name.

"Nay, we should duo spar them to the point of yielding, not death." Billy could at least roll with this option. They didn't know he had an ace in the hole. "Sure, I'll take that one, if anyone cares to hear my opinion."

"We do not!" Exactly 17 huntresses had all said in unison. "Wow, impressive jinx. Anyhow, I'm not going to sit here and let a bunch of anti-man sexists decide what to do with me without my input. If you expect respectful silence, you can shove it." "And I second his motion." Said Sobek. Billy hoped the crocodile god just realized he just agreed to be his partner in a duo spar, but Billy was hoping for a one on one with the Olympian, if he could get it. She may not even be nearby.

Billy realized the Huntresses couldn't see the protection sphere. He hadn't intended for it to be invisible, but perhaps as a byproduct of something spawned by his own born-of-the-black soul, it couldn't be detected by these ladies. Or maybe he'd accidentally baked in the inability for Huntresses to specifically see it. Or maybe he was just lucky. Well, his life would argue otherwise, to the last point.

He inventoried his surroundings, taking note of the stars first. He'd always hated growing up in the suburbs because of all the light pollution. Made it harder to see constellations, out here in the wilderness, the night sky was gorgeous. But he had no time to stargaze. It was dark, New Moon dark, and there were tall oak trees everywhere. Since the Huntresses used bows and arrows, these would make for good cover, although they certainly had enough firepower to maintain a good amount of suppressing fire to keep them behind cover if they took it. Plus they could just reposition themselves for a better shot. And Billy and Sobek were already surrounded, but untouchable.