A Victorian Lady's Guide to Killing Gods and Monsters [ONC 2023]

Chapter IX: Smashing soil with your hands might be just the thing you need to do

England, April 6th, 1852

Miss Rayburn thought of many responses to that. She did not know anything about fencing. The harpy's death was just a lucky shot. What in Heaven would she do to choke off the serpent men with very real swords?

The truth is, she did not have time to respond.

The shriek had alerted the rest of the monsters, and they screamed in reply. In the distance, Helen was sitting beside Miss Eos, drinking wine and enjoying the scene. Yes, the Iliad painted her better than she was.

"Go!" Hattie snapped, taking the sword with her trying to get at least not hurt by her enemies' weapons.

Swords were not as heavy as they seemed. Yes, most gentlemen nowadays preferred to duel with pistols instead, but this was all she got. She was not able to hurt any monsters, though at least she could stop some lunges and even manage to remove a pair of scales from a serpent man. She ran across the room quite a few times to get them away from the counter.

Why did he take so much time to get on a table? Izzie, the barmaid, was drying some glasses with an old cloth, oblivious to everything that was happening around her.

"Why do you want to kill me, Helen?" Hattie shouted, trying to avoid the claws of an angry harpy. "Your fate was to be a weapon, too."

"Getting thousands of Greeks and Troyans killed in the way, including my brothers-in-law. The gods should've killed me."

Miss Rayburn remembered what Hestia had said about her. We exist because we are adored, because someone remembers us. Someone can call our names.

"And yet, you are still here, an immortal living from people's curses and bad memories about you."

The girl could not see beyond the wall of enemies in front of her, but she was cock-sure she was very upset. "Kill her already!"

Two serpent men buried the tip of their swords in Hattie's abdomen, but they did no more harm than slitting the dress. "God bless my mother for educating me about wearing corsets," she thanked, almost to herself.

All of a sudden, the attack stopped. Both the serpent men and the harpies turned to look at the counter, where Mr. Ben Swift was standing. The only ones focused on their thing were Mr. Percy and Miss Eos. Did they actually know what was happening? Helen was looking at Ben with an eyebrow raised as if she tried to say what do you want, child? Are you insane or something like that? Do you think this counts as a glorious death?

A wicked smile rose from Ben's lips, and he extended his hands in the beasts' direction. Something was happening. His wine-colored eyes were shinier than ever, and silence was the only noise Hattie could hear. A terrible, crushing silence.

Then, chaos erupted.

The harpies and the men started charging at each other, pointing their spears and burying their swords in the other bodies. Somehow, now Miss Rayburn was not the target.