Bows & Beauty

Chapter 11

"Stay calm..." Irene whispers beside Seulgi as the both of them tried to appear as nonchalant as possible.

The lady aka the empousa did stare at Seulgi for a moment before prying her attention to something else. Is it because Seulgi was blinded by The Mist earlier that she saw the empousa looking quite pretty? Looking at it now, the creature looks distorted and scary in particular and Seulgi swears in the name of Apollo she saw some fangs earlier.

"How do we kill it? Its broad daylight," Seulgi inquires as they saw the empousa walks ahead, and turn somewhere, almost vanishing from their sight. "Do you think she knows we're demigods?"

Irene stayed quiet for a moment before she grabs Seulgi's hand, "I think she'll just stay around this area till night. Based on the reports—but still, let's stay close and keep a lookout of her." Irene stood up and pulled Seulgi along.

"Won't she smell our scent? I mean, aren't demigods scent stronge—

"—She's more interested in men," Irene cuts her, and give her chill look.

"Oh...okay,"

They actually walked around and around the area—trying to not lose sight of the creature. Sometimes their trailing almost get caught when the empousa decides to turn and look at them in which Irene would suddenly embraced her and Seulgi had to hug her back, pretending to be an item—which wasn't bad though.

Since they were sure that the empousa would be lurking around the place, after a while they had decided to take turns to keep watch of the creature as they sat once more at the bench. When it came for Irene to keepwatch, Seulgi was already feeling light-headed and soon she had already fallen asleep as her head leans on Irene's shoulder.

"How could this girl fall asleep in a mission like this?" Irene scrunched her eyebrows as she looked at the girl beside her who was snoring indifferently. She sighed and stared at the sky which was already seeping in shades of orange.

Irene scanned the place once more, a few more minutes and she must wake Seulgi up. Usually around this time the empousa would go for a hunt. And she won't let any other mortal get harm again.

She sniffs the air; trying to pick up a certain fragrant. Besides charmspeak, she also has this ability where she could smell monsters and creatures nearby. She remembered her first time smelling something pungent and foul-like at one of the horse stables. She was 14 and she had followed her dad to one of his polo activities.

The horses in the stables were acting rather weird; scared more like as they kept moving around and neighing hoarsely here and there. The pungent smell kept her curious and her feet led her to the furthest of the stable where the odour was the strongest. And that was when she had met the first creature—or ghost more like—Taraxippus.

Back to the present, Irene continued sniffing once more. She was feeling slightly giddy now as the scent is getting weak—almost fading. Afraid that the empousa would go astray, she gently lifts Seulgi's head and shook her shoulders awake.

The latter eyes juts open in surprise but returns to sleepy like as she rubs her eyes, half-yawning, "Is it my turn already?"

In normal times, Irene would think that the girl's action was pretty adorable, but since her mind is running thinking about the empousa, that adorable thought should be on pause for a moment, "It's time for us to catch the creature, you dumb bear!"

"Really!" Seulgi looks at the cloud and was a little taken aback how time flies. The mini backpack slung back on her bag and she stood up. "Now that I've gained energy from my nap, let's go catch the empo—"