TW: This chapter is awful and contain some pretty graphics material, if your not comfortable, please skip over this one.

[Lucius]

Lucius grinned as he held up the severed ring finger, giving it a kiss. Her blood flowed in spurting jets, his own hand covered in a fine red layer. He smiled wider as the girl silently screamed. Reaching out, he used the finger to draw a dripping symbol of Eros on the blind girl's forehead. His personal calling card, a symbol of his devotion to spreading the truth of love. Love didn't exist, only lust. Time was running short, but he wanted to send a message. His ritual was important. He had to prepare his sacrifices to himself, for was what he did any different from the actions of a god?

With a satisfied smile, Lucius grabbed the girl and threw her unsaramonously over his shoulder. He made sure to drop the finger in the middle of the room, he wanted the monster to know she had failed. He had shoved a length of cloth into her mouth to heep her quiet. He began to run, making away with his prize. The gorgon may have had the front entrance guarded, but he was sure he could get around her. He had found a small secondary entrance. A place where the labyrinthine caves intersected and led him to the main corridor, which in turn led him here. He had almost missed it as he had scoped out the location, but he had been able to slide away a large section of stone that blocked the entrance way. He could take his prize and leave the gorgon none the wiser.

He had to move quickly, though. The new meat had screamed loud enough to wake the dead, and that reptilian creature was deadly fast. He ran down the hall, already hearing the crashing movement of the gorgon moving in his direction. At the last possible moment, Lucius ducked into a small alcove and slammed a hand over the blind meats mouth. He had timed it perfectly as he watched Medusa barrel pst his hiding spot. He was home free.

"Now, little mouse.... your all mine," he growled with a predatory smile, his disgusting tongue wetting his lips with his foul spit.

[Medusa]

The Serpentine woman watched the woods around her home with a keen eye. One of the few advantages of her gorgon form were the enhanced senses that it left her with, better sight, better smell, and taste. She was also far stronger than she had been as a mortal, though that was part way her own doing. Three centuries had left her plenty of time to train her body to be strong, though being near double her original size didn't hurt. Often, she found it a burden, but now she was actually grateful for the extra bulk. She had become a deadly warrior, a killer many times over, exactly what was needed to deal with a threat.

"No man will lay a finger on the girl....," she muttered to herself. This was a quirk she had developed in her isolation. She never knew if she were speaking to herself or perhaps to the serpents that made up her hair. She didn't know what compelled her to speak, but she wanted to say it. She wanted to let someone know that she wanted the girl to be safe....

"MEDUSA!" The scream echoed down the hallway and straight into her heart. The desperation in Thera's voice cutting through to her very soul. She couldn't let this happen. Couldn't allow some like this to live. Most of all, she couldn't allow something like what happened to her happen to her Thera. She had little time to analyze the thoughts going through her head nor the feelings running through her heart. She just needed to move quickly. She forced her long tail to propel herself forward as fast as she could. She shouldn't have gone so far from the nest! Shouldn't have left Thera alone!

Medusa nearly crashed to the floor as she stopped herself suddenly. Her eyes instantly moved to the puddle of blood seaping into the red stained bedroll. She felt bile rise in her throat as the metallic smell hit her nose. Blood had never bothered Medusa.... but this was different, far, far different. This was the blood of an innocent girl that she should have guarded. Her eyes roamed the room, following the patterns where the crimson viscera had splattered and spurted. Her heart dropped fully as soon as she laid eyes upon a small pale object placed carefully upon one of her pillows. A ring finger....

Medusa felt a pantheon of emotions swarm into her heart, into her soul. Rage, fear, loss .... and something else that she couldn't name. She forced herself to look away from the finger and noticed the trail of blood. Thera had been taken out of the nest. She was in movement without thought

"She may still yet live!" She growled to herself as her mind focused on only one of those emotions. Her serpents picked up on this and let out a cacophony of hissing, coelesing into a sibilant roar. No man would hurt that girl. No creature would lay his filthy hands on one of the only people that lived on this planet to show her kindness. To hell with anything else! To hell with the gods! To hell with even Athena! To hell with her pride.... Thera was the only thing that mattered now.

As Medusa moved.... she prayed. For the first time in three centuries, Medusa prayed to the high of Mount Olympus. To the indifferent divinity that she hated with all of her soul. To the gods who cursed her, but this wasn't about her now. Thera's gentle face filled her mind. She saw her pale skin with a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. The way her head tilted when she was trying to catch the slightest noise. The way her face lit up when the rare smile crossed her lips. She felt tears begin to slide from her eyes, running like twin rivers down her scaled face.

"Please...... don't take her from me. Please, let her be safe. She deserves that much.... PLEASE! GIVE HER BACK!" She screamed through her tears, her voice letting the raw desperation bleed through into the place between her world and theirs.

[Athena]

The words slamed into Athena with the force of a titan, breaking through all of her carefully constructed emotional armor and straight into her heart. Her ichōr pounding through her body and drumming into her ears with a fresh intensity. Her breath coming in ragged gasps, her lungs aching with unfamiliar pain.

"No.... no, no, no," her hands reached to the sides of her helmet, pulling the lip of it over her eyes. As if hiding her eyes could deter the desperation. The all too familiar sound of Medusa begging... she sounded just like that night.

"Meddy...." was all she could whisper before the tears began to leak from her owl like eyes. The feathers around her eyelids drooping as she sobbed. She couldn't do this, couldn't face the fact that she was the cause of such suffering. That her own pride still wouldn't let her go. She could help, could step in, redeem herself..... but she couldn't. She couldn't meet Medusa's eyes. She couldn't..... with great effort, she silenced the prayer in her mind.

"I'm sorry, Meddy....."

[Aphrodite]

The goddess of love swelled with a rage that rivaled even the flames of Ares. Her aspect shifting from conventional beauty to a near aveien. Her soft dove wings becoming visible and wrapping around herself as if to contain the atomic rage that was building inside her.

She could see the hearts of mortals, their desires, and ambition layed bare before her. As she looked upon Lucius, her hecor rose in retaliation. The act of even perceiving this man making even the goddess sickened. If it weren't for the pact of non-interference, she would have brought down her full wrath upon this affront to everything she represents. No, she couldn't aid them directly. To do that would bring conflict to the Gods. She could do little more than watch and support. While the great wager of the gods was in effect, none of them were meant to intervene, sworn on the river Styx. The only few who hadn't sworn were Artemis, Hermes, Hades, and persephone. That lot had had no interest in the wager, little interest in human affairs. How Aphrodite had wished she had crossed her fingers behind her back when she had made that oath.

[Thera]

Everything was shaking movement and a rancid stench. She was lightheaded and felt as though she were going to faint. She had always been told her life would flash before her eyes before her death, but as usual, she saw nothing. Maybe she was still meant to suffer more in this life. With her dwindling strength she attempted to squirm free of the captors grasp, twisting around and racking her nails across the oilly face of the man. She could feel the warmth of blood begin to spill from the marks she made.

"Stupid pòrne!" The man growled as he wrapped his hand around Thera's small neck. With a grunt of anger, he lifted the girl up into the sir and slamed her down into the grassy ground of the forest floor. Everything began to ring as Thera's skull bounced off the ground.

"So the little mouse likes it rough? Makes sense that you'd hide with that creature then. I bet the gorgon would be an awfully ravenous concubine. Is that it? Dose the little mouse like being taken like a common whore? I can certainly oblige that girl!" Thera felt an iron grip close around her wrists, holding them both above her head as the other hand closed around her throat. She could feel the presence of his body looming above her.

With agonizing slowness, the man moved his leg and used it to push Thera's own leg to the side. He used his wait to hold her down, preventing movement as he forced her legs apart.

"No......NO! GET OFF ME! MEDUSA!" Thera's screams were met only with the man's low chuckle.

"Don't worry, princess, I'm sure my serpent will be just as good as her," she felt his hand move to grip the neckline of her borrowed tunic, the force of the yank was followed by the sound of ripping fabric. The air was cold, but the twin streams of blood flowing from her empty eye sockets were burning hot. Thera wanted death.

Her mind went to the oddest place in the following moment as a sound reached past all else to meet Thera's ears. Something like a whistling bird, groing louder by the second until it ended in a loud 'THWAK'. Suddenly, the weight that had been holding her to the ground lifted from her in one violent motion. There was the sound of something rushing over her, crashing, movement.

[Medusa]

Medusa was a single minded creature of condensed violence and rage. Her body moved without thought but full of purpose. She saw him, saw the shine of light bouncing off of bronze armor. Her arm lifted with practiced ease, the arrow already knocked and drawn. She felt a tingle of energy corse through her body, her vision tinted with an ethereal green. Her aim was true and her wrath was near devine in its intensity.

The arrow flew, a four foot spear of hard wood tiped with a serrated brass fang. The force behind Medusa's full draw weight, her own specially made bow creaking under her strength. The harpy feathered fletching brushing past her cheek as soft as a whisper. The arrow collided through the mans shoulder, lifting him up off of the pale body in the grass. Slamming through his bones with audible snaps and cracks, pinning his body to the trunk of a young tree.

She didn't slow one bit as she charged forward. At the last minute, Medusa slammed her free hand into the ground like a break. She contorted, bunching up the massive muscles in her tail, coiling it with all the power she could. The release of energy was explosive as she swung her body around, turing her serpentine tail into a massive whip with the full power of a cyclopian. The air snapping at the point of impact. She felt the bronze armor cave, ribs shatter, wood splinter. She cannoned the blow through, sending the man through the tree. She batted away the falling hafe with hardly a thought as her attention turned to Thera.

The girl was trembling. Bloody tears streaming from bellow her blindfold. She saw the girl reached for her. Her left hand missing the ring finger. Her tunic was ripped, exposing her bare skin of her chest. Medusa knew all too well what the man had been trying to do.

"I'm here Thera.....your safe, I'm.." she was cut off as the girl used what seemed to be the last of her strength to launch herself into Medusa. She wrapped her small arms around her waist and buried her face into Medusa's chest. Medusa wanted to pull away, but .... she didn't. With a gentleness that contrasted her form, Medusa leaned down. She slipped her arm beneath the girls knees and lifted her. Thera changed her hug as her arms were now wrapped around Medusa's neck, her face resting on the gorgons shoulder.

"I'm here...."

Thera's voice was hardly a whisper, "Please... Please don't leave me."

"I won't."

Medusa held Thera close, she could feel how desperately the girl clung to her. She felt so small in her arms. So fragile and precious. So innocent. Medusa kept her close as she slowly slithered back towards her home.

[I would like to apologize for this whole chapter being the way it is. I would like to formally sorta blame epic the musical for the song, hold them down wich I listened to while writing. I hope you enjoyed, I think this chapter came out pretty well. Please comment your thoughts, ideas and what not]