“Insolent whore, you killed my sister!” Artemis yelled.

“Sisters more like,” Clara quipped. “They got what they deserved. Besides, Blue Eyes always thought you were a pretentious twat.”

Hecate was the goddess who ended Clara’s life. Those three personas would sometimes appear as distinct apparitions. Like most siblings, they were often in conflict with one another. Now they keep me company…

“If you think you can just take my bow—” Artemis said.

“I came along on a hunt…”

“The god who figured out how to draw their power from immortal souls?” Clara guessed.

“How did you—” Artemis said.

That smirk on Clara’s face gave away that this was a shot in the dark. Unlike the goddess, Clara landed a blow on her first try.

“Well, these won’t work,” Clara said and holstered the pistols.

She winced as the wing tore further and worsened the bleeding. Clara was pretty sure there was no way she was getting out of this situation unscathed.

“Insolent whore, you killed my sister!” Artemis yelled.

“Sisters more like,” Clara quipped. “They got what they deserved. Besides, Blue Eyes always thought you were a pretentious twat.”

Teen applied for appearance only. Like most of the gods and goddesses of old, this one was older than civilization itself. Back in her day, she would have been of marrying age, whereas any adult male who asked for her number could end up in prison.

The goddess had the perfect female physique, along with dark braided hair, and elfin features that Clara attributed to the old gods. That being said, that bow and golden arrows were the biggest clue as to who this was.

“I could say the same thing about you, Artemis,” Clara said before chuckling. “Why aren’t you up there servicing your one true God?”

At the mention of God, the goddess betrayed herself with a facial tick. On the day of her death, Clara had met another goddess who had a similar reaction to that name. Two dots don’t form a pattern…

“Figures,” the woman mumbled.

There came a sound from behind. She turned around, quick as a viper striking at its prey, but even that was not enough. Two arrows hit their mark, one of which passed through her calf. Another struck her left wing before embedding itself into the tree. This one is fast!

“Well. Well,” the young teen said. “If it isn’t Clara Grey, the angel who prefers to toil with the humans than defend Heaven.”

Teen applied for appearance only. Like most of the gods and goddesses of old, this one was older than civilization itself. Back in her day, she would have been of marrying age, whereas any adult male who asked for her number could end up in prison.

She dodged another arrow, and another, but the third flew true. Her wings instinctively shifted to block the projectile, but the arrow went through and through, causing a golden substance to ooze out from the wound.

While a hit, the wing managed to deflect the arrow just enough to avoid striking the back of her neck. Tired of running, she ducked behind a tree and withdrew two pistols from her jacket.

The winged woman peeked from around the tree trunk. Those steel-grey eyes scanned the horizon. Nothing…

“Figures,” the woman mumbled.

She ducked behind a tree and dropped her pack. Before the dull clank rang out from into the woods, the prey was already headed deeper into the woods.

All the while the woman’s jacket deformed near her shoulder blades. The distortions grew until they tore clean through at two points. What came out was a congealed mass of bone and newly formed flesh. Shortly thereafter, the mass took on the shape of wings, with feathers filling in the expanse.

Her transformation was not restricted to growing a pair of wings. Like a butterfly leaving her cocoon, the woman grew more beautiful with every step. Her sharp facial features, elfin ears, and steel-grey had been turning heads for the better part of a century.