Empousa

"You don't need that. How about a kiss instead?"

- Tammi

The Empousa (plural: empousai) is a species of monsters commanded by Hecate.

History
Empousa was the beautiful daughter of the goddess Hecate and the spirit Mormo. She feasted on blood by seducing men as they slept before drinking their blood. Empousa was created by dark magic, animal, and bronze.

Empousa is pictured as wearing brazen slippers and bearing flaming hair. Her name was said to mean "one-footed". This is because they are a one-legged hybrid, with a donkey's leg and a celestial bronze prosthetic leg. The legend of vampires is based on empousa.

There is species of Hecatean demon called an empuse or empousa. The empuses were sent by Hecate to guard roads and devour travelers. According to some, empuses ran and hid, uttering a high-pitched scream at the sound of insults.

The empousai are best known for their appearance in Aristophanes's The Frogs, in which they scared Dionysus and Xanthias on their way to the Underworld.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Two Empousai masquerade as cheerleaders named Tammi and Kelli at Goode High School. Percy manages to kill Tammi with his celestial bronze sword, Riptide with the assistance of Rachel, a mortal who can see through the mist, but Kelli bursts into flames and escapes. The heroes later encounter Kelli in Daedalus' workshop who brings in the ghost of Minos, Daedalus' archenemy, and Nico, but she is soon killed by Annabeth when she blocks Percy's attempt at reaching Riptide after it was knocked out of his hand.

The Last Olympian
In The Last Olympian, an Empousa holds Prometheus' arm as they approach Percy under a flag of truce. The unamed Empousa mentions that she was one of the things released when Pandora opened the pithos containing demons and disease. She later bares her teeth at a Hyperborean Giant.

Appearance
Empousai are shown to be extremely beautiful and seductive women. An empouai's true form is a woman with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, and one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg. This form is used to drink the blood of men they enchant.

Abilities
Empousai will prey on young men to feast on their blood. With their stunning looks, they can make a man fall under their spell to incapacitate them. They can also offer a kiss to the young man in hopes of having him come close to her so she can drink her victim's blood. In some cases, if the man has enough willpower, like Percy or Luke, then he can snap out of the spell. Their true form can paralyze a man just by the sheer sight of them. They use this form to drink blood, but it can also seduce men as Tammi yelled, "Now, come, give me that kiss!" in this form. However, this could simply be a type of taunt toward Percy, as no one in their right mind would kiss an empousai's true form.

Known Empousai

 * Kelli
 * Tammi
 * Unnamed Empousa in The Last Olympian with Prometheus walking under a flag of truce towards Percy Jackson during the Battle of Manhattan