Empusa.
Empusa is a demigoddess of Greek mythology. In later incarnations she appeared as a species of monster commanded by the goddess Hecate.
Description[]
Empusa is pictured as wearing brazen slippers and bearing flaming hair. By folk etymology, her name was said to mean "one-footed". This gave rise to the iconography of a one-legged hybrid, with a donkey's leg and a brass prosthetic leg.
She is often associated or grouped with the demigoddesses Lamia and Mormo, who were likewise related as types of monsters in later mythology.
Overview[]
As a demi-goddess, Empusa was the beautiful daughter of the goddess Hecate. Empusa were known to seduce young men as they slept before drinking their blood and eating their flesh, and thus she could be accounted as the first vampiric creature recorded in Greek mythology.
As an empusae, they were sent by Hecate to guard roads and devour travelers (Hecate was also the goddess of the crossroads). According to Philostratus, empusae ran and hid, uttering a high-pitched scream, at the sound of insults.