I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 67 - The Best Kind of Dead

The light coming through the fur of the monstrous corpse wasn't the healthy, vibrant green of life-giving or nature-driven magic. This was the sickly green of infection. It also pulsed like a heartbeat. The limbs twitched with each pulse until they fully clenched. The body arched off the ground with a strangled cry. Its features warped, retreating away from those similar to a werewolf's toward something more bat-demon-like. The eyes snapped open, filled with the same putrid light.

This all happened in a matter of seconds and everyone backed away.

The no longer dead undead creature flipped around, its clawed hands digging deep into the ground. Shifting its powerful shoulders back and forth, it snarled as it reared its head. All around, the once bloodthirsty crowd backed away with screams and squeals of prey. More than a few stumbled over each other to run away, mostly clerics.

"I supposed not many of them have been faced with a real fight before," Evangeline muttered as she unslung her bow.

"What's happening?!" Artmond cried, drawing his sword and dagger.

"His master has resurrected him," Valerian shouted, as he crouched down, his knives in strike positions. "He'll rage and kill mindlessly until he's sated his bloodlust!"

"What an ass."

Special Skill: Meta. Activitated.

"And this is why fighting chained childer is worse than unchained. There is no avoiding this fight then," Evangeline said as she fitted an arrow into her bow.

But she was too close for anything but a point blank shot. At the same time as she had that thought, she also made the unwise, split-second choice to back away so she could take a shot without a penalty. The move created an opportunity for the undead Ryder to slash at her with his claws, which had grown even longer, now tipped with dripping green. The gashes burned as they cut through her side like butter.

Her legs went out from under her and she dropped onto her side with a cry. At least she managed to hang on to her bow.

Despite his successful attack, Ryder did not continue to press it. Instead, he whirled around and lunged. For his mother.

Unlike everyone else, she hadn't fled at her son's abrupt resurrection. If that was the right word for it. In that flash of a moment, Evangeline understood three things about the High Cleric.

She wasn't leaving her son.

She knew he was going to kill her.

And the High Cleric had accepted it.

"No!" Evangeline shouted, her hand reaching out uselessly toward the back of the lunging vampire.

Just before the jaws could clamp down on the smaller woman's throat, she flew sideways as a large elk shouldered her out of the way to give the vampire a mouthful of antler.

At the same time, Valerian did an impossibly high leap landing onto the other vampire's back. Both daggers struck simultaneously into the creature's neck. While both hit with considerable damage, one of his attacks flashed.

Is that what a crit looks like from the outside? She thought. She couldn't remember noticing it in the game before.

Unfortunately, the copious damage from both Valerian and Hagor's attacks weren't enough to bring it down. What they had managed to do otherwise was pin the creature between them. Hagor's antlers had Ryder hooked in his mouth. It prevented him from arching back against Valerian's attack, so he could only undulate between them, forcing him to basically buck. It took all of Valerian's reaction and strength to hold on to the embedded knives to keep from being thrown off.

Evangeline had no idea how she knew she could fire from her seated position. It was certainly awkward, trying to do so without bouncing the string off the ground. With her aim completely impacted, she felt truly blessed that the arrow hit the side of the vampire at all.

Beside her, Sigismund stepped up, chanting, her words echoing with power.

"Valerian! Jump!" Evangeline tried to shout, but it was too late as a beam of radiant moonlight blasted both vampires. While not as damaging as radiant sunlight, it was enough for Valerian to scream in pain himself and to weaken his grip. He was at last tossed of the creature's back, just as Hagor managed to free his antlers from the mouth, his neck no longer being wrenched from side to side with it.

I wonder if he's getting a nasty case of whiplash, a stray thought flitted through Evangeline's mind.

She didn't have any more time to contemplate it, as Artmond came up behind her and lifted her back onto her feet.

"Here you go. Might be easier to shoot like this," he quipped cheerfully.

"I think you may be right," Evangeline agreed and fitted in another arrow.

With Valerian prone, her attack didn't get the benefit of their synergy, so her shot did very little damage again. Now Ryder had two arrows just sticking out of him. He didn't even seem to feel them. Nor did he see Valerian at his feet, who was writhing back and forth in agony from the radiant attack.

Giving up on the bow, Evangeline dropped it to the ground so she could dash forward, hands outstretched to try to pull Valerian clear.

"Evangeline, no!" Artmond shouted, trying to stop her, but missing my mere inches.

Ryder did not miss unfortunately.

Before Evangeline realized what was happening, one set of claws hooked painfully into her arm, while the other seized the front of her gambeson. The world spun as she was hauled into the air, only to be greeted by rows of wet, sharp teeth. She barely had time to react, bringing her hands up to shield her face with an ineffectual, 'no!'

The teeth snapped down around her, but while the creature was big, her entire self didn't fit into his mouth. Instead her forearm pressed all the way into his mouth to the fleshy bits of his hinge joint like a bridle bit. In fact, the way she had turned meant that it was her shoulder that faced the row of teeth and not her face. Which meant, even with the creature's superior jaw strength, and maybe the fact that he had taken significant damage already, his bite couldn't go through the protection of her gambeson covered shoulder. She felt sharp scraps from the teeth, and she was definitely going to be painfully bruised, but not quite dead yet.

The best kind of dead really.