I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 68 - The Blessed Arrow of Kish

In the corner of her eye, Evangeline could see her hit point number go down. She usually ignored it during fights, but being inside a vampire creature's mouth gave her little else to look at. Outside of the mouth she could hear her friends shouting, but the only words that penetrated was someone saying to not panic.

Odd, she thought with that quiet voice that liked to comment during times of high stress, this seems like the perfect time to panic.

Her legs were kicking, her toes trying to find purchase on the creatures body. All she could think about was getting leverage to push her way out of his mouth. Her still had her firmly held in his grip, his jaws trying to work up and down, to get a successful bite to cut through her. She felt the teeth prick at the exposed skin of her neck, but not going through. Then they both jerked back and forth in an arrhythmic way.

This forced the creature to take her out of his mouth and she gulped in the fresher air so she could scream. Letting go of one side, she swung out from the vampire's body. The ground came up fast and her knees buckled when they hit. Ryder didn't entirely let go of her. He seemed to use her to push off of, so he could swing his other clawed arm at Artmond, who deflected the attack on his buckler shield, then stabbed under, aiming for the armpit just slightly above him.

"Hold on!" Sigismund shouted, coming up beside Evangeline. She thought the cleric was going to pull on the creature's fingers to help free her from his grasp, but instead she pressed a sweaty hand to saliva wet cheek. Warmth and ease from the pain flooded in from that touch. In the corner of her eye, Evangeline could see her hit point total start to go back up from where it had stopped at three.

That was close, Evangeline thought, but had no time to say.

Having stabilized her patient, now Sigismund grasped at the fingers to try to help free Evangeline. Kicking off the ground, Evangeline helped. She felt something rip, but she was free. She stumbled by Sigismund didn't let go of her and managed to put some space between them and the fight. A cry forced her to spin back.

"Artmond!" Sigismund shouted as her charge toppled onto his back, having just taken a hit from the vampire creature's massive swipe.

Before the cleric could drop Evangeline to go to him, Hagor appeared between them, covering the nobleman's son. His antlers glowed with sparks of magic twining off like spider-silk before casting itself around and over the target. Of course, Ryder attempted to resist it but failed as the webbing connected itself to the ground immobilizing the vampire for the moment.

Valerian, who had regained his feet at some point during the fight, stabbed at the vampire, clearly aiming for the creatures heart, utthe webbing that held him also protected him and his strike missed.

"That's not going to hold him," Evangeline said aloud as Ryder wrestled back and forth, tearing up the earth where the webbing connected. A few strands ripped up. In a couple more rounds minimum, he would be free again and no matter how much damage he'd taken, there was no sign of it slowing the rampage.

Backing away himself, Hagar's elk form panted hard, his head lowering to guard his retreat with his antlers. Artmond managed to get out of the way and stagger back up to his feet, rereadying his sword for the next round. Valerian looked rough as well, as he retreated back on the far side. How many hit points could he possibly have left.

"We need a plan!" Evangeline shouted, wishing she could just pause the fight so she could think about it, come up with a strategy, something.

Sigismund gestured with one hand in a swiping motion toward the vampire, her word of power echoing its foreign language. Light coalesced above Ryder's head, showing a number.

106.

"It still has over a hundred hit points!" Sigismund cried out in despair. "We can't take it!"

Dread thumped in Evangeline's stomach. She was right, their levels were too low. "We'll have to retreat!" she shouted, wondering if they could manage to outrun this thing enough to summon themselves back to their camp.

Then someone pushed her bow into her hands.

"You must destroy him now, before he hurts anyone else," Ryder's mother said, tears streaming down her face as she offered Evangelie a white-gold arrow.

It was unlike any arrow Evangeline had ever seen, and most likely in real life it would never actually fired straight with all the curly angelic like wings coming off the stylized arrowhead or the extra ribbons tied to the tail. It also looked like it should have been heavy, but was as light as her other arrows in her hand, though it did buzz with power. The power seemed to come from the sungem set into the middle of the arrowhead.

Special Skill: Meta Knowledge. Activate.

This was a Blessed Arrow of Kish. One of the few bow-centered items that could be reused after it had been fired. It would return to her quiver when the fight ended. It was a sacred item that could only be found on the High Cleric and the only way Evangeline had known to retrieve it was to kill High Cleric and loot it off her body. It was something her friend Terra had told her about when after she had done an evil play through.

Turns out there had been another way to get the arrow.

Evangeline met the High Cleric's gaze. "He's your son," she said. It was an idiotic thing to say, even if it was also true.

"I know. Which is why I can't do it," she said. Her voice broke, but her expression did not lose an inch of its resolve. "But he made his choices..."

There was more she wanted to say, but words were failing her.

Whatever else she was going to say was lost as Ryder broke free of the magical webbing with a roar.

There was no time left to think, only to act.

Evangeline sited down the magical arrow and aimed for the exposed chest of the roar monstrosity.

And let the arrow loose.