As Shimera rose from her bow, she sensed a change in the air. Without thought, she threw Erik violently to the ground, grunting as the arrow pierced her shoulder. Erik glared up at her in shock and anger, and then, seeing the bloody shaft sticking in her shoulder, comprehension dawned in his blue eyes.
Shimera scanned the woods with her sharp ears. Her ears perked slightly as she listened as intently as her vampire and elf abilities would allow. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she saw a brief flash of movement over two hundred yards away. She gently pushed Erik back down to the ground as he began to stand. "That arrow was not meant for me Erik, stay down."
And without another word, she raced off towards the movement.
She leapt through the trees and watched the ground as she bound from limb to limb. Within seconds, she could see the shooter. A young man with an unruly mop of dark hark, and an angry yet self-satisfied smirk on his face. A bow was slung onto his shoulder, and the half full quiver bounced on his hip as he ran. He had not seen her yet.
She dropped ahead of him, much as she had done to Erik mere moments before. But this man did not have Erik's grace. Reeling in shock, the man moved backwards, getting ensnared by an outreaching tree root. The bow snapped beneath him as he fell. He stared at Shimera, his eyes wide with surprise. She watched him coldly.
His eyes slipped to her shoulder and widened. Shimera sneered darkly, and gripping the arrow, snapped off the feathers and pushed the shaft through her body, the sharp tip exiting her back with a nasty tearing noise. She stretched around to grab the bloody shaft and dropped it in front of the man. Then, silently, she watched him.
He glanced at the shaft, and then to her shoulder, which she knew he could see healing itself. She could feel the muscles and tendons restitching themselves, and blood and skin started to refill the void that the arrow had left. He groped in his pack and held out a small wooden cross towards her, like a ward.
Shimera laughed coldy, grabbing the cross and ripping it from his hands. She threw it behind her, and without looking, knew that it would not be reachable for the man, not that it was at all useful to him.
He sobbed once. Loud and despairingly. She crouched before him and grabbed his vest, pulling him forward easily.
"I believe that arrow belonged to you?" she hissed through elongated teeth, pulling him towards her open mouth. He struggled, but even the strongest man could not fight against the strength of a vampire elf. Her teeth touched his throat, and she could taste his fear, and his anger.
"Shimera!" Erik crashed through the trees, "Don't!"
Shimera took her teeth from the shooters throat, "He tried to kill Erik, he does not deserve to live." She glared down at the trembling man. "I could read the path of the arrow, and it was not meant for me."
"If he does not deserve to live, who are you to decide?" He stated bluntly, "You are a vampire, a killer and a demon." He sighed, "But Dohm is my brother, and if he had reason to attack me, I would hear it before you take his life for justice."