[center][h2][color=a95c68]Jacqueline Leroux[/color][/h2][/center]
Valkyrie's headshot was reflected, however, there was another avenue of attack Arzendale had not counted on; Jacqueline’s. Her projectile struck his back, and shredded through him, parting him in half. Leroux watched, fascinated, as the monster still laughed and talk despite being split apart. She bared her teeth at the vampire from afar, a grimace of a grin stretching her lips. 

Her moment of satisfaction was short-lived; the beast proclaimed he would [i]return[/i]. In that instant, Jacqueline fully believed it. [color=a95c68]“You!”[/color] she snarled, lurching into movement from where she’d begun leaning against the pillar at some point. However, before she could take but a step forward, the monster dissipated. All that remained was his blood. Any active magic of his was undone, and his allied esper took her leave. Centrocius was dead as well. 

If this was victory, why did it feel so hollow?

Jacqueline smashed her fist against the pillar, insensate to the minor bruising her fist took for it – she was in pain all over, so the brief sharp ache to her hand was insignificant. She glared at the pool of blood Arzendale had left behind. Was it truly over with him or not? That was the question which plagued her, and until she had conclusive evidence that a vampire could not resurrect, or until she knew in what manner a vampire’s death usually appeared, she would not rest easy.

She took a few moments to rest against the pillar, calming her breathing, and bolstering herself for what was to come. She felt like shit, but the mission wasn’t done yet. As long as she didn’t die, it didn’t really matter what a beating she took as an esper. Admittedly, she’d already come much closer to it much sooner than she’d imagined she might. She supposed she’d have to be more [i]careful[/i] now. She spat a glob of bloody saliva at the floor in disgust at the notion. However, if that was what it took to ensure some well-meaning meddler took her off this assignment preemptively, she would rein herself in. A bit.

Since there was some time to do so now, Jacqueline wandered to the nearest hostage’s corpse. She’d been vaguely curious in a corner of her mind how they’d been killed – by Arzendale’s magic, or some sort of a previously installed mechanism. If a vampire’s blood magic worked the same as a blood mage’s, then from what she’d seen in the fight against Lada, the sacrifice to power blood magic had to be killed by mundane means. Perhaps there was evidence of that on the hostages, or by the pillars they’d been tied against. 

If not…it occurred to her that they might as well ask an expert. Just as she was about to relay that idea via their comes, Binky made her appearance. Jacqueline huffed at the backhanded compliment – [i]two out of three[/i] was not the complete annihilation any self-respecting Gemini would prefer of their enemies – but did not otherwise comment. Her cheek twitched in annoyance, when, as expected, Binky made a clear insinuation that she should not proceed. [color=a95c68]“I’m not staying behind,”[/color] she snapped. This time, it wasn’t just her pride speaking. Her mana was near gone, and she did not possess a firearm, so melee with her Instrument was essentially her only remaining option.

She rolled her shoulders to relieve the defensive tension that had gathered there, then quickly redirected the conversation to another topic. [color=a95c68]“Listen, is Lada still around? We could use her knowledge of blood magic, at the very least,”[/color] she gestured to the remains of the battle. [color=a95c68]“Just in case anyone [i]else[/i] is going to wield it…Of course, it would have made things much better if we’d known about it beforehand,”[/color] she muttered that last part under her breath, though it’d likely still be heard. 

[color=a95c68]“If she’s still able to work her magic, I’d volunteer to be subjected to it,”[/color] she added in a drawl after pretending to take a moment to think about it. In fact, she’d had the idea of how very useful a blood mage’s help might have been sometime during the battle. As she’d said, if she’d had any idea vampires could do something so similar to a blood mage, she’d have considered it sooner. Of course, Lada had been responsible for getting them in safely by encasing them in the blood barrier, but given Binky’s report of secure perimeters, she should now be free to do something else. If only she was willing to… 
[hr][hr][center]Havoc | Great Axe | Arcane | Pry
Eternal Knight | Perfectly polished 
Forged Arsenal | Earth/Metal | Fissure 
[Quake (2), Mass (2)] Damage X (6), AoE (2), Enhance (2), Powerful (0), Dispel (6), Shield (4)

DAMAGE: B | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: D | 500

PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: C | CHAOS: D | 28[/center]