The burn was incredible.<br/><br/>Apparently Echo had been equitable in assuming the woman's strange aura was unusual. The pulse in the air swelled powerfully, it's turbulence sending each and every one of his superhuman senses into overdrive and a snarl rumbling up from deep within his chest. Then, without warning, the tidal wave of strange energy flared to a white hot head, and Echo reeled in agony. The woman slipped nimbly from his grip as his skin seared as if he'd been dipped in a pool a molten steel, leaving the disorientated Dhampir to slump deplorably in the garden bed. The pain was was gone as quickly as it had come, but be it from the onslaught of supernatural energy or the sheer magnitude of injuries, he felt vitally drained.<br/><br/>In spite of his weariness he was quick to regain his feet, though once he had corrected himself he found he could do little more than stare disbelievingly at the little blonde woman as she considered the squadron of Vampire almsmen rushing them.<br/><br/>She was muttering to herself - though her voice indicated no trace of alarm - before turning to stare critically at Echo. "Friends of yours?', she asked as if his pulling her into hiding and informing her they'd be dead if she didn't stay quiet hadn't made it quite obvious that he was not, in fact, playing hide-and-go-seek with the friendly neighborhood Vampires. She considered this for a moment, and then continued with a moderately redeeming statement. He opened his mouth to respond then, but she didn't allow him time to answer.<br/><br/>Echo's jaw all but it the floor as she turned to confront the charging monsters with utmost composure. '<span style="font-style: italic">Kuule jälle</span>?' he blurted, astonishment evident in his wide green eyes at her particular heed. He backed up none the less, his gaze darting back an forth between their advancing adversaries, Avgust midst the pack, screeching orders and snarling savagely. The Russian General fell back as they drew within six hundred meters, five hundred, four... defeat was inevitable, and the wounded Dhampir was not fit to outrun them, so he did not bother to try. Then, our of nowhere, the charge in the atmosphere swelled to an all new summit, and a light bloomed into existence.<br/><br/>At first Echo had thought it were an approaching vehicle, though there was so sound. The little woman had braced herself before the hoard, arm outreached as if she were a traffic conductor, and a bright orb was floating before her. For a split second it was only small, and Echo could have laughed at the little woman's ridiculous antics before it swelled, and there was nothing but agony.<br/><br/>Roaring furiously Echo scrambled back, his hands shooting up to cover his eyes, which he was quite sure had just shriveled up like sun dried prunes inside his skull. Had he been any closer the light might have incinerated him on the spot. Instead it roasted him; he could feel exposed skin of his hands and face cracking and peeling away from the tissue beneath, which began to sizzle and smoke as the ball of energy cooked  him alive. The smell of burning flesh was strong in the air, as were the sounds of  the enraged squadron as they fled hissing and screeching for cover. The smoldering Dhampir sunk helplessly to his hands and knees as the dismal remains of his strength fled him, and his legs gave out beneath him.<br/><br/>Blessedly the light dimmed and vanished before it had time to steal his consciousness, or the entirety of his pretty face, though he was sure there was not much to be seen of his left cheek but bone and charcoal. The world was silent, but he knew the Vampires hadn't gone far, and it would not be long before the came slinking back out of their hiding places to finish him off. What a graceless ending.