The Ranger in question had his bow ready for action, wondering exactly how to react against the now vanished shadow-wielder, who had taken the fool kid with him. But with the monster definitively determining that getting after them would be a problematic proposition at best, and now focusing its full attention on him with a blind rage, the Ranger decides that present dangers are far better dealt with first. It had bitten off its own arm to heal its other injuries...interesting. And it was making itself a difficult target...naturally. Of course, being an expert marksman, generally Cruallassar would have no problem hitting even a quickly and erratically moving target, without bad luck intervening...but with the monster's proven reflexes and speed, there is no guarantee that it could not dodge his shots as he fired them. Of course, he had a solution for this problem.

Two hailstorm arrows flew at the primal vampire within as many milliseconds, scattering their swarms of energy projectiles almost simultaneously, with three explosive arrows nocked for the next volley in the next instant, the elf crouching and renewing his momentarily relaxed speed enchantment in preparation for further action. An unnaturally strong and fast bat-like monstrosity vs an elite Rangermaster? Barely a contest.

James floated in what seemed like empty space for a short amount of time. He couldn't tell which way was up, or which way was down. All he knew was that the darkness that surrounded him made him feel cold and weak.
Suddenly he felt something grab onto him and, as he frantically squirmed around in a vain attempt to see or feel what it was, he felt a pair of very sharp fangs pierce his neck. As the fangs sank into his flesh he went stiff for a brief moment before crying out in pain.
The pain certainly got him moving as he squirmed around even more in a frantic search for whatever it was on him. Feeling his hands land on something solid he went to throw it off of him but suddenly felt very weak, even weaker than what the darkness made him feel.
It would seem that the sudden moving around as he was losing blood was a very bad idea as a dizzy spell hit him. Only one thought entered his mind at this point. Was this how he was going to go out?

As she felt the swordsman weaken and begin to grow limp Jazmyne pulled her fangs away and bit into her own wrist allowing blood to flow freely, she placed it against James' mouth, tilting his head back so the blood would run into his mouth.

Cruallassar rises from his crouch and relaxes the tension on his bow. Then he casually draws it again and sends one of the explosive arrows at the beast. It was probably dead, but against a creature like this it was best to make sure. It would be...unpleasant to have it merely be playing dead, which some creatures were known to do, and then have it come knocking at his tent some winter night in the future. Replacing the other two shafts in his quiver and once again relaxing his speed enchantment, he scans the area...ground and sky included...with his eyes still glowing red with his ethereal sight enchantment. The other creature is certainly intelligent, powerful in its shadowielding, and otherwise completely unknown. A dangerous quarry.

James, completely defenseless due to his loss of blood, hung limp in the air waiting for his inevitable demise.
Suffice to say he had no counter to Jazmyne tilting his head back nor her blood pouring into his mouth. Not really understanding what was going on he unconsciously swallowed the blood which now begun to flow into his mouth.
*Ba-Dump*
Pain wracked James entire being as he now began writhing in pure agony. He had never experienced such pain before in his short lifetime. It was enough to make him lose consciousness only to regain it, and this happened multiple times.
He had no idea what was going on, all he felt and knew at this stage was pain.

Jazmyne watched as James writhed in agony and his veins began to turn black. 'This ones finished' she thought to herself as she left him, allowing the necrosis to finish its work.

She rose up out of the pool, about 10 metres directly in front of the ranger. Shadows coalescing around her into armour. She looked him dead in the eyes. "Lets finish this" she hissed.

The Ranger starts, taken off guard despite himself at the sudden violent speed of the Magna Pater's motion, and by the fact that, though he had fired another shot to be sure, he had expected the beast to be dead.
But surprise did not dull his reflexes. Seconds between motion start and contact? The speed enchantment reactivates, and he turns ethereal, the shadowy mass that is his incorporeal form speeding like a dark opposite of a shooting star up to a few meters above the charging beast before turning physical again. Three more hypervelocity arrows appeared in his bow like magic...the thing had dodged the first one at extreme range, but at point blank? They were enchanted to activate a small part of the way between their shooter and their intended target. In this case, the total distance was only three or four meters. Three of them, bracketing the monster and his potential dodging options in a triangle, released simultaneously...that monster would die this night if the Ranger had to loose every shot in his quiver at it.

In another part of his mind, he notes that the thing is glistening more than before...and that the girl had reappeared, apparently ready to resume combat. Lovely. Boy would certainly be dead now. Well...not really the most unexpected outcome.

The Ranger is hit full in the face with a glob of the disgusting slime. Of course it distracted him. Of course he closed his eyes to avoid it. But it would take more than a face full of thick and very disgusting slime to prevent the firing of those three arrows. And his ethereal sense worked even through closed eyes...something which he had practiced doing specifically for the purpose of using it when his natural sight was distracted. The arrows would still fly, straight and true...though as soon as they had done so, the Ranger shifts back to the ethereal realm again, re-materializing on the branch of a tree to wipe his face with the edge of his cloak and clear his natural vision. This creature had more than one surprise in store it seemed...well, it wasn't the only one on whom tricks could only work once.

The Ranger well knew the lethal potential of toxins and venoms secreted within other substances used by various monsters, animals, and other creatures. He knew enough to be as thorough as possible in his attempt to wipe away the slime...after all, this wasn't his first fight with strange and unearthly monstrosities...or even more mundane, but equally dangerous ones.
But of course, some substances could not easily be wiped away without more than a cloak edge. Cruallassar quickly became aware of his eyes watering unexplainedly...of a strange and irritating stinging in the lower edges of his still-closed eyes. It didn't take much to connect the dots. In the blink of an eye...not his eyes of course...he summoned a magic arrow from his bow, twirled it between his fingers, and as fast as he could, ran it lightly across the outside of his eyelids, scorching the flesh...and the most dangerous part of the toxin...from right eye corner across the bridge of the nose to left eye corner, and causing it to stick to the lower lid, protecting the eyes. As the elf grunted with pain...the first involuntary sound he had made since the fight began...he allowed the arrow to dissipate, its grim purpose furfilled. The Ranger would not be using his natural eyesight for the rest of this fight...but at least the eyes are intact to have their vision regained later. Now only his ethereal sight, and his highly trained and developed other four senses would let him detect his foes, and his ethereal sight added to his memorized image of the battlefield as the fight progressed will allow him to 'see' his environment. And now, he is far angrier than he began...this beast had turned out to be a canny thing indeed. Oh the Ranger would enjoy killing it.

And yet, no Ranger worth his salt would ever rely on his eyes alone.

Nor would one fail to maintain as close to complete knowledge of his surroundings as possible. Cruallassar's sight may not have seen the Magna Pater sneaking up on him...but it was a hunter, an ambusher, and there was only one place it could be. Not to mention it smelled like death warmed over. Elven hands flashed into pouches on the Ranger's belt, hidden by the cloak he wore. He knew precisely where the Magna pater would be, even if he couldn't pinpoint his location now...and when the beast struck, he was ready to act.

And without further ado...the prey was gone.

Oh not gone as in no longer present, but gone as in ethereal, racing through the tree itself to conceal even the sight of the swirling shadows from the hunter...or is it hunted?

The ever danger of setting an ambush, of springing a trap or attacking an enemy by surprise, is the possibility of being ambushed, trapped, or surprised yourself. One shoots an arrow at a king, only for it to be blocked by magic and a bolt of lightning tracing the arrow's path back to the shooter. One leads a party of bandits to attack a weakly guarded wagon convoy...only for the wagons to have been full of heavily armed soldiers, waiting for you. One creeps their way up behind a ranger in a tree...

Only for the tree to explode.

Eight of the explosive packets used to make this Ranger's explosive arrows have already fallen halfway to the tree from the Ranger's grip-as many as he could carry in both hands-when the elf turned ethereal. Each exploding on impact a fraction of a second later, as they tumble into each other and the tree branches, utterly vaporizing the top of the tree and leaving only a blackened stump at the bottom...and taking a sizable number of branches off the trees nearby. If it were not for his incorporeal form, Cruallassar would have smiled grimly, as the thought runs through his head.
Dodge that, you SOB.

It didn't take physicality to be able to tell that the bombs hadn't gone off. The Ranger didn't have very many of them not on arrows...the pouches that held them had to have padded slots for each of them to be secured in, and those took up room. But however the creature had ensured that they did not explode, they were still there, something to be careful of. As soon as they blew, if the monster was nearby, this fight would be half over. The beast could obviously predict his standard style of attack...so what else but a nonstandard one? He whirls around the tree and materializes in front of the vampire, two hailstorm arrows nocked and loosed simultaneously before he phases back out of physicality and streaking around to another firing point.