I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 26 - Bite Me, Vampire Boy

It felt like ice pinching sharply into her neck. Valerian's teeth broke through her skin, and she gasped. Like an automatic response, his fingers came over her mouth, muting the sound as his back arched, and he drew on the spot. The numbness spread the next moment, making what was happening easier.

Her head swam as she lay there. To make things more comfortable, she had chosen to lie down on her bedroll. When he had come over her, she wondered if this was a terrible idea, but he didn't dwell too long before his teeth were on her.

Fatigue washed over her. Her hit points were draining away into him. At least, they had been wise enough to check her hit point count before attempting this. She had double what she had at the end of their day. As long as he only took six of them, she would be alright.

She could feel that moment coming with each pull of his mouth. He needed to stop, but she wasn't sure he showed signs of doing so. A shudder ran through his back.

"Stop. Stop!" she gasped.

Her voice cut through.

He flinched and jerked his mouth away, releasing his teeth so that he didn't tear her skin.

"Right, yes," he muttered, shaking his head as he rolled back onto his toes, rising drunkenly.

Unable to remain lying, Evangeline did the same with about as much grace. Her head swam a bit as she staggered up.

Gesturing at the air, she called up her personal menu. Two hit points. "That was close," she muttered.

"I stopped," Valerian said defensively.

"That's technically true," she replied.

"The best kind of true," he quipped, albeit weakly. His fingers touched his lips, swiping a spot of her blood into his mouth, grinning like an idiot. "I feel better."

"That's great; I feel worse," she muttered, touching her neck to find the spots where his teeth had sunk into her. According to her menu, she had the conditions: bleed and lethargic. She pulled her fingers away from her neck to see them coated in blood. "Dammit."

"Come here," Valerian whispered, tucking in closer to her one more time, but this time she pressed a hand against his chest.

"No. No more." Her legs nearly gave out underneath in the effort.

"I won't take anymore, I promise," he said sweetly, bracing her with his hands, and she realized in her weakened state that there would be very little she could have done to stop him if he wanted to finish her off.

"God, this was a stupid thing to do," she said.

"Shhhh," Valerian shushed softly, then his lips wrapped around the wound. Instead of teeth this time, she felt warmth slip from his mouth. His tongue dipped into the wounds and a thread of pleasure washed through her. Evangeline sighed at the relief of it. Through her barely slitted eyes, she saw the blood condition in her menu fade away. She was still lethargic, but that only corrected with a long rest.

This time, she lost herself in the ecstasy of the talented motions of Valerian's mouth on the sweet tender spot just below her ear. It was more intense than any other sort of necking she had ever experienced, though even if she were in her right mind, she couldn't recall a single one in any detail.

When her moans began to turn to cries, he pulled his mouth away with a final little smack.

At that point, Evangeline was no longer standing on her own power. She was completely draped over Valerian, his arms around her back and cupping her head bearing it all.

"Shhh, I got you," he hushed, and he gently lowered her down back to her bedroll. She let him, wallowing in the floaty sensation of it all as if she were made of air.

Once she was down, he pulled the connected end of the bedroll up and over her bare feet and legs. Then his fingers slid up to her neck, pulling together the worn leather ties at the top of her peasant's shirt. He drew them gently together, covering up their deed. Or they would have if she didn't stop him.

"No, we'll get blood on my clothes..."

"It's alright, my lady," Valerian whispered. "There is no blood anymore. See?"

He plucked up her fingers and traced them over her neck. It was slightly damp, and that dampness felt thicker than she expected, but she felt no breaks or tenderness in her skin. When she looked down at her fingers, there was no sign of red.

"Vampire tricks," he said, giving her a wink that made her giggle.

He wrinkled his nose at her reaction, like it hadn't been the one he had been going for, but finished setting her to rights, then sat back into the shadows once more, until his back hit the trunk of the tree. He settled there, one leg crooked up as he rested his wrist upon it.

"You're not leaving to go hunt?" she asked, though it was so hard to keep her eyes open at that point.

"I'll stay until you're asleep," he said. "Besides, I can't remember? The collars."

"That's a strangely protective gesture," she mumbled.

He didn't respond, or at least, not right away. As she drifted back into sleep, she heard his voice rumble once more. "I told you, you could trust me."

"I know, Val. I love you," she muttered. And that was the last thing she remembered before she floated away into peaceful dreams.

###

Valerian stared at the strange woman who had dropped into his life only a couple of days ago. He wasn't sure he understood what he had just heard her say. While he had seduced people that fast before, it didn't feel to him like that was exactly what was going on. Carefully, considering those three too-easy-to-say words, he decided to not take them seriously. The endorphins that were pumped into a victim were often known to elicit things out of them that they didn't really mean. At least, that was what he had observed. She had been right. She was the first sentient victim he had ever... Though to call her a victim didn't seem correct either. Even if what she did was foolish, she had offered it to him of her own free will.

"I will never forget this," he whispered to her sleeping form. And he watched over her throughout the night until just before dawn. 

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