I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 27 - The Day After

Evangeline's neck ached when she woke up the next morning. It was a general ache, like she wrenched her neck by sleeping funny and it lessened as she moved her head around. Like she found the night before, the skin was unbroken, but a dried layer coated it. When she scratched at it, she found it wasn't dried blood. It was white if anything. Other than that, she felt fine if a bit ... hungover.

With an additional acute urge to wash off whatever was on her neck, she got up to find out if the rest of the camp was awake.

"Hey, good morning. We were getting worried," Hagor called as Evangeline appeared by the central campfire. He looked bright and cheerful after his harrowing night having been eaten by a different kind of vampire and left for dead for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little ... under the weather." Glancing around, she didn't see Valerian anywhere.

"What do you mean, 'under the weather'?" Sigismund asked, her eyebrows pursing hard together. She stood up to intensely peer into Evangeline's eyes. "Did you get bit?"

Adrenaline spiked through Evangeline, and she wasn't able to hide it. She had in fact been bit, but not by the vampire Sigismund thought.

Sigismund's own eyes widened by the involuntary, nonverbal admission, and her hand instantly snapped out toward Evangeline, glowing.

"Do you have any conditions?" she demanded, flipping into healer mode.

"I..." Evangeline glanced at her personal menu, noting that the lethargic condition was still there, which explained the hungover feeling.

"You're clearly lethargic, but anything else?" Sigismund pressed her warm, glowing hand to Evangeline's forehead and an immediate feeling of ease melted into her.

"No, nothing else," Evangeline reported. She felt no need to speak about the Bleeding condition she had last night. Valerian had taken care of it already anyway.

"Is she going to be alright?" Artmond asked, anxiety rife in his voice.

"Yes," Sigismund intoned, her voice echoing a little with her cleric power. "She was bit by a childer, not a full vampire. He could have enthralled her, but he can't turn her, so she will be fine, once I..."

Evangeline let out a deep sigh of relief. The lethargic condition faded away from her menu and she at last felt like she had a full night's sleep. She even stretched deliciously as Sigismund's light faded.

"Oh my gosh, thank you. That feels so much better," she said.

Sigismund brushed her hands together, though she didn't seem satisfied with her work. She simply went back to her seat by the fire.

Hagor greeted her with a warmer smile and held out a bowl of what looked like oatmeal with nuts and berries in it. There wasn't much in the bowl, maybe four spoonfuls, but it was better than nothing. "It's not much but we saved you some. It's the last of the food stores so we're going to have to fix this situation at some point."

"That's okay," Evangeline said, taking a seat on the log next to him. "We should probably head to town now, sell off our spoils, and get some proper supplies." It occurred to her that she would probably be burning off most of her Meta points that day, in order to remember all the small, hidden treasures and interactions they could have that would make the rest of the game... their lives... easier.

"The most important thing we're going to need to do is find this blacksmith you were talking about," Sigismund sniffed. "Once that is done, we should go our separate ways."

"Though it is interesting," Artmond added, thoughtfully. "We got proof now that we can go our separate ways if one of us dies. We were able to leave Hagor only after he..."

No one needed him to finish that sentence.

"Yes, but that only would have worked if we had left him permanently dead, and I don't feel like dying or killing all of you," Sigismund stated.

"Well, isn't that just swell," Valerian declared as he sauntered into the group. "She says she's not going to kill us. Gee, now I feel so safe."

"Morning Valerian," Hagor said, as if that would soften the sharp sarcasm dripping from him. He held out another bowl of the same oatmeal to him.

Valerian took it but wrinkled his nose. "I don't mean to give offense, but I don't think I can eat this."

"Not rich enough for you, rogue?" Sigismund sneered. "You expecting caviar on toast? Maybe a poached egg?"

Valerian shook his head. "No, nothing like that and nothing personal to your cooking, druid. I rarely eat anything in the morning. As you say, my profession keeps me in the shadows, so my cycle of ... life is all out of whack."

Evangeline cocked an eyebrow at him and wondered if anyone else was hearing the blatant double entendres in his little speech like she clearly was. If they did, no one commented, only shot him sober glances, and Hagor reached out to take the bowl back from him.

Valerian didn't relinquish it, however, and pointedly turned toward Evangeline with it.

"You look peaked this morning. Would you like some more of this glorious concoction?" he asked, airily.

Evangeline couldn't help herself. She grinned.

"Sure, I can take a little more."

"It's not a bad idea," Artmond piped up. "Evangeline got bit by the vampire last night. She woke up lethargic today."

"I'm alright though," Evangeline added quickly to stave off any telling reaction from Valerian. "Sigismund has already cleared the condition, and I'm going to be fine."

"That's good to hear," he said, his voice threaded with sincerity, again implying a double meaning that only Evangeline understood.

It made her cheeks pink up. They exchanged bowls, her empty one for his... not-full one, but more-full-than-empty one. After getting it down, she felt much, much better.

"Well, what do you say gang? Shall we go to town?"

To be continued...

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