I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 50 - The Black Letter

"Well... how... how do you know?" Evangeline asked, looking over the letters formed with an excessive amount of dots all over the place.

Hagor leaned in, his eyes surreptitiously scanning the camp for the placement of their companions. "I encountered much of it while on the Great Crusade. It was how the enemy forces communicated with each other."

"So you can read it? You can tell us what it says?" Evangeline asked, looking away from the letters. Strangely, they were making her eyes ache from the effort.

He held up his hands. "No, I cannot, though there had been times in my journeys when I wished more than anything to have the ability. There is only one way to read Nocturis and that is to be a vampire, one of their progeny, or in some rare cases, a dhampir. It's something with their eyes, you see, something in their way of seeing that makes it possible."

Evangeline nodded, and tried to look down at the letter again, but the ache returned, just behind her eyes. "I see what you mean. Trying to even focus on this is giving me a headache."

"A very secure way to send messages to ones allies," Hagor agreed.

"But then why give it to the goblins? It can't be their orders, they can't read it?" she pointed out.

"So who were they delivering to and on whose behalf?" Hagor asked.

They lapsed into a moment of silence as both contemplated the mysterious letter. She did feel a tingle from her Meta sense around this letter.

"Then what do we do?" she asked, finally.

Hagor shrugged. "I do not know, but it does give us a clue as to who might be behind the goblin raids. A vampire somewhere is planning something."

"Presumably two at minimum, one who can read this and the one who sent it." Evangeline furrowed her brow.

He nodded. "I thought that your special ability might make it possible for us to know more about where this letter comes from or even what it says."

"Why not ask the rest of our party?" she asked, acutely reluctant to burn her last Meta point. Even if they were about to have a long rest, it would make no real difference. The idea of doing it made her uncomfortable. Losing a part of herself like that always made her wonder if she would ever get it all back in the morning. Would she even notice if she didn't?

"Like I said, one must be a Vampire to read it. We've all been walking about in the sunshine, so there is no way that any of us are secretly undead. The sun is not forgiving about such things." Hagor chuckled.

Rogue Skill: Legerdemain. Success.

"No, I suppose you're right," Evangeline lied smoothly. "But that doesn't mean they might not have other ideas about the letter and what it might mean."

Hagor's gaze grew haunted.

"Unless there is some other reason we shouldn't tell everyone," she asked, growing suspicious.

"I... uh... No," Hagor shook his head, "No there is no reason you cannot tell the others. It is just..." He sighed. "When I was on the Crusade, we were betrayed not once but twice by two different individuals who had join us on our quest. Others who joined us as well did not in fact, including one who I thought would the first chance she got, but..."

"You had to be cautious," Evangeline filled in for him.

"Yes. Indeed. Too often caution was a rare thing. I believe this letter, written in the same foul hand, has put me back in that dark place, calling up old habits."

Evangeline nodded. "I understand, Hagor. Things we left behind have a way of sneaking back into our presents."

The larger elf's eyes warmed. "You are the soul of kindness, lady," he said, his elvish roots slipping into his usually druidic speech.

The moment dragged out between them as they gazed into each other's eyes. Warmth and butterflied slipped into Evangeline's stomach, her mind desperate to find something else to say.

"If you'll excuse me," Hagor jarringly said, stepping back which repelled her back awkwardly. "I feel I must go pray... mean meditate."

"Wait, Hagor," Evangeline stopped him with a light touch on his arm. "Are you sure that you trust me with this?"

"You have the divine favor of a god," he said. "Of course I trust you."

He turned away then and continued on, leaving Evangeline with her wriggling belly and a very confused mind. Despite what she had said, she was reluctant to show the rest of the group the letter until she had a chance to speak to...

"Valerian?"

The vampire rogue lounged on her sleeping roll, grinning as she parted the willow branches and entered her space. "And there you are."

"Did you move my bedroll?" Evangeline asked, pointing from where she usually kept it.

He grinned in response, propping himself up on his elbows. He had laid himself out before her one leg stretched out, the other crooked up. He had untied the strings at the top of his shirt, letting it fall open to reveal the enticing skin underneath. "You know I've been thinking about how well things having been going, between you and I. Our alliance. We make a pretty good team."

Evangeline crossed her arms. She knew exactly what he was doing and she didn't like feeling like she was being manipulated. And he had laid himself out like charcuterie board, but she felt like she was on the menu. "We all make a good team," she said.

He continued to smile at her, but a sharpness entered his eyes.

Rogue Skills: Insight. Success.

His smile was a bit too practiced, too perfect. A mask he wore to set his target at ease and she was his target.

"Of course we... all do," he said, sitting up more to set his arm casually on top of his knee. "But it's you that has been the real subject of my contemplation."

Evangeline countered. "I thought you didn't like me?"

Now he gracefully stood up, putting himself to close to her, his aura wrapping around her even if his arms remained by his side. "What's not to like? More over, you're someone whose proven I can trust." He slipped his finger down the side of her cheek with the lightest of caresses. "Don't you think you should reap the benefits of that?"

Evangeline smiled and based on his reaction, it came off a bit too sharp. But then she wasn't trying to hide what she was thinking from him. "You're right, I should."

She held up the black letter and its black envelope.

He froze at the sight of it, more than enough to confirm to her that he recognized what it was.

"Care to read to me?"

To be continued...

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Author Note: I'm at Albuquerque Comic-Con this weekend! So if you're in the area come find me. I'll be at booth #248 in the Southwest Hall.