I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 62 - Do You Ship It?

Evangeline was vaguely aware of another voice shouting her. She had closed her eyes... or had they always been closed. Now they opened, and above her she saw a tiled ceiling. Meta appeared in her vision. For a split second he looked...

Been then whatever it was she had almost seen was gone and all she saw was the gray, cracked skin being in a purple toga. "Reset. Reset now!"

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Then Valerian leaned forward and kissed her.

She was so shocked by it, she froze as his lips pressed against hers. His other hand swept up and cupped her jaw as his lips worked, his tongue teasing at the entrance to her mouth, asking to be invited in.

Evangeline recognized the scenario. She had never experience it before, but it was the moment she had always longed to see. Every time the clips would come up online or on the forums she had always shied away from them, not wanting to spoil the story for herself. What slivers that would manage to slip through stirred her insides as it was.

This was the start of the Valerian romance sub-plot. After how many hours of gaming and how many restarts, she had finally done it!

So why did she feel this urge to resist and pull away?

Just let it happen, she thought. This was what I wanted. Okay, so it's not perfect, but...

And she opened her mouth to allow his tongue to enter.

It was unlike any kiss she had, had in her life.

At first it felt strange, not the kissing itself, it had all the forms and parts she had come to expect from the kisses she'd had in the past. But his mouth was minty fresh, which she think she would taste at all. Had he managed to brush his teeth out here in the roughing it world. The horrible thought of what must he be tasting in her mouth almost made her pull back, but then his hand slipped around to cup her head, and hold here to him. His tongue lapped in deeper and the sensations washing over her were heady, sending shivers down her spine. It felt like she had drunk too much wine. His saliva seemed... thicker? But that too was hard to focus on as his tongue retreated, only to curl up at the last second, hooking her lip lightly and hitting some sensitive nerve just at the tip of her labial frenum. She gasped and closed her eyes.

So that was what it felt like to have your breath taken away by a kiss.

"Wow," she managed to say a heartbeat later, opening her eyes, but having a hard time focusing on the smirking, beautiful man sitting before her.

"You liked that?" he asked, very self-satisfied.

It should have irked her, but her blood was singing with too many endorphins.

"Would you like more?" he whispered, his grin and words twining together with an unspoken offer. She knew exactly what "more" entailed. She only had to give him the word and he would give it to her.

She started giggling.

An eyebrow cocked up at the reaction. She tried to cover it with one hand, her other holding his shoulder, but it didn't make it better.

"I usually have an affect on people, but this is a first," he noted.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered, her face aching from smiling so much.

"Alright, I'll choose not to take offense," he said warily, then a noise from the others in the cave caught his attention.

"Evangeline?" Hagor called, "Are you alright, little bunny?'

"Yeah, I'm fine," she called back, laughter still ringing out from her words.

"Little bunny?" Valerian mouthed to her, which set her to giggling again.

"Alright," Hagor conceded, though it was obvious he didn't want to.

"Yes, I suppose it is a bit too..." Valerian started to say dryly, then shifted, dropping his voice to something artificially sultry, "close quarters here to do things properly."

The giggles got worse. This time he didn't take offense. His lips may have been smirking, but genuine warmth had finally reached his eyes.

"Plus, they will all think you've got me enthralled," she said. "I wonder if I should check my conditions."

"So you still don't trust me, after everything we've been through together?" He draped a hand to his chest. "I'm hurt." He didn't sound a bit hurt.

Her cheeks burned with the singing in her veins. "I trust you. I know I can trust you,"

"Because you are a video game character," she didn't say.

"Because I care about you."

That seemed to take Valerian aback. "That is... sweet of you. I trust you to."

She nodded at the others. "But that doesn't mean they're ready to. I mean, I've had a few days to wrap my mind around what you are. They on the other hand, just found out."

"I suppose I should be grateful they aren't charging at me with stakes," he agreed. "Yet."

A wash of magic slid over them.

Knowledge: Arcana. Failed.

"What was that?" Evangeline asked.

"Sigismund is putting up a barrier around her bedroll," Valerian said dryly. "Makes my skin itch. Like I would want to crawl in with her prickly blood."

"Prickly?" Evangeline asked, wrinkling her nose.

Valerian leaned back onto his hands, his gaze long down the narrow cave. "Yes, like a spiny fish, fizzing and biting in my mouth. It's what I imagine she'd taste like."

That took Evangeline aback. "You fed on her?"

He flinched when he realized what he had said. "No, of course not. She would have noticed and I highly doubt she would have taken it as well as you did. I'm not a monster. I ask permission first. It's just what I imagine. I take one bite of her and it's just acid in my mouth."

"I suppose I'm being silly. You're a vampire, of course. You've fed on other people."

"I don't. Truly. Most of the time I feed on animals, no different than any else. Feeding on thinking creatures, feeding on you... It was an emergency situation. As you can see, the risk is to great and as long as we are chained together, it wouldn't be a smart idea for me to harm my allies, is it?"

Evangeline knew there were flaws in his logic, but she couldn't keep her eyes open any more. The singing in her veins was lulling her to sleep.

She started to apologize, but he sat up.

"No, it is quite alright. Go to sleep. I will watch over you," he said.

"But don't you need to rest?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I feel fully rested after my little experience."

She had no idea if that was true or not, but Evangeline couldn't fight it any more. As soon as she laid back on her bedroll, she was out like a light.