I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 87 - Promises Made

"Well, I got good news and bad news, and you don't get to pick what order I give it," Harrowheart declared as she came back in to the building. "There is a sewer grate next to the building that leads down to a sewer system, which is probably going to be Valerian's best option to get back to the inn, maybe, since it's seeming very clear to me that we aren't going to find the amulet here."

Sigismund snorted. "A rogue getting robbed. That's funny."

"That's not very helpful right now," Hagor admonished, but Sigismund continued to grin, not seeming to care.

"I agree that the amulet is gone," Evangeline said.

"Well then that settles it, we can't stay here all day," Sigismund said.

"We're expected at the main house by the First Lady Enrichetta. At the very least we must change clothes before we arrive," Artmond said.

"And we won't make it very far to The Green if we have to only travel at night," Hagor pointed out.

"Why?" Artmond asked, "How's that very different at all?"

"We'd need to find covered-shelters for Valerian to keep him out of the son during the day," Evangeline pointed out.

"At our camp, I could try to shift things so that he had cover, based on what terrain we find ourselves in," Hagor said. "It was have a power cost on me to do it every day. I won't be able to do much else with magic or even shifting."

"Gods, what a pain," Sigismund groused, shooting Valerian a glare.

He stuck his nose up a little, giving her one of his sharper grins. "Almost as bad as walking around with a cleric and druid back in Twin Trees," he said. Granted, not one of his better come backs, but it got a glare reaction from Sigismund, so he was fine with it.

"This journey has its challenges for all of us," Evangeline said, cutting into the potential argument like the leader she made herself out to be.

Which was fine as long as she was on his side.

Turning to him, Evangeline's eyes asked him a question, but he didn't know her well enough to read it. "Hey, everyone, can you step outside a moment so I can talk to Val here."

"Absolutely not," Sigismund said, uncrossing her arms to plant on her hips. "Anything he says I want to hear--" And that was all she got out before Hagor and Artmind placed hands on her arms and shoulders to encouragingly walk her out the door. Harrowhert saluted and shut the door.

Smirking harder, Valerian felt smug, even though he would have said the same thing in Sigismund's place. She at least wasn't fooled by his tricks, but it secretly made him respect her more than the rest of the group.

Once the door was completely closed, Evangeline took charge of the conversation.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I need to get that amulet back," he said, stating it plain for the sake of time.

"Yes, but that's going to mean letting in the group know more about the plan and you keep wanting to be secretive about it."

"Things usually work out better for me that way, yes," Valerian deflected.

Evangeline sighed, "Valerian," shaking her head as if he was a child who was missing something obvious. "You're never going to be safer than when you are with this party. Believe me, I have an idea of your fates outside of the group."

That made his already cooler body run colder.

"What do you know of it?" he asked, his voice now low and deadly. Was she threatening him? Or did she know something from her meddlesome god. What else did she know about him and his mission?

Taking a deep breath in, which he hated to do because it gave away that he did in fact breath, he deemed it necessary to calm himself down. Losing his control right then wouldn't help him.

"The amulet is a Legendary item," he finally relented. "One that grants powers of a vampire to someone who isn't a vampire and the gifts of a daywalker to one who is." He had to push through the resistance within him to speak the last bit, the final fact that scared him the most in this situation. "And I should have returned it a week ago."

Evangeline nodded in that annoying, I-already-know way of hers. "Right, right. It doesn't belong to you. Losing it now would have longer term consequences."

"Permanent ones in my case," he said. "Dying would be the best case scenario."

She set her hand on his upper arm again, squeezing. "I'm not going to let that happen," she said, and he believed her. It was a strange cord himself, one he hadn't felt ring out very often, but he believed her when she said it.

That doesn't mean she's guaranteed to be able to keep that promise even if she thinks it, the uncharitable voice reminded him. In fact, her chances of going up against the person who held his other chain was deadly unlikely.

"Let's just focus on here and now," he said, out loud, more to himself than her.

Evangeline nodded. "Okay, so I can burn one Meta point now and remember how to get your amulet back. That will leave me one last point for the rest of the day, just in case I need to burn it later. And you agree that we have to tell the others, because we can't separate the party yet so I don't really see what other choice we have."

"Don't tell them how valuable it is," he stressed.

She rolled her eyes. "Do you really think they wouldn't think it was valuable considering it keeps a vampire from going poof in the sun? And they haven't tried to take it from you yet. Have a little faith. We're all in this together."

He hated her for saying that, but he knew it wasn't worth the cost to say so. Instead, he affected his sweetest "good boy" expression and she nodded and patted his shoulder again.

At least he would get his amulet back when this was over.

Want to read more by me? Check out my wannabe superhero: The Vilification of AquaMarine

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