I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 91 - Blood Loss

"Get your hands off me, Reverie," Valerian's voice cut through the haze in Evangeline's head. As she blinked her eyes open, she realized that opened or closed, she could see a mini menu floating in the upper right corner.

Has that always been there? she thought. Beneath her name another word flashed in red.

Condition: Blood Loss.

It explained the woozy feeling and she tried to push herself off of the floor where she lay, but someone from above slammed her back down with a foot in the middle of her back.

"Leave her alone!" Valerian snapped and the foot's pressure was removed immediately.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Oh Val, you need to do better sharing your toys. Otherwise I'll tell Father," the woman vampire, the one he had just called Reverie, said.

"Father does not care for when your games get in the way of his plans, and you know it," Valerian stated, his voice even.

Evangeline looked up, not quite daring yet to try to rise and saw his boots just inches in front of her face, standing between her and the vampiress. Glancing around, Evangeline noted the others in the room. Beside her, on the floor, was Artmond and Sigismund, both completely conscious, but still breathing. Hagor was also there, still in badger form, but being actively held down by two rough-looking women who had him by the nape and middle of his back, with a front paw pinned to the ground each. He growled low and menacing, but no one was paying it much attention. Otherwise, there were all sorts of rough types, similar to her, sitting or leaning on boxes and barrels.

A thieves den, she thought.

"I think Father would be more upset that while out on my errand for him, he were to find out that you lost his most precious gift that he quite unjustly bestowed upon you," Reverie countered.

This time Evangeline did dare to finish pushing up onto her knees so she could see better. The world only spun about once, and then she was able to focus on the Black Sun, Valerian's pendant, hanging from Reverie's fingers. She was much like Valerian, white hair, though much longer, with pale skin and pointed ears that marked her more as having been born of elves once. And like Valerian, her eyes were blood red.

"Give it back to me, Reverie," Valerian stated, as if he expected to be obeyed. He didn't hold his hand out, just waited. For a moment, Reverie's eyes widened and she leaned unconsciously forward. Pulling the pendant into her fist, her smile cracked as she took a deliberate step back in defiance.

"Hmm, apparently this thing works, even when you're not wearing it," the vampiress mused, looking down at her prize and only realizing then that the amulet touching her direct skin was smoking.

"Ow!" she screeched, jumping back from her burning hand, which of course did no good, as she was still holding it, which meant she was taking it with her. Luckily for her, she had the wherewithal to let go of the amulet and let it dangle once more from its chain. How the pickpocket had managed to get the amulet off with a chain around his neck, Evangeline had no idea, but the chaos of her antics hadn't afforded them the opportunity to turn the situation around.

As soon as Evangeline had bolted to her feet, a hand appeared on her shoulder, the end of a short sword at her neck. Further weapons were drawn on her companions, each a threat to end them if things should get worse. They were truly trapped. Only Valerian remained free to move, and that may have only been because they thought he cared enough about the rest of them not to do something to endanger them.

She hoped they were right.

A gruff, too thin man stood to one side of Reverie, his arms folded as he watched the drama play out before him.

Thieves Skill: Insight. Success.

He was the boss, not Reverie, of this little den of iniquity, and he was not liking how any of this was going. Evangeline's scrutiny caught his eye.

Thieves Skill: Thieves Sign.

Without really needing to think about it, Evangeline's hands shifted, signing with gestures that would seem innocuous to any other bystander other than a fellow rogue. She didn't even know what she was going to sign/say until she signed/said it, but she knew she was doing it correctly.

[Parlay. Willing to deal. Hospitality of Ripley.]

The boss leaders eyes narrowed as she made the last gesture, invoking the God of Rogues and Thieves. It was a sign used to induce neutrality so that rogues could deal with each other and conduct business. And the boss leader hadn't been the only one to note the gesture. Several other started to whispering to each other. Valerian and Reverie felt the change in the room, though they hadn't seen the exchange, too wrapped up in each other. That and the four figures standing behind her, wearing long cloaks that were of higher quality than anything any thief in that place was wearing seemed not a part of the group. They were clearly with Reverie.

After an annoyed huff from his nose, the boss leader turned back to Reverie. "If you're done playing right now, we got us a bit of business to get conducted and gone. I'm already feeling itchy staying in one place too long," he said. "You should pay up for your prize and we'll be on our way."

Reverie shot the boss leader an airy look. "I thought your lives was fair compensation for what clearly already belongs to our family," she said.

The boss leader's jaw worked. It wasn't an answer that surprised him, only annoyed him that it was being used. "I thought you didn't want to be noticed. Murdering all of us will get you noticed a lot faster than you can imagine," he stated.

Reverie heaved an overly dramatic sigh. "Fine then," and she tossed a bag of coins at the boss, who caught it with lightening flash reflexes, not taking his gaze from her. "Let's get on with the real negotiations then."