Taking a quiet sigh, Kyle peeked through the tree trunk. The patrol unit were still moving around there. He could have just left her there by the road, but he did not know how he ended up running off and grabbing her along with him. And right now, he actually felt like he did not want to let go of this girl just yet.

"Uhm... are they... still there?" he suddenly heard her muffled and weak voice asking from the general region of his chest. He had pushed her so close to his chest that it must have pressed her face right into him. Kyle could hear her heartbeat beating erratically and her breathing was slightly breathless. Was she nervous? Or was it because he was this close to her?

"Are you scared of me?" he asked. He just could not stop himself from talking to her.

"Nope."

"Your heartbeat is really loud right now," he said that in a slow whisper, causing her eyes to widen as she quickly looked up at him.

"It’s... because you’re too near. P-please move back a little." She stammered a little and her face flushed red. Kyle’s tantalizing smile widened.

"Can’t be doing that, little witch. Unless you are wanting the guards to catch us?" Kyle arched one of his brows, not able to stop himself from teasing her.

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

Kyle pressed his lips tightly together for a moment at her question. He did not even realize he had used that nickname on this girl again. But somehow, the nickname flowed easily from his lips.

"Because..." he tilted his head a little. "You’re not telling me your name." Kyle managed to come up with an excuse.

"Alright, I’ll tell you my name so please don’t call me that again." she replied, her voice taut and he could sense that she was uncomfortable.

"You hate it?"

"Yes." Her firm answer caused Kyle to keep silent for a while. But eventually, he nodded and smiled at her.

"As you wish. So? What should I call you then?"

"Luna. That’s my name."

"Luna..." he echoed after her, testing out her name as it rolled off his tongue. And as their gazes met, the tension between them became heavier.

Kyle could not take his eyes off her and he had no idea why it was so. It was like... he wanted to kiss her...

"I think the patrol unit is gone now." she pushed both her hands against his chest, causing Kyle to return back to reality. He cleared his throat and released his somewhat tight hold on her. When he craned his neck out and peeked to check if the coast was clear, the guards really were no longer there anymore.

Before he could turn to look at Luna again, she slipped out of his loosened embrace and stepped to the side. She immediately took a few more steps away from him before facing him again. Kyle could only clench his fists to stop this strange urge and itchiness he was feeling in his hands. He had wanted to seize her and pull her back into his arms again. But obviously Luna is not going to give him the opportunity to do that with the distance she had put between them.

"I’m going now. Thank you again for your help and please go back to your dorm now as well." She said quickly with a little nod of her head. And she then hastily turned around and jogged away as if she just could not wait to get away from him as soon as possible.

"Luna!" he called out.

He saw her whole body jerk at his call before looking over her shoulder. "Y-yes?"

"Don’t you want to know my name?" he asked. Kyle wanted to smack himself from blurting that question out of the blue. But it was already too late. He had already said it. There was no way he could pull it back.

And she shook her head. "No, thank you." she told him flatly and then she dashed away so quickly without turning back. He could only respond with an opened mouth, shocked that there was a girl who could even withstand his charm and did not even want to know his name.

Kyle could not help but laugh after she was out of sight, and he walked around and entered the forest again. He still could not quite believe that she actually rejected to knowing his name.

He could not stop smiling like a fool as he continued walking deeper into the forest. "What an interesting little witch..." he muttered before he suddenly halted. His smile fading as he realized what he was currently feeling right now. These familiar feelings... these were the things that he could only feel around... Lilith...

Kyle’s jaws clenched a little. Lilith... just thinking about that name alone was enough to give him heartache.

That girl... why did he casually called her as ’little witch’ twice in a row? He realized now he had called her that before he even realized it. Why was that so?

And now he was actually feeling this way? To a girl who was not even Lilith? Was he... does this really mean that he was attracted to that girl now?

Kyle could not deny that in his efforts to forget Lilith, he had tried to look at other girls, perhaps even to hook up with them. However, until now, no girl was able to even catch his interest at all, much less tempt him to hook up with them. No one made him feel anything despite him already meeting quite a number of girls in the past few months.

His father had even arranged for some dates with a few daughters of vampire nobles back in their kingdom as well and none of those girls, no matter how beautiful they might be, had ever sparked anything in him at all. And Kyle thought that he might really never would be able to feel anything for anyone anymore if it was not Lilith. This was the first time that someone had made him feel like this since that last time he met up with Lilith – the forbidden girl that he could not have.

He had started to believe that no matter what he did and no matter who he will end up with, his heart would forever be Lilith’s. Kyle just had the feeling that his heart will never beat for anyone else again. Until now.. Until tonight.