Vanessa closed the door of her room and jumped on her bed face down. She had never lost her composure so many times in one day, no, she normally didn’t even lose her composure so many times in a whole month, let alone day, and because of just one individual no less.

She didn’t know what the deal was with the mysterious boy that her grandfather brought home half-dead the other day, but every time she saw him, he seemed like a completely different person.

The first time she saw him he was in a half-dead state, his skin was covered in blood and abnormally pale. He looked like a normal above average looking boy around her age, if you ignore the fact that he was a vampire.

Although vampires were a lot rarer than most other races and usually held high positions in any society they were a part of, she had seen many before, so other than the peculiar one-sided first meeting, there was nothing too special about him.

The second time, however, was different. She caught him staring at the contents of the table with great interest, shirtless, no less.

What truly surprised her though, was his face. She could confidently say that she had never seen another man as pleasing to the eye as him, maybe some that were on a similar level, but even then, those were individuals of high order.

Although she could still recognize him as the same boy she saw the day before, there was something very different about him, she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Another peculiarity was his aura, it was like it was pulling her in, something she never experienced before.

Even though he felt like a totally different person than she saw yesterday, she just chalked it up to seeing him half-dead.

The surprises didn’t end, however. The more she talked to him, the more her impression of him changed. He was like a lost, cute little puppy, that could barely get one sentence out before stuttering.

It was a nice change of pace to talk to someone like that, especially when you’re used to tasteless flattery and comments full of hidden meanings. Somehow, he was also only 16, which she found quite hard to believe.

But towards the end of the dinner, he seemed a little out of it, so she tried to make sure he was ok. Although he was adamant that felt fine, his acting really wasn’t convincing and even if vampires possess fast regeneration, his condition was quite severe.

She could do nothing, however, if he didn’t want her help. Claiming that he wished to get some fresh air, she told him about the ward and the area of full effect, but for some reason, even unknown to her, she lied about the true distance it reached. Wondering if this was how it felt to be an overprotective sister, she decided to give him some space and mind her own business.

Half an hour passed, then a full hour, and after an hour and a half she started to worry. When two hours went by, she decided to go look for him.

He obviously didn’t have enough strength to fight a beast that resided at the center of the forest, especially if he was really 16, which was the average age to awaken a class for most races.

It wasn’t hard to follow the tracks he left behind, as he clearly wasn’t used to traveling through a forest, even a novice hunter would find it easy to track him. But after about a kilometer, the same distance she told him was the end of a safe zone, his tracks disappeared, or more accurately, were so faint that even she found it impossible to follow.

Considering he walked in a straight line up until this point, she decided to continue for a little while and ask her grandpa for help if she couldn’t find him, as there was nothing in this forest that he couldn’t find or kill.

Luckily, she found him walking towards her just a couple of minutes later, but there was something different about him.

He still looked exactly the same, and his aura still wanted to pull her in, but this time, it was more… aggressive, or rather, intimidating? She couldn’t find the right words to describe it. His attitude was also very different, he didn’t stutter anymore, nor did he avoid her gaze.

They headed back in silence, but not for long, as he made a strange comment, or more accurately, a compliment that threw her off her tracks more than it probably should’ve.

She was used to getting complemented, sick of it actually, but there was something different about this one. It didn’t seem forced or said just for the sake of being said. It was simple, yet genuine, even she herself didn’t know why she never doubted whether he truly meant it or not. She would’ve never imagined that a simple ‘You smell nice.’ would startle her more than any witty comeback full of hidden meaning that tried to defame her, which was common for the noble circle.

Then he started asking her questions, apparently interested in a conversation, completely unlike before, where she was the one leading the conversation.

But then there was his gaze, she could pretty much feel his eyes trailing along her body, something that she experienced many times before, yet it didn’t disgust her as it usually did. If before he was a cute little puppy, he was now like a big bad wolf.

After a couple more exchanges back and forth, they arrived back at the house where she quickly excused herself to get some alone time and clear her head.

And now here she was, her face in a pillow, her long brown hair spilling all over the luxurious bed that didn’t match the room. She couldn’t get that person out of her mind, and she especially couldn’t forget that gaze. After all, she was still a little damp because of it.