NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: Her Name Beneath the Moon
The air was colder than usual tonight.
I could feel it.
Every little snowflake falling on my coat like ghostly fingertips. My feet crunched softly along the path, illuminated only by the flickering streetlight ahead and the blood moon still lingering in the sky like a wound that never healed.
My neck still ached. Not in pain, but... memory.
Her bite.
That impossible, surreal moment.
Was it a dream?
Was she even real?
But I remembered her—vividly. Her red eyes, shimmering like a forbidden ruby in the dark. Her scent... like roses drenched in winter rain. I could still hear the soft gasp she made when I grabbed her wrist. The warmth of her skin—cold, yet oddly comforting.
Why did I think about her so much?
"Tch... what's wrong with me?" I mumbled, kicking a patch of snow aside as I walked past the same frozen lamppost again.
---
I ended up in the same park.
The same path.
Same trees.
Same... strange feeling.
Then I saw it again.
That silhouette.
Sitting quietly on the broken fountain's edge, her cloak draped elegantly like the shadow of a long-lost era. The blood moonlight danced on her black hair, turning it slightly crimson at the ends. She didn't move.
Was she waiting?
For me?
No. That's ridiculous. She probably didn't even remember me.
And yet...
When I took one step closer, she turned.
Slowly. As if she already knew.
Her eyes locked on mine—shocked at first, but then she smiled.
She **smiled**?
Wait—she didn't smile before...
---
"I didn't think you'd come back..." her voice was soft. Melancholic. She spoke like someone who wasn't used to being heard.
"...Neither did I," I replied honestly, stepping forward despite my brain screaming that this made zero logical sense.
Silence fell between us.
Only the sound of snow.
"You're not scared?" she asked, her eyes glancing at my neck. Her tone wasn't mocking. It was... nervous.
"Should I be?" I replied.
"You should," she said. But her voice cracked slightly. Like she didn't really want that answer to be true.
"Then tell me your name. If I'm going to be scared of a vampire, I should at least know what to call her."
She blinked.
Then... looked away.
The moment stretched like string pulled too tight.
"...Lunaria."
Her voice trembled slightly on that name. Like it carried centuries of secrets.
"Lunaria," I whispered, testing the name on my lips.
And I swear—for a second—her cheeks flushed the faintest shade of red. Or maybe it was the moonlight playing tricks again.
---
She stood.
Her cloak fluttered like ink in the wind.
"You're not like the others," she murmured, walking toward me now. Barely a whisper of sound on the snow.
"Others?"
"Humans who scream... or chase... or beg..." Her hand gently brushed my coat. "You didn't even run when I bit you."
I swallowed hard. Her fingers were close again. And I remembered what it felt like—her teeth, her lips, the way my heart tried to escape my chest in panic and fascination at the same time.
"I guess…" I said, trying to sound casual. "I've always been a little different too."
She looked up at me.
And then—
The wind blew harshly. Her hair whipped past my face, and in that frozen second, I saw something in her eyes.
**Loneliness.**
Crushing. Ancient. Like she hadn't spoken to anyone in a hundred years.
And in that moment, I knew—
She wasn't the monster I imagined.
She was just a girl.
A lonely girl cursed by the moon.
---
"I'm cold..." she whispered suddenly, her voice shaky.
"You're a vampire," I said without thinking.
She looked down. "Even we feel cold sometimes..."
I didn't know what possessed me, but I took off my scarf and gently wrapped it around her shoulders.
She froze.
I thought she'd pull away. Hiss. Vanish in mist.
But instead...
She leaned forward. Just a little.
And for the first time...
She didn't bite.
She just stood there.
Breathing.
Next to me.
---
The clock struck midnight again.
And I didn't feel alone this time.
Neither did she.
---