Maybe it was a terrible idea, but Melina decided to meet Tyler. Her curiosity got the best of her because she wanted to know any and all information Tyler had about that night.

If he wasn’t the person who set off the fire, she needed to figure out who it was before they tried to hurt her again.

She refused to die at school of all places. She came here to learn, not to be buried or burned to death.

It was torturous waiting until midnight, even if it was only a few hours later. She paced around her room, unable to even focus on homework. She wished that time would go by faster.

By the time 11:30 arrived, she started to slowly get ready, wondering if she needed to take anything protective with her. It wasn’t like she had a dagger or anything. Maybe she needed to learn one of those attack spells.

Melina then shook her head at herself. She didn’t need to stress herself out. She didn’t believe that Tyler would attack her.

She just needed to watch him closely. If he tried anything, she could zap him with an electricity spell or something. She would figure out something. Nature could be helpful in certain ways too.

Once she got ready, she left her room and wandered through the halls quietly. There wasn’t a curfew for students, but there was a noise ordinance.

They couldn’t make any loud noise to wake the other sleeping students. She headed down to the bottom floor and out the back door to the courtyard, seeing a dark figure standing under one of the large oak trees. Just from his dark silhouette, she could tell that it was Tyler.

Nervousness struck her like a punch to the stomach, but she didn’t want to show fear. She didn’t want to appear weak. She was asking for another attack at that point because she was an easy target.

She lifted her chin and walked across the courtyard, tightening her fingers into fists as she walked through the dim area. Light golden lights illuminated the area enough to see mostly outlines but not many features.

“You came,” Tyler said, sounding almost surprised.

“You said you have proof. I want to know everything,” Melina told him. She was tired of games and secrets. Eventually, they would cost her or someone else their life. She wanted to end this as soon as possible.

Tyler nodded and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out a small cloth bag with a symbol on the outside.

Melina’s eyes widened as she took a step back.

“That’s a spell bag,” she whispered. Spell bags were forbidden to make on campus. They could be used for malicious reasons, like cursing people or hurting people.

Of course, they could be used for protection too, but she didn’t like the way the strange symbol was drawn with something red. It looked like blood.

“I snuck into your room after security left and found this hidden in the back of your closet,” Tyler told her.

He unwrapped the cloth bag and dumped out the contents. There were herbs, tiny bones, and a lock of hair that looked like Melina’s.

Melina brushed her fingers through her hair, feeling around until she found a strand that was shorter than the others. It felt like ice spread through her veins. She swallowed hard and lowered her hand.

“Vampires can’t make spell bags,” she murmured, realizing why he showed her this. He couldn’t have done this.

The fire had to be from the spell bag. It was the best explanation for how the fire came to be without someone else being in the room with her.

Tyler tossed the bag aside and nodded.

“It’s a witch or someone who knows a witch. I can promise you that I’m not behind this, though,” he said as he took a step closer to her.

Melina stood her ground as she listened to him. At least he wasn’t the one who tried to kill her. His behavior was still off, though. There were things that he wasn’t telling her.

“Why are you doing this? Looking after me? We don’t even know each other,” she asked him as she shook her head.

Tyler took another step closer to her, leaving only a few feet of space between them.

“I feel… protective over you. You said that everyone ignores you. Then, all of these weird things keep happening.

There’s no one around to have your back,” he said with a shrug. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You were just so nice to me, and I didn’t want you to get hurt like that girl.”

Melina looked away from him, trying to process her thoughts. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that someone was just being nice to her. She just wasn’t used to that, and it wasn’t like she had anything to give him in return.

“I can take care of myself. I don’t need a babysitter,” she muttered under her breath. She felt a little pathetic that he felt the need to watch over her. She wasn’t that weak.

A small grin crossed Tyler’s face.

“I know, but it’s always nice to have someone in your corner,” he replied. “Besides, I’m the muscle.”

Melina scoffed at him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I thought you weren’t cocky like those other vampires. I could take you,” she told him boldly. She then mentally cursed herself.

She was being defensive and digging herself a deeper hole. She just didn’t want to be seen as weak and have him feel obligated to hold her hand.

Tyler chuckled and stepped even closer to her.

“Really?” he asked.

Melina figured that she might as well go big since she had already come this far. She closed the distance between them, nearly getting in his face, but she wasn’t quite tall enough.

“Anytime,” she said firmly.

Tyler suddenly kicked her feet out from under her, quickly reaching down to grab the small of her back to catch her before she could hit the ground.