"Come on! Don't hold back."

"I'm not," she protest delivering a punch to his chest that don't come close to budging him.

"You are! I've seen you knock door harder than you're hitting me." He said in frustrated while run his hand through his hair.

"That's ridiculous."

"And," he added, "you not aiming for my face."

"I don't want to leave a mark!"

"Well at the rate we're going there's no danger of that," he muttered. "Besides you can heal it away."

Reaching forward Ji Yong grabbed Dara by the wrist and jerked her toward him. He balled her fingers with his other hand and then slowly demonstrate how to swing a punch upward by pulling her fist toward his face.

Ji Yong was more interested in showing the technique and motion so it only brushed against him. "See? Make the impact right there. Don't worry about hurting me."

"It's not that simple. . . ." she protest and suddenly they both seemed to notice the situation they were in.

There was barely any space between them and his fingers were still wrapped around her wrist. The warm feeling she felt has sending electricity running through the rest of her body. The air seemed thick and heavy like it might just wrap them up and pull them together.

From the widening of Ji Yong's eyes and sudden intake of his breath, Dara was willing to bet he was having a similar reaction at being so close to her body. Coming to himself, he abruptly released her hand and stepped back.

"Well," he said roughly though still clearly unnerved by the situation, "I guess you’re not really serious about helping Rin."

Thats it. Anger fire up in Dara when she hear Ji Yong’s comment. She balled her fist and totally caught Ji Yong off guard when she swung out and punch him in the face. It took Ji Yong hard.

Unfortunately she lost her balance in the maneuver and stumbled into him. The two of them went down together hitting the floor and knocking over a small table and lamp nearby.

Dara had landed on Ji Yong. His arms instinctively went out around her and if the space between them before had been small, it was never existed now. They stared into each other's eyes and Dara's heart was pounding fiercely in her chest.

Dara’s new guardian came bursting out of the bedroom. She was on high alert and screeching to a halt when she saw the scene before her: what appeared to be a romantic interlude. “Oh," she said uncertainly. "Sorry."

"It . . . it's not what you think," she stuttered looking anywhere except at Ji Yong who was getting to his feet and seemed just as embarrassed like her. "We were fighting. I mean, practicing fighting. I want to learn to defend against vampire. To attack them. So Ji Yong was kind of helping me, that's all."

"Well," she said, "it doesn't look like you're doing a very good job."

Ji Yong feel offended as he his injured cheek. "Hey! We are too. I taught her this."

Dara’s guardian still thought it was all funny. "Look, if you guys are serious about this, then you need to learn to do it the right way. I'll show you how."

Dara and Ji Yong practice on each other. They didn't have the skill to do much damage to each other and their practice amused their guardians. But it did not amuse them. There was still so much tension plugging between them.

The guardians stopped the two teenager from doing any more face punching and dodges.

They have someone play enemy--putting Dara or Ji Yong on the offensive. The two learn determinedly.

But when Jiyong lunged at Dara and pushed her into a wall learning offense suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea to her. The maneuver pressed them right up to each other, his arms holding hers.

She could smell him and feel him and was overwhelmed by the fantasy of him just holding her there and kissing her.

"I think you two should go back to basic defense," said Ji Yong’s guardian. He sound like he was more worried about them hurting each other than the possibility that they might start making out.

It took Dara and Jiyong a moment to even register his words, they part from each other. When they did both avoided eye contact and returned to the couch.

Dara was finally getting it. She realized that in some ways. Sure, she'd heard her best friend talk about it but this was more than knowledge. A lot of it was strength—strength she physically didn't have yet.

One hour-long lesson wouldn't give Dara that kind of strength and she whispered as much to Ji Yong when the group went out to dinner.

"You're quitting already?" he asked voice equally low as they rode in the backseat of an SUV.

"No!" Dara hissed back. "But I've got to, like, train before I can do it."

"Like lift weights?"

"I . . . I don't know." The guardians were still talking to each other, but Dara's topic was too dangerous for her to risk them hearing. She leaned close to Ji Yong unnerved yet again at how his closeness and familiarity affected her.

Swallowing she tried to keep her face impassive and stick to the topic. "But I'm just not strong enough. It's physically impossible."

"Sounds like you're giving up."

"Hey! You didn't make it through any of the pillows either."

He flushed slightly. "I almost got through that green one."

"There was hardly anything in it!"

"I just need more practice."

"You don't need to do anything," she shot back fighting to keep her voice quiet through her anger. "This isn't your fight. It's mine."

"Hey," he snapped "you're crazy if you think I'm going to just let you go and risk--" Ji Yong cut himself and bit his lip.

Dara stared at him wondering him to finish his word. Ji Yong trying to hide his emotions. At last he jerked away and broke that space between them getting as far from her as he could.

"Fine. Do whatever you want. I don't care." Neither of them spoke after that.

The group hung out at the restaurant far past the normal dinner hour so the parking lot was mostly empty as they walked. The car was park next to one of the street lamps.

Except it wasn't lit now. The guardians noticed it right away. In a flash, Ji Yong and Dara’s guardian take out their sword. It only took seconds for the other guards to follow. That what they were trained to do. Be on guard. React. Follow your colleagues.

Suddenly they were being ambush by vampires and their guardians were shoving them around, trying to keep them safe. Red eyes popped up everywhere. Dara’s guardian staked one male vampire cleanly through the heart but another female vampire leapt her guardian and broke her neck.

Dara was distantly aware of Ji Yong's arm around her, pressing her against the SUV and shielding her with his own body. The remaining guardians forming a protective ring as best they could, but the circle was faltering.

One by one of the guardians have been killed. They were simply outnumbered.

Dara's emotions shifted into something beyond fear, something that hardly felt like anything she even feels before. She was in shock. Numbed. Cold.

She found Ji Yong's hand, squeezing it tightly and turning toward him, she took small comfort in knowing the last sight she would see in life was the beautiful, crystalline azure of his eyes. From the look on his face, his register the same thoughts. Warmth, love .......

Ji Yong eyes widened, focusing on something just behind Dara. At that moment, a hand grabbed her shoulder and whipped her around.

This is it, a voice inside her whispered. This is where I die.

Dara understood. She was facing Seungri. She had that surreal sense of it being Seungri yet not being Seungri. So many of his features were the same . . . and yet so many were different.

She tried to say something, anything, but she just couldn't manage to get them out. Intense heat suddenly flared behind her and a bright light lit Seungri's pale features. Ji Yong had produced a fire ball with his magic. Either shock of seeing Seungri or fear for Dara had spurred Ji Yong into action.

Seungri twist slightly but then cruel smile twisted his lips and the hand on her shoulder has slid up to her neck.

"Stop it," Seungri said. "Stop it or she dies."

Dara finally found her voice. "Don't listen to him," she gasped out. "He's going to kill us anyway." But behind her, the heat died. Ji Yong wouldn't risk her, even though she was right.

"Actually," Seungri said, "I'd rather you two stay alive. At least for a little while longer."

Dara’s face frown. Ji Yong did too judging from the confusion in his voice. "Why?"

Seungri's eyes gleamed. "Because you are my bait ......for Rin."