The Skellington manor was darker than it was when he left it. Jack had to have left when he left earlier. That man was always ready to run off somewhere, keeping up with a tight schedule, and it left Vincent with a sense of relief. Maybe there was less of a chance of getting caught.

There was a light in the window Eve had been peeking out of days ago, and Vincent hoped that it was her bedroom, fearing that it could potentially be a more populated and less private space, like a sitting room or a library. He was going to have to scale a wall to get up there, and if it turned out that it wasn't a room that was exclusive to the daughter of the house, and someone else was there, he would be facing some heavy consequences.

This was so incredibly stupid, Vincent thought, and considered what his actual intentions were. He was here because he was attracted physically to Eve, which was at least a decent reason. He was also here to spite Lock, which was less of a good reason. And he was a little disappointed that he did not get a kiss from Shock, which was a terrible reason to be doing this. Technically, the bad reasons outweighed the good ones, but he was still willing to take this risk, all possible problems aside.

He hadn't actually climbed anything like a wall in a very long time. As he stood at the far wall from the road, where there window was located, he could see that the brick made for a relatively stable surface, and that in reality, the window wasn't very high. If anything, it was only three stories, which was less than the five of his own window that he had snuck out of when he was younger.

With a heavy sigh, Vincent checked his surroundings, hoping no one would be able to see him and start rumors. If someone managed so see him and recognize him, it was unlikely the news wouldn't get back to Jack, and he would be in serious trouble, no matter how much he would try to deny it.

When he realized he was on the darkside of the building, and that no one was on the street, he began to climb up, trying his best to move as quickly as possible. He was relieved that he still had the strength to scale a wall like this. He was beginning to realize the vampiric advantages that had been bestowed upon him; his strength would never falter, and he would forever be able to scale a wall to sneak into an important person's house. He remembered a story his father had told him once in his childhood about how he snuck into his mother's home once in a similar manner. He shook the thought away, desperately avoiding thoughts of his father that potentially ruin the high he was currently on as he climbed.

The window sill was close now, and he saw a figure behind the curtain. It was feminine, but at this rate, his mind could be playing tricks on him, the only thing he could do now was knock on it and hope that it was Eve and not someone else.

When the sill was in reach, he grabbed it, and knocked at the glass. He was relieved to see Eve part the curtain, surprised by the sudden act. She quickly opened the curtains and the window, finding the vampire hanging on her window sill.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?" She whispered loudly. She nearly pushed him off, knowing her father was in the room right next to hers. She knew better than to do that, though, but she was so completely unsure of how she could get him to leave without letting him in first. She moved away and gave him space to gracefully climb through her window.

Vincent tried to speak, but was met with her fingers on his lips. She brought one from her other hand to her own lips and shook her head. She was a bit excited that something out of the ordinary had happened, but she was a bit concerned that this might be more detrimental than positive. It was extremely improper for her to host someone without her parents knowing, and having a guest in her room, a boy especially, would be a near betrayal of her parent's trust.

"Why are you here?" she whispered, pulling her hand away from him, embarrassed how forward she had been.

"I was in the neighborhood, and figured I'd pay you a visit. Why? You don't want me here?" He realized that she was quite uncomfortable, and changed his tactic. "I wanted to see you. I haven't been able to speak to you in such a long time."

"Oh, Vincent, you shouldn't have done this. We could have figured something else out. If my father comes in here, he is going to be so upset." She began to pull at the sleeve of her house coat nervously. She was so unsure of what to do. She didn't want Vincent to be here, but she also didn't want him to leave.

"I'm already here, what harm would it cause? I can't stay out very long, anyway. The sun will rise soon, and my coat and hat are at home. If we're quiet, they would never know anyway, right?" Vincent had been in situations like this before, and he had always been exceedingly fortunate that he had never been caught. Then again, it had never been with the daughter of Jack Skellington, which may prove to be a poor decision on his part.

A blush crept up on her cheeks as she realized what was happening. A boy had climbed up to her window, exclusively to see her. The boy, who happened to be a prince, was standing before her, telling her that he hand climbed three stories high to spend time with her. While he was attractive and nice, it had never occurred to her that this boy was that of a fantasy and that he was showing her, what she believed be, more than platonic affection. She had never considered Vincent to be more than her escort, yet here he was, and she was suddenly incredibly shy.

"Eve? Do you want me to leave?" Vincent began to worry that she might have taken this the wrong way and that her silence could warrant her internal struggle to get her father's attention.

A bit too quickly, she objected, a bit unsure of how she felt about this. She was excited and horrified at the same time. The books she had read did not prepare her for an experience like this, even though her favorite heroines had been in similar situations before.

Vincent counted this as a victory. If he didn't get a kiss from Shock, at least he could potentially get one from her before the end of the night.

He looked around and took in his surroundings. The room was relatively drab, similar to the rest of the house. There were few pieces of furniture, the largest being a bookcase that was full to capacity. He looked to her and noticed she must have been in her nightdress, which was much less attractive than the dress she had been wearing earlier. It was dainty, though, and innocent. Such innocence could be considered attractive if given the proper attention.

"What were you doing, anyway?" he looked around to find any evidence of her doing anything at all in this sterile, undisturbed room.

"Reading." She replied, motioning to the book that was on the table, next to the chaise under the window.

"Do you ever do anything other than read?" Vincent took a seat at the chaise and took the book in his hands. The title on the spine was unfamiliar, and the page marker was already so close to the end of the novel.

Eve carefully took a seat next to him, and watched him look the book over. "I had told you before that there isn't much else that I can do. I can't leave the estate yet, and there is not much for me to do in my room other than read."

Vincent put the book back on the table and turned his attention to her. "Then I saved you some boredom by coming here, didn't I?" He smiled playfully.

"I wish we could have made other plans than this, but yes, I do prefer your company to that of the fictional characters." She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away from him bashfully. She was the closest she had even been to him, and she was trying desperately not to look at his face. She wasn't pained by how attractive he was, but how inappropriate this situation was becoming. Why was she being so forward? Why was she allowing him to stay here when it would upset her parents so much?

"What plans would you want to make, for future reference?" Vincent knew that he was taking advantage of her innocence, but he couldn't help himself. She was making this so incredibly easy for him.

She was taken back by that statement, unsure of how to respond. She wasn't sure how or when she could make plans with him. She couldn't just go ask her father when she would be available or when she could spend time alone with her escort. It had already been established many times that she was going to have to be extremely careful when Halloween came and she was to be alone with him. After countless lectures from her father about Vincent's potentially inappropriate intentions, but she couldn't apply this information to her current situation, or any situation in the near future. Halloween was just a bit more than a week away, which would be more than enough time for Vincent to want to sneak in again.

"Vincent, we can't meet like this again before Halloween." She was proud of herself for finally using her better judgement to try and establish appropriate boundaries, even if she did want to meet with him alone again soon.

"What harm is it for me to meet you? We spend so much time together as it is, but your father doesn't give us the opportunity to even speak to each other. Aren't you bored of that?"

"I am," Eve caught herself before she told him how much she wanted to spend time with him, "But it's inappropriate. I shouldn't have let you in here in the first place."

"But you did," He reached out and grabbed her hand, "And I'm still here. If you want me to leave, I will, but I don't believe you want me to."

Eve panicked at this gesture and she wasn't sure what to do. This was so exciting, and she really enjoyed his passion, but she didn't know him very well, and she was breaking so many rules. She was torn between pulling her hand away and letting him keep it, not matter how inappropriate it was.

"Do you want me to leave, Eve?" Vincent asked, a little concerned with her reaction.

She shook her head, but refused to look at him. Her face must be giving away how she felt, and she was embarrassed that her emotions were being displayed so strongly.

He reached up a turned her face towards him. "I know you aren't used to this, Eve, but I'm not going to hurt you. I promise that your father will never find out. I won't tell a soul."

He wasn't guilty for lying to her until she looked at him. He realized when he saw the troubled look on her face and the blush on her cheeks exactly what he was doing. She really didn't deserve this kind of manipulation. He pulled his hands away and put them on his lap.

There was this terrible looming feeling of regret that washed over him in this moment that lead him nearly throwing himself out the window. She was completely innocent and ignorant to what he was doing. She was genuinely naive and he was just taking complete advantage of it. Shock knew what she was doing when she grabbed his hand earlier, and would be able to accept the consequences if she was dealt any. Eve, on the other hand, did not understand what the extension of her invitation represented in his world, and that it was disgustingly obvious to him that she was too pure for him to exploit, which he had never faced in his entire life.

He was making promises that he wasn't planning on keeping, and he was hoping that he would be able to simply force himself on her and throw her away like any other girl, but it now felt so incredibly wrong. He was disgusted with how willing he had been to sneak in here and put her in the predicament, and how stupid and bitter he had been before he had gotten here. His social prowess was not her concern, and he felt terribly about the intention behind his last statement.

He stood up and turned his back to her, pulling at his hair a bit as he considered his options. This he had never had this kind of a reaction to a situation like this before. He then realized he never actually been in a situation like this one. Any girl he had ever had any kind of a relationship with had always come on to him, or he had been in such a similar drunken stupor that they mutually agreed on hooking up. Sure, maybe he was a source of regret for some people, but they had always been very well aware of the kind of person he was, which had never lead him to this; a girl who had no idea that he was a liar or that he was hopelessly in love with only one person, and that every other girl he was involved with was simply a distraction.

Eve, who didn't understand the conflict Vincent was having with himself, stood up and tried to reach out to him. When he turned to face her again, he didn't realize she was there. He stumbled toward her, and in an effort to keep her from falling, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her.

The sudden move left them in shock, unsure of how to react or what was happening. Eve looked up to Vincent, who was staring down at her, unsure of what to do or what to say. He was already having difficulty was it was, but this made everything even more difficult. He didn't feel comfortable being this close to her, because of the remorse he felt for his actions, but she also didn't pull away from him.

They stayed like that for a few more moments, close together with Eve balancing on Vincent after nearly being knocked over by him.

The longer he stared at her in silence, the more the feeling of regret slowly passed and a different one replaced it. It wasn't lust, or sympathy, but a different one entirely. He could feel her heart racing under his hands on her back. He noticed how delicate her features were and how soft her voice and expressions were. How lovely she smelled and how precious her laugh was.

To his horror, Vincent realized that what he was feeling was relatively unfortunate given his most recent situation. While he thought he had fallen in love once before, he realized that every feeling he had felt for her before didn't compare to how he felt about Eve in this moment, and suddenly he was undoubtedly awestruck, and that he was suddenly in an absolutely terrible and unfortunate conflict.

Just as he was finally making progress after years of lusting after Shock, he had actually managed to fall in love with a girl that wasn't her, and that he had never actually been in love with her at all.

Why had he never realized this before? Why had he been so unwilling to consider this girl as more than just a challenge to show some kind of victory against Lock? Especially when it was now obvious that he felt more passionately about her than he had ever felt when considering any girl in his past.

Vincent pulled away from her after his revelation and took a step back. He continued to stare at her for a few more moments, unsure of how to address this foreign situation. How would one address a girl that they're in love with?

Eve stood there, dumbfounded and unaware that Vincent was coming to terms with how he felt about her. She felt that she did something wrong and that she had completely pushed him away. She didn't want him to dislike her. She wanted to experience so much more than that, but she was just so unsure of how approach him after his reaction.

"I'm sorry, Vincent, I'm not sure how to express myself in the way I would like to. I wish this could have been a bit different." she found it hard to look at him again, and her cheeks were red once again.

Vincent felt that he had already ruined any chances he had to develop a legitimate experience with her. He wished he would have just stayed away from here, ignoring Lock's challenge and figured this all out on his own, without having this terribly awkward experience.

He pulled at his hair again, and spoke after a period of trying to find a way to recover this. "No, this isn't your fault. It's mine. I'm sorry for coming here. I shouldn't have come. I hope you can just pretend this never happened. I'll leave, and I'll see you tomorrow." he tried to walk quickly past her, but she reached her hand to his arm before he could.

"Vincent, please stay."

He didn't expect that from her, nor did she understand how difficult it would be for him to say no after that.

He looked to her, trying to find the words to tell her of his revelation, but nothing came to his mind, and his impulses took control. He put his hands on her face, and leaned in and kissed her, hoping it might explain everything or anything to her.

She didn't kiss him back, and her body stiffened under his touch.

He pulled away, and looked at her face in the hopes that she would give him any kind of a response. Her eye sockets were wide and her lips parted, but she said nothing.

This made him feel worse than if she had rejected him.

"I'm sorry, Eve, you deserve better than me." He took his hands from her face and turned his attention to the window. As he opened it, Eve finally spoke.

"Tomorrow, I'll be in the garden behind the estate. I want you to meet me there at around this time."

Vincent turned and looked at her for a moment, the defeat he felt was replaced with a wave of relief. He smiled at her and nodded. "I'll be there. I promise, I will meet you there as soon as I can."

Eve brushed her hair out of her face again, and walked over to him. Boldly, she kissed his cheek and he was completely smitten. A bit more than a week was all it took for him to fall for her, and he could feel that he was falling hard.

She waved at him as he began to climb down from her window, and he considered this quite the victory for himself. While it may not have been the encounter he initially planned for it was exactly what he needed in order to set his priorities straight.

He looked forward to seeing her tomorrow, and his mind raced with this newfound feeling of lightheartedness.

He didn't even notice that he didn't have his jacket as he was walking home.