Tessa’s POV“You can see into the future?” I asked with wide eyes, shocked at the discovery.“I can’t control this ability though. I can only see what Nyx wants me to see and when she deems it fit.”“Do visions happen often?”“Depends,” she said. “They’ve been happening less frequently lately. Maybe once a month or so.”“That’s incredible,” I breathed. “That’s an amazing power to have. You must love being able to see into the future and possibly even change the outcome of a terrible fate.”“It’s bittersweet,” she said, and then she fell silent as thoughts invaded her mind.I wasn’t sure what that meant, and my brows knitted together as I stared at her fallen face.“It’s painful,” Bernard explained, drawing my attention to him. “It makes her pass out almost every time. Makes her ill. Her visions not happening daily are a blessing because I don’t think her body could handle it. Finding her in that much pain is the worst thing for me because I know there’s nothing, I can do to help her o
Tessa’s POVIt happened so quickly that I couldn’t grasp what was happening. Me and everyone else were standing to our feet just as Anna went tumbling to the ground.She was screaming and instantly covered in a layer of sweat. She gritted her teeth and dug her long nails into the chair she was sitting in. I realized she had gotten extremely pale as well and the look of pain was evident on her face.My heart was racing, and my mind was whirling. But Bernard wasted no time. He was instantly by her side and scooping her into his arms, carrying her bridal style.It was then that I realized her eyes had turned completely black.“What’s happening?” I asked, grabbing onto Joseph’s hand.He looked calm, as did Bernard, though it was obvious it pained him to see her like this. But his body movements were so calm like he had done this a thousand times before.“Joseph, grab me a washcloth soaked in hot water,” Benard ordered. “And a glass of cold water.”He quickly jumped into action, completely
Joseph’s POV“When?” Was the only thing I managed to ask.“As I said, she doesn’t know,” he said.He seemed a lot stronger than I felt. The thought of losing Bernard has never occurred to me before. He’s been with me from the very beginning. He’s my teacher, my guide, and my friend. He’s like a father figure to me, just as Anastasia is like a mother.That was something I’ve been deprived of during my human life and now that I have that in my vampire life, I wasn’t willing to give that up. If could prevent this war from happening, if I could keep Bernard from dying, I would move mountains to do so.I know Carter and his warriors would do the same.“I’m not upset or afraid,” he finally said after a long silence.I scrunched my face at him, unsure if I heard him correctly.“I knew it was a matter of time before I met a fatal end,” he said slowly, keeping his eyes on mine. “I’m not going to lie though. I will miss this tribe dearly and my wife isn’t taking this well. She fell asleep after
Joseph’s POVI quickly got out of bed. It was still fairly light outside, within the hour it should be dark enough to travel outside, but that also meant other creatures and rogues would be out as well, which puts this new vampire in danger.This wasn’t a vampire that was born a vampire, he was turned into one most likely from a rogue that started to crave blood again. Sometimes being a rogue helps a vampire to sneak around alone and drink blood without getting caught. However, blood is like drug, and they will always get caught again after they indulged themselves too much. Telling from his state, I don’t think it was on purpose. I noticed some blood on his mouth when he woke, he most likely struggled against this rogue and bit him, obtaining some of his blood. The vampire must have thought this person was dead and left him to rot. Depending on the strength of human, they can awaken at different times. Some awaken instantly, and others can take days.If a human dies with vampire bloo
Tessa’s POV“A new vampire?” I gasped, rushing to catch up with Carter. “How did Joseph know?”“He has the ability to know when a new vampire wakes,” Carter reminded me, glancing at my worried face briefly before picking up the speed.“Oh… right,” I breathed, feeling my face warm. “When will he be back?”“I’m not sure. But I’m just going to assume not until late,” he answered, much to my dismay.The thought of not seeing Joseph all day today left me feeling unsettled. But I was here as a guest, and I couldn’t interrupt his work. I knew his job was very important. All their jobs were important. I just had to stand in the background and not get in their way.The Vamp House was already crowded with vampire villagers when we arrived. I still got some wandering eyes in my direction, but for the most part, they weren’t giving me nasty looks like they had yesterday. I wondered if it was because Joseph, or maybe Bernard, had said something to them.I decided not to think too much about it and
Tessa’s POVI couldn’t have heard her correctly. Did she just say a blood slave?“What did you just call me?” I asked her, narrowing my eyes at her.She frowned and stared around me, seemingly confused by my question, just as I was confused by hers.“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so direct. But a few of us were talking and we were surprised when Joseph brought you around. It’s obvious you aren’t just his guest, but Joseph has never kept a blood slave before.”“I don’t think I understand what you are saying,” I said, still trying to wrap my head around the term she used. It was a term I had never heard before and I felt queasy at the very mention of a blood slave. But I had to know what she was talking about and what that meant.Her frown deepened.“Are you serious?” She asked, furrowing her brows together. “So, you really aren’t his blood slave?”“Please, tell me what you mean by ‘Blood Slave’,” I pleaded. “I never heard that term before.”She was quiet for a moment, and I saw as her
Joseph’s POVIt took over an hour to get to the part of the forest, in the Northern Region, where I saw the new vampire awakening. I parked my car in a nearby lot and walked through the forest, finding the exact spot he was lying in.I could still smell his potent scent, so I knew he wasn’t far from this area. I also knew he was still alive. My body would have told me if he was dead. It’s part of my ability so I don’t waste my time searching for a deceased vampire.I sniffed the air. The scent grew stronger going into the forest. It was dark out now, so other creatures would be lurking around. Thankfully, I was trained to deal with the worst creatures, and I did not doubt that I could kill anything that came at me.My weapons were made of silver and laced in wolf’s bane, just in case I needed something that could take down a beast.My nose scrunched at the very thought of a werewolf. Those retched creatures: or mutts how I like to refer to them.I continued to wander the forest ground
Tessa’s POVI was going to have a panic attack. I had to step away from Fae.I knew we were outside, but I needed to get air and that meant I needed to get away. I couldn’t count how many times I called Joseph.But I needed to know about these Blood Slaves. Is what Fae was saying true?I needed to know for sure.“Tessa?” I heard Carter saying from behind me. I stood just outside the battleground, and I was about to have a panic attack.I turned around to face him, tears clear in my eyes, and he looked extremely confused.“What’s wrong?” He asked, furrowing his brows together. “Are you okay?”“I need Joseph,” I gasped, trying to maintain my breath.“He’s working. He won’t be back for another couple of hours,” he said, and I could hear the worry in his voice. “What’s going on?”Should I ask him? Would he tell me?I didn’t want him to think I was squeamish and think less of me.“I’m okay,” I said to him, handing him the cup. “Thank you for caring.”“Are you sure?” He asked, furrowing his
Tessa’s POV10 years later!“You got called here too?” Ruby asked as I walked up the steps of the middle school. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, letting it fall around my shoulders.“Are you really surprised?” I asked her, rolling my eyes.She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me close to her.“Just take a deep breath. Maybe it’s not too bad this time,” she said, trying to appear soothing.I gave her a pointed look.“Please, when is it ever not that bad?”“Well, they aren’t vampires yet. So, it could be worse,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and chuckling.“I can only imagine the trouble they will get into once they are vampires,” I muttered.Ruby only laughed harder as we walked into the school. We went down the hallway and towards the principal's office, but a familiar voi
Tessa’s POV“Breathe, Tessa. Just breathe!” Ruby said as she held onto my hand tightly.I’m glad she’s a vampire and strong because if she was a typical human, I would have broken her hand by now. Pain shot through my lower abdomen and into my spine, crippling me in agony. I screamed out in pain, my entire body quivering.“You are doing great,” the doctor said, looking at my vitals. “That was a big contraction. It won’t be much longer until it’s time for you to push.”“Where the hell is Joseph?” I asked through my teeth.I knew he was working when I went into labor but that was several hours ago. I thought he would be here by now.“He texted Carter a bit ago and said he was almost here,” Ruby assured me. She placed a cool cloth on my forehead, and I sighed in relief. The pain in my body started to simmer down for a moment, but I knew th
Tessa’s POVA month after the big battle 4 years ago, Amelia called me and told me that they had taken Ruby to the most elite healers in California where Amelia is originally from. Carter hadn’t left her side since they took her there. They were able to get her heart beating once again, but she remained in critical condition for a little over a year.Nobody, including me, was allowed to see her. The only ones allowed near her were Carter, her true love, and Amelia, her mother. However, Amelia tried to keep me updated as frequently as possible but for a long while, it didn’t seem like Ruby would ever wake up.But 18 months later, she finally woke. It was a long road to recovery though. Even though she was healing and awake, both Carter and Amelia thought it would be best if she remained in California and stayed isolated until she was 100 percent ready to return. Apparently, she suffered some serious PTSD, along with minor memory
Tessa’s POV4 years later. “This had got to be the longest engagement in the history of engagements,” Hannah said as she continued to fuss over my hair for the last several hours. “I’m so happy it’s finally coming to an end.”I smiled at her through the vanity mirror, feeling a lightness in my chest that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since my daughter, Amaya, was born.“I know,” I told her honestly, biting my lower lip, making Amy huff with dismay as she grabbed more lipstick to fix my makeup that I unknowingly ruined. “With everything that went down 4 years ago, marrying Joseph just didn’t seem right. I really wanted to get my life back in order. I wanted to succeed in my career, Joseph needed to adjust to his new role as Overseer, and plus, I didn’t want to get married pregnant.”This made both girls pause what they were doing and lo
Tessa’s POVMost of the coven stayed with me in my father’s home. Esme went out to help the police look for Penny.There was no way I was going to leave my father alone if Penny was still out there and planning on killing him. My father and I talked a lot about everything that had happened, and he apologized countless times even though I told him it wasn’t necessary.None of this was his fault and I hated that he was blaming himself.He set up sleeping bags, and air mattresses and pulled out the couch for everyone to sleep on. He has one guest bedroom that Laura and Austin occupied. Joseph and I were going to sleep in my childhood room, but I really didn’t want to leave my father and plus, I had missed him throughout these years.Even though he was in my life these past few years, with Penny around, we didn’t really have a great relationship. Now I understood why; because Penny had her claws dug deep i
Tessa’s POVThe Moon Goddess had completely taken over my body and spoke to everyone through me. She warned them what would happen if anything were to happen to me or my baby. Now it was up to them to decide if they wanted to continue hunting me to gain the powers of the Heavenly Heart, or if they were going to trust the Moon Goddess with her decision.Seeing the horror on everybody’s faces, I knew the choice they would make. It was the obvious choice; I had seen what they had seen, and they would be stupid to chance it. Their lives and the state of this earth were in their hands.Silence consumed us as everyone processed what they had just seen. Only the yelling of Carter brought me back to the present moment. I turned to look at him and I could see the straight-up horror on his face as he screamed for Ruby.I turned to see Ruby lying on the ground, her body completely still and it was clear she wasn’t breathing. But mo
Tessa’s POVEsme, Patty, Cole, Claira, and Bennet worked on putting a shield around the circle while the rest of us gathered around while Ruby stood in the center. Everybody looked equally nervous except Ruby who looked confident.I could hear the battle ongoing around us and my heart was breaking for the lives that have been lost. I glanced at my father’s house, hoping and praying that he was still inside and that he was safe.I glanced over my shoulder and through the fighting I saw Joseph kneeling on the ground beside Benard who had blood pouring out of his neck. My heart shattered in an instant. My entire concentration and faith had been broken as I felt sick from the sight before me.Bernard… no… He couldn’t be… My thoughts went back to Anna’s vision a while back about Bernard dying during a battle.Was this the battle he was meant to die in?
Tessa’s POV“We’ve enchanted the house!” Esme said as she rushed towards me. “Nobody besides your blood can get in. Including any of us.”“What about Joseph?” I asked, shouting through the chaos. “We weren’t able to exclude him either,” Esme told me. She grabbed onto my arms and gave them a gentle squeeze. “You need to go inside and protect yourself. They are here because they want your heart.”I looked around at the ongoing fight. My stomach twisted. People were dying and I couldn’t help but feel responsible. I needed to fix this, not hide like a coward.“We need to find Ruby,” I told her firmly.“We are on the lookout for her, but so far we haven’t been able to see her or Eevee,” Esme said, looking around with a frown on her face.“Have you checked everywhere?”“We c
Third Person POV (Ruby)At some point, Ruby had fallen asleep. Though, she knew right away that it wasn’t a normal sleep. It was a vision.This one felt a different thought. She was surrounded by my dark smoke, though it didn’t feel like smoke, it only looked like it. She couldn’t exactly see what was happening, but she could hear the sounds of death and destruction around her. Innocent people screaming and crying for mercy. The sounds of supernatural’s fighting and killing one another.There was so much darkness and despair, that Ruby felt a sense of dread weighing on her chest. Her breathing hitched when some of the smoke cleared, and she saw blood soaking the grass around her feet. Puddles of blood were everywhere. The sky was hazy and unrecognizable.Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at all the bodies that occupied the earth. This was too much for her to handle; why did she have to be cursed with seeing