Tessa’s POVI woke up early so I could make some finishing changes and revisions to my short story before I sent it in by the 10 am deadline.Ruby left her room, already fully dressed.“Good morning,” Ruby said with a smile. “Have you been up all night?”“No, I got a few hours of sleep. I just want this paper to be perfect,” I explained to her.This was the first time I had written so fluently in the process of creation. Stories like this had never come so effortlessly before. I was nervous about sending this in, but at the same time, I was also excited.Ruby grabbed a pop tart and sat at the kitchen table while I finished.“Did you already finish your paper?” I asked, peering over at her.“I submitted it last night,” she told me, but I could see the worried look on her face. “If I continued working on it, I would have ruined it. I just wanted to get it over with.”I thought about asking her what she wrote about, but I thought it might have been better if neither of us knew too many d
Tessa’s POVWe walked up the stairs until we reached the faculty center. It was fairly vacant considering it was late in the evening and most teachers had already gone home.Joseph’s office was in the back corner and secluded from most of the others. Like his bedroom, the office was extremely shaded. It was like he was afraid to allow any kind of sunlight through the window.Not that there was much sunlight right now anyways.Looking through the curtains that occupied his window, I could see the area of the street where the motorcycle gang had me surrounded.He really did have a good view of that.I wondered how I must have looked to him from up here. I wondered what he must have felt when he called the police.I looked up at the camera in the hallway that captured him in his office during the attack. It didn’t look like a camera that was out of the ordinary.“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” Joseph asked, peering over at me from his desk.“Thank you for calling the poli
Tessa’s POVI felt my body tremble under the intensity of his stare. He was only inches from me, and I saw how red his eyes had gotten.“I’m not trying to look at your neck,” I said to him in a small voice. “I thought I saw something on your shirt I was trying to get for you.”It was a lame excuse and telling from his expression, he knew it. He released his hold on me, allowing me to move from beyond the wall he had me pinned against.His expression was back to normal, and I felt like I could finally breathe, at least for a moment.“You can leave now,” he ordered, keeping his tone low and his eyes away from me.“I’m sorry—”“I don’t know what any of this was about, but don’t make these excessive moves again,” he said, sending a shiver to course through my body.I quickly nodded my head, showing him that I understood.“It won’t happen again,” I assured him.I mean that as well. It was clear to me now that I was hallucinating the entire time. Joseph was never there last night. He only s
Tessa’s POV“I’m sorry…” I said hoarsely. “Did you say that you found them dead?” I asked, my voice trembling.The last I saw them, they were alive. They were running off into the darkness once the sirens could be heard. But maybe that was part of my imagination as well.I felt sick thinking about it.How much of that night was real and how much was the hallucination?“Yes, they were found dead. With interesting wound marks. We are going to need to ask you a few questions at the police station. Do you have a few minutes to stop by?”It was after class and it was late in the evening, so I didn’t really have much more going on.“Yes, I’ll be there soon,” I said just before hanging up the phone.“Are you ready to go?” Ruby asked as she came out of the bathroom. I was going to return home with her initially.“Actually, something came up,” I told her quickly. “I’ll see you at home later.”I didn’t want to tell her that I was going to the police station. At least not until I knew for sure w
Tessa’s POVI spent most of the night researching vampires and finding a lot of information about them. Of course, these were all stories, but with all the evidence I already accumulated these last couple of days, things were finally starting to add up.Joseph teaches classes at night and keeps his windows shaded in both his house and his office. I thought it was strange how dark he liked things. It was almost like he was avoiding the sun. Most of the articles I had read during the course of the night all mentioned that vampires burn in the sun.I remember his eyes turning red and his ability to suppress Brian so easily. Not to mention the bite marks and hallucinations.I know I’m not crazy. These things happened, and they were very real. I remember the moonlight hitting his features so perfectly, lighting up his entire face.There was no mistake. It was definitely him.The correspondence of these details made me feel both nervous and excited. My body grew warm as I thought more about
Tessa’s POVSaturday arrived quickly.Joseph had emailed everybody in the class, or everybody going to the dinner party, his address. I was shaking at the very thought of returning to his Villa, but I was also excited at the same time.I finished dressing and stared at myself in the mirror. I wore a black dress that rested just under my knees and kept my hair tied back. I wasn’t used to going to dinner parties and I wasn’t sure what to wear for the occasion.Thankfully, Ruby picked this outfit out for me, along with a light pink cardigan that I wore over the dress and a cute and stylish scarf.As we got to the house, I noticed the same familiar setting. Though, I didn’t notice the roses blooming every which way around the building and the numerous plants that made the house seem secluded.I also noticed that even though it was nearing dusk, his curtains were all drawn as if it was daylight.“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ruby asked as we stood outside the door of Joseph’s home. “
Tessa’s POVMy entire body had gone numb.The other students had silenced, and their attention was directly on me. I shouldn’t have been so careless. Now they know that I’ve been here before.“Yes, we knew one another from before I came to teach at the school,” Joseph spoke up, turning all our attention to him.My heart was about to burst out of my chest at any moment.What was he doing?“We’ve been pen pals for a short while,” Joseph continued. “I’ve been acting as a mentor to her.”Everyone looked back at me with wide and curious eyes.“You and Joseph Evergreen were pen pals?!” One student gasped.“You are so lucky, Tessa!” Another student chimed in.“How did you end up pen pals with him?”I met Joseph’s eyes. He watched me like he was waiting for me to tell them the story. To see what I can come up with.Maybe this was a game to him, maybe he enjoys watching me squirm like this.I turned my attention to the other students. They were all eager for me to say something in response to
Tessa’s POVI tried to catch myself on the bookshelf before I fully fell to the ground, but to no prevail. The most I did was accidentally scatter Christopher’s manuscripts all over the place.I let out a small shriek, covering my face with my hands, expecting to hit the floor soon enough. But the impact never came.When I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw Joseph standing over me with his arms around me.Did he just catch me?My entire body trembled. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the adrenaline from falling, or because I was so close to him, but for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.“What are you doing?” Joseph asked, breaking me from the small trance I was in.This time, there was less patience in his tone.He kept his hold on me for only a moment longer before setting me on the ground. My heart was still racing, as I looked up at the perimeter of the bookshelf. I fell a long way and he caught me so easily.This was only deepening my suspicion of him.I looked down at the man