Tessa’s POVBack to the same routine. The vacation was finally over, and reality was setting back in. It was time to return to school and pretend that I wasn’t completely head over heels in love with Joseph. I didn’t even care that he hadn’t said it back. Like Ruby said, he was probably afraid to take that next step.But over the next few weeks, I’m going to prove to him that I’m worth loving and that he can trust me. I’m going to prove to him that I’m okay with his lifestyle and I’ll be more than okay in the village in the mountains.I had a minor freakout with those asshole men the other night, but Joseph was there to protect me and he got me home safely. I have a feeling I won't be bothered for a very long time. Joseph certainly made an impression on them, and word will get around quickly.I smiled at the thought of Joseph standing up for me. He might not tell me that he loves me with words, but he shows me with his actions and that’s more than enough for me.I spent most of last n
Tessa’s POV“Tessa, please open the door,” Ruby said from outside my apartment door.She knocked on the door lightly, sensing that I was nearby. I was seated on the couch with a blanket draped around my shoulders and over my head, staring at the TV that was turned off. My eyes were raw from my crying and my throat was dry and raspy. I hadn’t used my voice in over 24 hours; I hadn’t needed to.I hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone since my conversation with Joseph at school. He ended our dating trial, breaking up our relationship and ultimately breaking my heart.I could hardly even breathe.The most I could do was sit here and exist.“Tessa… please,” Ruby continued to plead.My phone lay on the ground by my foot and I felt it vibrating when she called and texted before showing up.I felt more tears stinging the back of my eyes and I bit my bottom lip, which was incredibly chapped, to keep from sobbing. The memories of all the good times I had with Joseph kept repeating in my head. All the
Tessa’s POVAs I walked the long halls of the school and toward my locker, I could hear the murmurs of those around me and the onlookers.“Did you see her post this morning? So, depressing.”“I wondered what happened to her to cause such sad blog posts.”“She looks awful.”“I might unfollow her. I can’t be reading that depressing shit.”My stomach clenched as I quickly made my way to my locker where Ruby was waiting for me as she does every morning. She had a concerned look on her face when I approached, which I wasn’t surprised about.“People are talking about your recent post,” she murmured for my ears alone.“So, I’ve heard,” I said, not looking at her.“Tessa, it’s really depressing. You really put shame on men in general,” Ruby said, leaning against the lockers to stare at me more comfortably. “I think you should delete it before—”“Before what?” I asked, snapping a look at her. “Before I offend someone? I’m not deleting anything.”I slammed my locker door shut and started to wal
Tessa’s POVI turned around to see a strange-looking man standing in front of me. He had long blonde hair and a very narrow face with a long nose. He was kind of muscular, but he was also oddly thin. When he smiled, he had a row of yellow teeth and he reeked of beer.His hand was still on my lower back, and he swayed against my backside, grinding against me with the beat of the music.I didn’t think my legs were going to work and I was seeing double of everything. But the Tequilla had taken over my entire brain, and I found myself laughing in his face. Not because I found anything funny, but because I couldn’t help myself.He leaned against the bar and peered into my eyes, wiggling his brows at me, which only made me giggle some more.“So, what do you say, gorgeous? Dance with me?”I wanted to say no and tell him to get lost, but before I could form those words, he was lifting me off the bar stool and practically carrying me to the dance floor. My body remained limp against him as he w
Joseph’s POV“You let a bitch take your find,” one of his friends laughed. “Man, you got weak.”“She had backup,” the guy muttered, sounding annoyed and a little drunk himself, but not completely intoxicated like Tessa was.I gritted my teeth, hiding against the shadows that formed around the alley they were hiding inside.“If she was as hot as you say, I wouldn’t have let anything take that away from me,” his friends said. “Next time, give me a call and I’ll be your backup.”The two laughed, which pissed me off even more. I wasn’t going to let them continue talking about Tessa like this. I made myself known to them, and they both turned to face me with large, startled eyes.“Hey, man. We were having a private conversation,” the one with the longer hair and yellow teeth said. I recognized his voice as the one talking about “his find.”“Yeah, were you eavesdropping or something?” His friend asked.They were both tall and skinny, yet they had muscles as well. I’m sure the two of them co
Tessa’s POVI went into the classroom and Miss Emily leaned against the desk, folding her arms across her chest, staring at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. It’s not that I didn’t like Miss Emily, in my opinion, I found her to be quite nice.From her students, it’s obvious she’s well-liked and good at her job, much like Joseph.But it was the fact that she obviously had a thing for Joseph that bothered me about her. I didn’t have her as a teacher, so her pulling me aside to speak with me was odd. I tried my best not to look uncomfortable.“I just wanted to check in with you,” she said simply, giving me a fond smile.I stood frozen in front of her, still feeling the effects of the hangover.“I don’t think I know what you mean,” I said softly, keeping my eyes on hers.“I’ve been noticing you today and you’ve seemed a little off,” she said with a timid frown. “I know I’m not your professor, but I do care for you, Tessa. I’d like to make sure you’re okay.”I was surprised by t
Joseph’s POVI spent most of the day in my office grading papers and working on next week's curriculum. I had the curriculum done for the next several weeks, but my students were already ahead of schedule, so it needed to be revamped.I chose the right students to take this course; most of them are doing rather well. Most of their papers are excellent and grading them came easily to me. But as I went through each paper, I realized there was one missing.Tessa’s. She hadn’t given me her recent assignment before she left class yesterday; she left in such a hurry that I couldn’t even speak with her like I intended to do. She was also very quiet and kept her head down most of the class.I suppose I am the one to blame for that.It was easy to fall behind in this course; it only took a couple of missed assignments, and her grade would drop an entire letter. I’m willing to allow her some extra time to get her assignments done and even provide her with some tools for success, but she has to
Tessa’s POVMy phone rang for the third time, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. I knew it was Ruby again. She had texted me often after school, but I ignored her text messages.I felt completely sick to my stomach after overhearing Joseph’s conversation with Miss Emily. She asked him out to a café on Friday, and he accepted. He didn’t even stop to think about it; he just accepted.I guess I don’t really have a right to be upset over this. But I couldn’t help myself. My heart was so broken and all I wanted to do was sit here in my dark living room and cry.I knew if I didn’t answer Ruby, she would end up coming over and that was something I didn’t want. So, I sighed and reached for my phone on the coffee table in front of me. I frowned at the brightness of my phone, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the lighting, and saw a couple of missed calls from Ruby and a text message from her as well.“I’m worried about you. Please call me.”I sighed again and cleared out the notificatio
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