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 POVIt felt like the air had left my entire body. Or as someone punched me in the gut and I tumbled over, gasping for breath that wouldn’t arrive. I found it incredibly difficult to breathe. I knew if I remained where I was, gasping and panting, he would turn and see me standing there.I couldn’t let him see me.It would only take a minute before the tears spilled from my eyes. I felt the in the back of my eyes threatening to betray me. I bit onto my bottom lip until I tasted the metallic blood and as soon as the blood left my lips, I saw Joseph’s body tense.Crap. He could smell it. Before he pulled away from Emily and turned in my direction, I was already running down the stairs. The tears came quickly and once they started, they wouldn’t.I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the rest of today in one piece without falling apart completely. I held my mouth with my hands, trying to keep the sobs from being too loud, but they, along with my tears, wouldn’t stop.I con
Third Person POVIt was obvious to Emily that something bad happened between Tessa and Joseph. It seemed as if Tessa was going to great lengths to avoid him. She even seemed a bit depressed and closed off. Emily didn’t have Tessa as a student, but she knew Tessa well from observing her to know when something was off.Regardless, she had come to know Joseph rather well and he also seemed off. She was never certain what was going on between the two of them, but she knew whatever it was, it had to be over.They were very careful to hide their relationship in front of others though. But somehow, Emily knew the truth. She knew they were hiding a secret relationship, and that Tessa was the reason why Joseph declined Emily’s advances.But now that Tessa seemed to be out of the picture, Emily found this to be the perfect opportunity to try again. Especially now that Joseph seemed to be struggling emotionally.She had already convinced him to go with her to the new coffee shop on Friday, now s
Tessa’s POV“I mean it, Brian. This doesn’t mean we are getting back together. I just needed to get out of the school,” I said, folding my arms across my chest as I stared out the window.We drove for about 15 minutes and the further I got from the school, the more I felt I could breathe. But knowing I was in the passenger seat of Brian’s car; I felt a sense of unease boiling in my stomach.The inside of his car hadn’t changed at all; he still had that stupid stuffed turtle he kept on the dashboard that he always had for good luck. His car reeked of his friend's cigarettes and Amanda’s perfume. Just as it did when we were together.The more I thought about it, the more I realized, I was never truly with Brian. He was always with Amanda, I was just the girl in the way.I wondered where Amanda was right now and if she even knew that Brian was with me.I somehow doubted it very much.Part of me wanted to ask him, but then I figured that it really didn’t matter anyway. I was only here to
Tessa’s POVWhen I returned to my apartment, I felt a little better. Not because I spent the entire evening with Brian, but because I was able to get some space from the school and Joseph. I was feeling like the cloud in my mind was parting and a little bit of sunshine was sneaking in.Of course, I was going to have a good excuse as to why I missed Joseph’s class. But that wasn’t something I wanted to worry about right now.I grabbed my phone out of my bag, which was left at school initially, but Brian brought me back to grab it before bringing me home. I hadn’t had a chance to even look at my phone since grabbing it from my locker. I already knew what I was going to see; Ruby would be in a panic for sure.When I looked at the screen, there were about 10 missed calls. 8 of them were from Ruby and two of them were from Joseph.I winced when I saw his name.There were also a couple of text messages from Ruby as well, but none from Joseph thankfully.I decided to ignore Joseph’s calls an
Tessa’s POVI was surprised by how quickly I got responses and replies to my blog posts and messages. It seems that most of my followers had forgiven me, which was a huge relief. I even gained some followers back and some new followers.I woke up the next morning to a text from Ruby telling me that she was proud of me for writing such a wonderful apology message and that the outcome was positive. I was glad to hear that, and it even made me smile. It was my first genuine smile in what felt like a long time.My chest felt lighter, and my head was less cloudy.I woke up early so I could work on my missed assignment for Joseph’s class. I didn’t have his class today, but I knew he would be at school like he always was. I just hoped he would give me another chance to improve my grade before I fell too far behind.I also spent a little time writing my next story for Fable magazine; I sent my editor an email and let her know that I’ll have a story for her as soon as possible. I just hoped sh
Tessa’s POVHow did he know this information? I stared at him with disbelief written all over my face as he raised his right brow. He didn’t look pleased, but I also didn’t understand why he would be so upset about this.I mean, he was the one who broke up with me after all.“Well?” He asked when it was clear I was too frozen to say anything. “You have nothing to say?”“I’m not sure what you want me to say…” I admitted, tugging at my fingers nervously. “It’s not like I skipped class to purposely hang out with him. I really did need time away.”“But you took time away with Brian,” he said; his voice falling short with aggravation.I couldn’t deny it; he obviously already knew the truth.“Yes,” I said softly. “I took time away with Brian. But it wasn’t planned. He was just available.”I wanted to shout at him, “Because I was so upset that you were flirting and hugging Miss Emily!” But I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to make things worse.Every time I thought about Emily’s hands all o
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