Tessa’s POV“Let me drive you home.”My entire body tensed when a deep voice sounded from behind me. I slowly turned to see Joseph standing before me. That same concern lingered in his eyes as he stared around my tear-soaked features.“I’ll call Ruby,” I whispered, dropping my gaze from his.“I don’t want you standing out here in the cold,” he said, his frown deepening. “Let me drive you, Tessa.”As much as I wanted to argue, I also really didn’t want to have to explain to Ruby why I was so upset. I knew she would ask me questions about why I was crying and what Joseph did to upset me now. Truth be told, I wasn’t upset with Joseph for sharing this information with me. I was upset about the situation.I was upset that I was left in the dark my entire life about who my mother truly was. I was upset with my father for lying to me about how she actually died.I was upset that I didn’t know I had a witch lineage.“We don’t have to talk,” Joseph added as if I needed more convincing.“Okay,”
Tessa’s POVClick My heart stopped.“Dad?” I said in a trembling tone.When he didn’t answer, I looked at my phone screen and when I saw my home screen, my phone slipped from my hand and landed on the ground.My father hung up on me.My entire body began to tremble as I fought the urge to burst into tears. As my breathing picked up speed, I bent and grabbed my phone off the ground. Instinctively I went into my contacts and scrolled until I found my dad. Clicking on his name, I put the phone back to my ear and waited. It rang several times before I got his voicemail box.I hung up the phone and slowly lowered myself until I was sitting on my bed. My whole head was in a daze.I couldn’t even comprehend what had happened.I just asked him if Mom was a witch, and his response was to hang up on me. I went from being shocked, to being straight-up furious. Was I ever going to get the answers I sought? Was this it? Was he just going to hang up on me whenever I asked him a question?Tears bri
Tessa’s POVAs my father’s name flashed across my phone screen, my entire body stilled. Joseph was watching me with a frown on his face.“Are you going to answer it?” He asked, furrowing his brows together as he studied me.I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and swiped the green “talk” button.“Hello,” I said, trying to keep my tone calm.“Tessa?” My father’s voice was gruff like he had just woken up. “Hey.”“What do you want, Dad?” I found myself asking; my voice came out more bitter than I wanted.But I was hurt, and he had to have known that. He hung up on me when I asked a very important question. He was too much of a coward to answer me, so he ran away.“I deserved that,” he murmured, and I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to hear it. “I wanted to talk to you. Do you think we can meet somewhere for dinner tonight? We can meet midway between here and there. I think there are some things we need to talk about.”My heart felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my ches
Tessa’s POVI stared at my father with my mouth hanging open.“What are you talking about?” I asked after a long pause of silence. “I don’t have magic.”I stared down at my hands with my face heated; I started to feel ridiculous. Was he lying to me? Why would he make me feel foolish like this?“I never wanted you to find out,” he said sadly, and this time, he met my eyes. “I wanted to find a way to get rid of it.”“Get rid of what?”“Your magic,” he answered in a whisper. “I didn’t want you to end up with the same fate as your mother. Magic is a dangerous weapon to yield, Tessa. It’s the reason your mother is no longer with us.”My entire world stopped moving around me; tears brimmed in the corner of my eyes at the mention of my mother dying because of magic. My mind was whirling from this information, and it was taking everything I had not to stand up and walk right out of this restaurant.I wasn’t sure how much more I’d be able to hear.He sighed and leaned back in his seat as he st
Joseph’s POVBy the next morning, Tessa was still a bit out of it after finding out the truth about what she was. I couldn’t blame her of course, but I wished there was something I could do to help her. Then, I had a thought of reaching out to Bernard and Anna. He’s been on me about not returning to the village anyway and I knew Anna grew up around witches. She might be able to help Tessa.Tessa helped me make breakfast this morning and she tried to give me a happy smile and maintain positivity. But I could see through it. She was heartbroken and in shock.When we got to school, I didn’t see her at all until class time that evening. I knew she was busy doing her exams and I didn’t want to disturb her.I spent most of the day grading final projects while I waited for 6 pm. Per usual, Tessa’s paper was phenomenal. She had a real talent for breathing life into her characters and painting a picture with words.I admired that about her.It wasn’t until I reached the very last paper that ca
Tessa’s POVI followed Dean Miller across the school until we reached his office at the end of a long and narrow hallway. The walk to his office felt like an eternity long; I don’t think I’ve spent nearly enough time in his office, so I wasn’t really used to this walk. But I couldn’t help but feel like there was something seriously wrong.Ruby told me she would wait for me before she left so she could take me home. But I told her it was fine and that I could just walk home. It’s not like it was a far walk and she looked utterly exhausted after the exams today.I didn’t want to keep her longer than necessary.Once we finally reached his office, he nodded at the receptionist who sat at her desk just outside of his door. She returned the nod and then her eyes shifted to me. I couldn’t help but think she was judging me for something.The intensity of her stare caused heat to rush to my cheeks and I fixed my eyes on the ground in front of me.Dean Miller pushed the door to his office open
Tessa’s POVGraduation has been put on hold. My blog has been suspended. It felt like the entire world had crumbled down around me. I sat in the passenger seat of Joseph’s car, staring out the window as the school got smaller in the distance. I couldn’t believe that just happened. I have been completely frozen since sitting in Dean Miller’s office.Joseph helped me leave the room without falling over and Jeremy stayed behind to speak with Dean Miller in private.Joseph kept stealing glances in my direction as we drove through the city and toward the suburban area.“I’m not going to let this affect you,” Joseph finally said as he reached over and grabbed a hold of my hand.I looked over at him through my tear-filled eyes.“It’s already affecting me, Joseph,” I said in nothing more than a whisper. “I might not graduate. My blog has been suspended….”I choked on a sob as I looked back out the window. I really didn’t want to cry in his car again, but tears soon escaped my eyes and rushe
Joseph’s POVTessa continued to sleep peacefully in my bed, which was exactly where I liked her. I transferred her to the bedroom where she could sleep more comfortably. I bent down and kissed the side of her face gently, watching as she stirred comfortably and tried to get closer to me.I adjusted the blanket to cover her more, not wanting her to get cold before sighing and sliding out of bed. I grabbed my boxers and pants off the ground and quickly put them on before turning back to Tessa to look her over one last time.I wished I could stay in bed with her and cuddle her all night, but I had some business to take care of. I had to ensure Tessa graduated from college and that my record remained clean. I texted Chief Mulligan before returning home from school earlier and asked if he could help me with Jeremy Evans’ situation.I knew the Nightwalker corporation would be able to dig up whatever dirt was necessary.Apparently, this wasn’t the first time Jeremy had cheated and plagiarize
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