Tessa’s POVEsmeralda got out of the car and started to walk toward me. I, discreetly as possible, shook my head and waved my hands behind Morgana’s back, trying to get Esme to stop walking toward me as she knew me.She frowned when she saw my gestures and then she looked at Morgana with a questioning look.“Hi there,” Esme said to her and then her eyes flickered to me. “Everything okay?”Morgana stared at her as if she had just killed her firstborn baby; she folded her arms across her chest and glared at her.“And who wants to know?” Morgana nearly spats. She was reminding me a lot about Ashley, and I shuddered; I guess they weren’t so different after all.Esme stared at her for a moment before looking at me, clearly confused.“I’m a friend,” Esme said, but there was uncertainty in her voice as she said those words. I felt awful because I knew how confused she was, but I couldn’t exactly explain to her in front of Morgana that I didn’t want her to know I was living in this house with
Tessa’s POVI let out a scream of terror without really meaning to. My whole body was paralyzed as Lucias drove at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible in the city. He hit a few things along the way, and I feared some of those things were people. He didn’t seem to care about anyone’s life, not even mine.As the car cut a corner, I jerked and hit my head hard against the window. I felt the blood before I saw it. It was all over the window and panic started to consume me. The more the car jerked around and grew faster, the more my wrists dug into the cuffs. I knew they were going to be bruised and scratched as well.The car seemed to be getting faster and then it felt like it was airborne. I let out a yelp of panic as the car thudded back to the ground, letting out a terrifying crashing sound. I heard the cracking of my wrist before felt the searing pain.I cried out for him to slow down, but it was he wasn’t listening to a word I was saying. I wasn’t sure how this was even possibl
Tessa’s POVMy arm was broken, but now it’s not. I could actually move it. I thought for sure I was going to die. Everything inside of my body was crushed to pieces when that car crashed to the ground. I shouldn’t be alive at all, but for some reason, I was able to sit up and move.Joseph kept his arms around me, and I could hear some crying and screaming in the background from those who had witnessed everything. My heart was hammering in my chest as my body trembled against Joseph’s. I could tell from how heavily he was breathing that he was wound up as well; he was holding me tightly so I also knew he was unwilling to let me go.“I can cast a spell to make everyone forget and then get this all cleaned up,” Esme assured us. “Get her home. I’m calling the witch doctor right now and he will meet you there.”“Are you sure he will have time to meet us today?” Joseph asked.Esme grinned and shrugged.“He will do anything for me,” she said confidently.I looked up at Joseph and gave her a
Tessa’s POV“Sorry, I’m late,” Esme said as she rushed into the living room. “I hope I didn’t miss anything. I was just cleaning up the neighboring town and making sure nobody remembered anything.”“You are right on time,” Emmet said, giving her an affectionate smile. I didn’t miss the fact that Esme was blushing from his words. I raised my brows at her and her eyes widened at my expression. I wanted to ask her questions about her relationship with the witch doctor, but I knew now was not a good time.“So, what were we talking about?” Esme asked, clearing her throat and getting the attention off herself.I bit back a grin, but then the memory of what we were discussing slammed into my mind and I felt the weight of it pushing me into the couch.“We were talking about the Heavenly Light,” Emmet informed her. “I’ve only ever heard of the Heavenly Light and never the Heavenly Heart. I was just trying to figure out why that was.”“Easy,” Esme said simply. “Alison didn’t want anyone to rem
Tessa’s POVEmmet stared at the results, frowning as he analyzed each and every one of them. I suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore and put my slice of pizza down as I watched him carefully. My stomach was in a complete knot and I was terrified about what he was going to say.Joseph could sense my anxiety and wrapped his arms around me, as he took waited on the edge of his seat for these results.“That’s rather interesting,” Emmet murmured more to himself than to us.“Want to share with us what you found?” Joseph asked, growing impatient with this waiting game.Emmet looked up at Joseph and then nodded as he looked at me.“It’s clear in these results that you do in fact have immortal blood,” Emmet explained.“What does that mean?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer to that.“If I were to guess, I would say that once your full powers come in at the age of 25, you won’t age any further than that. Like a vampire and any other immortal being, you are not going to age. Killing you wou
Tessa’s POV“What’s going on?” I asked before Esme was off the phone.“Okay, I’ll come there right now. I’m about 2 hours away though so it’s going to take me a bit to get there,” Esme said into the phone. “Just try to keep everybody calm.”After another second Esme hung up the phone and looked down at me with such a worried look that it made my stomach tighten.“What’s happening?” I asked again.“The coven is freaking out,” Esme said. “At first I thought it was because thye heard about Lucias’ death. But Patty just told me that they have no idea what year it is. They lost their memories and now it’s like they are waking up. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think I have to go.”“I’ll come too,” I said, quickly standing to my feet.“It’s 2 hours away and you are exhausted,” Joseph reminded me. “Besides, you have work tomorrow.”“I’ll just tell them I have to work from home tomorrow. I would have to be out in the field anyway. I don’t need to go to the office,” I said quickly, meetin
Tessa’s POV“How is that possible?” Patty asked, staring at Esme like she had grown an extra head. “Are you saying Lucias had been controlling us this entire time?”“Yes,” Esme said, folding her arms across her chest as she fell deep into thought. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”“But how??”“I don’t have all the answers. But it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Esme said.“He’s not strong enough to pull something like that off,” she said, shaking her head at the very thought.“He must have had some help then,” Esme said. “I’m not sure how he did it. But how else could you explain this memory loss?”“I don’t know…” Patty admitted, her eyes filling with even more tears as she thought about it. Then her eyes shifted to Derek and some of the other younger members. “Some of you weren’t even here during the war. What do you remember?”“Most of us didn’t have a coven and Lucias recruited us,” Derek explained. “He told me that his coven would take me in without any questions asked. I was
Tessa’s POVWe spent most of the evening helping the coven pack. We decided to deal with the house later, but as of right now, none of them felt comfortable staying in this home when they couldn’t remember what had happened in it for the last decade. I couldn’t blame them; I wouldn’t want to stay here either.Joseph and I agreed to let them stay with us until we can find a more permanent arrangement for them. We are hoping to find an even better house for the coven close to our residence. As far as a Coven leader goes, we aren’t quite sure who’s going to take over that role just yet. But so far, most of them are looking to me for answers, even Patty who is just as distraught as the rest of them.Joseph called an overnight moving company that should be at the house soon and they will take all of the bigger items to a storage unit Joseph purchased in the city. Everyone was instructed to pack their smaller items in suitcases and boxes, which would go to our house for the time being.“We
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