Tessa’s POVJoseph, being the gentleman that he apparently is, carried my belongings from his car and into his villa. He paused once we got inside and turned to me.“Go pick out your room,” he said, looking down at me. “Obviously, you can’t have mine. But any other room is up for grabs.”I wondered how many bedrooms were in this Villa. It was a huge building, but only two stories. During our one-night stand, we started off in the downstairs bathroom next to his study, but gradually made our way upstairs and into his bedroom.I remembered his bedroom was down a long hall and the door was redwood with golden decals. I didn’t ask him what the decals meant at that time because all I cared about was getting inside, but as I stopped in the hallway and looked at his bedroom door, I couldn’t help but inquire about them.“It’s the symbol of the vampire empress,” he explained. “She died many years ago. Not something you should concern yourself with.”I didn’t ask further questions about this em
Joseph’s POVI didn’t like being awake during the daytime, so I was already tired when I arrived at school early this morning. I dressed in a long coat and put dark shades over my eyes in an attempt to shield myself from the sunlight.It didn’t work though. As soon as I was outside, I could already feel the effects of the sun.Tessa had gone to school by herself.I probably should have told her I was going to be giving her rides to school for her own safety. However, hiding from the sun, I found it difficult.This probably wasn’t the best idea.Tessa stared at me with large eyes as I began to tell her that I was going to give her a ride to school, but we were soon interrupted by the sound of angry parents coming from down the hallway.I quickly turned to see a small crowd marching toward us.I recognized one of the parents to be Morgan’s mother. She had bloodshot eyes from when she was crying. I can’t imagine she had stopped crying since finding out her daughter was killed.She also l
Tessa’s POVI hadn’t seen Joseph for the rest of the morning. It’s to be assumed he was probably getting yelled at in the principal's office. A knot had formed in the pit of my stomach thinking about Joseph.I hoped he wasn’t in too much trouble. I hoped that some of our words had gotten through to them, and they didn’t fire him.But what if he did get fired?I didn’t even want to bear the thought of that. I would have to attend that normal writing class and that was not something I wanted to do.I found it difficult to concentrate in class, but I wasn’t the only one. Most students, and even the faculty, were drones of themselves.Morgan was liked by most of her peers and teachers, so the pure thought of her no longer being here didn’t sit right with any of us. All our hearts were heavy, and we didn’t want to do any schoolwork because of it.Thankfully, the teachers understood this and went easy on us for the most part. I even got an email from Joseph earlier this morning canceling th
Tessa’s POV“You look sick again,” Ruby pointed out to once everyone was getting ready to leave the assembly.“I think I just need to get some air,” I said, standing to my feet. “I’ll call you later.”“From the hotel?” She asked, raising her brows. I could tell from her tone that she was questioning if I was really staying in a hotel.“Yes,” I said in return. “From the hotel.”I turned and left quickly, leaving her staring after me.Joseph waited for me in his Bentley just as he told me he would via a text. I looked around to make sure nobody was watching me before I made my way over to his car and disappeared into the passenger seat.However, once I got inside, I noticed he wasn’t in the driver’s seat. He was in the very shaded backseat.“I’ve had enough sun exposure for one day. I’ll need you to drive.”“You want me to drive your car?” I asked. The last car I drove was Brian’s and that felt like a lifetime ago.“You have your license, don’t you?”“Yes, of course,” I said in return,
Tessa’s POVI only got a couple of hours of sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Joseph all night. His question stuck in my brain.“What did you see in Brian?”I gave him a short answer, but truth be told, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. I mean Brian was definitely cute, and he had sweet moments, but he’s always been so arrogant and so unlike the guys I’m usually attracted to. But Brian was my first and only everything and I had an attachment to him.I was willing to change everything about myself to be with him. Everything except my passion for writing. That was something he desperately tried to change. But writing kept me sane. I needed it in my life to hold onto a piece of myself that was just my own.He never understood that.Once I finished getting dressed for the day, I made my way downstairs to grab a pop tart from the kitchen when I saw Joseph sitting in the living room. He was watching TV and a smile tugged at my lips at the image of him being so casual yet again.It was the
Tessa’s POVI froze when I saw Brian approaching. He was alone without Amanda, which was odd because she was always trailing behind him. Even when we dated.Brian had promised that he would leave me alone if Joseph retracted his statement, so I was surprised he wanted to talk to me.It’s been over a week since I’ve spoken to Brian and our last interaction wasn’t great. I rubbed my wrist at the memory of him grabbing me and dragging me along with him.Obviously, he wasn’t drunk now during school hours, but I really didn’t want to have any kind of conversation with him. There was nothing he could say that would change my opinion of him.“I’m going to be late for class,” I said to him.“I’ll be fast. I just want to talk,” Brian said, standing in front of me and blocking me from being able to step around him.“There’s nothing to talk about.”“I never got to explain myself with a clear mind. You left so quickly and that Professor just —”“You don’t need to explain anything, Brian,” I said,
Tessa’s POVIt was Friday and I couldn’t have been happier about that.The conversation I had with Brian stuck in my mind and I couldn’t seem to shake this nasty and unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. He had taken up so much space in my head and I just wanted him to get out.“Maybe you should think about getting a restraining order,” Ruby suggested as we sat down in our usual seats in Joseph’s classroom.“He’s not dangerous,” I said, shaking my head. “Just an asshole. I’ll be fine. I’ll just keep ignoring him until he gets the hint.”“And he doesn’t know where you are staying, right?”“Nope,” I answered.“Maybe it’s better if you stayed in the hotel then,” she said with a shrug. “Brian knows where I live, and I wouldn’t want to put you in danger.”“I really don’t think he’s dangerous. He has too much to lose,” I said in return. “But you are right. It’ll be better if he doesn’t know where I am.”“Good morning, everybody,” Joseph said as he walked into the room. “I was able to
Tessa’s POVI didn’t get much more engagement on my blog other than Ruby. Then again, I didn’t stick around long enough to find out if anyone else read my post.I looked around the room with a frown. It was very plain in there. I couldn’t wait to go to the store over the weekend and do a little shopping. I still had money in my savings account and my father still gives me an allowance every week. So, I had plenty of money to get a lot of things for this villa.Joseph liked dark colors it seemed. I didn’t want to get too many bright things, but I also didn’t want this place to feel so gloomy. He gave me permission to open the curtains of my room and I was pleased to see that I had a nice view of the garden.The garden was huge and led straight to the pool yard. Even at night, it was gorgeous and perfectly lit up with outdoor lighting. The pool water glistened under the illuminated lighting of the outdoor lights and the moonlight.I wondered if he ever used the pool. I also wondered who
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