Tessa’s POVEmily’s laugh echoed throughout the room. She was chuckling at a writer’s joke that Joseph had told the class. In fact, everybody, including Ruby was laughing. But I could only hear Emily’s laugh. Her face lit up and she touched Joseph’s shoulder as she laughed. He didn’t seem to mind it, or at least he didn’t make it known that he minded.I hated that I was feeling this way towards her. Otherwise, I would have been fangirling with the rest of the class. I absolutely loved Emily Thorton’s blog. I read it every day. I was always so eager to hear about her next adventure and see pictures of the world through her eyes.But now all I could see was an attractive girl stealing her claim on Joseph.I wanted to shout to her that he was mine, but that didn’t feel right either. Mainly because he wasn’t mine.Occasionally, Joseph’s eyes were turned in my direction, maybe to see my reaction towards him bonding with Emily right in front of me. I felt sick watching them and as much as I
Tessa’s POVI stopped midbite to look at Joseph who was now eyeing me carefully. His face was so serious and the look he was giving me took my breath away.Was he serious when he said I was the only when he’s been with this lifetime?My heart was pounding rapidly against my chest, and I had to press the palm of my hand to my chest to keep it from exploding right in front of us.He continued to look at me like I was some kind of fascinating science experiment.“I don’t date,” he continued to explain. “I don’t have a lot of free time to do so. It’s complicated explaining to women why I can’t see them during the day. But I’m not here to pursue women, I’m here because I have a job to do. I’m here to stop those new vampires from killing humans and now I’m here to protect you and make sure you aren’t their next victim. I’m also curious about you because you have blood that’s not only attractive to them but also attractive to me. It makes me nearly lose control when I’m around you and that’s
Tessa’s POVEmily stood before me with a kind look in her eye and a small smile plastered to her lips. I wasn’t sure what she would possibly want to talk about, but I knew it couldn’t have been good.“Yeah,” I found myself saying, trying to plaster a smile on my own lips. “I would love to talk during lunch. Should I just go to your office at that time, or…”“Yes, that would be perfect,” she said fondly.I watched as she disappeared down the hallway and toward her classroom.I felt nauseous.I thought about going to Joseph’s office and talking to him about this, maybe he had some kind of idea on what she might want to speak about. But I was going to be late for my next class if I didn’t leave right now.I quickly grabbed my things out of my locker and went straight to my next class.By the time it was over, it was lunchtime.Ruby met me outside my classroom door as she often does the period before lunch, and she was chatting my ears off about the pizza they were serving today.“I wish
Tessa’s POVI felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to sit in this office any longer. She was now working on her computer, and I was frozen to the seat, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression on my face.She glanced at me with a frown.“You may leave now; I have some work to do. But thank you, Tessa, for speaking with me. I quite enjoyed this talk.”I still remained seated; I was unable to feel my body. It seemed as if Miss Emily was going to start pursing Joseph and she was warning me to stay away from him. But I couldn’t have understood that correctly. I never gave her a reason to believethere was anything going on between Joseph and me.Miss Emily was very beautiful; that was obvious from the moment I met her. But would Joseph really go for her?I felt my face flaring; I had to shake the thought out of my head before I lost my mind.I stood to my feet and forced a smile at her.“Thank you, Miss Emily,” I said to her.I left without another word.I wanted to crawl into a ball
Tessa’s POVI shouldn’t have gone to bed so early. Now I was awake in the middle of the night with a stomach that wouldn’t stop growling. I hadn’t even eaten dinner.I wondered if Joseph had eaten anything last night. I didn’t cook for him but he’s not incompetent that he couldn’t cook his own meal. In fact, Joseph was an impressive cook.Going to bed last night was the only thing my mind could truly do. I wrote a new blog post, something that I probably should have kept in my journal, and then I crawled into bed and fell asleep. I didn’t even say anything to Joseph yesterday, so I’m sure he knew that I was upset.I just couldn’t get that conversation with Emily out of my head. She has real feelings for him and she’s beautiful. She would be more than just a one-night stand and it’s not just her blood that attracts him.Although, he told me that he doesn’t feel that attraction towards her, yet he could have been saying that to make me feel better.I shouldn’t even be this upset over it
Joseph’s POV“We ran the fingerprints again, just like you asked. But once again, they came back inconclusive,” Chief Mulligan said on the phone.I grew aggravated and clenched my phone tightly in my hands until my knuckles grew white. I had left Tessa in the kitchen only moments ago to go into my study and call the Nightwalker headquarters.“These vampires might be new, but they are smart. They are covering their tracks well,” Mulligan continued. “We need to figure out a plan to trap them.”“Whatever the plan is, it’s not going to include Tessa,” I said for the hundredth time.I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my pointer finger and my thumb, trying to ease some of the tension.“It might come to that—”“No!” I growled, stopping his words short. I felt a wave of fury cross me and I had to step back and recollect my thoughts.Calmly I added, “We are not going to use her for any part of this plan. Tessa stays out of it. That was our agreement.”“Then we will figure out another way,” Mu
Joseph’s POV“I’m afraid you are mistaken, Miss Parker,” I said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me.She was trembling in the bed, her lips quivering.“No, I’m not!” She yelled. “You’re a vampire. You have the same darkness as the others!! You’re one of them. Th…the dudes who attacked me…”Tears spilled from her eyes.“I assure you, I am not here to hurt you,” I said, stepping closer to her bed.She recoiled, but she was hooked up to a bunch of machines, so she wasn’t able to go anywhere.“Please…” she begged. “Please leave me alone.”Once I reached her bed, I lowered myself, so I was at eye level with her.“I’m not here to hurt you, Miss Parker. Due to the trauma, you are very confused. My name is Dr. Evergreen. I’m only here to evaluate you,” I said to her, narrowing my eyes at her feeling her mind being hooked.She fell silent and her shaking was growing less apparent.“Oh…” she breathed, still keeping her eyes locked on mine.“There are no such things as vampire
Tessa’s POVI hadn’t seen or spoken to Brian since I told him to leave me alone. I thought that I had finally gotten through to him when I told him that our relationship was never going to continue.Brian and Amanda never came to the library, which meant they saw us through the window and decided to come in to harass us.I looked up at Joseph who was staring at Brian with an expression I couldn’t read. He was calm though and I don’t think he was very worried.Amanda’s red lips were thinned out in a line as she folded her arms across her chest.“Are you really hanging out together publicly at school? Shouldn’t you be doing this more privately? Considering your relationship is a secret after all,” she sneered. Her icy blue eyes narrowing at me.I swallowed the solid lump that formed in my throat. I wished I could be as calm and collected as Joseph, but I could feel my body trembling.Before I could say anything, Brian stepped around her, shielding her view of me.“Is what Amanda tells m