Tessa’s POVFinally.It was Saturday. I didn’t need to get up early. I didn’t have to go to school. I could just stay in bed for a little longer.I hadn’t been sleeping all that well since my lunch hour talk with Emily Thorton.Even though Joseph told Emily he wasn’t on the market anymore, I don’t think Emily would give up that easily.Joseph also told me we shouldn’t cross the boundary of professor and student.Now I wasn’t dating Joseph, so I didn’t have much of a reason to be upset. I once had sex with him but at the time I didn’t know he was my professor. My face warmed at the very memory.I often thought about that night and what would have happened if he wasn’t my professor. Would I have seen him again? Would we have continued that sexual relationship? Or would it become more?Nothing… I told myself. I wouldn’t have become anything. It was just a one-night stand. I thought he was a callboy for crying out loud. I tried to pay him!Suddenly, I felt embarrassed. My face was warm fo
Josephs POV“Are you out of your goddamn mind?!” I roared into the phone, feeling fury rising through me.I was seeing red.This plan was so careless and stupid that I was thrown away so that people as powerful as the Nightwalkers would think of something like this.“There is no fucking way in hell we are using Tessa as human bait!!” I seethed.“Joseph, we think it’s the only way we can truly lure them,” Mulligan said calmly. “They aren’t going to come out of hiding for just anybody. It’s Tessa they want.”“I’m not allowing them to get her,” I hissed. “You are fucked in the head if you think I’m willing to—”“We are running out of time,” Mulligan said firmly, stopping my words. “These vampires are not going to stop until Tessa is in their possession. They are being sloppy because they are sending us a message.”A message?Why hadn’t I thought of that? Of course, they were sending us a message. Leaving Natalie alive and then leaving that body out in the open. They were sending us signs
Tessa’s POVI stared at Joseph, feeling a mixture of rage and hurt.I couldn’t believe he was keeping this stuff from me. All those times he told me his meetings with the Nightwalker police have been boring and uneventful, he’s been lying to me. I wanted to yell at him and curse him out, but all I could do was stare at him with such shock.He still looked angry though, maybe even a little annoyed.He also didn’t answer my question, which was infuriating to me.“What did you do, Joseph??” I asked again, pressing my lips firmly together.“I manipulated her mind into thinking it was all fake,” Joseph answered, keeping his red eyes on mine. “I couldn’t have her going around and talking nonsense about vampires.”“So you basically gaslit her?” I asked, furrowing my brows together. “She’ll be committed.”“She was already going to be committed. The doctors were bringing her to the psych ward because she was going on about vampires,” Joseph said, shaking his head. “Regardless, it wasn’t workin
Tessa’s POV“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Joseph growled and I saw how mad he was in his eyes.They were completely red, and his face was the face of pure fury. I had never seen him like this before and it caused my body to tremble uncontrollably.“We aren’t using her as human bait. I already said no!!” Joseph continued.His anger was so powerful, I had to move away from him.Nobody else seemed as frightened though. Maybe they were used to this kind of thing.“She agreed to it, Joseph,” Mulligan said calmly.“I vote we do it,” Jordan said, smirking.He was sitting casually with his arms folded across his chest, staring at me.“Yeah, you would vote that you asshole,” Joseph hissed to him.Mulligan stood up quickly.“Enough,” he said, raising his voice for the first time since we’ve been here. “Joseph, take a walk.”“Excuse me?” Joseph asked, his face red with anger. “You realize I could kill you without even touching you, don’t you?” He threatened.My heart stopped beating.I didn’t l
Tessa’s POV“It was an ambush,” Mulligan continued. “We didn’t expect there to be more than one vampire. But they were expecting a trap, and the result was Noah getting critically hurt. Thankfully, Joseph was able to put a stop to these vampires with our help and they were locked up. But Noah suffered greatly.”I felt sad by this story. I felt sad for Joseph. I lowered my gaze and stared at my hands. I was so awful to him for not letting me do this. I didn’t understand, but now I get it.He was afraid the same thing would happen to me.“Joseph blamed himself for not being able to protect Noah. He blamed us as well. He went into retirement and fell off the grid for a long time,” Mulligan said, a sad look in his eyes.“You said that Noah was hurt critically, but that's not that he died right away. Did he die on the scene, or afterward?” I found myself asking.“He died within the hour. It was painful and agonizing for him. It was terrible to watch. Joseph wouldn’t let us put him out of h
Tessa’s POV“We have an apartment across the city. We will prepare it. Tessa will be unaccompanied in that apartment,” Mulligan explained again.“What about school?” I asked, staring around at all their determined faces. Joseph’s face was a mix of worry and anger. I knew he didn’t want to go through with this plan, but he knew we didn’t have much of a choice.“I’ll make some calls,” Mulligan assured me.The Nightwalker Police had special connections and could basically make anything and everything happen in their favor. I wasn’t worried about it, but I was worried about Ruby.How was I going to explain to her that I was not going to be at school for the next unforeseen future?“I’ll ask Emily to substitute for the next few days,” Joseph finally spoke after remaining silent for so long.My heart tightened painfully at the sound of her name.He kept himself from looking at me, but I could see the dismay and anger on his face. I wanted to reach out and provide him with some kind of comfo
Joseph’s POVIt took everything I had to keep myself under control while at the headquarters. I thought I was going to rip out Jordan’s heart for suggesting this stupid plan.The amount of rage I felt was lethal.Tessa was afraid of what I might do, and I didn’t blame her.After what happened with Noah, I didn’t want to chance anything like that happening to Tessa. I couldn’t live with myself.I could tell that Tessa was the kind of girl who would run into the eye of danger.This mission was going to be different than Noah’s mission. This time, I wasn’t going to take my eyes off her. The first sign of danger and I will be there. I was determined to make sure she was safe during this mission.In the car ride home, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the potential dangers we could be facing. Right now, we only think there are two vampires, but there could be more. We need to be prepared for any possible ambushes.Which meant I needed to set guards in certain areas. I wanted every corner
Tessa’s POVI woke up early the next morning, and quickly took a shower, getting dressed for the day. Joseph was waiting for me downstairs.Somehow, he looked even better this morning than he had all the other mornings. Not that he didn’t look good before, but my heart was beating harder than it ever had before and I felt my face warm as I neared him with my suitcases.“Did you get any sleep?” I asked him, staring around his well-put-together outfit and neatly combed hair.He nodded.“A little,” he answered.That was a relief to me because I needed him to be awake and alert for the next few days. Without another word, he picked up my bags and brought them to his car.The ride to headquarters was mainly quiet. I wondered if he thought about last night at all. I feel like something had happened between us. Or it was about to happen. I could hardly comprehend the moment and while it was happening, it felt like slow motion.There was a pull between us, pulling us together and I felt entra
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