Tessa’s POVJoseph looked almost mournful when he told me this story and my heart tugged for him.“He didn’t handle the transition well at first,” Joseph explained. “He was angry with me for fucking up his fate. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to do it. I haven’t been able to do it again since.”He went quiet for a moment as the memories surfaced in his mind.“You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’t want to,” I said softly. “I understand.”“No, you should know some of the backgrounds before we arrive,” he said, taking a deep breath. “At first, I thought he was dead. As did his doctors. But then he woke up and he was… hungry.”Something was telling me he wasn’t talking about food. My stomach tightened at his words.“Did he hurt anyone?” I was afraid to ask.“Yes,” Joseph answered. “A lot of people died that night. It took me a while to find him and calm him down. I gave him blood from the blood bags I stole and made him go to school with me. I went back to the school to re-dom
Tessa’s POV“Don’t tell me you live in a castle, Your Majesty,” I half teased, unable to take my eyes away from the magnificent building.“I do, but not full-time,” he answered. “That’s the Vamp House.”“The Vamp House?” I asked, raising my hands. “It’s much more than a house.”Joseph laughed.“Yes. I suppose we went a little overboard with it,” he said, shaking his head at whatever memory was surfacing in his mind. “But it needs to be big for the tribe.”“I don’t understand,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Does the entire tribe live there?”“A lot of people live there,” Joseph explained. “I have an apartment on the second floor of the Vamp House and Carter has his apartment on the third floor that he shares with Nathanial, both of them being single and always busy with work, so it’s easy for them to share the floor. But they also have their own homes that they live in most of the time. The rest of the floors are reserved for the warriors and other vampires who don’t have their ow
Tessa’s POV“A monster, huh? That’s a little cruel,” Bernard said, folding his arms across his chest. “After I saved your life?”“Bernard was the neighbor that turned you?” I asked, glancing at Joseph questionably.“He is,” Joseph answered. “Which is the only reason why I allow him to enter my home when I’m not here.”Joseph stepped further into the house, still holding my suitcase.Bernard was eyeing me carefully and I fought to urge to meet his eyes, but I kept my eyes fixed on the ground, afraid to make any sudden movements. Though, Joseh seemed oddly relaxed.“She has an odd scent,” Bernard spoke about me as if I wasn’t even there.“You know she can hear you, right?” Joseph asked, rolling his eyes.Bernard finally pulled his eyes away from me to glare at him.“You’re bringing a human into a village of vampires with blood that appears highly attractive,” Bernard said, his tone growing dark and angry. “What is wrong with you?”“She’s off limits,” Joseph said through his teeth. “Nobo
Tessa’s POV“How long have you been there for?” Joseph asked, eyeing me carefully.“Long enough to hear about a cookout tomorrow,” I said, a faint smile playing on my lips. “Are we going?”“No.”He began to walk toward the stairs, and I could tell he wasn’t planning on saying anything else on the subject.I stood to my feet quickly, following him up the stairs.“No?” I asked disappointment in my tone. “Why not?”“It’s too soon to throw you in the mix of things,” he answered. “The others are wary of your presence, and I don’t want to put you in danger.”“I should probably break the ice at some point,” I told him once we got back to the bedroom. “That’s the whole purpose of me being here, right? To see if I can do it.”He turned to face me, seriousness on his face.“We should take it slow,” he said.“I don’t want to hide here for two weeks. I want to go out and see things. I’m going to be encountering others at some point. I’d rather it be sooner than later,” I told him, folding my arms
Tessa’s POVI suddenly couldn’t breathe.The human girl walked by so casually and our eyes locked. She looked at me with curiosity in her gaze and then her eyes went straight to Joseph who appeared to not have noticed her. The vampire she was with muttered something to her and I watched as her face paled.She bowed her head low to him and his eyes met mine. An icy chill went down my spine and it was taking everything I had not to grab Joseph and hide behind him. Then, the strangest thing happened.The vampire draped a protective arm around the human and pulled her close to him. She instantly went into his arms and remained by his side as they continued to walk in the direction of the Vamp house.My mind was whirling with confusion. It seemed like they were very much together, but I thought vampires couldn’t be with humans.I wondered how many other humans were here and why it was kept from me.“Why didn’t you tell me there were humans here,” I murmured, stepping close to Joseph and tr
Tessa’s POV“Nice to see you too, Bernard,” Joseph said as he placed his plate and coffee mug on the table beside the blonde guy.The blonde guy looked up from his meal and looked at me curiously with a timid frown before looking at Joseph.“Welcome back, man,” he said, giving Joseph what seemed like a genuine smile.“Good to be back,” Joseph said in return.“You shouldn’t have brought her here, Joseph. How careless are you?” Bernard went on to scold.I sat down beside Joseph, feeling all sorts of awkward. Bernard’s voice carried throughout the dining hall, gaining some unwanted attention.“Sit down, Bernard,” Joseph ordered casually as he took a sip of his coffee. It didn’t seem like he was bothered at all, like this was just typical Bernard. “Tessa is my guest and will be treated as such.”“You are putting her and us at risk. We worked hard to become domesticated. Her blood poses a problem,” Bernard continued, glaring at Joseph as if he had just slapped him in the face.The woman th
Tessa’s POV“Your memory is shit, Nate,” Carter laughed, taking another big bite of his food. “Also, we aren’t your caretaker. Set an alarm if you want to get here early.”The man, Nate, was still staring at me blankly. Then, I saw the movement of his nose.I flushed.He was smelling me.“Don’t you remember me telling you that Joseph was bringing a human guest?” Carter continued, peering over at him with a frown.After another pause of silence, Nate’s eyes flashed recognition.“Oh, right,” he said, glancing down his plate. “Just didn’t think her scent would slap me in the face.”What did that mean?I looked at Joseph who was glaring at Nate with a grimace.“Tessa, this is Nathanial,” Joseph said through his teeth. “He can be a prick when he wants to be.”“I’m just honest,” Nate said, shrugging as he took a bite of his food. “I’m cranky when I don’t have my bacon.”“Here,” I said, sliding my plate closer to him. “You can take some of mine.”He looked puzzled by my gesture. Joseph reach
Tessa’s POVWe got into a freaking elevator.Joseph typed in some kind of code and the elevator door opened, allowing us access. Once we were inside, he pressed number two and it started to move upward. I noticed that the elevator only had four buttons. One, two, three, and ground floor.But there were definitely a lot more floors than that.“Why are there only four buttons?” I asked, peering up at him.“This takes us to the elder levels,” he explained. “The grand stairs you saw in the main foyer only go up to a certain level. But once it reaches the elder levels, the stairs stop, denying access to anyone who doesn’t have the code for the elevator.”“The elevator is the only way we can get to those floors?” I asked with raised brows. I could already imagine all the issues that could pose.“There’s an emergency staircase behind a door that’s password-protected,” he explained. But villagers aren’t allowed on our level unless granted special permission. They don’t need to be there. Those