Chapter 125

Tessa’s POV

When I came through, my entire body ached as if it had just been put through hell and back. My eyelids were heavy, but I managed to open them. My surroundings were dark and smelled musky. It was incredibly hard to breathe.

My only thought was, “I wish Joseph was here to help me.”

But I knew hope was lost.

I dug my nails into the dirt ground, attempting to lift myself and see the rest of my surroundings, but my body felt weak, and my face fell back into the dirt. I cried out in pain, trying to muffle my screams as the ache intensified.

My neck, where he had cut, and then bitten me, was throbbing. I wanted to reach up to touch the spot that hurt, but I found it even more difficult to move my arms.

He must have given me something to keep me from moving.

I was feeling so tired. I just wanted to sleep. But I kept myself awake. I wasn’t going to fall back to sleep. Not now. Not while I was in his possession.

Ryan.

Wherever I was, I knew he was around here somewhere.

“Looks like someone is awake,” I heard a voice from nearby. The voice was dark and sent a chill down my spine.

It made me uneasy.

In the shadows, I saw something like a man walking toward me. He wasn’t someone I recognized. He had dark hair and eyes that glowed red. His features were pale, and his fangs showed as he smiled at me.

He appeared young, but fit and tall.

“God… you’re even more beautiful awake,” he said with a smile that made me sick to my stomach.

“Who…. who are… you…” I managed to utter through the pain.

“Someone who was told to keep an eye on you,” he said, kneeling beside me. “I have to keep you alive. But he never said I couldn’t have a little fun with you.”

I shuddered as his fingers ran down my spine.

“You are quite tasty,” he whispered, leaning down against my ear. “It’s hard not to drink every ounce of you.”

I wanted to struggle against him, but I couldn’t move.

What the hell did he give me?

“Let… me go…” I said through clenched teeth.

This made him chuckle darkly.

“I can't,” he said in return. “It’ll make him quite mad. Then he can’t use you.”

I felt so cold all of a sudden.

“He wants you as his blood slave,” he continued. “Unfortunately, he can’t do anything until the full moon in a couple of days.”

I wondered how long I had been here. I wondered if Joseph returned and knew I was gone. Was he looking for me?

“Meanwhile, he recruited me to keep watch over you. He told me to keep you alive…” he paused, and I felt him getting closer to me. In a low whisper he added, “But he didn’t say I couldn’t have a little fun with you.”

I shuddered at his touch as he ran his finger down the spine of my back. I winced when his nail dug deep into my flesh and then I felt the warm pool of blood soaking under my body. His slimy tongue ran up my back, making me want to vomit.

“They’ll…” I tried to say through gasps of air. “They’ll come for… me…”

This made him chuckle darkly again.

“A small human like you? Oh, please. Nobody is looking for you.”

I knew that wasn’t true. The Elders wouldn’t let this happen. They had to be looking for me.

However, I knew Bernard wasn’t my biggest fan, and I did freak out at them for killing Fae before I left to “get some air.” My heart grew heavy in my heart. Maybe they weren’t looking for me after all.

But Joseph would be.

“J…Joseph…” I said as his nail dug deeper into my skin. I screamed out in agony.

“The retriever?” He asked. There was amusement in his voice. “He’s preoccupied looking for me probably.”

My heart fell into my stomach. He was the new vampire that escaped from the academy? What was he doing with Ryan?

I wiggled against him, trying to get my body away, but he quickly grabbed the back of my hair and yanked my head back, revealing the entirety of my neck. His nail pressed against my jugular.

“You are a daring one,” he hissed.

My heart was thudding violently against my ribcage.

“Y… you can’t… kill me…” I said through my teeth.

I knew if he killed me, Ryan would probably kill him. If Ryan really wanted me as his blood slave, that meant he would need me alive.

But his next words sent a heavy chill across my body.

“I could stop the bleeding before you died,” he whispered. “I could keep you alive for the next 48 hours and once you’re a blood slave it won’t matter anymore. You won’t be able to die.”

He removed his nail from my neck and traced my cheekbone, pressing his nail against me hard until I felt the warm blood trailing my features. Tears threatened to escape my eyes, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

I wasn’t giving him my pain.

I felt his gross tongue licking the blood on my cheek; it took everything I had not to throw up on the spot.

“What makes your blood so good?” He whispered against my ear; his rancid breath made me want to gag. “You’re not like other humans. It’s no wonder he wants you for himself.”

Please… God… no… I wanted to cry out. But as much as I tried, I couldn’t move.

“I think it’s time for you to go back to sleep,” he whispered against my ear. “I’ve had enough for right now.”

What did he mean by that?

Before I could form a proper sentence to ask him, I felt a sharp pain in my neck. He stabbed me with something; was it a needle?

My heart rate picked up speed and just as I thought I was on the verge of a panic attack, my world, once again, had gone black.

…

Joseph's POV

“I want every ounce of this village and forest searched,” I ordered the warriors.

Connor turned to his men.

“You heard him. Get to searching,” Connor ordered them.

They all ran off in different directions.

“Don’t worry, man,” Connor said, patting me on the back. “We are going to find her.”

“If he touched her—”

“He will pay the ultimate price,” Connor assured me. “Let’s just hope he hasn’t done anything to her.”

“If he truly wants her to be his blood slave, he has to wait until the full moon. Which is less than 48 hours away. He has to keep her alive until then,” Bernard said, coming up from behind me.

“How could you let her wander off by herself?” I asked through my clenched jaw.

“I never agreed to be your human’s babysitter,” Bernard growled in return.

“Turning on one another isn’t going to bring Tessa back,” Connor said, stepping between us.

He was right; we were wasting time.

I took a step away from Bernard to clear my head. I had already searched Ryan’s home and neither of them was there. Fae was too out of it to even speak to us, so she was useless to us right now. Tessa’s scent was lost in the forest long ago but a part of me didn’t think she was too far away.

She had to be close by. She’s only been missing for a few hours; how far could they have gotten without their scent being found?

I spent the better part of the night searching the forest with the rest of the warriors.

I might have been angry with Bernard and Anna for allowing Tessa to run off alone, but the only one I truly had to blame was myself. I was the one who brought her here in the first place. It was my fault she was in this position.

We expanded our search and began looking through the human cities and nearby towns. We also searched other parts of the forest. I was ready to start searching other mountains as well, but the sun could be seen rising in the distance.

“Elder Joseph. We should start heading back before the sun rises completely. It’s going to take us a bit to get back,” one of the warriors said.

I knew he was right, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop searching for her.

“Go on back,” I told them, staring amongst the group.

“What about you, Elder?” One of them asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said, shaking my head at them. “I need to stick around and keep searching.”

She’s been missing for over 12 hours. I wasn’t going to return home until she was found.

“Elder, the sun—”

“I’ll find a cave to hide in until it’s barely able to continue the search,” I said through my teeth. “Return to the village and report back to your superior.”

They all stared at one another with timid frowns before nodding and turning away.

“Good luck,” he murmured and then he led the others away.

I turned back and continued searching until the sun started making me uneasy. It didn’t take long to find a cave to rest in for a few hours. Once I recover from this sun exposure, I’ll continue the search until my body can’t handle the sun. Then, I’ll rest again.

But I wasn’t going to stop until Tessa was safe and sound.

“Where the hell are you, Tessa?”