Chapter 136

Tessa’s POV

I stared at Joseph with shock; his face had gone expressionless. I must have looked extremely confused to him because he sighed and met my eyes.

“It’s for the best,” he told me, keeping his eyes rested on mine. “I don’t want to take any chances…”

“Because of one bad vampire?” I argued, trying to keep my emotions under control. But the longer I stared into his eyes, the more hurt I was becoming.

“It’s not just one bad vampire, Tessa,” Joseph argued but he kept his tone level. “ There are rogue vampires lurking in our forests that we don’t know on which day they will crave for human blood again. There are other creatures. I don’t know if I can even trust everyone in my tribe at this point. It’s not safe for you here and I’m not going to argue with you about it.”

“Don’t I have a say in—”

“No,” he said flatly. “You don’t have a say in anything. This is my decision and I’m not going to let you stay here any longer. As soon as Dr. Cornelia gives me the okay, I’m bringing you home.”

My heart was heavy, and it took everything I had not to curl up in a ball and start crying like a little baby. I didn’t want him to see me with that kind of weakness, but my heart hurt so much. Despite everything that had happened here, I still loved it so much. I loved almost everyone I’ve encountered, even if I still get strange looks. I loved how beautiful the mountains were. I loved the Elders and the abilities they had.

I wanted to learn much more about this place and everyone there. I felt a little safer knowing that Ryan was no longer an issue.

But the way Joseph was looking at me, made me feel so small.

“What if I’m your blood slave?” I found myself asking; I brought up the idea previously before Ryan and that new vampire took me. But he dismissed it without a second thought, but it seemed like the most logical explanation.

If I’m Joseph’s blood slave, then the other vampires won’t touch me, and I can provide Joseph with what he wants the most. Blood. I know he’s domesticated, and he doesn’t drink much blood anymore, but he’s still a vampire and I know that desire is still in him. He drank from me our first night together; I could be his blood slave and give him everything he wanted. I could be immortal and stay by his side for the rest of eternity.

But as soon as I mentioned the idea for the second time, his eyes darkened.

“I already told you, that’s not happening.”

“But we could be together without you worrying—”

“Do you know what being a blood slave does to the human? You saw Fae; was that normal to you?” He asked, his voice rising.

“That was because Ryan broke the bond…”

“I’m not talking about after the bond break, Tessa,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m talking about while they were together. She was like a puppy to him…”

“She was in love with him,” I argued; my own voice rose, and I felt the tears desperately trying to escape from my eyes.

“It was the bond,” he said firmly. “She didn’t know any better. It couldn’t have been helped. It was an obsession, Tessa.”

I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing. It was obvious to me that he had already made up his mind. He was sending me home, no more discussion.

He sighed again, turning away from me.

“Get some rest,” he said earnestly. “I have to speak with Connor about some stuff.”

I didn’t protest or ask him to stay; I just nodded slowly, watching as he turned and then he was gone.

I lay in bed, feeling the heaviness in my chest, and yet I felt so empty. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat, trying desperately to not cry.

Dr. Cornelia came over from his desk; for a moment, I forgot he was here. He was listening to that entire exchange and suddenly, I was feeling embarrassed.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” I said, looking away from him so he couldn’t see the pain on my face.

He grabbed a box of tissues off one of the nearby tables and brought them to me; it was at that moment I realized I was crying. Tears were making my face feel sticky and I sniffled, wiping my nose with the back of my sleeve as I did so.

“You know, Miss Tessa. Elder Joseph is only looking out for you. This is no place for a young girl like you,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “Why would you even want to stay here?”

I didn’t have an answer for him; I wasn’t really sure myself.

“I guess I just don’t want to lose him…” I murmured, wiping my eyes with a tissue.

He gave me a gentle smile, that I couldn’t help but return.

“Something tells me you can’t lose him,” he said before turning away.

I didn’t ask him to elaborate; I felt the smile tugging at the corner of my lips and heard the thrumming of my heart. I knew exactly what he meant.

Joseph felt the exact same way as I felt about him; so, I had to trust that he wasn’t going to let this thing between us die. I wasn’t going to let it die either. I still had the rest of this semester left to prove to him just how serious I was about this relationship.

We can figure this out.

“You’re going to be here for the next day or so. Can I get you anything while you are here?” Dr. Cornelia asked.

At first, I was going to shake my head, but then I thought about it for a minute and a smile spread to my lips.

“Can you get me a notebook and a pen?” I asked.

He looked at me curiously for a moment before he nodded. He rummaged through his desk until he came across a notebook and a pen.

“Will this work?” He asked, walking over to me.

I nodded.

“Perfect,” I answered, taking the supplies from him. “Thank you.”

With that, I opened the notebook and began writing about my personal adventures. I wrote about everything that had happened to me. Some stuff was hard to write about. I hated remembering that new vampire and everything he had done. I hated remembering how he felt and how he made me feel.

But I wrote it and by the time I finished, I had filled out multiple pages and I was satisfied. I knew in my heart that this was going to be the story that everybody talked about.

The next night came quickly; Joseph visited me before dawn, but he didn’t stay long. I could tell there was something heavy on my mind and though it gave me an uneasy feeling, I didn’t press him to talk about it. I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would.

He gave me some gentle kisses and held me like he was afraid I was going to break. But the embrace didn’t last long. It ended before it began, and he left me feeling alone and cold without him. We didn’t talk about returning back to the city, or about what was going to happen after we got back. We didn’t talk about blood slaves any longer. It was like the conversation from earlier never happened.

Anna had come to see me once more as well to make sure that I was still okay. But that visit didn’t last long either and I didn’t dare bring up the fact that I might not be returning to this village. I was seriously going to miss her.

Joseph was back just after sundown; I was able to sleep for most of the day after Dr. Cornelia gave me pain medicine. This evening, I wasn’t feeling much pain and most of my wounds had been healed. I even walked to the bathroom a few times without any issues.

“We need to get going soon,” Joseph said, and I saw that there was hardly any expression on his face.

It worried me when he got like that, but I nodded to him anyway.

I said my goodbyes to the doctor after I finished getting dressed and I walked with Joseph out of the infirmary. As soon as the cool night air touched my skin, I felt like I was coming alive again. It felt so nice to be outside and I could finally breathe again.

I took a steady deep breath and smiled up at the sparkling sky. Every star was visible, and the moon was just short of full.

As we got back to the neighborhood and toward Joseph’s house, we paused when we saw Bernard also walking toward his house. He looked drained and maybe a little pissed.

“Bernard?” Joseph asked before Bernard reached his door.

Bernard paused and looked at Joseph, surprised to see him.

“I didn’t expect you to be up yet,” Bernard said, and then he looked at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I said to him, giving him a small smile.

My last real talk with Bernard wasn’t a pleasant one; I was yelling at him for killing Fae. At least, I thought he killed Fae.

“Everything okay?” Joseph asked him before either of us could say anything more.

“We need to talk,” he said slowly and then his eyes flickered back to me. “Alone.”

I felt my face flush when I saw that they were both looking at me.

“Oh, okay…” I breathed, turning away, and going inside. But as I got inside, I remained at the doorway. I wanted to hear what they were saying and though their voices were muffled, I could understand them just the same.

“What’s going on?” Joseph asked once he was sure I couldn’t hear him.

“Ryan is being transported to the vampire prison per orders of the council,” Bernard answered.

“Did he tell you how he became a rogue without an Elder?” Joseph asked in return.

There was silence before Bernard answered.

“No…” he finally spoke. “But he did say something else.”

“What is it? What did he say?”

“He said that war is coming… and that we need to watch ourselves.”