Chapter 232

Tessa’s POV

I’m not sure how long I have been out for. My memory was a little foggy, but when I started to wake, I had a split headache, and my body didn’t move right away. It was like I was paralyzed.

I also had no idea where I was. The last thing I remembered was arriving at my father’s farm and then…

My thoughts stopped when I heard voices nearby.

“How much of that stuff did you give her?” A woman asked.

“Enough to knock her out for a few hours. She should be waking up soon,” a man answered.

They sounded close to me, but at the same time, it sounded like their voices were coming from under the water.

Who were these people and what did they want from me?

“What about her boyfriend? That vampire? He’s going to know that something is wrong,” one of the guys said, sounding worried.

“Thomas was sent to take care of him,” the first woman said. “Lucias would never let that vampire live.”

My entire heart fell deep into my stomach and then shattered.

They sent someone to take care of him? What did that even mean? Was Joseph hurt? Did they actually kill him?

No.

I couldn’t believe that. I wouldn’t believe that.

“Patty, look. Her breathing changed,” someone said from the other side of me.

Patty?

Patty Davis?

They were all quiet, and I knew their attention was fixed on me. I felt my entire body tense and my breathing grew shaky and erratic. I went to move my arms but realized they were cuffed to whatever bed I was lying on.

I felt the cold metal of the cuffs digging into my wrists and I winced at the sensation.

Whoever had captured me, really didn’t want me to escape.

My only question was why?

I moved my head, feeling the throbbing at my temples.

“Tessa?” I heard my name being softly spoken by the first woman; I’m assuming was Patty. Then I felt her warm hands on my forehead. “Are you with us?”

I slowly opened my eyes, trying to adjust my vision to the low lights and fixate my attention on at least one of them. Patty Davis was clear in view, and she had worry in her eyes as she studied my face.

All I was seeing though was red.

I was pissed.

I struggled against the binding, desperate to get free, but it only made the metal of the cuffs dig further into my flesh and I cried out in pain.

“There’s no use in struggling, Tessa dear,” Patty said, her eyes showing compassion, but her words were nothing but malice. “We can’t let you go until our leader examines you for himself. He’s been waiting a long time for this moment.”

Their leader?

What the fuck was she talking about?

I gritted my teeth.

“Let me go,” I said through my teeth.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that just yet,” Patty said. “But we will soon enough. You just get a bit more rest and we will come see you later once you’ve calmed down.”

She motioned for the others to follow her away and they looked at one another worriedly before leaving the room. I was left alone to deal with my overwhelming thoughts.

My chest heaved as I thought about Joseph.

What did they mean that he was taken care of? That Lucias would never let him live? Did they hurt him? Who the hell was Lucias?

Joseph was a vampire and much more powerful than an average human. Then again, something was telling me that these people were not average humans.

But it still didn’t make sense. Joseph was in the mountains with his tribe. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to go to an entire vampire tribe and try to take one of them out. I had to try and calm myself down; Patty was only bluffing.

Looking around the room, I frowned at the unfamiliar scene. I was cuffed to a plush bed and the room itself looked fairly modern with a large bay window and transparent drapes that flowed evenly to the floor. Through the closed blinds I could see rays of sunlight desperately trying to make it into the room, so I knew it was daylight. Even if Joseph wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to come all the way here to save me right now.

There was a vanity on one side of the room with a couple of pictures hung on the mirror that I couldn’t make out.

There was another door on the far side of the room I was assuming was the bathroom, but I couldn’t be too sure. There was a closet and a dresser as well.

It looked like a basic room in a house.

There was a knock on the door, and then the door opened. I wasn’t sure why they bothered to knock, it’s not like I could get up to open the door and it’s not like they weren’t coming in anyway.

A tall man stood at the doorway with dark hair and deep blue eyes. He looked to be the age of my father, maybe mid-50s. I didn’t recognize him though; I wasn’t sure if he was from the same town, or if he was from elsewhere, but I immediately got a strange vibe from this gentleman.

Patty Davis stood behind him and she was peering over his broad body to look at me with a worried expression.

“She’s angry,” Patty explained to him in a hushed whisper as if I was a rabid animal incapable of hearing her.

I gritted my teeth, trying to keep myself from saying something I was definitely going to regret.

When I graduated from college, I wasn’t thinking I was going to get kidnapped as a gift and I was anything but happy with my situation. Not to mention incredibly worried about my fiancé.

Fiancé.

The word sent a tingle of excitement in my chest along with a bubble of worry.

“Leave us,” the man said, raising his hand to Patty.

Her eyes widened, but she nodded, stepping away from the door as he entered. He shut the door behind him, sealing us in the room and shutting Patty out.

“What do you want with me?” I found myself asking, my voice coming out raspy.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you, Tessa. We have been waiting a long time to get you here and now that your father finally permitted us, we couldn’t waste another moment.”

My stomach tightened from his words.

My father permitted them to take me? Why would he do that?

Of course, I already knew this. But having it confirmed was like a punch in the gut.

“I… I don’t understand,” I said, my voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper.

He stepped closer to me and I flinched, not wanting him anywhere near me, but there was nowhere for me to go. I couldn’t move with these cuffs on my wrists and keeping me hooked on the bed.

“This is where you belong Tessa. You should have been here years ago, but he was persistent on keeping you away from this life, despite how hard we tried to convince him otherwise,” the man said, shaking his head with dismay clear on his face. “We couldn’t take you against his wishes…”

“Why am I here?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “And where’s Joseph?”

His brows rose at my question.

“The vampire you’ve been disgustingly smitten with?” He spat. “Your father told me about him and expressed his own discomfort over the situation. Trust me, pet. We did you a favor.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, not sure I truly wanted to know the answer, but I knew I needed to hear what he meant.

“I just got worried a little while ago. The vampire has been taken care of,” the man said simply.

“What?” I gasped, my breathing becoming erratic again.

“He’s dead,” the man shrugged. “We can’t have a vampire getting mixed up with someone as precious as you. That would defeat the purpose of everything we’ve worked so hard to maintain. You’ll understand someday.”

Tears immediately sprung to my eyes, and I could practically hear my heart shattering from his words.

“You’re lying,” I said through my teeth, hating that my voice cracked and that I sounded so weak.

He shook his head, his brows creasing.

“I wouldn’t lie about something like that, Tessa. I promise you, the vampire is dead,” the man said.

Then he took out his phone and typed something into it. After a second, he showed me the screen and I couldn’t help but scream as loud as my lungs would allow.

Joseph was lying on the ground with multiple bullet wounds to his body and blood surrounding him. I recognized the setting shown in the picture; he was in my apartment. He must have come from the mountains early to surprise me.

Tears poured out of my eyes, and I fought against the restraints to grab the phone. This had to have been a lie; I couldn’t believe that Joseph was dead. It had to have been a lie.

I screamed as the cuffs dug into me again.

Panic consumed me and suddenly it felt like there wasn’t enough air to breathe in this very tiny room. The walls were closing in and the room seemed to be getting smaller by the second.

“Tessa, darling, relax,” the man said, putting his hand on my shoulders.

I wanted to jerk away from him, but I had no strength left in my body. I felt warmth spreading from his fingertips and despite my rapid beating heart and my erratic breathing, I felt calmer.

My eyes grew large at the magic this man used to calm me.

“We did you a favor. Trust me on this,” the man said. “You’ll thank me someday once you realize the monster that kind truly is.”

“Who are you?” I asked, unable to stop the tears from continuing to pour out of my eyes.

“Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Lucias; I am the Coven Leader.”