Chapter 262

Tessa’s POV

“She had just woken up, Tessa. She didn’t know what she was doing. I doubted she even knew her own name,” Joseph said, his brows pinched together.

I shook my head; tears brimmed the corner of my eyes and I had to chew the inside of my cheek to keep from sobbing.

“She almost bit me…” I whispered. “She tried to….”

“Listen to me,” Joseph said, cutting off my words as he cupped my face in his hands. He looked deep into my eyes, and I saw the love that he had for me. I instantly relaxed and took a deep breath to calm my trembling body. “Ruby did not know what she was doing. She had just woken up after the change. She could barely see, the pain in her head was ferocious, and the hunger…” his voice trailed off.

Pain squeezed in my chest when I saw the sorrowful look in his eyes; he was remembering when he was first changed into a vampire. He never actually told me about his experience, only bits and pieces.

“The hunger after your first change is the worst pain you’ll ever feel. All she could think about was blood and your blood—”

“Smells different,” I finished the sentence for him, and he sighed, nodding slowly.

“It takes getting used to and very strong willpower,” he admitted.

“I’m sorry for being so tempting.”

I hadn’t meant it to sound sarcastic or bitter, I was genuinely sorry that I tempted vampires to want to drink me. I wondered if I had ever tempted him. It was like giving a can of beer to an alcoholic. A tightness formed in the pit of my chest.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, kissing my forehead soundly before meeting my eyes again. “I was just saying, don’t look at her differently based on what happened earlier.”

I blinked away the tears and gave him a short nod.

“But what about the blood in her eyes? Or how red her eyes were? Was that normal?” I found myself asking.

“Red eyes, yes. When they are red, it means the vampire is extremely hungry. It would happen to me if I hadn’t eaten in days,” he answered. “Blood though, is not usually normal. I’ve seen it a few times though so it’s not new. The doctor looked her over though, and nothing seemed to be physically wrong with her. All her wounds from the accident are gone and all her organs are working again.”

Relief flooded through me when he said that Ruby was completely fine physically.

“How is she doing now?” I asked.

“Better than she was,” Joseph answered. “I went to see her while you were sleeping, and her eyes are back to normal colors. Bernard got her blood bags at the local hospital and a couple of our hunters got some small animals for her to suck on like a juice box. Animal blood isn’t the same, but it does its job. Once she got some blood in her, memories of her death came tumbling back into her and it took both Carter and Anna to calm her down after the massive panic attack she had.”

I cringed; I couldn’t imagine what she must have gone through. I couldn’t even imagine what she was currently going through. It must have been terrifying for her to become something she always thought was a myth.

“She also knows she attacked you,” Joseph said slowly like he was afraid his words would set me off. But it drew my interest even more. “And she’s sorry.”

“She is?”

He nodded his head once.

“Of course she is,” Joseph told me, touching my cheek gently with his fingertips. “She never wanted to hurt you. She could barely control herself. The fact that she almost did hurt you… contributed to the panic attack.”

I leaned back on the bed, letting my head fall to the pillow.

“Ugh…” I groaned. “How long have I been out? When was this?”

“This was early this morning before the sunrise; you’ve been asleep all day. The sun is now setting,” he informed me, gesturing to his window on the other side of the room. “Ruby is still in the infirmary. We wanted her to rest for the day and allow this new reality of hers to be processed in her mind. We are going to feed her more blood soon and then I’ll take her to the academy.”

“The academy?” I asked, sitting right back up, suddenly very alarmed.

He nodded.

“Yes. All new vampires have to go to the academy to regain their humanity and control their bloodlust,” Joseph reminded me. “They also learn a lot about the vampire world.”

“But that means Ruby is going to be gone….” I whispered. “What about her New York dreams? Her career? Her future…”

Joseph’s face fell.

“It would have to be on hold for now,” he said sadly. “She’s a bright girl. She’ll be all right.”

“Does she know yet?” I asked.

Joseph was quiet for a moment, and I could tell he didn’t want to answer that question. Which meant, “No, she doesn’t know.”

“I didn’t want her to feel any worse than she already did,” Joseph admitted. “And then she fell asleep and hasn’t woken up. So, I haven’t gotten the chance to tell her.”

I quickly scrambled out of bed, completely forgetting that I was naked, but I was past the point of being embarrassed around my fiancé.

The word “Fiancé” made butterflies attack my belly and a warmth spread throughout my body. I didn’t even say the word out loud, and I knew the effects left me blushing.

“I don’t feel comfortable with her being alone with you, so, I’ll go with you, and we can talk to her together,” Joseph said, kissing the bridge of my nose gently.

I nodded in agreement.

“Let me just get dressed,” I told him, then I looked him up and down with a playful smirk. “As much as I like the view, you should probably get dressed too. I’m not a fan of others seeing you like this, Professor.”

His eyes widened at my name for him. He looked like he was going to say something about it, but I just winked and chuckled before going into the bathroom with a change of clothes. My change of clothes consisted of a pair of yoga pants which I thankfully left here, and Joseph’s T-shirt which went all the way down to my knees.

This was a very unplanned trip, and I didn’t have anything else to change into. I cursed myself for not leaving some clothes here. When I walked out of the bathroom, Joseph grinned at me and then wrapped me in his arms.

“I like seeing you in my clothes,” he said, kissing me gently on the lips.

“I didn’t have anything else,” I murmured.

“Good,” he said, biting at my lower lip.

I swatted him away, laughing and trying to hide my flaming red cheeks.

“Okay, let’s go see Ruby…”

…..

We got to the infirmary about 10 minutes later. Anna and Bernard were in the sitting room, looking exhausted and they looked just about ready to leave. Anna gave me a faint smile and touched my cheek gently.

“How are you feeling?” She asked. “You had us worried.”

Anna was so kind, and my heart warmed for her. I hated that she was worried about me.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “It was all just shocking.”

Anna nodded thoughtfully.

“It was quite shocking for all of us. Including that poor girl. Nathan had to use his abilities to calm her and talk her out of another panic attack,” Anna told me, shaking her head sadly. “She’s taking this very hard.”

I winced at her words; even Nathan was helping her. The thought made me smile that all the elders in this vampire tribe had my best friend’s back. I’m sure Carter had something to do with that too, but it was nice to see Ruby being taken care of. But I truly hated that she was so upset.

“The only thing keeping her sane is Carter,” Bernard added, shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “She trusts him.”

“I’m glad she has someone she can trust,” I said, trying to ignore the ping of jealousy I felt in my chest.

Anna gave me a knowing smile.

“I’m sure she would love to see you, Hun,” Anna breathed. “She’s had a long day, so go easy on her. We are going to leave and get some rest. Ruby was just given some more blood bags so she should be okay for right now. She’s still cuffed to the bed for safety. If you speak with her, don’t go near her because your blood is still tempting regardless of if she just ate.”

I nodded, my head whirling from all the rules laid out for me. Anna chuckled and gave me a quick hug before hugging Joseph. Bernard nodded his head at me and patted Joseph’s back before leading his wife out of the infirmary.

I took a deep breath and held onto Joseph’s hand like it was my lifeline.

He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed the top of my head before he led me toward the door that housed Ruby. When he pushed the door open, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I thought it would be the same thing as earlier when she first woke up and was grunting, trying to form words but unable to.

I wasn’t expecting a freshly showered, rose scent, and pink cheek Ruby, sitting cross-legged on the bed and with a smile on her lips as Carter told her one of his lame jokes that I’ve heard a dozen times already.

I’m sure Ruby had heard it a ton too, but she still chuckled once he got to the punchline.

Carter held a blood bag, with a straw, in his hands. It literally looked like a juice box and my stomach clenched when he held it out for Ruby and she leaned forward, wrapping her lips around the straw and then drinking.

The look on her face was a mixture of disgust, confusion, and pleasure as she drank the blood. I could only imagine what must have been running through her mind.

Then, her entire body tensed, and her eyes grew large as she slowly removed the straw from her mouth and her head slowly turned in my direction. I fought the urge to run to her and wrap my arms around her. I knew that would be a bad idea and from the look on her face, I wondered if she hated me.

Then, Ruby surprised me by speaking and asking me something that made my mouth fall open.

“Are you a vampire too?”