Chapter 274

Tessa’s POV

The drive back to the city was long and exhausting. It felt weird returning without Ruby, and it felt even weirder knowing that the vampire council knew exactly where I was. Joseph had told me that I could trust them, but I wasn’t so sure. It was hard to believe that a group of elite vampires could be trusted after everything I had been through.

If they could really be trusted, wouldn’t they have stopped Ryan from doing what he had done? I’m assuming they knew exactly where all their vampires were and what they were up to. So, where has this council been this whole time?

Still, Amayah knew my grandmother and my grandmother trusted her with the knowledge of the Heavenly Heart. I wondered why.

My questions were never really answered, and it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Joseph said, breaking through the silence and nearly startling me.

I looked over at him and saw that his eyes were still on the road, but he was watching me from the corner of his eyes, and I could see the worry on his face.

“I was thinking about the council,” I admitted. “Can we really trust them?”

“Yes,” he told me simply. “We can trust them.”

“How can you know for sure?” I asked, trying not to sound as worried as I felt, but I knew he could see right through me.

“Because if they wanted you dead, you would be,” he told me as if that was the answer to everything.

My mouth hung open in shock at his bold statement.

“Would you have let them?” I asked, raising my brows.

“No. I wouldn’t have. It would have gotten me killed too. But I would have died protecting you. But the council are very powerful vampires who could kill you in an instant. You saw what Baine could do. You haven’t trained your abilities enough to defend yourself against him. It would have been easy for him to snap your neck without even touching you. There would be no trace of him on you and an easy coverup.”

“Then why would you let me risk that?” I asked, dumbfounded. “If they could kill me that easily and quickly, why would you let me come here? Why not listen to Bernard and keep me away from the council?”

“Because I had faith,” he answered, glancing at me briefly before looking back at the road. “I knew the council for a long time, and they aren’t irrational people. They also know that if they piss off a witch, it could end up badly for them. Despite them being powerful, they aren’t a match for a really powerful and confident witch. If there was a chance for them to let you live, they’d go that road every time. As easy as it would be to kill you, it’s also not worth pissing off whatever coven you could be from. So, I knew they’d take that into account. I figured while they thought about what to do with you, we could weasel our way out of it.”

“We both could have died,” I told him just as reality set in; obviously, I knew that was a risk before going there, but I could still feel the ghost of Baine’s powers around my neck cutting off my air supply. Instinctively, I rubbed the sore spot on my neck.

“But we didn’t,” Joseph reminded me, bringing me back to the present moment. “And now we are free to marry. Despite Baine not liking it, you are under their protection now. They aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, and I nodded slowly.

“I still don’t understand why they even want to protect me,” I murmured. “I don’t get why my grandmother told Amayah this information and had her keep it in a memory box.”

“The war between vampires and witches has been going on for centuries. Long before your mother came into the picture. The witches have a prophet who told them about the Heavenly Heart, which was you. But what I never told you was that the vampires also had a prophet, many centuries ago, and this prophecy carried on from generation to generation.”

“What was the prophecy?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted to know.

“That a savior was coming to heal the wounds of the soil,” Joseph told me.

“What does that mean?”

Joseph surprised me by shrugging.

“It was never really clear to me,” he answered honestly. “I actually forgot about the prophecy when your mother cast that memory loss spell. But it all came back to me after you broke the spell on me. I do know that this ongoing war between witches and vampires has destroyed a lot of this earth. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. This earth has been divided for some time, despite everything seeming normal. Darkness had consumed a lot and for a while, there didn’t seem to be any hope.”

“What started this war?” I whispered.

Joseph was quiet for a moment, and I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, but then I saw from his face that he was really thinking about it. Or maybe thinking about how he was going to tell me such information. Regardless, the knot in my stomach tightened even more and I suddenly felt as if I was going to get sick.

“I don’t know,” he finally answered. “It’s been going on since before I became a vampire. Vampires find witches dangerous and vice versa.”

“Someone had to have started this war,” I said with certainty. “It didn’t just happen out of nowhere. If we got to the source of the war, maybe we could figure out how to stop it altogether.”

“You aren’t the first to try.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“But I am the first Heavenly Heart, am I not?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. “Unless another savior is heading our way, I’m afraid I’m it.”

Joseph sighed and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“Look, I just want us to focus on our lives. Our wedding and our future. I don’t want you getting mixed up in all of this,” Joseph finally said after a long pause.

“I’m already mixed up in this, Joseph,” I told him. “Baine almost killed me, and I just pledged myself to the vampires. I’m beyond mixed up in this. If this is my fate, there’s no avoiding it.”

I knew that’s not what he wanted to hear, but that was my reality and he needed to accept that. He reached over and grabbed a hold of my hand; his hand was warm against mine and I found myself relaxing from his touch. He entwined his fingers through mine, and I sighed as he ran his thumb across my knuckles.

“If I can end this war, I have to try,” I whispered, not wanting to cry, but I could feel the tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

“I know,” he finally said after what felt like a lifetime of silence. “But you aren’t going to do any of this alone. I want you to strengthen your abilities. Train with Esme. If you really are the savior destined to end this war, then it’ll happen in its own time. But I don’t want you seeking it out. I want you safe. I want you to continue to practice your magic and live your life. It’s Sunday and we have an appointment with the realtor this evening to look at some houses in New York. You have an interview with Fable Magazine tomorrow afternoon, and I’d like you to focus on that and not on saving the world.”

I knew he meant well, and I appreciated him for that, so I offered him a small smile and I nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” I told him genuinely. “I’ll focus on that for right now. Maybe I should give Esmeralda a call.”

Joseph nodded in agreement as I took my cell phone out of my pocket and stared at the screen. I only had one missed call from my father; I’m sure it’s not anything that needs to be addressed right now. If it was an emergency, he would have left me a message or texted or something. I shook the thought out of my mind and scrolled through my contacts until Esmeralda’s name appeared.

I clicked on her name and pressed the call button, pressing the phone to my cheek and waiting for her to answer. It was 3 am and I knew she usually kept her shop open until the crack of dawn.

“Hello?” Esme said on the other end of the phone.

“Hey, Esmeralda. It’s Tessa,” I said, trying to sound calm and collected as I spoke to the witch.

There was a slight pause on the other end which left me feeling worried.

“Oh, hi, Tessa,” she finally said, clearing her throat. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight. Is everything okay?”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell Esme.

“Yes, everything is fine,” I told her. “But I’d like us to set up some time to meet.”

“Meet?” She asked curiosity in her tone.

I took a deep breath; there was no turning back now. I needed to learn how to control my magic because that might be the only way I could save the world, just like the prophecy had stated.

“I want us to meet up so we can discuss the possibilities of you training me, Esme.”