Chapter 300

Tessa’s POV

I only slept a few hours before I was woken by a commotion downstairs. My eyes flew open, and I saw that Joseph wasn’t in bed. When I groggily sat up and squinted, trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness surrounding my room, seeming as Joseph closed the blinds and curtains so tightly there was no chance of sunlight leaking through, I saw that the bathroom light was on and the shower was running.

I knew Joseph must have been taking a shower.

Still very naked from our passionate lovemaking before passing out for the day, I grabbed Joseph’s shirt off the ground and threw it over my head. It was big enough to cover my body; I loved wearing his clothes. I felt comfy and safe in them.

I didn’t bother with anything else. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand to look at the time. It was a little past 1 in the afternoon. I also saw that I had a new text message from Megan. I swiped my finger across my phone to open the message.

Megan: I expect you in the office first thing tomorrow morning with some progress made.

I sighed and put my phone back down. Joseph and I still had to come up with a plan to make this believable so Megan didn’t know I was engaged to him. I wanted this assignment to seem as genuine as possible so that I could prove myself to her and my coworkers. There were still coworkers I hadn’t met yet, but I still wanted to wow them too.

Quickly getting out of bed, I didn’t bother waiting for Joseph to get out of the shower before I left the room and quickly rushed down the stairs, wondering what the commotion was all about.

“This is supposed to be a safe place. You aren’t wanted here,” I heard Amy saying through her teeth.

“I will force you out if you don’t leave on your own free will,” Cole said, sounding pissed.

This made me run even harder until I reached the living room area. I froze though when I saw who was standing at the front door and my mouth fell open in shock.

“Anna?” I asked and then I looked to her right and gasped. “Bernard? Carter? What are you guys doing here?”

I shoved past the coven who was surrounding them with death glares and I jumped into Anna’s arms, hugging her tightly. I heard the murmurs and gasps from those around us, but I ignored them.

“Carter filled us in on everything that happened and we had to come to see for ourselves that you were truly okay,” Anna answered as she hugged me back.

“We didn’t think you’d actually take in the entire coven though,” Bernard said, his brows pinched together as he looked around at all the angry faces.

“Why are there vampires here?” Hannah asked, spitting out the word vampire like it was a bad taste in her mouth.

“These are my friends,” I said to her. “They are from Joseph’s tribe,” I tried to explain.

“They are still vampires,” Cole said, folding his arms across his chest. “They are dangerous Tessa. How could you allow them in your home like this? I thought we were safe here.”

“I promise I wouldn’t do anything to make you unsafe,” I assured him. “They truly are good people, and they are only here because they were worried.”

“Or so they say,” Hannah said, still glaring at them from behind me. “How do we know they aren’t here to hurt us? Vampires are bad news.”

“Not these ones,” I heard another voice coming from the doorway. We all turned to see Joseph standing before us, fresh from his shower. His hair was still wet, but he was fully dressed. He made his way through the coven and toward Bernard.

The two embraced and then he patted Carter on the back.

“Glad you guys made it.”

“You knew they were coming?” I asked.

Joseph shrugged.

“I told Carter everything that happened and I assumed he’d spread the word to the others. I figured it was only a matter of time before they came to check on things for themselves. That’s just the kind of people they are.”

“I’m the Overseer and Joseph is a part of my tribe, whether he’s an elder or not, he’s still my responsibility. Which makes you my responsibility as well,” Bernard said, eyeing me carefully. “It’s my job to make sure you two are okay after such events.”

“I still don’t like that they are here,” Amy muttered.

“You don’t have to like it,” I snapped back. “They are our friends, and they aren’t going anywhere. This is my home and I’m allowing them here.”

They didn’t look happy about it, but nobody said another word. I grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her through the coven until we reached the couches. I pulled her down beside me and Joseph led the others to another couch, sitting with them.

The rest of the coven looked around at one another, unsure of what to do.

“How about the rest of you go back to sleep and we will wake you later for dinner,” Patty suggested. “Claira and I will stay down here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want backup?” Bennet asked, hesitant to leave them behind.

Patty gave him a small smile and nodded.

“I’m sure it won’t be necessary, Benny. But thank you,” she said in return.

He still looked uncertain, but he nodded and motioned for the others to get to their rooms. Soon the living room was cleared. Patty and Claira joined us on the couches.

“Sorry about them; they really don’t like change,” Patty said. “Or vampires.”

“No worries; they have their reasons and I don’t blame them one bit,” Anna said sweetly. Patty seemed to relax from her words.

The door flew open and soon Esme walked into the room; I was so wrapped up in the commotion, that I completely forgot she was here. Though, I don’t think she was part of the initial commotion, she looks as if she was just woken.

“What’s going on? Laura just came into our room muttering something about vampires. Woke right up—” she started to say but then her eyes found Bernard and then Carter, and then Anna.

“Esmeralda?” Carter asked.

“Now it makes sense,” Esme murmured as she curled up on the loveseat near the fireplace.

“What’s she doing here?” Bernard asked, sounding displeased.

“It’s a long story,” I admitted. “But it turns out she’s a part of the coven.”

“Wait really?” Carter asked. “Your coven?”

“My mother’s coven,” I explained. “But yes, I guess so. She was my mom’s best friend. She was only running that shop close to your tribe to keep an eye on you and provide you with whatever you needed.”

“Don’t go tell them all my secrets,” Esme yawned, but there was a bit of playfulness in her tone. “I still enjoy the little game we play.”

“Wait, so all those times you gave me trouble whenever I needed something… it was just a game to you?” Carter asked, sounding genuinely hurt.

Esme smirked.

“You played a fair game, my friend,” she teased. “I would have given you all the antidotes in the world, but I didn’t want to make it too easy. I had an image to maintain after all.”

Carter just scowled.

“How many antidotes have you needed exactly?” Bernard asked him, raising an eyebrow.

Carter’s face reddened, which made Esme laugh and Joseph shook his head at his friend.

“So, what else is going on around here?” Anna asked. “Lucias is dead, and the coven just woke up from their two-decade-long nap?”

“Pretty much,” I told her. “And I think Penny is somehow involved in all of this.”

“Penny?” Bernard asked.

“My father’s wife,” I said, trying not to roll my eyes. “Which is weird because my father always said that he would never marry after Mom. He seemed to have forgotten that along with a few other things though.”

“What else did he forget?” Anna asked.

“Well, my father’s house was supposed to be a safe haven, thanks to my mom. No witches outside of her bloodline can enter that home. No magic or curses can enter either. So, during that war between witches and vampires, when my father was inside the house, that curse was never supposed to affect him. He was supposed to have remembered everything so that he knew to protect me. He knew that the coven wasn’t safe because there were still members who wanted the heavenly heart. Members who are gone now, but they didn’t want to take that chance, even with my mother’s curse in place. He was supposed to protect me from them, but he seemed to have forgotten about it all. Including his promise to my mother that he would never remarry after her… but then Penny came into the picture and everything changed from there. I can’t really explain it, but I feel in my gut that something isn’t right. I think she’s up to something.”

“But you don’t have proof that Penny is involved in this?” Bernard asked, raising his brows.

I shrugged.

“Not really; other than the fact that I never trusted her. I can feel it in my gut that something is off though,” I explained.

Anna reached out and took hold of my hand, squeezing it gently.

“That’s important information,” she said gently. “Your gut won’t steer you wrong, Tessa. You are a special girl with incredible powers. Intuition is one of them.”

“She’s right,” Claira agreed. “Your mother was the same way and her intuition was never wrong.”

I smiled at the thought of being like my mother and I nodded my thanks to Claira.

“But still, we can’t really prove that Penny was involved,” Bernard said reasonably.

“True,” I admitted. “But Derek swears he saw Penny the night he was recruited by Lucias to join the coven.”

“He saw her?” Anna asked, her brows pinched together. “Like she was with Lucias?”

I nodded.

“Yes,” I admitted. “I’m not sure why, but she was there with him.”

“And he’s sure it was Penny?” Anna asked.

“He’s pretty sure,” I replied. “After I described her, he seemed certain that it had to be her.”

Anna fell silent, as did Bernard as they exchanged a look. It almost seemed like they were having their own private conversation before Anna looked at me.

“What does she look like?”

“She has blonde hair and very blue, sapphire-colored, eyes. She’s also very young. She’s supposedly in her 40s, but she doesn’t look a day older than 30,” I said, shaking my head.

The color from Anna’s face seemed to have faded completely.

“Anna, I know what you are thinking, and Eevee has black hair,” Benard said to his wife who still looked horrified and yet so deep in thought at the same time.

“But she could dye her hair,” Anna whispered after a brief silence.

“If you are still talking about Penny, she definitely dies her hair. There’s no way that kind of blonde is natural,” I muttered, shaking my head in disgust at the thought of Penny. “But who is Eevee?”

Anna and Bernard shared a look.

“Are you talking about Evelyn Mclaine?” Carter asked, his brows furrowed together.

“Yes,” Bernard answered. “But it’s not possible… is it?”

“She disappeared after the war,” Anna whispered, still horrified. “It could be very possible.”

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I asked, staring around at all their faces until my eyes landed on Joseph.

“Evelyn Mclaine is Benji Mclaine’s daughter,” Joseph explained. “Benji as in my former overseer and the one who kidnapped your mother.”

My heart fell into my stomach as I looked at Anna; I was now putting the pieces together and my stomach tightened almost painfully.

“Are you saying that Penny could be this Evelyn Mclaine person?” I asked her. When I was met with only silence, I asked again. “Anna… is Penny Benji’s daughter?”