Chapter 327
Tessa’s POV
The noise in the living room was unbearable while everybody spoke at once. We had finished dinner and cleaned up the dishes, now we were having a coven meeting in the middle of the living room, and I could feel everybody’s panic as the truth became clear. Penny, or Eevee, had returned much earlier than planned and none of us knew why.
Esme successfully silenced everybody so she could finish getting all the information she could out of me, which wasn’t much because I didn’t really talk to Eevee about anything.
“What exactly did she say?” Esme asked, folding her arms across her chest.
“And why didn’t you tell me?” Joseph asked, sounding agitated by my silence.
I felt like I was in the hot seat, and I sunk even further down on the couch as everyone turned their blazing eyes in my direction.
“She didn’t really say much of anything. She said she was in the city to do a little shopping before she went home. She flew in this afternoon,” I told them honestly. “Then she threatened me.”
“She threatened you?” Joseph asked, quickly standing to his feet. “And you didn’t think I needed to know about this?”
“I was going to tell you,” I assured him, trying to keep my tone under control. “I didn’t want to worry anybody.”
“Tessa, this is needed information. If she returns, then we have a problem. A huge problem.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I’m sorry I kept this to myself. I think I was just in shock.”
“Why would she return early?” Patty asked.
“She’s planning something,” Esme said, as she sat down on the couch; now she was looking defeated. “I just wish I knew what it was.”
“What did she say when she threatened you?” Joseph asked, bringing the attention back to me.
“She said if I talk shit about her to my father again, then we will have a problem,” I answered.
“She knows you are onto her,” Esme said. “Which isn’t good.”
I nodded.
“I agree,” I said, chewing on my lower lip nervously. “If she’s truly back because she wants to avenge her father’s death, then wouldn’t her goal be to kill us all because we had a part in his death?”
“You were only a baby. You didn’t kill him,” Joseph reminded me.
“But if it weren’t for my existence, he wouldn’t have gone after me. He wouldn’t have been killed,” I countered.
“I don’t think she is trying to avenge his death,” Esme breathed. “I think she’s trying to finish what he started.”
“You mean she wants the Heavenly heart for herself?” Joseph asked.
“Remember the original prophecy that Anna had?” Esme asked, looking at Joseph. “She saw Eevee dying a brutal death once she reached a certain age. The only way to save her was to make her invincible. Which means she would have to become the Heavenly Heart. In order to do that…”
“She needs my heart,” I finished the sentence for her as I put my hand against my chest, feeling the rapid beating of my heart against my palm.
Esme nodded.
“And how exactly does she just get a heart?” Patty asked. “Especially one as powerful as Tessa’s. It won’t be easy.”
“No, which is why I think she’s going to do something drastic. Initially, she had Lucia’s help. Which meant she had our help as well because we were under his control. He was trying to get Tessa to trust us and to live in our coven home. It’s a lot easier to get a still-beating heart when it’s filled with love and trust. It would be easy if she was still a baby because a baby’s heart is already filled with love and trust; not to mention purity. Obtaining the Heavenly Heart would have been easy and used very little magic. But since Tessa has aged and her heart isn’t as pure or trusting, it would require a lot more magic. It would require the magic of a strong coven.”
“Us…” Laura and Hannah whispered at the same time.
“Yes,” Esme agreed. “But now that we aren’t in their control, she lost us and our magic. Now Eevee is on her own and she needs to figure out a new way.”
“That’s pretty hard to do when nobody even remembers the Heavenly Heart exists. No witch would help a vampire like that,” Patty said, folding her arms across her chest. “Especially because vampires and witches don’t get along.”
“But nobody knows why they don’t get along,” Claira said, furrowing her brows together. “I know it stems from long ago. But there isn’t a real reason why we don’t get along with vampires.” She glanced at Joseph when she said that last part.
“It was because of my mother’s spell,” I told them. “It was because everybody forgot what they were fighting for when she cast that spell. They were fighting over me.”
“Yes, and because of Alison’s spell, nobody knows what they were fighting over,” Esme agreed. “Her spell is what’s keeping you safe and it’s what’s keeping the war from continuing.”
“The war to get to me,” I whispered.
“Is there a way to break that spell?” Joseph asked; when I looked at him, I could see the wheels turning in his head.
Esme furrowed her brows.
“Yes, but it’s impossible for Eevee to know,” Esme said, shaking her head. “And I don’t see why she would want to break the spell. It would cause a war, and everybody would be after Tessa.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Joseph said, his voice hardening. “What if she wants a war? Maybe she wants them to get the Heavenly Heart, so she has a better chance of stealing it. She can’t get it from Tessa by herself, so she wants others to do the hard work for her and then she can do what she does best… steal.”
“That stone she has to control my father… could she use it to control others as well? Even non-humans?” I found myself asking, my own thoughts clouding my mind.
Esme thought about it for a moment and then she gave me a curt nod.
“Yes,” she answered. With the right spell and a person or creature's DNA, she could control anybody and everybody at once with that one stone.”
That was what I was afraid of.
“What are you thinking?” Joseph asked; I could feel his eyes on my face as I realization dawned on me. I suddenly realized what Eevee was going to do, I just hoped I was wrong.
“What if she wasn’t going to get that potion? What if she was traveling around and collecting DNA?” I asked, looking over at Esme whose eyes were wide. “What if she’s trying to break my mother’s spell so that war would continue? Then once they have possession of my heart, Eevee will use that stone to take control of the situation and they will willingly hand the heart over to her.”
“Why not just take control of them now?” Amy asked. “Why break the spell and cause a war to get the heart when she could just take control of them and take it?”
“Because it’ll require a lot of magic and strength to get the heart. It also requires passion and true desires in order for the heart to continue beating after it’s removed from Tessa’s body. Tessa, regardless of whether she knows it or not, is a very powerful being. It’s going to require a lot more than a few scattered witches to get her heart. She doesn’t want to take the chance of them failing. She needs an entire army of both vampires and witches. She needs mayhem. They need to be passionate about their quest. They need to think they are getting it for themselves to better their chances of success. Then, she will cast the spell and they will hand over the heart to her.”
“This magic thing is so strange,” I sighed, burying my face in my hands.
Joseph sat back beside me and wrapped his arms around me.
“So, in order to get her heart, it has to be filled with love and trust?” Amy asked, her brows furrowed. “I didn’t know it worked like that.”
Esme nodded.
“Tessa doesn’t have a normal heart. She has the Heavenly Heart. It’s a magical heart,” Esme explained. “In order to remove it, not only does it need to be filled with love and trust, but the person who removes it needs to have real passion and desires to obtain it. Eevee’s father, Benji, had true passion and desires because that heart would save his daughter. He tried to get that heart while Tessa was still a baby because a baby’s heart was pure and already filled with love and trust.”
“My heart won’t be filled with love and trust for them though,” I said, shaking my head. “So, it won’t work.”
“It’s filled with enough love and trust,” Esme said, glancing at Joseph. “You love and trust your fiancé, just like you love and trust your coven.”
“But I already had love and trust in my heart for Joseph when Lucias tried to keep me away from him. Why go through all the trouble of trying to get me to love and trust him? Why not just take my heart if that’s all they wanted?”
Esme let out a snort.
“Because that’s not all Lucias wanted. He wanted you to love and trust him specifically. He had a desire for you. His plan was to get the Heavenly Heart, but he also wanted to replace it with another so you would still live. I believe he was going to do a transfer. Eevee’s heart for yours. He didn’t want you dead; he wanted you by his side. Or he was going to betray Eevee and never give her your heart? Maybe he just wanted the Heavenly heart for himself and to keep you by his side to control like he controlled the rest of us. We will never know the truth because he is dead. We don’t know exactly what Lucias was up to. But we do know what Eevee wants and I have a good guess as to what she’s planning.”
“So, you really think she’s trying to break my mother’s spell?”
They were all silent for a while as they thought about this. Then, Esme nodded.
“Yes, I do,” she answered.
“And how does one break a powerful spell like that?” Joseph asked the question that’s on all of our minds.
“She would need to collect the 5 elemental crystals. They are scattered around the world and powerful witches are in charge of keeping them safe. 5 witches have each of the crystals. Your grandmother, Constance, used to have all 5 but to keep them safe, she entrusted them to 5 witches who used to be part of her coven long ago but went off to become their own Coven leaders and pursue their own journeys.”
“How long had Eevee been gone?” Patty asked, looking at me.
“A few weeks I think,” I answered. “I’m not entirely sure when she left. But I found out she was gone a few weeks ago.”
Silence fell upon us and then Esme spoke in a low tone, bringing a shiver to my spine, “We need to find out if she’s collected any of those crystals…”
