Chapter 341

Tessa’s POV

“Bernard!!” I squealed as he slammed on the brakes of the car. The car, which was originally going fast, began to fishtail around the road and then it spun around from the force of the brakes.

The dark cloud swirled around us, blocking our vision from everything.

Joseph wrapped his arms around me, burying my face in his chest as the car continued to spin in circles. I heard Carter yelling something, but I couldn’t make out what it was. My heart hammered wildly around my chest.

Bernard jerked the wheel again, trying to gain control of the car, but it only made things worse. It was almost like we were on a bed of ice and the car was skidding across the road. There wasn’t much of anything for us to do besides hope and pray that it ended soon.

Moon Goddess, please help us…

My head slammed into the window and then to the seat in front of me just as the car finally skidded to a stop. I felt a rush of pain in my temple and then the warm pool of blood dripping down the side of my face.

Silence consumed us while we fought to catch our breath. My vision blurred for only a moment. The clouds surrounding us cleared and I saw that we somehow ended up in the forest.

“Shit, Tessa,” Joseph murmured when he noticed the gash on my head.

I shook my head, trying to reassure him that I was okay, but the words failed me. I was too shaken up to speak.

What the hell just happened?

“I’m going to get out and assess the damage,” Bernard said as he pushed his door open.

“I’ll help you,” Carter said, pushing his door open as well.

Meanwhile, Joseph grabbed some napkins from the glove compartment and a water bottle so he could clean out my wound.

“The curse is broken,” he murmured. I winced as he dabbed my wound with the moist napkin. “I can feel it.”

I blinked at him.

If the curse was broken, that meant it wouldn’t be long before others tracked me down. I placed my hand on my heart, feeling it thudding under my palm. They wanted this heart…

“I have to tell you something,” I whispered. He nodded, indicating that he was listening, so I continued. “I had a dream the other night and I met with the moon goddess. She told me what I needed to do.”

He paused his movements and his eyes met mine.

“What?” He asked.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“I don’t know if I’m strong enough though and I’m scared,” I said as tears filled my eyes. “She showed me what life would be like if I died and if someone else possessed the Heavenly Heart. I was chosen from the beginning and if I and our child died…everyone would be doomed. The Moon Goddess’s brother will take over. It was awful Joseph. It was filled with darkness and despair.”

“What are we supposed to do? You aren’t going to do anything alone, Tessa.”

Tears fell from my eyes.

“I need to gain their respect and trust. I need to show them that I am not weak, and I am not to be feared. The Heavenly Heart is not something to be possessed, but something to be shared. It’s not just my heart that is Heavenly… it’s me too. I’m the Heavenly Heart, the ruler of the supernatural and the vessel that holds the Heavenly Light.”

I put my hand on my belly, indicating our child and Joseph’s eyes widened.

“Our baby is meant to keep pure darkness away from the world. Darkness that seeps beneath the earth. The Moon Goddess’s brother, the ruler of the underworld, has been wanting to stake a claim on this earth for a long time. The Heavenly Light is meant to keep him away.”

“And how are you supposed to convince others of that?”

I sniffled as more tears fell from my eyes and soaked my cheeks as I remembered the dream I had only a couple of days ago. I’ve been trying not to think about it because my heart hurt from her words.

“I need Ruby’s help. She’s the prophet of saving grace so she has visions like this all the time. But I need her to show them all the future without me and our child,” I said, my voice cracking slightly. “It’s a big spell and she will need the help of the coven to make this vision happen with every supernatural in the world. This spell is strong… so strong that it could…” I couldn’t say the rest of the sentence without a sob escaping my lips.

“Tessa?” Joseph asked gently, trying to wipe away as many tears as possible.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“It could kill her,” I blurted as my body caved in and I couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping my lips any longer.

“This spell would be a sacrifice?” He asked, breaking my heart even further.

“The spell would have to be expanded across the world to every supernatural creature in the world so they could all see what life would be like if they succeeded in their mission. I know if I explained this to her she would do it in a heartbeat. But she’s my best friend, Joseph. I can’t lose her…”

“And Carter—”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “He can’t know about this.”

He sighed, closing his eyes briefly like he was trying to see something beyond his eyes.

“I guess the only question that remains is are you willing to kill your best friend to save the world?”

His question was like a slap in the face, but I knew he didn’t mean to hurt me. He wanted me to really think about this decision. But I have been thinking about it; for days I have been thinking about it. I spoke to my coven about this, and we think we can give her as much magic as possible if we cast a circle around her.

“We can protect her,” I told him, wiping the tears out of my eyes. Gaining a new wave of confidence. The Moon Goddess didn’t say she would definitely die, only that she could. I have already spoken to Esme and the others about this. “The coven agreed that we could help her with this magic so it wouldn’t take so much out of her. We can keep her from dying.”

Are you sure it’ll work?” Joseph asked.

“We don’t have a choice,” I told him. “The entire world is in danger. If I die, the Moon Goddess’s brother will stake claim and darkness will follow. We can’t take that chance.”

He nodded and wrapped his arms around me.

“Then, I’m with you,” he told me gently.

Bernard threw the driver's door open and quickly got into the car, followed by Carter.

“We got to go!” Bernard said, putting the car in drive and peeling out of the forest. I grabbed onto Joseph as Bernard whipped around the trees and broke through the clearing, getting back to the main road.

“What’s going on?” Joseph asked, his brows furrowed.

“We heard predators outside,” Carter explained, looking over his shoulder at us. “We need to get moving right away.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to see a ton of missed calls from Esme.

With a hammering heart, I pressed on her name and called her back.

“Tessa?” Esme asked, sounding breathless. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for the past hour?”

The past hour??

“What’s going on?” I asked her.

“We encountered some rogue vampires who are on the hunt for the Heavenly Heart. Their memories returned to them. I think we lost them, but they were heading towards your father's farm, remembering that was the last place they saw you. Are you at the farm yet?”

“Not yet. But we will be in the next 30 minutes or so.”

“We will be there soon as well. If we get there first, we will make sure your father is safe,” she assured.

I breathed out relief.

“Thanks, Esme. Please keep yourselves safe as well.”

“You too,” she told me and then the line went dead. I looked at Joseph with worry clear in my eyes. “Rogue vampires are heading towards my father’s farm. There’s no telling how many of them are on their way. But we need to get there quickly.” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts. “How are they already on the hunt for me this quickly? The spell was just broken?”

“Actually, lost a bit of time when we were in the middle of the dark cloud,” Bernard said. “It happened a little over 2 hours ago.”

“What?!” I gasped, looking at the clock and seeing that he was right. “How is that possible?”

“Magic works in mysterious ways,” Bernard told me, his lips pressed in a thin line. “And we aren’t sure when the spell was broken in other parts of the world. It didn’t happen all at the same time. It could have been minutes or even hours before it was broken in our area.”

“This isn’t good,” I whispered.

Then, out of nowhere a giant black beast appeared in the middle of the road; he had fur as sharp as razors, canines that were elongated and snapping in our direction, and eyes as yellow as the sun.

“Benard! Look out!” I yelled just as he swerved around the howling creatures. I whipped around to see it chasing after the car, a couple more appearing right beside it.

Bernard slammed on the gas and drove even faster.

“What—” I tried to ask; my words failed me. I had never seen a beast like that before.

It was Joseph that answered the question I couldn’t ask.

“Werewolves.”