Chapter 43

Josephs POV

Tessa’s eyes scanned the journal, and I could see the wheels turning in her mind. I knew which poems she was reading based on her reactions.

I don’t typically let anyone read my poetry. I find them to be personal collections that I keep close to my heart. But there’s something about Tessa that made me want to show her. It was more than just her blood that continues to draw me in daily.

Maybe it was the fact that she unapologetically posted her poetry publicly for her few followers to see. It was a brave move that I couldn’t help but admire.

Tessa finally looked up from the journal and closed it in her lap. She looked at me for a moment longer, without saying a word, and then handed the journal back.

I wasn’t going to ask her what she thought. I already knew.

“Thank you for showing me those,” she said with a tone that was uncertain. “That was such raw emotion. I wasn’t expecting that from a fantasy author.”

“I’m full of surprises,” I said in return. “As are you.”

I kept my eyes steadily on her, watching as her nose and cheeks turned pink. It was obvious she was embarrassed, but I couldn’t figure out why.

After a beat of silence, Tessa glanced at the clock across the living room and her mouth dropped open.

“Holy shit,” she gasped, standing to her feet. “How is it already 2 am?”

I looked at the clock as well, unphased by the late time, and then looked back at her.

“Oh, yes. I see it is.”

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve stayed up this late,” she said, shaking her head.

This was every night occurrence to me. I typically stay up during the night and get work done, but I understand that as a human, Tessa would have been in bed long ago. Thankfully it was Friday, and she didn’t have classes in the morning.

So, I wasn’t entirely sure why she seemed upset at the time.

“I wanted to get up early to get to the store,” she explained once I asked her that very question. “That way I can spend a lot of time tomorrow decorating.”

I fought the smile. She was oddly cute as she rubbed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and pointer finger.

“Then, you should get some sleep,” I told her, keeping my tone even. “Thank you for the meal and the conversation.”

She looked at me for a moment and blushed.

“Goodnight, Professor Evergreen,” she said as she turned away.

“Joseph,” I corrected, causing her to freeze. “When we are in private you have permission to call me Joseph.”

She said nothing but she acknowledged my request with a head nod before heading towards the stairs.

I watched after her until she disappeared.

I stood on my feet and made my way to my office where I had a mound of paperwork on my desk. Mainly assignments that I needed to grade before Monday.

Yawning, I started to go through each assignment.

I spent most of the week going to school with Tessa during the day and though I was able to take small naps in my office, I haven’t really been sleeping as much as I usually do during the day. It made this evening incredibly tiresome. But I still pushed through, at least for the next couple of hours, while the sun was still away.

I would be able to sleep during the weekend while Tessa spent time decorating.

I soon came across the paper that had Tessa’s name on it and I froze when I saw that she titled it ‘Monster.’

It was a well-written short story, however, some of the aspects were a bit concerning. The story was of a young girl who came across someone who saw himself as a monster. After learning more about him, the girl found herself in love with this monster and the monster was in love with her as well.

Over time, the monster’s true colors began to surface, and the girl found herself frightened of him for the first time since knowing him.

In the end, the monster won and killed the girl.

I frowned as I finished reading.

It was certainly a creative story, but I couldn’t help but wonder if this story was about me. Did she consider me to be a monster?

I suppose it wasn’t far off. I’m not surprised that in her eyes I’m a monster.

But she wrote this purposely for my class, which meant she wanted me to read it. I sighed as I picked through some of the elements of the story and gave her some notes on improvements. I made a mental note to ask her about this story when she woke up.

By the time I finished the last paper, it was about 4 in the morning.

Soon, the sun would be rising so it would probably be a good time to get some rest before Tessa wakes up.

I made my way out of my office and toward the living room where I left a few curtains open. I sealed them shut tightly so no sunlight entered the room. I went through each room around the Villa and did the same thing, pausing at Tessa’s door.

From outside the door, I could hear her deep breathing and light snoring. She was quite a loud sleeper which caused me to shake my head as I walked across the hall.

I went into my bedroom to get comfortable, but the sound of my watch made me freeze every molecule in my body.

It was the house alarm alert indicating that someone was accessing the main gates. I have alarms around the inside and outside of the house in case there are any intrusions. With Tessa being asleep, I knew it wasn’t her.

I checked the location where the alarm was going off and I used my teleportation abilities to get to that location quickly.

However, by the time I got there, whomever it was trying to enter was long gone. The gate was obviously meddled with, and the security system was a little damaged. I will have to fix it if I expect it to work again.

I smelled the stench of a vampire, and I knew it had to have been one of the new vampires that tried to break into my property.

Which meant they knew exactly where Tessa was.

My stomach grew tight. They were once again out of my reach. Close enough for me to grasp, but quick enough for me to just miss them.

It was aggravating beyond belief.

Just as I turned to head back inside, not wanting Tessa to be alone inside for long, something caught my eye.

There was a piece of paper lodged at the bottom of the gate. It was folded and it had a J on the front of it. I’m assuming for Joseph.

I reached down to pick it up, unfolding it, I frowned at the scribbled, almost hard-to-read, writing.

The note read:

We know where the girl is. You can’t hide her for long.