Chapter 71

Tessa’s POV

“We have an apartment across the city. We will prepare it. Tessa will be unaccompanied in that apartment,” Mulligan explained again.

“What about school?” I asked, staring around at all their determined faces. Joseph’s face was a mix of worry and anger. I knew he didn’t want to go through with this plan, but he knew we didn’t have much of a choice.

“I’ll make some calls,” Mulligan assured me.

The Nightwalker Police had special connections and could basically make anything and everything happen in their favor. I wasn’t worried about it, but I was worried about Ruby.

How was I going to explain to her that I was not going to be at school for the next unforeseen future?

“I’ll ask Emily to substitute for the next few days,” Joseph finally spoke after remaining silent for so long.

My heart tightened painfully at the sound of her name.

He kept himself from looking at me, but I could see the dismay and anger on his face. I wanted to reach out and provide him with some kind of comfort. But I refrained from doing so. I worried he would reject my advances.

“You should get home and pack,” Mulligan said, looking over at me. “Pack enough to get you through a week. I’m not thinking it’ll take longer than that, but if it does, we can grab you more stuff.”

I nodded.

Without another word, Joseph turned and started to walk toward the door.

I took that as my cue to follow after him. I said my goodbyes to the few Nightwalker officers in the conference room and said goodbye to Mulligan before chasing after Joseph.

Once we got back to his car, I was expecting him to yell at me for going against his wishes.

But he was silent.

I think that might have been a little worse.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, wanting to say something, but the aura in the car was too dense for me to cut through it.

Instead, I just stared down at my hands, playing with my fingers nervously.

Joseph was clutching the steering wheel until his knuckles had grown white. He was holding back a lot, I could tell.

Mulligan said, right before I left, that he would see me first thing in the morning. So, I’m thinking I only had one more night with Joseph before I moved into this apartment. I didn’t want to leave things off with him like this.

I didn’t want him to be angry with me.

Once we got back to the villa, I stayed in the car a moment longer, looking at him. I was hoping he would notice me and stay behind as well. I was hoping he would want to talk.

He did stay behind.

He sighed and stared down at his lap as if he’d been defeated.

“I’m sorry about your friend,” I finally said in a whisper.

When he didn’t respond, I said, “Do you want to tell me about him? I want to hear about it in your words.”

It was a bold request but talking about it sometimes helped.

He lifted his gaze and met my eyes. The anger that once lingered in his eyes was replaced with sadness.

“He was my first friend in this lifetime,” he said slowly. “I told myself I wasn’t going to have any more human friends after the last few died. But this guy always had a way of making others laugh, including me. He convinced me to go bar hopping with him and I had to pretend to be drunk…”

“Vampires can’t get drunk?” I asked, raising my brows.

He shook his head.

“Not like humans can,” he answered. “Noah was easy to get along with and women loved him.

He paused and shook his head at the memory. I was assuming Noah was a womanizer, but I didn’t ask.

“He was the first and only human that I told I was a vampire.”

I gasped.

“You didn’t tell anyone else??” I asked.

“Not besides the Nightwalkers,” he answered “Noah was freaked out at first, but eventually he came around when he realized I wasn’t a threat to him. He actually got really invested in the vampire stuff. He asked a lot of questions.”

“Like I did?” I asked, remembering the night he revealed his secret to me, and I spent hours asking him questions.

Joseph nodded.

“I told him that I was a Retriever and he wanted to help me catch the new vampires that wandered into the human city,” Joseph said, his voice becoming sadder. “I refused his help. But we found ourselves in a situation where we could use a human to help us. A human outside the Nightwalkers because the vampires know the Nightwalkers. We needed someone they wouldn’t know. Noah was the prime choice. I was reluctant but I agreed to it. I figured if anything happened, the Nightwalkers were trained to handle it and they would keep him protected. I had my own part in the mission I had to focus on. But I trusted the organization to keep him safe.”

“And they didn’t?” My voice broke slightly.

“They tried,” he said, shaking his head. “But they didn’t anticipate a whole ambush. They attacked him before the Nightwalkers could get there. The chief at the time contacted me right away to abort the mission and I teleported to Noah when I heard he was in danger. I was there in seconds and was able to get the vampires….” he paused again to gather his thoughts. “I killed the one in charge.”

My heart broke for him and Noah.

“Noah was barely alive by the time I got to him. I tried to change him…but…”

“You don’t have to continue,” I said quickly. “I’m so sorry, Joseph.”

He was quiet for a moment before he said, “It took me a while to work with the Nightwalkers again. I don’t fully trust them and their capabilities of keeping people safe. But they are good at their jobs and this incident made them even better. Now they look at every aspect even more clearly. Mulligan took over for his father and he recruited even more people to help him run this organization. I trust that they won’t make the same mistake twice. But I don’t want to test that theory with—“

He stopped talking.

This time, I found the courage to reach my hand over to his arm and touch him lightly. As soon as we made contact, I felt an unfamiliar warmth spread through me. Tingles formulated on my fingertips and my cheeks reddened.

I knew he felt it too because his body tensed for only a moment before relaxing. He lifted his gaze to meet mine.

“I trust that you will keep me safe,” I told him, finding my voice. “I trust you… Joseph.”

He looked at me for a moment before nodding. He soon pulled his arm away from my touch and opened his car door.

“I have some work to do. I need to make a map and pinpoint all the areas to keep watch around your apartment. You should pack because we leave first thing in the morning.”

He left his car without another word.

…

I spent most of the evening packing what I could. I wasn’t sure what I would need, so I figured I’d just pack everything. Joseph has been quietly tucked away in his office.

I couldn’t stop thinking about his friend Noah and the fear that Joseph must be feeling. I could tell he blamed himself a lot for what happened. He wasn’t able to be there to save his friend, and it was destroying him.

I saw the sadness and felt his remorse. He was also angry. He found a way to forgive the Nightwalkers, but I don’t think he found a way to forgive himself.

At that moment, I had an idea.

I went over to my laptop, made a mental note to pack it, and opened a new document. Then I began to type a letter to Joseph from his friend Noah.

I told him that what happened was an accident and no one could anticipate it. I’m doing okay and don't worry about me. To not blame himself for what happened and that I’m not mad. I told him that I forgave him for not being able to turn me and that he should forgive himself too.

After I typed a full page of a letter, I signed Noah’s name and took it upstairs to the library so that I could print it.

I grabbed an envelope from the main desk of the library and sealed it. I put Joseph’s name on the front of the envelope and stared at it with a grin.

I went to Joseph’s office and took a deep breath before sliding it under the door.

I knocked twice to get his attention and from there… I waited.