by Martha Woods
“Sorry, we just lost a lot of time yesterday with everything that went on. I need to get to studying now,” Tessa quickly spat out, beelining for the door.
“Come on, Tess,” Kristian sighed, trying his best not to get frustrated with her.
“I’m sorry. We can talk later,” Tessa promised before stepping out the door.
“Don’t forget to—”
The door closed behind her. Tessa hurried downstairs, wanting to find one of the elders to ask about the possibility of it being a premonition. If it was, then why was it such an overwhelming worry? Did that mean it was bad? Walking into the kitchen, she was relieved to see that Marjorie was already up, fixing a pot of tea. Her pale blue eyes shifted over to Tessa. She looked as though she was about to smile before her thin lips pulled into a straight line. “What’s eating at you, dear?” she spoke.
She wasn’t sure if it was written on her face, or if it was Marjorie extraordinary magic that gave Tessa away. Marjorie poured them each a cup of tea and moved over to the dining table. Tessa moved to join her, adding some honey to her tea to give her something to fidget with. “I was wondering if you could tell me more about the gift of premonitions. When a witch starts to get them… how do they first present themselves?”
Marjorie scanned over her, studying her as though the reason she was asking such a thing would be obvious. “Well, it’s different for certain witches. Some start to have them as dreams, others get little snippets of a vision when they zone out. In some cases, it has hit the witch full force, suddenly having the ability to see into the future and call it at will.”
“What about… intuition?” Tessa asked, having to think of a word to call it. “Like a feeling in the pit of your stomach. One that won’t go away even though it has no reason at all to be there.”
“Hmm…” Marjorie sounded as the pondered over Tessa’s words, slowly stirring her tea. “I think I’ve heard of a couple of witches say they had something like that right before getting the gift. All of us may get it but never quite pick up on it being a symptom of premonitions,” she explained. “Do you have a feeling you can’t shake, my dear?”
Tessa nibbled her lip, her eyes shuffling around the room to look for any sign of Kristian. She hadn’t heard anyone come down the stairs, so he was probably still in bed. “I do… For some reason my mind just won’t let me talk to Kristian about Veronica. The very thought of having the conversation fills me with anxiety and worry. I shouldn’t be that concerned, though. I know he loves me, and he’s been calm toward me. He doesn’t seem upset by anything but the fact I’m acting weird.”
“It sounds like it could be very possible that it is the beginning stages of you getting premonitions. It could also just be paranoia, though. You know there’s only one way to get to the bottom of what it is,” Marjorie stated simply, holding Tessa’s gaze to show how serious she was.
“I know, I know,” Tessa muttered, biting so hard on her lip that she could have drawn blood. “I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it, Marjorie,” she frowned. Tessa brought the cup to her lips and took a sip of the tea. Instantly, her face screwed up as though she had just sucked on a lemon. It was disgusting. She had seriously forgotten that she was a vampire for a second. “I don’t like human things,” she said aloud, as though to remind herself as she pushed the cup away.
“Oh, that’s right,” Marjorie chuckled softly. “Sorry. We’ve just been so wrapped up in magic that sometimes I forget you aren’t just a young witch.”
“Me too,” Tessa smiled weakly.
“Good morning,” Silvia announced as she walked into the kitchen with Pearl and Selena close behind. It wasn’t long before Jared and Calla joined them as well. They all bustled about the kitchen to make themselves something to eat and drink before joining them at the table. By the time they were all sat in their usual spots, Marjorie had taken it upon herself to lead the lesson. Tessa did her best to pay attention, lack of sleep wearing on her.
* * *
Halfway through the night, the elders decided that she had enough knowledge on the basics of magic and needed to focus on combat. Tessa was hesitant at first, but accepted the new challenge, knowing the Calder could attack any day without any warning. They moved out into the backyard, where Jared lit tiki torches to provide them with some light, as well as keep the mosquitos at bay for the witches. To which Charley eloquently commented: “There are already enough bloodsuckers around”.
Selena was the first to spar with Tessa. They stood several yards apart with everyone on the sidelines. “We’re going to start off very slow, ladies. Selena, let Tessa get her footing before giving her your all. Of course, don’t try to actually maim one another. We’ll be quick to heal either of you if something does occur, though,” Silvia explained.
Both women nodded and then looked to one another. “Selena, you start it off,” Pearl instructed.
The young witch cracked a wicked smile before charging at Tessa, her hands raising and setting ablaze as she did. When she grew close to Tessa, though, Tessa used her inhuman speed to dodge her attack. “Very good, Tessa!” Silvia cheered, clapping her hands. Tessa did her best not to let it distract her, her eyes staying glued to Selena. She huffed and blew a curl from her face before charging at Tessa again, this time with gusts of wind swirling in Tessa’s direction. Doing her best to stand her ground, Tessa waited for her to draw close before focusing her energy on using telekinesis to lift a rock and place it in Selena’s path to trip her.
It worked, the petite witch falling to the ground with a thud. As Tessa moved over her, Selena sent out a whip of fire at Tessa’s feet. Tessa tried to jump out of her line of attack, but the flames managed to graze her bare ankles. She howled in pain. Rage suddenly jolted through her. Effortlessly picking Selena up by the hair, Tessa launched her across the grass.
“Remember what we said, ladies. Gentle!” one of the witches called, but Tessa wasn’t paying attention enough to identify the voice. She was standing over Selena in the blink of an eye, raising her hand to conjure fire. Selena saw what she was doing and quickly swooped her leg to the side and tripped Tessa. Tessa fell on her bottom and hissed, tackling Selena. The Firehaven witch’s eyes bulged and she struck Tessa in the chest with both hands, scorching her with fire.
Tessa’s resolve completely broke. Instead of crying like she anticipated, more rage filled her. The sound of Selena’s pulse suddenly rung through Tessa’s head like church bells. Acting solely on instinct, Tessa leaned over and latched onto Selena’s neck. Thick, warm blood rushed into Tessa’s mouth, and she gladly drank it down. It had the same spice to it that Calla’s blood had, and it was utterly addictive. Selena screamed at the top of her lungs, snapping Tessa out of the trance she had been in. As she already started to pull herself away from Selena, Jared was ripping Tessa away from the witch.
“I-I’m so sorry, Selena… I didn’t mean to,” Tessa stammered, the weight of her mistake already settling on her shoulders. The elders rushed over to Selena, while Calla went to Tessa to assess the burns on her. Jared quickly stuck his arm out to keep Calla at a distance, not wanting her near Tessa. “I-It was instinctual… She burned me a-and then I guess the vampire part of me took over… I was so mad. I couldn’t control it,” she explained. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I won’t hurt her or Calla, I swear.”
“You promised that back at the apartment,” Jared murmured. “It’s not something you can control fully. You’re adjusting still, even if you feel like you’ve mastered being around them.”
Tessa worried that Jared would now put his foot down and leave with Calla. “It was just because I had gotten hurt… I would never attack Calla again…”
“Tessa,” Jared began, looking down to her torso before back up to her, “You’re hardly burned. It looks more like a sunburn than anything.”
“Wha… what…” Tessa murmured, finally glancing down at herself. Her eyes widened. Jared was right. Just above the neckline of her shirt, there was a large red
dish pink area—not the raw and deep burn she expected. “It… it hurt so badly…”
“When was the last time you ate?” Jared questioned.
Tessa opened her mouth to respond and realized she didn’t know the answer to that. Had she eaten that day? She didn’t remember drinking any blood... As she pondered, she pinpointed the last time she recalled drinking blood was the night before, rather early in the evening. The Veronica thing had seriously distracted her, even from eating.
Jared sighed, able to read the look on her face to get his answer. “You have to stay fed and rested while a newborn, Tessa… It’ll make you extremely testy if you don’t. You can’t risk doing this again. The family has a zero tolerance rule when it comes to consuming human blood. That includes witches as well.”
Tessa’s eyes went over to Selena, who was finally standing from the ground. The witches had healed the bite on her neck, so the only evidence that it had ever happened was the lack of color in Selena’s face. Tessa suspected that it was more related to the shock of the attack, not the blood loss since she hadn’t drank that much. “Selena, I hope you know I truly hadn’t meant to… I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again, I swear on my life.”
Selena didn’t give any effort to smile, and couldn’t bring herself to look at Tessa. “It’s fine,” she tersely replied before heading into the house with the elders.
When they were inside, Jared finally let Tessa go. Guilt completely devoured Tessa. How in the hell had she slipped up again?! She didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially like that. It was so selfish, and she knew it was bound to be terrifying for the other person. Attacking humans for blood wasn’t who Tessa was at all, but she feared that the others would start to think that of her. Calla slowly approached Tessa, “Let’s get inside and get your burns treated.”
Tessa shook her head, “It can wait. Not like I’m going to die from it.” Since she was no longer in the moment, her skin no longer felt like it was boiling off, but just aching.
“There’s no need to suffer, though…” Calla tried to persuade.
“I’m fine,” Tessa muttered, moving over to the gazebo to be alone. She sat on the cushioned bench and stared up at the ceiling of the structure. How was it every step she went, she fucked up? Tessa had been doing so amazingly well with her lessons and being around the witches. Yet the moment they give her their trust to let her spar with them, she attacks them for blood. Jared told her it wasn’t her fault, but it sure felt like it was. Sure, in the moment Tessa hadn’t had control. However, she knew the dangers of not staying fed, and yet she allowed herself to stay so distracted with her thoughts that she forgot to eat. Hell, she bet that nothing would even come of Kristian and Veronica’s conversation and it would all boil down to Tessa being self-conscious and paranoid. That had possibly cost her the respect of the Firehavens as well as Jared. Bringing her knees up to her chest, she buried her face in them; she didn’t care one bit about the slight pain that came from having her knees pressed to the sensitive area.
She sat in complete silence for several minutes, an orchestra of crickets and frogs being the only noise to compete with the same woes and worries echoing through her head. Tessa heard the back door to the house open and close, but she had just assumed it was Charley wandering around as she usually did. When she felt a presence nearing her, Tessa finally looked up. Kristian was walking in her direction. Even though Tessa hadn’t thought her heart could plummet anymore, it somehow found the room to fall even more. She remained silent as he sauntered over to her and took a seat right next to her.
Kristian clasped his hands together on his lap, his emerald eyes studying Tessa. “Jared told me what happened,” he began quietly.
“Are they wanting to leave now?” she asked in a murmur, thinking perhaps Jared had been nice to her face but had told Kristian his true thoughts and feelings.
“No. He was a little upset, but he understood…” Kristian explained. “Why are you skipping meals?” he asked her rather straightforward.
Tessa looked away, looking to the large, open yard where fireflies twinkled here and there. “It’s not like I meant to.”
“Then what happened?”
“I… I was distracted,” Tessa mumbled.
“Damnit, Tessa. What’s going on? You need to talk to me. You’re missing meals, it doesn’t look like you’ve slept, and you feel a million miles away. Have I done something to upset you?” Kristian asked, finally breaking his polite silence on the way she was acting. He hadn’t wanted to corner her about her feelings, wanting her to come to him with her problems rather than him having to drag them out of her.
That same, anxious feeling filled Tessa when she even thought about Veronica. And despite how much she wanted to avoid it, she knew that she needed to face the problem already. It was looming over her and making her miserable. “I’ve got a bad feeling about what you have to say about the conversation that took place between you and Veronica,” she reluctantly admitted. “I don’t know why, but I can’t get rid of it. I wanted to talk to you before to get it over with, but every time I even think about it, I get so anxious that I would rather run away than deal with it. It’s consumed me so much that I really haven’t been able to think of anything else. The only thing that actually got my mind off it was sparring with Selena, but I fucked that up…”
Tessa hoped that he would chuckle at her, call her ridiculous for worrying so much and pull her into his arms and hug her tightly to assure her nothing was going on. Yet, the laughter nor the hug came. His posture actually stiffened and his eyes peeled away from her. “I see,” he responded, his voice hardly even a whisper.
“I don’t have a reason to be so worried… do I?” Tessa asked.
Kristian sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, “Not exactly… There were some things I need to talk to you about, though.”
Tessa’s throat tightened. So she had been worried for a reason? “What is it exactly you need to talk to me about?”
“There’s going to be some changes taking place, and they need my help,” Kristian explained.
“What… what do you mean?” Tessa asked.
Kristian nibbled his lip, “I’m not doing much of anything here, Tessa. While I love spending time with you, I’m not needed here. The witches have you completely occupied with magic, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Just… the family is in serious disrepair right now, and they could really use my help,” he explained. His eyes fell to the ground as he continued after a short pause, “We’ve tried brainstorming and thinking of any way to replenish our numbers. The only option we have now is changing humans to vampires. Veronica wants my help with it, knowing that I’ll be efficient and not endanger any lives. Most of our vampires aren’t as old as myself, Veronica, and Jared. They run a higher risk of leaving a body trail.”
“Does that mean Jared will be helping out too?” Tessa questioned. So far, she didn't understand what would be so upsetting to her. Tessa really didn’t see him during the night during her lessons, so if he wanted to go out and help the family, that didn’t bother her at all.
“Perhaps. Veronica still has to talk to him about it. With how ready he was to leave with Calla, I’m not so sure he would be willing to do what Veronica is planning.”
“Wait… what exactly is Veronica planning?” Tessa questioned, her worry growing again.
Kristian wrung his hands together, sighing before forcing himself to turn to face her. “The best thing we could do is go on the road and travel town to town to recruit just one person at a time. It’ll be the safest way to do so, that way there isn’t a concerning number of missing persons in one area. It’s what Ally did all those years ago, and how she happened into all of us. It’ll be time-consuming… But in the end, it will be worth it.”
Tessa frowned deeply, “How long would it take?”
“I’m not very sure… Could just be a couple of months, could be a year… maybe a little more.”
Tessa was on her feet and bug-eyed. “You�
�re telling me that you guys are trying to abandon Calla and I when the Calder could come to attack us at any moment? Jesus Christ, Veronica had been chastising us about that very fact when she came over.”
“I know… I know how it sounds,” Kristian began, standing to pace over to her. “Why do you think I was talking to her so long? I didn’t like the idea of it either at first, but the more we talked, the more it made sense. The Firehavens offered you their complete protection if you were to join them as their High Priestess, and that they would accept Calla back into the clan. While the Calder are ballsy, I haven’t heard any of the witches talk about the Calder attacking their home. We also hope to stay in the surrounding states, that way it won’t take as long and we can travel back if we are needed.” Kristian locked his arms around her and stared deeply into her chocolate eyes, “I swear to you, I will run back to you if anything were to happen. I’ll keep daylight drugs on me at all times, just in case I need it to make it to you. And I know that a possible year sounds like a long time to you, but it’s just a moment in the eternity we will spend together.”
As romantic as that sounded, it didn’t settle Tessa at all. “There’s only an eternity if we’re both alive, Kristian. You’re wanted by the Calder too… Being separated like that will make it easier for them to attack you…” Tessa tried to reason with him.
“We talked about that too, and we don’t think it will be a problem. Mind you, the Calder are handling a problem of their own right now. They lost a lot of lives as well. And while I know it’s wrong and sounds terrible, they are a lot more focused on you than they are us. They are bound to find out that you are with the Firehavens. While I’m sure they would never go through with an attack on the Firehaven home, they sure as hell will be trying to figure out how. That time it does will give the family enough time to repopulate.”
Tessa’s jaw dropped. “You’re just as crazy as your sister!” she exclaimed. “You’re putting an entire clan of witches in harms way just so you guys can hopefully recruit new vampires. You’re not thinking about my safety or Calla’s or the other witches. The only thought on yours and Veronica’s minds are of the family.”