Chapter 263

Tessa’s POV

Ruby’s voice sounded strained like it hurt her to speak. I could also tell she was guarded, which I couldn’t really blame her for. Her entire life was turned upside down and there was nothing she could do about it. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through; having to put her life on hold.

I was taken aback by her question though; Are you a vampire too?

Did she really think I was keeping that from her this whole time? I guess she really didn’t know what to believe.

I sighed and shook my head, keeping my gaze steadily on hers.

“No, I’m not,” I answered.

“But you knew about all…. this?” She asked, waving her arms around, gesturing to the room and Carter and then at Joseph.

“Vampires?” I asked. “Yes. I knew about them.”

“How long did you know?” She was quick with that question, and I could hear the hurt in her voice.

“This whole year,” I admitted.

Her breath hitched and she swallowed the lump in her throat as she nodded.

“And now I am one of them.” It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway, tears filling my eyes before I could keep them away.

I didn’t want to break down in front of her when she needed me to be strong for her. She should be the one breaking down, not me. I bit my lip to keep from sobbing.

“I’m so sorry…” I whispered, my voice cracking a little.

“How did this even happen?” She asked, glancing at Carter and then at Joseph. “How am alive right now?”

I furrowed my brows at her; had nobody bothered to explain anything to her?

I looked at Joseph with a deep frown, but it was Carter who answered my unspoken question.

“We hadn’t had the chance to explain everything to her other than the fact that she’s a vampire, we are vampires, and she’s in a village of vampires.”

I blinked at him a couple of times before glancing at Ruby who was red in the face and staring down at her lap.

I suppose it was only right that I explained things to her. So, I took a deep breath and was about to step toward her, but Joseph tightened his hold on my hand and his body stiffened. Ruby didn’t seem to notice though and kept her eyes fixed on her hands while she waited for one of us to say something.

“Ruby, what exactly do you remember before waking up here?” I decided to ask her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and her eyes looked almost thoughtful for a moment as she thought back to the last moment she remembered.

“Well…” she started to say, her brows knitting together. “I remember Carter coming to my apartment and wanting to talk. I kind of shunned him because he broke my heart…” her voice trailed off as her eyes met Carter’s.

He looked so sad by that memory and my heart tugged for them both. He reached his hand out and placed it on hers, she gave him a soft smile and he seemed to have relaxed some, but that sorrowful look never left his face.

“And then he took me to the train station because I had an interview in New York…” she said slowly, her face scrunching at the memory. “We kissed goodbye…and I boarded the train.”

“And then what?” I asked. “Did anything else happen after that?”

She closed her eyes as if she was trying to see the memory. After a moment of complete silence, her breath hitched, and her face scrunched up again as if she were in pain. A whimper left her lips and soon, tears were falling out of her eyes as she covered her face with her hands, shaking her head like she was trying to get the thoughts and memories out of her head.

“The screaming,” she murmured. “There was so much screaming and crying….and pain.”

Carter wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as she cried. I lowered my gaze, regretting bringing this up in the first place. Joseph’s hand went up my back as he tried to soothe me. He was able to read the pain on my face easily and he offered me a soft smile with compassionate and loving eyes.

“There was glass everywhere,” Ruby continued to murmur. “I think I was upside down… and then everything went dark. I died. I was dead and now I am not. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t experience it.”

“You were brain dead…” I whispered, still not believing how close I came to losing my best friend. “They were going to unplug you and then Carter gave you some of his blood.”

She raised her brows and looked at Carter. He really hadn’t told her any of this? I was shocked by that, and I knew it was evident on my face.

“I couldn’t just let you go, Ruby,” he whispered, cupping her face in the palm of his hands and kissing the bridge of her nose lightly, making her cheeks flush. “I would have done anything to keep you alive.”

“And giving me your blood would do that?” She asked, her brows furrowed.

“It was a chance,” he explained. “When a human dies with vampire blood in their system, it could turn them into a vampire too. It doesn’t often happen, but strong vampires were known to be successful. Bernard had turned many of us into the tribe, which is why we pledged our allegiance to him. You weren’t exactly dead yet, not until they unplugged you. So, I fed you some of my blood.”

“And then what?” She asked, sounding genuinely interested in the story now.

“And then we kind of kidnapped you from the hospital,” Carter said, gritting his teeth and preparing himself for the wrath of Ruby.

She shrieked loudly.

“You did what?!” She gasped, covering her face with her hands again. “Are you guys out of your minds? They are probably looking for me. What if they called my parents? Am I wanted??”

“Well, your body is,” I said, biting back a grin at the fact that Ruby sounded very much like her old self again.

“It’s not funny!” She whined.

Carter wrapped his arms around her again and pulled her close to his chest.

“It’s okay, Ruby. We are going to fix this. But yes, we had to take you from the hospital. With the chance of you waking up as a vampire, we couldn’t take the risk of you hurting someone there. So, we brought you back to our village infirmary and waited for you to wake up.”

“So, basically everybody thinks I’m a missing corpse?” She asked, dazed by this information.

“Kind of,” Carter admitted. “But we are going to fix it. Right, Joseph?” Carter gave Joseph a pleading look.

“Yes,” Joseph agreed, meeting Ruby’s eyes. “We are going to fix this. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

Ruby seemed to have calmed, and she nodded.

“So, everything is working again? Like my heart is beating?”

Carter nodded and said, “Yes. Once you die, all your organs stop working, but then like a clock, one by one they will start to turn on and operate while your body completes the change from human to vampire. Whatever illnesses or injuries you had previously, would be healed. And also, you won’t age anymore. You are now immortal.”

Her mouth fell open as she looked at each of us, trying to figure out if what Carter said was true. We only offered her short nods and awkward smiles.

“How am I going to explain that to anyone?” she murmured, her face still appearing shocked.

“Considering you were changed by somebody in our tribe, that makes you an automatic member. We take care of our own and we will get everything situated for you. You won’t ever have to worry about anything,” Joseph assured her.

She looked unsure and when her gaze met mine, I saw that her eyes were getting darker than they were only moments ago.

“I can smell your blood and hear your heart beating,” she whispered as she stared at me. “Why do you smell so good?”

Carter lifted the blood bag for her and she took it greedily, drinking every last drop of it until she was slurping the end of the bag. I winced, trying not to let that gross me out.

“Tessa is different,” Joseph explained to her. “She comes from a witch lineage and her blood is powerful. We only found this out recently. But it was a lot.”

Ruby’s brows furrowed as she stared at me and before she could ask me any questions I said, “We will talk about it later and I’ll tell you everything.”

She nodded, leaning her head on Carter’s shoulder.

“There’s one more thing you have to know,” Joseph told her; his voice soft and filled with compassion.

“Lay it on me,” she said, sounding very tired.

“This isn’t easy for me to say, but you’re going to have to put your life on hold. All your plans and goals, need to get pushed back,” he told her, making her lift her head to glare at him.

“What are you talking about? Why would I do that?” She quipped sharply, folding her arms across her chest.

“Because now that you are a new vampire, you now have to go to the vampire academy and actually learn how to be a vampire?”

“What?” She gasped. “I have to go to another academy?”

I knew she was holding back tears; Joseph nodded, and Carter held her even tighter.

“Yes,” Joseph answered out loud. “It’s not all that bad though. You’ll learn a lot and you are a smart girl, so I’m sure you’ll learn quickly.”

She swallowed as she continued to glare at Joseph.

“And how long is this academy?”

Everyone looked at one another sheepishly and then Joseph sighed as he met her eyes once again.

“It’s 4 years.”