Chapter 306

Tessa’s POV

“Ruby!” I cried as I pressed the phone to my cheek. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to Ruby; it had to have been months ago. Usually, she spends her phone calls on Carter. I never really took it personally because their relationship was just beginning when she got changed into a vampire and then shipped away to the academy. It didn’t have any time to blossom.

“It’s so good to hear your voice,” she sniffled. “I was so scared for days I couldn’t think straight. I was so relieved when Joseph told me that you were safe.”

“It’s such a crazy story,” I breathed, leaning back in my chair. I really didn’t want to talk about this openly here, but my office was pretty soundproof thankfully and it’s not like my coworkers cared about who I’m talking to. They mainly kept to themselves; so much so, that I hardly see anyone else wandering around the office. I think most had left that night anyway; the only ones who remained were Ashley and Morgana and they looked like they were about to leave soon too.

Each of us has a set of keys so we can open the close the office when we arrive and leave; so, neither of them needs to wait for me before they leave for the night.

“How are you though?” I asked, blinking away the tears in my eyes. “How is the academy treating you?”

“It’s a lot different than I expected,” she said honestly. “I thought it was going to be a place of torment for vampires, but it’s nothing like that. It’s an actual academy like the one we went to. There are professors and tutors; I have to go to nightly classes. 4 of them each night to be exact. They give us exhausting homework; we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They let us drink wine during dinner which is laced with blood,” she went on to explain. “It’s how we keep the cravings from getting too bad and it helps. I’m in a section that doesn’t require a lot of blood-lust training. Besides the first time I’ve changed, I haven’t really lost my mind for blood. Sure, the craving is there, but it’s manageable and I still have my sanity intact. Oh, Tessa, I wish you could be here with me, but I understand why that’s not allowed and I understand why we aren’t supposed to have too much contact with the outside world. The outside influences can be difficult on our progress—”

She was rambling and I knew I needed to slow her down before she talked her head off.

“Woah, Ruby, slow down,” I chuckled. “I’m glad you are having a good time there and I’m glad you like it. Did you make any new friends?”

I already knew the answer because Joseph had already told me some stuff, but I’d like to hear it from her.

“Sorry,” she said, taking a breath. “I guess I got carried away. I just haven’t spoken to you in so long and I missed you. There’s so much to tell you. And yes, I made a couple of friends while here. My closest friend is my roommate, Lucy. You’ll like her. She’s down to earth and very sweet and funny. She’s had a hard past, but we got to this school around the same time, so we clicked immediately being the newest vampires here.”

“I’m so glad you have somebody to rely on there,” I breathed. “Does she know about your visions?”

“It’s hard to hide from her considering sometimes I’ll wake up screaming or crying,” she told me, her voice taking on a dark edge. I knew this topic was difficult for her, but I’ve been dying to know what these visions were like.

“I’m sorry, Ruby,” I whispered. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable with my questioning.”

“No, it’s okay. I get it. If roles were reversed, I’d be all over you for details,” she told me honestly. “It’s just that I never really expected something like this to happen to me. Did Joseph tell you, his suspicions?”

“You mean about the fact that you’re one of the three prophets of the Goddess?” I asked her. “Yeah, it was actually a group conversation. We were all thinking it when Anna explained what the three prophets were.”

“I was reading about the prophets after I got my first vision. I heard there were other prophets too, but they aren’t as accurate, and their visions can easily be changed without interference. I didn’t tell Joseph this… but Lucy also said she thinks I’m the Saving Grace.”

My mouth nearly fell open.

“Seriously? Your roommate?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “It just seemed too incredible to believe. Why me? I’m not anyone special and I didn’t think the goddess even noticed me let alone chose me to be one of her prophets.”

“Awe Ruby, you are more special than you think,” I tell her honestly.

“That’s what everyone says,” she muttered. “But I don’t feel special. I’ve been a human disowned by her family for longer than I could remember and now suddenly, I’m important to the vampire goddess.”

“She’s actually the supernatural goddess,” I told her. “She doesn’t just look over vampires. She looks over all things supernatural, which includes witches and humans with special abilities. Maybe you always had these abilities, and they just came out after you made the change.”

She was quiet for a moment like she was really thinking about what I had just said.

“I honestly hadn’t thought about that,” she murmured. “I don’t think that crossed anyone's mind yet. Do you really think I could have had these abilities deep inside of me all along?”

“I honestly do,” I told her. “Just like I’ve had my abilities for as long as I could remember. Maybe your abilities didn’t come out until a certain age like mine. You just turned 24, so that could be it.”

“Holy hell, Tess. I honestly hadn’t even thought about that,” she gasped. “I did just turn 24 and a few months later, after I made the change, I got these abilities.” She goes quiet again before saying, “Joseph thinks my accident wasn’t an accident and I was always meant to be a vampire.”

“Do you think that?” I asked her.

“I’m not sure what to think anymore but I thought that was a Ludacris thought at the time. Now, I’m not so sure,” she confessed. “It’s all so much. But if this is true and I’m the prophet of Saving Grace, I could help a lot of people.”

“I know,” I told her with a smile, even though she couldn’t see me. “We are going to make quite a team when you get out of there.”

“Who are the other prophets? Do you know them?”

“I know one of them,” I told her. “Anna. She’s Bernard’s wife, the overseer of the mountain tribe where Joseph comes from. Anna is the prophet of death. If someone she’s seen in passing is going to die soon, or because of a large event that’s going to happen, she will have a vision about it. Their deaths are set in stone and there’s no saving them. You can’t run from fate.”

“But my visions?” She asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. “They aren’t set in stone, right? I can save them?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Unless Anna has the same vision, which isn’t likely. There must be a reason you are seeing the vision too. But usually, those in your vision can be saved and those in hers can’t.”

“That must be hard for her,” Ruby said, and I knew tears were probably forming in her eyes. “I read somewhere that the prophet of death can see someone’s life clock as well when she looks into their eyes. She can see when they are going to die if she concentrates hard enough, she can even trigger her vision and see how it happens.”

“I didn’t hear about that; she’s never actually explained her abilities to me,” I said in wonder, suddenly very curious about it. “I’ve only seen her have her vision once and it wasn’t controlled.”

“If a vision happens out of her control, it must have been something that the Moon Goddess really wanted her to see. At least that’s what one of the books I read said,” Ruby explained. “For the most part, her visions should be controlled. It’s the only one that could be controlled. The Moon Goddess is the one who controls them. So, if something happens and it’s in my power to save them, the Moon Goddess will give me a vision of the situation.”

“I didn’t know that,” I whispered. “So, Anna can control her powers?”

“I believe so. But you’d have to ask her for certainty,” Ruby said. “Who was her vision about? The one that you witnessed?”

I shuddered at the thought; I didn’t like thinking about someone I knew dying.

“Bernard,” I told her honestly. “Her husband.”

“Oh, my Goddess…” she whispered. “That must have been difficult for her. How did it happen?”

“There’s war,” I told her. “I’m not sure what triggers it. But there’s a battle that Bernard was a part of. She’s not sure when it will happen, but it has to be in the near future. He gets slaughtered in this war and Joseph becomes the new Overseer.”

“It must have been hard for her to watch the man she loves die,” she whispered and I knew at that moment, she was thinking about Carter.

“It was; it took a lot out of her,” I told her honestly. “But she’s come to terms with it.”

“I don’t think she could fully come to terms with something like that,” Ruby murmured. “Oh, what about the Prophet of New Hope?”

“What about it?”

“Who is it?” Ruby asked.

“My grandmother,” I said with a fond smile. “She was the prophet of New Hope. I’m not sure who it was before her. But she was the last known one. She had a vision about my birth and my destiny.”

“That’s pretty incredible, Tess. But who’s the new prophet?”

“What?”

“Your grandmother is no longer alive, right?” She asked, sounding confused.

“That’s right; she died when I was very little. I barely remember her,” I told her.

“So, there must be a new prophet. When a prophet dies, another is created. There will always be three Prophets of the Goddess.”

My heart fell deep into my stomach because Anna had said that same exact thing, I just never bothered to ask this same question.

“I… I’m not sure,” I said, suddenly deep in thought.

Who was the Prophet of New Hope?