Chapter 346

Tessa’s POV

Most of the coven stayed with me in my father’s home. Esme went out to help the police look for Penny.

There was no way I was going to leave my father alone if Penny was still out there and planning on killing him. My father and I talked a lot about everything that had happened, and he apologized countless times even though I told him it wasn’t necessary.

None of this was his fault and I hated that he was blaming himself.

He set up sleeping bags, and air mattresses and pulled out the couch for everyone to sleep on. He has one guest bedroom that Laura and Austin occupied. Joseph and I were going to sleep in my childhood room, but I really didn’t want to leave my father and plus, I had missed him throughout these years.

Even though he was in my life these past few years, with Penny around, we didn’t really have a great relationship. Now I understood why; because Penny had her claws dug deep into him.

“You’re leaving me?” Joseph asked with a pout as I stood at the doorway of my childhood room door.

I gave him a small and exhausted smile, drained from the day and night we had. My heart was obliterated in more ways than I could count. Joseph had been trying to get a hold of Carter for the last hour and I had been trying to get a hold of Amelia, but neither of them was answering their phones.

Most everybody was sleeping, and the farm had been cleaned from the gruesome battle. I was pretty much checked out for the day so the only thing I could muster was a weak smile that I knew didn’t reach my eyes.

“Just for tonight,” I told him. “I need my dad.”

Joseph looked like he wanted to protest; I knew it was hard for him to let me out of his sight after the night we had. But he soon sighed and then nodded.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he told me.

I nodded and slipped out of the room. I went down the hallway and knocked on my father's bedroom door before opening it. My father was seated on his bed, under the comforter, with his glasses on. In his hands, he had a picture frame and there were tears in his eyes.

The sight hurt me even further and I couldn’t help my own tears in my eyes.

“Hey, sweet girl,” he said, motioning for me to get into bed with him.

Like a little girl who had just woken up from a nightmare, I quickly ran into his bed and slipped under the covers, tucking myself into his side.

I peeked at the picture he was holding, and I saw my mother’s smiling face and bright twinkling eyes as she looked down at me as an infant in her arms. My father's arms were wrapped around her as he too was looking down at me with a smiling face.

“Are you okay?” I asked, peeking up at him.

He sighed, tracing my mother's face with his thumb.

“I was just lost in thought,” he said softly. “So much had been forgotten because of her spell. Including how deeply I was in love with her and how much I truly missed her.”

“I don’t think you ever forgot how much you loved her, Dad,” I told him, my vision becoming blurry with tears.

“I let another woman into my heart after promising your mother I would never remarry,” he said, his voice dropping to a choked whisper. “I stopped visiting her grave…”

“Mom wouldn’t have wanted you to spend the rest of your life alone,” I told him, snuggling even closer to him. “She loved you and she would want you to be happy. Maybe Penny wouldn’t have been her first choice but remaining single because of a promise you made to her isn’t something she would want for you.”

“I put you in danger,” he said, shaking his head. “This is all my fault. If I had just listened to you in the beginning.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I assured him. “It was the spell Lucias put on you. It kept you under Penny’s control. I knew you were under a spell when you started defending her a few weeks ago. It was only a matter of time before it was broken. I knew I’d get you back at some point.”

He put the picture on the nightstand and rested his head on mine.

“I love you, sweet girl,” he murmured. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened in my life and I’m sorry I missed so much of your life.”

“You’re here now,” I whispered, feeling sleep overtake me. “That’s all that matters…” I added.

“Maybe we can visit your mother’s grave soon? Instead of yearly, we should go at least monthly.”

I smiled at that thought.

“How about every Sunday?” I asked him.

I felt him smiling.

“I like that idea,” he whispered as he turned off his bedside lamp. “Now, get some sleep.”

…..

Third Person POV (Rick)

Tonight was the night that Penny supposedly killed him. If she wasn’t in the area, he couldn’t see how she could achieve such a thing, but Rick wasn’t going to question Tessa anymore; he’d learned his lesson about that.

Tessa had been a mess all day; Rick could hear them talking in the living room about her friend Ruby and his friend Carter.

“Still no word on Carter?” Tessa had asked.

“He turned his phone off,” Joseph sighed. “Or maybe it died.”

“Yeah, Amelia turned hers off too,” she muttered, sounding defeated. “She wasn’t breathing, and she had no heartbeat… you saw the blood in her eyes, Joseph… there was no way she survived.”

Joseph shushed her, trying to soothe her as he wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her into him. Tessa openly wept in his embrace.

“And what about you?” Tessa whimpered. “Bernard is gone. We must go to the mountain village and inform everybody. Oh, Goddess… Anna is going to be crushed.”

“Something tells me she already knows,” Joseph sighed, sadness clear in his tone. “But yes, everyone else needs to be informed. Bernard named me the new Overseer.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t really let him down,” Joseph said, sounding defeated. “It was his dying wish after all…and I made a promise that I’d take care of the tribe.”

While they were talking, Rick slipped outside to check the damages of his farm. Surprisingly, a majority of the mess was cleaned up last night and there was only minor damage to the exterior of the barn and stables.

The sounds of the horses drew his attention and Rick narrowed his eyes at the stable door which was flapping open.

Something was wrong; he could feel it in his bones and panic consumed him. But he wasn’t thinking clearly; he needed to get to the horses and make sure they were okay. He rushed from his house and across the field until he reached the stable but once he was inside, nothing could have prepared him for the horror he was about to see.

His entire body froze when he saw a pale-faced Penny, covered head to toe in blood, drinking the blood of a dead horse.

“Penny?!” Rick gasped, disbelieving what he was seeing.

“Blood,” Penny spoke in a raspy tone as she looked up at him; her normally gorgeous blue eyes were bloodshot and filled with hatred. “I need more blood.”

“You’re going through a withdrawal. If you just hang on…we can—”

“I need more blood, now!!!” Penny hissed, blood splattering from her lips. “And you smell so delicious, Rick.”

As she spoke, she slowly stood to her feet; it was at that moment he noticed that Penny was naked! She had completely lost her mind!!

She was unstable in every way and Rick was very nervous about being in her presence.

“Penny, you don’t want to do this. We are married. You love me; I’m your husband,” Rick pleaded to her, trying to keep a calm composure.

If anything, he could at least try to speak to her heart and change her mind about her plans. But the look in her eyes told him that it wasn’t going to happen.

“I never loved you!” She hissed. “I only used you so I could get my hands on the Heavenly Heart! How could I possibly love a human?” She barked out a bitter laughter as she said that last part. “You were nothing to me… but now… you are my dinner.”

“Penny, no!!” He shouted just as Penny lunged at him, her sharp fangs elongated and dripped with horse blood, ready to pierce his flesh and drain him of every last drop of his blood.

But just before she was able to pounce on him, the sound of a gunshot exploded in Rick’s ear, nearly making him go defeat. The scent of gunpowder filled the air, and the remaining horses began to freak out in their individual stalls.

Rick expected to feel the pain from the bullet in his flesh, but he felt nothing. It only took him a minute to realize the bullet wasn’t meant for him. The look on Penny’s face could only be described as horror.

The bullet wound on her forehead oozed with blood just before she fell to the ground. It was a silver bullet and Rick knew she couldn't survive this. He released a shaky breath and felt his body weaken.

He turned slightly to see Tessa standing beside him, holding the gun in her hands and tears in her eyes.

Joseph was right behind her, attempting to take the gun from her trembling hands.

He finally got the gun from her, and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing in his chest as he soothed her.

“It’s okay… it’s over. It’s going to be okay…” he kept whispering to her. Then he looked at Rick, their eyes meeting as he continued to soothe her. “It’s all over now. We are safe…”

“Dad?” Rick heard Tessa’s soft voice and she lifted her head from Joseph’s chest to look over at him with tear-filled eyes. It nearly brought Rick to his knees to see the sorrowful look in his daughter's eyes.

“Oh, sweet girl,” he said, opening his arms for her.

Just like she used to when she was a little girl, she ran into his embrace. She cried into him while Joseph took out his phone and called Chief Mulligan to come and deal with Penny’s body.

“I’m so sorry, Dad,” Tessa cried. “I know you loved her, or at least you thought you did. I’m sorry you got roped into this mess.”

“Sssh, Tess,” he whispered, holding his daughter tighter. “You don’t need to apologize. None of this is your fault. What matters is that we are all safe now. There’s no more danger lurking around the corner. We can finally live our lives.”

She nodded and sniffled.

“I really tried to like her,” she murmured, and he could hear the hint of humor in her voice; it made him chuckle.

“I think I’m swearing off women forever,” Rick teased. “No more dating for this old man.”

She laughed and pulled away from him, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“You aren’t old, Dad,” she replied.

“Nightwalkers will be here soon to take care of this mess,” Joseph said, interrupting their conversation.

Rick nodded.

Joseph wrapped an arm around Tessa and kissed the top of her head; Rick couldn’t help but smile seeing his daughter lean into Joseph affectionately. He could see their love for one another, which warmed his heart.

“What do you say we pack our things and go home?” Joseph asked her.

She looked uncertain for a moment and Rick winked at her.

“Go on, sweet girl. You don’t need to worry about me. I got the animals to keep me company and a funeral for a horse to prepare for.”

Tessa nodded solemnly.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, Tess.”

She looked up at Joseph.

“Let’s go home.”