Chapter 97

Tessa’s POV

Joseph looked almost mournful when he told me this story and my heart tugged for him.

“He didn’t handle the transition well at first,” Joseph explained. “He was angry with me for fucking up his fate. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to do it. I haven’t been able to do it again since.”

He went quiet for a moment as the memories surfaced in his mind.

“You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’t want to,” I said softly. “I understand.”

“No, you should know some of the backgrounds before we arrive,” he said, taking a deep breath. “At first, I thought he was dead. As did his doctors. But then he woke up and he was… hungry.”

Something was telling me he wasn’t talking about food. My stomach tightened at his words.

“Did he hurt anyone?” I was afraid to ask.

“Yes,” Joseph answered. “A lot of people died that night. It took me a while to find him and calm him down. I gave him blood from the blood bags I stole and made him go to school with me. I went back to the school to re-domesticate myself and we grew into better friends.”

“Oh, my god,” I gasped. “What happened afterward?”

“I took him with me back to the tribe,” he said with a shrug. We became close enough that I was able to call him my best friend. He forgave me for turning him saying that it was his destiny and mentioned something about having a dream days before I turned him.”

“A dream?” I asked, raising my brows.

He nodded.

“I guess the goddess came to him and told him his destiny was just beginning, or something like that. He thought she meant after death, but apparently, it was about being a vampire because that goddess ended up being the vampire goddess,” he explained.

“That’s amazing,” I breathed.

“Yeah, He’s a good guy and will do anything to protect those around him. He works closely with the warriors to protect our village.”

“You have warriors?” I asked, raising my brows.

Joseph nodded.

“Well, yeah. Of course. It’s dangerous otherwise,” Joseph explained. “We need the warriors to protect our kind or else we are vulnerable to attack. Took us a long time to gain warriors, but once we had them and they were fully trained, we were a stronger tribe.”

Holy hell. What was I getting myself into?

Joseph glanced over at my worried face, and I saw a smile tugging at his lips as he entwined his fingers through mine.

“Don’t worry,” he assured me with a soft smile. “You’ll be safe.”

I nodded and looked out the window. It was growing foggy, and we were starting to reach a higher elevation. I could see mountains in the distance through the fog, which looked gorgeous. I would never think that vampires lived in them.

We pulled over a couple of times to use the bathroom and eat. I offered to drive a few times to give him a break, but he refused. Once we reached a more mountainous area, we pulled over to take in the view.

It was the most breathtaking view I had ever seen. We saw a valley of water going around the bottom of the mountains and the stars sparkled so much.

“We are almost there,” Joseph said as we reached higher ground. My ears were popping from the altitude and my heart was racing against my chest.

I tried not to show it on my face though.

Within several minutes, we were approaching a large black gate with a few men standing nearby wearing dark armor. They had weapons in each section of their armor, and they wore helmets covering their faces. I knew without even looking at their faces that they were vampires.

Joseph stopped near the one in front and rolled down his window. I watched as all the guards formed a fist with their right hand and placed it over their chests. It was a sign of respect toward Joseph, it seemed.

Joseph mimicked the motion, nodding his head in appreciation before glancing in my direction.

“I brought a guest. You will treat her with as much respect as you treat the others.” Joseph’s voice rang with authority.

I couldn’t tell through their armored helmets, but I had a feeling they were looking at me, maybe assessing me. They were quiet. Only the sounds of my heartbeat could be heard.

“Hi,” I managed to say, giving them a small wave, and feeling incredibly lame.

Now they were looking at one another, but they still said nothing as they stepped inside.

“Welcome home,” one of them said to Joseph, completely ignoring my presence. His voice was indifferent. That wasn’t a good sign.

Soon, the gates were opening, and Joseph was rolling up the window before pressing the gas and entering the community.

“Well, that went well,” I muttered, staring out the window.

“They aren’t used to humans being here as real guests,” he explained.

I looked at him confused, unsure of what he meant. I was going to ask, but we were driving through what seemed to be a western town.

Seriously.

It was straight out of a Western movie.

It had to have been some kind of downtown area. There were buildings on each side of us. On the right side of the road appeared to be a restaurant, a bar, a couple of clothing stores, a shoe store, and a grocery store. On the left side were a bank, a coffee shop, a police station, and a building that had a sign in the front that read: Infirmary.

So, a hospital?

It was small.

We continued driving through the small downtown area and in the distance, on a hilltop, I saw what looked like a temple. It was made of stone and was incredibly tall. In front of it stood a beautiful marble statue of a woman with long flowing hair and a gorgeous dress. She had her hands placed in front of her like she was praying, and her head was tilted downward. But her eyes were open and overlooking the entire town.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the statue.

“Our goddess, Nyx,” Joseph answered. “That’s her temple. It’s where we pay our respects to her. Like a church. Every Sunday we have a ceremony at the temple.”

I realized that the door of the temple had the same symbol that Joseph had in his Villa. On the statue, she appeared to be wearing a necklace of the same symbol.

That was their goddess. The vampire goddess.

How beautiful.

There was another building we began to pass, and this building took my breath away. It sat near the temple and had a long driveway that rounded at the top for an easy turnaround.

There was a large fountain in the center of the turnaround, and it was surrounded by the greenest grass I had ever seen. It almost looked fake.

The building was white and must have had at least 10 stories.

My mouth dropped open.

Holy fuck.

It was a castle.

Did Joseph live there?!