Tessa’s POVI woke up early so I could make some finishing changes and revisions to my short story before I sent it in by the 10 am deadline.Ruby left her room, already fully dressed.“Good morning,” Ruby said with a smile. “Have you been up all night?”“No, I got a few hours of sleep. I just want this paper to be perfect,” I explained to her.This was the first time I had written so fluently in the process of creation. Stories like this had never come so effortlessly before. I was nervous about sending this in, but at the same time, I was also excited.Ruby grabbed a pop tart and sat at the kitchen table while I finished.“Did you already finish your paper?” I asked, peering over at her.“I submitted it last night,” she told me, but I could see the worried look on her face. “If I continued working on it, I would have ruined it. I just wanted to get it over with.”I thought about asking her what she wrote about, but I thought it might have been better if neither of us knew too many d

Tessa’s POVI felt my body tremble under the intensity of his stare. He was only inches from me, and I saw how red his eyes had gotten.“I’m not trying to look at your neck,” I said to him in a small voice. “I thought I saw something on your shirt I was trying to get for you.”It was a lame excuse and telling from his expression, he knew it. He released his hold on me, allowing me to move from beyond the wall he had me pinned against.His expression was back to normal, and I felt like I could finally breathe, at least for a moment.“You can leave now,” he ordered, keeping his tone low and his eyes away from me.“I’m sorry—”“I don’t know what any of this was about, but don’t make these excessive moves again,” he said, sending a shiver to course through my body.I quickly nodded my head, showing him that I understood.“It won’t happen again,” I assured him.I mean that as well. It was clear to me now that I was hallucinating the entire time. Joseph was never there last night. He only s

Tessa’s POVI spent most of the night researching vampires and finding a lot of information about them. Of course, these were all stories, but with all the evidence I already accumulated these last couple of days, things were finally starting to add up.Joseph teaches classes at night and keeps his windows shaded in both his house and his office. I thought it was strange how dark he liked things. It was almost like he was avoiding the sun. Most of the articles I had read during the course of the night all mentioned that vampires burn in the sun.I remember his eyes turning red and his ability to suppress Brian so easily. Not to mention the bite marks and hallucinations.I know I’m not crazy. These things happened, and they were very real. I remember the moonlight hitting his features so perfectly, lighting up his entire face.There was no mistake. It was definitely him.The correspondence of these details made me feel both nervous and excited. My body grew warm as I thought more about

Tessa’s POVMy entire body had gone numb.The other students had silenced, and their attention was directly on me. I shouldn’t have been so careless. Now they know that I’ve been here before.“Yes, we knew one another from before I came to teach at the school,” Joseph spoke up, turning all our attention to him.My heart was about to burst out of my chest at any moment.What was he doing?“We’ve been pen pals for a short while,” Joseph continued. “I’ve been acting as a mentor to her.”Everyone looked back at me with wide and curious eyes.“You and Joseph Evergreen were pen pals?!” One student gasped.“You are so lucky, Tessa!” Another student chimed in.“How did you end up pen pals with him?”I met Joseph’s eyes. He watched me like he was waiting for me to tell them the story. To see what I can come up with.Maybe this was a game to him, maybe he enjoys watching me squirm like this.I turned my attention to the other students. They were all eager for me to say something in response to

Tessa’s POVI didn’t give Joseph a direct answer.I only stared at him before I found the courage to turn away and go back into the bathroom. Joseph waited in the study a little longer while I washed my hands, acting as if I was actually using the bathroom.I opened the bathroom door and saw Morgan waiting.She looked at me curiously and then did a wiggle in her spot, indicating that she really had to use the bathroom. I apologized for taking so long before stepping aside for her to run inside. Soon, she slammed the door shut.I looked at Jospeh’s office door to see that it was still sealed tightly. He must be waiting for me to return to the group before exiting. I made my way back into the living room and froze when I saw Joseph sitting on the couch with his leg crossed.It was like he had never moved.I was stunned.“Welcome back, Tessa,” he said coolly. “I was just telling the others about one of my favorite books that I just grabbed from my study.”Ruby waved me over, but I feared