Born in the town of Blue Earth, Tessa's family, the Hamricks, have been townies for at least four generations. Her father, his father, and fathers before were employed at the mine. Male members of her family either worked the mine or the small family homestead. Tessa has no brothers, only a sister. The fool girl ran off to shake her tail feathers in Vegas. (She wound up shacked up with the roulette dealer at his trailer and a professional drunk.) They don't talk much. Tessa doesn't have time for the hoity toity city folk, putting on airs. Hmph.
Tessa is small town to the core. She wanted no truck with higher education or even really leaving the place. She never had a desire to go to college, so after schooling, she stuck around town. Her parents needed her anyway around the house, or so that was the excuse. The farm wasn't a huge one by any stretch, but definitely easier to manage with a couple of extra hands on deck. The family homestead is a small farm with the typical yard full of chickens, a few cows and some horses. What area the animals weren't taking up, the family struggled with growing vegetables and grain. (Which is pretty darn difficult in the desert.)
It wasn't long after high school when a young man named Bo Hodgens came through town. {Handsome, charming, with a good deal of Latino blood and an accent to match.) That wasn't the name he was using of course, breezing through on fake id's and 'looking for work'. This work he was looking for turned out to be a nasty demon of Native American origins. Bo didn't have any plans on involving the local townsfolk in his endeavors, but Tess took a shine to him, and vice versa. The demon caught up with them while out on what could be construed as a date.. and since she can't leave well enough alone.. Bo had to cave and tell her that he was a hunter. A hunter as in going after demons, monsters and all that go bump in the night.
Hunters don't stick around in one place long, and that was no different for Bo. When he left, Tess came along for the ride. Mainly it was to be with him, and partly because it was fascinating to her. He taught her what he knew and she was a pretty quick learner. Handling a rifle loaded with rocksalt was nothing new to her. She already knew how to handle a gun, just her new targets were on the scary "Boo!" side. Along with Bo on the road, she met other individuals living the same life they were. It was odd to encounter this whole hidden way of life that was new to her.
They made a fairly decent team and after a couple of years, they tied the knot and soon Tess was pregnant. (She's mortified, but secretly thrilled that they were married by an Elvis impersonator up in Vegas. It's the height of class, you see.) Being a pretty blunt and honest speaking woman, Tess wasn't about to raise her baby on the road, living this life. So it was back to Blue Earth they went. Tess stayed put, working and helping at the family home and taking a job at the general store. It wasn't too weird for someone to run off from the town, to sow their oats, or to come back. (If they were a bit daft.) Bo didn't and wouldn't stay put, the life of a hunter was too strong. So they put out the story that Tess's loving husband was a hard working truck driver and was on the road constantly. He wasn't gone so much that wife and son forgot about his existence, and another child was had by the couple. A girl in fact, given the unfortunate name of Abilene.
Tess raised her kids with a firm but loving hand. (Even if a bit stifling at times.) She held down the homefront while Bo was off stabbing vampires and killing God knows what. As their son, Trey, got older, Bo started training him up as a hunter and when Tess found out? She threw a fit. An Armageddon sized fit. That would mean her baby boy would be on the road, and he could get killed or hurt, or any number of nightmare scenarios a mother could have. Naturally, any child of Tess's was bound to be as bullheaded as their mother and father, so once Trey hit 18, he joined his daddy on the road. About four years behind Trey, Abilene broke her mother's heart and hightailed it outta town to work in Vegas.
Not much changes for Tess these days. When she's not working at the general store, she's tending to the house. It's been about thirty years since she left this town, and now that her kids are grown up? She just doesn't have much urge to get out and see things. Which is fine by her, since her husband left her watching over his musty books, some weapons, and a few artifacts that she hasn't a clue what they're for or what they do. She only cared about keeping them down in the basement and put out of reach of the kids. Now that there aren't kids underfoot, it's still prudent to keep them out of sight and under wraps.
