Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (2 page)

God, what is happening to me?

Yeah, that was the problem. Gomez had a filthy mouth and no manners. He had grey fur and a black mask around his eyes with long white stripes, which made him look like a standard raccoon, despite the fact that he was a pervert.

‘There was a slight problem. Quentin and me, well, we were attacked in my apartment and he’s in the hospital at the moment,’ I explained.

‘Hospital? Holy fuck, is he okay? Is he going to die?’

‘No, Quentin is fine, just a bit strained. He should be out of the hospital tomorrow, but he asked me to check on you.’

‘Poor Quini,’ Gomez cried out. ‘Do you think you can lift me up for a cuddle?’

‘No, no cuddles. Have you had anything to eat? What about going for a quick walk?’ I asked, trying to check if his bowl in the kitchen was full. Gomez was more intelligent than any other animal, but he couldn’t look after himself. I refilled his bowl with water and added some dry chicken to the other one. It looked like he was sorted and he didn’t need me to be there with him.

‘Maybe we could have some fun while Quini is out dying up there. How about you show me your moves? You know after such a trauma, I could be scarred for life.’

I rolled my eyes. That raccoon kept throwing all these sexual remarks at me. I couldn’t understand how those two were able to live together without any conflicts since Quentin didn’t have a sense of humour.

‘I’m here to see if you need anything, so just cut the crap and tell me what you want. I need to be in work soon and I don’t need this today.’

‘All right, let’s just watch
This Morning
together and I promise I won’t say anything about your arse.’

I sighed, and after making a large cup of coffee, I agreed to watch the morning show with Gomez, just to keep him a company.

When I finally left Quentin’s house, I took the tube to work, as it was close to nine o’clock. It was morning rush hour and I couldn’t find any free seats in the tube. Rufus was planning to pop into the office, so I didn’t want to be late, despite the fact that I didn’t know if I actually slept or not. I felt oddly calm when I got to the street outside the office. For the first time since last summer my energy was out of my system. I didn’t have to worry about casting a spell or breaking up the next glass. I felt great, like one of those times after sleeping with Nathaniel.

You just don’t want to go there, right?

I stepped into the office of Paranormal Personnel where I worked as a recruitment consultant. In my day job, I dealt with employment recruitment for all the paranormal creatures that lived in London. Witches, vampires, werewolf’s, shifters, giants, elves, fairies, shifters and hags coexisted with ordinary people. Most humans had no idea that supernatural creatures had been living amongst them for thousands of years. We knew how to use magic to keep them in the darkness.

‘Morning, Julia, you okay?’

Kate’s voice pulled me away from dangerous thoughts about my ex. I wanted to say, ‘hey, Kate, yeah everything is great,’ but instead I had to tell her about what happened to me only a few hours ago. After I was done with my unbelievable tale, Kate looked gobsmacked and she didn’t even try to hide it.

‘Is he okay? And you blacked out? I thought your problems were finally over since, you know–’

‘I thought that, too, but hey, life would be too boring if I didn’t have another psychopath after me,’ I said, laughing, settling back in front of my computer.

‘Okay, but what if you are just too stressed out?’ Kate asked. ‘And there is no psychopath, just you and your magic?’

‘The healer said that Quentin was spellbound and it’s obvious that I can’t create a magic spell like that.’

‘Yeah, that’s worrying, but I’m sure your Dad can help.’

I was hoping that Dad would dig up some kind of explanation about what happened. Kate didn’t have to live with the worry that she was going to blow something up all of a sudden. She was in a committed relationship with a werewolf who seemed to be doing just fine with a witch. My problems seemed to be never-ending.

Kate made me another cup of coffee and five minutes later I began to take care of clients. We were busy throughout the day. After registering a few shifters, I received an email from Rufus with information that we were going have to shut the office for training after six. He officially called everyone for a meeting.

The hours kept rolling and I kept pouring more coffee into my system. I was exhausted, and there was no way that I’d slept throughout the night, otherwise I wouldn’t be this tired. My mind kept drifting off to last night, but I couldn’t remember anything, it was like someone drilled small hole in my head and sucked out all my memories from those missing hours.

As soon darkness shaded over London, my two vampire co-workers showed up, following Alexandra, Sara, and Rufus. We locked the agency for at least an hour and moved to the main meeting room. I was promoted last year to a senior consultant, after I managed to win the contract with La Caz Corporation. The business was flourishing and making lots of money. Many new employers wanted to work with us and we were expanding.

‘Shall we start? I have another meeting with the marketing director in an hour and I want to get this over with,’ Rufus said, after we all gathered in the interview room.

I knew what this meeting was about. Tonight Rufus received the figures for the last quarter and we were going to discuss the strategy for the rest of the year. Normally I would be in good form, but today without any sleep I could barely keep my act together.

Despite my sluggish mood, Rufus was cheerful. ‘Julia, are you all right? You look a bit tired today?’

Rufus had no idea what happened to me last night and I was glad that the news hadn’t reached him yet. He was a good friend of Dad’s and mine. A few months ago, he had been kidnapped and kept in isolation for a good few months before I managed to come to his rescue—by getting myself snatched away by a shifter who pretended to be my ex-boyfriend. In the end, it all turned out all right, but we both had it tough last year. Rufus didn’t need more worries; he had plenty problems on his own.

‘I’m fine. We just had a hectic morning, that’s all,’ I explained, trying to restrain myself from yawning. Too many people were sitting around the table and I didn’t want to share my personal life with everyone in the office.

Almost a year ago, I went for a meeting with Nathaniel La Caz, a managing director of La Caz Corporation. After securing the contract for the agency I kind of got romantically involved with La Caz himself, stirring up steamy gossip. We had a long and very passionate relationship, and I stupidly fell in love with that arsehole. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel the same way and he moved away to Geneva after breaking my heart in a million pieces. Yep, that was that, but hey, sometimes life throws bricks at your face, and you just need to keep going.

‘Okay, so let’s get started. As you all know, we made a staggering profit last year, thanks to Julia, here,’ Rufus stated, sending me a wink. Yeah, that’s what I was talking about. The La Caz account. ‘The figures from this quarter are looking fantastic, but we need to make sure that we carry on approaching clients…’

Rufus kept talking and I was trying really hard to pay attention to him, but I started thinking about my housework, dinner with my parents, and Quentin. I glanced at the clock in the room, which didn’t seem to be moving. For some reason Rufus’s strong deep giant voice started fading. The room grew warm, and Sara’s rosy perfume reached me, dizzying me. I was trying very hard to keep my eyelids up, but some unknown power forced them down. I closed my eyes for only a second to gather my strength.

The interview room soon transformed into my parents’ living room. The heat hit me like rocks falling from a mountain. I heard screams and realised that the whole living room was on fire. Yellow and orange flames covered the curtains, spreading quickly, hurling everywhere.

‘We are going to die in here,’ cried my mother, curling herself next to me. The smoke was filling the room fast and the blazing heat crawled over my skin. I didn’t understand what was happening to me. Panic reflected in my mother’s eyes as she squeezed my arm so tight that it hurt. I could’t breathe; the fire escalated within seconds, isolating us from the way out. My mother was howling, tears streaming down her cheeks. Flames were crackling, dancing in front of my eyes, illuminating with heat. A long constant signal was passing through my brain and I couldn’t move. Surging waves of hot current crept over my skin, down to my bones, and I knew that I was going to die. In that last moment I started asking myself if anyone would come to my rescue. Where was Dad? Why couldn’t we get out?

I watched as some of the furniture crumpled, reminding me of the time when Jennifer nearly burned our office to the ground.

The fire in the agency had been lethal, but this was beyond anything I’d ever imagined. Fear froze my limbs as I searched for any way out, screaming at the top of my lungs.

‘Julia, hey, Julia, snap out of it!’

I continued blinking rapidly, realising that I was back in the room at the meeting with Rufus and the rest of the staff. Everyone was staring at me, looking pretty freaked out. I pressed my fingers to my forehead wondering what the hell just happened to me. Rufus’s dark brown eyes were studying me with concern; his deep frown told me that I’d been out for a while. I felt pressure just below my eyelids, my breathing was heavy, and my blouse stuck to my sweaty back. I was so relieved that this was just a dream. I flopped back on the chair, closing my eyes bringing back the sudden terrifying vision.

‘Did I fall asleep?’ I asked finally, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

Kate had her magic wand in her hands and her eyes never left mine. Alexandra was squeezing Sara’s hand tightly and the vampires looked baffled.

Rufus cleared his throat, breaking up the electrifying tension that hung over all of us. ‘No, well, sort of. It looked like you were in some kind of trance. Your eyes were closed and you were shouting something about a fire.’ He played with his pen. ‘Are you sure that you’re feeling okay?’

That was a very good question. My body felt like I was going through a high fever. I felt hot and cold at the same time, my nose blocked. I brushed my hands over my trousers. There was that odd emptiness of my source. The magic was gone, like I didn’t need it anymore.

What is happening to me?

‘I don’t think that I slept last night, so ‘no’ would be the answer to your question, Rufus,’ I said, my voice rough.

‘Then go home; take a day off. I want see you fit and healthy rather than unfocused like that. Please. It’s not a request.’

Rufus was trying to be polite in front of everyone else. He would never cut me any slack, but today I needed to pull myself together. For as long as I could remember, I never had a proper sick day in my life, apart from those where I ended up being burned by my co-worker or drained by a vampire.

Today I was sloppy, unfocused and exhausted. Others kept giving me glances, like they thought that I was going crazy.

I was planning to open my mouth and argue, but then Kate gave me a look that said I should shut up and go home. In the end I gathered my things and left the room. My head didn’t stop pounding even when I reached my apartment. Sleep came like bliss as soon as my head touched the pillow.

***

Hours passed and I slept, dreaming about a long dark tunnel. When I woke up the next morning my mind was racing like an electric car. I turned to the other side and my head hit the hard floor. I opened my eyes, and yet again, I was on the floor in the living room. My arms and legs ached, and my neck was stiff as hell and shuddering pain that passed through me as I moved.

I sat down in the middle of my living room gathering my thoughts. I felt like I’d just run a marathon. I glanced at my feet and noticed that they were covered with dirt and I was barefoot. For a moment I wondered if I sleepwalked. Then I shook my head, knowing that this was absurd. I didn’t sleepwalk; I didn’t even talk in my sleep, not like my mother. When I lifted myself off the floor I felt searing pain in my joints. I checked the doors, but they were locked.

I scratched my head and went to the bathroom. When I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, I flinched and thought maybe I hadn’t woken up yet. My face was covered with drops of dried blood. I looked like someone sprayed me with it and just left it there. I moved my eyes down and notice blood on my nighty alongside black smudges. My mind spun, my hands were red, and when I stripped, I got nauseous.

The blood on my body and clothes wasn’t mine.

Then whose blood is it? What happened to me during the night while I was supposed to be asleep?

I ran through the events from yesterday, but the hole in my head was deep, untouched. I remembered going to bed right after I walked through the door. Rufus had sent me off because I’d fallen asleep during the meeting. I’d have remembered if I’d gone out. I couldn’t just forget things like that. There was dirt under my nails. The world was crashing down on me and I had no idea what was happening. I turned on the shower and stepped inside. I used a brush to remove the stains of blood, scrubbing until my skin was raw and painful.

In the shower I wondered if I should call Dad, but once I was dressed I decided against this idea. It would be better if I could find out what happened to me without involving the police. What if I’d done something really terrible?

I forced some cereal into myself, chewing slowly. Half an hour later I left my apartment, alert and anxious that I was slowly losing touch with real world. My energy was absent again. I tried to concentrate, but nothing happened, my magic hadn’t returned. It had deserted my body. It was like thunder and lightning had an opposite effect on me. All my energy had been sucked out of me.

In the tube, paranormals were staring at me, and my anxiety kicked in. I walked the rest of the way to the office, ignoring the heaving sensations in my stomach. I had been working myself to death recently. I didn’t even remember when I had last taken a holiday, so it was clear that I was stressed out and exhausted. Maybe I only imagined the blood on my hands this morning?