Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (9 page)

‘I told him that I’d think about it,’ I muttered.

Kelsie was probably wanting to give me a long speech, but then she looked like she changed her mind. Twenty minutes later, we were dropped off in front of a small boutique hotel. Our conversation in the car was long forgotten, as Kelsie started talking about what to expect.

When we were shown into a large conference room, I was surprised. The whole meeting reminded me more of those networking events that I went to months ago. I didn’t have very good memories from them, but the setup was similar. The events manager, a short troll in her thirties explained that the food was going to be served in an hour. By the entrance we were given badges with our names.

‘The debate will start at ten. Are you ladies going to take part?’ asked a dark-haired shifter with glossy gold eyes.

‘Debate? Maybe. I don’t know. It all depends on if I’m sober enough then,’ Kelsie said, giggling. The room was filling up fast, mainly with shifters. I was the only elf here. There were a couple of witches and the troll who was part of the hotel staff.

‘Did you go to evenings like this when you used to live in Scotland, you know, with your ex?’ I asked, feeling a little intimidated by the tall males who were eyeing Kelsie intensely.

‘Yeah, but I’m from a small town, so it was a bit different back then. Forest, fire, and everyone had to shift at midnight. Paranormals in London are much more civilised. Our traditions are considered old fashioned and rebellious,’ she explained. ‘Now just shut up and let me leave. I’m heading to the bar. Someone needs to buy me a drink.’

He is pissed and he is going to rip my head off.

‘What? You can’t just drag me here, then leave me alone all of the sudden,’ I protested.

‘Flirt and remove that miserable look off your face. La Caz moved on and you should too. There is no point dwelling on this anymore, darling.’ She patted me gently on the back and headed to the bar.

I stood staring at her walking away, irritated that my emotions were so transparent. I was moving forward, but I couldn’t do anything with the fact that fate was on his side and was beating me with a stick. Kelsie often came across rude and dippy, but deep down she knew what she wanted and was doing everything that she could to stay happy. And apparently thought I should do the same.

I grabbed a drink from the waiter and glanced around, trying to strike up a conversation with anyone who wasn’t a shifter, but I wasn’t having much luck. Kelsie had her own idea of fun. I spotted her flirting with a group of shifters by the bar and she wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around her, especially me. In the end I was approached by an elf. We chatted about politics for an hour and I thought that my evening couldn’t get any worse, so I was glad when everyone finally sat for dinner.

Soon two shifters started discussing their weekly runs, then chatting loudly to everyone around the table. My mind wandered off to Nathaniel again and after the dinner was served I was ready to leave. Kelsie was ignoring me completely and it was clear that she didn’t need my company. I was just about to walk away when one of the shifters started asking uncomfortable questions to one of the politicians, sizzling the atmosphere in the room.

‘My mate Franklin got shot the other day. The farmer thought that he was after the sheep. What are you going to do about this Mr. Tramp?’ he asked. A round of whispers passed through the table. Everyone stopped eating, turning their eyes to Mr. Tramp, who didn’t seem to be that bothered with all the attention that he was suddenly getting. He was a bulky, large-faced paranormal with lazy eyes.

‘I should call out the old rules and choose the pack master,’ announced someone else, who most definitely wasn’t Mr. Tramp. Surely he was a shifter. Tall, well built with vivid brownish eyes and scars around his lips. I knew that shifters in large populated cities didn’t follow the old tradition of choosing a pack master. From what my father told me, a pack master had power over every shifter in his territory. In the old days every shifter had to obey the rules set up by a pack master. Many paranormals stayed away from the territories controlled by shifters, but in large cities there were too many gangs and too many other paranormals interested in such a power. There was no way that a group of shifters with a pack master could coexist peacefully with an area controlled by vampires, giants, or werewolves. Shifters in London stuck to politicians to take care of their business.

Although the shifter who made this unexpected suggestion didn’t get a positive response from all the males in the room, all the ladies were nodding. Even Kelsie abandoned her company at the bar and sat down beside me.

‘Who the hell are you?’ Mr. Tramp asked, slamming his hand on the table. ‘We haven’t selected a pack master since ninety or ninety one, and I won’t let a stranger come here and start up such rebellious ideas.’

‘Obviously it’s time for a change. A pack master could bring some kind of order. The runs wouldn’t create so many problems. If you care to look around, you’ll see that many shifters still follow old traditions,’ argued the stranger, stirring the discussion.

I didn’t know why all of a sudden this made everyone so angry. Many older shifters began heated arguments with the newcomer. Women looked impressed and I had no idea what was going on. We were only an hour through the meeting, but it looked like the discussion could go on for some time.

‘I’ll be right back. Have to make myself look beautiful for this handsome bad boy over there,’ Kelsie whispered, sending a flirtatious wink to the loud shifter who was still talking, but he noticed her after she got up.

I was planning to tell her off for ditching me earlier on and leave as soon as she returned, but the discussion was beginning to sound more interesting. I told the waiter that I needed a refill on my drink and listened, fascinated by this whole aspect of a leader within a pack. After a while I thought that I could at least get some contacts for work, but many paranormals weren’t too keen on talking about their employment.

After the dessert I kept wondering why Kelsie was taking so long in the bathroom, especially if she was in such a hurry to talk to the loud shifter. The waiter pointed me to the door in the back when I asked him for directions.

‘If you go through the long corridor, the rest rooms are on the right,’ he said.

I walked through the corridor, angry and frustrated, even considering calling a taxi for myself and leaving without speaking to Kelsie first, but as I approached the corner, I heard Kelsie’s high-pitched voice.

‘Fuck off, Craig! It isn’t your place to tell me what to do. Get back to your pathetic life up north.’

She sounded scared, but she was trying hard to hide it. I was certain I’d heard that name before and recalled that Craig was Kelsie’s ex-boyfriend. The one that she had cheated on before she moved to London. Telling me about that was the only time that she’d spoken about him and as far as I remembered he’d made her life afterwards difficult.

‘Shut your mouth, you stupid whore. London shifters are weak and it’s time for someone to influence them a little. You owe me a favour and you are going to do exactly what I say.’

My best friend wasn’t particularly faithful in her relationships with men, but she wasn’t a bad person. The problem was that she enjoyed sleeping with too many of guys at the same time.

‘Fuck you! I don’t need to listen to your whining. Let go of me, you twat!’ she screamed. I swallowed hard, trying to concentrate on my own source, but fear was overpowering my senses. I felt tingling in my stomach, small cracks of magic rolled over my arms.

‘Shut up, you whore!’ Craig roared. Kelsie screamed with pain, throwing me off balance. Instead of calling for help, I stumbled forward. Yeah, that was bloody brave but stupid.

‘Hey, get your hands off of her!’ I said, clenching my inflamed fists.

Craig’s distorted features were furious, mouth drooling around his bared teeth. This whole corridor was dark and I couldn’t quite make out how he managed to corner Kelsie here. He was about Quentin’s height, with bulky large arms and those wide yellow eyes, wearing leather pants and jacket. A few tattoos were poking out near his collarbone. When I glanced at my best friend, she looked wounded, pressing her hand to her bloody lips.

Craig narrowed his eyes at me and pushed Kelsie away.

‘Who the fuck is that skinny fairy, Kel?’ he asked, licking his lips, hovering his eyes over my body.

‘No one. Some chick who shouldn’t be fucking with our business. Tell her to fuck off,’ Kelsie shouted, staring at me like she was ready to strangle me. I had no idea what she was so pissed off about. She was in trouble and I couldn’t not react. Craig was moving towards me fast with that nasty smile on his face. I called out for a fresh wave of magic, and it came emerging through my cells, corrupting the air.

‘Kel, stay where you are!’ I screamed, lifting my hand, pushing out sparks of white light. It didn’t do anything to Craig, my energy rebellious again.

‘Oh, so you know the whore?’ Craig asked with amusement in his tone. ‘Maybe you want to play with both of us?’

He moved faster than I anticipated. Before I could even blink, he clenched his arms around me, securing my hands behind. I tried to wiggle away, but his grip was powerful, his face inches away from mine. He wheezed a breath, inhaling my soaring fear.

‘Craig, she is no one, just some girl that I talked to inside the meeting,’ Kelsie yelled, but her ex-boyfriend wasn’t buying her lies. I held his attention, hearing in his thoughts of how much he wanted to fuck me. Ignoring the gag reflex, I dodged away, but my movement only made him more excited and aroused. He laughed, spraying me with spit.

‘Let me go, you piece of trash!’ I shouted.

My magic finally shot through my spine, charging my fingers with abnormal speed.

Craig laughed and pulled me towards his large chest, grabbing my arse. ‘Feisty, hmm? I like it rough, but I don’t think I have time for you, fairy. The whore is more imp—’

The energy poured out of me in a rush that left me a little startled and drained. My breath came short and I felt the jolts on my skin, magic twitching instead of flowing. I started whispering a spell in my head, the one Tron taught me during our last session, in order to take control of it.

I tensed my muscles, calling out the light, raising the power of my source. Then the light jetted away from my skin, pulling me away from Craig’s body so unexpectedly that I landed on the wall. Craig flew across the room, his face twisted with anger. He crashed on the ground so hard that the whole floor shook. He roared with rage but was back on his feet straight away, as if the impact didn’t have the slightest effect on him.

‘You have to try a little harder. You’re too weak to fight me,’ he growled, laughing.

I stared at my hands, clenching my teeth. Craig was a shifter, so I had to blast out my strongest, most vicious protection spell, but he was coming for me fast. Blood dripped from his forehead, and his eyes began to glow with bright golden light.

‘Julia! Run! You need to get out of here now, before he kills you!’ Kelsie screamed.

Sick and horrible fear seized me fast, tangling up my tongue. My legs were numb and I’d just lost my slim chance of getting the hell out of here when I stood up to fight him. A chill of adrenaline followed after the anticipation of the fact that death was approaching.

He is pissed and he is going to rip my head off.

Yep, this negative thought wasn’t doing me any favours then. Memories from the training vanished and now I was on my own. Kelsie was bleeding, but she was shifting. The air was so thick with spells that it was difficult to follow what was happening. Her muscles were splitting, bones began to grow. Within moments she turned into a large black rottweiler dog. She caught Craig’s attention just before he got to me.

‘Come on, show me what you got, whore. I can’t take you with my human form!’

He turned around to face her. Kelsie was circling slowly, baring her white teeth with loud growls, her back arched and all her fur pointed up. She was ready to attack him, to drag him away from me.

‘Hey, big guy, why don’t you try someone your own size?’

A man’s voice came a few meters away from me. He appeared out of nowhere. For some reason I felt like I knew his voice, but I was too high on adrenaline to recognise him. Hissing and gasping I started crawling away from Craig’s side.

Craig didn’t think twice about attacking. He jumped, turning into a large, grey wolf, ripping his leathers apart. Spit rolled over his large teeth, as he started moving slowly towards the newcomer, snarling loudly.

I looked at the stranger, some of the light from my hands reflected on his face and I let out a gasp. Michael Longbridge stood in front of Craig in his human form. A few seconds later he was a fully grown wolf, moving slowly towards Craig. Loud, rasping and roaring voices filled the corridor as the two animals crashed into a bloody fight, ripping at each other throats. Furious snarling sounds erupted around me. I heard cracking bones and the raw smell of torn flesh.

For a long moment I stood paralysed as two animals crushed with each other in a barbaric fight. I gasped as Craig’s wolf, who was bigger than Michael’s, grabbed him by his throat and slammed on the ground. For a moment I was seeing only blood and then I snapped out of the initial shock, remembering Tron’s lessons. Craig was tearing Michael’s neck apart and I had a split second decision to make.

I didn’t care what Michael was doing here. In the end of the day he was saving our skin. Everything became blurry, my magic came back, charging through my body, pumping me with courage and desire to kick Craig’s arse. I concentrated, recalling Tron’s protection spells. The energy came lashing out from my toes upwards, building, moving so fast that I couldn’t control it anymore.

Then two wolfs broke apart and the moment they weren’t at each other’s throats, I screamed empowering myself with defence spells. Raw, multiple waves of magical power surged through me. Red light lashed out off my hands, taking my breath away. The backfire pushed me to the ground as the light lashed into Craig’s wolf.

It took me a moment to figure out what happened, when I shook myself. I was on the floor, breathing hard. Kelsie was beside me.

‘Julia, are you all right?’

She helped me get back on my feet. In front of us, I spotted Craig who was moaning by the wall in a pool of blood. The smell of burnt flesh reached my nostrils. I was pumped in adrenaline when Kelsie and I got to naked Michael. He was conscious, but there was a nasty large open wound on his neck.

‘Mr. Longbridge, please, are you all right?’ I asked, afraid to touch him. His dark eyes found mine.

‘Miss Taylor, we all need to get the hell out of here. You shouldn’t have interfered. This shifter is summoning someone,” said Michael through the gritted teeth, his face contracted with new dose of pain. I glanced to Kelsie to help him out. Craig was breathing hard and swearing loudly.

Michael was also swearing loudly, gasping with pain, but he managed to lift himself up and the three of us left, reaching the stairs.

‘It’s easier if we separate. I can smell other shifters. We have less than two minutes,’ he shouted.

‘He is right; let’s go Julia,’ hissed Kelsie.

I didn’t even have time to think. Michael was already limping back in the opposite direction. They were shifters, so maybe it was safer to just obey. Kelsie grabbed my hand pulling me down. We hit the stairs fast, running quickly with pounding hearts. I kept glancing behind me wondering if Michael was going to be all right by himself. Humans were rushing, passing us on the stairs. Someone was shouting. No one stopped us.