Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (6 page)

For a long moment I felt like time stopped. People around me became transparent, stuck in space between time. No one was moving when Nathaniel and I stood a few meters away, staring at each other. The air changed consistency, growing heavy and thick with waves of hot energy that was pulling me towards him.

‘I told you so. There are too many paranormals in here. Magic gets out of control; people get crazy,’ ranted the woman to Nathaniel with her super cute French accent. He wasn’t paying the slightest attention to her, because he was looking directly at me, and all my insides were melting. Desire curled up my toes and I was totally out, numb and breathless.

I had to do something, react or run away, otherwise I was going to make an absolute fool of myself. My heart felt as if I was going through a cardio arrest when I dragged my suddenly stone-heavy legs towards him.

‘Julia, how nice to see you here,’ he said, before I had a chance to open my mouth. ‘Darling, let me introduce you to an old friend of mine.’

My energy was driving my oversensitive body into another seizure. I thought that I was going to collapse again, not because I was afraid or scared—it was because all those emotions that I’d been shielding in the past year burst out in the open, ready to crush me down. I wanted to die because I realised that Nathaniel La Caz was back in London.

SO WHY HER? WHY NOT ME?

I couldn’t make a sound. My skin crawled towards him and his signature scent was all over me, tossing my hyperactive heart all over my body. New, rebellious energy jetted through my core, pulling me apart into little pieces. Nathaniel La Caz was supposed to be a thousand miles away from London, but he was in front of me, looking more handsome than ever before.

‘Julia, oh there you are, we were just loo–’

Kate stopped talking in mid-sentence, as she followed my gaze, noticing the enigmatic Dhampir in front of me. Her green eyes widened, taking him in slowly, like she wasn’t quite sure if she was seeing him right in front of her. My magic kept running down my back, zooming through my whole body fast, igniting the fire in my chest that I’d kept away for months.

After an initial shock, I darted my eyes to the woman he just introduced me to. I thought that this whole unexpected meeting couldn’t be any more intimidating, but the paranormal who stood in front of me looked like she was Photoshopped, because no one could be that stunning. She was a pure-blooded mermaid. I wasn’t exaggerating, but to me she was the most beautiful-looking creature I’d ever laid my eyes on. Even Kelsie didn’t stand up to her perfect, flawless, radiant skin and glossy long straight hair that resembled the colour of caramel. As I stood in front of my ex and the woman I assumed was his new girlfriend, I felt like someone kept continuously punching me in my stomach and I wanted to puke my guts out.

There he is, back, and I can’t even look at him without turning into a mush.

I didn’t want to look at Nathaniel and Miss Perfect, so I became interested in my feet, ignoring the mess that I made with the glasses a few meters away. My palms were beaming with bright light, and I gritted my teeth, imagining that I was somewhere else, away from all the anguish and pain that he suddenly brought back.

‘Hi, Kate, how are you?’ Nathaniel asked like I didn’t exist. The sound of his voice brought a wave of heat down to my core.

‘Fine, great actually,’ replied my friend, moving her hand over my arm. I lifted my eyes, avoiding those hazel eyes with every bit of self-control that I had.

Don’t look at him. Just don’t. He isn’t here.

‘Hi, Julia, it’s nice to meet you,’ Meredith said, as a radiant smile appeared on her gorgeous face, finally aware that Nathaniel introduced us a moment ago. I didn’t know how to respond, but I had to say something. I couldn’t just stand there like a total moron and pretend that I didn’t understand English.

Words flooded out of my mouth before I could stop them. ‘So you are back to London, I see?’ I choked, ignoring Meredith. My voice was barely audible and I felt Kate squeeze my arm tighter. I didn’t plan to ask him that, but my mind was blank and I couldn’t think straight.

Nathaniel’s eyes never left me, and when I looked at him again long waves of electricity wrestled over my entire body, erupting tiny sparks of energy through my clothes. I savoured his ambiance, like the addict absorbs opiate, always panting for more. In a matter of seconds I was high on him, inhaling lime zests and lemons. The erotic images of both of us together were moving in front of my eyes rapidly, taking away my last ounce of self-respect. It was like we’d never broken up, like we were still together, swirled with passion and desire.

‘I heard about the murder from Lucinda, and I thought that it was time to get back,’ Nathaniel stated, obviously reading my emotion like an open book.

I was aware that Kate was shooting me those hard looks to start moving, but my body was completely numb. I had no idea how to get out of his sight.

‘Oh, darling, you are so modest,’ Meredith said, laughing. Nathaniel shifted, opening his mouth to interrupt her, but she lifted her hand quickly, letting him know that she wasn’t finished yet. ‘We are here because Nathaniel wanted to get married in the UK, you see.’

‘A wedding—who is getting married?’ I asked, before I thought about the question.

‘Oh, silly, we are of course. Nathaniel proposed to me last month and we are having a lavish wedding in Canterbury.’

The blackness obscured me straight after that statement left her mouth. I didn’t quite remember what happened to me after that. I was falling into the oblivion, not seeing the light. The world around me shifted into a gloom. Kate must have wrapped the conversation up because the next thing I knew I was in the bathroom, puking my guts out over the toilet. Someone was holding my hair, and although my stomach was empty, I couldn’t stop being sick. Water poured out of me, my stomach kept heaving, revolting, and those words about the wedding pounded in my head.

‘Julia, let me use my magic. You are going to pass out,’ Kate kept saying. I felt like someone was cutting my heart up piece by piece while I was lying on the table tied up, aware of every time the knife pierced through my skin. I was in heartbreaking agony.

‘We need to take her home right now, before Quentin starts looking for her,’ another voice said.

‘Okay, I’ll take her. You have to take care of him. Make something up about some emergency,’ Kate hissed, before her voice faded.

I wasn’t consciously aware of what happened to me after that. Someone must have carried me away, because, when I woke up, I was in my own bed snuggled in nice, warm sheets. I blinked a few times, getting used to the darkness. My head hurt and I flinched, seeing Kate and Kelsie next to my bed. I rubbed my eyes, remembering the pain in my chest, remembering Nathaniel. I searched for confirmation or denial, looking at my friends and hoping that I just had a bad dream. Praying that Nathaniel hadn’t just gotten engaged to the most perfect woman on this earth.

‘Julia, how are you feeling?’ Kate asked, touching my hand gently. She was using her magic to slow my heart rate. She didn’t have to say anything. I could feel the energy pouring out of her magic wand. She could do anything, but the pain was all over me, digging right through me, pouring into my bones, splitting healthy cells apart.

‘Just tell me, Kate, please tell me that I was dreaming.’

Kelsie moved around Kate and got into my bed wrapping her hands around my waist. She looked at me for really long time, and her eyes began to glow with bright yellow light.

‘He is getting married to someone else, Julia. I know that it hurts and I know that your heart has fallen apart, but you are the strongest woman that I ever met. You need to pull yourself together and carry on living—’

‘Kelsie, I don’t think that you should—’

‘Kate, shut up for a moment.’ Kelsie cut her off. ‘Julia is going to be all right. She doesn’t want to be pitied.’

‘Yes, Kate, she’s right. I don’t need this,’ I said quietly. ‘Nathaniel never promised me anything. I was the one that broke things up between us. It shouldn’t surprise me that he is with someone else.’

I knew that I was lying to myself and to them. I was furious that the man that I’d fallen for, the man who’d turned my life upside down was now marrying someone else. A beautiful foreign woman who wasn’t even a vampire. When he was around me he acted as if he couldn’t love, he couldn’t commit, and now he was getting married.

SO WHY HER, WHY NOT ME?

‘Quentin called. He is really worried about you and he is going to come over,’ Kate said.

‘What did you guys tell him?’ I asked.

‘I told him that you had a family emergency. You were already in the taxi when I found him. Quentin wanted to get to you as soon as I told him. He was really pissed when I said that you’d already left.’

‘Thank you, Kelsie. I really appreciate it.’ I sighed.

‘Don’t mention it.’

‘Come on, Kel, I think Julia wants to be alone. We got to leave,’ Kate muttered.

I lifted myself up and thanked Kate with a smile. My head felt heavy and I didn’t want to use my brain to analyse anything, but I was prepared for more humiliation in a couple of days. The news would spread and people were going to talk about me.

Kelsie took her bag and left my bedroom.

Kate stopped in the door. ‘Julia, if you need anything—’

‘Kate, don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I’m not planning to kill myself. I know that Nathaniel and I, well, we are over, so please go. I’ll deal with this.’

Kate nodded and vanished. A moment later I heard the door close. I stared at the darkness trying to think about something positive. Minutes passed and I kept asking myself why I was so upset. The tears came later, hours after I woke up.

I knew that I was supposed to be that strong and independent woman. Breakups normally didn’t affect me, but I couldn’t hold back the grief any longer. I wanted to be sad, because I still loved him and I couldn’t believe that he had forgotten about me so easily.

That night I became a girl with a torn up heart because the love of my life was marrying someone else.

***

When Sunday came I had to be back to being normal Julia. Quentin arrived in the morning and if I wanted to be in a relationship with him, then I had to put on a brave face and act as if last night didn’t happen.

When Quentin was around, my life was in control. Our conversation last night was brief. He understood why I had to leave, and I kept lying, stating that my grandmother had a small accident with magic. Lies came easily, but Quentin didn’t deserve to hear about Nathaniel. This wasn’t the right time.

But it was hard to pretend that I was fine, that I didn’t care that the love of my life had just gotten engaged to the most beautiful woman on this planet.

When I walked into the office on Monday morning I felt like I had to work with a flue virus. My muscles were aching and my excess magic was driving me insane. Since Saturday I felt like the blackouts weren’t the problem, but my vision about the death of my mother was more vivid than I would have wanted. My energy was back, inflaming my fingers, burning my clothes, pushing my hormones to the limit.

‘We have a busy day. Lucinda has been calling since ten o’clock. She is back in work and she wants fifty paranormals by Wednesday!’ Kate shouted.

I was guessing that she wanted to make sure I didn’t have time to think about Nathaniel even before I sat down at my desk. Sara was busy with candidates. I thought that I couldn’t start my day without a coffee.

‘All right, I get it. I need to speak to her,’ I said, pushing the idea about the hot beverage away. My body still felt like it didn’t belong to me, but I had to just get on with everything. The girls were right. I was too strong to be depressed. I passed the stage where I was grieving over Nathaniel. Now I had my own self to worry about.

It was easier to deal with intensive thoughts when I was busy. Straight after ten o’clock, the day got hectic and I didn’t have time to mess around. I had what seemed like a million CV’s to go through, needed to arrange interviews, and go through payroll. Hours passed quickly. Kate was fast with placing the adverts, even Sara was doing all she could to stay on top of everything. By the end of the day we were all shattered but happy with the results.

‘I’m proud of you. I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up today,’ Kate whispered, handing me a hot cup of coffee. Her purple hair was all over the place, but she was glowing and I felt good that my best friend had a man that she could rely on.

‘Yeah. I decided to stop thinking about him. I have Quentin. He is a good guy.’

‘Of course. Quentin doesn’t have problems with commitment. It’s for the best that La Caz found someone else.’

Kate, Sara, and I left the office just after eight. Quentin was busy with another auction tonight. My vampire co-workers were going to have a busy evening and I was looking forward to an early night with a bottle of wine.

When I got home my magic was absent again, and that sorrowful feeling filled my chest, reminding me about Nathaniel. I knew that I had to get distracted, so I went straight to the kitchen. It was time for the moment of truth. I had to find out if that knife in Jennifer’s body was mine.

It was better to be sure, better to believe if I was capable of killing someone. I remembered that night when I first met Kelsie in that alley. She’d been in trouble and when I saved her, I became someone else. I was drunk with power when I attacked that wizard who tried to rape her. My darkness took over, hurling through me fast, and I remembered what Grandpa used to say about my power.

You don’t even know how powerful you really are.

I opened the kitchen drawer quickly, wanting to get this over with. My pupils dilated and my heart stared to pump more blood through my veins.

The knife wasn’t there, it was missing. If I used it then the police would find the fingerprints on it and then used it as evidence against me.

For a moment I thought I was having a heart attack. I wheezed and hissed for more air. Cold sweat surged through me as I tried to breathe. I was a killer after all and I’d gone after Jennifer. Vicious and violent thoughts rolled over my mind. Jennifer nearly cost me my life and I hated her, but I never wanted to hurt her.

My wheezing breaths were interrupted by the ringtone from my mobile.

I lifted myself up; my legs were like a jelly when I got to my phone.

‘Hello,’ I answered.

‘Julia, it’s time for your training,’ said the familiar creepy voice on the other side of the phone. An icy shiver passed through my spine.

‘Mr. Hendrixon, is that you?’

Of course it’s him. I could recognise his voice anywhere.

‘Julia, you sound stressed. Is everything all right?’ he asked. An odd peaceful feeling came to me unexpected, easing that wound in my heart for a brief moment.

’I don’t think I want to talk about this over the phone,’ I said, shrugging. More silence and more ease. Maybe Tron could put my heart together; maybe there was still hope for me.

‘You are right,’ he replied, in his usual creepy voice. ‘Go outside. There is a car is waiting for you. Just wear something comfortable.’

‘Fine, I’ll be ready in five.’

I sounded like someone else and I wasn’t rational, but I was prepared to risk my own skin to protect people that I cared about. Ten minutes later after a quick change, I was riding into the unknown in a brand new Mercedes. London seemed asleep and after a really long ride I had no idea where I was going. It was nearly ten o’clock. My brain was working fast. I kept thinking about the knife, wondering if Tron was really going to sort my magic out.