‘I’m never drinking again,’ I muttered to myself as I found my phone on the floor by the door. I had a few missed calls from mum. It was just after twelve and I had to get to my parents’ house for dinner.
It had been a month since the fire at the agency. We all got a week off while Rufus, my boss, tried to find a new building so the business wouldn’t lose more money. Our director wasn’t particularly happy with what had been happening in London, but Rufus knew what he was doing. He found a new building quickly enough and we all moved a few streets over, our work life resuming as normal. All the files had burned, so everyone who’d ever worked for us had to be registered again. It was a hell of a job, but being busy helped me take my mind off other distractions. Thankfully, after our breakup, Nathaniel didn’t pull out of the contract. The relationship between Paranormal Personnel and La Caz Corporation remained unaffected. It wasn’t easy getting back into a routine, in an environment where my ex’s name was on everyone’s lips.
The news about my breakup with La Caz spread fast, and by the time I came back to work everyone knew that we weren’t together anymore. Rufus didn’t comment, but he had an ‘I told you so’ grin on his face throughout the week. Eventually, he asked me if I was all right. I assured him that he didn’t have to worry and I was fine being on my own.
Half an hour later, I was on my way to my parents. Dad was off today and I was looking forward to catching up with him on his investigation at work.
Since my breakup, mum couldn’t stop talking about Nathaniel. I knew that as soon as I walked through the door she would keep on the subject. She scolded me often enough because I hadn’t done ‘enough’ to keep my perfect boyfriend close. Nathaniel brightened up her prospects about a ‘perfect’ son in law. I couldn’t tell her what went on between us, but of course she just assumed that it was all my fault. My mother was a human—she had no idea what I had to go through just to date a vampire. She loved me but she was also very critical and kept me on my toes.
When I got there, I sat down with Dad, hoping to cure my hangover with chocolate. Nathaniel was out of my life so Dad was much happier with me. He would never discriminate, but he wasn’t crying over the fact that we broke up.
‘Any news about McGregor?’ I whispered to Dad, making sure that Mum was still in the kitchen. He frowned shifting on the sofa.
‘No, stop asking me. I told you that I’m going to tell you if anything changes’ he replied and then jumped off his seat when Brits scored.
‘I know, but you obviously have some leads?’ I pressed on.
‘What?’
‘You know, leads. There must be some?’
He couldn’t concentrate much on keeping up with both the game and conversation with me, and I could tell he was getting annoyed.
‘You shouldn’t worry about that. Leave it to me and stay out of trouble,’ he fumed, staring at the TV.
I made a grumbling sound and sat back, disappointed. McGregor had done everything to try and ruin Nathaniel’s business, so I wanted to see him behind bars. Since McGregor vanished, the Paranormal Squad worked hard to secure all important evidence from the ruins of the fire. I knew that they were stuck, but Dad would never admit that he didn’t know what to do. He’d run a marathon rather than ask someone for help. The vampire community wasn’t cooperating anyway. I still had bad dreams about that terrifying night. I woke up night after night drenched with sweat, screaming, because I thought I was being attacked by vampires.
Dad didn’t want to talk about work. And when Mum came in and started giving me the usual updates from around the neighbourhood, I quit pursuing the subject of Caleb McGregor in front of her.
At least my cousin Claudia has been happily reconnected with her mother. A few months ago, just after my meeting with Nathaniel, I had seen her being dragged towards a black van. As we found out later, Claudia was used as a blood donor for production of fake Magic Shots, a drug to help vampires lessen their need for real blood. I nearly paid with my own life when I found her in the underground of the dance club, but in the end my bold move helped my father with the cases of other mysterious kidnappings in the city. As soon as Claudia was able to travel, her mother and my aunt sent her to Switzerland in order to recover. She’d gone through hell and Aunt Dorothy mentioned that she would be away for a few months.
I spent a peaceful Sunday with my parents talking about nonsense and indulging myself with delicious food. I had to pretend I was happy in front of them, otherwise Mum wouldn’t stop nagging. I kept my good mood until I got home.
Then I went back to being my miserable self again.
***
Mum’s cooking helped me to deal with my nasty hangover and I felt good going to work on Monday morning (for a change). Our new office was situated on the first floor, a few hundred meters away from High Street, next to a Chinese take away restaurant. It was spacious and much bigger than the old one. I kept telling people that we finally had a real kitchen; no one believed it, though.
‘Morning, Kate,’ I said, shutting the door behind me.
‘Morning, Julia, how are you today?’ she asked, smiling.
‘All right, I suppose. Where’s the new girl?’
‘Late as usual,’ replied Kate, shaking her head. ‘Coffee?’
‘Please, make it a strong one.’
Nodding, she waved her magic wand to switch on the kettle while I turned on my computer, flopping into the chair. We had a busy day ahead of us. Lucinda had been on my case all week and, knowing her, I was sure that she wasn’t going to stop today. Rufus was going to pop in later to give us a hand with registration.
Typical Monday morning, then.
Jennifer used to be our best co-worker, but it turned out that she was a nasty piece of work. She sold information to McGregor, burned the agency, and nearly killed me, so, in the end Rufus sacked her as soon as I rescued her from the fire. He quickly found a new replacement. When he brought Sara I wasn’t very optimistic. I had nothing against her, except that she was clumsy and late nearly every day. She was a giant with short, curly brown hair and an odd sense of fashion. We didn’t question Rufus on why he employed her; he was the boss and we did whatever he asked us to, even when Sara slowed everything down.
Kate vanished into our new kitchen to make coffee and I scanned through my emails. The first five were from Lucinda. She must have found out that Nathaniel and I separated because she kept talking about him every time we had a chance to discuss business. It felt like she purposely wanted to wind me up. Unwillingly I learned about his trip to Romania (probably to work closely with his Eastern European goddess), and about his new business ventures in Switzerland and France. I didn’t want to know what he was up to, but Lucinda kept ranting about him during nearly every telephone conversation. Kate suggested that I stick a post-it note on my forehead that stated, ‘I’m trying to forget about this arsehole, you idiot!’ but I went against it. After all, we had to keep her happy.
Kate handed me a steaming mug, effectively pulling me away from my thoughts. I was just about to sit back and take five minutes to enjoy my coffee before the shit hit the fan. Someone just stormed through the door. I had to blink twice because I thought that I was seeing my own grandmother walking towards me. Everything was moving in a slow motion and she looked pissed off.
‘Julia!’ roared a woman who, upon closer inspection, really did look like my grandmother. She stopped in front of my desk. ‘I keep hearing rumours. Were you involved with a vampire?’
I nearly choked on my coffee and spilled some of it on my new blouse. I counted to five as I realised that I wasn’t hallucinating. Grandma was really here, standing in my office, angry and ready to strike her most dangerous spell. She looked glamorous and scary with her Louis Vuitton bag under her arm. I stepped back, staring at her, bewildered. Her hands were blazing with fire. She never used that spell, not unless she was ready to murder someone.
‘Gran, hi! Uhm, what are you doing here?’ I asked, ready to have a fit. My min
d had never worked so fast so early in the morning, but I never expected to see my own grandmother here in London.
‘Don’t you start with that nonsense. I asked you a question! Are you involved with a vampire or not?’
Well, Gran, if you must know, then—yes, I was involved with him. The sex was unbelievable, but he couldn’t commit.
I sucked the corner of my mouth, contemplating what to say. My grandmother never took any crap from anyone and, right now, I couldn’t imagine telling her the truth.
‘It’s over, Gran, we aren’t together anymore,’ I explained, hoping that if I used past tense she might calm down. I was wrong, so very wrong. Her jaw dropped and her face went white. For a split second I thought we were going to lose her. She appeared to be going through some kind of emotional shock.
‘My granddaughter and a vampire!’ she shouted, and the glass on my desk exploded. I jumped away, but luckily the impact of the small explosion didn’t reach me. Kate stood up, but Grandma waved her hand, cleaning the mess from the floor like it wasn’t a big deal after all.
Now I know why I blew things off... Grandma is to blame.
‘Gran, listen, Nathaniel La Caz is only half vampire. We were never serious, so you can stop worrying,’ I explained quickly, but I didn’t think she was listening.
‘You’ve completely lost your mind, Julia,” she continued, shouting. “You went out with a vampire knowing what he could do to you, knowing also what happened to Claudia? Imagine how I felt when the president of the Fairies’ Association told me about this. I was so embarrassed!’ The air around us was getting thicker from her energy.
Kate sat down, looking at me with a huge question mark on her face. She probably felt the magic that was whipping through the air.
‘I appreciate your concern, Grandma, but it’s over between us. I made a mistake... I’m not perfect,’ I added, irritated. I wanted to have a chat with the president of the Fairy Association; this bastard always spread rumours about our family.
‘So you’re never going to see that vampire again?’ she asked.
‘Of course not.’
‘That’s why you’d been in the hospital when I spoke to your father. That vampire tasted your blood!’
‘Gran, please. Nathaniel didn’t bite me. I don’t know if you spoke to Dad about this, but I was attacked by a different vampire. He assaulted me and now he is locked up. I can’t promise you that I won’t ever see Nathaniel again. I deal with his company on a daily basis—’
She cut me off. ‘I can’t believe that you’ve been so irresponsible! Your father never allowed me to interfere in your upbringing, but now I see that I have to step in. You’ll be seeing me more often and if I hear that you’ve seen that vampire again I’ll write you off my will; if anyone asks, I’ll tell them I never had a granddaughter.’
That would be quite useful.
‘Grandma, I have no intention of seeing him again, but don’t you think that this is a bit extreme, considering that Dad married Mum and she was a human?’
I knew that I’d gone too far as soon as these words left my mouth. My grandmother was always a tough woman, but now she looked like she was going to tear me apart. Her lips twitched and the wind blew the stacks of papers around the office. My father never told me the story behind his marriage with Mum, but I knew that it was a sensitive subject, even for him. Grandma hated that Dad went against her and married a non-magical human being. I was expecting the worst.
Chapter three
As if I need to know that he is not in the country.
‘This family nearly broke down because of his inconsiderate decision and I’m not going to go through this again. My granddaughter won’t be involved with a vampire, not while I’m alive!’
‘He is half vampire,’ I muttered, but she was already marching away, saying something like ‘You’ll be hearing from me more often.’
Flopping on the desk, I briefly entertained the idea of crying, my mind racing. I should have expected that my grandmother would eventually find out about this; she was a very important figure in the paranormal world.
‘She is scary,’ Kate said, breaking the silence that had fallen after Gran left. ‘I thought she was going blow the whole office up. My desk was vibrating the whole time.’
Kate kept glancing at the door like she was afraid my grandma would come back.
‘I never doubted her power,’ I answer wryly, falling back into my chair. Monday morning was supposed to be easy, but I felt so drained already. ‘I think I’ll have to move away. She won’t stop nagging until she’s sure I’m not hiding Nathaniel in my pocket.’
Kate started waving her wand to take care of the paperwork on the floor, not taking her eyes off me. ‘I meant to ask you. Did you really finish with him?’
Kate was genuinely polite; she didn’t get involved with the gossip that spread in the office. There was no point lying to her; it was obvious she was interested in the real story.
‘Correction—he ended it because he ‘didn’t want to hurt me,’’ I explained, pulling up a face. ‘Which means that, yes, I got dumped.’
There wasn’t a better way to say this. Nathaniel and I were incompatible.
‘You and him, hmm, you guys had something,’ she said softly, smiling. ‘But hey, what do I know?’
I nodded, not saying any more. She might have been right: we had something, but whatever it was, it didn’t make any difference to our short, but intense, relationship. The arrival of my grandmother threw me off my schedule and, after the small talk with Kate, my mind kept wandering off to Nathaniel. I kept contemplating if I could do anything to keep him, but after lunch I was convinced we were just never meant to be together. I was determined to get over him. He broke me to pieces, but I had my magic and great memories.
When I could finally focus on my emails, I discovered that Lucinda was looking forward to offering permanent contracts to some of our workers. In the end she added that these were direct instructions from Mr. La Caz, who was currently away in Switzerland.
As if I need to know that he is not in the country.
My reply was short, simply stating that the agency was delighted to hear such wonderful news. There was no point using sarcasm with Lucinda—she wouldn’t get it anyway—but somehow she knew that I still cared about Nathaniel.
When I finally had my coffee, cold now, I felt slightly better, but my bad mood wasn’t going to go away easily. I scrolled through the rest of my emails, quickly deleting the spam. I was surprised to see an email from Rufus since he was going to pop into the office later on.
Julia,
I am on my way to Manchester — something came up and I had to leave urgently yesterday afternoon. I just wanted to let you know about the networking event on Tuesday evening. It looks like I’ll be busy for the next few days so I assumed that you could take my place instead of wasting the tickets.
It’s a great opportunity to gain new business and you can build valuable relationships quickly. I’ve attached the flyer.
I hope you have fun!
Rufus Humphries
Regional Manager
Paranormal Personnel
I didn’t have to think about this twice. Networking events were always fun and there was also free food. I replied quickly, informing him that I was up for it and that I would call him later to confirm everything. I hadn’t been out on the town since my silly breakup. Ella had been busy with work and Nicky with her family, so at least I could have some fun while working. The news gave me some encouragement and now I was looking forward to tomorrow.
Half an hour later, our new co-worker, Sara Lewis, finally strolled into the office. Kate pursed her lips and glanced at her, annoyed. I looked at my watch, mentally counting how many times she’d been late last week. She was lucky enough that Rufus wasn’t here because I would have said a few things to him.
‘Julia, I’m so sorry. You won’t believe what’s happened to me this morning,’ she exclaimed, throwing herself on her chair
that, unfortunately, was next to mine. Sara was six foot two and her voice made me cranky.
Let me guess, your brothers turned your cat into a fish.
‘Sara, I don’t want to pick on you but–’
‘I had a car crash with some obnoxious troll. He strolled into me by the Parliament,’ she said loudly, cutting me off. I glanced at Kate who lifted her wand, prepared to cast some kind of spell on Sara just to shut her up. I shook my head slightly, we didn’t need any more drama today, but I was tempted. ‘Then, he came out of the car and started accusing me of crossing his lane! We argued and I was just about to punch him...’
We waited for about ten minutes until she finished her unbelievable tale. Kate and I learned to switch off when she was talking, not because her stories weren’t interesting, but because we didn’t have time to spend hearing about how she tried to survive in London.
Sara’s voice was slowly driving me insane. Her clumsiness, and the fact that she was constantly late, was delaying our work. Rufus had insisted on giving her a chance and we’d agreed. Within a week I knew, without a doubt, that Rufus made his first big mistake. He wasn’t the one that had to work with her all day, every day.
‘Then I told him to stick his fat, ugly finger up his own arse...
She was still talking, so I took my time checking how many more clients we had to register today.
Then Kate flipped. ‘Sara, we’re trying to get on with our day, so spare us the details, will you? These files need to be sorted by next week.’
‘Yes, Sara, these files are pretty urgent,’ I added, smiling, trying to take the sting out of Kate’s words.
Sara frowned, obviously wanting to say something else, but changed her mind. Instead, she picked up the papers from her desk, looking annoyed. ‘All right, I’m sorry. I know I talk too much, but that troll made me so angry,’ she added, tossing her brown hair behind her. She was about to switch on her computer but dropped the stack of papers on the floor instead.
Paranormal Personnel Saga Box Set - Books 1-3 Page 25
