‘Rough night?’ Kate asked, when I entered the office.
Do I really look that bad?
‘Couldn’t sleep. My magic was driving me insane,’ I said. I had to stop lying to people about my life. Everyone was only trying to help, but I kept making up stories, pretending that I was fine.
‘So when are you moving in with Quentin? That poor giant has been waiting for you to talk about it for weeks now,’ she added, while I looked through the post on my desk.
‘Don’t know yet. I don’t think I’m ready,’ I said, not looking at her. I didn’t think that I could tell her that moving in together was never going to happen.
‘Fair enough.’
I felt like an idiot, but I kept telling myself that it was for the best, that I didn’t have to pull Kate into my messy life. Our morning was hectic; by the time Sara arrived we had a full house. Giants, trolls and elves were queuing to register for our latest vacancy. Kate managed to win the business with another call centre and the employer needed at least a dozen paranormals.
We were busy right until lunchtime, and when I finally managed to get out to grab something to eat I was relieved. I tried to call Ella, but her phone was going straight to voicemail. My headache only got worse and the tingling in my body didn’t stop. I repeated the spell that Tron taught me, afraid that I might have another blackout. On my way back to the office I told myself that either I’d confess to Quentin or end ties with Nathaniel by the end of this week. I had two more days.
‘Julia. Good, you’re here. I need to talk to you,’ said the voice that caused so much turmoil in my life recently. Nathaniel was sitting on the sofa in the reception area, probably waiting for me. I glanced back at Kate, who was burning with anger, tapping her magic wand over her desk viciously fast.
‘I told Mr. La Caz that you were very busy and he had to make an appointment,’ Kate snarled, standing up. A few cracks of electricity escaped from her wand.
‘My matter is urgent. Besides, if I want to talk to Miss Taylor, I don’t need an appointment,’ Nathaniel snapped, tensing his jaw. Right now for Kate, La Caz was our most important client, and she had to be polite, but I didn’t think that she cared. Nathaniel was the guy that broke my heart and her hatred towards him was very apparent.
‘It’s all right, Mr. La Caz. We shall go to the interview room where we can talk,’ I said quickly, ignoring Kate’s burning stare. When I touched his arm my skin prickled. I knew that I’d be facing lots of questions from my friend later on, but I had no choice. Nathaniel was persistent and he always got what he wanted. I chose the office at the back, and my stomach rolled when I thought about the last time we were in this room together.
‘You can’t just come in here demanding to talk to me. No one knows about us!’ I hissed. He looked delicious with his navy suit, pinning me down with his heavy hazel eyes. My breath came short, but I dismissed the desire, hoping that I could get rid of him fast.
‘I’m going to talk to Meredith today, Julia. I can’t fucking do this anymore. You need someone to take care of you,’ he said, attacking me with his scent. We had sex not long ago, and I wasn’t supposed to be all that bothered, but every time I saw him, it was like I wanted him all over again.
‘No this is not a good time. Tell her if you want, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll jump into your bed straight away. I can’t be in a relationship right now. My life is out of control.’
‘This is what you always wanted. A relationship and us together and I’m giving it to you,’ he growled.
‘Yes, but not like this. You had your chance, but you blew it, and I’m tired of being the second choice,’ I said, knowing that I had to be straight and cold. ‘We aren’t going to see each other anymore, Nathaniel, and I mean it.’
It was time to end this silly romance. I should have done it weeks ago.
‘He won’t like that you’ve been fucking me all the time you were with him,’ he snapped narrowing his eyes.
‘Maybe he won’t, but at least I’ll be honest with him. I’m fed up with constant lies.’
‘Julia, come on. I love you and you love me. That’s how it works. I didn’t realise what I had, but now I get it.’
Now he gets it. Now after two attempts he finally understands what I want. Oh well, too late.
‘I’m backing off, Nathaniel. People are getting hurt. You are aggravating my magic, disturbing it. My life is too complicated, and I don’t need you in it, so please leave before I call my father to throw you out.’
He was beside me before I could anticipate his next move. He wrapped his scent all over me. His arms were around my waist, his hardness pressed over my hip. I closed my eyes, knowing that I couldn’t give up now. I had to be strong.
‘Firecracker, please. We can be happy together. I talked to a friend about the blackouts. He said he could help. Meredith doesn’t mean anything to me.’
I learned that when I was around him, I had no control, but when he pinned me with his strong body I saw my mother burning alive, and that image did it for me. I’d learned a lot in those past two years.
‘No. You’re not going to help me or get your buddies involved. We were over when you chose Geneva, so please leave and let me deal with my life.’
I didn’t wait for his response. Instead I left the room and kept walking back to my desk, feeling like my heart was going to split in two. He hated when people walked away from him, but at that point I couldn’t keep arguing.
I didn’t expect him to do anything after that. We had nothing else to talk about, but what came next surprised even me. He came after me from behind and slammed me to his chest. Then his lips were on mine and he kissed me hard, his tongue slipping into my mouth. This mind-blowing kiss lasted only for a few seconds. When I was ready to pull away, he stopped and left before I could make out what happened.
Kate’s jaw was literally on the floor. My magic was whipping through me fast and a few clients sitting by the entrance were staring. It was his last goodbye kiss and I accepted it. Our affair was officially over.
Kate couldn’t start bombarding me with questions about Nathaniel’s visit because she had clients that she had to take care of. She kept staring at me, gripping her magic wand at the same time. I felt like crap, but I knew this was for the best, now I had to just confess to Quentin that I was a whore.
‘If he can kiss like that, I can’t even think what he can do in bed,’ whispered the witch at the end of the registration to another. I could hear her loud and clear, but I chose to ignore it.
Tron led me to believe that someone else disturbed my energy and every time I was around Nathaniel my magic went crazy. He was my addiction, my food, but sometimes we had to give up things that we desired the most. Sara went on flapping about Nathaniel for the next ten minutes, contemplating if he was going to come back. As soon as the last client left I was ready to deal with Kate’s questions.
‘What the fuck, Julia? How does he dare to come here, disturb you while you working and even touch you?’
‘It was a goodbye kiss. I declined his offer.’
This was the truth, but if she was going to ask me if we were sleeping together I didn’t think that I could lie. ‘He was ready to leave his fiancée for me. He said that he finally understood what I wanted.’
Kate normally didn’t swear, but what came out of her mouth in the next thirty seconds was disturbing. She called him all the names under the sun, but I’d have preferred if she would slag me off instead.
‘Obviously you’re not that stupid, Julia. I’m proud of you for throwing him off. This self-centred bastard deserves to know his place,’ Kate added, then she told Sara to shut up.
I was officially a coward, a girl that couldn’t even confess to her best friend that she cheated on her boyfriend with her ex.
My workday didn’t get any better later on. Kate had a date with her perfect boyfriend. I made a final decision to speak to Ella tonight. Tron told me to be careful. I missed her like crazy and I didn’t
want to keep her in the dark any longer. Maybe I was taking a risk but my friend needed an explanation. It took me an hour and a half to get to Ella’s home. In my mind I was going over and over what to say to her, in the end I voted for the whole truth. There was no point hiding from her that I was the cause of her coma. She was probably going to hate me, but I promised myself that I was going to be completely honest with her.
Mrs. Jenkins wasn’t at home when Ella let me in. My best friend looked more like herself again.
‘I was wondering when you were going to show up.’
‘I kept my distance for a reason,’ I said, going straight to the point. ‘Besides, you didn’t make it any easier for me.’
She looked away knowing that I was right. We had known each other for years, but at our last meeting she behaved like I was stranger to her. There was no point dragging this out any longer, so I started talking, going back to my first blackout. Ella pretended like she wasn’t listening at first, but when I started talking about how I blacked out when I came to visit her, I had her full attention.
It took me a while to finish my tale, Ella’s hard expression softened a little, and once I got to the part where I nearly died she was beside me, looking worried.
‘How are you feeling about all this, Ella? I know you were probably in shock and—’
‘Julia, stop talking for a second,’ she said, cutting me off. ‘I have to tell you something.’
I was silent, staring at her with curiosity, wondering what she was planning to say. We still hadn’t found out who in her family was magical.
She bit her lips before she looked at me and said, ‘Okay, I was jealous of you, Julia. When you told me that you weren’t human, I was angry that you kept it from me but also jealous because I thought that I was going to be ordinary for the rest of my life.’
‘Oh, Ella.’
‘No, let me finish. Yeah, I was always plain and boring. I knew that you were different, but after some time I kept ignoring all this supernatural stuff that kept happening around you. Then you and Nicky revealed that my friends, whom I trusted all my life, weren’t humans. It was too much for me too handle. I didn’t believe that I could be like you and Nicky. This didn’t make sense, so I blocked your crazy idea that I was partly magical. What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry. When I think about what you had to go through in the past few weeks, I feel like an idiot.’
‘No, Ella, don’t be silly. I don’t care that you were confused or even jealous. Let’s put this behind us.’
‘I would like that,’ she whispered. I smiled and hugged her before this got too awkward.
‘So this guy Tron, he is helping you with your magic? Does he know why you’re hurting people?’
‘He has some idea, but these terrible visions about my mother’s death are making me very anxious. I was fine until three months ago, but then I had my first blackout and then I saw my mother was dying,’ I explained with a heavy sigh, looking at Ella, who all of a sudden wasn’t my silly friend anymore.
‘Oh my God. I can’t believe that I’ve been so selfish. If it weren’t for you I think I’d never know who I was. Besides, your life had already been complicated enough Julia. I’m sorry again.’
‘No, it’s fine. I was the one that had been lying to you for years. Let’s forget about this and move on.’
‘All right, let’s start fresh. I miss you, Julia, and I don’t care about the blackouts. I’m sorry for how I behaved when you told me who you were.’
‘And I’m sorry that I lied to you,’ I said, swallowing my tears and hugging her again. ‘Let’s go out for dinner and quiet drink.’
Our differences were all behind us, but I wasn’t too sure if Ella wanted to start searching her paranormal family. She obviously had to keep this away from her mother and brother. I had no idea what the future held for both of us, but soon I was going to find out.
Chapter twenty - five
Jasper, I need Jasper, he would know what to do.
Ella and I chose the restaurant for late dinner. Despite my turmoil during lunch, I was relieved that I didn’t have to deal with Nathaniel for at least few days. He wasn’t the kind of man to just give up, and I knew that I would see him again sooner or later. And I had to be ready. There was still some tension between Ella and me, but I felt that I could now talk to her without worrying about what I knew.
It was just after seven when Ella left, and I decided to see Quentin. I was surprised when I walked into his home and Gomez was by the door, sniffing the walls.
‘Hey, sexy, what are you doing here?’ he asked.
‘Looking for my boyfriend,’ I said, but his living room looked messy. Clothes were everywhere and a few small take away boxes littered the table.
‘Queni is out of town. He got a phone call about an auction,’ Gomez explained, shadowing my every movement. ‘How about we play poker? Whoever loses will have to take something off.’
‘Out of town, but where? He didn’t tell me that he was going away,’ I said, ignoring his inappropriate suggestion.
‘Do not know. Got home twenty minutes ago and left as soon as he answered the phone. So what are you stripping off or what?’
‘No, I’m not stripping. I’m leaving,’ I said.
Gomez whined for a bit, but I didn’t have time to deal with him, so I left. Quentin didn’t say anything about going away. He had been busy recently with new pieces that he purchased, and I kept my distance, hoping to make him a special dinner today.
Mum left me couple more messages on my phone. After seeing Nathaniel this morning my excess magic rolling its heat over my body let me know that it was time for another practise session. I didn’t want to see Tron, and I needed to see Quentin. When I got to the tube station I was glad to secure a seat. The rush was over, although the tube was packed. I dozed off in the train, jumping straight into another dream.
I was in my parents’ home, standing by the door. My mother was tied up to the chair in the living room. Her cheek was red and bruised.
‘Julia, what are you doing, hun?’ she kept asking. There was a large green petrol container in the middle of the living room. I walked up to it and picked it up. I started moving around the house. The voice in my head was giving me orders, ordering me to spread the petrol even over the furniture, my parents beautiful rugs, walls and floors.
My mother’s screams were heard around the house, and I wanted to stop, but the voice ordered me to carry on. The silence was making me nauseous. There were two other people standing by my mother, but I couldn’t see their faces. They were blurred out, like from the nightmare. My mother was crying, rocking back and forth on her chair, telling me to release her. When I took the matches, she howled, screaming.
‘It’s all right, calm down,’ said the voice. I shut my eyes, realising that I was the one that kept screaming, moving on the seat, still in the tube that kept moving fast through the underground.
‘What happened?’ I asked the woman that had her hand on my arm. She was a human, in her late forties. Other people kept glancing at me, like they were expecting me to have another seizure. I was shivering, sweat running down my spine.
‘You fell asleep, and I think you had a nightmare,’ the woman replied.
‘Sorry, I’m really sorry,’ I blurted and stood up when the train stopped, running out as quickly as I could. This wasn’t my station, but I didn’t care. I had to get some fresh air. My mind was racing and that nightmare clouded me, making me aware that I was still a threat. My hands were shaking when I pulled out my phone. I was in central London and I had to get home, but the tube was out of the question. My first instinct told me to call Tron and explain what happened, but I stopped and took a deep breath. Tron was a paranormal, but he had no idea how to prevent these visions from happening. I needed someone else, an expert in black magic.
The nightmare from the tube had been hunting me down ever since the blackouts began. My mother, my family, meant everything to me, and I would never forgive mys
elf if anything happened to them. I could’t bare the fact that I didn’t know how to prevent it from happening. Maybe someone was seeding this image in my head to let me slip, to make a mistake. I had no idea. I told Nathaniel earlier on to go to hell, and I was too proud to ask for his help. I needed someone who understood dark spells, gloomy, lethal magic, because this is what I was dealing with.
Jasper. I need Jasper. He would know what to do.
For some bizarre reason, I’d kept his number, but I had no idea if it was still active. If he changed, as he was trying to convince me earlier on, then now he had a chance to prove it. I wanted to scream with happiness when it rang and he picked up.
‘Where are you? We need to meet.’
‘Julia, nice to hear your voice again,’ he said.
‘I haven’t got time to chitchat. I need to see you right now. I’m in Oxford Street, can you pick me up?’ I asked.
There was a silence on the other side of the phone for some time before he agreed. I was gambling with my own life, pulling him into this mess. He had saved me from McGregor and now I needed his help again. He had been studying dark magic since I’d known him, and he wouldn’t hesitate to present what he was capable of. Right now he could be the only person that could figure out how to stop the blackouts.
He arrived an hour later as darkness was settling over busy Oxford Street. The lights from the shops were alive, illuminating the roads.
‘I thought that you didn’t want to see me?’ he asked, when I got into his car.
‘I wasn’t planning to, but you said you changed, and if you mean it then you can help me with something.’
I thought Jasper was still in love with me, and he hoped that maybe I would give us a fair shot one day. I couldn’t think about that, but I needed him now, despite how much he wanted to deny his connection to illegal spells and contacts with the most vicious individuals within the magic environment.
Paranormal Personnel Saga Box Set - Books 1-3 Page 71
