When the Clock Strikes

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  ‘Julia, can you walk?’ I asked her once we stepped out into the street.

  ‘Yes, just stop squeezing my arm. You’re cutting off my circulation,’ she said.

  I let go of her arm, not realising that I was hurting her. ‘Right, sorry.’

  Ten minutes later, we reached the alley where my car was still standing but not in a great shape. All the windows has been smashed, but I didn’t fucking care. Julia’s safety was the priority here.

  ‘Fuck, Miss Taylor, I thought you were intelligent. We weren’t sure what you two planned, but going into Gordon’s bar is like to going to death row,’ the shifter said, looking from her to me.

  I stood there, stunned that she knew him. ‘I don’t know who you are, but I owe you my life and Julia’s,’ I said.

  ‘Yes, thank you, Mr. Longbridge. We were looking for some information about my missing cousin. She is one of the elves that’s been kidnapped,’ Julia mumbled with a shaking voice.

  Longbridge ran his hands over his dark hair, looking furious with her. I knew what he was thinking, but I was the one to blame, not Julia. ‘No one hangs around here,’ he said. ‘It’s a good thing that we spotted you. Sorry about the car, mate.’

  ‘I’m in your debt. The car is meaningless. If you ever you need anything, call me.’ I said, handing him my business card.

  ‘Thank you, Michael,’ Julia stammered and got into my car, looking pretty shaken up.

  ‘Take care of her, mate. You shouldn’t have brought her here. What the hell were you thinking?’ he asked me.

  I squeezed my fists, breathing heavily. ‘It was a mistake that won’t happen again. I don’t like to repeat myself, but I’m in your debt. If you ever need any help, call me.’

  He nodded. ‘I’ll remember. Just take care of her, please.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Longbridge, I’m never letting my eyes off her ever again.’ I got in the car. My breathing was irregular for the whole journey, and I was furious with myself that I put her in so much danger. I was still silent when we reached her apartment block.

  ‘I’m sorry, Julia. I never should have agreed to this. My source mentioned that there was supposed to be only two giants in the bar. I planned this badly. They nearly killed us,’ I said turning to look at her.

  ‘It’s a shame that we didn’t get anything out of them,’ she said, playing with her fingers. She was so wrong. We found out more than I was expecting.

  ‘Actually we did. That giant that approached me gave me the information that I was looking for,’ I said. ‘If anyone could start snatching fairies and elves, I figured it would have been Gordon, but now we know that he isn’t involved.’

  ‘So? I still don’t know who is behind my cousin’s kidnapping.’

  ‘The most ruthless gang isn’t, so it’s probably one individual, which means that your cousin is still alive. We have half of our job cut out, but from now on if I’m going to help you, I’ll be working alone.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Don’t you even dare to protest. I risked your life today and that won’t happen again. Now go home and get to sleep and don’t mention anything to your father. I’ll call you when I know more.’

  I knew that I was asking for too much, that Julia wasn’t the sort of girl that was going to sit at home and obey. I was planning to keep an eye on her either way.

  ‘See you soon, Nathaniel,’ she said and got out of the car.

  Once she was on the way to her apartment I opened my damaged window and added, ‘You still owe me a date, Julia.’

  I didn’t give her a chance to reply. I rolled up my window and drove off.

  Chapter nine

  God, she looked so sexy wearing my clothes.

  The next few weeks passed too quickly. I was angry and hornier than ever before.

  Gordon wasn’t involved with the blood business, but fairies and elves kept being kidnapped. I had some ideas about who could have been behind it, but I wasn’t fully convinced. I had to do more research.

  Lucinda had been bugging me about this year’s Christmas Party for my senior staff, so in the end I told her to organise something. I wasn’t in the mood for partying, but I was in charge, so I had to set an example. It had been weeks since I saw Julia and I missed her. I was planning to see her next week, hoping that I would have some more news about her cousin. Despite my success and money, I was going through this life alone, afraid to release my heart to another woman. Now I was seeing everything more clearly. I wanted to date her and begin to build a relationship. It was time to stop playing the role of a creature without feelings and admit that I wanted to let myself fall in love with Julia.

  I dressed in my tuxedo and asked Roberto to drop me at the venue Lucinda had chosen for the Christmas bash. The hall was massive and filled with many excited-looking humans and paranormals. I sat by Porter and Carter as they checked out other vampires. The food was decent, but my head was somewhere else. A few of the female vampires that dealt with marketing were hitting on me, but I wasn’t interested.

  Around half past eleven I was ready to leave, when Porter asked, ‘Did you notice that your favourite consultant is on the floor? She looks like she is completely wasted.’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about, Porter?’ I asked, irritated.

  Carter laughed joining in the conversation. ‘That Taylor chick; she’s here. The Paranormal Personnel Christmas party is also being held here.’

  ‘Julia? Where?’ I felt like someone just injected an elixir of life into me.

  ‘Twelve o’clock,’ he pointed out.

  I got up to have a better view of the people that were dancing. I saw Julia on the floor moving to the rhythm of the music. I narrowed my eyes. Carter was right. She was pissed and dancing by herself. Some vampire was eyeing her from a few meters away. Jennifer, her co-worker, was making out with a fairy. This didn’t look good at all, and I didn’t like the way that vampire was looking at her. I got to her before she was just about to fall on the ground. The old me would have just let her party. A few weeks ago I would have just taken someone else home for the night, but right now I was hypnotised by Julia. And I felt responsible for her safety.

  ‘I think you’ve had enough already,’ I said to her.

  ‘Oh, Mr. La Caz, this is a private party—no snooping around.’ She giggled, lifting herself away from my body. My pulse started racing. I liked having her close to me.

  ‘Julia, how much did you have to drink?’ I asked, angry that she was so reckless, drinking in front all these vampires.

  ‘You are naughty, Mr. La Caz. You shouldn’t ask me about that. I’m having a good time and I…

  She didn’t finish, and instead went green in a matter of seconds, her hand flying to her mouth.

  ‘C’mon, let’s get you to the bathroom before you are sick in front of all these people.’ I helped her to the toilet. She was mumbling most of the time, unaware that I was with her. She pulled her knickers off and peed as I stood behind the door. After that I heard her vomiting a few times, and on the way to the car she cried, apologizing.

  I made a decision to take her to my apartment straight away. She was in a hell of a state and couldn’t be alone right now. I called Roberto and transported her in my limo.

  She regained her lucidity inside for a few moments and said, ‘Kiss me, Mr. La Caz.’

  ‘Julia, you are drunk, so please just lie down until we get home,’ I said, pushing her away from me.

  ‘But I want you to kiss me. I am agreeing to your proposition.’

  ‘Julia, you won’t remember any of it tomorrow. Please stop tempting me.’

  ‘Nathaniel, I’m not feeling too well...I…’

  ‘You and alcohol just don’t go well together. It’s like me and your blood—we lose control too quickly.’

  Roberto helped me to get her into my apartment and then left. I carried her to my bedroom and laid her on the bed. This was exactly where I wanted to have her but not like this. She looked so peaceful sleeping
.

  I started removing the layers of her clothing and when she was in her underwear I held my breath, admiring how beautiful she was. I wanted to kiss every part of her body. My mouth watered when I inhaled her scent. Erect, I removed her underwear. She had the most perfect breasts that I had ever seen. Then I left the room and went to take another cold shower. It would have been so much easier to just take advantage of her, but I wasn’t the same person anymore.

  I stared at myself in the mirror trying to figure out why all of a sudden I had this urge to keep her safe, away from other men. She was turning my life upside-down, exposing me to these new confusing emotions. Was this love? Was I slowly falling for Julia?

  I couldn’t sleep, knowing that she was in the other room, but eventually I drifted off in the early hours of the morning. When I woke up I had a hard-on again. I checked on Julia, but she was still asleep, so I wasted some time online trying to distract myself from images of her naked body that had been floating in my mind all morning.

  An hour later, I heard movement in the room next door. Julia was up and no doubt wondering where the hell she was.

  I knocked on my own bedroom door and entered. She stood by my wardrobe in my shirt and nothing else.

  God, she looked so sexy wearing my clothes.

  I swallowed hard, admiring her bare legs. I didn’t know if she could see the bulge in my trousers, but I wasn’t even trying to hide it.

  ‘Miss Taylor, you’re up,’ I said and smiled. She turned towards me and I struggled to gain control of myself because I saw her hardened nipples popping through her shirt like she was welcoming my idea of hot sex in my bed.

  ‘Hi, Nathaniel. I’m confused why I’m here,’ she said, straightening her back and placing her hands on her hips. Slowly my eyes moved from her eyes to her neck and then again to her breasts.

  ‘I brought you home. You were throwing up everywhere and I couldn’t leave you with your work colleagues, so I decided to take you to my apartment,’ I said, winking at her.

  ‘How did you even know where I was? Have you been stalking me again with your dark magic?’

  ‘No, believe it or not, it was a coincidence. I decided to take senior members of my staff to a Christmas party. We had a good year, and Lucinda chose Grand Central.’ I played with my gold ring, trying to distract myself. She didn’t look like she believed me. But I knew destiny was giving us another chance. It was clear that we couldn’t stay away from each other.

  ‘And you want me to believe that Lucinda chose the same venue where Paranormal Personnel decided to go?

  ‘Yes, that’s what happened.’ I shrugged, annoyed that she was thinking I deliberately went to the same party as Paranormal Personnel. ‘So is this the end of your interrogation?’

  ‘No, I have a lot more to ask you.’

  ‘Well, I’m afraid that has to wait. If you’re going to stand here half naked, then I’ll stop being such a gentlemen. I’ll rip your clothes off and have sex with you right here, right now,’ I said and licked my upper lip.

  ‘We both know that is not going to happen,’ she snarled. ‘Can I have my dress back? I haven’t got any other clothes.’

  ‘You threw up on your dress.’ I stepped towards her and opened up my wardrobe, hoping to find something suitable for her. ‘Here, put this on for now. After lunch, we will figure something out,’ I said, inhaling her scent that all of the sudden ignited a fire inside me. It was so intense, that I had to add, ‘You need to cover your scent because one more minute or so, and I’m going to lose control and bite you.’

  My voice was so low and husky that she nodded and whispered a spell to cover her scent. It helped a little, but I still wanted to have her in my arms, right there.

  ‘I’ll wait for you in the kitchen. Just turn right and straight through,’ I told her as I passed her a pair of trousers and left the room.

  Outside, I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down.

  When she came to the kitchen, breakfast was already waiting for her, and I was reading a paper. She stood in the window for a few moments admiring the view of central London.

  ‘Come on, sit down,’ I ordered her. ‘I prepared poached eggs on toast. I hope you like it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  I smiled, folded the paper, and got up to fetch two plates. ‘Come on, eat up, Julia. You were sick last night, so you need to regain your strength,’ I said as she stared at her dish for several minutes. ‘Let’s think of this as our second date. I enjoyed our spicy dinner a few weeks ago.’

  ‘I thought that you don’t date,’ she said.

  I took a bite of my toast and lifted my eyes to look at her. ‘No, you are right, I don’t. But I can make an exception for you.’

  ‘You didn’t have to rescue me yesterday, Nathaniel. I would have been fine, Jennifer was—’

  ‘Your work colleague was making out with a fairy while you were sick, so I was there at the right time.’

  ‘All right then, thank you. I appreciate it. So you brought me here to your apartment and then you undressed me?’ she asked, looking at her plate.

  Why did she need to remind me now that I saw her naked? She didn’t need to know that I admired her for a few minutes completely nude, lying on my bed. ‘If it’s going to make you feel better, it was dark and I wasn’t looking,’ I said, almost laughing.

  ‘So, normal food. Do you enjoy it as much as blood?’ she asked, changing the subject.

  ‘Yes, food and blood are equally tasty,’ I replied, placing the knife and fork on the plate and putting my hands together. ‘However, after smelling you, I don’t want to taste anything else.’

  ‘Stop smelling me, then. Vampires and elves are not supposed to mix; it’s too dangerous.’

  ‘I want to take you on a proper date, Julia; I don’t care about this cliché about elves and vampires. You can’t deny our mutual attraction,’ I said, leaning close to her.

  ‘I’m an old-fashioned woman and you said you don’t date. I’m not going to be anyone’s fuck buddy, and you won’t touch my blood even if I agree to go out with you.’ She glared at me and I couldn’t pull away from her incredible crystal clear blue eyes.

  ‘One date doesn’t mean anything, Julia. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ I said, smiling. ‘I have to agree with you about the blood, but we can always discuss this later. When it comes to sex…hmm, you have no idea how much I want to make love to you.’

  She flushed, looking away and it turned me on that she was playing so innocent. She got up and took our plates.

  ‘Fine. I’ll go out on a date with you,’ she agreed, turning around to look at me. I smiled and my heart danced in my chest. Finally I was going to take her out, I couldn’t be happier. This was a new feeling for me.

  ‘Do you know that one of your workers has been found dead near my place?’

  ‘Yes, I watched the news. The police spoke to a few of my staff, but they didn’t find anything.’

  ‘There have been two more kidnappings, my Dad told me.’

  I shifted on the chair, uncomfortable about her choice of subject.

  ‘Besides,’ she continued, ‘I would like to know how you actually produce that blood, you know, for Magic Shot?’

  I arched my eyebrows and stopped eating. ‘I can’t tell you, but I already know where you’re heading with this. The Magic Shot consists of a percentage of a human blood, which has been freely donated, combined with pure magic. I hire certain wizards. I didn’t kidnap your cousin, if that’s what you asking.’

  She blushed but held my gaze. ‘Okay, maybe I was insensitive, but you coming up with that revolutionary product at the same time all the fairies and elves are missing, don’t you think it’s suspicious?’

  Chapter ten

  Fuck it, I want her.

  ‘It is. I can see your point, but if I were behind this, then I wouldn’t help you, would I?’ I said, irritated. ‘I’ll take you out and I’ll even show you how we prepare the shot if you don’t believe me. Besides, y
our father already paid me another visit, and believe it or not, he asked the same questions.’

  She was getting on my nerves with those accusations, so I folded my arms together. Wasn’t it obvious that I had nothing to do with that shot that was found where her cousin has been kidnapped? ‘You have to be more careful. That’s why I asked Roberto to keep an eye on you. Surely, if your father works for the police, he wouldn’t allow you to walk home alone in the early hours of the morning.’

  ‘My dad set a protection charm on me; he is much more advanced with magic than me. He’s a full-blooded elf,’ she explained. ‘But you’re right, he’s forbidden me to walk home alone since the kidnapping started.’

  ‘Good, but to be sure, Roberto will be at your disposal all the time, and don’t even dare to argue with me,’ I said firmly.

  ‘Fine, fine, and I’m sorry about those accusations, but I might just buy a car, and then I don’t have to rely on men who can’t take no for an answer.’

  ‘You are unbelievably stubborn, Julia.’

  ‘Yes, my dad tells me that,’ she muttered. ‘Anyway, did you find out more about the kidnappings?’

  I sighed. ‘I made a few enquiries, asked a few people to snoop around, but I got nothing. It’s like someone is making a hell of an effort to keep this quiet.’

  ‘I don’t get it. Claudia was taken in the middle of the street. Someone must have seen something.’

  ‘I promise that I’ll use all my resources to help you. My people or your Dad are bound to find something,’ I assured her, but I could see that she was still worried. It had been weeks since her cousin vanished.

  ‘Are you at work tomorrow?’ I asked her when she came back from the bathroom.

  ‘No, I’m on holiday until January. On Thursday, I’m going to Kent with my parents. We always spend Christmas Day at my grandparents’ home,’ she said, folding her arms together.

  Great, she was free then, so I had plenty of time to convince her. She was going to be mine soon, only mine. ‘Good to know. I might take a few days off. Let me take you home so you can be nice and fresh for tonight. I am taking you out for our first proper date.’