A Nightly Howl

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  "My father?" she asked, puzzled.

  "Humans can’t be immune to that spell; you’ve probably got some paranormal genes."

  "I never knew him. He left Mum when I was young. She doesn’t know what happened to him."

  "Talk to your mum and see what you can find out. I’ll speak to my dad about the guy that’s following you."

  "Okay."

  At least she was calmer now. And I had the perfect opportunity to rebuild my shattered friendship with her. I called Dad and confessed what had been going on. He was angry that I’d kept this away from him for so long. He arrived half an hour later and asked Ella to write down everything she remembered. She couldn't describe the person who killed Ludwig and I wasn't surprised. I was glad that he promised to send an officer to sniff around Ella’s salon. He would know straight away if someone was following her. Just before he left, he told me that we had to have a serious conversation. I agreed for Ella’s sake.

  "Keep an eye on her; she looks like she can’t handle the truth," he told me before he locked the door. Ella looked slightly better.

  "Please don’t cut me off again. I want to help. I still want us to be friends."

  "I can’t pretend that it’s all going to go back to normal," she said stiffly.

  "Ella—"

  "Please, I can’t do this right now, but I’ll try."

  I nodded, knowing that at least she wasn't afraid of me anymore. Hopefully she would consider seeing me again soon. It took me a while to convince her to use Nathaniel’s limo and Roberto was happy to take her home. I had to take small steps with her; she was still fragile.

  She left me worried. Maybe she had been followed and I just didn't want to believe her. I didn't know, but I had to consider every possibility. Someone wanted me to know that Nathaniel was planning to leave the country, and someone broke into my apartment. I needed to stay strong.

  I spent the rest of the evening erasing memories about Paris and the hot, sticky, mind-blowing sex with Nathaniel. I had no idea how we were going to solve this situation, but I couldn't keep pretending that everything was great between us. There was no point dwelling on it. Either way, I wasn't going to move to Geneva and he couldn't just not go. Someone was going to get hurt and it was probably going to be me.

  I fell asleep quickly that night; dreams about Nathaniel consumed me. He was in my bedroom watching me. My body reacted; I shivered as he approached and kissed me. His tongue dove into my mouth. The familiar heat pulsed through my body; his touch was like a hot-wire and it stimulated my body. I wanted more as his lips took over my neck, caressing me gently.

  "You want this?” he whispered into my ear, and his lips moved around my collarbone, then between my breasts. His touch felt so much different, stronger and rougher.

  I opened my eyes, realising that it wasn't a dream, instantly recognising the smell of the cologne: it was always the same spicy, oriental fragrance with notes of cinnamon. Jasper was lying on top of me, ready to rape me in my sleep.

  He kept touching me; his hands were everywhere—the air was filled with a puzzling lust, and I wanted to die. Then nausea hit me, and I wanted to hurt him, get him off of me.

  All the hair on the back of my neck rose as the energy whipped through me, curling my toes. It wasn't one those moments where I lost control over what I was doing. The rage boiled in my stomach, crawling through me like a snake. I roared and pushed him away. A small wind lifted me above the bed. Magic took over, shutting off all my senses and self-resistance.

  A yellow light burst out of me and things started to move around the room. Jasper had gone pale. Then a thunderstorm struck, lighting the dark sky outside the window. The noise followed after that and pretty soon, everything that was made of glass in my apartment began to explode. A cold sweat swelled through me—my skin was tight; my head was buzzing. I crashed on the floor, panting, taking large gulps of air, trembling. Jasper was in the corner with blood running down his face; he stared at me, startled.

  "I didn't mean to scare you, Julia," he said, trying to stop the bleeding, sounding lost. His face was ashen.

  "What the fuck are you doing in my apartment? I could have killed you," I roared, standing up. I was shivering, my skin was static. If I wanted to, I knew I could’ve finished him off, but I wasn't a murderer. My heart was beating fast.

  Jasper got up, brushing away the dirt and pieces of glass. He had his magic wand and with one swift movement he fixed his bloody face. My apartment was in a hell of a state. I was pretty sure that I had something to do with that, as the electricity was still buzzing through my fingertips.

  "I wanted to talk to you." He scowled. I dropped my eyes on his crotch; he was hard, and I was still aroused thinking that Nathaniel came to apologise.

  "I swear to you, I’ll kill you if you sneak up on me like that again."

  "You loved it, Julia, I know you did."

  My brain was overused as the magic coursed alive through my veins. I wasn't able to gather my thoughts. Jasper wanted me. Still, after all this time, he refused to move on. He loved stirring my magic; he didn't care that my energy was dangerous. My neighbours probably heard me. I could only hope that the police would show up soon enough.

  "Jasper," I began, "how many times do I have to tell you that I'm happy without you?"

  "You won’t be moving to Geneva. I know you too well. You like your independence too much." He smirked, nailing me down.

  "Get out," I shouted, shaking.

  "You owe me, darling, I came here to claim my prize."

  His voice was deep and hypnotic. I clenched my muscles, imagining him dead. He saved me, but I wanted him to vanish from my life; I wanted him to suffer. The anger, frustration, and sorrowful emotion that accumulated inside of me made me roar at the top of my lungs. A ball of burning fire jetted out of my hands, but he was ready, and it missed him. Blood rushed to my ears, and a sharp pain shot through my forehead. Jasper was smiling and I passed out after he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes inhaling the familiar scent of mint leaves and lemon. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. Nathaniel was sitting next to me, looking down at me. My muscles clenched, and skin tingled. I wasn't dreaming anymore, but my head felt heavy. Surprise shuttled through me as I stared at Nathaniel in my bedroom. Memories flooded back quickly, and I gasped.

  “Don't move, just sleep."

  “What's happened? What are you doing here?"

  I tried to get up, but my body refused to cooperate. My heart rate picked up. I was so mad at him, despite what happened with Jasper.

  "Calm down and sleep."

  I must have fallen asleep again, as my eyes felt heavy. When I woke up again it was a bright sunny morning. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and stretched. I felt stiff and numb.

  Then I looked around and the realisation hit me again. I wasn't dreaming, Jasper showed up in the middle of the night and I lost control. Nathaniel walked to my room and my stomach turned upside down.

  "You’re up. Great. How are you feeling?" he asked, passing me a cup of steamy hot tea.

  "Fine. I thought I was dreaming." I sighed, looking around at the mess. It was worse than I expected. Since the robbery, I tried to clean up as much as I could, but right now, I was back to square one. The new mirror that I bought was in pieces, and my new clothes were lying on the floor.

  Nathaniel was looking at me. "I wanted to talk to you, so I came here in the middle of the night. When I got here, your block was full of police. Apparently, someone reported another burglary. Your father didn't find anything, so I told him I would take care of you."

  "Jasper showed up when I was sleeping. Things got out of control," I explained. "I must have passed out when I tried to kill him."

  His lips parted, but his expression was neither indifferent nor calm. Something flickered in his eyes and for a split second I wondered if he was jealous.

  "Your ex-boyfriend got into your apartment?" he asked, his tone was hostile.
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  "I went to bed early, then I woke up thinking that it was still a dream. He was on top of me," I explained. "He was hurt and wanted to get back together again, you know, the usual."

  I didn't know what else to say. I was still mad at Nathaniel about Geneva. He moved closer and brushed my hair away from my face. My body turned to jelly.

  "Julia, I don’t want us to fight. Geneva isn’t an issue at the moment."

  "You upset me."

  “I've made a mistake. I should have talked to you first," he said. “You're going to stay in my apartment for a while."

  "Nathaniel, please—"

  "Your father agrees with me, and you just have to comply," he said. “You're not safe here, plus I'm going to take care of the problem. Your ex-boyfriend doesn’t realise what I'm capable of."

  "He’s dangerous, Nathaniel. I need to talk to my dad. I'm not sure about his mental state."

  "He needs to learn a lesson; he wants something that is mine. I’ll take care of him." He growled, looking annoyed.

  "I'm not yours, Nathaniel. I'm not an object. I’ll deal with Jasper myself."

  "Fuck, Julia, why do you do that? Stop pretending that you can take care of him. Who knows what he’s capable of?"

  I was surprised at his burst of anger, but I didn't say any more. Nathaniel left the room, swearing. I threw my slipper at his head, cursing under my breath.

  I thought about the thunder and lightning from last night. I was petrified because I could produce magic that no one had ever heard of and the worst part was that I only had half of the elven magical genes. My grandmother had tried to train me, but I was always too distracted. We’d never discussed what I was capable of. I didn't want to fight with Nathaniel, but he didn't understand Jasper’s behaviour like I did. My ex-boyfriend was my problem, and I had to solve it.

  Nathaniel was still in my apartment when I got up. "If you’re calm now, then you might want to sit down and eat your breakfast.”

  He looked angry. Instead of getting all worked up, I walked to the table and started eating and ignoring him. He sat down next to me. He’d made me a full English breakfast. He must have been here a while because my kitchen was spotless. We both ate in silence while the tension was still in the air.

  "Now, we can talk," he said after I cleared my plate.

  "You need to cut that superior tone," I said.

  "All right, but stop being so stubborn. If you stay in my apartment, you’ll be safe. Since we’ve been back together, I’ve brought you nothing but trouble."

  The idea of moving to Geneva only proved that he was never serious. He didn't understand that I was expecting more. But I still didn't tell him how I felt about him, expecting him to make that first step.

  "What exactly do you want from me, Nathaniel?"

  It was a straightforward question, but he could give me many different answers. If he was intelligent enough, then he would know what I was expecting to hear.

  "I want you."

  “It's not enough. I don’t want to get hurt when you decide that you’ve had enough of protecting me."

  “I've been avoiding relationships the past few years, and when I saw you in my office, I didn't think that I could ever find a woman that I could be happy with."

  "You have to try harder, I can’t do this on my own."

  It was the truth. He was making an effort, but I was tired of his games. I wanted to be loved. I just needed to feel that we were on the same page. It was as if we were always meant to be together. The whole trip to Geneva wasn't finalised; we could make this work.

  "I'm trying to, my firecracker, but I’ve been alone for so long."

  Then, instead of fighting with him, I got up, went around the table and looped onto his lap. I didn't have the strength to fight with my desire. While I was staring into his hazel eyes I wanted to see love and devotion, not just passion. Jasper’s kiss was long forgotten because Nathaniel was the only man for me. I kissed him, and our bodies melted into each other.

  Chapter 28

  Vampire anger.

  A heat wave was passing through London in July. Many people were out and about enjoying the sun in the beer gardens and walking alongside the river during their lunch hours. I was lucky that I could use Roberto. As the crowds of people invaded the tube, the air was always sticky and filled with the smell of sweat. The days were longer which meant that we had to work more hours because vampires couldn't come out until the sunset. I loved sun, but I hated working in the summer.

  There was still no news about Rufus and everyone at work feared the worst. I kept making phone calls to the rival agency, but I never had enough courage to speak to Fiorillo. I wasn't quite sure what I thought I could achieve.

  On Wednesday, I managed to get off early and asked Roberto to drop me at my parents’ house. Mum was happy when I announced that I was living with Nathaniel, even if it was only temporary. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she was secretly planning our wedding. I was hoping to talk to Dad about his investigation. Since the anonymous phone call there wasn't any more news about Rufus. Mum was working late in surgery, so I had a chance to talk to him while he wasn't on the go. It’d been a few weeks since he found out what went on with Ella, so surely, he must’ve had some news. When I walked through the door, I found him cooking. This was an unusual picture because he normally didn't use the kitchen.

  "Wow, Dad, what are you doing?" I asked, wrinkling my forehead.

  "Cooking," he replied. “That's what people do in the kitchen."

  I grinned. "Yeah, but you leave all the cooking to Mum."

  "You mother is working late all week, besides, I can cook, sometimes even better than her," he said, winking at me. "But don’t mention that to her. Fancy some sausage casserole?"

  "No, thank you. Nathaniel is taking me for dinner later on. I wanted to ask about Ella and Rufus."

  He sat back in the chair, frowning.

  "I have nothing new to say, hon. Ella might just be overdramatic. A few of my guys kept an eye on her, but no one looking like the man that she described showed up."

  "She was petrified, Dad. She wouldn't make this up."

  "We wasted a week, and no one showed up. Maybe she isn’t coping with her new knowledge."

  I paced around the room for a bit, trying to figure out if Ella was possibly hallucinating from the trauma of seeing magic; she wouldn’t just make something like this up. When I saw her last she looked serious. I’d been calling her, but she wasn't returning my calls, yet again. I was sure that we’d made progress and she was willing to forgive me.

  "My boss was on my back, and people kept telling me that I was wasting my time with some human."

  I was just about to ask him about Rufus’s case when we both heard the door. He frowned and looked at me, surprised, muttering something about Mum finishing late. Then Grandma walked into the kitchen wearing her Coco Chanel suit. Dad flinched, staring at her, startled.

  "Mother, what are you doing here?"

  I tried to walk back to the living room, but she caught my arm.

  "Stay, Julia, I need a word with you."

  "Mum, I thought you weren't speaking to me," Dad said. The air was suddenly warm and thick with pulsing energy.

  "I came for Julia," she announced, ignoring him.

  "For me? I don’t get it."

  "There is no time. I need to show you something. Jerry there is no point resisting. I'm not going to let you waste your daughter and my granddaughter’s life. That vampire is a trouble!"

  "Grandma, please! We’ve been through this already," I protested, but then she whispered a spell. Dad started saying something, but I couldn't hear him. I felt like the air was sucked out of my lungs. The world around us started spinning, then blackness obscured me.

  When I came back to consciousness, my shoes were soaked. It turned out that I was in Kent in my grandparents’ living room. All the lights were on and my grandmother was sitting on the sofa staring at me with a tense and hard expression. It was half p
ast five and my reservation in the restaurant was at seven.

  “What's going on, Grandma? Why did you bring me here against my will?" I shouted, angry.

  I had no idea how she managed to transport me miles away from my father within a blink of an eye.

  "We’re going for a little trip to a different century," she said, smiling. I needed to speak to Grandpa, because Grandma was out of her mind. She couldn't possibly think that I would believe in her little time travel tales.

  "Different century? Grandma, I know you’re worried, but I don’t have time to do this right now. Why don’t you just accept that Nathaniel and I are together? Nothing that you do will change this."

  "He lied to you about Geneva."

  My eyes narrowed. "How do you even know about that?"

  My grandmother shrugged. "It’s not important at the moment. You read the magazine, sulked a little, but he knows how to manipulate his women. You need to understand that he’s dangerous."

  I rolled my eyes and got up. I hated to be told what to do. My grandmother and Jasper should pair up. "Not one of those elves that you sent to the agency will make me happy. Don’t you understand that I'm in love with him?"

  My grandmother patted her styled hair nervously; a current of electricity passed through her palms and long moments of silence stretched between us.

  "Love only exists in fairytales, dear." she said. "We’re going for a little trip, so please close your eyes."

  She clapped her hands and I clenched my fists. There wasn't any point making a fuss. No one was going to help me. Dad had no idea where I was; her magic was beyond comprehension. I’d heard about time travel but thought these were just myths—no one could actually do that.

  Next thing I knew, I wasn't in my grandparents’ home anymore but in Central London. I had no idea what had just happened. My grandmother was standing beside me, pouring some kind of liquid into a small bottle. A thick grey mist covered the streets. It wasn't the London that I knew. The building reminded me of an eighteenth century drama. A carriage passed through the street and I stared, unable to make any kind of sound, widening my eyes in amazement. The time was also different. Through the mist, a large clock was showing quarter to five in the morning. The smell of decomposed food was outrageous; I covered my mouth.