The agency was packed, and Sara was running up and down, dropping and mixing up all the files. It was a total mess. It looked like I was going to have to stay a few more hours to sort the payroll.
By twelve o’clock I wanted to start pulling my hair out of my head. Trolls were complaining about the shifts they were getting, vampires stared at me like I was their next meal, and Sara smashed one of the new glasses. She was still useless.
Half an hour later I managed to get rid of all the clients. For about five minutes I was spread out, head down on my desk thinking about what to do next, using my own energy to keep my nerves at bay. My other vampire colleague had just taken another break outside, probably because she had enough of Sara’s whining.
Then out of nowhere a strong scent of mint leaves and lemon drifted under my nose. Currents of warm, blissful magic shattered through me.
"Julia, are you all right?"
I lifted my head up and was surprised to see Nathaniel standing right in front of me. Sara was still talking to herself somewhere by Kate’s desk, cleaning yet another mess. I wanted to stab my heart with a knife, as it began hammering through me faster than ever. Even that part of my body was betraying me.
"What do you want, Nathaniel?" I asked coldly looking straight at him. There was no point playing games with him. He shifted his weight to the side, his eyes hovering over my lips, as if that evening didn't even happen. “Why are you even here after the way you shouted at me the other night?
He looked confused for a moment, then said, "I don't know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted at you."
"Of course you shouldn't have. On top of that you called me stupid and said you were fed up with my naivety," I reminded him, shuffling papers on my desk, attempting a distraction.
It seemed as if he was going to question what I said, but then decided against it. "Yes, and that, so yes, firecracker, please forgive me. There’s no excuse."
I stood up chewing my bottom lip, boiling inside.
"It took you two days to figure out that you were an arsehole?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. A dose of crushing heat blazed down my stomach, awakening the lust between us. The past week was so stressful and neither of us had been in the best of moods.
His looked away, frowning like he was pissed with himself. Okay, maybe I was being a little unfair. We were both done with messing around. It was time to seal the deal and behave like adults.
"I don't know. I can't explain it. Julia, I'm here now. Can we just put all this behind us?"
"What do you mean, you can't explain it, Nathaniel? I was lost and lonely that night and you just shouted at me for no reason."
“I have no idea why I said those things.” Nathaniel sighed heavily and stepped around my desk, then leaned over and kissed me. I wanted to push him away. Yeah, I was still angry, but I needed him, and my lips started moving involuntarily. Waves of heat crackled down my spine, as desire moved between my legs.
I felt like I should tell him to go to hell, but after so much drama I was fed up with it all.
"I'm sorry. Please, firecracker, let's not fight. You’re the most important person in my life."
When I had him so close, whispering all these sweet words to me, I slowly forgot about that evening.
"Mr. La Caz … hm, Julia, I'm sorry to disturb your moment, but there is a phone call for you."
Sara's squeaky voice broke the steady flow of magic and warmth. Nathaniel looked unfocused when I broke away from his embrace. I didn't know what to think anymore. Maybe it was just stress and we couldn't deal with each other.
I had to take the phone call. It was one of the shift managers from another factory. Someone hadn't turned up and they needed a replacement. Five minutes later after I hung up, Nathaniel was scrolling through his blackberry.
"Let's just finish this conversation tomorrow. I don't have time to talk to you right now. Lucinda’s expecting a phone call."
"Roberto will pick you up after your shift. You’re staying at my place tonight."
"What about the preparation for the—"
"Julia, I don't want you to wander around alone that late. I'll help you with the funeral and your family."
"All right, fine. I'll see you later, but I’ll not be spoken to like that ever again. Just so we are clear."
He smiled without saying anything, wished me good luck and left. Okay, so at least one thing was sorted. My relationship was back on track, but there was something that was still niggling me and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Maybe it was the fact that Nathaniel didn't even remember being rude.
The rest of the night rolled on fast, clients kept coming in. Around half past four in the morning, we all decided to close the office early. Rufus was taking over, so I could get on with all the family arrangements.
"Julia, listen, I'm sorry about your cup. I'll buy you a new one," Sara apologised for the fourth time.
"Yeah, okay," I muttered, shutting the door. The streets of Croydon were completely deserted. "How are you getting home?"
"My dad’s picking me up. There he is," she said.
A second later an Audi pulled up in front of us and Sara jumped in, promising to be better tomorrow. This wasn't good. I didn't want to be alone so late at night. I was asking for trouble. I wasn't worried, but it had been too long since I’d heard from Jasper. He knew exactly where I worked, and this was his favourite time for an unexpected visit.
Luckily for me Roberto had received my message and the black limo was rolling through the street.
"Good evening, Miss Taylor," he said rolling the window down. Roberto knew that I hated when he opened the door for me. I was so relieved when I slid inside.
"Thank you, Roberto."
He locked all the doors and I glanced at the other side of the street in search of more reporters but found none. It was really late, and they’d probably gone home. Roberto drove off, and as we made our way down the street, I spotted a figure standing in a far corner hidden in the shadows. As we got closer, I rolled the window down and my heart practically stopped.
It was Jasper and he was looking at me. I wanted to tell Roberto to stop the car, but I was frozen. He smiled and then sliced his finger across his neck, like he was slashing his throat. I stopped breathing and turned around, thinking that maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.
A few seconds later, Roberto turned at the traffic light and Jasper vanished. Jasper had definitely been standing there, probably waiting for me to finish work. He had done this before, attacked me in the alley when I was on my way home. Roberto didn't notice him; otherwise he would have said something.
My palms were damp with sweat and I had no idea what to make of him showing up again. Was he trying to scare or intimidate me? Either way, he was doing a good job, because I was shaking, not wanting to think about the past.
Roberto dropped me outside Nathaniel’s apartment door half an hour later, wishing me a good night.
It was after five when I slipped into Nathaniel’s bed. I wanted to pretend that I was still mad at him, but he was wide awake. His lips found mine instantly and my desire took control over my magic. In that moment I forgot about Jasper. It was like Nathaniel and I didn't need words to tell each other what we needed. The energy fractured, passing my core as he ran his hand across my oversensitive skin. I moaned, losing the battle with myself. I wanted him inside me, I wanted to forget about my stressful day at work.
Our hearts beat in steady rhythm as he held me in his arms, whispering what he was planning to do to me. He had me naked, pinned beneath his long lean body. I arched my head backwards, lost in a foggy desire as he began tracing his tongue over my navel. We made love that night, and I ended up falling asleep in his arms.
I woke up several hours later alone, relaxed, but still pretty exhausted. Once I parted my heavy lids to check the time, I knew I had a bit more time to sleep. Nathaniel’s scent was everywhere, but I managed to get another three hours of blissful sleep.
Later
that day I met up with Mum and Dad. It was a relief to see Dad looking much more like his usual self. He announced that the Unit was now searching for Grandpa Fred, but not as a suspect. They had ruled out his involvement in the murder. Mum had called nearly every hospital in the country, but there was no news about my grandfather. Dad was speaking to Dannika regularly. She wasn't supposed to be in touch, but she was still giving him updates about the case, and that wasn't good. He mentioned that Dannika had managed to establish a profile of the wizard who my grandma was in contact with. All the neighbours confirmed that he had been visiting her quite regularly.
Aunt Dorothy asked me to phone some of my grandparents’ friends. That day, I spent all day on the phone calling everyone who needed to be informed about the funeral. I couldn't imagine saying goodbye to my grandma without Grandpa Fred being there. The police, Dad, Aunt Dorothy; they all believed he was still alive, but there were many mounting questions without any answers. How would we ever find him?
I went back to my apartment to change into clean clothes. After Roberto dropped me home, I gathered what I could, and when I left the building to get to my car, I had this terrible feeling that I was being followed again. I turned around to discover Jasper standing on the other side of the car park.
Crap. This is not going to end well.
Chapter 8
Fear and other emotions.
I was literally glued to the pavement for a good minute, staring at the man who had threatened to kill me on more than one occasion. Jasper stood on the other side of the car park watching me as the darkness was slowly filling up the sky. I called out my magic, feeling it rushing through me slowly, hoping that he wouldn't notice. Electric sparks lifted my hair up and I swallowed hard, unable to decide if I should attack or not. I had no idea how much time had passed, but eventually Jasper moved, disappearing around the corner. In one moment he stood by the building, the next he was gone.
I glanced around the car park, waiting for his magic to hit me, expecting him to appear again, but nothing happened. My breath was long and laboured when I got into my car. My hands were shaking when I tried to put the keys into the ignition. I needed to do something. I couldn't go crazy just because Jasper was playing his psychological games with me.
It took me three times to start my rubbish car and by the time I was driving off, sparks were flying everywhere. The air was so thick with magic that I had trouble concentrating.
My ex wasn't stable, but after what happened with Emily and my father, I really just wanted to talk to him to straighten things out between us. He had done a lot of damage but also a lot of good. That day when I nearly died, battling the crazy witch, Jasper realised that I would never choose him, and he lost it. He didn't even give me a chance to explain.
I drove back to Nathaniel’s apartment; it was the only place where I felt safe. The rest of the evening dragged, and I was waiting for Nathaniel to come back from work, so I could talk to him about what happened. He arrived late, and by that time I already called the station and told Stewart that Jasper was stalking me. I also added that he was a danger to himself and maybe he should arrest him. It was a temporary measure and I had no idea if it would work, but I didn't want to get Nathaniel involved. He hated Jasper and we’d been fighting over him since we got engaged. I couldn't deal with yet another argument. Tomorrow, I was going to say goodbye to my grandma and I knew I wasn't ready for it.
"Right, are you sure you’ve got everything? If I have to go back to that apartment one more time, I'll drink your delicious blood, Julia, right now, in front of all my neighbours," Nathaniel said wrapping his long lean fingers around the wheel and giving me his irritated look. Fair enough. I might have pushed his patience to the limit today, forgetting about a million things and stressing about the funeral arrangements.
Mum woke me up early, panicking, because there was a problem with the flowers. Someone had mixed up the orders, and we ended up with large pink roses. I had to go and sort it out. Excess magic had been whipping through me from the moment I woke up, and I didn't need that today, especially when all my family was going to be there. I chose not to say anything to Nathaniel about last night. He already hated Jasper so much and it was just another thing to stress about. My ex was only trying to scare me. He wouldn't dare make a move now when I was practically living with Nathaniel. On top of that, I needed to be in the right frame of mind to deal with the funeral. Things were settled again between us and I didn't want to fight.
The funeral was to be held in Canterbury in the main cathedral. The Unit had just recently allowed us access to the house. Mum took care of the food and distant family. While Nathaniel was running me around the city sorting out the flowers, Dannika called to inform me that my dad was slowly losing patience. He nearly got into another fight, this time with a vampire over some new absurd theory.
"No, don't worry about it now, Nathaniel," I told him after relaying the conversation with Dannika. "I have everything Mum asked for, so let's just drive," I said knowing I couldn't do much about my father.
There was something in the air that day and I could almost taste it on my tongue when we started moving smoothly through the traffic. I didn't believe in bad luck, but I’d had a bad feeling before everything that had happened in the past. And I couldn't ignore this strange burning smell in the air. I shouldn't have read the horoscope yesterday, as my overactive imagination was working overtime.
Nathaniel looked slightly tense. My heartbeat was racing, and I kept rubbing my palms over my skirt. Grandma had a colourful past. From what I could tell, she lived a very wild and exciting life. Fireworks weren’t going to top the kind of person she was. The stories in the papers weren’t helping and I hoped the family wouldn't judge her based on the shit storm that was currently in the media.
The drive to Canterbury took longer than expected; the traffic was horrendous. By the time we arrived, the funeral was just about to start. The mansion’s driveway was filled with cars. Aunt Dorothy had probably sent a few more invitations than she anticipated attending. My grandma had been involved in the Paranormal Community for years. Even so, I was surprised by how many people had turned up.
Nathaniel looked at me for a long moment as I stared at the empty house, moved that people didn't believe the horrific stories that had been splashed across the papers in the past few weeks.
"Julia, are you all right?"
I looked at him, swallowing my tears. For some reason my magic had just awakened itself again, running down my spine. My power still hadn't gotten used to the fact that these days Nathaniel was with me all the time.
"I'm fine, just stunned that so many people decided to come," I replied. "There will be a lot of paranormals here who won't be very happy that we’re together."
"I'm used to that. I'm here for you and I want you to remember that. No one should be concerned with our business."
I nodded, took his hand and we walked inside. For a split second, I was waiting for my grandma to welcome me and when she didn't, disappointment filled me.
"Julia, Nathaniel, it's good you’re finally here. We’re just about to leave," my Aunt Dorothy said. All my cousins smiled, waving towards me. There was static electricity in the air. The house was full of elves, fairies and a few witches. It was hard not to feel influenced by such pure powers. I glanced at Nathaniel, who inhaled deeply closing his eyes. I wasn't surprised that he had trouble with his self-control with so many elves in the room. Vampires were intoxicated by fairies’ and elves’ blood. He normally didn't drink from me, because the bite weakened me, and he preferred not to risk it. I squeezed his hand tighter, knowing he was probably fighting with his urges.
"Where are my parents?"
"Your dad had an argument with my mum, so he went ahead to the cathedral," Claudia whispered, smiling shyly towards Nathaniel when her mother went to the kitchen to check on the dishes.
"Argument?" I asked.
"You know, about Grandma’s involvement with that wizard."
> "Ladies, we don't have time for chitchat. We need to head to the cathedral," Aunt Dorothy announced, appearing right in front of us again.
Claudia went red and rushed outside alone to the other guests. Many humans who still lived in the village were staring as we all walked by; a few people joined us. My grandparents chose to live in one of those rare communities where paranormals were happy to share their lives with ordinary humans. Most of the people in the village knew my family. Grandma was respected, well, maybe not so much now, but in the past, she had been an important figure in the paranormal world.
Nathaniel squeezed my hand as we approached the cathedral. The weather wasn't great—thick grey clouds hung above us—but it matched my mood. I spotted people outside, paranormals who I didn't know or even recognise. There were elves, fairies, some witches and even a hag. Kelsie, Ella, Nicky, Kate and Rufus stood by the entrance.
I chatted with them for a while before Dad asked us all to go inside. Tron was sitting in the back with another tall elf who seemed bored. There was still no sign of Alex. The priest was human. Dad didn't really raise me with any religion, but Grandma used to go to church, so it was appropriate we had a service for her.
I was anxious to see my grandma in the coffin to say goodbye just before she was buried.
My brain seemed fuzzy throughout the funeral. My cousins were crying, and I didn't know what I was supposed to be feeling. Nathaniel was squeezing my hand the entire time, probably expecting me to burst into tears at any moment. Right at the end, I couldn't take the tension any longer and sobbed, remembering the truly exceptional woman. The sadness was suddenly overwhelming, and I couldn't accept the fact that Grandma had died without accepting my relationship with Nathaniel.
Family Feud: The Witching Hour Series Book 5 Page 6
