Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (20 page)

‘We both know that I won’t go through with the wedding,’ he hissed, running his hand through his sandy hair. ‘This is going to be over soon, I promise.’

‘Just let me go, and stop running after me. Let me take care of it,’ I said, opening the door. My heart pounded in my chest when I saw Jasper there by the wall, where I stood only a second ago.

‘Julia, hey, nice to see you again. What a coincidence,’ he said. I panicked when Nathaniel came out of the same room a few seconds later.

Jasper took a step back, moving his eyes from me to Nathaniel and his matted clothes.

Crap, crap, crap, why does this keep happening to me?

Just keep smiling. This isn’t the right time to confess that you’re fucking your own boss.

‘Jasper! What are you doing here?’ I asked, glancing up and down the corridor, wondering who else was going to find out about my dirty secret. My luck was slowly running out and I had no idea if I should start running or just stay in the same spot pretending that there was nothing going on between Nathaniel and me.

My ex-boyfriend number one shot Nathaniel a strained look, pinning him down like he was ready to stab him. It was clear that he put two and two together really quickly. Nathaniel shoved his hands in his pockets narrowing his eyes on Jasper. For a long moment they were measuring each other with angry stares, like they were in a boxing ring. Panic crawled under my skin fast. Nathaniel had no idea that Jasper had saved me from being raped by McGregor and I deliberately kept that away from him. I’d always complained that Jasper was messing with my life and I didn’t want Nathaniel to know that he was the one that murdered his biggest rival.

‘Stay away from Julia,’ snarled my ex number two to my ex number one leaning dangerously close to his face.

‘Okay, that’s enough. Nathaniel, just leave, please. I can handle this,’ I said quickly, standing between those two, afraid that I was going to bring more attention to me.

Nathaniel opened his mouth to throw some more threats at Jasper, but I frowned, so he backed away. Dad didn’t say anything about letting Jasper go, maybe there wasn’t enough evidence to keep him locked up.

‘Remember what I said, Julia,’ he added, before he turned around and walked away.

Right then I wanted to kill myself.

‘So you’re back together I see, you and that leech?’ Jasper snarled with a silent laugh. ‘What happened to the giant that everyone is talki—’

‘I’m warning you, Jasper, this is none of your business,’ I said, trying to figure out how he knew that I was seeing Quentin. From our last conversation it was clear that he had been away from London for some time.

‘I wanted to show you that I’m not the same person anymore, so I didn’t bring up that giant when you came to see me.’

I felt painful throbbing in my scull. Jasper kept saying that he changed, but he could ruin my new relationship if he wanted to.

‘Jasper, we were together a long time ago and I can’t talk to you about this. Just keep your mouth shut and let me deal with my own life.’

‘I thought you were happy? You looked happy when you spoke to me the other day.’

I bit my lips, glancing back and forth, wondering if anyone was approaching. Jasper was clearly going through a transformation. So far he didn’t attack Nathaniel, but I had no clue what he might have done if I hadn’t been standing between the two of them.

‘I can’t talk to you about this, not right now, not ever, please.’

I started walking away, expecting him to throw some sarcastic comment, but no, he didn’t say anything else. He just let me go. Maybe that incident from eight months ago changed him, because he reacted like an understanding human being, and as far as I was concerned, he’d never been understanding about anything.

As I walked downstairs I searched for Nathaniel, but it looked like he took his beautiful fiancée away and left, giving me some space. Quentin was talking enthusiastically to his friend Joshua. I grabbed another drink from the bar and finished it straight away. My magic calmed down. Nathaniel wasn’t in the room anymore and I didn’t have to worry about smashing glasses and unexpected lashes of power.

After a few mores canapés and even more drinks later, Quentin finally found me by the buffet table.

‘Ready to leave? You look a little bored?’ he asked, when I tried to get control of my hiccup. I put my coat on, wanting to get the hell out of this party, when I saw someone on the other side of the room. Quentin was saying his goodbyes to Joshua. My heart leaped in my throat when I spotted Abi by one of the paintings. She couldn’t see me, but I was curious to know what she was doing here. She was standing next to Fiorillo and my stomach lurched as I tried to hide between people. Fiorillo looked elegant in an expensive dark suit and even fancier white shoes. Kate had spellbound that bastard when we wanted to find out more about Rufus’s disappearance. Kate’s spell was illegal and if he ever found out, the girls and I could land in prison for at least couple of years.

‘Right, let’s go,’ Quentin said. I bared my teeth wondering if Fiorillo was sleeping with Abi. He was a womanizer, but Jennifer’s pal didn’t strike me like that sort of girl. After all she was going through a terrible breakup.

‘Yes, I’m ready, but maybe you want to stay a bit longer?’ I asked, keeping my voice smooth and my eyes on Fiorillo.

‘No, the auction is finished. I’ve enough to get busy for the next couple of weeks.’

‘Great.’

‘Speaking of work. La Caz, hmmm, I had no idea that he uses your agency. From what I heard his business is flourishing. He makes more money in an hour than me during one sale.’

Just keep smiling. This isn’t the right time to confess that you’re fucking your own boss.

‘Yeah, he is our main client,’ I said.

Quentin asked me a few more questions about Nathaniel. I responded curtly, doing everything I could to look like I shared a professional relationship with La Caz, nothing more, nothing less. Quentin knew about Jasper. He told me a few things about his previous girlfriends, but I was never that interested in his past. Today I lied to him yet again and I was making it very difficult for myself to go through with the truth.

Soon I was going to regret what I’d done. Once Quentin found out what sort of girlfriend I became, he would never forgive me.

***

My energy kept me up all night, so when I got to work the next day I was exhausted. Rufus showed up in the office later on, glaring at me, probably noticing my bags under my eyes.

‘How are you anyway? You don’t seem like yourself?’ he asked, after we were done with our conversation about work.

‘Fine, just tired.’

He didn’t push and I was happy to stay in my little world surrounded by lies. Kate gave me a look that said ‘ignore him, you’ve got enough on your plate’ before going back to her computer screen. She was my best friend and I felt sick that I was keeping this secret away from her as well.

The Easter holiday was just around the corner and I was sick of getting phone calls from my mother about bringing Quentin for dinner. She wanted to meet him officially, so she could start planning our wedding and I just wasn’t in the mood.

When I got home later that night I switched off my phone and snuggled on my sofa with a romance novel. Quentin was working late and I wanted to stay away from trouble, which meant to stay away from Nathaniel.

At eight I took a break and put a ready meal in the microwave. My world was moving out of control and I had no one else to blame but myself. During my time in University I was always the responsible Julia that didn’t like to have fun, and now I was sleeping with an almost married man and running around London killing people.

After catching up on some crazy TV, I went to bed hoping to have an early night. Tomorrow as usual was going to be a hectic day and I had to speak to Lucinda, and for certain I wasn’t looking forward to this. Surprisingly, I drifted off to sleep fast, jumping straight into another dream that I didn’t know could have been my last one.

I felt like everything was fine and my body was part of me, even when I looked down I recognised my bare feed, but somehow my own will had been taken away from me.

I found myself on the street, in a wide busy space walking through familiar surroundings. Streetlamps on the right and to the left and a round of businesses. It was already dark outside, and there weren’t that many people around. The same creepy voice in my head ordered me to keep a slow pace until I stopped on the corner, eyeing the street where I’d been before. My task was clear: the voice told me to wait until an attractive blonde mermaid left work in a couple of minutes.

I tried to fight, drawing long wheezing breaths, but I couldn’t move any part of my body. Someone else controlled me, took away everything, my strength, voice and freedom. The voice kept me in that dark, hollow place where there was no escape, just oblivion. I had no idea about the time, but it wasn’t long before the mermaid stepped out of the office on the other side of the street. The voice alerted me to keep close, to follow her. I fought whoever pushed me forward, tried to scream, turn around, do anything, but I was trapped in despair, utterly without control.

Then darkness came and the street disappeared, the woman was gone. I was thrown back into different surroundings, a dark, wet alley, somewhere the on outskirts of the city. My feet thumped against the pavement as I ran, gasping for air. I was after someone. I was the chaser. My new host barked to keep my eyes on the person in front.

The woman screamed, glancing back, trying to get away from me. My legs kept pushing forward even though I fought to stop. Adrenaline lashed through me and I felt in control, high on her fear, aware of a new, unexpected hunger that grew inside my chest.

I was running in the wind, my hair blowing out behind me, pretending that I was a predator ready to kill. Her fear never left her, it affected me, pushing the anticipation and desire to have her. Death ran side by side with me, lifting her hollow lips into a smile, encouraging me to bring the girl to her.

The voice roared through me that we almost had her. She was tired, slowing down, panting. I lifted whatever I had in my hands, recognising the sharp knife. Then everything stopped and I was back in control of my own body.

I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, trembling like a leaf during a windstorm. I started spitting dirt out of my mouth realising that I was lying on the wet asphalt. My clothes were damp and my head felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat. I struggled to breathe, lifting myself off the wet ground.

Fuck, this hurts!

My clothes were soaked right through and when I darted my eyes around my new surrounding, fear shot right over me like a flying arrow. Alarms bells started going off in my head as I tried to recognise where I was.

I was no longer in my apartment, but outside, on the cold street, wearing my pink pyjamas. There was only one explanation for this, for where I was.

I’ve blacked out again.

This area wasn’t familiar to me at all; the tall ruined buildings were like haunted ghosts, watching me calmly and unnerving. It was a cold April night, and the sky was covered with dark clouds. I could smell an approaching storm. Goose pimples shot over my back when I recalled the dream.

The silence was broken by my pounding heart and wheezing breaths. Panic kept stroking me like a razor. My energy had caused me to black out. I’d chased after that girl. I wanted to kill her with an unnerving excitement. I looked around now searching for another living soul, but the street was completely empty. I had nothing on me, apart from my pyjamas. My phone was at home on my dressing table. Lifting myself up, I wiped the sweat off my face, searching for any internal injuries and my magic, that was now truly absent.

Shivering with cold, I tucked my pyjamas tighter around myself and started walking. I didn’t even have my slippers on. I was bare foot and it was freezing cold. My anxiety was jetting all over my body, tightening all the burning muscles, sliding inside my bones. The air was dense, thick and alive with drifting magic. The strong smell of raw flesh brought back a gag reflex. That smell reminded me of old corpses that have been decomposing for some time and it was vile. The world spun around me as a few meters later there was a body lying on the ground in a pool of blood. For about a second I thought that I was going to pass out, but my magic stirred me back with an awareness that I was seeing a person in front of me.

Taking long, deep, rough breaths, I squatted for a moment to gather some oxygen in my lungs. My pulse shot faster than a fighter jet. Panicking, I glanced back at the body. I didn’t have to go closer to see that I was staring at Abi. I’d chased after her in my dream, and now she was lying dead on the ground, a few meters from the spot where I just woke up.

I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking those violent images, making sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. Maybe I was still dreaming and I would wake up at any minute. Maybe someone was manipulating my thoughts, making sure that I believed in what was happening. My hands were shaking, but I tried to bring that ball of light or call out for Tron, but nothing happened.

I’d blacked out again and killed someone. Another innocent human being.

Tears started spilling down my cheeks as I stared at her dead body. Her eyes were open and I wanted to do anything in my power to make her come alive again, to shut these violent images out of me, shake them away. I didn’t know how long I stood there, but my legs went completely numb with cold and my whole body locked up with grief.

No one was coming to my rescue. I was all alone here. I was a killer.

Within the blink of an eye my life turned into a nightmare and without my phone I couldn’t call for help. My skin burned and yet I craved some warmth, for another soul. This time around I desperately wanted to be rescued.

Seconds and minutes rolled by and I couldn’t move, I just stayed there staring at the corpse. Then I heard the noise of a car nearby; then came voices and steps. In front of me there was a scary, unknown street. No one knew that I was in danger. Dad’s charms seemed nonexistent.

My heart skipped a beat when the blue and red lights of a police car moved towards the alley where I stood. My body tightened and I squeezed my knuckles so hard that I cut the circulation of blood to my fingers. In a matter of moments I heard doors shutting, then steps. My subconscious alerted me to get the hell out of there as fast as I could, but my body was like a hard rock. The wind blew from the west, but my hair was stuck to my forehead.

‘Hey you! What are you doing down there?’ asked the loud raspy voice. I moved my head slightly, staring at two tall uniformed officers that stood a distance away. One of them must have had a small flashlight because he pointed it at me. Then his light passed me and they both noticed the corpse a few steps away from me. And the blood. I couldn’t say if those officers were humans or paranormals, but a tiny voice in my head urged me to run. No one was going to listen to me. I was at the crime scene, covered with blood from the body that was only couple of meters away. They had to arrest me and take me down to the station where I would be charged with murder and ruin my Dad’s career forever. And my life.