Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (19 page)

‘You always had it in you, but you never believed much in yourself.’

I felt as if fireworks exploded in my brain. My chest wasn’t tight anymore and the guilt that I’d been carrying with me kind of eased. Okay, I still felt pretty crappy about sleeping with my ex, but I was pumped, knowing that with this sort of power I could gain control of my blackouts.

‘What does this mean?’ I asked, pacing around. ‘Will my blackouts stop? Will I stop hurting other people now?’

‘Yes, as long as you keep practising, blackouts shouldn’t occur anymore. It’s all about releasing that excess energy, but your visions are keeping me up at night. Keep using the potion and the Latin spell. I’ll let you know if I get anywhere with my research.’

My body felt as if I’d just gotten injected with an unstoppable source of lightning power. I could visit Ella now. I didn’t have to lie to her anymore. There was at least one positive outcome from Tron’s lessons.

On the way back I kept asking about the next steps, worrying that maybe this was one time only, feeling that if I couldn’t get my blackouts under control my dream would become a reality and my mother would die. Tron assured me that the blackouts occurred because I condemned my magic, afraid to use it, but as a fully grown elf I had to release it. He said that as long as I continued to cast charms and train, I could keep my energy in shields. That was good enough for me, even after that day that I had.

Crap, crap, crap. Why does this keep happening to me?

‘What do you mean that you don’t know how long we’re going to be there?’ Quentin asked when he picked me up on Sunday afternoon. His close friend was hosting an auction for some well-known painter and Quentin wanted to go. He hoped to buy a very rare painting that he’d searched for quite some time now. I agreed because I wanted to talk to him, looking for the right moment to break the news of how I cheated on him.

A couple days passed since the meeting and my extraordinary performance of magic. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Quentin the truth. Whenever I tried to talk to him, he kept showing me the brochure with the apartment that he wanted to rent for both of us. In the end I gave up, waiting for the right moment—knowing that I might never get one.

‘Couple of hours max, it’s a great opportunity for you to network. I’m sure your regional manager would love to hear about all these contacts that you manage to gain during one Sunday afternoon,’ Quentin said, smiling widely.

‘Okay, you might be right. I need to get out and socialise,’ I muttered.

My head wasn’t in the right place. Nicky gave me great advice. She trusted me to do the right thing, so I had to tell him before someone got hurt. Before I shattered all his dreams. He deserved to find a woman who shared the same passion and didn’t cheat.

‘I was thinking, since our romantic weekend away was disturbed, we should go away again. I promised that I would make it up to you and I’ve seen an amazing deal to go to Greece,’ Quentin suggested once he stopped the car in front of a large semi-detached home. We were outside London, somewhere in Canterbury near my grandmother’s home. I was weighing my options, imagining how he would react if I admitted that I slept with someone else. In all my scenarios Quentin walked away. I couldn’t expect him to just to forgive me. I was the girl that he wanted to create a future with, not a girl who was sleeping with her ex, and who was probably a killer.

You have to tell him, right here, right now!

‘Quentin wait, I’ve to tell you something before you go in there with me.’

‘I know what you are going to say,’ he said, tightening his hands on the wheel. I felt like a bucket of ice cubes cascaded down to my stomach. Air in the car thickened, making me nauseous.

‘You do?’ I gasped.

‘Yeah, you think that the next trip is going to be all about the business,’ he said ‘Don’t worry, I’ve planned everything already. The next trip will be all about you. But we can’t talk about this now, people are waiting for us, right?’

I sat there speechless, breathing deeply. How could I just say that I was a scumbag without hurting his feelings? I looked at his brown eyes, plastering a smile on my face.

‘Yes, you’re right, let’s go.’

Crap, I’m pathetic. I should be burning in hell.

The house looked as I imagined: wooden floors, white furniture, expensive paintings and a lot of wealthy people nibbling on fine food and drinks. A few of them started greeting Quentin. I pretended that I was happy as usual, wondering if there was a chance for escape, but someone shoved a drink into my hand, and I had to follow Quentin and greet his friends. He was in heaven, admiring and talking about all the antiques.

‘Quini, there you are. I thought that you wouldn’t make it,’ said an obese troll in a white suit. He didn’t have any neck and as he approached I kept asking myself how he managed to kill off the normally outrageous smell that was so characteristic for trolls.

‘I promised to show up, so here I am, ready to bargain over that painting from nineteen sixty.’

‘And this must be your girlfriend, the famous Julia Taylor.’ The troll beamed. ‘I’m an old friend of Queni’s, Joshua Preston.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ I said, hoping that no one would recognise me here, since I’d dated Nathaniel La Caz, a pharmaceutical tycoon that half of those people probably knew. People didn’t forget the gossip that he broke my heart, and the fact that we broke up again the second time around. I shouldn’t have come to this party. It was a bad idea.

The three of us talked a little and then I stopped by the buffet, scanning the place carefully. My stomach was growling as I stuffed my face, thinking intensely about my confession.

I knew that I should have brought Kate with me. She would have known what to do. We were here for an auction that started half an hour later. My magic came on the alert again and I was sure that this time it was because I was in the company of paranormals. Witches, wizards, fairies, elves and other creatures were at this party. I could smell spells in the air, gracefully hidden by two witches who were giggling by the stairs.

Quentin got back to me two hours later, looking excited with his new purchase. He kissed me way too passionately, pulling me close to his body. I felt people watching me, the tingle of energy running over my back.

‘I got what I wanted, now I think it’s time to leave and take care of my girlfriend,’ he whispered, as that wave of magical current pinched my skin. It was strange, my power was usually calm when Quentin was around, so this felt a little out of place.

‘It’s a great idea to disappear. I was thinking—’

‘Excuse me, I was wondering if you would consider selling this little treasure,’ said the voice behind me that I knew so well. Within a moment my lungs felt like they stopped working. Warmth and the smell of lemons flooded all over me. Nathaniel was crashing my party. He’d probably watched that possessive kiss Quentin gave me.

I should have known that something was wrong.

I couldn’t turn around, my breath caught and my pores opened up sending long streams of magical power down to my core.

Quentin frowned at first, then smiled a little. ‘I’ve been hunting this beauty for ten years, so I’m sorry Mr.— ?’

‘La Caz. Nathaniel La Caz, and this is my fiancée Meredith Valesco,’ Nathaniel said.

Our eyes fixed on one another’s, seeing each other in pubic, each with our partners. I sucked in my breath, feeling like a nervous wreck around him. I couldn’t believe that he approached us, with his stunning fiancée. Meredith looked incredible with her sheet of caramel hair, wearing the tightest pink dress that I’d ever seen that hovered over her perfect body.

I hate her more than I hate myself right now.

‘La Caz…that name sounds familiar. Honey, doesn’t Paranormal Personnel have a client—’

‘Yes, Mr. La Caz is our primary client, so yes, we’ve met before,’ I said, clearing my throat, straining my voice. Our eyes stayed locked, trapping heat that swirled between our silent exchange. That fire that I saw in him the other night was still there, burning, igniting my own magic again.

‘Nice to see you again, darling,’ Meredith said, showing off her Hollywood-perfect white teeth. ‘I hope my Nate is behaving. He is normally so harsh with all his clients.’ For a brief moment I saw that ring on her finger and my chest heaved, my stomach churned, and blackness obscured my vision.

‘So, now the small talk is over, let me give you the price for that painting, Mr—’

‘Van Rooyen,’ Quentin cut him off, not losing that cheerful voice. ‘I’ve been dealing with art for some time now and I know that this is business, but this is a sentimental painting and I won’t sell it.’

Nathaniel pinched his eyebrows, staring at Quentin with frustration and hint of anger.

My pulse raced and my heart was beating so rapidly that I could have sworn I was going to pass out in front of all these people. Nathaniel had his fiancée by his side, his arm was around her waist and I hated myself for what I had done. I kept coming back to him, like he was God, a saint, and there wasn’t anyone else in this world for me.

My magic was all there, surging through me, ready to reach out and reduce the whole house to ashes. A few glasses cracked and certain paranormals were staring at each other in confusion, looking for the source of these disturbances. I had to calm down, otherwise I was going to explode and I wasn’t prepared to make a scene in front of all these people. Fairies were glancing at the four or us, probably wondering why my ex was talking to my current boyfriend. I tried to keep Quentin away from my drama and Nathaniel, but most everyone at this party knew that we used to date. Well, everyone apart from Meredith and Quentin.

‘That’s understandable Mr. Van Rooyen, when we treasure something it’s difficult to let go,’ Nathaniel muttered, pinning me down with his eyes, sending heat down between my breasts. Meredith was smiling moving the straw around in her cocktail glass.

‘Oh, Queni, there you are,’ Joshua said, appearing out of nowhere and patting Quentin on his back. ‘And Mr. La Caz, pleasure, real pleasure seeing you here. I heard about the great news. Did you guys set the date yet?’

Oh God, oh sweet God, please don’t go there. I don’t think that I can take this.

Meredith’s face flashed with anger for a brief second, and Nathaniel lips twitted in a forced smile. My energy was whipping through me fast and I had at least a minute to get the hell away from him, otherwise something was going to explode. I was scared that Joshua was going to say something about me and Nathaniel, so I had to disappear.

‘Excuse me, I need to get to the ladies’ room,’ I gasped out, hurrying away. I couldn’t listen to any more of the lies and pretense. Maybe he was still planning to get married, maybe sex with me was just a phase that he was going through. I almost ran upstairs to the bathroom. I locked the door and slid onto the floor, breathing hard, shaking and tasting grudge in my mouth. The sparks of magic danced all over the bathroom.

Nathaniel had crossed the line, and I just stood there hot and flushed, not able to shout out to Quentin that we were screwing each other behind everyone’s back. When I lifted my head, the mirror cracked and I flinched. My energy was already infected by him. It was time to confess all my sins to Quentin, it was time to come clean.

I loved Nathaniel so much that it hurt. For some time now I thought that he was the love of my life, and now that he stopped hiding his feelings it was easier to think that we were going to be together. But a voice in my head reminded me—

He hasn’t told her yet.

That was the truth. If he was so serious about us, he would have told her. Nathaniel only wanted me when he couldn’t have me.

When I left the bathroom my hair were in perfect order as usual and I needed to tell Quentin that we had to go home. This wasn’t that simple. Nathaniel’s scent was all over me, and as soon as I opened the door, someone was waiting for me outside. Long fingers pushed me down to the small bedroom next door. It was Nathaniel again, locking the door quickly and standing in front of me. His face showing no more emotion than it had during the entire party.

‘What do you think you are doing talking to Quentin? Are you insane or just plain stupid?’ I hissed, ready to punch him.

‘Stop it, Julia. You make me so hard when you’re angry,’ he growled, moving towards me.

‘No bloody way. We are not doing this here after the conversation about your WEDDING!’ I hissed, ignoring the pulsation between my legs. I was wet for him and so ready to rip his clothes off and just make love here and now.

‘
I’m telling her now if you want. God, Julia, don’t you get it? I can’t stand this anymore, hiding and lying. We both know that you don’t love that giant. Fuck, I want you,’ he said taking me into his arms.

‘No, we can’t do this. It’s not fair to them, please,’ I begged, as his lips were all over me, sucking my neck. He pulled away, looking directly into my eyes, and there it was: love and devotion. All those emotions that were so well hidden, but now were out in open.

‘Let’s go and tell them. I can’t stay away from you for any longer. Julia, you are the woman that I want to spent the rest of my life with. Please let me love you.’

My heart was jackhammering in my chest. I buried myself in his torso inhaling his scent. He was the person that I’d been dreaming of. There was no point denying that I didn’t want him.

‘No, we can’t just tell them here. Not like this in front of all these people. We don’t want to humiliate them.’

Nathaniel’s heart was beating equally as fast as mine and I didn’t want to let go of him, but Quentin was downstairs, probably looking for me.

‘Firecracker, I’ve been trying to stay away, but everywhere I go I see your face, feel your wetness and want more.’ he growled.

I kept shaking my head, trying to block off his paralysing words. I hadn’t planned to tell him anything about my blackouts, I didn’t even want to be in this room with him, but I was afraid that if I got arrested Nathaniel wouldn’t get it that he was the one that triggered my magic. Not intentionally, but mixing with him would bring more bad than good.

‘I’ve been having blackouts. The first one happened almost two months ago. Then I woke up in my apartment covered with blood, having thoughts about Jennifer, violent memories of me stabbing her over and over. I didn’t remember what happened that night. It was like I had this black hole in my head.’

Nathaniel placed his hands on my back, looking at me intensely. ‘Blackouts? What are you talking about?’

‘I’m losing hours, events in my life. I hurt people and being around you doesn’t help. My energy becomes lethal when I’m around you.’

‘That doesn’t mean anything. You’re working hard, the amount of stress that you have to go through—’

‘You don’t understand and I can’t explain it right now. I have to get back downstairs to Quentin,’ I cut him off, swallowing the tears. He didn’t understand what he was doing to me when we were together. His closeness, sensual or rough sex provoked the source of my magic, erupting my flaming power. Tron was right all along. We both sparked the lethal and unexpected power, but as usual Nathaniel didn’t want to listen to me. For him it was just passion and sex. I had to find the time to explain to him that I was a killer.

‘God, Julia. I’ve made a mistake. Please don’t punish me. After Isabelle I was …’

‘Stop, Nathaniel, please stop. Get back to your fiancée. I really can’t talk to you about this now.’