Love with Fangs (The Witching Hour Series Book 1)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  "Of course, you can use the interview room, Mr. La Caz. I have another phone call I need to make." He sent me a sharp gaze, silently telling me to do whatever La Caz wanted. I had no other choice but to obey.

  Once I was locked in that small space with him, I decided it would be safer for me to stand by the window, as far away from Mr. I-want-you-now as possible. I didn’t have a good feeling about this. Mostly because of my extreme attraction to him. Oddly enough, he still made me feel safe and I was getting a little turned on when I recognised his scent. I didn’t know anything about Dhamphirs or much about full-blooded vampires, but it seemed that La Caz could walk around in the sun. This was all new to me—it blew my mind.

  He was watching me again and that annoying grin was still on his handsome face. His hazel eyes moved from my eyes to my neck, then travelled down to my waist, hips, and legs. My unease grew in leaps and bounds, and I just wanted to get this over with. I was afraid that my excess magic would give me away again.

  “Right, I really don’t care that you’re my new boss, because yesterday just after our meeting in your factory, I witnessed two large paranormals dragging my cousin into a black van in the late afternoon. She’s been missing ever since, and my family is very worried.”

  Nathaniel looked surprised, and that wasn’t the reaction I’d expected from him. My father and Kate were right. I had no evidence, because over two thousand people worked in that factory. Anyone could have been responsible for taking the Lucrative shot.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m assuming that you believe that this was a premeditated kidnapping?"

  "Of course, I do and the reason I’m talking about this with you is because yesterday, Mr. Porter talked about your production of the Lucrative Shot. My father, who works for Paranormal Unit, found a syringe with blood at the crime scene. He ran some checks and found that that serum had been produced by your company. My dad suspects that one of the men accidentally dropped it when they were abducting my cousin," I explained with a steady voice and his relaxed expression shifted.

  He pursed his fully kissable lips and clenched his fists. "Miss. Taylor, I should be offended. You don’t have any proof and your accusations are lacking in substance. Our Lucrative Shot is not yet available to the public. Although I do understand your concerns, I would also ask those questions if a member of my family’s life were on the line. But I assure you, I had nothing to do with your cousin’s kidnapping. I know that you must be very upset about what’s happened, and you probably want to help your father."

  I felt my face go from pale to red in a matter of seconds. Yeah, maybe I went too far asking him about the shot, but my intuition was telling me that someone within his company must have been involved. He needed to launch an investigation, or at least contact my father. I just wasn’t prepared to sit at my desk while Claudia was locked up somewhere.

  "So, am I understanding you correctly? You don’t know anything about that injection?" I repeated, feeling somewhat irritated.

  "If you have dinner with me, then I will be more than happy to tell you all about my production. I can even help you look for your cousin. I would really like to have an opportunity to get to know you.”

  Chapter five.

  The awkward conversation.

  My magic was spiralling out of control again and I didn’t want to expose that part of me. I had already embarrassed myself enough. The stationary inside the room was moving around, and my heart was pounding loudly in my chest. The excess magic inside of my body was slowly accumulating; I needed to cast a spell of some sort soon, otherwise I might really damage something in the office.

  He noticed, that much I knew; my energy was vibrating around us. I struggled to remain calm. Yesterday, when I was trying to sell him the contract, my magic forced me to leave the meeting. I didn’t like feeling so weak and vulnerable, unable to control my magic. It truly pissed me off.

  “The answer is still no,” I said, not even knowing why I was being so stubborn. Elves weren’t supposed to get involved with vampires. They found our blood intoxicating and pure. Besides, my grandmother would freak if she were to find out that I went out with him.

  At the same time, Claudia was somewhere out there, and I needed to find out anything that I could about the shot that his company was producing. I needed to make a decision.

  He ran his hands through his sandy hair and my pulse increased. Then, before I could do anything, he was right beside me; I didn’t even know how he closed the distance between us so fast. His body was pressed against mine. He leaned over like he wanted to whisper something in my ear. I shivered as the heat from his touch burned my skin. Maybe I’d released too many emotional vibrations and he was losing control around me. Great, this was just fab. I just didn’t want to be anywhere near his fangs.

  “Don’t play with me, Julia. I’m not a patient vampire. I want to get to know you a little better and we both know that you want to say yes. I can sense the sizzling attraction between us.”

  Somehow, I had a feeling that he could read my thoughts. I continued taking long deep breaths, but for some reason I couldn’t move.

  I was a little scared and his scent was overwhelming. He brushed his thumb down my neck and let go of a small controlled breath. My heart skipped a beat.

  Moments later, he stepped away from me and I managed to take in a deep breath, remembering Claudia.

  “I don’t think so, Mr. La Caz. I don’t date people I work with," I responded with obvious unease. “Besides, I’ll be very busy for a while. My father might be a in charge of my cousin’s investigation, but I want to help. She went missing because of me. I agreed to meet up with her.”

  Nathaniel cocked his head to the side and caressed his jaw, watching me with the same intensity as before.

  “We technically don’t work together, and I have many useful connections in the city. I want to help you find your cousin. Especially now, when my own company is linked to the investigation.”

  “Let me think about it,” I mumbled, aware that a few cracks had just appeared in the window. I knew it was my magic and wanted to end this meeting as soon as possible.

  We were done, and Nathaniel was a busy man; I didn’t want to keep him. I had a feeling that my dad would have to speak to him sooner or later. From a business point of view, I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but my cousin’s life was more important than anything.

  “We shall see, Miss Taylor. We shall see. You must know that I don’t give up easily,” he added with a sly smile, then left the room.

  I waited to make sure that he wasn’t planning to come back, then released some of my pent-up energy. It bounced around the room, tossing files from boxes, making a huge mess. My chest was rising and falling in rapid movements.

  A minute later, I was out of there, feeling much more in control. Kate must have come back from her lunch while I was in the conference room. She was sitting at her desk, looking busy. For some reason, she was completely ignoring La Caz who was staring at the pictures of my mum and dad on the desk. He was probably waiting for Rufus. The two of them knew each other well enough I supposed. When my regional manager was finally done, he smiled at me briskly, then put his phone away.

  "Mr. Humphries, thank you very much for showing me around your office. I’m looking forward to working with all of your staff, especially Julia.” Nathaniel winked at me. “My HR director will be in touch shortly.”

  Kate noticed it, but didn’t say anything.

  “Right, of course, Mr. La Caz. Are you ready to leave?” Rufus asked, picking up his briefcase. Nathaniel nodded, then looked at me again.

  I pretended that I was reading a very important email, but my cheeks were flushed.

  “Good day, Miss Taylor,” he said, then left without waiting for my response, thank God. Rufus nodded toward me, then rushed after him. Once they were out the door, I flopped back on my chair and took a long deep breath.

  “Julia, are you all right?” Kate asked, after a long moment. She
was short, with shoulder-length glossy purple hair and bright green eyes. Kate was a witch and had a large family.

  I opened my eyes and started massaging my forehead. Nathaniel La Caz had pissed me off. He only showed up here to ask me out; I couldn’t believe that he had refused to tell me anything about the Lucrative Shot while my cousin was out there somewhere alone and scared. I wished that I had slapped him. My palm was itching. “I’m fine, Kate. I’m getting there,” I said, scanning my emails; my breaths were shallow and uneven.

  “Was that Nathaniel La Caz?” she asked, folding some papers.

  “Yes, it was him.”

  “I thought he was a vampire. Why did he want to speak to you in private?”

  I looked at her. I wasn’t focusing on my work anymore. I was freaked out by his behaviour and everything that had just taken place in this office. “He said he was a Dhampir.”

  Her eyes widened in what seemed like shock.

  “My God, Julia, this is unbelievable. I have never seen a Dhampir and I didn’t expect him to be one. I guess it’s true; he is walking in the sun and not burning." She put away her magic wand. “Did he really ask you out?”

  "Yes, he did, but don’t get too excited. I said no. Last night my cousin was kidnapped right in front of me and one of his syringes was found in the same spot where she was abducted. I questioned him about it, but he insisted he’d only tell me more if I agreed to have dinner with him first.”

  Kate widened her eyes again. I should have told her about this earlier, but we’d never been that close. We were just working together. I guessed that I didn’t need to hide this anymore.

  “Kidnapped? What? That’s terrible. I hope your dad’s already looking for her.”

  “Yes, he’s in charge of the investigation, but yesterday before we left for that meeting with La Caz, we had a strange phone call. One of the werewolves told me that I needed to be careful, because elves around London are going missing and the next thing I know, my cousin is abducted on the street,” I shouted, losing control again.

  Kate frowned.

  “Calm down, there is no point losing control now. Your father knows what he’s doing. Have you told him about the phone call?”

  “Yes, yes, but he said there was no way we could trace it,” I admitted, looking down at my hands.

  “I don’t think La Caz has anything to do with it. He’s the CEO of a large company, but I’m sure this won’t be the only time we’re going to see him around here.”

  “What are you talking about?” I looked up at her with a strange expression.

  “Well, you turned him down and he isn’t the sort of man who takes no for an answer. You intrigue him, Julia, and that means something.”

  “Maybe, but I’m honestly no good with men, and everyone knows that elves should stay away from vampires,” I said, thinking about my friend, Ella. I was supposed to meet her tonight, but I was considering cancelling.

  There was so much going on with me and I wanted to head over to the police station to see if my dad had any new information about Claudia.

  “I suppose you’re right. You shouldn’t mix with vampires," Kate muttered. The phone rang, and she was the first to answer it.

  An hour later, Rufus returned to the office. I was dreading to talk to him, especially after my conversation with La Caz, but he seemed to be in an excellent mood, which was worrying.

  "So, how is everyone?" he asked with a wide smile spreading across his face.

  "Well, good—not bad. How are you?" I scanned his face, trying to figure out if I was supposed to say anything about my cousin.

  Rufus wasn’t just my boss, he was also a friend; it was only fair that he knew what was going on.

  "Great. Don’t you think that La Caz has good manners? It was really nice of him to pop into the office."

  "Yeah, superb." I tried not to sound sarcastic. “I really need to talk to you. Let’s go to the interview room.”

  Rufus nodded, sensing the change in my tone. Yesterday, I was imagining this whole conversation completely different, but now, I really didn’t care about the raise.

  I wasn’t going to celebrate tonight because of Claudia. It just didn’t feel right.

  “You sound worried? What’s wrong?” Rufus had a very good relationship with my father. They’d known each other for years, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew about my cousin. I went through all the events from yesterday, explaining exactly what I’d seen. I also mentioned the Lucrative Shot and its connection to La Caz Pharmaceutical.

  "My God, Julia, I don’t know what to say. How is your family holding up?"

  "Mum doesn’t know, but I suspect that she will find out soon enough. I haven’t spoken to anyone else yet. I only told Kate just a moment ago. She was very supportive.”

  "Let me know if you need anything, but the connection of that shot to our new client is worrying. He’s a businessman, but I doubt that he could be involved."

  "Yeah, maybe, but Dad will probably want to talk to him about this. After all, it was his product."

  I told Rufus that I would keep him posted, but deep down, I was angry that he already assumed that La Caz was innocent.

  In the end, he gave me a raise and a promotion. We both knew that I expected it, but I could no longer truly be excited about it.

  Claudia was important to me and I had to figure out my next step. Everyone kept telling me that my magic constantly got me into trouble, but this time, I needed to pull myself together. Things were happening—bad things, but the tiny voice in my head kept whispering that this was just the beginning.

  Chapter six.

  The ex and some flaws.

  I drank another strong cup of coffee after Rufus left me alone with Kate. Nothing helped and in my head, I kept coming back to my conversation with Nathaniel. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. My own body was betraying me, and my magic went crazy when he was around—even more than usual.

  My skin was still buzzing, and I was involuntarily moving things around the kitchen. Sometimes, I just wanted to scream because I knew I couldn’t be like everyone else. My magic was a gift and a curse at the same time. I kept wondering how Nathaniel could want someone like me. He always seemed so much in control, whereas my own life was very chaotic.

  I kept my head down and continued working, but Claudia was in the back of my mind throughout the rest of the day. I needed to question my father later; he was bound to know more about the shot and what it contained.

  Lucinda Grabovsky, the HR manager for La Caz Pharmaceutical, sent over some job specs. For the next two hours, I took in all the necessary information about the available positions and started to place advertisements on the local site. It was easy to blend the paranormal job adverts with ordinary ones; you just had to know how to do it.

  I was counting the minutes until I could get the hell out of the office. I called my dad straight away, but his phone went to voicemail. Then I called Mum, but she mentioned that my dad was still at work and he wouldn’t be home until later that evening. After ten minutes of not getting anywhere, I realised that I’d gotten a text message from my best friend, Ella, asking me where the hell I was. She said that I’d better hurry up because some creepy guy was trying to chat her up. I texted her back, saying that I should be there in five minutes. I’d completely forgotten that I was supposed to meet with her after work. Earlier on, I was thinking about cancelling our plans, but that had slipped my mind too. There was so much going on, but I had been ditching her for too long now.

  The taxi took me back to central Croydon. It was November and freezing. I tucked my coat around me, dreaming about a nice cocktail, but Ella chose some shabby pub that didn’t look appealing at all. I couldn’t complain, though. My friend was human and a very simple girl. Luckily, the bar wasn’t busy. I scanned the space looking for traces of magic, but this wasn’t a place where most paranormals would choose to hang out. I spotted Ella sitting by the bar, looking uncomfortable. There was s
ome guy that was chatting her up. She looked relieved when I sat next to her.

  “Oh, Ella. There you are. Come on, let’s go. Your hubs is asking after you,” I said, throwing my arms around her, knowing that it was time to change our location.

  We needed to have a drink in some nice bistro where I could see what was going on out on the street. Maybe I was being a bit too paranoid, but I wanted to make sure that no other elf was going to be kidnapped tonight.

  My friend smiled brightly and the guy next to her looked at me with interest. He had a wide face with a heavy jaw and small watery eyes. Those eyes were very characteristic of trolls, but I knew anyway. I could always tell.

  "Oh, thanks. I’ve got to go, darling. It was nice talking to you," she said, nodding to the barman for her bill. I had nothing against trolls, although I didn’t like the way they smelled. This guy smelled of old socks and heavy aftershave.

  "Can I buy you a drink?" he asked, turning to look at me.

  “I’m afraid this lady is taken," said a low, grating voice behind me. I felt a hand on my back and instantly knew the person who had just spoken.

  God! What is he doing here? Is he following me?

  By this time, Ella had paid for her drink and come back for me. Her face said it all. She couldn’t believe she was seeing my ex-boyfriend, Jasper, again.

  I was pissed off too, because I had specifically told him to stay away from me. Magical energy surged through me and my hands were itching to cause real damage this time. Then I reminded myself that there were several humans around and I couldn’t afford to expose myself like that.

  I was just about to say something when the large paranormal in front of me barked,

  "Sorry, mate, but I saw her first. Fuck off."

  "We were just leaving. I appreciate your offer, but I’m kind of busy." I hoped that Jasper wasn’t going to do anything stupid in front of all these humans. My ex-boyfriend arched his left eyebrow and gave the unfriendly troll a murderous look.