Love with Fangs (The Witching Hour Series Book 1)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  A dark-haired individual was staring at me from the other side of the bar. For a split second I thought it was Jasper. He had very similar features, but I told myself that it was someone else. After the last time, my message must have finally gotten through to him.

  The stranger smiled at me, and I looked away when another couple caught my eye. A man and a woman were kissing, standing only a few steps away from me. The girl was stunning, and I knew right away that she was a pure-blooded elf. I would recognise her energy anywhere. She had blond hair and a body to die for. Her hair was shimmering in the light and when the man turned his head I realised that he was a vampire. That was unexpected and wrong on so many levels.

  She smiled at him, but there was something off about her magic. She was an elf, but she seemed broken from the inside out. I couldn’t explain this, but it felt as if the threads of her magic failed to communicate with each other. The vampire grabbed her hand when she tried to walk away. He whispered something in her ear, then dragged her around the corner. She didn’t want to go with him, but he was pushing her.

  I finished my drink and had this strange urge to follow them.

  Elves were supposed to stay away from vampires and I hated to think that this vampire was trying to take advantage of her. Nathaniel asked me to stay by the bar, but I couldn’t just let that scumbag drain her, and I was certain that he was planning to do just that. This was unacceptable; she wasn’t even able to defend herself. Someone must have interfered with her magic. I started squeezing through the throng of people again, looking around the crowded dance floor, but they had vanished. The couple was nowhere to be seen.

  My heart rate picked up and I started to panic. For some reason, the energy inside my system was going berserk. I reached the corridor that led to the toilets when I overhead moaning coming from the locked door.

  The corridor was full of giggling girls, so I waited until they disappeared.

  “Do you like that, beauty? I just need a little more blood. You taste unbelievable,” the deep, harsh voice was saying.

  I glanced at my now-sparkling fingertips. The wind ruffled my hair and I suspected that it was my magic that kept bouncing around, increasing my blood pressure. The lights in the corridor started flashing. I needed to calm down, otherwise I could cause a lot of damage. This elf girl should have known better, but there was no way that I was going to just leave her there.

  I couldn’t risk heading back to the dance floor and there wasn’t enough time to get a security. I needed to do something now.

  “No, I want to leave now, please. I shouldn’t have come and the blood—”

  “Shhh, no, it’s time. Just one more bite and then we can leave. The master is waiting for a pure elf like you. He will reward me greatly,” the vampire said, then the elf girl screamed. My heart skipped a beat and I knew that I couldn’t wait any longer.

  I kicked the door open, and for the first time, I knew that I could produce enough magic to defend her.

  “Get off her, you coward. She’s not your property,” I snarled, standing in the doorway just as the pale vampire was about to drink from the blond elf. She screamed even louder when she saw me.

  My hands were filled with fire magic, and yeah, maybe I was shaking a little, but it didn’t matter. The vampire had light blond hair and her blood was dripping down his disgusting fangs. I needed to remember this, because this is what vampires did to fairies and elves, and eventually Nathaniel might do the same to me.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here? I’m sure you will taste just as delicious, darling.” The vampire stood up, eyeing my body up and down. I threw my magic straight toward his torso. Everything happened so fast after that. I didn’t even expect my magic to work that effectively, but the impact threw him over the half wall. The ripple of electric current surged down my limbs. For the first time, I didn’t screw up the spell.

  The vampire didn’t move again.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” I went to the blonde elf; she wasn’t in the best of shape, but I managed to get her back to her feet. Blood was running down her neck and that could cause even more trouble.

  “No, we can’t leave. He’s coming for me,” she told me when we were in the corridor.

  I looked around for help, but no one was there. Seconds later, someone grabbed me from behind. The girl was pushed to the side, and I slammed to the ground. The vampire that I knocked out earlier on must have come around. I was shocked because he looked unconscious just a second ago. He yanked my hair and I screamed.

  I managed to hit him with my elbow, and he let go of a loud howling sound. My magic rushed over me, electrifying my body, and more lights kept flashing all around us. He didn’t release me, instead, he squashed me with his body, wrapping his hand around my throat. Dark, almost black blood, ran from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were filled with fury.

  This was the end of me—even my magic couldn’t save me now.

  “I’m going to fuck your magic out of you. This was none of your business and now, you will just become another donor.” He curled his lips back, revealing his sharp fangs, leaning closer to my face. I didn’t know what was going on around me, but there were other people, maybe humans, in the corridor. Surely, someone was going to call the bouncers.

  He was just about to sink his fangs into my neck, when someone spoke up.

  “Leave her, she belongs to me.”

  It was Nathaniel; I recognised his voice instantly, and my heart kicked inside my chest.

  The vampire sitting on top of up me jumped back to his feet and hissed like a wild animal. Nathaniel’s eyes moved over me, and his jaw tightened. The lights were still flashing away. It was my magic and I felt like I was ready to explode.

  “Fuck you, vampire. This bird interfered in my business, so she’s mine!” The other vampire reached out to grab me again; I was ready to scream, but nothing happened. When I looked again, Nathaniel had him pinned against the wall; he must have moved using some kind of super-speed.

  I gasped when I saw his fangs. Deadly energy radiated from him. I thought that he wouldn’t scare me, but right then I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. His eyes were unrecognisable.

  “Julia, get out of here. Now. Wait for me in the car and don’t do anything stupid.” His voice was very controlled, and it sent a shiver down my spine. I was fine; I wasn’t injured, but the pressure in my chest was mounting. I knew this had everything to do with the magical energy that I hadn’t released yet.

  “What about the girl? She was bitten, she’s too—”

  “Take her quickly before I lose control in front of all these people.” I could see by the look in Nathaniel’s now-dark eyes, he was about to snap, and I didn’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity when that happened. I moved my arm around the girl’s waist and left as fast as I could. People were staring when we were moving through the crowd. I had no idea what Nathaniel was going to do, but there were too many humans around.

  If he wanted to hurt that guy, he needed to disappear. Luckily for me, the bouncer who Nathaniel had spoken to earlier on noticed me struggling. He lifted the girl in his arms and helped me get her back to Nathaniel’s car.

  “Thank you, Ramirez. I owe you one. Tell Arthur that he has to watch out for vampires and fairies in the club.” Nathaniel’s voice startled me when we crossed the road. I jumped, holding my chest. My heart was beating extremely fast.

  “Nathaniel, how did you get out here so fast?” I asked, while the elf girl was still moaning.

  “That’s not important right now.” He motioned toward the bouncer. “Ramirez, help me get the girls inside the car.”

  The bouncer nodded and a moment later, I was sitting in the back, holding the girl’s head in my lap. She was coming around, but she needed magic to build her strength. There was something seriously wrong with her magic. Someone must have used dark magic to tangle her energy. She needed urgent medical care.

  “She must have used a glamour,” Ramirez
said. “We have a policy: If vampires are in the club we don’t let elves or fairies inside.”

  “All right, I will speak with Arthur about it later.” Nathaniel shut the door. He was furious, and I was too scared to ask him what happened to that vampire who attacked me. He slammed his foot on the gas and then drove off. The tires spun over the asphalt and my heart was in my throat.

  There was a long uncomfortable silence in the car and I kept rubbing my fingers. The elf girl had fallen asleep. At least she wasn’t bleeding anymore.

  “Julia, I can’t believe that you were unable to follow simple instructions. That vampire could have killed you.” Nathaniel was staring at me from his rearview mirror. His eyes were narrowed, shimmering from the dim lights of the street. My magic was still rippling throughout my body, and my fingertips were sparkling.

  “Well, it was a good thing that I was there, because he was ready to drain that poor girl, thank you very much.” I looked down, brushing the elf’s hair. After that, Nathaniel didn’t say another word to me until we got to the hospital. Once there, he called me a taxi and told me to get home after he assured me that the girl would receive the best care possible.

  I was exhausted, and my magic was still out of control, so I agreed. It had been a long day after all.

  Chapter eleven

  Family.

  On Sunday morning, I woke up with an odd sensation in my stomach. For a long moment, I just stared at the ceiling, wondering what the hell was wrong with me?

  When I finally looked at my phone, I realised that I’d slept until eleven o’clock. Luckily, I didn’t have any bruises on my body, but last night I could have been beaten, or worse. That vampire worked for someone who needed elves blood; he called the girl and me a donor—that had to have meant something. Nathaniel must have found out more, but at the same time, he returned to the car so quickly. If it wasn’t for the sexy dhampir, then that vampire would have definitely killed me. I was thinking about calling him, but I didn’t have his private number. His silence was going to drive me insane today.

  When I got home last night, I was exhausted, but I knew I had to cast a few spells to relieve my boiling magic. That helped a little, but I was still buzzing later on. I also texted Ella just to make sure she was okay. She replied that she was nursing her hangover from last night. Nathaniel really did change our plans; it simply blew my mind.

  Then I thought about what he’d said in the restaurant. He admitted that he wanted me, but he wasn’t interested in a relationship. I flopped back on my pillow and thought about the way he’d made me feel all evening. Heat rushed through my veins when he stared at me. Yes, so, he was hot, but he also wanted my blood. And he seemed like he always wanted to be in control. I didn't know if I could handle him. Still, there was something about him that I liked, not to mention the fact that he was willing to help me search for Claudia.

  We didn’t talk much during the entire drive to the hospital. I hoped that he stayed with that girl and made sure she was all right.

  I didn't know why I was even analysing everything. I knew that I should just forget about him. It wasn’t like I was going to just casually sleep with him, no matter how hot or rich he was.

  I had to get my arse to my parents’ house today. I hadn’t seen them for over two weeks, and I already missed my mum’s cooking. I got up and watched some culinary programmes for a few hours, had a light breakfast, and cleaned the apartment. I took a few aspirin, and in the afternoon, my head had finally stopped hurting.

  Around three o’clock, I went out and headed to the underground. They lived in Hounslow, a quiet neighbourhood that was mixed with magical and nonmagical creatures. As usual, I took the Tube. My mother worked as a medical secretary for the local surgery department. They had a three-bedroom house where I had lived with them until I was eighteen.

  When I was younger, I always used to hang out with kids from the neighbourhood. Some of them were magical, but most were just ordinary human kids. After I turned fourteen, everything kind of started to make sense, and when I decided to go to university, I lost touch with most of the people I knew.

  Dad tried to balance his magical life with his human wife, but I knew that he didn’t have it easy with Mum. I’d heard about a lot of mixed marriages, but sometimes it was just easier to choose a paranormal creature rather than a complicated relationship with a human. That was why most paranormals only got involved with creatures from their castes, avoiding humans altogether.

  My mum had to go over everything that had been going on around the neighbourhood as soon I walked through the door. She tended to keep up with all the local gossip: who was marrying who, who was pregnant, and so on. Sometimes, it could be exhausting, especially when she pressed about wanting an engagement on my end. Finally, she went to the kitchen to check on the meat, so I asked my dad if there was any progress in his investigation.

  “The problem is that I don’t have any leads. Claudia had just finished her classes. All her friends said that she was going home."

  I bit my lip, wanting to tell him about what I found out yesterday, but thought that it was a bad idea. After all, I’d broken my promise and nearly died. My dad would have been furious.

  "She saw me on the street and started waving; then that van pulled over and they took her," I said quietly.

  I knew that I needed to speak to Nathaniel again. He’d stayed behind, and that vampire must have told him something important.

  "Okay, there is more to this," Dad whispered quickly, looking towards the kitchen where Mum was singing along with the radio. "I just want to make sure your mother won’t hear us. I don’t want to worry her. A lot of fairies and elves have been reported missing recently and I think your cousin has been targeted because she’s a pure elf. From now on, you have to be more careful when you walk home in the middle of the night."

  "Dad, you know that your charm is strong. If anyone attacked me, you would know right away. Why do you think they’re only targeting fairies and elves?"

  "That’s what I’m trying to find out. In the past few days, more and more fairies and elves have vanished without a trace, and so far, we haven’t found anyone. We’ve spoken to the Vampire Association, but they’re denying any involvement. So, I don’t want you walking home in the early hours of the morning. It’s too dangerous."

  “I’ll ask someone to give me a lift, then. Do you have any suspects apart from La Caz?" I knew Nathaniel had nothing to do with this, but I still needed to be sure they weren’t still looking into him.

  Dad sat back on the sofa and flexed his fingers. "That’s the problem; we have nothing. I will be meeting Pat and the rest of the guys tomorrow for a "practice" session. Hopefully, someone else will have some new ideas. At the moment, our unit is working like crazy, trying to find any witnesses or connection to all these random kidnappings, and of course, Claudia."

  When Dad went to his “practice” sessions, Mum believed this was a session at the local gym, but the truth was that he was meeting other elves in the neighbourhood for charm casting. They gathered once every two weeks in the community centre. He’d often asked me to attend, but I was never interested. I couldn’t handle excess magic, never mind trying to learn new spells.

  My grandparents, especially my grandmother, strongly encouraged me to keep paranormal genes in the family. She lived happily in Kent, along with my grandfather, Fred.

  Luckily, my father didn’t mention Jasper’s name throughout the course of the evening. My ex-boyfriend had managed to slip through his fingers yet again, that night while I was out with Ella. I was still pissed off that he’d followed me. I had to try to solve this problem by myself, but I promised Ella that I would talk to my dad if things with Jasper got out of control.

  Ella called after I got home. She seemed fine, but I questioned her about last night just to be sure that she was all right. Nothing she said indicated that we were supposed to have dinner together. I didn't know what Nathaniel had done, but was relieved he didn’t hurt her. I
managed to drift off to sleep just before twelve, wondering what he was doing, struggling to stop myself from thinking about him.

  I didn't expect to hear back from him again, especially after everything that had happened. At the same time, my father was getting nowhere with his investigation. Within a week, more fairies and elves had been reported missing and Dad looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown. Females were being snatched in crowded and public places. He had a bunch of witnesses, but no one could actually describe the well-built men from the black van.

  On a Monday in the beginning of December, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. Work had been hectic, and Dad wasn’t even answering my phone calls any more. He was fed up with my endless questions. Mum found out about Claudia from Auntie Dorothy and had been calling me various times throughout the day, checking to see if I was all right. A slight panic arose amongst other elves and fairies. I could see them in the Tube travelling in groups, afraid that someone would abduct them at any time of the day.

  I’d worked a couple of evening shifts last week, so my body clock was all over the place. I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see Nathaniel again. He’d saved my skin and my feelings for him had grown. For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from missing him.

  I left the office after I was done with my shift, and around six, I was at Brunel Industrial Park. I wasn’t even sure if he would be in the office, but at this point, I just needed to hear some positive news. I didn't want to call the switchboard to check if he was in because I wanted to be as discreet as possible.

  "Hi, Todd, I want to see Mr. La Caz; is he in?" He wrinkled his forehead with effort, then looked at his list. "You don’t have an appointment, I presume?"

  "No, but it’s important that I speak to him right away. I can assure you that he wouldn’t mind seeing me." Todd didn’t seem convinced and I was worried that he would call upstairs to check if I was allowed in.