Witch's Promise : The Witching Hour Series Book 4

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  He sat back, pinning me down with his dark eyes. “I've never been one of them anyway, but I do need a date for a party next week and since you’re single?"

  "Okay. I’ll be your date, but you’ve got to give me something. Have you heard about the white witches?"

  "Julia, forget about white witches. You’ll never fine them, and to be completely honest with you, I don’t know how to help your friend."

  "What about the rituals?"

  He didn't answer straight away but drank his espresso while I kept cracking my knuckles.

  “I've heard about this new coven. A very powerful group of witches arrived from Sweden a couple of weeks ago."

  My heart started pounding in my chest.

  "What witches? What do you know about them?"

  "Nothing much, apart from the fact that they’re looking for other witches to teach them what they’ve learned. One of the wizards approached me the other day, asking if I would be interested in speaking to them."

  "And what did you tell him?"

  "Nothing yet. I'm waiting to see what happens. These witches are very powerful. They use magic on a different level. My interests are a little less eccentric."

  I felt like my brain was burning.

  "Can you take me to them? Maybe if I—"

  He started laughing hard and loud, bringing attention to us. People were staring, and I clenched my fists, getting angry because he wasn't taking this more seriously.

  “Don't be stupid. Their meetings are kept in secret and no one knows who they really are. Their magic is complex, and necromancy is part of their uniqueness. The ritual that your friend got tangled up with must have something to do with them. You can’t start sniffing around like that. You’d be dead before you even had a chance to find anything out."

  I didn’t want to think about getting myself into more trouble, but I wanted to help Kate. Necromancy and bringing people back from the dead? This didn’t sound good.

  "So, what are you expecting me to do?" I asked, angry that he was sitting in front of me thinking he knew it all. "Go out with you to that bloody party and wait until my friend dies?"

  “Don't be so melodramatic, Julia. The party is just a cover. Many paranormals will be there and they can help you. This is about being in the right place, around the right people."

  I sat back pissed off that Jasper was so calm about this whole thing. We started discussing the party. I wanted him to give me some advice, but he kept saying that he wasn't interested in necromancy. He told me that I still had time and that I couldn’t rush into anything. These witches were dangerous, and they were reaching out to vampire and troll gangs.

  When I finally left the coffee shop and got home, Kelsie was waiting for me outside my apartment. Michael, her shifter boyfriend, was out of town. I went through everything Jasper told me. Neither of us knew what to do. I asked her to stay at my apartment for the night. Partly because I still had nightmares and partly because I just didn’t want to be alone.

  The next day was my day off and my mum and dad’s first divorce hearing. I hadn’t spoken to Dad since last Friday. He had been miserable since he found out that Mum started seeing other men. My heart was breaking yet again because I felt guilty. If I’d paid more attention to training with my grandmother maybe Craig would have never known what I was capable of. Then my mother would’ve never found out about me and Dad and I would’ve never exposed her to magic.

  A few days before the hearing I’d decided to bring Ella to court hoping she could help my mum understand. She was human just like Mum, well, most of her genes were human, but at one point my father had to use a memory spell on Ella because she witnessed a terrible crime involving magic. We all thought that the spell worked fine. Unfortunately, after several days she began remembering bits and bobs from that night. Her mother was a nurse and her father had left when she was just a baby. Kelsie, Kate, Nicky, and I believed that Ella must have had some paranormal blood in her family, possibly from her father’s side. We were spot on about it being from her father’s side. In the end we had to reveal the whole truth to Ella and, similar to my mother, she didn’t take the news too well. For the first few months she refused to acknowledge me as a friend, but slowly and steadily we managed to rebuild what we had. Ella finally accepted that magic was real and part of everyday life, like rainy days in Britain.

  I picked Ella up from her home and headed to Croydon court. I kept chewing my lip wondering if there was anything else I could do to stop this nonsense. My mother didn't even want to look at my father. A few weeks ago, she told me that he had tricked her into marriage, that she should’ve listened to her own mother when she was alive. Apparently, my dead grandmother had told her many times that there was something wrong with Jerry Taylor. My mother had made up her mind and there was nothing I could do. She was divorcing the man who she’d loved for over twenty years, all because of magic.

  "How are you?" Ella asked as she sat in the car next to me. I didn’t tell her about Kate because I didn’t want to scare her.

  "Fine, I guess, trying to cope with this whole thing. I feel sorry for Dad. He’s heartbroken."

  “I'll try talk to your mum. Maybe there’s still a chance," Ella muttered, looking at me intensely.

  "Thanks for coming," I said, although I was doubtful this would help. "Mum feels betrayed and doesn’t want to talk about magic. She doesn't even believe that I'm paranormal."

  Ella didn't say anything, and shortly after that I changed the subject. In the past few months my half human friend had been seeing a guy named, Will, who worked at a bank. Ella’s life had gone back to normal. She understood and accepted magic, but we both knew there was still a piece of the puzzle missing. We’d all suspected that her father, who had been absent from her life, might be magical. And we were right. It turned out that Ella was half fairy and she met her father a few months ago. On top of everything she was a royal fairy princess.

  The drive through morning London traffic was long. It took me another half an hour to find the parking lot. The hearing was set up for half past ten in the morning. I had no idea what to expect, but I had to be there just in case Mum wanted to talk about magic to the judge.

  Ella and I were the first to arrive. My mother showed up twenty minutes later wearing a black expensive-looking suit. There was another human with her. From his tight expression and grey suit, I assumed he was her solicitor.

  "Julia, Ella, what are you doing here, girls?" my mother asked, raising a brow.

  "We’re here for support, Ms. Taylor."

  Mum looked at Ella like she wasn't too happy with her being there. I told the solicitor to give us a few minutes alone with my mother. He twisted his lips a little bit and muttered something about a phone call.

  "Yeah, Mum, Ella’s here to talk to you about magic," I said once I was sure that we wouldn't be overheard. We were in a long corridor waiting outside a large door for the hearing to start. "And about the fact that you should at least talk to Dad before you go through with this."

  Mum shot me an irritated glare, patting her blond hair nervously and glancing around like she was expecting to see Dad jumping out of the corner.

  "Ms. Taylor, I was scared like you when I found out what Julia was. It took me a long time to understand that—"

  "Darling, magic doesn’t exist; it’s just an illusion and tricks." Mum cut her off pretty quickly. “It's all nonsense if you ask me."

  "So, why are you getting a divorce, Mum? Dad’s an elf, but he’s still your husband. If you think paranormals don’t exist, then at least talk to him."

  "I'm not going to discuss this with you," she said, angrily. "You shouldn't have brought Ella here. This is between me and your father!"

  "But, Mum, why are you being so stubborn? Dad loves you. He’s never laid eyes on another woman. He has a decent job and brought me up right. We were only protecting you from the truth. Humans aren’t supposed to know, and what happened a few months ago was my fault not his," I hissed, wanting to
shake my mother back into reality.

  "He lied, Julia. He’s a devil worshipper like that man in our home who tried to kill me. I won't let him do the same to my only child," Mum added, leaning closer to me, her voice low.

  I looked at Ella, totally gobsmacked. Anger crawled under my skin along with frustration and resentment.

  "Devil worshippers? What on earth is she talking about, Julia?" Ella asked.

  "I don’t know. She just blocked this whole idea of magic out of her mind."

  "I'm sorry. I don’t know what else to do."

  “It's okay, Ella. The problem is, that there’s nothing you can do." I sighed, feeling like I needed to sit down.

  My family was falling apart, and my mother was seriously losing her mind. Ella and I sat down on the benches waiting for my father to show up, but he never did. After twenty minutes, Mum looked like she was going to lose it. The judge was about to reschedule the hearing, but my mother insisted on going through with it without my dad being present. I tried to talk to her, convincing her that he deserved a proper conversation, but no, she was having none of it.

  A few seconds before we were all supposed to go inside the hearing room, I saw Stewart and Dannika walking through the door. They were with another officer that I didn’t recognise.

  "Mum, hold on. Dad’s co-workers are here."

  "Oh, for goodness sake, what’s going on now?" she asked.

  "Julia, we need to speak to you urgently."

  Trying to read anything from Dannika’s blank expression, I walked away from Ella and my mother, who was muttering something about wasting her time.

  "What’s going on? Where’s Dad?"

  "An hour ago, we received a phone call from a member of the public. Another body has been found. Your father was working last night; his shift was supposed to end at four a.m."

  I stared back at her wondering where this was going. Dad knew how important this hearing was.

  "Your father… Julia… he’s been found in an abandoned warehouse. There was another body, and the ritual looked like the same setup as the last one. He’s in the hospital and he won't survive if we don’t find a white witch."

  CHAPTER 4

  WITCH COVEN.

  "J ulia, what on earth is going on in here? Dannika, where the hell is Jerry?" Mum shouted as she approached us.

  Pain and disbelief slammed into me as if someone had sliced my heart with a knife, so real and so crushing that I thought I was going to pass out. I gave a silent nod to Dannika to go ahead and explain the situation with Mum.

  "Mrs. Taylor, your husband is in the hospital," Dannika said, glancing around to make sure that no one else could hear her. "We don’t know exactly what happened, but it looks like his soul has been ripped from his body with black magic."

  I didn’t know if my mother was understanding what Dannika was telling her, but I had to sit down. Blood rushed to my ears and magic poured right through me. Questions began mounting in my head. Dad was on holiday, taking some time off. There was no way he was running around London investigating the new coven.

  "Ritual? What are you saying?" my mother repeated with a tensed expression.

  "Mum, Dad’s in a bad shape. It looks like someone forced him against his will to participate in some kind of magical ritual," I said, getting up and shaking her. "Stop pretending like you don’t understand!"

  "Julia, calm down," Dannika said, pushing me away from my mother. I wiped the sweat from my forehead. "We don’t know what happened last night. The whole setup is awfully similar to the one with Kate, but we aren’t sure—"

  "Just take us to the hospital. I need to see him," I demanded, cutting her off again, thinking that I had to see my dad for myself to believe her. Mum was staring at the wall, not saying anything. My pulse was racing away. This couldn't have happened to Dad, no way; he was too strong to be cornered by some witches.

  Stewart and Dannika were talking to my mother, who looked like she was in some sort of shock. I thought that I’d better stay calm. Mum tried to talk, but she didn’t make much sense. Her voice kept breaking. Maybe for the first time in her life, she finally understood that magic was real. Ella kept telling her that it was going to be all right, that maybe Dad’s condition wasn't as bad as it seemed. I couldn’t speak until we were inside the police car. I saw Dannika’s violet eyes in the rearview mirror watching me.

  Mum kept mumbling to herself. "Jerry will be fine. I mustn’t worry."

  The food from breakfast kept turning inside my stomach and I couldn't help imagining the worst. In my head I remembered Kate’s pale face and the resignation on the faces of her family. My own father was too strong to get caught up with witches’ affairs. Why would anyone want to use him?

  "Julia, we’re here," Dannika said. Mum was already out of the car marching after Stewart; I didn’t even notice when we arrived. Ella was holding my hand not saying anything.

  "How bad is it? Please tell me now, before we go inside," I asked, my voice cracking, already knowing what Dannika was going to say.

  "His soul left his body and it’s drifting away. The healers can’t do anything else for him."

  Her words crushed me, and I felt like I was falling; white dots obscured my vision. I couldn’t lose my dad. This was impossible.

  My mother was already by Dad’s bed when we reached his room. On the outside he seemed like he was sleeping.

  Mum was sobbing and squeezing his hand. She’d already forgotten that she wanted to divorce him an hour ago, calling him a liar.

  "Oh, Jerry, I'm so sorry. We should talk when you wake up. Please, Jerry," Mum choked. Then she turned around to face me.

  "Julia, use your magic to help him, please. If you’re one of them, then do something for God’s sake."

  "Mrs. Taylor," a tall giant healer interrupted, he was standing next to me. "Your daughter can’t help him. The Chief Inspector has been cursed and we don’t know how to help him. We have tried all the spells we know to counter dark magic, but it’s a form of advanced black magic like we’ve never seen—this is somehow different—stronger, these dark spells are preventing us from doing anything."

  Mum sobbed harder and fell on the chair next to him. I left the room after that, telling myself I was still dreaming, that Dad was with Grandma in Canterbury.

  I hid my face in my hands, hoping to catch my breath, as magic rose inside me. I left the room and walked through the corridor. Shaking, I took out my phone and waited until Jasper picked up.

  “It's my father; the police found him in an abandoned warehouse yesterday in the same state that I found Kate. God, Jasper… he’s dying. Please tell me you have some new information about the coven."

  "Julia, I'm sorry to hear about your father," he said in a low calm tone. "Nothing new, but I’ll make some phone calls and get back to you tomorrow night."

  I hung up, after pleading with him to speak to anyone who might know what to do. Everything else seemed pointless. I closed my eyes wishing I could find a way to go back in time and save my father and stop this whole satanic ritual.

  "Julia, hey, I think you should take your mother home. She doesn’t look too good."

  I opened my eyes and was pulled back to my miserable reality by Dannika.

  I nodded without saying a word, but Mum refused to leave his side. A few weeks ago, in other circumstances I’d have been happy, but now I was dying inside. Ella and I took a taxi to my car. After an hour at home I felt suffocated, so I went back to see my father and Kate. Mum was still there, holding his hand, but it looked like she had fallen asleep. My grandmother and grandpa sat next to her.

  "Julia," my grandmother said, not even looking at me, "I think you should take Mary home."

  "But, Grandma, what about the white witches? What about your knowledge and connections? You must know where to find them and help Dad, right?" I said, squatting in front of her. She shook her head, inhaling loudly.

  "They exist but you won't find them; that’s why there is so much disease and dea
th in this world. Whoever used black magic on my son broke all the rules, pushed the boundaries of magical laws. That’s why we don’t mess with death, because it damages the soul. I'm sorry, Julia, but your father’s dying. You need to accept this now. It will make it easier to deal with later."

  Grief took over my last bit of hope. After that, tears started rolling down my face.

  “I'll find a way to help him. It’s paranormal and I should know how to trick death, Grandma," I said fervently, even though it felt like my legs were going to give out. Everyone had crossed off Dad’s chances of getting better. I didn't understand. My grandmother was never one to just give up.

  "Hon, your grandmother’s right. You should leave—"

  "No. You have no right to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. White witches are out there somewhere, and I’ll find at least one."

  My grandmother stared at me for a while, not even trying to convince me that I was wrong. She looked like she had given up on Dad. She didn’t answer, just walked away without a word, leaving me and my mother in Dad’s room. It wasn't easy to explain to Mum that Grandma had given up. I didn’t want to tell her that Dad had no chance of survival.

  I used my own crappy magic to take her home, although my heart was breaking. My family home had burned down. Mum rented a smaller two-bedroom terrace home a few streets further down, but I couldn’t leave her there alone, so I decided to stay. We both had work tomorrow, but I wasn't sure what I preferred: waking up knowing that my father only had a few weeks to live or the fact that I couldn't help him.

  The poison had spread to my family and whoever hurt my father had better careful because I was coming after them with a vengeance.

  MUM WENT to work the next day, but before she left, she said that if magic really did exist then Dad still had a chance to live. My phone started ringing like crazy. Nathaniel and Kelsie found out about my father from the papers and they were very supportive about the whole thing. Straight after I got off the phone with them, Rufus rang. I appreciated everyone’s kind words, but they weren't able to help me, even Nathaniel. White witches were somewhere out there. Supernatural beings who could cure anything and anyone? Yeah, all of this sounded like something from a sci-fi novel, but right now I was willing to believe in aliens if they could help bring my father back.