Witch's Promise : The Witching Hour Series Book 4

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  I fulfilled my plan; I found her, but there was another problem. I couldn’t just come out and confront her, especially not here in front of everyone. Plus, I was with Ella and Kelsie. Besides, if she was the one who hurt Dad and Kate, how was I supposed to convince her to save them?

  There was movement in the crowd. The blond girl from the car park got up and began walking away from others. She looked pale and petrified.

  "Little lamb, where are you going?" the first witch asked, the one who’d talked about immorality. Donna stopped and looked like she couldn’t move.

  "This isn’t for me," she hissed loud enough for everyone to hear. In that moment I felt magic so strong and powerful I thought it was going to tear me apart.

  The girl couldn’t move, not because she was nervous or scared, it was because the witch whose face I couldn’t see was spellbinding her. I heard gasps in the crowd. Someone shouted something I couldn’t understand, then the girl’s eyes rolled into the back of her head.

  The witch whose face I couldn't see waved her wand and the girl levitated a few feet above the ground.

  All the wizards looked alerted, their wands in hand as the girl was dropped in the circle like a bag of potatoes. Ella squeezed my hand so tight, cutting off any circulation that was left.

  "Well, I’ll now demonstrate what kind of power you’ll possess. This will hurt, my dear."

  I wanted to shut my eyes and not look, but the girl screamed in agony, some sort of power forced her to the ground. Her legs and hands were spread wide. Some of the new witches looked terrified.

  The witch took a step forward.

  When I saw a small knife in her hand, my heart started beating way too fast. I already knew what was going to happen to her.

  Then I heard Ella’s scream and something furry brushed over my leg. Everyone on the other side of the container heard us, turning their heads around. We were busted, and I had no idea if we were going to get out of there alive.

  CHAPTER 25

  COUNTERATTACK.

  "F uck!" Kelsie screamed reacting sooner and slapping me back to reality. “Let's get the hell out of here, now!"

  I needed a few more seconds. The witch was just about to turn around, but Kelsie grabbed my hand and dragged me away, so I lost the chance. The spell came to us fast, hitting me in the chest and legs as we flew out of the scrapyard container. Ella was right behind Kelsie.

  I screamed in agony but continued to run. Thinking about that poor witch who was left to the mercy of these necromantic freaks, I stopped and turned in the opposite direction, probably making the dumbest decision of my entire life. But I just couldn’t leave her to die. I glanced behind, seeing Kelsie and Ella under attack. The crowd took off in a hurry. Witches were panicking and running away. Someone else was screaming.

  My leg was bleeding, but I circulated around the scrapyard container and reached the place where at least a dozen witches were sitting only a few seconds ago. The blond girl was still on the ground, moaning and screaming. I glanced around to make sure I had a chance to get her out of here alive. My blood went ice cold when I thought about Ella and Kelsie. The witches went in the other direction and I could only hope that the girls were safe.

  My magic was with me, circulating throughout my bloodstream, alive, injecting me with the burning desire to get to the head of the coven. I broke the girl’s spell, remembering Tron’s words, running my sparkling hands over her face.

  "Come on, get up. We need to get out of here," I hissed, slapping her gently on the cheek.

  "You… elf… my wand—"

  "There’s no time—we have to go!"

  I grabbed the knife that was lying a few meters away from her and helped the witch back to her feet. Multicoloured lights were shooting through the navy sky. I led her across the yard, hoping to hide behind another container.

  "Oh, no. You won't get away from me, half-breed!" someone roared from behind me.

  I wanted to stop, gather my energy and attack, but I knew I had no chance to fight back as injured as I was. Every inch of my skin crawled with buzzing energy. My mind spun, and I felt the first spell hitting me in the back. Darkness obscured my vision for a brief moment. I stumbled, losing my balance. My brain registered the pain, but I pulled myself together and kept moving my numb legs.

  "One more then!" the witch roared.

  If I could just turn around and see her face. The bitch was whispering an incantation, the words were echoing through my brain. She made me hear her. My legs pounded against the hard-concrete ground. Spells were shooting from every direction; one just barely missed me, burning the ends of my hair. I was rushing towards the car, not quite sure what happened to Kelsie and Ella. Donna was a few meters ahead of me, running faster than I expected.

  "Get them before they get away!" someone else shouted.

  On the other side of the yard I saw Kelsie, still in her human form, screaming at me to get to the car. We were close, just a few more seconds and we would’ve been able to get away. Then, from the corner of my eye I spotted someone standing on top of the container—the good-looking wizard. He waved his wand and shot a deadly spell right at me. I gathered my energy, but I had no chance, as his spell bonded with mine. More deadly magic came down from behind.

  "Die, half-breed!" I heard the witch shriek.

  I stopped, panic-stricken, and images began to flash in front of my eyes.

  "Julia!"

  I recognised Ella’s voice. Suddenly she was standing by the car, and for a split second I thought I was hallucinating. Energy, bright and mesmerising, shot from Ella’s hands, passing me on the way. I stopped and dropped to the ground expecting to be hit with a deadly spell, but nothing happened. When I looked up, whatever the hell Ella had done, she shielded me from the deadly magic. I crashed to the ground, hurting my knee and elbow. Ella was standing by the car, staring blankly at her hands. There were more screams. Someone grabbed me and helped me back to my feet.

  "Come on, let’s the get the fuck out of here!"

  It was Kelsie. By the time she got me to the car, Donna and Ella were in the back seat, looking frightened and pale.

  The engine roared, the wheels spun, and we drove off. My chest was burning, eyes watering. I glanced at my legs, trying to calm my breathing, and saw long deep cuts running over my jeans stained with blood. Kelsie made a screeching one-hundred-eighty-degree turn; we hit the road pretty fast after that.

  I closed my eyes for a brief second to gather my racing thoughts and then turned to look at Ella.

  "What the fuck was that, Ella? How did you know what to do?" I asked, ignoring Donna, who was muttering to herself, not making much sense at all. Ella opened her mouth, but no sound came out. I wanted to question her further but thought she was in shock like everyone else. Kelsie had a bad wound with dried blood running across her chin.

  I sank back into the seat, breathing in and out. No one said a word for the rest of the drive. Two hours later we were back in London. I kept glancing behind me, expecting a car to be tailing us. We weren’t followed back, but Kelsie was doing a hundred miles an hour just to be sure we were safe.

  After Kelsie parked outside my apartment, no one moved or said a word. I couldn’t believe that I insisted on going after the witches. I still couldn’t comprehend what Ella had done. Yet again, I was so close, but I never saw the face of the witch who was in charge.

  "Are you guys going to let me go?"

  Donna’s question broke the silence. Kelsie dropped her head on the steering wheel and I exhaled.

  "Hey, maybe a ‘thank you for saving my arse’ would be more appropriate?" Kelsie snapped.

  Donna"s face went red. "I'm sorry… I'm very grateful."

  "Come on, I think we all need a cup of hot chocolate. It’s late and you’re probably miles away from home. We can figure out what to do later," I suggested.

  Donna looked like she wanted to disagree, but after we assured her that we were on her side, all four of us strolled inside my small apartmen
t. I put my arm around Ella and brought her closer to me. She looked like she was still in shock.

  Before asking questions and discussing what happened, I went to the kitchen. My body was aching all over; the shock was fading away and now I was in pain. My elbow swelled to the size of melon. It took me longer than usual to heat up the milk and prepare drinks for the girls. I couldn’t think straight, analysing in my head the things that I’d seen.

  After a while we all sat down on the floor sipping our blissful drinks. Kelsie and I were in the worst shape.

  “Ella, you were amazing; you kicked arse,” Kelsie said with a light smile. “We need to find that Alex fairy and figure out what happened to Tron too.” My best friend moved on the floor dropping her eyes. I had to agree with everything Kelsie said.

  "Are you all right?" I asked Ella. She nodded.

  "I don’t know what happened out there, Julia. I felt this tingling and I didn’t want you to get hurt, so—"

  "You reacted. That’s okay; it’s normal. You saved my life," I said, squeezing her hand tighter. She looked worried, really worried.

  "I'm sorry, but aren’t you that half elf from the agency?" Donna popped the question.

  "Yep, that’s me."

  "That was the dumbest thing I ever saw," Kelsie shouted, turning her attention to Donna who went red. "What the hell were you thinking? Going with some stranger just because he looked like he was into you."

  "I wasn't ready to go, but Josie wanted to get the number of that wizard. The wizard told us it was a short drive, and he mentioned having drinks. Other witches at work talked about these meetings. I was curious."

  "Tell us everything you know about that bitch who talked about the necromancy spell and describe her if you can," Kelsie ordered, finishing her hot chocolate.

  It turned out that Donna didn’t know much at all. The wizard flirted with the girls and then he just offered them the opportunity to come along. Donna also mentioned that two witches in front were wearing some sort of masks, so she couldn’t describe them to us.

  She was grateful and happy that I saved her life. Kelsie was shaking her head, probably thinking I was an idiot. I could’ve died saving this girl’s arse.

  Around four o’clock in the morning we called Donna a taxi and she went her way, thanking me over and over.

  Ella was a bit calmer once Donna left. Kelsie went to the toilet to wash off the blood and took care of the wound on her cheek.

  "Are you sure you’re all right?"

  "I'm glad that I went; at least I was useful," she said, smiling. I knew Ella had magical blood in her veins, but I never thought that her energy would appear so soon. It was extraordinary.

  "Now you see how dangerous this really was."

  "Yes, and I originally came over because I wanted to talk to you about something."

  "Yes, but in the end, we didn’t really have the chance. Come on, tell me now."

  "I guess this is appropriate now. I came over because I wanted to talk to you about Alex. I think … I’m ready to look for him, to look for Tron too.”

  I was a little apprehensive about that idea, although Ella was right. Tron vanished just after my house burned down. There was a possibility that other royal fairies showed up in London. We really needed to be careful and stick together from now on.

  “We have to locate Tron first. He must be with Alex, this is really not making much sense, Ella. Something must have happened after the fire, after I ended up in the hospital.”

  Her eyes shimmered with a dash of fear. I remembered all those months ago, when she freaked out discovering the truth about me and Nicky. It was horrible, but Ella had grown so much in the past year. She was coming to terms with her second nature.

  Kelsie came out of the bathroom, her wound looked very nasty, but she didn’t want to hear about going to the hospital.

  "Now we know these witches are recruiting as many newbies as possible. They were going to cut Donna to pieces if it weren’t for us."

  "Yes, but we still don’t know her name. If only we could’ve waited a little longer." I sighed.

  "The cat startled me. I'm sorry, it was my fault," Ella said.

  "I better go and speak to Michael. Don’t worry, Julia. We’ll find her; we’re very close."

  I nodded, but deep down I felt that everything was falling apart. I failed to find the white witch, I failed my grandmother, and now my father and Kate. Maybe that was meant to be, but I didn’t want to leave anything to fate, instead I was ready to fight again.

  Eventually Ella and Kelsie left. I took a shower and went to bed.

  In the late morning my elbow ached so much that I decided to go to the hospital. It turned out that I spent four hours waiting for someone to see me. Even the Paranormal Ward was busy. My elbow was broken so I was given some spells and asked to rest for a few days. I had to wear magical plaster for at least forty-eight hours.

  On my way to the police station I realised that in twelve days’ time Dad was going to be dead. Harsh, but that was the truth.

  CHAPTER 26

  FUCKING JASPER.

  L ast night I broke Dannika’s promise. She was in charge of the investigation and I dove straight into a witch coven, putting myself and other people in danger. I had to tell her everything I knew, but she was going to be pissed off, and sometimes she frightened the life out of me. At the same time, her investigation was going nowhere. Dannika needed to understand that I wasn't prepared to sit at home and wait for my dad’s final hour.

  My elbow was aching, and I had scratches on my face. Even if I tried, I couldn’t lie to her. The police station was extremely busy. Dannika was running a meeting in the other room, so I was told to wait in the corridor.

  I went over in my head what I was going say, but when she asked me for a talk in Dad’s office, my mind went blank again.

  "So, what’s going on?" she asked, getting straight to the point. She looked drained. This case was obviously taking up all of her time.

  "Well, I know that there’s a wizard at La Caz Pharmaceutical who’s been recruiting witches to the new coven," I began as planned. She frowned, twisting her lips.

  "What happened to your arm?" she asked pointing at my plastered elbow, blatantly ignoring my statement about the witches.

  I smiled, rubbing my hands together.

  "Would you believe me if I said that I fell?"

  She leaned toward me and quietly said, "Skip the crap, Julia. You stink of magic and shifters. What the hell happened to you?"

  I sighed, looking away, knowing that either way this conversation was going to be hard.

  "Yesterday me and a few friends, well, we followed a few witches. We were only going to spy on them, but things didn’t really go as planned and we were caught," I said, maintaining eye contact with her. Dannika was going to kick my arse either way, so there was no point lying to her.

  Her pupils went vertical and for a split second I had a feeling that I’d gotten away with it. Then she slammed her fists on the table, pointing her magic wand at me. I was totally screwed.

  "You followed witches from the coven? Are you out of your mind?" she shouted, her violet eyes burning with anger.

  From then I had to go over everything that happened during the night, starting with the wizard at La Caz Pharmaceutical. This ridiculously crazy story didn't help my situation. Dannika was probably ready to strangle me.

  "Julia! I thought you had a brain. If you really want to die, then let me help you. I have a cracking potion at home and connection to a few scumbags. We can arrange something."

  I didn’t appreciate her sarcasm and moved on the chair nervously.

  "All right, I’ve heard it all before. Yeah, I wasn't thinking, but I did find out some helpful information. The witches are gathering more and more followers and they’re using a wizard to attract them."

  "Get over yourself. Jerry taught you better. I told you to leave this to the police!"

  "I won't back down. Dad has around twelve days left
and Kate maybe much less."

  "Now, I'm not fucking kidding, Julia. I haven’t been sitting on my arse all this time. The Unit is tracking necessary suspects. We’ll get her soon. Stop putting yourself in danger and let me do my job."

  I exhaled, thinking about Emily. Dannika was probably going to put a tail on me and I’d run out of ideas. The witches had probably shifted their location.

  "All right, but maybe there’s something else you can help me with. I'm looking for Emily Bishop. She’s currently in London and I have to find her."

  Dannika stared at me for a little while. I’d seen that look on her face before: it was dark and gloomy like she could see through my lies. There was no way that I was going to tell her about Gordon and my trip to Wales. Once this whole thing was over I might share with the police what I knew about Gordon. For now, Dad was the most important.

  "Emily Bishop. I can run a search in the database for you if you want, but why? Who is she?"

  "She’s the person who can help Dad. I can’t tell you anymore. I'm sorry."

  I folded my arms over my chest, letting her know that I couldn’t say anymore. She worked her jaw, pinning me down with her heavy stare. After a moment she got up and strolled out. Dannika returned after ten minutes telling me she would look into Emily Bishop and call me as soon as she had a location. Then she gave me another lecture. I hated that I had to keep things from her, but it was better this way. I broke the law a few times and I wasn't ready to get her into trouble because of that.

  Thoughts filled my head when I arrived at the office later on. I didn’t sleep that well and had a whole night with a very busy schedule ahead of me. La Caz Pharmaceutical was still manic, and we were running out of staff.

  Luckily for me Sara had the day off and I was working alongside my vampire colleagues. Until about nine the agency was full: everyone wanted to make some extra cash before Christmas. When I finally had a chance to get a cup of coffee, my head was spinning.