"Yesterday, when you came to see me I was under the influence of a lust potion," I said. "This shouldn't have happened."
Nathaniel sat on the bed staring at me blankly.
"Lust potion? Really? Do you think you can throw something like that over on me?"
“It's true. I didn’t want you… well, sorry, no, I did, but not like that. I drank it accidentally, thinking it was something else."
Nathaniel shook his head and tried to pull me towards him, but I got away and started pacing around the room. The words started flowing out of me.
"I'm sorry, Nathaniel, but yesterday in the early hours of the morning when I finished my shift, Jasper showed up in the agency. Yeah, he’d been helping me with this whole search for a white witch, but things went wrong, and he used me. He tricked me into having sex with him in Wales and now he is dema—"
"Hold on, you slept with your ex-boyfriend?" Nathaniel cut me off, standing up. I slammed my hand over my mouth. Fuck, this was bad. I couldn’t even keep my mouth shut when he was around.
"Kind of. I don’t remember much from that night. We went to this house and I was poisoned. I didn’t know what was going on, like earlier when we had sex."
I had to stop talking. My words were only making him more aggravated. Tiny drops of sweat gathered on my brow. I bit my lower lip, trying to figure out how to fix this mess.
Nathaniel used his vampire speed to pin me to the wall, the heat of his body tangled my mind.
“You're mine, Julia. I can’t fucking believe you went so low," he said, sounding hurt and angry.
I stood in my room not even knowing if I heard him correctly. I laughed and pushed him away.
"Who the hell do you think you are? We’re friends, remember? We aren’t even together," I shouted, losing control. "What I do on my own time shouldn't concern you. You don’t own me."
"Don’t be absurd. I agreed to your silly rules because I wanted to be close to you. I didn’t expect you to go and fuck your ex-boyfriend the first opportunity you had."
The bulb in my bedroom exploded and I took a step away from Nathaniel. I just reached the next stage of fury and was ready to kick him out of my apartment.
CHAPTER 28
THE EXPLOSION.
"Y ou hypocrite!" I roared and the whole room shook, as the sparks burst from my fingers right in front of Nathaniel’s eyes. "So, it doesn’t matter that you fuck others as long as I stay single, right? Go to hell with our friendship. I don’t need this. It’s not like you’ve been there for me. Now get the hell out of my apartment and never call me again!"
He clenched his fists, extending his fangs.
“I'll find that prick and I'm going to kill him, Julia. Mark my word. Jasper has crossed the line this time."
"You don’t own me!" I shouted with tears in my eyes. Nathaniel tried to grab me, but the power roared out of me before I shielded it off. Blinding green light blasted into him. I didn't anticipate such a sudden outbreak and he wasn't ready for what came next. My magic slammed him into the wall, the apartment shook, and parts of the celling came down on him. My heart stopped and for a split second I thought I killed him. Despite the drama and his sudden rage of jealousy, I didn’t want to hurt him. I lost control over my power.
Fortunately for me he moved, glaring at me with fury and coughing loudly. He got up panting heavily. Blood was running down his cheek.
“I WAS DRUGGED NATHANIEL. Jasper used me, and I couldn’t protect myself. If you cannot understand that then you should leave," I said quietly, remembering what I knew. Maybe Kelsie was right; maybe he was betraying me and Dad. I no longer trusted him.
“I cannot believe you asked him for help. Jasper of all people, and not your friends or family. It was stupid and selfish, Julia. I thought you were much more intelligent than this. Good luck to you and him," he said, sounding furious.
My jaw dropped, and I couldn’t quite believe that he said that. The wound in my heart opened up and the pain expanded. I twisted my lips ready to tell him to go to hell again, but he brushed off the dirt and left the room.
I sat on the floor breathing steadily, feeling the side effects of the potion wearing off. Incredible sadness hit me, and I started to sob. We loved each other; we’d come so far in the past few months. We decided that we could try to be together, but now it seemed it was all for nothing.
Hours passed. I had no idea how long I sat in the same position, staring at the wall. The pain eased off just after midnight, but the wound in my heart was flaring up. I felt anger and resentment towards Nathaniel. In the beginning he never had the courage to tell me how he felt, and I hated him for that. It was always guessing and games, never a straightforward answer. I was at fault too, because he wanted to tell Meredith about me, and I kept pushing him not to do it. If I had more courage, then everything would have been different now.
I had no time for his drama. Dad and Kate—they were my priorities, and I wasn't ready to give up yet.
THE NEXT DAY I woke up early with no plan. It was my day off and I needed to go to the hospital. I trusted Dannika to act and bring the witches who had hurt Dad and Kate to justice. It was just the case of getting into the right circle of paranormals. The witches were relying on other people and at some point, some of them had to make a mistake. Time was running out.
Yesterday was a disaster. I’d lost control and used my power. My apartment was in a mess and I couldn’t even afford to hire a handyman to fix the wall. All my money went to the trip to Wales. I thought about the twenty thousand pounds Nathaniel had lent me and felt even more miserable. He did help me out when no one else could. He was on my side, but he was furious that I chose to go to Jasper, rather than anyone else. Yeah, it was stupid decision and now I was paying for it.
Nathaniel and me, we never really fought like yesterday. Yes, I’d gotten angry before when he wanted to control me, but I never wanted to hurt him.
My heart felt heavy, my pulse was erratic, and I didn't want to think about the past few hours anymore. I shook my head thinking that somehow everything would be fine. It was easier to keep pretending that my life was in control. I had to keep living for the people who loved me.
Ella called when I was just about to leave for the hospital. She invited me for lunch and I agreed. Mum was at work and I was planning to meet her there later on. From Ella’s tone of voice, I sensed she wanted to talk about what happened the other night when she saved my life. We both needed to clear the air and discuss what to do.
The traffic was terrible, and I was slowly regretting that I’d taken a taxi. I was twenty minutes late when I finally arrived at the restaurant. My best friend didn’t seem angry, looking more like her usual self. I was worried about her newly discovered powers.
"Hey, Julia," she said with a smile. "What’s the matter? Are you all right?"
So, she noticed my depressed mood. I sat down, trying to keep a straight face.
"Yes…well, no, but it doesn’t matter. There’s no point talking about it," I replied, waving my hand and asking the waiter to immediately bring me a bottle of wine. "How are you… after, you know, the paranormal experience in that industrial yard?"
Ella glanced around, probably trying to see if it was all right for us to talk. The restaurant wasn't that busy.
"I'm all right," she said, after a moment. "How are you keeping? Any changes with your dad’s condition?"
"No, and I'm running out of ideas." I sighed. "Dannika knows about our little adventure."
Ella widened her eyes. "You went to the police?"
"I had no choice. Dannika needs to act on it and locate that bitch; otherwise Dad and Kate have no chance."
"Fine, but I think we should get back to that industrial yard and—"
"Ella, you’re amazing, but I can’t keep putting you and Kelsie in danger. Now it’s up to the police to carry on," I explained. "You should concentrate in the fact that you’re half fairy, a royal.”
"This is what I wanted to talk to you about. Mum
doesn’t want to tell me anything about my father; I only asked to see if she had any memory at all. Besides, we know she doesn’t remember anything about him because he put that spell on her and Matt."
"Yes, you’re right, but there’s a way to do some research in order to locate both Alex and Tron. The National Registry for Paranormals should be able to help, at least find out where they’re from."
Ella’s eyes sparkled with excitement and she drank a bit of her wine.
"What is it? Some kind of organisation?"
I smiled. "Well, sort of. If we go there, they would be able to sort out the magic you inherited from your father. It’s not like Alex was very forthcoming."
"Oh, my God, that’s great. Do you think you can take me there now?" she asked. Her big smile lifted up my crappy mood. I folded my arms together seeing how happy this whole thing made her feel. It was just a case of going to the Paranormal Registry Office. I didn’t think anyone needed an appointment. I had plenty of time before I was supposed to meet my mother, so I might as well help Ella out.
"Yeah, we can go after lunch. Just a few subway stops," I told her.
Ella looked like she was ready to burst into tears, and I was glad that I made her happy. After the past few weeks that I’d had, it was good to see a smile on someone else’s face. We ate food and talked about Ella’s mother, wondering how she got involved with Alex in the first place.
We took the underground and in half an hour we arrived at Woodford. I had never been in this part of London, but after Googling the address I had a slight idea of where we needed to go. As we approached a tall old Gothic building I started doubting that this was such a good idea. At the same time, we needed a confirmation. We needed to know if everything that Alex told us was the truth. Maybe Alex had cast some sort of spell to hide his whereabouts? What if Tron had done the same and our trail went cold again. Either way, it was worth a shot to at least learn of their heritage.
She was so excited that I didn’t want to crush her positive spirit.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her before we walked inside.
“Of course. We have to be prepared. We need to know if I really am related to royals.”
We walked through the double wooden doors into a large open building. The stairs took us to the first floor. Outside there was an information desk that stated it was just some sort government building to keep humans away. The reception was small. A hag was sitting behind the desk wearing oversized glasses. She looked to be in her fifties with a lot of warts scattered on her face.
"We would like to request examination of powers."
She looked me up and down, frowning, and then picked up some forms.
"Fill this out. The waiting time is about twenty minutes. Any specific examination?" she asked.
“It's for my friend here. We need to know if the powers she inherited from her father might grow? She’s only half human, but we want to be sure about her genes.”
"ALL RIGHT, HAVE A SEAT," she muttered.
I helped Ella to fill out a lot of personal questions. After over twenty minutes, the waiting room was filling up with other paranormals and their children, a young handsome-looking fairy came out of the room and called Ella’s name.
"Right, so the examination won't take long. Maybe about ten minutes."
"Can you explain to her what you’re going to do? You see, she only recently learned that she was half fairy on her father’s side."
The fairy with the name tag “Jordan” cleared his throat and looked at me strangely. He was very good looking, wearing a blue suit and designer glasses.
"We take her to the room, give her a potion that will allow us to judge what kind of power she possesses, and then we’ll draw some of her blood."
Ella went pale a little. She hated needles, but this had to be done if she wanted to know the extent of her powers in order to find her father.
I insisted on going into the small room with her. This whole thing reminded me of a visit to my local doctor. Ella was nervous when she was asked to sit down in the chair. The elf handed her a thick green liquid that smelled horrendous. She hesitated, probably waiting for approval from me, then drank it.
I was expecting something to happen, but when nothing did I was a little disappointed.
"So, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"Good, I guess," she replied. Then another elf with white scrubs walked in and took Ella’s blood fairly quickly.
"Right, we shall be back in ten minutes," the elf announced and then we were left alone. Ella took a deep breath but didn’t smile. I kind of felt for her. This was a big deal, and no one knew what sort of news she should expect.
CHAPTER 29
ROYAL FATHER.
T en minutes felt like ten long hours. Jordan came back to the room, accompanied by another paranormal, holding Ella’s results in his right hand. I couldn’t read anything from his expression. Both of them looked calm and weren’t giving anything away. I had never been through this process before, so I had no idea if this was how they usually reacted.
"Right, Miss Jenkins, the examination has revealed that you indeed have royal blood in your veins," the other paranormal said. He had a long white beard and beautiful blue eyes.
Ella was silent; this was it. Alex was telling the truth all along: he had only been trying to protect her all this time.
"Yes, you see we ran the test twice, just to be sure, but both results were accurate," the elf explained.
"Excuse me, but Ella has been brought up as a human. Until a few months ago she’d never shown any signs of magic and she’s twenty-six years old," I explained.
The two fairies exchanged a silent look that I didn’t like at all.
"Well, this only complicates the results further. You see, Miss Jenkins, your fairy blood is very rich and strong,” the older elf explained, shaking his head like he wasn't believing himself. “This confirms that someone in your family was either full or half-blooded fairy. I don’t know which of your parents—"
I cut him off. “It’s her father’s side, because her mother is a human."
"We ran the examination and the results reveal that the lady, here is half fairy, and her blood belongs to a royal line." He was huffing, apparently not appreciating being cut off.
Now everything was crystal clear. Ella wasn't saying anything. She asked me to get a copy of her results and after several more heated discussions with the registry staff we left the building. I didn’t know what we were supposed to do next. Okay, so we had the answer that we wanted. Ella was a fairy, well, a royal fairy.
“We can’t put this off any longer. We need to start searching for Alex and Tron. They must be in some kind of trouble," I said more cheerfully, embracing her in a hug.
"Are there really royal paranormals?" she asked, staring at her hands like she expected to change into a frog all of a sudden.
"Yes, and you’re one of them."
"Is that good or bad?"
"I'm not quite sure but stop stressing about this. We’ll find Alex, I promise you," I assured her, although I wasn't certain if I knew where to even start with this search. We talked about what we’d learned for a little while. An hour later Ella had to meet her mother, so I headed out to get to the hospital.
Maybe I could ask Nicky about the situation. She was an expert, but I wasn't sure if Ella was willing to share this information with anyone. This was all moving a bit too fast.
Kate’s mother was in the hospital when I arrived. She looked exhausted. The spells that kept Kate’s and Dad’s powers at bay were slowly losing their strength. Their time was running out.
Mum arrived half an hour later, looking sad and depressed. I tried to cheer her up a little bit, but I was failing miserably. She wanted to stay beside Dad’s bed for the rest of the night and I couldn’t argue with her. In the past two weeks I was sure that the white witch was out there, and I was going to find her, but now I had no idea of what else to do.
I sat in the
waiting area, thinking about another option. Gordon was a psychopath and he already gave me the right information. I just couldn’t face him again. Jasper was just a lying bastard and Tron was unreachable.
I came out with nothing, stayed a few more hours in the corridor, and then went home dejected.
I tried to clean the mess that I made when Nathaniel and I made love and I lost my temper like an idiot. It was three weeks before Christmas, but I couldn’t imagine having any celebration while Dad was dying. I didn’t even put up my Christmas decorations or buy any presents. This year we were skipping the celebration all together.
Somehow, I managed to drift back to sleep later on, still wearing my clothes. I woke up early in the morning and got ready for work. Mum was with Dad all night and she probably didn’t even sleep. I had nothing to complain about.
I went to the office and my day dragged. Rufus was interviewing for a new recruitment consultant, so I made myself busy, thinking about calling Dannika. The morning passed quickly and when I went for lunch, Nicky called. For a moment I didn’t really want to answer it, but I did anyway, feeling guilty.
"Hey."
"How are you doing, my girl? Any good news about your dad or Kate?" she asked, probably worried about me, but I wasn't ready for this conversation. There was no change in Dad’s condition.
"No. Mum is a mess and I can’t even spend any time beside his bed, because of my magic."
"Listen, cheer up. Don’t give up. I’m calling because I have some information about this new coven of witches," she said, lowering her voice. I stopped walking, switching to full listening mode.
"I'm not getting involved anymore. Dannika’s on the case," I said, thinking about Gordon and my trip to Wales.
"Good but listen to this. I’ve heard that some of the necromancy witches will be at the Christmas event at the Marriott next weekend," she explained. "Okay, I shouldn't really be suggesting this, but I think you and Kelsie should go there and snoop around. Maybe you can find something out."
Witch's Promise : The Witching Hour Series Book 4 Page 20