All those happy thoughts collided in my mind when I heard a loud knock on my door. For a second, I thought it was just my imagination, that my mind was playing even more tricks on me. Then I heard the same loud knock again. I gritted my teeth and got out of my relaxing bubble bath.
When I stepped out of the bathroom someone continued knocking and I was ready to have another fit. It was close to ten o’clock at night and I wasn’t expecting any visitors.
"All right, all right, I'm coming," I said opening the door.
"Miss. Taylor, we’re sorry for the intrusion but we’re afraid to leave you alone for longer than necessary."
I was shocked, not because Alex and Tron were standing in front of me, but because they knew where I lived, and this wasn't right.
"So, are you two following me now or something?" I asked not caring for the world that I was without make up, dressed in a robe and just got out of the bath. Tron looked amused and Ella’s dad, well, he looked serious wearing an over the top suit.
"Julia, I feel offended. With a little bit of magic, I can get any information I need," Tron said. I rolled my eyes but let them inside.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"We need to practise; the other day you left so abruptly, and we didn't have a chance to do anything with your lethal power," Tron said looking around my apartment with obvious curiosity. Alex looked uncomfortable, maybe because as a royal he was expecting me to live somewhere more posh, or he was still unsure about my connection to his daughter, Ella.
"I left because I wasn’t prepared to lie to my best friend who’s suddenly a fairy princess," I snapped folding my arms together.
"She will know the truth in time, Miss. Taylor, but for now you need to focus on control. If your magic gets out of control then my family’s identity will be revealed, and it won’t be long before other royals make their way to London." Alex sighed frowning. I meant to tell him that it was the twenty-first century not the middle ages. Royal fairies and that whole honour killing thing sounded absurd, but it took me a moment to compose myself. If he was Ella’s father, then he was probably equally sensitive.
"So, you guys decided to show up in my house to do some hocus pocus? Nice. Didn't you think to use a device called a mobile phone?"
Alex and Tron exchanged a look which said, "She must be absurd, we don’t own phones."
"You live alone, Miss. Taylor, and we were certain that no one would disturb us here."
"Fine, take a seat. Let me put some clothes on and we can get started," I muttered, vanishing into the bedroom. I should have been worried; there were two strangers in my apartment, two very powerful paranormals. Instead of getting aggravated with the situation, I slipped my underwear on along with the rest of my clothes and went back to the living room.
The two paranormals were standing by my collection of paranormal romance novels.
"I'm ready. Where do we start?"
Tron started talking and for a split second I began to wonder if this was a good idea. In the past few weeks I hadn’t had any blackouts and my magic was only out of control when I was around Nathaniel, but they didn't need to know that.
"We will try a few simple spells to see if you have any control at all," Tron suggested stroking his chin. Shortly after that, Alex produced three plain glasses and put them on the table. Then I was asked to sit down on my sofa and concentrate. I ought to have said that they were wasting their time. My grandmother had already tried simple spells, but my casting sessions always ended up in disaster.
"Concentration is key,” Tron said. "Now, can you break the three glasses?"
I nodded and look towards my new target. I whispered the spell and felt as my magic flew through my back, then my arms. The usual warmth caused all the hair on the back of my neck to rise, however, nothing was happening. After few more seconds, I was ready to tell them I couldn't do this, when the glass door to my wardrobe in the living room cracked. The two paranormals turned their heads at the same time and both raised their left eyebrow.
I relaxed and took a deep breath, then all of a sudden, we heard thunder clapping loudly, then lightening spread across the sky shortly after that. This time my fingertips began to sparkle, and I felt increasing energy flowing through my body.
"Did you see that, Alex?" Tron whispered, looking out the window with disbelief. Alex looked like he was having some sort of anxiety attack.
"She’s too young for this, she can't even concentrate on the source," Tron added.
"Excuse me, I'm still in the room. Do you mind telling me what’s going on?"
"Julia, can you charm anything, make things move, obey you? Read people’s thoughts when you want or anything that controls your magical powers?"
Those questions threw me a little off guard. There had been moments when my magic was useful, like when I was trying to protect someone or when I was really nervous or happy. All of these incidents, well, I wasn’t really in control. My magic always flew freely.
"I can produce extremely dangerous protection spells but only if my or someone else’s life is in danger. I can read thoughts but not all the time; it’s mainly when I get nervous. I’ve never had control over this power; it just happens," I explained feeling like an idiot. I didn't know anyone else who was so crap with spells. My cousin, Claudia, who was still abroad, was an excellent caster, she never messed up any spells. She was powerful, but my grandma was the most powerful elf in the family.
"You aren’t concentrating enough. You let your magic dictate what you do, it only obeys you when someone threatens it," Alex observed.
"Okay, you aren’t helping me. Tell me how to control it. Do you think I want to be this way? My genes are half human, so maybe that’s the problem," I argued having had enough of this session already.
"Listen to your source,” Tron said, “the magic is speaking to you, but your mind is tangled. We can teach you how, but this will take more time and we need to start meeting at least twice a week."
"Fine, whatever. I’ll do anything to prevent that fire. Maybe it’s not going to happen. Maybe I'm just imagining things. I saw myself killing Jennifer but what if someone used me and is trying to frame me?"
“It's possible, that’s why you need to close off your mind. Blackouts could come at any moment and you need to be ready. I think one particular wizard is very interested in your power. I believe his name is Jasper?"
My jaw dropped as I stared at my new partner trying to figure out how he knew about Jasper. I shouldn’t even have been surprised. Apparently, he knew everything about me and it was creeping me out.
"I don’t think he’s in the country. The police are searching for him." I shrugged, looking away. Jasper was capable of anything; he killed an innocent man because he wanted to gain access to me. He was in love with me and his dark magic had nothing to do with my own unsettled power.
"He specialises in a dark magic; what if he wants what you have?"
"Jasper doesn't want my magic. He wants me back and he’s capable of anything to get what’s his, and apparently he thinks I'm his property," I explained bitterly.
Tron looked like he was lost in his own thoughts and I couldn't read Alex; his emotions were hidden.
"In that kind of state your magic is receptive and exposed. Someone must have caused you to blackout and used you to kill Miss. Griffiths. No one would suspect the daughter of the chief.”
"I must agree with Tron. You aren’t in control which means that you are extremely vulnerable. If you want to prevent causing more harm, then you should agree to these sessions."
I bit my lip wondering if I should talk to my dad or Grandma. They would know what to do, but at the same time, Dad would have to make one of the most difficult decisions: hide me away or be loyal to the department.
"Fine, whatever it takes, just please help me. I don’t want to harm anyone, but my grandmother’s tried to train me since I was little and she never succeeded."
“Don't worry, we have a few more ass
ets up our sleeves," Tron said with a wink.
That evening we didn't practise anymore with my magic. I kept asking Alex when he was planning to talk to Ella, but he wouldn’t give me a straight forward answer. He told me that Ella was having trouble adjusting to the knowledge she already had and needed more time. I wanted to argue that we’d already gone through this phase and Ella was talking to me again. She came to the hospital, so I didn't understand why she wasn’t returning any of my phone calls.
It was close to midnight when Alex and Tron left my apartment. We agreed to have another session in a few days. There was still so many questions and situations that hadn’t been resolved. Before that whole situation with McGregor my apartment had been broken into. Dad wasn’t making any progress with the investigation and now I was finally putting it all together. Maybe whoever was in my apartment was actually after my magic.
I had a headache when I went to bed. I really didn't need this right now. Ella had forgiven me and now her father had put me in an odd situation, expecting me to continue to lie.
Nathaniel popped in my mind as I was falling asleep, and despite being in a new fresh relationship my feelings for him hadn’t faded, if anything, they’d grown stronger.
Chapter 9
Love is complicated.
"You’re going with me to this pack meeting," Kelsie announced two weeks after my initial practise session. Kelsie showed up in the office after five. It looked like she just finished work and she wasn’t planning to leave me alone. I was glad to see her again, but I was exhausted. Last night I was called to Tron’s posh residence for a training session. Tron was right when he mentioned that those sessions were going to be very different from what I was used to. Physically and mentally I was completely drained, but in the past couple of weeks, I learned how to cast a protection spell without even breaking anything around me.
"Pack meeting?" I repeated trying to put through the last bits of payroll. I had an evening shift with my two vampire colleagues. Kate was off for a couple of days, visiting her Witchy convent up North.
"Well, I decided to join this new shifter pack and I don’t want to go alone," Kelsie said fluttering her long eyelashes. I pinched my eyebrows imaging sitting around a large fire where at midnight everyone would start to shift. Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought it was going to look like.
"Kel, darling, first of all, I'm half magical and second of all, I'm not a shifter. I don’t think I would be allowed in," I said trying not to laugh. My best friend rolled her eyes smiling at a vampire client who was watching us from the far corner, probably trying to fill out an application form.
"Nonsense, I can bring anyone I want. Besides, it’s just like a big posh party. No one is going to shift or anything like that."
"Okay, so when and where is it?" I asked, at the same time concentrating on the numbers.
"In some hotel. I don’t remember the name now, but they’re going to serve free drinks and snacks; it’s on Friday night.”
This was definitely what I imagined. Kelsie liked to party, she also changed boyfriends once every month.
"Maybe you should take a shifter. I might have plans with Quentin," I muttered. The vampire who was sitting in the corner had stopped writing altogether now; he was staring at Kelsie, mesmerised. Personally, I found him creepy. Vampires usually weren’t too keen on shifters, but this one didn't seem to mind.
"I called him already. He said that you’re too uptight, and I should take you out," Kelsie said laughing.
"Great, thanks," I replied. "Kel, I really don’t mean to be rude, but I have a ton of work to do and no time for chit chat."
"All right, I'm going to stop being so boring. I’ll pick you up at six, all right?"
"Yep."
Kelsie left, and the vampire looked disappointed. He didn't even finish his application before disappearing after her. I wasn’t that worried about Kel. She knew how to handle men and the vampire didn't stand a chance.
The night rolled on and more vampires than usual strolled into the agency looking for work. We were registering everyone because Lucinda needed a new production staff. Later that night I got an email from Kelsie; she sent me an attachment from an article. My heart started beating faster when I read it; Nathaniel’s wedding plans weren’t going smoothly. The date of the wedding had been moved to July. I didn't finish reading the rest of the article, trying to ignore my racing pulse. Quentin picked me up from work and stayed with me through the night. I was nearly asleep wondering if I was ever going to forget about Nathaniel, when Quentin kissed my neck; he was lying naked next to me. I should’ve been happy that I had a boyfriend who wasn't afraid to commit to me.
"Julia, are you sleeping?" he asked. At first, I wanted to pretend that I was sleeping but I already felt guilty enough thinking about another guy, so I replied:
"No, I can’t for some reason."
He was quiet for a minute or so, and I liked the fact that we shared this closeness. When his mouth found mine again, heat and a soft wave of magic began to flow through my already exhausted body. Quentin’s kiss sent a cold shiver down my spine, his tongue swirled in my mouth before we pulled apart.
"What do you think about moving in together?" he asked all of a sudden. From that moment, I was fully awake and ready to jump out of bed. Quentin was quiet, but his breath was giving him away. My heart rate picked up and I couldn't quite comprehend what he said.
"Move in together, as in together, together?" I asked trying to sound natural, but my voice was giving away the panic I felt inside. Quentin was sweet, and I should have been glad that he was ready to begin a proper relationship with me and move on to the next level.
He laughed kissing my neck.
"What? Do you think it’s too soon? Okay, maybe we just started dating but we’ve got something good going on here," Quentin continued pressing on. My stomach made a small contraction. Despite the fact that I hadn’t introduced Quentin to my mother, I already knew how she would react if she found out.
"No, of course not, it’s a great idea but you can’t expect us to live with Gomez."
"He’s harmless; how about we look for a place to rent together? Your flat is too small, and my house is too far from your work. It’s the perfect solution. If we find something bigger, then Gomez won’t be a problem."
“It's a huge decision, so I need some time to think about it," I said looking away, thinking about my relationship with Nathaniel. He’d never made any kind of effort like that. I only lived in his apartment for a short time because mine had been devastated. I’d deluded myself with the idea of a perfect life with him, but in the end, he moved abroad and came back with a new fiancé.
"Of course, take as much time as you need. We don’t need to rush anything but I'm falling for you," Quentin whispered. I smiled, inhaling his scent. We didn't talk anymore and that night I fell asleep happy, still heartbroken, but happier than I’d been in the past eight months.
Kelsie looked hot when she arrived to pick me up on Friday night. Her smoky black hair was all curled up and she was wearing a tight navy dress. In my opinion she was dressed a bit over the top for a pack meeting, but it didn't matter what I thought. Kelsie always intended to have fun.
As far as I knew, any kind of pack meeting was supposed to take place in the forest around a fire where people discussed politics and shifted during a moon.
These days shifters and werewolves met in stylish hotels for drinks and food. Many even brought guests. According to Kelsie, no one was shifting, not in such an urban city like London.
"Is everything all right? You look worried," Kel asked when I got into the taxi. It was a cold night tonight. The temperature was below zero and my best friend wasn't even wearing a coat.
"Quentin asked me if I wanted to move in together," I explained sinking into the seat. Kelsie looked gobsmacked. That was a first, because nothing never shocked her.
"So? You should be happy then. He obviously wants to take this relationship to the next level."
"Are you freaking kidding me? It's too soon. We only just started going out,” I protested, and warm guilt poured into my stomach. I hadn’t been honest with him about my past. I was still in love with Mr. Bastard and that’s why I wasn’t ready for the next step.
“It's about the hot vampire, isn't it? You can’t get away from him and I get it. I really do. We’re all drawn to men who are bad for us, not the ones who are good and kind."
I opened my mouth to say something but, in the end, I kept quiet. There was some truth in her statement. Nathaniel was toxic. All right, the sex was amazing, but we were like oil and water—we didn’t mix well—we damaged each other. Quentin was right for me in every respect.
When the taxi stopped in front of the small boutique hotel my stomach was growling. Kel told me that there would be plenty of food inside, so I didn't make anything for dinner. I kept asking Kelsie if there was going to be any debating about shifter politics, but she acted like she had no idea what I was talking about.
This whole meeting reminded me more of the networking event from a few months ago, where Nathaniel showed up unexpectedly. The events manager, a short troll in her thirties, took me and Kelsie to a room in the back filled with tables. We were given badges with our names near the entrance. Four male shifters were staring at Kelsie while I was being ignored completely.
"We’re having a debate at ten; would you ladies care to join in?" a dark-haired shifter with shimmering gold eyes asked.
"Debate? Maybe. I don’t know if I’ll be sober enough for that," Kelsie muttered giggling. The room was filling up fast mainly with shifters and their partners. I was the only elf there, along with a couple of witches and the troll who was part of the hotel staff.
"Did you do anything like that, you know, with your ex?"
"Yeah, sometimes, but it was more traditional, like it used to be: forest, fire and a lot of random shifting. Paranormals in London are much more civilised, unlike where I'm from," she explained. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm heading to the bar. Someone needs to buy me a drink."
Elf's Affection: The Witching Hour Series Book 3 Page 7