Grandpa Fred charmed the table, so everyone had a place to sit. I was planning to sit as far as I could from my grandmother, but it seemed she was reading my mind because she patted the seat next to her, asking me to sit down.
Mum was chatting away with Aunt Michelle about her work in a local surgery while Dad looked lost in his own thoughts. My grandparents were loaded, so they could afford to hire help for occasions like this. A tiny hag began serving food looking very professional. My head was aching while Grandma continued to instruct Erica on starters and the wine list.
"I don’t understand why you’re still upset over that silly time travel trip," Grandma suddenly whispered while everyone was busy eating the starter. "I wanted you to see what would happen if you continued to go against your own values, what vampires are truly capable of. Besides, I was right, and you left that filthy vampire, so now you know he wasn't the one for you."
I was boiling inside, ready to snap. That’s why I’d been avoiding her all this time, because I couldn't bear talking about him. Now, I’d slept with him despite everything I’d ever believed in. Guilt washed over me in waves.
"That wasn't the reason, Grandma," I said through the gritted teeth. "And if you don’t mind I’d rather not talk about it."
She smoothed her stylish bun not taking her eyes off me. No one was paying attention to us and I was glad because I didn't want to deal with questions from the rest of the family.
"Julia, we both know that elves should only be involved with other elves. The genes of this family must be preserved. Your father was an exception, he still pays for the consequences of his actions. Love only exists in fairy tales, my dear—family is key," Grandma continued talking to me. I sat there playing with my starter meal. When I didn't respond I was glad that she didn't dwell on the conversation because I was an inch away from losing my temper. Her old-fashioned views made me angry and I was ready to tell her about Quentin but after that speech, my mind was filled with thoughts about my night with Nathaniel.
The main course was delicious, and I was stuffing my face because I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed my quick reunion with my half vampire. Dinner was going as planned and I was even ready to ask Grandma about her relationship with Tron. My secret about blackouts and outbursts of magic was safe with him, although I was curious to know why he asked to keep it a secret from her.
"So, Julia, are you going to tell us about your new man?" Aunt Dorothy suddenly asked.
And everything was going so well!
Chapter 16
The guilt.
Grandma started choking while my heart sent a strong kick into my chest. I shot Claudia a sharp look. If I wanted to keep this away from my family, then I should have kept my mouth shut. Mum beamed, then started telling Aunt Dorothy how handsome Quentin really was, whereas Dad looked like he wanted to tell me that I’d made my bed, and now I had to lie in it. Grandpa Fred whispered a spell to help Grandma. The rest of the family was staring at me, waiting to hear what I was going to say next, partly listening to Mum’s monologue.
"A new man and I'm the last one to know?" Grandma asked looking angry. She waved her hand and Mum stopped taking mid-sentence. The suspension charm hit her, and I had a sense of déjà vu.
“It's not a big deal. We’re still taking things slow," I explained firmly, looking at my dad. He wasn’t very happy that his mother charmed his wife yet again, but everyone was used to the fact that Grandma had her own system when dealing with family affairs.
"He’s an elf, right?" she asked in her usual high-pitched tone. "After all this drama with vampires, I'm happy to know that you’ve chosen the—"
"Quentin’s a giant and we only just started seeing each other. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to date an elf just because you can’t accept anyone else," I said calmly.
Grandpa Fred nodded, giving me a smile. Grandma exhaled, and I could feel the atmosphere around the table had gone frosty. All my cousins held their breath. I was kind of pissed off at my father; he married a human, and I was being looked at like some kind of freak because I wasn’t planning to follow tradition.
"You don’t understand, Julia," Grandma said. “It's very important for all of us to keep this family together. Magical genes must remain in our bloodline. You cannot get involved with vampires, giants or even trolls. We live in the twenty first century, but certain standards have to be in place."
"I'm sorry, Grandma, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Dad married a human and I can’t even use simple magic—"
"Mum, I think that’s enough. Now is not the time nor the place. Julia is an adult and it’s her life," Dad growled looking exhausted by this discussion.
"Jerry, don’t defend her. You know exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to family history and what we promised each other." Grandma frowned. I was still deeply confused looking from Dad back to Grandma. For a split second I thought she was going to explain what she meant but, in the end, she waved her hand lifting the suspension charm from Mum. She didn't even notice the tension around the table and continued her conversation with Aunt Dorothy.
I couldn’t shake off the odd stares I received for the rest of the evening. Grandma didn't say anything else to me, behaving as if the entire conversation never took place.
"What did she mean when she was talking about family and genes?" I asked Grandpa later, cornering him away from everyone.
"No idea, darling," he replied. "Now tell me again; what happened to that other handsome young man who I met at your parents’ house?
Grandpa Fred changed the subject in a blink of the eye, but I wasn’t prepared to push him. When I asked Dad later on, he pretended that he didn't know what his mother meant. This whole evening was rather bizarre, and I was going back to London later that night with Claudia. I felt exhausted and drained.
My cousin, on the other hand, couldn't stop talking about Quentin and before she dropped me home, I had to promise to introduce her to him. In the end I did but my grandmother’s statement made me think. What if she had more secrets than she was prepared to admit?
The next day I arrived at work in a gloomy mood. Nathaniel had been calling me on my cell the entire way there. I couldn’t be sure if it was really him, but knowing his tricks, I refused to answer an unknown number. My morning routine, as usual, was hectic. Two middle-aged hags came in giving me hell about their work uniforms. Then we received a visit from a few beautiful fairies who were just too picky, so I sent them away.
My lunch break came unexpectedly. Quentin called offering to take me to dinner tonight, but I lied yet again, that I had to work late.
"I have an idea," Kate said after Sara left to grab some food complaining about the rain.
"Hmm, what’s your idea?"
"We should snoop around, find out what our sweet Jennifer was up to. Maybe you killed her because you knew she was planning something."
"I don’t remember what happened that night. It was a blackout," I said pushing away steamy thoughts of Nathaniel. Again.
She looked serious, but I didn't like that expression, because whenever Kate was serious that meant she had a crazy idea.
"Yes, but what if we start our own little investigation into StaffSpell?"
"No way. Fiorillo will recognise us, and besides, there is nothing to investigate. I’ve murdered someone and I'm going to burn my parents’ home if I don’t get my shit together."
"What if we get some answers? What if Jennifer was more involved with Caleb McGregor than we thought?"
I was looking at Kate feeling dejected and confused. It was true that I had no idea why Jennifer broke into my apartment, but during that petrifying fire, she confessed. She wanted to get rich and McGregor was the source. On the other hand, Kate was thinking straight, and she was much more intelligent than me.
"I would love to, but I have no idea where to start, and besides, Dad will be pissed if I compromise his investigation."
"I have an idea, but we’d have to go
there tonight and take Kelsie. With her, we’ll look more believable."
I shrugged, curious but eager to know more. "Okay, although I don’t know if I should be worried. Normally you’re the one who has to pull me away from crazy ideas. Why do you want to get involved in my shitty life all of a sudden?"
"Because I know you wouldn't take another life, someone must have used illegal magic," she explained. "And I hate seeing you so anxious and worried. You haven't been yourself at all today, which means that I have to do all the work."
Kate didn't want to listen to my arguments or apologies for my lack of concentration. For a moment I wanted to tell her about my huge mistake, but I chickened out. Thankfully, Nathaniel didn't try to call me again.
The day rolled on until six in the evening. My magic was under control, but my mood was still gloomy. Waves of heat and lust kept hunting me down and I couldn't stop thinking about that mind-blowing reunion sex from the weekend. I was so full of shame, but my body and now my mind continued to betray me at every turn. I knew I was still in love with him, but these thoughts, these memories of us together—I just couldn’t shake them no matter how much I tried.
Kelsie arrived at the office just after six along with Michael Langridge. It was clear they shared some intimate moments together. They were all over each other and I was positively jealous of their happiness.
"Oh, my god, I can't believe you didn't introduce us sooner," Kel said when he finally left. When my two vampire co-workers came in to take over my and Kate’s shift, I took Kel and Kate to interview room.
"Focus, Kelsie. We can discuss your amazing sex life later on, but Kate has something more important to talk about."
"Too bad because I was going to tell you guys that he might be my soulmate. I’ve never been so connected to anyone else in my entire life." She sighed heavily. I exchanged a worried glance with Kate who was smiling. For some reason I had to agree with her. Michael and Kelsie had so much in common. They were both crazy shifters, but I was still worried because I knew that Kelsie wasn't looking to settle down and her ex-boyfriend was back in town.
"Did you hear that, Julia? Kelsie has a soulmate. I think we need to call an ambulance," Kate said laughing.
“Hey, I'm serious. Michael’s amazing, too bad Craig’s back, now I can't truly enjoy him."
Shortly after that we decided to get the hell out of the office and jumped into Kelsie’s car still teasing her. Kate and I had agreed earlier that this relationship wouldn’t last because Kelsie didn't do commitments, but obviously we were wrong. The drive to StaffSpell took ages driving through London traffic. I decided it would be best if we waited near the office of our rival agency. My dad had already spoken to all the employees, including Fiorillo. I had no idea if that troll remembered anything from our previous conversation when Kelsie, Kate and I charmed him to find out if he knew anything about Rufus’s kidnapping, but I was willing to take my chances. Since my night with Nathaniel I hadn’t had any blackouts but the threat of it all still loomed over me. Kelsie parked her car a few meters away from the office. In my mind I thought maybe this was a silly idea, because we had no idea what we were doing.
For about twenty minutes no one left or went inside the office. We saw a couple of vampires hanging around close by, but they walked away after looking at the advert placed outside the window. Then Kelsie started complaining that we should at least walk inside and use dark magic, rather than sitting in the same place while nothing was going on. This went on for another half an hour; I was ready to tell Kelsie that she could drop me and Kate home.
"Hey, hey, both of you shut up and look, someone is coming out," Kate hissed pointing at the office. A tall and very beautiful woman walked out of the door talking on her mobile. She was most certainly paranormal, and I guessed that she was a mermaid, although I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure.
"She must be working for that arsehole, Fiorillo,” Kel said. “You know how much he loves sexy paranormals, plus she looks like she just finished work."
"We don’t know if she’s even employed there. What if she’s a client?"
"At the moment we don’t have a choice. Let’s follow her; if we have to come back tomorrow, then that’s fine," I pressed and got out of the car. The girls were right behind me.
The street was busy, but we didn't want to attract any attention to ourselves, so we made sure to keep our distance.
Kate kept whispering that this wasn’t such a good idea, but I told her to be quiet, determined to know if the woman in front of us knew Jennifer. She turned the corner and walked for about ten minutes down the main road looking at shops that she passed on the way. I tried to ignore my empty stomach and just carried on. A few minutes later our possible contact vanished into what looked like a shabby looking club.
"All right, what do we do now?" Kate asked looking around. My heart was racing, and instead of stopping to take a deep breath, I grabbed Kelsie and Kate’s hands and dragged them inside.
"I have a plan."
"Wait, what plan? Julia—"
"Right, my name is Lexi. You two make up your own names and just follow my lead," I said while we were walking through a bar filled with humans. I knew this was probably a bad idea and my stomach knotted, making me more nervous.
Our mermaid stood by the bar as we approached. The barman was human and gave us a wide smile when asked for vodka and lemonade. I glanced back and saw that a group of men had noticed our mermaid, which wasn't a good sign.
"This place is rubbish: plenty of humans and no paranormals. We couldn't get any worse," I complained loudly enough for her to hear me. Kate clicked my plan together almost straight away, and Kelsie continued to smile. She still didn’t understand what I was doing.
"Maybe we should try that other bar the next street over," Kate suggested with a deep sigh.
"Hey, what are you guys—"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear you girls, but I think I can help," the mermaid we interrupted. Her vibrant skin was nearly glowing, which meant that she swam often enough, maybe even twice a day. She wore a name tag with the mark of our rival agency.
I plastered a smile on my face and made sure the barman was still serving someone on the other side of the bar.
"Help, like give us directions to some paranormal area around here?"
"We just moved here, you know, and wanted to have some fun before we start looking for jobs," Kate said sipping her drink. I wanted to hug her, because this was exactly what I’d been hoping for.
"Come on, ladies. I’ve had a stressful day, so I'm in the mood for some company," the mermaid muttered, nodding for us to join her at the table in the corner. We all sat down, and the she introduced herself as Abi Sloan. As it turned out, our newly acquainted little mermaid was very talkative. Kate sensed that she would be even more talkative if we started buying her drinks. It was clear that Abi talked to strangers often enough, craving paranormal company all week.
"Thanks for being our guide. We’re here to start over and Beck here, is hoping to get together with a new pack of shifters."
"I’d stay away from shifters if I were you, no offence," Abi said looking away. Kelsie opened her mouth to stay something, but I kicked her under the table.
"None taken, some of them can be really full on."
"Yes, probably, but we have no idea, because we just moved here." I hinted. Abi finished her drink. My energy was stirring my insides and I could sense that Abi was depressed or sad. I was nervous and for some reason after months of not hearing anyone else’s thoughts her feelings shot through me. I felt bad that we needed to dig deeper, but this was important to me.
"No, my co-worker, she was fine until she met one, then everything went wrong."
I exchanged a silent thought with Kelsie and Kate and squeezed my hands together under the table.
"Co-worker? What happened to her?" I asked doing everything I could to hide the tension in my voice.
"She’s dead now. She was murdered, but no one knows
who killed her. At first, I thought she had a thing for vampires. Not long after she was hired I saw her with so many of them. Then a few months later she started missing work, calling in sick all the time—"
Abi stopped talking mid-sentence and I swallowed hard feeling tension rising in the air. Kate and Kelsie were completely silent. Then I heard her thoughts again, her sour feelings of resentment. Jennifer was her friend; they were close, like we used to be, before she betrayed me.
"Oh, my God, Abi, that’s terrible," I agreed.
"Yeah, I tried to help. I covered for her, but our boss was ready to get rid of her. It wasn’t long before I saw her with a shifter. They were arguing on the street outside the office. A day later the agency got a call that she’d been found murdered."
Chapter 17
Changed man.
I kept influencing Abi to give me a face, but she soon started talking about all the paranormal clubs she wanted to visit. It was after ten when we finally said our goodbyes and left when Abi started talking to some humans. Sucking up all her emotions caused my magic to inflame. I’d never controlled myself with other people’s thoughts, but this felt like I’d actually learned how to hone my gift tonight.
"A shifter? Your dead ex-friend started going out with a shifter, and that’s why she ended up dead?" Kelsie kept asking.
"We need to get the name of that shifter," I insisted.
"Yeah, maybe, but none of this make any sense,” Kate said once we were sitting in the car. “You couldn't have killed her, maybe that blackout never happened, maybe someone wants you to believe that you did it." My head was pounding now and none of my questions were answered. I remembered stabbing Jennifer, and then I woke up covered with blood. Memories like that couldn't have been created.
"We have to find out more. It’s late now and we’re all tired—"
"Michael’s waiting for me," Kelsie cut me off.
Elf's Affection: The Witching Hour Series Book 3 Page 13