"You’re kidding me, right? I can’t do that," I said creating a ball of light that stayed with me for a couple of seconds. "I can't do this whole pulsation thing. I'm unsettled, remember?"
"Julia, stop showing weakness and concentrate. Focus on pulsing your energy away from your body."
I wanted to laugh out loud, knowing they were only playing with me. This was my punishment for not sticking with their training and sleeping with my ex behind my current boyfriend’s back. Of course, Tron couldn't know about that, though.
Not arguing anymore, I closed my eyes and started imagining pulsing energy. My skin was burning but I imagined warm rain falling over me, dense, steamy air that I felt just before a storm. The silence was stimulating, and I felt the wind on my skin, as waves of pulsing energy jetted over my body. I had no idea what I was doing, but at this point I had to let go. My pores were closed, tingling, and the burning sensation increased my heartbeat. I stretched my neck hearing Tron’s voice nearby. His words seemed far away but when my breathing became laboured I let go of my magic. My feet left the ground and I spread my hands opening my eyes. Small pulses started crackling throughout my body and then it started raining. It was a light rain at first while I was sending my energy out. Then the rain became heavier and soon I was soaked right through.
"Julia, don’t open your eyes."
It was Tron again; this time his voice reached me, and I was ready to respond when I opened my eyes again and saw lightning flash across the darkened sky. The sound of thunder followed. When I dropped my hands, everything stopped, and silence rang in my ears.
Taking long pulls of air, I felt empty but calm. My power was gone, and I just created the most amazing thing I’d ever seen.
It took me a moment to get back on my feet but when I did I saw Tron and Alex standing by the limousine staring at me with thrilled expressions on their faces.
"What? What’s wrong, you guys? I thought you wanted me to do that."
Tron snapped out of his dreamy look and approached me.
"Your first pulsation. You’re learning fast," he announced proudly. I wiped the sweat off my forehead shaking my head.
"You must have helped. I don’t think I could do something like this myself," I said laughing.
"Julia, you are more powerful than you could ever imagine. Stop isolating your magic; it’s been years. It’s time to let go of your insecurities and embrace—"
"Hold on, so what are you guys saying, that I did all that, I called out the storm? No, this is impossible," I whispered looking back and forth from Tron then to Alex.
"You’ve always had it in you, but you didn't believe in yourself."
Tron sounded optimistic and I felt like fireworks exploded in my brain. My chest wasn’t tight and the guilt that I’d been carrying with me kind of eased off a bit. Okay, I still felt pretty crappy about cheating, but my thoughts were less graphic.
"What does this mean?" I asked walking around. "Will my blackouts stop; will I stop hurting other people now?"
"Yes, as long as you keep practising, blackouts shouldn’t occur anymore. It’s all about releasing your energy."
My body felt as if it had just gotten an injection of energy and light. Alex vanished shortly after that. For a moment he was next to me, then a second later he was gone. I was overwhelmed with my new skill, so I forgot to ask how he could just disappear. This was far more advanced magic than anything I’d ever come across.
On the way back, I kept asking about my next steps, worrying that maybe this was a one-time deal, feeling that if I didn’t get my blackouts under control my dreams might become reality. Tron assured me that everything was under control and I just needed to train harder.
It was daylight when we reached my apartment, but I was so pumped up with excitement that I didn't think I could go to sleep.
"I wanted to ask you about my grandmother." Tron moved on his seat, but his expression didn't change. "The favour, what was that about?"
"I owe something to your grandmother; she did something for me when everyone else turned their backs on me."
"Of course, but what did she do? I'm only asking because she never mentioned you. It’s strange that you just showed up like that in the agency."
"She used her incredible magical skills and helped me fix some of my affairs." He sighed. "But I'm not comfortable talking about it with her granddaughter."
"All right, suit yourself."
I bit my lip because I didn't want to keep asking him about my strict grandma, although at the same time, not knowing was killing me. Maybe my grandmother had an affair with Tron years ago, and now he was using me to get to her. When I got into my apartment I reached for her potion in order to get some sleep, because my mind wouldn’t shut down until I drank that magical liquid.
Chapter 20
Dead mermaid.
He stood there watching me as I walked away feeling like a leech that knowingly sucked blood from people. Nathaniel had left taking his girlfriend with him. Quentin was showing a painting to a crowd of upscale artists. I grabbed another drink from the bar and drank it down in one go. My heart was crushed seeing Nathaniel leave, but I was a coward and a cheat; there was no way I could continue on without someone getting hurt. I didn’t want to be the type of woman who I despised, yet there I was. It felt like the walls were closing in all around me.
I nodded to Quentin who spotted me from the crowd. He excused himself and joined me.
"Ready to leave? You look a little bored," he said. I nodded then he offered to grab my coat. When I glanced around at the people in the gallery my stomach contracted with a sudden dose of fear. In the crowd, I spotted another familiar face and my pulse started to race. A tall blond mermaid stood by the food, the same girl who the girls and I had questioned in the bar about Jennifer. Then all my fears ignited when I noticed Fiorillo standing next to her. He was talking, and she nodded looking bored. I swiftly turned around hoping that he wouldn’t recognise me. Fiorillo was spellbound when we interrogated him about Rufus’s disappearance. I would be in a lot of trouble if they recognised me, my father’s investigation would suffer.
When I glanced back at them, their argument had grown more intense. The girl started shouting at him; he didn't like it, so he pushed her aside and started walking away. She hesitated for a moment or two before she rushed after him. My instinct told me that I needed to follow them, but at the same time I had to make sure they wouldn't see me.
"There you are, darling. I apologise for earlier, but they cornered me asking about the painting," Quentin said blocking my path. His huge smile brought an uneasy feeling inside my stomach and I automatically abandoned the idea of going after Fiorillo.
“That's fine, I was looking for the ladies’ room," I lied, keeping my voice smooth. "Shall we leave, I mean, the auction is finished?"
"Funny enough, I was going to ask you the same thing. I know these parties bore you, but I bet you made some really good contacts. I bet La Caz brings your agency a lot of money.”
“Yes, he does. He’s our main client, remember?” My heart leapt in my chest; he must have forgotten when I mentioned it briefly at the last party Nathaniel had crashed. I was in a bit of a state at the time. “I did manage to make a few new contacts, though. Come on, let’s go and grab wine on the way. I fancy watching a romantic comedy." First Nathaniel and his fiancé, the mermaid, then Fiorillo? I was more than ready to leave.
We spent the rest of the Sunday evening enjoying each other’s company and drinking wine, but I was dying inside because I was a cheater and a coward. My guilt surrounded me like an icy blanket.
The next day Rufus made a short visit in the agency and asked me to organise a meeting with La Caz Pharmaceutical. Then he asked if everything was all right with me, because I looked rather stressed. Kate gave me a look that said, "ignore him, you have enough on your plate," before going back to her CV.
Kate was my best friend, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her what kind of person I’d b
ecome, so I went home early. The Easter holiday was just around the corner and I was sick of getting phone calls from my mother about introducing Quentin to her like I was supposed to. Tonight, I switched off my phone and snuggled on my sofa with a romance novel. My boyfriend was working late, and I wanted to stay away from my ex-boyfriend number one, and it was possible that he would want to hook up again.
It’d been a while since I had such an ordinary evening, just being on my own with a good book. My world was slowly falling apart, but I needed to keep it together. At six I took a break and put a ready meal in the microwave. Mum was probably making some kind of delicious meal tonight and I was going to eat junk food.
My evening didn't get any more exciting, so at half past ten I went to bed early hoping to have an early night. As usual, tomorrow was going to be a hectic day and I had to speak to Lucinda; I definitely wasn't looking forward to that. Surprisingly, I drifted off to sleep fast, jumping straight into another dream, that I didn't know might have been my last.
I walk walking through a busy street in the middle of the day. The sun was blinding me, and I stopped abruptly by the corner shop, staring at the office. Someone was talking to me, telling me to wait until an attractive blond mermaid arrived. I was told that I had to follow her.
My limbs were numb, and I couldn't move even if I wanted to. The voice kept me on a tight leash. People were passing by staring at me, humans mainly, and from time to time, a few paranormals stopped to give me a curious glance. An hour later, the voice alerted me that the girl left the office and I had to keep an eye on her. I fought with the voice and the new energy that was taking away my free will before darkness obscured my vision.
My dream transferred me somewhere else, and when I was lucid again, I had no idea where I was. My surroundings were different, but this time I was running.
I heard a loud scream; there was a knife in my hand and I was in a rage to finish what I’d started. Someone jerked from beneath me with hard, rapid breaths then started running away. When I looked around, I realised I was in a dark alley. My legs lifted me from the ground and the voice inside my head roared to chase after the girl.
My legs pushed forward before my body registered what was going on. The girl was rushing away from me, screaming for help. My instinct roared inside me; I wanted to hit her, push her and kill her. She was injured, and the voice boomed again, ordering me to get to her before she gained someone’s attention.
I was running fast, breathing steadily, pretending that I was an animal. People were afraid of me and now I was running to kill.
The girl screamed again, crying out for help, and I almost had her then my magic cut the connection between us and for some reason I was back in my own body again.
I opened my eyes rapidly, shaking like a jelly. I began spitting dirt out of my mouth for a moment before I realised I was lying on wet asphalt. My clothes were damp, and my head felt like someone had struck me with a baseball bat. Lifting myself off the wet ground I was sure that I was no longer in a dream, but just to make sure, I slapped myself a few times.
My clothes were soaked right through and when I glanced around, my heart leapt in my chest. Alarms bells started going off in my head as I tried to see what was happening to me. I was lying on the cold street, still wearing my pyjamas. I must have had another blackout, there was no way I could have sleepwalked. I wasn’t familiar with this area; tall ruined buildings started to creep me out. It was a cold April night and the sky was covered with dark clouds. Goose bumps shot up all over my body when I recalled the dream.
Complete silence surrounded me, but panic filled my stomach fast, because I was certain that my energy caused me to blackout. The girl that I was chasing, she was hurt, and I wanted to kill her. Silence rang in my head as I looked around searching for another living soul. I had nothing on me, my phone was turned off, sitting on my dressing table at home. Lifting myself up I wiped the sweat off my face searching for any kind of internal injuries and my magic—it seemed to be truly absent.
Shivering with cold I tucked my pyjamas around me tighter and started walking. I didn't even have my slippers on. I was barefoot, and it was freezing cold. My breathing was shallow and the idea of being here on my own caused an eruption of fear and anxiety. The air smelled like someone had cast a spell around me, and the strong scent brought nausea back inside my guts. The smell reminded me of old corpses that had been decomposing for some time. The world spun around me when a few meters later I saw a body lying on the ground surrounded in a pool of blood. For about a second, I thought I was going to go down and pass out, but my magic stirred me back with the realisation that I recognised the body in front of me.
Taking long, deep and harsh breaths I squatted for a moment to gain some oxygen into my lungs. My pulse began jackhammering, panicking, I glanced back at the body. I didn't have to look any closer to see that it was a mermaid, the one that I chased in my dream, the one who was lying dead on the ground a few meters from the spot where I’d just woken up.
I squeezed my head blocking those violent images making sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. Maybe this whole nightmare was going to disappear. Maybe someone was manipulating my thoughts, making sure that I believed what was happening.
My hands were shaking but I tried to conjure a ball of light or call out for Tron. I blacked out again and killed someone—another innocent creature.
The girl had been stabbed multiple times, just like Jennifer. Her magic was still evaporating heating me from every possible direction. My own energy crashed with the air that was soaked with escaping magic.
Tears started spilling down my cheeks as I stared at the girl who was long dead. Her eyes were still open, and I wanted to do anything within my power to close off this violent image of her forever. I didn't know how long I stood there but my legs went completely numb with cold and my whole body locked up with grief.
No one was coming to my rescue. I was all alone here, I was a killer.
Within a blink of an eye my life turned into a nightmare and without my phone I couldn't call for help. My skin burned, and I craved warmth from another soul. This time around I desperately wanted to be rescued.
Seconds, minutes and mere moments rolled and instead of shaking off this numbness and despair I couldn't move. Out of nowhere, I heard the noise of a car and froze where I stood, hearing more loud voices and footsteps. In front of me, I noticed there was a scary, unknown dark street. No one knew that I was in danger. Dad altered his charm, but he wouldn’t get to me in time to save my life.
My heart thumped wildly in my chest when the lights of a police car started flashing. My body tightened, and I squeezed my fingers so hard that I cut off circulation. In a matter of moments, I heard the heavy footsteps of those officers, knowing they would spot me right away. My subconscious alerted me to get the hell out of there as fast as I could, but I still couldn't move—I was rooted to the spot. The wind picked up, but my hair was stuck to my head and I was shivering with cold.
"Hey, you! What are you doing down there?" a loud raspy voice asked. I moved my head slightly staring at two tall uniformed officers standing a distance away. One of them must have had a small flashlight because he pointed it directly at me, so I turned my head trying to decide what to do. Then his light passed me, and they noticed the corpse and the blood. I couldn't say if those officers were human or paranormal, but the tiny voice in my head whispered to start running. No one was going to listen to me. I was at the crime scene, covered with blood from the body that was only a couple of meters away. They were going to arrest me if I resisted and take me down to the station where I would be charged with murder and ruin my dad’s career. Shivering, I analysed my way out.
"Steven, get someone on the radio," the other officer said. "And you, get on the ground. I want to see your hands!"
I was truly fucked now, and I had no other choice but to obey. Although I didn't, instead somehow, I found a dose of power inside me and took off. The officers started shouti
ng something about firing a shot, but I jumped over the body and headed toward the alley. They fired, and the bullet would’ve hit me if I hadn’t anticipated a sharp move to the left. Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream as I worked my legs. The voices faded but I was pumped with energy, someone was chasing me. Maybe they were planning to fire more shots. I had no clue if I was going to be alive tomorrow, but right now my body was high on adrenaline. I ran, breathing hard, ignoring that my bare feet were probably covered in blisters. I didn’t register the pain because it was my magic that kept me running like an escaped convict. The street ahead of me was empty, I hurried through an empty ally passing containers of rubbish, inhaling smoke, still remembering the smell of that dead body. My chest was burning but I raced between a car, passing one maybe two individuals. Voices were shouting after me, someone else was yelling but I had to stop for a second to catch my breath. Wiping the sweat and my hair away from my face, I looked around. Adrenaline rushed through my bloodstream as I noticed flashlights from a distance. There were two turns on my right and left. I had a few seconds to make a decision to keep running or hide somewhere. There was no time to stand in the middle of the wet alley, hesitating, I took a sharp left and found myself in a dead end. My heart was in my throat and it felt like time stopped. The police were closer, closing in on me. My whole body hurt, and my chest was burning so much that I had trouble breathing.
There were some beams in front of me. I started slamming into a set of double doors, but the building was locked. My vision was blurry as I hurried over to another door, but there were more dead ends. Sweat mixed with rain and blood rolled over my face. I yelled with frustration hearing voices of the police officers. In a couple more seconds I was going to get busted. I could already picture the disappointment on my father’s face. I ran to the last door and slammed inside the building. I had no idea if anyone heard me jumping through, but there was no time for hesitation. I pushed the door and slammed to the ground breathing like there was no oxygen left. The silence and darkness were my salvation, but I had to stop breathing so hard and listen. The air inside the building smelled as if someone had stored rotten food everywhere.
Elf's Affection: The Witching Hour Series Book 3 Page 16