Half Past the Witching Hour (Paranormal Personnel Saga #3) (28 page)

Two weeks after the fire, I kept working late, staying away from the house. Mum continued to live like she had never gone through any trauma, pretending that we were still a big happy family. I couldn’t even bring myself to see Tron again. It was too soon. I locked myself into a small box, blaming myself for everything and drowning in misery.

When I finally decided to go home, it was late. My shift ended four hours ago and when I stepped out of the office, I clenched my muscles, feeling paranoid that I was being watched. After a few seconds I started walking, blaming my wild imagination for the newly inflicted fear. Then, out of nowhere a man stepped from the shadows, frightening me. I wanted to scream, but soon I recognised Jasper. In the darkness and light from the street lamps he didn’t look like himself. Bruises on his face were still deep and fresh, like he wasn’t healing quickly enough. He’d lost weight, and his clothes hung on him. My heart pounded in my chest when I started wondering what he went through during that night.

How could I ever think that this was okay?

‘You’re alive. Oh my God, are you … all right?’

‘Just about,’ he said, sighing deeply. For a long time he wasn’t saying anything, just watching me, studying my emotions like he used to.

‘What happened out there that night?’ I asked finally.

‘We were followed, but I lost them. Well, I thought I did. Those wizards knew how to block out my spells. They were waiting for us, knowing that we would be there. They caught me by surprise and turned my energy against me,’ he said, sounding tired. ‘I was left to die up there; they wanted me dead. Magic thieves took away the last strength of my power. I thought that it was the end of me.’

‘So, how did you get out? How did you escape?’

‘Someone came.’

‘Someone?’

‘I don’t know who it was, but for some reason he knew that I was there. He made them go away, scared them into hiding. He brought me back to my lab, forced me to drink something and then he left me there.’

I wondered if we both had a guardian angel, someone who looked after us, because we were both snapped out of the hands of death, unexpectedly and very suddenly.

‘God, I don’t think that I could forgive myself,’ I said, swallowing the tears, thinking about magic thieves, about these soulless creatures, locked up away from civilisation. ‘I should have never asked you to help me.’

‘I heard what happened. I heard about the fire,’ he said, brushing the hair away from my face. ‘Are you all right? Do you know why that shifter abducted you?’

‘He wanted my power, my magic, and now I wish that he took it all,’ I said quietly, looking away.

‘Julia, you deserve your magic. Don’t ever regret being blessed with it.’

‘I was selfish and you were right. I should have told my Dad about everything.’

‘You’re safe now, and that’s what matters.’

‘Please, Jasper. I know why you’re here and what you want, but I can’t do this now. My life is falling apart.’

‘I told you that I’ve changed. I just wanted to check if you were all right, that’s all.’

I thanked him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, then walked away. He did’t stop me and I was glad that our conversation ended. There was going to be a time when Jasper would come back to my life, but for now I was too confused and worried about everything. I promised him friendship, but he had to wait.

After that I walked through the streets of London wondering and contemplating about what to do next. Nathaniel popped up into my mind again, thoughts about him boiled my blood. It had been two weeks since he left me alone in the hospital. Jasper had changed, so maybe Nathaniel could, too. Maybe we were getting another chance. He’d had weeks to let Meredith know that it was over between them. He’d assured me about his love for me and I wanted to believe him. An hour later, I finally pulled my phone out of my pocked and selected the caller ID. My body stirred with excitement and I kept wondering if I was really doing the right thing.

He picked up straight away and my heart fluttered in my chest.

‘Hey, it’s me,’ I began quietly. ‘Are you alone? Can I come over?’

I was a coward, terrible and selfish, because despite everything I was still in love with him. The wound inside me wasn’t healing. I had to talk to him, find out what was I supposed to do next. All along Nathaniel had been my partner. I needed his advice. I couldn’t let my parents ruin their marriage. They had twenty-five years together and now suddenly they were over?

When the taxi dropped me outside his apartment, I stood there for several minutes watching the stars in the cloudless sky. I didn’t think about Meredith anymore. She was probably hurt and heartbroken, but Nathaniel had always belonged to me. He didn’t love her. I entered the front door and a few minutes later knocked at his apartment.

He opened the door. For a few long moments he stared at me with the same tense expression on his face. I stood in front of him thinking about expectation and emotions that we’d both experienced since the first moment I stepped into his office two years ago. Right from beginning we had a strong connection, and even then my magic went crazy. Two long years fate kept crossing our paths.

‘Am I safe being here?’ I asked, sensing his signature scent.

‘Don’t ask silly questions like that, Julia. Meredith knows that it’s over between us.’

I didn’t smile, but my heart fluttered in my chest. He finally had done it. He told her that she wasn’t the only woman in his life.

Nathaniel’s presence lifted my damaged soul. I walked into his spacious living room and instantly felt like an intruder. Her stuff were still everywhere, lying there, waiting her return. I recognised her designer shoes and clothes. I could even smell her perfume in the corridor. She had redecorated Nathaniel’s apartment, bringing her own colours and style. It hurt that he let her do this.

I sat down on the sofa, feeling like I was going to cry. All of a sudden I felt cramped, suffocated by guilt, wondering if he was lying about her. He was standing by the door watching me, and I didn’t want to look at him, because I knew that my heart would betray me. I came because he always made me feel better about myself and this time I wanted him to make me numb, make me forget about the fire, Craig and Quentin.

‘Firecracker, let me—’

His voice broke me, filling the air around me, making the apartment seem lighter than just a moment ago. I knew I had to ask him about his engagement, but for some reason I couldn’t make a sound. Suddenly I became overwhelmed with desire and lust. Nathaniel came to me, lifting me into his arms, before my mind registered what I was doing. There was no time for longing stares and hesitant kisses; he leaned over, planting a deep, raw kiss on my lips. His overbearing scent made me weak, breathless. Nathaniel’s soft lips and tongue sent shockwaves from my neck down, curling my toes, filling me up with soaring heat. I moaned, my fingers pressed his firm chest, my nails searching for his bare skin.

His hands were moving over my body, going under my skirt, then lingering inside my knickers. I tried to undo his belt buckle, panting with love.

‘Firecracker, oh, I want you so bad,’ he growled, moving his lips over to my ear, kissing that sensitive spot around it. He didn’t let me undo his trousers. He grabbed my hands and started pushing me towards the bedroom. Soon we were both tangled in each other’s clothes, moving through his apartment, still kissing like we couldn’t get enough of that surging energy around us.

We barged through to the bedroom. I slipped my hand down his boxers, feeling his hardness for a brief moment. He came back greedy, tearing my blouse off, sliding his hands over my breast with a loud growl of need. The temperature in my body shifted, the energy was back pulsing in between my legs. Then he was kissing me again, all over, sucking on my neck running his tongue over my collarbone. I loved the way he crushed me with his dominance, moving his shaft over my wetness. Pleasure struck me; I panted for air, trembling with desire. My power built and built, buzzing and clouding my thoughts, coursing through me like a drug. Then I got rid of his trousers and boxers, taking his erection into my hands, but he pushed my hands back to his arms.

‘I need to be inside you.’

He stepped back, kicking his trousers and boxers off. I sighed, seeing him naked. His eyes lingered over my breasts for a moment, before he pushed me down to the bed.

‘Julia,’ he said huskily, sliding his hands over my thighs. I closed my eyes as he parted my legs and pushed himself inside me, fast. My body shook with a surging wave of heat and I leaned my head back to the pillow. I smelled his fiancée on those sheets, but this was our moment, so I locked her away, remembering that he chose me.

Then his mouth was on mine again. Magic cracked through my skin, heating up my insides.

‘You feel as good as I remembered,’ I heard him say. I grabbed the sheet and moaned; the waves of heat kept lashing through me, raving over my body aggressively. I cried out as he kept thrusting, slowly at first, then faster with so much greed and want.

I gripped his arse so tight, luring him deeper, urging him to go faster. He groaned as I began experiencing these shattering sensations. Prickling and tingling that started in my chest, then moving down over my spine and legs. The pure rage of desire began smashing into me, it surged into my blood until I came. My heart pounded and the orgasm shuddered through me fast. Things around his bedroom started moving; glass exploded as I climaxed. My magic throbbed and pulsed right through me with a red light. Nathaniel brought it into me, moulded it, crated it until I couldn’t take the pressure, exploding like a firestorm.

I screamed. And then the familiar numbness came. We both collapsed on the bed, breathing hard, our hearts pounding.

‘I love you,’ he whispered to my ear, kissing me softly. Then he ran his fingers all over my face, tracing my cheeks until sparks started crackling underneath us. I wrapped my hands around him and we stayed like that for minutes.

Later on, I disappeared into the bathroom and switched on the shower, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I was so lucky that the healers used magic to get rid of my burns and scars. I almost looked like myself again—and I was empty again: the annoying buzzing energy was gone. Nathaniel was the only male that could do this to me. Peel away the excess of the power that I couldn’t deal with. He understood what I needed. My skin shined with Nathaniel’s sweat and I inhaled his scent. He was all over my body, calming me down. I wrapped the towel around my torso and then I heard a bang somewhere in the back of the house. A quick, loud noise of closing doors.

I swallowed, finding my breath, wondering if he was still in the bedroom. The image of our sex burned through me as I began to suspect that he wasn’t exactly honest with me. As I expected, we weren’t alone anymore. Meredith stood in the bedroom doorway, looking straight at me.

‘I thought I’d come home early, to surprise you,’ she said, her voice lower, electrocuting me like sudden thunder and lightning. Nathaniel was standing by the bed, naked. He looked startled. I gripped my towel, not moving, staring at the woman that was still officially his fiancée, the woman that just caught me in her bedroom with the man who convinced me earlier that it was over between them. My mouth went dry and I just stood there, blindsided by my own guilt.

How could I ever think that this was okay?

‘Meredith,’ he began, his voice smooth and controlled. ‘I’m sorry that you had to find out like this. It’s been over between us for quite sometime, before you might have realised. ’

I felt like a coward. A flush of embarrassment started creeping over my cheeks. In my head I kept saying to myself that this wasn’t supposed to happen. He had so much time to resolve his own affairs with Meredith. In fact he told that he had.

Meredith’s face turned bright red, her upper lip trembled. There were real tears in her eyes. Flooded with guilt and humiliation, I couldn’t turn my gaze away.

‘You’re such a liar. And you,’ she said with her French accent, narrowing her eyes on me, ‘you are an idiot, stupid weak girl. He hurts people, pretends that he cares, but deep down he is so insecure about his emotions!’

‘Meredith—’

Nathaniel approached her, but she only shook her head, beating her fists into his chest. My heart was breaking and I desperately wanted to jump into a time machine and reverse everything that happened between us. He just stood there and took it. She stopped, breathing heavily, taking a step back.

‘I should have known better,’ she screamed, and then she approached him again. Nathaniel didn’t seem to notice, but her hands started glowing with silver light. Then she touched him. ‘This is for my pain, so you can remember what you’ve done to me, you bastard!’

I screamed, as Nathaniel’s body went rigid, and the vein on his forehead throbbed. Magic started circulating around the room, as he bellowed in agony, falling to the floor. The skin on his torso started changing colour. It became red; large blisters started popping everywhere. I looked at Meredith, as she continued to sob. Then she was out of the room, shutting the door behind her loudly. Nathaniel’s entire chest turned black, he kept howling, screaming with agony. The smell of burning flesh brought up my food that I ate earlier.

I didn’t remember the entire evening after that. I was too numb and too shocked to bring back what I’d done after Meredith left. I must have called an ambulance, then I remember being in the hospital asking the healers about his condition. Meredith had poisoned him, using her own magic to hurt him. I began wondering why she didn’t do anything to me. I was the one that took him away from her. She should have hurt me.

Nathaniel was going to be in a great amount of pain for some time. The healers told me that the toxins would eventually go away from his system, but they couldn’t do much for him. Meredith was probably aware that the cure for her poison hadn’t been developed yet, and that he’d suffer for some time for what he’d done to her.

The healers didn’t let me see him, and in the end I decided to go home. Meredith chose to hurt Nathaniel, to make him feel as much pain as she felt. Everything would have been so much different if he had talked to her about me. He just needed to tell her that it was over. But apparently he never did. The next day I felt like I had nothing left. Nathaniel was mine again, but after what happened I didn’t think that mattered anymore. Yet again, he had lied to me.

A week after the fire, Dad was still adamant about keeping away from Mum, so I was surprised when I received a phone call from him two days after my blow up with Meredith and Nathaniel.

‘Hey, Dad, how are you?’ I asked, wondering if he changed his mind about Mum.

‘Hey, hun, listen, I need to be frank with you,’ he began with a strained, tense voice. ‘Your mother filed for divorce this morning. My solicitor called.’

I looked at the phone opening my mouth, wondering if Dad was serious. This news came unexpectedly. Suddenly my whole usually lucid world that I once lived in came tumbling down around me. Silence stretched for minutes, and Dad wasn’t even trying to explain why he wouldn’t fight for Mum.