I felt my face go from pale to red in a matter of seconds. Yeah, maybe I went too far asking him about the shot, but my intuition was telling me that someone within his company must have been involved.
‘So, am I understanding right? You don’t know anything about that injection?’ I repeated, feeling oddly nervous in his presence—and yet for some reason I liked it.’
‘If you have dinner with me, then I would be more than happy to tell you all about my production’
Bastard. He is enjoying playing with me.
‘I’m afraid the answer is still no,’ I replied, boiling with anger. He obviously knew more than he was prepared to say and he just wanted to go out with me because I rejected him. That was bang out of order.
‘We shall meet again,’ he added and then left the room.
I spotted Kate; she was already sitting at her desk. She smiled when she saw me, but this smile faded away when she spotted La Caz. Rufus had finished his conversation and he was waiting for both of us.
‘Mr. Humphries, thank you very much for bringing me to the office. My HR director will be in touch shortly,’ Nathaniel said.
‘Right, of course, Mr. La Caz. I understand that you’re ready to leave?’ Rufus asked, taking his briefcase. Nathaniel nodded and looked at me again, but I tried to make myself busy and was praying for him to leave.
‘Good day, Miss Taylor,’ he said and left without waiting for my response. Rufus winked at me and rushed after him. Once they were out the door, I flopped on my chair and took a long deep breath.
‘Julia, are you all right?’ Kate asked, after a long moment. She was short with shoulder- length glossy purple hair and bright green eyes. Kate was a witch and had a large family; her two sisters and four brothers were all magical.
I opened my eyes and slammed my hand over my desk. I was fuming; he dared to come to our office and ask me out because he wanted to taste my blood, refusing to tell me anything about Magic Shot while my cousin was out there somewhere alone and scared. I wished that I had slapped him. My palm was itching. ‘I’m fine, Kate; I’m getting there,’ I said, scanning my emails, my breaths shallow and uncontrolled.
‘Was that Nathaniel La Caz?’ she asked, folding some papers.
‘Yes, it was him.’
‘I thought he was a vampire. Why did he want to speak to you in private?’
I looked at her. I wasn’t focusing on my work anymore. I was freaked out by his behaviour and everything that had just taken place in this office. ‘Kate, you are a witch—do you know what a Dhampir is?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘So?’
She smiled. ‘A Dhampir is a child of a vampire and a human. When the husband of a wife is turned from human to a vampire, he can return to his human wife and they conceive a child,’ she explained.
‘But I thought vampires couldn’t have children. That is impossible,’ I said.
‘Dhampir can only be created when the husband comes back to his wife as a vampire. This normally never happens. I don’t know any Dhampirs, they are quite rare.’
‘Well, sister, I tell you what. You’ve just seen one because La Caz just admitted to me he is a Dhampir.’
She got up and waved her wand with such a precision that I lost her for a second. She magically switched the kettle on. Now that’s a skill.
‘He said he was a Dhampir?’ she asked, frowning.
‘Well, that’s what he said before he asked me out.’ I smirked, knowing that Kate wouldn’t mention this to anyone in the office. She kept away from the gossips.
‘My God, Julia, this is unbelievable. I have never seen a Dhampir and I didn’t expect him to be one. I guess it’s true; he is walking in the sun and not burning,’ she said and put away her magic wand. ‘Did he really ask you out?’
‘Yes, he did, but don’t get too excited. I said no.’
‘And you turned him down because?’
‘Because he wants to suck me dry!’
Chapter seven
God! What is he doing here? Is he following me?
‘I suppose you are right. You shouldn’t mix with vampires,’ Kate muttered. The phone rang and she was the first one to answer it. An hour later Rufus came back. I was dreading to talk to him, especially after my conversation with La Caz, but he looked like he was in an excellent mood, which was worrying.
‘So how is everyone?’ he asked with a wide smile.
‘Excellent, how are you?’ I replied, scanning his face, trying to read what La Caz told him about me.
‘Great. Don’t you think that La Caz has good manners? It was really nice of him to pop in to the office.’
‘Yeah, superb,’ I said, wondering if I should tell Rufus about Claudia. Sooner or later some paranormal magazine would sniff out that story and then everyone would know and then I would be feeling awkward that I didn’t tell him about this. ‘Shall we move to the interview room? I need to talk to you.’
Once we were alone, I started to think how I was going to tackle this awkward moment when you have to ask your boss for more money. Although I always felt comfortable in Rufus’s company, I wasn’t sure what to say, plus I didn’t feel like celebrating when my cousin was somewhere out there probably fighting for her life.
‘So, Julia,’ he began, with a hint of amusement in his tone, looking confident. ‘You guessed what I was thinking.’
I frowned. ‘I didn’t read your thoughts, Rufus. It doesn’t work like that.’
‘I was only joking.’ He moved closer to me. ‘Now, let’s talk about your raise and promotion,’ he said, putting his hands together.
‘A promotion?’ I asked, getting up. A mysterious smile appeared on his face.
If this is his idea of a joke, I'm going to slap him, and I don’t care if he is my boss.
‘Calm down. I have been thinking about your promotion for the past few months. I think it’s time for you to become Senior, plus, after all the praise from La Caz, I know that I made the right decision.’ He chuckled.
I blinked rapidly at him, still not believing in what I thought he was saying. ‘Are you seriously going to promote me?’ I asked with a small voice.
‘I don’t know why you’re surprised.’
‘How much more are you going to give me?’ I said, cutting straight to the point before he changed his mind.
‘God, Julia, you are unbelievable.’ He laughed. ‘Let’s say two grand more and you deal with La Caz from now on. He seemed to be very fond of you.’
I bet he is.
‘I always deal well with vampires; at least they don’t waffle like werewolves. Thank you for your kind words, but there is something else that I need to talk to you about.’
There was no point hiding any truth from Rufus. My father and he had very good relationship. They’d known each other for years, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Rufus already knew about my cousin Claudia. I went through all the events from yesterday explaining exactly what I saw. Also, I mentioned the Magic Shot and its connection to La Caz Corporation.
‘My God, Julia, I don’t know what to say. How is your family holding up?’
‘Mum doesn’t know, but I suspect that she will find out soon enough. I haven’t spoken to anyone else yet.”
‘Let me know if you need anything, but the connection of that shot to our new client is worrying. He is a businessman, but I doubt that he could be involved.’
‘Yeah, maybe, but Dad probably would want to talk to him about this. After all, it was his product.’
I told Rufus that I would keep him posted, but deep down I was angry that he already assumed that La Caz was innocent. After a few minutes, he left, stating that he had an urgent meeting to attend and telling me to call him if I needed anything.
After a strong cup of coffee, I decided that I had to get busy, but Claudia was in the back of my mind for the rest of the day. I was planning to question Dad later; he was bound to know more about the shot and what it contained.
Lucinda Grabovsky, the
HR manager for La Caz Corporation, sent some job specs. Carter was right—the company needed at least a hundred workers for night shifts; we had to find them and interview them. We had two weeks.
For the next two hours, I took in all the necessary information about the available positions and started to place advertisements on the Jobcentre site. It was easy to blend the paranormal job adverts with ordinary ones; you just had to know how. I placed an advert for assembly workers, cleaners, and production operatives. Lucinda mentioned they didn’t care what kind of paranormal creatures they were as long as they could work all shifts.
I was counting the minutes until I could get the hell out of the office. I called Dad straight away, but his phone went to voicemail. Then I called Mum, but she mentioned that Dad was still at work and he wouldn’t be home until later that evening. After ten minutes of not getting anywhere, I realised that I’d gotten a text message from my best friend Ella asking me where the hell I was. She stated that I’d better hurry up because some creepy guy was trying to chat her up. I texted her back saying that I should be there in five minutes. I’d completely forgotten that I was supposed to meet with her after work
As I jumped out of the taxi, I pulled on my coat. It was cold November and I wasn’t looking forward to a catching a flu.
I entered Wetherspoon’s Pub ten minutes later. Even though it was nearly seven o’clock, the bar wasn’t busy at all. I scanned the space looking for traces of magic, but this wasn’t a place where most paranormals would hang out. I spotted Ella. She was sitting by the bar, looking irritated, as some guy was chatting to her. When she saw me, she looked relieved.
‘Oh, Ella, there you are! Your husband is looking for you,’ I said when I approached her. She smiled brightly and the guy next to her looked at me with interest. He had a wide face with a heavy jaw and small watery eyes. These eyes were very characteristic of trolls, but I knew anyway. Somehow I could always tell.
‘Oh gee, thanks. I’ve got to go, darling. It was nice talking to you,’ she said, nodding to the barman for a bill. I had nothing against trolls, although I didn’t like the way they smelled. This guy smelled of old socks and a heavy aftershave.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’ he asked, turning to look at me.
‘I’m afraid this lady is taken,’ said a low melodic voice behind me. I felt a hand on my back and I instantly knew the person who had just spoken.
God! What is he doing here? Is he following me?
By this time, Ella had paid for her drink and she came back for me. Her face said it all. She couldn’t believe she was seeing my ex-boyfriend, Jasper. The shock curled up my toes and I was just about to say something when the large paranormal in front of me barked.
‘Sorry, mate, but I saw her first. Fuck off, will you?’
Please not here. The last thing I want is to get my Dad involved.
‘We are leaving. I appreciate your offer, but I’m kind of busy,’ I said, hoping that Jasper wasn’t going to do anything stupid in front of all these humans. My ex-boyfriend arched his left eyebrow and gave the unfriendly troll a murderous look.
‘This lady is way out of your league, mate, so I suggest you to get up and take your sweaty balls out of here, before I do something that might upset you.’ Jasper didn’t raise his voice, but he knew how to infuse fear into someone.
He was a self-employed paranormal bounty hunter. Some paranormals would cross the street just to avoid him, others tried to run, but that just made him angrier. This troll was obviously too brave or too stupid to realise what was coming. Jasper was just over my height and I hated him. A lot of human customers were staring at me as I glanced around. Ella looked mystified by what was going on, her jaw wide open.
‘I ain’t in the mood today, pal, and you are getting on my nerves,’ snarled the troll, spitting on Jasper. Then he turned around, and I was sure he was going to leave, but instead he jerked forward and smashed his fist into Jasper’s face. His punch sent Jasper straight toward the tables before he landed on the floor. The troll obviously took him by surprise. Ella screamed; the barman went rushing towards the phone, shouting that he was going to call the police. Humans started getting up to take a better look at what was going on.
Half of me was glad that Jasper was screwed, but the other half was petrified about what was about to happen
‘Now, we’ve gotten rid of the problem we can get to know each other,’ the troll said to me.
‘We are leaving…’ My voice trailed off, and the air around me shifted. I smelled and felt the magic that soaked the atmosphere. Someone had cast a suspension charm, and all the humans had frozen. Then, in the blink of an eye, Jasper was beside the troll clenching his large hand around his throat. The troll’s breath was shallow, his eyes wide.
Chapter eight
Get the hell out of here, before the psychopath wakes up.
The troll got up and clenched his fists. He didn’t care that he was short, fat and ugly
‘Did I mention that I don’t like you?’ whispered Jasper, suffocating the obese troll, whose face went scarlet and his eyes looked like as they were going to pop out.
‘Jasper! Let go of him,’ I hissed, but he wasn’t paying attention to me and squeezed his palm harder. I could see he was under the influence of dark magic. His eyes were illuminating with blue neon light. His magic wand was in his right hand.
‘Jasper!’ I screamed. Finally he released the troll, muttering something quickly under his breath. The unexpected spell lifted the hair on the back of my neck and the large paranormal was lifted above the floor.
‘Free entertainment for tonight,’’ Jasper said, spinning the troll around. My brain iced up and I couldn’t move. I bit my lip, thinking fast, but Jasper was waving his magic wand so quickly that I couldn’t follow.
I had to do something. Jasper still didn’t get it that we weren’t together anymore. He kept showing up in these random places, pretending that it was all a huge coincidence. This time he crossed the line. The rage boiled through my body. The current lifted my hair. The tips of my fingers inflamed.
‘Jasper, you psycho, get him down!’
Japer wasn’t going to listen to me. He was too busy torturing the guy who was only trying to buy me a drink. The wind that he created ruffled his dark hair. His eyes were petrifying me, but I wasn’t going to let him kill another creature.
The mass of yellow light evaporated through my hands as I concentrated. The first wave of energy didn’t even caress him, but then my fury took over. The second bolt of magic threw Jasper off his feet, banging his head by on the chairs. He lost control; his magic wand flew across the pub, stopping somewhere by the entrance. There was a huge banging noise, and several tables and chairs smashed as the huge troll landed on the ground.
Jasper lay still a few meters away from me. The suspension spell stopped working and all the humans in the pub started stirring back to reality. My heart was galloping out of my chest. The air was so thick with spells that I couldn’t breathe properly.
Get the fuck out of here, before the psychopath wakes up.
I had to listen to my intuitive voice. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and rushed towards Ella, who looked like she was going to start screaming.
‘Come on, let’s go, before the police get here.’ I took her hand and rushed towards the door.
When the fresh air hit my lungs, I was still shaking. I felt much better after getting rid of my excess magic, but Ella seemed to lose the ability to speak. I took this opportunity to get into a taxi.
‘Julia, oh my God,’ she said after a long moment. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Jasper went slightly out of control. He beat-up that poor guy,’ I explained. Ella wasn’t a bright human.
‘Julia, you need to tell your Dad. What if that guy in the bar is dead?’
‘He isn’t dead,’ I said quickly. ‘The barman already called the police. We disappeared just before they were going to show up.’
I was glad that Ella wasn’t a
sking me about the black hole that suddenly appeared in her memory. She was more worried about the fact that Jasper showed up and beat-up someone because of me. I told the taxi driver to stop by the cinema. I was starving and had to take the edge off my stress. We walked for another ten minutes, passing the high street. A cinema was on my right and we entered the Italian restaurant next to it. Ella was cursing Jasper under her breath.
‘Two shots of vodka, please,’ I told the British waiter as we walked inside. I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of that mess when the Paranormal Unit would arrive to check what happened. I’d lost control yet again, but I was glad that Jasper ended up being unconscious. He had a lot of explaining to go through, probably to my father, who was on duty today.
Jasper was my ex-boyfriend. We broke up a year ago. His dark magic skills allowed him to track me anywhere I went. In the past few weeks he’d stopped following me, and I was kind of hoping that he realised we were through.
Ella didn’t know Jasper wasn’t a human at all. She didn’t even know all the supernatural human beings existed and that I was one of them. My best friend was a human, born and bred in London, so that was why I decided to keep the bad news about my cousin’s kidnapping to myself. It was hard lying to her, but I was trying to protect her. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to handle the magic or understand why an elf had been taken away.
‘Get a restraining order, Julia. This guy is a maniac,’ she said, tensing her jaw. Ella was two years older than me. She had long red hair, fake eyelashes, fake nails, and she used a tanning bed at least once a week. She was always well-groomed—and she was the kindest person I ever knew. She was a healthy size fourteen and, deep down, self-conscious about her weight.
The handsome waiter brought the shots; I didn’t waste any time and drank one right away. ‘I’m considering that,’ I told her, staring at the menu.
‘Don’t be an idiot. How did he even know you would be at that bar? What if he kidnaps you next?’