When the clock strikes
(Paranormal Personnel Saga # 0.5)
by
Joanna Mazurkiewicz
Copyright © 2014 by Joanna Mazurkiewicz
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Joanna Mazurkiewicz. The right of Joanna Mazurkiewicz to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are product of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author/publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine, journal or blog.
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Table of Contents
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Chapter ten
Chapter one
A fucking collision, that’s what I need today, just before this crucial meeting!
I pushed the door open wider, hearing a faint voice inside the chamber. My heart skipped a beat upon realising who the voice belonged to. All my hopes and desires were behind that door. My senses sharpened and my heart was racing so fast it was just about to gallop out of my chest.
‘Blood, I want more blood; it’s never enough.’
Isabelle was talking to herself, sitting on the chair next to the fire. She was alone, but the scent of another older vampire was still intense and floating in the air. I inhaled and the soaring pain in my chest eased off. I finally found her. My suffering came to the end.
But then she turned around. ‘You!’
My breath caught. I could barely recognise her. Lines under her eyes were darker, her face was covered in blood, and her hair was lighter than I remembered. The look on her face told me that she wasn’t expecting to see me. Her pupils widened and anger flickered in her beautiful blue eyes.
‘My darling, I’m here. I’ve finally found you,’ I said softly, falling down on my knees. My mind was cloudy and I could barely breathe, seeing the paleness in her face and the kind of hunger that I used to feel myself when I was younger.
She’d been turned into a vampire by my best mate right after I proposed to her and then she vanished with him. And then I began my desperate search for her.
Now Isabelle bared her teeth, staring at me as if she were looking at a ghost. I came here expecting her to throw herself into my arms and tell me how much she loved me. Instead, she roared with rage and charged into me as I knelt before her. I had no strength to fight with her. I let her scratch my face with her sharp nails and sink her fangs into my neck.
My breath came fast. She was better when she was hurting me, and I didn’t care about the pain. The blood was running down my neck, but I felt her closeness and that began to seal up the wound in my heart.
Until she pulled away and slapped me, saying, ‘You shouldn’t be here. I never asked you to find me.’ She wiped her bloody mouth, not taking her eyes off me.
‘Isabelle, we can be together now like before. I’m sorry for what he did to you,’ I said, trying to crawl to her, but she pushed me back.
‘Get away from me, Nathaniel. I don’t need your apology. I’m this way because of your lies. He saved me, gave me immortality. You wanted to keep this away from me.’
Tears ran down my cheeks, her words hurting me. I felt like someone was tearing my skin away from my body while I was still living and breathing. Isabelle was a full-blooded vampire now, a monster, her humanity lost.
Unable to comprehend that she wouldn’t even consider coming back to me, I offered my pledge. ‘Please, darling, let me take care of you. We can go back to England, to our old life.’
She started laughing, spitting her blood everywhere. ‘I’m not part of you anymore. My old life is over and I never want to see you again. My maker means everything to me and I’m glad that he turned me into the creature that I am now. That was what I really wanted. You’re the one who failed me.’
‘Isabelle—’
She slapped ma again and stood up. ‘Leave or I swear I’m going to kill you!’
I looked at her, seeing that her hatred for me was real. I wasn’t part of her life anymore. Her maker had changed her and destroyed that pure white soul that I had loved. It was all my fault that it came to this. If I’d have told her the truth about my nature, that I was partly a vampire, we might have avoided all the pain. I destroyed her by loving her and by lying.
I’d searched two years for her since we parted, but her love for me slipped through my fingers. That day I promised myself that I would never fall in love again. Love only destroyed. Every time I thought of Isabelle, the wound in my heart reopened bringing back my despair. My mother was right when she warned me that falling in love would only make me suffer.
The horn somewhere on the road brought me back to reality. I slammed my foot on the break, realising too late that the car in front of me stopped. I cursed under my breath. My brand new Aston Martin crushed by some piece of shit just because I was lost with my pathetic past. The impact of the collision wasn’t too bad, but still, the damage was done. I took a few deep breaths and tightened my hands over the wheel.
I hadn’t seen Isabelle since that terrible night in Spain—over five years ago. She had once been a bright part of my life. She’d changed me and had shown me that my life as a half vampire and half human was worth living. But that Isabelle no longer existed. I reminded myself that she was my past and I should never bring those toxic memories back.
The driver got out of the car, towing his large stomach with him. He was a full human and he looked like he was ready to strangle me.
A fucking collision, that’s what I need today, just before this crucial meeting!
I took a few deep breaths and got out of the car, feeling frustrated with myself that my head wasn’t in the right place. Darkness was falling on the streets. I had half an hour to get to the office.
‘Are you fucking blind?’ the guy shouted, his double chin shaking, his mouth spraying me with spittle. I took a step back, ready to sink my fangs into his fat neck, but I reining in my temper. I couldn’t expose myself in front of all these humans. Other drivers were pressing their horns to move away, someone else was swearing.
The guy in front of me was still talking. I switched off my anger, unclenching my fists. I had to stop thinking about Isabelle and what we’d once had. Love was only a distraction and longing for it only made me lose control.
‘I just had this car fixed a week ago, I’m calling the police because you’re not fucking listening—’
‘Stop talking for a second. I haven’t got time for this; I’m in the hurry.’ I cut him off, taking out my wallet. Luckily I had cash on me. I didn’t want to get involved with human police. I didn’t need this today. My Aston Martin was a little scratched, but other than that I could just drive away. I handed the fat guy five hundred quid of my own hard earned money and added, ‘There you are. That should be more than enough to cover the damage. Have a fucking fantastic day!’
The guy stood in the middle of the street looking at the money like this was the happiest day of his life.
We were blocking traffic, so I jumped back into my car quickly, pretty pissed off at myself. If I hadn’t been thinking about Isabelle, this never would have happen
ed. I’d already ruined my life once by falling in love, and I swore to myself that I’d never make that same mistake again.
When I reached the head office of La Caz Corporation in London, Carter and Porter, were already waiting for me. It was 4:58 and we had a meeting at 5:00 p.m.
‘Porter, how long is this meeting going to last?’ I asked with obvious impatience, putting my briefcase on the table. I wanted to get this over and done with. I wasn’t in my usual form today. I was planning to go home early to rest and drink some blood.
I am a Dhampir — half vampire and half human. When my father died he was brought back to life by a vampire. He returned to my human mother as a vampire, and nine months later I was born. Usually I could control my cravings for blood, but today it was difficult. I wasn’t thinking about the meeting. I wanted to erase memories about Isabelle and that meaningless emotion of love.
My right hand guy, Porter, glanced at the clock, yawning, not really in a hurry to give me an answer. ‘No idea, Nate, but I wouldn’t stress. It will probably take as long as necessary. We are talking about big bucks here, so you need to be a little bit patient.’
I clenched my fists, looking away. I told Emily, my secretary, to set up the meeting in the most spacious room, just to make sure that these women knew that I was here to do business, not play hide and seek. But the old bastard Porter was right. I’d told Lucinda in HR that we had to start outsourcing the recruitment and now here I was, waiting to hear what some paranormal chicks from a recruitment agency had to say about this subject, like I had no idea what to expect.
‘I know, I know, but I hate waiting,’ I said, getting up. Truth was I was tense because I was horny. It’d been a while since I hooked up with someone, and I found myself thinking about sex constantly in the past few days. I made sure that I never attached myself emotionally to anyone. I was dealing with my lonely lifestyle the best I could. Women were part of my life, but only for one night. I used to be disgusted with myself that I couldn’t commit, but it was much easier to be this way, avoiding the emotional roller coaster altogether.
Tonight, I thought.
‘Mr. Porter, they are in the lift,’ said my secretary, walking in after a faint knock.
‘Great. Thanks, Emily. I’ll be out in five.’
‘Who are we meeting anyway?’ I asked, still feeling tense.
‘Julia Taylor and Jennifer Griffiths,’ Porter replied, flipping though the pages of a magazine that someone had left.
Plain names. Probably some nosy and very skilled witches. Many of them liked working with people, showing that they were giving something to the community.
‘Should I go and get them?’ asked Carter. I nodded and then turned around and sat next to Porter, planning to give them a hard time.
I didn’t get why Carter was so eager to begin. We should have let them wait and stew a little. My company was huge and would be a prize account for them to snag.
Carter opened the door and I heard him repeating the names of the two women from Paranormal Personnel.
‘My name is Carter. I work with Mr. La Caz here, and this is Mr. Porter,’ Carter said, painting a lazy smile on his face.
I looked at the dark woman who entered. She smiled widely, giving me one of those looks that I was used to. She was a mermaid, I could tell straight away. Her skin had that thrilling silver glow. She was pretty, but I hated women with short hair. So I pretended that I didn’t notice she was aiming her smile at me.
All of the sudden my heart thumped faster than it should, when my eyes set on the other woman who slid though the door. She was taller than the first one, blonde, lean and sexy, the way I liked them to be. I shifted in my chair, feeling caught off guard. She had an innocent look on her face. And something else. Something that shot through me like a charge of electricity.
Making me feel that same helpless pull that overwhelmed me five years ago when I first saw Isabelle.
Chapter two
What the fuck? Did she just read my thoughts?
Her eyes moved around the room from Carter to Porter. When she looked at me I noticed that she tensed automatically. I was completely taken back by her incredible blue eyes. Her gaze felt like she was stripping me of my confidence, luring me away in an instant connection. Sweat gathered on my forehead, and instead of looking away I stared back, attempting to shake off that hungry feeling she produced in me. She blushed and swallowed hard, probably aware that I wasn’t planning to cut the eye contact.
The mermaid said, ‘Miss Taylor will be handling the meeting. She is our most experienced consultant. ‘
The beauty flinched when her name was spoken, like she just realised that she was supposed to say something. ‘Yes, as my colleague here said, I’ll be the person who will be your point of contact if La Caz Corporation decides to work with Paranormal Personnel.’ She showed a hint of unease and didn’t appear too confident. She was obviously affected by my stare. God, she probably didn’t even realise how beautiful she was.
‘That sounds good,’ said Porter, smiling. ‘So far, our HR department has been taking care of the recruitment, but in the past few months, this has become overwhelming. We decided that it’s time for us to outsource. Julia, I know that you had spoken to someone in HR and she passed a message to us. The business has been growing. We are the largest producers of paranormal medication and have recently started manufacturing a new product.’
‘I know you employ a lot of people, Mr. Porter, so your demand for staff must be high. We can take the weight off your shoulders, interview candidates, do inductions, and still make it profitable for everyone involved,’ she replied quickly, this time in a steady, confident voice.
The other woman was taking notes, so obviously Julia was in charge of this show. Waves of desire passed through me, but I decided to ignore them. I wanted to play with her, to see how far I could take this.
‘As I said before, we are currently working on a shot that would allow vampires to avoid drinking from humans,’ Porter continued, sounding bored. ‘We need at least fifty night workers to go ahead with production. If we decide to work with you, we have to make sure everything will go smoothly.’
‘We are good, Mr. Porter. We can find you people. There are a lot of jobless paranormal creatures around London and we work fast,’ she assured him. ‘We have been working with Colourful Lane for a few years now, and we have supplied a lot of vampires to them. We can find fifty workers in no time at all.’
I liked her voice. It calmed me down, but at the same time she was turning me on. And even from a table away I could smell her scent. It was incredible, earthy, sunny, like a freshly washed body and honey. She was changing something inside me, I felt much more alive when I was listening to her gorgeous voice.
Porter looked impressed and Carter was nodding. But I was fucking horny and Julia wasn’t even looking at me.
‘Let’s say that we need fifty vampires by next week?’ Porter said.
She smiled, shifted on the chair. ‘Of course, Mr. Porter. As I said, if we promise something, we will deliver.’
‘Our HR director is precise in what she wants,’ added Porter. ‘We were looking at other agencies, but I believe that your portfolio is much more impressive.’
‘At least sixty percent of our clients are vampires,’ she said. ‘We have a lot of creatures from Eastern Europe.’
‘We don’t like dropouts, Miss Taylor. We don’t want our business to be affected by people who can’t be bothered to come to work.’
‘Of course, Mr. Porter. I’ve been in this business for more than two years, so I have learned what kind of clients would let us down,’ she said, turning another objection swiftly. ‘As I said before, if we promise something, we will deliver it.’
I had to stop her, to let her know that she was in my building, in my company. ‘What about your margin, Miss Taylor? Can we discuss that now?’ I asked, knowing that this would throw her off guard instantly. I could tell straight away that she didn’t expect me to say
anything. She probably thought that I would sit there and listen without saying a word.
She finally looked at me and blushed again. She was uncomfortable and I liked it. She tucked her hair behind her ear, licking her upper lip.
Normally I didn’t even have to flirt with any women. They approached me and threw themselves into my arms, but Julia here, well, she didn’t seem like she was one of those women. I began to wonder how her blood would taste, and I was getting hard as the silence filled the air.
Everyone was waiting for Julia to respond, but she looked like she had no idea what to say. And I knew I had done that to her.
‘From temporary workers, we take twenty-five percent of the hourly rate,’ said the other woman named Jennifer, unexpectedly flashing me a smile. ‘With regard to any permanent staff, we would take a percentage of the year’s salary. It’s difficult to say right now how much would be required, but the margin from any salary may start from thirty percent.’
Julia glanced at me, and I couldn’t help but smile. She couldn’t have thought that I would stop there. Her voice was like a music to my ears; I would love to hear her moans if I made love to her all night long.
‘Don’t you think that twenty-five percent is too high, Miss Taylor?’ I asked again, directing my question to her.
She took a long deep breath, and I was suddenly wondering how she would look naked spread underneath me.
I was now fully hard and I wasn’t controlling my thoughts anymore. What is happening? I can’t control myself. I want her and her blood.
Julia went pale and moved slightly over the chair, parting her lips. She looked like she was frightened, as if she heard my thoughts.
Then a glass that was on the table cracked slightly, but no one noticed it apart from Julia and me. My eyebrows lifted. Glasses didn’t just crack without any reason. Someone must have thrown a spell. Julia looked like she was about to faint. She couldn’t use magic here without anyone noticing it. I had no clue what kind of creature she was, but I was certain that she wasn’t a human.