Chapter 11

Family.




On Sunday morning, I woke up with an odd sensation in my stomach. For a long moment, I just stared at the ceiling, wondering what the hell was wrong with me?
When I finally looked at my phone, I realised that I’d slept until eleven o’clock. Luckily, I didn’t have any bruises on my body, but last night I could have been beaten, or worse. That vampire worked for someone who needed elves blood; he called the girl and me a donor—that had to have meant something. Nathaniel must have found out more, but at the same time, he returned to the car so quickly. If it wasn’t for the sexy dhampir, then that vampire would have definitely killed me. I was thinking about calling him, but I didn’t have his private number. His silence was going to drive me insane today.
When I got home last night, I was exhausted, but I knew I had to cast a few spells to relieve my boiling magic. That helped a little, but I was still buzzing later on. I also texted Ella just to make sure she was okay. She replied that she was nursing her hangover from last night. Nathaniel really did change our plans; it simply blew my mind.
Then I thought about what he’d said in the restaurant. He admitted that he wanted me, but he wasn’t interested in a relationship. I flopped back on my pillow and thought about the way he’d made me feel all evening. Heat rushed through my veins when he stared at me. Yes, so, he was hot, but he also wanted my blood. And he seemed like he always wanted to be in control. I didn't know if I could handle him. Still, there was something about him that I liked, not to mention the fact that he was willing to help me search for Claudia.
We didn’t talk much during the entire drive to the hospital. I hoped that he stayed with that girl and made sure she was all right.
I didn't know why I was even analysing everything. I knew that I should just forget about him. It wasn’t like I was going to just casually sleep with him, no matter how hot or rich he was.
I had to get my arse to my parents’ house today. I hadn’t seen them for over two weeks, and I already missed my mum’s cooking. I got up and watched some culinary programmes for a few hours, had a light breakfast, and cleaned the apartment. I took a few aspirin, and in the afternoon, my head had finally stopped hurting.
Around three o’clock, I went out and headed to the underground. They lived in Hounslow, a quiet neighbourhood that was mixed with magical and nonmagical creatures. As usual, I took the Tube. My mother worked as a medical secretary for the local surgery department. They had a three-bedroom house where I had lived with them until I was eighteen.
When I was younger, I always used to hang out with kids from the neighbourhood. Some of them were magical, but most were just ordinary human kids. After I turned fourteen, everything kind of started to make sense, and when I decided to go to university, I lost touch with most of the people I knew.
Dad tried to balance his magical life with his human wife, but I knew that he didn’t have it easy with Mum. I’d heard about a lot of mixed marriages, but sometimes it was just easier to choose a paranormal creature rather than a complicated relationship with a human. That was why most paranormals only got involved with creatures from their castes, avoiding humans altogether.
My mum had to go over everything that had been going on around the neighbourhood as soon I walked through the door. She tended to keep up with all the local gossip: who was marrying who, who was pregnant, and so on. Sometimes, it could be exhausting, especially when she pressed about wanting an engagement on my end. Finally, she went to the kitchen to check on the meat, so I asked my dad if there was any progress in his investigation.
“The problem is that I don’t have any leads. Claudia had just finished her classes. All her friends said that she was going home."
I bit my lip, wanting to tell him about what I found out yesterday, but thought that it was a bad idea. After all, I’d broken my promise and nearly died. My dad would have been furious.
"She saw me on the street and started waving; then that van pulled over and they took her," I said quietly.
I knew that I needed to speak to Nathaniel again. He’d stayed behind, and that vampire must have told him something important.
"Okay, there is more to this," Dad whispered quickly, looking towards the kitchen where Mum was singing along with the radio. "I just want to make sure your mother won’t hear us. I don’t want to worry her. A lot of fairies and elves have been reported missing recently and I think your cousin has been targeted because she’s a pure elf. From now on, you have to be more careful when you walk home in the middle of the night."
"Dad, you know that your charm is strong. If anyone attacked me, you would know right away. Why do you think they’re only targeting fairies and elves?"
"That’s what I’m trying to find out. In the past few days, more and more fairies and elves have vanished without a trace, and so far, we haven’t found anyone. We’ve spoken to the Vampire Association, but they’re denying any involvement. So, I don’t want you walking home in the early hours of the morning. It’s too dangerous."
“I’ll ask someone to give me a lift, then. Do you have any suspects apart from La Caz?" I knew Nathaniel had nothing to do with this, but I still needed to be sure they weren’t still looking into him.
Dad sat back on the sofa and flexed his fingers. "That’s the problem; we have nothing. I will be meeting Pat and the rest of the guys tomorrow for a "practice" session. Hopefully, someone else will have some new ideas. At the moment, our unit is working like crazy, trying to find any witnesses or connection to all these random kidnappings, and of course, Claudia."
When Dad went to his “practice” sessions, Mum believed this was a session at the local gym, but the truth was that he was meeting other elves in the neighbourhood for charm casting. They gathered once every two weeks in the community centre. He’d often asked me to attend, but I was never interested. I couldn’t handle excess magic, never mind trying to learn new spells.
My grandparents, especially my grandmother, strongly encouraged me to keep paranormal genes in the family. She lived happily in Kent, along with my grandfather, Fred.
Luckily, my father didn’t mention Jasper’s name throughout the course of the evening. My ex-boyfriend had managed to slip through his fingers yet again, that night while I was out with Ella. I was still pissed off that he’d followed me. I had to try to solve this problem by myself, but I promised Ella that I would talk to my dad if things with Jasper got out of control.
Ella called after I got home. She seemed fine, but I questioned her about last night just to be sure that she was all right. Nothing she said indicated that we were supposed to have dinner together. I didn't know what Nathaniel had done, but was relieved he didn’t hurt her. I managed to drift off to sleep just before twelve, wondering what he was doing, struggling to stop myself from thinking about him.
I didn't expect to hear back from him again, especially after everything that had happened. At the same time, my father was getting nowhere with his investigation. Within a week, more fairies and elves had been reported missing and Dad looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown. Females were being snatched in crowded and public places. He had a bunch of witnesses, but no one could actually describe the well-built men from the black van.
On a Monday in the beginning of December, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. Work had been hectic, and Dad wasn’t even answering my phone calls any more. He was fed up with my endless questions. Mum found out about Claudia from Auntie Dorothy and had been calling me various times throughout the day, checking to see if I was all right. A slight panic arose amongst other elves and fairies. I could see them in the Tube travelling in groups, afraid that someone would abduct them at any time of the day.
I’d worked a couple of evening shifts last week, so my body clock was all over the place. I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see Nathaniel again. He’d saved my skin and my feelings for him had grown. For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from missing him.
I left the office after I was done with my shift, and around six, I was at Brunel Industrial Park. I wasn’t even sure if he would be in the office, but at this point, I just needed to hear some positive news. I didn't want to call the switchboard to check if he was in because I wanted to be as discreet as possible.
"Hi, Todd, I want to see Mr. La Caz; is he in?" He wrinkled his forehead with effort, then looked at his list. "You don’t have an appointment, I presume?"
"No, but it’s important that I speak to him right away. I can assure you that he wouldn’t mind seeing me." Todd didn’t seem convinced and I was worried that he would call upstairs to check if I was allowed in.
"All right, but if I get into trouble because of you, Miss Taylor, then you’re buying me lunch."
"You won’t, I promise, but I’ll buy you lunch anyway." I smirked, then signed in by his desk. He told me that Nathaniel’s office was on the top floor. My heart was in my throat when I thought about him being there with a group of people, or if he had a meeting. My heart thumped wildly in my chest when I reached the top floor, thinking about what I was going to say when I saw him.
He was probably still angry that I hadn’t listened to him at the bar and helped the other elf. Well, that was too bad. I just wasn’t the sort of person who could stand by and watch when someone was getting hurt.
The door to the elevator opened and I stood in a completely different room than when I’d come here with Jennifer for the first time. I bit my lip nervously, staring at the secretary who was looking straight at me. My energy stirred inside me again, waking up the magic.
Standing up, she spoke in a high-pitched tone. "Excuse me, miss, but how did you get in here?" She wore a perfectly fitted black suit.
"I came to see Mr. La Caz. I believe he’s in, right?" I cleared my throat, then walked up to her and glanced to my right. Seeing the black door, I instantly knew that he was on the other side.
“I’m sorry, but Mr. La Caz doesn’t see anyone without a scheduled appointment." She narrowed her eyes, raising her voice slightly, letting me know that she was in charge. I didn’t care; I was going to see him whether she liked it or not.
"If you’d just let him know that Julia Taylor is here to see him, I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind."
She asked me what this was about, but I wasn’t planning to discuss my situation with some fake-tanned vampire bimbo. So, she started shuffling papers around on her desk, pretending that she was busy. “I’m afraid that Mr. La Caz is on a conference call and he can’t be disturbed."
"That’s too bad because I really have to speak to him.” I completely ignored her and barged through the door.
"Miss, miss, you can’t go—"
"It’s okay, Emily, the conference call is finished.” Nathaniel stood from his chair when I opened the door to his office. "Please, leave us." I gave the bitchy secretary a winning smile. She looked at me like she was ready to kill me, then left.
There I was in his office that overlooked the entire industrial park. I took sharp intake of breath as he stared at me without a smile. Who knew how this could end? But I did know one thing; I just needed to be in control this one time. Then the tiny voice in my head reminded me, “Yeah, like you can really control yourself around him.”