Chapter 26

Fucking Jasper.



Last night I broke Dannika’s promise. She was in charge of the investigation and I dove straight into a witch coven, putting myself and other people in danger. I had to tell her everything I knew, but she was going to be pissed off, and sometimes she frightened the life out of me. At the same time, her investigation was going nowhere. Dannika needed to understand that I wasn't prepared to sit at home and wait for my dad’s final hour.
My elbow was aching, and I had scratches on my face. Even if I tried, I couldn’t lie to her. The police station was extremely busy. Dannika was running a meeting in the other room, so I was told to wait in the corridor.
I went over in my head what I was going say, but when she asked me for a talk in Dad’s office, my mind went blank again.
"So, what’s going on?" she asked, getting straight to the point. She looked drained. This case was obviously taking up all of her time.
"Well, I know that there’s a wizard at La Caz Pharmaceutical who’s been recruiting witches to the new coven," I began as planned. She frowned, twisting her lips.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked pointing at my plastered elbow, blatantly ignoring my statement about the witches.
I smiled, rubbing my hands together.
"Would you believe me if I said that I fell?"
She leaned toward me and quietly said, "Skip the crap, Julia. You stink of magic and shifters. What the hell happened to you?"
I sighed, looking away, knowing that either way this conversation was going to be hard.
"Yesterday me and a few friends, well, we followed a few witches. We were only going to spy on them, but things didn’t really go as planned and we were caught," I said, maintaining eye contact with her. Dannika was going to kick my arse either way, so there was no point lying to her.
Her pupils went vertical and for a split second I had a feeling that I’d gotten away with it. Then she slammed her fists on the table, pointing her magic wand at me. I was totally screwed.
"You followed witches from the coven? Are you out of your mind?" she shouted, her violet eyes burning with anger.
From then I had to go over everything that happened during the night, starting with the wizard at La Caz Pharmaceutical. This ridiculously crazy story didn't help my situation. Dannika was probably ready to strangle me.
"Julia! I thought you had a brain. If you really want to die, then let me help you. I have a cracking potion at home and connection to a few scumbags. We can arrange something."
I didn’t appreciate her sarcasm and moved on the chair nervously.
"All right, I’ve heard it all before. Yeah, I wasn't thinking, but I did find out some helpful information. The witches are gathering more and more followers and they’re using a wizard to attract them."
"Get over yourself. Jerry taught you better. I told you to leave this to the police!"
"I won't back down. Dad has around twelve days left and Kate maybe much less."
"Now, I'm not fucking kidding, Julia. I haven’t been sitting on my arse all this time. The Unit is tracking necessary suspects. We’ll get her soon. Stop putting yourself in danger and let me do my job."
I exhaled, thinking about Emily. Dannika was probably going to put a tail on me and I’d run out of ideas. The witches had probably shifted their location.
"All right, but maybe there’s something else you can help me with. I'm looking for Emily Bishop. She’s currently in London and I have to find her."
Dannika stared at me for a little while. I’d seen that look on her face before: it was dark and gloomy like she could see through my lies. There was no way that I was going to tell her about Gordon and my trip to Wales. Once this whole thing was over I might share with the police what I knew about Gordon. For now, Dad was the most important.
"Emily Bishop. I can run a search in the database for you if you want, but why? Who is she?"
"She’s the person who can help Dad. I can’t tell you anymore. I'm sorry."
I folded my arms over my chest, letting her know that I couldn’t say anymore. She worked her jaw, pinning me down with her heavy stare. After a moment she got up and strolled out. Dannika returned after ten minutes telling me she would look into Emily Bishop and call me as soon as she had a location. Then she gave me another lecture. I hated that I had to keep things from her, but it was better this way. I broke the law a few times and I wasn't ready to get her into trouble because of that.
Thoughts filled my head when I arrived at the office later on. I didn’t sleep that well and had a whole night with a very busy schedule ahead of me. La Caz Pharmaceutical was still manic, and we were running out of staff.
Luckily for me Sara had the day off and I was working alongside my vampire colleagues. Until about nine the agency was full: everyone wanted to make some extra cash before Christmas. When I finally had a chance to get a cup of coffee, my head was spinning.
"Julia, wow, your scent is incredible tonight. Have you been hanging out with many elves?" Rachel asked as she walked into the kitchen. I smelled my skin and shook my head.
"No, I haven't done anything unusual, just hung out with a bunch of witches yesterday."
She eyed me up and down, licking her lips.
"That can’t be it. You smell irresistible in a good way." She chuckled.
I went back to my desk as soon as possible, wondering what the hell was wrong with me tonight. Maybe it was all the spells from yesterday. Just in case, I made sure that I stayed away from the vampires and got on with my work. In the bathroom I used a cover charm to keep my scent away. I was on my own with a bunch of vampires. I didn’t want to cause any problems at work.
The evening was busy, but I didn't mind. I needed to keep away from toxic thoughts. It was a good night. I even had a chance to talk to a few witches about the new coven. They were pleasant enough but not very forthcoming.
The hours rolled on until midnight. Ella was also on my mind; her new unexpected powers were worrying. She was so inexperienced. Once my dad came out of the coma I needed to help her find Alex. Her mother was a human, and her brother hadn’t shown any new abilities so far. It was better to keep them out of this until we knew what was going on. Maybe Alex had been captured by his own kind. Either way I couldn’t just sit around, I had to do something.
Around four o’clock in the morning, I told the vampires to go home and decided to lock up. At that time the streets were completely deserted. I put all the files away and updated the system. After checking that everything was sorted for tomorrow I was ready to leave when I heard the sound of doors closing. I was so absorbed with work that I’d forgotten to lock the main door.
I should’ve seen this coming. I nearly killed him back in Wales, but the time when he intimidated me was over. I was ready to kick his arse again.
His mysterious expression didn't reveal if he was in a good or bad mood. I was disappointed with myself, because Jasper recovered well. Obviously, I didn't give him enough hell.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I snapped, hiding my hands behind my back. An intensive wave of my power rippled through me. I was ready to take on any kind of spells. The images from that night were fresh in my memory.
"Julia, I'm hurt. After that passionate night we spent together you tried to kill me," he said, calmly moving his finger over his wand.
I bared my teeth, breathing calmly. He wanted to provoke me, playing his usual game.
"I didn’t agree to sleep with you. I was high; someone poisoned me. You used me, pretending that you were there for me," I said, moving to my desk. My stomach churned loudly when Jasper tightened his jaw. He didn’t like my tone and I didn't care. I was ready for him.
"Without me and my connections to Gordon, you wouldn't even know where to start. Gordon was right. The bitch was there. He couldn’t have known that she moved away," Jasper insisted. "We had an agreement, Julia."
My breathing changed, growing heavy. I was ready to use the most lethal spell on him, just to prove to him that he couldn’t control me.
"True, but then you sold my blood without my permission. Whatever agreement we had is void. I didn’t find the white witch, and my father’s still dying."
"You enjoyed our lovemaking session," he added with the smile.
"I don’t love you, Jasper. How many times do I have to tell you that? I'm not interested in any romantic relationship with you."
He was beside me before I even blinked, invading my personal space. My hands were behind me, tingling as I was gathering up my magic.
"I promised you I’d find the white witch, so I’ll keep that promise," he whispered, inhaling my scent. I was going to be sick and I no longer believed his lies.
The fire that brewed in his eyes pushed me further away. Jasper was delusional. I made a mistake by trusting him and now I was paying for it. I really thought that Jasper had changed, but now his obsession transformed him into someone else. There was no place for him in my life.
"Get the hell away from me. I don’t need your help," I said, pushing him.
He caught my hand and brought me close to his body. I started jerking away, trying to use my fire spell to hurt him, but somehow, he blocked me. Then out of nowhere images of me and him in bed started flashing through my mind. My heart jumped as I tried to pull away. When the bad dream ended I slapped him. That didn’t faze him. He’d used whatever power he had to get me into the mood. His hand ran over the edge of my thighs and deep soaring heat began growing between my legs.
"See, I knew you liked it," he whispered, making me feel like I’d lost my free will.
I didn’t know if it was his voice or the memories, but energy rolled down my arm. The wind came out of nowhere, and a bolt of fire began spreading its source around Jasper.
"Get the fuck out or I'm going to kill you," I whispered back, bringing the spell closer and closer.
"You would't dare."
"Try me!"
A wave of dark, mounting power made me want to crawl on my knees and scream. This wasn't me, but I didn’t want to remember what he made me do.
My magic was back, spreading throughout every cell. The need and desire for death was in me. He just had to give me a sign and I was ready to destroy him.
“I'll find the white witch, whether you want me to or not."
"Get the fuck out of here!" I yelled and threw a ball of energy at the wall, causing bits of drywall to crash to the floor. His eyes sent an icy whirl of power over me, but another fiery ball was in my hands. This time I wouldn't miss.
He started backing away towards the door.
“I'll be back."
When he was gone, I ran to the door and locked it, breathing hard. My heart was pounding in my chest. The magic left me, and the darkness vanished. I felt weak. The lights were flashing, and I wiped the drops of sweat pouring down my face from the corner of my mouth. It took me a few moments to get my balance.
Dizziness hit me, and I had to sit down. The office was trashed. There was no way I would be able to fix anything now. My arms felt like they weighed a ton. I had to get home. The girls were going to have to deal with everything in the morning. I didn’t have enough strength left in me to clean up.
I reached for my bag and took out a small bottle of a potion that my grandmother gave me for emergencies. This was going to make me feel better. The pressure in my head should go away. The potion would calm me down.
I opened my mouth and poured the contents down my throat.
Within a second, I was back on my feet. I switched off the lights, locked the door and went home. I couldn't remember how long I was driving.
My body felt so light; I had no energy and my skin was tingling. Then as soon as my head touched the pillow, I closed my eyes and drifted.
Sleep was blissful. The hours passed, many hours, and when I awoke the temperature in my body was blazing. I placed my hand on my forehead and yanked it away; it was boiling hot. There was another problem. I was turned on and the throbbing between my legs alarmed me. My mouth was dry, and my pulse was racing. Something was really wrong with me.
Not wanting to open my eyes I started tapping my hand over the table, searching for my phone. Light was streaming into the room, so it was clear to me that I’d slept through the few remaining hours of the night.
I opened my left eye and, after switching on my phone, I discovered that it was only eleven o’clock in the morning. The ache between my legs grew. That potion that my grandmother gave me should have sorted me out a few hours ago.
Then I heard the banging at my door, not just one sharp knock as normal people would do, but loud and very annoying banging.
I covered my face with the pillow hoping that whoever was on the other side of the door would go away.
The banging only became worse, so did my arousal. I removed my covers and sat up feeling hot and very uncomfortable. Seconds later, I was on my feet walking to the living room.
"Coming."
I got to the door and opened it abruptly, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
"Hello, firecracker."