Chapter 29

Royal father.



Ten minutes felt like ten long hours. Jordan came back to the room, accompanied by another paranormal, holding Ella’s results in his right hand. I couldn’t read anything from his expression. Both of them looked calm and weren’t giving anything away. I had never been through this process before, so I had no idea if this was how they usually reacted.

"Right, Miss Jenkins, the examination has revealed that you indeed have royal blood in your veins," the other paranormal said. He had a long white beard and beautiful blue eyes.
Ella was silent; this was it. Alex was telling the truth all along: he had only been trying to protect her all this time.
"Yes, you see we ran the test twice, just to be sure, but both results were accurate," the elf explained.
"Excuse me, but Ella has been brought up as a human. Until a few months ago she’d never shown any signs of magic and she’s twenty-six years old," I explained.
The two fairies exchanged a silent look that I didn’t like at all.
"Well, this only complicates the results further. You see, Miss Jenkins, your fairy blood is very rich and strong,” the older elf explained, shaking his head like he wasn't believing himself. “This confirms that someone in your family was either full or half-blooded fairy. I don’t know which of your parents—"
I cut him off. “It’s her father’s side, because her mother is a human."
"We ran the examination and the results reveal that the lady, here is half fairy, and her blood belongs to a royal line." He was huffing, apparently not appreciating being cut off.
Now everything was crystal clear. Ella wasn't saying anything. She asked me to get a copy of her results and after several more heated discussions with the registry staff we left the building. I didn’t know what we were supposed to do next. Okay, so we had the answer that we wanted. Ella was a fairy, well, a royal fairy.
“We can’t put this off any longer. We need to start searching for Alex and Tron. They must be in some kind of trouble," I said more cheerfully, embracing her in a hug.
"Are there really royal paranormals?" she asked, staring at her hands like she expected to change into a frog all of a sudden.
"Yes, and you’re one of them."
"Is that good or bad?"
"I'm not quite sure but stop stressing about this. We’ll find Alex, I promise you," I assured her, although I wasn't certain if I knew where to even start with this search. We talked about what we’d learned for a little while. An hour later Ella had to meet her mother, so I headed out to get to the hospital.
Maybe I could ask Nicky about the situation. She was an expert, but I wasn't sure if Ella was willing to share this information with anyone. This was all moving a bit too fast.
Kate’s mother was in the hospital when I arrived. She looked exhausted. The spells that kept Kate’s and Dad’s powers at bay were slowly losing their strength. Their time was running out.
Mum arrived half an hour later, looking sad and depressed. I tried to cheer her up a little bit, but I was failing miserably. She wanted to stay beside Dad’s bed for the rest of the night and I couldn’t argue with her. In the past two weeks I was sure that the white witch was out there, and I was going to find her, but now I had no idea of what else to do.
I sat in the waiting area, thinking about another option. Gordon was a psychopath and he already gave me the right information. I just couldn’t face him again. Jasper was just a lying bastard and Tron was unreachable.
I came out with nothing, stayed a few more hours in the corridor, and then went home dejected.
I tried to clean the mess that I made when Nathaniel and I made love and I lost my temper like an idiot. It was three weeks before Christmas, but I couldn’t imagine having any celebration while Dad was dying. I didn’t even put up my Christmas decorations or buy any presents. This year we were skipping the celebration all together.
Somehow, I managed to drift back to sleep later on, still wearing my clothes. I woke up early in the morning and got ready for work. Mum was with Dad all night and she probably didn’t even sleep. I had nothing to complain about.
I went to the office and my day dragged. Rufus was interviewing for a new recruitment consultant, so I made myself busy, thinking about calling Dannika. The morning passed quickly and when I went for lunch, Nicky called. For a moment I didn’t really want to answer it, but I did anyway, feeling guilty.
"Hey."
"How are you doing, my girl? Any good news about your dad or Kate?" she asked, probably worried about me, but I wasn't ready for this conversation. There was no change in Dad’s condition.
"No. Mum is a mess and I can’t even spend any time beside his bed, because of my magic."
"Listen, cheer up. Don’t give up. I’m calling because I have some information about this new coven of witches," she said, lowering her voice. I stopped walking, switching to full listening mode.
"I'm not getting involved anymore. Dannika’s on the case," I said, thinking about Gordon and my trip to Wales.
"Good but listen to this. I’ve heard that some of the necromancy witches will be at the Christmas event at the Marriott next weekend," she explained. "Okay, I shouldn't really be suggesting this, but I think you and Kelsie should go there and snoop around. Maybe you can find something out."
I looked at my phone wondering if I was really talking to my good friend, Nicky. A woman who always advised me to keep away from every possible trouble and told me off when I revealed that Jasper was helping me. I hardly wanted to believe that her information was real. Besides, Dannika wouldn't want to hear about this. I didn’t want to hijack her investigation.
"How did you find out about this?"
“Don't ask. It’s one of those things I can’t talk about, but it’s true. Those bitches are going to be there."
"All right, give me the details," I said, not even sure if I was ready for another disastrous plan.
Nicky gave me the address, assuring me that her information was from a very reliable source. I had heard about this event before. Someone from the association had put this whole party together for paranormals only in one of the venues in Central London. The most successful paranormals gathered to drink and dine in a prestigious location. I didn’t understand why witches from the coven would want to take part in it.
When I went back to the office I thought about what Nicky said. The plan wasn't bad, but there was always a risk. I called Kelsie and told her what Nicky had suggested. Two hours later, we met in my apartment to discuss our new strategy. Kelsie was ready to try anything, assuring me that we could use other paranormals to corner the witches. Nicky assured us that she could get us a few invites to the event. But I wasn't convinced we should do it. The decision was mine and after so many fiascos and failures I thought about my promise to Dannika. She was the one in charge and if we really wanted to catch the witches we had to get her involved.
On Friday evening after I finished work I headed to the station to have a chat with her, which I knew was going to be very difficult. She made me wait for over an hour, which was fine because that gave me some time to think about what I was going to tell her.
When she eventually arrived, she looked like a right mess with many facial injuries.
"My office," she barked as soon as she saw me. I went in feeling anxious.
"Are you all right?" I asked. She waved her hand like the dried blood all over her chin wasn't a big deal.
"Just busted a black magic dealer and he put up a hell of a fight," she said, staring at me. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"Right, so don’t take this the wrong way. I have some information, but I’ll only tell you if you promise me that I’ll be involved with whatever you decide."
She didn't like what I said, not one bit. She wrinkled her forehead with effort and her violet eyes flashed with anger.
"I can’t promise you that. Don’t be stupid," she snapped coldly. "So, stop fucking around and tell me what’s going on right now!"
"No," I said firmly. "This is my idea and my sources, so I'm in whether you like it or not."
She shook her head and got up, chewing her lip. Maybe I was playing with fire here, but I had to make sure I was in that party.
"Jerry’s stubborn, but you, girl, don’t take any shit, do you?" she asked but didn’t let me answer. "Fine, go on; what’s your new master plan?"
I ignored her sarcasm then went ahead and told her what I had in mind. I didn’t use Nicky’s name. She listened and the wrinkles on her forehead kept getting deeper and deeper. Once I was done with my plan, she didn’t look too happy.
She sat down, twisted her lips, puffed and breathed for a little while, giving me the evil eye.
"And why do you want to be there? We both know you should leave this matter to the unit. You saw what these psychopaths did to your father? Do you really want to risk your life?"
"I have an idea how they look, and I can help you. Listen, I came to you because I didn’t want to screw this up. Dad hasn’t got much time.". For about a minute she stared at me without saying anything. I really wanted to read her mind, but her expression was blank.
"Undercover, huh? From what I heard this event is popular and if we’re going to do this, then we have to be very careful."
"We, so does that mean you want me in?"
"Let me think about this and talk to the guys. I want to get that bitch as much as you do, but it’s a risk. Other paranormals will be there, very important and famous ones. I think I need to take this upstairs first."
There was no messing around with Dannika. When she said that we had to wait for a decision, that was it; without the go ahead from upstairs we couldn’t even plan anything. I went home expecting a phone call next week. I had mixed feelings about the whole thing. What if the unit refused to go ahead with this plan? What would happen to Dad then?
I didn't even want to think about it. Dannika knew that she wasn't any closer to arresting the witches. We both knew that this was our last and final chance.