Chapter 3

Jasper’s tricks.



"Are you sure you’re all right?" Kate repeated after I stopped turning the pages in my diary. Sweat was soaking my clothes and my pulse was irregular. I glanced at Kate who’d stopped typing and was now staring at me with a befuddled expression on her face.
"Fine, fine, just getting ready," I replied and started going through a report that I needed for the meeting. My mind was like a sponge soaked with fear, and I couldn't even concentrate on the figures and numbers that were in front of me. It wasn't long before Alexandra and Sara arrived to take over our duties. My brain couldn't absorb anything of significance, so I decided that I would improvise.
I had booked an entire morning off to take care of this meeting. Lucinda talked too much and she was intense, always needing to know the smallest of details, so I had to at least pretend to be prepared.
Kate kept looking at me in the taxi while I muttered to myself.
"I'm fine, seriously, so stop looking at me like that. I'm going over what I need to say to Lucinda in my head," I said giving Kate a warm smile, but I wasn’t very good at faking or lying for that matter. I was royally screwed.
"Maybe you’re nervous because we’re going to his company," she exclaimed avoiding eye contact. I sighed and shook my head. Kate was wrong, I wasn’t nervous because we were on our way to my ex-boyfriend’s company: the perfect and handsome half vampire, half human, Nathaniel La Caz. I was distracted because I woke up on the floor of my own living room with no recollection of what happened to me or why my hands were covered with blood.
"No, I'm not worried about him," I said fervently. “Let's concentrate on how to keep Lucinda happy. Nathaniel’s in Geneva, and I'm not worried that he might show up unexpectedly. He isn't going to be a problem."
"Whatever you say," Kate muttered looking annoyed that I didn't want to tell her what my problem was. "I'm your friend, Julia, and I know when you’re telling me porkies."
Kate’s witchy senses were excellent, but I refused to look at her. It was easier to lie for now.
I kept telling myself that my morning scene from the movie, Saw, didn't actually occur, and the last thing I wanted was to get Kate involved with my outbreak of madness. We were getting closer to La Caz Pharmaceutical and I still couldn't believe that this meeting had slipped my mind.
Forty minutes later, Todd, the usual security officer, welcomed us with a smile stating that Miss. Grabovsky was expecting us in her office. My stomach made a small contraction when we walked into the lift. A bead of sweat started rolling down my back when incredibly warm and sexy thoughts passed in front of my eyes. I tried to shake myself back to reality, knowing that this was my ugly past and there was no point dwelling on it. I had a boyfriend; a fun, loving and incredibly caring man who was doing everything in his power to make me happy and, here I was getting sentimental about my ex. I was an idiot.
"Are you sure you’re all right? You look a bit pale?" Kate continued interrogating me while I was doing everything within my power to breathe steadily.
"I'm worried about Quentin and that unknown spell that struck him," I lied, hoping to distract her from what was actually happening to me.
"Yeah, I asked my mother about that; she said that the only people who could produce such spells are wizards and witches. Have you thought about Jasper?"
I swallowed hard.
Jasper was my other ex who wasn't particularly stable emotionally. A couple of months ago, he murdered my bodyguard in order to deliver me to Caleb McGregor, a vampire who wanted to ruin Nathaniel. Jasper didn't go through with his plan and in the end, he saved my life. We agreed to stay away from each other from then on, and I only hoped he was planning to stick to his word. Now after hearing Kate, I wasn't feeling very confident.
"I haven't seen him since, you know, that night from a few months ago. The police are still after him for some other offences, but hey, anything is possible when it comes to Jasper," I explained with a deep sigh.
"Your father should place those policemen back outside your apartment, just in case."
"Are you kidding me? They were useless. If I’m going to be attacked, I’d think I could use my own power to defend myself rather than relying on officers who can't even stay awake in the night," I said laughing, remembering when I snuck out to Nathaniel’s apartment under their watch.
Speaking of magic. I noticed that my power was oddly absent; there was no energy, no tingling. It was exactly like the night after Quentin ended up in the hospital. The absence of my excess magic was making me paranoid, but my thoughts were interrupted when we reached the fourth floor and our other best friend, Kelsie stood outside.
"What took you guys so long? Lucida has been ranting about this meeting all morning. I was seriously considering stealing some ear plugs from production," Kelsie complained eyeing both of us with impatience. Kelsie was a shifter, a very beautiful shifter. She looked radiant with flawless creamy skin and long glossy black hair tied nicely in the back. Kate and I were wearing grey suits.
"Julia’s having a bad day and she doesn’t want to tell me what’s wrong," Kate announced giving me a stern look.
Busted.
"Julia, come on, just tell us? You know you can’t look so miserable in front of the mermaid monster; she might report it to him," Kelsie warned.
My friends were worried about me; it was understandable but at the end of the day I couldn't bring myself to tell them about the blood on my hands. To some extent Kelsie was right. Lucinda was my ex’s HR director and she often bragged about him whenever I was around. It didn't matter that he was currently out of the country. My theory was that she was secretly in love with him and was going out of her way to make me feel even more miserable.
"Kate’s exaggerating as usual. I'm fine, just worried about Quentin and his magic."
"That handsome giant of yours is going to be all right but if you want, I can talk to Kevin,” Kelsie suggested with her sweet smile. “He could ask some of his friends and find out about a cure." I was just about to ask her what her new shifter boyfriend knew about giant magic, when we were interrupted by Lucinda Grabovsky.
The HR director was a full-blooded mermaid, but she looked far from the stereotypical appearance of a beautiful, radiant water creature. Mermaids normally swam at least three days a week to keep their skin looking healthy, but Lucinda enjoyed food more than she did swimming. Her skin was almost grey, her eyes heavy were and bloodshot. She obviously didn't care about her appearance. Today she wore a blue two-piece suit which made her look even paler than usual.
"Ladies, why are you standing by the elevator? Miss Crawford? I told you to bring them to my office," Lucinda fumed frowning at Kelsie. She must have put on a little bit of weight since the last time I saw her. She swept us all with her stern look and stopped on me for longer than was necessary, probably wondering if I was still coping with being away from Nathaniel.
"No, Miss. Grabovsky, you told me to meet them here because we have to go down to production."
Kelsie didn't take any crap from Lucinda and she was the only person I knew who wasn't afraid of her.
"I said no such thing, Miss. Crowford. Now, let’s go. I have reports to run," she said packing herself into the lift.
Lucinda pressed the button for the lowest floor while we were all squeezed inside. I didn't understand why she wanted me to see the production line. When I came in a few months ago she asked Kelsie to give me a tour and introduce me to a shift manager. I knew Nathaniel’s factory well. He’d shown me around himself when we started working together. I hadn't been here since last year, but I didn't believe it was necessary for me to see the new production floor.
"So, Miss. Taylor, how are you?" Lucinda asked.
"Uhm fine, great actually, working most of the time," I replied with a small voice, wishing the lift would move faster.
"Work is important but you need to relax a little as well," she said pausing. "You know, I always told Mr. La Caz to separate his working life from his private life. He didn't listen and now, the poor thing, he had to travel to Paris to see a specialist. Apparently, he was so overworked that he collapsed."
I had to squeeze the handle in the elevator to keep myself together. I knew that she was going to bring up Nathaniel. She obviously liked to torture me with information about my perfectly handsome and rich ex-boyfriend. Kelsie and Kate were staring at me so intensely, looking as if they were afraid I was going to let go of my magic and involuntary change Lucinda into a frog. On the contrary, my magic was still absent, but my heart was pounding. The tingling and crackling of magic were part of me and now I felt like a normal human being without it. I wasn’t feeling well at all.
"Julia’s taking care of her new boyfriend, so she surely knows how to separate her working and private life just fine," Kelsie said with her sweet voice. I could always count on my girls to have my back. Lucinda looked at her raising her perfectly shaped eyebrow with astonishment but didn't say anything else. For the first time she seemed to be at a loss for words. She couldn't quite believe that I’d managed to replace the perfect Nathaniel with someone else.
When we reached the production level my anxiety increased. My magic was gone, and I was worried that it might never come back. Lucinda started talking about the production of Lucrative shot while taking us to the lowest level. No one was working in that part of the factory. I was curious to know how many people she would need. Shifts were always varying, and Nathaniel knew how to run a successful business.
"The company has come up with something new and exclusive. We’re still doing research, but I want you to meet the production manager who’ll be in charge. We’re expecting a lot of orders, and we need to know how many more workers you could supply," she boasted showing us around the large open space with a number of machines and new production line. I kept wondering if we were underground. I had no idea Nathaniel had managed to create such an efficient room, although the building seemed like it had limited space.
"What kind of number are we talking about here?" I asked as she kept pointing at various stations and positions she was planning to recruit for.
"Twenty-five paranormals to start with and then we’ll see. Production will expand significantly. Lucrative shot had a tremendous success when Mr. La Caz—"
Lucinda stopped talking and nearly fell but I caught her arm regaining my own balance.
"Oh, thank you, Miss. Taylor, there seems to be some spillage out here," Lucinda said. This part of production was filled with heavy machinery and light was limited. There was some kind of liquid on the floor and I walked straight into it; my heels were wet. Inhaling, I could smell a heavy metal scent; the air around us was thick, as if someone had been casting spells down there in the past few hours. My fingers started crackling with electricity, but the energy was foreign—it didn’t feel like mine. I began to feel a little dizzy.
"Mrs. Grabovsky…. Are you all right?" Kelsie asked. "I brought a flash light with me. I know you said that you didn't want to turn all the lights on."
"Yes, great, at least you found yourself to be useful today. Point it toward the floor to see what we’re dealing with," Lucinda ordered.
My best friend brought the flashlight to her face and gave us all her fake freaky smile before she pointed toward the spillage on the floor. Then we all heard a terrifying scream and one by one we were able to see a body lying in a pool of blood in front of us. Lucinda screamed then collapsed on the floor.
"I'm going to switch on the main generator," Kelsie shouted, running away with the flashlight. Kate grabbed my hand and a minute later the lights came on. Somehow, I forced myself not to scream, but shock convulsed right through me, curling my toes. Kate gasped as we both recognised the dead body of our former co-worker, Jennifer Griffiths.
"Oh, my God, is that… is she—"
"Dead, yep, she’s dead, stone-cold dead," Kelsie confirmed after checking for a pulse. She didn't seem to be that bothered about seeing a dead body, and she had no idea who was lying dead in front of her. Kate was pale as a ghost. Lucinda was on the floor unconscious and I was suffocating, losing oxygen, staring at a large kitchen knife that was right in the middle of Jennifer’s chest. It looked like she’d bled to death.
Then startling images began piling up in front of me and my stomach revolted and heaved. I’d seen myself here—in this place—holding the same knife that was now dripping with blood, just before I dropped it on the ground. I opened my mouth to scream but another image flashed through my mind. I was walking along a long dark street, holding a knife in my hand. Then I was seeing myself with that same knife, stabbing, attacking and killing someone who kept screaming. A few seconds later, I felt a burning sensation on my cheek. My eyes snapped open and Kate was standing in front of me.
"Hey, stop screaming, you’re all right," Kate said holding my arms and shaking me back to reality. I closed my mouth. It took me a moment to recognise her.
"Hey, is Julia all right?" Kelsie asked, leaning over Jennifer’s body.
"Yeah, she’s fine.” Kate replied looking at me. "How is Lucinda?"
"Passed out, couldn't handle it," Kelsie said sounding amused. "I kind of like her that way—out and silent."
"What’s going on?" I asked walking around, trying to calm my breathing. My world was spinning out of control, but I couldn't let Kate see me like that. Normally, I would stay calm and collected, but those images shuttled through me like bullets. I felt like I was going to be sick.
I told myself that I wasn't a killer; Jennifer was my former co-worker. She’d tried to kill me, but I never wished her dead; I’d saved her life during the fire at our office knowing that she’d betrayed me. This morning I woke up with blood on my hands and now, I just had a real flashback of stabbing someone—a person. God, I needed to see a doctor; I was going mental.
Maybe that’s why my magic was absent, because I blacked out in the middle of the night and murdered my ex-coworker.
"You were in shock, and kept screaming about the knife," Kate explained looking at my face, searching for any signs of madness. "Right after Lucinda; she went down first."
Kelsie was on the phone with 999.
"Jennifer, she’s dead," I repeated.
"Murdered, if we want to be more precise," Kate muttered, scanning the production floor.
"The police are on their way. Do you think your dad will show up?" Kelsie asked, staring at Jennifer, mesmerised. I swallowed a few times, stopping myself from throwing up. Kelsie didn't know that Kate and I knew the victim.
"Probably."
"Hey, girls. I don’t know why you’re both so shocked? It’s a body; your father works for the police department, so you should be used to it."
"Kelsie, give is a rest. This is our ex-coworker, Jennifer. She and Julia were kind of close," Kate explained through gritted teeth, shooting her an angry stare.
"Co-worker? Oh, wow, I'm sorry."
"Kelsie," I sighed, "It’s fine. Jennifer was a bitch and nearly burned me and herself to death. She was a nasty piece of work, but I she didn’t deserve to die like this. It’s better if we find something to cover her up with."