Chapter 15

Rebound.



When Nathaniel finally left my room I slid down on the floor and kept asking myself: what have I done?
The room was in chaos: pieces of glass lay on the floor, my clothes, food, makeup and Quentin’s clothes were everywhere. It took me half an hour to breathe properly again. I reached for my phone and started scrolling, searching for Kate’s number, but I didn't dial. Feeling like someone had just slapped me, I threw my phone across the room.
Kate would condemn me, she was my friend, but I didn’t think I could bear the disappointment in her voice. I had to keep this to myself; dig a hole in my brain and forget it ever happened.
I stood up and waved my hands, cleaning the mess, but whatever I tried to fix broke again. A few hours later the room was clean, and I begged the young housekeeper, who was witch, to fix the bulbs and mirror in my room. After handing her a fifty-pound tip, she agreed.
Later that afternoon I went downstairs and had dinner. Quentin didn't come back until later that evening, apologising a million times. When I saw his face, I felt disgusted with myself. He proposed dinner, but I pretended that I had food poisoning. He immediately wanted to take me home. Quentin had a pure soul and after what I’d done, I couldn't stay with him in Brighton.
He packed my bags and we checked out by eight o’clock. It took us less than two hours to get back to London. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror.
"Let me drop you home and get something from the pharmacy," he suggested when we were near my street.
"My mum is on her way. She called me when you were checking out."
He looked slightly taken aback by what I said.
"Shall I leave you alone with her?"
"I’d prefer you to stay but my mother can be overwhelming at times. I’ll call you tomorrow?"
"Maybe you’re right," he said, then kissed my forehead.
When I was finally alone in my own apartment I jumped on the sofa and stared at the wall for several minutes. I needed to make a decision. I couldn't be with Quentin after sleeping with my ex, not unless I told him the truth. It was the right thing to do.

***

I woke up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat. The nightmare about the fire returned. In the end I took a sleeping pill and didn't wake up unlit mid-day Sunday.
Everything would’ve been fine until midafternoon when my phone started vibrating. My cousin Claudia left me a couple of voicemails yesterday, so I decided to answer. It turned out that my grandmother was throwing a family dinner and asked Claudia to pick me up. Somehow, she knew I was back earlier than planned from my romantic trip and was expecting me.
"She told me to tell you that she might come for you if you try to wiggle your way out," Claudia warned, sounding excited.
"Fine, whatever, tell her that I’ll be there."
"Great, can’t wait to see you!"
After I hung up I was ready to slash my wrists. My quick sexual romp with Nathaniel was only the beginning of the nightmare, now I had to face my entire magical family. I was ready to call Kate and ask her to lie for me, but when I thought about it more clearly, I knew that speaking to Kate would involve more lies.
Instead of getting my best friend involved, I decided to shower and change. Claudia picked me up an hour later, and even seeing her after so long it didn't lift my miserable mood. My cousin had been away for most of the year; she was quite traumatised after being held in isolation for some time drained of blood.
Claudia was a pure elf; she was only nineteen. We’d never been that close, but I enjoyed hanging out with her. The last thing I wanted to do was go to my grandparents for some family dinner. My grandmother rarely organised these sorts of things, due to the fact that my mother was the only human. My father’s two sisters married paranormals, so the whole family was in quite a shock when they met my mother. I was surprised to hear that Grandma invited everyone over. This seemed very fishy and I had a bad feeling about it.
"Hey, it’s been ages. How have you been?" my cousin asked, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. She showed no outward signs of the trauma she’d experienced almost a year ago. I only hoped that deep down, she was truly okay.
"Fine, so tell me; why is Grandma organising this dinner? Something is going on isn't it?" I asked straight away as she drove off away from my street.
Claudia smiled and tackled her short hair behind her ear.
"I think she missed all of us, but she specifically told me to make sure you would come," Claudia said with amusement in her tone. "You really pissed her off when you got involved with that vampire."
I pursed my lips together and shrugged. “It's was none of her business, besides, I don’t get all the drama. It’s over—we’re over."
Geez, I was a liar but that quick, intense and most amazing sex with Nathaniel wasn’t going to happen again. Surely, I wasn’t planning to talk about this with my little cousin.
"I wish I could be that brave and date a paranormal other than an elf."
"You can, no one says that we aren’t allowed to date anyone else. I'm seeing someone else now, a giant," I said, feeling like an idiot. Now I was lying to myself. I had to tell Quentin what I did if I wanted to create an honest and healthy relationship with him. Nothing could be built on lies.
Claudia nearly crashed the car when she heard me.
"What? A giant? Oh, my god, Grandma’s going to flip," she said laughing. I rolled my eyes.
"I told you, I don’t care what she thinks but I respect her views. It’s not like I was planning to go out with a giant. It just happened."
"But he is giant!"
"Chill out, he’s just another paranormal."
For the rest of the journey my cousin was telling me what would’ve happened if she went out with a vampire or giant. I knew that my grandmother was tough, but I didn't remember asking her for permission of who I could and couldn’t date.
Claudia was brought up in a purely magical family, she didn't understand that I always had to be careful of what I was talking about when my mother was around. Elves tended to marry other elves, in certain circumstances, they married fairies. It was rare for us to get involved with other paranormals other than elves and my grandmother was highly respected in her community. She hated that I wasn’t following the normal pattern like everyone else around her.
The drive to Kent wasn't long but we were caught in heavy Sunday traffic. My parents were probably already there, and they weren’t expecting me. I could only imagine their surprise when they discovered that I wasn't in Brighton. Dad kind of warmed up towards Nathaniel, but he still wasn’t used to the fact that I swapped him for a giant and didn’t inform him about it.
"So, who’s going to be there?"
"Everyone," Claudia announced, looking excited. My stomach made a short contraction, but I knew no one would dare ask questions in front of my mother. My family might have been obsessed with magic, but they weren’t stupid. Dad had his own code; besides, I couldn’t even think about Mum’s reaction if she ever found out that all the magic in this world was real.
Claudia parked her brand-new car outside and used her glittering charm on me, so I would look less miserable. At least I didn't have to worry about my excess magic. I found a silver lining in the form of sex with Nathaniel. I was calm and in control, but guilty as hell.
When I stepped into the living room my mind spun, because I realised that Claudia was right. My whole family was there, and everyone noticed me straight away. Aunt Dorothy raised her left eyebrow studying my appearance. Claudia’s dad died when she was younger, and her mother never remarried. Next to her, there was my other aunt, Michelle, with Paulina and Paula: twin sisters, who were waving and smiling towards me. Aunt Michelle was married to Brandon, who worked as an accountant.
"There you are, girls. I was worried that something held you two away," my grandmother sang, hugging us tightly. She was in a good mood, so that was a positive sign. I needed to remember not to piss her off before dinner was served. Mum was talking to Grandpa Fred and Dad looked tense as usual.
"Hey, Grandma, is everything all right?" She gave me a sharp look smoothing my blouse.
"Of course, I just thought that it would be nice to have everyone over," she replied, passing me a cocktail glass containing a suspicious-looking liquid.
“That's nice," I said, walking quickly away to join Dad.
"Hey, hon, you okay? I see your trip to Brighton didn't happen."
"Quentin had some problems, so we had to shorten the trip." Dad didn't ask any more questions and changed the subject to his beloved Rugby. Mum grabbed me a few seconds later asking me a million questions about my trip. She looked flushed and her eyes were shimmering. I suspected that Grandma charmed her drink, so she would be more receptive to spells later on.
Dinner was going to be served in half an hour, so I spent some time catching up with the rest of the family avoiding Grandma. We hadn't spoken since she tricked me into going back into the past, when she showed me how Nathaniel’s brother-in-law killed my great-great-great cousin, Gloria, because he couldn't resist her scent. She had tried to get in touch with me several times, but I always wiggled myself out of talking to her. Grandma knew what was going on with my life. She knew that I parted ways with Nathaniel. She probably thought that it was her doing. My two aunts, Dorothy and Michelle, congratulated me when I went to the kitchen to help myself to some wine. They mentioned that they were ready to set me up with a perfect elf and my future looked bleak if I’d have stayed with that "filthy vampire" any longer.
"Come on, spill the beans. How was it?" Paula and Paulina asked when they cornered me away from everyone in the bathroom upstairs. I looked at them wondering if I was missing something.
"How was what?"
"Being with a vampire, and you know, the sex?" Paula asked with dreamy eyes not blinking. That was the issue when one member of the most respectable family in Kent had a scandalous relationship with another non-elf paranormal, all of a sudden everyone wanted to know the juicy details.
The image of Nathaniel holding my legs brushed through my mind and I felt a tingle of power between my thighs.
"My lips are sealed," I said smiling. "Besides, you’re both engaged, so I don’t know why you’re suddenly so interested in vampires."
Paulina narrowed her eyes, giving me a death stare. Paula was looking at me like she was ready to charm me. My grandmother adored them, and because they were the same age as me, I hung out with them often when I was younger. Paulina worked as a clerical assistant for some private-run business that specialised with export of magical artefacts. Paula was working on her PHD in Neurophysiology of trolls and werewolves.
"Yeah, but you were the first and we’re dying to know if they’re so different from us as they say," Paulina continued to interrogate me.
"Nathaniel’s a half vampire, so he’s just like a normal human being expect that he has fangs," I said almost whispering. The twins exchanged startled looks and swallowed.
"I kissed a wizard once when I was eighteen. The kiss was nothing special, but I was so excited tasting a forbidden paranormal," Paulina muttered with dreamy eyes. I didn't understand them. The twins obviously weren’t happy with their own choices, otherwise they wouldn’t be asking me about my shameful relationship that everyone was condemning me about. Telling them about Nathaniel brought steamy memories back, and I was glad when my cousin called us for dinner. Claudia loved gossiping and she was probably going to tell them later that I was dating a giant. It wouldn’t be long before the entire family found out, but I didn't care. I had more important problems to worry about and thinking what my family thought about my complicated love life wasn’t one of them.
Grandpa Fred charmed the table, so everyone had a place to sit. I was planning to sit as far as I could from my grandmother, but it seemed she was reading my mind because she patted the seat next to her, asking me to sit down.
Mum was chatting away with Aunt Michelle about her work in a local surgery while Dad looked lost in his own thoughts. My grandparents were loaded, so they could afford to hire help for occasions like this. A tiny hag began serving food looking very professional. My head was aching while Grandma continued to instruct Erica on starters and the wine list.
"I don’t understand why you’re still upset over that silly time travel trip," Grandma suddenly whispered while everyone was busy eating the starter. "I wanted you to see what would happen if you continued to go against your own values, what vampires are truly capable of. Besides, I was right, and you left that filthy vampire, so now you know he wasn't the one for you."
I was boiling inside, ready to snap. That’s why I’d been avoiding her all this time, because I couldn't bear talking about him. Now, I’d slept with him despite everything I’d ever believed in. Guilt washed over me in waves.
"That wasn't the reason, Grandma," I said through the gritted teeth. "And if you don’t mind I’d rather not talk about it."
She smoothed her stylish bun not taking her eyes off me. No one was paying attention to us and I was glad because I didn't want to deal with questions from the rest of the family.
"Julia, we both know that elves should only be involved with other elves. The genes of this family must be preserved. Your father was an exception, he still pays for the consequences of his actions. Love only exists in fairy tales, my dear—family is key," Grandma continued talking to me. I sat there playing with my starter meal. When I didn't respond I was glad that she didn't dwell on the conversation because I was an inch away from losing my temper. Her old-fashioned views made me angry and I was ready to tell her about Quentin but after that speech, my mind was filled with thoughts about my night with Nathaniel.
The main course was delicious, and I was stuffing my face because I couldn't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed my quick reunion with my half vampire. Dinner was going as planned and I was even ready to ask Grandma about her relationship with Tron. My secret about blackouts and outbursts of magic was safe with him, although I was curious to know why he asked to keep it a secret from her.
"So, Julia, are you going to tell us about your new man?" Aunt Dorothy suddenly asked.
And everything was going so well!