Chapter 2

Painful Compromise?


I had no idea what to do with myself. Kate’s parents were devastated. Kelsie went home, letting me know that she was going to talk to Michael, hoping he could come up with an alternative solution. Kate was always so careful. Okay, so sometimes she came up with pretty whacky ideas, but she was the more reasonable one of our little trio. The healers must have been wrong. Maybe this curse was just one big mistake and they just didn't have the right spell. Dad was going to be back at work in a few days and he would get to the bottom of what happened in that park. It was just a matter of time.
My own power seemed to be in turmoil. I was lucky enough that I was born with half-magical genes. Most of my family were excellent with spell casting, but not me. A few months ago, I started blacking out. At times my energy became lethal; I couldn't control it and hurt people close to me. Right now, I wished I had healing powers, so I could get Kate back on her feet.
When I got home, I threw up again, remembering the human remains from the park. Then I asked my ex-boyfriend, who was now acting as my best friend, to come over. Normally I wouldn’t want to see him, but these circumstances were exceptional, and I needed to feel safe in my own home. After my phone call, I took a bath thinking about ways to help Kate. Kelsie and I were both convinced that this couldn’t be over, but finding a white witch was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
An hour later, I was climbing out of my bathtub, when I heard a knock at my door. Nathaniel stood on the other side, looking handsome as always. We’d met almost three years ago when I showed up at his company. I’d been working for Paranormal Personnel for years, a recruitment agency that offers employment to all the supernatural creatures who live in London. I didn't plan to fall for Nathaniel then, but for some reason we couldn’t stay away from each other. We were together for a short while, and then we broke up. In the end we tried again, but something was always in our way. A few months ago, after I got involved with another paranormal and Nathaniel got engaged, we had an affair. In the end we made a lot of other people unhappy, so we—well, I—decided to stick to friendship. No sex, no touching, and no talking about us—these were the ground rules that I’d set a while back.
As soon as he saw my face, his jaw tightened, and he exhaled.
"What happened?"
Something inside me snapped and I started sobbing. This wasn't the plan but seeing him after the night that I had made me realise how valuable life really was. Many paranormals took magic for granted and now my best friend was dying.
Nathaniel shut the door and cradled me in his arms. The wave of mint and lime had me flustered for a moment, but I couldn’t stop crying. Nathaniel knew I was strong, and I could keep my chin up even in the hardest of situations, but tonight I just needed a shoulder to cry on. He drew my face closer, so I couldn’t avoid looking at him.
"Kate, it’s Kate… she’s dying," I choked.
"Tell me everything."
My magic as usual went crazy when he was around, but at that point I was too upset to care. He just broke rule number three: he wasn't supposed to touch me. Every part of my body leaned towards him, but I kept telling myself: It’s only for one night.
I told him everything that happened from the moment I decided to go to Kate’s home to apologise, until I ended up in the park, standing beside the pile of human body parts. Then about the hospital and the healer’s advice to start a search for the white witch.
"White witches, I’ve heard about them," he said, grabbing my hand. My heart leapt in my throat, sending an electric charge right through me. It always happened whenever he touched me. Nathaniel La Caz was half vampire and half human. Normally elves and bloodsuckers stayed away from each other. Elves’ and fairies’ blood was too intoxicating for vampires. My grandmother never approved of this relationship, but every time Nathaniel and I were near each other it was like there was this magnetic rope that kept pulling us together.
"Kate can’t die. It’s just a rare curse. I’ll find that white witch myself if I have to."
Nathaniel gave me a false smile. He was wearing a black suit and he looked a little tired when he said, "Yes, white witches can heal anything and anyone, even humans with cancer, AIDS, or any other life-threatening diseases that standard medicine has yet to find a cure for. But they’ve been hiding away from the paranormal world for centuries. No one has ever seen them amongst humans, so it’s almost impossible to find them. Maybe we should look for alternative options for Kate."
That crushed my last bit of hope, and I looked at him, knowing that deep down he was probably right. Somehow, Kate had gotten herself in the middle of a dark ritual. No one in their right state of mind would mess around with black spells.
"I won't accept it. There must be other witches more powerful and skilled than the healers in the hospital."
"The healers know what they’re doing. After what happened a few months ago with your mother and Kelsie, I think you should stay out of trouble."
"I can’t do anything if trouble follows me, but I think I might know someone who can help," I said, looking away.
"Someone?"
I bit my lip and contemplated if it would be a good idea to talk to him about Jasper.
"Oh, whatever, it’s Jasper, and before you say anything, yeah, I know he’s a bit unstable, but I need to speak to him about this."
Nathaniel didn't look too impressed with my proposal. Jasper was dangerous, and I nearly died because of him. The fact that I used to go out with Jasper didn't help either. My ex-boyfriend number one had pushed his luck with me a few times already. He had done a lot of illegal shit and even killed people, but I needed him right now, for Kate’s sake.
"I would like to be with you when you talk to him," Nathaniel said, narrowing his eyes.
"What?" I asked, laughing. “Don't be silly. I'm going to be fine. Besides, I think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself. We’re just friends, remember?"
His face told me that he did remember, but my heart was letting me know that I was full of shit. Nathaniel was handsome, and when his hazel eyes stared at me with so much intensity, he caused an eruption of love that spread down to my toes.
After a moment of awkward silence, he coughed gently. "Julia, can I ask you something?"
"That depends."
"If you’re adamant about continuing with this whole “friendship” path then I have to say this, and you may stop me if you need to," he said, stripping me with his eyes. "I'm going to start dating again, if that’s okay with you?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, I felt a large knot in my throat. Fuck, I should have seen this coming. Besides, I was the one who was pushing him away. Of course, he wanted to date again. I couldn’t keep pretending that we could be friends-only, and he wouldn’t ever date anyone else.
He was watching me, probably waiting for me to tell him no, that I didn't want him to date anyone else other than me. Deep down I missed him, craved him and still desired his touch, but I was too scared to go back to the same old cycle of making myself unhappy because of him.
"No, I'm fine with that. It’s not a problem. You’re single, so you can do whatever you want," I said, sounding like I was choking. Nathaniel had gotten engaged to someone else while he left London for Geneva. He couldn’t even tell me that he loved me when I needed him to say it, but six months later, he asked the most perfect paranormal that I’d ever laid my eyes on to marry him. Our history was tangled like barbed wire.
Nathaniel twisted his lips and then wet them, not breaking eye contact. My whole body and soul wanted him, despite everything we had been through.
"Firecracker," he growled, leaning towards me. I couldn’t move or breathe when he was so close, breaking another rule. "If you can’t see us working things out, then fine, I’ll start dating again."
He was giving me a chance to tell him that we should give our relationship another go, but I didn’t want to delude myself that it could work.

"Maybe it’s a good idea. You shouldn’t be on your own; this will be good for us,” I muttered under my breath. Nathaniel exhaled and nodded. I hated this, but we were friends. Maybe we both needed a break, but deep down I didn’t believe he would start dating for real.
He stayed a bit longer after that, but we didn't talk about us anymore. Nathaniel had his own connections in the paranormal world. He promised to speak to a few of his old schoolmates, then kissed my forehead and left. As soon as he was out of my sight my breathing went back to normal and my magic settled.
It was after one in the morning when the exhaustion took over and I drifted to sleep. I didn’t want to close my eyes because the images from the fire were so vivid and scary.
When the morning came I couldn’t get out of bed. I’d woken up twice screaming, covered with sweat, plagued by images of the scene from the park.
Eventually I got dressed and went to work. In the past few months I’d been driving to work, but the commute still took me an hour because of traffic. When I made it to the office just after 10:00 a.m. I felt like shit. Nathaniel’s visit only made matters worse. Making love to him usually settled my magic, but we hadn’t had sex for over three months and my magic was driving me mad today.
I nearly walked into Rufus and almost fell on my arse. Fortunately, he grabbed my arm just before I landed on the floor.
"Rough night?" he asked as soon as I regained my balance. I wasn't expecting him today. Rufus had no idea what happened to Kate. Instead of smiling I dragged him to the interview room. I didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone.
Rufus was my boss; he looked after offices in Manchester and Bristol. We’d known each other even before I started working for Paranormal Personnel, so he was also a very good friend.
When I told him about Kate, he nearly lost his balance, pacing around the room and looking at me in disbelief.
"This is terrible, Julia… and Kate. She’s always so careful and responsible. How could this happen?"
"Her parents have no idea. The scene at the park looked like it was straight from a horror film. Kate wouldn't take part in a black ritual like that. Her magic is pure."
"This is unbelievable. Are you sure the healers can’t help her?"
Rufus was a giant; his paranormal genes were pure, so he understood that Kate wouldn’t survive without the help of a white witch. The curse that she’d been struck with was deadly and we could only wait for the worst.
I shook my head, swallowing the tears that were threatening to spill.
"No, there’s nothing they can do. Her soul has been ripped from her body," I choked, shaking my head. Rufus promised to deal with the staff, but he was equally as shocked as I. Things like that didn’t happen to people like Kate.
My head wasn't in the right place, but I had to get on with candidates and paperwork. Alexandra was the only other consultant who was working with me today. The morning was busy. We supplied most of the staff to La Caz Pharmaceutical and other smaller factories. Lucinda, who was in charge of the HR department at La Caz Pharmaceutical, called at eleven asking for twelve production operatives.
Somehow, I managed to survive until lunch, and then my mother showed up, disturbing the peaceful atmosphere in the office.
"Julia darling, I was just having lunch around the corner with the ladies and thought I’d pop in to see you."
"Lunch?" I asked, baffled. "Why, did your boss let you get out of doing surgery?"
She waved her hand patting her perfectly styled short blond hair. My mother had gone a bit bonkers since she found out my father was an elf. My parents’ home burned down, and the insurance company was in the process of sorting the claim. She filed for a divorce and moved into a small flat near their street. Around a month ago Mum began dating again, going out to parties, and driving me insane.
"Doctor Cook gave me a half day today. A few other ladies that I met in Bournemouth the other weekend asked me out for a drink. They’re in London today, you see."
"Mum, I'm really busy. Besides, my friend Kate’s in the hospital and she’s not doing so well."
"Oh, dear Lord, darling, that’s terrible. What happened?"
"She was probably forced to take part in some magical ritual, but I'm not quite sure, Mum. I found her unconscious near her house with a dead body."
Normally I would’ve kept my mouth shut, but since my mother had discovered the truth about the paranormal world she pretended that magic didn’t exist. Today I wanted to make her understand that magical crimes were just as common as the ordinary ones.
“That's terrible, absolutely terrible. How are her parents doing?"
"They’re pretty shaken up," I explained with resignation. Then I went on telling her that Kate’s curse was deadly, that the doctors couldn’t help her. Straight after that, a few trolls arrived and all of a sudden Mum remembered that she had to pick something up from the shop. Even when I visited her at home she changed the subject as soon as I mentioned magic or spells.
Mum was pushing sixty, but she was behaving like she was twenty again. At the same time, she was hurting my father, not willing to save their marriage or even talk about it. In the past few months Dad had been living with my grandmother, putting off moving into his own flat. The first divorce hearing was supposed to take place in a few days, but he was still hoping that Mum would come to her senses and at least listen to him.
My heart was slowly breaking, and I was the one to be blamed. Craig had wanted my power in exchange for my mother’s life. I should have listened to my grandmother and trained harder when I had a chance. If I had, my mother would still be with my father.
As soon as she left, I took out my phone and dialled Jasper’s number.
"Well, well, well. Look who’s reaching out to me after months of silence." Jasper said in the same creepy voice that I knew so well.