The Entity Within

by Cat Devon

  “I should have.”

  “Not that it would have made any difference. Neville would still have been obligated to tell me,” Pat said.

  “Why?”

  “Because your actions affect us all. Sound familiar?”

  “If Zoe and I let off a little sexual steam…”

  “You could both get burned,” Pat said. “I know you like walking on the dangerous side, Damon. But I also know you haven’t forgotten what happened to you in New Orleans. Except it wasn’t just New Orleans, was it? That incident ended with you in hell.”

  “Of course it did,” Damon said. “That kind of betrayal is always hell.”

  “I wasn’t speaking metaphorically. I was speaking literally.”

  Damon kept his expression blank but his insides were churning. Yes, he’d been to level one in hell but only his sire had that information.

  “Don’t try to deny it,” Pat said with a strange sort of weariness.

  “How do you know this?”

  “I’ve been around a long time,” he said.

  “What does that have to do with the current events?”

  “That’s what we are all trying to figure out, isn’t it?”

  “You’re the only one who met Silas before.”

  “Am I? What do you remember about your time in hell?”

  “The torture.”

  “Do you remember Silas?” Pat asked.

  “I never saw those who held me.”

  “Your sire helped you.”

  “Yes, Simon helped me get out. I was wrongfully held.”

  “Like the two demons now claim has happened to them.”

  “Guy and the other Guy? They lie.”

  “Do you have proof of that?” Pat asked.

  “There’s no proof either way.”

  “So we keep looking,” Pat said.

  “Time is running out,” Damon said. He felt it in his gut. Which was the most important reason why he couldn’t afford to focus on Zoe. The little witch could not get in his way or there would be hell to pay.

  * * *

  Zoe heard the sound of Pat’s voice even if she couldn’t hear the words. She was glad that Pat was talking to Damon downstairs. That kept Damon away from her, tempting her.

  She really did need to concentrate on her business for an hour or two. Surely the world wouldn’t disintegrate if she just took a little time off.

  Zoe practiced some deep-breathing routines that she hadn’t attempted since her arrival in Vamptown. They usually calmed her. Especially when she did them in her workroom. She wished she had the time to experiment with some new blends in the kitchen.

  But the scents surrounding her worktable were soothing, especially because she’d deliberately pulled some essential oils that had that property. As she’d told Daniella yesterday, lavender was known for its calming abilities.

  Zoe had also dressed the part, wearing her red KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON T-shirt.

  She kept her focus on the loaf of cherry almond soap she was cutting with a crinkle cutter. The tool gave each bar a ripple effect that she liked. With her tools, oils, and botanicals around her, she felt more at home than she had since arrived in Vamptown. The digital scale along with funnels and tiny scoops guaranteed that she was adding just the right amount of ingredients. Many of her soaps were stamped with the Bella Luna logo of a crescent moon in a square on each bar. The crinkle cuts didn’t allow for that, so the logo was stamped on the muslin in which they would eventually be wrapped.

  The sound of footsteps on the stairs jarred her out of her thoughts. “Gram, is that you?”

  “It’s me.” Daniella burst into the room. “I had a premonition that if you and Damon have sex, Vamptown goes up in flames!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  So much for calm and tranquility. “What are you talking about?” Zoe said.

  “I’m talking about sex. With you and Damon. Well, not my having sex with you and Damon obviously. I mean you and Damon having sex.”

  “Is this about last night?” Zoe said.

  “What happened last night?” Daniella demanded. “You two didn’t have sex, did you?”

  “I thought Damon had the recording destroyed,” Zoe muttered.

  Daniella frowned. “What recording?”

  “From the surveillance camera in my bedroom.”

  “You two made a sex tape?”

  “No!”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t either. How can I have this incredibly powerful attraction to Damon yet he aggravates the hell out of me?” she whispered.

  “I can understand that. I felt the same way about Nick.”

  “But he seems nice for a vampire.”

  “He can be charming when he wants to be. But he was a real pain in the ass when he was opposed to my opening my cupcake store. He said the same about me. This isn’t about me, though—except that I’m the one who had the premonition. It’s about you.”

  “I thought you didn’t have premonitions.”

  “I said I didn’t have them often but when I do they are usually true.”

  “Usually?” Zoe said. “What percentage?”

  “I’m not good at math. That’s why I have an accountant who is also my best friend. Her name is Suz.”

  “I may need her if my business continues to expand. Is she good with business plans?”

  “She’s the best. She doesn’t know about me being a hybrid druid or anything about Vamptown.”

  “My lips are sealed.”

  “Keep them that way. You can’t go kissing Damon or who knows where it could go. Okay, we both know where it could go, but it can’t.”

  “Or Vamptown will go up in flames?”

  “Right.”

  “Maybe it isn’t meant to be taken literally. Flames in dreams can represent spiritual cleansing or transformation,” Zoe said.

  “These were real flames,” Daniella insisted. “I could see them clearly.”

  “Was a building on fire?”

  “All of them were.”

  “Including the funeral home?” Zoe said.

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I don’t know. You’d probably know better than I would. It was your premonition, not mine.”

  “I’m telling you, this is all about you and Damon and sex.”

  “What about Damon and sex?” Gram asked as she entered the room.

  How could Zoe have missed the sound of her grandmother coming up the stairs? Probably because she was rattled by Daniella’s announcement.

  “You don’t have to go all shy with me,” Gram said. “You can talk about sex in front of me.”

  “I had a premonition that if Zoe and Damon have sex, Vamptown will go up in flames,” Daniella said.

  “Oh my,” Gram said. “I’ve heard rumors that vampires were great lovers but I had no idea they were that great. I’m impressed.”

  “I’m not talking about vampires being great lovers,” Daniella said.

  “So they’re not?” Gram said,

  “I don’t know about the rest of them, but Nick is awesome,” Daniella admitted.

  “We are being watched,” Zoe belatedly reminded them. How could she have forgotten? Her brain was mush today. “And don’t use magic to mess with the recording,” she warned Gram. “You know what kind of trouble that got us into last time.”

  “I know.” Daniella grabbed the legal pad Zoe had been making notes on. We will write instead of speak out loud.

  Zoe took the pad from her to scribble I don’t think we should write or talk about it anymore.

  Daniella yanked the pad back. But I have to warn you.

  And you did.

  “What are you all up to?” Damon demanded.

  Damn, she’d missed hearing his footsteps on the stairs, too, although odds were that he’d used vamp speed so by the time she heard him, he was already in the room. So was Pat.

  “Don’t all answer at once,” Damon said. “What’s goin
g on?”

  “You and Zoe can’t have sex or Vamptown will go up in flames,” Daniella burst out. Turning to look over her shoulder at Zoe, she mouthed, Sorry.

  “Does everybody and their grandmother know about what happened last night?” Damon demanded angrily.

  Gram raised her hand. “I don’t know what happened. Why don’t you fill me in.”

  “I had a premonition,” Daniella said. “I didn’t know anything about a recording until I got here and Zoe told me.”

  “That’s true,” Neville said via the surveillance system.

  “Shut up,” Damon growled at him.

  “Tell me about your premonition,” Pat told Daniella.

  “You know I don’t have them very often but I had to say something. I had a premonition about my mom’s car crash before she died and I never said anything about it. I shrugged it off as a bad dream. But it wasn’t. I didn’t take it seriously and she ended up dead.” Daniella’s voice cracked.

  “I’m taking it seriously,” Pat reassured her. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about the one you had concerning your mom’s accident. You didn’t know you were a hybrid druid then. You didn’t realize the gift you have. Now you know. When did you have this latest premonition?”

  “An hour ago.”

  “You were sleeping?” Pat asked.

  Daniella shook her head. “No, I was making cupcakes.”

  “What happened?”

  “I closed my eyes for a minute and I got this vivid picture of all Vamptown on fire,” Daniella said.

  “Maybe it was the demons putting that image in your head. Did you hear any voices that sounded like Darth Vader? Or had an English accent?” Zoe asked.

  “I thought you put a protection spell over me,” Daniella said.

  “I did.”

  “So now you’re saying it doesn’t work?”

  “I don’t know.” Turning to Damon, Zoe said, “Can’t you tell if she’s been affected by demons? Don’t you have a demon detector like they have a metal detector at the airports?”

  “No, I don’t have that,” Damon said.

  “You’re freaking me out,” Daniella said.

  “I’m sorry.” Zoe gave her a hug. “It will be fine. I didn’t mean to upset you.” The truth was that inside, Zoe was just as freaked out as Daniella, but she couldn’t reveal that right now. Keep Calm and Carry On. She couldn’t just wear the T-shirt saying that, she had to talk the talk and walk the walk. She could fall apart later. When there were no cameras around. When the demons were gone.

  Damn. So much for getting any more work done today. Not that fighting demons wasn’t work, but it wouldn’t pay the bills. It might pay Damon’s bills because it was part of his job description but it sure as hell wasn’t part of hers.

  Wait, maybe she shouldn’t be tossing around words like damn and hell even if they remained in her mind and she didn’t speak them aloud. Not when demons were around. Maybe she should do what Damon suggested she do last night.

  Okay, ordered was probably closer to the truth than suggested. Damon was good at giving orders, and he’d told her to chill. So maybe she should just chill. The modern version of Keep Calm and Carry On.

  “I’m sure this will all work out. I mean, what chance do three measly demons have against an entire community of vampires plus a Demon Hunter and two witches?” Zoe said.

  “And a hybrid druid,” Daniella said.

  “And a hybrid druid,” Zoe agreed. “It’s no contest. Right, Pat?”

  “Right. No contest. The demons would win,” Pat said.

  Zoe blinked. “What?”

  “If the demons get their hands on the Book of Darkness, they win.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Because they can call forth billions of demons.”

  “They can do that by themselves?” Zoe said.

  “With the book and a special witch,” Pat said.

  “You mean Gram?” Zoe said.

  “Or you.”

  “I didn’t open the book.”

  Pat looked Zoe in the eye. “Did you touch it?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “There are no buts,” Pat said.

  “We never saw that book before,” Zoe said. “Why did it show up here and now all of a sudden?”

  “Maybe Silas maneuvered what happened in Boston so you would come here to join Damon and me.”

  “Why? And how could he even do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Pat admitted. “We’re still trying to put this intricate puzzle together, and it’s got so many pieces that it is turning out to be quite difficult.”

  “That’s an understatement. And what do all the Latin sayings have to do with this mess? I thought maybe it was a message from my mom telling us how to find the missing spell book but Gram said it was black magic. She stopped me from stringing them together because she said they created a black magic incantation that way. But then on second thought she wasn’t sure it was black magic. I figured it wasn’t worth taking the risk until we learn more.”

  “Smart move,” Pat said. “We have to be careful not to make a bad situation worse. Which is why I didn’t approve of Damon’s plan.”

  “What plan?” Zoe said.

  Damon’s expression hardened. “The one where I go into the tunnels and simply destroy the demons.”

  “Except there’s nothing simple about this situation,” Pat said.

  “There never is,” Damon said.

  “Even you have to admit that Silas is different. He’s more powerful than any demon you’ve ever had contact with before. The readings Neville is getting are off the charts,” Pat said.

  “What readings?” Zoe asked.

  “It’s like a Geiger counter for demon strength instead of radiation. That’s what Nick told me,” Daniella said.

  Zoe shot Damon a look that said, See, some vampires share information with others.

  “The readings could be wrong,” Damon said. “This isn’t an exact science.”

  “It’s as close to it as we can get right now,” Pat said. “And there’s still the matter of the missing book. It has the power to release more evil than we can even imagine.”

  “I don’t know. My imagination is pretty good,” Gram said.

  So was Zoe’s, only hers had been filled with images of Damon, not demons. At least since her nightmare last night.

  “I need to get back to my shop,” Daniella said.

  “There are things I need to take care of as well,” Pat said.

  “Me too,” Gram said.

  A few seconds later, Zoe was alone with Damon in her workroom. No amount of lavender could keep her calm when he was so close by. Would she be feeling the same way had the adrenaline surge of danger not been present?

  Probably. Because Damon had presented an aura of danger before demons were involved. From that very first meeting she’d sensed the threat he’d presented to her peace of mind.

  So what now? Other than the fact that she and Damon couldn’t have sex, what was the plan?

  Find the book, kill the demons. Right. But how?

  “What now?” Zoe asked.

  Damon’s deep blue eyes flared with anger. “I have no idea what any of this means and I hate that.”

  “I’m not real fond of it, either,” she said.

  “This is not how I work,” he said.

  “How do you work?”

  “Alone.” Turning on his heel, he walked out, leaving Zoe alone.

  * * *

  “Fear me if you dare!”

  Damon came downstairs to find Bella repeating lines from the animated movie on the TV. She stood with two paws on the arm of the weird chair with the words written on it, her face inches from the screen.

  “She’s watching Puss in Boots,” Gram said as she entered the living room. “It’s her favorite movie.”

  “Along with Magic Mike,” Bella said.

  “Where did you get that chair?” Damon asked.

  “A beau gave it
to me,” Gram said. “It’s one of a kind from a French designer who has made quite a name for himself in Paris. His work is shown in museums and art galleries. He thinks art is too esoteric so he makes his art functional as well. The feet are carved to resemble pencils.”

  Damon moved closer to the piece of furniture. The off-white upholstery was filled with a variety of words in different languages and fonts. “Was your beau a warlock?”

  “If you’re asking if the chair is magical, then no, I don’t believe so.”

  “You don’t believe so?”

  “One can never be sure about these things,” Gram said.

  Damon swore in Latin.

  “I understood that,” Gram said.

  “So did I,” Bella said. “Go away. You’re disturbing me.”

  “Tough shit,” Damon growled.

  “I believe they have medication for that,” Bella drawled. “Stool softeners or laxatives might help you with your problem.”

  Damon hated sitting around like this with a smart-ass talking cat and an elderly witch. Being cooped up was driving him nuts. He needed to kick some demon ass.

  What if Pat was right? What if Silas was one of the demons who had tortured Damon during his short sojourn in hell? What was his purpose in showing up now after all this time? Eve’s betrayal and the subsequent trouble had occurred over a hundred years ago. Why come after him now?

  That was assuming that Silas was after him. Maybe that wasn’t the case.

  Damon tried to remember his time in hell, but it was a bloody blur. He could remember every minute of his time in Gettysburg, which was a hell of its own.

  Maybe Simon would know. Damon had tried to get in touch with his sire but hadn’t received a response so far. Which wasn’t like Simon.

  Damon’s smartphone beeped, indicating an incoming email. Neville had sent him a transcript of the conversation between Zoe and Daniella from a few minutes ago.

  He read at vamp speed. One line stood out. Zoe saying, How can I have this incredibly powerful attraction to Damon yet he aggravates the hell out of me?

  He had the same question himself. How could he have this powerful attraction to the sexy little witch and her striking eyes when she aggravated the hell out of him?

  And what was the deal with Daniella’s premonition? He couldn’t have sex with Zoe or Vamptown would go up in flames? What was that about?