The Entity Within (11 page)

“We don’t need them to play this game,” Daniella said. “We can do it ourselves. Come on. It will be fun.”

Zoe didn’t know about that, but she knew from the challenging look Damon gave her that she wasn’t going to back down the way he clearly expected her to. “We’ll use the three-minute rule,” she said. “The first one to touch the mat with anything other than your hands and feet within three minutes is out.”

Zoe deliberately let Daniella win by touching her elbow to the moon-shaped symbol within the first thirty seconds.

Daniella was thrilled with the win and challenged Nick to play with her.

“No fair using vamp speed,” Zoe warned Nick.

As she watched Daniella and Nick grappling and laughing, Zoe was struck by how much the two of them were in love. It was bittersweet to see because Zoe had thought she and Tristin were that much in love.

That memory stuck with her as she prepared for bed a few hours later. Gram had produced a screen behind which Zoe could change into red flannel pajamas while Damon stood by the door guarding her.

It had been one hell of a day. Nick was downstairs with Gram, which left Zoe with Damon.

“Hey, there,” Daniella announced as she walked in after knocking. “I thought you might like some company.”

“Don’t you want to stay with Nick?” Zoe asked.

Instead of answering, Daniella said, “I know how uncomfortable it can be to have a vampire hanging over you. Well, it’s uncomfortable if it’s a strange vampire. I like Nick hanging over me now, but I didn’t that first night. I don’t have to change clothes. I can sleep in these lounge pants and top.” Daniella hopped onto the bed and patted the space beside her. “Join me and we can play Angry Birds.” She waved her iPad, which Zoe hadn’t noticed before.

They’d barely played one game before Daniella fell asleep. Zoe gently removed the iPad from Daniella’s hand while Damon took a white afghan throw from the foot of the bed and tucked it around her. His actions surprised Zoe.

Seeing her look, Damon stepped back and softly said, “She has to get up before dawn to make cupcakes.”

Zoe nodded. She felt too vulnerable getting horizontal with Damon so close by, so she propped a pillow behind her and rested against the headboard in a sitting position.

“You should sleep, too,” Damon told her.

“I’m just going to rest my eyes for a minute,” Zoe said.

“You do that.”

The next time she opened her eyes, pale sunlight filled the room and Daniella was gone. Damon was not. He was sprawled in a chair he’d brought in from her workroom, his intense gaze on her. She felt as if he were touching her with his eyes, which should have been creepy but was instead hotly arousing. Had he slipped her a vampire roofie or something?

“What did you do?” she asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Damon said. “You fell sound asleep while you rested your eyes.”

“He’s right,” Bella said from the foot of the bed, where she was curled up on the white afghan Damon had used to cover Daniella.

Zoe rubbed the crick in her neck before checking her watch. “The cable guy is scheduled to come this morning between seven and ten.”

She got out of bed and headed for the attached bathroom before remembering the all-seeing surveillance cameras. “I am not taking a shower with a camera on me.”

Damon typed some text into his smartphone. “You have ten minutes before the camera goes on again. And if you pull anything, your grandmother will pay the consequences.”

She paused for a second by the closet to grab clean clothes and underwear before racing to the bathroom and locking the door. She used her own brand of Sunshine soap, one of her favorite citrus blends, in the shower. The combination of orange, lemon, and pineapple along with touches of other fruits and spices made her feel energetic and ready to face the day most of the time. Knowing there was a sexy vampire right outside her bathroom door timing her before turning on the cameras might be more than even the Sunshine soap could handle, however.

She made it out with five seconds to spare. The stress of trying to hurry had her heart racing. She was wearing black yoga pants despite the fact that she was a yoga class dropout. Her V-neck knit top was a powerful red. Not trendy coral or dainty pink. No, this was kick-ass red and matched the polish on her toenails. Her fingernails were bare because she hadn’t had time to paint them yet—she had been too busy dealing with vampires and demons to do that. She reached for her good-luck cameo bangle from the nightstand drawer and slipped it on before touching her neck to make sure the necklace she always wore was still there. The slim chain was the only visible part; she kept the rest hidden beneath her top.

Damon watched her, tilting his head as if he could hear her pulse.

Ignoring him, she marched downstairs and poured some Frosted Mini-Wheats and skim milk into a bowl for breakfast.

Nick and Damon consulted each other and their smartphones while Zoe ate. Gram didn’t like getting up before noon.

“I’m leaving you in charge,” Nick told Damon. “I need to get back to the bar. Be safe.”

“I won’t hurt him,” Zoe said between bites of cereal.

“Very funny,” Damon said before returning his attention to his smartphone.

He ignored her after that as she waited for the cable guy to show up. She spent the time making notes about possible new combinations for her soap line. Mint and lavender was a possibility. She didn’t return to her workroom but stayed in the living room. She didn’t want Damon messing around in her work space. Not because she had something to hide but because that was her sanctuary.

Eight o’clock came and went. So did nine and ten. Finally at ten thirty there was a knock at the door. “Who is it?” she called out.

“The cable guy” was the muffled reply.

She hurried to open the door only to have Damon leap forward and jam a dagger into the man’s throat.

Chapter Ten

“You just killed the cable guy!” Zoe shrieked.

Damon was unremorseful. “He was evil.”

“He was only half an hour late,” she whispered. “That doesn’t mean he was evil.”

“True, but
this
means he was a demon.” Damon pointed down to the body, where the guy’s features changed from human to demonic before the body dissolved in a puff of smoke.

Zoe tried to stay calm while inside she was shaking like a puppy in a thunderstorm. “I didn’t know they could do that.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know.”

Obviously. Just for clarification, she had to ask, “This doesn’t mean all cable guys are demons though, right?”

“Right.”

“That stinks,” she said.

“You wanted all cable guys to be demons?”

“No, I was referring to the smell.” She waved her hand under her nose.

“The stench of hell.”

“And rotten eggs,” she said,

“That smell is sulfur, as in fire and brimstone—also known as fire and sulfur,” he explained.

Zoe’s head was spinning. “If you don’t mind, I need to sit for a moment.” She sank onto the couch. “I’m not used to dissolving demons before lunch.”

“Get used to it,” he said.

“How do you do that? How did you get used to it? Have you always been a Demon Hunter?”

“No. I was a minister once.”

Her jaw dropped. “Really?”

“Of course not. Do I look like a minister?”

“Then why did you lie?” she demanded.

“To see that look on your face,” he said,

“What look?”

“The one of wide-eyed amazement. You do it so well.”

“Yeah?” Zoe didn’t take his words as a compliment. “Well, you … you
lie
well.”

“Yes, I do.” He nodded, clearly pleased by her comment.

“You still haven’t told me how you became a Demon Hunter.”

“That’s right,” he said.

“Are you ever going to tell me?”

“Perhaps.”

His attitude angered her. “Don’t do me any favors.”

“Too late. I already did you a favor by killing that demon.”

“You were just doing your job. That’s what a Demon Hunter does, right? Kills demons? You were probably born killing demons,” she said.

“I wasn’t born a vampire.”

“No?”

“No. I was human once,” he said.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“I was a soldier once and a law student before that.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.

“It’s the truth.”

“Sure it is. If you’re expecting that wide-eyed amazed look from me again, you’re going to be disappointed. I’m not falling for another lie about your past.”

“I don’t care if you believe me or not,” he said.

But she could tell that he
did
care, and that surprised her. It also made her think there was a possibility he was telling the truth. A slight possibility, granted, but a possibility.

“You were a law student?” she asked.

He nodded curtly.

She wasn’t sure how he managed to make the nod indicate his impatience but he did.

“And a soldier?” she continued.

Again with the nod, but not quite as curt this time. She studied his expression. It wasn’t a happy one. “Did you fight in a war?” she said.

Damon pinned her like a butterfly on display with his dark laser stare. Right. He definitely hadn’t liked her last question.

“I fought in the worst war of all,” he finally said.

“World War Two?”

“Wrong. The American Civil War. For the Union.”

She was speechless.

“What?” he taunted her. “No smart-ass comment?”

“Um, thank you for your service to our country?” she said.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“No,” she said. “You’re the one who specializes in sarcasm, not me.” He made no comment, so she asked, “When did you become a vampire?”

“Gettysburg.”

“As in the Battle of?”

Damon responded with another curt nod.

She was no expert on that period in American history but she knew enough. “Was it as bad as they say?”

“Worse.”

“What happened?”

He was silent for so long she wasn’t sure he intended to answer her at all. “If you want an hour-by-hour account, go check out a book from the library. No, wait, you can’t go to libraries because the books attack you,” he mocked.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

“How generous of you,” he drawled.

“If it upsets you to talk about it—”

“Who said it upsets me?”

She shrugged. “You were traumatized by the experience.”

“Hell, yes.”

“You don’t have to shout. I understand that you probably suffer from post-traumatic stress.”

“I’m a vampire. We don’t suffer from anything.”

“Including demons?”

“Including demons and witches.”

“I don’t appreciate you lumping witches in with demons,” she said.

“And I don’t appreciate you giving me the third degree. I thought witches didn’t like inquisitions. Didn’t you have enough of them in the Spanish Inquisition?”

“Hey, I was not alive back then. I am not that old.”

“Touchy about your age, little witch?”

“I was just trying to figure you out.”

“Don’t bother,” he said.

But she was too curious to give up. “Did you become a Demon Hunter at the same time you became a vampire?”

“Be careful,” he warned her. “Curiosity killed the cat.”

“I’m not a cat,” she said.

“Neither am I,” Bella said as she jumped onto the arm of the couch. “Well, I am a cat, sort of. But I’m much more than that. I’m a powerful witch’s familiar.”

“Zoe isn’t that powerful,” Damon said.

“I meant to say that I am a witch’s powerful familiar,” Bella corrected herself.

“Hey,” Zoe protested. “I am not a weak witch.”

Damon and Bella both gave her a look.

“Okay, on the rare occasion, when a vampire slays the cable guy in my living room, then yes, that does throw me for a moment,” she said.

“You shrieked like a little girl,” Bella said.

Damon nodded and grinned sardonically. “Yes, Zoe, you did.”

“Says the vampire afraid to talk about his past,” Zoe retorted.

“Uh-oh,” Bella said before beating a hasty retreat.

Damon moved in on Zoe. Okay, he wasn’t just moving in on her, he was stalking her again. She was smart enough to recognize the difference. She was also stubborn enough not to back up. She was tempted to protest his use of the word
weak
when describing her but she’d already confronted vampires and been possessed by a demon in her first afternoon in Chicago. Now on her second day, she’d seen a demon dissolve, and it wasn’t even noon yet. How much worse could it get? So she just stood there and glared at him, visually daring him to do whatever bad deeds were in his thick head.

Correctly reading her eyes, he said, “You do not want to dare me, little witch.”

That was the second time he’d said that to her within the past hour. “I am
not
little.” Throwing back her shoulders, she stood tall and proud at every one of her sixty-six inches.

Instead of admiring her stature, his attention became focused on her breasts. She was standing super straight, shoulders back and breasts thrust forward, which highlighted the taut fit of her V-neck top’s knit material.

“Hey!” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Eyes up here.” She pointed to her face with the universal two-finger sign for “I’m Watching You.” She hoped it was also universal in the vampire community, but wasn’t sure because Damon’s gaze remained fixed on her chest.

Maybe he was contemplating yanking her beating heart out or something nefarious like that. Did Gram’s protection spell apply to vampires as well as demons?

“Where did you get those?” he said.

“I grew them myself,” she said. “I mean, they are natural. They’re mine. My breasts.” Every word she said made her feel more embarrassed than the last. “Not that it’s any of your business,” she tacked on at the last minute. Right, like there was any way to regain her dignity at this point. That ship had sailed, as Gram would say.

“I wasn’t talking about your breasts. I was talking about your talisman.”

Normally her necklace remained tucked between her breasts, but there was nothing normal about her life lately. The past twenty-six hours had been a wild ride of vamps, panic, fear, panic, vamps, and demons. Any one of those things would be enough to rattle a girl, even a witch.