The Entity Within (13 page)

“I found it!” Zoe’s exclamation interrupted his thoughts.

“The missing book?”

“No, Eve Delacroix’s name. It’s in my mother’s family tree bloodline,” Zoe said.

“Which might explain how she had a talisman like yours from your mother’s side, but not your father’s.”

Damon already knew from the research he’d done on Zoe but he asked anyway. “You don’t have any siblings?”

Zoe shook her head.

“Maybe someone from your father’s bloodline hooked up with someone from your mother’s a century and a half ago.”

Zoe made a face. “That sounds kind of incestuous to me.”

“But possible,” he said.

“Not really incestuous,” her grandmother said. “Enough time has passed.”

“It still creeps me out that Damon killed a witch that might have been an ancestor,” Zoe said. “He claims she was evil. A bitchy witch.”

“As opposed to a bitchin’ good witch?” her grandmother said. “What? You don’t think I keep up on modern terminology? I imagine that must be tough for you, Damon.”

“Killing Eve was easy.” A lie but he wasn’t about to tell the truth.

“I was referring to keeping up with terminology over one hundred and fifty years. Why, when I think about how much things have changed in my sixty-five years—”

“You’re seventy-two,” Damon said.

Zoe’s grandmother glared at him. “Yes I am, but you don’t have to make a big deal about it.”

“I’d rather make a big deal about the fact that the two of you—descendants of Eve Delacroix—just happen to land in Vamptown and unleash a bunch of demons. I don’t believe it,” Damon said.

“I don’t believe it, either,” Zoe’s grandmother said. “I mean, what are the chances, right?”

“Right. So are you finally going to tell me the truth?” Damon said.

“I already admitted that I’m seventy-two not sixty-five,” she said.

“You can’t still think that my grandmother and I are part of some demon conspiracy,” Zoe said.

“Can’t I?”

“Only if you’re an idiot,” she shot back. “Look, I want to get rid of these demons as much as you do.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Then prove it,” he said.

“How?”

“Find that missing book. Look through your family spell book for something about demons.”

“It doesn’t come with an index,” Zoe said. “It’s not like I can just Google a spell. Well, okay, maybe someone can Google a spell, but it wouldn’t work.”

“How do you know?” Damon demanded. “Have you ever tried it?”

Zoe vehemently shook her head, which made her bangs slide into her eyes. “No witch in her right mind and worth her weight in real magic would do that.”

Damon fought the urge to brush her hair away from her face. He already knew how silky the dark strands were; his fingertips vibrated with the memory of touching her. All of a vampire’s senses were heightened compared with mere mortals, and that included not only sight, smell, and sound but also touch.

But Zoe was a witch. She was more than capable of casting a spell to throw him off track. Eve had done it. What was to say her descendant couldn’t accomplish the same thing?

Damon had told Zoe’s grandmother that he didn’t need a protection spell. He hadn’t told her the reason, which was that he had a few resources of his own as a Demon Hunter to use.

“Googling a spell could make things worse,” Zoe warned him. “You may not think they could get worse—”

“Oh, I
know
they can get worse. And they will if we don’t get that book back.” He paused a moment as a possibility he’d been mulling over in his head took shape. “What if that demon that possessed you had you cast a spell to make the book vanish?”

“I was with you the entire time. You even recorded me on your iPhone. You’ve got the video of me levitating. How could I cast a spell without you knowing?”

She was right. Unless … “What if you did it silently?”

“What about the demon?” Zoe said. “Couldn’t he have done something to make it vanish? Or maybe the book had that ability built in?”

“I’ve got people checking out possible legends about the book,” Damon said.

“People?”

“Vampires.”

“And they are supposed to be better researchers than a witch with a master’s degree in library science? I seriously doubt that,” Zoe said.

“You can doubt it all you want,” he said. “I don’t care.”

“You should care if you want those demons stopped.”

“I can stop them myself. You saw that.” He pointed to the front door where he’d destroyed the cable guy.

“Yes, I did. You seemed to get a kick out of going after him. Maybe you’re behind that demon’s appearance,” Zoe said.

“You witches are behind it.”

“All my grandmother did was open a book!”

“And all hell broke loose. Literally. All the demons in hell will be set loose if we don’t close the portal,” Damon said.

*   *   *

Two hours later, Zoe was still trying to recover from Damon’s dramatic declaration. Okay, she was also still trying to recover from being plastered against his body. She would have been fine if he’d just taken off his shirt and she’d merely looked at him and confidently enjoyed the view.

Instead he’d pulled her so close that she’d just about lost it. The memory still left her shaken.

And yes, a better woman would focus all her attention on saving the world instead of harboring secret dark fantasies about a hot vampire. A better witch for sure would have overcome it without blinking an eye.

Zoe had to confess that she did get a kick out of watching the TV classic
I Dream of Jeannie
and seeing Jeannie crossing her arms and blinking her eyes to transport her master halfway around the world. Not that the master thing worked for Zoe, although no doubt Damon would have loved it if it had. He had
masterful
built into his vamp DNA.

With the demise of the cable demon, there was no TV to distract Zoe. She felt guilty even thinking about that. She should be concentrating on the Book of Darkness. She needed to call on her inner librarian, not her inner slut.

Not that she’d ever realized she might have an inner slut until Damon came into her life.

She just couldn’t concentrate with him around. And he showed no signs of going away anytime soon.

Refusing to allow her gaze to wander over to where Damon sat in a nearby chair, she kept her eyes on her laptop screen and the grisly illustrations of demons. It was not a pretty picture. She got totally wrapped up in the history, which was why she was so stunned when she looked up and saw the front door swing open and two strange men in suits standing there, pointing at her. “There she is!”

“Demons!” she yelled. “Kill them!”

Chapter Twelve

Zoe stood and glared at the pair of strangers. She had a bad feeling about them. Sure, they were wearing suits, but that didn’t mean anything. The last demon to darken their doorstep a short while ago had been wearing a cable guy uniform as a disguise. Why wasn’t Damon doing something with that dagger of his?

“They’re not demons,” Damon whispered in her ear.

“Then why did they come in without being invited and then point at me and say ‘There she is’?”

Damon turned to face the two men. “Care to answer that, gentlemen?”

“The door was already slightly open when we arrived. I knocked and the door opened even wider. We were so relieved to have found Zoe. We weren’t sure we had the correct address. You scared us by threatening to kill us.”

“I wasn’t talking about you. I thought I saw a cockroach.” In her opinion, just walking in on her qualified these two guys as cockroaches. “Besides, you scared me by barging in without permission. Who are you?” she demanded angrily.

“I’m sorry, I should have made the introductions sooner,” the taller of the two men said. “My name is Bob Weaver and this is Tim Simpson. We are followers of Dr. Martin Powers.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Gram said as she joined them.

“You’re the one who is going to be sorry,” Tim said, speaking for the first time.

“Don’t you threaten my grandmother,” Zoe said.

“Damn right,” Damon agreed. “That’s my job.”

“We’re not here to cause trouble,” Bob said.

“Where have I heard that before?” Damon mocked.

“This is all her fault.” Bob pointed to Zoe’s grandmother.

“I hear ya,” Damon said.

“You seem like a reasonable man,” Bob told Damon, who just smiled and nodded.

He’s not a
man
at all. He’s a vampire,
Zoe wanted to tell the intruders but knew she couldn’t. She had to bite her lip to stay silent.

“I don’t know if you are aware of the fact that Irma Adams is a very disturbed person,” Bob said.

“I am aware,” Damon said. He put his arm around Zoe’s shoulders, presumably to prevent her from hitting someone. He also put an arm around Gram’s shoulders, no doubt for the same reason. “What’s your beef with her?”

“She came to one of the motivational seminars Dr. Powers was giving back in Boston.”

“He’s not a real doctor,” Gram inserted. “He got his PhD in rhetoric from an online school. He claims that if you use the tools in the Powers Tool Box, you are guaranteed to find happiness. Of course, those tools don’t come cheap.”

“Dr. Powers has the ability to transform lives,” Bob said reverently.

“Yeah, transform them from bad to worse,” Gram said. “Unlike other motivational speakers, Powers claims that he is the only one who has the secret to living a perfect life. If you don’t buy into his shtick, you will be doomed forever.”

Bob shook his head. “That is an extreme exaggeration and a misrepresentation.”

Zoe had done some online research about Dr. Powers since Gram’s run-in, and it seemed to her that Gram was right.

“Irma created a terrible scene when she stood at the microphone intended to be used to ask relevant questions of Dr. Powers and instead shouted insults at the doctor’s followers. It resulted in a huge melee,” Bob said.

“Is a melee worse than a stampede?” Gram asked.

“They’re about equal,” Zoe said.

“And you’re here because?” Damon prompted Bob.

“Dr. Powers has indicated that he will forgive Irma providing she goes online to his website and apologizes for her comments.”

“When pigs fly.” Gram paused, perhaps realizing that she could make that happen. “No way. Not going to happen,” she said.

“You insulted Dr. Powers,” Bob said, making it sound as bad as breaking one of the Ten Commandments.

“He insulted my intelligence by claiming he could make your life better just by giving him money,” Gram retorted.

“It’s not just money,” Bob said. “It’s his entire Entryway to Enlightenment program in the Powers Tool Box.”

“It’s a Fast Track to Bankruptcy program,” Gram said. “You’re talking about thousands of dollars.”

Bob’s expression was condescending as he looked at them all. “No one is forced to enroll.”

“Sure they are,” Gram said. “It’s called emotional blackmail.”

“Nonsense. Everyone has a choice.”

“Right,” Gram scoffed. “Be miserable or pay me and be happy.”

“You are simplifying it in an inaccurate manner.” Bob’s irritation was starting to show.

Gram waved his words away. “You have no right to come here and bother me. How did you find me anyway?”

“We have our means,” Bob said. “And our orders.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zoe said, not liking the sound of that at all.

“If you don’t cooperate, then we are taking legal action against Irma,” Bob said.

“If you don’t leave our living room right now, then I’ll be the one taking action,” Gram warned.

Zoe took hold of her grandmother’s hand before she could do any witchcraft. “Now, Gram…”

“I don’t get it,” Damon said. “Surely this isn’t the first time this guy has been insulted. Why is he making such a big deal about it?”

Bob pointed to Irma. “Bad things have been happening since she started the melee. For some reason, a number of followers have left.”

Damon gave Gram a suspicious look, but she shook her head in an indication that she wasn’t responsible.

“That’s the only bad thing?” Damon asked. “No unexplained sightings or strange events?”

Bob frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s a good thing,” Damon replied. “Consider yourself lucky. But since it appears that Irma is not ready to apologize at this point, it would probably be best if you left now.”

“This isn’t over,” Bob said as he and his mostly silent partner headed out. “You’ll be hearing from us again.”

Zoe took great pleasure in ducking out from Damon’s imprisoning arm and slamming the door after them.

Damon did not look amused. “Great. Not only do we have demons to deal with, now we have cult-following humans as well.”

“Powers is a motivational-guru con man, not a cult leader,” Zoe corrected him.

“Five minutes ago you wanted to kill them,” Damon reminded her.

“Because I thought they were demons.”

“Which is why you should leave the thinking to me,” Damon said. “At least where demons are concerned.”

“I thought we agreed that I could do research on the subject,” Zoe said.

“We agreed to no such thing,” Damon said.

“You don’t think there is a connection between Powers and the demons, do you?” Gram asked. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

Nothing would surprise Zoe at this point. She turned to face Damon. “And what’s with you telling them that you think Gram is disturbed? Your comments were very insulting.”

“What? Now you’re going to take a page out of Powers’s book and demand an online apology from me? Not going to happen, little witch. We have more important things to talk about.” He fixed her with an intense stare Zoe could feel clear down to her toes. “I thought your grandmother was the one who started the stampede at their gathering.”

“That’s right.”

“Then why did they recognize you, Zoe?”

“How should I know what they were thinking?” she said. “They clearly weren’t acting logically.”

“Says the witch who called them demons.”

“That’s your fault,” Zoe told him.

“How do you figure that?” Damon said.