The Entity Within (19 page)

“I’m a process server,” Bob said. “I did tell you this wasn’t over yet.”

She looked down at the official-looking document he’d thrust into her hands.

Zoe had spent hours doing research on demons and hell. She’d had to face a demon in a funeral home and learned that her mother was accused of using black magic to send someone to hell. Then she’d been kissed by a vampire. Twice.

To top it all off, she had almost used black magic herself … maybe. Maybe the Latin phrases were black magic, maybe not.

That was enough to upset anyone. Even a witch. Especially a witch.

But Zoe’s day had just gotten worse, because behind Bob, Dr. Powers’s process server, was none other than her ex-fiancé, Tristin.

He stood there as good-looking as ever. His light brown hair was a little on the long side and slightly rumpled. That was the only rumpled thing about him. His jeans and light blue shirt were crisp. He was no nerdy absentminded academic. He was a con man … who should have forgotten all about her.

Gram had cast a spell on Tristin to ensure that he’d forget Zoe. Or to be more precise, that he’d forget she’d confessed she was a witch.

“These humans are getting on my nerves,” Damon muttered for her ears only. Then he focused his attention on Tristin. “Is he with you?” he asked Bob.

Bob nodded.

Damon moved toward Tristin. “Who are you?”

“Zoe’s fiancé,” Tristin said.

“Ex-fiancé,” Zoe corrected him. “And I have nothing to say to you.”

“But I have something to say to you. Unless you want me to reveal your secret to everyone?”

Shit. The spell hadn’t worked. Looking in Tristin’s light brown eyes, she could tell that he still knew she was a witch. She opened the door wider to let him in.

“I thought you’d come around to my way of thinking,” Tristin said.

“You thought wrong,” Damon said before moving with vamp hyper speed to slam Tristin against the foyer wall and hold him by the throat six inches off the ground.

“You’re a warlock!” Tristin gurgled.

“Much worse.” Damon bared his fangs at him.

“A vampire?” Tristin stuttered.

“Bingo.”

“Are you going to turn me?” Tristin seemed excited by the possibility.

Damon dropped him in disgust. “No way.”

Tristin scrambled to his feet. “Why not?”

“You’re not worthy.”

“What do I have to do to be worthy?”

“There’s nothing you can do.”

“A vampire.” Tristin shook his head in amazement. “Are there more of your kind?”

Damon shot a glance at Zoe. “Is this guy for real?”

“I don’t know what she’s told you about me—” Tristin said.

Damon cut him off. “Enough to know that you’re an asshole.”

“I’m a professor of paranormal activity,” Tristin said.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Damon asked. “Because it doesn’t.”

Zoe turned to find Bob the process server staring at them as if looking into the gates of hell.

She didn’t regret the fact that Bob was afraid. After all, the man was making her life more difficult than it already was. But she couldn’t afford to have him go out and spread the news about Damon being a vampire. She wasn’t confident enough to cast a spell after her last inadvertent incantation had brought up the possibility of dark magic.

Damon moved toward Bob. Looking into his eyes, he compelled him. “Go sit on the couch and be quiet.”

Bob complied without a word.

“I’ll deal with him later,” Damon told Zoe.

“Are you going to drain him of all his blood?” Tristin said.

“No.”

“So you’re going to turn him?” Tristin pressed.

Damon rolled his eyes. “What is it with you?”

“Zoe couldn’t give me any of her powers,” Tristin said. “But if you turned me, I’d have your powers. The powers of a vampire. Immortality. I want it.”

“Tough shit,” Damon said.

“You can’t compel me,” Tristin said.

“Really?” Damon raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

“Because I have a very powerful mind,” Tristin bragged. “Tell him, Zoe.”

“He’s an idiot,” Zoe said.

“She’s just angry because I dumped her. I’m sorry,” Tristin told Zoe. “Upon further reflection, I decided that I was unfair to you. I know your grandmother cast a spell over me but I had anticipated that. So I had a file about you on my laptop. All about you being a witch, and how you helped me. Unfortunately, I didn’t know to look for it—hence the lapse in time. I was going through some old files on my computer and ran across the one involving you. It may have taken me a while, but I’m here. And it’s not like what I did was that bad. I mean, I could have blackmailed you by threatening to reveal the fact that you’re a witch. But I didn’t. You love me—”

“Loved you,” she corrected him. “Past tense.”

“I don’t believe you,” Tristin said.

“That’s your problem,” she shot back.

“
I’m
his problem,” Damon said. “Because an angry witch is nothing compared with a pissed-off vampire.”

“What did I do to piss you off?” Tristin said.

Damon tilted his head toward Zoe. “You hurt her. Big mistake.”

“I’ve acknowledged that,” Tristin said.

“Not sufficiently. I can’t decide whether to have you grovel at her feet and beg for forgiveness or bray like a donkey.”

“I’ll do both those things if you’ll turn me,” Tristin said.

“Not gonna happen,” Damon said. “Get over it.”

Zoe finally regained enough presence of mind to ask the questions buzzing in her head. “How did you know where to find me? What’s your connection to the Powers people?”

“They came to me,” Tristin said. “They Googled you and found our engagement announcement, which included the name of the college where I teach. They said they needed to contact your grandmother, and I said you always stuck together. If they found you, they’d find her.”

“Why didn’t you come with them when they stopped by earlier?”

“I wanted to see what kind of reception they got,” Tristin said.

“He was afraid you’d turn him into a toad,” Damon said.

“I waited because I knew Bob would be coming back,” Tristin maintained.

“How did you convince him to let you tag along?” Zoe asked.

“I told him that as the man you’d agreed to marry, I could convince you of the error of your ways because you still loved me,” Tristin said.

“Talk about being delusional.” Zoe shook her head. When her bangs fell into her eyes, she impatiently shoved them aside. “Dr. Powers has nothing on you.”

“If I were delusional, I wouldn’t have been able to find you by having a student of mine hack into your social media page and locate you.” Tristin preened like a peacock. “Who thinks I’m an idiot now?”

“I do,” Damon said.

“Me too,” Zoe said.

“Perhaps you don’t realize how much trouble you are in or how bad your situation is,” Damon said.

“Wait.” Tristin held his hand out. “I know why Dr. Powers is so angry. And it’s not just because of what your grandmother did at that meeting.”

“What are you talking about?” Zoe demanded.

“I did a little research on him. Actually I did a
lot
of research. Did you know he has a degree in rhetoric?”

Zoe nodded. “We know.”

“Did you know that his father’s maternal grandmother’s family goes back to the 1600s in Boston?” Tristin said.

“So? A lot of Bostonians can trace their family trees back that far. Not that all of them are accurate, but they like bragging rights,” she said.

“He’s a blue blood,” Tristin said. “Don’t you get it? His family was around for the Salem witch trials. He has a thing against witches.”

“Does he think we are witches?” Zoe asked. “Did you tell him or his followers that?”

“I may have insinuated that you had powers he’d find helpful in his line of work.”

“He’s just a human,” Damon said. “Or are you claiming otherwise?”

“Is he a witch hunter?” Zoe said.

Tristin shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just saying it’s possible…”

Damon moved close to stare directly into Tristin’s eyes. “You’re just saying that you will forget this conversation and this visit to Chicago. You won’t have any further contact with Dr. Powers or any of his followers. You will also forget that I am a vampire and that Zoe and her grandmother are witches. You will forget your belief in paranormal activity and decide to join the Peace Corps and help others instead.”

Zoe was surprised that Damon added that last command. Surprised and pleased.

“No witches? No vampires?”

Zoe wasn’t sure if Tristin was making statements or forming questions.

“No witches and no vampires,” Damon said forcefully. “They don’t exist. Understand?”

Tristin nodded.

“Okay, you and Bob are going to get in a cab, go back to the airport, and fly back to Boston.”

Again, Tristin nodded.

“Stay there.”

Zoe eyed Tristin suspiciously. She wasn’t sure if he was faking it or not. She waved her hand in front of his eyes to see if he’d blink, but he retained the same glassy-eyed expression of someone in a trance.

Damon strolled over to the couch and focused his attention on Bob. “You will return to Boston and tell Dr. Powers that Zoe and her grandmother are no longer in Chicago. You were unable to serve the legal document to anyone and you will return it to Dr. Powers.” Damon took the paper from Zoe and slapped it into Bob’s hands. “Understand?”

Bob nodded.

“Good. Now come join Tristin in the cab heading to the airport.” Damon led both men outside, where a cab magically was waiting.

“How did you do that?” Zoe asked when Damon returned to her side.

“I compelled them.”

“No, I meant the cab. It was there without you even calling for one.”

“The cabdriver is a vamp from Vamptown. He’ll make sure they leave.”

“He’s not going to kill them, is he?” Zoe asked.

“Why do you care?”

“Because I don’t want their blood on my hands,” Zoe said.

“You live in Vamptown. You’re going to get blood on your hands at some point,” Damon said.

“That’s not true,” Daniella said as she walked in the front door, which was still open. “I don’t have blood on my hands. Well, cupcake-icing blood but not the real stuff.”

“That was before demons moved in,” he said.

As if on cue, the organ music opening for
Phantom of the Opera
rose from the floor vents.

“Wow.” Daniella was impressed. “Bruce told me about hearing the music but it doesn’t come through our vents at the cupcake shop. I listen to Adele while I’m baking. I like Florence and the Machine, too.”

“What are you doing? Making your requests? This isn’t a radio station. Those are demons down there,” Damon said.

“I know that.”

“They can suck out a witch’s brains. You don’t want to know what they can do to humans,” he told Daniella.

“I’m a druid hybrid,” she reminded him.

“Which makes it worse for you,” Damon said.

“Stop trying to scare her,” Zoe said, putting a protective arm around Daniella. “She can do bad things to vampires when she’s mad. I want to hear more about that, by the way.”

“It won’t help you against demons,” Damon said. “And hybrids aren’t immune. They get the punishment of both a human and a witch. Your beating heart would be yanked out of your chest and then your brains sucked out.”

“They’re bad. They’re evil. They’re dangerous. We get it,” Zoe said. “Sometimes people use humor as a coping mechanism.”

He raised an eyebrow. “People?”

“Hybrids and witches,” she said. “To quote one of my favorite TV shows, ‘Do not belittle my coping mechanisms.’”

“
Castle,
right?” Daniella said. “I love that show, too. I’ve been a Nathan Fillion fan since he was in
Firefly
. Did you ever see that series?”

Zoe shook her head.

“I have it on DVD,” Daniella said.

“In case you’re interested, I just had Neville destroy your ex-fiancé’s laptop and any other devices he might have, including thumb drives, so he can’t fall back on that to regain his memory,” Damon told Zoe. “But don’t let me interrupt your girl talk.”

“Ignore him,” Zoe said.

“I stopped by because Nick is meeting me here for dinner. He’s bringing corned beef and cabbage from an Irish pub in an hour or so for St. Patrick’s Day. While we wait, I thought you might need some help restoring order to your work space, Zoe. I heard via the grapevine that Damon made a bit of a mess of it,” Daniella said.

“Zoe is a witch. She can fix it with the blink of an eye,” Damon said.

“I’m trying not to use magic,” Zoe curtly reminded him.

“Yeah, how is that working out for you?” he drawled.

He was trying to get to her. And he was succeeding. “Daniella and I will be upstairs,” Zoe told him.

“It would be a good idea to put a protection spell on her,” Damon said. “I told you that demons are not kind to hybrids.”

Zoe was aggravated that she hadn’t thought of that herself. There was also the fact that here she was, forced to use magic again.

“Is it okay with you that I cast the spell?” she asked Daniella.

Daniella nodded.

The
Phantom
music stopped as Zoe quickly cast the spell then shot Damon an irritated look. “Happy now?”

He just gave her one of his sexy smirks that made her lust after his lips … and the rest of his body.

She refused to stomp up the stairs as a sign of her anger, but boy she was sure tempted. Remembering how her anger had resulted in her levitating in her workroom, Zoe put a lid on it and focused on the space before her.

“Gram could have gotten things back in order with a spell but I vowed not to use magic when I moved here and it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing. Which is why it’s important that I restore order to things myself, without magic,” she told Daniella.

“What made you vow not to use magic, if you don’t mind me asking? Were you afraid someone would find out you’re a witch?” Daniella said.

“My mother died two years ago after using black magic in a spell. After her death, I vowed not to use spells again.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Daniella hugged her. “I know what it’s like to lose your mother. Mine died when I was sixteen but I still miss her.”