The Entity Within (25 page)

“We’re fine right here,” Zoe said.

“When you are called before a vampire clan council, you go where we tell you,” Tanya said. “Isn’t that right, Nick?”

“Unfortunately, that is true,” Nick said. “Come on, I’ll get you both some chairs up front.”

“They need to stand to face their accusers,” Tanya said.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Gram said once again.

Zoe didn’t either. She searched the small crowd for Damon. Where was he? He couldn’t just bring them and dump them here, could he? Would he desert them like that? Apparently the answer was yes.

“Damon isn’t a council member,” Tanya said triumphantly. “He can only be called as a witness.”

“Or to vouch for character,” Nick said.

Right. Like that was going to happen.

“We could be in hot water here,” Gram said, taking hold of Zoe’s hand and eyeing the small crowd anxiously.

“Nick won’t let anything happen to us,” Zoe said with more confidence than she felt.

“Nick only has one vote,” Tanya said.

“Daniella—”

“Is not a vampire,” Tanya said. “She is not a council member.”

“Why isn’t Damon a council member?” Zoe said.

“He hasn’t been in Vamptown long enough. There is a one-year residency requirement.”

Great. Zoe knew the only reason Damon would save them was to get the Book of Darkness. At this point she didn’t really care what his motivations were. She just wanted to get out of there.

“Let’s get started,” Tanya said. “I will turn the procedure over to Pat since he is the oldest.”

The regret she saw on Pat’s face was not reassuring. Surely he knew that Zoe was a necessary part of the plan to get the spell book. Not that there actually was a plan per se. Maybe that’s what this was all about. They wanted to hear the plan.

Okay, then she’d better think of one fast. Hard to do when standing before a group of angry vampires, but not impossible.

“I think this has something to do with the equinox,” Zoe said. “It’s coming soon. The day after tomorrow, in fact. It’s the official beginning of spring but it’s also the day when there are equal amounts of light and darkness. The demons represent darkness.”

“Next you’ll be saying they are the cause of global warming,” Tanya scoffed.

“No, humans are responsible for that.” Zoe took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. “If the number of daylight hours increases, then that should weaken the power of the demons.”

“I didn’t find any scientific evidence of that in my research,” Neville the Nerd said.

Doc Boomer held out his hand. “Wait, are you saying that the demons could turn the world dark?”

Okay, that sounded worse than she’d hoped. “No, I’m not saying that. Definitely not saying that.”

“Then what are you saying?” The vampire dentist was clearly impatient.

She didn’t know what the hell she was saying. She was starting to panic, and that was never a good start for logic.

She just knew that the equinox was coming and the demons had to be defeated by then.
Before
then would be even better.

Zoe closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain her composure. Instead she got a vision of herself and Gram in black garb reminiscent of seventeenth-century Salem as someone put a noose around her neck.

She immediately opened her eyes and quickly looked down. Her
KEEP CALM
T-shirt was still there. Her hand flew to her throat. No noose. Just the chain holding her talisman.

Okay. Things would be okay. She just had to stay calm.

“You both have been accused of being a danger to Vamptown,” Pat said.

Accused? That didn’t sound good.

“Flames were reported coming from every floor vent in Vamptown,” Neville said.

“Every
vamp
floor vent,” Bruce pointed out. “Not the humans’.”

“This time,” Neville said. “What if that isn’t the case next time?”

“The flames came from the demons,” Zoe said. “Not us.”

“The demons are here because of you,” Tanya said. “You released them.”

“Damon is going to get rid of them,” Zoe said.

“But you can call forth more,” Tanya said. “You own the book that released them from hell.”

“We do not own it. We never saw it before, right, Gram?”

Her grandmother twisted her fingers nervously. “Well, I may have seen it once as a young girl.”

Zoe’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“There,” Tanya said triumphantly. “You heard it, fellow council members. The older witch brought the book here to release demons upon Vamptown and destroy us.”

“Hold on a second. Gram, did you see it or dream you saw it?”

“I’m not sure,” Gram admitted.

“The old witch is senile,” Tanya said.

“Not senile enough that I can’t put warts on your face,” Gram growled.

“She threatened me,” Tanya said. “Allow me to get rid of her.”

“Damon has made it clear that we need the witches to retrieve the demon book,” Nick said.

“We don’t need them both,” Tanya said.

“We do,” Nick said.

“Then let’s separate them.” Tanya snapped her fingers, and the two vampires who had accompanied her earlier moved toward Zoe and her grandmother.

“Wait, you’ve got something on your face,” Gram told Tanya, who immediately whipped out a compact mirror to check her appearance.

Grabbing Zoe’s hand, Gram pointed to the mirror, which flew from Tanya’s hand to the wall beside them. Then Gram rapidly recited,

Mirror on the wall

Who’s the ugliest vampire of them all?

Mirror, mirror

Get us the hell out of here!

Zoe didn’t have time to ask where they were going, but she soon found out. The tunnels.

“Welcome, ladies.” Silas bowed. He looked just like his astral projection—only now she not only sensed his malevolence, but could actually feel it crawling over her skin. “How kind of you to grace us with your presence.”

This time Zoe cast the spell.

We’re in trouble

Take us back on the double.

In the blink of an eye they were back in front of the Vamptown Council. Only this time Damon was there.

“What’s going on?” Damon demanded.

“The witches tried to escape,” Tanya said. “They must be punished.”

“Shut up!” Damon growled. “Everybody just shut up.” He turned to face Zoe. “You won’t be hurt.”

“Or Gram. And we won’t be separated,” Zoe said fiercely, already thinking of a spell to take them to someplace safer than the vampire bar or the demon tunnel.

“Neither you nor your grandmother will be hurt by us,” Damon said. “You have my word on it as a Demon Hunter.”

To leave or not to leave?

“I trust him,” Gram said.

“And we won’t be thrown into vampire jail or anything,” Zoe said.

Damon stepped past the other vampires to stand before her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Trust me, little witch,” he whispered. “Stay or all will be lost.”

In the end Zoe trusted her gut, and that told her he was telling her the truth. She nodded her agreement.

For one brief second, Damon looked like he wanted to touch her. Instead he pivoted to face his fellow vampires. “Listen, everyone. The demons are behind all of this. They wanted you to try to get rid of the witches. That’s why they created the flames. So you’d either banish the witches or scare them into leaving.”

“We can’t have flames shooting out of the heating ducts,” Doc Boomer said. “I don’t mean to be a downer. I’m just stating the obvious.”

“I know that,” Damon said.

“So what do you plan on doing about it?” Doc Boomer said.

“The demons are right below us. I am not going to say anything to warn them of their destruction.”

“I say we take a vote now about these witches,” Tanya said. “Remember, Damon, you do not have a vote. All in favor of getting rid of the witches say ‘Aye’. Let me be the first. Aye.”

“Aye,” Doc Boomer said regretfully.

Neville cast a nervous look in Damon’s direction. “Aye.”

“Nay,” Nick said.

“Nay,” Pat said.

“Nay,” Bruce said.

Zoe cast a nervous look at the two vamps that Tanya had used to bring them to the bar.

“They can’t vote,” Damon said. “They haven’t been in Vamptown long enough. So it appears we have a tie.”

“And no motion can be carried without a majority,” Nick said. “Which means Irma and Zoe stay. And they continue to work with Damon on locating the missing Book of Darkness. This meeting is formally adjourned.”

“I’m so sorry about that,” Pat said. “I feel responsible. I should have spoken up about my connection to Silas.”

“No,” Damon said. “Keep that to yourself for the time being.”

“Bruce knows. And I told Nick already,” Pat admitted.

“Told me what?” Nick said as he joined them.

“Let’s continue this in your office,” Damon said.

The five of them barely fit in the small office at the back of the bar. “It’s soundproof,” Nick said.

“I don’t think we should tell anyone else about Pat’s connection to Silas at this point,” Damon said. “You saw how paranoid everyone got.”

“Not everyone,” Bruce said. “We voted nay.”

“Let’s explore this equinox connection further,” Damon said. “Pat, can you check your personal library of ancient books?”

This was the first Zoe had heard about the older vampire having a specialized library.

“I received a few illuminated manuscripts dating back to the Dark Ages from my sire. He had a strong connection to mystical powers in ancient times,” Pat said. “I’ve never had cause to consult the volumes before, but this is definitely a time for it. I’d already started when I heard this meeting called.”

“After the flames nearly burned the Moroccan rug I had near the floor vent,” Bruce said.

“Keep those manuscripts safe,” Damon said.

“I will. And you keep the witches safe,” Pat said.

“I don’t need to tell you that time is running out,” Nick said. “Vamptown could have gone up in flames today.”

“And Damon and Zoe didn’t even have sex,” Gram said.

“What?” Nick’s voice was curt.

“Daniella said she had a premonition that if Damon and Zoe had sex, Vamptown would go up in flames,” Gram said. “Was I not supposed to say that?”

“I know about the premonition,” Nick said.

“You can’t blame the flames on Zoe,” Gram said. “Or Damon.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Nick said.

“I was surprised how modern your spell was,” Bruce told Gram. “I was expecting something more along the lines of Shakespeare’s witches from
Macbeth.
”

“‘Eye of newt, and toe of frog,’” Gram quoted.

Bruce nodded. “That’s right.”

“Not my thing,” Gram said. “Although I have used the ‘hell-broth boil and bubble’ line on occasion.”

“Where did you go when you disappeared?” Bruce asked.

“Listen, they’ve had a rough time,” Damon said. “Let’s get the details later. For now, I think we should head back to the house.”

“Good idea,” Nick said.

The moment they were in their house, Gram headed for her room, citing the need for a nap.

“Where
did
you go when you disappeared?” Damon asked Zoe.

“To the tunnels.”

“Your grandmother sent you both to the tunnels? Why?”

Zoe put her hand to Damon’s mouth. “Keep your voice down.” She quickly pulled her hand away. Her fingers tingled, but she couldn’t think about that now. She had to stay focused, as in focused on demon demolition and not sex with Damon. “It wasn’t deliberate on her part. She panicked and didn’t specify a destination.”

“How do you know you were in the tunnels?”

“Because Silas was there to welcome us. I saw two shadowy figures behind Silas that I’m assuming were the two Guys. We didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

“Did Silas say anything?”

“He said welcome and something about how kind it was of us to grace them with our presence.”

“What else did you see? Any weapons? Anything else?”

Zoe shook her head. “We were only there a few seconds. I’m sorry. My only thought was to get us out of there.”

“You did good.”

Zoe couldn’t believe her ears. Had Damon just given her a compliment? That had to be a first.

She’d experienced more firsts since coming to Vamptown than she could count. She couldn’t even focus, she was feeling so burned out. “I need a few minutes alone.”

“I understand.”

Zoe didn’t see how Damon could understand when she didn’t. What was happening to her? Why had she had that flashback about Salem? Why had Gram’s spell resulted in them landing in the tunnels? What did the impending equinox have to do with anything? Where the hell was that damn demon book?

So many questions, so few answers.

And then there was the intensely personal question. Why, despite everything, did she want to hurl herself into Damon’s arms and kiss him? Why did she long for him, lust for him? Were those thoughts enough to have sent flames shooting through the floor vents throughout Vamptown?

But the biggest question of all was this—was she falling in love with Damon? Because that would be the most dangerous thing of all, at least as far as her heart was concerned. Dealing with demons was bad enough. Dealing with a broken heart should pale in comparison. It didn’t.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Chapter Twenty-one

“I’m so glad you are back,” Bella greeted Zoe at the top of the stairs and followed her into Zoe’s bedroom. “I was looking for something or some way to help you and I think I’ve come up with it.”

“What is it?” Zoe said.

Bella stretched her paw under the bed and pulled out Zoe’s mother’s amethyst necklace. Picking it up in her mouth, she jumped onto the bed and dropped it beside Zoe with the pride a normal cat might show at capturing a mouse.

Zoe frowned in confusion. “How is my mother’s necklace supposed to help me?”

“As you know, I never met your mother. I came to you after she passed.”

“Yes. So?”

“So I didn’t know about this necklace until today. You never showed it to me even though you showed it to Damon.”