The Entity Within

by Cat Devon

“Where’s your grandmother?” Nick asked.

  “She got a headache when Tanya came so she went to rest in her room.”

  “Tanya has that effect on some people,” Nick said,

  “A lot of them, I would think,” Zoe muttered. Looking at Damon, she added, “That’s probably why the two of you get along so well. You make a perfect couple.”

  “We are not a couple,” Damon denied.

  “It’s none of my business if you are.”

  “You’re right. But we aren’t.”

  Zoe shrugged. “If you say so.”

  “You could at least pretend to believe me,” Damon said.

  “Why should I?” she said. “You never pretend to believe me. Nick and Daniella are the ones who have been welcoming and polite.”

  “Daniella sends her regrets,” Nick said. “She wanted to join us but I refused to allow it.”

  Zoe tried hard not to show it, but her feelings were hurt. “Why?”

  “Too dangerous,” Nick said.

  “You think that my grandmother and I are dangerous?”

  “I was referring to the threat of demons,” Nick said.

  “You think they’d come here?” Zoe said.

  “They were already right outside your house a few hours ago,” Nick said.

  Stunned, Zoe stumbled backward and landed on the bottom step of the staircase. Now she was stunned and embarrassed. And scared. She’d opened the door before she knew that Nick was the one knocking. What if it had been a demon? Or two demons? Or a gang of them?

  Yes, she did have a protection spell to keep her safe. She would rather not have to actually test its potency against demons, however.

  Zoe accepted the hand Nick offered her. She stood and tried to look calm as she murmured her thanks for his courteous help. Unlike Damon, who stood there looking amused at her clumsiness.

  “You didn’t tell her about the demons attacking you?” Nick asked Damon.

  “No, he didn’t,” Zoe replied.

  “A couple of demons attacked me when I left. I took care of them,” Damon said.

  “What did they want?” Zoe said.

  “To kill me,” Damon said bluntly.

  “They were after you?” she said.

  He nodded.

  “Not Gram and me?”

  “You, too, probably. But they had to go through me first, and that didn’t happen.”

  “Are there more out there?” Zoe tilted her head toward the front door.

  “Probably,” Damon said.

  Nick was more forthcoming. “There is only one remaining demon unaccounted for. The rest are locked in the tunnels.”

  “The bootleggers’ tunnels?” Zoe said.

  “How do you know about those?” Damon demanded.

  “Tanya told me.” She nervously glanced around the hardwood floor. “Do those tunnels run under this house?”

  Damon nodded.

  Once again, Nick was the one who elaborated to soothe her panic. “But the demons are not locked in this portion of the tunnels. They are actually near the section beneath my bar and the dental clinic. I believe in keeping my friends close and my enemies closer.”

  “And which are we?” Zoe asked. “Friends or enemies?” She held up her hand before Damon could speak and shot him a quelling look. “I already know what your answer would be. I’m asking Nick.”

  “Friends,” Nick said.

  “Does that mean you’re not here to evict us?”

  “I thought I made that clear before.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “We have company,” Damon announced before pulling the front door open.

  “I brought pizza!” Daniella said with such enthusiasm that Zoe grinned.

  “That’s great!” she said with equal excitement. She was starving.

  “No, that’s not great,” Nick said even as Daniella came inside and headed for the dining room with the large pizza box in her hands. “I told you to stay home.”

  Daniella smiled at Nick, her cheerful demeanor unfazed by his disapproval. “I know you did.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “To introduce Zoe and her grandmother to Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and welcome them to the neighborhood,” Daniella said.

  “You already brought some of your delicious cupcakes earlier,” Zoe said.

  “Yes, but now it’s dinnertime,” Daniella said. “And I got to thinking … there is still at least one demon on the loose. I think I’d be safer here with you, Nick, than home alone in my little apartment.” She cuddled against him and kissed him.

  “That’s disgusting,” Damon said. Seeing Nick’s angry expression, he explained, “I meant the cat jumping on the table.”

  “Is that the talking cat?” Nick asked.

  “Wait, you have a cat that can talk? Really talk?” Daniella said.

  “I’m not just a cat,” Bella proclaimed. “I’m her familiar.”

  “And you shouldn’t be on the table.” Zoe hurried to lift her down.

  “I smelled pizza,” Bella said.

  “Wow.” Daniella was impressed. “Will you talk to me?”

  “Bring me a cupcake next time,” Bella said. “Chocolate is my favorite flavor. We can sit and have a nice chat. The tales I could tell you about Catherine the Great and her court.”

  Daniella’s eyes widened. “You knew Catherine the Great?”

  “I was one of her closest confidantes,” Bella said.

  “Were you her pet?” Daniella asked.

  Bella’s eyes narrowed with displeasure. “I was a countess, one of her ladies-in-waiting. I have never been anyone’s pet. Although I wouldn’t mind having Misha as my pet.”

  “Was he a Russian lord or count?” Daniella said.

  “I was referring to the ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov,” Bella said. “I’ve never met him, but I would certainly like to.”

  “We are getting entirely off the subject here,” Damon protested. “We need to discuss the security and surveillance issues for tonight.”

  “What are you talking about?” Zoe demanded.

  “Nick and I will be spending the night here.”

  “Me too,” Daniella raised her hand to add. “So you won’t feel awkward about having two vampires watching over you as you sleep, Zoe. Not that they would actually be in your bedroom, right, guys?”

  Vampire silence.

  “They have a camera in my bedroom,” Zoe said. “How am I supposed to sleep knowing that I’m being watched? How am I supposed to put on a nightgown or pajamas with them watching me?”

  “The cameras can’t see in the dark,” Daniella said,

  “They are equipped with night-vision technology, which turns things green,” Damon said.

  “Like the witch in Wicked,” Zoe said.

  “‘They called one witch good and one witch wicked,’” Daniella quoted from the musical.

  “I know which one I’d call you,” Damon said, looking right at Zoe.

  She looked right back at him. “I know what I’d call you, too, if I hadn’t been raised not to curse.”

  Daniella frowned. “I didn’t have surveillance in my bedroom.”

  “That was different,” Damon said.

  “What he means is that he doesn’t care if we get eaten by demons,” Zoe said.

  “That’s not true,” Damon said.

  “Right. My mistake,” Zoe said. “They need us alive to try to retrieve the spell book.”

  “True,” he agreed.

  “Damon, tell her you won’t let any demons hurt her,” Daniella instructed him.

  “I won’t let any demons hurt her.”

  “Now say it as if you mean it,” Daniella said.

  “She won’t believe me.”

  “Then do a vampire pinkie swear,” Daniella said.

  Damon looked aghast at the idea. “I don’t even know what that is.”

  “Sure you do.” She nudged Nick. “Tell him.”

  Nick remained silent.

&
nbsp; Sighing, Daniella explained, “A pinkie swear is—”

  “I know what a pinkie swear is,” Damon interrupted her.

  “This is just the vampire version and since you are immortal it means even more,” Daniella reminded Damon. “Now you link your pinkie with Zoe’s.”

  “No way,” Zoe and Damon said in unison.

  “The pizza is getting cold,” Nick said.

  “Oh, right. We can do the vampire pinkie swear later,” Daniella said.

  “Or not,” Zoe muttered.

  “I smell pizza,” Gram said as she joined them. She was wearing her favorite flowing caftan in shades of aqua and green along with a hundred inches of freshwater pearls, which she had wrapped around her neck several times. Addressing Daniella, she said, “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  “I’m Daniella Delaney. I own Heavenly Cupcakes.”

  “Oh my. I had one of your creations earlier,” Gram said. “The Irish cream was to die for. Well, not really. Not that I want anyone dying, I mean.”

  “Daniella brought us a pizza to welcome us to the neighborhood,” Zoe told her grandmother.

  “It’s Chicago-style deep dish,” Daniella said as she opened the box. “We’ll need a big knife to cut this.”

  “Don’t bother offering your demon dagger,” Nick warned Damon.

  “I wasn’t about to,” Damon denied.

  “I’m not allowed to conjure sharp objects,” Gram said. “Zoe made me promise.”

  “I’ll get a knife from the kitchen.” Zoe was eager to leave the room if only for a few brief moments. Given a choice, she would have stayed in the kitchen. But she didn’t have a choice and she hated that fact. She hated this entire situation.

  It didn’t take her long to find a knife. She returned to the dining room and handed it to Daniella.

  Standing beside her, Damon said, “I’ll bet you were tempted to run that blade through me, weren’t you, little witch?”

  “Not at all,” Zoe said. “It wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “It would sting. I might even say ouch.”

  “You’d only say that to mock me,” she countered.

  “True.”

  “Too bad you can’t eat,” Zoe said.

  “Now you’re the one mocking me,” Damon said. “I fed before I came, so you can relax.”

  Yeah, right. Like that was ever going to happen. There was no way she could ever relax with Damon around. Every additional second she spent with him increased the sexual tension between them by a thousand percent. She was more and more aware of those awesome dark blue eyes of his and the erotic shape of his lips. But there was no way she could act on her desire … or his. She’d seen him eyeing her. Look but don’t touch seemed like a safe motto, but damn … a mere look from him was enough to make her body melt.

  He left them around the table and went in the corner to work his iPhone.

  “Damon, do join us,” Gram said.

  “He’s a vampire,” Zoe said. “He can’t eat food.”

  Gram looked confused. “But Nick is eating.”

  Zoe had noticed that but was too polite to ask why.

  “That’s a result of Nick mating with me,” Daniella cheerfully explained, which made Nick nearly choke on his pizza.

  “Need help over there?” Damon asked mockingly.

  “No,” Nick growled.

  “The first vampire to mate with a druid hybrid will have his powers greatly increased,” Daniella said. “We didn’t realize that one of the side effects was that Nick could once again eat real food. He’d never had a hot dog or pizza. Can you imagine that?”

  Which left Zoe wondering about Damon. He’d probably never had a pizza, either. She wasn’t about to ask him or feel guilty eating in front of him. Or maybe he had. Maybe he’d been turned in the 1950s like Tanya, in which case he would have had plenty of chances to eat hot dogs and pizza.

  But if Damon was turned in the 1850s, that was another matter entirely. Same for the 1750s. Hell, he could have been born in 1050 for all she knew. What was the politically correct way to inquire about such things?

  Not that she cared when he was turned. It was none of her business really. She should just ignore him the way he was ignoring her.

  He was totally immersed in whatever was on the screen of his phone as he pressed the tiny keyboard with incredibly rapid strokes. His actions drew her attention to his fingers, which were thin and artistic. Not dainty, though. Not at all.

  “Having fun playing Words with Friends?” Zoe couldn’t resist asking.

  Damon lifted his head to give her a blank stare.

  “Never mind,” she muttered, focusing on cutting her pizza instead. It was so thick that she couldn’t just pick it up and eat it like back in Boston.

  “No one beats me,” Damon said.

  Which left her wondering if he really was playing or if he just had heard about the online game and was yanking her chain. She hadn’t known him very long, but she already knew for a fact that he got a big kick out of pushing her buttons.

  “It was so nice of you to all come over and make us feel welcome,” Gram said.

  “They’re staying overnight,” Zoe warned her. “To keep an eye on us.”

  “Really?” Gram clapped her hands. “It will be like a vampire-witch-druid-hybrid pajama party. What fun!”

  “Next you’ll be getting out Twister … no, I’m only kidding, Gram. Do not do that.”

  “Of course I wouldn’t do it right now. We’re still eating,” Gram said. “But later…”

  “No.”

  “Why are you against this Twister thing?” Damon demanded.

  “It’s a stupid game.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  “It’s great at parties,” Gram said.

  “We’re not here to party,” Damon said.

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while keeping an eye on us,” Gram said.

  “The first night I stayed with Daniella, she made me watch a chick flick,” Nick said.

  “It was The Proposal,” Daniella said. “You remind me of Betty White in the movie,” she told Gram.

  “It’s the white hair,” Gram said.

  “And the mischievous look in your eyes,” Daniella said.

  Gram laughed. “I don’t know about that.”

  Zoe knew all about Gram’s mischievous streak. It might be a benefit in a regular senior but in a witch it became an occasional liability.

  Once they’d finished the pizza, Gram offered to whip up a little something for dessert.

  Zoe was already shaking her head before Gram had even completed her sentence. “Not a good idea.”

  “I’m not good at conjuring up cooks. I once tried for Emeril and for some reason got a set of T-fal cookware instead. And then there was the baked Alaska incident. All I can say is that I’m glad the ballroom had built-in sprinklers.”

  Morticia walked into the dining room at that moment, diverting Daniella’s attention. “So you have another cat? Does this one talk, too?”

  “No,” Gram said. “But she communicates in other ways.”

  “Does she write notes?” Damon asked sarcastically.

  “She probably could if she wanted to,” Gram said.

  “We didn’t save any pizza for them,” Daniella said.

  “They’ve got Fancy Feast in their dishes in the kitchen,” Gram said.

  “I’ve gone from Russian caviar on golden spoons to cat food on the floor.” Bella shook her head. “It’s pitiful.”

  “We all have our burdens to bear,” Zoe said.

  “She is such a hard taskmaster.” Bella looked up at Daniella with the soulful look she’d perfected from watching the Puss in Boots movie over and over again. That, Turning Point, and Magic Mike were Bella’s favorite DVDs, and she’d often watch them nonstop.

  “It must be very hard for you,” Daniella said sympathetically.

  Bella nodded her agreement.

  “I’ll bring you a chocolate cupcake tom
orrow,” Daniella promised her. Turning to Zoe, she said, “Can she eat that okay?”

  “I’m down here,” Bella said. “And I can eat it just fine. I would prefer caviar, but I’ll make do.”

  Morticia sat beside Bella and copied her soulful look up at Daniella.

  “I’ll bring one for you, too,” Daniella said.

  “If you two are done begging, I’ll clear the table,” Zoe said. She was eager to take a break from Damon. He hadn’t spoken up during the feline discussion but Zoe knew he listened to every word.

  “I’ll help you,” Daniella said.

  “No. You’re a guest.”

  “Or a prison guard,” Daniella noted. “I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that way.”

  “I don’t think that about you,” Zoe said.

  “She thinks it about me,” Damon said.

  “Which is why we need to insert a little fun into the evening,” Gram said, and she pulled a box from thin air.

  “That doesn’t look like Twister,” Daniella said.

  “It’s the witch version. Similar but not close enough to break any copyright laws,” Gram said. Unfolding the mat, she set it on the floor. “Instead of colors we have symbols. The stars, the moon, the sun, and a purple triangle.”

  “The meaning of which is?”

  “That I like purple,” Gram said. “Now someone draws a card from this deck with one of the symbols. You only move your hands. Your feet remain here at all times.” She pointed to the foot-shaped marks labeled LEFT and RIGHT. “Two players are on the mat at the same time.”

  “Let Daniella and Zoe play it,” Damon said.

  “Great idea,” Zoe said. “Vampires wouldn’t be any good at this as it requires manual dexterity and flexibility.”

  Damon shot her a sardonic look. “Nice try, but I don’t have to prove anything to you.”

  “Nick has great dexterity and flexibility along with super vamp speed,” Daniella proudly proclaimed. “I don’t know if you realize that vampires move really fast.”

  “Damon demonstrated that earlier this afternoon when he tore through the place searching for the mysterious book of spells because he thought we had hidden it somewhere. Part of him still thinks that,” Zoe said.

  “It’s his job to be suspicious,” Nick said.

  “He’s particularly suspicious of witches,” Zoe said.

  “Guilty as charged,” Damon said without any remorse.