by Cat Devon
“Vamps have an increased sense of smell.”
“Bully for you.”
“I can smell your fear,” he said.
She was sure he was making that up. “What does it smell like?” Wait, she had remembered to put on deodorant this morning, hadn’t she? She’d been in such a rush to get dressed, she wasn’t sure. “Never mind.”
“What are you afraid of, little witch?”
“Demons in funeral homes,” she said. “And spiders. I don’t like spiders.” Damn, she shouldn’t have told him that. “I was just kidding about the spiders.” She wasn’t but she didn’t want him to know that.
She also didn’t want him knowing the strong desire she felt for him. She was afraid of the way he could get to her with just one look. And then there was that extraordinary kiss—not to mention his hands on her breast. That caress was burned into her memory.
Damon was clearly a master in the art of seduction. He’d had over a century to perfect his moves. She’d had fewer than forty-eight hours to perfect her defenses against him, and there were moments when the walls she’d built were about to come tumbling down.
Even now, Damon was looking at her as if he wanted to lift her onto the bar, peel off her yoga pants and underwear, and have his wicked way with her.
She tried to turn her thoughts away from that vividly sizzling fantasy but it stubbornly stayed in her mind.
Thankfully, she was prevented from doing anything she’d regret by the arrival of a young man wearing broken glasses taped together. Definitely a nerd. Also a vampire? Yep, judging by the way Damon greeted him. So vampires came in all shapes and sizes and personalities. From Pat the hippie who’d actually fought for the English Crown to Tanya whose boyfriend turned her in the 1950s to Damon the darkly sexy vampire who fought for the Union.
“This is Neville,” Damon told her.
The nerdy vampire shyly nodded at her.
Was he afraid of her because she was a witch?
Wait, it was coming back to her now. This Neville was the guy who’d hacked her laptop. She wished she was a meaner witch and could do something equally egregious to him. But the poor vamp was probably just following orders. Damon’s orders.
He and Damon conversed in such quiet tones that she couldn’t hear them. At first she was aggravated, but upon further reflection she wondered if she really wanted to hear what they had to say if it had anything to do with embalming rooms and blood.
When Damon finally returned to her side, she said, “Did he have anything new to add to Silas’s story?”
“Nothing we didn’t already know. Let’s go.”
“I need to stop at the Heavenly Cupcakes shop before we go home.” It was her home, not Damon’s. She wondered where he lived but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking.
“Is another Latin saying drawing you there?” Damon asked.
“No, it’s the devil’s food cupcake.”
“For Guy the demon?”
“No, for me.”
Zoe entered Daniella’s shop for the first time and was impressed by the decor. A Raphael-like angel smiled down on them from the HEAVENLY CUPCAKES sign inside the store. Several other framed prints of angels hung on the pink walls. But Zoe’s main attention was focused on the glass case displaying a wonderful assortment of cupcakes. Neon-colored chalk listed their individual descriptions on the glass. They all sounded divine. Black Forest. Chocolate peppermint. Amaretto. Red velvet.
The young woman behind the counter had dark blond hair with streaks of attention-grabbing hot pink throughout. “Hi, I’m Xandra. Welcome to Heavenly Cupcakes. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all out of our Irish cream cupcakes and the mini mints but we have lots of other choices. Have you decided what you’d like?”
Zoe nodded. She’d like for the past thirty-some hours to disappear. She’d like to go back to pre-demon times. She’d like to focus on her lovely soaps and lotions instead of saving the world. But since none of that was going to happen, she needed chocolate.
“I’ll have the devil’s food,” she told Xandra.
“Is that to go or to eat here?” Xandra asked.
“Eat here,” she said.
“To go,” Damon said.
One look at his expression told her that he wasn’t about to change his mind. “Fine. To go then.”
Xandra packaged the cupcake in a special box that prevented it from sliding around.
Zoe belatedly realized she didn’t have her wallet with her since Damon had whisked her away from home at top vamp speed.
Turning to Damon, she said, “Thank you for paying for my cupcake.” Her look warned him that if he refused to pay, there would be hell to pay.
The corner of his wicked mouth lifted in the fleeting hint of a sardonic smile. “You’re welcome.”
As Zoe stepped back outside, she realized it was the first time she’d been away from their rental house since she’d first met Damon … yesterday? She stopped in her tracks. How could that be? She felt as if she’d known him for much longer than that.
She walked past Pat’s Tats. Now that she knew Pat was a vampire who had been turned while imprisoned in the Tower of London for crimes against Cromwell, she wondered how many of the other businesses along the street were run by vampires.
She already knew that Tanya’s Tanning Salon was one of them. But what about the Happy Times Emergency Dental Clinic?
“Dental care is important for vamps,” Damon said, shining his pearly whites at her. “Doc Boomer is a real pro.”
“A pro vampire?” she whispered, looking around the street nervously to make sure she wasn’t overheard. The sidewalk was empty.
Damon nodded. “He got his nickname from his booming voice and his overwhelming physical appearance. But enough about the doc. If you’re done sightseeing, we need to get back to your house.”
“I should have gotten a cupcake for Gram,” Zoe said, pivoting to return to Heavenly Cupcakes, apparently the only human-owned business on the block. Well, the only hybrid-owned business, she corrected herself.
Damon turned her back. “I had Xandra add another devil’s food cupcake for your grandmother.”
His consideration surprised her. “That was nice of you. Thank you.”
The short walk to her rental house seemed longer with Damon beside her. She could see where super vamp speed might come in handy from time to time. Not that she wanted him scooping her up in his arms again that way.
Doing that took away her power. Well, not her power, but her choice. Apparently her protection spell did not guard her from being whisked off by a vampire on a mission. Not that she was about to point that out to him. Who knew where he might take her next?
Maybe he could only whisk her away within a certain distance from home. Like a few blocks. She’d have to check with Gram when she got home.
Pat was waiting for them the instant they walked inside.
Zoe’s bangle started humming. Why was it doing that now? She’d been wearing the bangle when she’d met him earlier.
Instead of aiming at the Theban symbols on his fingers, the bangle glommed on to a tat on his right forearm. NON SUM QUALIS ERAM.
“Sorry about this,” Zoe said in embarrassment.
“It’s a quote by Horace,” Pat said. “I am not as I used to be.”
As soon as Pat spoke the translation, the force holding the bangle to the tattoo was broken.
“Her bracelet keeps zeroing in on Latin sayings,” Damon said. “First at the embalming room at the funeral home, then at the bar, and now here with you.”
“Which sayings?”
Damon repeated them for Pat who asked Zoe, “May I see your bracelet?”
She nervously fingered her bangle. “I can’t get it off.”
“Maybe the sayings are a sign,” Pat said.
“Or a spell,” Damon said.
“There seems to be a theme,” Pat said.
“A Latin theme?” Zoe said.
“A theme of death,”
Damon said.
Zoe didn’t like the sound of that.
“It’s obvious,” Damon continued despite her wishing he wouldn’t. “Bodies grow slowly and die quickly. Fame to the dead comes too late. I am not as I used to be.”
“That last one could be anything,” Zoe said. Turning to Pat, she asked him, “When did you get that?”
“I don’t recall,” Pat said. “Several centuries ago.”
“Before or after the tattoos on your fingers?” she asked.
“After, I think.”
“Why wasn’t my bangle attracted to your tat when I met you a short while ago?” she said.
“It has to be a demon thing,” Pat said.
“Really? Why? I mean, aren’t these all just famous Latin quotes?” Zoe said. “Corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur. Cinerigbria sera venit. Non sum qualis—”
“Silence!” Gram shouted as she ran to Zoe’s side. “Not another word.”
Chapter Fifteen
Zoe froze.
“It’s black magic!” Gram said. “What you’re saying. It’s part of a black magic incantation.”
“What does it do?” Zoe whispered.
“It’s an appeal to the other side to do something bad.”
“Something bad like what?” Zoe said unsteadily.
“Release the forces of evil.”
Zoe felt light-headed with fear. “I thought it was just a bunch of Latin sayings.”
“Or it could just be a bunch of Latin sayings,” Gram agreed.
“Wait.” Zoe shook her head, which made her dizzier. “I don’t understand. It can’t be both. Which is it?”
“I’m not sure. My Latin is a little rusty. Most of the spells in our coven are in English now.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t think this was a spell,” Zoe said.
“Where did you find it?” Gram said. “Was it in the family Book of Spells?”
“No. My bangle bracelet was acting like a magnet or something and attaching itself to Latin sayings in various businesses in Vamptown. The first one was at the funeral home.”
“You went to a funeral home?” Gram’s voice expressed her disbelief.
Zoe pointed at Damon. “He made me do it.”
“What’s wrong with going to a funeral home?” Damon demanded.
“Nothing if you are a vampire,” Zoe said.
“Plenty of humans go to funeral homes. Alive and dead. It’s no big deal,” he said.
“This particular funeral home is a big deal to you, though, isn’t it?” Zoe said.
He made no comment.
“Don’t give me that I’m-going-to-fry-you look,” she told him. “You need my help dealing with these demons.”
“Was there another astral projection?” Gram said. “At the funeral home, I mean.”
“No, it was a demon possession,” Zoe said.
“Of you?” Gram said.
“No, your protection spell is working,” Zoe assured her. She left out the part about Damon whisking her off. She was still freaked about the latest crisis, a possible black magic Latin incantation.
“I should hope so, but still it is reassuring to hear that. So who was possessed?”
“The embalmer Phil,” Zoe said.
“How did you get rid of the demon?”
“I didn’t. Silas called him back. But before that, he said his name was Guy and that my mother had condemned him to hell. He also said she introduced him to Dr Pepper.”
“Well, that may have been true,” Gram said. “You know how your mom was about her Dr Pepper.”
“Why would he say that about her?” Zoe demanded.
“That she liked Dr Pepper? She did,” Gram said.
“No, I mean about condemning him to hell. Witches can’t do that. Can they?”
“They definitely can’t condemn vampires to hell, just in case you were wondering,” Damon drawled.
“I don’t remember my mother knowing a guy named Guy, do you, Gram?”
Gram just shrugged and said, “She knew a lot of people. What about Phil? Is he going to be okay?”
“He should be,” Zoe said, hoping it was true. “I’m just glad I didn’t have to perform an exorcism. I have no idea how to do that.”
“You better learn fast,” Damon said.
“I don’t know that demons would listen to a witch even if I did learn how to do that ritual,” Zoe said.
“Silas and Guy both listened to you,” Damon said.
“I meant I have no idea if a witch’s spell would work,” Zoe said. “It could do more harm than good.”
“Well, we learned something from all this—the demon today said your mother sent him to hell, which indicates that this demon infestation is personally related to you.”
Zoe didn’t point out that Guy the demon could have been and probably was lying. Instead she said, “It’s also related to Pat and his tats. And to you as the Demon Hunter.”
“It’s the three of us here in the same place at the same time,” Pat said.
“Then maybe we shouldn’t hang out together,” Zoe suggested.
“It’s too late for that now,” Damon said.
“I agree,” Pat said. “Since you’re back, I’m going to return to my place and see if I can figure out a way to deal with this situation. I have a few reference books and sources I can consult now that I know it involves Silas.”
Once Pat was gone, Zoe asked Gram, “What is the deal with all these Latin sayings? What do they have to do with Silas and Guy and my mother?” A sudden thought occurred to her. “Do you think it was a spell to bring my mother back?”
“I’m not sure. But even if it was, we can’t bring her back,” Gram said.
“Because she’s dead,” Damon said.
“You came back from the dead,” Zoe retorted.
“I was immediately turned by a vampire,” Damon said. “Your mother has been dead for two years.”
Zoe felt the tears coming to her eyes. “I want her back. I miss her.”
Damon looked at Zoe in alarm. “No crying. I don’t do crying.”
“Fine. Then you don’t have to cry. But I can and you can’t stop me. You can’t compel me. You can’t kiss me because my grandmother is right here.”
Clearly Damon considered that a challenge because he leaned closer. “That doesn’t mean I can’t kiss you.”
But Zoe wasn’t about to let him get away with kissing her again. Not until she knew for sure why he was doing it.
“I thought you didn’t like witches,” she said to Damon.
“I thought you didn’t like vampires,” he said.
“I don’t.”
“You just like kissing them, right?” he said.
“Wrong. That’s why I stopped you.”
He brushed the ball of his thumb across her lips. “You’re lying, little witch.”
“How long do we have to put up with this?” Bella asked as she strolled into the room. “And where’s that cupcake your friend promised me?” She eyed the box that Zoe had set on the table by the door.
“Those are for Gram and me,” Zoe said.
“Thank you,” Gram said, grabbing the box and heading to the kitchen.
“What about mine?” Bella demanded.
“We’ve got more important things to deal with,” Zoe said.
“Like kissing him?” Bella sat and curled her tail around her body before tilting her head at Zoe. “Seriously?”
“We are not having this conversation now,” Zoe said. “You forget, I am the witch, you are the familiar.”
“So?” Bella said.
“So I’m your boss.”
Bella chuckled. It sounded like a purr, but Zoe knew the difference. Bella had chuckled or even outright laughed at her a lot since she’d strolled into her life. “You are not the boss of me.”
“I am so,” Zoe said.
“Zip it, ladies.”
They turned in unison to glare at Damon.
“This is one catfight I
do not want to see,” he told them.
“Did someone mention a catfight?” Bruce asked as he entered the living room from the kitchen.
Zoe had forgotten he was still there.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Damon told Bruce.
“Catfights aren’t my thing,” Bruce said. “So what did I miss?”
“Zoe almost conjured a black magic spell to unleash more demons,” Damon said.
“That’s not true. We don’t know what the spell is for,” Zoe said.
“Then why did you cast it?” Bruce asked.
“It may not even be a spell. I was just putting together the Latin phrases I found around Vamptown,” Zoe said. “One was on Pat’s arm.”
Bruce nodded. “I know the one you mean. Pat has had it as long as we’ve been together. We’re almost the same age but he’s been a vampire centuries longer than I have.”
“Bruce used to be a clown in the circus down in Florida before he became a vampire,” Gram told Zoe as she strolled in from the kitchen carrying a tray with two mugs and the two cupcakes. “We had fun talking about old times. And he knows some great classic jokes. I’ve never been good with jokes. I always forget the punch line.”
“This is no joke,” Damon said with his customary impatience.
“I know,” Zoe said. “Black magic killed my mother.”
“Yet you were tempted to use it to bring your mother back from the dead,” he said.
“Just for a moment.”
“That’s all it takes,” Damon said. “According to you, your grandmother only opened the Book of Darkness for a second—and look at what a mess resulted from that.”
“How often are you going to keep throwing that in my face?” Zoe said.
“As often as it takes.”
“To do what?”
“To get you motivated to find the missing spell book,” he said.
She stood toe-to-toe with him. “Oh, I’m motivated all right.”
“Do they do this often?” Bruce asked in an aside to Gram.
“All the time,” Gram said.
“You are not helping your cause by aggravating me,” Zoe told Damon.
“This isn’t a cause,” Damon growled. “It’s a crusade to get rid of the demons you unleashed.”
“There you go again. Placing the blame on me. I feel guilty enough as it is. I don’t need you tossing that in my face every two seconds,” Zoe said.
