The Entity Within (18 page)

“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.

They were interrupted by the sound of an organ playing the opening notes from
Phantom of the Opera
.

Bruce’s face lit up. “I love this musical. Do you have the original Broadway cast version or a newer version? My fave Phantom is Michael Crawford hands down.”

Confused, Zoe said, “I don’t have any version.”

“It’s coming from the floor vents,” Damon said.

“They like
Phantom of the Opera
.” Bruce shook his head in amazement. “How bad can they be?”

“Very bad,” Damon said. “What part of
they’re demons
do you not understand?”

“The part where we have to destroy them,” Bruce said.

“
You
don’t have to destroy them. I do,” Damon said.

“That seems rather harsh,” Bruce said.

Damon eyed Zoe’s grandmother suspiciously. “What have you been telling him? Have you enchanted him or something?”

“No, I was enchanting before I came here.” Bruce’s grin faded when he saw the fierce expression on Damon’s face. “I was just expressing an opinion.”

“A stupid one,” Damon growled.

“Don’t mind him,” Gram told Bruce with a sympathetic pat to his arm. “He’s crabby because he really wants to kiss Zoe instead of chasing demons.”

“You’re all crazy,” Bella declared with a swish of her tail. “I need a nap.”

“Me, too,” Gram said, setting the tray on the coffee table and taking one cupcake and a mug of tea with her.

Zoe figured that was just an excuse to leave them alone. Gram never took as many naps as she had since they’d gotten to Vamptown. But then she’d never had to deal with a bunch of pissed-off vampires before, either.

Zoe knew it was very draining and she was much younger than her grandmother.

“How are you going to sleep with that music blaring?” Damon called after her, but Gram ignored him.

“It’s not ‘that music.’ It is one of the finest musicals ever written,” Bruce said reverently. “It’s almost as if they are playing it just for me.”

“They sure as hell aren’t playing it for me,” Damon said. Going over to the nearest floor vent, he stomped on it. “Shut up down there!”

Bruce left in a huff. “I’m not staying here with such an unappreciative audience. I’m going to the bar and see if it is playing there.”

“You do that,” Damon called after him.

As soon as Bruce left, the organ music stopped.

“Finally,” Damon said.

“Is ‘Dixie’ more your kind of song?” Zoe asked him.

“‘Dixie’ is a Reb song,” he retorted.

Zoe welcomed the ringtone of her smartphone. The number was listed as
UNKNOWN
. “Hello?”

“Enjoying the show, dearie?” Silas asked.

“How did you get a phone?” she demanded.

“Guy picked one up during his brief time at the funeral home,” Silas said.

“That’s stealing.”

“Which is a sin and I shall be sent to hell for it. But wait, I’ve already been sent to hell,” Silas noted sarcastically.

“Who are you talking to?” Damon demanded. “Something is blocking me being able to hear anything they’re saying.”

“Tell the Demon Hunter that’s a little trick of mine,” Silas said before adding, “I hope you both enjoy the next song. I chose it just for you two lovebirds.”

Silas hung up before she could say a word.

“What did he want?” Damon said.

“He said that he was using a trick to block you from hearing him speaking to me and that he hopes we both enjoy the next song.” She left out the “lovebirds” part. No sense in stirring up more trouble.

She got goose bumps as a male voice started singing “The Music of the Night” from
Phantom of the Opera
.

Suddenly the lyrics took on a new meaning given her current situation. The demons weren’t the only darkness. Damon represented forbidden darkness as well. Not evil, but the sexy edge of darkness.

“All we need is a chandelier. And a gondola. And most important of all … a mask,” Bella said dramatically. “Oh, the stories I could tell you about the masked balls at the Winter Palace. Catherine the Great loved a good party.”

The feel of her bangle vibrating against her wrist again distracted Zoe.

Angry at being ignored, Bella took a bite of the devil’s food cupcake and ran off with a chunk of frosting in her mouth.

Before Zoe could reprimand her familiar, her arm shot out so that her wrist rested on the small of Damon’s back.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“It’s not me, it’s the bangle.”

“You don’t take responsibility for anything, do you.”

His accusation stung and she tried to pull away, but the power of the bangle was too much for her. She couldn’t remove the bangle, either. “Take off your shirt.”

“This music really does get to you,” he said. “Far be it from me to interfere with your fantasies.”

She had to tug his shirt out from beneath the bangle.

“You must have a tattoo in Latin,” she said. She was facing him, so it was hard to look around him.

“I don’t have any tats on my cheek,” he said.

She looked up at his face. “I know that.”

“I meant my other cheek.” He tilted his head downward.

Only then did she realize that her fingers were beneath the waistband of his black jeans and her fingertips were on his butt.

The song went on about savoring sensation before rising in crescendo.

That wasn’t the only thing rising. Pressed up against Damon, she could feel his throbbing arousal.

She felt helpless against the powerful attraction flaring between them. She should move her fingers to someplace safer, but the bangle held her captive just as Damon’s dark blue eyes did.

She nervously licked her lips.

Damon groaned and lowered his head to lick her lips himself. The touch of his tongue tantalized her into parting her lips to allow him access. He made the most of it by delving into a kiss so passionate, her toes actually curled and her knees almost buckled.

His tongue tangled with hers, touching and exploring with skillful heat. She’d never felt this way before … yes, she had. The first time Damon had kissed her. But even that hadn’t prepared her for this surge of desire, for the moist need between her thighs, for the erotic fantasies filling her mind.

The song repeated.

Damon cupped her face between his hands as he deepened his kiss.

Was it the music? Was it the vampire? Was it magic? Was it love?

Zoe couldn’t turn away. She couldn’t resist. She didn’t want to. She wanted Damon with an intensity that was undeniable.

His hands shifted to thread through her hair. Tilting his head to one side, he added a new dimension to the merging of their mouths. He moved one hand from her hair down her back to cup her bottom as she was cupping his, tugging her even tighter against his fully aroused body. And when a vampire was fully aroused, he was
fully
aroused. At least this one was.

“The Music of the Night” played on, as did Zoe’s fantasies. Damon’s naked body hovering over hers on the oh-so-white sheets of her bed as he seduced her with his words and his kisses, tantalizing her with his fingers working their magic all over her body before surging inside her body, focusing his attention on that one spot …

Zoe was abruptly brought back to earth by the sound of Bella’s voice. “Not again. Get a room.”

Breaking off the kiss, Zoe prayed that her familiar hadn’t somehow read Zoe’s mind and seen those fantasies of the acts that would have taken place in Zoe’s bedroom. Ditto re: Damon. She didn’t want him knowing how much she wanted him.

She snuck a peek at him, curious to see if he had been similarly affected. Yes, he wanted her. His arousal made that clear. She couldn’t move away from him because her bangle still held her hand in place.

“
VENATOR
,
” he said.

“What?” she stuttered.

“My tattoo. It says
VENATOR
. Latin for ‘hunter.’”

At his translation, her bangle released its hold on her so she could release her hold on Damon’s butt. She prayed he didn’t notice the slight time lag there.

On a trip to Vegas she’d seen a T-shirt at the airport that said
GIRLS GO NUTS FOR COWBOY BUTTS.

The T-shirt should have read
GIRLS GO NUTS FOR VAMPIRE BUTTS.

She stepped away and put several feet between them.

“No more kissing.” Her voice was more unsteady than she would have liked but then given what she’d just been through, it was amazing that she was coherent at all. “We need to stay focused. On desire, I mean on demons. Do you think it’s the music?”

“What about the music?”

“Do you think it’s responsible for what just happened?”

“
I’m
responsible for what just happened,” Damon said. “I don’t need music to make you want me.”

Damn. What could she say to that? She’d probably come up with a perfect answer in an hour or two, but for now she kept her mouth shut and wished she could blot out the memory of how powerfully intoxicating that kiss they’d just shared was. She wished she could blame it on the music, which suddenly stopped.

Her hometown of Beantown was looking better by the minute, but there was no turning back at this point. She was stuck here in Vamptown dealing with demons and Damon. She had to stay strong and not give in to temptation. She couldn’t go to the dark side—the one offered by demons or the sexy one offered by Damon.

She welcomed the knock on the door, but checked with Damon before opening it. He nodded, so she swung the door open.

Bob, Dr. Powers’s follower, stood there. He slapped a piece of paper in her hand. “You’ve been served.”

Chapter Sixteen

Zoe stared at Bob in disbelief.