The Entity Within (9 page)

Damon abruptly stepped away. “Let’s go back to the beginning. Why did you quit your job at the library?”

Zoe blinked. She was still recovering from him whispering about sex in her ear. “What?” She’d expected him to ask about the appearance of the spell book, not her past work history.

“You heard me.”

“That’s none of your business.” Zoe used her best librarian voice. She was totally peeved that he’d used his seductive ways to distract her. She wondered what he’d do if she whispered something sexy in his ear.

“Ah, but it is. Everything about you is my business now that you’ve unleashed demons.” He was looking at her as if he wanted to consume her. Consume her as in bite her and drain her of her blood or as in kissing her? She couldn’t be sure.

“You didn’t like me even before that,” she said.

“And I like you even less now.”

His words hurt her. They shouldn’t have. It was stupid to be upset. But she couldn’t seem to help it. Was she so vulnerable that the thought of anyone—even an arrogant, albeit hot, vampire—disliking her made her feel bad?

She should be glad he disliked her. She certainly disliked him. Especially now that he’d said that. Fantasizing about having sex with him in an erotic way didn’t mean she had to like him. In fact, it made her like him less even if she wanted him more.

“Which is all irrelevant,” Damon said. “Tell me why you quit your job.”

“Did your research tell you that I don’t like being bossed around?” she asked.

“I observed that much myself.”

“How astute of you,” she said sarcastically.

He smiled. “I thought so.”

Zoe didn’t want to tell him anything about her past, her job, her ex-fiancé, or her mother’s death. None of it. Knowledge was power, and she didn’t want him having any more power over her than he already did. The sexual tension between them was hard enough to fight. She didn’t want to add anything personal to the mix.

“Things didn’t work out for me at the library,” she said. “That’s why I left.”

“Your co-workers said that you seemed very happy and that your resignation came out of the blue.”

She felt violated by him questioning the people she’d worked with at the library. Which wasn’t really logical since he’d already gone through all her things in both her workroom and her bedroom. “My leaving the library had nothing to do with demons,” she said.

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

“Because I don’t trust you.”

“I don’t trust you, either. What does that have to do with anything?” Damon said. “The bottom line here is that your grandmother’s actions have put us all at risk. Accident or not. You owe me. You owe Nick. You owe all of the inhabitants of Vamptown.”

Nothing like a ton of guilt to make Zoe break and start talking. “It was the books,” she muttered.

He frowned. “The books?”

“Sometimes books talk to me. The characters come to life,” she admitted. “Not because I did anything. It just happens spontaneously. But all of a sudden
all
the books in the library were talking to me at once. Screaming, screeching, and shrieking.”

“What were they saying?”

“It wasn’t like that exactly.”

“Then what was it like?”

“Scenes came alive. I couldn’t see characters but I heard thousands of voices reciting what was written inside their covers. It was deafening. Books would fly off the shelf and hit me.”

“Sounds like you pissed them off,” Damon said.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Where have I heard that before?”

“It’s the—”

“Truth. Right. Did someone else cast a spell to start the book attack?”

“No one in my family did.”

“What about your ex?” Damon said.

“He’s not a witch. Or a warlock.”

“Maybe not, but he has studied magic and the history of witches very intensely. He’s even written books about it.”

Which was one of the reasons Zoe had confided in Tristin. She thought that he’d understand, given his background. And he claimed he had understood her and valued her and didn’t think she was something bizarre or scary. She’d trusted him. A huge mistake on her part. Okay, enough about him. She had bigger problems to deal with now.

“Maybe you did something to aggravate some other witch in your coven and she retaliated with the book spell,” Damon said.

“I don’t aggravate others.”

“You sure aggravated Tanya.”

“That was your fault,” Zoe said.

“Of course it was.”

“She was staking her claim on you.”

Damon eyes crinkled at the edges with something resembling laughter. His voice reflected more sarcasm than humor, though. “Vampires tend not to like talk of staking.”

“Sorry,” Zoe muttered.

“I don’t belong to anyone,” he said emphatically.

“Me either,” Bella said from the couch, where she’d made herself comfy. “Oh, wait. I’m a familiar. So I guess I do belong to someone. I belong to Zoe. Right, I keep forgetting. I like my independence.”

“Getting back to your former job—” Damon began.

Zoe interrupted. “I already told you everything. I don’t intend to tell you anything else.”

“What are you hiding?” Damon demanded.

Zoe didn’t like sharing her issues. In fact, she hated it. She hadn’t even told Tristin everything and she’d been engaged to him. No way was she baring her soul to a sardonic vampire who disliked her and distrusted her, even if he was as sexy as hell.

He obviously was accustomed to having his way with women. But she was no mere woman. She was a witch. A smart witch with a master’s degree.

Okay, so nothing she’d learned in her library science classes had taught her how to deal with a surly hunky vampire. Too bad, so sad. Still, she was an Adams witch, and Adams witches … well, they did tend to get into trouble. But most of the time it was not their fault. And they usually were able to come up with a way out of the difficulties they were in.

Except for her mother. Even now, two years after her death, Zoe still didn’t know all the details of what had happened that fateful night. She only knew that her mother had tried to cast a powerful spell and that something had gone terribly wrong. The doctors told Zoe her mother had died from a sudden cardiac arrest despite the fact that she had no prior signs of heart disease.

Gram had warned Zoe that digging deeper would put her at risk of suffering the same fate. Gram had also said that after losing her daughter, losing Zoe would end Gram’s life. Then she’d cryptically added that these things had a way of taking care of themselves. And she’d sworn that no one else had taken Zoe’s mother’s life, that black magic was dangerous and deadly to anyone who attempted to harness its power.

Zoe wanted to ask Gram if there was any chance that demons had somehow played a role in Zoe’s mother’s death, but she hadn’t had a moment alone to do so. Not that being alone would help when they were both under constant surveillance.

She refocused her attention on Damon, who was watching her closely.

“I already allowed you access to my thoughts for you to confirm that I had nothing to do with the demons being released. I did not have to do that.”

“That was one brief flash.”

“That’s all it took. It was enough.”

“Not enough to satisfy me,” he said.

“I don’t care about your satisfaction,” she retorted.

He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. His look said it all. Suddenly it was all about sexual satisfaction. She pretended not to notice the erotic tension between them, but the heavy silence wrapped around her like a caress. She tried to shrug it off. When that didn’t work she tried to be logical, but it was hard to think straight when Damon was standing so close and staring at her with those dark blue eyes of his.

She stubbornly refused to be the first to look away. This was one battle she was determined to win. Maybe if she imagined him more vulnerable, like in his underwear or completely nude.

Big mistake. She quickly turned those thoughts off. The images weren’t as easy to erase. Once in her mind, they just stayed there.

She could do this. She could win this stare-off. She was a witch. Not that that seemed to be helping her any at the moment, and she wasn’t about to use magic to help her win.

The corners of Damon’s lips lifted slightly in that semi-smirk he was so good at giving her.

He was a vampire. Not to be trusted. He didn’t like her. None of those things seemed to matter at the moment the way they should.

“Satisfied?” he asked in a husky voice that was both rough and sexy.

“Yes.” She had to look away. She likened it to looking too long at the sun. She didn’t want to go blind with desire or something. Maybe there was even a rule about not looking too long into a vampire’s eyes. She’d have to Google that later.

“Well, I’m not satisfied.”

“You both look ridiculous, staring into each other’s eyes that way,” Bella declared with a sniff. “You’re old enough to know better. Especially you, Damon.”

He growled at Bella.

Bella growled at him.

Zoe’s stomach growled. Checking her watch, she noted that it was time for dinner.

She looked at Damon again, belatedly noticing that he’d exchanged the black shirt he’d worn earlier for a black T-shirt accentuating his broad shoulders, and that he was wearing black jeans instead of black pants. “You changed your clothes.”

“That’s right.”

“Too bad I can’t change mine.”

“Why not?”

Zoe pointed to the camera. “Because those are everywhere.”

“So turn the lights out.”

“Aren’t they equipped with special night-vision technology?”

“Yes.”

“So turning of the lights wouldn’t really help anything, would it?”

“You don’t have to get so sensitive about it.”

“I’m a former librarian who is now a soap maker,” Zoe said. “I am not a stripper.”

“Exotic dancer,” he corrected her.

“I’m not that, either.”

“I noticed that you left
witch
off your description of yourself. You are actually a witch who is a former librarian who is now a soap maker.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the front door. Eager to avoid Damon, Zoe opened it immediately to find Nick standing on the doorstep. Zoe recognized his expression. She’d seen it a lot on Damon’s face. It was the expression of a pissed-off vampire.

Great. Now she had
two
of them to deal with.

Chapter Nine

“I’m here,” Nick announced curtly.

“Yes, you are. Is there a problem? Aside from the demons, I mean. Not that they aren’t a problem.” Zoe paused to take a deep breath. “Are you here to evict us?”

Nick looked over her shoulder at Damon. “You haven’t told her?”

“I was getting around to it,” Damon said.

“What’s all this about?” Zoe demanded.

“Invite me in and I’ll tell you,” Nick said.

“I thought since you’re the landlord, you could come in anytime. I’m sorry. Come in.”

“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.