The Entity Within

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.