thinking of making out with me like that when you knew the cameras were on?”
“What were
“Clearly I was not thinking or I would not have allowed any of that to happen. I was still groggy and frightened from my nightmare.”
“That’s as good an excuse as any, I suppose.”
“It is not an excuse,” she said.
“Chill.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me? Did you just tell me to chill?”
“You’re not familiar with the term?”
“Not coming from a vampire, no.”
“What does my being a vampire have to do with it?”
“You’re right,” she said. “It doesn’t. I’ve never had a man make out with me and then tell me to chill.”
“Because you had sex with them.”
“You make it sound like there were tons of men. And Neville, you better not be recording this!” she said.
“Temporarily suspend surveillance in this room, Neville,” Damon ordered. Returning his attention to Zoe, he drawled, “You were saying?”
“That I haven’t had sex with tons of men. Unlike you.”
“I haven’t had sex with any men,” Damon said. “You’re confusing me with Pat and Bruce.”
“They’re gay?”
“Yes. Do you have a problem with homosexual vampires?”
“No. I only have a problem with you,” she said.
“Why is that?”
“I wish I knew,” she muttered. “You shouldn’t be able to get to me this way. You kill witches.”
“One witch.”
“A relative of mine.”
“Apparently a distant one.”
“That’s no reason to kill her,” Zoe said.
“I already told you that she betrayed me.”
“Were you hunting demons in New Orleans?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know she betrayed you?” Zoe said. “Maybe you wrongly suspected her the way you wrongly suspect me.”
“Impossible.”
“Why?” Zoe said. “Because you’re never wrong?”
“Because she stood beside the demon as he ambushed me.”
“Maybe she was forced to do that against her will. Maybe the demon made her betray you. Did you ever think of that?”
“I was rather busy at the time trying to avoid being decapitated.”
“So maybe Eve didn’t really betray you.”
“Oh, she betrayed me all right.”
She could tell by his stony expression that she wouldn’t get any further information out of him on that subject. “What happens to demons when you find them?”
“You saw what happens.”
“You knife them—”
“It’s a dagger,” he interrupted.
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes, there’s a difference. And it’s not just any dagger, it’s a Demon Hunter dagger.”
“And then what happens?”
“They disintegrate,” Damon said.
“They don’t go back to hell?”
“No.”
“Then what’s to stop them from suicide by Demon Hunter?” Zoe asked. “They taunt you into killing them as a way to escape hell. They simply cease to exist, which might be a better outcome for them than staying where they were.”
At his look, she said, “What? You’ve never had anyone ask you these questions before?”
“No, I can’t say that I have.”
“It’s because I’m a former librarian. I’m logical that way.”
“You’re logical for a witch, you mean.”
“I was born a witch,” she said.
“So?”
“So you were born human. What was that like?”
“What was it like being born a witch?”
“I didn’t know I was a witch when I was a baby. It’s more a process or an apprenticeship. I know the other kids in school whispered about me behind my back. They’d call me a pagan and say my birthmark was the mark of the devil. That was pretty rough.”
“What birthmark?” Damon said.
“My mother came up with a cream to make it disappear but it took her a while. She was good with that sort of thing. She didn’t flaunt her magic in front of others.”
“Unlike your grandmother.”
“Gram doesn’t flaunt her skills. She likes using them and is accustomed to doing so. But she can be discreet,” Zoe said.
“Just not where Dr. Powers is concerned.”
“That’s true. But even there, she didn’t turn him into a monkey or a donkey or anything. Hopefully we’ve heard the end of the Powers people.”
“What about your ex-fiance?” Damon said.
“What about him?”
“Are you glad you won’t be hearing from him again?”
“Absolutely.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
His deep blue eyes darkened. She saw her own desire reflected in his gaze.
She leaned closer. So did he.
Then he abruptly stepped away. “Neville, turn camera back on.”
“Okay,” Neville said through the surveillance system.
“Get some rest,” Damon told Zoe. “We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
Damon faced the new day with resolve. The demons were toying with him and that aggravated the hell out of him. He was a man of action. He’d killed that cable guy demon yesterday morning and felt good that he’d taken care of business.
But this sitting-around-figuring-out-puzzles was not his idea of a good time.
The answer was yes.
It shouldn’t be yes. He was a vampire. He should be able to control things. Vampires didn’t have emotions. Some took that to mean they didn’t have souls. Damon didn’t know about that. He only knew that he was in Vamptown for a reason.
Damon had spent much of the night trying to figure out what was real and what was legend when it came to the Book of Darkness. In between he’d played a few games of Words with Friends on his smartphone. A new player had challenged him and he’d welcomed the mental stimulation.
