“Unfortunately, that is true,” Nick said. “Come on, I’ll get you both some chairs up front.”
“They need to stand to face their accusers,” Tanya said.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Gram said once again.
Zoe didn’t either. She searched the small crowd for Damon. Where was he? He couldn’t just bring them and dump them here, could he? Would he desert them like that? Apparently the answer was yes.
“Damon isn’t a council member,” Tanya said triumphantly. “He can only be called as a witness.”
“Or to vouch for character,” Nick said.
Right. Like that was going to happen.
“We could be in hot water here,” Gram said, taking hold of Zoe’s hand and eyeing the small crowd anxiously.
“Nick won’t let anything happen to us,” Zoe said with more confidence than she felt.
“Nick only has one vote,” Tanya said.
“Daniella—”
“Is not a vampire,” Tanya said. “She is not a council member.”
“Why isn’t Damon a council member?” Zoe said.
“He hasn’t been in Vamptown long enough. There is a one-year residency requirement.”
Great. Zoe knew the only reason Damon would save them was to get the Book of Darkness. At this point she didn’t really care what his motivations were. She just wanted to get out of there.
“Let’s get started,” Tanya said. “I will turn the procedure over to Pat since he is the oldest.”
The regret she saw on Pat’s face was not reassuring. Surely he knew that Zoe was a necessary part of the plan to get the spell book. Not that there actually was a plan per se. Maybe that’s what this was all about. They wanted to hear the plan.
Okay, then she’d better think of one fast. Hard to do when standing before a group of angry vampires, but not impossible.
“I think this has something to do with the equinox,” Zoe said. “It’s coming soon. The day after tomorrow, in fact. It’s the official beginning of spring but it’s also the day when there are equal amounts of light and darkness. The demons represent darkness.”
“Next you’ll be saying they are the cause of global warming,” Tanya scoffed.
“No, humans are responsible for that.” Zoe took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. “If the number of daylight hours increases, then that should weaken the power of the demons.”
“I didn’t find any scientific evidence of that in my research,” Neville the Nerd said.
Doc Boomer held out his hand. “Wait, are you saying that the demons could turn the world dark?”
Okay, that sounded worse than she’d hoped. “No, I’m not saying that. Definitely not saying that.”
“Then what are you saying?” The vampire dentist was clearly impatient.
She didn’t know what the hell she was saying. She was starting to panic, and that was never a good start for logic.
She just knew that the equinox was coming and the demons had to be defeated by then.
Zoe closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain her composure. Instead she got a vision of herself and Gram in black garb reminiscent of seventeenth-century Salem as someone put a noose around her neck.
She immediately opened her eyes and quickly looked down. Her KEEP CALM T-shirt was still there. Her hand flew to her throat. No noose. Just the chain holding her talisman.
Okay. Things would be okay. She just had to stay calm.
“You both have been accused of being a danger to Vamptown,” Pat said.
Accused? That didn’t sound good.
“Flames were reported coming from every floor vent in Vamptown,” Neville said.
“Every
“This time,” Neville said. “What if that isn’t the case next time?”
“The flames came from the demons,” Zoe said. “Not us.”
“The demons are here because of you,” Tanya said. “You released them.”
“Damon is going to get rid of them,” Zoe said.
“But you can call forth more,” Tanya said. “You own the book that released them from hell.”
“We do not own it. We never saw it before, right, Gram?”
Her grandmother twisted her fingers nervously. “Well, I may have seen it once as a young girl.”
Zoe’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“There,” Tanya said triumphantly. “You heard it, fellow council members. The older witch brought the book here to release demons upon Vamptown and destroy us.”
“Hold on a second. Gram, did you see it or dream you saw it?”
“I’m not sure,” Gram admitted.
“The old witch is senile,” Tanya said.
“Not senile enough that I can’t put warts on your face,” Gram growled.
“She threatened me,” Tanya said. “Allow me to get rid of her.”
“Damon has made it clear that we need the witches to retrieve the demon book,” Nick said.
“We don’t need them both,” Tanya said.
“We do,” Nick said.
“Then let’s separate them.” Tanya snapped her fingers, and the two vampires who had accompanied her earlier moved toward Zoe and her grandmother.
“Wait, you’ve got something on your face,” Gram told Tanya, who immediately whipped out a compact mirror to check her appearance.
Grabbing Zoe’s hand, Gram pointed to the mirror, which flew from Tanya’s hand to the wall beside them. Then Gram rapidly recited,
Zoe didn’t have time to ask where they were going, but she soon found out. The tunnels.
“Welcome, ladies.” Silas bowed. He looked just like his astral projection—only now she not only sensed his malevolence, but could actually feel it crawling over her skin. “How kind of you to grace us with your presence.”
This time Zoe cast the spell.
In the blink of an eye they were back in front of the Vamptown Council. Only this time Damon was there.
“What’s going on?” Damon demanded.
“The witches tried to escape,” Tanya said. “They must be punished.”
“Shut up!” Damon growled. “Everybody just shut up.” He turned to face Zoe. “You won’t be hurt.”
“Or Gram. And we won’t be separated,” Zoe said fiercely, already thinking of a spell to take them to someplace safer than the vampire bar or the demon tunnel.
“Neither you nor your grandmother will be hurt by us,” Damon said. “You have my word on it as a Demon Hunter.”
To leave or not to leave?
“I trust him,” Gram said.
“And we won’t be thrown into vampire jail or anything,” Zoe said.
Damon stepped past the other vampires to stand before her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Trust me, little witch,” he whispered. “Stay or all will be lost.”
In the end Zoe trusted her gut, and that told her he was telling her the truth. She nodded her agreement.
For one brief second, Damon looked like he wanted to touch her. Instead he pivoted to face his fellow
