The Entity Within

makes the fear even greater. A win–win situation.”

“I want my Dr Pepper,” Guy said.

“I’ll get you a truckful if you help me,” Zoe implored.

Silas laughed. “Not going to happen, dearie.”

“Why not? I sensed some good in both Guys.”

“Only because I wanted you to. I thought there was a chance they could get you to remove them from hell and that you’d find a nerdy demon was more approachable and relatable. But there’s no need for that illusion any longer. I don’t need these Guys.”

Moving to the foot of the table, Silas gestured the two Guys to his side. Flames rose around them as he pulled them close until they merged into one demon. Silas. Now she could see his horns. And his scales. His fingers had turned into blackened claws. The spiders scuttled closer, onto the table at her feet.

“What did you do?” she whispered, too scared to scream.

“I just took back what was mine.”

“Just like I’m going to take back what is mine,” Damon said from somewhere behind her head.

“So glad you joined us, Hunter,” Silas said. “Let the festivities begin.”

Chapter Twenty-three

Screw keeping calm. “Get the spiders off me!” She could feel them crawling along her ankles and her calves. She froze. Maybe they’d go away if she didn’t move.

Wrong. Instead they scuttled farther up her leg.

Zoe was terrified.

Something heavy dropped onto her stomach. A giant Godzilla spider? No, it was the Book of Darkness. A split second later Bella was sitting on the book. She wore Zoe’s mother’s amethyst necklace wrapped several times around her neck like a collar.

“You have angered the cat, demon,” Bella declared, her tail switching back and forth.

Silas was startled by Bella’s appearance and was distracted by the sight of the book so near at hand.

Before the demon could take advantage of the moment and grab the Book of Darkness, Damon moved with vamp speed to stand beside Zoe and lean over her.

Looking deep into her eyes, he said, “I love you.”

Zoe was speechless. She couldn’t talk anyway because his mouth covered hers for a kiss.

Despite her desperate circumstances, she still felt the powerful bond linking her to Damon. And then she felt something else.

Her magic was back.

While he’d been kissing her, Damon had released her hands from the chains holding her.

When Silas made a grab for the book on her stomach, Zoe held him back with her hand outstretched. She also dispatched all the spiders to a land far far away.

“Bye, gotta go,” Bella said. She disappeared and took the book with her.

“No!” Silas howled.

Sitting up, Zoe wanted to undo the bonds holding her ankles but she couldn’t waste a second. Time was very limited.

The protection spell could only do so much when she was mere feet from an uber-demon like Silas.

“Your magic can’t save you now.” Silas’s face was contorted with fury. “And neither can your vampire lover. I put you in hell before, Hunter, remember?”

Silas tilted his head toward the left side of the tunnel, which turned into a projection of Damon writhing in agony on a slab of some kind. The rack. He was being tortured on the rack.

“I did it to you before and I can do it again,” Silas said. “Your dagger won’t work on me. Not here, not now.” He spread his arms apart. “Go ahead, try throwing it at me.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” Damon said.

“He’s three demons in one. It’s going to take both of us to defeat him,” Zoe told Damon.

“How sweet. You need a girl to help you,” Silas mocked. “She’s a stupid little bitch.”

“No one calls my witch a bitch,” Damon growled and leapt at Silas.

While Damon was slashing and dashing, Zoe used magic to undo her ankle shackles. She stood. She was wobbly but upright.

She’d never seen Damon in vampire Demon Hunter mode before. His face was etched with rage as he bared his fangs. Using his demon dagger, he sliced Silas’s arms. The demon lashed out with his claws, but Damon was too fast for him. With a single move, he ripped the demon’s throat open.

Silas gurgled and fell to the ground, dead.

Damon returned to Zoe’s side.

Silas leapt to his feet. “Nice try.”

“The power of the pen is stronger than the sword,” Zoe said. Ever since her magic had returned, she’d sensed a strong message coming from her mother telling her to use the Latin words to destroy Silas.

She started reciting the Latin sayings. She wasn’t sure how she remembered the exact wording, but she did. And Damon, translating her visual message, recited them with her.

Zoe had never spoken so fast in her life.

Corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur.

Cinerigbria sera venit.

Non sum qualis eram.

It only took a few seconds but it felt like years to Zoe.

Cocky from his survival after Damon’s attack, Silas just stood at the foot of the table, grinning at them with malicious intent. “Words will never hurt me, dearie.”

Damon had his dagger in hand, ready to attack Silas again.

Zoe reached out to touch the tattoo on the small of Damon’s back.

“Venator,” she said.

“Ad finem,” Damon added.

Bam, Silas went up in flames. It happened so fast that Zoe couldn’t believe it was real. But the smell of sulfur was nearly overwhelming.

Her tattered red dress was suddenly replaced with the clothes she’d worn when Silas had taken her, which was the nightgown she’d put on in the middle of night. The ruby-red shoes were gone and she was in her bare feet … on the ground where spiders had crawled.

Zoe thought she was going to pass out. She started to sway, and her ears started to ring.

“Don’t wimp out on me now,” Damon told her.

She blinked away the black spots blotting her vision and turned to face Damon. “I am not a wimp! I’ve just been chained to an embalming table with an uber-demon threatening to cut me in pieces. And I had spiders on me.” She shook so hard her teeth chattered. “I hate spiders!”

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Ya think?”

He scooped her into his arms and leapt straight up through a vertical shaft she hadn’t noticed before.

“You can fly,” she whispered.

“Only when I have to,” he said.

“Same here.” By the time the words were out of her mouth, they were in the living room of her rental house. Gram was waiting for her with open arms as Damon released her from his hold.

“Are you okay, honeybun?” Gram said.

Nodding, Zoe got tears in her eyes. Her grandmother hadn’t called her honeybun since she was a little girl. Zoe rushed into Gram’s arms for a much-needed hug.

“Is the book here?” Damon said.

“Of course it’s here,” Gram said as she released Zoe. “Bella and Pat have been guarding it.”