familiar.”
“A very powerful familiar,” Bella said. “I don’t want to brag but I have dealt with Russians, so vampires do not scare me.”
“Then you are a stupid cat. Vampires are much tougher than the Russian mob.”
“I’m talking about the Russian aristocracy. We all have our pasts and our demons, don’t we? Mine go back to the court of Catherine the Great. What about you, Damon?”
“I am not talking to a cat,” Damon stated coldly.
“You’ve already been talking to her,” Zoe pointed out.
“I will give you thirty minutes to get the cameras working,” Damon said. “If not, I will be back.”
“And we will bear the full brunt of your wrath,” Bella mocked.
He lunged forward as if to grab the cat. Zoe instantly moved to protect Bella but she had already put up a protection shield.
“Thirty minutes.” Damon’s voice reflected his frustrated fury before he stormed out.
“What happened to not upsetting the vampire?” Zoe asked Bella.
“He started it,” Bella said.
Zoe was afraid he was going to end it as well.
Damon entered the All Nighter Bar and Grill and headed for the premium bottle of blood kept in the refrigerated section beneath the bar. He tossed back a glassful and immediately poured another.
He’d just been bested by a witch and her cat. Her freaking
The bar was empty aside from the owner, who looked up from the steak he was finishing off. Nick’s mating with Daniella the half druid had resulted in Nick being able to consume food, but he tended not to do so in front of other vamps.
Damon knew all about Nick’s situation. Having sex with Daniella had changed Nick’s world forever, and not in some sappy sentimental way but in a matter-of-fact immortal life-changing way.
Damon couldn’t imagine what he would have done in Nick’s place. Would he be willing to increase his powers but decrease his life span? Because the reason Nick could eat that steak was that he was no longer immortal.
Sure, Nick would live longer than most mortals, as would Daniella. But he was forever changed.
Damon valued his own immortality. Would he have made the choice that Nick had? Doubtful. Very doubtful, as in no way.
Damon rarely paused long enough to think about things like this. He preferred action to introspection. He always had.
Did he miss being human? Not really. Did he miss eating a steak? Yes, but it wasn’t worth the trade-off in his opinion.
Nick’s choices and his relationship with Daniella were none of Damon’s business unless they pertained to the security of Vamptown. Granted, he’d been hired after another outsider vamp named Miles Payne attempted to increase his own powers by kidnapping Daniella. When that plan failed, Miles had gone after Daniella in order to punish Nick, who had feelings for her.
Feelings were a vamp’s downfall. Damon had no intention of following in Nick’s footsteps. He had another path to travel and it didn’t include falling for a female—witch, druid, or human.
“Did you fix the problem at the rental house?” Nick asked, shoving his empty plate aside and indicating Damon should join him.
Damon set his glass on the table with a noticeably irritated thud. “I told you witches were bad. They already messed up the surveillance system.”
“Not the system, just the cameras in their house. And to be fair, I should have warned them about the security measures we take here in Vamptown,” Nick said.
“They have no respect for authority. Allowing them to stay here is asking for trouble.”
“Vamptown can survive two witches.”
“And a talking familiar cat,” Damon muttered.
“Really? I’ve heard of such things but never seen one. I’d like to see that.”
Damon was not about to admit that the feline had threatened to put a spell on his privates. Humiliation fired his anger even more. His fangs emerged.
“She really got to you,” Nick noted.
At first Damon thought Nick was referring to the cat, but then he realized Nick meant Zoe. “I don’t like witches.”
“You’ve made that clear. I assume you have your reasons?”
Damon nodded.
“Care to share them?” Nick asked.
Damon shook his head.
“Does it have something to do with you being a Demon Hunter?” Nick asked.
“It has everything to do with my being a Demon Hunter. A witch betrayed me not long after I was turned.” Damon didn’t like talking about that period of his afterlife, but even so, the memories were always there. The Civil War, or the War for Southern Independence as the southerners called it, was the most devastating war in American history, with nearly seven hundred thousand dead. A war that ripped families apart, including his own. His younger brother, Sam, had taken up the cause of the Confederacy while Damon had fought to preserve the Union. The ensuing bloodshed was something that stayed with him even when he’d left his humanity behind and become a vampire.
Damon could feel the muscles in his jaw clench. The Battle of Gettysburg had replayed in his mind millions of times. He’d had his doubts about the wisdom of the orders given by the men higher up the chain of command, but he’d been in no position to question them. Even so, he had no way of anticipating how bad it would be.
Nick interrupted his dark thoughts. “You were turned in the Civil War, right? The American one, not the English?”
Damon nodded.
“Is that when you became a Demon Hunter?”
Damon didn’t like the attention being on him. “Yes. But you already know all this, don’t you. I’m sure you had me checked out before you gave me the job of head of security.”
“True,” Nick said.
“Then why the inquisition?”
“I want to know how much your bad experience with that witch in your past is coloring your thoughts and decision making now,” Nick said.
Damon didn’t appreciate Nick’s line of questioning. Damon wasn’t the guilty party here. Zoe was … along with her witchy talking cat.
“My concerns are reality-based and specific to the current situation. Speaking of which, Zoe asked about the funeral parlor,” Damon said.
Nick frowned. “What made her do that?”
“I don’t know but I don’t like it. How do we know she’s not some kind of Trojan horse sent here to spy on us and gain access to our source of blood? She didn’t even ask about our ability to tolerate daylight.”
“Maybe she was afraid to ask questions,” Nick said.
“She wasn’t afraid to ask about the funeral home.”
“What possible connection could she have to that place?” Nick demanded.
“To what place?” Daniella asked as she joined them.
“Your family’s funeral home,” Damon said. “What did you tell Zoe about it?”
“I only mentioned it in passing when I talked about growing up in this neighborhood without knowing I was surrounded by vampires.”
“What exactly did you say?” Damon’s voice reflected his impatience.
Daniella shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly. I mentioned that my father and brother didn’t have any druid blood. I didn’t say I was adopted. I certainly didn’t say anything about what’s going on there.”
