Cat Devon: The Entity Within

Nick spoke before Zoe could make a stinging response. “As I told you, Damon, I met Irma back in Boston when I resided there before coming to Chicago. We became friends. And as her friend, I invited her here when she needed assistance. End of story.”

Zoe decided that Nick was nice … for a vampire, that is. Not that Zoe knew much about him. All Gram had said was that her friend Nick had invited them to come stay in a free rental in Chicago. No mention of the fact that the guy had fangs and drank blood. No mention of the fact that the rental sat in the middle of a place called Vamptown. The only thing that looked welcoming was the cupcake shop down the block from the bar.

Damon, on the other hand, didn’t appear to have a welcoming bone in his entirely too sexy body. Instead everything about him radiated danger and power with a hefty dose of arrogance. This was not a man—er, a vampire—who followed the rules.

Thankfully, Nick appeared to be the one with the final say about whether Zoe and Irma stayed or left. And Zoe could tell that Damon hated that fact.

Even so, she detected no personal animosity between the two male vampires. But maybe she was wrong. While it was true that she’d always been good at reading people, reading vamps was entirely new territory for her.

Looking directly at her, Damon said, “If we could have a word alone?” He made it sound more like an order than a request.

No way did Zoe want to be alone with a clearly bad-tempered albeit attractive vampire. “I’m fine right here where I am,” she said. She glanced over at Nick, looking for reassurance.

Instead he said, “Damon, why don’t you show her the sports memorabilia by the bar?”

Nick’s lack of support reminded her that she would do well not to count on a vampire, even one she incorrectly thought was nice. “That’s okay. I can see the Blackhawks jersey from here,” Zoe quickly said. “Not that we are fans back in Boston.”

“But we’re in Chicago now,” Zoe’s grandmother said, giving her a nudge. “And we don’t want to seem rude to Nick. So let Damon show you the sporty stuff.”

That better be all he showed her. She didn’t want him flashing his fangs at her, trying to intimidate her. And what was with her grandmother throwing her to the lion’s den … or in this case the vampire’s bar? Zoe thought she could at least count on Gram to have her back.

“Afraid?” Damon’s mocking look would have made a lesser witch leap to her feet just to prove she didn’t fear him.

But Zoe was made of sterner stuff. She remained in her seat and calmly returned his mockery with some of her own. “Yeah, I’m just shaking in my boots. Can’t you tell?”

“I can tell you twirl your hair around your index finger when you’re nervous,” he replied.

And she could tell he wasn’t going to give up until she went with him across the room. Fine. It wasn’t worth wasting her energy on arguing with him. She got up and strolled over to the bar, where he joined her.

Zoe started the interrogation with a question of her own. “Do any humans live here in Vamptown?”

“Some.”

“And you don’t…”

“Don’t what? Eat them for lunch? Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they are the special on the menu.”

She suspected he was mocking her. She sure hoped so.

“What about you, witch?” he said.

“I don’t eat humans ever.”

“Glad to hear it. That leaves more for us vamps to consume.”

“You think this is very funny, don’t you.”

“Not particularly. Annoying as hell, yes. Funny, no.”

“What do you have against witches?”

“Everything.”

“That’s no answer,” she said.

“It’s the only answer you’ll get from me.”

“What’s the matter? Are you afraid I’ll cast a spell on you?”

He laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

“It won’t happen. I’ve given up the practice of witchcraft. Instead I run a legitimate business.”

“Yeah, I read that you run some kind of soap business.”

“It’s not just soaps, it’s bath and body lotions.”

“Magical potions,” he said dismissively.

“That’s not true.” She could tell by his expression that he didn’t believe her. “Look, I didn’t even know there were vampires in this neighborhood until we got here.”

“Then you should have turned right around the moment you found out.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“Not true. I had you thoroughly researched. You and your grandmother.”

Her heart dropped. No, he couldn’t possibly know everything. Only the other witches in their coven back in Boston knew everything, and they were bound by their own laws not to reveal a thing.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. Zoe had the T-shirt packed in her belongings back at the house. She should have worn it today—but how could she have known she’d be dealing with vampires? As if moving halfway across the country wasn’t bad enough, now she had Damon Thornheart to contend with.

So he’d had them researched. So what? All she had to do was stay calm. Stay calm and carry on. Oh yeah … and also lie. Big time. Because the truth could get them into a cauldron-ful of trouble.

Damon clenched his fists. Witches. Why did they have to be witches? The only thing Damon disliked more than witches was demons. He detested demons. He merely disliked witches.

He knew how to deal with demons. Not only was he a vamp, but he was also a Demon Hunter. Sending demons back to the hellhole they’d crawled out of was the primary purpose in his afterlife.

His secondary purpose for the time being was to disrupt the facade of calm that the witch had displayed up to this point. He’d sensed Zoe’s panic when he’d mentioned researching them.

“Is that fear I see on your face?” Ignoring the emphatic shake of her head, he continued, “Good. You should be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Damon knew he was being rude and he didn’t care. He’d never been known for his courtesy, but rather for his ruthlessness. That’s why he was so good at security. He always got the job done, no matter what it took.

It was a shame that vampires couldn’t compel witches the way they could humans. Then he could just get rid of Zoe by sending her and her grandmother packing right back to Boston.

Instead he’d had to listen to her claims that they wouldn’t cause any trouble. Yeah, right.

Vampires weren’t known for their patience, and Damon had long ago lost what little he had left. He was accustomed to the loner life of a Hunter. He took jobs like this one in Vamptown when business was slow and to keep up to date on the latest high-tech gadgets. He’d signed a one-year contract as head of security, which was the blink of an eye in vamp terms. Time took on a different meaning when you had an eternity.

Not that vampires were infallible. They could be killed by fire or decapitation.

Damon eyed Zoe, who kept her gaze fixed on the sports memorabilia on the wall by the bar. She was pretty if you went for long dark hair and porcelain-pale skin. She wore a black top and pants along with a red sweater thing that looked like it had shrunk. Even so, she clutched it around her body as if it could protect her from him.

Which was stupid. Nothing could protect her from him.

When she’d first walked into the bar, he’d noticed how tall she was and that she was not wearing those ridiculously high-heeled shoes women went for these days. She had long legs and nice breasts.

The most striking thing about her was her eyes. One was green and the other was blue.

She turned to face him. This was the closest he’d been to her. Before a table had separated them. Now there was little space between them. Her eyes mesmerized him.