Cat Devon: The Entity Within

While her professional life was up for grabs, Zoe’s personal life had been terrific. She’d fallen in love with Tristin Winters, a professor of paranormal activity at the local community college. She’d met him while still in library school. After two years as a couple, he’d proposed to her and she trusted him enough to tell him she was a witch. He’d been supportive and understanding. Given his chosen field of study, he’d known a great deal about witches and harbored no prejudice against them.

His requests for her to cast spells to help him economically had started innocently enough. Or so she’d thought at the time. His department had needed more funding, so she’d worked her magic on the lottery to allow him to win. It wasn’t mega-millions, but it was a nice amount.

He said he’d donated it all to the college but that more was needed. He went on and on about the difference his work could make in the world of paranormal research and how he’d studied in Nepal and wanted to help the people there. She hadn’t been a total patsy. She’d checked out his story; Tristin had indeed studied local legends and lore in Nepal. He’d shown her photos of himself with the locals. The faces of the children had been the breaking point for her.

So she’d applied her magic to Wall Street for him. Just a few stocks. Nothing meant to gain attention.

When her mother died and Zoe refused to use magic any longer, Tristin left her. He’d used her and broken her heart. Zoe’s grief at the loss of her mother and the betrayal of her fiancé had nearly undone her. She’d wanted to give up.

Instead she turned to what had been a hobby before—making soap. At a time when her life had seemed out of control, she had been able to focus on creating her own recipes and mixtures for a line of botanical bath and beauty products that were pure and natural … and devoid of magic.

“Does everything look okay?” Gram asked her. “I don’t want your business to suffer because of my mistakes.”

“Having an Internet-based business means that I can pick up and move easier than if I had a bricks-and-mortar store,” Zoe replied.

“Speaking of stores, did you notice the cupcake shop down the block from Nick’s bar?”

“Yes. We will definitely have to check that out later.”

“And did you also notice Damon’s eyes?” Gram asked her.

“He sure noticed mine,” Zoe said. “He asked me if it was a witch thing.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That it isn’t.”

“Did you mention the curse?”

“That an Adams witch with two eye colors would never find happiness with a man? No, I didn’t tell him.” Zoe had also never told her ex-fiancé. “I should have put in the tinted contact lens I have to make my eyes match like I did when I worked at the library.”

“Would you have gone with the blue or the green?”

“Green. I think they are more powerful.”

“Damon’s eyes are certainly powerful,” Gram said. “Do you deny that?”

“No. He has very powerful expressive angry dark blue eyes. And yes, they are sexy. But dangerously sexy. This is a vampire we are talking about here. I am not about to play Little Red Riding Hood to his Big Bad Wolf.”

Gram laughed and patted her arm fondly. “You always did have a thing for fairy tales.”

“That’s a make-believe world. We are dealing with real vampires here,” Zoe said.

“And we are real witches.”

“Why didn’t you give me a heads-up before we moved here?” Zoe asked.

“We didn’t have a lot of options open to us,” Gram said. “We were pretty much banished from Boston. Our coven said we had to leave town because I’d created a scene unbecoming of a witch and you were still on probation for revealing the fact that you’re a witch to Tristin. They didn’t give us much time to make the move.”

“I know, but you still could have warned me that we were moving into the middle of a bunch of vampires.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”

“Damon is not happy about us living here.”

Gram grinned. “That’s an understatement.” She reached out to stroke the long-haired calico cat perched on a worktable. “Isn’t that right, Morticia?”

The cat purred her agreement as she tilted her head so Gram could reach that spot behind her ear she loved.

A gray short-haired cat jumped up on the other side of the worktable. “Don’t expect me to be so subservient,” the cat said.

“I still can’t get used to the fact that your familiar speaks,” Gram said with a shake of her head. “Bella Plushallova is one of a kind.”

“I can’t get used to the fact that I was brought back as a cat, and yes I am one of a kind,” Bella said. “I was once a Russian countess and now look at me. I have been reduced to this.”

“You are the familiar to Zoe, a wonderful witch. Be thankful.”

Bella regally lifted her nose in the air. “I did not ask for this assignment.”

“Well, we didn’t ask for a familiar with attitude, either,” Gram said. “Our coven decided you had to be placed with Zoe after none of the other witches could cope with your shenanigans.”

The sound of pounding on the front door prevented further feline-familiar-to-witch conversation.

“It’s probably Damon ready to toss us out,” Zoe said.

“Don’t be such a Debbie Downer,” Gram reprimanded her. “You go open the front door. I’ll let you deal with our company. I’m going to finish unpacking.”

“What if it’s Damon?” Zoe said.

“Don’t upset the vampire,” Gram suggested with a pat to Zoe’s cheek before disappearing.

“Definitely do not upset the vampire,” Bella agreed before leaping down and marching off, leaving Zoe alone.

Zoe went downstairs and opened the front door to find a young woman standing there with a box in hand. “Welcome to the neighborhood,” she said cheerfully. “My name is Daniella Delaney.” She opened the box’s lid. “And I brought cupcakes.”

“I can see that.” Zoe looked around, half expecting to find Damon lurking somewhere nearby.

Satisfied that he was not waiting to pounce, Zoe returned her focus to Daniella.

“I’m the owner of Heavenly Cupcakes,” Daniella said.

Zoe studied her. “You’re part druid.”

Daniella was clearly taken aback by Zoe’s abrupt comment. “How did you know? Did Nick tell you?”

“No. Your aura told me. It’s an unusually strong gold with tinges of bright royal blue, which is very rare and would indicate your druid heritage.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not to me,” Zoe said.

“And you are a…” Daniella paused, clearly unsure how to complete the sentence.

“Soap maker.”

“Right. Nick said you’re also a…”

“A witch?” Zoe nodded. “That’s right.”

“Nick told me that you seemed surprised to learn about the vampires.”

“True.” Zoe suddenly realized two things simultaneously—that she was being a poor hostess and that the smell of those cupcakes was making her mouth water. “Oh my gosh. I didn’t mean to keep you standing out here on the porch all this time. Come on in.”

Turning around, Zoe realized that in the time it took for her to come downstairs and answer the door, Gram had completely unpacked the contents of the living room.

Daniella expressed her surprise. “You did a lot of work in a short amount of time.”

“It’s an Adams family trait,” Zoe muttered, praying Gram wouldn’t pull any more magic tricks while Daniella was here. While it was true that the cupcake maker knew Zoe was a witch, she didn’t want Gram getting accustomed to always casting spells to meet their needs.