Cat Devon - The Entity Within

“I’m not a cat. I’m a familiar,” Bella said. “And I only know because it suddenly appeared minutes ago in the Book of Spells written on a page that was previously blank.”

“What, that having sex with a vampire would make a witch lose her powers?” Damon said.

“It’s only true for you and Zoe in particular. It’s all tied up with the Book of Darkness. Touching the book made her vulnerable in a way none of us could have anticipated,” Pat said. “I only discovered all this when I found a passage copied from a papyrus dating back to the great library in ancient Alexandria. You remember I told you my sire had given me some illuminated manuscripts pertaining to mystical powers in ancient times? I’m so sorry I didn’t find this information about you and Zoe sooner.”

Damon was tormented by the thought that Silas had Zoe. He felt as if the demon had reached into his chest and ripped his heart out. Not that he had a heart. Or emotions. Or fear. Until now.

How could this be happening? The fact that he’d had sex with Zoe had changed everything, including him.

“The only silver lining, if there is one, is that there is a way to reverse the curse and get Zoe’s magic to return,” Pat said. “At least that’s what it says in this illuminated manuscript. The original sources go back thousands of years.”

“The demon book didn’t look that old when I saw it,” Gram said.

“Yes, well, the Book of Darkness has the ability to mask itself and to appear and disappear,” Pat noted.

Gram threw back her shoulders and faced Damon. “There is a silver lining, as Pat said. There is a way to save Zoe and restore her magic.”

“I have to get Zoe back,” Damon said. “Whatever it takes.” He checked his smartphone to see if Simon had answered or sent a message via Words with Friends, which had been their secret means of safe communication. Instead he saw one word. DEARIE.

Shit. The demon had been playing the online game with him. Damon was going to eviscerate him.

Damon felt his fangs emerge as he went full vamp. He could feel his eyes darken. He needed to go into warrior mode.

“Do you love Zoe?” Gram demanded out of the blue.

Damon looked at her in disbelief. That was the last thing he’d expected to hear her ask him. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s critical,” Gram said.

“I’ve only known her—”

“Time is irrelevant,” Gram said. “We’re talking about a vampire and a witch here. Do you love her?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because it may be the only way to break the curse and restore Zoe’s magic to her.”

“I have to rescue her first and then destroy the demons. The rest can wait.”

“No, it can’t. You can’t rescue her without breaking the curse.”

“The one about no man being able to make an Adams witch happy?” Damon said.

“She told you about that?”

He angrily pointed to his fangs. “I’m a vampire, not a man.”

“Exactly,” Gram said. “You alone can save her. But only if you love her. Do you?”

Did he? How else could he explain this gaping emptiness he felt without her? The way she’d gotten to him from the very beginning, aggravating him and arousing him at the same time. The little things he noticed about her, like the way her bangs fell into those stunning eyes of hers or how she would swirl her hair around her finger or the way she smelled or the distracting questions she’d ask him.

Did he love her? Shit, yes. It wasn’t wise, wasn’t logical, wasn’t anything he’d planned. Sometimes karma was a bitch. Or maybe his karma was a witch.

“Do you love Zoe?” Gram repeated.

“Yes, I do,” Damon said.

“Then you can bring the magic back to her.”

“How?”

“Simple. You kiss her,” Gram said.

Damon waved her words away. “This isn’t some stupid freaking fairy tale.”

“No, it’s not. It’s a nightmare.”

“Zoe and I can’t have a future together—”

Gram waved his words away. “We’ll work out the details of that later. For now you have to save her and part of that is—”

“Kissing her. I get it,” he said impatiently.

“Bring the magic back.”

“And no kissing her on the cheek and no tongue, either,” Bella said.

“She’s right,” Gram said. “A simple kiss on the mouth, but you must love her in your heart or all is lost.”

“Then we’re in deep shit because I don’t have a heart,” Damon said.

“Yes, you do, Demon Hunter,” Bella said. “You may not have before, but you do now. You need to believe.”

“I believe what I can see,” he said curtly.

“You couldn’t see the connection between Zoe and you, but you felt it,” Gram said. “You fought it but I know you felt it.”

She was asking him to feel while he fought, and he’d never done that. Not since Gettysburg. Not since he’d become a vampire. Not since he’d become a Demon Hunter.

Loving Zoe was a problem, not a solution.

“I wouldn’t have believed love was possible had I not seen it between Daniella and Nick,” Pat admitted.

“Nick has more humanity than I do,” Damon said.

“True. But you are strong enough that love would not weaken you. This is your destiny.”

“Does that ancient manuscript of yours say how this turns out?” Damon said.

“No,” Pat admitted. “But it does say that the equinox plays a role in this. That the demons’ powers are getting stronger while there are more hours of darkness than light.”

“It’s always darkest before the dawn,” Gram said.

Damon’s eyes were drawn to the weird chair with the writing on it. Amid the cursive French phrases, two words in Latin in the middle of the seat stood out. They seemed to glow. AD FINEM—to the end.

He refused to believe that this was the end. He was a vampire Demon Hunter and he would succeed or die.

“Welcome to our humble abode, dearie,” Silas told Zoe.

“Did you bring Dr Pepper?” the first Guy said.

Zoe tried to make sense of her situation, but her mind was hazy. The last thing she remembered was cuddling in her bed with Damon. How did she end up here? Where the hell was she?

The tunnels. She was in the tunnels, wearing a tattered red dress. A tattered red Victorian ball gown like something out of Phantom of the Opera . She was lying on something cold and hard. Her hands were bound above her head. Her ankles were bound as well, and she wore sparkly ruby shoes that looked remarkably like those worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

“I apologize for the lack of amenities,” Silas said. “We couldn’t get out to the embalming room at the moment, so we brought the embalming table to us.”

Zoe could feel the cold metal of the table through the tissue-thin silk of her dress. Not her dress. The dress Silas had put on her.

“Mirror, mirror, get me out of here,” Zoe said frantically.

“No mirror in here. Not that it matters,” Silas said. “It’s no good casting spells, because you’ve lost your magic. Tsk tsk. Such a shame, dearie. You really should have listened to that hybrid when she warned you that having intercourse with the Demon Hunter would result in Vamptown going up in flames.”

Her protest froze in her throat as she got her first good look at the tunnel walls. Or more specifically, what was on the tunnel walls. Spiders. Millions of them. Rappelling down from the ceiling and the walls.

Silas waved his hand toward the insects. “Ah, I see you’ve noticed our little friends. I understand they are not faves of yours?”

“What do you want?”

“I’m supposed to say world peace, right?” Silas laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “I want the Book of Darkness, of course.”