Cat Devon - The Entity Within

Here.

The cauldron appeared, hanging on a stand over the fire.

“Quickly now,” Gram said. “First off, I need a strand of hair from you, Zoe, as well as Damon and Pat. And a cat whisker from Morticia.”

Gram put each item in the cauldron. “This last one is tricky. I need the urine of a Russian aristocrat.”

“Where the hell are we supposed to get that?” Damon said.

Bella raised one paw. “Hello? That would be moi . But I’m not peeing into a fire.”

Zoe produced an empty plastic bin large enough for Bella to jump into and take care of business. The bin was brand new and had yet to be used. It certainly wouldn’t be used after this little episode. Zoe poured the liquid into the cauldron.

“One final thing.” Gram nodded to Pat, who added a raven’s feather.

“I happened to have it from my Tower of London days,” Pat said. “Irma warned me I might need it.”

Gram turned to Zoe. “As the youngest witch in our line, you must throw the book into the cauldron. Don’t touch it until I point to you. Understood?”

Zoe nodded.

Gram held out her hands.

Book of Darkness, hear my call

Your time is done and that is all.

Hell-broth, boil and bubble

Begone this evil harmful trouble.

Be short be swift. Give hope a lift.

Close the door to hell

And destroy this evil book as well.

Gram pointed to her.

Zoe’s inner librarian still hated the idea of destroying a book, especially one as old and rare as this one. But her inner witch knew that it had to be done. So she quickly did it.

The contents of the cauldron went up in a burst of wild flames that were a strange inky black color.

“Are you sure we got it? What if it just went somewhere else?” Zoe said. “We don’t even know where it was while it was missing.”

“Do you feel different?” Pat asked Zoe.

“I’m sort of buzzing all over. Like when your hand falls asleep,” she said.

“Me too,” Gram said.

“Me too,” Bella agreed.

Morticia nodded as well.

“Then that is all the confirmation we need that the book was destroyed forever,” Pat said.

“What are you talking about?” Zoe said.

“It’s written here.” Pat showed her the illuminated manuscript he had on the coffee table.

“I’m not fluent in Theban,” Zoe reminded him.

“Whomsoever shall destroy the Book of Darkness shall enjoy immortality,” Damon translated.

“Holy Toledo,” Gram said.

“Holy shit,” Bella said.

“Sweet,” Morticia said.

Zoe stared at the calico cat in amazement. “You can talk!”

“Because all of you contributed to the ingredients to the spell that destroyed the book, you all became immortal. That’s what the buzzing is,” Pat said.

“Or it could be the flu or something,” Zoe said.

“You’re afraid to believe in the magic,” Damon said.

“Can you blame me?” she said.

“No,” Damon said. “The good news is that you will have an eternity to learn to believe.”

“Did you know about this immortality issue beforehand?” Zoe asked.

“I’d heard legends about the possibility. This is the first time I’ve seen it in writing,” Damon said.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Zoe demanded.

“That’s on me,” Pat said. “I couldn’t risk the chance that you might not want to be immortal and therefore not do the spell to destroy the book.”

“Who doesn’t want to be immortal?” Gram said.

“You’d be surprised,” Pat said.

“Does this mean I’m stuck in a cat’s body forever?” Bella grumbled.

Zoe was having a hard time processing what she was being told. She’d already been abducted by a demon, held captive in a tunnel filled with spiders, and had a vampire Demon Hunter kiss her after telling her he loved her. Now she got the news that she was immortal and it wasn’t even noon yet.

She needed to be logical about this. She needed to fill in the blanks, although there were some she didn’t want reviewed. She didn’t want to know how Silas had gotten her into that red dress. She was going to pretend it had happened in the blink of an eye.

Which reminded her, she was standing in her bare feet and nightgown. “I need a shower,” she said.

But before she could reach the stairs, the front door burst open and Daniella ran in with Nick and Bruce close behind her.

“You poor thing,” Daniella said. “Nick just told us what happened. That the demons are gone and the book, too.”

“And Dr. Powers back in Boston has been compelled by a vampire friend of mine to forget and forgive everything regarding Irma. So, everybody okay now?” Nick said.

“Obviously not.” Bruce pointed to Zoe. “The poor girl is still in her nightgown.”

“I need a shower,” Zoe said.

“I brought a box of a dozen cupcakes.” Daniella waited for Pat to remove the illuminated manuscript and set it inside the Victorian armoire for temporary safekeeping before setting the goodies on the coffee table. “I brought a lemon ginger and a salted caramel as well as your fave red velvet. Oh, and a couple of maple bacon ones, too.”

“Bacon?” Bella’s ears perked up. “I love bacon almost as much as caviar!”

Daniella handed Bella a piece of bacon from the top of the cupcake and gave one to Morticia as well.

“Thank you,” Morticia said politely.

Daniella’s eyes widened in surprise. “Both your cats talk now?”

“And we’re immortal,” Bella added.

“I’m taking that shower now,” Zoe said and headed upstairs. She did not want to try to explain anything. It was beyond her. Gram and Pat would have to do that, accompanied by Bella no doubt. Too bad. Zoe was done for the moment.

Once locked in her bathroom, she tore off the nightgown and cursed it so it dissolved. She never wanted to see it again as long as she lived. But wait, that would be … forever.

She turned the water on full tilt and stepped in for her shower. She used the strongest soap she had but still kept washing, trying to scrape the memory of Silas touching her from her skin, not to mention those damn spiders. It was a very, very long shower. She only stepped out when the hot water ran out.

She’d washed her hair as well. Reaching out, she wiped the steam from the old-fashioned mirror above the sink. She didn’t look any different. One eye was still green, one still blue. But everything had changed. She’d had sex with a vampire and, well … that part had been awesome. The trauma came after that. She’d gone from having no magic to being immortal. Talk about a change in circumstances.

Zoe wrapped a big bath towel around herself and stepped from the bathroom into her bedroom.

Damon was sitting on her bed, waiting for her.

She hadn’t expected that.

“What are you doing here?” she said.

“Waiting for you. We need to talk.”

“Right.” She tightened the towel around her body. “I have questions.”

A smile lifted the edges of his lips. “You always do.”

“How did you know to add those last two words in Latin to get rid of Silas?”

“ Ad finum. To the end. They were on that weird chair with the words on it you have downstairs. They were on the seat where the cats usually sit, and the words were glowing.”

“What about the images on the tunnel wall of you being tortured? Were you really in hell?”

“Only the first level.”

“What happened?”

“You remember I told you about Eve?”

Zoe nodded. “The witch you killed because she betrayed you.”

“Her betrayal resulted in my being ambushed. I ended up in hell. Silas hated that I was the one who got away. No one gets away from hell.”