Cat Devon: The Entity Within

Damon stepped away from Zoe and turned to face Gram.

“Wise move,” Bella muttered.

He instantly turned to face Zoe. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Leaning down, she whispered in Bella’s ear, “Behave.” She didn’t want Damon knowing that Bella could speak. Zoe’s general philosophy was that the less outsiders knew about her, the better. And that went double for vampires. Triple for Damon, in particular.

“I expect you’re here about the cameras.” Gram sighed.

Damon once again turned to face her. “What do you know about them?”

“Don’t answer him, Gram,” Zoe said before stepping between them to protect her grandmother from any possible vamp wrath.

“I’m assuming he already knows they’re not working at the moment,” Gram said.

“And I want that rectified,” Damon said.

“Haven’t you learned that you can’t always get what you want?” Zoe countered.

Damon’s smile was sardonic. “Haven’t you learned that vampires always get what they want?”

“No.”

“Then consider this lesson number one,” Damon said. “I want those cameras working again right now, so remove whatever damn spell you put on them.”

“It’s not that easy,” Gram said.

“I still don’t know why you have cameras all over Vamptown. Are they in bathrooms, too? Bedrooms?” Zoe demanded.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Considering they might be in my bathroom or bedroom, I’d say it certainly is my business.”

“We witches value our privacy,” Gram said. “That’s why I disabled the cameras as soon as I detected them. My decision. I’m sure you understand, Damon.”

“I don’t give a damn that you value your privacy,” he said. “If you want to stay here, you will abide by our rules.”

“And how many other outrageous rules are you going to come up with in your pitiful attempt to make us leave?” Zoe challenged him.

“As many as it takes. Now get those cameras working again.”

“I’m not sure I recall how to do that.” Gram sounded flustered as Damon towered over them both ominously.

“Stop bullying her.” Zoe set Bella on the couch, where she curled up and watched them with an amused gleam in her eyes.

“Or what? You’ll sic your cat on me?” Damon mocked.

Uh-oh. Bella did not like being mocked. In fact, it was one of the things sure to push her feline familiar buttons. Zoe saw the meltdown coming. Bella’s eyes began to glow brilliantly. All sign of amusement was gone as the cat sat up and focused her attention on Damon.

“I know spells to make a vampire’s privates shrivel up and fall off,” Bella announced.

“That didn’t come from me,” Gram hurriedly said.

Damon went straight to Zoe. “Then it came from you.”

Zoe wasn’t sure what to say in answer to that. She glanced nervously at Bella.

Seeing that, Damon’s sardonic smile returned. “Are you worried about your dainty feline? You should be. I eat cats for breakfast.”

“Not this cat,” Bella said. “Not if you value your privates.”

Damon’s anger flared. “Is this some kind of trick? A spell to make me think your cat talks? Do you think I’m so stupid I’d fall for that?”

“I think you are stupider than that,” Bella said. “You’re a vampire. You’ve been around a long time. You’ve never heard a cat talk?”

Understanding dawned in Damon’s dark blue eyes. “It’s not the growling cat. It’s you. You’re Zoe’s 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 talking cat. That was unacceptable.

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.