Cat Devon: The Entity Who Came for Christmas

“You said she’s not a normal witch. What makes her different?”

“Aside from the fact that she has the most gorgeous face and long blond hair and eyes like emeralds?” Simon drawled sarcastically.

Damon grimaced. “Like emeralds? Really? Yeah, aside from all those clichés.”

“It’s rather a long story.”

“I’ve got time,” Damon said.

“Don’t you have to return to Zoe?” Simon asked.

“She kicked me out.”

“Not permanently, surely.”

“No, she and her grandmother along with Pru are doing some sort of Winter Solstice dinner and celebration tonight.”

“And they didn’t invite you? How rude of them,” Simon said.

“I don’t eat. I consume blood, remember?”

“Of course. And I hear the blood here is of a particularly high quality.”

“Is that why you came to Vamptown? As part of a blood-tasting tour?”

“No. I came to see you.” Not entirely true, but Simon wasn’t ready to put all his cards on the table yet. “So all is well with you and Zoe? You kiss and ta-da, you get to live happily ever after like in a fairy tale?”

“Vampires don’t usually show up in fairy tales. I don’t know of any that feature a vampire living happily ever after,” Damon said. “But Zoe and I are good. Very good.”

“What about work? Are you enjoying being the Head of Security here in Vamptown?”

“I am.”

“Not bored?”

“Not yet.”

“And when you are?” Simon asked.

“I’ll deal with it then.”

Simon looked around. He much preferred asking questions to answering them. “So you work out of your loft here?”

“No. The security headquarters is located in the Vamp Cave.”

“Really? That’s the best name you could come up with?” Simon mocked.

“I didn’t name it.”

“Who did?” Simon asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Clearly it needs a new name. Who should I speak to about that?”

“No one. You’re avoiding my question about Pru and that curse,” Damon said impatiently.

Simon sighed. This entire matter was becoming more complicated by the minute. Perhaps he’d made a mistake in coming to see Damon. Yet he couldn’t ignore the tip he’d been given. Not that he planned on revealing everything until he had more information. Until then, he’d only share what he had to and keep the rest to himself.

“I don’t recall how much I told you about my past,” Simon said.

“Not much.”

“As I am your sire, the one who turned you into a vampire on that battlefield in Gettysburg, we share a special bond.”

Damon nodded. “Go on.”

“I, too, was a warrior once.”

“You’re still a warrior,” Damon said.

“I meant that I was a human warrior once. Before I was turned.” Simon paused. He really didn’t like talking about his past. He hadn’t done so in centuries. Many, many centuries. But he had no choice. “Have you heard of King Arthur?”

“I read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain when it first came out.”

“Yes, well … I was a vampire in King Arthur’s court.”

Damon blinked. “But that was--”

“A very long time ago,” Simon interrupted him. “I am aware.”

“No, I was going to say that’s fiction .”

“The book was, yes. Not King Arthur or Camelot. I assure you it was not fiction.”

“Did you know Merlin?”

“He turned me,” Simon said curtly. He had no intention of going into the details of that story.

“No shit? Merlin was a vampire? I thought he was a wizard or something. Actually, I didn’t even think he was real.”

“Oh, he was real all right.”

“Is he still around?” Damon asked.

“I’m not at liberty to say. Getting back to Pru’s part in all this--”

“Wait,” Damon interrupted him. “She was alive back then? Or undead back then?”

“No. She was neither alive nor undead back then. But she comes from Morgan Le Fay’s bloodline.”

“No shit?” Damon said again. “What are the odds?”

“They are damn high when you go looking for her descendants,” Simon said.

“Morgan’s descendants? Why the hell would you do that?”

“For old time’s sake.”

“You had sex with Morgan and you wanted to have sex with--”

“I did not have sex with Morgan.”

“So you had sex with Pru instead?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Simon said curtly. He got up and started pacing before flinging himself back onto the couch. “I’m not a volatile vampire. I’m rock steady. Nothing throws me.” He’d seen it all and beat it all. He’d killed and destroyed without hesitation.

Despite all that, he didn’t know how to explain the fiery chemistry between Pru and him. He certainly hadn’t anticipated how strong their connection would be or how incredible the sex was.

Yes, he’d gone looking for her. Yes, he’d wanted to seduce her. And yes, once he had her in his bed the results had been unbelievably good. At least the sex had been. Off-the-charts good. Bloody spectacular. So damn spectacular that he’d been shaken to his core. He couldn’t risk getting attached to her. He couldn’t lose his focus, which had to remain on hunting and destroying demons.

He’d hoped that mating with her would change him for the better. Make him a better hunter. It hadn’t, despite multiple tries and multiple orgasms over a week’s time. Merlin had lied when he’d said while training Simon that finding Morgan Le Fay’s descendant in the beginning of the twenty-first century would greatly increase Simon’s power.

So Simon had left. He’d tried to do so without waking Pru, but the witch had damn good hearing. She’d confronted him. He’d told her the truth. That he’d had sex with her because of her ties to Morgan. She hadn’t taken the news well.

“So what exactly is this curse that Pru cast on you?” Damon asked.

“I um … my ability to have sex has been … compromised.”

“What?”

“I haven’t had sex in months,” Simon growled.

Damon took a step back. “How do you break the curse?”

“I was hoping your girlfriend Zoe would help me with that,” Simon said.

“You had sex with a vampire Demon Hunter?” Zoe stared at Pru in amazement.

“Don’t give me that look,” Pru said. “Apparently you have sex with a vampire Demon Hunter all the time.”

“Yeah, you have sex all the time,” Zoe’s cat, Bella, said.

“I’m still not used to your familiar being able to speak,” Pru said, staring down at the grey cat sitting on the floor. “I’m actually between familiars at the moment. I’ll have to put in a request for one that talks.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Zoe said.

“Yeah, I learned that the hard way with Simon,” Pru said.

“What’s the deal between you two? How did you meet? Did you two cross paths back in Boston?”

Pru knew Zoe and her grandmother from being in the same coven with them in Boston. Pru could still remember the uproar her friend had created when she’d broken the coven’s rule of never telling a human you were a witch. Zoe had told her fiancé at the time. Later he’d dumped her or she’d dumped him, Pru wasn’t sure. She only knew that Zoe and her grandmother had been sent away. They’d come to Chicago and all hell had broken loose. Literally. The Book of Darkness had accidentally been opened, releasing brutal demons from hell.

Pru had only learned about the demon stuff after it was all over. She’d wondered if Simon had been involved but hadn’t been able to ask because she didn’t know about Zoe living with a vampire. “Why didn’t you tell me about Damon?” Pru asked.