The Entity Within Read Online Free PDF Page B

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