The Entity Within by Cat Devon Read Free Book Online Page B

stop him. He swore as his fingertips were singed. “Shit!”
    She opened the book for him. “It is an ancient book of recipes for making soap and lotions.” Pointing to the botanical drawings, she said, “This book is much thinner than the one you are looking for.”
    Unconvinced, he made her show him every single one of the thirty-three pages.
    “I can read Latin,” he warned her.
    “Goodie for you.”
    Damon speed-read all the concoctions written on the pages before moving on. She put her foot down when he confiscated her laptop.
    “Give that back!”
    “After our tech geek has checked it out,” Damon said.
    “There is personal stuff on there.”
    “Too bad.”
    Zoe felt tears coming to her eyes. She’d written her thoughts after her mom’s death in a journal she’d kept on her laptop. The idea of someone else reading them was like being stripped bare for all to see.
    A powerful and dark hatred for the vampire was taking hold deep within her. She’d never felt this way before. Not even when her ex-fiancé had dumped her.
    No, this emotion was fierce and incredibly violent. She narrowed her eyes at Damon’s condescending smirk—and an instant later the lamp fixture above his head burst into flames and fell to the floor, missing him by inches.
    “Shit!”
    “Kill the vampire.” The words came from her lips, but the voice wasn’t hers. “Death to the Demon Hunter.”
    She was levitating above the floor.
    “Don’t kill her!” Gram cried from the doorway. “She’s been possessed by a demon, but I can fix it.”
    Pointing to Zoe, Gram recited the spell.
    By forces of day and spirits of night
    By solemn vow and powers strong
    When evil lurks or harm be in sight
    Be you safe from all evil forever long.
    Zoe collapsed into Damon’s arms.
    “What happened?” she asked shakily.
    “You just tried to kill me with a light fixture,” Damon said.
    She looked for confirmation to Gram, who nodded.
    “What do you remember?” Gram asked.
    Zoe said, “I felt this intense hatred toward—”
    “Me.” Damon finished her sentence.
    She tried to scoot away from him, but he was not letting her go.
    “I don’t remember much after that,” she said. “I heard Gram casting a spell.”
    Damon freed one hand to show her his smartphone. “The camera caught it all.”
    She stared at herself levitating off the floor. Shivering at the weird and terrifying image, she whispered, “That’s never happened to me before.”
    “You probably never sounded like Darth Vader before, either,” Damon said.
    “I could hear someone talking but it wasn’t my voice.” She nervously looked around her workroom. “Where did the demon go?”
    “Probably back to the tunnels. The demon slipped into your mind and fed off your anger and hatred for me.”
    “I don’t hate you.”
    “Don’t you?”
    “No, I just intensely dislike you.”
    He let her go. “The feeling is mutual.”
    “Then why didn’t the demon possess you instead of me?”
    “You’re a weak witch.”
    She wasn’t sure if she should be insulted by his comment or not. She only knew for sure that she’d never had anything like this happen to her before. And that was saying something. After all, she was a witch and had been exposed to magic since birth, but nothing this dark and dangerous. Demonic possession was never something she’d ever worried about … until now. She was trying not to freak out, but it wasn’t easy.
    “I’m a Demon Hunter,” he continued.
    “I thought you were a vampire.”
    “I am. I am also a Demon Hunter.”
    “So maybe the demons are here because of you. I have no previous experience with demons. Gram doesn’t, either. This is totally unfamiliar territory for me,” she said.
    “I didn’t set any demons free,” Damon said. “The two of you did that, recklessly disregarding the consequences. You don’t know a damn thing about demons. One just took possession of your mind and there was nothing you could do to prevent