Love Your Entity(73)

While he did that, Sierra asked Zoe, “Will that protection spell you did work on keeping me safe from Hal?”

Zoe shook her head. “It’s mainly designed for demons.”

“Do you have another one for ghosts?”

“Not really. Especially since you are an entity empath. You are more sensitive to spirits than others,” Zoe said.

“What if I don’t want to be that sensitive anymore?” Sierra said.

Zoe gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. That’s beyond my powers.”

“Simon texted that he’ll check into it and get back to me,” Damon said.

“I’ll check with Pru,” Zoe began when Damon interrupted her.

“Simon said he’d relay the message to her as well.”

“They are a couple,” Zoe explained. “Pru is a witch like me and Simon is a vampire Demon Hunter like Damon.”

“Not quite like us,” Damon said.

“Right,” Zoe agreed, giving Damon another quick but intense kiss. “No one is quite like us.” Looking around, she said, “You’re going to need some furniture down here.”

“Why do we have to stay down here if I’ve got a demon protection spell?” Sierra asked.

“Because this is a secure site. No ghosts,” Ronan said. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night.”

“True,” she said. “I’m not sure how I’ll ever sleep on that bed again.”

“I can get you a new bed. What style would you like?” Zoe asked.

“This isn’t a design makeover from HGTV,” Damon said irritably. “Just give her a bed. Big enough for two.”

Zoe wrinkled her nose at Damon before beginning her incantation.

Air and fire

There is a desire

Air and earth

For what it’s worth

Whatever is said

Please, we need a bed.

While she did that, Ronan rushed upstairs and brought down Sierra’s laptop and phone. He did all that in a millisecond.

“Get some sleep,” Zoe suggested. “Call us if you need anything.”

When Sierra was alone with Ronan she said, “I have to tell you something. I saw my father at the cemetery tonight. When I wandered off, I didn’t go looking for him at all. It’s as if I was drawn there. I called him a shit-faced bastard. Maybe that made him mad enough to turn into a demon. Or maybe he always was one. I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”

“How do you know it was your father in the cemetery?”

“Aside from the fact that I was standing next to his headstone with his name on it, I could see him,” she said.

“Could you see him tonight?”

“No, I saw nothing. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t him.” She looked at the bed. “I can’t believe Zoe did that.” She cautiously sat on it. “Not bad.” The sheets were plain white and the comforter was as well. Nothing fancy. Just a plain bed. Created by a witch who had recited a demon protection spell on Sierra.

She reached for her laptop and then started doing research. She’d investigated everyone else so she might as well investigate Baron Voz and then the Russian circus guys. She didn’t get far with Voz.

“All I can find is a reference to him during the Crusades. That’s not possible, right?”

“Wrong,” Ronan said. “He became a vampire around that time.”

She kept looking on the Internet, trying to ignore the fact that she had to pee. Yes, she’d smudged the bathroom off her bedroom with sage but she wasn’t ready to go back upstairs yet.

As if reading her mind—wait, Ronan could read her mind. “There’s a small WC behind the stairs,” he said. “Just a toilet and sink.”

“Thanks.” She rushed over to it and shut the door. Small was right. When she sat on the john, her knees bumped against the sink, which she faced. From side to side there were maybe a few inches bracketing the toilet. She couldn’t even stretch out her hands. She had to keep her elbows bent. Had Zoe spelled this room as well as the bed? Sierra hadn’t noticed it before but then she hadn’t spent much time down here. The first time she’d tried to explore, her flashlight went out. Then earlier tonight, she’d been in the passageway and couldn’t wait to get out and go upstairs to eat her pizza, which she’d thrown up all over her bedroom floor.

“It’s all cleaned up,” Ronan told her through the door. “The mess upstairs, I mean.”

Okay, then. Definitely time to slam her mental barrier back in place. No more thought sharing as she sat on the john. Because the bottom line here was that by midnight the day after tomorrow they had to find the key or she’d be turned into a vampire. Unless she and Ronan had sex. So that was a given. They were definitely having sex.