Karen Chance - Claimed by Shadow

I finally located my target in a room behind the stage, down a stairway filled with dust and old suits of armor. I kept a wary eye on the battered knights as I slipped by, but none so much as twitched. The first room I reached was set up like a dining room, with a large shiny wood table that practically reeked of beeswax. It was oak to match the paneling on the walls and the beams on the ceiling. There were a bunch of portraits scattered around and a big stone fireplace. It had a gothic feel to it that would have served as a good backdrop for a couple of vamps, only there weren't any.

The still-glowing embers in the fireplace and the decanter and two used glasses on the table told me that they hadn't been gone long. I peered into the next room, drawn by an odd smell, and found the human. It wasn't Myra.

A tall, portly guy with dark hair and, oddly enough, a red beard, stood by a counter with his shirt open over a pale, hairy belly. He had a candle in his hand and I identified the odor: cooked human flesh. He appeared to be trying to melt the skin on his chest and stomach, patches of which were already a flaming, lobster red. A few that had received extra attention were starting to bubble. He was crying silently, tears coursing down his cheeks to soak his beard, but he didn't stop.

I ran forward and knocked the candle away. It rolled across the floor and went out, and he looked after it blankly. Then he reached to the shelf behind him, got another one and was in the process of lighting it when I jerked it away, too. I looked into his eyes, but there was no one home. Somebody had hit him with a suggestion, a strong one. I slapped him, but it didn't seem to help. I tried to catch his eyes with mine, but it was hard to get him to focus enough to get a hold. Vampires have a hard time influencing people who are really drunk, high or crazy, because their minds don t work right. Apparently that goes for those who’ve been hit with a prior suggestion as well.

In the end, I got his attention by throwing his candles and matches into a garbage pail and refusing to let him retrieve them. He woke up enough to notice I was there and along with the recognition went a wince of pain. That was going to get a whole lot worse as his brain unfogged, but for the moment he was just uncomfortable.

"Where's Myra?" I asked. He stared at me as if he was having a hard time remembering English. "Have you seen a girl, shorter than me, weird eyes-”

"The master and Lord Mircea are dueling," he said sadly. I tried repeating the question, but he just stared at me. There was only one thought in his head, and it wasn't about Myra.

"Where is this duel?" I didn't need to find Myra if I located Mircea-she'd find me.

"Onstage.”

"I was just there-it's empty.”

"They have gone to Lord Dracula's rooms for weapons." His face twisted in pain, but I think it was less from his wounds than from the thought of his master in jeopardy. I had never met Mircea's infamous younger brother and wasn't enthusiastic about the idea. But what really concerned me was the fight. Half the Senate was after them, and they were taking time out to duel?

"Why are they fighting?”

"If my lord wins, he goes free-his brother has sworn it. But if Lord Mircea wins, he must go back into captivity, possibly forever!" The big man started sobbing as if his heart would break. I sighed. I should have known. Of course Dracula wouldn't want to go back into jail or whatever asylum the Senate had fixed up for crazy vamps. But while he and Mircea battled it out, Myra and her new buddies would end the dispute by killing them both.

I turned the large man's face towards me. "Why were you burning yourself?”

"Lord Dracula commanded it, for my failure to keep Lord Mircea from learning his whereabouts. He came here an hour ago, and I meant to tell him nothing, but then everything I knew poured out of me.”

"Mircea can be very persuasive.”

"My lord was very generous not to end my life for such incompetence.”

His eyes held the light of a true believer. I didn't even try to convince him that his god was really a monster. "What's your name?”

"Abraham Stoker, lady. I manage the theatre.”

I did a double take. Okay, that explained a lot. "It has to be late. Go home and get some medical attention for your burns. If anyone asks, you were checking on a sauce here in the kitchen and pulled it off on you.”

He nodded but looked torn, so I upped the amp on Augusta 's suggestion. It used up a lot of energy, and I had to resist the impulse to snatch him to me for a quick bite. Being in a vampire body had its downsides.

Stoker started to leave, but jerked violently halfway to the door and came to a stop. His head swiveled around to face me, despite the fact that his body remained facing forward. Another inch and he'd break his neck. "Tell me, if you can, what sort of spirit are you, to so easily possess a master vampire?”

"I told you to go home!" I eyed him cautiously. His voice had sounded funny, lower and more in control.

"And I told him to stay. It seems we know who is the stronger here, do we not?”

I was getting a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Who are you?”

"I am one whom the vile blows and buffets of the world have so incensed that I am reckless what I do to spite the world.”

I blinked. "What?" He laughed, and it was a full-throated, sexy sound, one that I was fairly sure the guy I'd met blubbering over his candles would never give. "Have you forgotten me so soon? When we met only last night?”

"Last night?" It took a second, but light dawned. "You're that spirit from the ball!”

"Incubus, please, my lady." I jerked in surprise. So that's what it was. I'd seen plenty of incubi, but never outside a host. "May I presume upon our acquaintance to ask why you are here?”

"You first.”

He sighed. "I would prefer not to use this body any longer than necessary. It is in a large amount of discomfort. Trust the master to scupper my plans without even knowing what they are.”

"What plans?" It was making my neck hurt just to look at him. I moved so Stoker's head wouldn't be at that crazy angle anymore.

"But that is what we need to discuss.”

"Look, I really don't have time to chat!" I tried to move past him, but the large body was blocking the door. "Get out of my way." I could move him, of course-even without feeding recently, Augusta was stronger than a human-but I didn't want to hurt Stoker. He'd had enough of that for one night.

"No, I do not think so. As I recall, I did you something of a favor at our last meeting. I expect you to return it.”

"Return it how?" I didn't like where this conversation was headed.

"I require a body for the evening, and this one has been rendered useless. It will collapse at any moment. I need a strong body, and yours will do nicely.”

I backed up a step. "You can't invade vampires.”

"No, but you can see me even without a body, as you proved at our first meeting. Very well. I will give directions, and you will follow them, and we will let this poor fellow go off to his soft bed and his shrewish wife.”

"I don't have time to help you. I have my own job to do.”

He smiled gently. "Yes. You wish to help Lord Mircea imprison his dastardly brother and make Europe safe from his fiendish ways once more, am I right?" He laughed at my expression, and again it was that goose-bump-inducing sound. "I saw you with Mircea at the ball. I see his mark on you now.”

He paused because we both heard it at the same time-the ring of steel on steel from somewhere nearby. That would be all I needed, for Dracula to kill Mircea before Myra had the chance! I pushed at him, but he grasped my arm.

"Tell me, am I right? Is that why you are here-to save his life?”