Page 17

L uca smiled faintly as he poured a drink for a customer.

He had taken over the body of the bartender at Abner’s Ale House a few days earlier.

After leaving the body of the little red-haired girl, his strength had waned as he drifted from place to place in an effort to find a suitable host. In his weakened condition, it hadn’t been easy.

Some bodies had accepted him but, for one reason or another, hadn’t been a good fit.

Some had been suitable but had refused to receive him and he’d been too weak to overpower them.

There had been days when he couldn’t remember who he was or where he was, days he feared would be his last. His various hosts had carried him across the country until, at the last, he had ended up outside a saloon in New Orleans.

He had been on the edge of desperation when he bumped into a man leaving Abner’s.

As Fate would have it, the man tended bar in the saloon.

Roger Bingham was the perfect specimen—a man in his early thirties, single, in good health, and not at all bad-looking.

Best of all, his mind was easily manipulated.

Luca had slipped into the man’s body and easily captured his mind.

Since that night, life had been good. For all intents and purposes, Bingham was no longer in control of his body or his thoughts. It was, Luca thought, like being reborn. His new host was strong and healthy and would be a suitable host for years to come, or until he tired of it.

Because he hadn’t been happy with Bingham’s small apartment, Luca had moved him to a larger one and hypnotized the manager into believing the rent had been paid a year in advance.

Bingham drove a Lexus. It wasn’t new, but it was in great condition.

He also had a girl. She was nothing like Katya, but she was young and pliable and willing to do anything he asked. Anything at all.

But the thing that pleased Luca the most was the return of his preternatural powers.

His magic grew a little stronger every day but was occasionally unreliable.

When his mystical powers were again unfailing and fully restored, he would locate Saintcrow and Kincaid and make them pay for killing his Katya, and locking him in that damn black box.