Page 4

T he battered spirit of Luca Sasan floated down a long dirt road.

There were days when he couldn’t remember who he was, or where he was.

And days when he burned with hatred for the vampires who had destroyed his body and trapped his soul in a small, black box.

His memories were fragmented—a tight place, darkness, distant voices, a sudden sense of freedom, of being no more than a drifting shadow …

He had instinctively sought shelter inside the nearest living being—a young man who was easily manipulated and who, by a stroke of luck, was a chemist. In a brief moment of clarity, Luca had gathered his power and concocted a powerful spell meant to strike down the two vampires who had stolen his life and trapped his spirit inside an enchanted black box.

Unleashing the spell had killed the young man, leaving Luca with no physical host and no way to know if his spell had been successful before the young man died.

Had the enchantment destroyed the two vampires it was intended for?

Dissolved into the ether? Unraveled with the man’s death?

Struck some nearby, unwary bloodsucker? Likely, he would never know the outcome.

With his spirit growing weaker, Luca had wandered aimlessly, losing more of himself, of his memories, with each passing hour until, at the last possible moment, he had jumped into the first living host he saw—a small female with long, red pigtails who was playing in a plastic pool in her front yard.

He had intended to transfer into the woman sitting on the porch, but she’d been too far away and he had been afraid to wait a second longer, fearful that his essence would disappear for good.

He had spent most of the last month resting inside the child’s tiny body, trying desperately to piece together his past, to hang onto each fragment he remembered.

His dreams were filled with disjointed images—a dungeon, a guillotine, unbearable heat, being confined in a small, dark space. A woman. Katya.

In his sleep, he reached for her, and even though she eluded his grasp, he heard her voice in his mind, endlessly repeating the same four words— Avenge me, my love.