Page 7

S till housed inside the body of the little girl with the long, red pigtails, Luca hovered on the verge of insanity as she insisted on playing one more game of hide-and-seek with her mother.

But at least he now remembered who he was—or had been—most of the time.

And he recalled how he had come to be in this sorry state.

And who was responsible. He spent hours planning his revenge against Rylan Saintcrow and Jason Kincaid.

He had learned from watching and listening that the little girl’s family lived in a small town in Wyoming, though how his first host had gotten from Colombia to Wyoming remained a mystery.

But then, he remembered little of what had happened immediately after his spirit had been freed from the soul-catcher.

On more than one occasion, he had been tempted to leave the girl’s body and transfer to the mother’s, but the woman was even more boring than the child.

All she did, day in and day out, was cook and clean and look after the child.

And knit. Sometimes he thought the click-click-click of the needles would drive him crazy.

The father was another option. He left the house every morning, seemed physically strong and healthy.

The problem was, he was also strong-willed and stubborn.

He would not be easy to manipulate. The girl, however, was the perfect disguise.

Perhaps he would wait a little while longer.

There was no hurry. No one knew he was here.

Then, too, perhaps he should wait until his powers had fully returned.

Yes, that seemed like the wisest course of action for now.

He could transfer to the man anytime he wished.

The perfect host would be Saintcrow or Kincaid.

Vampires were practically indestructible.

If he could transfer his essence into one of them, he could cause as much mayhem as he wished and no one would be able to stop him.

On the other hand, staying in control of a powerful vampire would demand his full attention twenty-four hours a day.

He would never be able to rest. Never be able to relax his guard.

Patience, he thought. He must exercise patience. His powers were still weak. Better to err on the side of caution and remain where he was until his full strength returned.

But, damn, he hated waiting!