Claimed By Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page A

be Antonio,” Casanova mused, regarding me speculatively. “You were at his court for years before you ran away. The spell would never have allowed you to leave him, nor would you have wanted to try.”
    I winced. Even the thought of being infatuated with Tony was enough to make me slightly sick. “Can it be removed?”
    “By the person who originated it, certainly.”
    “No, without him.”
    Casanova shook his head. “I couldn’t do it, and I’m very good, chica .” He gave me an arch look. “Of course, if I knew more about who we’re discussing, it might help. Perhaps one of my contacts . . .”
    I didn’t want to tell him. Tony was his immediate boss, but Mircea was Tony’s master. He therefore had a claim to anything Tony had and to anyone who owed him loyalty. There was normally a certain amount of maneuvering that had to be done before a senior master could simply take one of his underling’s possessions, at least if that subordinate had reached third-level master status, as Tony had. But since Tony was now in open defiance of both Mircea and the Senate, everything he owned had reverted to his master’s control. Which was a roundabout way of saying that Mircea was Casanova’s master. The incubus was unlikely to defy him, but he obviously wasn’t going to give me any help without more information.
    I sighed. I didn’t like being backed into a corner, but who else was I going to ask? “Mircea,” I said, after checking to make sure we weren’t being overheard.
    Casanova looked blank for a moment, then jumped up as if someone had given him a hotfoot. “You might have mentioned that earlier, Cassie!” he hissed in an alarmed whisper. “Getting this body skinned alive is not on my daily agenda!”
    “Sit down,” I told him in irritation. “Tell me how I get rid of this thing.”
    “You don’t. Take some advice, chica ,” he said seriously. “Go home to the nice master vampire, beg forgiveness for causing him any inconvenience and do whatever he tells you. You do not want this one angry with you.”
    “I’ve seen Mircea pissed off,” I said. That was true, although so far it had never been at me. I nudged Casanova’s chair with my foot. “Sit down. People are starting to stare.”
    “Yes, they are,” Casanova agreed, “which is why I’m going straight to my office, picking up the phone and giving the big boss a call. If you don’t want him to find you, I suggest you use the time between now and then to run like hell. Not that it will do you any good.”
    “You’re afraid of him!”
    “Let me think,” he said sarcastically. “Yes! As you should be.”
    I stared up at him in confusion. The vamp I knew wasn’t someone to be trifled with, but I’d never seen him do anything that would explain why an ancient demon would be shaking in his designer shoes. “We’re talking about Mircea, right?”
    Casanova glanced around, then slid into the seat next to me, looking almost comically grave. “Listen to me, little girl, and pay attention, because I am never saying this again. Mircea is the greatest manipulator I’ve ever known. There’s a reason he’s the Senate’s chief negotiator—he always gets what he wants. My advice: make it easy on him, and perhaps he’ll go easy on you.”
    I grabbed his tie to keep him from running for the phone and jerked his face close to mine. I’m not normally the violent type—I saw too much of it growing up to want any part of it—but at the moment I was too mad to care. “You’ve had your speech, now listen to mine. I know all about manipulation. I haven’t lived a day when someone wasn’t pulling my strings. Even this whole Pythia gig wasn’t my idea. But you know what? It does change things, doesn’t it? Mircea doesn’t own me, no matter what he thinks. No one does. And anyone who tries to jerk me around from now on is going to find that I make a very bad enemy. Do you get it?”
    Casanova pantomimed choking and I released him. He fell