Incarnation Read Online Free Page A

romantically to the Crown Prince. When the cast finally emerged, the lady smiling in sables and diamonds, a cheer went up. Invitations were offered, accepted, or declined. Finally, the last of the stragglers departed.
    Still, I waited. The lights in the theatre dimmed. The ushers let themselves out, offered muted good nights to one another, and vanished into the darkness between the pale pools of the sodium lights. The stagehands followed. Quiet, in startling contrast to the recent clamor, descended. The life of the city had moved on into the nearby streets crowded with restaurants and pubs, far enough away for my purposes.
    The time had finally come. I stepped forward, only to stop suddenly when a flicker of movement near the theatre caught my eye. Was my quarry departing already? Was I in danger of missing him? But no, the shape I glimpsed between wisps of fog did not resemble the man identified as Mr. Bram Stoker, whose sketch in The Illustrated London News I had studied with suchcare. Instead, the figure appeared strangely garbed in a long robe such as a monk might wear. A hood concealed the head and face. Even as I puzzled over this, another identical figure appeared, followed by a third. Together, they took up position in front of the theatre.
    I am not given to flights of fancy, but just as the whore had sensed danger when she looked at me, I knew that the hooded trio was a threat. They had the shape of men, but they moved with the lumbering heaviness of beasts, and even when they stepped into the light, darkness concealed their faces.
    Although I had been in London only a short time, I had sensed the presence of beings that were other than human. But I had no wish to discover anything about them or, indeed, to allow any distraction from the dual forces that drove me. I was torn between the compulsion laid upon me by the singer in the opera house, so powerful that it had drawn me from the grave, and by my own yearning for the half-remembered human life that I had known. Both compelled me to find the one who had transformed me and demand from him both an explanation for his actions and a means of undoing them.
    I stepped again into the street. At once, the trio of hooded creatures moved forward. Almost too late, I realized that they meant not simply to block my passage but to seize hold of me. Anger warred with disbelief. I dropped the valise I carried, hoisted up my skirt, and lashed out with a booted foot, catching one of the assailants in the chest. Such was the force of my kick that he should have collapsed. But after staggering for a moment, the creature righted himself and came at me again.
    My recent transformation had endowed me with vastly greater strength and speed than normal, the extent of which I was still discovering. I flung one of the creatures against anearby wall and another into a lamppost even as the third tried to grab hold of me. He was strong, but I was stronger. Whirling, turning, a blur of motion and fury, I scarcely knew when my feet left the ground and I soared, unfettered by gravity. That had not happened before and for just a moment I was distracted. The assailants seized the opportunity and came at me all together. I heard their hissing breath, saw their gnarled hands reaching out to pull me down, and realized that one was holding a chain finely wrought from silver links. As it brushed against my skin, a burst of pain convulsed me. For an instant, I was helpless. Two of the creatures bore me to the ground. The third, holding the chain, advanced. In a moment, I would be bound, engulfed in agony, and unable to defend myself.
    The monster within me lifted its head and howled. I turned and sank my fangs into the nearest creature. The bite should have drawn blood, but mercifully I tasted nothing. I did, however, hear the high-pitched, keening cry that broke from the assailant as he struggled to free himself. Letting him go, I leaped to my feet and turned on the others. The one with the chain