Chapter 2
Otto Vale had lived for more than six hundred years.
In all that time he had never once woken in a body that did not belong to him.
One moment he was in the changing room and the next, he found himself staring at the grand hall from a height that felt absurdly low.
His hands were now small and soft and the gown he wore clung to curves he did not possess.
He looked down and saw the pale blue fabric of the human girl’s dress.
Shock held him still for three full heartbeats. Then rage and disbelief flooded through him in equal measure.
Body swapping was the stuff of forbidden dark magic and every vampire law book forbade it.
But how could such a spell take hold of someone as powerful as himself?
That human woman was a danger.
Without a second thought, he sped toward the changing room.
His new legs felt weak and the skirts tangled around his ankles so that he nearly tripped twice before he reached the door.
He shoved it open and stopped dead on the threshold.
There in front of the tall mirrors stood his own body.
Silver hair fell across broad shoulders and the white shirt hung open at the throat.
The human girl wearing Otto’s body was confused as well, from the horrified expression on her face.
A perplexed Commander Caelum stood a few paces away.
“Your Majesty is it the wine stain bothering you or is there something else amiss?” he asked, clueless.
She turned to see Otto standing at the doorway and her eyes widened even more.
Commander Caelum turned to look at him with narrowed eyes.
“You! What are you doing in here?”
The human girl cleared her throat.
“Leave us,” she told Commander Caelum.
It was odd for Otto to hear his own voice through the ears of another.
Caelum frowned and glanced between the tall figure he believed to be his king and the small human who had just entered.
“Your Majesty the girl should not remain. I will escort her out at once.”
“I said leave us Caelum. Wait outside the door and let no one enter until I call for you.”
The commander hesitated only a moment longer then bowed and stepped out and closed the door behind him.
The moment they were alone Otto stepped up to the human girl in his body.
He knew he was tall, but compared to this girl’s small figure, he was a giant.
“You witch, what have you done to me?” he said in a voice that was too light and far too feminine.
“Firstly, my name is Maeve, and secondly, I'm not a witch, I have no idea what has caused this, I'm just as confused as you are.”
Otto is even more confused by her words.
From inside Otto’s body, Maeve could hear the steady thunder of Otto’s heartbeat within her body.
The rich scent that came from Otto’s human body was so strong that it made her new fangs ache.
Power hummed under her skin like a living current and she felt as though she could crush steel between her fingers if she chose.
Otto took a step closer and the skirts of the borrowed gown swished around his ankles.
“This is dark magic and it is forbidden,” he said.
“If anyone discovers what has happened both of us could be executed for it.”
Maeve is instantly frightened.
“What do we do now?” she asks.
“We have no choice but to play along until we learn how to reverse this spell,” Otto concludes.
Maeve’s new red eyes narrowed.
“Play along how? I cannot simply walk around as the Vampire King.”
“You will have to, because if people suspect anything amiss, we could be caught.”
“We must stay together at all times. So I can teach you how to be me,”
Maeve’s cheeks flushed as a thought crossed her mind.
“Together at all times, you mean, even at night?” she asked.
Otto looked at her as though she had asked the most foolish question ever.
“Of course even at night. You will share my private rooms,” he said.
“But what if people suspect something going on between us?” Maeve asked.
“Girl, I have been king for centuries and I know exactly what to tell anyone who questions why a human remains so close to me.”
“Like a human slave?” Maeve asks and Otto nods once in response.
She blushed even more.
“But since you’re in my body now, you'll act as my slave?” she asks him again.
Otto’s borrowed face tightened with irritation.
“If that is the only explanation that keeps us both alive then unfortunately so be it.”
“Now go to Caelum and tell him you are unwell and will not return to the ball. Keep your tone authoritative, try to sound like me,” Otto instructs.
Maeve did not know what the king sounded like when he was authoritative, but she nodded anyway.
Maeve took a step toward the door and nearly stumbled because she wasn't used to walking with Otto’s powerful body.
Otto pinched the bridge of Maeve’s nose with two small fingers and let out a long tired sigh.
“This is going to be difficult.”
Maeve managed to leave the room without further disaster and found Caelum waiting in the corridor.
She kept her shoulders straight and spoke in what she hoped was a confident tone.
“I will not attend the remainder of the ceremony. See that the guests are informed and that no one disturbs me for the rest of the night.”
Caelum’s eyes flickered with doubt but centuries of obedience won out.
He bowed and answered that he would see to everything at once.
Maeve returned to the changing room where Otto waited in her body with arms folded across the bodice of the blue gown.
“Follow me,” he said and led the way through a series of private passages that led deeper into the palace.
They were in the royal wing soon.
Black marble floors reflected the soft light of floating orbs and tall windows looked out over the crashing waves on the beach below.
Maeve walked behind Otto and tried not to stare too openly at the luxury she had only ever dreamed of seeing.
They entered a vast bedchamber dominated by a bed large enough for four people and draped in dark blue silk.
Otto turned to her.
“I suppose I must inform you, I always bathe before I sleep.”
Maeve’s new face flushed a deep red.
“You cannot. You will see my body… I- I cannot let that happen.”
Otto’s borrowed mouth curved in a cold smile.
“I was not asking for permission, Maeve,” he said.
Maeve lifted her chin, “Then I will bathe with your body as well.”
“Suit yourself. Women have fought one another for the privilege of looking upon my body. You should consider yourself fortunate to see it.”
He walked into the adjoining bathing chamber and shut the door.
Inside the room, a deep pool of steaming water already waited.
Otto stripped the blue gown and the thin underthings beneath it and stood before the full-length mirror.
The body reflected there was petite and soft.
Far too fragile and delicate for his tastes.
The breasts were large and tipped with pink and the waist curved inward above wide full hips.
She was not the sort of woman he usually chose for a night’s pleasure yet there was a delicate beauty to the lines of her that held his gaze longer than he liked.
His hands rose of their own accord and hovered near the soft flesh of her breasts before he forced them down again and stepped quickly into the warm water.
He washed quicker than he ever had before, careful to keep his mind blank.
When he finished he pulled on a black bathrobe that was far too large and stepped back into the bedchamber.
Maeve stood near the bed and the moment she saw him, the face that once belonged to Otto turned a vivid red.
The knowledge that the king she had obsessed over for years had just seen her naked and had almost certainly touched every part of her made her want to sink through the floor.
She fled into the bathing chamber and closed the door with more force than necessary.
Alone, she took off the white shirt and the dark trousers and the undergarments until nothing remained between her and the mirror.
The body that stared back was magnificent.
Broad shoulders and a chest carved from pale marble led down to a narrow waist and powerful thighs.
Between those thighs hung a thick and heavy cock that was already half hard.
Maeve stared at it and felt a strange mix of awe and pity for any woman who had ever tried to take such a weapon inside herself.
She forced her eyes away and stepped into the water and washed as quickly as she could while touching as little of the skin as possible.
When she returned to the bedchamber, she was wearing one of Otto’s silk nightrobes.
Otto already lay on the far side of the great bed with a book open in his now small hands.
The soft light made her own features look almost ethereal and for a moment Maeve thought she looked beautiful through his eyes.
Then the rich scent of her own blood rose again and the hunger in her borrowed body roared to life.
Her fangs lengthened against her will and she understood with sudden clarity that she now craved the blood that ran through Otto’s veins.
Ignoring it, she climbed into the opposite side of the bed and turned her back to Otto.
She tried to ignore the way the power in her veins demanded she close the distance and feed.
Morning arrived with the soft songs of birds.
Otto and Maeve woke and got ready in silence before making their way to the dining room for breakfast.
A long table already held silver trays of fruit and warm bread and dark pitchers of something that smelled like spiced blood.
Two maids served them and cast curious glances at Maeve.
They probably would go back to the kitchens and gossip about this the whole day.
They began their meal once the maids left.
“So how do we figure out how to break this spell?” Maeve finally breaks the silence.
“We could start from the library,” Otto says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Maeve huffs in annoyance, she doesn't like how Otto always seeks to belittle her.
A servant approached Maeve’s chair and leaned close to whisper that Lady Seraphina was on her way into the dining room.
Maeve had never heard the name but she nodded as if she understood.
The moment the servant left she leaned toward Otto and spoke under her breath.
“Lady Seraphina is coming.”
Otto’s borrowed body stiffened. Maeve watched the reaction with curiosity.
“Who is she?” she asked.
Otto shrugged one small shoulder.
“An old lover who is now an important member of the court,” he explained and took a big bite of his steak.
The doors opened and a woman with long red hair and a severe elegant beauty swept into the room.
She walked straight to the head of the table where Maeve sat in Otto’s body and bent to press a soft kiss against the cool cheek that no longer belonged to the king.