MISC. MANGA, *Vampire Game

If Garfield were a reincarnated vampire lord leaving in a midevil castle, I think it might go something like this. From shounen-ai expert Judal comes this tale of fun, intrigue, and fantasy with sparks of Samurai Deeper Kyo and Bastard.

Set in an alternate past, the Vampire King Duzell waged a war against the human kingdom of the great saint Phelios. Duzell was defeated by means of a spell that would kill the caster as well as the person it was used on, but he swore to be reborn a century later, and kill the reincarnation of Phelios. A hundred years later, the great grandaughter of Phelios, Princess Ishtar, is now the regining head of the kingdom. She is constantly being lectured by her bodyguard and captain of the guard, Darres, as well as the court wizard, Keld. After hearing reports of a mad creature in a neighboring village, Ishtar heads out to confront it. Darres follows her and kills the beast which is a tiger-like animal called a kyawl, but not before it gives birth to its son. Ishtar takes the cub home with her as her pet cat and jokingly names it Duzell after her family's long dead enemy, What she or no one else knows, is that the cat houses the spirit of the actual Duzell, who has also used some of the blood he tasted from Ishtar in their first meeting to be able to take on a human form, looking like a male version of Ishtar. Ishtar discovers her pets weird ability to assume her shape after he is confused with being an assassin, but she keeps it a secret, still unaware that it is still the reborn vampire king. Duzell continues to play the part of Ishtar's cat while he searches for King Phelio's reincarnation within the extended members of Ishtar's family.

Vampire Game is a visually fine manga. The character designs rival those of Clamp, and has very interesting sequential movement. Better make room on your bookshelf!