Not a dream! Not a hoax! Last night's episode of Da Vinci's
Demons pit Leonardo against Vlad the Impaler, and our hero's
usual scheming and quipping isn't quite as successful as he
hoped. Spoilers ahead.  Da Vinci's Demons seems to be settling
into itself a bit more, giving us a good balance between
Leonardo's crazy adventures and the politics of Florence's
conflict with Rome. Al-Rahim has sent Leonardo off on his latest
Sons of Mithras mission, to recover a cartographer known as the
Abyssinian, who happens to be the captive of one Vlad Dracul.
There's a nice mystical touch to this adventure, even before we
encounter the Impaler. Leonardo has an experience in which he
converses with the Abyssinian, apparently out of time, while his
body is busy ordering around his companions and riding into
Vlad's territory.  Vlad is, unsurprisingly, entirely insane. He
was struck by lightning and claims that he made a pact with
Lucifer to once again ascend his throne. He returned unburdened
by his soul, he says, and conseque