Page 162 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“Please, Gideon. Can our reunion not remain private? Must I bring in every human and wolf whose acquaintance I have made in the last hundred years?”

“No,” Gideon said. “You need only bring me the one who has written his name on your soul.”

“I will get him for you, though the rumors are exaggerated.” Maddox acquiesced. There was no choice but to obey, though his legs felt stiff, his feet like lead. If he was to bring Will before Gideon, it might be the last thing he would ever do.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Will understandably asked the question after Maddox came back downstairs, unknotted his tie, and proceeded to grab Will with the intention of tying it around his mouth. Will wriggled free before he could be preemptively silenced, but only just.

“Come back here and stay still.”

“No!”

“You’re going to meet Gideon. That is an experience few mortals survive, so I am going to gag you,” Maddox said. “I cannot risk you speaking to him. One word and he would destroy you.”

Will pushed the gag away as Maddox tried to push it toward him again. “You’re being weird. Just chill, alright? We’ll act normal, you’ll be an asshole, everything will be fine.”

“It will not be fine.” Maddox paused. “Maybe you should run. Now. Before he sees you. We can tell him you ran away.”

Will scowled. “I don’t like the way this guy makes you act. You’re Maddox. You’re powerful. Nobody scares you. Nobody threatens me while you’re there.”

“Squabbling with your pet, Maddox?”

It was all too late. Gideon had descended and was now standing in the kitchen. It was not the domestic tableau once might imagine. It was one thing to see him in the upstairs chamber, but to see him in the heart of the house, where domestic affairs took place, sent a chill through Maddox.

“Holy shit.”

Will was staring. Gideon’s handsomeness had that effect on people. Maddox was more handsome than most, but Gideon had a certain exotic intensity about his appearance, coming from a time before any modern man remembered.

“I’m Will,” Will said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I’ve heard a surprising amount about you too,” Gideon replied. “I see you have not been taught to kneel when in the presence of your betters.”

Will smirked, much to Maddox’s horror. There was absolutely nothing about Will that would be palatable to Gideon. Even his facial expressions were plain wrong.

Gideon’s magnetic eyes slid over toward Maddox. “It was never truly explained to me you have an insolent fleshbag dog?”

“Because we use them for hunting ferals.”

“A hunting pup,” Gideon said. “One you’re apparently fond of.”

“He’s a good worker,” Maddox replied.

Will growled.

Gideon ignored him. That was the only saving grace in this meeting. A creature like Will might be so far beneath Gideon that the monster might not bother wasting his time or energy on him.

“I find you here, playing with dogs and keeping humans. Maddox, you are such a disappointment. After all we have come from, all we once ruled. Now you are here in this humble stone box, keeping company with the lowest of the low. If you want to keep dogs, they should be kenneled and chained.”

“Times have changed, Gideon.”

“Time doesn’t change. People do. You never truly accepted that you were vampire, separate from this human world you insist on interfering in.”

“I live my life. You sleep yours away.”

“That is dangerously close to insolence, Madis. You know I do not tolerate rudeness from you. I feel as though you have forgotten your place, both in society and with me. Do I need to teach you a lesson?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Will snorted. “Nobody touches Maddox.”