Page 181 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“I may have been too impulsive in what I did to Maddox,” Gideon mused. “He was disrespectful, but now he is gone, and the other one too.”

“Brats,” Raymond said. “This house is full of brats.”

“And where has Maddox gone in his condition?”

Gideon knew precisely where Maddox was. The maker always knew where his blood was. Either he was going to let him run away and hide long enough to lick his wounds, or he was going to go and get him back and tend the wound he’d made.

“Obviously, Lorien endeavored to save him from you, not understanding how the maker’s blood works,” Ray said. “They all deserve to be punished.”

“I’ve punished Maddox enough,” Gideon said.

“Surely you do not regret teaching him a much needed lesson? He practically asked for it.”

“I do regret it. I want a good relationship with my boys. You have aways been so easy, but Madis has always been temperamental. He needs more than I can give him. He has always needed more than I could give him. And now he has found solace in a wolf. I wonder how I failed him?”

“You didn’t fail him,” Ray said, struggling to remain respectful. “Madis is… he likes to be in control. He is nothing like you in spirit or power, but he shares your penchant for power. He likes this wolf because the wolf is a messy, destructive, filthy little thing for him to control. The beast is no threat to you.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Gideon said. “Perhaps indeed.”

14

At Candy’s house, insurrections were being planned. Maddox had little to say on the subject because he couldn’t say anything at all, but he did listen to Candy with growing concern. The woman was sounding borderline militant.

“We have to end him,” Candy was saying, stalking back and forth in front of the sofa where Maddox still remained. “I didn’t protect my son when he needed me. I will not make that mistake again.”

You can’t kill Gideon,” Maddox wrote, reminding her.

“I don’t need to kill him. I’m not a man. I don’t have to solve every problem with lethal force.”

Candy was getting sassy.

Maddox considered sending Candy away, but he knew Will’s independent, stubborn streak came in large part from his mother. The woman flowed through his veins like fire. Of course, Ivan took credit for Will’s power, but it was Candy’s strength that complemented the wild blood.

You may very well die today. Are you prepared to abandon your family for this suicide mission? No human has ever survived the wrath of Gideon.

Candy didn’t say anything in reply, but she stayed standing where she was with that look of defiance in her eyes that Maddox was starting to find very familiar.

“I will face him,” she said, just as a knock came at the door. “Come in!”

“A human woman, intensely laughable, a wolf, albeit of the old lines, somewhat impressive, and you, my own fledgling.” Gideon chuckled. “I have devoured armies whole, Maddox, what are you doing? Why are you encouraging these rare”—he looked at Ivan—“and pathetic”—he looked at Candy—“things to destroy themselves by crossing me?”

Will’s parents, Maddox wrote.

“Aw.” Gideon put his hand to his chest as if he was touched. “You brought me the family meal.”

“I thought we were going to kill him?” Ivan growled the question.

Gideon’s laugh dominated the room. “They don’t educate anybody anymore, do they? What do they teach you in your schools? What do your digital town criers tell you?”

“Mostly that everything causes cancer,” Candy replied boldly.

“Hm. Possibly true. Here’s what humans don’t understand. You are not the apex predators, and you never have been. There are just so many of you and so few true predators. You are to me as vermin are to you, short lived, nasty, and capable of spreading disease.”

Candy took the insult on the chin. “I’ve had pet rats. They can be quite sweet.”

“Yes. Occasionally a pet might be tolerated, but a horde like this one? That must be exterminated.”

Maddox watched, intrigued. The last thing he had ever expected was a conversation between Candy and Gideon. Gideon was not a conversationalist as a matter of rule.