Page 193 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“Carter!” Candy snapped his name. “Don’t talk about your father that way. Also, what woman?”

“She runs the counter at the auto shop. Her name’s Sharona. Or something.”

“Can’t exactly get angry with him for cheating,” Ivan commented.

“Carter, sweetie,” Candy said. “Take the toaster and go to your room, Uncle Ivan and I need to talk.”

Two long years later…

The divorce had been final for six months. Candy was, if not happy, at least, happier. Ivan had moved into the house. There hadn’t really been much choice. Where else was he going to go? Will and Maddox had gone to ground in their own abode. In the beginning, Candy had argued that they would soon be in touch, but Ivan told her they were done with her, and that had proved to be right. Everyone in Maddox’s inner circle besides William had been abandoned. There were rumors that the pack master himself had been taken, though nobody knew if that was true or not. Candy rarely thought of any of it anymore. She had come full circle, pressed against the thick pelt of the wolf she had taken into her bed.

Her daughter had chosen to stay in Utah with Chuck and Sharona. Carter had wanted to graduate with his class. It was a pipe dream, as the sickness had ensured there were no classes. He’d abandoned his studies and instead was now planning on being an online gamer and basketball player. Once upon a time, Candy would never have allowed that. Now she realized that nothing really mattered. The world seemed to be ending, one way or another.

One mundane evening, Candy and Ivan lay wrapped in one another’s arms, watching a television show about people trying to buy houses on islands. It was a blandly pleasant distraction from the myriad of disturbing thoughts that threatened to assail her if she ever took stock of her life.

A knock at the door blended into the conversation about kitchens that needed to be redone.

“Come in!” Ivan called out reflexively. They had become accustomed to guests bearing their takeout orders. Candy didn’t remember ordering anything, but then again, Ivan might have ordered it. Or perhaps she’d forgotten. She forgot a lot these days.

The door flew open with a dramatic gust of wind. Gideon stood in the doorway, a tall, powerful, regal beast clad in modern clothing that did nothing to make him look any less historic. There was something ancient in his bearing even before his grin showed his twin fangs.

“Gideon!” Candy gasped the monster’s name. She was shocked to see him. The life in which she had worked for Maddox seemed distant. Her roles as police officer and wife had been all but erased by the sickness. She was a woman hardly recognizable to herself, freer, but much more feral.

The ancient vampire lunged at her from the door. He was upon her in less than a second, two sets of fangs at her throat. She heard the howl of a wolf in pain, and then she heard no more.

21

Also two years later…

For two long years, Maddox and Will had been besieged in their home. Two years of home delivery and staring out the window, two years of constant companionship which both deepened their connection and frayed it at times. Will felt a new sense of peace and maturity, locked away from the world, no longer having to compare himself to normal people. He and Maddox were in a dark little world of their own.

The entire altercation with Gideon seemed like it had been a lifetime ago, when one summer’s evening a rapping at the rear windows that overlooked the alley brought both Will and Maddox to the upstairs window.

When they looked down, they saw Gideon, the Maker. He was naked from the waist up, and in his left hand he had the throat of a young man thoroughly clasped. Will didn’t recognize the captive, though there was something faintly familiar about him.

“Oh no,” Maddox murmured.

Will wasn’t worried. Or interested, really. So Gideon had a snack. So what.

“What do you want, asshole?” He shouted the question down at the maker. Gideon’s siege was tedious, and Will was ready for it to be over. He used a treadmill to exercise, but he could really have done with a run.

“You have avoided my wrath in the short term, but I have been at work while the two of you have wasted your lives on crude intimacies.”

Gideon waved the young man by the back of his neck in a motion that was not unlike a beast waving its prey.

“This is Captain Candy’s son, “Gideon said. “Her youngest son. Your brother, William.”

Will was absolutely confused. “I don’t have a brother. Candy’s not my mom.”

“Ah, but she is, or rather, was,” Gideon said. “How enjoyable for me to be the one to break that to you after all your impertinent taunting. The woman you know as Captain Candy is your mother. Your blood runs through his veins.”

“What?” Will screwed up his face in confusion. “That would mean I’ve known my real mom for like years, and nobody ever told me.”

“Yes, it would, like, mean that,” Gideon smiled broadly. “Oh yes, let them sink in, all the implications of such a deep betrayal. While you think about that, let me tell you what’s going to happen next. At midnight, Carter here will be eighteen. And then I will kill him.”

“Let me fucking go, freak!” Carter wriggled in Gideon’s grasp. He did look a little like Will, Will supposed. He had blond hair, which really threw the whole vibe off, and he didn’t have any of the wolf about him, but he did have faintly similar features. It was sort of like looking into a pissed off mirror who’d been crying badly.

Will was confused and angry. He looked at Maddox, but Maddox wasn’t looking at him. Maddox was worried about someone else.