Page 201 of Vampire Kings Box Set

Carter rolled his eyes. Maddox’s palm twitched. He had yet to physically punish Carter, but the boy was pushing closer to it with every impudence. It was guilt that prevented him from taking firm action, but that guilt would not last forever and neither would Carter’s grace period.

The ceremony dragged on interminably, even according to Maddox’s temperament. Each and every vampire of old lines came and swore fealty to Gideon. It was a pointless act, as each and every vampire had sworn fealty to almost everybody Maddox knew at one point or another. Carter was restless the entire time, an irritant Maddox did not need. Being so close to Will and having Will refuse to so much as look at him, continued to make him ache.

“I am glad you decided that you and Carter should live here,” Gideon said during an aside, pretending that the order had not come from him. “I want to ensure fledglings of my line are raised properly. There are far too many failings of late.”

“Indeed,” Maddox agreed, not because of Carter, but of course because of Will. He was working on a plan in which he could potentially effect escape for both Will and Henry. That was the very least he owed them.

“Maddox.” Gideon looked at him with gleaming dark eyes, refusing to finish his sentence until Mad gave him his full attention. “Do not think of consorting with the wolves. It is a perversion I will not tolerate. I have made that clear, have I not?”

It didn’t matter. It was enough just to be close to Will, to know that he was physically okay, perhaps to help him in more subtle ways. Maddox had no intention of giving up. He would reclaim Will, earn his love and his trust again. He was not going to abandon his boy to this harsh life of servitude forever. He would prevail.

Gideon was soon drawn into conversation with one of the many old nobles. Maddox took the opportunity to slide closer to Will.

“Will. Boy.” He murmured the words under his breath, half-afraid Gideon would hear him.

Will did not respond. He sat, still, staring ahead as he had no doubt been instructed. Everything here, living or not, was a reluctant puppet to Gideon’s will. The mark of the maker was on every one of them.

Gideon was back in an instant. “No talking to the hounds,” he reminded Mad. “Tell me how the fledgling is doing.”

“He’s headstrong and he’s disobedient. If he continues to disobey me, I will have no choice but to punish him harshly.”

“Ah, yes. How terrible for you. Imagine having a fledgling who doesn’t obey, and who makes you become an unimaginable monster in order to control him. Imagine how it would be to take away all the things he loves time after time in order to try to teach him a lesson…”

“Yes,” Maddox interjected. “I understand. I intend to be a good maker to my fledgling, regardless of the circumstances of his creation. Enough pain has been inflicted for the moment. And…” he paused a moment. “I have no intention of performing the same perverse acts with him that you decided to engage in with me. Raymond may call you father…”

“But you have to call me, Daddy,” Gideon reached out and tapped Maddox lightly under the chin, a lecherous smile on his handsome face. “We are yet to rekindle our physical relationship, because you have been so petulant and deluded in your love for the hound, but do not worry, my boy. My bed will always have a place for you if you come in the spirit of obedience. I will know you have finally given up this ridiculous attachment to the mortal when you come to me there.”

It took all of Maddox’s self control to not launch himself at Gideon and do as much damage as he could in front of the new royal vampire court. He would probably die in the act, and then what would happen to Will?

“See that you are a good maker,” Gideon said as Maddox wrestled with his emotions, mostly those of fury and rage. “Your erstwhile lover’s life hangs in the balance. And you are all Carter has now.”

“He still has his family on his father’s side,” Maddox conversed between clenched teeth.

“No,” Gideon smiled a beautifully cruel smile. “No. I took care of them first. When I eliminate a line, I eliminate a line.”

It was such a simple statement, and yet it belied such deep horror. Lora Candy’s family was small. She had two children with her husband, Carter, and a younger daughter. A complete innocent, utterly removed from all these paranormal politics. Perhaps Gideon did not know of her. No. He’d used the plural. Them.

“But the girl. She was only…”

“She was tender. And she filled the bellies of my pups.”

The horrific implications of that simple statement quenched Maddox’s desire for any further communication.

“Come,” Gideon said. “It is dinner time. We must all eat.”

“I’m fucking starving,” Carter agreed, re-joining the conversation just in time to avoid hearing of his youngest sibling’s cruel and twisted fate.

Maddox was no longer hungry.

It seemed to all present as though Gideon had triumphed, as though his natural dominance, bestowed by the deep forces underpinning all existence, made him unbeatable. Perhaps that was true. One could not fight Gideon any more than one could fight the elements. But they could be harnessed to the will of man, and Maddox was far from giving up, either in the quest to free Will, or the one to earn his love once more.

For now, he was content to be in Will’s orbit, to demonstrate his love by watching over him, and to stay constant through the stormy rages of his boy’s loathing and hatred. Will hated him, there was no doubt in Maddox’s mind. But it was a hatred he deserved, one he had cultivated through arrogance. It was the kind of hatred that sits on the other side of the coin of love, an intense and burning feeling that could yet be flipped again if time and fate were kind enough, and if he never, ever, gave up.

BLOODY BRATS

1

Gideon was bored.