Page 220 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“Poor boy. You were frightened, horrified, offended. You thought you were coming here to save the young ones, but you were too late.” Gideon got up, his visage perfect once more. He dabbed at the blood trail on his forehead and discarded the napkin across the face of one of his many victims as he approached the agent. He reached out and took the man by the back of the head, his hand large and clawed as he palmed that skull like a basketball.

“There is nothing you can do to stop me,” he purred softly, his fanged, bloodied mouth very close to the ear of the agent. “You are entirely at my mercy, as are all your kind. You are the meat on my table, and that is as correct and natural as the meat on yours. Better consumes lesser, does it not?”

The agent nodded slowly.

“There’s nothing wrong with this, is there?”

The agent shook his head.

“That’s right. Everything is as it should be,” Gideon said, his voice deep and low and soothing.

“Everything is as it should be,” the agent repeated.

“You saw nothing here.”

“I saw nothing.”

“Go outside and ensure that nobody saw anything.”

The agent nodded, turned on his heel and went out, down the path toward the gates where a ring of vehicles remained with their red and blue lights flashing. Gunshots rang out shortly after, agents falling to the bullet of their erstwhile leader, who finished the job by ending himself.

Carter watched all of this out the window, his eyes widening with every brutal, cruel death. When he turned around to Gideon, his expression was the most interested and approving it had been since he was first made.

“You are so fucking cool,” Carter breathed. “How did you do that?”

“He didn’t want to believe what he had seen anyway,” Gideon explained patiently. “It was not difficult. Even you will be able to perform such simple tricks if you pay attention.”

Gideon was impressed that Carter had stayed when all the others, even those many hundreds of times his age, had fled. Ray was notably nowhere to be seen until several minutes later when he had the gall to come striding into the room, Chauvelin inevitably and tediously shadowing him with a bare-toothed grimace that reminded Gideon of a primate begging for its life.

“Oh, there you are.”

“Someone had to be free to bail you out,” Ray said, demonstrating clear shame.

“Indeed. Clear this up. And outside.”

“I will get the workers to….”

“No. You will clean this up. You and your lover.”

Ray hesitated. “Have I displeased you?”

“No, not at all. I adore being abandoned by both my sons. You to save your own skin, Maddox presumably with that damned wolf. It all brings me a great deal of pleasure to experience your disloyalty first hand and be left holding the baby when humans come with weapons to slay us. If history holds true, next time they will come with silver, and Carter will have no protection against that.”

“I apologize, father. I did not intend to abandon you. I thought Carter would flee.”

“Yes. Cowards always assume everyone else is a coward,” Gideon said, his tone cutting.

Ray looked stricken. He did not know what to do with himself if he was not the favored son. His shame was evident, which Gideon enjoyed. It had been too long since Ray was reminded that his place came with obligation as well as privilege.

“Father, I…”

“So much cleaning to do,” Gideon interrupted. “Come, Carter.”

Carter muttered something and followed in his wake, still buried in the infernal device. He did not notice the harsh, cutting stare delivered by Chauvelin in particular.

11

Twenty-four hours of intense half-dressed sulking later, Will was growing hungry. He had feasted on his last victims, and that had sated the beast side of him, but the human appetites remained, and Maddox was poised to take advantage of them.