Page 234 of Vampire Kings Box Set

The wraith fluttered. She looked frustrated, as if she wanted to reply, but couldn’t manage the words. The force animating her was becoming less sophisticated and more desperate. She was becoming dangerous. One would have to be very careful as to what was said to her. At this point, the right combination of words was like arming and aiming a weapon.

“You might have better luck with Carter.”

“I want my son,” she whispered, her voice cold like the wind.

“Carter is your son,” Maddox repeated.

“I need my babies…. One is already with me.”

Maddox looked with the eyes of the undead and saw a little glimmer further back, behind Candy. It took form briefly, in the shape of a young girl. He understood in that moment precisely what Candy wanted. She could not remain animated in the living world much longer. Life did not tolerate the presence of death for too long. This was not the realm for her.

She had perhaps once had the desire to gain William’s forgiveness, but like all things that overstay their deaths, her initial goals had become warped and now all she wanted was to claim her children.

Maddox leaned in. “You’ve never mothered Will. He is not your true son. He is a motherless monster who would never join you in the grave. Carter is your baby,” he reminded her. “And you know where to find him.”

Something flickered behind the wraith’s eyes. She turned about, took the glimmering hand of the small girl just barely visible in the trees and led her away into the darkness.

Maddox did not know what was going to happen next, but he was certain of one thing. Gideon was about to get what he wanted.

17

“Something is at the gate, master.”

One of the house vampires interrupted Gideon and Carter that same night. They, of course, were wide awake and simply enjoying one another’s company in the most familial and wholesome of ways. Gideon had taught Carter an ancient dice game that was being thwarted periodically by the ginger kitten, who insisted on batting at the dice as they landed.

“‘Something’ is not a useful description,” Gideon said, careful not to hurt the kitten as he moved it away from the dice for the hundredth time. He had been counting.

“There is a wraith screaming for her son. We have tried basic banishments, but they do not work.”

Gideon sat upright, rife with excitement. The monster had returned and with it, the possibility of a taste of mortality. He looked over at Carter, who had not reacted to the comment. Instead of looking up or saying anything, Carter got up from the floor, picked up his kitten, and sat on the bed, playing with a bit of string in one hand and his phone in the other.

He had made a social media account for the kitten, an account that already had several million followers. Gideon was deeply impressed by Carter’s alacrity with the magic of modernity.

“Would you like to see your mother again?”

Carter humped his shoulders in a little shrug. “Last time I saw her, it made me feel bad,” Carter said. “She’s not… she’s different. I know I’m different too, but she’s a more kind of different. I wanted… She made me…” He struggled for words.

“I know what you mean,” Gideon said.

“I don’t want to be sad again,” Carter continued.

“Then I will send her away.”

“No!” Carter’s head shot up at that. Deep down, he was still a wounded boy who missed his mother. He could not help wanting to see her. They were bonded deeply, much more than biology.

“Then let us go and see her. Ray and his bitch are not here to interfere this time.”

Carter smirked at the Maker’s description of Chauvelin.

Gideon took Carter by the hand, and together they went out into the misty grounds to visit with his mother. The moon was not full. It was waning from a recent fullness, casting a pleasing glow over the scene.

Candy was there, shimmering in a fetid manner in that light. She seemed restless, and the moment they appeared, she turned toward Gideon with a malicious swiftness, uttering a cry of rage.

Gideon smiled broadly. Oh yes. This was perfect. The beast was here to exact painful revenge, and he

was ready for it. She slid through the air without friction, moving impossibly fast. At close to the last moment, Gideon saw the little girl in the background. The one he had slain. She gave a small smile and a little wave, both of which struck horror into his eternal heart. Something wasn’t right. Something was different.

For the first time, Gideon felt the full consequences of some of his actions bearing down on him. He braced himself not merely for pain, but perhaps something closer to annihilation. He felt it coming; Candy was not merely a mother. She had been the beginning of Carter, and now she seemed to represent Gideon’s end.