Page 27 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“Of course, my apologies.”

Maddox knew better than to volunteer additional information to a law enforcement officer clearly fishing for something.

“So an acquaintance of yours suffered injuries recently?” Chauvelin tried again.

“Vampires suffer injuries all the time. Many of them enjoy it. Pain is one of the few human pleasures left to us.”

“So you’re saying this individual enjoyed having his throat ripped out.”

“You speak as though you were there.”

“I may have been.”

The little shit was attempting to set a trap of some kind. To what end, Mads could not imagine. If Chauvelin had been there when Lorien was attacked, then Chauvelin knew a lot more than he was letting on.

“You do realize I am also a federal law enforcement agent,” he reminded the agent.

“You’re a liaison to a unit which does not formally exist.”

So that’s the game they were playing. My unit is bigger and more formally recognized than yours. Everything came down to a unit measuring contest with humans.

Maddox leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together over his stomach, smiling, waiting for the agenda to become clear.

“B and E were essential to many of our New York operations. Their passing will not simply be written off.”

“And yet even if you were to discover the entity behind it all, you would have no legal recourse to challenge them, given that killing vampires is not illegal.”

“It’s not, is it?” Chauvelin said, his beady little eyes locked on Maddox with a sudden flare of intention.

There was threat in that gaze, a true nastiness. This was not professional. This was personal. He wasn’t here on an investigation. He was here because he was upset, and because he clearly thought Mads was behind it all.

“You must have enjoyed being their blood pet very much,” Maddox said, immediately hitting the very nerve he intended to find. Chauvelin blanched. His head jerked back as if he had been punched by an unseen fist. He tried to recover, but his fine fingers betrayed him, skittering around the lower hem of his coat like a nervous schoolboy.

“It is forbidden for federal agents to submit to vampiric control or…”

“Yes, but when confronted with two powerful immortal beasts, does the pulse not quicken and the blood run hotter? Does desire not rise against sense and regulation, Agent Chauvelin?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A faint hint of color was rising to the man’s pale face. He was anemic, like many humans who gave themselves to their vampire masters and were fed from too often.

“I think you do.”

He was a filthy little fuck pet, furious at the passing of his masters. And he was dangerous, though not in the way he was attempting to present himself.

“I have enough.” Chauvelin leaped out of the seat as if it were suddenly on fire. “I will be in touch if I think you can assist us further in our enquiries.”

“Of course,” Maddox said, rising graciously. “Allow me to show you the door.”

No sooner was Chauvelin gone than Lorien appeared. He had clearly been listening in.

“Is it true? They’re dead?” He asked the question with the pent-up glee of someone who very much wanted to be excited, but also didn’t want to be excited before being certain.

“It is true.”

Lorien’s expression underwent several iterations before settling on very pleased. “Did you kill them?”

“You know it’s not polite to ask such things.”

“You killed two ancients to avenge me?” Lorien’s jaw dropped. He put his hand to his chest in a dramatic motion which somewhat undercut the sincerity of his words. “I didn’t know you cared.”