Page 34 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“No.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because your first hint of failure sent you into a shame spiral followed by a gravity fed one and here we are. To know the truth, you must have the stomach for it. I do not intend to burden you with more than you can handle before you are able to bear it.”

Will found himself believing Maddox, though the words themselves sounded like some total bullshit.

“Now, you are tired,” Maddox said. “Go to bed. Let me take care of everything.”

What a beautiful invitation, to be entirely taken care of. Will found himself feeling very sleepy, more sleepy than he had been in quite a while. Perhaps he was very tired, or, more likely, Maddox’s handling had sapped all his ferocious energy and left him with nothing but the softer, gentler impulses.

Yes. He was tired. He needed to sleep. To close his eyes. To stop worrying. To forget.

Maddox was beside him on the long walk back to his bed, guiding him on the journey with soft words and a tender touch. The little part of Will’s mind still functioning clearly was astonished how Mad could be so brutal at some times, and so gentle and kind at others. He felt warm. He felt cared for. He, perhaps, even felt loved.

11 CANDY AT WORK

“As we expected, the deaths of the vampire kings have caused ripples throughout the undead community. The manner of their death raises great concerns, given the viciousness and cruelty of the method. It was clearly an act of vengeance of some kind, and most likely from another, more powerful vampire who is yet to raise his or her hand.”

Maddox had never imagined when he took on the burden of trying to contain the border of vampire and human relations that he would spend so very much time talking in meetings. But here he was, listening to the reports compiled by his human team. They were all very excited, of course. An upheaval such as this had not occurred in their lifetimes. Humans tended to be excitable that way. Everything was always new to them.

“Just say vampires. There’s no general undead community," Lorien interrupted. “There’s no zombies, no werewolves, not even a mummy. There’s just plain vampires.”

Mark Kennedy, a nervous though intelligent young man with pink hair and a wide array of piercings, shuffled his papers nervously and nodded swiftly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“You didn’t offend. It’s just ‘undead community’ makes us sound like we’re going to host a bake sale and maybe join together in a quilting bee.”

“Lorien, be quiet and let the man speak,” Maddox interrupted.

“Er. Yes. Well. As I was saying,” Mark stammered. “It’s not been good for…”

“I am so bored,” Lorien declared, spinning on his heel and leaving the room for the betterment of all concerned.

“Captain Candy is out in the field at the moment, sir. We have a body cam feed if you'd like to see what she’s dealing with.”

“Of course.”

Mark opened his laptop, tapped a few buttons, and brought up the camera feed. It was one thing Maddox did marvel at, the innovation displayed by these temporary little creatures who built on one another’s concepts decades, even hundreds of years after the originators had passed.

Candy was at that moment facing down a vampire attempting to take an oblivious coed off the street. It was looming out of the shadows with what it probably thought was an alluring grin but looked more like a constipated rictus.

“Hey! You!” Candy’s voice rung out with strident authority.

The vampire ignored her, continuing to stalk its victim.

Candy got its attention by hitting it over the head with her baton. It didn’t do the vampire any harm, but it certainly got its attention.

“There’s no feeding in public!”

The vampire hissed and curled its upper lip with disdain. “Leave me be, petty human functionary!”

Candy rapped the vampire over his head with her baton again.

The creature hissed and snarled, glaring at her with war fury, a state some vampires fell prey to in their younger years. Much like humans, young vampires were essentially useless in every way that actually counted. They had all the instincts that would, when honed, make them terrifying predators, but they had no idea how to act on them effectively.

Candy was clearly not concerned in the slightest.

“Take another step toward me, and I’m going to garlic spray you, sir. I’ve heard it is quite painful.”