Page 45 of Vampire Kings Box Set

Will came so fucking hard his come shot out of the cage, across the couple feet to the television and splattered on the flat screen, then falling in thick ropes against the bars of the cage, and the carpet besides.

“Messy boy,” Maddox smirked with satisfaction as Will collapsed on the cage floor, panting with relief.

“Thank you,” Maddox said, reaching through the bars to ruffle Will’s hair affectionately.

“For what?” Will panted.

“For reminding me that I am in control.”

15 RETURN TO NEW YORK

Having fucked himself into a marginally better mood, Maddox returned to a city which remained embroiled in chaos. Fortunately, summer hours and long evenings meant that the violence was contained from ten in the evening to around four in the morning. None of the young vamps vying for position wanted to be charred because they were caught out too late.

“I say we corral the ferals and bake ’em,” Candy suggested. “Killing them one by one is time consuming and ineffective. Drawing them all out into the light, that could be done with the right kind of bait.”

“It’s an effective idea, but a cruel one. And it solves the symptom. Not the problem. We need to install a new leader.”

“Who, sir. You?”

“Definitely not me,” Maddox said. “I cannot imagine a worse living torture.”

“I have some more footage, if you’d like to review it, sir. I think it gives a…”

She trailed off as Maddox waved his hand, indicating she should play it. He really didn’t care. He was barely watching as the bodycam footage played out before his disinterested eyes. There were hundreds of ferals. Candy and the others had dispatched some themselves, but not nearly enough. It was all hopeless until a new king took the throne. He and his unit could go out every night and kill a swath of ferals, they’d just be back the following evening. He was about to call the meeting to an end when something caught his eye.

“Wait. Stop the footage. Roll it back.”

Candy did as he asked. Maddox looked over at Lorien with a raised brow. “See anybody you know?”

It was actually someone they both knew.

It was Chauvelin. And he was drinking from somebody. Maddox would have known that round, weasely little face anywhere. Even half covered in the bloody essence of some poor soul, he was instantly recognizable.

“Huh,” Lorien said. "Well, that's unexpected.”

And that was when Maddox snapped.

He burst out of his chair, grabbed Lorien by the collar and bodily hauled him across the room with vampiric speed. He usually tried not to display his powers before the humans. It unsettled them. They liked to pretend he was just a charismatic rich man, and they could not do that when he was flashing past them at the speed of sound.

He pulled Lorien into his office, shutting and bolting the doors so they could not be disturbed. What he was about to do would forever traumatize the humans if they were to see it happen.

“Okay. So. I’m sensing some anger. But…”

“What have you done!?” Maddox rounded on Lorien with a furious roar, his eyes rolling black, his fangs extending long and sharp. He was furious, so angry that the very air vibrated with the promise of violence.

“What the…. hey! Easy there fella!” Lorien put his hands up and backed away. It was too little an appeasing gesture and it came far too late. Maddox had found the limit of his patience, and it was beginning to cower before him.

He grabbed Lorien by the neck and hurled him across the room, before grasping a cane from the stand by the door and striding after the younger vampire as he tried to scramble to his feet. The cane was used with harsh vigor across Lorien’s ass, and across the back of his shoulders, two harsh cracks which did him no real harm, but caused him very real pain.

“This isn’t my fault!” Lorien shouted as Maddox grabbed him again, this time by the arm, and threw him down on the desk, holding him in place and whipping both his ass and his upper back with the cane. Crack after crack echoed around the room, interspersed with Lorien’s cries.

Unlike when he punished Will, Maddox did not have to worry about doing any damage to Lorien. Lorien would recover from whatever he might do to him.

“You had one job, Lorien! To bury the body!”

“I DID!” Lorien screamed the words with enough anguish to still Maddox’s cane.

“So you didn’t turn him?”