Page 62 of Vampire Kings Box Set

Sex, ice cream, and a paddling, how very 1950’s of him. Will wasn’t going to complain. He knew he was getting better than he deserved. He felt dizzy from being fed from, or maybe it was just from being exposed to the full force of the creature he called master. He certainly didn’t feel nearly as rebellious as he had before, or as angry. Maddox had worked a whole lot of that rage out of him with his sophisticatedly rough treatment, and with that orgasm, holy shit, that orgasm had felt like it was being sucked out of every cell in his body.

Will pulled a shirt and some boxers on and padded downstairs after Maddox, who already looked perfectly put together all over again. No matter what happened, Maddox never seemed to be touched by it. Sometimes it seemed as though he slid through the world a perfectly suited beast, above absolutely everything. Except when he came. Then he roared and he lost himself just the same way any guy did. Sex was a great fucking equalizer, even when you were the submissive to a powerful vampire.

Will sat down at the kitchen counter and was presented with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. At one point in his life he would have turned his nose up at such a dish, now all he wanted was some…

“Toaster pastry to go with it,” Maddox said, reading his mind.

A hot toaster treat with apple strudel filling went perfectly with the ice cream. Sitting uncomfortably didn’t matter when he was being allowed all this mouth pleasure. But soon enough the bowl was empty and the general trauma of existence was asserting itself again.

“Did you know my father?”

“By reputation alone. I may have met him. I forget.” Maddox sounded uncharacteristically evasive.

Will looked dubious.

“When you live as long as I have, you do begin to forget things, boy. Believe me when I tell you there is much that has happened I cannot recall. I have quite literally forgotten more than you have ever known.”

“What was his name?”

“Ivan.”

“Ivan?” Will wrinkled his nose. “What kind of a name is Ivan?”

“One very popular in Eastern Europe. He was known as Ivan the Terrible.”

“Wasn’t that an old king or something?”

“It is the moniker of the first Russian Tsar. He was cruel in the extreme, even to one of my kind.”

“My father was?”

“No. Ivan the Terrible was.”

Will let out a frustrated sigh. “You said you’d tell me everything you knew about my father.”

“There is vanishingly little to tell. He and his kind do not make themselves known except by their atrocities. We are not here to discuss his crimes. We are here to address your most recent addition to an extensive and storied rap sheet.”

Will allowed himself the pleasure of a smirk. He did enjoy misbehaving. He was comfortable in this place of rebellion. Yeah, he was in trouble, but it wasn’t the kind of trouble where he was going to end up doing life. It was the kind that made him feel alive. He locked his eyes on Maddox, knowing that each and every one of his feelings was perfectly clear to the vampire master.

“You still haven’t apologized,” Maddox pointed out. “Nor have you made any sounds of contrition.”

“You want to beat me again? Fuck me again? I don’t care. I'd like it.”

“I will do both if I have to, boy. And I promise you that you will not like it. I will do whatever I have to do in order to keep you free and with me. Do you understand what the stakes are? You could be returned to that facility for the rest of your life. You could be in prison forever. I might never see you again.” Maddox’s expression was so grim and so full of emotion Will almost stopped finding the whole situation funny.

“I’m a fucking wolf, Maddox. Let’s see how long they can hold me.”

Maddox stiffened at that threat, surprising Will because Will couldn’t turn if he wanted to, and they both knew it. “Humans cannot know of your existence.”

“Why? Because I have to be your dirty little secret?”

“Because they barely know vampires exist, and because they hardly need anything else to panic about, do they?”

“I don’t give a fuck about humanity.”

“Charming.” Maddox sighed.

“I want to know who my parents were. You said you’d help me and all you’ve done is brush me off. So I went to find out myself. I am not going to say sorry for that.”