Page 63 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“You went out and broke into a federal courthouse. You are so lucky to be free, boy.”

“Free?” Will laughed brutally. “I haven’t been free a day in my life. You haven’t given me freedom. You’ve given me a different kind of incarceration.”

“I’ve showed you what and who you really are. I’ve given you a chance at living in society, you ungrateful whelp.”

Maddox’s tone was calm, but his words were emotive and Will was starting to get the feeling that Mad truly thought he was doing him a favor. But they both knew Maddox had his own agenda, and that agenda did not take Will’s needs into account.

“Oh, you saved me out of the goodness of your cold, dead heart, is that it?” Will got down from the kitchen counter and began stalking around it. He was starting to get riled again himself.

“Yes.”

Will laughed at the audacity of that claim. “You haven’t told me a single useful thing.”

“There is very little in the way of useful information to provide. Your father is a predator you would be fortunate to never encounter. Your mother was an unfortunate waif who has, with any luck, put the entire incident behind her.”

Will curled his hands into fists and slammed them both into a shelf of glassware, shattering it all. He rounded on Maddox with absolute fury in his eyes.

“I am not an incident!”

“Of course not. I didn't mean to say…”

Maddox had never, ever sounded uncertain before as long as Will could remember. He seemed to know he had said the wrong thing, for whatever that was worth. He shut up fairly quickly and instead focused on fixing the mess, pulling Will away from the broken glass. There were shards sticking out of his knuckles, preventing him from unclenching his hands.

"You always end up hurting yourself more than anybody else, boy,” Maddox said mournfully. “I wish you could feel what I feel for you and begin to understand that it does not matter where you come from. It matters where you are and where you are going.”

“Easy to say. You know who you are.”

“I’ve long forgotten who I am, or who I was, where I came from. The places from which I hail no longer exist. They have been paved over, destroyed, and built upon over and over again. I have seen civilizations no anthropologist has ever heard of rise and fall into complete historical oblivion. You may think it important who you herald from, but I can assure you, William. It has less bearing on who and what you are than you think.”

“That’s bullshit. I’m a goddamn wolf.”

“You’re a pup,” Maddox corrected. “And yes, under extreme stress and with some chemical encouragement you found a part of yourself that has long laid dormant.”

“Chemical encouragement?”

“I gave you a concoction designed to help you realize that element of your personality. Before the battle at the water tower.”

“You fucking what? How!?”

“You were asleep. It did not seem to function at the time.”

As Maddox spoke, he gently plucked shards of glass from Will’s captive hand.

“So I’m an incident, and someone you collar, cage, and drug in his sleep. I’m just… my humanity means nothing to you. My personhood…. It means nothing. I’m a tool for you to use. A thing for you to fuck.”

Maddox removed the last nasty curved bit of glass. The blood seeping from the wounds was clearly making him ravenous. Will saw him lick his lips and hold his fangs back with an obvious attempt at retraction.

They were fighting. Really fighting, in a way that did not feel good or fun. Other disagreements and arguments had involved a more playful dynamic. There was no levity here. This was real and it was heavy and more than anything, it was human. Neither one of them were particularly good at being human.

“Remember, your father did not get you out of prison. I did.”

“Because I was useful to you. My father probably doesn’t know I exist.”

“Do you think if he did, he would come here? Be here for you? Change things for you?”

“I think he’d understand me. I think he’d have things to tell me I care about. I think I’d know who the fuck I am besides your fucking… fuck you.”

Will started to cry and didn’t know how to stop. Tears flowed down his cheeks as his shoulders heaved with great sobs. He was frustrated and he was sad. He wanted to connect, but he felt so separate from everyone and everything, including Maddox.