Predators (Vampire Kings 1)

7

The Kings of NYC

Satisfiedafter his tryst with the lovely Will, Maddox did what he had done so many times before. He endeavored to clean up Lorien’s mess. While Will was sleeping safely secured in his locked room, window barred to ensure no more nocturnal flights, he went out to seek audience with the twin vampire kings of New York.

Bertram and Ernesto had run New York since its founding. Their real names were lost to history. They had chosen new ones sometime around the Renaissance. There were those who said it would not be what it was without them, and perhaps they were correct. They were the Romulus and Remus of the Big Apple, and they acted with all the Greek aplomb that moniker might have been imagined to convey.

Their restaurant in Manhattan, on the banks of the Hudson, was one of the most exclusive eateries in all the city. If the diners knew where the veal and pork came from, they might have dined elsewhere. Or, given the perverted and craven tastes of the rich and powerful, they might not have.

Maddox swept past the diners in the lower levels of the restaurant. They were blissfully unaware that they were being used as human shields by the undead masters who occupied the upper levels.

He had come alone, as a show of strength and fearlessness. This nest of vampires numbered in the many dozens and grew ever more crowded over time. It was said Bertram had a breeding fetish.

“Maddox! To what do we owe this incredible honor?”

They were very striking in appearance. Olive skin, big dark eyes, thick, curling dark hair cut close to their heads. Two statues come to life, a little too beautiful to be truly natural. They were lucky they were gorgeous. They’d been turned at the age of twenty-five over seven thousand years ago. They had annoyed Christ while he was on the cross, they had talked with the Buddha, they had allegedly helped Alexander the decent become Alexander the Great. They were the undisputed masters of their domain. Nobody questioned them, let alone crossed them.

They were also the only two vampires in the country older than Maddox. But he alone knew something others could never have suspected: they were bored. Lorien crossing them had provided some meager entertainment. They’d possibly not considered the ramifications of attacking him. Or perhaps they had.

They greeted him warmly not because they liked him, but because age came with a certain fellowship and respect.

“What brings you here?” Ernesto clarified the question, in case Bertram had not been clear enough.

“Lorien.”

“Who?” They looked at one another and shook their heads before spreading their hands in twin gestures of confusion.

“The fledgling who was viciously attacked at the Library.”

“Oh. The mouth,” Bertie said.

“He does have a mouth,” Maddox agreed.

“He’s fortunate he’s been allowed to keep his neck,” Ernie replied.

“He is under my protection.” Maddox made the statement calmly, but all present knew that these were words with great significance. “This has been made clear previously.”

“You do not moderate his behavior, so we were forced to take action,” Ernie said. “He’s a… how do they say it now?”

“Pain in the ass,” Bertram replied.

“There is nothing in our code which says a man may not be mouthy. There is much written and said about the importance of respecting protection. We are all confronted with the vulnerability of those we love,” Maddox said.

“Is that a threat, Maddox?” Bertram asked the question. Ernest roared with laughter. Their many minions and progeny laughed with them, a baying crowd of cackling jackals. Maddox smiled quietly to himself. There had been a time when he and these two had been friends.

The question was a joke and intended to be one. The notion of Maddox threatening the twins of New York was unthinkable because the notion of anybody threatening them was unthinkable.

Ancients were supposed to be more sophisticated and evolved, but as time went inexorably, inevitably on, some of them simply became arrogant and foolish. They believed they were too big, too old, too powerful to fail or fall.

“Are you going to have us arrested, Maddox? Is that it?”

More cackling. More jackal howling. More quiet, contained smiling from Mads.

His position was not well-respected here in the coven of the twins. It had never been a popular move to liaise with humans and endeavor to moderate relations between vampires and humans on a more formal basis. Vampires like these two imagined themselves above all law and social constructs. After all, they had lived through an almost endless series of variants to the point laws now seemed petty and pointless. Mad understood their perspective well enough, but the world was changing. The presence of vampires was becoming a harder and harder secret to keep from the public at large, and more importantly, human population was at an all time high, which in turn meant vampire populations were booming. It was not like the old days where a few hundred undead might make themselves the kings of their chosen territory. Many historical human kings had in fact been vampires. Arthur, among them. Zenobia of Palmyra, quite notably, and many other kings and kingdoms lost to history. Bert and Ernie did not understand how much times had changed, and that was to their detriment.

These two believed themselves to be above all all laws and conventions — human, vampire, and those of basic decency. But by the same token, no vampire present dared lay a finger on him. Maddox was no ninety-year-old fledgling. He was an ancient, and he was still due some respect as well as some caution.

“Don’t ever touch one of mine again,” he warned.

“Shouldn’t be hard. You have so few. I’ve never known anyone as against creation as you,” Ernest laughed. “Keep your mouthy ward away from us, and we’ll have no quarrels.”

“Well, perhaps a few quarrels, baby killer.”

Bertram spoke the phrase Maddox most loathed.

“Excuse me?” Maddox’s voice was dangerously soft.

“Let’s call the ferals what they truly are: abandoned children. You’ve been slaughtering babes who never had a chance to come into their power.”

“Let’s call ferals what they are: monsters who would destroy humanity if we let them. We need people. We need a healthy, thriving human population not only to provide sustenance, but to engineer and create the world in which we live. We are apex predators. That means we sit at the top of the food chain, and we need many, many happy individuals beneath us. A well-raised vampire understands that. A feral understands not, and cares not. They must be eradicated.”

“Agree to disagree,” Ernie attempted to end things on a more positive note.

“Don’t ever touch Lorien again," Maddox repeated. “If so much as a hair on his head is put out of place due to the orders of this court…”

“What?” Bert and Ernie leaned forward, their handsome, hallowed faces like two marble sculptures of vicious interest.

“I will have yours,” Maddox finished the threat.

Bert and Ernie looked at one another. There was a tension in the room that had not been there before, a breaking point of violence hanging between them all. The onlookers unleashed their fangs, not out of choice, simply responding to the energy of the conflict.

It was Ernie who laughed, Bertram who followed, and even Maddox allowed himself a smile.

“Take our heads!” Ernie cackled. “The idea! You are a jester, Maddox.”

“Indeed. Good evening, gentlemen," Maddox said, taking his leave before he was tempted to act on the threat any further.

The following evening Maddox called Lorien into his office shortly after sunset. Lorien came in his usual suave and jovial way. There was something about this vampire. Young as he was, he had a certain compelling energy Maddox had always been cautious of and similarly entranced by. A human might have described it as potential.

Lorien had tied his dark hair back and was wearing a black v-neck sweater. The scar on his neck had healed, leaving him perfect once more. He truly was a vision. His maker would have been proud of him.

“I’ve spoken with Bert and Ernie. You should be safe on the streets of New York now. But Lorien… if you tempt fate with them again. If you do anything to bring their ire down upon you, it will be me you will reckon with. Do you understand?”

“Yes, absolutely. And thank you for your hospitality and for your protection.”

Polite words slipped out of his mouth as they were expected to, but did he mean them? The dancing mischief in Lorien’s green gaze could not be trusted.

“Lorien,” Maddox said, getting up and walking around his desk to stand face to face with the much younger vampire. “I want you to understand my meaning. I have Will to train, and he is my focus, but do not think for a second that I am not paying very close attention to you.”

“So kind,” Lorien replied. “I think I’ll take my leave, now it is safe. I don’t want to interfere in your training. Will needs so very much attention, doesn't he.”

“I want you under my roof for the moment.”

“You do? Why?” Lorien seemed surprised.

“Call it a probationary period.”

“Or you don’t trust the assurances you received from Bert and Ernie?”

“I don’t trust you,” Maddox clarified. “You are what the humans would call a brat.”

“Uh huh,” Lorien cocked his head. “Something else is going on. Isn’t it?”

“Something else is always going on. At any rate, your continued presence under my roof during the hours of daylight would be gratefully appreciated.”

"You want a babysitter for your puppy, make sure he doesn’t pee on the rugs, that’s what this is, isn’t it.”

That was more or less precisely it. Maddox did not exactly trust Lorien with Will, but he trusted him more than he trusted anybody else. He could not always be vigilant with the human. He had business to attend to and responsibilities to meet.

A knock at the front door cut their conversation short.

"Get that, would you?” Maddox waved Lorien away.

“Were you talking about me?” Maddox heard Will ask the question of Lorien as Lorien went to answer it.

“Why would we talk about you, tedious brat,” Lorien projected.

“Were you talking to him about me?” Will entered Maddox’s office. “Why are there words in your mouth about me to him?”

Before Maddox could correct Will on the proper way to address such concerns, Lorien called out.

“MAD! There’s an officer at the door!”

Will scuttled away at high speed, clearly imagining himself to be on the verge of re-arrest. He needn’t have bothered panicking. It was one of Mads’ people, not an officer coming to return him to prison.

Captain Lora Candy was the commanding officer of the NYPD division which officially did not exist. She’d come ready for action, wearing a black bite-proof vest which rose all the way up to her chin, and a bold identification stripe across the chest and back.

SUCU.

Most of the force thought it Serious Unexplained Crimes unit. In truth, the acronym stood for Serious Undead Crimes Unit. Some pronounced it Suck-u. Maddox did not approve of that even a little bit. If he heard it, his human subordinates would be for it.

“Detective Candy,” he greeted the severe-looking blonde woman. Lora Candy was a forty-year-old, hard as nails, no-nonsense career cop with scars inside and out. She was one of Maddox’s favorite humans by a very long margin, Will excepted.

She got to the point without bothering with a greeting. “There’s been a crime, sir. A particularly nasty one. The vampires are out for blood.”

“Enough with the puns, Candy.”

“Sorry, sir. It’s just… accurate,” she said. “There’s been a spate of feral attacks tonight. Something’s stirring them. We staked five on our way here and there’s been two deaths so far, with twenty serious injuries.”

“Excellent work,” Mads praised, watching the way her eyes lit up. Candy, like most officers who joined his police unit, was a hard-ass seasoned cop hiding an eternal teenage girl who just thought vampires were super cool, and was absolutely thrilled to be let in on the conspiracy that they were real. Common humans were allowed to keep the delusion of vampires being mythical. It suited the vampires, and it suited the human powers that be who knew better too.

“Word on the street is Bertram and Ernie have been slain, sir.”

Maddox’s brows rose. “One hopes that remains a rumor.”

Her radio crackled. “Candy,” she answered, snapping it from her shoulder. Maddox pretended to not be able to hear what was going on though he could hear the ear piece as well as she could.

“No longer a rumor, sir. It sounds like a grisly scene.”

“Let’s go,” Maddox said. “Lorien, watch Will.”

“C’mere.” Lorien grabbed Will by the back of the collar and hauled him backward off the couch where he had been sitting watching TV.

Will cursed and reached back, trying to grab hold of Lorien, but his fucked leg and the awkward position, not to mention having lost the element of surprise, made it almost impossible. Lorien dragged him over to the kitchen island and tossed him up on it.

“Don’t. Move.”

Green eyes pierced Will’s skull and made it impossible for him to resist. It felt like his brain slowed down to a point where he couldn’t actually think anymore. Instead, he just sort of floated around mindlessly in his skull, barely inhabiting it.

“Did you ever notice the shackle points on this island before? Bet you didn’t,” Lorien said, reaching under the kitchen sink to pull out several lengths of chain, which he then used to secure Will to the island, the jangling of the links almost threatening to break through the vampire’s influence, but not quite.

It didn’t drop until the last link had been secured. Will’s mind cleared and he found himself completely chained on the kitchen countertop.

“What are you fucking doing?”

“Maddox told me to watch you.”

“He didn’t tell you to chain me up!”

Prison had given him both a fear of chains and an acceptance of them. He hated the way they felt wrapped around his waist and his ankles, his wrists and his neck. It was so unnecessary.

“You’re a flight risk, baby bird. And you can’t fly.”

Will knew Lorien couldn’t hurt him. Maddox would murder him. But there was a lot Lorien could do that didn’t rise to the charge of serious damage, and Lorien seemed to be very aware of that.

“I don’t like being chained.”

“Poor baby bird,” Lorien tutted, hefting himself up onto the counter to sit next to Will’s restrained form. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll get out of them eventually.”

Lorien smiled, flashing very white teeth with just a hint of fang. “So Mad thinks you’re special. Has he made you feel special? He likes to fuck things like you.”

Will gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Lorien smiled brighter than ever and snapped into a new position, moving so quickly he seemed to be teleporting. Suddenly, he had vampire weight across his torso, and Lorien’s handsome, cold face sneering down at him. Lorien extended a finger and tapped Will on the nose.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he sighed. “He’ll use you up, baby bird. He’ll drain you dry in more ways than one. You're not the first, and you won’t be the last.”

“I’d be more likely to listen to you if you weren’t a bitchy little psycho who chained me up.”

Lorien sighed softly. “You were never going to listen anyway. They never do. They fall in love. They start to believe that they’re special. That they matter. Listen to me now. Nobody and nothing matters to Maddox.”

“Now you just sound jealous. What’s the matter? Daddy won’t give you the d?”

Lorien sat up, his ass pressed against Will’s crotch, his elegant pale hands spread one on Will’s chest, the other on his neck. The gesture was intimate and threatening, and the weight over Will’s cock… well… it risked being stimulating.

“He fucks you because you’re disposable,” Lorien said.

“Yeah? Take these chains off me and I’ll dispose of you.”

“No. I take these chains off, you attack me, I have to break your other leg, Maddox gets angry at me when I hurt the human. I think it's better you stay right there.”