Royal Pains (Vampire Kings 2)

“What favor is that?”

“Take your wolf form and show New York that it needs to quiver.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means he has someone he wants you to kill,” Lorien interjected. He’d taken a seat on the fake throne, apparently figuring he may as well make himself comfortable in the meantime.

“I don't need to be a wolf to kill people,” Will said.

“Oh, I know, but the style factor…”

“I can’t. I don’t know how it works. I mean, I know there’s a potion of some kind that Maddox used on me once, but…”

“Interesting,” Chauvelin mused. “A wolf potion.”

“We need to go,” Lorien said, visibly uncomfortable and possibly concerned. “Come, Will.”

“I’m not leaving until he tells me where my father lives.”

“I’ll tell you when I get what I want,” Chauvelin countered.

“We’re going,” Lorien insisted. “Now. Do you want Maddox to come find you?”

No. Will did not want that. Will did not want Maddox to know about any of this. Maddox would kill Chauvelin for sure, both for trying to kill them and probably to stop Will from learning about his father.

“Alright. I will find you again,” Will said.

“Certainly,” Chauvelin replied. “I have every intention of finding you.”

“Okay, bye,” Will waved as he was physically dragged out of the house by Lorien who was suddenly acting as if he’d heard an alarm nobody else could hear.

“We should have killed him,” Lorien said on the way home.

Will said nothing. Next time he met Chauvelin he was going to ensure that Lorien was not there.

9

The Past

Several days later…

Maddox opened the door to a vaguely panicked but quite formal knocking. He didn’t need to see the one who knocked to know who the one knocking was.

“Candy. It feels like I’m seeing a lot of you lately.”

“Yes, sir. I don’t have good news again, I’m afraid.”

“What’s he done now?” Maddox sighed.

“It’s not William,” she said. “Here. Look.” She handed him a tablet with a video cued up.

Maddox didn’t know what to expect. Something to do with Will, he supposed. Everything seemed to be about Will, even with an almost infinite array of vampire affairs to attend to. He had already checked on the boy and found him fast asleep in bed, so at least he knew this wasn’t an “oh dear, he’s been arrested” visit.

He tapped the video and it started playing. He couldn’t help noticing the particularly anxious way Captain Candy was looking over the frame of the tablet as if she wanted to see it all over again for herself.

It was a news report.

“Reports of a massive wolf sighting in NYC have set social media alight. The beast appears to be several times larger than any known wolf species and can be seen briefly in the background of several social media uploads. Experts claim this must be an elaborate hoax, but people are insisting they know what they saw.”

“Listen, Melody. If people started knowing what they were seeing, we’d be out of a job,” her co-host, Herb, laughed.

Candy turned the feed off. “This is playing nationally,” she said. “I don’t want to overstep. But…”

“You’re concerned this is real.”

“I am.”

Maddox’s eyes narrowed just a fraction, barely perceptible to the human gaze.

“And what makes you think that? The news frequently plays hoaxes. There was a yeti sighting a month or two ago and I don’t believe you came in the middle of the night to tell me.” The clock on the tablet proclaimed it to be 3:27 am.

“I. Er.” Captain Candy looked everywhere but at Maddox. “I’m just concerned. There are more things in heaven and earth…”

“Lora.” Maddox used her first name. He rarely, if ever, did that. It was enough to bring a very guilty gaze to his face. She suddenly looked a great deal younger. And familiar in a way that tickled the depths of his dusty memories.

“I’ve seen one before,” she mumbled. “I mean. I’ve met one. It was a long time ago.”

“Hm. And you failed to disclose this in your interview process.”

"You didn’t disclose you were a vampire, sir.”

That was the closest thing to sass he’d ever heard emerge from Candy’s mouth. It made him quite certain he was near a hidden truth, something Candy did not want him to know about.

“Sorry,” she apologized immediately. “I’m worried, sir.”

“There’s no need to be worried,” Maddox assured her, handing the tablet back. “This is a known quantity.”

“It is? Should the unit not be informed?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“I would like some further information,” she tried again. “If you’re familiar.”

“I’ll take care of it, Candy. For the moment, I’d like you to focus on monitoring the vampire violence situation. We’ve gotten the Pentagon off our backs for the moment, but they’re watching.”

“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”

She was a good soldier. She knew how to take orders and follow them. It was a blissful relief from the chaotic actions of Will, who was certainly not the wolf in the video. He couldn't take his wolf form. Not without help of a kind Maddox had not provided. Will had been internally decimated by his first and likely only transformation into his wolf self, and even then, he’d done it under extreme stress and with a little chemical nudge. The only slightly suspicious thing was that he’d been sleeping a great deal lately, but Maddox had put that down to exhaustion and petulance. Humans needed a lot of sleep. They fell asleep every day and never seemed to get tired of it, ironically.