Pack Master (Vampire Kings 3)

Lorien stared down from the throne, dark hair falling forward around his face, green eyes glittering menacingly at his insolent subjects.

“Maddox is the caretaker! He is effectively a regent. This throne belongs to me. It was I who slew the twins!” He paused to let that statement ripple through the crowd. “That’s right. I killed them. Not Maddox. Not anybody else. Me. Shall I demonstrate?"

Gerald might have replied if not for the fact it had become suddenly impossible. Lorien had vacated the throne, stake in hand and was hurtling through the air at a speed impressive for his young age. The stake missed the essential organ and for good reason. He did not want to slay Gerald. He wanted to make him suffer. He wanted the others to see and hear what he was capable of if they were foolish enough to mock him.

“ARRGGHHH!” Gerald’s scream was incredibly satisfying. Lorien had driven the stake through his belly, a most painful location. He lay on the floor with a stupid, shocked expression on his face, wriggling like a fly with its wings ripped off.

The room was suddenly silent. Dozens of eyes fixed themselves on Lorien. Their various expressions were hard to read, but disbelief and anger were uppermost among them. It just wasn’t done, a king maiming his subjects publicly on the first day.

“You have all mocked me. You have shown disrespect. In the past, many of you watched while I was assaulted. You saw my blood spilled. Now I occupy the seat of the highest among you and so far, I have shown you mercy. But you have chosen to continue to mock and laugh, and now you will reap the rewards. Henry. Show them.”

He was briefly afraid that Henry would refuse to put on a show, that he would find this all beneath him and irrelevant to him. Their eyes met and Henry shook his head slightly, as if to indicate this was not a good idea. Lorien no longer cared. Good ideas. Bad ideas. He did not have the respect of the vampires, and in its absence, fear would have to do.

He cast a pleading look over at Henry, who let out a small sigh and flowed into his wolf form, tearing his clothing in the process. The crowd drew back from the fierce fangs and intimidating presence of the alpha — but he was not alone. There was a greater surprise awaiting the vampires.

A small pack followed in Henry’s wake, for his men who had not left him behind when ordered to by Maddox. They had been lurking nearby, taking refuge in a building Lorien had mentioned to them, one that had recently been cleared as a crime scene.

The sight of Dante, Jake, and Norris all bursting out from the room behind the throne was an impressive one. To onlookers, it was as though Lorien had just summoned a small pack of wolves who stood before him and the throne not merely as guards, but as testaments to his power.

“Vampires and werewolves have long been at odds,” Lorien said. “Not anymore. Not here. I have made an alliance with their kind while my own kin forsook me. You each have a choice tonight. Show me loyalty, or I will show you the inside of these beasts.”

“So the baby has a puppy, so what?” Someone muttered. It was a younger vampire, though still older than Lorien. That vampire’s maker turned and cuffed them swiftly around the ear. Lorien let the comment slide, for he was merciful when it came to those who had smart tongues and should have known better. A snide comment from a fledgling did not rankle the way the sneering of the older vampires did.

“I have remained dormant for a long time. I have left you all to your devices, and I have asked nothing from you. Maddox has similarly ruled without force or tyranny. If you want that to change, make another one of these displays and see how I begin to root the disloyal among you out. Gerald, get the hell out of my sight. And take anyone else who doesn’t think I deserve to be here with you.”

Gerald was assisted out by several others. The same crowd that had laughed at Gerald’s taunts now watched silently and said nothing as he left the Library in shame. As a rule, these creatures had no real loyalty to each other. Vampires were individuals to an extreme degree. A vampire king served as figurehead and locus of power, but they would never slavishly devote themselves to any one vampire. They would always be dangerous and could only ever be led by respect tinged with a certain amount of fear.

Lorien sat back on the throne. “If the rest of you would like to continue with the business at hand, I’d be happy to consider it.”