“He’s been bled and put under so many times I doubt even my powers would have full effect,” Maddox explained. “He’s a junkie, looking for a fix. He’s harmless.”
“Nobody with a badge is harmless.”
Will spoke up from the kitchen. He must have risen from bed with the desire to feed. He had more toaster pastry in his hand, and a dark look in his handsome eyes.
“You do not have to fear law enforcement anymore. You work on the side of the angels,” Mad reminded him.
“I don’t work at all. I watch. And I don’t like what I see.”
“Well, boy, the good news is, you barely understand half of what you see, so worry less about seeing and focus more on obeying.” Maddox sighed. “It is bedtime. For both of you.”
12
Murder
Maddox was in a meeting. Again. As usual, it was being held in the lower levels of his home, where reinforced concrete and steel mesh helped create not only an atmosphere of safety, but a fairly close approximation of the actual thing.
“Violence is at a peak,” Candy reported. “Slayings are up over three hundred percent. This might be considered natural population control, if you don’t find that term offensive, sir.”
She was not wrong. The war was everywhere. With Bertram and Ernest slain, not only were various factions rising in a bid to take their place, but their loyal progeny and followers were attempting to avenge their passing.
No direct action had been taken against Maddox, due to the general understanding that he would wipe out any and all who were even a slight irritant, let alone an actual threat.
“We’ve had some reports that you will be expected to take their place, sir. Is that something we should be making plans for?”
“No. There will be no taking of places. The old structures are gone. New ones will be made in their place. This is as it should be. The chaos taking place now will settle soon.”
“You seem very relaxed, sir,” she observed.
He was relaxed, because everything was panning out more or less as he had expected it to the moment he saw the twins crumble into dust. The old power structures had been removed, and in their place would rise new, younger vampires. It was a good thing, and he welcomed it.
“Maddox, we have a problem.” Lorien walked into the meeting, interrupting it as though none of the humans present actually existed.
“Not now, Lorien. Please. I am busy. There’s a war on.”
Lorien’s voice got tighter and more tense, overly polite. “Mads. I need to see you now.”
“Lorien…”
“Now.”
Maddox raised a brow at Lorien which silently said I will rip your throat out myself if this is not truly an emergency.
Lorien looked back with an expression which said fine.
“Please excuse me.”
He followed Lorien out of the room, his jaw gritted with irritation.
“We have a dozen law enforcement humans here, Lorien, now is not the time to…”
Lorien turned to face him with a grave expression. “Will’s killed someone.”
“What?”
“He’s killed someone,” Lorien repeated. “I put the body in the upstairs bath. He left it outside, behind the house. He’s careless. And reckless. Like a fledgling, without being a vampire at all. He didn’t kill because he was hungry…” Lorien shook his head. “He’s a little monster.”
Maddox ascended the stairs at a remarkable pace, even for a vampire. In very swift time he discovered that the bath did contain a corpse. A corpse which fit in the bath far too well for Mad’s liking. For a brief moment he thought Will had killed a teenager, but on closer inspection it was just a short man. A man he knew. A man who worked for the federal government.
“Hey,” Will said, perching on the side of the ceramic tub.
“Oh no, my boy, what have you done? That was an FBI agent!”
“He came back. He was trying to build a case against you. I made sure he couldn’t.”
Maddox took a deep, sighing breath. "You're not supposed to kill humans, boy. That’s a crime.”
Will shrugged. “I do crimes all the time.”
“Yes. Yes, you do. But this is a crime which will be investigated.”
“Hm,” Will said, noncommittal.
“Do you have any sense of consequences at all, William?”
“I’m not a psychopath. Of course I understand consequences. I just don’t care about them.”
“I’m not so sure that’s true.”
“Well,” Will said.
Maddox waited for him to finish the sentence, but apparently that was all Will had to say.
“Will, killing people…”
“You got me out of prison. I was in prison for killing people. This guy needed to be killed. I killed him.” Will spoke in an annoyed staccato.
“I had planned to turn him into an ally.”
“That would have been stupid. He hated you. He was going to kill you. He had a stake with your name on it.”
“I don’t think…”
“Literally. Check the bath. There's a wooden stake with your name carved into it. Like a psycho. An actual psycho. Unlike me. I saved you. And I don’t want any fuckin’ attitude.”