Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Father, this creature is causing great fear among the vampires,” Ray said, ignoring the squabbles of the younger ones. “If she is allowed to kill unchecked, well, they are already saying that you are not what you once were, and that in the past, no beast would have been permitted to kill your vampires while you were awake in the very same city. It is being interpreted as weakness on your part.”
“Is it!?” Gideon slammed his fist down on the arm of the throne. One of the skulls broke off and rolled across the floor with a hollow and unsatisfying plastic sound. Even the fucking skulls were fake in this new millennium. Gideon let out an eldritch curse.
“Pater,” Ray said, lapsing into Latin, as was his habit. “I would suggest a hunting party. It has been too long since we went on a good hunt, and the hounds do need a run.”
Ray was of course referring to William and Henry, two wolves captured from the house of Maddox. An experienced alpha, who had thus far given them little trouble, and Will, who was absolutely feral. Ray was right. They needed to be given a task and put to work. Having them lie about the kennels all day was less than ideal, and there were only so many times they could be forced to battle for Gideon’s amusement.
“Very well. Call a hunting party. Your good self, the hounds, and I.”
“Very good, pater,” sticking with the Latin again. Abandoning languages of the past simply because the languages of the past had been abandoned was not on his agenda. It was also a point of difference, and indeed, pride, between the very ancient and the very new. Vampires like Lorien and Carter, though they were made hundreds of years apart nevertheless did not share the lingua franca of the ancient world. Thus the divide between the truly ancient and the merely old was maintained.
Ray left with a spring in his step, and in very short order, Henry and Will were brought forth, transformed and chained. There was not currently a hint of human about either one of them. The larger, darker wolf was the one Maddox was obsessed with.
In a certain light, Gideon could understand that obsession. Will was a legendary wolf, a creature very rare and very precious, a hearkening back to the old days of glory and easily accessible skulls. However, Maddox did not simply revel in owning Will. He also loved him, and that Gideon would not tolerate.
Ray was rough on the chains linked to the collars about their necks, handling them with unnecessary aggression. It was plain to see that Ray was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of the two of them going out into the human wild and hunting down the beast. He was quite a jealous boy, though he was many thousands of years old. He had never quite gotten over Gideon’s decision to make Maddox.
Speaking of Maddox, Gideon’s second created progeny met them on the way out of the mansion. An expression of familiar pain passed over his face as he looked at his erstwhile lover and ally chained and treated like the beasts they were.
“Where are you taking them?”
“On a hunt,” Ray said.
“For what?”
“For none of your concern, dear brother.”
Maddox looked at Will with a longing expression that was clear to all to behold. Will did not return the gaze. He refused to so much as look at Maddox, seething at his erstwhile lover with the same intensity Maddox looked at him.
“Perhaps I might…”
“No,” Ray said. “Gideon and I will be taking the hounds out alone. You have a baby to look after.”
The look Maddox gave his older sibling would have absolutely destroyed a lesser being. Ray ignored it.
2
Gideon and Ray moved through the park with Will and Henry in their wolf forms, both leashed with thick, spiked iron collars. The wolves sniffed and snarled, excited by the rare outing. They were well secured, heavy chains linking the collars at their throats to leashes around Ray and Gideon’s wrists. Gideon controlled the younger of the two, Maddox’s lover.
It was a certain amount of pity to have them in wolf form. They seemed to feel less humiliation in their animal states, but if he was to be honest with himself, Gideon was beginning to tire of the ritual humiliation. It was not as amusing as it had been in the beginning. In truth, he was beginning to tire of the entire matter and had been considering simply killing the wolves, perhaps in a ritual ceremony of some kind to make a point to all of his coven. The only thing stopping him had been a general sense of ennui and pointlessness, a lack of anticipation.
Central Park was not a vast space, merely 3.5 miles, but it was deeply wooded in parts. This is where the monster had last been sighted. Vampires hunting the unwary used to enjoy these woods. They were devoid of vampires this evening. Rumors of the monster had driven the dark creatures away. Gideon enjoyed some of the sense of isolation, though the roar of the city’s vehicles were still quite audible to his ears, and the stench of humanity somehow managed to wend its way through leaves and branches, almost like a perpetual barbecue of sorts.