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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.
