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22
“I thought you were going to kill me.”
Will was surprised, and a little annoyed, to find himself still alive. With Maddox’s realization came a yearning for an end to things. He was tired of struggling for no reason, finding nothing true in the world. If Maddox could lie to him, if he could be betrayed by him, then there was nothing left of life to him.
But Gideon had not killed him. Gideon had put him in the back of a car and driven him to a fortified location upstate. It was an entirely new building built to look like a very old building, a gothic monstrosity with turrets and buttresses, and other architectural features Will did not know the name of, but all of which added up to a very imposing sight. It was a place that looked precisely as though it housed a coven of vampires, all the way to the black rock and marble edging that looked out over a garden of flowerless roses hedged by wrought iron gates. A foreboding air hung over the place, a sort of absence of life, a void of being. It felt like a cemetery, if the cemetery were interred solely with the flesh of those who had never lived at all.
“After you banished me from Maddox’s hovel, I decided to begin construction on something a little more permanent,” Gideon explained. “Though this is far from the grandest of my designs, it will do for now. Some of it is still under construction, as I create wings for those who please me and crypts and dungeons for those who do not.”
“Yeah. I thought you were going to kill me, not tell me about your building plans, HGTV.”
Gideon shot him a sharp look. “I was, but you’re worth much more to me as a token than you are as a corpse. If that changes, so will your status.”
“Fine. I don’t care. Kill me if you like. It doesn’t make a difference one way or another.”
“Aw, the poor little puppy doesn’t want to live because he was mortally betrayed by his vampire lover,” Gideon pouted mockingly. “It is much less fun to kill you if you don’t want to live. We will have to do something about that. Cheer you up, so you have something to fight for.”
Gideon was in a very good mood, and in that mood he was suave, controlled, and absolutely charismatic. Will could see what made everybody fall for him. Even if he were not an ancient immortal, he just had that it factor.
The absolute truth was, Will had not invited Gideon in because he wanted to die. He’d called for the Maker because he could not stand to be in Maddox’s presence for another minute, and that meant being in Gideon’s possession instead. There were no other choices. Gideon had made sure of that. If death was coming, he truly no longer cared. Hiding from it for such a long time had almost made the prospect of it a welcome relief.
Their car purred around the back of the construction, showing that it was indeed still very much a work in progress. There were tradesmen working in the moonlight. Will would have put money on them being some of the same tradespeople who had built the Sistine Chapel and the pyramids. Gideon was a creature with contacts throughout time. The interior of the property would no doubt be grandly morose, deeply morbid, and utterly disturbing.
But Will did not get to see the interior of the house. Instead he was taken to a door in the lower rear, a door made for things one wanted to hide.
“Into the kennels with you, puppy,” Gideon purred as he handed Will off to Raymond’s tender care. “I will come for you later.”
Raymond looked at Will with that same smirking self-satisfaction he’d met Maddox with at the airport all those years ago. Will had hated him from the moment he saw him. Seeing him again and having absolutely nothing to lose, not to mention an intense amount of anger to discharge, he balled his fist and drove it directly into Raymond’s nose.
There was a satisfying crunch, a breaking of vampire cartilage. No matter how old one might be, there were still weak spots on a human form.
“Cursed beast!” Raymond gasped as black blood flowed from his nostrils.
Will laughed. And changed. He became the beast he was born to be, a big black wolf with piercing blue eyes. He had no intention of being put underground by Raymond or of remaining Gideon’s captive at all. His romantic feelings might have been decimated, but his instinct for freedom was stronger than ever.
He raced on swift paws toward the gates they had recently driven through, but they were already closed. The fences were very tall, at least ten feet high. That was not an impossible barrier, but it did require him to make a roundabout run at them to build up speed.
Before he could, something heavy landed on his back and wrapped its arms around his throat. It was Gideon, the Maker. And he was riding him. Clawed fingers gripped the fur on the back of Will’s neck. He heard Gideon’s laugh of pleasure and felt his strong legs closing around his ribcage.
“Stop,” Gideon said, his voice clear through the rushing night air. “Stop or I will drive my teeth into your neck and bring you down as only a true predator can.”
Will bounded for the fence. Gideon struck just as he had promised. The bite hurt more than Will had expected. He had been wounded before, cut before. He had suffered before, but there was some dark, incompatible venom in the fangs of the Maker that brought him crashing to the ground, pulling him out of his form as wolf and leaving him naked, shivering, bloody, and worst of all, human.
“You are such a bad little puppy,” Gideon purred, tracing his fingers tenderly over Will’s hair and face as Will lay panting on the ground. “Now Raymond is going to be in a bad mood when he handles you, and that will not go well for you. It would be best, little pup, if you learned the ways of our world before trying rash acts of rebellion. You amuse me, but I will not show you any mercy merely because you belong to Madis.”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” Will cursed.
“Oh, but you do. There are many claims on your body and soul. Now, down to the kennels with you.”
Raymond came for him and this time there was no gentle escort. This time Will was grabbed by the back of his bitten neck and frog marched down to the dungeon waiting for him.
He expected a lonely, dark, cold cell. But the cage waiting for him was not empty. It contained someone he already knew. Or the shadow of someone he had once known, at least. Henry looked very much worse for wear. His dark eyes had taken on a hollowed, captive aspect. His musculature was more sinewy than before, a more desperate kind of strength. His tattoos had faded and distorted with the change in his body weight. He looked hungry. He looked tired. He did not look surprised to see Will.
There was also another friend present. Lorien. But Lorien was not inside the same mesh cage Henry inhabited. Lorien was on the outside, looking in, and when Will and Raymond appeared, he took several quick steps back, his eyes darting down, his head lowered apologetically. Lorien’s clothing was dark and formal. He looked as though he had been dressed by a third party. Will could guess who. Everybody here bore the mark of the Maker in one way or another. His affections were harsher than his hatred.
“What the fuck are you guys doing down here?” Will asked the question.
Lorien didn’t answer. His eyes were rimmed red with emotion, but not because of Will. There was very little acknowledgement there at all for him. Henry also remained silent. The meeting was oddly awkward.
