Page 69 of Madness Behind the Mask
“Mmm,” I say,unconcerned. He’s onlyfiftyorsoyears old, an accidental pregnancy by some woman or another. I’m not even sure. He just showed up crying on my doorstep one day, claiming his mother had sent him to find Mr. Zadar on her deathbed. I never cared enough to figure out which whore she’d been.Even with him being a full-blood and with blonde hair to my black, those clues don’t really narrow the list down much.
But her survivingour night together, thenlong enoughto give birth… Nowthatis a damn good clue. Perhaps I could figure out her identity easily enough if I cared. Then again, I don’t even care enough to just ask Colton.
Nor did I care to even question his claims about being my son. He served his purpose, marrying Destiny,the oldest daughter of the Laska Family, two weeks after I officially named him my heir. Besides, I doubt Colton will even live long enough toclaim my throne.I’m surprised he didn’t die tonight, in all honesty.He’s too soft, which is ironic given he’ssupposedlymy son and his mother was strong enough to survive myattentions.
“Do their lives mean nothing to you?”Coltonasks as hestops beside me, his eyes blazing red in their fury. I can see them in the reflection of the window, and I bet he is justitchingto attack me despite the respectable distance he’s left between us. He knows I do not care for my space to be invaded.
“No,” I say, watching our backyard fill with vampiresphasinghome. “And neither does yours.”
Turning, I dismiss him as I head for the door.
But he just follows me – his courage and disregard for authority the only two traits of his thatI admire.
“You know,Father,” he says as we hit the stairs.“If you keep treating us like disposables, you won’t have a Family left to fight for.”
“You think I fight for this Family?” I chuckle. “A soft heartandafool.”
“You used to.”
“Be a soft heart or a fool?”
“Mother said –”
“Your mother is dead,” I snap, not caring to hear what false stories she filled his head with.
“She died still loving you.”
“Then I see where you inherited your foolishness.”I’m nota man worth loving, and if any of the women I use for my own twisted pleasuredon’trealize that, thentheyaredamn fools.
“You’re an ass,” he hisses.
“No, I’m Aleric.”
He seethes in silence,no doubt imagining my death and how the Family would thrive under his rule. Which only proves his furtheridiocy.
Ournest needs sired vampires to thrive,andhis heart is too soft to turn those who don’twishto be turned.But we aren’t faster than the wolves nor have their natural resistance to magic. Although we have arelatively goodchance against most witches one on one, it only takes onegoodspell to kill us. Only takes one damn good witch to hold us off. Like Cadendidas he protected most of his fucking children, I think with a scowl.
My rage morphs into a smirk.Or Sau.
Such fire.
Such passion.
My cock twitches again as we reach the bottom of the stairs.
I’m looking forward to seeing heragain. I’ll cut off her hands and fuck her until she dies.
I wonder if she’ll still have that light in her eyesby the end. That utter defiance.
A groan builds in my chest, but I squash it. As much as I want to think about her as I wrap my hand around my cockupstairs, I have men to see.Moraleto build. Yada yadayada,blah blah blah.
I open the door to the backyard and step outside. The air is thick and muggy despite the hour, the summer heat causing nearly instant sweat to build on my skin. There are tall hedges all along my property to keep the nosy neighbors from spotting us popping out of thin air and walking around covered in blood.
Or dragging bodiesoutin the middle of the night, fully drained, their corpses shriveledto a sack of bones.
Scanning the yard, I look for the redheaded lumberjack who has sat at my right-handsidefor the lastthirty-twoyears. I spot my son-in-law,Vlad,Destiny’s older brother,holding up a young sired missing his left foot.
“Who’d you lose it to?” I ask, nodding at the woundgushing all over my lawn.In normal circumstances, he’dregrow itover timeif he feeds from me, but that damn reaper of the Shadows has a cursed weapon that stops our natural healing process. If he was cut by that, there’s no saving him.
