Chapter Four

Cathartic Revenge

On their mission to deal with Ellis, Karou followed Warren through the Compound. It was strange, having not been out for around three or four weeks - small things had changed, but overall it was exactly as she remembered. It was a fair walk through the dark concrete hallways towards the west gate. They navigated their way through a warehouse and a depot-like structure, but before they were in view of any guards, Karou tugged on Warren's sleeve again to get his attention.

In the dark, behind the cover of a large stack of crates, Warren stopped dead in his tracks and met Karou's eyes. "I- If Ellis convinces you that it was a bad idea to Sire me..." Karou opened, to which Warren made a face and opened his lips to speak, but Karou stopped him and continued, "Don't argue, just hear me out, 'kay?... Just say that she does; please don't send me away yet."

"If you're this frightened about what might come out of her mouth Karou, why did you come?"

"Because I hoped that having me stood there while she tells you I'm a wicked, sly, and tricky mortal girl who has wormed her way into the Compound to ensnare you, you might not be as inclined to believe her."

"I don't think that, and I meant it when I said leaving isn't an option. I know she's going to spin lies to try and get what she wants. I know she'll twist whatever she reads from us, but I'm not that gullible; I'm actually pretty fucking stubborn."

"What do you think she wants?"

"Oh, she'll demand I forsake you and prove my loyalty to her. Her loyalty demands will probably involve a blood sacrifice and submissive sexual gestures, which I'm sure you've presumed already."

With Karou having said her piece and calmer now, Warren continued to move towards the guards and their watchtower. He was greeted by someone, a man that Karou didn't recognise from around the Compound, but it was clear that he was a guard. She stood half behind Warren and peered around him, letting him take the lead.

"Stay with Dion, Karou. I'm going up onto the walkway to talk to her."

Karou lingered by the guard assumed to be Dion and nodded at him in an awkward greeting. Standing at nearly seven feet tall, he looked to be a severe and brutish sort of man and said absolutely nothing to her. She watched as Warren ascended the steel steps and walked across a metal catwalk that ran the length of the wall behind the barbed wire halo.

"It's nice of you to show your face, my love." Karou heard Ellis' French American accent chiming over the wall and was glad she could listen in unseen. "Your little army won't let me in..."

"I wasn't expecting a visit; you woke me up at nearly four am for what, Ellis?"

"You know why I am here. You can't hide her from me, Warren, I am your Sire."

"That's rich. I never realised how disappointing your performance as my Sire really was until I discovered what it's like to be one. I don't owe you an explanation, Ellis. The choices I make are none of your concern. Go home."

"It didn't take her as long to get under your skin as I'd thought. I thought you had more stamina than that."

"Whatever vile things you've come to say won't change anything. You're too late. You should've tried to coerce me against siring her before now. You've already overstayed your welcome. Don't make me make you leave..."

Ellis scoffed, disregarded his threat, and continued. "What did she give you to convince you?"

"Her life..." Warren snapped back straight-faced and without a seconds pause. "You took mine, and she gave me hers willingly. But, honestly, the sight of her dead body was enough to convince me that letting her die would have been a waste."

"Aww, how sickeningly sweet... But still a pathetic lie! Your cold heart isn't that sentimental - you just wanted to keep her young forever so that she could be your virginal toy. Don't forget I know all about your perverse tastes Warren - you've always preferred your steak blue. You're fucking her; I can smell it on you. You reek of her blood too."

"Not everyone's life choices are fuelled by blood and sex Ellis; that's just you and your sadism."

"Ha! You're still trying to lie to me. It's futile. I knew I was right! Wasn't I? She was a virgin. I bet she isn't anymore. I hope I'm right about everything else, too, for her sake. I hope she is just using you because, let's face it, darling, you're incapable of feeling enough to not be doing anything more than toying with her. I hope she isn't that sweet, innocent, helpless romantic bookworm of a little girl; otherwise, it's going to really hurt when she realises you're not her knight in shining armour. How can a man as empty and hollow and unfeeling as you save her? A man who doesn't even like himself, how could he possibly love anyone?" Ellis took a deep breath. "She's over there, listening, isn't she? I can smell her."

"You're just embarrassing yourself, Ellis. Just because your small mind can't fathom that there is more to existing than playing your futile game of blood, sex, and war, some people have deeper motivations."

"Ah, yes, your little mission to solve world hunger... How utopian. You wouldn't have sired her if her special blood was to play a part in REDford; you'd have reaped her already. Enlighten me, what is she to you?"

"I'm sure it will reveal itself in time," Warren answered. It was true that that's what he hoped for because currently, he didn't know what he and Karou's relationship was; he was reluctant to label it. He just prayed that Ellis' evaluation wasn't right and that he didn't just want to use her for her youthful, virginal body and delicious blood. He turned as if he were about to walk away from their conversation because he was ready for it to be over. "Ellis, for the last time, leave. My guards will shoot you down before letting you in here. Magnus will be here to collect you tomorrow."

"Of course, my dear husband snitched on me... Your guards won't shoot me." Confidently Ellis waded through the undergrowth to the foot of the wall - she was about to climb it.

Warren gave one of the guards a swift nod, and without missing a beat, he flung his firearm in Warren's direction. Warren caught it and aimed mercilessly down at Ellis, and pulled the trigger with hesitation. It blew a hole through the right-hand side of her neck which sent her staggering back into the undergrowth, clutching at the gaping wound. The sound of pain and anger that came from painted lips screeched and hissed like a newly forged blade fresh from flames and plunged into cool water. Her alarm mounted when the wound was slow to heal, and she began to bleed profusely; the bullets were laced. "But I will. Remember Ellis; I will always pull the trigger." Warren stated plainly; his face remained utterly expressionless.

"You bastard!"

"You used to hurt me so deeply because despite all the ways you abused me and used me I loved you, but I don't anymore," Warren said bitterly, hopelessly, but it only made her angrier. Now she was losing blood too quickly to fight, she dropped to the floor as her consciousness was drifting.

"You liar, you're not capable of love!" She wailed before passing out.

"I used to be, but that well had run dry, I wasted it all on you." Making his way down from the catwalk, he returned the guards firearm. That was when he noticed that Karou had climbed the steps and had watched the entire shooting, if not more. She looked bewildered and was in shock from what she had witnessed.

"You're just going to let her bleed out?!" Karou asked. She didn't like the woman, but that treatment seemed extreme. Doesn't it bother him at all?

"She'll get over it," Warren said dryly and continued to descend the metal steps. His front was up and had made him so cold even the air around him seemed to have chilled.

"Warren?" Karou pleaded as she followed after him. Karou was floundering, trying to wrap her head around his actions; she wanted to understand him, but he was completely frozen over.

"Karou, we can talk about this back at the unit."

Once they were far enough away from the guard's, Warren glanced over his shoulder at her. "Okay, now that no one is listening, you can say what you wanted to..."

"You'd kill her if you could, wouldn't you?" Karou stopped now that they were alone in a dark corridor.

"Yes, gladly."

Karou had expected that to be the entirety of Warren's answer; she thought that if she wanted to know more, she'd have to coax it out of him.

He took her by surprise when he said, "She took my life in cold blood, Karou. My survival was an accident. I shot her in self-defence, but I was a dead man before I pulled the trigger. I am as determined to punish her now as I was then, if not more so. If I was going to die, she was going with me, I didn't know she would heal. When she did, she didn't free me, she didn't take me under her wing as her fledgeling. She abandoned me! She left me there to starve like a snared animal. She only retook an interest in me when I became strong enough to survive on my own, and even then, it was only to use me to get all the fickle things she prizes. There's only so much coercion and physical and emotional abuse a person can take, eighty years is more than enough, I'm through with her. She's vapid and completely repulses me." He vented his hatred so readily; it wasn't an emotion that was buried deep. His tone changed; his eyes took on the expression of pure pain when he spoke next. "And yet I sometimes can't stop her from touching me because she has power over me. Karou, I'd never use my Sirely influence against you because I know what it feels like to be someone's puppet - to watch your own hand, move against your will and reach out and touch them with tenderness when your head is filled with hatred is... esteem destroying." He was looking at Karou, but he wasn't focused on her; his mind's eye was elsewhere as he explained the only feeling he could describe in fullness – to what extent and why he detested Ellis Denver.

"I understand. Can we go home now?" Karou didn't need any further explanation. Her eyes were sad; she didn't enjoy listening to the hurt in his voice or the far-off look in his eyes. It cut her in a way that felt like his pain was her own. She knew he wasn't thinking pleasant thoughts and could feel how rotten they were through their telepathic link. But one thing he'd said lingered in her mind; 'I am as determined to punish her now as I was then. If I was going to die, she was going with me.' Now she couldn't help but feel that everything Warren had done in taking her in was just a rebellious act meant to hurt Ellis, and that made her want to weep for herself.

Warren walked Karou back to their unit without another word, and once they were inside, he locked the door behind them and wandered towards his bedroom like a ghost. Karou intended to go straight to bed, but Warren reached for her hand and led her towards his room instead.

"Warren?"

"I want to sleep with you."

"It won't make you feel better about what just happened..." Karou reasoned, but she wasn't sure she wanted to spend any more time with Warren than necessary that night. Sleeping with her would just have been another act of rebellion wouldn't it?

"Being away from her and alone with you feels better already," Warren said as he entered his room behind her. He pulled off his sweater, unfastened his jeans, and folded his clothes onto the piano stool before climbing under the sheets. "You don't have to if you don't want to; I won't make you."

"What did you mean by 'sleep with'?"

"Ah, right. It means two things, doesn't it?" Warren lay on his back with his eyes closed and sighed like a battle fatigued warrior; his exchange with Ellis had knocked something out of him. "Either, but it's your choice, Karou."

"If I-... had sex with you right now, it wouldn't make me any better than Ellis, because it doesn't mean anything, and it'd just be us using each other, right?"

"Hmm, if you say so, but you wouldn't be making me do it against my will. If it means nothing, I suppose it's a good thing you feel that way; there's less chance you'll get hurt."

Karou removed her clothes and crawled up the bed to shimmy under the sheets next to him. "You mean because you're not capable of the feelings it takes for it to mean something?" Karou asked; using Ellis' words, she rolled over onto her side to face him. Tugging the pillow under her head, she observed his expression even though she knew he could say something deadpan and leave her more confused despite his words' clarity. Why did she say he was incapable of love?

"Hmm, something like that." Warren rolled over too and met her eyes, with a foot between them down the centre of the bed.

"That's as vague an answer as you could've given me..." Karou sighed, defeated. "I guess you're the one that tricked me then because it didn't feel like it meant nothing in your head... I... I still thought I felt something."

"If you recall, I was never the one that said it didn't mean anything; you did. But isn't that the point - that during the heat of the moment, it feels like you'd die without it? Nothing else outside of it exists or matters? I guess for me that that's always been a dream I wake up from."

"I don't know what it's supposed to be like. I'm too old to truly believe in fairytales, and besides, I've only done it once. I've no idea how many different kinds of ways there are to experience it. Everywhere I've heard or read about it, though, it's more than just physical if it means something. I thought that you wanted me to think it meant nothing."

"You've read plenty about 'making love' I know that much from your taste in books. I'm sorry if I was disappointing in comparison."

"That's just the thing; I didn't go into it comparing you to the fiction I've read. I just enjoyed it for what it was, but if being made love to feels better than how it felt with you, then I have something to look forward to, right? I mean, if I ever find someone to love me..."

"Your optimism..."

"It's foolish, I know. Call me naive, but a girl can dream."

"It's refreshing."

"Warren... What did it feel like to you?"

"Are you asking if it was good or not?"

"Oh, God!" Karou turned her head to bury her face into the pillow she lay on. "Am I making a fool of myself talking about it because it was awful?"

"Definitely not. I thought that much was obvious. You should stop over analysing everything, though, or you'll never get to sleep."

Regardless of Warren's advice to settle her mind and get some sleep, she wrestled with nightmares that night. These days any disquiet in her mind brought about back pain, so eventually, she had to creep out of bed and into the bathroom, needing something to take the edge off. When Karou flicked on the light, it was harsh on her sleep-ridden eyes, and she grumbled something about it.

Feeling over the shelf for the two orange bottles she needed, she was shocked to find that Warren's monthly prescription was nearly all gone. It dawned on her that for five out of seven nights a week, she'd been waking up in pain and getting through a fair amount of medication. Karou had already been warned about their strength and addictive qualities, and now her mind definitely couldn't rest. Was the pain even real anymore, or was it just a psychological tool - a trick her mind used to get her body its fix? Although she took what was left of the painkillers, she left the sedatives alone and sat on the toilet crying into a towel to muffle her anguish.

Warren woke up none the wiser to Karou's difficult night the following day, so he got up, got dressed, and disappeared into his office, leaving Karou to wake up alone. When she looked for him and found him sitting at his desk, his only excuse was that he needed the distraction.

With Warren at work, Karou flung herself back on top of the bed with a great sigh. For a while, she laid there staring at the ceiling, wishing she'd been bold enough to suggest she be Warren's distraction rather than his work, even if it was just a wander to the tavern for coffee. Her lids gradually grew heavier, seeing as she'd had an inadequate amount of it the night before; sleep took her easily.

Much later in the afternoon, the door of the unit closing roused Karou. Raising her head from the pillow, she peered out into the living space. Right across the far side of the unit, she could see Warren's office door was ajar. From that, she surmised he must've gone out. His leaving was unusual, but she wasn't dressed suitably to follow him and snoop. With another sigh, she flopped back into the pillows, and with her head buried into Warren's, she fell back to sleep.

Time disappeared in her sleep, but Karou was woken again by the unit's door closing. Is Warren back?

"Hola... Is anybody home?"

Squinting down the hall, Karou spotted the man who belonged to the distinctive accented baritone voice that boomed into the unit. Magnus. Their eyes met.

Shuffling out of bed, Karou went to greet him, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Hey Magnus, I forgot you were coming, but it's so nice to see you."

"Ah, Bonita, I'm sorry I woke you, but it's good to see you too." Magnus' smile was always warm. The moment she was close to him, he wrangled her into his arms and hugged her, only to hold her at a distance from him a moment later while he took a good look at her. This was the first time he'd seen her since her siring. He beamed at her, seeming please by what he found. "You look so well, mi niña."

Karou smiled; she found his numerous nicknames for her endearing. "It's alright, and thank you, but I didn't sleep well last night..." She beckoned Magnus to follow her into the kitchen, which he did. It was time for some coffee now that she was up and about. At the machine, she made herself a drink and silently gestured to a second mug as if to ask if Magnus also wanted one. He merely nodded and continued their conversation.

"Si, I understand yesterday must have been very stressful. I came to check up on Warren. Is he around?"

"Yeah, it was a little crazy, to say the least..." Karou explained as she sipped at her coffee and passed Magnus his over the countertop. A flash of sadness moved across her eyes when she continued, "Uh, Warren didn't take today off. Something about needing to take his mind off of Ellis. I think he's out, or perhaps just in his office."

"He should remember that it was also taxing for you, though. Neglecting his time with you at a time like this, tsk tsk." Magnus wagged his finger, disapproving of Warren not keeping his promise, but promptly nodded in thanks for the beverage.

"Oh no, he doesn't owe me anything. It's not like it's a debt I expect to be paid." Karou said quickly in Warren's defence. "Last night was pretty crappy, so I understand that he wants some alone time to think things over."

"You're far too forgiving and patient with him. He doesn't let you out of the unit for completely understandable reasons, but he can't expect you to exist here all alone while he works himself into an early grave."

"I don't want to seem ungrateful," Karou whined. "Have you seen him at all since you arrived? Has he told you about what Ellis said?"

"No, but I've just come from speaking to Ellis about it. She's calmed down some, but I'm sorry I could not stop her from making a scene."

She put her coffee mug down to pick at her fingernails. "Where is she now?" Karou took a seat at the kitchen island and confided her questions in Magnus despite feeling so anxious. He had that sort of trustworthy aura about him, and she hoped he would give her some answers, some clarity - he seemed to know Warren the best.

"Locked up in a cell, it serves her right for creating this melodrama."

"He... He shot her." Karou muttered; she'd found the trauma very stressful. It brought back violent memories.

Magnus frowned sympathetically; he could see how forlorn Karou was. "It's not the first time. It won't be the last, so don't let it upset you. I find it all rather amusing nowadays. Don't let anything my wife says trouble you too much either; she's just bitter."

"She said I'd tricked him, and that he's using me, and that he's incapable of feelings... incapable of loving anybody. Even though everyone keeps saying it's a lie, I can't shake the feeling that what she said is all true."

"Si, very bitter. I can assure you that Warren never does something he doesn't want to, he's the most stubborn individual I've ever had the misfortune to contend with, and that is putting it very nicely. He considers things deeply before acting; it's why he has made so many smart business decisions over the years, you might say. I don't know how she could fathom that he's using you; that is probably a stab in the dark on her part. But the bit about his feelings; I'm not sure if it's completely untrue... Although it is true that he handles his emotions in a rather unique fashion, he does have them, Karou. He was human once, and he still clings to some of that humanity, I know that for certain. Just because he's no longer in love with Ellis doesn't mean it isn't possible for him to fall in love again if he met the right person. It's a mere jibe at him, nothing for you to put too much stock in."

"Why was he having an affair with her - wasn't he engaged to someone else?"

"Ah... Well, the short story is that Camille was a beauty, but a devout Christian woman who insisted on waiting until she and Warren were married. He didn't share her philosophy... Not many men in their youth would, and Warren was young. He had fire in his blood back in those days and wouldn't be held back. So his eyes wandered, and he found Ellis. I believe it's always been about sex between those two Karou and little else."

"Right. I don't think I'll ever understand that, but okay. Uh- Magnus, why is she your wife?" She felt a little embarrassed for asking, but it was something she couldn't figure out. Magnus was such a warm person, and he seemed to know all of Ellis' flaws and accept that she probably wasn't a very nice person, yet she was still his spouse.

"The old cliché, beneath all her flaws, is a woman I fell for. Admittedly I haven't seen her in some time, but there are still moments. She's very good at embarrassing herself because she gets jealous so easily. She's convinced that Warren hasn't only sired you but that you're now somehow involved with each other."

"Involved?" She swallowed hard and looked up at Magnus with wide bewildered eyes.

"Karou... Are you two sleeping together?"

Karou played dump and cooked a brow at Magnus. He'd found her in Warren's bed when he arrived, and she had explained why. His questioning her about it now was pointless.

Magnus rolled his brown eyes and rephrased, "What I mean to say is, do you know Warren biblically?"

"Uh-... Yeah... but..." There was a heavy moment in which Karou's wariness rendered her mute. "I made him do it." She eventually admitted. "I mean, I convinced him to sire me because I did things; I played to his weaknesses. I know that it was wrong of me, but I think his giving in to siring me was perhaps just an act of rebellion on his part."

"Care to elaborate on those weaknesses?" Magnus' curiosity piqued. Had this seemingly innocuous girl managed to play Warren Howard? Had she figured something out about him that very few people were able to?

"After he came back from visiting you in Russia, he told me he had two choices; he could sire me or kill me. I told him that if leaving the Compound really wasn't an option anymore and if he hated having me here so much that he didn't know what to do with me, I would be okay with it if he ended it. He'd already made it clear he had no intention of siring me at that point and that he'd made sure nobody else would. So, we planned it, but I asked him to at least wait 'til my birthday. We agreed that he would do it then... It was a gamble on my part, but I had nothing to lose. I figured that he would do whatever he needed to and that I'd die and be none-the-wiser. Or he would start to do it and then decide he couldn't. In the end, my gamble paid off. He said that when he drained me, the look of death on my face convinced him that it would've been a waste for me to die..." A dark possibility dawned on Karou. Her heart sank. "Maybe... what he meant was that... it would've been a waste to kill me before he'd gotten the chance to -" Karou let her words linger, her sad meaning merely implied. Ellis was right. All along he just wanted to use my body. "But he said before that if he'd really wanted to kill me, he would've done it the first time we met." Karou hung her head in shame as she explained the game she'd played and exactly how she'd gotten her way. "And then... Oh, this will sound even worse, but please, believe me, I had no idea if it would work! I- I tried to seduce him. I got him to kiss me before, back when I was still mortal. I know I'm not all that much to look at, but he's mentioned little things that he liked. Like how I smell, how my blood tastes, and he'd also mentioned that sometimes feeding could be intimate, so I used offering my blood to him as a segue to get him to take my virginity."

"And I'm assuming he did?" Magnus asked.

Once Karou fell silent, she just nodded. I guess in the end we both got what we wanted.

"If you have managed to get the things you wanted out of him in the ways you've described, without him knowing, and if you have truly duped him, Karou, you might be the first person to have ever played him; successfully."

"You're saying he knew what I was doing all along?"

"I reiterate; he doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. Regarding the sexual encounters, kissing, whatever else you've been up to, I personally know that he has struggled to restrain himself since your arrival. Believe it or not, Bonita, you are very nice to look at. Please don't misunderstand me; I'm not making a pass at you, my dear, but you are beautiful, and now you always will be. Warren has done well to last so long without laying a hand on you."

"Is that so?" Warren rounded the kitchen corner; he looked between Karou and Magnus with a look of annoyed intrigue. He'd discovered them gossiping red-handed - God only knew how much he'd heard.

His sudden arrival made Karou jump out of her seat and knock her coffee over. There was a distinct chill in the air that resonated from Warren. "Ah, crap." Karou fumbled for a dish towel but couldn't find one in her panic. Warren took pity on her floundering and calmly passed one her way so she could mop up the mess she'd made.

"There you are! Eavesdropping, were you?" Magnus raised a black brow.

"Yes, I heard most of your little heart to heart actually," Warren admitted shamelessly, shooting Karou a side-eye while she was still mopping up her spilt coffee. He couldn't help but find it ironic that she was cleaning up a physical mess she'd made at a time when she'd also made a blunder in revealing her manipulations to Magnus.

Oh, earth, please open up and swallow me now. Karou thought.

That's highly unlikely; Montana isn't known for its erratic tectonic activity. Warren thought back to her; his tone was sharp and more than hinted at his irritation.

Magnus could sense the tension and laid a hand onto Warren's upper arm. "No need to be passive-aggressive, my boy; she hasn't told me anything I couldn't have calculated on my own. It's nothing you wouldn't have shared during one of our own heart to hearts."

"It's kind that you're trying to comfort her qualms, but please don't fill her head with utter fallacies."

"So, she really did play you?"

"No. Karou needs to get that out of her head." He glared at Karou.

She stared back before tearing her eyes away and looking down in thought. Believe me, I realise that now. You lied to Ellis then, it is all just about sex and blood... I'm the one that's been played... She had no idea if Warren heard.

"Can I have a moment to talk to you in private, in my office, Mag'?"

Warren held the office door open, and the Spaniard disappeared inside, leaving Karou alone, but before Warren followed him, he shot Karou a look - clearly, Warren didn't like the situation he'd been put in; that's what Karou gathered from the expression on his face. There she was, making his day worse, even after he'd had Ellis to deal with. One of the things Warren hated the most was drama.