Chapter Three

Prisoner of War

A head of raven black hair popped around the corner to see the pair standing there.

“Your fate is for her to decide,” Alice said, nodding in her aunt’s direction.

Cambria Morningstar’s green eyes got horrifyingly huge at the sight of Warren Howard. She looked very much the same as when they had last seen each other, except her hair had been cropped into a short bob style. “Well, well, well, you are still alive, Mr Howard,” she said.

Cambria’s surprise surprised Alice. As much as she hated to admit it, it was rare for her aunt not to have some kind of inside knowledge of a situation.

Confronted with none other than the last person on earth he’d ever wish to meet again, Warren’s eyes rolled as if he were exhausted by her mere presence. Fuck; Was his singular thought.

“After your little Scandinavian jaunt, you dropped off the radar. Try as I might, I couldn’t find you. But here you are! I see he hasn’t boozed and whored himself to death yet.” She commented with a swift raise of her plucked eyebrows to Alice, hoping to tarnish any pleasant opinion she might’ve already formed of him. She knew her great-niece had a habit of seeing the good in people.

Alice winced and looked at Warren somewhat apologetically for her aunt’s rudeness, but she couldn’t help taking a moment to eye the man and wonder about his vices.

Out of the corner of his eye, Warren caught a glimpse of Alessandra’s apologetic expression. To this, he couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, his brows pinching together on his forehead as if to ask why she seemed sorry. “What’re you looking at me like that for? I thought, seeing as you want to question me, you assume I am some sort of delinquent criminal?” Warren asked; there was an edge of mockery in his tone, as though he were goading at the slight concern she showed for him. Rocking back on his bare heels, he set both hands halfway into his pockets, kissed his teeth and said, “In fairness, you wouldn’t be too far from the truth if that’s what you were assuming...”

Behind the Morningstar stood two Enochian soldiers. For now, they waited patiently for further orders. It seemed the two very tough looking nephilim men had been taking down names of others who had been brought to the dungeons. One of them had a box full of weapons beside him; obviously, confiscated. The whole operation appeared very organised. The prisoners of war who had already been spoken with sat in an orderly line against the wall. Their hands were all in shackles to ensure nobody would be making any easy escapes. Warren wondered if that was to be his fate. Now, he wished he’d taken his chances and fled when he had the opportunity, bum leg or not.

“Oh, no, that’s quite right. He’s certainly a criminal,” Cambria glared at Warren wickedly. If he weren’t in the habit of getting in the way of her plans, she would’ve liked him, she thought.

“Yes, well, we’ll see about that when… if you’re questioned. What do I do with him?”

“This is what you’re to do with him, Alessandra-”

Amidst her aunt’s order, Alice managed to find her way into Warren’s mind again, to communicate with him secretly. And I’m looking at you like that because I’m embarrassed for her… I give her crap about her attitude all the time.

Ignoring Cambria altogether was easily done, but Alessandra’s second invasion of the private territory of his mind displeased him greatly. His head pivoted at a 180-degree angle to focus directly on the girl with a cool glare glazing his black eyes. A scowl creased his brow into a furrowed line too to complete the expression of his displeasure.

Having only been trying to be nice to him, Alice shot Warren a faux-innocent smile and folded her arms over her chest. Looking back toward her aunt, she tuned back in to pay attention to what the fallen angel was saying.

“-He definitely needs to be put to one side for now. Mind that you put him very out of the way. We’re going to want to question him rigorously,” Cambria said with a smirk. Obliviously, she thought he was frowning at what she’d said. “We might have to get a bit rough with him, though, Alessandra… He knows how to keep a secret; I’ll say that for him. You kept one from our Karou for a long, long time, didn’t you?”

Warren removed a hand from his pocket; his white-knuckled fist clenched so tightly as he tried not to show any vulnerability, but Cambria’s last remark was cutting. Warren lifted his hand to rub over his stubbed chin to distract from his momentary lapse in composure. “I won’t argue with that. I’m certainly not an open-book, nor the most innocent of men… but I didn’t coerce her towards a future knowing full well she would have to hide her true nature forever.” He paused and lifted his chin upward in a questioning gesture. “As you’d expect, I’d like to know what I am being charged with? Being a lawyer and all...”

“How I wish I could charge you for simply being an asshole,” Cambria said, flipping a strand of almost black hair away from her face. “But unfortunately, that’s not legal. We’ll go with one of your lesser charges, like prostituting celestials for their blood, shall we?” She slipped a notepad out of her pocket, wrote a few things down, and then nodded to Alice.

Alice was shocked. Had the man stood next to her so peacefully truly done such a thing? “I-… I’ll keep him out here and process him with the others, then.”

“Yes, but this one’s on the “VIP” list. Send him back early along with the rest of the more important ones. I should have a plane ready to fly out tonight…” Cambria waved over one of the soldiers. “Cuff this one.” She ordered.

With an exasperated huff, Warren trained his eyes onto Alessandra and held out his wrists for the Enochian soldier to arrest him. He hoped to communicate that he was only so well behaved for her sake.

Cambria assessed the dungeon’s capacity by turning about with her hands set onto her hips. She kissed her teeth and said, “I didn’t foresee that there would be so many of them left; pity I didn’t let your sister join you.”

Though his facial expression remained indifferent, Warren was surprised to learn that there wasn’t just one Morgan daughter now, but two. That was certainly a new development since he’d last seen Karou in Italy, but he supposed it had been over fifty years. That was plenty of time to have another fully grown nephilim daughter.

“Seems it’ll be just you doing the bulk of the work here. We’re ready for you to work your magic whenever you are.”

Two Enochian soldiers led Warren away while Alice was escorted to a small room to begin her preliminary questioning of those already waiting in line. She gave him one last look and a simple nod goodbye. Though, she hoped that they’d meet again soon and that she would be the one allowed to interrogate him.

Three days after the siege had officially ended, Alessandra was ready to leave Blue Ash. She had only been in the cold and windy northern city for four days, yet she craved the feeling of the warm sun on her face again. The cold didn’t suit her, as it seemed to suit her mother. So, with her express permission, she went home with the first group of POW’s and the more important subjects of her interviews.

Back in the comfort of her lavish home, Morningstar Palace, Enoch, Alice had had very little time to settle herself back in. Her schedule was packed! Who knew a siege would entail so much paperwork? The next few weeks promised late nights and considerable quantities of data to process, mainly the fruit born from her interviews. She primarily took on the mantle of being the Queen’s personal administrator to alleviate her mother’s workload; otherwise, the poor woman would be tied up in her office from dawn ‘til dusk. Ever since she was young, Alice had been a creature of organisation, so really, it was no work at all.

Over the past few days, she had put together a list of interviewees chosen to be questioned first. They were selected based upon a particular set of criteria. Already, she had reviewed the notes of those responsible for sorting through the Castle’s residents. Naturally, this Warren Howard person had wound up somewhere near the top of the list.

In the short time since he’d been transported from Blue Ash, unlike Alice, Warren had been less than comfortable. The overwhelming and constant celestial redolence that hung over Enoch like a heavy cloud had been suffocating him – literally, he couldn’t bear to breathe. His ears rang, and his throat burned. His leg wasn’t fit for walking on as usual when he was particularly starved, and his hand rhythmically rubbed over his thigh in a faint hope to ease the perpetual ache.

Sat alone in his holding cell, he stared at the yellowed surface of the white-wash wall, lost in thought.

It was so odd being in the place where she was after all the time had passed - especially since she was the ruler that might decide his fate. As there was little else to do other than think, Warren had spent a fair few hours doing so. He’d begun at the only place that seemed logical - the beginning.

Being inept in the feelings department, it had taken him a minute to figure out the emotion that was causing him to pick at the frayed fabric of his trouser hem.

Fear.

Still, with that conundrum solved, he wondered whether Karou had felt a level of helplessness similar to what he was currently experiencing when the Compound guards had captured her? Now that he was in her territory and at her mercy, he worried whether she’d show him any? Perhaps his life was in danger of being snuffed out. Did Karou hate him enough to take his life? That was the primary question that milled around his head.

They hadn’t parted on good terms all those years ago in Florence. He remembered how bitter she’d felt when she’d left. He vividly recalled how he’d lied to her like he used to back in their days in the compound. Just when she thought he’d thawed and warmed enough to never let her go, he showed her just how distant, cold and ruthless he could be. It had been sufficient to convince her to let him go.

Since then, he’d existed as a ghost of his former self. Karou had come into his life like a whirlwind, but once she’d left, the dust settled into nothingness. He was alone again.

If she did decide to end his life now, he wasn’t sure that he really cared? Was his life really worth clinging onto without her in it anyway? Wouldn’t it just be the end to his suffering?

He’d been ready to die in Blue Ash, so what difference did it make to be executed here instead? Wasn’t it just a question of location?

On the second day of questioning, Alice had spoken to four people before the scheduled time of Warren Howard’s interrogation approached. Two had proved innocent of any crimes based on their statements and the sensory information Alice had gathered from them. As was Enoch’s population control policy, Alice had offered each the option to register as a citizen and remain in the city or leave and continue with their lives as free people. Well, not without strict monitoring, of course. The last of the four had revealed so little during his interview that Alice felt dissatisfied that she had enough reason to release him, so the guards had taken him back to his cell. To everyone’s surprise, the fourth interviewee was a young mortal man. What to do with him seemed to be a mystery, and so, he would be kept under strict protection until he could meet with The Enochian Court.

Sat in the questioning room, waiting for her next ‘victim’, Alice looked over her collection notes. Before any such interviewing had begun, she’d sat down with Cassandra to go over what they already knew about their mother’s Sire - which wasn’t a great deal. The eldest sister always aired on the side of being thoroughly prepared but felt that her information was flimsy and inadmissible at best.

While waiting for Warren’s arrival, she tapped the tip of her pen to the talking points they’d bullet-pointed;

- Met Mom in her late teens

- Wealthy

- Works in blood dealing, some probably illegal?

- Handle with care - Grumpy!!!

There came a knock on the door, which stirred Alice. She sat up a little straighter and went into professional mode, only for Cassandra to pop her head through the door. Inconspicuously she slipped into the room to join her sister; it was just like her to be somewhere she shouldn’t have been.

“You’re not supposed to be here, Cass,” Alice said and picked up her notes to tap them off the table’s surface. Once she set the paper down, she noticeably relaxed and sat more casually, seeing as her visitor wasn’t worth appearing professional for.

“I wanted to see what he looks like,” Cassandra responded. She’d come laden with a pot of coffee and some sugar. Clearly, they were the props she’d used to slip past the guards while using the excuse that Alice had asked for what she had brought. “I’ll be here two seconds, tops.”

Alice sighed and tucked her pencil behind her ear in a fashion reminiscent of their mother. “He’s not an exhibit at a zoo, Cassandra.” Alice’s empathy made it difficult for her to treat the prisoners like, well, prisoners. Still, her ability was strong enough that it made no difference to the council how she treated those she questioned. She did her job and did it very well. Besides, when her victims liked her, it usually meant a lot less work on her part.

“Aunt Cam’ said he was a mess when you found him.”

“And? I’m sure there’s a reason for it.” Alice replied nonchalantly.

“Alright, alright, no need to be hostile. So you don’t want me here, but what if he has any items on him that he snuck past the guards?” Cass was alluding to using her own “gift”.

Alessandra sighed, rubbing her temples. “ I can look after myself, Cass’…”

Out came the puppy dog eyes! Cassandra fluttered her lashes and dropped her lower lip to beg.

“Fine, you can stay for two seconds. If you aren’t out, I’m having the guards remove you… by force!”

Cass smirked, knowing she had won and smirked just as another knock came at the door.

“Enter, please,” Alice called. She turned her head to Cassandra and whispered. “Remember, two seconds. That’s it”

“Yeah, yeah...” Cassandra folded her arms across her chest.

His darker, pessimistic thoughts had gotten him down quite a rabbit hole! The clinking of a set of keys and footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. Pulled to the surface of his reality, he relied on his ears to inform him what was happening outside his prison cell. Sitting in utter stillness, with his ears pricked and an attentive mind, Warren listened for the footsteps halting before his cell. The moment he had been waiting on inevitably arrived when a rather tough-looking man opened the door, looked down at him and motioned for him to follow.

Warren stood to his feet, which were still bare and with rather soiled soles by now. Uncomfortably he padded towards the prison guard. Within a matter of moments and a short exchange of command and answer, Warren was on his way down a hallway towards the questioning room, shackled and silent.

Briefly, he turned his eyes back down the hall from whence he came, where he saw many doors much the same as his line the parallel walls and pondered who sat behind each one of them. Did he know them? Were they to share the same fate, and where did his fate lie at this moment in time?

He assumed this was the dungeon of Morningstar Palace. It was baking hot down there, what with the fire of the furnace trapped beneath all the sandstone stacked above. However, he did suppose that the place was kept impeccably even for a dungeon; his cell was the most comfortable he’d been in, and he’d been in quite a few thorough his two-hundred and eight years.

The guard before him suddenly tugged him to one side of the hall they’d been walking down. The door they’d paused before was rather innocuous-looking, but the guard raised his hand to the wooden slab - letting his knuckles rattle against it to let whoever was on the other side know that he and the prisoner had arrived. Warren heard a familiar voice from within, allowing their entry; it was Alice.

With the gift of hindsight, he supposed that he’d been overly pessimistic about his circumstances while trapped in his cell. He didn’t get the sense that he was being led to his doom. In fact, the mist cleared, and he felt somewhat more optimistic.

Escorted into the room by the guard, he was quickly left to be instructed by his interrogator from there. As the guard closed the door behind him, Warren flicked out his fingers towards it, causing it to slam shut from the gush of air he had forced against it via his aero-kinesis. A mischievous smirk pinched the left corner of his lips as the guard apologised for the loud bang, somewhat embarrassed by it in front of the Princess.

Incidentally, Warren had noticed that Alice wasn’t alone and wondered who the other woman might be. It didn’t take long for him to form some idea. While he pieced together the clues, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. The cogs in his head might’ve been heard ticking through his ears.

The unknown woman was dressed in training gear - leather boots and form-fitting clothes. In stark contrast, Alice wore a professional yet fashionable summer blazer over a crisp white blouse. Of course, they were individuals in their own right, but Warren noted both the women’s likenesses to Karou. Unfortunately, she had become someone he tried not to think about too often, but now, he was forced to face the music.

Two daughters. So, you’re probably the other one. That was the conclusion he came to.

The situation he had found himself in had kept him on edge for the last three days, but now it seemed worse somehow. His optimism, as fragile as it was already, faltered. Still, a small part of him hoped that this would all be over soon, one way or the other. For now, he was holding his breath. He was sure that if he took a breath in this small room, the scent would craze him for a moment. With the last breath in his lungs, he cleared his throat.

Appearing much the same as he had when he was first discovered in Blue Ash, though three days staler. Unkempt and limp hair hung down over his forehead and eyes, still slick with the wax he had used to style it before his capture. Another three days growth coated his chin, leaving him looking bedraggled and not his usual ‘carefully put together’ self.

“Well!” Cassandra said with a nod at her sister, having gotten her look-see, “I… shall see you later at dinner. Chocolate cake tonight, your favourite. You better not be late, or I will eat every last piece of it.” With that, she bent and kissed Alice’s cheek sweetly and turned to exit the room.

Warren turned his head in Cassandra’s direction as she left and noticeably took a brave sniff off her. Without shame, he let his fangs drop down onto his lower lip as they gaped a little. Satisfied that his assumption was correct, Warren flexed his jaw slightly, and his canines retreated to reside further within his gums. The door closed in his face, and he turned, fangs still bared, towards Alessandra. Eyeing over her for a moment, he quietly chuckled to himself.

He was still waiting for instructions.