Chapter Five

His Fledgeling

Leaning his head back, Warren stared vacantly towards the ceiling unknowingly, displaying the many bite scars scattered over his neck. Setting his hands back into his lap, he rubbed his hands over his thigh once more; the pain was starting to subside.

The guard was gone now, and Alice sat watching him, waiting for him to speak again.

Warren took his time, pondering quietly to himself for a moment.

Out of nowhere, like a sixth sense, Warren mumbled this question, “There is something wrong with her, isn’t there?”

Alice pondered how to answer. Though she didn’t question how he’d come to the notion; afterall, she’d heard about how connected Sire’s could be to their Fledgelings, though for now, she didn’t appreciate just how strong his bond to her mother was.

Secretly, she wanted to know why he was so wary of Karou - was it for a similar reason Karou had been distant lately? After returning from Blue Ash, the Queen had been quieter - choosing to isolate herself by spending more time in her chambers, reading old books and seeing only her advisors and those who needed immediate attention. It worried Alice and Cass.

Ultimately, Alice wanted to get to the truth of it but also wanted to protect her mother and keep her from seeming weak.

She sighed and chewed on her lower lip for a long moment. “My mother... is… very hard to read these days. One moment you think you know what she’s thinking, and then the next, you don’t. Sometimes it’s even hard for me to understand what she’s feeling. She’s thirsty, that’s for sure. I know how much that affects her, but it seems like it’s more than that this time. Mostly I know she’s been very lonely. Concealing her vampirism has really gotten her down lately. She’s started to become reclusive and stay in her room so that she doesn’t have to smear on makeup.

“Hmm, I see that some things never change.” That was what bothered him the most. He recalled the last two times he’d seen Karou, how he’d had to quench her thirst for her.

“Cassandra would probably tell you something different. We have differing opinions.”

“Still, I wonder how far you are willing to go to quench her thirst? She isn’t going to go about hiding it very well if she’s starving.

“I suspect someone will suggest she feed soon, given the number of vampires that have come to the city lately - something about being around them triggers her more than when she’s around us.”

“It’s the nesting instinct. That’s why she’ll want to feed; it happens when vampires live together or in close proximity. I’ve been in a few nests - very tricky things to get out of for most people. Most people have feelings, don’t they?”

“You don’t think you have feelings?” Alice tipped her head, finding his statement curious.

“I know I have them. I just don’t have a handle on them like most people.”

“Granted, you process your emotion… uniquely, but you’re by no means a psychopath. Take it from someone who’s bound to know.”

“I’ve spoken to a couple of shrinks in my time who have assured me the same. It’s barely any comfort. It doesn’t go far enough to solve anything for me.” Speaking about his feelings always made him uncomfortable. Regardless of knowing Alice would know that he was attempting to deflect from himself, he directed a question her way. “How do you feel about her other side?” Now, he lowered his head to look her dead in the eye. “Biggest mistake I ever made, right?”

“No. My mother’s vampiricy doesn’t bother me in the least bit. She swears that what you did for her saved her life. I can’t hate you for that. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for what you did, Mr Howard.” Alice nodded to show her genuine gratefulness.

Warren was silent for a long moment, pondering over her words and constructing an answer. Distractedly he lifted his defective leg to cross over his other, knee to ankle; fortunately, the pain had dulled to an ache. Clearing his horse throat, he prepared to speak again. “Her opinion on that point has always baffled me. When it actually came to Siring her, she left me with very few options.”

“Mr Howard-…” Alice begun.

“You don’t have to call me ‘Mr Howard’, you know.” He said, interrupting her before she could begin. His black eyes looked left and right in the empty room. “No one is here. I don’t think anyone would care if you let down that little interview-er façade you have going on and called me by my name.” Warren waved his hands at her as if to gesture to her image, flashing another grin. “I know all about façades,” Warren admitted in a small whisper, nearing the table a moment before he retreated back into his seat with a sigh.

“Alright. Warren.” Alice pushed her notes aside.

“If you don’t mind me saying, both you girls seem to be obsessing over the topic of your mother’s vampiricy. Why?” Perplexed, Warren rose one of his brows.

“Cassandra was brave enough to ask her directly once about her Siring. Her reply was very vague.” Her petit shoulders shrugged. “We never thought we’d get to meet you. Since before we were old enough to figure it out, my mother has always…” Alice paused. She was searching for the words to explain a profound feeling she got from her mother. “As I said earlier, she’s lonely. There’s always seemed to be something missing.”

A short silence grew between the two of them until he looked back to Alessandra directly. “What has that got to do with me and my being here?” Considering his situation, he was being rather amiable. Though he wasn’t comfortable being in such proximity to the Queen of Enoch, he found he rather liked being alone in the small room with her daughter. Close but not too close. Yet, he still wasn’t sure what Alessandra was getting at. She hadn’t really asked him what she wanted to know yet.

“Frankly, I think it’s got everything to do with you.”

“I know that you aren’t going to tell her that I’m here. I know that I doubt she’d be interested in seeing me even if you did, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still care..” He muttered.

Alice’s attention seemed to falter for a moment. She closed her eyes and concentrated on something other than what was happening in the room. Warren wouldn’t have known, but she’d sensed Cambria’s aura close by. The woman had such a strong aura it was almost impossible to ignore. Still, it meant that it was near impossible for her Aunt to sneak up on her, which was helpful.

“My interviews aren’t necessarily interviews. Most of them wind up being conversations. I find you can learn a lot about a person simply by talking to them. Sometimes, when you ask a person a question, the answer they give you can be... forced. It’s much more likely people will lie when you ask them something directly. If you’re simply conversing with them, they aren’t so intimidated by the fact that lying could get them into trouble, but I should remind you that whatever you tell me will do down on record.”

Alice looked at him over the table intently, hoping that from what she’d said, he’d gather that perhaps certain things were best said elsewhere. Cambria was loitering outside the door, and Alice wasn’t one-hundred per cent sure that the fallen couldn’t hear them.

“So, for the record Mr Howard. Did you or did you not…” Alice looked between him and the door, hoping to convey that someone was listening in. She put on her most pompous professional front to say, “inflict mortal wounds onto Karou Morgan when you Sired her?”

Warren caught on to what Alice was trying to elicit when he drew breath. Brimstone. He could smell it in the air. He knew for sure that it was Cambria. He assumed she had come to check up on how his interrogation was going.

He winked over at Alice to let her know that he’d play along and put on a show for the Dragon Lady. However, he intended to keep what he revealed truthful.

“I’ll tell you again what I’ve already told you once! I could have drained her the first time I met her, but I didn’t. Your mother wasn’t unwilling under my fangs the day I sired her. In fact, she was dying for me to do it. She manipulated me! Oh, she did her fair share of damage to me with her own fangs! See!” Warren lifted his chin upward, displaying his neck, turning his head left and right. Most of his scars were Karou’s doing. The older ones before their time together were far too faded and hidden by fresher ones by now.

Alice set her pen onto her notebook, and her hand worked quickly over the page. Like her mother, she was left-handed, making it difficult for Warren to see what exactly she was writing.

- Claims innocence indirectly by stating the other party was a willing participant.

- Evidence? Ask Cassandra for assistance.

“I’m surprised you haven’t brought up her wing?”

“What about her wing?” Alice tipped her head to the side. Clearly, nobody had told her about what had actually happened to it. All she had been told, similarly to her sister, was that when Karou had come out of dormancy, there were some mild deformities to the structure of her wings.

“And my point is proven. You don’t know as much about your Mother and me as you think you do.” Warren left it at that and shrugged his shoulders. Though he was willing to help convince their eavesdropper that the interrogation was going well, on Alice’s part, he didn’t want it to seem like an easy win. After all, he didn’t actually want to lose his head on Cambria’s chopping block. “I know that we never hurt people we love on purpose. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. It opened a crack, and in came the head of one of the guards. It startled Alice from her thoughts, and her head turned away from Warren. She had almost expected Cambria to make an entrance.

“Your mother has asked for you, your grace,” said the guard, eyeing the vampire in the corner.

“I’m afraid I’m busy right now,” she responded politely, gesturing to Warren.

“It’s urgent,” he replied quickly, in a hushed voice.

Alice sighed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Her head turned back toward Warren. “ I suppose it’s just as well that we stop for now. I’m going to approve you for being moved to a different room. Once you’re settled in, Cassandra should be by to do her own work, but I’d like to see you again for further questioning.”

“I suppose I shall be seeing you again soon then.”

Alice stood and smoothed out her blazer, collected her notes, and exited the room while the guard waited to assist Warren to his new quarters.

On the west side of the Palace, there was a small tower reserved for housing guests. That was its only purpose, and so it was comprised of four floors of simple rooms with a small kitchen on the ground floor. There was nothing spectacular about this part of the Palace compared to the rest of it, but it made do when the Royal family needed to accommodate many guests at once.

The rooms were comfortable and simple enough but offered a fantastic view of the Palace’s central gardens. Out the windows, one could catch a glimpse of bright colours and hear the tranquil sounds of running water from one of the fountains. It was a big step up from a prison cell.

A chair had been moved from elsewhere in the room. Warren had set it before one of the large windows overlooking the gardens. There he sat cross-legged, dressed in one of the complimentary white bathrobes and pyjama pants, lost in thought once again. Although he’d gotten a little more comfortable, his thirsty black eyes remained, and he stared out into the sunlight, sucking it in. He had showered, and his hair still hung damp in a tousled fashion atop his head.

Cassandra was heading up towards the third floor that afternoon. She was rather chipper as she climbed the stairs on her way to meet this Warren Howard person. When asked who would be the next person to “speak with him”, Cass had instantly volunteered because her sister refused to share what she had learned during her own conversation. Taking the last few steps two at a time, she thought with a warrior’s conviction. I’ll find out something interesting for myself.

She moved up to the door without hesitation. It was locked from the inside, but the outside was open so that people could pass through easily - food service, cleaners, etc. Still, as a courtesy, she knocked to warn him that someone was about to enter but didn’t wait for a response and simply walked in and shut the door behind herself.

Warren made no attempt to move from his seat as he heard the door to ‘his’ room open and close as the wilder, more outgoing of the two sisters meandered into the room as if it was her own.

“Afternoon,” she said, looking at the man out of the corner of her pale green eyes. They were quite striking and had the same silver undertones as Alice’s and Karou’s, but the green was entirely inherited from her father. “Been outside at all today? It’s gorgeous out. I thought they should hold court outdoors, but the nobles didn’t want to be out there sweating...” She spoke as if she were addressing someone she was friendly with and not a stranger. It was just her way. Cassandra found it was easy for her to make friends and talk to anyone.

When she looked about the room, it appeared more or less undisturbed. Of course, she was immediately on the lookout to glean as much information as possible about the infamous Mr Howard. She spotted Warren’s briefcase set open on the still freshly made and untouched bed. The clothes he’d worn upon his capture were folded by its side, though from the state of them, they weren’t worth keeping. So far, there was very little to go on.

Finally, she looked at him straight on, clapped her hands together, and smiled. “Are your accommodations comfortable enough?”

“It isn’t my penthouse if that’s what you mean.” The vampire took a drag from the cigarette that smouldered between his fingers before answering her. He had ignored her attempt to make light conversation and made no effort to even turn his head toward her in acknowledgement. His tone was dry and disinterested. He still felt like a prisoner and desired to leave Enoch as soon as he was allowed. “Where is Alessandra?”

“Alice is working with someone today. She does, however, send her regards. You get me instead. Lucky you!” The was sarcasm in her voice mirrored his disinterest in her being there. “Don’t worry, though; I really shouldn’t be too long. I’ve got a man waiting downstairs who needs his Seraph blade fixing, and of course, the other Pyromancers are all off today.”

“Hmm, I’m sure she doesn’t send her regards.”

Cassandra didn’t bother to convince him of her sister’s unshakeable good nature and moved toward the window he sat before, which incidentally was wide and open to let in the warm summer breeze. As she lent head against the stone sill, she peered out toward the garden pathway. “It’s quite timely you sitting here. There’s something I think we might both want to see that should be passing by soon-ish, then we can get to work.”

“Really now?” Warren asked, “Your sister remarked that you’re rather fickle; it’s no surprise that you’re going to try and taunt me... What’re you hoping to get out of it?” Now that she was closer, he bothered to look at Cassandra directly, however briefly, just long enough to notice how she also looked disturbingly like her mother at nineteen.

Almost taking the bait, Warren peered down towards the garden, having some inkling of what he was about to see, and it honestly terrified him though, of course, it didn’t show on his face.

“I’m not fickle in the least bit,” she said with a laugh. “You hardly know me.”

Attempting to usher him closer to the window with a Cheshire-cat like smirk, Cassandra’s green eyes peered wide down into the garden. “Look! Real. Live. Mortal. He came to court today, and they’re trying to figure out what to do with him. Too dangerous for him to be back out in the world and extremely dangerous for him to stay here. Protected as these Palace walls may be, there’s always the rare bug that slips in. He claims the Davikov were saving him for his blood, but he had only been there a couple of days when we got there. Lucky him!”

In what she said, she revealed that her sister hadn’t divulged the information she’d gleaned off of him during his interview. It made him smirk as he said, “I assure you he wasn’t there because of his blood.”

“Really, what makes you say that?”

“Just take it from someone who knows.”

“What? He doesn’t smell tasty or something?”

“Ask Alice what the Roman wanted him for. I’ve already told her.”

“Yeah, well, she’s being real tight-lipped about what you guys talked about.” Cass folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes as she glanced back at Warren. Her sulkish mannerisms were much like her mother's too. It was endearing but bittersweet that he saw so much of his Fledgeling in her daughters.

In the meantime, Cassandra had turned her eyes back to the garden. “Oh, oh, that’s him,” She whispered, pointing down through the window covertly. “And the woman next to him is Callida Wildshield; she’s one of the Court’s Justices.”

A few steps behind, in a white sundress, with a single yellow flower in her dark down hair, was a woman with deep blue iridescent wings. She looked far too young to be any kind of Queen, but she’d always had something very youthful about her appearance. She was not leading the conversation yet still seemed to be part of it, nodding every so often, meeting the eyes of both Callida and the human fellow. Still, when they weren’t looking at her, she kept glancing toward the male’s neck in an oddly familiar way.

Warren allowed himself to take a large, deep breath, letting his eyes flutter closed. First, he caught Cassandra’s scent. Sure enough, it was a tease to his senses and had she been the only one present, it might have roused him in his chair a little. Unfortunately, his leg wasn’t going to allow him to move, so he continued to breathe and analyse the scene, which his eyes couldn’t reach to see. The musky, almost unclean scent of the mortal man came to him next; it was hardly worth bothering about in the presence of three celestials. The redhead, Callida was the following note that played in the symphony of scents; she was unfamiliar to him but wasn’t of any interest either. Finally, the most familiar to him diffused its way through the air to his nose. The unique smell of her skin radiated in the sun’s heat; like a burning candle, it promised warmth, hominess with an ever addictive sweetness that fired his thirst. Extasy and torture combined. His eyes remained closed as he tilted back his head. At first whiff, his jaw tightened until he relaxed into how soothing it was to the burning sensation of dire his thirst. He allowed his lips to fall open, his fangs bared, as he drew in another breath, so deep and desperate, he unfolded his arms to allow his chest to rise.

“That’s worth coming to this arid wasteland for...” was all he uttered.