Chapter Twelve

Plan of action

Dawn set the day’s business into motion. The penetrating rays of a bright morning sun filled the cloudless sky over Enoch and stirred the Palace residents into wakefulness. Just minutes after sunrise, Karou had been woken from her sleep by a dull ache in her wings that came from resting them in one spot for too long. Quietly as she could, she’d slipped out of bed.

Unphased by the daylight that teemed in through the window, Warren lay sprawled over the couch. His forearm hung over his forehead to shield his eyes from the sunbeams cast over his body. A blanket covered his legs and waist, but beneath, he'd dressed down to his underwear. He still hadn't adjusted to the warmer climate, so the only way to become comfortable enough to sleep was to strip off. A tidy pile of folded clothes sat on the armchair that accompanied the couches in the makeshift lounge of Karou’s bedroom.

Once they’d returned from their nighttime excursion, it had taken them a while to drop off to sleep. Karou was restless because Warren insisted on sleeping on the couch while she tossed and turned in her bedsheets, wishing he'd fill the void next to her. He wouldn't relent and couldn't sleep either until she'd settled. Warren wasn't long behind her when she’d finally worn herself out with fidgeting and slipped into slumber.

Now, wide awake again, she stood watching him sleep.

Warren was always well presented if he could help it. He strived to appear put together and with purpose, and because he didn't often move about too much in his sleep, he woke up looking near immaculate.

That morning though, his limbs hung haphazardly over a couch that was frankly too small for his six-foot-long body. Naturally, Warren’s hair had been rearranged by the scatter cushions he had collected as a pillow, and as a result, he appeared quite unkempt. It was hard for Karou to stifle her laughter at the sight of him.

Daringly, she combed her fingers through his limp bangs and shifted them away from his forehead lovingly; he didn't flinch. Even when she ventured a gentle kiss, he didn't wrinkle his forehead in response; he was in such a deep sleep. He must have really needed it, she thought. She couldn't imagine he'd gotten much quality sleep in a while. If only he'd agreed to sleep in her bed, he could've been much comfier.

Alas, she moved away from the couch and her sleeping Sire and wandered into the bathroom, where she showered. Then, she dressed for the day and slipped outside for some air before breakfast.

Before she'd slinked away, though, she'd taken one last look at her almost naked Sire spread over her couch and grinned girlishly. After their talk the night before, having him back in her life laden his intentions to stay there was pure bliss.

Karou was in high spirits as she wandered down from her lofty chambers that morning. The weather was typical of the season, but sunshine certainly fitted her mood that day. Regardless of the state of things elsewhere, things felt right in the privacy of Karou's mind. While in her own little world, Karou quietly hummed a cheerful tune on her way to the dining room and her breakfast.

As it was a Sunday, she didn't have as much work to do but was still required to be in her office for some meetings - mainly regarding what was to happen to Blue Ash since they’d liberated its people from their dictator and corrupt Coven Elders. Later that afternoon, she had another to attend. The Court would decide what to do with the human boy they'd rescued from Roman's clutches. Although she had the most say in the matter, Karou had no idea what would happen to the boy called Alexis. She had thought of perhaps siring him - he was a nice boy, smart, good-looking, interesting to talk with - but with Warren staying now, she had conflicting emotions on the subject.

After breakfast but before the start of her own work, Alessandra climbed the steps up to her mother’s chambers.

That wasn't the first place she'd gone that morning, though. No, first thing after waking, she'd gone to Warren's guest room only to find it vacant and the bed undisturbed. An uneasy sensation crunched her stomach as she'd quickly come to the conclusion that the next best place to look for him was her mother's room. The reason for his being there was obvious, yet understandably it made her a bit uncomfortable.

With that in mind, all through breakfast, she'd been distracted. The girl who was usually lively at such an early hour was silent in her contemplation. She picked at her pain au chocolat and barely drank any of her tea. She could barely look her mother in the eye over the breakfast table. Yet when Karou had announced her plans to go straight into a meeting with her Court's people, Alessandra came up with a plan.

The evening before, a rather bummed out Cassandra came to her room at some time gone midnight, reeking of sweat and alcohol. Alice had first made her go shower, but once she was done and the sisters sat in tandem atop her bed, Cassandra spilt the tea while Alice braided her hair.

They had both decided it would be best to sit down with Warren rather than their mother to chat about his future in Enoch. The sisters knew Cambria’s secret plan for Warren and knew, for sure, that neither Warren nor their mother was aware of its insidiousness.

But first, they wanted to figure out what exactly had happened the night before!

Alice was annoyed they had left the Palace. In contrast, Cassandra wasn’t bothered about her mother’s antics and argued in favour of her happiness.

But what if they were spotted and recognised? Gods forbid either of them got hurt! - those were Alice’s primary concerns.

“Do you think we can get some wine or something brought up?” Cassandra asked when they came to the last set of stairs. Though the younger sister was nursing an awful hangover, she'd been overly eager to join Alice in hunting down the missing vampire.

“It’s nine in the morning. Don’t you think it’s a little early for drinking?” Alice's response was bristly.

“Maybe? But my head is killing me. The hair of the dog is the best cure.” Cassandra whined and darted up the steps ahead of her sister, excitable even when she felt like death. “D’you think he’s still asleep?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t see how he could possibly be. You know how sunny it gets in her room. But if he is awake and it is no longer here, then I’ll have to recheck his room.” Alice explained, unphased by her little sister’s overly eager behaviour; her hyperactive episodes were old news.

“You’ve already been to his room?” Cassandra pinched one side of her face up curiously.

“Yes, first thing this morning,” Alice admitted, and Cassandra made a face. “Don’t make that face. That’s not weird.”

“I mean, I won’t make it weird, but…” Cass held up her hands as if to back off from the subject.

Alice brushed off whatever her sister was trying to make her of her casual morning visit to Warren’s room. Truth be told, she’d become quite fond of him already. She liked him, but it wasn’t like she like liked him or anything. She didn’t find him that attractive. At least not more attractive than was reasonable, she reasoned to herself. “It’s not weird.” Alice nodded, having convinced herself that she did not have a crush on her mother’s Sire. The Lady did protest too much.

“I’ll feel a bit rude for waking him up if he isn’t already awake, though, but we do have important matters to handle.”

“Uh-huh. I mean, what if they slept in the same bed?” Cassandra winked over her shoulder at Alice.

“Is that important?” Alice asked, trying not to come across as too dismayed; it wasn’t like she hadn’t considered that scenario.

“Uh- Yes.” Duh, why do you think I’m here? Cassandra’s motive behind talking to Warren wasn’t to help him escape his doom should the Court cry for his head. Nope, she wanted the low down on his relationship with her mom, some juicy gossip, if you will.

Paused before the door, Alice gave Cassandra this short lecture. “What our mother chooses to do is her business. She’s an adult, just as are we. We should respect that. She doesn’t go around asking us who we sleep with.”

“Oh, please! She’s well aware of who we spend our time with without us telling her. She just knows these things. It's motherly instinct or something. I don’t know.” Cassandra scoffed, shrugged and wafted her hand, all the nonchalant gestures combined into a fit of movement.

“That, or you just make it incredibly obvious who you’ve been with by the way you can’t stop talking about your victims for days afterwards.” Alice rolled her eyes, quite obviously mocking her sister, before raising her hand to knock on the double doors. When there was no response, Alessandra bit her lip and turned to her sister. “… Maybe we should come back later?”

Cassandra nudged her aside, and contrary to what Alice had just suggested, she pushed the door open. “Oh please, like either of us wants to climb all those stairs again later on.”

The sight of the sleeping vampire on the couch rendered them silent for a second. They’d suspected he might have awoken simply because their mother’s room’s windows were so large that it was almost impossible to sleep late with all the light that poured through them. But there he was, still fast asleep.

While Alice remained silent, Cassandra did the dirty work of creeping up on him, tip-toeing for effect. “Y’know, for a vampire, he’s not so scary when he’s asleep,” she whispered. “Kind of like a puppy, actually.”

Alice clapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing aloud when her sister suddenly popped her head over Warren’s and shouted, “Rise and shine!” at the top of her lungs.

Warren's eyes shot wide open – black, thirsty and angry. Having been jolted out of peaceful slumber, he acted on instinct - instantly lifting his arms above his head to grab onto whatever clothing he could of Cassandra’s. Clenching his long talon-like fingers about the cloth of her shirt, he pulled her closer to his face, his fangs bare, lip reared and ready to bite, as a rolling snarl roared past his teeth. The rest of his body coiled, prepared to leap from the couch at any moment, tackle her and rip her throat asunder. For a split second, any remaining humanity left him, and he became an animal.

“Eeep! I take it back; you're totally terrifying.” Cass spluttered. The guard in training wasn't easily frightened, but her eyes shot open wide at the sight of his sharp fangs. Usually, her reflexes would've kicked in by now, and she would've made a slick move to defeat him, yet surprisingly she'd frozen.

Fortunately for the younger sister, he retreated with a groan as soon as he registered Cassandra’s face. Removing his hands from her, he rubbed them over his face, muttering regrettably, “Oh fuck!”

He feebly patted around for the blanket suffering a small amount of embarrassment; he tugged it up over his bare torso. He was nude, and his reaction had revealed the monstrous creature he kept well hidden behind his businesslike exterior. His eyes remained closed for a short while before he peeked out of his left eye at Alessandra, then at Cassandra as he came around.

“Woo, that’s one grumpy puppy,” Cassandra commented, referring to her earlier comment to her sister. “Good morning, sunshine.”

“Is it a good morning, though?” Warren grumbled. He didn't like surprises and certainly not unexpected, violent wake-up calls.

Alice moved from her spot in the background to sit directly across from Warren on the other couch. Both sisters seemed unphased by the fact that he was hardly dressed, or at least Cass was. Alessandra had noticed his slight embarrassment and was trying not to blush. She blushed easily like her mother.

“How you managed to sleep past sunrise up here, I don't know, but I’m impressed.” Alice smiled, smoothing out the skirt of her dress and demurely crossing her ankles to her side.

Cassandra backed off and flung herself into the seat beside Alice. Utterly opposing her sister’s prim posture, she kicked her feet up onto the coffee table and nodded in agreement. “Uh-huh. Remember when we used to have sleep-overs up here when I was little? Man, those were the days, but it's so bright up here.”

“I hadn't noticed, being asleep and all... What do you want?” Warren grumbled. Clearly, he wasn’t a morning person until a shower had freshened him. Reluctant to entertain company, he lay back down on his stomach and moved his arms under his mass of scatter cushions and hugged them to his face.

“We wanted to chat,” said Cassandra. “y'know about last night?” Winking, she elbowed her sister. Cass had talked Alice into a bet, and what happened highly depended on his answer to this most important matter.

Alice, always polite, spoke up over her sister, “Perhaps we should give him a few minutes.” She lowered her voice, turning her head into Cassandra’s ear. “He’s hardly dressed, Cass.”

“And?” she said out loud, eyeing him but only in a playful, joking manner.

Could it be that her notoriously promiscuous sister hadn’t noticed Warren’s devilish handsomeness? - Alice felt all the more scandalous at that possibility. She shook her head, clearing it of such a thought and cleared her throat to speak, “We can call up for some breakfast if you’d like. I’m sure whatever they’d bring you would be better than what you were getting in that cell.”

Warren lifted his face from the plushie cushion with a heavy sigh and looked firstly at Cassandra. “Maybe I should be asking you about last night...” He tapped his lip, where hers had split and healed. Looking toward Alessandra, he continued, “And thank you, but not right now.”

Throwing back the sheet, Warren flipped onto his back and swiftly stood from the sofa. Sauntering over towards the armchair, he lifted his shirt from the pile of clothes, placed it to one side, and slipped into his pants first. Warren focused back on the sisters as he pulled on his shirt. Oddly, he tucked it but lazily only buttoned about four of the eight or so buttons before sinking back onto the sofa on which he’d slept. “What exactly about last night are you curious about?” His brow rose almost comically.

“You went out,” Alice said, her head tipped to the side. “Rather dangerous for both of you. Especially since you didn’t let either of us know...”

“I knew!” Cass butted in.

“Yes, once they were already outside the Palace walls and high off your face on whatever fae drug you'd taken. But I know what lecturing you gets me, so I’m not even going to try.” Alice folded her arms neatly over the trim bodice of her dress.

Cass shrunk back into her seat, made a face at Alice in spite, and then looked at Warren and rolled her eyes. Alice, as ever, was protective of her little sister.

His eyes flitted between the pair as they had their sisterly squabble; it would've been adorable if his rude awakening hadn't already soured his mood.

“As I was saying, we were just curious about what happened?”

Combing his hair into some state nearer tidy with his fingers, Warren lounged back into the sofa. “Sorry I don’t follow... Curious about which part?” Warren was good at being vague, especially when he didn’t want to reveal things. He found it amusing that they’d even come to ask him; he wanted to get down to the bones of what they actually wanted to know. Depending on if they asked the right questions, they might get the answer they wanted.

Cassandra leaned in to whisper to Alice again, though Warren could clearly hear her, “You’re about to owe me about thirty Shekels...”

Alice shrugged her off again and sighed softly, getting to her point. “The Court doesn’t know that you left the Palace with our mother last night, but they are aware that your presence affects her, as was seen yesterday. Before they can try anything funny, and best believe, they’ll try; I wanted to understand the full circumstances of your reunion, for defence’s sake. Cambria has made it clear that the Court doesn’t want to drop the case against you, even though mother’s already gone down there shouting her head off at them to let it go over breakfast...”

“Honestly, it puzzles me why they’re wasting their time on a case that is going nowhere.” Warren shrugged.

The sisters agreed with him on that.

Cassandra swung her legs off the coffee table and stood. She began pacing behind the sofa, continuing Alice’s point; it seemed that when she tried, she too had a serious mind. “They might be toying with you just to prove to the people still in Blue Ash that they aren’t afraid to punish any vampires that try to hurt celestials. I realise how diabolical that sounds, but there are good intentions behind it.”

“They only want to restore order to Blue Ash, give them a better ruler, and then leave them be, but you wouldn’t believe the resistance we’ve had so far,” Alice added.

“Yeah, it’s like that entire vamperic population wants to cause their own extinction,” Cassandra concluded.

“I don’t care what happens to Blue Ash, but I do know that it isn’t your place to interfere.” Warren was quick to say.

The girls shared a look.

“Some might say your race has a superiority complex worse than anyone of my race; think on that.” Warren had a point. Who decided it was up to Enochian celestials to ‘fix’ Blue Ash? “Besides, Blue Ash doesn’t house even half of the vamperic population either, so even if you were to terminate every vamperic soul in the place, you’d barely scrape the surface. Trust me, I know. Who do you think feeds that population?”

“As you seem to understand, the older members of the Enochian Court don’t understand that,” Alice mumbled. Her doubts had gone unheard, and her mother had gone after Roman Black like a bloodthirsty hound; she had an ardent hatred of the vamperic Lord.

“As for the Courts wish to put me on trial… They’re welcome to, but they’ve got next to nothing on me.” His shoulder rose into a nonchalant shrug.

“We’d prefer to avoid that if we can… Cambria is on the warpath as it is-…”

“I wonder why she hasn’t come to see me personally yet then? She always seemed to like showing up unannounced.”

“You want to stay away from Cambria, trust me…” Cassandra nodded. “And you don’t want to be alone with her if you can help it.”

“Why, are you worried she’d lop my head off?” Warren smirked.

“Yes.” Both girls said in unison. They were serious.

That grounded Warren instantly.

“I think the best route to take is for you to meet with Callida. She gets a God awful complex when among the others, but she can be reasoned with. Having one or both of us there might help, or even our mother too.” Alice nodded, sure of her plan of action.

“Your mom hopes to resolve this quickly because she wants me to stay, so if she agrees with your course of action, then that’s what I’ll do. Agreed?”

“So you want to stay now then?” That prospect piqued a hopefulness in Alice. He’d been adamant about leaving as soon as possible only days ago. She tried to hide her hope behind a friendly smile, but it burst across her face when Warren smiled back at her and nodded.

“For now. We might have an odd relationship, but it’s not one I can so easily turn my back on again.”

“Then we will all do our best to clear your name so that you can stay.” Alice beamed. She didn’t know if she was happier for her mother or herself. Already she was hoping to kindle a friendship with her mother’s Sire. “Do you have any preliminary plans for where you’ll live if everything goes to plan?”

Warren shook his head. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself; he’d barely talked it over with Karou yet.

Cassandra squirmed through her sister’s happy-go-lucky chit chat. As soon as Alice paused to draw breath Cassandra piped up suddenly, “What kind of odd relationship? Huh?”