Chapter Twenty-One

In Her Eden

In the naivety of the dawn, Alice had planned for her day to be a peaceful one. She recalled the moment she’d woken, content, refreshed by the sea breeze blowing in through her window and comforted by the warmth of her cotton bedclothes. Her shower soothed her skin and washed the residue of her dreams from her eyes. Breakfast had been fruit tea and her daily dose of medication.

She consumed a couple of chapters of her current read while sitting by the fountain in the Palace courtyard until it was time to attend her bi-monthly appointment with Gretchen.

By noon, her plans for tranquillity had been scuppered. Having spent time with her mother and Warren, the influence of their rekindled romance had put her in a mood. After sneaking a slice of chocolate cake to herself in the Palace kitchen, she’d gone in search of something to sate her other appetite.

In the Solaris’ training arena was where she had found Samir. He hadn’t taken much coaxing, and had followed her back to her room, already oozing with sexual enthusiasm – so much enthusiasm, in fact, that the act didn’t actually last long – still, at least she’d gotten it out of her system, even if it hadn’t been very fulfilling in any other regard.

He kissed her briefly, lovingly, before he left. Now, all that remained in the wake of their passionate union was his scent which lingered on her bedclothes. Coiling the sheets around her naked body Alice steadied herself now that the storm of Samir’s aura had departed her bedroom.

Reaching for one of the many books stacked on her nightstand, she opened one particular novel to its marked page and stared hard at the first word on the page. This was a tactic she regularly used to cleanse her headspace of anything unpleasant or triggering that her empathy had caused her to harbour. The word read, calm. She repeated the word in her mind until, at last, she felt it take over her being, and she became calm.

The next word read, ocean. Alice stood from her bed, taking the sheets with her to stand on her balcony, where she set her eyes on the new object of her thoughts. The Enochian coastal waters glistened beautifully in the afternoon sunlight. Turning her face towards the warm rays, Alice closed her eyes and listened to the soothing sound of the crashing waves. She smirked inwardly, finding poetic irony in her train of thought. She sometimes felt like the ocean - deep and undiscovered.

Storm Samir thrashed her psyche until her mind was clogged with seafoam. Now, she opened her eyes and focused on the white froth that gathered at the foot of the cliffs and spread out over the cove's stretch of sand.

Trying to piece together the rest of the metaphor slowly taking shape within her fertile and hopelessly romantic mind, Alice couldn’t settle on whether she needed someone like a cliff or the sand; neither seemed to fit. Sure, someone steadfast to cling to spoke of dependability, but she didn’t want someone immovable. Somone like the beach who would ebb with her was perhaps better, but someone who was everchanging also didn’t seem ideal.

Her answer hit her in the face, quite literally. A gust pushed back the hair from her face: a sea breeze. Someone refreshing, calming, fluid and easy to be around. She supposed that she had prayed to find someone like that subconsciously. When the scent of sea salt filled her nose, and she was certain of her metaphorical soulmate now, he’d be worth his salt.

In reality, Alessandra wouldn’t chase the dream of a perfect partner. Perfect as her imaginary man might’ve been, that was all he would ever be, imaginary. As inclined as she was toward the romantic, Alice was also too logical to disrupt her career and political life to go on a crusade to find true love. Though she wouldn’t let the Court choose a husband for her because her esteem wouldn’t allow it, in the light of day, she wasn’t convinced there were many viable options other than Samir. In reflection, she was fortunate to have someone such as him within her reach. Mainly because he adored her despite her wavering certainty, and he was just what her city required of its future king.

Her mother had taken her father as her husband in an attempt to fashion a new life for herself, but Alice would take Samir when the time came out of selflessness and a sense of duty to Enoch.

The time between now and the fateful day that Samir would propose was shortening.

Alice’s anxiety regarding her marital future was being held at bay by the newfound calmness the sea granted to her.

Contented and redressed, she’d taken herself on a walk about the Palace and inevitably ended up in her peaceful spot – Star Fall Temple, down in the Old Enoch catacombs.

Upon her arrival, she’d felt another energy signature down there, but she’d skirted around the perimeter of the underground town to remain undisturbed by it.

Their afternoon of exploration had taken them back into the Palace. Deep within the sandstone and marble façade, Karou and Warren had secreted themselves away in the catacombs. Unbeknown to them, their path had converged with Alessandra’s for the second time that day.

“Okay, so I know you’ve been down here before, but we got distracted that time, so I didn’t get to show you around properly, which means this time around I can play, tour guide,” Karou announced and cleared her throat for effect as they moved further down the road, from outskirts and deeper into the centre of the town. “Supposedly, this is the original Enoch, the one founded all those thousands of years ago by the descendants of Cain. Y’know, “those forced to wander the desert”, that old story.”

“Yes, I’m familiar with the biblical tale,”

Karou’s explanation continued while Warren’s eyes wandered from building to building. Every now and then, he'd ask what something was or where that or this street led to - his questions punctuated the spaces between the comfortable silences.

“I come down here to think,” she said. “There's just something about being down here that's calming. Oh, here,” Karou announced enthusiastically and pulled him off their beat and track and onto a street leading away from the town centre. The houses there were the most lavish of the underground dwelling, and she thought that Warren would appreciate their impressive architecture. “Come look here,”

Warren strolled beside her leisurely, following her loyally wherever she led, hand in hand and away from prying eyes. He’d relaxed considerably now that they were alone. Now, he paused in his tracks as they turned the corner and onto a street named HILLSIDE.

“Isn’t it cool that a place like this has continued to exist so well preserved?” Karou marvelled at the row of some dozen mansions which lined the cobbled roadway. She’d let go of his hand to wander while staring upward at the tall sandstone edifices.

“Yes,” Was all Warren replied. He joined her in her awe-stricken reaction completely and also stared upward.

Passing a sandstone wall, Warren paused to double-take what he’d seen out of the corner of his eye. He took a short detour away from Karou and headed toward one house in particular. Before its gates, he peered through to the front yard and entryway beyond. Warren wasn't often so pleasantly surprised, but what he saw through those gates left him wide-eyed, somewhat speechless, and grinning with childlike excitement.

I like it here.

Turning from the gates, he saw they were standing on top of an underground hill that looked down into the middle of what was likely once a busy town. The view was spectacular - a desolate urbanscape built of faded and aged sandstone, hidden beneath the overground city and cloaked in an eternal nighttime atmosphere.

“It's perfect down here.”

The semi-ariel view of Old Enoch always evoked Karou's feelings of awe. Now she stood surveying the view with Warren, with her hands on her hips. She smiled, impressed, even though she had seen it many times before. So much history had happened down here, and nobody had even known about it for so long. Even people who lived in present-day Enoch had no idea that all this was just under their feet. “Uh-huh. I knew you’d like it once you got to really see it, y’know?” Karou replied with a Cheshire cat grin.

“Mhm, this view is awesome, but I bet you'd be able to see more from that veranda.” Warren turned back towards the gates and peered up at the balcony extending out the left side of the white-washed house he’d fancied. Suddenly, somehow, Warren squeezed himself through a gap in the gate's iron bars with a cunning grin and trespassed into the property's front yard.

Silently, Warren made his way to the front door. Opening it up, it creaked, causing Warren to inspect the rusted hinges. Suspecting that the original owners weren't coming back anytime soon, they took the liberty of taking a peek inside the surprisingly mummified and pristine interior. It was mostly bare save for the odd broken piece of furniture.

Wandering into the house, Warren looked down to his feet as he wandered a few steps further inside. He soon realised he’d set foot onto tile, and in searching beneath the dust he found a stunning terracotta, teal, gold and cream mosaic ran the hallway floor and opened up onto a cream-coloured marble staircase.

Karou stepped through an archway in the wall to Warren’s right and inspected the bare hardwood floors that spread the main living area. Another tiled area to one end of that stretch of space was what they presumed would have been the house's kitchen. The whitewash walls of the interior had yellowed a little with age, but it was nothing a fresh lick of paint couldn’t fix. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, but there was potential, a mass of it. Modernisation was vital, but all in all, the bare bones still seemed very attractive

Meandering upstairs via the winding marble staircase he’d spotted earlier, Warren waited for Karou on the landing. So far, though, he’d seen potential in the villa; he wasn't completely satisfied until he’d scoped out a room suitable for his bedroom. In the largest of the house's bedrooms and home to the balcony he’d admired from the street, he found such a room as he desired.

Now he stood, leaning his elbows onto the balcony bannister, carved in bulbous sandstone columns, with a grin spread over his face. “Getting any ideas where I am going with this, Karou?” He asked and glanced at Karou over his shoulder with a cunning grin.

Karou had peeked around with him, and when he came to lean against the bannister, she stood by his side. “Are you house hunting in my secret hiding place?” she questioned curiously. Though she didn’t really need him to answer, the look of wonder on his face as he'd scanned over the house had said it all. “Because if you are, this one is one of my favourites.”

“I am, but only if you’re certain you want me to stay,” Warren admitted.

“Warren, you promised you wouldn’t let us part ways again, so of course, I want you to stay!” She whined.

“Good, because it really is perfect; it would be a shame to leave such a place.” He nodded, and that was all he said, always a man of few words. The picturesque setting. Space. The mix of vintage and modern. A place forever shrouded in semi-darkness. A desolate, peaceful, and quiet lair set within a maze to get lost within. A place of his own. A place to retire to, near enough to the actual liveliness of the city above but most of all, a secret - the favourite on his list. Somewhere he could hide for only Karou and her kin to find him. “Yes, this is perfect.” He confirmed, pleased with the thought of living out the rest of his life in this underground paradise.

Karou smiled, seeing how pleased he was with the villa. “Well then,” she began before pushing herself up to sit on the stone balcony rail. “It's all yours! You certainly won't have to worry about any annoying neighbours, although Alice has always talked about re-furbishing one of the other houses near the Temple.”

A few moments of comfortable silence passed before Karou continued, “You’re sure you won’t get lonely living down here, though, right? It can be a little hard getting back to the surface sometimes, having to sneak through the dungeons all the time.” She paused, thought a moment, and smiled. “There are lots of other places to choose from other than here, in Enoch proper, I mean. I don’t want you to feel like you’ve got to hide.”

He shot her a look as though he couldn't believe she'd even mentioned it. It wasn't something likely to affect him due to his character. “Have you ever known me to get lonely?”

“No, I guess you’re right. Besides, the girls are always down here, so you won’t be alone alone. They like to get away from the hustle and bustle as much as I do, especially Alice. Since it's so far away from others, it's a place where she can be alone with her thoughts and emotions, rather than sharing space in her head with everyone else she might be around. Don't worry, though, like I said, she's got her own little house near the Temple and likes to keep to herself. I'll come to visit you every day too, probably…”

Turning to rest his lower back against the bannister, Warren smirked and ran the back of his fingers over the bare skin of her upper arm. “Your daughters are welcome to come and go as they please, but on your visits, I may not let you leave, probably.” His eyes found hers when he addressed her directly; his sultry intention was clear to see within the dark pools of his iris.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mr Howard, you’d probably have to force me to leave.” Karou giggled. Now she was sure she liked the idea of having Warren near enough, where she could see him as much as she liked. So long as Warren was here, her mind would continue to wander astray so that he was always in the peripherals of her thoughts, but if he stayed down here, then it wouldn't be so hard to focus when she needed to and think of him when it was appropriate. Having that divide between her work and her personal life was ideal; it was what she needed.

“I won’t be making you leave. I’ve made the mistake of letting you go before, remember?” Warren moved and stood between Karou’s knees while she perched on the bannister, his hands beside her hips.

Sweetly, they kissed and marked their new beginning. Inevitably it ended, though, with Warren not wanting to delve too deep too soon.

Ten minutes or so later, Warren wandered back down the street called HILLSIDE alone. Cambria had called Karou away - this was something he’d just have to get used to because Karou was a very busy woman and in high demand these days. Fortunately, he was content to explore alone and quietly traversed the maze-like streets and alleyways while getting accustomed to his newly adopted neighbourhood.

It wasn’t long before Warren was nearing the end of the road he was following. Looking upward, Warren took note of his position in correlation to the dome-like ceiling of the catacombs; he was getting nearer the centre.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as if to let him know that someone was watching him. Instinctively, his nose twitched as he sniffed the air. The scent was impossible to confuse, and its strength gave away the position of his onlooker.

Turning his eyes upward, he met the two silvery eyes that were watching him. He smiled. It was Alessandra. She was standing, peering through one of the archways of a hexagonal minaret that towered above the surrounding buildings and the Temple. It sat at the end of the road, framed by the urbanscape and was a stunning focal point, built out of shimmering white marble.

“Hello.” He called up to her. “Are you alone?”

Yes, she nodded.

“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you. I was just exploring.”

Alice smiled silently and inexplicably disappeared out of view. Warren stood there, looking a little lost. She’d never come across as rude before, but just now, she hadn’t spoken one word to him; it seemed uncharacteristic of her.

His confused moment stretched almost to a whole minute before Alice reappeared, walking around the corner and towards him.

“You are,” She began, and Warren smirked, admiring her directness, “But it’s okay.”

“As long as you’re sure, I know what it’s like to cherish undisturbed solitude.”

“It’s challenging to find a balance between comfortable solitude and loneliness,” Alice admitted. “I have to have periods of isolation for the sake of my mental health, but I don’t necessarily like being alone. Being around others staves off madness. I do best with one person at a time, though.”

“Lucky for you, Cambria called your Mom away, so it’s just me.”

“I know. That’s why I came down.” Alice said knowingly and glanced up at the tower from which she’d descended. “Empathically speaking, your energy signature when we’re alone isn’t taxing.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?” Warren chuckled awkwardly.

“Yes,” Alice nodded and turned to take a step in a direction away from him; the way she looked back over the arch of her silver feathered wing indicated that she wasn’t to instigate a walk along. “I get the feeling that you’ve settled on something.”

“Whenever you ‘get a feeling’, aren’t you cheating some because of your empathy?” Warren asked and followed her obligingly.

They ambled side by side up the left-hand side of a crescent-shaped road named THE CHALICE. It was an apt name in that the roadway encircled half of the Temple’s grounds, forming the shape of a cup.

“I’m not sure it’s cheating, but I certainly use all the tools available to me when socialising. You wouldn’t begrudge me a hunch, would you?”

“No, because you’re “hunch” isn’t wrong. It’s just a foreign concept to me to thoroughly understand oneself, never mind have an insight into someone else’s personal feelings.”

“You’re giving me too much credit there; I can’t boast of understanding myself.” Alice giggled; it was a pleasing, musical flutter of a sound. “But I was right about you having settled?”

“Yes. Your Mom’s convinced me that I should stay.”

Whenever Warren talked of beloved his fledgeling, the feeling she got from him was enough to make her heart flutter. She tried to hide it from the vampire lest he realise how her body was betraying her and instinctively reacting to the overpowering feelings of attraction and love, even if they weren’t organic. So while they walked, she fought to keep her eyes focused on the pavement as a way to ground herself in her own body. She scrunched her toes against her sandals to feel the leather beneath her soles and concentrate on that physical sensation. It was meant to distract her from her palms which had begun to sweat nervously. “You- You never really considered leaving, though, did you?”

“I struggled to imagine how I could once I’d talked to her again.” Warren nodded, agreeing that he hadn’t ever wholly convinced himself that he’d leave Enoch. “When I was only watching her from a distance, it was easier to deceive myself that I could skulk away without having to go through any sort of reunion.”

“It was intuitive of Cass to realise that then. She was certain that you’d stay if we could get to two to meet again.” Alice nodded in appreciation of her sister's instinct yet felt guilty that she had been so reluctant to agree. “I’m sorry if I didn’t seem keen on the idea of you reuniting at first. I suppose I was just frightened, in case things didn’t work out and you left her alone again, but I’m very happy to hear that you are staying,” and then stopped at the dead-end in the road. “Very happy.”

Their walk was over as abruptly as it had begun. Before them, a wall of white sandstone reached eight feet into the air. Within it was an archway, and within that was a gate. Momentarily, Warren wondered if she would lead him through it, but she didn’t show any signs of budging from where she’d stopped just yet.

She continued to chatter away, “It’s easy to see that you make my mother very happy, and seeing as I have a little more insight than most, I can tell you that you certainly make her feel happy, too. In fact, it sort of bothers me, sometimes.” She admitted, looking off to the side, embarrassed.

“What does?”

“Your feelings about her…” Alice confessed and met Warren’s eyes with an honest apology in her gaze. Behind her back, she balled her perspiring palms and swallowed down the lump in her throat.

The implication of Alice having led him to the duskily lit and secluded side entrance of the Temple hadn’t dawned on her; only Warren found it puzzling, and now her statement verged on jealousy too. His eyes widened, “Uh, how so?” he asked cautiously, feeling unsure that he wanted her to answer how he thought she might.

“When you’re together, and they’re combined, it’s a little bit overwhelming.”

“Right,” Warren relaxed now that she’d explained a little better; he felt foolish for having jumped to such a vain conclusion, however briefly. As he stood before her with his hands tucked into her pockets, he sighed, unsure what to say for the best, “Is there any way to make it less taxing for you?”

Alice shook her head, no.

“Isn’t it unpleasant, though?”

“It isn’t unpleasant; I suppose that’s the alarming part.” She half-chuckled anxiously, “It feels wonderful… but…”

On purpose, Alice didn’t reveal her hands and kept them clasped behind her back which made her appear shy, except she hadn’t broken eye contact in what was becoming an uncomfortable length of time for Warren.

For a proud moment, Warren didn’t break away from their stare and tipped his head as if to question why she was looking at him in such a way.

“But, what, Alice?” He asked, using her nickname.

Her eyes let him know that she’d noticed that intimate detail.

By now, he’d picked up on her body language and was more than a little concerned by it. There was tension. It felt like she was about to confess something to him in this quiet, secluded spot.

Alessandra didn’t answer verbally; she just smiled and continued to look at him; the focus of her eyes flickered about his face.

If it had been a competition, she would’ve certainly won because the intrusive nature of her gaze quickly made him shy. He looked away and focused on the Temple instead as he cleared his throat.

“It makes me miss being in love.” There, finally, she said it.

“So you’ve been in love before?”

“No. I suppose that’s what’s so strange about it all.”

The tension Warren had felt, he’d misinterpreted what kind it was, but now he understood. Alice’s helplessness in the wake of pining after love was a feeling that Warren knew well, and he watched how the tension that came with that emotion released itself from the nephilim via the tears that trickled down her cheeks. She wasn’t necessarily weeping, but a tear or two had strayed the confines of her eyes.

“How you two feel about each other, I want that. It makes me sad how desperately I want it. I pray for it. I pray for love to find me so I can feel like you do for myself.”

“That shouldn’t make you sad, Alessandra. Embrace the thrill of the hunt, but you mustn’t let go when you find whatever it is you’re looking for. I’m telling you that as someone who didn’t know what he had until it was too late, and I’d already let it leave. I regret that. So, no matter what, take it in both hands and hold on to it once you’ve found it because you already know how wonderful it feels.”

Warren smiled, hoping that his words had comforted her, and Alice smiled back, feeling as comforted as Warren had desired.

“Thank you.” She said and now turned toward the gate behind her. “I’ll let you get back to your exploring now.” She moved beyond, to the other side, without inviting him along with her.

Warren was left alone and with no choice but to respect Alice’s silent request for some alone time. He nodded to bid her goodbye and headed back the way they’d come and onward to wherever his feet would take him.