A heavy silence fell over the room as Cleo came striding in, looking for all the world like she owned the place. Alain and his friends eyed her carefully, none of them making a move as she approached Sable; Sable and Az both tensed, Sable in particular baring her fangs as her sister drew closer. Cleo, for her part, returned Sable's threatening look with a grin, then stopped a few meters away from her and looked around.

  "I must say, for a parliament building, this is certainly underwhelming," Cleo observed. "I was expecting something a bit more ornate than this."

  "Who are you?" Senator Davis, of all people, demanded.

  "Oh, was my intro not obvious enough?" Cleo asked, tilting her head. She turned her attention over to Sable. "Sister, did you not tell them about me?"

  Sable said nothing, instead continuing to eye Cleo with no small amount of sheer hatred in her gaze. Cleo's grin widened.

  "Ah, but you seem to be stunned into silence," Cleo said. "Not that I'm necessarily surprised by such a development; after all, you always were easy to fluster, even when we were both but fledglings…" She shook her head, then turned her attention back to Senator Davis. "But to answer your question, human, Sable is my younger sister – my little sister, rather. Perhaps even my baby sister, if I may be presumptuous."

  "And what are you doing here?" Davis demanded. "These hearings are closed to the public and you have not been summoned."

  "I beg to differ, human," Cleo replied, not losing her grin for a moment. "From where I am standing, you have my dearest sister on trial. Now, admittedly, I know not the particular circumstances of this trial, but what I do know is that trials such as this are not to be taken lightly. I mean, just think of it – my dear sister, possibly on trial for her life!" Cleo let out an exaggerated sigh as she shook her head. "The thought brings me no small amount of anxiety. I simply had to be here to show my support for her. After all, family is more important than anything in this world."

  "Is that what you told Mother and Father when you killed them to take their throne for yourself?" Sable growled, her fangs gritted together.

  Cleo waved her off. "Family is the most important thing in this world. The next world, though? Well, I suppose it would come fourth or fifth on that particular list, and unfortunately that is what Mother and Father couldn't quite understand."

  "What?!"

  "It was a difference of opinion, my dear sister. We simply had a spirited debate between the three of us that got out of hand."

  Sable's eyes narrowed. "A spirited debate? That's what you call murdering your own parents?!"

  "What else would I call it? It was indeed a debate, and it did in reality get spirited. Very spirited, in fact. I would say things started to get out of hand the moment I pried Mother's head off her shoulders, but Father would probably disagree and say that they got spirited far before then, almost certainly when I disemboweled him and spilled his innards over the throne room floor."

  Sable was trembling by this point, her entire body shaking with rage as she forced herself to stop from lashing out at her sister. Cleo realized this, and seemed to absolutely revel in it, if that ever-present smug grin on her face was any indication.

  "Oh, were you not aware of the exact circumstances of their deaths, sister?" Cleo questioned. "Understandable, I suppose – you had been staked and were presumed dead by this point, so you couldn't have known the specifics of it. I can assure you, though, the screams they let out were absolutely exquisite – something about the mixture of the actual physical sensation of extreme pain and the somehow even more painful sting of betrayal made it all sound so sweet..."

  "Enough!" Az shouted, getting everyone's attention. Cleo let out a small giggle as she eyed him.

  "My, you are certainly very protective of her," Cleo noticed. "But then again, what else would be expected of the great Azazel?"

  "I am inclined to agree with him," Senator Davis growled. "This farce has gone on long enough. You are interrupting a Congressional hearing. Leave now or I will have the guards force you out."

  Again, Cleo tilted her head. "Guards?"

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  At that moment, Alain heard the sound of several pairs of boots resounding against the floor. He turned and saw a squad of several guardsmen come sprinting in, armed with long guns tipped with bayonets. They surrounded Cleo, leveling their weapons at her, and all began to shout orders at her in tandem. Cleo, for her part, seemed completely unfazed by the entire thing.

  "My, my, all of this is for me?" she asked. "You shouldn't have, sir, but regardless, it is most appreciated – I was feeling quite a bit hungry, after all…"

  Alain felt a chill go down his spine at her words, and it only grew in intensity as one of the guards reached out to take Cleo by the shoulder.

  "Stop!" Thorne suddenly shouted as the guard placed his hand on Cleo's shoulder, but it was too late – the guard's fingers wrapped around her.

  Of course, it only lasted for a split-second before the guard pulled his hand back, a scream of pain bursting out of his mouth. His rifle fell to the ground, and he held his hand up to look at it; to Alain's surprise, of all things, his hand seemed to have been suddenly and inexplicably afflicted with severe frostbite.

  Cleo, meanwhile, looked around at the other guards, still wearing that same grin. "Would anyone else like to try?" she asked, as the first guard fell to his knees, clutching at his frostbitten hand, small grunts and groans of pain escaping him.

  The guards exchanged a nervous glance with each other, their hands beginning to tremble as they grasped their rifles. After a moment, Cleo shook her head.

  "Ah, but where does the time go?" she wondered aloud. Shaking her head, she turned back towards Sable. "I had fun today, dear sister, but I simply must be going now – I have business to attend to, you see, hence my sudden arrival in town in the first place. But I will be seeing you again shortly, you can count on that."

  With that, Cleo gave Sable an exaggerated wave, then turned and began to walk out of the Senate chambers. Everyone watched her go for a moment before Senator Davis cleared his throat.

  "...I am calling this meeting off for today," he announced. "I think we have all had enough for now." He turned his gaze down to the guard who was still writhing on the floor, a grimace crossing his face. "Someone get that man to a hospital, right away."

  The other guards wasted no time, all of them slinging their rifles and helping their wounded comrade up, then beginning to usher him out of the Senate chambers. The other Congressmen began to file out, but Alain and his friends didn't get a chance to do the same before Senator Davis called out to them all.

  "Just one more question for you all," he said, stopping them in their tracks. "What the hell was that?"

  They all exchanged a glance with each other before Sable turned back towards the Senator, a grim expression on her face.

  "I wish I could tell you, Senator, but truthfully? I have no idea, myself," she admitted.

  XXX

  Alain winced as yet another vase went soaring overhead, impacting against the nearby wall, where it shattered into a thousand tiny shards and left a big dent in the wall itself.

  "Sable-" he began.

  Sable whipped around to face him, her gaze smoldering. Currently, they were all gathered in the lobby of their hotel, several bottles of liquor laid out between them all. Colonel Stone wasn't present this time, having been asked to stay behind by Senator Davis to discuss something, though he'd made sure to station additional guards around the hotel as an extra layer of security.

  Frankly, that particular idea was more than a bit laughable to Alain. Cleo had already proven that she could essentially move with impunity, go wherever she wanted, and do whatever she pleased without fear of reprisal, as she was simply too strong for anyone to give her reason to worry about herself. Alain had no doubts that, if she so desired it, she could absolutely plow through every single guard outside the hotel to get to them.

  And given her earlier promise to Sable, that was a chilling thought. Sable herself seemed to realize that as well; Alain suspected that was at least part of the reason as to why she was currently on a quest to break everything on the hotel's ground floor that looked even remotely valuable.

  In any case, Sable leveled a harsh glare his way, but didn't say anything, instead simply holding his gaze for a few seconds before turning her attention to the next breakable object she'd had Az get for her – this one a fine-looking, ornate dinner plate of some kind. As Alain watched, she picked it up and hurled it at the wall; predictably, the plate shattered the same way the case did. Alain winced at the sight and the sound of it breaking.

  "My lady," Az ventured. "Is this really the best-"

  "No," Sable growled. "It isn't. But if you have a better suggestion for how best to relieve whatever stress I'm feeling right now, I am all ears." Her expression narrowed. "I just had my sister reveal the intimate details of how she murdered my parents, and how much she enjoyed the act of doing so. Forgive me if I feel compelled to blow off a bit of steam the only way I can think of at the moment."

  Az fell silent at that. The others averted their gaze. Alain's brow furrowed as he watched Sable reach for yet another piece of expensive-looking kitchenware, but before she could throw it, he turned towards the others.

  "Can you give us a few minutes."

  They all didn't need any further encouragement. Az, Danielle, and Father Michaelson all left the room, and before long, it was just Alain and Sable standing there. She let out an irritated sigh, then rested one hand on her hip.

  "What is it?" she demanded. "If you're seriously going to try to suggest-"

  That was as far as she got before Alain wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She stiffened in his grasp, and didn't return the hug, but he didn't care. Instead, he stayed rooted to the spot, continuing to embrace her even as she refused to reciprocate.

  "I'm sorry," Alain offered. "My father died when I was young. I know what it's like to lose family, too. I'm not going to try and tell you to stop doing what you're doing. If you've got some steam to blow off of and you think breaking things will help, then I won't try to talk you out of it."

  Sable fidgeted in his grasp. "...Is this the part where you tell me not to worry?"

  "No," he replied. "Actually, this is the part where I tell you… that vase to your right looks like it'd break pretty good."

  He pulled away from her, then to her surprise, he reached past her and took hold of the vase, then offered it to her. Sable eyed it for a moment, then let out a tired sigh.

  "...I just… I'm so tired," she confessed, directing her gaze down to the ground. Her face suddenly contorted in rage. "Why is she here?! I know she didn't come this far just to… to fuck with me…! She's planning something, and getting under my skin is purely incidental to it all."

  "I know," Alain told her.

  Sable let out a frustrated exhale, then looked back at him. "Tell me we'll stop her," she all but begged. "Please, just… tell me we won't have to worry about her anymore after this is over."

  "We'll stop her," Alain promised. "It's what we do, after all."

  Secretly, Alain knew that his words were hollow. At this point in time, both of them knew better than to place their faith in simple words like that. Instead, Sable sidled up to him, leaning her head on his shoulder as she did so, and closed her eyes. Alain, meanwhile, put one arm around her and began to gently rub it up and down her back.

  And although he didn't dare comment on it, he knew from the small, barely-audible noises she was making and the way her body was trembling that she was choking back tears.

  Part of him was tempted to do something to show he understood what she was going through, but he held himself back. Instead, he simply continued to stand there in silence, rubbing her back as she clung to him.