Gabriel Caine Post Chapter Two (Patreon)

A/N If you took the route with Gabriel before the Pleasure District, this is the post scene after he leaves you to Belladonna.

The night air did little to cool his skin.  Gabriel had never been one to outwardly show any sort of discomfort.  He was not even the kind of man who allowed his irritation to be in full view. However, this was twice now. Twice that this person, this prisoner, had gotten the better of him.  It made his skin itch in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant, which then made it unpleasant all together.  Though he didn’t show it. He would never show it. Because Gabriel Caine was nothing if not fastidious, and emotions were paltry efforts of sentimental anxiety that accomplished nothing but irrevocable mistakes.

“Warden?”

Turning on his heel, his sword out, he stared at the man before him. The blade leveled as the broad slope of their nose.  The man was clad in crimson velvet.  Gabriel sighed, letting his sword hand drop.  “Lieutenant.” Meyers. From what he remembered. Lieutenant Meyers.”

Lieutenant Meyers was looking at him with a wide set of eyes, his hands still raised in the air, as if he were afraid Gabriel would run him through. A fear that was not all together unfounded, given the slightly unhinged look within the Warden’s grey eyes. “Are you alright, Warden?”

“I am fine.” Gabriel’s voice was flat and monotone as he spoke to the subordinate. “How can I help you?”

“I was just stopping to say hi,” the man said nervously. He ticked his gaze back towards the pink lanterns. “I didn’t know you enjoyed the Pleasure District.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed into silver slits as he looked down the alley, following the man's gaze. The sweet smell of vanilla and brown sugar wafted on the breeze towards them.  “I don’t,” he said.

Lieutenant Meyers looked over his shoulder. Where Gabriel clearly came from. Confusion was clear on his face, especially since Gabriel stood in the mouth of the only alley leading towards the place he apparently had not been. “Oh.  Right. Of course, sir.” he said knowingly.  There was a smile on his lips that said that Gabriel’s secret was safe. But that was the thing. Gabriel didn’t want his secret to be safe. There was no secret to be had. He had simply allowed the day to get the better of him.  The mention of Belladonna. Escorting the prisoner towards her place of work.  The ambrosia.

When he heard Lieutenant Meyers chuckle, he snapped.  His hand flat on the man's chest, he slammed him against the brick wall. The guard's eyes went wide, the laugh he held falling away.  “I am going to make one thing abundantly clear here,” Gabriel said. “I do not inhabit the Pleasure District. I do not go there. Nor have I ever. I was simply escorting someone there for safety purposes.  So if I hear tomorrow that your Warden was seen within those walls, I will know who to come for, will I not?”

Meyer’s nodded his head resolutely, swallowing thickly.  Gabriel could feel the tremble run through him. Good, he thought.

Taking a step back, Gabriel released the man, smoothing a hand down the front of his uniform. “Get your jacket cleaned,” he said, straightening the lapel.  “The Velvet Guard has an image to maintain, and you are certainly a disappointment to that.”

“Yes sir.”

It took no time for the lieutenant to run away. At the sound of his retreating boots, Gabriel stood there, stoic and calm. Above him, the lights swayed, a chilled wind bustling through. A few wanderers edged by him, their heads down as they disappeared through another alley, leaving the Warden standing there. Alone.  Always alone.

There was a pop in his chest as he breathed in the night air.  Hazel’s tonic still sat heavy in his cloak pocket, whispering to him.  He needed to get home and take it. He could feel the control beginning to wane.  But behind him, the faint glittering pink of the lights mocked him, whispering words of comfort to his tired soul.  He wondered what the prisoner would think of her.  Wondered what she would think of them.  He snorted to himself. Knowing Belladonna, she would pump the prisoner of every ounce of information they had before manipulating them into a moment of softness.

All lies.

Blatant lies.

Holstering his sword, Gabriel stared ahead. The green lights that lead towards the docks swung heavy in the distance. Technically, it was still his day off. But there was work to be done.  And in the end, men like him didn’t deserve days off.  Penance didn’t quiet just because a body needed rest.

Alone, Gabriel walked back towards the beach, and towards the solitude of his office.