THE DUNGEONS
Aro reached the door to their private suite. The door, of course, was leaning precariously from its lower hinge. I'm going to kill him! Aro thought. He was so pissed off, he kicked the heavy wood free of its catchment and stood it up against the wall.
"Deal with this later, Aro, it's not important right now." Seeing that Aro was already on his last nerve, Eleazar spoke softly to his brother.
"Oh I will, brother, no doubt about that!" Aro was a little louder than he'd intended and his voice alerted Sulpicia to their presence.
"My love, what has happened?"
"Felix, he just ... he's possessed! What have you done to Demetri?!" Sulpicia's words rushed from her mouth.
Her first concern was their rampaging eldest, but now that Aro had brought their broken Demetri staggering into the room, battered and bruised, her attention turned to him.
"I will deal with Felix later, my queen. Demetri needs tending to first."
He was deflecting, she knew it, but her motherly instinct took over and she helped their boy to his room.
"Alec, fetch Carlisle, he will be with Marcus. Take him to Demetri - he needs cleaning up and his wounds will need wrapping." Aro spoke quickly to his youngest boy, and Alec left just as quickly, partly relieved to escape the tension of the room. Aro watched him go and turned to Jane. Moving close to her, he cupped her delicate face in his strong hands. "Your gift is magnificent but it depletes your resources. You must rest now, yes?"
Jane answered with an exhausted smile and made for her bed chamber, her eyes half closed as she walked.
Eleazar had taken a seat already and Aro flopped down next to him.
"You know you need to talk to Felix, brother."
"I know, El, but I have been through this with him so many times. I don't want them down in those dungeons. I know what Caius does down there, there's limbs flying everywhere, I've seen him flay his victims until their bodies ran out of blood! I don't want them around that. They are too young."
Aro was being genuine, but Eleazar had to make sure of something first. "This isn't because you have changed the order of things around here, is it brother?"
"What? No El, I have never allowed them to go to the dungeons. Or the guard parties for that matter - unless I am there, you know that!"
Eleazar nodded. It was true. Aro had always kept them behind, or attended with them and kept them on a short leash. "So you are going to go with them then, yes?"
Aro didn't commit to an answer.
"Aro, you can't not go! Caius has brought down the largest threat of the century to the stability of this coven, there will be great celebrations and your sons deserve to be there!" Eleazar realized his voice was hitching a little too high and he added quietly, "Aro, these rogue vampires invaded our castle walls, they cost you your sister."
Aro stiffened at that last part, and his heart ached. I'm hardly over her loss, I'm not ready to celebrate anything right now. But, Caius will see it as a slight if I don't allow the guards to have their fun to commemorate their achievements ... and it would be noted if I didn't make an appearance. I could intervene; host the coven celebration before the guards had chance to arrange their own. But it would have to be such a huge celebration, there will be a feast of course, and as much wine as we can lay our hands on ... Felix and Demetri performed their duties so well, I can't deprive them of attending, can I? They will look weak if they don't attend, but they will look weaker if they attend and have to leave at bed time. Aro chuckled lightly at his last thought. I'm lucky Felix can't read my mind! He thought to himself. Releasing a deep sigh he finally replied to his brother, "You're right, El. Fetch him will you, I'll talk to him."
Eleazar clapped his brother's knee as he stood and went to find his nephew.
"Felix, are you out here? Whoa!" Eleazar called out as he entered the terrace ... and then he saw the wall, or lack thereof.
Felix looked up at his uncle form his seat on the floor, his legs were bent and his hands lay on each knee, blood dripping from the splits in his knuckles. He looked quite pathetic, and they both knew it. Eleazar took a seat on the floor next to the sad looking wretch.
"So, you won?" Eleazar gestured to the debris that was the terrace wall and his light laugh lifted Felix's mood just enough for him to raise a smile.
"Yeah, I beat the wall," he laughed a little, "but Aro's going to beat me, I guess!"
Eleazar nudged the dejected boy with his shoulder, "You should think a little more highly of him you know, he's not an ogre, Felix. He wants to talk with you about attending the celebrations."
"What's to talk about, HE won't let me go! Not properly anyway." Felix sounded every bit the angry teen he truly was.
"Well if you talk to him with that attitude, you will be right! Look Felix, you want him to treat you like a man and, quite simply my boy, men don't act like this." Eleazar wasn't meaning to be cruel, but Felix had to pull himself together before he spoke with Aro.
Felix's temper was rising again, "Since he decided to play happy families, I have been demoted - it isn't fair!" God, I sound whiny, I sound like Alec! Felix thought, his anger turning on himself now.
"Felix, have you EVER been allowed in the dungeons when Caius is working?" 'Caius working' was the euphemism they all used to mean Caius was being an evil cunt to captured vampires, and sometimes to the failed guards. "Well! Have you?"
Felix shook his head and spat out a very pissed off "No."
"And I know your attendance at the celebrations has ALWAYS depended on Aro's attendance ... " Eleazar added.
Felix nodded and growled out his "Yes."
"Do you still think you have been demoted? Felix?"
"No! No, I know I haven't but for fuck sake I want to join in with the rest of the guard! I want to finish my job with the vampires I caught, I want to go to the celebrations and get drunk, I want to join in, properly, like all the other guards!" Felix rambled and Eleazar wasn't entirely sure whether the boy was speaking to him, or to himself.
"You should take your complaints to your father, but I suggest you quit whining if you want him to take you seriously." Eleazar stood up and looked down at his nephew. Felix had nodded to reply but didn't move. Reaching down, Eleazar took his nephew by his battered hands and pulled him to his feet. "Go and talk to him." He told him softly.
"What about this ... " Felix gestured to the terrace scattered with misplaced stone rubble from the wall he'd smashed.
"I'll clean it up, we can deal with this later."
"Thanks." Felix replied, shyly.
Eleazar smiled, then smacked him across the back of his head!
"Owww! What was that for?!" Felix asked while rubbing the stinging spot.
"Shoving me and Alec in the throne room" Eleazar replied with a laugh. "Go, now, or you will be cleaning this up yourself!" Felix threw his hands up in mock surrender and left the terrace to face his father.
"Aro?" Felix entered the main room but there was no one there. He could hear Carlisle talking to Sulpicia as they were dressing Demetri's wounds.
"I'm in here, Felix." Aro called from his bed chamber.
Felix steeled himself to face Aro, I will not whine, I am a man, I want to be treated as such! Felix talked himself into being a man! Opening the door, he saw Aro relaxing on his bed, his skin sparkling in the sunlight flooding through the arched windows on the far side of the room.
Aro watched his boy standing nervously in the doorway, he noticed his hands, "What happened to those?" he gestured to Felix's fresh wounds.
Felix wasn't quite ready to tell him about his fight with the wall yet, "Erm, oh, nothing really."
Aro raised a questioning eyebrow but decided not to press him further, yet.
"Come, sit." Aro patted the bed next to him and Felix took his place and lay back into the pillows. He was so tired, and this bed was so comfortable ...
"We need to talk before you sleep, son." Aro could see his boy was ready to drop.
"I'm not tired!" Felix said indignantly, as if offended by the idea. Children slept, adult vampires did not sleep!
Aro chuckled at his boy's ire. "Okay, then. I'll start, I know Caius had to punish you ... you had better explain yourself."
Fuck! Felix thought, fuck fuck fuck! I knew that's what you were asking Caius about! "Antonio and I, you know we don't always see eye to eye. Caius totally overreacted." Felix was desperately trying to underplay the whole situation. "Caius hit me really hard." He tried Demetri's puppy dog trick ... it didn't work.
"Caius did not hit you really hard. I already checked." Aro had read Caius' thoughts as he explained in the throne room what he had done on the mission.
Shit. Felix thought. "Well, it still hurt. And it was in front of everyone." Felix crossed his arms and looked like a sulking five year old.
Aro got up from the bed and started unbuttoning the cuffs to his shirt. As he rolled up his sleeves, Felix started to panic.
"What are you doing that for?" he asked his father nervously.
"I believe I told you before you left that if Caius was forced to discipline you I would be doing the same when you arrived home. I may be old but my memory is pretty perfect, son."
Felix freaked! "You don't have to do that! You don't have to though. I learned my lesson, I was good, I did well. It was just one time ... Aro, please!"
Aro ignored the protestations and moved around to his son's side of the bed. "Stand up."
Felix didn't move.
"NOW!" Aro demanded.
"Please Aro!" Felix still didn't comply, choosing to press himself further into the bed instead.
Releasing an annoyed sigh, Aro reached down and dragged his boy to his feet. Putting his left foot up on the bed he dragged his son over his knee. Felix hung precariously but dare not struggle. This is exactly what Caius had done to me and Antonio ... you really had read Caius' mind, Felix thought as the onslaught began. It didn't take long for Felix to start sobbing. His tears were partly frustration, Aro knew that.
"You are damn lucky Caius already punished you, and you had better quit this battle you have going on with Antonio. I'm thoroughly bored of the whole damn thing! Am I making myself understood?"
Each syllable Aro spoke was punctuated with a rather punishing swot. Felix just about managed to reply through his tears, "I understand, I'm sorry, I promise, please ... "
When Aro finally stopped and set Felix back on his feet, the punished vampire immediately went to rub out the burning sting in his backside. Aro shoved his son back onto the bed. "You can quit that right now! Sit back down - I haven't finished with you yet! That was nothing compared to what I promised you'd get, so think yourself lucky boy!"
Felix looked embarrassed. He was pretty pissed off too. This isn't fair, he thought gloomily.
Walking back around the bed, Aro re-took his place and Felix eventually settled down to lying on his side next to him.
Watching his son, who still seemed annoyed, Aro asked him, "what is going on with you?"
Felix thought how to phrase his argument so it didn't sound like an argument.
Aro surreptitiously laid his hand on Felix's forearm and saw the thoughts his boy was struggling to voice. How do I tell him I'm not some little brat without sounding like a damn whiny brat? I know there's no way he's going to let me in those fucking dungeons when Caius' is working, that's bad enough when every other fucking guard member is down there! What could be so bad about it? I'm not a child. Jane and Alec are children, I am not Jane orAlec!
Aro had listened to his son's rather colourful thoughts and wondered if they really had to have this conversation again!
I am going to those celebrations and I am getting drunk with everyone else damn it and I do not give a fuck what he fucking thinks!
"OH REALLY!" Aro bellowed; he had heard enough.
As Felix wasn't aware Aro was reading his thoughts, hearing them being answered so loudly shocked him so much he nearly jumped off the bed!
Both now sitting bolt upright, Aro was staring Felix down, daring him to continue on his path.
Felix should have apologized, made an excuse, something! But instead, feeling the burning pain in his backside just made him more angry so he stood his ground and decided he was willing to fight this one out! He roared at Aro, "YES, I FUCKING AM!"
CRACK!
Aro slapped Felix so hard across his stupid mouth that a split opened on his cheek. It looked like fractured marble and his lip busted and spurted blood across the bed sheets. Aro jumped off the bed and backed up to the dresser. He tried to soothe himself with completely unnecessary breathing - he hadn't really meant to hit him that hard. Not that he would tell Felix that.
Felix hung his head into his lap and clutched his battered hands to his now battered face.
His hissing was relenting enough for Aro to talk and be heard, "You will never be treated as an adult Felix, here or anywhere else, you know why?" Aro didn't wait for an answer, "because you are a child! You may be a very large child, but you were changed at 16, you are 16, you will ALWAYS be 16. I will not keep explaining this to you - we have been going through this for 800 years!"
Felix was looking at him now. He couldn't think of an argument to that, he just stared Aro down with a filthy look.
"You would do well to show me some respect - wipe that look off your face!"
Felix simply narrowed his eyes, "What look?!" he spat.
"You really are begging for it, Felix. I'm not playing with you, if you need to me to take you down a notch or two I will, just keep up this attitude!"
Felix nervously swallowed his pride. Aro sounded dangerously serious ... he always sounds like Basileus when he's giving a round of fucks, Felix shuddered at his thoughts ... no, a round of fucks from Basileus is on another level!
"I'm sorry, sir."
Aro crossed his arms across his broad chest and watched his son. He looked a state - still wearing his torn up clothes from the mission with mysteriously bloodied knuckles and now a busted face! Aro thought about how he was going to get through to Felix without completely taking his pride or exposing his vulnerabilities to the rest of the Volturi.
"Felix, we will all be going to the celebrations, we always do, but if you stayed until the end the guard would see you tiring when they do not. You may be one the largest and strongest of them, but if they saw you as you really are you may lose their respect - that would put you in a dangerous position. You must see sense on this son."
Aro was trying to speak gently to his son, he knew Felix was struggling with this, and the centuries that passed only seemed to make it worse.
"But they know how old I am, that doesn't make any sense! They see Jane and Alec wandering the halls - no one has ever dared attack them and they ARE children!" Felix still didn't get it.
"The guard don't hurt Jane or Alec because they respect them, Felix, they fear their gifts."
Felix had his rebuttal ready, "Well, Demetri then, he's clearly a 14 year old vampire and no one threatens him!"
"I won't allow Demetri in the dungeons with Caius or to get drunk at the celebrations either! And I never have! For much the same reasons as I won't allow you - I don't want the guard to see your weaknesses because I don't want to risk your position and safety!" Aro was feeling exasperated now, but Felix's anger was raging again.
"But all the guard get drunk! You too! Why would I look any weaker than you? And how the fuck does my age make any difference in regards to working in the dungeons with Caius!"
"Rrrahhhhh!" Aro roared in frustration.
Felix reacted by ducking down submissively.
"Fine! Come with me then!" With that, Aro stalked out of the room with Felix quickly following. Aro didn't speak again until they reached the head of the stairwell down to the dungeons. Anguished screams filled the tensioned air between father and son. Aro looked at Felix, he looked so nervous. "Can you hear that?"
Felix nodded and carefully looked down the dark stairs as though he expected something to come rushing up them to attack. He had been in the dungeons many times before, but never during business hours.
The dungeons of Volterra were mainly used to house the newborn guards in their 'feisty' stage, but they served a higher purpose as Caius' torture rooms when required.
"Are you sure you want to go down there?" Aro asked his son, snapping Felix back to reality.
There was no way he was backing out now. What the hell can be so bad? I've killed plenty of vampires and humans. Aro's stressing over nothing ... and going down there will prove it to him once and for all that he doesn't need to protect me from anything!
"I'm sure." Felix wanted to show Aro he was a man, but his nerves betrayed him in the sound of his voice.
Aro started to question himself again but this boy was so damn bull headed. No, if he wants to see what goes on down there then who am I to stop him. At least he will stop whining about being excluded. Damn fool.
"Then put your public face on and go ahead." Aro gestured towards the stairs.
Felix swallowed the venom pooling in his mouth, set his shoulders back, and stood tall. He started his way down the dimly lit stairwell.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs and entering the dungeon rooms, Felix wasn't sure where to head. Screams were coming from every area and he couldn't work out where to go. Aro walked past him, knowing where Caius would be. Felix followed closely. Reaching the end of the corridor, they had passed all the rooms of the dungeons. Felix thought the old man was losing his mind as he stood pointing at the panel wall.
"Go ahead."
Aro pushed on the panel and revealed an entry Felix never knew existed. He was hit with a wall of noise, the screams they'd heard as they passed the other rooms were nothing on this. It was like entering into the depths of hell itself.
Felix had only made it a few steps in when he was splattered with something wet and cold. He wiped the liquid from his face and held his fingers up to his nose - vampire blood! He spun around, trying to work out what he was seeing, feeling like his senses were being assaulted. It was so hot! And the smell of burning flesh made him retch. His eyes were struggling to make out what was going on, the only light in the room came from the fire in the centre. A huge grill lay over the top of the fire and a screaming, thrashing vampire was chained on top of that. He was slowly cooking! Aro came up in front of him, Felix could see his lips moving but the screaming, the shouting, the begging, it was too loud. He couldn't hear Aro's words.
Aro left his son and moved around the room stuffing rags into the mouths of the screaming vampires. The screams where still audible, but muffled now. Felix tried to get his bearings.
"Felix! Good to have you here, boy." Caius approached the stunned youth with a beaming smile and dripping with venomous vampire blood.
It occurred to Felix that he had never seen Caius so happy, so animated! Evil Cunt, he thought.
"Caius, have we learned anything?" Aro asked his coven mate.
"Caius has a way to make his subjects tell him things they didn't even know to begin with." He commented to Felix before spinning around to face his approaching fellow master.
Caius spun around to face his approaching fellow master, "I have much to tell you!" He began to tell Aro the information he had extracted from the rogue leaders his successful mission had brought back.
As they walked away from Felix to discuss matters, Aro called over his shoulder.
"Felix, take a good look around, but watch your step!"
Felix nodded dumbly and looked to where Aro had gestured with his hand - that's when he noticed the collection of limbs scattered around the floor. They were mainly arms from what he could tell, some were still twitching. Refusing to allow any response to show on his face in case Aro was looking, Felix turned away and scanned the room, working out where to start.
There looked to be 10 rogue vampires including the one on the grill. Felix knew they had returned with 15, three were dispatched in the throne room by Aro, so there were two missing. Vampires were chained to the walls in various states of duress. Felix went back to the stair way and took a torch from the wall, he then made his way over to the first vampire. Swallowing hard he held the torch up to see the state of the rogue. He was naked; looking back around at the other vampires chained up it appeared they all were. The clamp around this one's neck looked too tight, like it didn't really fit. It looked painful, but the vampire looked otherwise unscathed - except for his missing arms of course.
Moving onto the next chain, he held up the torch again. Before he stop could himself, Felix threw up his last feed on the floor! Aro looked over from his conversation with Caius but didn't comment, though Caius laughed at his expulsion. Felix looked back up at the half dead vampire hanging from her neck on her chain ... yes her ... this was one of the two female leaders they had brought back. Looking at her face, what was left of it, Felix thought this one was Katherine. She had an eye missing, well not missing, it was still attached, but it was sitting outside of the eye socket and hanging loosely on her cheek. Her hair that had looked so thick and silky when they ambushed the coven now hung limply and large sections had been ripped from the scalp.
Felix brought the torch down lower and faced what had turned his stomach. Katherine's breasts had chunks missing. It looked like they had been bitten, some parts looked chewed! Her nipples had been taken clean off. How is she still alive? Felix asked himself, thinking he would definitely rather be dead.
Caius noticed Felix examining the near corpse and called out from across the room. "I have no use for a woman's body after they are dead, Felix. Too many curves. They make for terrible parchment."
Felix looked back in disgust as Caius' words made sense to him. You make parchment out of your kills? That's where our manuscripts come from? No, Aro would never allow that, no way.
It was clear to Aro what his son was thinking and he felt a flash of shame pass his face before he looked away, confirming to Felix that not only did Aro know, but he obviously sanctioned the practice too.
Moving on to the next vampire, Felix approached the other woman, Anne. She was far more animated, she was pulling at her neck chain with her left hand, the right one was missing, the whole right arm actually. Anne pleaded with Felix with her eyes to help her. He moved closer to her, almost mesmerized by her eyes.
"Don't get too close!" Aro called over. Felix snapped out of it and stepped back as Anne started lashing out with her feet, kicking her legs out at him while hanging by her neck on the chain. Her legs were dripping with venom and deep gouges ran the full length of her thighs. With hate filled eyes Anne spat a huge globule of bloodied venom at Felix, it landing deftly on his shoulder and splattering to his jaw. Felix was nearly sick again as he wiped it away.
He skipped the next three, they looked dead. Venom pooled beneath them and ran into the channels between the flagstones in the floor.
He skipped the next three, they looked to be dead already. Venom and blood pooled beneath them and ran into the channels between the flagstones in the floor. Following the channel, Felix came across a metal grate where other channels met from around the dungeon hidey-hellhole. The varying flows of vampire liquids were being collected into a vat beneath the grate.
"What is that for?" Felix asked nervously.
Caius looked to Aro, waiting to see if he would answer the lad. When Aro realised Caius would answer if he didn't he came up with an explanation. "Vampire blood is like printing our own money, Felix. We collect it, sell it to passing vampires. It's like a drug to us. I am sure you know that."
Caius mouthed 'what the fuck' to Aro with an incredulous expression. Aro caught his brother-in-arms look and simply waved away his questioning eye whilst prompting Felix to explore further.
Sell it? Since when have we sold it? Caius thought. He could see that Aro was uncomfortable with Felix knowing the finer details of his old recreational habit's. Old habit's! Caius scoffed at his thoughts, it hasn't been that long since we were enjoying this side of the job together!
"Show him the dead-heads." Caius suggested, nudging his co-master.
Aro's chest heaved and his eyes closed. Fuck, I hadn't thought about the heads. Fuck! Felix wasn't sure he wanted to know about 'dead-heads', whatever they were. Seeing that Aro hadn't made to move, Caius flashed to the back of the room and called Felix to him where he stood in front of a huge wooden cabinet.
"Open the doors." Caius instructed gleefully.
Felix obeyed with apprehension. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes when he threw the heavy doors aloft. Shelf upon shelf of heads. there must have been at least one hundred, maybe more. Rotting, deformed and reeking of death. All groaning, eyes flickering, a vision of the depths of hell if ever there was one.
"Why?" Felix asked, horrified by the depravity of the coven leader.
"They wanted to live forever, so we made sure they did." Caius told the repulsed youth as he gestured to Aro.
Felix spun on his heel to face his father. "You?" He questioned, wondering just how well he actually knew the man.
Aro shrugged and looked away again, wishing he'd stuck with keeping his children out of the dungeon hell hole.
"Well yes it was Aro's mastermind to be fair. The trick is in leaving the spinal column intact you see." Caius told the unwilling protégé as he pointed out the trail of vertebrae attached to each of the moaning heads. "It took quite some experimentation to work that one out."
Felix retched involuntarily again. He had nothing left to bring up but venom still pooled in his mouth as though he was ready to spew his guts.
"They can't die?" he asked, examining from afar the varying states of decay the heads were suffering from.
"Not until they have served out their sentence, no. This is vampire prison, Felix." Aro told his son as he approached. He placed a hand on the closest skull, which also happened to be the most rotted and listened for a moment.
"Can you still hear their thoughts?" Felix asked in horror. "they are still conscious?"
Caius laughed at the boy's clear revulsion whilst Aro offered a coy smile. That will be a yes then! Felix thought as he backed away from the cabinet.
"Finish your exploration Felix, I have places to be." Aro ordered as he closed the doors to the 'prison'.
Felix stumbled towards the 6th vampire along the wall, tripping on a discarded limb before righting himself. He wasn't sure what he was looking at. The vampire was blood red ... how can a vampire be red? He stood statue still with the odd jerk. Howls of pain could be heard, though Aro had stuffed a rag deep into the vampire's throat. Felix couldn't work out what was covering his body, he looked odd.
"Caius, what's all over him?" Felix gestured to the chained rogue.
"Nothing!" came Caius' reply, he looked at Aro and they both laughed. Felix didn't understand.
"Take a closer look, son," Aro called back.
Felix moved in closer and held the torch above his head. What is that? Oh my fucking god! He has no skin! Felix threw up again, and after he threw up he tried to throw up again but there was nothing left so he kept retching. He felt dizzy, his head whirled. Stumbling backwards, he crashed into the grate suspended above the fire. The cooking vampire reached out to Felix and grabbed the back of his top.
"Help me!" the vampire managed to strangle out of his hoarse voice.
Felix panicked! He pushed away off the grate with a little more force than he'd intended. The grate broke free of the suspension chains and grate and vampire dropped into the fire. The pleading vampire set alight before Felix could do anything.
"Fuck! Fuck! Help him!" Felix called over to Aro and Caius who stood watching him, amused! "Why the fuck aren't you doing anything!" Felix felt frantic and confused.
"What the hell do you think goes on down here, Felix?" Caius asked him, laughing. Gesturing to the now crisp vampire, "you saved me some work! Perhaps I could borrow him, Aro? I could do with an apprentice."
Aro looked at Felix, something telling him his son wouldn't want to be in this room again.
"Let's start him off now, Caius. Show him how to flay."
Felix looked horrified.
Caius jumped to life and crossed the room to Felix. Draping an arm around the boy's shoulder, he led him over to the flayed vampire that had distressed Felix so much already. "You see, boy, it's quite a skill to learn ... "
"No, no, no, fuck. No." Felix pulled out of Caius' hold and moved back to Aro.
Aro stood waiting for him, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.
"You don't want to learn?"
Felix, wide eyed, shook his head.
"Are you going to keep whining about being allowed down here?"
Felix looked to the floor, no, he wasn't going to ask again – EVER!
Caius walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. "If you aren't helping, you should be leaving."
Aro watched his sickly looking son, "I should take him back to my quarters before he loses anymore of his stomach!"
Caius laughed at the weak willed lad. "Give him some vampire blood, that will toughen him up." He offered, "though we never usually waste it on the guards. Do you want some?" he asked Aro.
Felix hoped his father would say no. Aro shook his head, "maybe next time brother." He replied, much to Felix' relief.
Aro and Caius exchanged a few parting words, mainly about the upcoming party Aro was planning, but Felix wasn't listening now. His head whirled. He saw Aro make for the doorway and wondered if he'd called him already. He followed quickly and before his foot hit the first step to the dungeon stairwell, Felix heard the screams begin again - Caius must have un-muffled the vampire. EVIL CUNT! Felix's thoughts screamed at him.
When Felix reached the top step he just stood there, looking back down the stair well, unsure of what he had just witnessed. Aro shook him roughly. He looked at Aro, bewildered.
"Are you listening to me?" Aro asked him.
"Huh?" That was as much as Felix could manage right now.
Aro scraped a hand down his face and with the other he pushed Felix into the wall. "I asked if you were okay?"
Felix nodded, but he looked dejected.
"Felix, I just ... "
Aro didn't finish his sentence, Felix cut him off. "Dad, I'm sorry."
Aro stood back, it was his turn to be shocked now. Felix had never called him that before - no one had ever called him that before! Getting over his shock he reached out and pulled Felix in close, wrapping his arms around his son he leaned into his ear.
"Let's go home."