AN: I doubt I will get another chapter up before Christmas, so I want to wish you all a lovely festive period, however you choose (or not!) to celebrate it :)
REVELATIONS
Atia came up behind her husband and curled her arms around his waist. "Why are you being so hard on Carlisle?" she asked.
Turning in her arms and returning the embrace, he smiled sadly. "I need him in line," he said plainly.
"And, is there reason to think he won't be?" Atia pushed. They had only spoken briefly about Carlisle's odd demeanour, having not had much time alone yet to discuss things properly.
"I believe Magnus and Freyr have the answer to that." Basileus said, turning them both to face the rest of their family.
"Maybe this conversation would be better somewhere more private?" Freyr said awkwardly, not relishing the idea of talking over the details of the previous night in front of so many people.
"Not at all." Basileus dismissed as he and Atia took a seat.
Magnus welcomed Freyr into his own seat and took over proceedings. "They drank a lot, far more than any other guards, and refused to stop. They were wrestling on the main floor and managed to get a few other guards involved. Two sofas and a table were broken in the process."
Magnus took a look over to Sulpicia who seemed so sad to be hearing of her son's defiance. Aro, however, looked ready to rage.
Freyr fixed her eyes to the floor as she took over. "I caught the pair of them 'sharing' another guard between the book cases at the back of the hall," she admitted, grimacing at the memory of finding the two ... or rather three ... of them.
"Sharing?" Sulpicia asked, confused.
"Sexually, my lady." Freyr told her quietly.
"One at each end ... " Magnus confirmed.
"Oh!" Sully gasped, feeling ashamed of her eldest child.
"Felix and Carlisle?" Carmen asked, as though it were the combination that made no sense.
"Yes, my lady." Freyr confirmed, gloomily.
Demetri couldn't help but snigger. This was so much worse than anything he had done!
"Do you think this is funny?" Aro snapped at his son, black angry eyes turned on Demetri now.
"It's a little bit funny," he confessed, stupidly.
"OW!" he exclaimed as Eleazar brought his hand down hard on the lad's thigh.
"Stop!" he warned him, and continued to whisper about how serious this matter was to Demetri as the others talked.
"Quite frankly, when they left at midnight I breathed a sigh of relief but they were back within the hour and it all started again as soon as they returned." Magnus said, not realising that Felix and Carlisle had been told to be home by midnight and were not supposed to be going back out!
"What time did they leave the second time, Magnus?" Basileus asked, feeling his own rage bubbling to the surface again.
"I'm not sure. Around three, maybe four in the morning?" Magnus guessed. It had been a bloody long night trying to keep the two of them under control.
"Seriously?!" Aro asked, wondering how the hell Felix had managed to slip out undetected.
Sulpicia looked mortified that her son could do such a thing. He has done so well recently, why would he do this? she questioned.
Seeing how furious all in attendance were and wanting to save to save Magnus, Freyr grasped her mate's hand. "Please don't blame Magnus for not alerting you last night, my lord. We didn't want to ruin Atia's first day with the coven ... "
Basileus raised a hand to silence her. The blame is nowhere near your doors my friends, he thought. He turned a kind smile to the woman. "Freyr, I understand, and I appreciate that." Atia, too, offered her gratitude.
Aro flashed to his feet.
"Where are you going?" Basileus asked him calmly, betraying none of the shame he, himself, felt over his son's behaviour.
"To fetch my son!" Aro snapped. "I cannot believe you let the two of them go!" Aro was fuming at his father. What the hell where you thinking?! Aro thought angrily, intending for Basileus to hear him.
"No, Aro. We need to let this play out. Magnus needs to reassert his authority on the guard hall and I need Carlisle to know he isn't lord of this manor."
You are using my son, you bastard! Aro thought in reply.
A single raised eyebrow from his father had him change his verbal reply. "You have planned this, then?" Aro shot out, thoroughly annoyed.
"Trust me, son." Basileus said confidently, though he didn't feel it.
Aro flopped back down into his seat. He really didn't like this.
Neither did Basileus, for that matter, but he'd started this train of events so he had to push things along now. In an effort to distract himself, Basileus topped up everyone's bloodwine. It was after that that he heard Demetri's frantic thoughts praying no one would mention his fuck up in Basileus' chambers when he'd left for England. Basileus narrowed his eyes to the boy who looked everywhere other than at the imposing creator.
"Demetri, come and sit with me for a moment." Basileus called out, moving only a few seats away and turning his back from the rest of the group.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Demetri repeated to himself. "Am I in trouble?" he asked in trepidation.
"You tell me, lad, you tell me." Basileus replied lightly, whilst patting the seat next to him. "I heard something yesterday about you ... " Basileus started.
Demetri was still waiting for the ground to swallow him up.
" ... and two guards ... " Basileus continued as Demetri started to stress.
Oh, please not in here. Take me home at least, please, he thought.
Basileus hooked a finger under the boy's chin and forced him to look up, "and my bed," he finished darkly.
Aro looked up, he'd forgotten about that.
"Oh!" Demetri exclaimed, as though he had also forgotten. Basileus had heard the boy's head swimming with the memories of his crimes, so he knew it was false. "That was last year!" Demetri whined, as though it was a good defence.
"I don't really care." Basileus replied, much to Demetri's relief.
"Thank the gods," he sighed, relaxing into his seat.
Crack!
Basileus whacked Demetri across the back of his head bringing tears to the young lad's eyes. "No, Demetri. I don't really care that it was last year, not that you treated my chambers as your personal brothel – I care very much about that!"
"Basileus, don't be so cruel." Atia called over, hearing how harsh and threatening his tone was.
"I'm not being cruel!" Basileus held his hands up in defence.
"You are trying to humiliate him and there really is no need." Atia expanded. "Besides," she continued, "I am sure Aro would have dealt with Demetri at the time, yes?" Atia said, turning to her new son.
"Erm, no. I didn't." Aro admitted, much to everyone's surprise. Everyone except Basileus and Eleazar, they knew Aro hadn't done anything about it.
"So you think it's perfectly fine for your son to use my chambers for his twisted little fantasies, do you?" Basileus asked gruffly.
"Of course not!" Aro replied, less than pleased that he was coping flack for Demetri's conquests. "You said you were only going to be away a few months so I thought I would leave him for you ... " Playing with his rings nervously, he added, "I had a lot going on that day."
"Could you add another week onto his hall ban, Magnus?" Basileus asked.
"Make it a month." Aro added before Magnus could reply.
"That's not fair!" Demetri complained, loudly.
Basileus smirked. He knew how to handle the lad. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, he pulled Demetri over his knee and raised his hand high. "Your choice," he said as he landed a single sharp smack to Demetri's upturned rear.
"No, no, no!" Demetri wailed in response, partly from the pain, but mainly from the humiliation of being reprimanded (and spanked of all things!) in full view of his entire family.
"The ban then?" Basileus offered for a final time.
"Yes please, thank you." Demetri's words rushed from his mouth, still facing the floor and hanging precariously over his grandfather's broad lap.
Basileus hauled the boy up. "Then we shall continue this in private."
Demetri mumbled something in response and ducked, expecting another slap for his comments. Luckily for him, Basileus hadn't heard him, his gift already concentrated on trying to access his mate's thoughts and what Atia was making of his rather 'interesting' family life.
"Isn't that the day Felix tried to pick a fight with me?" Magnus asked, thinking back to how he saw Demetri waltz into Basileus' suite whilst he was bringing in barrels of bloodwine.
Aro shook his head. "No, it was day we came up with Antonio's exit plan! Felix picked a fight with you the day after – the idiot!"
"Poor thing could hardly sit a week!" Sulpicia added, feeling sorry for her eldest for a moment before she remembered how much recent trouble he had brought to her door.
Freyr slapped her husband's arm. "Magnus!" she exclaimed at him harming the young guard.
"That can't have been my doing, I only spanked him," he said to his wife, truly not realising his own strength.
Demetri scoffed. "That would be enough from you," he said petulantly, having received 'only a spanking' from Magnus for his attitude in the guard hall less than a week ago.
"I think it was a joint effort, my friend." Aro added, avoiding his wife's eye and fixing Eleazar with a glare for good measure.
"Hey!" Eleazar responded to the disgusted look he received from his brother. "Felix bit you! That could hardly go unpunished and you were in no state to do it!"
"He did what?!" Basileus boomed, forgetting Demetri for a moment, who slunk away from his grandfather's obvious rage.
Magnus and Freyr were also surprised to hear of Felix biting his father. Now it makes sense! Magnus thought, remembering how shocked he had been when he saw the damage to Felix's backside when he'd had to punish the lad the same day.
"Show me!" Basileus ordered his middle boy.
Aro sighed, but walked over to his father anyway. He gave Eleazar a good kick in the shin on his way past. "Idiot," he growled under his breath.
Turning his back on the rest of their gathering, Aro rolled up his sleeve. It had been a good six months since Felix had lost his damn mind and bitten his father, and all that could be seen now was a silvery outline of the boy's mouth in Aro's left forearm.
Basileus pulled his arm roughly so he could get a good look at his son's war wound.
"Dad, listen, it was ... "
"Shut up." Basileus quietened his son as he was busy reading his memories.
Aro's heart sank as he realised what Basileus was about to see. Sure enough, Basileus pulled Aro between his legs and turned him around.
"Jesus! Is there any need for this?!" Aro complained as Basileus set to lifting his shirt.
"Felix did that?" Basileus questioned in shock. "He actually took a chunk out of you?"
Aro sighed, glad he was facing away from the rest of his family. "We had a lot going on, it was dealt with at the time."
Basileus traced the ragged contour of Aro's scar. "Felix bit you down to the bone and you let him go out to play," he said flatly, clearly disappointed in his son's handling of the situation.
Aro pulled himself free of his father's grasp and set to redressing. "That is not what happened!"
Basileus raised his eyebrows, waiting for his son to offer a better explanation. "I had lost a lot of blood, okay. Eleazar punished him ... severely!"
"Bloody hell, Aro - let it go!" Eleazar complained loudly. He had suffered six months of Aro's bitterness over the hiding he'd given Felix.
"No, El! There was no need for you to use your full strength on him!" Aro shot back, this argument had been a long time coming and he was ready for it.
"I didn't see you resisting at the time, brother." Eleazar spat back.
"Well, that would have completely undermined you wouldn't it, and like you say, I was in no position to take over. If I had thought for a moment that you would be so vicious I would never have let you deal with him!" Aro knew his bravery was partly fuelled by the bloodwine, but he didn't let that hold him back from airing his dirty laundry in front of everyone.
"You used your full strength on the boy?" Basileus questioned, getting to his feet. That's just as bad as Aro doing nothing, he thought furiously.
"It was called for and I am done explaining myself." Eleazar replied before turning his back on his father.
Bad move.
You think you can turn your back on me? You think you are ending this conversation? Ah, ah ... not a chance in hell, son.
"Come with me." Basileus called out.
"ME?!" Eleazar asked in shock. "You cannot be serious!"
"NOW!" Basileus ordered, deafening everyone else in the room.
Eleazar stormed past his father, purposefully barging his shoulder into Basileus on the way.
Basileus was hot on his heels and had caught up before Eleazar was clear of the library. "You had better be careful," he whispered menacingly.
"Why are you doing this?" Eleazar shot back under his breath. "Prick!"
Basileus took his son by his arm and took him along at his own vampiric speed to the south tower. As Basileus' speed was far greater than Eleazar's maximum capacity, he pretty much dragged his son back to the Volturi family tower where he slung Eleazar, unceremoniously, into the ground floor chambers.
"You have just humiliated me in there!" Eleazar roared.
"Think yourself lucky I brought you here. I had half a mind to thrash you in the library!" Basileus returned before disappearing into his bed chamber. Eleazar got to his feet and brushed himself down.
"Half a mind is right," he whispered angrily.
Naturally Basileus caught it. When he came back brandishing a razor strap, Eleazar instantly regretted his words. "I'm sorry. It's just all this with Carlisle ... I'm out of sorts, that's all."
Basileus approached, paying no attention to his son's babbled excuses. "How dare you use your full strength on Felix!" he spat, flipping the strap from one side to the other.
Eleazar gulped down a mouth full of venom. "He had just bitten chunks out of Aro, or are you forgetting that?" His words were far more forceful than his tone, which dripped with nerves.
"You could have broken him!" Basileus roared into Eleazar's face.
"You've done that to us plenty of times." That was his last defence. It was crap.
Basileus was done with his boy's excuses. "Take that off," he told his son, gesturing to his long dress coat.
Eleazar shook his head in disgust, but obliged. "Are you really saying he didn't deserve it?" he asked his father.
"He deserved far more from Aro," Basileus confirmed. "But no, he didn't deserve for you to use your full strength on him. He's a child for god sake!"
Eleazar knew there was no way out now. At least going through this will bring an end to Aro's bitterness over the whole thing, he thought.
Draping his coat over the chair, Eleazar looked to Basileus, waiting for further instruction.
"And the rest," he said simply.
Eleazar's eyes flew open. "Bare?"
Basileus smiled.
"No way! I'm not a child, don't be so ridiculous!" Eleazar scoffed. There is no way in hell I am submitting to such a childish condition.
"Oh, you will." Basileus ground out as he slammed Eleazar into the wall, pinning him upright with a hand held fast on his shoulder. His free hand set to work on the fastenings of his son's clothing.
"You have made your point, dad!" Eleazar whined as he tried to pull himself free, sure his shoulder was about to buckle under the intense pressure Basileus was applying.
As his son's britches fell to the floor, Basileus slammed Eleazar over the table, in much the same way as he had seen Eleazar do to Felix in Aro's memories. "Let us see how well you can take your own medicine, son."
Eleazar gulped. "You can't use your full strength on me – that is not remotely the same! You are a demi god!"
Basileus laughed. "You should have thought about that, son. I expect you will next time."
CRACK!
Basileus threw every ounce of strength into one blow of his strap.
The table buckled and fell to pieces, along with Eleazar, and Basileus who landed on top of his son!
"AHHH! FUCK!" Eleazar roared, repeatedly, as he tried to disentangle himself from both his father and the shattered table. "I think you've made your point, dad." Eleazar spluttered. Even though he had a stripe of fire across his ass, and good god it hurt, he couldn't help but laugh at the state they were both in.
Basileus rolled onto his back. "So long as I have," he said, before bursting into deep chuckles, too.
Once they regained some composure, Basileus hoisted his son from the floor. "Get dressed, I'll clean this up later."
Eleazar obliged, relieved that his father wasn't going to continue.
"I'm going back to the library, you can move Carlisle's things into your quarters before you come back, please."
Eleazar continued to laugh. "What! Wait," he called out, as if suddenly hearing his father's words. "You don't mean that surely," he spat as he fastened his coat.
"Oh, I do. I could help you of course, but we will end up smashing your table, too, if I am forced to ... " Basileus allowed his words to sink in whilst he watched his boy having an internal war, daring himself to refuse. "Don't El. Just don't." Basileus warned with a hand on his belt buckle.
That was all it took for the fight to dissipate. Eleazar made his way to his brother's room, silently fuming over the audacity of his father's decree whilst hissing loudly from the pain in his ass with each step.