AN: Okay, so he's been a bit of a twat, but I am feeling sorry for the guy now... note to self: must stop torturing Aro!
VISITING HOURS
Eleazar pushed the door open to his father's spare bedroom. Carlisle would complain that the room wasn't 'spare' and that it was his room. But as he was now using his other room in Eleazar's chambers, his argument didn't hold much weight. That hadn't stopped him complaining loudly about Aro taking his space in Basileus' quarters.
"Are you awake?" Eleazar called softly to his brother, battered and broken between the bed sheets. Aro attempted to move his head but it hurt too damn much. Eleazar looked back down the hallway to nod to Atia. She had been worried her middle boy would never wake and had sent Eleazar to check on him - Basileus had asked her to leave Aro be, but he had said nothing on sending Eleazar in her place.
"Get me some dungeon blood, El - I want to separate my mind from my body." Aro's voice was horse and croaky, not at all like his usual tone.
Eleazar stepped inside and closed the door quickly, shushing his brother. "If I were you, I wouldn't even joke about that stuff for a very, very long time," he warned, gesturing to the door.
Their father wasn't home, but he could return at any moment and it wouldn't bode well for Aro if Basileus heard him making jokes of any kind about anything - let alone dungeon blood.
Aro understood.
"How long have I been out for?" he croaked, attempting to pull himself up in the bed to a sitting position. Big mistake! Pain coursed through his body like his veins were on fire.
Eleazar rushed over to him to keep him still before helping him lie back down.
"What the hell happened?" Aro asked, the pain in his back and his legs so great that he couldn't focus on his memory.
Eleazar gingerly took a seat on the bed, trying not to disturb his little brother. "You've been unresponsive for a couple of days now, since you lost a fight with our father."
It was such an ridiculous premise that Eleazar chuckled to himself, even though it was true.
"You mean I entered into a fight with him?" Aro thought back, his memories were hazy but they were returning now he was coming around from his forced sleep.
"Look at you Aro, what do you think?!" Eleazar snapped. He wanted to be compassionate and considerate of Aro's situation, but it's one of his own making, Eleazar reminded himself, still feeling incredibly pissed off with his idiot brother.
Aro lifted the bed sheet and looked down his body: his chest and much of his torso were bandaged tightly, which explained why he was struggling to breathe deeply enough to talk properly. Both knees had been similarly wrapped and his left hand, which felt smashed to splinters, had been bound to a board to keep his fingers straight. The bandages and extensive bruising were all he wore.
Aro felt a flash of embarrassment. "Please tell me you bandaged me up, brother!"
Eleazar smiled coyly.
"Oh hell!" Aro exclaimed as the memory came back - he saw Atia stripping what little was left of his clothing by the time Basileus had finished with him, and tending his many, many wounds.
"Starting to remember?" Eleazar asked.
Aro nodded and gulped. Oh, he remembered. "I don't want to talk about it," he said quickly, squeezing shut his eyes as though it would help rid him of his recollection.
Eleazar shrugged. "I'll go then."
"No, El! Wait," Aro pleaded. "I need to know what's going on out there."
Eleazar shook his head, gesturing to the door again and the issue of their father overhearing. "I'm not permitted to tell you much, little brother."
"Is this Basileus' doing to make sure I suffer as much as possible?" Aro sulked.
Eleazar retook his seat but he was pissed off with Aro's refusal to look outside of himself for his predicament. Basileus had told Eleazar that's how Aro had been with him, but Eleazar had refused to believe it could have been bad enough for Basileus to … well, to do what he did. It had shaken the entire Volturi family to its core and none more than Basileus suffered for the creator's actions.
"Enough of the self-pity, Aro."
"I have to pity myself, no one else cares."
Eleazar shook his head. "And, no one will until you snap out of this one-man pity party you're throwing yourself."
Aro looked askance to his big brother. "For fuck sake, El, look at the state of me!" he implored, desperate to have someone on his side.
Eleazar stood up. "Let's look at the state of you, shall we?" he ground out, ripping the bedclothes away from his brother.
Aro couldn't fight back, he couldn't move! Eleazar surveyed the damage. "Broken ribs? Your hand could be mush under all that padding. Smashed knee caps? Your eye is swollen shut so I will assume Dad broke your face? You can't sit up yet … broken spine, perhaps?"
Aro lay there, half naked and seething. "Correct on all counts," he grunted as he avoided eye contact.
Eleazar leaned in close to his brothers face to get focus from Aro's good eye. "That's nothing compared to what you have put your wife and kids through, you self-centred prick."
Aro cringed as Eleazar continued. "Not to mention what you have forced our father to do!"
"What? Batter me?" Aro retorted, still feeling like his father had been an utter cunt to him.
"Submission," Eleazar whispered like the dirty sordid secret it was.
Aro closed his eyes and stopped breathing. Why did you say it, you fucking prick Eleazar, why did you say it out loud? As if it isn't bad enough FEELING the after affects! he thought, wincing as he tried to move again. His asshole felt torn to shreds … it WAS torn to shreds!
"You know?!" he finally whispered in reply.
Eleazar covered his brother back up with his bedding. "He told me. I assume that's why you have a broken spine and smashed knee caps - they aren't Basileus' usual moves."
Aro gulped. No, not his usual moves at all, Aro agreed to himself as visions of the creator calling for his submission rudely forced their way into his psyche.
Basileus must have warned him ten times over from what Aro could remember, and yet he continued launching for his father's throat. In the end, the repeated assaults from his son forced a very primitive reaction in Basileus and his primal being took over his body. He was forced to make good on his threat as he just couldn't contain his raging boy. It killed Basileus to do it, and to confess what had occurred to Atia and Eleazar had been almost as painful. Aro might say his pain was more worthy of sympathy.
"Why didn't he just knock me out again?!" Aro complained, loathing himself, Basileus, and even Eleazar as if his brother knowing about it made it all the worse.
"Aro, you were a raging animal the way I heard it."
Aro couldn't argue with that, he had been vicious, if stupid, in his attack. "Well he didn't have to do that." Aro refused to say submission.
"You were totally out of control, Aro - you smashed up his living room, you attacked Atia. Basileus knocked you down and you kept on coming back for more. He warned you. Repeatedly. You forced him into it, brother."
Eleazar could see Aro was squirming in shame and he imagined the after effects of going for a round with Basileus would have been bad enough without adding being fucked into submission into the bargain.
Eleazar had never been foolish enough to enter into a fight with his father, Carlisle had given it a go back in England, but it hadn't been a serious effort. Aro though, he had been there before.
Still, Eleazar thought, to push Basileus so far that he had to take you is a new level of stupid, little brother. Eleazar's thoughts went to his father.
"He is repulsed that after all these years you would force him to exert that sort of power over you for fucking dungeon blood."
Aro ducked his head as far as he could. "I am pretty repulsed, too," Aro said, still feeling sorry for himself.
"What is he planning on doing with me?"
"Basileus?" Eleazar questioned. "He has gone to talk to the coven masters so they all know what's going on, you are to stay in here until he decides otherwise and you are not allowed a drop of blood until you have completely healed. He wants you to suffer."
Aro bit his lip for a moment before he felt the bruising there too. Harsh! he thought.
"You couldn't sneak some in here for me?" he asked his brother.
Eleazar would normally be a safe bet for such a request but on this occasion, he merely shook his head.
"Come on, El … " Aro tried again.
"I want you to suffer too, you selfish little prick."
Aro caught Eleazar's eye for only a moment before they both had to look away - Eleazar was angry, Aro, ashamed.
"Am I not even permitted to see my mate? My children?"
Eleazar knew his brother was hurting, emotionally and physically, but the continued 'poor Aro' tone he used was only pissing him off. You still don't get it, do you? he thought, you have no idea how serious this is, damn fool!
"Permitted? Yes. But they will not come," Eleazar told him flatly.
Ari looked confused.
How can you be confused about this, brother? You have torn your family to shreds! Eleazar shook his head and made for the door.
"Aro, only Atia and I are WILLING to see you."
That did it. Finally Aro looked like he was starting to see how far reaching the effects of his debauchery had been. "Not even Dad?" he asked, sounding like a wounded animal with his barely audible voice.
He didn't particularly want to see Basileus after what had happened, but the idea that his own father didn't want to see him hurt like a bitch!
Eleazar hung in the doorway for a moment before he turned and answered. "If he came in this room now, you would be crushed under the weight of his disappointment."
With that, he left his little brother to his recovery.
That was the only visitor Aro had all day. He watched the sun setting behind the trees surrounding the town of Volterra, convinced he was going slowly insane. He called out a few times, and though his voice was still hoarse, a sign his vocal chords had been damaged from Basileus' strangle hold around his neck, he knew his parents could hear him. They didn't respond to his calls, but Aro was sure he heard Atia laying into Basileus for his refusal to see his son. It was of little comfort to Aro, who lay confined to his bed.
He spent the night calling out, hoping it was pissing Basileus off. After what you have done to me you should be regretful, you cunt! he thought viciously, hoping his father heard his thoughts too!
At sunrise, Atia called in on him carrying a bowl of warm water, some cloth and fresh bandages. Atia set the bowl on the floor.
It was the first time Aro had realised how Spartan his accommodation was - every scrap of furniture, bar the bed he lay on, had been removed from the room.
"You need to stop shouting - your father is concerned you are still not under control and you don't want him coming in here to force any control on you, do you?"
Wide eyed, Aro shook his head as his ass cheeks squeezed themselves together tightly.
Atia smiled approvingly to her son and went to pull the sheets away from him.
Aro, suddenly finding the strength to temporarily overcome his pain, bundled the bedding close to his chest in order to preserve his modesty.
Atia laughed to herself as she easily whipped the sheet away. "It's nothing I haven't already seen, Aro," she told him in a no-nonsense tone.
"I was unconscious at the time!" Aro replied, attempting to at least cover his cock from his mother, of all people.
"You aren't usually so shy." Atia remarked, thinking of how she had found her son in the dungeons when she had interrupted him and Caius sharing Heidi.
Aro felt completely vulnerable, broken and bound to the bed. "These are exceptional circumstances." He replied, suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting.
"Nevertheless, this room smells like a common brewery and your wounds will need redressing."
Aro puffed the air from his cheeks, utterly frustrated and uncomfortably exposed.
"Have I told you about my human life, Aro?" Atia asked, trying to break some of the tension between the two of them as she wiped away the crusted blood from her son's body.
Aro didn't answer. It's not time for a chat! he thought sharply.
"We are in contact, Aro, and I am using your gift - I know what you are thinking, son."
Aro would have blushed if he could. "I'm sorry," he said. "I am also really sorry for attacking you."
"Apology, noted," Atia replied as she began unwinding the bandages around Aro's knees.
Aro raised an eyebrow in question. "Noted … but not accepted?"
"I will accept it when you have realised what you have really done to everybody who cares about you."
Aro internally sighed but managed to speak before he thought his true feelings. "I realise that already, Mom," he crooned, hoping to get her on side.
"No, my dear, you do not," she replied sharply.
Sinking her cloth deep into the water bowl, she rung out the water and wiped over Aro's broken eye socket.
"I can hear in your thoughts you are making plans for this expansion idea you have and you are feeling very sorry for yourself - you aren't thinking about what you have done or what you have forced your father to do."
Aro scowled. "I don't want to think about that. Ever!" he spat in disgust.
"Which part are you referring to?" Atia asked plainly, displaying little reaction to Aro's clear contempt for what Basileus had done. "Say it," she prompted.
She knew her boy well - Aro would never verbalise his shame unless forced.
"The submission thing," he mumbled childishly.
"The submission thing is understandably stressful for you to think about, Aro, but that makes it all the more important that you do."
Aro let his head fall back onto the pillow as he tried to rid himself of the images invading his brain. He needed to distract himself quickly or he was going to sink into a suicidal depression, he was sure of it.
"Were you a nurse?" he asked.
Atia cut open the bandages wrapped around Aro's chest. It was the first time he could take a deep breath in days, though he regretted trying as soon as he felt the unhealed breaks in his spine and ribs moving with his efforts. Atia managed to remove all the old wrappings whilst Aro recovered from that single breath.
"I was a midwife," she replied once he had settled back to a normal rhythm of shallow breaths.
Aro considered his mother's response. "I would have taken you for a lady of some great house."
Atia smiled warmly thinking about her human days. "I could have been, but I chose a different life. I had a gift for medicine, though the only true avenue for a woman in my day was midwifery."
Aro couldn't quite believe not only how quickly Atia had managed to redress his wounds and bedding, but also how, despite his earlier reticence, she had made the experience as shameless as possible for him. He was grateful, and he could see how such talents would have benefited the, no doubt, many women she would have tended to in her human life. It was odd as Atia had such a matter of fact way, verging on unfeeling at times, (just like Jane! Aro thought). But that same emotional distance made uncomfortable situations like Aro's current predicament easier to go through.
"How were you turned?" Aro asked, his curiosity piqued about his mother's past.
"I was bitten," she replied.
"Obviously!" Aro said with a roll of his eyes. "But do you remember what happened and who turned you?"
Atia collected her things together, wrapping the soiled bedding and cloths into a bundle. "I do, yes. And I knew him well. I raised him."
Aro's face screwed up to his mother's cryptic titbit of information.
Atia smirked and kissed his head lightly. "That is a conversation for another day, my dear. Your head should be full of regrets and plans for atonement."
Aro's momentary escapism into his mother's past floated away as she reminded him of the task at hand. "I will," he said solemnly. He meant it too. If only to get out of that bloody room.
…
Aro's head shot up hearing the door handle turn. He had been alone for another full day and a half and he was going stir crazy. He had done as Atia had instructed and his guilt bound him to his bed tighter than any bandage his mother had offered.
"Sulpicia!" he called out, overjoyed to see his queen.
His joy quickly dissipated seeing the dejected state of his mate. Her red raw, angry eyes looked back at him and he wondered whether she had cried for the entire week they had been apart. He wasn't so self-cantered to think it was because she missed him, he knew it would be because he had so gleefully destroyed her trust in him. That realisation hurt, it really hurt. As she approached him, her features softened seeing the broken state her mate lay in.
"It was just a distraction, Sully. The blood, the women … just a distraction," he said softly, reaching his broken hand out for contact. He desperately wanted to read her thoughts to see where they stood with each other.
Sulpicia, sensibly, refused his touch, choosing instead to sit at the end of his bed where he couldn't hope to reach her. "I get that, Aro," she replied. "What I don't understand is why you would need distracting from me? From our children? From our life together?"
Aro felt a new pain - his heart ached, swollen beneath his chest from the guilt he felt for causing her to question his commitment to his family. "I don't understand that either, my queen," he offered truthfully. "I will make amends in any way you desire."
Sulpicia shot a disgusted look to his words, so inadequate were they to her. "What if I wanted to play the field a little, to even things up?" she asked.
She and Atia had talked over what Basileus had said to Aro. Not with any intention of doing the same, but Atia wanted her daughter-in-law to fully realise the extent of the pain her son had caused so Sulpicia could be the master of her own future.
'If you can't make him feel the pain he has caused, you won't stop him doing it again.' Sulpicia played Atia's words over in her mind. She was right, and Sulpicia wanted her mate to feel every ounce of pain she had suffered at his hands.
"If that is what you really wanted to do …. " Aro began, the words sticking in his throat as he mentally batted away the torturous images of his wife with other men, "then I would … " I can't say it, I can't, he thought desperately. One look into Sulpicia's eyes and he knew he had no choice. "I would support you in doing that," he answered quietly with a growl rumbling deep inside.
No you couldn't! Sulpicia thought in response. "And I could have my pick of the guards and you would leave them unharmed?" Sulpicia pushed.
"If that is what you wished," Aro agreed with tears in his eyes to match his mate's.
Sulpicia leaned in and smiled slyly to Aro. "And you could walk these halls and see them every day and hear all the gossip in our castle about all the things I did with them? Things I have done with you? Things I wouldn't let you do? Could you do that?"
Aro had never seen his mate sound so callous, so self-serving. "Sully, please … " he begged, tears now freely running down his cheeks.
"Could you?" Sulpicia pushed forcefully.
Aro couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. You are ripping me apart! he thought. Don't do this Sully, please. He wiped angrily at his eyes in frustration as he felt his stomach ball up into a knot. "It would rip my heart out and I don't honestly think I could let them live," he said, taking a moment to catch his breath before continuing, "but if it's what it will take to make amends with you, then I will really try."
Sulpicia tried to maintain her stern facade but her emotions overtook her. "I could never do that to you," she roared ferociously, and crumbled into a sobbing mess at the end of the bed.
Aro could only watch as his mate broke down in front of him. He couldn't get to her, he couldn't reach her.
It took some time for Sulpicia to cry out all the pain he had caused her and when she was finished, she simply rose to her feet and straightened out her dress. Her breath hitched uncontrollably but with the last of her strength she forced herself to say one final thing to her mate. "You aren't supposed to destroy the people you love, Aro."
Sulpicia flashed at vampiric speed from his prison, and he heard her sobs renew as she fled to Atia's arms.
Aro roared out his frustrations before matching his mate, sob for sob, only a room apart.
Another couple of days went by before Aro saw anyone else. He had heard his parents arguing like cat and dog down the hall. Even though he could feel his knee caps had healed, he didn't leave the bed with his spine still slowly working its way back in place. The damage to his broken body would have healed within a few days, Aro believed, had he been allowed a couple of good feeds. As it was, all Aro had to think about during the slow passing of time was the pain of his slowly healing bones and the fracturing of his heart as he ruminated over the damage to his family.
When Atia came again to check on him, she was surprised that Aro had healed so well already.
"Why do you look worried about that?" Aro asked when she appeared startled by his rate of progression. Aro was still stuck to the bed ravaged with pain - he hadn't healed quickly enough in his mind! "Mom, please!" he pushed when no answer was forthcoming.
Atia pursed her lips. "Don't try and leave this room, son," she said sternly. "No matter how healed you are - do not leave until your father gives you his permission."
Aro slowly nodded his understanding. He had caught snippets of their arguments which revolved around Basileus' refusal to see their son and the requirement for him to remain in his cell. Aro did feel guilty about causing such arguments between his parents.
Atia heard his regrets through her contact as she checked his broken fingers. The bones had been obliterated so it wasn't a single snap that was repairing. Atia smiled to her son. "Lovers think quite different thoughts whilst lying side by side," she told him mysteriously. "I may not agree with your father, but I will stand by his decision." She explained.
Aro nodded, wishing Sulpicia would be that way with his decisions when she disagreed.
"It only works if it is mutual, my dear. One cannot always be the one to take charge," Atia answered his thoughts again.
Aro tried to stop thinking … he didn't want Atia to know just how resistant he was to the idea of Sulpicia having an equal say in their home.
"How much longer will I have to stay in here?" he whined, distracting himself as much as his mother.
"Your father and I are working on Sulpicia," she breezed.
"She still doesn't want me back?"
Atia stroked Aro's face, his eye was still swollen and the deep black bruising spread all down his cheek and around to his ear. "She does, but she is worried about your control … I think you can understand her concerns?"
Aro felt embarrassed. As a vampire, he prided himself on his self-control, allowing his logical mind to take over matters of passion on most occasions when it came to running his coven – the whole vampire race for that matter. That fact that it was his control that his family couldn't trust gave him a crisis of identity.
"What about my children?" he dared to ask. He missed them so much - their chatter, their squabbles, the life they brought to his dead heart.
"The twins miss you very much. So does Demetri," Atia told him warmly.
The three of them had been knocking on her door regularly and it pained her to send them away, but she knew Aro wouldn't want them to see him in such a state.
"But not Felix," Aro said. It wasn't a question. He knew he didn't deserve his eldest son's concern, but he wanted to see Felix most of all. He had so much to say to him, so much to apologise for.
"He's coming around," Atia told him kindly. It was a bear faced lie, of course. Aro didn't need to hear the truth.
It took some convincing from both Atia and Sulpicia, but Felix agreed to visit his father and arrived in Aro's holding room two days after Atia's last visit.
"Hey," Aro called out hoarsely.
Felix was startled by his deep and gravelly voice.
"I'm so pleased to see you, Felix."
"It doesn't please me to be here!" Felix replied, looking Aro up and down in his bed. "Sully asked me to come."
Aro nodded to himself trying to keep the hurt from his face. He knew he deserved his son's anger.
Felix flopped down next to Aro on the bed, the jolt causing Aro to grimace and gasp in pain. "I don't really want you seeing me like this," he told his boy as he pulled himself up to a half sitting position.
"You think this is worse than seeing you tanked up on dungeon blood threatening to beat me bloody, or have me submit, or rip out my tongue … " Felix rolled of a list of threats Aro had made over the last couple of years in a drug addled state.
Aro could see his boy was upsetting himself as much as he was Aro. "I get the gist, son," he said softly, pulling Felix a little closer.
"Don't call me that," Felix spat, turning away to hide his tears.
Aro sighed. Okay, gently does it, he thought. "I'm sorry, Felix. I really am."
Felix turned his tearful, angry eyes on his father. "Fuck your sorry. Just fuck off. And when you get there, fuck off from there, too. Then fuck off some more. In fact, keep fucking off until you get back here, and then fuck off all over again!"
He started out sounding so mean, but by the end of his tirade, Felix had become a similar emotional wreck to his mother a few days before.
"You don't mean that," Aro said, grabbing hold of his son's wrist with his good hand.
"Don't I?" Felix spat through his sobs.
"No," Aro replied, pulling Felix into his hold.
Felix resisted but he didn't put too much effort in. He could have easily rejected Aro had he really wanted to.
"I fucking hate you," he sobbed again, voice hitching.
"No. You don't," Aro told him simply. Fighting the pain, he felt in his battered body, Aro locked his arms around his emotional child. "You love me, and I have let you down, and I'm sorry, son."
Felix started to pull away. "I told you not to call me that," he complained.
"What else would I call you?" Aro asked. He managed to roll onto his side, though it took great effort, and manoeuvred Felix along with him. "I'm your dad."
"You've been a shit dad, I want a new one." Felix lay on Aro's bed with his back pressed tightly to Aro's chest.
"I know," Aro replied, holding onto his son as though it would be the last time he ever could.
"I hate you," Felix cried. He didn't mean it. Aro could read in his thoughts that he didn't mean it. He was just so damn angry that Aro had put them all through hell for the sake of some fucking drug.
"I love you," Aro whispered into his ear.
Aro didn't say that very often. His children all knew he loved them, (before the recent dungeon blood fiasco, at least) but when he did say the words, they meant something. They meant a lot. Felix couldn't reply, but he melted into his father's arms and cried himself to sleep, sleeping soundly for the first time in months.
A few hours had passed and Aro guessed it must have been the early hours of the morning by then. Felix lay sleeping in his arms when he heard Basileus telling Atia to get the boy back to his own quarters. Atia refused. Aro gripped tightly to his son, wondering whether if after he left would he see him again? Sulpicia was broken and he wouldn't be surprised if she left and took their children with her. He would hunt them down, he would find a way to regain her love but he had no idea how long it would take. To his relief, Basileus was the one to back down, and Atia had ensured her son could keep his boy for the night.
Aro took advantage of having someone from the outside with him by accessing Felix' memories. He couldn't look at the present, he was too concerned about what he would discover. But the past - that was his to explore.
Seeing every moment he had shared with his eldest over the last couple of years replayed through Felix' eyes, Aro saw first-hand the damage he had done to his son. How scared he had been, how angry, how utterly frustrated. The nights Felix had spent staying awake, listening out for Aro to return in case Sulpicia needed his help defending herself against her mate.
Aro tortured himself all night long until he arrived at the present. By then he thought there was nothing he could see that could hurt more than that which he had already witnessed. He was wrong. Seeing Sulpicia ask their children if they wanted him to return, and the looks of contempt on their small faces broke his heart. He heard how much they missed him, and they all loved him… but they no longer trusted him. Those images would haunt Aro for the rest of his life.
When Felix awoke the next morning, Aro knew he had to try to convince his boy that he could be accepted back into their home without being a danger to any of them.
"I need a favour from you, son," Aro said softly. Felix still lay in his arms, neither had moved and neither wanted to. "If you ever even suspect that I am taking dungeon blood again, you are to tell someone. Basileus preferably, but Atia, Eleazar, or even any of the masters would do."
"Yeah right!" Felix scoffed. "What if I am wrong? You will batter me!"
Aro kissed the back of his boy's head. "I won't, I understand the position I am putting you in but I need your help, son," he told him honestly. "I don't make the best decisions around my drug of choice, so I need to stay off it completely."
Felix wasn't so sure. "What about Caius?"
Aro chucked to himself. "He won't be supplying me with anymore, either." Thinking about what Basileus had said about Caius offering to get rid of his entire stock, Aro added, "I think Caius will be the most watchful of all, come to think of it."
"Why don't you just get rid of the dungeon blood, then there will be no temptations?" Felix asked, though there was a hint of begging to his tone. He wanted his Dad back and that dirty drug was a blockade to his family's happiness, as he saw it.
"There are medicinal purposes to dungeon blood. It's a great pain reliever and Caius always takes it on missions in case any of the guards look like they may flee from fear. It's useful," Aro explained. That wasn't the whole truth though, and he needed to be honest with Felix if he was going to convince him that he would return without being a threat. "Besides, getting rid of all our stores isn't me staying off it, is it? I need to be able to sit in a room full of the stuff and not take a drop."
Felix took a while to think his father's words over. "That sounds like torture," he eventually replied.
Aro agreed. But it's no less than I deserve, he told himself.
"Can I stay with you for a while?" Felix asked.
Aro felt his heavy heart ease as he cuddled into his boy.
It was to be short lived, sadly, as Basileus opened the door to his son's cell. "Time to go, Felix."
The boy left without word. Basileus looked dark and brooding a little bit scary.
Aro watched his son leave before his eyes found a new target … Basileus carried a cup of blood. He could smell it and he was starving!
"Bloodwine?" Aro asked, salivating, gesturing to the goblet in his father's hand.
Basileus sat close to his boy and Aro reached out to take the cup. Basileus slapped his hand, hard. "Ah, ah, ah. We mustn't touch what isn't ours, Aro," he sang out. "It's mine."
Aro cast his eyes into his lap. "Of course. I'm just so hungry," he said, biting into his lip hard to get a taste for some blood.
Basileus grabbed Aro's jaw in one hand and forced his head up. Your eyes are jet black, he thought. As soon as he released his face, Aro returned to staring into his lap. "I am telling you that you cannot touch this blood. But I won't do anything if you drink the whole cup dry."
Basileus was testing his son's submission. If he was submissive to Basileus, as he should be after being fucked into it, he wouldn't touch the cup. "What are you going to do?"
Aro played with the rings on his good hand. He could see the bruising already where Basileus had slapped him. "Nothing, my lord," he replied respectfully.
Basileus smiled to himself. "Good boy," he said, before draining the cup in front of his son.
Aro's throat burned, he was so hungry and smelling the nectar to his ailment so close was a new type of pain. Aro couldn't remember the last time he actually felt the need for blood. They never struggled to feed and he had never had a feed withheld before either.
"You can relax a little, Aro," Basileus said, seeing how tense his son was in his presence.
Aro eyed his father dangerously. "How long have I been in here, Dad?" he asked quietly.
"Two weeks, just over."
"Wow. And this is the first time you have come to see me … "
Basileus raised a hand that had Aro ducking for cover. "You made me do something I never wanted to do you," Basileus explained gruffly as the reason for his absence. He didn't hit him, though he really wanted to.
"Can we just not talk about it, please?" Aro asked, feeling very uncomfortable.
Basileus considered ignoring the issue as Aro wished. But no. We need to talk about it!
"Have you healed?" Basileus asked.
"I'm getting there," Aro replied, lifting his broken hand that felt more hand-like than it had for weeks.
"You know what I mean," Basileus said pointedly, gesturing down Aro's body.
Aro felt his ass twitch. "Oh, erm, yes. Physically." I will never recover mentally! he said to himself.
Basileus rolled his eyes dramatically. "Good," he stated, with no clue as to whether he was responding to Aro's verbal or mental reply.
It could have been both, Aro reasoned.
"Do you understand that you forced me to do it? I gave you so many chances to back down, Aro."
Aro nodded as tears pricked his eyes. He knew his hunger was partly responsible for his emotional display, but he also knew how he would feel if Felix had forced him into such position. Hell, even explaining submission to Felix left me feeling sick for days, he reminded himself.
"I understand. I will never do anything to push you so far again, Dad."
Basileus laughed, a child's promises to never misbehave again were always hollow - the age didn't matter. "I really hope not, Aro, because I will do it again if you are reckless enough to go back on your word."
Aro felt every muscle in his body tense up and his face paled. Oh, he understood alright!
Basileus had a matter of housekeeping to clear up with his son. "Aro I want Ashanti out of this coven."
Aro sighed. He felt guilty about that, though he understood she would have to leave.
"It isn't fair on Sulpicia to share her coven with the woman who has so readily bedded her mate."
Aro agreed with that wholeheartedly.
"Sulpicia doesn't know about Heidi," Basileus continued. "I suggest it stays that way, as we need her to lure humans in at times. But Ashanti has had every idiot in this coven - All three of my sons, two of my grandsons, three of the masters…"
"Three?" Aro interrupted.
"Yes." Basileus replied, assuming Aro had known that.
Well it wouldn't be Freyr or Magnus … so that only leaves … "Marcus?" Aro questioned in surprise.
"It doesn't matter who."
Aro missed the warning in his fathers tone. "Has Marcus…"
"ARO! Stay on point!"
Aro ducked again. He couldn't help the response, he was scared to the bone of his father … submission will do that, I suppose, he correctly assumed.
"I have spoken to the masters. If you take dungeon blood again, and they know and choose not to tell me, I will take their head." Basileus watched Aro's reaction.
He closed his eyes tight wishing the whole sordid fiasco would disappear. "I must look so weak," he complained shamefully.
"You are weak, very weak," Basileus agreed. "But everyone has weaknesses."
Aro looked nervously to his father. "You don't," he said enviously.
Basileus stood up and towered over his son. Aro felt petrified when he saw the creator moving closer to his head. To his relief, Basileus kissed his forehead gently.
"You are my weakness. You and your brothers and your families. You are my weakness."
Aro breathed easily for a moment until he saw Basileus rolling up his shirt sleeve. "What are you doing?"
Basileus smirked. "I don't think you could take another thrashing just yet, do you?"
Aro shook his head, wide eyed and panicked.
Basileus brought his own wrist to his mouth, prepared to bite to draw blood for his son. "I'd rather not have anything that's going to give me a buzz," Aro said, eying his father and wondering if this was a test.
Basileus burst out laughing. "Good luck getting addicted to my blood, son."
That was the first time Basileus had called Aro 'son' since he'd entered the room.
"So I'm still your son then? You haven't disowned me?"
"I tried exchanging you for Caius but he thinks our family is too fucked up and he turned me down," Basileus said with a happy smile before biting deep into his wrist. The blood spurted from his wound but Basileus quickly brought it to Aro's mouth. "Drink your fill," he told him sternly.
Basileus could feed vampires full without it having too much effect on him. Aro took the creator's blood down greedily, gulping with gusto to ease the burn in his throat. As he drank, he could feel his body repairing itself - bones clicking into place, ribs laying straight, his fingers could move again. It felt amazing. Aro fell back in euphoria when he was done.
Pooling the venom in his mouth, Basileus licked his ragged flesh - it healed over instantly. He saw the latent bruising on his sons face disappearing and a quick check of his ribs told the creator his boy was healing quickly now.
"Get used to it. It will be all you are drinking for a while."
Aro moaned contentedly in his bed feeling the full effects of his father's blood high. "Why?" he asked, eyes shut and a happy smile on his face.
"Because I need you bonded to me, and not to that dirty dungeon blood."
"I am bonded to you." Aro drawled in response.
"Maybe," Basileus replied, "but I am not taking any risks with you and your drug habit. Submission should be enough to keep you out of trouble for a while, my blood will seal the deal."
Aro was listening but he couldn't respond. The amount of the creator's blood he had just consumed would knock him out for the rest of the day.
That night, when Aro was both fully healed and over the buzz of Basileus' blood, Sulpicia called in on him. He looked a million times better than he had the last time she'd seen him, Sully was glad of that. She handed him a set of light clothing for him to wear. Before Aro could speak, Sulpicia held up a hand to ask for his silence.
"Trust is a very fragile thing and you have shattered mine for you." She was calm, reasoned, but her voice was still thick with emotion.
"Are you saying there is no going back for us?" Aro asked.
"Back? No," Sulpicia replied.
Aro felt like he had received a blow to the head. No, no, no! he thought, he didn't have the words to beg her to forgive him, he knew whatever came out of his mouth could never be enough after how he had hurt her.
Sulpicia sat down next to her desolate mate and rested her hand on his. "Forwards … " she said, "I think we can move forwards."
Aro stared at her in shock, mouth hanging open. His mind told him to scoop her into his arms and never let go but he was so sure he had lost her that his body wouldn't respond.
Sulpicia closed his mouth for him with gentle fingers under his chin. "Do you think I care for you so little that your heinous betrayal would be enough for me to cast you out?" she asked.
Okay, so we have some work to do, Aro thought, but damn he was relieved. "Are you sure I'm worth it?" he asked her with tears in his eyes.
"Oh my love, I really, really wish you weren't." Sulpicia smiled sadly. "But you are my dungeon blood."
Aro watched as his mate opened the door for them to leave … but he couldn't do it. "I can't go with you, Sully, not until Basileus says I can."
Sulpicia stopped in the doorway and looked over her shoulder. "Sure you can. If you want to," she called softly before leaving her mate in his open cell.
Basileus had asked her to tempt Aro out of the room. It was another test. He had promised his daughter in law that he could keep Aro controlled even if he wasn't there. It was the only way he had managed to convince Sulpicia to take Aro back in her chambers and and allow him around their children unchaperoned.
Aro rushed to the door, but he wouldn't go any further.
"Sully don't go!" But it was too late, she had already left the ground floor suite. Aro sunk to the floor and stared down the hallway as he tried to talk himself into going after her.
Whilst lost in thought, he didn't hear Basileus coming home. The first he knew of his father's return was seeing his figure filling the end of the hall.
"Going somewhere?" he asked his son gruffly.
"No!" Aro responded in surprise. "I wouldn't leave, not until you say I can," he rushed, wanting to convince his father that he hadn't broken his word to remain in his room.
Basileus marched to his son and loomed over him. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "You look quite close to leaving, son."
Aro's left leg lay lazily on the floor, protruding slightly out of the doorway. Aro gulped and pulled himself inside. "I wasn't going to leave, I wasn't!" he rushed again, eyes fixed on the creator.
"Hmm." Basileus considered what to do. He could hear in his son's thoughts that he had tried, but failed to persuade himself to break orders and leave the room with Sulpicia. He was pleased that Aro had stayed, though certainly less than impressed with him trying to convince himself to leave.
"May I go home, please?" Aro asked.
Basileus was still wondering whether he should discipline Aro for even thinking of leaving. He felt like he should but he was more than aware that the aggressive vampire within would be leading that impulse and he didn't want to give in to that side of himself too easily. Basileus wasn't naturally suited to being a dominant coven leader, at least not in a one-on-one situation. That was part of the reason he left the daily running of the Volturi to the masters and only acted through them. His vampiric nature was stronger than other vampires, and that made it dangerous. He had already all but annihilated his son bringing him under control and he didn't want to make a habit of exerting such control over anyone. Aro, though, he thought, he's not suited to a submissive role either, this is going to be difficult for us both! They both knew Aro would have to toe a very tight line for a while. But how will that work? Basileus wondered. Does he even realise how serious this is?
"We need to talk," he finally said to his son. Basileus had took a seat in the living chamber before he realised Aro hadn't followed him. This is a pain in the ass! he thought as he called to release Aro from his room. How is he supposed to run the bloody coven if he must be under my control?
Aro joined his father but could barely meet his eye.
"Sit down, son."
Aro obeyed dutifully.
"Are you fully aware of what's happened, Aro?"
"Do we have to talk about this again?" Aro whined, scrubbing a hand down his face, certain he was blushing. "It's bad enough that it happened!"
Basileus rolled his eyes. "We have hardly talked about it at all, and yes we do need to talk about it - if you ever want to leave my quarters, that is."
Aro sat bolt upright. Yes, he wanted to leave!
"How are we going to work this, Aro? You need to be able to run the Volturi, run your own home … how is this going to work if you are utterly under my command?"
Aro scoffed. "Well, you should have thought about that before you … did what you did."
Basileus glared at his boy. "You forced me to have you submit to me son. YOU, not me."
Aro cringed. "I know it was my fault, Dad." I don't want to talk about this, why are you being such a cunt?!
"Aro I can hear you, so be careful."
Aro gulped and proffered his apologies but Basileus waved them away, he knew they were born of fear, not respect.
"How long does it take to wear off?"
Aro looked confused.
Basileus sighed as he continued, "Your submission to me, how long will you be under its effects?"
I'll be suffering the effects for the rest of my days! Aro thought bitterly. He shrugged. He hadn't really been a fan of submission and he'd only really used the idea with the female members of his coven - all of whom would have fucked him at his request anyway, so it wasn't really the same thing.
"I don't know, Dad. Weeks … months … years? Even though I want to go against you, my body won't conform. I wanted to follow Sully out of that room but I couldn't make it past the door," he answered honestly.
Basileus held his head in his hands. This is going to be a bloody nightmare! he thought. On one hand, he wanted Aro under control for a while, to be sure he was off dungeon blood, but on the other, he didn't want to be directing his son like a puppet for the next 'however long' either.
"Aro this is a mess," he said sadly.
"Can't you just call it off?" Aro asked. "Tell me I am no longer required to submit to you?"
Basileus shook his head. "For that to work I would have to mean it and I wouldn't mean it - I want you under control, I don't trust you to make your own decisions."
Aro felt crushed but he couldn't argue with his father's reasoning.
"I will have to shadow you running the coven," Basileus offered.
Aro heaved a depressed sigh. "Really? Isn't there another way?" He threw his head back to rest on the chair and stared at the ceiling. "I can't take my dad to work, for fuck sake," he complained, "and how will that work in my own quarters?"
Basileus could feel his hackles rising to his son's self-pity and whiny tone. "I am as pissed off as you about this Aro, but as you are the one who caused this mess you are the one who can put it right again."
Aro looked askance to his father. "How can I put it right? You're the one who has to forgive me," he spat, glaring at his father.
Basileus could feel that vampiric impulse again, it was hard to suppress the desire to strike his son. "Aro you need to watch how you talk to me, son," he growled. He wasn't meaning to growl, he couldn't help it.
Aro tutted. He wasn't being particularly disrespectful, under the circumstance at least. He could see his father was struggling to control himself, but he wasn't sure why. "What wrong with you?" he asked, eyeing his father like a coiled spring about to explode.
Basileus took a few moments to contain his inner animal. He was shocked. It felt like a beast had been unleashed inside him. One of the reasons he hadn't visited Aro for two weeks after forcing him to submit was because he worried he would force his boy to submit again. He thought he had the impulse under control but it was scratching at the edges of his psyche already.
"I need to show you something," he told his son darkly.
Aro felt apprehensive. "If you are going to show me my submission I would rather not have your view in my mind."
Basileus shook his head, he couldn't talk. Instead he took hold of Aro's wrist and showed him how he felt.
Aro felt sick - he could see how close Basileus was to beating him. For a fairly innocuous reason, too. In Aro's mind, at least. He had never felt such a powerful desire to bring a subordinate into line and never for something as simple as their tone of voice either!
Fuck, I'm done for! Aro thought.
Basileus slowly nodded. 'This is going to be very hard, son.' He spoke through his thoughts.
Aro fell into the seat next to his father, the pair of them looking straight ahead wondering how the hell they would get through the next few weeks.
It could be longer! Aro thought as he searched his thoughts for a precedent to go on. Not that his own experience, or Caius' for that matter, would help in addressing how Basileus, the creator of vampire kind would be as the dominant leader.
"You need to be careful, son. Don't make me do anything I will regret."
Aro laughed. "I think I will regret it more, Dad," he said with hollow humour.
Basileus didn't find it so funny. He already felt repulsed by what he had done to his son. Part of him wanted to send Aro home and give them both some space, but he couldn't. The beast wanted Aro close, wanted him in reaching distance in case he disobeyed him in some way.
"Give me a few orders and send me home," Aro suggested. He couldn't see what else they could do. "I can't stay here indefinitely, Dad."
"Can't you?" Basileus returned with a low rumbling growl.
Aro held up his hands defensively. "I will, if that's what you want. I wasn't challenging you."
Basileus concentrated on some deep breathing, I can control myself, for the love of the gods I am stronger than this! he thought.
"We need to spend some time together," Basileus announced, formulating his plans in his mind as he spoke. "You can go home in the morning, and you will return to my quarters when the young ones go to bed."
Aro sighed … he had planned some activities with his mate that were better suited to the hours his children were sleeping!
Basileus smirked. Tough! he thought to his son's thoughts.
"For how long?" Aro asked, hoping his father would say a few days or less!
"Until I can trust you and release you from subordination."
Aro groaned. "That could take weeks, Dad."
Basileus merely nodded. And, the rest! "You will not leave the tower without me," he added, glaring at Aro when he looked ready to object. Basileus shook his head slowly until Aro started nodding his agreement.
"Who else knows, Dad?" Aro asked quietly.
"About you submitting to me?" Basileus checked.
Aro nodded, sure his face was flushing.
Basileus quite liked seeing his son squirm, it didn't happen often. "Your mother, Eleazar, Sulpicia. I think that's all. Though I suppose someone would have told Carmen."
Aro felt a lift in relieve. "Do my children know? The masters?" he pushed, hoping to god they didn't!
"No," Basileus replied. "And so long as you stick to your word and keep off the dungeon blood and the other women then they won't find out from me."
Aro bit his lip. Just El I need to silence then, he thought.
"Your brother won't say anything, he has given me his word. And unlike you, he keeps his."
Ouch! Thanks, Dad.