AN: I've posted the last two chapters of this bunch together, so check that you have read Chapter 112 (Exoneration) before you read this one! :)

Time for some retribution. But even when its justified, payback has consequences…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Felix woke on the 25th of December without a shred of joy. His Christmas plans had been long forgotten, cast aside with any hope of happiness for the event after the destruction Lucius had caused to the coven.

The devastation to the Volturi family was immense. After hours and hours of discussion where Aro and Atia had explained, in detail, all they had worked out in the dungeons, the Volturi family were left bereft, shattered through their very core for all they had suffered.

With Magnus' help manipulating Basileus' feelings, the creator had 'slept' for a solid five hours - quite a lot for an adult vampire. It had been exactly what the man had needed to realign his mind.

The Volturi family had asked Alec to use his fog, but the boy refused. In fact, Alec had hardly left his bedchamber in the three and a half days since Aro had been evicted from his home. He feared Basileus after the last year with him. The youngest vampire in the coven had received some of the harshest punishments from the man, and Alec held a grudge.

When he came around, Basileus checked Jane's memories a final time. Now that Lucius was well and truly out of the picture, the events in Jane's head were what had actually happened rather than the images Lucius had implanted there. There was nothing. Nothing other than Aro behaving impeccably towards his golden child and even the 'occasion' with Lucius was missing.

Lucius hadn't arrived in Jane's bedroom much sooner than Basileus that night and as the girl was already changing her clothes, and through his gift of mind control, he simply instructed her to get into bed and kept her there. He knew Aro would come and he wanted the coven king to find him with his daughter. It was payback, Lucius had explained to Jane, and without the cloud of a false memory to hide behind, Lucius' secret was laid bare.

"The Volturi ripped my heart out. Your father took everything I hold I dear and I am going to destroy everything he holds dear in return."

He wanted Aro to find him, and he wanted him to believe he'd had his way with Jane. From all Lucius had learnt about the coven king, he knew Jane was the apple of his eye and the one he held most dear.

That night couldn't have gone any better had Lucius scripted the whole thing himself, which of course, he did in part. Lucius' only mistake was that he had concentrated all of his efforts on controlling Basileus' mind and had assumed Atia would go along with anything the creator decreed.

Volturi women were not so weak as to go along with their men blindly.

Basileus demanded an emergency meeting with the masters to discuss what they would do with Lucius, or 'Lucifer' as Basileus was now calling him.

His rejection of Atia had been noted by all the Volturi family, and it was even more blatant when Basileus told the vampiric witch that she was not to join him in their own chambers whilst he conducted said meeting with the masters.

"I want him in the prison," Basileus demanded, booming his wants at the four coven leaders (in a show of female solidarity, Freyr had refused Basileus' invitation after hearing of his dismissal of Atia.) The floor shook with the force of his conviction.

"We can't do that, my lord," Aro said tentatively. "What if he keeps his gift … who knows what he could do.

"What could he do as a head?!" Basileus shrugged.

"Everything he has done has been with just his head," Marcus pointed out, shaking his head to Basileus.

Magnus agreed. "That's a dangerous head to keep in a cupboard, my lord."

Caius kept his mouth shut, but he thought, if you keep that boy as a head I am never going to those dungeons again.

Basileus stalked around the room, intermittently sipping from his bloodwine. "I want revenge."

Aro smiled coyly remembering his mother's words to him that very morning. "Revenge isn't something to get drunk on, Dad."

Basileus didn't find the same poetry in the statement as Aro had. "I want him to suffer for all he has made me do … to the coven, to my grandchildren, to you." Alec still won't talk to me, he thought, and when Jane needed her family most I ripped us all apart. "Good god, when I think of what I did to you," he said to Aro. "and what I nearly did to you!"

"It wasn't you, Dad," Aro replied. He wasn't too sure what Basileus meant by 'what I nearly did to you', but it worried him thinking on how far the creator could have gone. Aro had been closer to death than he had ever come in battle.

"We all know that, my friend," Marcus told his old compadre with a hand on his shoulder. "The children will come around."

"Think about Atia, too, Dad," Aro slipped into conversation. "She loved the kid, once."

"The only reason that boy made it past our gates is because of Atia," Basileus said, spitting his mate's name. "Her feelings are collateral damage."

Aro slammed his fist into the table. "You can't do that, Dad. That isn't fair."

"It's unusual to hear you defending my mate," Basileus commented, paying little attention to his son's outburst.

Aro stood and matched his father stance for stance. "Your mate is my mother and she saved my life. I will forever be in her debt."

"We all will," Caius added.

Atia had done more for him and Athenodora than anyone else would realise, and he genuinely liked the woman. Caius genuinely liking anyone was a rare occurrence but he knew Aro would be dead and burred now if it weren't for Atia seeking the truth.

Basileus didn't say anything. Instead he closed his eyes and moved over to the open window, the brisk breeze cooling his temper. He loved Atia. They are right, I'm not being fair. Atia did nothing wrong. I cannot let that deceitful brat take anymore from me.

"Where is Lucius?" he asked the group at his table.

"In the dungeons," Caius confirmed. "Renata is guarding him."

"We need to know what was motivating that boy to destroy our coven before he dies." Basileus looked to Caius, as the resident torturer, but Aro knew his father's real intentions.

"You have tried to use your gift on him, Dad, what's the point of this?"

"I have tried, but I haven't really pushed it." Basileus explained. "Neither have you, Aro."

He took the seat next to his son. The scaring to Aro's face had now disappeared, thanks to Basileus' blood gift, but the creator could see the very faintest of lines that Aro would permanently wear thanks to his vicious punch. It turned his stomach. The bloodied clothes Aro wore, which he had now worn for the best part of a week, served to remind everyone else of all the coven king had been through.

"What do we know so far?" Marcus asked. He didn't like the idea of Basileus, or Aro, risking themselves further by being in the boy's company.

"From what I saw in Jane's memories, we have, at some point, killed the coven to which he was aligned. Other than that, we know that the Romanians were involved."

Basileus could remember talking to Lucius about the Romanian coven now his memories were unclouding. It was taking longer than it had for Jane, but then Lucius had kept a strangle hold on Basileus' mind for an entire year!

"And all this with Jane and Lucius?" Magnus broached carefully. He didn't believe for a moment that Aro could have done anything to harm the girl, but Lucius? He wouldn't put anything past that little bastard.

"From what we can tell in Jane's memories, no. Nothing happened," Aro confirmed. "Not physically at least," he added, wondering what the everlasting effects would be on his child after having such a think implanted in her head.

"I would like to be certain, Aro," Basileus said darkly. "We aren't, yet,"

Aro wanted to be certain, too, but he couldn't see how they would ever be sure. "How will we ever be?" he asked. "Lucius is hardly going to admit the truth, is he?"

"Ask him your questions whilst I'm there, Magnus offered. "If his gift is being blocked I will be able to read his emotions - I'll know if he's lying."

Though Magnus' offer was appreciated by Aro, Basileus wanted more. His desire to 'fix' all of this mess himself was intense. "I need to get inside his head. I am stronger than him, I know I am. We both are," he said to Aro.

Aro wasn't so sure, but he could see it was something Basileus would try, with or without his support. "Okay … but we will have to make sure he cannot use you against us all if he manages to get in your head before you get in his."

"Lock me in a cell with him," Basileus suggested. "The worst that will happen is that I kill him."

Caius scoffed. "Felix broke out of those cells as a newborn - they won't hold you."

"Then bring some backup," Basileus insisted. He was doing this whether they liked it or not. "Magnus?"

Magnus puffed the air out of his cheeks. "I can't hold you back alone, my lord," he said. "Felix will have to come, as well, at least."

"Atia and Alec, too," Aro added. They would need all the support they could get if Basileus was intent on delving into Lucius' mind.

Basileus agreed, though he doubted that Alec would come willingly. He was right.

Aro tried to convince Alec to go to the dungeons of his own free will, but when the boy resisted, refusing to help his grandfather, Aro lost patience. Throwing Alec over his shoulder, Aro carried the boy from their chambers with Felix following.

"So, can I hit him?" Felix asked his father on their travels.

"Who? Alec?!" Aro replied, jostling the boy in his arms.

"Lucius!" Obviously, Felix thought.

Aro thought about it for a moment. "I don't want you close enough to hit him, son."

Felix frowned. "What's the point in me coming, then?"

"You and Magnus will be holding Basileus back, if occasion calls for it."

Gulping down his own trepidation, Felix remained silent for the rest of their walk.

"I'm not helping Basileus do anything after what he has done to me," Alec continued to gripe.

Aro stopped at the top of the dungeons and set Alec on his feet. Crouching low so he was face to face with his youngest, Aro pinned the boy against the wall. "Look at me, Alec," Aro said, gesturing to his blood-stained clothes and particularly ragged appearance. "My own father did this to me. But it wasn't his doing. Lucius made him do it, you know that, yes?"

Alec scowled petulantly. Yes, he knew that, logically. But his childish mind couldn't move past that it was Basileus who had caned him so savagely.

Aro narrowed his eyes to his boy. "You want to hold a grudge, fine, go ahead. But if you are told to fog the room, you had better do it, understood?"

Alec nodded, bottom lip protruding slightly with his upset.

That was as much as Aro could expect from the boy, he knew that, and he led his sons down the dungeon stairwell.

Atia and Basileus were already there. They appeared to be on speaking terms but the heavy atmosphere between them could have been cut with a knife!

Basileus' shame had caused him to push his mate away to begin with, but after speaking with the master, and later continuing the topic of his relationship a little deeper with Marcus, he was trying to get back on Atia's good side.

Atia was far too astute to waste an opportunity like that and she planned to use her mate's initial rejection of her to secure a few promises from Basileus for his conduct going forward.

"I will forgive your rejection, my dear, if you agree to NEVER use submission in this coven again."

Basileus scowled. He didn't see that he had a choice in that. "It's happened once, Atia. Once. And it was Aro's fault."

It was Atia's turn to scowl. 'I know it has happened at least twice with Aro and almost once with Eleazar!" she told him tersely through her thoughts.

"The second time," Basileus grimaced thinking about it, "wasn't submission at all. It wasn't even me!" He turned to jab an angry finger towards Lucius' cell. "That was all that little cunt's doing. Not mine."

Atia didn't reply. She couldn't. She was so relieved to hear Basileus say it wasn't him that she couldn't find any words.

Basileus could, though. He had many words. "Surely you knew that wasn't my doing?!" he asked, sounding angrier than he'd intended. "It only happened under severe duress the first time. Do you really think I would let that happen again?!"

He was offended, but Atia was glad of that, too. It restored the last of the missing pieces of faith she had in her mate. "Of course not, I knew it wasn't you," she lied. "We should tell Aro, though. Put his mind at rest."

"Erm … I don't think that's such a good idea, my dear." Basileus wasn't sure it would put Aro's mind at rest knowing the truth. "What do you think Aro will prefer in this situation? Believing it was submission, an act he understands in vampiric terms. Or, that Lucius used me to rape him for his sick and twisted entertainment?"

If Atia wasn't such a lady, she may have balked at her mate's words. As it was, she remained perfectly composed. "He doesn't need to know," she agreed.

Caius, Magnus and Renata sensibly kept out of the silent conversation between the two and waited outside Lucius' cell door, though Magnus would have loved to have had the script to go along with the very odd and erratic changes in feelings coming from the pair.

Aro strolled over to the criminal in their ranks and leaned against the cell bars. Aside from his clothes, one could be forgiven for mistaking the seriousness of all that had recently occurred. Aro was back in business mode. "I have a duty to protect this coven. I will do that by expelling any dangers from it."

Expelling? Lucius repeated to himself. Expelling doesn't sound so bad. "So, I can leave?" he asked hopefully.

Aro smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. I might have let you … my father, however, is a little more vengeful than I."

Lucius gulped and backed up to the very furthest point of the small holding cell as Caius unlocked the door.

Basileus filled the space of the open doorway, literally! His broad shoulders and staggering height blocking almost all light from the wall torches in the main dungeon.

Lucius cowered in the shadow of the creator.

Aro called Atia and Renata in close. "Block Lucius as much as you are able without interfering with either of us," he told them, before joining his father and taking a tight hold of Lucius' throat.

He could have taken the boy's hand - such contact would have been just as effective, but he wanted to hurt the little bastard and the throat seemed more suitable to Aro.

Caius locked the cell door behind them. "If Basileus turns, he could kill Aro before I have time to open that door," he whispered to Magnus.

Magnus released a shaky breath and pulled Alec closer to the cell. "That's what the boy is for," he told his covenmate. "Be ready, Alec."

Alec nodded. He my well hold a grudge against his grandfather, but his father hadn't done anything wrong and he would disable Basileus to protect Aro in a heartbeat.

Basileus and Aro worked for over an hour trying to worm their way into Lucius' mind. In all that time, they hardly accessed more than the most fleeting moments in the boy's memories.

"I give up," Aro declared. "Give him to Caius."

Caius' eyes flew open wide. "What do you expect me to do with him?"

Basileus, too, relented. He couldn't get into the boy's mind. It was like a closed book. "You know how to extract information, Caius. I'm sure you can turn your talents on the brat."

He brought Lucius out of the cell with him once Caius had unlocked the door, dragging the young vampire around like a rag doll.

"Of course," Caius agreed, though Magnus could tell from his emotions that he certainly didn't relish the idea.

"What gift does he have?" Lucius asked. His voice was small, and kind of distant. The child was utterly exhausted already with the effort of trying to keep the creator and king from his mind.

"More a talent, than a gift," Basileus told him, menacingly. "Caius. Lingchi"

"Lingchi?!" Caius repeated. Death by a thousand cuts … "He's just child." Caius had performed the torture many times on many victims, but never on a child.

Magnus was surprised to learn that. He hadn't expected Caius to have a limit on who he was willing to torture. Thinking back, he couldn't think of a single youth that had ended up in the dungeons. If they came to the coven they were dispatched in the throne room, usually by Aro. Caius never took them below with other doomed vampires. He didn't even harvest the blood from the bodies of the young vampires the coven executed.

"The fuck he is just a child," Aro replied forcefully. "Look what he has done to us!"

"Okay, okay," Caius agreed, hands outstretched placatingly, "but they have to leave," he added, pointing to the remaining members of the Volturi family.

Atia pulled Alec to her side but Felix stood firm "After what he has done to my family I want to see him suffer," he said.

"I'm not doing it with them down here, Aro," Caius told his co-master. He meant it, too.

Aro asked his mother to take them and raised his eyebrows to Felix when he still resisted.

Atia whispered to her grandsons, "You don't want to see this," as she led them away.

Magnus and Basileus led the way to Caius' torture room, dragging Lucius along.

Aro stopped Renata from joining them inside. "Can you block the boy's gift from outside the door?"

"I can't be sure, Master," Renata said nervously. "I have been able to block his gifts towards you through closed doors, but I don't that I could block a room of people I cannot see …" Renata trailed off, knowing she was sealing her own fate - she would have to be in the torture room and bear witness to the execution.

"Then I apologise, my dear, but you must come with us," Aro said sadly. He wanted the little fucker dead but this looked set to be a traumatic end, particularly for a boy of Lucius' years.

Magnus took a seat on the fire ring wall with Basileus as Aro and Caius manhandled Lucius into a pair of iron manacles.

The manacles Caius used were ones of his own design containing silver razor blades inside which sliced into vampiric flesh like a hot knife through butter.

Lucius shrieked as the blades dug into his wrists.

Caius took a step away from the boy. Boy, Caius repeated to himself a few times. Am I really going to do this to a kid? Lucius looked to be the very youngest victim to meet their end in the torture room of Volterra and Caius felt uneasy about the child's age, despite his crimes.

Basileus caught Caius' reluctance. I'll nip that in the bud, right now!

The creator drew a full flagon of dungeon blood from the barrel and handed it to Caius. "Take as much as you need as often as you like," he told the coven leader before retaking his seat.

Aro salivated as he watched Caius chug down a good few gulps of the sticky tar-like substance. He sensibly kept himself well away from the flagon when Caius began his work.

Sending scraps of skin flying over his shoulders as he plucked at Lucius flesh, Caius began his work by creating an intricate vampiric jigsaw puzzle of the boy who had single handily brought the Volturi to its knees.

Lucius started spilling his secrets soon after Caius scalped him, removing the child's flesh from his head right down to the bone of his skull.

Magnus could tell through his gift that Lucius was speaking the truth with his claims - his involvement with Jane had been nothing more than a trick of the mind, and the Romanian coven had sent him to break down the Volturi from within with the promise of great rewards for his efforts.

Indeed, Lucius had welcomed the opportunity to mete out vengeance on the Volturi, and Basileus and Aro in particular, for the downfall of the coven he had resided with in the early years of his vampiric life.

The boy had been paid handsomely for the coven secrets he had already fed back to Stefan and Vladimir on his many trips out of the castle over the last year where he had been met by messengers.

That had been his downfall - he got greedy! Filling his pockets, (or rather, a pit in the woods) with the gold from the Romanian coven and enjoying twisting Aro's life into a living hell had meant he hadn't wanted to stop. He wanted to enjoy torturing the coven king and lining his own pocket for as long possible.

Playing people the way Lucius had, even for a boy of his experience, was a tall order. It's unsurprising that he had, in the end, failed. Corrupting Jane's mind to destroy Aro had been too much. He should have known Atia would enquire into the girl's memories again and would then expose his trickery, but the opportunity to really break Aro was just too tempting.

Aro was almost as sickened by the truth as he had been by the fallacy. It took Magnus nearly sitting on him to hold the coven king back when Lucius admitted fucking with Jane's head just to play with him.

Basileus was equally horrified. He could remember, now his mind was his own again, that he had accompanied the boy on a number of those trips and spoken to the Romanian envoys under Lucius' influence. Our whole operation will be a laughing stock! There is no way to hide this travesty from the vampiric population! He was utterly horrified.

It was two hours into the torture session and a whole flagon of dungeon blood for Caius. He was wrecked. He hadn't had taken so much dungeon blood in one sitting for over a hundred years, at least, and it was messing with his head. He saw the translucent ghostly figures of a thousand victims haunting his torture room, gathered at the very edges of the dungeon hell hole. To begin with they were just watching him, but as the night went on they began mocking him, taunting him.

Staggering around his playroom, Caius tried to dispel the unwelcome demons from his mind. He ended up heaving his last feed into the fire place before he collected his next instrument - a pair of pliers.

Turning the item over in his hand, he struggled to focus on the tool with his blurred vision. He didn't want to hurt the child anymore. He had never faltered in the face of his duties before, never! And he never thought he would. But beating a child to a bloody pulp, as he had done with Lucius, was beyond the pale.

Magnus and Aro weren't faring much better. Neither could look at the manacled child. For all he was, and for all he had done, he was still only a boy. He looked no older than Felix, and Aro couldn't help but think of his own children when he saw the mutilated state Lucius to which Lucius had been rendered.

"Take his fangs, Caius," Basileus called over, seemingly enjoying the little bastard's demise with macabre relish.

Caius nodded and got himself together. "Of course."

He breathed, approaching the chained boy. Caius had already bled Lucius, broken every bone in the child's limbs, many of his ribs, and removed the hair and flesh from his head. And now I am to take his fangs? he questioned.

Basileus could see Caius was ready to quit, but he hadn't gotten his pound of flesh yet. "Get on with it, Caius."

With one hand around the boy's throat, Caius took his pliers to the boy's fangs, ripping them out one at a time until all four were thrown into the fire. Lucius hardly made a sound. There was already so little left of the boy.

Caius threw up again, and collapsed into the wall. He wished he could claim it was the dungeon blood that had put him in such a state but it wasn't, not solely at least. The things he had done to Lucius, that boy, it had affected his state of mind.

"That's all we are going to get from him," Magnus declared seeing the state Caius was in. "Let's finish this.

Basileus shook his head. "Flay him."

Aro spun to face his father. "What?!" You can't flay him for fuck sake! What's the point?

Basileus ignored Aro's verbal and silent protests. "FLAY HIM!" he ordered, looking at Caius.

Caius braced himself on the wall, dry retching at the very idea. "I can't do it."

"Take another shot if you need to," Basileus offered, holding out a knife to Caius for the task at hand.

Aro, too, was concerned for Caius. "Dad we have everything we need to know," he insisted. "The kid can't even talk, there's no point in dragging this out any longer."

Again, Basileus ignored his son. "You know what to do, Caius," he told the coven torturer, forcing the knife into his hand. "Take your blade, and flay him!"

Caius shook with trepidation. "I can't do it," he repeated.

"I told you to flay him," Basileus said sternly.

"Look at him!" Caius shot back, throwing the knife to Lucius' feet. "He's a fucking child, and look what I have done to him!"

"He brought our coven to its knees … " Basileus tried to throw an arm around Caius but Caius sidestepped the creator.

Caius mustered every ounce of courage he had left and faced Basileus off. "YOU brought our coven to its knees - he's just a kid!"

Magnus and Aro shared a brief look of concern before Caius' continued rant had their mouths hanging open in shock.

"You are the greatest weapon on earth and you allowed a fucking snot nosed brat to take control of you and play you like a puppet!"

"I 'allowed' him, did I?" Basileus spoke with a dangerously calm edge to tone that would usually have petrified Caius. As it was, Caius was too tanked up to even notice.

His words slurred into a drawl, but the coven master still managed to make his real feelings understood. "You think you are invincible and it makes you cocky. I bet when you met him, that first day, I bet you didn't even consider for a second that YOU could be the one at risk, that YOU could be used against us?" Caius had never been so brave!

Basileus reared back, Aro flew in front of his father with Magnus rushing to Caius' side. "Who the hell do you think you are talking to?!" Basileus barked.

It was a bullshit response, one that showed Basileus didn't really have an answer to Caius' question that he was willing to verbalise.

Caius surveyed his options briefly. He could take Magnus down on skill alone but if the juggernaut got a good grip on him Caius wouldn't be able to escape. He could possibly take out Aro, but that was about it, and not in his current state. No, I can't fight my way out of this one, he thought, but then he saw the mangled state of the boy on his dungeon floor. I won't do this anymore, either.

"If you want him flayed for your own damaged pride, you can do it yourself." He pushed Magnus aside and started to stagger from the torture room.

Basileus fumed. "Caius, get back here and do your job!"

"I AM NOT A FUCKING ANIMAL!" Caius roared before flashing from the dungeons.

Basileus was dumbfounded at Caius' display.

Aro had something to say though, naturally. "I do believe you have just broken our torturer," he told his father, silently agreeing with Caius' unexpected protests.

"I'm going to go after him." Magnus announced. "After the other night on dungeon blood …" He didn't have to say anything else.

After the guard hall party where everyone, Caius included, had drank the spiked bloodwine, he had returned to his chambers and fought with Athenodora. It wasn't particularly Caius' fault. One of the reasons he had curbed his use of the coven drug was for Athenodora's benefit.

Magnus didn't waste any time catching up with Caius and dragging him past the ground floor suite and up to his own chambers with Freyr where he could do no harm until the dungeon blood effects had subsided.

Basileus towered over Lucius, enjoying the boys anguished howls and whines. "He can go on the fire, piece by piece."

Aro gulped down his last feed and proceeded to finish Caius' job, slowly tearing Lucius apart and feeding the boy to the flames.

…

"How did it go?" Felix was on his feet bombarding his father with questions before Aro had even made it through the door. "Did he talk?"

"Is he dead?" Alec asked. The coldness of the boy's tone had Aro stop in his tracks, but he didn't turn to face his family, nor did he speak.

"My love …" Sulpicia called softly to her mate, but he left them all without word.

Aro headed straight to the bathroom, pumped the water until the bowl was full and immediately plunged his whole head into it.

The water was ice cold and it felt amazing against his thumping head. Basileus had fed his son back to strength but the exertion of the last few hours in the dungeons, not to mention the state of stress he had been living in for the last year, had created an enormous amount of pressure in Aro's head.

When he lifted himself free of the water, Aro noticed the colour in the bowl. Bright red. He was covered in blood. Aro scrubbed at his skin to remove the blood from his face, his hands, his forearms. He wasn't too sure whose it was - his own or Lucius'. It could be both, he reasoned. What an exciting day in the dungeons. Prisoner, torturer, and executioner, he thought, laughing sardonically. It's been a busy day!

After an age of scrubbing, Aro finally felt clean enough to collapse into bed and decompress.

Sulpicia followed her mate through to their bedchamber with a glass of bloodwine which Aro gratefully received. She didn't press him - it was clear from Aro's face that he wasn't ready to talk about Lucius' demise.

Hearing their young ones creeping towards the bedchamber door, Aro called them inside. "Get in here, I need you close."

The older boys went to the end of the bed whist Alec joined his mother near Aro. Jane crept up beside her father. "Especially you, my precious princess," Aro said, pulling Jane onto his chest and lying down with her. She rested her head on his unbeating heart, tucked under his chin.

"I would never hurt you, Jane," Aro whispered. A stray tear rolled down his cheek. And then another, and another. If Aro noticed at all he didn't bother to hide it, which was most unlike him.

"I know," Jane replied simply.

Aro saw the hollow expression behind his baby's eyes and he squeezed her tight. It was lucky the girl had no need to breathe!

"We all know, my love," Sulpicia added, holding Alec just as tightly.

Looking around at his tired little vampires, Aro asked, "Did any of you sleep last night?" Not one of them had.

Aro extended his arms wide, taking Felix in one side and Demetri in the other. Sulpicia kept Alec tight to her chest and lay them both down next to Demetri. Aro laid a hand on his youngest son's shoulder. He needed contact with them all, if only for a while.

"Felix, next year you are getting your Christmas. I am going to throw the biggest party you could possibly imagine!"

He heard his boy chuckle tiredly and then silence. The children didn't breathe when they slept, dropping the human custom, and both Aro and Sulpicia were too emotionally exhausted to talk.

They stayed that way until the next morning.