AN: Super shout out to my amazing Beta reader Doccoopper for fitting in editing this story on top of everything else she does! What a marvel of a woman!
So, Valentines day… love, sex, all that jazz. Some of our vampires, like the original masters, are very, very old. Social factors around love and sex were quite different in ancient Greece (and the pre-Christianised West in general) to those experienced by our younger vampires, like Carlisle in early modern Protestant England. So that's an issue to deal with… Other than that, everyone's feeling the lurve…
VALENTINE'S DAY
Aro and his family unit had been 'homeless' for three months. Jane and Alec were only in Eleazar's suite for sleeping, the rest of the time they followed their mother around the castle. The older boys enjoyed living with Carlisle, but they were both surprised by how much they missed their parents, and even the twins. As it was, all four of the Volturi children were sat on their parents bed in Basileus' spare room, bugging Aro whilst he changed for the Masquerade Ball.
"I have already told you that you aren't coming, Felix, stop going on about it."
Aro stepped over Demetri's legs, hanging off the bed. It was a fairly large bed but with the four young vampires slobbing-out all over it, overspill occurred.
"The first event," Felix complained, "the very first event, and you are chucking us out!"
Aro had been hearing the same complaints for a month, and the last week had been an incessant stream of whinging from his children.
"We are not chucking you out, son. Valentine's Day is a day for lovers not for kids."
Demetri saw an angle to move in on. "I can round up a few lovers if that's your only reason to keep us from the party," he offered hopefully.
Aro stepped back over his boy and gave him an accidentally-on-purpose kick as he did so. "This is an adult only event," he stated, for the umpteenth time. "You will be there for all of the other events, this one, however, is for mated pairs."
"But why?!" Alec whined, joining in the whinging.
"Because," Aro drawled, mocking his son's tone, "it's something I want to encourage with the guard. Mated guards are easier for us to deal with. It shows commitment. Valentine's Day is the perfect day to celebrate marital love and it's something that goes completely unrecognised day to day."
Felix and Demetri scoffed in unison hearing that.
How convenient that you are doing this for mates when WE will never have mates - because of you, Felix thought.
Demetri's thoughts were on a similar wavelength.
"Have you told Marcus he can't attend?" Alec asked, snottily.
You really are spending too much time with your brothers, boy, Aro thought. He bit his tongue though, he understood why the three of them were so upset to be missing out. Three - because Jane didn't seem to mind missing the ball, she was, however, thoroughly pissed off about having to stay at Marcus' for the night.
"It was his idea, actually," Aro eventually replied. "He loved my sister more than any man has ever loved a woman and were she alive they would have hosted this entire event. He has asked that I make Valentine's Day about mates in her honour."
Felix's eyes lit up when Sulpicia walked in at the perfect moment. "Are you saying Marcus loved Didyme more than you love mom?" he asked.
"Not at all," Aro replied immediately, catching his wife as she passed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck gently. "But where I have failed to always put your mother first, Marcus never, ever did with my sister."
Sulpicia returned the embrace before pulling away to add the finishing touches to her outfit - ruby red jewels to go with her scarlet gown. "Stop trying to cause a row," she hissed at Felix.
Aro shook his head while looking at his disgruntled children. "Would you like to take your complaint to Marcus and tell him he is wrong in wanting to honour his dead mate?" He smirked smugly to himself when none of them replied.
Demetri mused for a moment before he sighed to himself. "Adrianna and I are …"
"Not mated," Sulpicia finished the boy's sentence with finality.
"We are as close to mates as can be with your rules," Demetri said, adding, your stupid fucking rules, in thought.
"Close is not enough, son," Aro sang out. "Besides, like I said, it's not a suitable event for children."
Felix had a better idea. We aren't the only unmated vampires in the castle. "What are the unmated guard members doing when you are having your swanky masquerade ball?"
"They will be in the guard hall, I expect," Sulpicia replied to her son, missing the excitement in the boy's eyes.
Aro didn't miss it! "Before you ask, no, you are not going to the guard hall. You will be in your beds, asleep."
"Asleep?!" Felix repeated the word as though it were a foreign concept.
"The ball, proper, won't begin until midnight when Valentine's Day begins," Aro explained. "I have arranged it to begin at that time so you won't feel like you are missing out on anything and you can spend tomorrow day time, which will actually be Valentine's Day, with whomever you want."
"Not missing anything?" Felix scowled. "Are you actually serious?"
"Is Carlisle going?" Demetri asked, nudging Felix clearly in reference to the fun they could have if he was staying home with them.
"He's babysitting you two," Aro told them. "I can well imagine the ideas running through your tiny little minds and I suggest you bring an end to your scheming immediately."
Demetri and Felix continued grinning like loons. Sometimes they felt the punishment was worth the crime … tonight, in their minds, was already looking set to be one of those times.
Aro's eyebrows knitted together as he watched them. You pair are bloody transparent!
"For Carlisle's sake if not your own," he added to his suggestion. "You know Basileus is watching him like a hawk. If you two do anything other than sleep like good little boys, Carlisle will be on the receiving end of a serious hiding."
That took the wind out of the sails a little.
"Not to mention what I will do to you pair."
Aro put on his cape and threw Jane's and Alec's to the bed. "I will deliver the twins to Marcus, my queen," he told his mate.
"We don't need delivering," Alec protested as Aro dragged him out.
Felix threw himself back onto the cushions. "This is the worst day ever."
Sulpicia stroked his angry young face softly. "So far you have survived one hundred percent of your worst days, so I think you will get over this, too."
Felix continued to scowl, as did Demetri.
"Boys, it's one event and if you behave through this one you will be able to attend all of the others." Sulpicia collected her mask and tried it out in the mirror as she continued to talk to her disgruntled boys. "This is going to be an exciting year and I would hate for you to ruin it for yourselves by doing something silly over one night."
With that she ushered them out and back down to Carlisle's chambers before heading off to the throne room for the Masquerade Ball.
…
"Bastards," Felix boomed, glaring at the door as though it were his father, or grandfather, or possibly just about any other mated vampire in the coven. "Utter cock sucking bastards."
Carlisle directed his nephew to the sofa and flopped down next to him, thoroughly pissed off, too.
"Are you happy about this, Carlisle?" Felix asked. He knew he wouldn't be.
"No. It's not fair," Carlisle huffed, cursing the childish nature of his reply but it was apt, in his mind. "We could at least go to the guard hall whilst everyone else has their fucking ball."
"There will hardly be anyone there anyway, Carlisle. There's, like, eight guards not invited," Demetri added, lying across the window seat and looking out at the rain.
"Not invited?" Felix repeated. "More like excluded!"
Carlisle ran through the guards in his head. "Eight?" he asked.
"Yeah," Demetri reeled off the uninvited, or rather, excluded guards, "Renata, Heidi, Corin, Adrianna, Mikhail, Odi, Sadie, and Turk."
Carlisle thought about it for a second. "What about Phillipe, Richard, Talia, and Phoebe?"
"They are mated," Demetri replied. Obviously.
"So that counts but you and Corin don't?" Carlisle asked Felix, thinking if good friends counted then Felix and Corin should count, too. They have more of a mated-ish relationship, Carlisle thought. Or they used to.
Felix and Demetri looked back to Carlisle in confusion. "Me and Corin aren't anything to count anymore. Not since Aro … " Felix stopped himself from revealing his father's torrid secret. "Not since Aro ended things for us," Felix explained. "Besides, me and Corin weren't mated, we were just fucking - the others are mated."
"Yes," Carlisle replied, missing the point, "but it's not like normal mates, is it? Any pair of friends could be classed as mates." He really was missing the point!
"I hadn't thought about it like that … hmmm …" Felix was running with Carlisle's supposition, just because it meant he might have a way of being on the invite list. But … "why aren't Turk and Odi at the ball then? They are best mates."
"But they aren't mate mates," Demetri declared. Carlisle was confusing him.
"That's what I'm saying, Carlisle stressed, "Phillipe and Richard are just like Turk and Odi and they have been invited."
Felix and Demetri finally clicked on to what their uncle was suggesting. "No, Carlisle," Felix said slowly, like he was talking to a young child. "Turk and Odi aren't mates like Richard and Phillipe are mates."
Carlisle scoffed. "Of course they are. Maybe not as close …"
"No, Carlisle," Demetri cut him off before he could embarrass himself further with his incorrect assumptions. "Are we going to have to have the sex chat with our uncle?" he asked his brother, feeling more than a little awkward about it. Felix didn't feel much better.
"What are you talking about?" Carlisle asked,
Felix winced. Why do I get stuck explaining the ways of the world to my uncle, of all people? "Do you seriously not get that Phillipe and Richard are actual mates - as in, they are together, share chambers …"
It was clear Carlisle still didn't get it.
"And a bed," Felix added, hoping that would be enough.
"Like … lovers?" Carlisle asked, the look on his face displaying his disbelief. When Felix and Demetri nodded slowly in unison, Carlisle was astounded. "But that's illegal!
"Only for humans. Not for vampires." Demetri was struggling to keep the smile from his face at his uncle's clear revulsion. Ah, bless him! he thought.
Felix burst out laughing, not caring for Carlisle's feelings. "How have you lived here for ten years and not known they were lovers?" he asked, genuinely perplexed.
Carlisle just hadn't really thought they could be. He didn't know anyone from his human life who was gay … he didn't think he did anyway - now he was wondering if there may have been a few and he just never realised that went on. "So, Talia and Phoebe are … lovers? And Turk and Odi?" he asked.
"No, not Turk an Odi," Demetri replied confidently.
"So they say," Felix added. "But have you ever known either of them to be with any else?"
Carlisle wasn't really listening anymore as the two Volturi boys started arguing their case for whether Turk and Odi were together-together, or not.
"I can't get my head around this." Carlisle started walking around his living room. "Are you saying their relationships are condoned in the vampiric world?" 'Condoned' was a loaded word, even to Carlisle's ears, but he couldn't think of another way to express his thoughts and they were coming far too quickly to keep up with anyway.
"I don't know about the rest of the world, but in Volterra? Yup," Felix replied. "What's the big deal?"
"It's against God," Carlisle stated flatly. He wasn't too sure how he felt about his Christian teachings, but the hard and fast rules, as he had been taught them, still applied as far as Carlisle was concerned.
Felix and Demetri sighed in unison. "Carlisle, you have got to get over this God stuff." Demetri was bored of hearing about religion - it was all the Volturi seemed to talk about lately and he much preferred the time before when religion was just something humans did, not vampires.
Felix, much like his father, only enjoyed using religion when it was to wind someone up, and he didn't fancy winding Carlisle up whilst he was living in his chambers. "Vampires don't make any sense in your Christian world, but here we are! I'm sure you can get over the idea of couple of guys fucking."
Carlisle wasn't too sure that he could, actually. It wasn't something he had given any thought to before, but one thing he felt for sure was that he had been excluded from an event that four coven members shouldn't have been invited to either. He didn't think, or maybe they should? Or not?
Pinched with bitterness over being excluded, and racked with boredom being confined to his quarters, again, Carlisle felt his old friend, adventure, calling him. "We're going to the guard hall!" he announced, collecting his cloak and those of his nephews.
"Seriously?!" Felix asked, full of excitement. He had wanted to go and see Sadie, it was only the idea of getting Carlisle in trouble that meant he was sat in at midnight whilst there was a party or two going on in the castle. He would rather have been heading to Corin's dorm, but she still wouldn't entertain the idea of being with anyone after what Lucius had done to her. Even if she was willing, she wouldn't want me, the boy thought dejectedly.
Carlisle nodded with a broad smile. "I'm sick of being treated like the spare part around here."
"But what about Basileus, and Aro?" Demetri asked, taking his time in putting on his cape.
Felix tutted to his uncle and shook his head to his little brother. "You don't have to come if you're scared," he teased.
"I am scared - I have sense," Demetri agreed. Aro is going to flip his lid about this. "But I'm still coming."
…
Aro and Marcus stood in the Great Hall at their thrones sharing a drink. They had been discussing Didyme, a topic Aro usually avoided as it caused him such sorrow to think of his beloved little sister. "You have always had room in your life for all these other things, Aro," Marcus said.
"You had Sulpicia and I don't know how you fitted in your devotion to the coven on top of your relationship - I was only ever doing enough to cover my duty before returning to Didyme."
He stopped for a moment to take a long draw from his opium pipe. He was smoking quite a lot again, but as it only had a positive effect on the master no one saw fit to complain about it. "I couldn't have imagined sharing our life with children as you have," he added, the smoke coming out of his nose like a dragon.
He was genuinely impressed with Aro's ability to make space both in his head and his heart for others the way he did. It wasn't usual for a vampire like Marcus. "I was too greedy for my mate, too reliant on her attention, her love, her presence. All I have now are my memories of her. My Didyme. I want for nothing else."
Aro nodded along as the master spoke. "You could have that again, Marcus. With someone new?"
Ari wasn't too sure if he liked the idea of Marcus having a new mate, mainly because he kept his sister's vigil so heartily that it almost felt like Didyme was still alive, still hiding somewhere in the castle, perhaps. But he did want Marcus to be happy and if a new mate could help accomplish that he would definitely put aside his own feelings on the matter.
Marcus looked to be considering Aro's offer for a moment, but no, he shook his head. "Even if such a miracle were possible," Marcus said doubtfully, "to find another who I could love so completely and who would love me completely in return … even if that could be, I could never betray my mate's memory."
Aro wished for a moment that he wasn't quite so able to make room for others. He had been right in what he had said to his children earlier that evening – Marcus had never failed his mate. Aro had, many times. Not by loving their children, not even by putting the coven above his family, his mate at times. But he had found it far too easy to fall into bed with other women when the occasion presented itself.
"I will retire now," Marcus said to his co-master, pulling Aro from his thoughts. "Enjoy the night, brother." With that Marcus disappeared.
Seeing his father and mother arrive, Aro sought out his mate's company before his Atia could get there. He needed to be close to Sulpicia after talking to Marcus.
Freyr's hand slipped through Magnus' fingers as she left him to speak with Atia. You will be gassing for an hour at least, he thought when she told him she'd only be a minute.
Basileus, too, knew his mate would be lost to gossip for an hour and joined Magnus at the barrel table. There was no bar in the throne room, so barrels were arranged on the long banqueting tables for self-service.
"I would say this ball is a success, my lord," Magnus commented as Basileus took a seat. "Even Caius is relaxed."
Basileus zoned in on Caius to find him happily dancing with his mate. "How relaxed?" he asked, concerned.
"He feels calm, content," Magnus explained using his gift.
Basileus was on his feet. "If he's brought dungeon blood to a coven party again I'll bloody kill him!" he raged.
Magnus pulled the creator back down. "Caius didn't bring it last time, my lord," he reminded the man that Lucius had orchestrated the previous event. "Not like he would now anyway," he added.
Basileus looked to Magnus quizzically.
"Surely you know?" Magnus whispered. "Caius doesn't take it anymore, Basileus. Not since Lucius." He decided to finish his sentence there, without bringing up the disaster that was Caius' last torture attempt.
Basileus knew exactly what Magnus was referring to, but still, it was news to the creator that Caius was off the coven drug. "He doesn't take it at all? Not even when he works?"
For fuck sake, why did I say anything?! Magnus cursed his own big mouth for dropping himself in the shit.
"Magnus?" Basileus questioned sternly.
"He isn't working so much at the moment," Magnus replied a little cryptically.
Basileus sat up straight and looked Magnus dead in the eye. "We had a bunch of rogues brought in last month … what happened to them?"
"We dispatched them in here," Magnus explained, gesturing to the floor around him. "Aro got what he could from their heads first," he added, so they didn't sound totally inept.
"Is this Aro's doing?" Basileus asked, seeking out his son in the crowd to find out if he had started a quarrel with Caius again. He hadn't heard of anything amiss between the two masters, but they both had form for upsetting one another. "Is he restricting Caius' duties for some reason?"
Whatever he said, Magnus knew he was dropping one of his co-masters in the shit so he decided to go with the truth. "Aro offered the rogues to Caius but he refused to take them."
"Well if he isn't in the dungeons, what exactly is he doing?" Basileus wasn't too sure what to make of it. Caius lives in the dungeons, what else could he be up to?
"He's spending quite a lot of time with me, in the guard hall. Dora, too."
Basileus scoffed. "Drinking," he stated. It wasn't a question as such, more a presumption.
Magnus shrugged. "Not to excess," he said honestly.
Basileus tried searching through Caius' thoughts but he'd had a bit to drink himself and the crowded room made the task impossible. Magnus was his best bet for information. "Let me get this straight," he said, unnerving Magnus with the strength of his tone, "Caius isn't torturing anymore because he doesn't want to take dungeon blood, or because he doesn't want to torture?"
"Both, I believe," Magnus answered.
Caius hadn't confided in Magnus, nor Aro for that matter, he had simply avoided any work that would mean he needed the coven drug. Magnus had always got on well enough with Caius, but since he had stopped working, and was therefore off dungeon blood, he was finding the younger master could be pleasant company, fun, even!
"He is much easier to be around now that shit is out of his system. I have never seen Athenodora so happy."
Athenodora, happy? Basileus watched as she laughed in Caius' arms. What a peculiar situation. "I will have to talk to Caius about this."
Magnus couldn't tell from Basileus' feelings whether that talk would be a talk or something more physical, but one thing he knew for sure, Caius wouldn't have that talk easily.
"Not tonight, Basileus," Magnus said calmly, "its Valentine's Day ." He noticed Freyr taking a break in conversation and stood to join her. "You should be with your mate, as I should mine."
Basileus didn't go to Atia, instead he went to Aro, pulling him out of the conversation he was having and to the throne floor for a private chat on the 'Caius matter'.
"Why didn't you tell me he has handed in his notice?"
Aro looked puzzled for a moment before he followed his father's eyeline to Caius and the pieces slotted together. "Oh, yes," Aro replied, biting his lip. "You haven't wanted to talk about Lucius' time here, or his end," Aro said carefully. "How could I bring it up?"
Basileus didn't like that. It was true that he had avoided all conversation that revolved around Lucius, but he would have wanted to know that Caius had quit his job.
"Don't worry about it, Dad," Aro said, interrupting his father's ponderings. "Caius will be fine."
Basileus looked back, askance to is son. "Caius IS the Volturi torturer," he said emphatically. "What will he be if he isn't torturing?"
Aro mistook his father's concern for aggression towards him. "I told you at the time you had broken him," he said in defence, "I wasn't joking."
Aro had told his father that when his co-master flounced from the torture room amid cries of 'I am not an animal'. "Caius is trying out a new outlook on life. We'll see where he settles and work with what he gives us."
Basileus hadn't thought Caius was capable of being so bothered by torturing someone. As he put every effort into searching through the young master's mind, he thought back to Lucius' end.
Yes, Lucius was a child, technically, but we have killed children before. Granted we aren't prone to dragging out their doom … shit.
Basileus 'heard' just how badly that night had affected Caius, but then there was something else … something that wouldn't have happened had Caius not snapped that night - he was happy. Relaxed, like Magnus had said, but also the good intentions Caius had after the first meeting of the covens to behave better, to be better, he was now able to achieve without the ever-present effect of dungeon blood.
"Sometimes it takes an overwhelming breakdown to have an undeniable breakthrough," Basileus thought out loud. "I suppose your big change was the kids," he said to Aro. "Lucius must have been Caius'."
"At least some good will have come from that little bastard infiltrating our coven," Aro nodded along to his father's hypothesis, agreeing that Caius may have the chance to make some positive changes. "Does this mean you are willing to talk about Lucius now?" he asked.
Basileus had avoided the topic since they had killed the kid, and though the masters had put in place various measures to prevent a further infiltration, there was much he wished to discuss with his father on the subject.
"I'll be willing to talk about Lucius when Alec is willing to talk to me," Basileus conceded. "That boy has refused to even look at me in eighteen months, son."
Aro winced. "Alec is particularly prone to grudges."
It wasn't much of a consolation to Basileus who was still receiving the cold shoulder from the child.
"You haven't done much about it though, have you?" Basileus sounded accusing, he was really.
Aro could have attempted to change Alec's mind, instead he had left the boy to his brooding and got on with his work. Truth is, Aro didn't do much at all with either of the twins - they were Sulpicia's domain. He loved them both very much, but he left much of the parenting to his mate. He was only called in when they were in real trouble, which was vanishingly rare.
"How am I supposed to talk to Alec about forgiving you when I am not allowed to discuss Lucius at all?" Aro replied, excusing his lack of effort.
Basileus shook his head. "I never said you couldn't discuss him, Aro."
"You didn't have to!" Aro raised both eyebrows to his father until Basileus caught onto his thoughts.
Aro was right. Basileus hadn't had to issue an embargo on talk of Lucius because his scathing attitude towards anything even vaguely Lucius related had done the job for him.
"We will discuss Lucius tomorrow, if you will talk to Alec?"
Aro smiled happily. "Deal." Taking a look around the great hall, Aro could see more and more of the humans were moving to the sides of the room, tiring. "The blood bags are flagging, shall we open feasting?"
Basileus made the call to the vampires in attendance, speaking in Greek. The few humans who understood the language still couldn't catch what was being said with the speed of Basileus' very short announcement. They didn't have long to think on it as they were soon rounded up and drank dry.
…
Carmen and Eleazar left their chambers hand in hand. It was close to 9am, very late in the morning for vampires to surface from their rooms. They bumped straight into Aro and Sulpicia as the coven king and queen snuck up the stairs.
"Look at what the cat dragged in!" Carmen exclaimed.
"You are still wearing yesterday's clothes," Eleazar noted, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Just about," Carmen teased, pulling on a stray thread from her sister-in-law's gown. "I had hoped to borrow this dress, Sully," she said sadly, gesturing to the tattered state of the once beautiful scarlet silk.
Sulpicia bit her lower lip and looked away, not wishing to divulge their secret night time shenanigans.
"Where did you disappear to?" Eleazar asked, "I tried to find you to say goodnight."
"We took a tour of our new chambers, must have lost track of time," Aro breezed, trying to pass his big brother.
"You took a tour of building site?" Eleazar asked. Bollocks! he thought. "A likely story."
Before Aro could claim his innocence, Basileus' voice filled the stairwell. "Where the bloody hell have you been?!" he boomed at Aro.
"Why, what's happened?" I'm still drunk, I can't be dealing with anything serious right now, he thought.
"The boys are missing," Basileus explained.
There was a tiredness to his tone, a sort of exhaustion for coming events rather than those passed. He had pushed to have Aro's sons in Carlisle's suite in an effort to demonstrate some faith in his youngest. Now he looked like an idiot and would have to have yet another conversation with his son regarding his immature choices. Great.
Aro folded his arms across his chest and looked down his nose to his father, which was rather difficult to do as Basileus was a good few steps above him, let alone almost a foot taller. "Mine or yours?" he asked.
Basileus didn't need to answer out loud - his face conveyed all the information Aro needed.
"I knew this would happen. Fucking Carlisle!"
"You can't blame your brother …" Basileus began, only to be cut off by Aro.
"Oh, yes I can!" he replied. "I assume he isn't sitting in his chambers unaware that my bloody sons have wandered off?"
Basileus closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself down. He was pissed off with Carlisle, too, but if Aro wasn't careful he would be adding himself onto his father's hit list.
"Do you know where they could be?" he settled on asking.
Aro knew. "I know exactly where they will be. Little bastards will be with the guards, of course."
Sulpicia took her mate's cloak and threw it around her shoulders, covering her damaged gown. "I'll fetch the twins from Marcus," she told her mate, kissing him quickly.
"You don't fancy trading with me?" Aro called after his mate.
Sulpicia's laughter filled the stairwell as she descended the steps. "Not even a little bit, my love."
"I'll go," Eleazar offered. He wanted to save his brother and nephews some shame. "Why trouble yourselves?" he said, sounding ever so helpful. Before either his father or brother could resist, Eleazar was gone.
He was surprised to find Carlisle, Felix, Demetri chatting in the guard hall - he had fully expected to have to drag them from the guard dorms. They all flinched when they saw him walk over.
"Have you been sent to fetch us?" Demetri asked quietly, hoping none of the guards would hear him.
"Sent?" Eleazar repeated. "No. I'm not a dog." He took a seat with them and asked the ladies to leave - he correctly assumed Sadie, Adrianna, and Heidi had kept the three of them company through the night. "I offered to come to save your blushes."
Part of Carlisle wanted to object. We haven't done anything wrong to blush over, he thought. But a greater part of him was grateful Eleazar was there, calmly, rather than Basileus or Aro raging without a care for their standing amongst the guards.
"Is there a particular reason you decided to risk your neck for a fuck last night?" Eleazar directed at his younger brother. "Or are you back to wantonly destroying any faith out father has in you?"
"And you two!"
Felix and Demetri jumped in their seats.
"I think you had better get yourselves back home before Aro comes to find you."
…
Aro slung his youngest son into his bedchamber and slammed the door behind him.
Alec jumped onto his parents' bed and glued himself to the headboard. He didn't like upsetting his father. Aro still scared him when he was angry - unsurprisingly after all the young child had witnessed in the centuries he had lived with the man.
Aro stood at the foot of the bed, glaring at his young boy. "I will assume you are tired and emotional … " he started.
"No, I'm not!" Alec broke in, offended at being spoken to like a toddler.
"because," Aro continued with a raised eyebrow to the interruption, "I can think of no other reason for the display you just put on to MY father, the CREATOR."
Aro had been blindsided by Alec's refusal to speak to Basileus and he was embarrassed by his son's poor attitude.
Poor attitude? Aro repeated to himself. He stood there with his mouth clamped shut looking down his nose at my father, making me look like a total dick! He hadn't for a moment thought Alec would refuse to do as he had been told and talk to Basileus. Little sod really knows how to hold a grudge!
Alec gulped. "Maybe I am, a little," he pouted.
Aro moved to sit near his boy and saw the child flinch. He didn't like that. Aro understood why Alec was sometimes nervous around him. He had only really been a 'father' to the boy for a relatively short amount of time. All the years that came before Aro hadn't tempered his volatile behaviour around his 'high guard' nearly enough for their young minds.I'm lucky the other three seem to think on it less, he reasoned with himself. He sat carefully on the bed and pulled the reluctant boy in close.
"It has been eighteen months, Alec, and it wasn't Basileus' fault," he said gently, pleading his father's case. "Lucius made you do a lot of things you wouldn't have usually done, too."
Alec sniffed, becoming tearful at the mere memory of Lucius. "I know," he replied, leaning into Aro. "But Basileus should have known better. What if he lets it happen again?!"
There was a whole load of worry and a touch of disbelief to Alec's tone that Aro had heard from a number of coven members already.
Wrapping his arm around his child, Aro explained, in the way he had to so many others, what to him was obvious. "Basileus didn't suspect anything when we first met Lucius because of his connection to Atia. Your grandfather isn't a suspicious bastard like I am. He's confident … too confident, perhaps. The Romanians used both of those things against us and they used Lucius expertly."
Aro couldn't help but be impressed by the Romanian scum that had blighted his life for centuries. Impressed, but they were still scum.
"Basileus didn't let it happen purposely, Alec. But it will never happen again, I promise you."
Alec trusted Aro when he said that it wouldn't happen again. He had heard a good many of the coven leaders' meetings where the masters had come up with strategy upon strategy for ensuring Basileus could never again be used as a weapon against the coven.
"How did Lucius' gift even work on Basileus, though? He's so strong."
Aro heard the disappointment in his son's voice. It was something he felt himself, though he knew it wasn't fair - the creator wasn't infallible. This man, this god, that every vampire in the world referred to as the perfection of their kind, had shown weakness, and it freaked them all out. Their god was flawed.
"Alec, your grandfather was created by Zeus. I have seen Zeus in Basileus' memories and he was magnificent to behold. But he was flawed. Greek gods, my gods … they were flawed, all of them. Some were greedy, some selfish, some vindictive. They were tricksters, and they could be just as easily tricked. Your gift works on Basileus, so does Jane's. Why shouldn't Lucius'?"
Alec had nodded along as Aro spoke. He knew the Greek gods through the stories his father had told him. Aro had been telling him those stories since he arrived in Volterra and reminded him of all the happy times they had shared even before Aro had become his father. He felt his frustrations melt away.
Aro felt it, too. "You will drop this grudge you have against Basileus, yes?" he asked after a while of just holding his boy close.
Alec nodded.
Aro winced thinking of the tantrum Alec had thrown when he had demanded the boy just talk to his grandfather again. He kicked himself for making the situation worse. He should have known Alec wouldn't have just agreed blindly without anything being explained to him first.
I should have spoken to Alec last year, why have I put this off for so long?
Aro had concentrated on Jane. After all she had been through at the hands of that despicable brat, Aro had worried for his daughter most of all. But Jane wasn't like Alec … se didn't do grudge. She expected justice, and often hoped to mete that justice out herself, but once that was done, she would detach herself from the event and move on. Remarkable really, but it wasn't Jane's way to dwell on things, fortunately, as the immortal twelve-year-old had already seen a shocking amount of horror in her young life. Aro hadn't considered how damaged Alec had been by events.
Still, I know my old man is going to expect an apology …
Bobbing his head to himself, he stood from the bed and kept Alec in place with a firm hand on his shoulder. "Stay here and practice your tone until you can make it suitably apologetic."
Alec slowly turned to face his father. "I have to apologise to him?!" he asked incredulously, eyes as wide as his mouth in shock.
"Very good, son. I think that would be a wonderful idea," Aro smirked. "You did boot him in the shins, Alec."
Alec continued to pout.
"Man up son," Aro said ruffling his hair. "And stop being so infantile."
Alec huffed and threw himself back on his parents' bed. "I'm supposed to be infantile, I'm only twelve. I'm not apologising to him," he sneered. He hadn't intended for Aro to hear him, but of course, he did.
"Oh!" Aro exclaimed, feigning surprise. "You need an incentive, do you?"
Alec may not have been used to being in the hot seat with his father, but he had been witness to his brothers' demise too many times to count and he knew that calm facade Aro was putting on was fake, and dangerous. When Aro expertly slipped the belt from his waist, Alec wasted no time in backtracking.
"I will apologise," he relented.
Aro nodded to himself and refastened his belt. He'd had no intentions of using it, but Alec didn't need to know that. "Good choice," he said before slipping out of his bedchamber.
"If you're busy with Alec we can come back later," Felix offered, playful smile dancing on his lips.
Narrowing his eyes at his eldest pair, Aro shook his head slowly. "No, son. I'm free as a bird." His belt once again slipped from his waist.
"That will have to wait, brother," Eleazar announced strolling into his father's chambers with Carlisle trailing behind.
Aro tutted. "You have been ruining my fun since the day Basileus brought you home," he mocked his big brother, though he was interested to see what Carlisle had to say for himself. By the look on your face I would say there is more to this sorry episode than simple disobedience.
"We will need Basileus, too," Eleazar said, looking to his nephew expectantly.
"I'll track him down then, shall I?" Demetri huffed snidely, chuntering about being the family dog always off to retrieve someone or other.
Back in the guard hall, Eleazar had managed to coax his little brother into telling him why he would risk his neck for a midnight fumble with Heidi. Eleazar, always looking to keep the peace, relayed Carlisle's issue with the same-sex matings to his father and brother in the hope of keeping him from a hiding.
Carlisle wasn't quite sure what he imagined would happen, but the three-way verbal assault he was receiving from Basileus, Eleazar, and Aro had been unexpected. That cane would have been preferable to this! he thought.
Basileus heard and smirked to himself.
Carlisle continued to glower at his father. At the very least you could have sent them out, he thought, looking to his nephews, who were revelling in Carlisle's embarrassment.
"It's wrong," Carlisle replied when Basileus finally asked him to explain his issue in his own words.
Basileus took the seat next to his youngest. "Why is it wrong?" he asked, genuinely wanting to understand from where Carlisle was coming.
"It just is," Carlisle insisted. Okay, I need a better reason than that.
"You only think it's wrong because your good book tells you so," Aro sneered. "There is more than one book, there is more than one way to live a life."
Whilst Basileus didn't appreciate Aro's snide tone, he couldn't fault his son's words. "It's just a suggestion, one way to live. Even your one way has many interpretations, yes?"
Carlisle nodded, though the look of confusion and mild distaste still wore on his face as it had done now since Felix and Demetri had revealed the dynamics of the guards' relationships.
"If you don't like how other people live their life then don't live your life that way. But you don't have the right to insist on them living your way, either," Eleazar added to the conversation.
It felt less of a conversation to Carlisle and more of an intervention. "I know that," he told them all, still unsure of his real feelings on the matter.
"Then what's your problem?" Aro snapped.
"His perceptions of right and wrong are stuck in one place and one time," Basileus replied to Aro. "He will learn, son."
He hadn't intended on sounding quite so condescending as he did, but experience told Basileus that Carlisle's attitudes to such things would change in time.
Carlisle glowered at his father and brothers, all deriding the sheltered bubble of his existence to date. "Don't patronise me," he spat.
Aro scoffed. "You can't even come up with a reason for why Phillipe and Richard shouldn't fuck, and I would guess you have less of an issue with Talia and Phoebe fucking."
"They don't fuck, though." Carlisle started rubbing his chin hearing himself claim such a thing. He wasn't sure what Talia and Phoebe did … but suddenly it was all he could think about.
Basileus had to turn away so Carlisle didn't see him laughing at his innocent mind.
"Oh they do," Aro waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Felix sidled up to his father. "What exactly do they do?" His excited eyes begged for some juicy information.
"Like I would tell you!" Aro scoffed, shoving him away playfully. "I do love my gift."
Just as Aro had shoved Felix, Basileus shoved Aro. "Filthy animal."
"Yeah, because you have never taken a look, I suppose?"
Basileus ignored Aro and turned back to Carlisle, placing a heavy, but comforting hand on his youngest son's shoulder. "It's perfectly natural. Normal," he breezed, though he sensed Carlisle stiffen beneath his touch.
Like a spark of light igniting in his mind, Carlisle thought of a most excellent reply. "Not all things to which a person might be inclined are "natural" in the morally relevant sense; rather, only the inclination to the full and proper expression of the human nature, and inclinations which align with that inclination, are natural. Contrary inclinations are perversions of the natural in the sense that they do seek a good, but in a way destructive of good."
Basileus was lost for words hearing that! So were Eleazar and Aro!
Felix, however, wore a growing smirk. "Saint Thomas Aquinas."
Everyone turned to face the boy.
"He said that, not Carlisle," Felix explained.
Damn it, Carlisle cursed. He had stolen those lines from something he'd read.
"How do you know that?" Basileus asked his grandson, looking mightily impressed with the young vampire.
Felix laughed, pleased with himself for catching his uncle out. "It was in one of those books …"
"That Marcus made you copy!" Aro completed the boy's sentence for him. It was his answer to everything lately. "You know, Felix, I think that exercise did you more good than you realise."
Felix recoiled from his father and the very idea that spending weeks doing nothing more than reading, writing, and sleeping was in any way good for anyone - especially him!
Seeing Carlisle looking more, rather than less pensive as their conversation went on, Basileus pulled his boy in close. "We are emerging from the most anti-gay period in history that I have lived through," he explained. "But in the history of humans, it has been more acceptable than not, I assure you."
"We didn't even have a word for it back in the day," Aro chipped in. "It was just sex, it didn't need a label. You could fuck whoever you liked."
Seeing his teenage sons rearing up for an argument on the unfairness of the restrictions he placed on their love lives, Aro amended his statement. "Make that, adults could fuck who they liked."
Felix and Demetri slumped back down.
"How could it not have a label?" Carlisle wondered.
"Isn't it something you all did in the ancient world?" Eleazar asked. "Most men from noble households had lovers, didn't they? Usually male, usually young."
Aro smirked to himself. "Women for business, boys for pleasure."
Basileus noticed Carlisle appear horrified beside him. Damn you, Aro, must you always make everything worse!
"It's not as awful as it sounds," he said to his son, in soft calming tones which were totally mismatched to the subject had you asked Carlisle. "They couldn't use young women as lovers because it would tarnish her marriage prospects."
Demetri turned to his father. "So you had young male lovers?" he asked, curiosity in his eyes.
"That was after my time." Aro waved away his son's suggestion, without really denying it. "I was born in the thirteenth century, this sort of thing didn't really start until the seventh or something like that."
"I was born in the fifth century." Felix tried to think back to his human days but he couldn't remember being anyone's lover boy - and he assumed he would remember such a thing!
"I was talking Before Christ, not after." Aro explained.
"Though it was still a common practice in your day, Felix," Basileus said, giving his grandson a wink. "You are lucky not to have moved in such circles."
Deciding he would rather not dwell on the thought of becoming some noble man's fuck toy, he pushed on with Demetri's questioning of their father. "So you have never … you know."
"Yes," Aro replied, answering nothing.
Felix squinted at his father, as though it would help him to deduce the point of his answer. "Yes, you agree with the statement or yes, you did?"
"Yes," Aro replied again, sounding rather flippant.
"You raped boys?" Demetri asked slowly. Though it wasn't much of a question, he was pretty sure that's what Aro was implying. "Or were they consenting?"
"Consent was a different matter back then," Aro explained. "Age didn't come into it. A child could neither give their consent or refuse it - that was for their guardian to decide."
"That's not so different to now, brother," Eleazar remarked thinking of the very many cases he had seen in his human days at court where young noble girls were married off at tender ages without much concern for their personal opinions on the matter.
Aro nodded to that, he knew women and children remained the chattels of men. "Vampires are the same, I suppose." It wasn't something Aro had thought about before but he could see a clear likeness. "Coven leaders could give consent for their coven members. Coven members still require the consent of their leaders to take a mate."
"Have you ever refused to give your consent?" Felix asked, thinking through the mated guards who seemed to have got together without too much fuss.
"Yes, I have," Aro replied, wincing when he saw Demetri scowl and correctly assuming the boy was thinking of his lost Lucy. "And I have used Chelsea to break their bonds so they stayed with the Volturi."
Basileus saw his grandsons and Carlisle were all trying to work out an example of Aro pulling rank in such a way. "Haven't you ever wondered why Renata survived pretty much unscathed by her mate's death?"
Felix's mouth hung open. "You used Chelsea on Renata before Antonio died?" He should have known really but it just hadn't occurred to him at the time. (There had been a lot going on to be fair to the boy). "Before Magnus ripped him to pieces, I mean?"
"I did," Aro replied. "That information does not leave this room."
Basileus didn't want such information leaving the room either, and he was getting nervous with where the conversation was heading especially hearing Demetri's mind concentrated on the injustice of losing Lucy, and more concerningly, how he could continue with Adrianna without losing her, too. Deciding it was best to leave that disaster waiting to happen for another day, he pushed the conversation on and back on track.
"There are no issues with being gay for vampires because we have no religion. Almost all gods reject us whether we live by their books or not."
Basileus couldn't think of a single god he knew of that welcomed vampires into the afterlife. Other than Zeus, obviously, but then he doesn't control the afterlife.
"That doesn't mean one shouldn't strive to live a good life," Carlisle replied.
"No, it doesn't," Basileus agreed. "But it does change what comprises a good life, don't you think?"
"I'm bored now," Aro announced. He couldn't see what else they could say to Carlisle. "Brother, quit your scowling. You look childish. Phillipe and Richard have the same rules as everyone else - don't fuck in the public areas of the castle. Beyond that, I don't care who fucks who or where or why or how."
Again, Aro had to shake his head to his own sons who were taking his rant a little too literally. "I am not including you two in this conversation, and you damn well know it."
"And I shouldn't care either?"
Carlisle wasn't sure if he cared or not. The old human part of him told him he should. He could almost feel the Good Pastor breathing down his neck, telling him to call it out as an abdominal act. But the only reason he had was because God said it was bad … which was a weak argument for vampires, even when he was the one making it.
"It's Valentine's Day, Carlisle," Aro said pulling his brother from his thoughts. "Time to embrace love in all its forms."
Felix saw a reprieve on the horizon. "Would that mean you are going to turn a blind eye to last night … under the circumstance?"
Aro checked with his father first. 'Shall we let them off?' he asked through his thoughts.
Basileus didn't want to punish Carlisle any more than Aro did his sons. Particularly as Carlisle continued to frown to himself in consideration of all the new knowledge he had just taken on.
"Luckily for the three of you, I am feeling the love today."
Eleazar breathed a sigh of relieve with another disaster averted and left with Carlisle following quickly behind to ask his big brother for help in understanding all this new information.
Basileus, at Aro's suggestion, went to the bedroom to speak with Alec. Aro had to hush Felix and Demetri so he could listen in on the conversation. Don't start again, son, he thought desperately, wanting to end the animosity.
He could just make out Basileus' calm deep tone but the words were too quiet to be understood. Relief washed over Aro when Basileus brought his boy into the living room with Alec held close to his chest. Alec had clearly forgiven his grandfather but Aro knew his child better than Basileus did and the boy wasn't comfortable having to be so cuddly so soon.
"Come here, son," Aro called with an arm reaching for his youngest.
Basileus assumed Aro wanted to check on the child's conduct after the first attempt at getting Alec to give up his grudge. "He's good, Aro."
"I would rather check for myself, Dad," Aro lied.
Alec bounced into Aro's lap. "I said sorry," he shrugged.
Demetri nudged Felix to push for info. Scared little prick! Felix thought. He still did it though. "What have you done, Alec?"
"He booted me when I apologised to him," Basileus replied on the boy's behalf.
"And he's still alive?!" Felix answered in disbelief.
Demetri couldn't verbalise anything but his thoughts were similar to his older brothers, both screaming 'injustice'.
Basileus heard them, of course. "Yes, he got away with it, just like you got away with sneaking out in the middle of the night."
"Unless you would prefer we dealt with that properly?" Aro asked. He sounded so calm and nonchalant that the boys could have been forgiven for mistaking the seriousness of his proposal. They weren't that daft though, and they kept their mouths shut.
Aro had truly had a great night and he didn't want the bother of depressed teenagers blighting his day.
"Can we discuss Lucius now?" he asked, squeezing Alec to his chest with an arm around his waist.
Basileus bobbed his head. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to confront the demon eventually. "What have you done about the traitorous cunt?"
Aro close his eyes for a moment. Great, so you are setting the tone for this conversation early on. "We've sent letters to the covens in the alliance," he explained. "They are all on watch for any activities from the Romanian forces. I will be sending a couple of guards out after Easter to gather information from them all."
A small smile spread on Aro's face thinking of the letter Marcus had received from the Egyptian coven on the matter. "I believe Amun is feeling pretty contrite for sending Lucius to us."
"It was not Amun's fault, Aro," Basileus said firmly. There was no one to blame for the Lucius debacle other than Lucius himself, in Basileus' mind. That's what he wanted to believe, anyway. Self-loathing for his own part still weighed heavy in his heart.
"It wasn't his fault at all," Aro agreed. "But having that cantankerous old goat feeling indebted to us can only be a good thing."
Aro chanced a look to Demetri as they were discussing his old coven leader. The boy tried his best to hide his interest in the conversation but Aro could read him like a book. Just as Demetri still worried Aro would send him back to his old coven, Aro worried Demetri would one day want to leave. It was a simple matter really and all worries could have been set aside had they simply talked to each other about it. But fear of the answer ensured they both held their silence.
Aro shook the thoughts from his mind and continued with his father. "I believe the secret meetings Lucius told us about were confined to the Romanian coven members. No one else has reported anything suspicious with you involved."
Basileus heaved a deep sigh as he threw his head back in his chair. "I must say, I am relieved to hear it," he said, silently congratulating their good fortune before continuing, "but it doesn't give us much to go on against the Romanians, does it."
"They got lucky," Aro said with a wave of his hand in dismissal. "They stumbled across a young lad who was easily swayed by money."
"We are assuming it was money, Aro. We don't really know." That's what really worried Basileus - they only had Lucius' word to go on for his motivations. Neither he, nor Aro, had ever managed to get inside his head so they could never be sure. "I suppose the Romanian's showed better foresight than I did in that they must have vetted the boy before he got close enough to do them any damage."
Aro didn't want to rub salt in his father wounds, but he had to agree. "Which would suggest to me that they have a shield who is at least as strong as Renata, and possibly someone with Eleazar's gift … though they must be stronger than El as he never could name the gift with which Lucius was armed."
"It's a shame we can't get another guard like Renata on the staff," Basileus said, already formulating plans to find new guards with shielding capabilities.
"Whilst that would be wonderful, it's down to luck as to whether we will ever get one. For now, we are refusing admittance into the castle for any vampire whose mind I cannot access." Aro stopped when he noticed Basileus was no longer listening. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm trying to decide whether I should go after the Romanians alone," Basileus lied. Well, it wasn't a complete lie - he was thinking about that also. "In and out," he continued. "Eradicate those slimy bastards before another attack."
Aro shook his head and puffed the air from his cheeks. He couldn't think of anything worse! "It's not worth the risk, Dad. What if they have another Lucius? What if they have found a way to cultivate such a gift?"
That was exactly what Basileus wanted to find out. That, and to wipe the fuckers from the face of the earth.
"We would all be doomed if they could use you against us." Aro cringed the moment the words left his mouth. His three sons seemed to mimic his actions as they all thought the same thing as their father.
"They HAVE used me against us, Aro!" Basileus roared, rising to his feet and towering over his son and grandsons. He wasn't trying to intimidate them, but he was doing a damn good job of it, incidentally.
"I would rather we put off round two for as long as possible." Atia floated into the top floor quarters, her neutral tone calming the room instantly. "We have an exciting year planned in the coven, and the coven needs it to rebuild morale." Arriving in front of her mate, she stroked his face softly. "You are needed here, my dear, not off avenging your pride and getting yourself killed."
Aro didn't catch whatever it was that his mother whispered in his father's ear after that, but he had to smirk at the way she had controlled the creator so easily. "I think she just grounded you," he jibed at his father.
Basileus pulled Aro to his feet. "I think you should get your kids out of my quarters for a few hours," he suggested, guiding them all to the door.
Aro didn't need his gift to guess why his mother had disappeared into the bed chambers. Eugh, he thought with a small shiver.
"It's Valentine's Day," Basileus said with a broad grin before closing the door in their faces.