AN: Easter: I'm thinking renewal, rebirth, and as Felix reminded us in the Synod - sex! So… a bit about our characters early beginnings, a bit of fun, and a bit of cringe… lots of bits make a long chapter! Hope that's okay with you all?
Had a fair few PMs about seeing some early beginnings chapters, I've written up Felix, Demetri and the Twins so look out for those (Chapters: 133-135)
Thank you for recent reviews and messages :)
EASTER
The towers' meeting in the library had been going on for around an hour … or for an eternity by Felix's watch. Whilst his brother and sister were playing the part of dutiful children keeping themselves quietly amused with boring books, Felix's boredom was overflowing to annoyance.
"What's the point in making us come to these meetings if they don't include us in anything?!" he hissed at Carlisle, who was equally bored and annoyed but doing a slightly better job of hiding it.
"They like us to know our place," Carlisle whispered from the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah," Felix scoffed, "bottom of the dung heap."
"Are we done?" Caius asked when a lull in the conversation presented itself.
Caius wasn't bored. He was, however, dreading being called out for his lack of work. Magnus had warned him that Basileus was on to him now, and though Aro had insisted he had no reason to worry, he knew it was only a matter of time before the creator would want a word with him. A word wouldn't be so bad, he reasoned. It was 'more than a word' that worried Caius.
Basileus could hear the man's thoughts. He had promised Aro that he would leave Caius be for now, but he just couldn't help himself from having a little fun. "Do you have somewhere to be, Caius?" he asked with a knowing smile.
"I'm sure we all have a lot to do, my lord." Fuck, fuck, fuck! Caius felt his collar dampen at the back of his neck. I am actually sweating! Calm down! he willed himself.
"Caius and I have training with the guards this afternoon, my lord," Magnus offered, saving his co-master's skin … or at least his blushes.
Basileus raised a single eyebrow, silently calling Magnus out on his bullshit, but left it there when he saw Atia turn a similar expression in his own direction. "What have you planned for the Easter celebrations, Aro?" he asked, misdirecting his annoyed mate.
Felix bounced in his seat and answered before Aro had the chance. "Let's have a costume party!" Finally! Something I can join in with!
"Like another masquerade ball?" Athenodora asked.
She and Carmen looked a little disappointed - they were hoping for another occasion to wear something grand and expensive, and preferably new!
"We did that for Valentine's Day, sweetheart," Sulpicia said carefully.
She had been relatively pleased with her sons at Valentines. Sure, they skipped out to the guard hall all night, but they didn't cause any trouble and they didn't ruin the ball … that was quite well behaved for Felix and Demetri.
"No, like costumes," Felix insisted. "We could all go as ourselves from our transformations."
He gave Carlisle a nudge to join in with his plan, though the poor guy looked blankly back to his nephew.
"I don't get it," he said. "Why don't you tell me these plans before you announce them?!"
Felix tutted at Carlisle's uselessness. You're as blank as Demetri! he thought. "Easter is about renewal, right?" he said to the group. "Well what's more renewing than dying as a human and waking up as a vampire?"
He could see they were all going with him on this. "We could all dress up in the style of dress we would have been wearing from the times when we were turned."
"Ooo, Felix, I love that idea!" High praise, indeed, from Athenodora. Carmen and Sulpicia were similarly impressed.
Aro smirked to his boy. "You were dressed in rags when I found you."
"Dress of the time, Dad," Felix rolled his eyes, "not the actual outfit from the day we were turned."
Aro's remark had made little difference - the Volturi women were already planning their outfits.
Basileus rolled his tongue around his cheek. "I wasn't turned, I was created …" he mused. "Should I wear nothing?"
All talking ceased.
Sulpicia, Carmen, and Athenodora positively glowed - it was as close to blushing as Vampires could get.
As they clamoured to agree with Basileus, whilst their mates looked on disapprovingly, Atia broke through the noise.
"Whilst that would be appreciated by many of the women in this castle …"
"And, a few of the men!" Carmen added, hoping somehow that would help convince Basileus to arrive naked.
Freyr jumped to Carmen's aid, pulling away from Magnus. "I think it would be great for coven morale."
Magnus nearly choked on his own venom hearing Freyr join in the mental ogling. "Oh, do you?"
"Indeed," Atia agreed, smile tugging at her lips. "I think you will have to find something suitable, my dear, for common decency."
Carmen sank into her seat. "Atia, you are such a spoil sport."
"I could arrange a private showing, ladies," Basileus offered, swaggering around the room, "if you want to see what a real man looks like."
Magnus scoffed. "No they don't, thank you very much!" Oh for fuck sake! he cursed himself, realising how he had made himself sound.
The men all turned on Magnus, ribbing him mercilessly for being less of a man as the women turned back to costume design. "I would love an excuse to wear a Grecian gown again," Sulpicia said wistfully.
"And where will we find clothes from Ancient Greece in modern Italy?" Aro asked, wincing slightly as he said it. He just knew his mate would begin her nagging again to have a holiday to their home country soon.
"We can make them," Felix offered, having absolutely no idea how to make clothes of any kind.
"Would this be the royal 'we' by any chance?" his mother asked, knowing full well her boy had zero sewing skills.
Felix made general noises about the 'we' being the women in the castle before slinking away from the glares he was receiving.
Dora smiled to her mate and announced, "Caius can sew much better than I can."
"Will you stop telling people that?!" Caius groaned in return.
Both Basileus and Atia noted not only how Caius' tone was far less abrasive than he used to be - that groan would have been a growl not too long ago - but also how Athenodora didn't simper at his side. Instead, she carried on, openly teasing him.
"You can!" she said. "All those years of stitching up the newborns you damaged have really honed your skills, love."
Caius closed his eyes and tried to shut out Aro's jeering. "Dora, please!" he begged.
"There we go, then," Felix said happily. "Caius can make our outfits." He had to duck quick to miss Caius' lazy swipe at his head.
"It could be your new job, Caius?" Basileus offered with a wink.
Caius' eyes bulged as his mind scrabbled for something to say in return.
Thankfully, Magnus came to his aid once again. "The tribune ball is held at Easter - do you think other covens will join in with this?"
"That would be amazing!" Carmen burst excitedly. "Could you imagine all of the outfits?!"
"Could you really imagine the coven leaders of our world agreeing to play dress up on the whims of a child?" Aro asked, jutting his chin towards Carmen whilst throwing Eleazar a withering look.
Eleazar merely shook his head and puffed the air from his cheeks. He was very used to his mate's reaction to anything pretty and expensive in the clothing department.
"Yes!" Carmen was almost squealing. Clothes really were her 'thing'.
Sulpicia enjoyed her sister-in-law's excitement for a moment before turning to her mate. "It could be fun, my love."
Aro took a look around the rest of the group - there were no particular objections - more than that, they were looking forward to the opportunity for something a little different. "Let's trial it in the coven first before we invite outsiders to join in with this madness," he said.
Sulpicia rested her hand on her mate's leg. "You can act as nonchalant as you like, my love, but I know you like this idea."
Aro didn't deny it. "But we only have a month to come up with suitable outfits."
Felix grinned like a loon to Caius. "You had better get your needle and thread out."
"I'm going to give him a proper slap in a minute," Caius said loudly, trying to break in over the laughter directed at him.
"Fine, we will play dress up," Aro agreed. "But if he strolls in naked I'm leaving," he added jabbing a finger towards his father with every other guy there agreeing with him emphatically.
Basileus' booming laughter filled the library. "Wondering if I'd show you up, lads?"
"There's no wondering about it, Dad," Carlisle called. "You would!"
Eleazar shook his head at the very idea. "In more ways than one."
Magnus, almost a match for Basileus in stature, puffed out his chest a little. "Some of us have less reason to be worried than others," he said to his co-masters and the creator's sons, gesturing down the length of his body with a cocky grin on his face. He looked to his mate, expecting her to bolster his claims.
Freyr looked him up and down as the smile grew on her face. "All cock and no balls," she announced.
The library descended into hysterics at poor Magnus.
…
No sooner had they announced the dress code to the guards, all work on Aro's chambers ceased so everyone could prepare their outfits.
Aro was annoyed by that, but Sulpicia had talked him around. It was important for coven morale so he'd had to let the inactivity go.
As no humans were invited to the Easter party, Magnus elected to host the celebrations in the guard hall, simply because there was a bar in situ. On the day of the party, the coven atmosphere had never been so healthy. This was exactly the kind of event the Volturi needed to re-group.
"They will be here soon, my love." Sulpicia attempted to pull her mate into the guard hall with her, but he stood firm.
"It's noon," Aro stated flatly. "They should be here now." The 'they' he referred to was, of course, their eldest sons.
"Aro," Sulpicia whispered hurriedly into his ear, "I know you are uncomfortable with the children out of our quarters, but you have no need to worry - they haven't done anything wrong so far."
"So far," Aro parroted back. "They haven't done anything wrong, so far, that we know of, my queen."
"Honestly, my love, you are as bad as your father." Sulpicia released her mate's arm. "Go and find them then," she huffed, knowing he would be terrible company until he could see their sons weren't up to anything. She heard Aro call after her, something about getting him a drink ready, but Sulpicia was already seeking out Freyr for some sensible, female company.
On entering Carlisle's chambers, Aro was surprised to find the living room empty. Hearing voices coming from the boys' bedroom, Aro listened through the door for anything incriminating.
"I need a break Felix - you have ruined me!"
Aro wasn't too sure who that voice belonged to, but it was a woman's voice, without a doubt.
"I know something else we could do."
That was Felix.
"It doesn't fit there."
The woman, again. Is that Sadie? What are you playing at? Aro wondered.
"It will if you just relax a bit," Felix said. "Your mouth still works?"
Aro scrubbed a hand down his face. Obviously, it would be about sex! Obviously! Why would I even consider anything else?! I must be getting old.
"FELIX!" he boomed, throwing open the door.
"Oh shit!" Felix scrambled to throw Sadie's clothes roughly in her direction. "I didn't think you'd come here," he said, like it was Aro's fault.
"Evidently," Aro replied, retrieving his son's clothes from around the room and piling them on the chair. "You and I need to talk."
Felix looked thunderously to his father, eyes filled with annoyance. "Should I explain to you the meaning of a closed door, Dad?" he asked sarcastically.
Aro stopped dead in his tracks and glared at his boy. "Goodbye, Sadie," he called without breaking eye contact with Felix.
"Master." Sadie nodded dutifully towards the coven king as she scarpered from the room, redressing herself as she went.
"What were you thinking?" Aro began. "Forget that - I know what you were thinking."
He gave his head a shake. Poor Aro had seen his son's sexual antics that many times in his memories that he his subconscious gave him an instant image of what Felix would have been up to, or trying to get up to. It was a cruel side effect of being a mind reader, Aro felt.
"I thought you liked Corin," he commented, wondering why Sadie was suddenly flavour of the month.
"Don't you dare, just don't." Felix growled quietly to himself.
Aro cursed himself for mentioning Felix's one-time semi-partner. It was his fault Corin had turned her attentions from Felix - ever since that night on dungeon blood when Felix broke her out of the cells to be his father's plaything for the night … Aro shook his head again to rid himself of those images, too.
"I shouldn't dare?!" he questioned in return, deflecting what he really felt and turning the conversation back to Felix. "You know the rules, Felix. I won't put up with your conquests parading through our home."
"This isn't our home," Felix shrugged. "It's Carlisle's, and he doesn't mind."
"I MIND!" Aro shouted, throwing the Greek God costume to his naked teenage son. Felix had no shame, he was in no hurry to dress.
"Why?" Felix asked, sounding a little whiney. "It's not our place, the twins aren't here, Demetri is as bad as me so I can't corrupt him."
Felix stopped himself just in time before he blurted out that Demetri had won the coin toss and therefore had already made use of their shared bedroom with Adrianna an hour before.
"I could corrupt Carlisle I suppose, but I think he could do with a little corrupting." Felix started laughing to himself thinking of his 'pious uncle'. Carlisle's only pious in word, not in deed, he reminded himself after hearing his uncle and Heidi going at it across the hall earlier that morning.
Aro had to turn away. I can't let him see me laughing now, he thought, stifling his giggles. "Do I look like I am in the mood for your jokes?!" he asked when he had himself under control.
Felix flopped onto his bed, making a vague attempt at covering his manhood with the bed sheet. "Dad, come on … I wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"I have told you to back off my guards, Felix," Aro growled in return. "They are not your personal playthings!"
"No, they're your personal playthings, aren't they?" Felix muttered loud enough for Aro to hear.
"Oh you really are begging for it, boy!" Aro roared, going for his belt. Damn it! he said to himself when he remembered he wasn't wearing one with his costume.
Felix stayed firm, noting the lack of lustre to his father's argument. "It's Easter, Dad - it's all about sex! I am just celebrating appropriately."
Aro breathed through his frustrations. "There is nothing appropriate about you sneaking girls into my brother's chambers."
"Fine!" Felix relented. He didn't want (or deserve in his mind) a round of fucks just for fucking! "I will go to the guard quarters from now on."
Aro shook his head. "You are missing the point …"
"What is the point?" Felix snapped, cutting his father off. "Are you saying I can never have sex again because you have suddenly decided 'it's inappropriate'?"
"No …"
He wanted to say yes. Aro knew it wasn't fair for him to change the rules - Felix and Demetri had been free to fuck who they liked for centuries. When Aro found out Demetri was using the newborns to spice things up a little, he had issued a ban. The boys, particularly Demetri, still went down to the dungeons whenever they thought they could get away with it. Since Demetri had hooked up with Lucy, and the disaster that followed, Aro could have happily banned his sons from ever having sex again. What would be the point? They still would. I would. Why can't they be happy just being kids?!
"Then what?!" Felix asked, impatiently.
Aro turned away. Then stop fucking my guards, or anyone else I know of. Find someone I don't fucking know and make sure I never find out about it! He didn't say that out loud, though. He collected Felix's discarded outfit and threw it, once again, at his son.
"Get dressed and get your ass to the guard hall." With that he stormed out, annoyed mostly at himself for having no better argument to use against his boy.
Aro re-joined the guard hall just as Eleazar and Carmen arrived. "What the bloody hell are you pair wearing?!" he asked his elder brother and sister-in-law.
Eleazar had modelled his outfit on James II of Spain, or James the Just, as he was known, which felt fitting to the Volturi Prince being the peacemaker he was.
"We're Spanish," Eleazar explained, talking down to his little brother. "Spanish monarchy make sense for us."
"What about you!" Carmen added, looking Aro up and down.
"I'm Greek," Aro responded in a similarly snidely tone as Eleazar had used. "A Greek God makes total sense." He adjusted his crown of ivy and laughed again. "You two don't even match," he scoffed.
Eleazar gave his brother a shove, though it was relatively good natured. "That's because I was turned in the 1300s and Carmen in the 1600s."
Aro shoved him back. "Yes, but you were turned in England, and Carmen was brought here from France …"
Sulpicia held up a cup to her mate, drawing his attention and ending his verbal complaint. "I think you both look amazing," she told her in laws. She was particularly impressed with Carmen's gown.
In the style of Marie-Anne de Neubourg, wife of Charles II of Spain in the 1600s, Carmen wore a heavy blue gown with gold decoration and billowing red sleeves.
Aro knew who Carmen had modelled herself on. "You know Marie was known for being haughty and vain, my dear," he smirked to his sister-in-law, trying to wind her up.
He failed. Carmen merely narrowed her eyes at Aro and turned to reply to Sulpicia instead. "Thank you, Sulpicia. As do you, my lady."
Sully preened in her outfit. The Greeks of the elite had all styled themselves from mythology. "I am …"
Marcus arrived, hushing his co-master's wife. "Please, Sulpicia," he begged for her silence. "See if Carmen can work it out. We have been reading mythology together recently, this event looks set to be a good test."
Carmen considered the task before her and walked a circle around the coven queen. "Okay Sully," she said as she moved. "A diadem, a veil, and a peacock feather in your hair."
Coming to a halt back in place next to Eleazar, she heard her mate try to whisper the answer in her ear. "Don't tell me!" she told him firmly before turning back to Sulpicia. "That would make you Hero. No! Hera," she corrected quickly.
Sulpicia bowed lightly. "Queen of the Gods and of marriage, women, children, heirs, kings …"
"We get it," Aro interrupted. "Do me," he said to his sister-in-law, slightly suggestively.
Carmen threw him a withering look, used to Aro's innuendos, but appraised his outfit anyway. Aro wore a crown of ivy but little else to denote his character of choice.
"King of the Gods?" she guessed.
"That would be Zeus," Aro replied, shaking his head. "And none of us were risking coming as him."
"I'm really not sure," Carmen admitted.
Aro held his cup high, "I am the God of wine, parties…"
Marcus took over. "Drunkenness, madness, chaos …"
"Dionysus!" Carmen called out whilst Aro scowled at Marcus for calling out the more unsavoury traits of his god of choice.
"A drunk?" Eleazar mused. "I would say you are both perfectly dressed," Eleazar told the vampiric King and Queen.
Marcus called the twins to join in their game. Jane wore a simple knee-length chiton, similar to her brother's but made feminine with the fine embroidery added by her mother displaying typical scenes from a hunt. Jane carried a bow and a quiver of arrows as the final symbol of her Goddess.
"Artemis," Carmen said confidently. "Protector of young girls. Perfect, Jane."
As easy as Jane's outfit was to decipher, Alec's seemed impossible. "I can't work yours out, Alec," Carmen had to admit. There wasn't much to Alec's outfit that would give away his God.
"Unlike Jane, Alec is not a God, so it's a little harder." Marcus admitted.
"Unlike Jane, Alec is not a God …" Jane repeated. "I like the sound of that."
Seeing Alec scowl, Aro leaned down to his girl's ear. "Be nice," he warned.
"I'm Hypnos," Alec declared, "because of my gift - putting people to sleep."
"That's very clever, sweetheart," Carmen congratulated the boy.
Aro put his arm around Carmen's shoulder, "So … you've done me, I assume you've done Eleazar, you should do Marcus next," he said, taunting his big brother.
"And you wonder why your sons are deviants?" Eleazar said, removing his brother's arm from his mate.
"Marcus is easy," Carmen said, noting the laurel wreath entangled in his hair. "You must be Apollo."
"The God of knowledge, the arts, and music - very apt, my friend," Aro said graciously. "But … 'Marcus is easy'," he repeated, again, suggesting something sexual.
"Honestly!" Sulpicia admonished her husband. "How much have you drunk today?! It's barely noon!"
Marcus ignored Aro's attempts to cause trouble and congratulated Carmen on guessing correctly. He was relieved to see Magnus and Freyr joining their gathering, in the hope of 'grown up' conversation. He had been spending a lot of time with Magnus and Freyr, along with Atia and Basileus and a definite gap was being created in the Volturi elite – the older members banding together in shared company, grown up company, some would say.
Both Magnus and Freyr looked ready for war! The pair wore silks and furs, carrying the same battered, round shields they had brought with them from their Viking life.
Eleazar was astounded by the wolf heads hanging like hoods on their backs. "Did you kill a werewolf for that outfit?" he asked Magnus, unsure whether he was asking in awe or distaste.
"Two, actually," Magnus boasted. "Easy pickings."
"Dora! Caius!" Spotting Athenodora and Caius arriving through the office doorway, Carmen rushed to bring them into the group.
Though much had changed within the coven over the last few years, Athenodora still felt a little apprehensive at these gatherings. She was spending more time with the elite ladies of the coven, but she still felt largely on the outside looking in.
Freyr could see her covenmate felt awkward and immediately came to her side. She had taken the woman under her wing after Caius' last few bouts with dungeon blood.
Likewise, Magnus had done the same with Caius since he had all but given up his work in the dungeons and in its place was working closely directing training with the guard master.
"Carmen is trying to work out the Greek Gods by the motifs," Sulpicia explained to Athenodora when Freyr brought her over.
"Oh," Dora gestured to her outfit. "Go ahead."
Like Sulpicia, Athenodora wore a simple peplos made from a long tubular cloth with the top edge folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the tube draped below the waist, and the bottom of the tube was at the ankle. The garment was then gathered about the waist and the folded top edge pinned over her left shoulder. She wore a decorated silk sash, displaying the emblems of her Goddess, olive trees and owls, in embroidery.
"Athena!" Carmen exclaimed.
Dora nodded. "My namesake after all."
Sulpicia ran her fingers across the embroidered silk. "The detail in this is amazing, Dora!"
"Or should we be talking to you, Caius?" Carmen asked, nudging the coven master.
"You should be quiet, my lady," Caius begged in return, passing his mate a glass of bloodwine.
Carmen narrowed her eyes at Caius' outfit. He, like the rest of the 'Greek Gods' in attendance, wore a linen chiton, but Caius' was covered in symbols made from golden thread. Chariots, horses, roosters, sunflowers - his outfit positively glowed! "I'm really not sure about you."
"None of us are sure about Caius," Aro added, collecting a full cup of bloodwine from a passing guard.
"What's with all the gold?" Carmen asked. "Are you Midas or something?"
"Ah, Caius!" Marcus exclaimed, having worked it out immediately, of course. "That is most suitable."
"Since when was Caius ever a god?!" Eleazar asked. Aro's ego was one thing to contend with, he wasn't adding Caius' to the list!
"Helios? The sun God?" Caius offered the group. "My brother's name was Helios, he turned me, it seemed appropriate."
"Very appropriate," Magnus confirmed before Aro could say anything negative.
Carmen and Sulpicia set to examining the embroidery.
Even Freyr was amazed and such things rarely interested her. "Caius, this really is beautiful," she told him quietly, not wishing to draw any more attention to the man as he was clearly uncomfortable talking of his secret 'talents'.
"He has always been good with his hands," Dora added, giggling.
Sulpicia took a sly look over to her mate. "Aro is useless!"
"They are talking about sewing," Aro scoffed.
Sulpicia dropped Caius' work and looked her mate dead in the eye. "Are we?" she asked, smile tugging at her lips.
Aro nearly choked on his bloodwine. "Sul!" he shouted, though he could barely be heard over the laughter of his covenmates.
Felix's eventual arrival came as a relief to the coven king.
The youth swaggered over, barely dressed, cock of the walk in his helmet and short-shorts, carrying a spear.
"Eww!" Jane squealed when her brother gave her a hug. "Get your hair off me!" she pulled a good few curls from the rug on Felix's chest as he batted her away.
Sulpicia pulled her children free of one another before they could argue in front of everyone. "He's my little bear cub," she said of her eldest boy.
"A little bear cub!" Jane laughed. "How manly do you feel now, Oaf?"
Felix reached around his mother and jabbed Jane with his spear. "Shut it, little witch," he growled.
"A helmet, spear, and shorts?" Carmen surmised aloud. "What's he supposed to be?"
"Strictly speaking, he shouldn't be wearing the shorts," Aro noted. "Though it's nice to see him displaying a little modesty."
Felix rolled his eyes. He hadn't done anything wrong having Sadie in Carlisle's quarters and he wasn't going to bow down to his father on the matter.
Caius wasn't happy. "I thought you would stick to your own dress code, at least!"
"I went with the flow," Felix replied with a shrug. "Besides, Ares is totally me. I am the chaos of war!"
Caius had to concede on that point. "Having taken you on a good many missions, I would have to agree."
Carmen filtered through her knowledge of Greek Gods. "I thought Ares was the most unpopular god of the lot."
"I prefer to think of him as misunderstood," Felix said reaching for a goblet from the bar, "like me."
Aro slapped his hand away. "I understand you perfectly, and I haven't finished with you yet, either."
Luckily for Felix, Aro's attention, make that EVERYBODY'S attention was drawn towards the doors when Basileus came through, greeting the guards in his booming voice.
Carmen spun on her heel to check out the creator in all his finery - or lack thereof. "Would you look at that!" she exclaimed, blatantly ogling the adonis as he strolled towards them.
Athenodora and Sulpicia were similarly impressed. "He really is a magnificent sight," Sully voiced their thoughts, though they were more used to seeing Basileus in such a state having lived in his company for so many centuries.
"I almost miss the days before we had indoor bathrooms," Athenodora added. She and Sulpicia burst into a fit of giggles over the comment, and doubly so at Carmen's confused expression.
Dora got herself under control to explain. "Bathing in the river really did have its perks!" she said, eyes shooting over to the glorious adonis walking the room.
Magnus was a little less impressed - every woman in the room had reacted to Basileus' outfit, and a good few of the men, too, and his emphatic reading was off the scale. "Ladies! Please!" he begged those closest to him. "I can feel what you are feeling, you know?!
Freyr hooked her arm through her mate's. "Be grateful our lust isn't visible, my dear," she joked.
Magnus stretched out his neck and winced at the force of the emotion in the room. "Well, it will be for me," he said, cupping his groin just in case. "So cool it!"
Seeing Magnus trying to breathe through the lust he felt, pleading with his own body not to respond in the way it wanted to respond, his mate could do nothing to help other than to laugh at him. "I have never been so grateful to be a woman."
"Do you have any shame?" Magnus complained, not that Freyr took him seriously.
"We'll see how you react when you see Atia," she said knowingly, before being dragged away by her female covenmates to reveal what the lady of the Volterra would be arriving in.
"A loin cloth?" Aro derided his father when he came close. "Really?"
Basileus turned on the spot slowly, giving everyone a good view of his barely-there loin cloth. He wasn't quite as pale as your average vampire and his olive-ish complexion looked positively sun kissed next to anyone else in the guard hall.
"This was the 'fashion' of the day when I came into being," Basileus explained, looking every bit the immortal demi-God.
Loin cloths?! Magnus thought. "How old is he, exactly?"
Aro shrugged, still shaking his head to his father's display. "Who knows."
Basileus looked around the guard hall and noted no one else was dressed as they would have been when they were turned. "Am I the only one who has stuck to the dress code?" he asked. "You all appear to have gone up in the world."
"Yes, and you went down," Eleazar told his father. "Way, way down."
"Caius' outfit is apparently fitting," Magnus commented, looking Basileus up and down and barely supressing his laughter. "You're a good sport, I'll give you that."
"Everyone else has traded up in their imaginings of what they were pre-transformation." Basileus gestured to Magnus' rather opulent outfit. "What's with all the silk and jewels? I don't remember you being a Jarl before we turned you."
Magnus raised his eyebrows and stood with his hands on his hips. "I was a celebrated warrior, thank you!" he insisted. It was true enough. "Our outfits are true to life."
"Oh!" Basileus exclaimed, feigning hurt at getting his assumptions so wrong. "Kill many werewolves in your Viking days, did you?"
"Well …" Magnus stumbled over his words for a moment. "Wolf would have been true to life," he admitted. "At least I'm not pretending to be a god!" he added, gesturing to half the Volturi elite.
Basileus stood tall. "Some of us aren't pretending, my friend."
"Does our mother not mind you parading yourself around virtually naked?" Aro asked, butting into the conversation.
Basileus smirked. "She quite enjoys me being completely naked, son."
"Whoa!" Eleazar exclaimed. "Thank you for that imagery, Dad."
Basileus could hear many of the guards, and all the elite ladies discussing his wardrobe choice and he revelled in the attention. "I think my outfit is going down rather well, don't you?"
Aro tugged on his father's cloth. "It could have been a little longer," he said, grimacing at the length.
"I'm strapped up, don't worry," Basileus told his by. "Wait until you see Atia." He couldn't help but laugh seeing both his boys pale before him.
"Oh god … what has she chosen?" Eleazar asked, though part of him didn't want to hear the answer.
"Venus," Basileus replied simply.
"Venus?!" Aro repeated. "As in the Roman copy of our Aphrodite?"
Basileus smiled. "Yup."
"Aphrodite who walked around half naked?" Aro checked. Please be wrong, please be wrong.
"Yup," Basileus said again.
"And you are okay with that?" Eleazar knew his father wasn't particularly a jealous man, but he had to wonder if he would really be so cool about his mate parading half naked in the guard hall.
Basileus continued to smile thinking of the outfit Atia had come up with. "Oh, yes."
Aro shook his head. "Dirty old bastard," he said under his breath.
Basileus heard him, but rather than respond to his son, he simply turned Aro to face the door as his mother strode into view.
If one half of the coven had been pleased to see Basileus, the other half were ecstatic to see Atia! The vampiric witch wore a sheer lace gown with three skilfully placed scallop shells to the front and sewn rose petals artfully arranged to protect her modesty - the shells and petals being the emblems of Aphrodite.
Eleazar and Aro stood catching flies as their mother made her way around the room, greeting the guards in her usual way.
Carmen took the opportunity to get her brother-in-law back for his earlier jibes. "Your mother is smoking hot," she drawled into his ear, enjoying winding him up. "Pay back is a bitch, isn't it?"
Aro glared at the woman but he couldn't respond. Yeah, you got me, he thought. He decided right then would be a good time to continue his conversation with Felix, if only to get the image of his mother so scantily clad out of his mind.
Poor Magnus had only just recovered from Basileus' arrival and what that had done to everyone's emotions. Adding in the lust from every male in the room was knocking him for six. He downed his goblet in one. Then he took Caius' from his hand and did the same with that goblet, too. "Could everyone STOP feeling things, PLEASE?!"
Felix was hiding at the side of the hall where he had managed to pull Heidi in for a chat. "Isn't that the dress you were wearing when we first met?"
"It is," Heidi replied, showing little interest in Felix's advances.
Felix moved in a little closer, tugging at the braided front of Heidi's dress. "Mmmm …"
Heidi batted his hand away. "No chance, Felix," she said, taking a sidestep. She had no interest in the young Volturi prince.
"Oh come on!" Felix complained. "Why not?" He stood back, arms about stretched as if he were offering the world on a plate to the coven temptress. "This is as close to a god that you are going to get."
Heidi scoffed. "And this is as close to me as you are going to get."
"I've been closer." Felix tried to move in closer again but Heidi cut him off, quick!
"You only got so close the first time because I was trying to kill you," she reminded him.
Felix might have been more offended if he weren't so fixated on Heidi's ass as she walked away. It was a shame his mother joined him and spoilt his fun.
"You are turning into the sort of boy that can't look a woman in the eye when you are talking to them." Turning into?! Who am I kidding? Sulpicia shook her head and clicked her fingers in her boy's face. She expected his full attention.
"Mom, I am offended." Felix did look offended, though it was entirely false. "You know I only look for a woman's heart," he said emphatically. "It isn't my fault it's right behind her tits."
"Felix!" Sulpicia called out shrilly in shock at his vulgarity.
He wasn't to be perturbed by his mother's diastase. "You are such a hypocrite, Mom. I heard how you all reacted to Basileus strolling in here." He smiled broadly seeing his mother desperately search for a response, and fail. "Oh yeah, I've heard it all, Mom."
"That's different, Felix," Sulpicia replied. "You are a child and … "
"You're married!" Felix butted in. "To my Dad!" He was half shouting his responses now and drawing attention to what Sulpicia had intended on being a private conversation. "Shouldn't that make you the virtuous one?" he continued. "I'm a teenager - I am supposed to be fucking my way through life!"
Oh you are done, boy! Sulpicia thought, clasping a hand to her son's mouth. "You will remember who you are talking to or I will fetch your father to deal with you."
Felix pulled her hand away and smiled slyly. "Mr. Morality, himself, huh?!"
Before she could respond, Demetri joined the pair of them, closely followed by Aro who had been drawn in by Felix's attitude to his mother.
Neither Aro or Sulpicia focussed on Felix, however. Seeing what Demetri had come dressed in took their attention.
"What are you wearing?!" Aro asked his younger son, taking the cornucopia from his son's hand. The horn of plenty was a symbol of Demeter … the Greek goddess.
Demetri had never worn a chiton and checked his outfit quickly. "Have I put it on backwards or something?"
"No, my darling," Sulpicia said softly.
"What made you choose Demeter, son?" Aro glared at Felix as he spoke, knowing full well where the idea for Demetri to dress as a goddess rather than a god would have come from.
"Well … my name," Demetri explained. "It was Felix's idea."
Of course is bloody was, Aro thought. "Felix!" he growled, cuffing the back of the boy's head.
"I'm sorry?" Felix said, though it was definitely more of a question than an actual apology.
Hearing Felix continue to laugh pushed Aro to slap him again. "You don't understand how closely you are dancing to the fire, my boy."
Demetri wore his confusion on his face. "What has he done?"
"Demeter was a woman," Sulpicia explained. "An old woman."
"What?!" Demetri shoved his big brother, not that Felix cared - he was still laughing. "You prick!"
Aro breathed through his frustrations for a second time that day whilst Sulpicia pulled Demetri along with her out of the guard hall. "Come with me, sweetheart, we can fix this."
Felix looked sheepishly to his father for a moment, wondering what he would do. When Aro set in on berating him again for his immaturity, Felix zoned out, nodding occasionally and trying to look contrite. He'd already drank a fair bit so it was difficult for the boy. Aro was ready to flip out when he saw a smile tugging on Felix's lips … until he realised what had taken the boy's attention - Carlisle.
"You came as the good preacher?" Aro announced. Whilst he was busy mocking his baby brother, Felix slipped away to avoid any more conflict with his father.
"PASTOR!" Carlisle corrected, then cursed himself for showing Aro that he'd won already in winding him up.
Basileus flashed forward, ready to intervene if Aro continued. Not that Aro would be so stupid with his father standing right there. Looking Carlisle up and down, Basileus was a little concerned by his son's attire.
Carlisle sighed to his father's worry. "This is what I would have been had I not became a vampire," he explained simply. "It feels appropriate for the dress code."
"Are you saying you are unhappy with your lot in life, son?" Basileus asked, visibly wary of the answer.
"Not at all." Carlisle was quite happy with his new life, more than happy in fact, mostly. "I am making peace with my old life, that's all, Dad."
Basileus put a loving arm around his son's shoulder. "In that case, I have something to show you."
Demetri took their place at Aro's side, brandishing a winged kerykeion - a short staff entwined by two serpents surmounted by wings.
"Hermes," Aro said in relief. "That's much better." He took the staff from his son and turned it over in his hand before giving it back to Demetri. "This is priceless and it's mine - don't lose it.
"I won't," Demetri promised.
"Good," Aro nodded, before his tone turned dark. "I need to talk to you about who you take to Carlisle's quarters."
Just like the conversation with Felix, Demetri nodded along as Aro talked.
"Are you listening to me?!" he shot out, seeing Demetri's eye wander over to Renata as she passed by.
The coven had picked Renata up from the warring lands of Britain in the early days of the Roman occupation. She was a Celt, but awoke with no memory of her human life, as occasionally happened after the transformation.
She had been given the Latin name, Renata, meaning born again, by the Volturi. Most had expected her to come to the party as a Roman woman, but Renata had taken the opportunity to connect to her Celtic roots coming in full war gear, complete with kohl war paint.
"She's got those deep-throating make-up eyes," Demetri commented, adding dreamily, "my favourite."
Demetri's comment was enough to pull Aro out of lecture mode. "What on earth are deep-throating make-up eyes?" he asked.
"You know when you have been fucking their face really hard and their eyes water and it ruins their makeup …" the boy explained, again adding dreamily, "those eyes."
Aro was dumbstruck for a moment, hearing his child say such a thing. Particularly as he had said it loud enough to bring Caius, Magnus, Freyr, and Eleazar over to see where the conversation was going.
"Ow!" Demetri exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot at the back of his head where Aro slapped him hard.
"You can't say things like that!" Aro growled into his ear, threatening to slap him again.
"You asked me what they were!" Demetri replied, ducking for cover behind his uncle.
Freyr made her stern disapproval known, but to Aro, not Demetri. "Will you please find a way to get him to show some respect for the women in this coven." It wasn't a question - that was most definitely an order.
Magnus winced as his mate stalked away from the conversation. I will be hearing about that later, I am sure, he thought after her, and it's got nothing to do with me! he added bitterly.
Before Aro could say a word to his son about respect and equality, and all that bollocks, Demetri tried to defend himself. "You have only just swapped sides yourself, Dad, or do you not remember the advice you gave me when you first brought me home?"
That definitely shut Aro up.
"You gave him advice about women?" Caius asked, dying to laugh knowing the sort of advice that Aro would have given the boy.
"I may have done," Aro answered coolly, taking a big gulp of bloodwine and knowing his son was about to expose him.
"What advice did your old man give you about girls, young one?" Magnus pushed, wanting to know what was making Caius so giggly. (It wasn't a natural state for Caius!)
Painfully for Aro, Atia joined their little gathering just in time to hear Demetri say, "He said I should find an insecure girl to practice on, and then I would know what I was doing when the right woman came along."
Whilst Caius openly guffawed at Demetri's statement, Eleazar and Magnus at least tried to hide their amusement when Atia went in for the kill with Aro.
"In my defence, I said that a thousand years ago," he offered as explanation. "Demetri was scared to death to speak to anyone outside my chambers …"
Atia held up her hand for silence and for a moment Aro feared she would actually slap him in public! "Have you not thought to update your advice?" she asked.
Aro shrugged. "It still applies," he said quietly, followed quickly by an 'ow' as Atia did slap his arm.
"I surrender, do with me what you will," Demetri called out as Renata passed again. This time chasing after her.
"I was trying to help his confidence at the time," Aro explained, moving away from his mother so she couldn't embarrass him again.
"By studding him out like a young buck?" Atia asked, her voice hitching high in disgust for such a premise.
"That's a little harsh!"
I wasn't studding him out. Aro was sure of that, he was just encouraging Demetri to enjoy the delights of coven life at the time … the current issues he was having with Felix and Demetri were glaringly his own fault - even Aro couldn't deny that.
"He has just been openly talking about coitus oralis!" Atia raged back.
Aro threw up his hands placatingly. "I will speak with him, okay?" he said, stepping back some more.
Carlisle returned from his father's quarters just in time to join Felix and hear Atia's rant at his brother.
"Atia is so repressed that she can't even use normal words about sex," Felix snorted to his uncle.
"I know!" Carlisle replied, similarly amused.
"I wonder if they have even christened their relationship yet?" Felix asked, both of them laughing at the very idea.
Atia spun around to the pair and glared at them with a matronly eye. "What did you just say?"
Felix shup up immediately. "Nothing!"
Atia turned to her son. "Carlisle?"
Carlisle took a little longer to get himself under control - sealing his fate despite claiming to have heard nothing.
Taking each of them by an ear, Atia gave the pair of them to Magnus, as he was closest. "Be a dear, Magnus, and deliver these two to Basileus. He may wish to have a conversation with them regarding appropriate topics of conversation."
"Happy to oblige, my lady," Magnus said dutifully.
Without really knowing why, he shepherded Carlisle and Felix to the creator sitting by the bar. "I'm going to burn that chair," he told Basileus seeing him sat on one of his new leather bar stools in his barely-there loin cloth.
Basileus laughed and passed Magnus a goblet. "You do that," he told him without a hint of remorse for sullying the chair with his naked ass.
Seeing Carlisle and Felix squirm, Magnus took a seat. This is going to be good, he thought wickedly. There was no need to explain anything to Basileus, he could see the man was already searching through his son's memories.
"You boys want to question my sexual prowess, is that right?"
Magnus spat his drink back into his cup! He hadn't expected that!
'Boys'?! Carlisle thought in horror. Not that again!
"Not your prowess," Felix replied cheekily.
Carlisle winced. Felix you absolute dick, he thought, jabbing his nephew hard in the ribs.
Aro watched with Demetri from across the room whilst Carlisle and Felix were quietly rounded by the creator. They are lucky he's in a good mood tonight, he thought.
When the two of them slunk back to Aro, they had their tails firmly between their legs.
Felix saw his brother had updated his outfit and with Basileus' voice ringing in his ears, he thought he should attempt an apology, at least. "Dem … "
Demetri pushed him away. "Fuck off," he said forcefully, though quickly checked that Aro was going to let him get away with such a thing. Aro let it go, he understood why Demetri was so pissed off with his brother.
"Come on," Felix tried again, though already sounding less sincere, "it was a joke."
"It wasn't funny," Aro replied on his boy's behalf as Demetri walked away without further word.
"He shouldn't even be pretending to be a god," Felix scoffed. "He has no right."
"He has no right?!" Carlisle questioned. What 'right' does anyone have? he wondered.
"He's not Greek," Felix said to his uncle. He turned to his father, "Demetri's not the same as the rest of us."
Aro knew where this was going and he wasn't having it. "Neither are the twins," he stated.
"They shouldn't be playing gods either, then," Felix shrugged.
A low growl rumbled in Aro's chest. "We've discussed this before, Felix," he whispered angrily into his boy's ear. "They are mine because I say they are mine. The same reason you are mine."
"Not really," Felix replied bravely. "Me and the twins have your venom - Demetri doesn't."
Aro snatched the goblet from Felix's hand, disgusted with his attitude towards his brother. It was something that came up periodically when Felix tried to call rank on Demetri and every single time he had been told in no uncertain terms that Aro decided who was 'his' and no fucker else - including Felix!
"You've drank enough," Aro told him sternly. "Turk!" he called out loudly to the bar over the din of noise. The music stopped immediately and everyone focussed on Aro, just as he had intended. "I'm cutting Felix off," he announced.
Turk bowed his head slightly to show he understood whilst humiliation rushed through Felix's body when the guards all turned a piteous eye on him.
Aro shook him roughly. "Another word and I'll be putting you to bed myself, son."
Felix stormed away in disgrace, vowing vengeance in his drunken state on his little brother who had done nothing wrong.
"What was that about?" Magnus strolled over with a tray of drinks for his coven mates. "Are you picking on the young ones again, Aro?"
"Pft!" Aro tutted. "Hardly!"
Eleazar took a cup from Magnus and passed another to his little brother. "Where did he take you?" he asked, looking over to Basileus happily perched against the bar with Atia. He was enjoying his mate's outfit a little too much for Eleazar's liking.
"Who, Dad?" Carlisle checked. "He had something for me, that's all." He was about to tell Eleazar what that something was, but Aro's eagerness to find out stopped him. "I'm not telling you," he said to Aro. "You will only take the piss."
"Me?" Aro feigned hurt. "As if I would? What possible reason would I have to do such a thing?"
Carlisle sighed to himself. He knew why Aro was already pissed off with him and he'd been told by Basileus to apologise to Aro for letting the boys have use of his chambers for their sexploits. "Aro, listen, I'm sorry. I just didn't see the harm …"
Aro knew what he was talking about and snorted in derision. "Are you stupid?!" he asked. "You know the trouble I am having with the Felix and Demetri and you open your chambers as a private brothel to them?!"
Eleazar got between the two before a verbal brawl could break out and ruin what had so far been a good evening. "They are going to do it somewhere, Aro."
"He's right," Magnus chipped in. "You won't stop those boys having sex - you are trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted."
Eleazar clapped a hand on Aro's shoulder. "Can you even remember being sixteen?"
Caius thought about it for a moment. "All I wanted to do was fuck and fight!" he remembered. "Actually, that's all I did do," he added happily.
Whilst Aro, Magnus, and even Eleazar agreed, Carlisle looked on awkwardly. Naturally, Aro noticed his brother's discomfort with the conversation and used it against him.
"Aww, we are embarrassing my godly little brother," Aro teased, tugging on Carlisle's religious outfit.
Carlisle pushed him away and pulled his shoulders back. "Whatever, Aro," he brushed away his brother's comments. "If my cock could talk …"
"It would say 'I'm lonely, where is everybody?' " Aro laughed loudest at his own joke, but everyone else joined in.
Carlisle came back hard! "Just because you have been happy to stick your dick in anything that walks past you," he directed at Aro, "some of us have standards."
"Whoa!" Caius was a little impressed by Carlisle's response - the tenacity was unexpected, at least.
"That's fighting talk, little brother," Aro warned, seeing his mate look over. Thankfully, she hadn't heard, just noticed the commotion.
"No, it's not," Eleazar insisted. "Let's calm down. Besides, he's kind of right."
"You should know, El," Aro replied, dragging his brother in on the slander. "You joined in on enough of it."
"What was that, Aro?" Carmen asked, coming up behind Eleazar and wrapping her arms around his waist - much to his surprise!
"He's exaggerating, my love." Eleazar attempted to get Carmen to leave the conversation, but he never could get Carmen to do much … she ruled their roost and everyone knew it.
"Hardly!" Aro scoffed. "I wonder, do you even remember all of their names?"
"Eleazar ignored Aro completely and addressed his mate sweetly. "Yours is the only name I need know, my love."
"Which means he didn't take the time to learn their names to begin with," Caius said. He had only intended Magnus to hear, being the closest to him, but everyone caught it.
Eleazar glared at the coven leader. "You're in no position to cast aspersions, Caius!"
"I don't deny my activities, El," Caius replied happily. He had nothing to hide - Athenodora knew everything he got up and mostly joined in! "Unlike you," he added slyly.
Magnus looked on disapprovingly.
"I am not in the same category as you pair, or anywhere near it, thanks," Eleazar insisted.
He wasn't entirely sure how much Carmen knew of his life before her, in that regard, but it wasn't information he wished for her to learn from Aro and Caius!
He had nothing to fear, Carmen knew much more than she let on - women talk, after all. "Shall I leave you guys to reminisce?" she offered, having tortured her mate long enough.
To say Eleazar was relieved to see her leave was an understatement. He was verging on sweating! He made sure to give both Aro and Caius a good boot in the shins once Carmen had re-joined the twins.
"We certainly knew how to have a good time," Aro admitted.
"Those days are long behind me now your old man has evicted Heidi from my chambers," Caius complained. He was still bitter about that.
"It's been two years, Caius," Magnus reminded him. "Get over it."
Thinking about coven sirens, something came to Aro. "You know," he mused, "Basileus told me something interesting about Ashanti before she left us."
"What would that be?" Magnus asked. He sounded nervous.
"He said our old siren had been with all three of his sons …"
Eleazar punched his brother in the shoulder. "Shut up, Aro."
"And two of his grandsons …"
Aro punched his brother in the shoulder. "Shut up, Carlisle."
"And?" Caius pushed.
Aro smirked, "And THREE of the masters."
Whilst everyone sought out Marcus, Magnus held his breath. It didn't take long for all eyes to fall on him.
"Oh!" Caius exclaimed. He didn't have much else to say, he was gobsmacked!
"I thought it was Marcus," Aro admitted. "Oh dear, Magnus." He could barely speak for laughing. "What on earth did Ashanti offer that made you forget your honour?"
"Does Freyr know?" Eleazar whispered.
Hearing his mate's name mentioned brought Magnus to his senses and back to speech. "No. And it had better stay that way."
Magnus didn't throw his weight around very often (and he was a sizeable weight!) but pulling himself to his full height and towering over his covenmates left them in no doubt that he would hammer them if Freyr found out what he had done from any of them.
Not that it put Aro off from pushing ahead with his questions. "When did this happen?"
"You make it sound like it only happened once," Caius added. He received a solid thump in the arm from Magnus for his comment but it was worth it.
"It DID only happen once!" Magnus insisted. He knew he wasn't going to get away without a full explanation. "It was in the early days of joining the coven. Ashanti thought my devotion to Freyr was oh so very quaint. I thought my devotion was stronger than her gift. It turned out I was wrong."
"So why didn't you tell Freyr?" Aro asked. "It wasn't your fault if Ashanti used her gift."
"Because he enjoyed it," Caius replied on the Juggernaut's behalf and quickly stepped behind Eleazar before another fist came his way.
Magnus shook his head at his fellow master. "Because Freyr would have killed Ashanti and I imagined that was against coven rules," he explained. "I didn't want my foolishness to be the reason my wife was executed."
Caius continued to laugh with Aro. "But you did enjoy it."
"I'm going to batter him in a minute," Magnus threatened. He meant it, too, and Caius knew it.
"What about since you have become master?" Carlisle asked. "Freyr could have killed Ashanti and nothing would have happened to either of you," he assumed.
Magnus looked to the floor and bobbed his head. Carlisle was right, but he still couldn't tell Freyr. "To tell her now would only be to alleviate my guilt," he said sadly. "It would do nothing for Freyr other than to hurt her. She doesn't deserve to be hurt, I do deserve my guilt." It was as simple as that in Magnus' mind.
"I think you are still the most honourable man I know," Carlisle told the Juggernaut, genuinely.
Basileus starting 'hmmm-ing' behind Magnus.
"What does 'hmmm' mean?" Aro asked. "Is he bullshitting us?"
"Not about Ashanti, no," Basileus said with a quiet smile.
Magnus' eyes widened. "I think we should leave it there, Basileus."
Basileus nodded a few times. "I bet you do."
"Hang on." Something else occurred to Magnus. "You found out Ashanti had been with three of us and you assumed Marcus, not me?" He may have had a reputation for being honourable, but the idea that no one would think him possible was a little insulting to his male ego.
Caius burst out laughing. "I would have thought Freyr was a more likely candidate than you." The drink had clearly made him brave that night.
"You're a prick," Magnus called out over the laughter from his covenmates. "You're going to be a dead prick if you keep it up," he added, though as he was now laughing, too, his words had little weight behind them.
"Go back to your reminiscing, guys," Basileus said to settle them down. "None of us have any fun coming in the future."
"You've had enough fun for all of us!" Aro reminded his father.
"I've been around longer than you lot," Basileus answered, gesturing to his loin cloth as proof of the fact. "That's all."
"That is not all by half," Aro said, quashing his father's claims. "We spent ten years fucking our way across the world. And that was before the 'glories of Rome'."
"Glories or orgies?" Magnus asked knowingly.
"I think they go hand in hand." Basileus had to smile. "Thank the gods for vampiric memory!"
"Certainly useful for the wank bank," Eleazar whispered, much to Carlisle's surprise. Eleazar rarely spoke vulgarly, unlike the others. He shocked himself, too. I've drank far too much tonight.
Caius and Aro noticed Carlisle looking on perturbed again. Aro, naturally took the chance to poke a little fun.
"Do you know what that means, Carlisle?"
"Yes!" Carlisle insisted. "I wouldn't want my 'bank' filled with memories of fucking next to you pair," he shot at the coven master duo.
"You couldn't even toss one off next to us without help!" Caius spluttered through his chuckles.
"What's that about?" Jane asked sweetly, appearing at her father's left side.
"What's a wank bank?" Alec asked, from Aro's right.
"Erm …"
No one knew quite how to respond to the angelic looking vampires and their enquiring minds.
"Do you have sex with Caius?" Jane asked her father outright.
"And Eleazar?" Alec added. "He's your brother …"
Whilst Jane and Alec waited expectantly for answers from the five men who were, in turn, waiting for the ground to swallow them up, Atia arrived.
"Jane, Alec, I think you should fetch yourselves a drink," she insisted, waving to Turk on the bar and gesturing to the young vampires with a nod to make clear he was to serve them.
"A proper drink?!" Alec asked, hopefully.
"The hardest liquor you can get your hands on," Atia confirmed, hoping they would forget all they must have heard. "Now, please."
She waited for them to leave before turning on the men, who at least had the good grace to look ashamed of their conversation falling on such young ears. "Is it really appropriate to have the twins at events like this when none of you are capable of tempering your conversations with children in mind?"
Eleazar wished to protest. "They have heard worse living with him, I am sure," he said, pointing with his thumb to Aro.
They all laughed, nervously, to his comment. All except Atia. "And that excuses adding to the vulgarities of their young lives, does it?"
"Well, no, I suppose not," Eleazar replied quietly, feeling like a well chastised little boy! Why am I copping for the twins?! They aren't my bloody kids.
"I am glad we are in agreement." Atia glared around the group until they had all verbally agreed with her. "Take this as a life lesson in knowing your audience and moderating your behaviour." She sounded so very much like the school ma'am's Eleazar had suffered through in his human youth. "For example," she continued, "'I shared with friends', was more than enough information."
Magnus had been holding back his smile, assuming that Atia was mostly addressing her sons, and maybe Caius.
"Magnus," Atia snapped, drawing him into the conversation. "I am particularly disappointed in you."
"ME?!" Magnus asked. "More than him?" he asked, looking at Basileus.
"We all have tales from before we mated, my dear," Atia stressed the 'mated' part of her sentence, knowing full well most of them had tales from long after, as well. "Mine are far more entertaining than his," she added, much to her mate's shame.
Atia had lived! Basileus knew that, but he didn't like it, however unfair that was with a man of his past.
"The occasion calls for well-mannered frivolity, please, gentlemen," she said, leaving them to think on her words.
"I think this night has gone on long enough," Basileus said quietly, effectively ending the Easter celebrations.
…
Eleazar opened the twins' bedroom door, expecting to find them sleeping. He was most put out to see them awake. "What are you doing?"
"Reading," Alec repelled, waving his book at his uncle.
"No, no, no," Eleazar said taking the book from the boy. "You are sleeping now."
"But I'm not tired," Jane complained as her uncle took her book, too. "I always read when I'm not tired."
"Not tonight," Eleazar insisted. He blew out the candles lighting the bedchamber.
"My mom lets me," Jane huffed.
"That's because she's your mother and she loves you," Eleazar explained. "I'm your uncle - I just have to try not to hurt you. It's also why I have been sneaking you bloodwine all night. Time to pay the piper, kids." Before he pulled the door tightly shut, he ordered, "Go to sleep!"
Racing to his own bedchamber, he was pleased to find Carmen already between the bed sheets, though the pensive look on her face wasn't what he'd been hoping for.
She's thinking. I hate it when she thinks like that, he thought. Eleazar wasn't against Carmen having her own thoughts - god knows he couldn't stop that even if he had wanted to. But that face, that face was the one she wore when anything serious was on her mind and it never bode well for his sex life when he saw it.
"What do you think about children, El?" she asked her mate, a little absentmindedly.
Carmen had been spending an awful lot of her time with the twins. It was understandable as they were sleeping in their quarters, Eleazar had reasoned, but she was with them quite often even when they weren't in their quarters. It annoyed Eleazar a little as he would have preferred to have his mate to himself at all times.
Eleazar had stripped and joined his mate in their bed before she had finished her sentence. "Children …" he pretended to muse as he kissed her neck, "hideous little creatures, terribly taxing and a general drain."
Carmen laughed at his advances. "You drunk old fool," she said as he continued to caress her body. Her mind was still elsewhere. "I wonder if we should have our own?" she thought out loud. "What do you think we should we do?"
Eleazar pulled his mate further down the bed. "You should stop talking so I can fuck you properly before they wake up," he suggested. It was less a suggestion in Eleazar's tone - it sounded like he was pleading with her. Eleazar didn't really 'do' masterful.
"Shush!" Carmen giggled as she pushed him away. "We can't do this with them next door, El!"
Eleazar collapsed next to his mate and stared at the ceiling. "Why?!" he whined.
"Because they will hear us," Carmen said, thinking of the children sleeping only meters away behind the wall.
"Those poor, damaged children have lived with my brother for centuries - there is nothing we can do that they haven't already heard." Folding his arms across his chest, Eleazar was glad the candles were already out - he knew he looked like a petulant teenager right then.
"Well they haven't heard us," Carmen replied, ignoring her mate's whiny tone.
"No fucking kidding," Eleazar huffed, though it was quiet enough that Carmen didn't catch his words.
"I feel inhibited, El," she explained. "I know you understand." She cuddled up close to him and wrapped her arms across his waist. "We don't have to have sex every night."
"Clearly!" Eleazar grunted. "It's been months!"
"One month," Carmen snapped a little more harshly. Whining about lack of sex was hardly attractive. "I have other things on my mind right now."
When Eleazar still failed to return her affectionate hold, Carmen decided to leave him to his brooding. "I'm going to check on the twins," she told him, heading out of the room. "Feel free to make use of your 'wank bank', my love."
Eleazar cursed his little brother, and Caius his deviant sidekick. Aro, I am going to fucking murder you! he thought.
The next day, Eleazar started working on the alterations to the South tower. The twins need to leave!