AN: We have so many in the dog house for this chapter that its ended up a little long. A huge thanks to my wonderful Beta Doccoopper for battling through all my drivel. Where would I be without you?!
PROMISES, PROMISES
"You stupid man!"
Basileus shook his weary head. "Atia, listen …"
"No!" the vampiric witch snapped in return. "You're a fool, Basileus, a damn fool." Atia took to stalking back and forth in front of the fireplace. "YOU have caused this, all of it! Just get out of here," she demanded. "Felix is for Aro to deal with, not you. You can leave Caius be, too!"
"Leave Caius be?!" Basileus repeated those words a couple of times. You must be fucking joking?!
"Don't you dare! Don't you even think of blaming Caius for this, Basileus," Atia roared. "He is not the coven scapegoat! Not anymore!"
Many times, so many times, Atia had pointed out since her arrival in the coven that Basileus had allowed the axe to fall on Caius' head instead of Aro's at times of stress. Mostly stress caused by Aro, (she pointed that out, too).
Basileus couldn't deny it. In hindsight, he had treated Caius abysmally ... but it was just something he hadn't recognised at the time. That said, Caius was guilty as sin this time and it was all on him, as far as Basileus was concerned. Feeling his temper rising at the onslaught from his mate, but knowing it would do no good to add fire to the flames, he forced himself to walk away from the argument.
"You could have prevented this whole mess but you chose to let things play out," Atia called after him. "How many times could you have intervened? How many chances did you have to prevent this?!"
Basileus spun on his heel to face his mate. "Well, obviously I never expected Caius to start throwing punches in the bloody throne room!"
"Then what did you expect?" Sulpicia asked, feeling bolstered by her mother-in-law's attacks on the creator. "You know what happened last time he was drinking that rotting blood."
Basileus twitched. It pissed him off to no end on the rare occasion Sulpicia turned her acidic tongue on him. This time it particularly pissed him off, as Felix was the ''victim' of Caius' outburst and Basileus had allowed him to drink the damn dungeon blood, so it was difficult to argue a defence.
"It was kept between Magnus and Caius last time," he explained, drawing on all the reserves of patience he had left. "I assumed it would be this time." Obviously, he thought.
There were more thoughts in Basileus' mind, thoughts Atia had access to and she was livid. "Are you telling me you set this up to see how Magnus would cope with Caius?!" Hands on hips and fire shooting from her eyes, she made a formidable mate at that moment. "Why?!" she roared. "You already know Magnus can handle Caius if need be, so what was the point?!"
That was it, Basileus was getting both barrels.
"At the very least you put Athenodora at risk, you put Caius' marriage at risk, you put Freyr and Magnus at risk. And now this whole thing has imploded, you have put the alliance at risk, too, not to mention our grandsons!"
"Atia, please …" Why he dared to cut in was anyone's guess. Neither Atia or Sulpicia wanted to hear a word coming out of his mouth.
"Put yourself to some use," Atia suggested, tone dripping with patronising venom. "Go and help Aro smooth things over out there."
Sulpicia waited for Basileus to close the door behind him and listened carefully up the stairwell to ensure her children had managed to sleep through the row. Felix was drugged on Basileus' blood, of course, and Demetri was knocked out on dungeon blood and bloodwine so it was only the twins to worry about. When no noise came from upstairs, Sully turned a grateful smile on her mother-in-law.
"I'm not happy about any of this," she said, gesturing upstairs to her sleeping children. "But I do so love seeing you put him in his place."
"Lord knows someone needs to!" Atia said, huffing into the air over her idiot mate. It took a few more breaths before she calmed herself down suitable to talk.
"I have a request, Sulpicia, if you would be so kind?"
"After that?" Sulpicia said, still smiling. "Anything!"
"The children are sleeping, I will stay here with them should they wake," Atia paused and bit her bottom lip knowing her daughter-in-law wouldn't want to fulfil her request. Steeling herself for a rejection, she asked. "Would you pay Athenodora a visit?"
"Me?!" Sully shot out. She hadn't expected that. Sulpicia and Athenodora had put old arguments behind them, but they still weren't on friendly terms. They could be in one another's presence without arguing, or even being passive aggressive towards each other, but no, they weren't friends. "Maybe Carmen would be better …"
"You have lived through such troubles with Aro that are comparable to Dora's with Caius, my dear," Atia explained. She didn't need to spell it out. Men on dungeon blood rampages were often violent and it was their wives who bore the brunt of it. "I think some like-minded support would be invaluable right now. Don't you?"
"She has Freyr …" Sulpicia trailed off, knowing she was being weak.
"Sulpicia, my dear," Atia said emphatically, taking the younger woman's hands in her own. "No one else in this castle will understand Dora's fears like you will. You and Aro came through this, I am asking you to help ensure Dora and Caius do, too."
How can I deny that?! Sully heaved a heavy sigh, but she agreed. "Do I tell them about Basileus' part in all of this?"
"I would ask that you do not." Atia pursed her lips, offending herself that she would be part of the cover-up. "Not for his sake, you understand, but for everyone else's. He has been a fool, an utter fool, but he is the creator and the overlord of us all. It is better for our coven to have faith in him, even if he doesn't deserve it." Ever the excellent statesman.
Sulpicia agreed and sloped off to the north tower.
She could hear the raging and what sounded like furniture being smashed up as soon as she opened the door to the north tower. Assuring herself that Caius was contained upstairs, somewhere, somehow, Sulpicia quietly let herself into the lower floor suite. She had expected to find Athenodora hiding in a bedchamber, sobbing. What she found was Dora and Freyr sitting at the window playing cards and sharing a sociable glass of wine.
"Is that Caius up there?" she asked, not knowing what else to say. She had a whole speech ready, intending on giving her old covenmate a pep talk as Atia had suggested, but there really seemed no need going by Dora's disposition. "Would you like to come to the south tower? You don't need to listen to all of this."
"I'm fine here," Dora replied, offering Sulpicia a seat. "So long as he stays up there."
"He will, my dear," Freyr confirmed. "You know he won't get past Magnus."
Dora nodded, smiling. "If he does, he won't get past you." It felt so nice to have people in her corner. 'Nice' might seem inappropriate, given her mate was being held captive upstairs, but it really did feel nice! Dora believed Magnus would keep Caius contained and help him through the other side of this shit. Freyr would stay with Dora for as long as Dora wanted her to and beyond. It was nice to have that support.
"This isn't his fault," Sulpicia stated. She wasn't going to tell them Basileus had partially set the trap for Caius to fall into, just to see what would happen, but she wanted to alleviate some of the blame Caius would face when he had come down from the drug. "Caius should never have been allowed to take dungeon blood this weekend."
"I have to disagree with you there, Sulpicia," Freyr said sternly. She poured them all a fresh glass of wine and dealt Sulpicia into their game. "Caius chose to take the blood. He went to great lengths to take it, in fact."
"Yes," Sully agreed, taking a sip from her glass. "But, Basileus …"
"Basileus is not his keeper." Dora nodded to Freyr's words. "Caius has his own mind, he chose to take it. He will be the one to suffer the consequences."
Sulpicia was floundering a little. Everything she had expected had been turned on its head. Still, she thought, I should tell them they can't rely on Basileus to fix this. "I don't think Basileus will be issuing any consequences. Not if Atia has anything to do with it … she blames Basileus!"
Dora and Freyr shared a knowing look. "There's more than one way to face consequences around here," Freyr explained.
A particularly loud thud followed, coming from the floor above, followed by Magnus balling 'Stay down!'. Everything went quiet for a moment and the coven ladies listened to see what would happen. Dora checked the clock. No way will he have settled yet, she thought. She was right. A second later and Caius' growling started again ... followed by more clattering furniture.
Freyr was sure that sound was her table collapsing. "I hope Magnus batters him."
Dora laughed and played her card. "I'm sure he will."
Sulpicia followed Dora into the card game and looked between the two women in vague confusion. "So you really don't blame Basileus for letting this happen?"
"He had his part to play, and yes, he could have prevented this," Freyr answered. She had wanted to rip Basileus' balls off at the start of the ball, but now that annoyance had subsided ... and knowing Atia would have done the job for her, Freyr held no further malice towards the creator. "But," she continued, "so could anyone else, including us, if we had chosen to intervene. But that's irrelevant. At the end of the day, the buck stops with Caius."
Sulpicia thought about that for a moment before answering honestly, "If this were Aro, I would blame Basileus."
Freyr was gracious enough not to comment but the look on Dora's face spoke volumes.
"What's that look for?!" Sulpicia asked, feeling affronted.
Freyr shook her head curtly to Dora before turning back to Sully to smooth things over. "You wouldn't expect Aro to take responsibility for his own actions," she said. It wasn't a question. Freyr knew how the Volturi family worked. The buck stopped with Basileus, never his sons, at least not entirely. "And maybe that's right in your situation with your family dynamics, but it's different for Caius. He is judged by his own decisions."
Sulpicia rested back in her chair. It was her turn to play but the card game had left her thoughts. Freyr knew she would have to explain further to help the coven queen understand.
"Caius has access to the dungeon blood stores at all times. He has chosen not to take it for the last six years. He has even refused to work so he wouldn't have to take it." Freyr paused for long enough to prompt Sulpicia to play her card and then continued. "This weekend he decided he needed to take it to impress some sadistic foreigner."
"Fucking Henri, the animal," Dora interjected.
"Indeed," Freyr replied. "Basileus could have banned Caius from taking the dungeon blood, Caius would probably have listened to that and not taken it. But would that be anything to be proud of?"
"Even though you knew he would struggle to stop once he started?" Sulpicia asked, genuinely musing on the differences between Aro and Caius at the moment.
Dora scoffed. "All the more reason for him to choose not to take it at all." She showed little compassion for her mate because it was his own bloody fault!
"Caius is expected to make the right choice on his own, without any threats, without any pressure." Freyr shrugged. "If he can't do that, then he has failed anyway."
Sulpicia felt like her world had been turned upside down. She had never held Aro to the same standard. She had always blamed Basileus, at least in part, for her mate's screw ups. How have I never realised this? she wondered. But then seeing something that has developed over the course of a vampiric existence can be difficult without someone else shining a light on the issue. Sulpicia vowed to think more on the matter later. I need to show Atia I have done something useful, she thought, and she wanted to ensure Dora and Caius would come through Caius' latest fall from grace.
"Are you going to leave him, Dora?"
"What?!" Dora laughed. "No," she said, shaking her head and tutting at the noises emanating through her ceiling. "We've been through worse than this. Six years without that drug and things have been great. It's one weekend. It's a good reminder of how bad things can be, but I'm not facing the bad things on my own anymore, and neither is Caius."
"It's taken centuries for Caius to get as bad as he was," Freyr reminded both younger women. "It's going to take time for him to recover from that. For you both to recover," she added, looking to Dora.
"It's happening," Dora said confidently. "I never thought it would. I never thought we could be the couple we once were. But we are now. Almost."
Sulpicia finished her drink and left the two of them to it. Dora had all the support she could need in Freyr and Sulpicia was glad of it. Not because she wouldn't have offered the support should Dora have needed it. She would have, Atia had convinced her of that already. But Sully was glad Dora had people in her corner. It made her think about those in her own corner. Basileus, always, Atia in more recent years. Sulpicia was forced to consider how she tried to simultaneously keep them both at arm's length whilst also calling them in when she couldn't cope, or worse, blaming them for matters beyond their control. Yes, she had much to think about.
Basileus entered the north tower not long after Sulpicia had left. He went straight up to the second floor. Usually, he would have knocked, but by what he could hear, he doubted Magnus would be free to open the door.
"What is he playing at?!" he asked, looking to Caius thrashing on the floor beneath Magnus' excessive weight.
"He will exhaust himself soon enough," Magnus replied a little breathlessly and he bounced around on top of Caius. "He has mentioned that this is my fault for not putting an end to his intake when I caught him in the dungeons."
"How could he have the nerve?!" Basileus whistled into the air. "Cheeky brat!"
Hearing them discussing him only increased Caius' rage. He didn't possess the control to speak his frustrations. All he could do was increase his growls and do his best to throw Magnus off.
Basileus went to help his friend, but Magnus waved him away. He scooped Caius' failing arms up behind his back and held his wrists together with one hand. The other he used to slap him hard across the back of his head.
"You're pissing me off now, Caius" he told the younger master calmly. "Pack it in."
Basileus was amazed at how calm Magnus stayed throughout. Even more so that it actually seemed to be working. Caius continued to growl and resist, but he wasn't putting as much effort in.
"Are the covens still here?" Magnus asked easily.
Basileus looked around the main living chamber, trying to find somewhere to sit. There was nowhere. Every scrap of furniture had been ruined in Caius' comedown. And he hasn't finished yet, has he? Basileus thought. He knew how this went, having brought Aro through enough dungeon blood bouts. He took a seat on the floor near Caius and Magnus. Caius hissed at the creator when he came close. One crack from Magnus put an end to that.
"They are still here. They plan to leave at dawn, so a few more hours yet," Basileus confirmed. "Aro and Marcus are doing their best to keep everyone away from the north tower ... but you do have some observers."
"If one of them is Henri I want him dead," Magnus said seriously.
"That cretin scarped the moment our backs were turned," Basileus confirmed.
Hearing Henri's name stirred the rage burning in Caius and he started struggling again. He almost broke free until Magnus all but lay on top of him, using his weight to keep him down.
"I can take him," Basileus offered. The guilt was crushing him.
"I can handle him," Magnus said confidently. "I've done this before."
"So long as you are sure?" Basileus asked. He felt guilty for the state Caius was in, but even more so that he'd put so much pressure on his friend. His guilt over Caius wasn't enough to prevent him issuing severe punishment, however. "I'm going to have him whipped at the coven meeting Friday morning."
Magnus was so surprised that he almost forgot the task at hand. He had to slam his chest into Caius' back to keep the younger coven master in place. "That seems a little extreme, Basileus," he replied once he'd caught his breath. None of the masters, or even any female guards, had ever been punished publicly before.
"Look at what he's doing to your home, Magnus," Basileus said, arms outstretched. "Look at the state of you!"
Magnus wore a split lip for his trouble with Caius, his shirt was torn and hanging off him, various bruises were visible on his face and chest and there was a burning red bite mark to his forearm.
"I can see all that well enough, but whipping him in front of the coven is too much, it won't solve the problem long term." Magnus shook his head. "It's too much."
"He punched Felix in the face and broke his nose," Basileus reminded him.
"I know Caius will be regretting that for longer than Felix thinks on it," Magnus replied.
Basileus couldn't argue with that. He wasn't willing to leave it there, though. "So what do you suggest then? He isn't getting away with this."
"Certainly not," Magnus agreed. "But you can keep it private, surely?"
Basileus scoffed. "He doesn't deserve for it to be kept private."
"Then do it for me," Magnus implored. "I'm asking you, not him. I'm asking you to keep whatever punishment he has coming private. If this were Aro, you would be looking for ways to support him …"
Basileus cut in at that. "I'd be giving him the hiding of his life first!"
"Yes, first," Magnus agreed. "But then you would be looking for ways to support him. Caius needs the same thing, he deserves the same thing."
"Caius has never wanted my support, that's not the relationship we have, nor have we ever. But you … I'll be back shortly, my friend."
Magnus looked to Basileus curiously as he stood to leave.
Before he got to the door, he turned with a similar expression to the juggernaut. "Magnus, why didn't you stop him in the dungeons? I'm not saying you had to, but why didn't you?"
Magnus shrugged. "What right do I have to stop him doing anything?"
Basileus bobbed his head to himself and left with Magnus still none the wiser.
When Basileus returned half an hour later, Magnus was still on the floor, but now sitting leaning up the wall. He had a tight hold of Caius. Magnus' giant arms wrapped around Caius' chest, pinning them tightly together with Caius' arms trapped uselessly at his sides. Magnus was using all his emphatic powers to keep Caius calm and it was working. The growl still rumbled in his chest, but it was quiet as Caius slumped forward in Magnus' hold with his eyes closed dreamily.
"Are you still sure you want to keep him here?" Basileus asked.
Magnus smiled, his lip splitting a little further as he did so to remind him of the stressful hours he had spent before the calm had taken over. "I'm committed to the task, Basileus," he said, licking the blood from his wounded lip.
Basileus was pleased to have someone like Magnus on whom to rely. He had never had a fall-back guy before. there was Marcus, of course. he was a true and great confidant to the creator, but he lacked Magnus' skill set for much more than that. It was new to Basileus to be able to share the load of what would usually be his duty. Though to be fair, he had never been particularly active in managing Caius anyway. Still, it felt good to have another solid guy who was willing to step up to the plate when it counted.
"Then I will leave this here for you to use as you see fit." Basileus took the five-tail whip from his cloak and put it on the sideboard.
Magnus watched it slowly uncoil. "Me?!" he asked, taken aback. "You want me to whip him?!"
"He needs support, you're right, so support him." Basileus held up a hand to silence Magnus before he could resist too much. "I will agree to keeping this a private matter, as much as we are able to after such a public display of abhorrence. But he needs setting straight first."
Magnus looked back at Basileus like he'd grown an extra head. "Caius isn't going to accept a whipping from me, Basileus. I'm not above him."
"You can be, if you want to be?" Basileus thought out loud, testing the water a little.
"What?!" Magnus barked in return.
Okay, too far, Basileus corrected himself. "Don't worry about that for now," he said, trying to gloss over his comment. "Caius has crossed a good many of us in the coven this weekend, but none more than you. He has taken all of your support over the last few years and thrown it back in your face. Whether you want vengeance …"
"I don't work that way, and you know it." Magnus didn't do vengeance. Correction, yes, but not vengeance.
"Or whether you want to continue to support him," Basileus continued seamlessly. "He needs to answer for his trespasses and you are the one he has trespassed against. Be sure to make it count because I would hate to have to repeat the message that what he has done is totally unacceptable, regardless of the excuse."
Basileus waited. If you are truly resistant, I won't make you do this, he thought, but I want to give you the chance to see this through if you are up to it.
Magnus took his time to reply as he mulled over Basileus' request. At least he felt it was a request, not quite an order. Caius had fallen into a drug induced sleep in his hold, so he laid him out on the floor. Standing up and stretching out the ache in his bones, he went to the whip Basileus had delivered and considered the implement. He dreaded to think the devastation he could create with that whip wielded in his hands. Most would say his hand was capable of enough devastation without the aid of a five-tail long whip, too!
"I'll give him the option," Magnus eventually replied.
"Perfect," Basileus said, thoroughly pleased. At least some good might have come out of all of this.
…
Magnus looked out his bathroom window just in time to see Tao and Xola leave with their lions in tow. They were a magnificent sight, all glistening in the morning sun. Those lions are so majestic, he thought as they disappeared from view.
He could have stood by that window all morning, soaking up the sun, but the retching coming from his living room brought the coven master back to reality. Filling yet another tankard with fresh water, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. Magnus wasn't entirely sure how old he was. He always said forty and he was sure he was at least that when he was turned. But looking at his reflection now, he thought he could easily pass for fifty ... or more. He looked so tired, the split lip didn't help. His long dark hair hung loosely around his shoulders and was desperate for a comb ... or better still, a wash, he thought, picking out a piece of lime plaster from his crown.
Taking the tankard, he headed back to the living room, or rather, the site of destruction! It was a good job that Freyr had moved the valuables before the ball began as every wall wore a patch of cracked plaster, or in some places an entire missing section of plaster exposing the brick work beneath.
Under the window, Caius sat on the floor with the light dancing off his blond hair. It would have made a beautiful sight had Caius not had his head hung between his knees, dry retching into a bucket.
"You were right," he said to Magnus between heaving. "You told me to ease up on the drinking … you should have insisted." He couldn't bring up any more of the black blood. Not because his stomach was clear of the rotting drug, but because it was proving difficult to force himself to throw up with the pain of three broken ribs burning at his side.
Magnus raised an eyebrow. "So all of this is my fault, is it?"
Caius drank down the whole tankard of water, the moment it hit his stomach it started to come back up, bringing more black slime to add to the rest. At least it came up easier with the water.
"Just don't let me do this again," Caius begged. Hi voice echoed into the bucket and came back to mock him cruelly.
"I'll remind you of this conversation at the next Tribune Ball when you and Henri start knocking back the shots."
Magnus took a seat in his chair - his favourite chair - and promptly crashed to the floor, falling through the seat of the damn thing. Something else that been irreparably damaged in Caius' drugged up tantrum.
Caius at least had the good grace to cringe as Magnus dusted himself down, giving the splintered wood a boot in annoyance. He wanted to laugh, he so wanted to laugh, but he felt too hungover for that.
"Fucking Henri!" Caius thought aloud.
"Henri isn't the one who smashed up my quarters," Magnus boomed, adding "again!" for good measure.
Caius cowered on the floor. His head pounded like a drum - the last thing he needed was the juggernaut's booming voice in his ear. "I'll make good the damages," he offered.
"Damn right you will!" Magnus walked a few paces away, partly to get away from the stench of vomited rotting blood, but mostly to be out of reach of Caius - he was ready to boot the little bastard.
"I'm sorry."
Caius didn't say sorry very often, he didn't believe in it. If you were regretful for your behaviour you should do something to put it right - words were pointless, he usually thought. Over the last few years,though, Caius had been saying sorry to Magnus with a disturbing regularity.
"I was a fool," he admitted, "and I'm sorry." Gods be damned, I said it again! "Does anyone know?" he asked, trying to move the subject on. His memory hadn't fully restored yet and he was worried someone from the visiting covens may have witnessed his violence.
Magnus scoffed. "You aren't usually so concerned about showing your arse," he said. "You're going to want to go on another bender when you remember what you did."
"I'm trying to change, Magnus. You know I am …"
Magnus cut the younger man off in his stride. "You were doing a good job of it until you hit the bottle again," he admonished.
"Exactly," Caius agreed. "So I would rather no one saw this setback. It will ruin all my efforts."
Magnus couldn't help but laugh. He knew Caius' amnesia wouldn't last much longer and his memories were about to kick him in the cock when they returned.
"Oh fuck," Caius moaned, the odd flash returning. "Who knows?" he whined.
"Just about the whole coven," Magnus said simply. "And all the visitors."
"Bollocks!" Caius stuck his head back into his bucket. "It's starting to come back to me," he said from inside, heaving as he spoke. "Oh fuck."
"Aye," Magnus agreed. "'Oh fuck', alright."
"What about …" Caius pulled his head clear and wiped his chin on his ragged sleeve. "What about Basileus?"
"Oh yes, he knows. He was there when you launched Felix across the throne room floor and then threw up dungeon blood on your own throne." Magnus smiled contentedly to himself. He was glad to see the memories of the complete ineptitude were having such a strong effect on Caius. "He also dropped by when you were in smash-up mode," he added, gesturing around the living space.
"Did he have much to say?" Caius asked, trying to sound cool about his impending doom and failing dismally.
"He wants you whipped at the coven meeting on Friday," Magnus told him, acting just as cool. He decided to hold off on explaining he talked the creator down to keeping the matter private.
"Are you fucking serious?!" Caius had expected to receive the hiding of his life from Basileus, maybe even the odd broken bone, but a public whipping?! "He never did that to Aro and he was way worse on dungeon blood than I am."
"Do you think so?" Magnus asked, "Really?" he was following Caius' emotional output as they spoke.
"Yes!" Caius shot back. It was clear from Magnus' face that he knew Caius was lying. "I think," he changed his answer to a more honest one. "I'm no worse than Aro. I'm not. Fuck!"
"You knocked out his grandson and had to be dragged out of the throne room in front of the major covens of our world." Magnus was only too happy to remind the man of his depravity after all he been through with Caius that day and a half!
Caius roared to his unfair treatment, as he saw it. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" It didn't take long for those feelings to turn to true panic. "You've got to get me out of this!"
Magnus leaned up the wall as he watched the younger master flounder. "What do you expect me to do?"
"You and him, you're friends, he'll listen to you," Caius said, full of hope. "I know I don't deserve your help, not anymore, but I'm begging you to get me out of it. If I am whipped in front of the coven, I will be finished here. Finished!"
Magnus had played with him long enough. He wanted Caius to feel the stress of a public dress down, even if he had already made sure he wouldn't be getting on. "Calm down, Caius. Basileus isn't going to do anything," he explained. "I've already talked to him. Luckily, he feels like he owes me a favour, so I've convinced him that this should be kept private."
Caius leaned back against the wall beneath the window and closed his eyes. The emotional rush he'd suffered had hurt his head. "Thank you so, so much!" he said, repeating the words a few dozen times.
"Don't thank me yet," Magnus said sternly. "He has agreed it will be kept quiet, but you are still facing punishment. He has shunted the duty to me."
Caius opened his eyes and looked back to his co-master. "You?" he said curiously.
Magnus felt the emotional shift in the younger master. Caius had moved from resentment to panic to relief and then confusion is a matter of minutes. It was making Magnus feel nauseous so God only knows what it was doing to Caius.
"I had to drag your ass out of the throne room, it's my place you smashed up, again, Freyr and I are the ones running interference between you and Dora … so yeah, me."
"And, just what do you intend to do?" Caius asked. His earlier gratitude was long gone. He was sussing Magnus out as an adversary in that moment. "Because if you are thinking what I think you're thinking you can forget it. I'm not submitting to punishment from you. I wouldn't submit to Marcus or Aro, either. It's not happening."
You think you can take me? Magnus wondered. You sure do learn slowly, boy. He wasn't worried. Magnus planned on teaching Caius plenty before he would see the outside world again. He knew what he was doing. "So you expect me to keep putting up with your drug induced tantrums without consequence?" he asked simply.
There was no reasonable answer to give to such a question and Caius knew it. "Do you want to beat me? Is that it?" That was the best Caius could come up with.
"I dare say it would be cathartic," Magnus said, taking another look around his trashed living space. But that wasn't it at all. Magnus wasn't a violent man. He would do what was required of him, no more or less than that. "I'm just trying to help you, Caius."
"Why would you still want to help me?" Caius asked. He felt completely dejected by his own self-image. "Everyone knows I'm a cunt."
Magnus shook his head slowly. Self-pity bores me. "Many people may well think you're a cunt because that is all that you have shown them. You've shown me different and that man is the one I am here to help."
"You can't save me, Magnus."
"You're right, only you can do that," Magnus replied. He took a seat on the floor in front of his covenmate and hooked a hand under his chin so they were face to face. "But I am here for you when you need me. Whether that's dragging you out of public, supervising your tantrums, or putting you back on the right path, I'm here."
Tantrums?! Caius repeated to himself. I can't even disagree. I'm such a twat. It felt quite oppressive for Caius to be sitting opposite the most moral man in Volterra ... or maybe in the world ... with a laundry list or crimes clouding his own character. Selfishly, and typically for Caius when he felt uncomfortable, he fell back on his old friend pride. He could protect his pride, what little he had left, and there was no way he could submit to any kind of punishment from Magnus. Right or wrong, he had to get out of it.
"It's not going to happen again," Caius assured. "I'm off it. Completely off it. Henri's on his own at the next ball."
So, you need a little more help accepting this, Magnus thought. That's okay. He was used to dealing with the guards and he never laid a finger on any of them until they fully accepted what was to come. He could put such training to good use with Caius.
"And what about when you start on these creations Hilda has ordered?" he asked, knowing Caius would want dungeon blood for the task of turning so many vampires under extreme conditions.
"I'll find a way to do the job without dungeon blood." Caius pulled away from Magnus a little and squared his shoulders. "I'll sort your chambers out and I will replace all the damages." There, he thought, what more could you want than that? "Are we square?"
Magnus shook his head with an upturned lip. Never had Caius seen someone look so disappointed in him. "No, we are not fucking square!" Magnus roared. "You're talking about there not being a next time when we haven't dealt with this time!" He took to his feet again, just to make sure he wouldn't slap the little bastard.
Caius actually shrank into the wall behind him as he watched the juggernaut pace his chambers like a caged animal. Magnus was completely in control, not that Caius could appreciate that at the time.
"You will be assuming responsibility for all the costs involved in repairing my chambers, again," Magnus said, coming to a halt at the furthest point away from the younger master. "But, to make it clear, that's just a consequence of your mistakes – it's not a punishment."
Caius gulped down the sick he felt rising. He knew Magnus was right, there was no way he could get out of the shit without paying for it, somehow. But Magnus?! he wasn't entirely ready to submit to his co master, not without at least knowing what he would be submitting to. "What does he want you to do?" he asked. He spoke so quietly that Magnus strained to hear him.
"Basileus?" Magnus checked. When Caius nodded Magnus collected the five-tail whip from a sideboard and cracked it into the air. "He dropped this round after seeing the state of my chambers."
Caius positively baulked. He had never felt the force of that whip. Never. Now it wasn't that he feared the pain, as such, though he was under no illusion that it would be incredibly painful. What he feared was the meaning behind it. That whip was used on disobedient guards, subordinates who needed bringing into line. Is that how low I've fallen?!
Magnus could see Caius brooding again and wanted to snap him out of it. "I prefer my belt," he said simply with a hand on the buckle.
A belt? Caius considered whether a belt would an agreeable. option. I can take a belt. It's better than the whip. But it's not A belt, it's Magnus' belt. This is wrong. It's wrong. If anyone ever found out ... I could say I chose the lesser of two evils, everyone would understand that, wouldn't they? But from Magnus?! At least it wouldn't hurt, he thought.
Silly, silly man.
Caius didn't know what to do for the best. "Don't do this Magnus, it will change everything between us."
"Then you're going to have to drag your sorry hide to Basileus and throw yourself on his mercy," he said dismissively. Magnus threw the whip to land just in front of Caius where it unravelled slowly, taunting him. "Be sure to take that with you."
Caius scooted back away from the dreaded implement. "He will show no mercy!"
"I'm not forcing you down for a beating, Caius, though we both know I could." Magnus glared down at Caius for a moment, just long enough for Caius to start to wonder if that was actually going to happen. "That's not my way," he added, a little softer. "You need to make your choice. You fucked up. You need to pay for it. Go to the Creator if you would prefer. He has agreed to keep it private, as a favour to me, so you won't be facing the coven. Or, I can deal with you. It's up to you."
'You need to pay for it', Caius repeated to himself. He did need to pay for it, he agreed with that. But he didn't owe Basileus anything. Going to the Creator for a beating wouldn't be paying for anything at all. Magnus, though, he thought, I owe him a great deal, again. Caius didn't want to risk losing Magnus' support. He said he will still be there for me, but how can I expect him to if I treat him like this and walk out scot free? It would be a watershed moment in their relationship if Caius let it happen. There will be no going back, he thought, correctly.
"You," Caius said softly, voice thick with emotion for what he was submitting himself to. "I owe you, so your way."
Magnus bobbed his head. He was pleased with Caius' reasoning. When he started to unbuckle his belt, however, Caius baulked.
"I need to stop throwing up first!" he said quickly, heaving his guts up for all he was worth. When he pulled his head out of the bucket, he still wasn't ready. "How is Felix?" he asked, thinking a little light conversation might help, or at least put off the inevitable.
"I believe he has recovered from your punch so he will probably be nursing a sore backside for fighting with Demetri." Magnus thought of something else he wanted an answer to. If Caius is so intent on dragging out his punishment then I might as well ask now. "What made you defend Demetri so gallantly?"
Caius shrugged. "I was wrecked."
Magnus rolled his eyes. "Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying," Caius insisted. "I WAS wrecked!"
"But that's not why you defended the boy, is it?" Magnus pushed. He didn't suffer fools gladly and lying to an empath was the epitome of foolishness.
Caius huffed. He wanted light conversation, not deep guff. "I guess I felt sorry for him. I know what it's like to live in someone's shadow." Caius didn't like to talk about feelings. Not with anyone. He was relieved to see Magnus nodding sympathetically rather than pushing for more details. Still, he thought, I better change conversation! "Did I hit Amun?" He remembered trying, but then another blur clouded his memories.
"No," Magnus replied, rubbing his jaw. "I intercepted your attempt and you hit me instead."
Caius shook his head, disgusted with himself. "I'm so sorry, Magnus."
"You will be when I've finished with you."
Caius' head shot up again. Fuck, that sounded like he meant it! Not that Caius believed it, of course. He was a seasoned warrior for Christ's sake! He could take a belting off Magnus, physically. It was the mental side that he was struggling with.
Magnus knew exactly what Caius would be thinking and a part of him, only a small part because he didn't enjoy punishing anyone, was looking forward to setting Caius straight. For the moment, though, he would let the younger man enjoy his false belief. "Marcus has suggested that you write to Amun to apologise over your regretful behaviour to ensure the alliance isn't put at risk."
"Seriously?" Caius said with scorn. "A letter?"
Magnus shrugged. It was no skin off his nose if Caius didn't follow Marcus' suggestion. "You could always pop to Egypt and express your regret face to face," he said, smirking.
"I'll write the bloody letter." Caius did his best bring up the final content of his stomach. When it was only water that returned. He knew his end had come.
"That's coming up clear now," Magnus said, pointing out the bucket. "On your feet." He nudged the bucket aside and started to unbuckle his belt.
Caius heard the jangle of the buckle and his stomach flipped again. There was nothing left in there to come up, but that didn't help the waves of sickness traversing his body. "You're seriously going to do this?" he asked, desperately hoping Magnus would realise how inappropriate the idea of punishing was and back out.
Magnus kind of agreed with Caius, in a way. This was not a usual situation for him either! Sure he whipped the odd guard on a regular basis, but it was the darker side of the job and he didn't like to do it. It's one of the reasons why he made damn sure to do a good job of it - in the hope that would lessen the amount of times he would have to whip anyone.
With the guards, it worked. Few were foolish enough to bring themselves negative attention with any regularity. But he isn't a guard, Magnus thought, looking at his co master still sitting on the floor. Caius will need more than they will if I'm not to repeat this message. He was reminded of Basileus' words when he'd dropped the whip off for him to use. Being hard on him now will save him a second round with Basileus, he thought, resolving himself to the task.
"On your feet," Magnus repeated, pulling Caius to his feet and ripping the remnants of torn shirt from his shoulders. "You can drop those, too," he added, pointing to Caius' britches with his belt.
"What?!" Caius shot out. "You don't do that to guards!"
"You aren't a guard, are you?" Magnus asked simply.
Caius refused to move. Magnus wasn't sure whether it was a defiant expression or one of shock, or maybe fear, but he felt he'd wasted enough time talking Caius around to good sense already. Last chance, he thought.
"You really don't want me to take them from you."
Caius put his hands on his hips, ready to fire off an objection.
Magnus didn't let him get that far. Ever in control, he simply turned Caius to face the wall and pushed him towards it.
"Fine, I'll take them from you. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Moving behind Caius, Magnus easily reached around and took Caius' hands in his own. He could feel through his gift that Caius' trepidation was rising, and he was happy with that. Knocking a little pride out of him will do him some good, he thought. He placed Caius' hands flat against the wall at shoulder height and kicked his legs to part a little. As soon as he backed up a step, he felt Caius' emotions change to relief.
"Why are you so relieved?" Magnus asked. "We haven't even started yet."
Caius shrugged and laughed a little. "I thought you were going to … doesn't matter," he said shaking his head.
"Oh!" Magnus laughed, too. "You thought I was going to strip you now?" Magnus laughed again. "No, Caius. When I said I will take those britches from you, I meant with my belt."
Caius dropped his head. Oh shit.
Magnus, being a giant of a man, wore a long, wide belt. He wrapped most of it around his large hand, leaving a tongue long enough to do the licking. Before Caius could respond to his comment, which by Magnus' reading of him would be one of surprise and fear, he got himself in position. "You might want to brace yourself," he said simply.
Caius tried to scoff at the very idea, but the noise sort of strangled in his throat resulting in a painfully weak admission of his concern. Before he could attempt to rectify the situation, because the very last thing he wanted was for Magnus to think he had one over on him, that silly, weak noise was replaced with a wail and a roar as the first strike sliced across his backside.
Magnus dropped his belt and stood next to Caius. "Have you just punched my wall?!" he asked in disbelief.
Caius winced when he looked up. He hadn't even realised he done it, but the tell tale pulse of his knuckles confirmed that he had. "It hurt!"
"You've cracked the plaster all the way up." Magnus traced the line to the ceiling with his finger.
"It fucking hurt!" Caius shot out in excuse.
Magnus cuffed the back of his head. "It's supposed to fucking hurt!"
Caius moved his head away sharply. "You took me by surprise," he muttered. His ass burned a blaze where that belt had landed. He'd taken a fair few beatings from Basileus in his time, but the creator tended to focus on his back, occasionally his legs if he were aiming to disable the man for a while. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had struck his backside. Not since I was a fucking child, he mused, which was exactly how he felt right then stood next to Magnus. A fucking child!
Magnus may not have had access to Caius' thoughts, but being an expert in reading emotion he could imagine what Caius would be thinking ... exactly what he wanted him to think! Caius felt emasculated, stripped of his pride, and ashamed. All that with one strike, Magnus thought happily, impressed with himself. Not that he would be ending things there.
"You thought the only issue being punished by me was that it was me, not that I could actually make it count for anything," Magnus said whilst he worked on putting a dumbstruck Caius back in position.
Oh, you're making it count, Caius thought, in many ways! It was a terrifying realisation, a humbling one, too.
Magnus collected his belt from the floor and wound it back around his hand. "Move again and I'll start over."
Caius found his voice. "How many of these am I taking?!"
Magnus drew back his arm, "Until I'm sure you've got the message." And until you can't take any more, you fucked up little brat!
CRACK!
Now, Caius had been in a great many battles. There wasn't a single mission the Volturi had conducted that Caius hadn't attended. And he didn't just attend. In every one of those missions he had headed the Volturi forces, getting stuck into the fray and fighting fearlessly.
In that time, he suffered his share of pummellings. He'd broken more bones than he could count and he knew what pain felt like. If those battles hadn't done it for him, Basileus had. All that paled into insignificance whilst Magnus released his fury on his hide. The same strength that had protected Caius, even from himself, also ensured his obedience – or, at least, punished disobedience. Protection and punishment were suddenly two sides of the same coin.
To begin with, no two strikes landed in the same place as Magnus worked on covering every inch of skin from his neck to his knees. Caius thought that hell was awful enough. He had never been stuck as hard by anything in his life.
When Magnus had finished with his warm up, and started to overlay strike on top of strike, Caius actually considered throwing himself on the creator's mercy! Being whipped in front of the coven even seemed like a lesser punishment at that moment. He wasn't sure that Magnus would make good on his threat to start over if he moved, but there was no way on God's green earth that he was going to test the hypothesis. His hands stayed fixed to the wall, but they were no longer flat, instead, ball into fists with his nails penetrating his palms. Sweat dripped from his face to the floor at his feet, which he'd welded to the floor. That was, however, the extent of his self-imposed restrictions. The rest of his body convulsed beyond his control to the painful strikes and his lungs, suffering no inhibitions, roared out his pains.
It wasn't just physical pain in Caius' reactions. Magnus felt every scrap of emotion Caius went through, it was impossible for him not to. As soon as Caius moved out of self-pity and into genuine regret, he ended his assault.
It took a while for Caius to realise that Magnus had not only quit whipping him, but that he'd moved away entirely. Not that it made any difference to him. All he could do was hold his position and concentrate on his breathing and tidal waves of burning ignited his senses. It was as if a flaming torch was being held to his skin!
"You can move now," Magnus called from where he perched on the windowsill.
Easy for you to say! Caius thought. He didn't dare move, not even an inch.
"You okay?" Magnus asked when Caius remained braced against the wall. "Caius?"
He knew it was going to hurt, but he had to move if he were to leave the middle floor suit and get himself home. With vampiric speed he pulled his arms away from the wall and moved his legs closer together. FUCK! It's like being belted all over again! It wasn't. Not quite. But the movement sure hurt! As soon as his legs were together, Caius felt his britches starting to slide. He had to hold them at the waist to keep them in place and he could feel the breeze behind him. Magnus had made good on his threat.
"Never seen you do that to a guard," Caius muttered. It was to himself, really, but Magnus heard him clear enough.
"As you keep reminding me," Magnus said, "you're not a guard."
Caius did not appreciate the chuckling coming from his torturer. As he stiffly made his way to the door, Magnus stormed past and stood in front of it. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Home …" Caius trailed off seeing Magnus slowly shake his head. "Why not?"
"Dora has asked that I keep you for a while. She asked that you stay here 'until he returns to the man he has become, rather than the man I have known' - her words." Magnus looked to him sadly and placed a hand on his shoulder. His intention was to convey comfort but the pressure ignited Caius' strap burn.
Caius scowled. "She certainly knows how to stick the knife in."
"She sticks the knife in?!" Magnus asked, with heavy emphasis.
"I know, I know!" Caius replied, turning away from the juggernaut in shame. "Do I have to keep stating what a twat I have been in every sentence?"
"It may help you from being a twat in the future," Magnus said, smirking.
The hangover is doing that, thanks. Caius thought better of verbalising his thoughts. He knew Magnus was right, for one. For another, he was humiliated, not only by his actions at the ball, but by his current situation, too.
His state of dress wasn't helping that. "Will you at least fetch me some clothes?" he asked. His shirt lay in waste across the room and his britches were only held together by his hand.
Magnus disappeared into his bedchamber and returned with a fresh white shirt. "Put that on for now. I'll send Freyr to fetch you something when she comes home."
Caius knew what that meant - Magnus wasn't risking leaving him unattended. It stung to feel so untrustworthy, but he appreciated Magnus not saying so outright. No sooner had Caius released the front of his tattered britches, they fell to the floor.
"I told you to take them down yourself," Magnus said, laughing at the state Caius was in. "I bet you do as your told next time."
As Caius pulled the shirt over his head, he felt every strap mark on his back burn with new energy. He was forced to take a few calming breaths to keep the obscenities in his head.
"There is not going to be a next time," he eventually replied.
Taking in his sorry state, wearing his co-master's shirt (which was long enough to reach his knees and brought the reality of the huge difference between the two crashing into Caius psyche) and feeling utterly ashamed of his behaviour on his most recent drug binge, Caius shook his head.
"There will never be a next time," he said again, that time absolutely resolute.
Magnus had been a father in his human life, those days may have been long ago, but he remembered hearing much the same from his own sons. With a knowing chuckle and a piteous expression to Caius, he simply said, "We'll see."
"Ah, Caius," Freyr said on seeing the young master up and about as she entered her chambers. The covens had all gone, the guards were all resting from their three-day drinking session, her duties were done with. "Are you feeling better?"
Magnus closed his eyes and shook his head. "Don't molly coddle him after what he's done."
"I have already made peace with what he has done," Freyr replied, looking kindly to Caius.
She understood there would be set backs along the way, but Caius was making great progress in her mind. But as she hadn't had to deal with the man's meltdown, it was easier for her to feel compassion towards Caius.
"It's what you have done that I've come to assess," she told her mate with a knowing look.
Freyr often complained that her mate was too heavy handed in his discipline of the guards, and as that was mostly conducted in the public space of the masters' office, she had to wonder what he would do in the private space of their home. Oddly, the guards didn't complain about Magnus' handling of them, even the more frequent visitors to the office such as Afton or Odi were still relieved to be facing Magnus over any of the other coven leaders. He was just so damn fair, even when he didn't have to be, that they were left with no good reason to complain. Having his guards accept they deserve punishment before he would begin helped that. As it had with Caius.
"He's still standing, isn't he?" Magnus said simply in defence, as though that would be enough for his mate.
"Does he have a choice in that?" Freyr asked.
Caius was getting a bit pissed off with being discussed in that way. He felt emasculated enough having to submit to punishment from Magnus without the pair of them talking about him like he was their ward or something. But with every breath igniting the burn in his well punished hide, he decided to keep his mouth shut on the matter.
"Well he could have a seat if he wished to have a seat, but he would have to sit on the floor," Magnus said pointedly, gesturing to their decimated furniture.
Freyr narrowed her eyes to Magnus, not convinced. Caius keeping quiet only served to condemn Magnus further in her eyes.
Magnus wasn't having that. He'd taken enough shit from Caius through the night to be dealing with shit from his mate on top of it. Huffing, he went to Caius and spun him around to face the wall.
"What the fuck!" Caius called out at being manhandled in such a way.
Magnus cuffed the back of his head with one hand and lifted the shirt he wore to top of his neck with the other to show Freyr the damage.
"Magnus!" Caius snapped, desperately unhappy at being bared, particularly in front of Freyr.
Caius wasn't particularly 'shy', but he had found the experience of being belted desperately shameful. At the time, when he was suffering through Magnus' wicked swing arm, Caius had been amazed by the shame he felt. But right then, feeling that flash of shame for a second time, he was utterly humiliated!
Caius tried to move, to cover himself, anything! Magnus responded by pushing him harder into the wall.
"See," Magnus said to Freyr. "He's not even bleeding."
"That's not a benchmark for whether you've been too hard on him, Magnus."
She tutted into the air, but decided to leave it there. Caius didn't actually look too bad, all things considered. Freyr pushed Magnus aside to release Caius and give the man back his dignity. What little he had left.
"Why don't you go and lie down, Caius?" Freyr suggested. She wanted to offer him some bloodwine but then that would defeat the object of Magnus' punishing him at all.
"Can't," Magnus grunted as he shunted furniture debris towards the window with his foot. "He smashed the bed up, too."
Freyr immediately flashed to her bedchamber. She had carefully removed all personal, sentimental items from their main living chamber and stored them safely in the bedroom when Basileus had told them Caius would likely be on dungeon blood during the ball. She thought she was saving their precious items from destruction. How wrong she was! Not a piece was left intact. Including that particularly priceless statue of a Norse Goddess that Freyr had lovingly stashed in her bedchamber to be clear of Caius' wrath. Not only that, but their bed had somehow been upturned and was half hanging through the window! Which, of course, had been smashed to allow it's exit.
Caius looked sheepishly to the floor when Freyr returned, face twisted from concern for him to contempt.
"I've changed my mind, Magnus," she said, looking at Caius but speaking to her mate. "You weren't nearly hard enough on the little cretin."
When Caius looked up to plead his case, genuinely concerned that Magnus might belt him again, something most unexpected happened - Freyr slapped his face so hard that he fell to the floor! The only thing more painful than the left cheek of his face were the two cheeks on his ass that he'd landed on!
"I'm sorry!" Caius called out. How many times do I need to fucking say it?! "Just let me go home and I'll keep out of your way, okay?"
Freyr scoffed at the very idea that Caius was getting out of it that easily. She didn't really want Magnus to take his belt to Caius again, but he sure as hell would be making good his mistakes before he left. Fully.
"You aren't going anywhere until you clean my chambers from top to bottom."
And that was it. Caius spent the rest of the day cleaning up the juggernaut's apartment, very slowly to ensure he didn't cause himself additional pain. As Freyr point blank refused to fetch him any clothes until he was done, Caius completed his tasks wearing a massively over-sized shirt and little else. It was certainly a humbling experience for the young master.
The second tribune ball hadn't gone quite as Magnus had expected. He knew there would be trouble the moment Basileus had placed those bottles of dungeon blood on his table three days before, and he thought, then, that he knew how that trouble would manifest itself. Caius would drink the dungeon blood with Henri, and after the covens went home Magnus would have had to bring Caius to his chambers until he had worked through the comedown.
He hadn't expected that Caius would fuck up so spectacularly, in the throne room of all places, in front of every vampire of note in their world, and most of all, he hadn't anticipated punishing Caius in any way for his actions. Most surprisingly of all, Caius had submitted to him. Magnus had not expected that. Even until he had landed that first strike he had expected Caius to storm out of the middle suite and face the creator instead.
Magnus tried to tell himself that Caius was simply fearful of the creator's wrath and that was why he had chosen to stay and face the music where he was. But he knew that was disingenuous. For one, Caius wasn't one for running from his fears, he faced them. For another, nothing scared Caius more than losing his pride and it had taken a damn deep dent in submitting to his fellow master.
Fellow master … were they still fellow masters after that whipping?! Could they ever be fellow anything ever again?
Caius had completed all of Freyr's demands, (reasonable requests most would say, but Caius was sore and hungover) and was cleaning himself up in the bathroom when he heard the door knock. He rushed to close the door, leaving just enough of a crack to hear through. He didn't want anyone to see him in his state of disrepair.
"Can I see him?"
Aro! Caius thought. Oh, fucking hell. He knew he was the 'him' in question, what he was less sure about was what Aro's reaction would be to the sucker punch he'd given his son. He wouldn't blame Aro for being pissed off, more than that, he fully expected him to be. Caius planned to put in some serious bowing and scraping in the south tower to right his wrongs, as Magnus had suggested, but he couldn't do that in Magnus' chambers, he just couldn't! Certainly not with his backside ablaze and half dressed! Don't do this to me, he prayed. It had been a long time since Caius had looked to the gods for help, but he called on every deity he could remember as he stood in that bathroom.
"Not right now, Aro."
Caius all but danced on the spot. Magnus, I fucking love you!
"Caius is a little busy thinking about what a cock he had been. I'll send him over to you when all of this has settled. I can promise you, he is apologetic beyond belief."
Alright Magnus, Caius thought in a huff. That's enough information for Aro, send him on his way.
"How apologetic are we talking here? Has Basileus been by already?"
Aro, you smarmy arsed cunt. Oh fuck! Caius suddenly had a horrible feeling that Magnus was going to divulge his brand new shameful secret - that he had submitted to punishment from fucking Magnus. Don't tell him, don't tell him! I'll never live it down!
"He has been by here, but I thought it best to send him away until he'd calmed down."
"Who needed to calm down? Basileus or Caius?"
Hearing the pair of them laughing at his plight pissed Caius off. He was so pissed off, in fact, that he almost forgot his lack of appropriate clothing and left the bathroom to put them straight. Luckily, the fire from Magnus' strap was still fresh enough to prevent him leaving the safety of his holdup. What could I say, anyway? he asked himself. I'm lucky Aro doesn't want to fight this out after I punched his kid. Caius listened intently to the remainder of the conversation between his two co-masters and he was surprised to learn that Aro didn't want his head for bashing Felix, he wasn't even angry with him. He expected an apology, of course, but he understood the devastating affects dungeon blood could have on a man's good sense.
When he heard the door close, Caius crept out of the bathroom and headed down the hall to face Magnus. "You lied for me," he said quietly.
"Aye, I did." Magnus poured out two goblets of bloodwine and offered one to Caius. "I won't be making a habit of it," he warned before releasing the cup into Caius' hand. "So I hope you have learnt from all of this?"
Caius gulped at the bloodwine until his cup was dry. He was a little disappointed to find it was the lowest alcohol strength the coven brewed (he was used to the highest strength in his chambers and it packed a better hit) but it immediately helped the ache in his back, at least. "I told you already, this won't happen again." Now he knew his shame would stay a secret, Caius felt much more confident.
Magnus shared a knowing look with his mate before he answered, "Aye, and I told you, we'll see."
…
Aro had left the jollity of his short visit with Magnus to be accosted by his brooding teenager when he returned home. Demetri and the twins were up and about, though the three of them sat nervously far away from their brother.
Felix looked rampant. Pacing the floor, waiting to give his old man both barrels.
The argument started just as Aro knew it would. Felix wouldn't accept any portion of blame for what had occurred in the throne room.
"The twins get away with murder, it's always me and Dem in the firing line," he complained, loudly.
"The twins may cause a disturbance, but it's you pair who …" Aro stopped himself. One look at his crestfallen son and he decided to take Demetri out of the list, too. "Actually, no, it's YOU who causes the problems around here, Felix. Always YOU!"
Atia had spent the night in her son's ear whilst the visiting covens were still in attendance, to ensure Aro wouldn't seek and vengeance with Caius, but she had failed to predict the battle that would ensue between father and son on the same matter.
"Can't you stand up for me?!" Felix roared at his mother. "You never set him loose on the twins."
"If I had a real problem with the twins your father would intervene." Looking to her baby vampires doing their very best angelic poses, Sulpicia stifled a chuckle. "As it is, they may cause me daily annoyance …"
"Annoyance?!" Felix cut in.
"But!" Sulpicia said pointedly. She didn't appreciate her son's aggression. "When they need to behave, they do."
Aro was in his son's face before he could say another word. "Neither of them would dare to behave the way you do in front of the coven."
Felix squared his shoulders. He was too far gone, this was going to be a showdown. "They were pissed at the last ball, or have you forgotten that?"
"And who orchestrated that, Felix?!" Aro shot back, squaring his own shoulders and reminding his boy who was who under their roof. "It would never have been the twins, or Demetri, or anyone else for that matter. It's always you with your bright ideas."
The more he spoke the more agitated he felt. Aro wasn't sure what was going on. For a moment he wondered if he'd been drugged, too. He felt so angry, angrier than he should have felt under the circumstances.
"When are you going to GROW UP?!" he bellowed, right in Felix's face.
Felix should have backed down. His inner vampire sensed the danger ... even if Felix was unaware. He felt an energy traversing his body in waves. Every sense was telling him to back down, but the boy just wouldn't listen.
"When I turn eighteen," he snapped sarcastically. "You only have yourself to blame, Dad, you turned me."
Aro had to shove Felix aside to get the brat out of his face. He felt hot, the pressure in his head was insane. "I'm going to kill him," he growled, walking away.
"Just get on with it then!" Felix called after him. "What are you waiting for?"
Felix had followed his father and jabbed a finger into his back to get his attention.
Aro spun around and shoved him so hard that Felix landed on the floor. "He is asking to be drowned in the Rubicon!" he roared to the room.
"Vampires can't drown," Felix answered cockily, bouncing to his feet.
"I'm going to fucking kill him!" Aro ran his fingers through his hair, ragging it at the root. No, I'm not, he thought, finally recognising those very old feelings. I'm going to do something else. He hadn't felt that way in centuries, not since he stopped managing the newborns. Where the fuck is this coming from?!
"Felix stand down, son." Aro didn't even recognise his own voice when he spoke. It was deep and commanding. Aro was a king, he spoke that way fairly regularly, but not with his kids. More importantly, he knew the only reason for his current tone was because his inner beast wanted to gain control over the troublesome vampire before him.
"STAND DOWN!" he roared, throwing the boy to the floor.
"Caius punched me in the face and you did nothing!" Felix roared back. He was on the floor still but he was showing no signs of relenting. "How can you tell me to stand down?!"
"Caius is facing his own demons," Sulpicia tried to interject, to no avail.
"That's bullshit!" Felix spat to his mother.
I've got to get out of here. Aro's world suddenly felt very small. The walls were closing in on him and he fought for control of his own body. Listening to his boy arguing with his mate wasn't helping in the least. I've got to get out of here.
Without word or warning, Aro flashed from his chambers leaving a raging child and bewildered mate behind him.
"DAD!" he roared as he ascended the stairs to the West tower.
Basileus heard his boy and came out of his suite to see what the noise was about. "I thought you'd be busy with those boys of yours …" No sooner then he set eyes on his son, Basileus knew something very serious was wrong. "Aro?" he questioned carefully. "What's wrong?"
"It's Felix," Aro replied breathlessly. He was sure his heart had started beating again.
"What have you done?!" Basileus started searching his son's mind.
"Nothing." Aro looked to his father with terrified eyes. "Can't be near him. Just can't."
"Forget him for now," Basileus said quickly, taking control and bundling his boy inside. "Come inside, have a drink. Let this all calm down, okay."
"But Felix …" Aro started,
"Can wait," Basileus finished for his son. He forced Aro down into a chair and held him still.
"I can't go there with him, never, I swore to him I never would, I can't go there." Aro was full on panicking. "Not after all this time, I can't …"
"Something else you have done!" Atia said to her mate, and took over with Aro for the moment. "Calm down. Breathe," she instructed, stroking his head. "It won't happen. You won't let it happen. Neither will we."
Aro shook all over as the rancid inner beast vied for control of his body. "He always said he never would, but he did."
"You were attacking me for hours," Basileus reminded Aro. "Felix isn't as stupid as you."
Basileus' remark worked to break the tension a little and Aro could feel his good sense returning. "What's made this happen? I've never come close before. When I think of all the shit he has pulled over the years, yet I've never felt this before."
"You've had a very stressful weekend, Aro," Atia suggested. It definitely hadn't helped.
"It's a hierarchy, son, you know how it works." Basileus sighed deeply, full of regret. "This is my fault for doing it to you. It would have been better if I'd just knocked you out again."
"How did you get rid of it?" Aro asked his father, desperate for help. "The feeling? The impulse?"
"I haven't," Basileus answered honestly. "I've learnt to live with it, so will you."
"And until then?" Atia asked on her boy's behalf.
"It comes in waves," Basileus explained to his son, though he did feel like he was teaching an old dog new tricks explaining such a thing to Aro. "You fuck up and my initial reaction is to get you under control again. I just walk it off and come back to you with a clear head."
"And that works, does it?" Aro asked.
Basileus screwed his face up. "Well, you should know!"
That hadn't occurred to Aro when he'd asked. Of course it works, he thought, giving himself some hope. "I need to get back there! God only knows what Felix is doing now, he was a raging mess when I left."
"I'll go to Felix, you are to stay here, understood?" Basileus waited for his boy to show some sort of confirmation that he would stay put, but Aro just looked back with big amber eyes, begging for help. "Hey, you can handle this Aro. It will subside in time, I'm sure."
"It's been six years since you last … you know …" Aro couldn't say it. He shuddered just thinking of the word.
"Six years isn't very long for immortals, son. Come with me." Basileus pulled his boy to his feet, led him through to the bedchamber and directed him to the bed. "You will drink until you're drugged, and you will wake without these feelings to worry about." He bit a hole into his wrist and fed Aro until he was too drowsy to swallow anymore. "Good night, son."
Basileus didn't speak to Atia when he left his chambers, mainly because he knew he'd only get another round of fucks from his mate for his efforts. Instead, he put those efforts into getting to the south tower in record speed.
"Basileus!" Sulpicia had never been so relieved to see her father-in-law in her life. "Have you seen Aro?"
"He's at my place," Basileus explained, closing the door. "He needs a break from the boy …" Basileus stopped talking on hearing an almighty crash coming from the higher rooms. "Is that commotion Felix?" He could rival Caius!
Sulpicia nodded sadly. "He's smashing up his room."
"Demetri and the twins?"
"Demetri is still tired from all the bloodwine. I dread to think how much he must have drank. I have locked the three of them in my bedchamber. I didn't know what else to do."
"That's good, Sul," Basileus told her. "Keep them there."
Basileus bounded up the stairs to the top floor bedrooms. He could hear Felix roaring and growling through the door. It would seem that even though Felix wasn't aware why his father had left their quarters, the inner vampire was reacting to the threat it felt. Basileus had been fully intent on giving the boy the whipping Aro couldn't deliver, but he quickly changed tack. He needed to settle his grandson's fears first.
Opening the door slowly, Basileus was about to step into the room when the door slammed shut in his face. Felix snarled from behind the door. Guttural sounds could be heard, but no clear words.
"Felix," Basileus called out, keeping his tone even and calm, "let me in, let me help you."
Although he couldn't understand the boy's growled words, he heard his thoughts loud and clear. Felix's head swarmed with questions over his strange reaction to Aro, he could neither understand what was causing him to lash out in such a violent rage, nor could he stop it. Beyond that, Felix's thoughts focused on Caius and Demetri and the fight in the throne room. Underlying it all, of course, was the boy's fear.
I can work with that, Basileus thought, giving himself a curt nod.
"You aren't in any trouble with me, Felix," he told the boy calmly, "open the door."
The door didn't open, but Basileus could make out that Felix had moved away so he tried again to enter the boy's room. He went slowly, not sure of what to expect. He was shocked by the state of the recently renovated bedchamber.
"When you throw a tantrum you really go the whole way, don't you?" Basileus teased gently, seeking Felix out across the room.
The boy huddled on his haunches below the open window, growling lightly, hugging his knees for comfort. Basileus joined his grandson and did what felt most natural to him at the time - he took a seat on the floor next to the boy and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders.
No sooner had Basileus made contact, Felix burst into tears. Feeling completely overwhelmed by earlier events, the boy broke down in a most un-Felix fashion and sobbed his heart out. Basileus didn't say a word, he just maintained his hold over the child and let him cry himself out whilst travelling through his memories to see what the hell had been going on.
"What's wrong with me?" Felix asked, getting himself under control. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried like that. And over nothing?! Felix thought.
Basileus chuckled and pulled the boy in tight. "A good many things, but none for you to worry about now."
Felix shook his head briskly to shake the memory away. He just couldn't understand what had happened. "I felt … I felt … crazy."
"I know you did," Basileus said, trying to validate his feelings. "You reacted badly to Aro leaving when you were riled up ready for a fight, that's all."
"It didn't feel like me," Felix explained. "It was like there was something else."
"That was just your vampiric nature, Felix. The beast inside coming to the surface." Basileus didn't want to tell Felix too much, certainly not what Aro had felt during their short altercation.
Felix shuddered. "I don't ever want to feel like that again."
Basileus thought back to the state in which Aro had arrived at his chambers. You are stronger than you know, son. "I promise you, you won't." Your Dad won't let you, he added in thought, wishing he had been so sensible and left Aro on that fateful night rather than kicking off all this shit in his family. It was Aro's fault that Basileus had ended up calling for his submission that night, no doubt about that, but still, Basileus was becoming consumed by guilt for the ructions in his coven.
"Your Dad will be home soon," he told the boy, getting to his feet and pulling Felix along with him. "He's has some work to do, but he won't be long. You need to be asleep when he gets here."
Felix felt drained. He allowed himself to be led to his bed without argument. "Is anyone going to do anything about Caius punching me?" he asked, planning his own revenge if no one else was going to stand up for him.
"It's already in hand," Basileus told his grandson truthfully. Before Felix could ask what, he continued, "Never you mind what has been done ... all you need to know is that I've sorted it."
That was as much information as Felix would be getting and he knew better than to press his grandfather for details. He was happy enough coming up with his own ideas on what Basileus might have done to Caius whilst defending him.
Basileus didn't set him straight. He'd promised Magnus he'd keep it private so the coven would all assume that Basileus had kicked Caius into touch. Knowing Caius as he did, Basileus was sure he would prefer that rumour to spread rather than the idea that he'd fallen under Magnus' correction. When he caught Felix looking a little too pleased by the ideas running rampant through his mind, Basileus decided to temper him a little.
"That brawl never would have happened had you not been torturing your brother over Amun visiting."
Yeah, that sure took the wind out of his sails. "I didn't mean it," he said quietly, feeling ashamed of what he'd said to Demetri. "I was messing around, it got out of hand."
"I'll be speaking with Caius about his conduct, and Aro will be speaking with you about yours. But not tonight. Tonight you need to sleep." Basileus covered the boy over with his blankets and bit into his wrist.
Felix pulled back. "I don't need to feed, I'm okay."
"I know you are, you're hard as nails, you," Basileus said smiling at the boy. "But my blood will settle you down so you can sleep deeply until it's light out, and you will wake without the emotional hangover."
A few gulps and Felix did just that.
When Basileus descended the stairs, he saw Sulpicia sitting in wait for him. "I haven't done …"
"I know," Sulpicia said quickly. It wasn't an accusation she had in mind. After speaking with Freyr and Dora, it was an apology of sorts. "You may have heard in my thoughts that I blame you for this," she said quietly.
Basileus sighed. Another verbal kicking, he thought. "I have indeed, justifiably."
Sulpicia shook her head, soft curls falling about her face.
It was then that Basileus noticed the tears in her eyes. Rushing to her side, he cupped her face in his hands. Whether he was getting another tongue lashing or not, he wanted to know she was okay first. "What's brought this on?" he asked, wiping a stray tear as it rolled down her cheek.
"I'm not always fair to you, or your involvement in our lives …" Sully stalled for a moment, but she had to push herself on. "I'm glad we have you. I want you to know that I appreciate you, even if I don't always show it."
Hearing how Dora and Freyr expected Caius to make the right choices all on his own, all of the time, had given cause for Sulpicia to stop and assess her own expectations of her family unit. She didn't expect the same of them, she wasn't even sure that she should, or that she wanted to. But one thing was she was sure of, she had no right to blame Basileus for his lack of involvement on one hand and then complain of his over involvement on the other.
"I think I put a lot on your shoulders when the blame should lie elsewhere. Or maybe there shouldn't even be any blame?" Sully sighed, but it wasn't sad, more coming to a realisation. "It's just life. Vampiric life with teenage children and a king for a mate."
"Life doesn't have to be good all of the time for it to still be a good life, my dear." Basileus stood and smiled down at his beloved daughter-in-law. They may cross each other from time to time, but he loved her dearly. "If you could tell my mate that we are on good terms, I would appreciate it very much."
"Oh," Basileus hung in the doorway. "And Freyr?" he asked hopefully.
Sulpicia chuckled to herself. "Certainly."