AN: New Bunch. Jump forward four years to see how our vampires are fairing :)

1682, FEBRUARY - TATTOOS

Basileus pounded on Magnus and Freyr's door, demanding to be let in. As Freyr was visiting with Marcus, Magnus had the unhappy privilege of opening the door to an angry creator. Basileus strode past the coven master, went straight to the table and slammed down a letter.

Magnus didn't need to read it to know who it was from. He puffed out his cheeks and closed his eyes for a moment before closing the door and fixing them both a goblet of bloodwine.

"I assume Hilda has written, again?" he asked, handing the goblet to Basileus.

Basileus looked thunderous. "It's been ten bloody years since Caius opened the door to that torture room, Magnus."

Magnus retook his seat at the table. I'm in for the long haul, he thought.

"When all this happened, after Lucius I mean, you said a bit of time, some missions … he's had both and he still isn't doing anything!" Basileus took the letter from the table and waved it in the air. "And now Hilda is hassling me about the bloody guards she ordered ... the guards Caius agreed to supply, may I add ... and still nothing!"

Magnus sighed into his cup. I don't understand why this is my problem.

"I heard that," Basileus scolded. "You made Caius your problem when you defended him so gallantly at the start of this mess."

"As I have said before," Magnus started evenly, " 'this mess' was not created by either me or Caius."

"I am aware of that!" Basileus snapped.

Magnus held up his hands placatingly, willing the creator to relax a little.

Realising he was being a bit of a domineering cock, Basileus relented and took the seat opposite Magnus before forcing himself to continue in a calmer tone. "I made allowances, but we are ten years after the fact and Caius is still languishing. I hoped pushing him towards other works would inspire some gumption in him." He eyed the juggernaut for a moment. "You assured me it would," he added pointedly.

"Assured is a bit of a stretch," Magnus scoffed. "It was a suggestion, as I recall it."

"I am asking you to help," Basileus said leaning across the table. "Advise him, instruct him, hell, you can whip him again if you have to! Do whatever you need to do to get him to complete Hilda's order." And before Magus could object, Basileus added, "You seem to be the best placed."

Lucky me. Magnus took up Hilda's latest correspondence and quickly scanned the script. She mentioned, more than once, that though she had written to Caius many times she was still to receive a reply from him regarding their agreement. You told me you'd replied, you little bastard, Magnus thought in annoyance.

Still, it was in Magnus' nature to be reasoned. If he was going to have the hassle of getting Caius working, he thought it only fair that Basileus suffer similarly. "I would like to point out that whilst you are pushing for Caius to get back to the rat race, you have two fully grown sons who do nothing at all around here, and never have. How do you square that away?"

Basileus sat back in his chair catching flies for a moment as he tried to verbalise a response to that.

"I don't mean to cause offence …"

"You haven't." Basileus waved away any coming apologies from Magnus. He was enjoying having an extra adult in the coven with whom he could talk plainly and he was trying to stop Magnus' natural need to show deference to him. "You're right. Fair point."

No one had ever dared to mentioned Eleazar's lack of activity in coven life. Basileus complained about his eldest son's apparent ease in floating through life without so much as lifting a finger, but those complaints were restricted to his conversations with his family. Having Magnus point it out, and include Carlisle, pushed Basileus into deciding he would be a little more forceful with the pair of them.

"I'll see to it that my sons are given something to do, and you will see to it that Caius gets on with his work."

Magnus whistled into the air. "I think you have the easier job there."

"Have you met Eleazar?!" Basileus scoffed. "He isn't just work shy, he'd hide up his own ass to avoid it."

Magnus, in good conscience, couldn't disagree. He had been in the coven when Eleazar had arrived and he'd watched the man move from a volatile newborn with a penchant for punch ups to temporarily become the coven playboy before settling into the most laid-back vampire that ever lived. So laid back that he rarely mustered the effort to do anything at all.

"Do we have a deal?" Basileus asked, hand outstretched.

Magnus took the creator's hand and they shook on it. "I'll even make sure Caius writes back to Hilda if you can get your lads working," he said cheekily.

"Oh! Upping the stakes?" Basileus laughed as he walked to the door. "You're good, Magnus, but you will never get Caius to write to Hilda."

"You forget, I got him to write his apologies to Amun," Magnus reminded him. "I'll have a reply for Hilda by the end of the week."

Basileus left, chuckling to himself that Magnus had bitten off more than he could chew.

Magnus had a few things to talk to Caius about already. For one, the guards training rota that Dora had brought him earlier that day. How am I going to get him into the dungeons, though? Deciding to put that part to the back of his mind, he headed to the guard hall knowing Caius would, no doubt, be propping the bar up. It was nearly noon, after all.

"Caius, we need to run through this training regime you have planned," Magnus spoke as he strode towards the younger master. "It won't work."

Caius nodded to Turk to refill his tankard before he turned to Magnus. "Why won't it?"

Magnus collected a tankard for himself and had Caius move from the bar to a seat at the far end of the room.

"We don't have enough guards to run patrol and train at these levels at the same time," he explained simply.

"Well that's because I came up with that regime before Aro had decided we weren't taking on any newborns," Caius shrugged as he spoke. "Take your complaint to Aro."

Magnus narrowed his eyes at Caius. "We can't take guards on because of the guards you are trying to create," he reminded him. "Aro doesn't want to be overrun with newbies if your experiments work." Magnus huffed loudly. "Which you are yet to start," he added for good measure.

Caius sat back in his chair and threw his hands up, tutting. "Why are you getting on my case about this?"

"Because if you don't do your job, I can't do mine," Magnus told him. He was calm, and trying to keep Caius calm, too.

"And we couldn't risk Basileus finding out about that, could we?!" Caius scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Magnus and Basileus being friends, as that's what they had evolved to be, had worked out rather well for Caius over the last ten years. Caius knew that. He didn't, however, like it.

Since his slight (major fucking) hiccough at the tribune ball, Caius had stayed on the straight and narrow, so it annoyed him that Magnus was still lording it over him in some ways. Not in all ways, it must be said. Caius liked having the juggernaut in his corner, he liked spending time with him. The four of them, Magnus and Freyr, Caius and Dora, now spent most of their free time together. In private, it could be said that Caius thoroughly enjoyed having a more 'adulter' adult around. Basileus was a sticking point for Caius. Magnus' friendship with the creator put Magnus above Caius, in Caius' eyes, and he did not like that one little bit.

Caius took up his ale and had a swig. "The guards have been here for centuries," he pointed out. "They are all fully trained already."

"You're missing the point, Caius." Magnus took Caius' tankard from him and set it on the table to keep hold of his attention. "That's not my job," he said. "My job is making sure you are doing yours."

Hearing that, Caius blew. He saw all his fears flash before his eyes. You ARE moving above me! he thought in horror. "Since when?!" he spat.

Magnus teased Caius' emotions just enough to keep him from properly arguing with him in public. "Since Basileus instructed me to when you started slacking …"

"Stop sucking up to him," Caius snapped, folding his arms like a petulant teen. "It's pathetic."

Magnus sat back and eyed Caius with a cocked eyebrow. "Watch your mouth, Caius," he warned quietly. "You are starting something you aren't capable of finishing, my friend."

Caius made a sort of non-committal noise to the clear threat behind Magnus' words. There hadn't yet been a repeat of the punishment Caius had suffered after the ball, but in private Magnus had been known to give him a slap on occasion. Caius let that go. It was in private, for one, it was just a slap, for another. But Caius wasn't stupid - there was a line. Magnus had whipped him once, there was no way on God's green earth that he would end up in that situation again. That said, he wouldn't want to tempt fate, either. He had been dancing close to the line with Magnus recently, but he made sure to back down in time to avoid crossing that line.

"You do know that I'm not one of your guards, yes?" Caius hissed across their table. He wanted Magnus to know he had no right to threaten him without actually saying the words. The words were shameful for him, as was admitting it had ever happened.

"I know you aren't," Magnus agreed. Aro joined their table just in time to hear Magnus add, "I would have whipped you by now if you were. Think on that."

No one spoke for a moment. Caius was dumbfounded that Magnus would have said such a thing in front of anyone else, let alone Aro of all people. Aro, for his part, wasn't entirely sure what he had walked in on. Magnus remained eyeballing Caius. He'd been careful with what he'd said, it was easily explainable, and he hadn't alluded to anything that had gone on between him and Caius in the past. But he knew Caius would be screwing over the comment.

"Master," Turk called over, breaking the tension between the three coven masters. "We need a barrel bringing up from the dungeons."

Magnus downed his ale and stood, scrapping his chair back noisily. "I'll be back," he said sternly to Caius before he left.

Caius huffed loudly and dramatically. "Can't wait," he sneered, again, loudly.

Magnus didn't comment on it as he headed down to the dungeons for a fresh barrel.

"Whoa!" Aro found his voice. "Did Magnus just put you in your place?!"

"I think he tried to," Caius said, squaring his shoulders to show his stature whilst simultaneously dying inside.

"I think he did," Aro added, whistling into the air.

"Magnus said your old man has him watching me," Caius said, watching Aro for any hint of him knowing about, well, anything really. "Would you know anything about that?"

Aro scanned his own memories for a moment. "He has mentioned that he wanted to make sure you are okay in this new work he has requested."

Caius breathed heavily through his nose. It sounded like fire would soon follow through his nostrils at the rate he was going. "And his way of making sure is to put Magnus above me?!"

"Above you?" Aro repeated, looking at Caius curiously. "Definitely not. Surely not. Basileus is just looking out for you Caius ... after Lucius …"

"I'm sick of everyone making out I like I had a breakdown or something!" Caius snapped, cutting Aro off before he'd even given his co-master the chance to fully reply.

Aro's eyebrows shot up to his hairline seeing how riled Caius was. "Well you kind of did, Caius," he said quietly.

"Fuck off!" Caius shook his head. He hadn't had a breakdown. Who the fuck do you think I am?! I don't have breakdowns! "It was nothing of the sort. He's been like this since the last tribune ball. Little things, but lots of them."

"He who?"

"Fucking Magnus!" Caius ground out, wondering if Aro had taken stupid pills for breakfast.

"You mean when he saved your ass from Basileus' full wrath?" Aro asked knowingly.

The whole coven believed that Basileus had 'taken care of' the matter with Caius. Aro thought he knew more, in that he knew Magnus had sent Basileus away until he'd calmed down. Oh, how wrong everyone was!

"What do you know of it?" Caius asked. He felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck.

"Only that Magnus kept you on lockdown so the creator couldn't get to you until he had cooled down." Aro stopped talking and noticed the damp hue of Caius' forehead. "Why?" he asked. "What else is there to know?"

"Nothing," Caius replied quickly, wiping his brow with his sleeve. Get yourself together, for fuck's sake! "That fucker is moving above me, Aro," Caius said quickly to deflect Aro's attention.

"How can he move above you?" Aro questioned. "I'm not giving up my seat so there's nowhere to move to," he explained logically. "You are being ridiculous."

"Easy to say when you are the king," Caius pointed out.

"And you are my second," Aro returned with a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You always have been."

"Aww, you two can be so cute when you play nicely together." Freyr stood over the pair of them with a drink each.

"Freyr, have you been told to watch me?" Caius asked quietly.

"No," Freyr replied, though her tone would suggest otherwise.

"Freyr!" Caius barked before she could walk away. "You are spending a lot of time with Dora still."

"Why shouldn't I? We are friends, you know?"

Of course he knew. They spent every night together, usually in his chambers. He knew they were friends, but Freyr also knew that wasn't what Caius was asking.

"Is that all?" Caius pushed.

Freyr wanted to reply properly, she wanted to set his mind at ease, but she couldn't do that with Aro there. "What else would there be, Caius?" she said simply, smiling sympathetically before walking away.

Both Aro and Caius watched Freyr leave, both wondering the same thing - what the hell is going on?!

It was some hours later when Magnus caught up with Caius. "I must say, this is the very last place I looked," he said, taking the seat next to Caius in the library.

"You make it sound like I've been hiding from you," Caius muttered, engrossed in his book ... or at least pretending to be.

Magnus took the book from Caius' hands and turned it the right way up. He didn't comment, but he did snigger a little.

Caius snapped the book shut and chucked it to the floor. Books were the bane of his life.

"Not hiding, huh?" Magnus asked. "You made sure not to be in the guard hall when I returned, and I find you in the library of all places - I'd say that's hiding."

"Atia makes me spend an hour a week in here with Marcus, as you know," Caius reminded him. "Living through all of known history wasn't enough, apparently I have to read about it, too."

"I do know, yes," Magnus agreed. "I also know that hour is on Wednesdays, not Thursdays."

Caius sighed and sunk into the plush chair in which he sat. Busted, he thought. "So … are you still pissed off?"

"No," Magnus replied happily. "I need your help with something."

"I'll come up with a new schedule for the training …"

Magnus waved his hand. "That's not it." Oh, I hope this works, Magnus thought. It was the best idea he had come up with to get Caius down to the dungeons to talk about work. "Your ink, it's permanent, yes?" he asked.

"Totally, it doesn't even fade." Caius collected his discarded book from the floor and flipped through the pages showing the brilliantly bright ink within. "I don't know how old this is, but Marcus has some books we made in 1000 BC and they're as good as new."

Magnus nodded, impressed. "What about on skin?"

Caius gave Magnus a condescending look. "Parchment is skin," he said patronisingly.

Cocky little … "I mean living skin." Magnus leaned in close, he didn't want the nearby guards hearing of his idea. "How could I put it in my skin, or under it?"

"Like a tattoo?" Caius asked.

Magnus smiled excitedly.

"I've never tried to do that," Caius admitted. "I suppose I could make a cut and fill it with ink … your body will either reject it and push it out as it heals or accept it and show through your skin … but I am guessing."

"Let's try," Magnus suggested, standing.

"Now?" Caius stood, too, warily. "Seriously?"

"You have plenty of silver blades down in the dungeons, you have ink." Magnus watched the younger master carefully. He didn't want to push Caius too quickly, but he knew he'd have to push a little to get him down to the torture room of his own free will. "Let's do it," he pushed

"Wouldn't you rather I practised on a rogue or something first?" Caius asked. "Or a guard, at least?" Though he sounded reticent, he instinctively followed Magnus and left the library with him.

"It only needs to be a few lines," Magnus explained as they walked at a human pace. "Just to see if the ink will take." He offered Caius a supportive smile when they reached the entrance to the dungeons.

It took Caius a moment to calm himself before standing tall and taking the torch from the wall. He descended the stairs ahead of Magnus, but soon stalled. Magnus took the torch from him and guided them both towards the back of the dungeons. Caius felt okay, all things considered, until they reached the panelled door, behind which his torture room stood.

"Keys?" Magnus asked, hand waiting.

Caius unclipped them from his belt and handed them over. He was glad Magnus was taking the lead, he didn't feel up to it himself.

The door creaked as it swung back. "It's dusty in here," Magnus commented.

He went straight to the fireplace and started the fire with his torch. It didn't take long for the large hearth to light the entire room. Caius remained in the doorway.

"You alright?" Magnus called over, beckoning Caius forward.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Caius snapped.

He knew he was being unnecessarily terse, but he couldn't control it. When Caius felt anything less than confident in what he was doing he reverted to being a bit of a cock. Magnus understood, fortunately.

"No reason," Magnus replied, shrugging, and using his gift to relax Caius a little. He didn't want to use his powers too much as he needed to see how Caius would fare in the dungeons. Time to snap him out of his worries, Magnus said to himself.

"Get your inks," he said simply, and then dropped his britches!

"Whoa!" Caius turned away sharpish. "Where do you think we are doing this?!"

Magnus' booming laughter filled the torture room as he took a seat on the fire wall. He was perfectly decent, only his thighs exposed with his long shirt covering everything else. "Do my leg. If you fuck it up, only Freyr will have to suffer the sight of it."

Caius laughed despite himself. Magnus had certainly shocked him from his initial brooding being back in that dreaded place. He collected the ink pots from his stores and grabbed a couple of silver blades for the task.

"Only Freyr, huh?" he asked quietly, hinting that there could be others who would 'suffer the sight'.

"Yes," Magnus said sternly. "Only Freyr." He pointed a finger in Caius' face. "Watch your cheek."

Caius continued to chuckle to himself, but he got down on his knees and set to work. He'd never tried to tattoo anyone before, so he was guessing, really, but he assumed the trick would be to get the ink into the skin rather than the flesh beneath.

Magnus kept talking throughout. He didn't shut up, in fact. Partly it was to distract himself from having random slices carved into his leg, but mainly it was to keep Caius from thinking too much about where he was. So far so good.

"You're healing too fast," Caius complained. By the time he brought the ink to the incision he'd made, Magnus' skin had already healed over.

"Try dipping the blade in the ink and then cutting," Magnus suggested.

Caius did just that. The feeling was peculiar to Magnus. "That stings!" he hissed as the ink entered his body. "Is that a good sign?"

Hearing Magnus hiss, even though it was only for a moment, spooked Caius a little. Magnus saw him flinch. He wanted to ask if Caius was okay, he wanted to check on him, show him that he cared, but right then he knew Caius needed distraction and he launched back into 'waffling mode'.

"I don't remember the ink stinging when I was human," he started. "Freyr and I were covered in tattoos. We started with one for every kill we made but we lost tally. They disappeared when Marcus turned us."

Magnus could feel Caius relaxing, the tension leaving his body the longer they were in the torture room. As soon as he stopped talking, however, that tension started to creep back up. "The Amazonians will be interested in this if it works," he added quickly. "Tao and Xola, too. They were tattooed before they were turned. They used charcoal now, but they put it on every day."

Caius thought for a moment about the African coven. "Pair of women with their makeup bags," he chuckled.

Magnus laughed along. "I'd like to see you say that to their faces!"

Caius, still on his knees, sat back to admire his handiwork. "It's healing," he said, leaning his head a little closer.

Aro stood in the doorway. From his perspective, all he could see was Magnus half-dressed and Caius' head in his lap. "Do I even want to ask what you're doing?"

Magnus spun around. "Come and look!"

Aro shook his head and held his hands up. "You aren't my type, big guy."

Caius waved his knife in the air. "We're trying tattoos, you dick."

Aro still looked a little concerned. "It's his dick I'm worried about."

Caius started laughing even before he quipped, "Shouldn't let a little thing like that worry you, brother."

Magnus was quick to reach out and slap Caius, though Caius was quicker and deftly avoided the shot. "I'm decent, thanks," he called to Aro.

"Hang on ... tattoos?!" Aro said, only just realising what they had said. "Aren't they pretty permanent?"

"Not nearly as permanent as kids," Magnus remarked. "And you collect those."

Aro's curiosity got the better of him and he had to see what they had done. "Is it working?" he asked, moving in closer to get a look for himself.

Caius cocked his head to the side as he tried to judge. "I think it might be." As he'd never tattooed anyone before in his life it was a 'best guess' scenario. "It's healed," he proclaimed, rubbing the ink line. "It's still in."

Magnus wore a black grid on his right thigh, two lines crossing two more lines. "It's really bright." Giving the area a good rub, he checked to see that no ink came away to his touch. He was pleased to discover the ink remained.

"I'd give it a few days to see if it will stay in your body," Caius said. "Our blood is venomous, in theory it should burn up the ink."

Magnus was already pleased with the results. He had a thousand ideas for tattoos he fancied. "Caius, if this works you need to start working on colours."

Caius held up the two bottles of the vampiric ink he had. "I keep red and black, and not much of that, by the look of it." Giving the black bottle a shake, he realised how low his stores were. He hadn't made any ink at all in ten years, plus. Marcus will riot! "If you want anything else, you will have to fetch me a few vampires to bleed."

"Any guards you want rid of?" Caius asked, as though offering to knock off a member of their coven for a bottle of ink was a totally natural thing to do.

Aro had to laugh at Caius' cavalier attitude toward their staff.

"Keep your hands of my guards, both of you," Magnus said very sternly. "I'll get some humans, we can kill them when they are turned."

Looking at the black lines in Magnus' skin, Aro rubbed his chin. He foresaw issues immediately.

Magnus caught his expression. "You don't object do you?"

"On you - not at all," Aro said genuinely. he knew he had little say in what Magnus could do. "On the guards …" he mused. "I would prefer any tattoos were in places easily covered - we have no idea what the future will hold, after all. Or how tattoos will be received by the humans." Aro sighed, knowing his issue with tattoos would be his own to deal with. "It's the kids in the coven, I have a problem with."

"Agreed," Magnus nodded curtly. "Adults only."

"I can already see Felix wanting one if the guards start getting them," Aro said, sounding tired in advance for the arguments that would no doubt come. "Though, Felix is still giving Caius a wide berth, so I doubt he'll come down here to ask for the supplies."

Magnus could see Aro's problem. Felix was always his problem. "Caius isn't down here very often, is he?"

Caius' head bobbed left to right and back again between the two other masters as they talked. "Can you not see me sat here?!"

Both Aro and Magnus ignored him.

"Demetri will be the one to watch," Magnus noted. "The boy has turned into his little shadow, can't do enough for Caius in the guard hall, fetching him drinks and what not."

"Hardly surprising," Aro chuckled. "Caius put Felix on his ass - he's a hero!"

"Hero, huh?" Magnus laughed. Caius hadn't seemed much of a hero once he'd got the guy in private.

Aro smirked. "Kids are easily pleased."

"OW!" Magnus roared, and quickly clouted Caius across the top of his head. "Not so fucking deep!" he warned, rubbing out the ache in his leg to encourage the venom to seal the stab wound Caius had inflicted.

Caius straightened out his hair as though nothing had happened. "Just making sure you remembered I am here."

Magnus glared at him, shaking his head to Caius' petulance. "Try the red."

Not that either of them were looking at him, but Aro's eyes were like saucers having just witnessed Magnus slap Caius ... or more importantly, seeing Caius take it without reaction. "I'll come back later when you are fully clothed," he said, backing out of the playroom.

Magnus waited until Aro was clear of the dungeons before he started to push conversation with Caius. "We need to talk seriously. Are you up to it?"

Caius' shoulder slunk. He wasn't stupid, he knew there would be a higher reason for Magnus getting him down in those dungeons, but that didn't make him any more receptive to the conversation Magnus had planned. "I recommend you don't piss me off when I am holding the knife, Magnus."

"You think that little blade would help you win a fight with me?" Magnus quipped, shaking his head. "You know Basileus has asked me to keep an eye on you … OW!"

Magnus pushed Caius aside and gripped his aching leg. Caius didn't care that he was now sitting on his dungeon floor, in the dust. He felt quite pleased with himself. That was until Magus swiped his giant hand across Caius' left cheek.

Caius had to check his jaw was still intact! "Fuck!"

"Do it again and you will be getting more than a slap," Magnus threatened ... or rather, promised! "Be warned."

After that smack to the face, Caius believed him. "It wasn't that deep," he said quietly, collecting his blade from the floor. "I don't need anyone keeping an eye on me, Magnus." Caius dipped the knife tip into the red ink pot and was so gentle when he tried to inject it into Magnus' leg that he didn't even break the skin.

"You're insulted?" Magnus asked, already knowing Caius was. "It's been ten years since you had Lucius down here and you have hardly worked since. Even when you have, it's been under duress. Without your usual flare."

Caius knew Magnus was trying to be kind, trying to help him, again, but right then all he could think about was how this would be yet more proof that Magnus was moving above him, somehow.

"I am still failing to see why it should be any concern of yours," he said, sounding like a sullen teen.

"It's my concern because Basileus has asked it to be so," Magnus explained simply. "Unless you would rather have this conversation with him?"

Caius didn't say a word aloud. How can I answer that?! Of course I fucking don't!I don't want to have this conversation with anyone.

"Well?" Magnus pushed. "Would you?"

"No," Caius eventually replied. It was honest ... he didn't want to talk to Basileus about his work, or lack thereof. But he still wasn't happy with the alternative.

Thought not. Magnus was glad Caius chose him, even if under duress. "Try to see me as the lesser of two evils. I'm here to help you, Caius."

"Should I jump up and down in joy at that news?"

"Aye," Magnus chuckled to Caius' petulant expression. "If you like jumping."

Caius concentrated on the task at hand as he mulled things over. It was only that morning that he had been complaining to Aro about Magnus lording it over him, and when he had the chance to change that, he accepted more of the same! "Why has he asked you and not Marcus?"

"Probably because you have been ignoring Marcus' counsel for thousands of years and you've only been ignoring me for a few decades."

Caius rolled his eyes. "I don't ignore you."

"There's your reason, then," Magnus said, smiling kindly, encouragingly, he hoped. He could feel Caius was a ball of emotional charge, and it wasn't all down to their surroundings anymore. If anything, Caius had seemingly forgotten where they were. "Talk to me."

"I don't want to take the dungeon blood and working without it is … difficult."

That's not entirely true, Magnus thought. "You don't want to take it? I thought you had promised Athenodora that you wouldn't take it, not even for conducting these experiments. Not after the state you got in at the last ball."

Caius scowled. "Freyr?"

Magnus nodded. "Women talk … about everything."

"Apparently I am easier to live with without it," Caius admitted.

"You are certainly being far less violent without it," Magnus returned, knowingly.

Dora had gone to him a few times since the last ball to ask for his backup with Caius. Well, she'd gone to Freyr and Freyr had sent Magnus to deal with Caius. It had mostly been his job to calm Caius down after some particularly nasty arguments with Dora. Just the threat of a repeat of his previous punishment had been enough to subdue Caius on those occasions.

Caius' scowl turned murderous. He disliked being discussed, particularly out of his earshot. He was a private man, essentially, used to surviving on his own, even within the coven. He knew Magnus and Freyr would have only been having such discussions in concern for him and Dora, but that ugly pride of his spiked and he commented on the matter spitefully.

"I am so glad you and Freyr know the inner workings of my marriage and are clearly discussing such over the dinner table."

Magnus pursed his lips for a moment. He had helped Caius make great steps in breaking down the invisible walls he put up around himself, but his pride still interrupted that progress with a frustrating degree of regularity.

"We don't have a dinner table," he said, and then reminded Caius, "we did have one, but you smashed it up."

"I was being metaphorical," Caius muttered, before trying to dig that blade into Magnus' leg again.

Magnus had predicted what Caius would do and wrapped his giant fist around Caius' hand to stop him. Glaring straight into Caius' eyes, he started squeezing until Caius was forced to release the knife. Caius maintained his moody expression until Magnus picked up his discarded belt and folded it in two.

"No, no, don't do that!" Caius tried to back up, but Magnus still held his hand in his enclosed fist.

Magnus shrugged as Caius attempted to shoot back across the floor, getting nowhere fast. "What did I tell you?" he asked calmly, raising the belt high above his head.

"I'm sorry, okay," Caius pleaded. "I'm sorry!"

Magnus watched him for a moment, testing his emotions to make sure Caius had snapped out of his self-obsessed mindset, for the moment at least. After what seemed like an age, Magnus lowered his arm.

"Do not stab me again," he said, pointing to Caius with the end of his folded belt.

Caius nodded quickly. "Aren't you going to put that back?" he asked, looking to the belt in Magnus' grip.

Magnus smiled and shook his head very slowly.

The bastard. But at least he released his iron grip on Caius' hand. Caius set to stretching out his fingers - they weren't broken but they hurt! Fucking goon.

"Tidy it up," Magnus told him, handing him back the red ink. Once Caius started, again, very gently, Magnus pushed their conversation on. "We need to get started on these experiments of yours. Hilda is expecting to see some new members when she arrives for the next ball and she is willing to pay handsomely for them."

"We?" Caius asked. It was nice of Magnus to offer his help, but Caius couldn't see what the man could bring to the table. "How can you help me, Magnus? I need to set people on fire. I need to torture humans without giving into to their blood and then turn them, again, without giving into their blood."

"You have turned thousands of vampires …"

"Yes," Caius cut him off. "But I haven't been doused in their blood for hours before I turned them, have I? How do I resist without dungeon blood? How do I torture people without it?"

"You seem pretty sure about not taking that drug," Magnus said, wondering why. "You used to be able to take that shit without adverse effect in very small doses. I could help you limit the amount, perhaps?"

"No. I can't. Not even small doses." Caius was absolute on that. "I promised Dora. I don't think I've ever been a particularly good husband, but the last few years things between us have been much better. I'm still not good, but I'm better. I don't know how to be a good mate, but I do know dungeon blood makes me a bad one."

Magnus smiled quietly to himself. It wasn't so long ago that Dora would barely have featured in any of Caius' decisions, and now, already, he was putting her first again. Or at least, he was trying to.

"You won't understand," Caius continued. "It's easy for you to be a good mate, because you're a good man. I'm not a good man. I'm a cunt."

"I've had my time, too, Caius," Magnus admitted sadly. He had the odd dark demon from his human life that haunted him still. "I made a grave mistake, it cost Freyr and I dearly."

That had Caius' interest. It also had his concern. "What did you do?"

Magnus silently shook his head, looking lost for a moment. It threw Caius, he was used to Magnus being entirely steadfast. It didn't take long for Magnus to pull himself together.

"Something I'd never do again," he said cryptically. "In answer to how you do this experiment without dungeon blood," he pushed on, "you simply have to let me help you. I can draw away your emotions as you work. It will be just as dulling to your senses as dungeon blood, but you will retain a clear head."

Caius paused and thought about his offer. "That could actually work."

Magnus felt mildly insulted by Caius' clear surprise that an idea of his could be useful.

"I always took you for more brawn than brain," Caius explained, smirking to himself as he put away his tattoo tools.

"You're a cheeky bastard." Magnus rubbed the last of the sting out of his leg and checked out Caius' handiwork. He was taken aback by what he saw. The red was just as vivid as the black, and both colours shone brilliantly though his skin, but the 'design' Caius had inflicted on him left much to be desired. "Have you played noughts and crosses on my leg?!"

Caius grinned. "I won, too."

Magnus took to redressing, chuntering as he did so about what an immature ass his supposed co-master was. Damn child!

Caius carried on in blissful ignorance. "How do you think you got your gifts?"

"I was always a strong son of a bitch," Magnus offered. "Hard lands grow hard men."

"What about the empathic ability?"

"What can I say?" Magnus chuckled "I was a nice guy."

Caius screwed his face up. Yeah, because they go together, don't they? "Just your friendly neighbourhood warrior, huh?"

Magnus bobbed his head. "Exactly."

Caius had absentmindedly made his way over to his old workbench. The wood of that bench had been died red by the blood of a thousand vampires a very long time ago. His senses assaulted him as he ran a finger across the length of that desk and the faces of tortured souls coursed through his memories.

Caius hadn't thought twice when he had taken their lives, worse than that, he had relished in the execution with a good many of them. To be clear, the vampires that found themselves guests of Caius' playroom were exclusively against the Volturi cause, and each and every one of them would have been only too eager to treat the Volturi master in the same way. It was kill or be killed, so they had to die. But the fact that Caius hadn't felt anything when he'd done the killing, that was what got to him.

Aro was the one to take care of ceremonial executions, or indeed any vampire that met their end in the throne room. But it bothered him ... Caius knew it bothered him. They had spoken of it often. Aro would still do it, of course, it was part of the job. Caius wanted to reach that point, too.

Killing off rogues, enemies, and the like would always be part of his job, he just wanted to be able to do it and feel … remorse, not quite regret. As those faces passed through his mind, his guts clenched. He didn't feel remorse, he felt out of control, he felt sick, he felt scared. So very, very far away from the way Aro reacted that Caius wondered if he'd ever reach such resilience.

Feeling nothing was better than this, he thought, eyes drifting towards the barrels of dungeon blood at the far side of the room.

Magnus had watched him silently. He was ready to intervene with Caius' emotions, should he think he was needed, but he knew he had to give Caius the chance to feel if he were to ever fully recover from his damaged psyche. Caius was recovering. He may not have seen that, but Magnus could see it, or rather, he could feel it. Looking for the dungeon blood was his cue to step in.

"We already know that natural ability crosses over to vampiric ability," he said, trying to catch Caius' attention. "There will be many gifts we can't engineer, of course."

Caius was still staring at that dungeon blood with a far off look in his eye. Magnus didn't want to go in heavy, that wouldn't have helped, so instead he casually walked over to Caius and stood in his line of sight. Breaking the eye contact with the barrels seemed to bring Caius back into the room.

"Let's try crushing one." Magnus made damn sure to keep Caius' eye as he spoke. "It might help develop superior strength from their resistance to being crushed."

Caius looked like he was coming out of a dream but eventually he seemed to become aware of who was talking to him, and what Magnus had said. He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. "It's already on the list."

"There's a list?" Magnus said, taking it from him. "You actually wrote something down?!"

"Yes, I did," Caius rolled his eyes. It wasn't entirely unheard of for him to write, for fuck's sake! "Mainly to show Basileus in case he thought I wasn't doing anything."

"You haven't been doing anything," Magnus commented.

Caius looked at him like he was stupid. "I know," he snapped. "Hence, the list."

Magnus let it go, he was just pleased to have Caius back to his senses. He concentrated instead on reading through Caius' ideas for Hilda's guards. "Just reading this is turning my stomach."

"Do you see now why I have been resistant to start?" Caius asked. It wasn't as forceful as his previous comment. He genuinely wanted to know that Magnus understood why he was struggling. He wanted to know he wasn't being weak. There was nothing worse than being weak in Caius' mind, except maybe showing that weakness.

Basileus has set you up with the worst possible job he could have, the idiot! Magnus considered telling Basileus to shove his plans for Caius working again, and he could have quite happily told Hilda to get fucked, too. The only thing that stopped him from doing either of those things was that he knew neither had landed Caius with such troubles intentionally.

Basileus saw the gift engineering experiment as a much lesser evil to Caius' old work, and Magnus knew for a fact he hadn't thought through how that gift engineering would materialise because they had spoken about it already and none of the ideas on Caius list had come up. On reading through the list, however, Magnus realised both he and Basileus had been a bit naive and Caius was spot on with what would have to happen to the humans to tease out any gifts in their vampiric life.

"This is going to be hard on you." Magnus caught hold of Caius by his arm and pulled him in close. "If you don't want to do this I can get you …"

"I don't want to do it!" Caius said quickly. "But I want to be able to do it."

Magnus understood the distinct difference between those two matters. "In that case," he said, handing Caius back his parchment, "I can get some of the guards to help with this. They need something to do. I'll have Heidi fetch some humans in the morning and we can get started."

"On the ink or the experiments?"

"Both."

Caius felt his stomach flip over and he was suddenly very glad he hadn't more than a couple of drinks that morning.

"Do you want some help getting things ready for tomorrow?" Magnus asked, gesturing around the dusty room.

Caius squared his shoulders. If he was getting back to work in the morning it was time to pull himself together. "I'm more than capable, Magnus."

"I know you are." Magnus could feel Caius didn't really believe what he'd said. "Hey!" he called from the door. "You are more than capable, Caius. You will be okay in here on your own, won't you?"

Caius smiled tightly and said he'd be fine. Still, he was gutted when Magnus actually left him there! Not knowing what to do with himself, Caius started to sweep out the room in a bit of a daze. Mundane work to help clear his mind had been his plan.

Less than ten minutes passed before Magnus returned to the playroom, arms laden with empty bottles. He didn't speak, he just headed straight for the barrels of dungeon blood and started filling the bottles. Caius didn't dare approach. He didn't want to be near it. Smelling it from across the room was temping enough with his current state of mind.

"I'm going to bottle all the dungeon blood," Magnus explained. "We need to keep it in the coven, but it doesn't need to be held in vast quantities in one place."

Magnus was stalling for time. He didn't want to have to leave Caius down in those dungeons on his own, so he went about his task at an absolute snail's pace. "Start cleaning up or I'm telling Freyr what a state this room is in," he called over his shoulder. "I won't save you when she …

"I'm doing it!" Caius huffed, springing into action.