It's a long, dead life!

by BDE

We join the Volturi in 1663 when Carlisle was turned for his long, dead life and family drama. Aro, Caius, and Marcus are trying to rule the world. Felix, Demetri, Jane and Alec are creating havoc as child vampires and the Denali sisters soon join them. Mature scenes - Corporal Punishment (spanking/discipline) and offensive things, but its the Volturi, so what do you expect?

137. Caius, Dora, and Sully - 1100BC

AN: I seem to have caught up with myself after my computer dramas, so back on track now :) Thank you all for your patience and to Doccoopper for putting up with my sporadic chapter updates for editing! :)

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CAIUS, DORA, AND SULLY - 1100BC

With Basileus claiming to die of thirst from all his storytelling, and many of the adults needing more than non-alcoholic bloodwine if they were to resist the temptation to murder a certain Denali girl for the rest of the day, it was decided that hard liquor was in order.

While Basileus was busy pulling out bottles from the drink cabinet, Aro went to Dora and Irina, still sprawled over his precious desk, to have a blast on his weed before the fuckers smoked the lot!

"Alec, get off me."

Felix resisted the urge to throw his baby brother into the fire, but he hoped calling the brat out on his behaviour might at least draw one of the adults into telling Alec to leave him alone.

He was to be disappointed.

Magnus and Freyr wouldn't get involved, not outside of the guard hall. It would be inappropriate. Atia would have, but Sulpicia was there and she didn't want to step on her daughter-in-law's toes. Actually, she did want to, but knew it would cause grief between the two of them. Eleazar would have pulled Alec up on his behaviour, usually, but he was more engrossed in rearranging his mind to make space for three young girls in his life.

Felix wasn't left with many options when Alec continued to loll all over him, purposely trying to wind him up. The young boy was bored, to be fair to Alec, and he wasn't used to being cooped up all day with so many people. Felix felt the same, but he knew damn well that if he reacted he would be the one in the firing line whilst Alec walked free, again.

"Get the fuck off me," Felix hissed into Alec's ear.

Alec huffed and jabbed his small elbow into Felix's side. "I'm hardly on you."

"Go back to sitting with mommy, Alec," Felix told his brother, continuing quietly with, "before I set you on fire, you fucking witch."

It was a low blow, but Felix was getting pissed off and he wanted rid of the brat. Alec spent most of his time with Jane … who was busy with Kate. Or Demetri … who was busy with Caius. Alec wasn't just being annoying for the sake of it. He just wanted some attention, some reassurance in a busy room that he had a safe place to be. Sulpicia was his go to in such situations, but his mother's attention was divided between her guests and Alec just needed to be close to someone safe. Why he chose his big brother was anyone's guess!

The next time Alec sat too closely to his brother (by his side, though Felix translated that as in his lap!) - Felix moved himself into Aro's vacated seat.

"Caius," he called. "He's yours, can't you tell him?" Felix jabbed a finger in Alec's direction when Caius looked back confused.

"He's not mine," Caius replied, still confused. Caius was barely responsible for himself ... let alone someone else's kid!

Felix glowered down to his baby brother and replied, "Well he's not Aro's, is he?"

Aro went seamlessly from his playful flirt with Dora to bellowing across the room at his boy. "What did you say?!"

Felix really hadn't expected his father to hear him. "Just that …" The boy faltered seeing Aro flash towards him.

"Because if you said what I think you said you are going to be so very sorry."

Looking around, it was clear Felix had misjudged the situation massively. Even if Aro hadn't reacted to the boy's words, it was suddenly very clear that someone else would have done so. Oh man, Felix thought. Mom looks livid. So did the rest of his family, for that matter. Except Jane who was enjoying her brother's downfall. Even Alec had a small smile. Little shit, Felix thought murderously.

"Well?!" Aro got his boy's attention by clocking him across the head. He expected a response. "I'm warning you, Felix."

Across the room, Basileus felt his shoulders drop. Yes, Felix had been out of order, but with Aro making a show of him for it and backing the boy into a corner, publicly so, Basileus knew exactly how his grandson would react.

"Why are you getting on at me for?" Felix shot back to his father.

Yup, Basileus thought. He will come out fighting.

"I didn't even say anything," Felix insisted. He pushed Aro back so he had room to stand, a gesture that earned the boy a shocked tut from a good many of the observers. "Alec's been mouthing off all day and he hasn't received so much as a slap from you. I say nothing, and you threaten to … well I don't know what, but something!"

Aro looked down to the hand Felix held on his chest and took it in a vice like grip. Twisting the boy's wrist, he had his son back in his chair quickly. "You are implying something about Alec that you know damn well disgusts me." Each word was delivered through gritted teeth.

Felix should have sensed the danger. Perhaps he did, but he didn't let it show. "I didn't say it though, did I?! What about him?!" Felix pointed out his baby brother who was quick to turn his excited eyes into teary ones before Aro turned to see him.

Aro wasn't so easily fooled and shook his head slowly to his youngest before getting back to Felix. "We're talking about you right now, I'll get on his ass later."

Basileus had done well to keep his thoughts to himself until that point, but hearing his son's blatant lie, for he knew Alec would be walking free despite his continued disruption, he couldn't help scoffing at his boy.

Just fucking leave it, Dad! Aro roared through his thoughts.

"No you won't, you never do!"

Though Felix replied with force, he stayed seated, mainly for fear of what Aro would do to him in such a crowded room. He was sadly used to the shame of being reprimanded in front of his mother and siblings, even his grandparents, and Eleazar and Carmen, come to that. The Denali girls bearing witness to any potential discipline was throwing the boy a little. Having the other coven masters there wouldn't have been Felix's first choice, either.

Basileus was less interested in Felix's head and far more interested in Aro's by that point. "Do you want to try that again?!"

Aro ran his hands through his hair, there was too much going on. Aside from all the earlier stress with Irina, having Felix bring up the venom issue, and then his father apparently threatening him … too much.

"Go to your room and wait for me," he said, pulling his boy back to his feet.

Felix's eyes flashed around the entire group to assess his options, moving at such a speed that made him dizzy. No one came to his aid, not even his mother. She still looks pissed, he thought. That wasn't the worst reception to his predicament, however. A few members of the group looked positively gleeful - Jane, Irina, even Alec. Caius sat rather expressionless, but Felix translated that to agreement with Aro. You're all cunts!

"Felix!" Basileus warned, hearing the child's thoughts.

Like Aro, Felix's senses were overloaded ... too much. Turning to look his father dead in the eye, Felix said, "Fuck. You."

Again, Basileus' shoulder sunk. Oh, damn it!

"Fuck me?" Aro repeated. "Fuck me?!"

Caius leaned in closer to Magnus as Felix and Aro began their all too common battle of wills. "Did he really just say that?!" Caius asked the juggernaut, assuming he surely must have misheard. "To Aro?!"

Magnus bent down and kept his voice low. "He's young enough to think he can, but old enough to know he shouldn't. Unfortunately he's foolish enough to go right ahead and do it anyway."

Felix couldn't hear what was said, but it was clear as day that the pair of them were discussing him. "It's got nothing to do with you, Magnus. Or you, Caius."

"You don't want to take us all on, young one," Magnus replied calmly. "It didn't work out so well for you last time."

"You can fuck off, too!" Felix called back. The boy was so riled up he'd lost all reason.

Basileus was bitterly disappointed to see Aro smirk to Felix's words. If it had been anyone else Felix was telling to fuck off, Aro would have done something. The only reason he resisted then was because it was Magnus.

"Felix," Basileus called. "You talk to him like that again and you will be finishing the conversation with me."

"Whatever," Felix said with a disgusted snarl to his grandfather - he'd expected some back-up from the man, not more condemnation.

Aro breathed an internal sigh of relief. If Felix pissed off Basileus, Basileus would be less pissed off with him! He extended his arms wide and threw on a sarcastic smile. "Maybe he really does wish to have us all play a part?"

Atia wasn't sitting through any more. She had only held back in the hope that her mate would succeed in calling an end to the unpleasantness. Seeing Basileus becoming angrier, and Sulpicia still sitting mute, Atia stepped up. "I'm sure Felix wants nothing of the sort, he is feeling annoyed at being treated so differently to his brother."

Aro scoffed into the air. It was something he had heard no end of times over the last few months from both his parents and his mate. "He doesn't feel annoyed when it's in his favour, Mom."

Whilst Atia was replying, reasonably, she felt, in Felix's defence, the boy rendered all her good efforts pointless with one simple statement:

"Alec's not even my brother."

"You had to say it didn't you?!" Aro dragged his son from the spot and launched him towards the stairwell. "Ungrateful, selfish brat!"

Felix panicked. He looked back to his grandparents, both of whom had been in his corner and would have saved him from such shame had he not pushed things so far. But Felix did push, that's what he always did. He always regretted it, too.

"I swear to the gods Felix, I will deal with you here if you force me to."

With a gulp to his father's words, Felix flew up the stairs. He didn't make it to his room, though. Instead he hung around at the top, listening to the arguing going on downstairs. It was conducted in hushed tones, from what Felix could make out, and he thought, rather foolishly, that Atia would win against Aro on the matter. All the woman achieved was to rile Aro up further, sadly. When he ascended the stairs, it was in a state of pure fury. Felix flashed to his room but Aro had already seen his boy defying yet another command.

"This has got to stop, Felix," Aro said, unbuckling his belt.

Felix knew that already, he wasn't even sure why he had said such a stupid thing about Alec in the first place! He didn't mean it, just like he hadn't meant it about Demetri, either. It was just something to say, a way to get one over on his little brothers - sibling stuff, in Felix's mind. Clearly not in Aro's!

His mouth dried right up at the sight of his father folding his belt. It always made him feel like a little kid. There is something about 'getting into trouble' that just reeks of immaturity, and Felix was becoming increasingly embarrassed that he even got to the point where his father felt the need to whip his backside, let alone the embarrassment of actually getting whipped. I know I screwed up, so what's the point in going through with it? Felix could feel himself on the edge of a second row, but good sense kicked in. The tower is full of people, I can't take it, not now, not with everyone listening. I need to convince him not to punish me …

Felix backed up slowly, walking around his bed to put something between himself and Aro. "Dad, please, can we wait until everyone has gone?"

Aro stopped dead in his tracks. "You're making demands?!" He wasn't even attempting to hide his annoyance with that faux calm he liked to use in such situations. "You think that's how this is going to go?! You are lucky you and I are just talking right now. Lucky! Damn lucky!"

"Please don't shout," Felix begged, voice barely above a whisper.

"Quite happy shouting your mouth off at me though, weren't you?"

Aro walked around Felix's bed to reach his boy. By the time he was at the foot, Felix had flashed over the top.

"I didn't mean it."

"Oh, yes you did," Aro replied. "I saw the glint in your eyes as soon as you heard Caius bit Alec."

Okay, I can't deny that, Felix thought. "It's just interesting to know, that's all," he shrugged. The tiniest of smiles graced his lips and Aro saw red!

"Oh you prideful little cock!"

Aro flashed to his son, but Felix saw him coming and flashed to the window. It was open with the weather being pleasant and the boy genuinely considered jumping out the fucking thing. Aro didn't want that. For one, he wanted to lay his belt across the little shit, but, more reasonably, he wouldn't want his son to be hurt in the descent from three floors above ground level. Felix sat on the window ledge and swung one leg over. It was enough to hold Aro back, and that gave the boy a boost in confidence.

"You can belt me, Dad, but you know you treat me and Jane differently and you know why. We're yours, they're not."

"Is that truly what you think, Felix?" Aro asked. His rage quelled for the moment as he considered his boy.

"Honestly? Not just to wind up your brothers up but because you actually think you are somehow more special to me than the others?"

No, that's not what Felix thought at all actually. He really was just using the whole venom thing to wind his brothers up - but he was in no mood to admit something so childish, not with a crowded audience listening downstairs. He stayed quiet, leaving Aro to decide. Naturally, Aro assumed then that Felix really did believe he was somehow more special than his brothers.

"Right then, I must have been showing you some sort of undue favouritism. I'll be putting that right, don't you worry."

Shit! Felix was thrown by that comment. "What does that mean?" he asked, warily.

Aro took advantage of his son's momentary anxiety and flashed forward, pulling Felix clear of the window and into the safety - or otherwise - of his room. "You'll see, son," Aro answered, dragging Felix to his bed. "You'll see. But first, to take care of your appalling attitude."

Felix saw his fate rushing towards him. No! No chance was he submitting to punishment. "But everyone's downstairs!" he said in his struggle. "I can hear them!"

"So can I," Aro agreed rather happily. "And I intend on giving them a good show. Think yourself lucky that they are only catching the audio."

Aro managed to strike Felix only once before Felix broke free. With his path to the window blocked, he went for the door instead. "I'm your first, that makes you treat me differently, and it's not my fault."

It was such a bullshit response to the whole situation, but like his father, Felix wasn't good at accepting blame either - deflection was something he'd learnt long ago from Aro himself.

"You just heard you weren't my first son, Felix," Aro reminded him rather cruelly. "Or weren't you paying attention? You aren't a patch on …"

"ARO!"

The creator's voice cut Aro off before he could say anything he would regret.

"That's enough! I want you both down here now!" Basileus already had one foot on the stairs and he was ready to intervene if his order wasn't followed with haste.

Felix didn't need telling twice. He ran so fast down those stairs that he tripped over his own feet and all but landed in his grandfather's arms.

"I didn't mean it," he admitted quietly to the man, obviously referring to his claims over Aro's venom and his brothers. "I don't know why I said it."

"Then don't say it again," Basileus replied. Damn idiot.

It wasn't Felix Basileus was annoyed with, though. It was Aro.

"This is exactly what I have been talking about," he told his son when he appeared, still fastening his belt. "You need to better manage these situations."

Aro glared at Felix as his father continued to berate him. They were all grateful that Atia had, in her usual statesman like fashion, directed everyone else to the very far side of the room. Only Magnus, Caius, and Eleazar were within listening distance. The three of them had somehow wrestled the hash from Dora and Irina.I'm going to have none left at this rate! Aro thought.

"Are you listening to me?!" Basileus asked, jabbing Aro hard in the chest. "Forget it, go and smoke," he said, pushing Aro over to the others. "It might calm you down."

It was a bit rich, in Aro's mind, that Basileus thought he was the one who needed to calm down. You had a girl around the throat an hour ago!

Basileus might have gone after him for that thought, but luckily for Aro, he wanted to first speak with Felix privately.

Eleazar passed the pipe to Aro. "That sounded brutal, brother."

"He was arguing and giving me the run-around," Aro explained. "I hardly touch him."

"But with everyone here …" Eleazar gestured to the room, which was rather fuller than it had ever been. "No need."

"My parents spanked me as a child and as a result I suffer from this rather bizarre condition called respect for others." Aro purposely used the 's-word', as Felix referred to it, knowing it would horrify the kid.

"Bullshit do you!" Basileus appeared at Aro's side and took the pipe for himself. He wasn't massively keen on the effects of the herb, but Aro had been right in his thoughts - they all needed to calm down. "Your parents didn't spank you - your father whipped you bloody to near death on a regular basis."

"I never dared disrespect him," Aro said, as if that made his actions justified. "Not once."

"Maybe you should give it a go Basileus?" Magnus helpfully suggested.

Aro barged his shoulder into the juggernaut for such assistance. "He has, thanks."

Basileus blew out a great plumb of smoke as his only response. He'd drawn so hard on the pipe that he'd burnt out the last of the herb it contained.

It fell to Caius to restock the pipe, but at least that meant it was back in his possession. What kind of smoker only has one pipe?! Caius couldn't help but think of the very many pipes he owned that sat useless most of the time. Freyr refused to sit surrounded by smoke so Caius rarely got to smoke anymore. Next time I'm forced to endure this one-big-happy-family shit I'm bringing supplies, he thought.

"It does sounds like Felix is suffering from delusions of grandeur," Caius commented. He'd only managed a couple of quick blasts before Magnus took the pipe for himself.

"More like delusions of adequacy, I doubt his mind could create grandeur," Aro replied, shaking his head. "He drives me to insanity."

With Basileus and Magnus both tutting in earnest, Aro pushed on to get them on side. "Do you not remember all the shit Felix caused with his mouth about my venom?"

"Aye." Magnus took a quick glance to Caius as the memory of the tribune ball floated through his mind. "I remember alright."

"So what am I supposed to do when he starts like that?" Aro asked them all. "Leave him to it?!"

Basileus closed his eyes and kept his thoughts to himself. He was bored of the arguments and he knew Aro was in no mood to listen to reason, anyway. Rather than causing another row, he walked away.

"I'd be leaving him smeared across the floor," Caius answered helpfully. "Cocky brat."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Which is one of many reasons you don't have children."

"And never will!" Caius agreed, taking the pipe from the juggernaut before Eleazar could get a go.

Thank the Gods for that, I have enough to do as it is. Magnus puffed the smoke from his cheeks thinking of the horrific idea of Caius with kids. It was quite possibly the most disturbing thing Magnus had ever considered.

"You might be speaking too soon, Caius." Eleazar pointed out Athenodora across the room. "Dora is actually laughing with Irina."

"I can't remember the last time I saw Dora so happy …" And Aro was really trying to recall such an occasion! "It's weird!

"If my mate gets any stupid ideas about kids … what am I saying?" Caius shook his head and laughed at the premise. Ridiculous! "Dora won't want kids, she's happy with her life."

Happy with her life … Magnus, too, thought 'ridiculous'. Dora wasn't happy, he knew that. She and Caius were in a state of transition, as he saw it, from their old life to a new one. But Dora wasn't happy yet, or not as happy as she should or could be. And he would know, being the empath.

"I thought Carmen was!" Eleazar grunted.

Caius quietly passed the pipe to the elder Volturi brother asking, "How are the two of you?"

Aro burst out laughing at his brother's expression. "I think that face answers your question, Caius."

Eleazar had to laugh, too. It was true - the state of his life was plastered all over his face. "Carmen and I will be fine, but I'm not happy," he explained. "How long am I going to be stuck with them?"

Sudden quiet spread through the men.

"Well?" Eleazar pushed.

"The girls?" Aro asked, stalling. "Only until I can find another coven willing to take them on."

Eleazar glared at his brother. "All the covens refused at the tribune ball, Aro. All of them."

"I'm sure we'll find someone to take them on, El," Aro said soothingly, patting his brother's shoulder with one hand whilst taking the hash pipe with the other. "Don't worry."

"Irina hates us, she's going to be trouble in the coven," Eleazar added, hoping to spur his brother into action in getting the girls out of his precious coven.

"Yes," Aro agreed. "But that trouble will be for you and Carmen to deal with," he said, only too pleased that someone else would have the horrors of child vampires inflicted on their life.

"Carmen, you mean," Eleazar scoffed. "She wanted them." There was no way on earth that Eleazar was dealing with children's strife daily. He also knew that if he did, he would end up keeping the girls forever. Not happening. Eleazar planned to let the whole coven suffer the Denali girls - that way they wouldn't be anyone's problem for long … he hoped. "Irina will be your problem too, I bet," he added to Magnus.

"Why me?!" Magnus hadn't seen that one coming.

"Just wait until she gets into the guard hall," Eleazar told him. "It will be like loosing off a fox in a hen house."

Magnus' whole face screwed up. That would be a bloody nightmare! "I will ban her from the hall, then."

"You can't just ban her before she's caused you some sort of trouble." Aro couldn't keep the smile from growing at knowing Magnus would suffer Irina, too. "That's not how this place works."

The juggernaut returned Aro's earlier barged shoulder, with far more force it should be said. "Look at how excited you are about me having more grief! As if I don't have enough as it is with ALL the guards!"

Aro's enjoyment winding the juggernaut up was cut short when Felix approached. "Dad, I'm sorry. I've apologised to Alec, are we straight?"

Aro gripped his golden goblet a little too tightly and felt the metal compress. "You dare bring it up again and I'll …"

"You don't have to say it," Felix said quickly before Aro could shame him further. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Eleazar made sure to keep an ear on their quiet conversation and was ready to intervene, but fortunately for Felix, Aro had calmed a great deal by then and their talk was just that, a talk.

"If you're having grief with the guards you need to get them under control," Caius said quietly to Magnus. "Or is it just the one guard?"

Magnus wasn't a fool, he knew who Caius was referring to. "Odi's fine, thanks."

Caius did a similar thing to his goblet as Aro had done. Still, he continued. "I can give you some tips for bringing them into line, if you like."

Magnus knew exactly how Caius 'kept guards in line' when he was over them all and those methods were utterly abhorrent to the juggernaut. He'd play along, though, if Caius wanted a reaction, he'd get one.

"That would depend on whether you would like to see such 'tips' used on you when I next need to bring you into line, Caius."

The idea of the juggernaut using submission against him flipped Caius' stomach into knots! No, he would not like to see such tips used on him, thank you very much! Magnus caught Caius before he could retreat.

"I know Basileus has told you to back off." He spoke quietly so only they would hear. "Now I'm telling you. Drop your attitude with me and we can discuss the cause later, in private." Magnus felt Caius' emotions starting to change, there was a definite spike in annoyance which Magnus knew could easily turn to anger if he didn't nip it in the bud. "Or, keep going and we will discuss it in public," he offered. It was enough to see Caius back off.

Demetri bounded over to Caius before the man could respond verbally, though Caius was glad of the distraction from what Magnus was threatening.

"Can we play again?" the boy asked, clutching his cards.

Truthfully, Caius was bored with the kid, but it was better than sitting through any more stories without a distraction. Caius didn't do well 'relaxing'. He was always doing something, and when he wasn't, he was drinking to high excess. He knew his intake was under scrutiny and he knew he couldn't leave, so yeah, playing cards with Demetri was his best option.

"I think you're ready for a proper game," Caius said, taking the cards from the boy. "Ask your dad for some cash."

Catching what Caius had said, Aro scoffed. "If he wants to play for money he can lose his own, not mine."

"What makes you think I will lose?!" Demetri asked, offence on his face.

Aro ruffled his boy's hair - patronisingly, had you asked Demetri - and replied, "Caius cheats - you will lose."

"You already play a better game than your old man," Caius told the boy, deflecting Aro's weak attempts to thump him for his comment. "Fetch some cash," he added to Demetri, who dutifully did.

Caius slid up to Magnus again and bumped his shoulder into his arm to get the man's attention. "Have you got any coin on you?" he asked, knowing full well Magnus would have. "Save me going back to the north tower," he explained.

Magnus emptied a pocket of coin into Caius' waiting hands. Unlike any of the other masters, Magnus always had cash on him. It was far easier to settle disputes in the guard hall over who knocked which drink over by simply replacing the drink with his own money than escalating the matter. It was a simple gesture that kept the guards grateful for his even leadership.

"Go easy on him, Caius," Magnus said quietly seeing Demetri return with a pot of florins. "He's only a child."

Caius rolled his eyes and huffed. "Because I'm such a cunt that I would nail the kid to the post over a few florins?" He didn't wait for Magnus to explain himself - of course Magnus hadn't meant what Caius suggested! - before storming off to join the boy back on the floor. "Thanks," he muttered darkly as he went.

Magnus followed, shaking his head over the sullen master, soon joined by everyone else as the group returned to their seats.

Felix was already seated which meant Alec was already sitting on him, too. Not wishing to push his father any further that day, Felix didn't complain, though he did move Alec to his side rather than his lap. "Whatever happened to your brother, Caius?" he asked, as Alec started lolling over him again.

The question threw Caius a little. No one ever talked about his past, particularly not that far back.

"I assume he's not knocking about the vampiric world somewhere?" Magnus pushed, taking over from Felix. "He did turn you, didn't he?"

"Yes," Caius nodded. "He turned me."

"So?" Felix asked. "Where is he?"

"Dead and buried." Caius did well to cover up his mild involuntary shudder. "Well, not buried, burnt."

Dora, in her stoned state, missed her mate's reticence to divulge their tale and joined in the explanation a little. "Our story started long before we were turned."

"What happened?" Felix was very keen on a Caius and Dora story. For one, he didn't really know much about the pair from their time before he had arrived in Volterra, for another, there was no possible way that Felix could be embarrassed by Caius and Dora's story because he didn't even exist then. It was a win-win for the kid.

Caius shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't used to being centre stage and he didn't like it. But, with everyone's eyes on him expectantly, he knew it would have been worse to keep completely silent.

"I knew my father would object to my relationship with Dora …" he began, only to be quickly cut off by Felix.

"You're really old, why would it be up to your father?"

"Really old?!" Caius' face screwed up at the insult. "I'm twenty-eight!"

"Yeah, so you're an adult," Felix replied. "Twenty-eight was an adult then, wasn't it?"

Caius relaxed a little realising what Felix had meant. "Yes, but I was more like eighteen when I met Dora and I had already brought shame on my family, so I was under scrutiny." That wasn't quite what had happened, but Caius hoped his tale would end there.

Irina looked Dora up and down. She was definitely younger than her mate, but Irina wasn't sure by how much. "If he was eighteen, how old were you?"

"Fourteen … is that bad now?" Dora really wasn't sure. She had so little to do with human sensibilities.

Marcus wiggled his hand in the air. Fourteen was neither here nor there for aristocratic marriage. For the commoners it was considered far too young, but not for the human equivalents of Volturi status. Though the adults understood, the children in the room seemed to be aghast at the idea.

"It wasn't bad then," Dora explained. "I was running away from a marriage when we met."

"I'd been married by that age, too," Sulpicia said, nodding along. She looked over to her own daughter. Sulpicia had been Jane's age for her first marriage. "I'm so glad you were turned before you were old enough to suffer marriage, my darling."

"Suffer marriage?!" Aro shot across the room.

"At a young age …" Sulpicia said.Obviously. "You know what I mean, my love."

Very quietly from Eleazar's side, Tanya spoke up, "There are worse things than being married young."

Having an entire room of heads suddenly spin around to the girl's direction was disconcerting for the young Denali sister.

Eleazar and Carmen were the only ones not to look at Tanya - Eleazar turned to his father, hoping for some insight for what was behind the child's words, Carmen doing the same with Atia. Basileus shrugged and looked away. He knew the life the Denali's lived but his loyalty to Sasha affected his opinion on the matter. As far as Basileus was concerned, the girls no longer lived with Sasha, so their life would be different going forward, there was no good reason to dwell on the past (mainly because the way Sasha had used her girls, and herself, made him uncomfortable). Atia's response was a little more illuminating for Carmen. She didn't say much, but the raised eyebrows and subtle shake of the head Atia gave to her daughter-in-law said it was something Carmen should speak to her about in more detail when they were in private.

With no more information coming, Felix quickly grew bored of waiting. "So?" he asked, turning back to Caius. For once everyone was glad of the boy's poor attention span for moving the conversation on and away from Tanya.

"So what?" Caius asked, shrugging. "We ran off together, my brother found us, turned us, I killed him, met Aro, end of story."

"You are a god-awful story teller," Freyr told him as everyone else chuckled to Caius' tale.

Caius smiled back to the shield maiden. "Well that's as good as you're getting from me."

"I'll tell it then."

Caius' eyes darted over to the creator.

"Yes, Caius," Basileus smiled back "I do know the whole story."

Basileus held out his cup, expecting yet another refill to be brought to him for his continued storytelling. Atia obliged, but only so she could get closer to her mate for the moment.

"Haven't you revealed enough secrets today, my dear?" she asked with eyebrows raised to her hair line. 'Be careful!' she thought to him.

"There are no skeletons in my closet," Caius muttered. "I have nothing to hide."

Magnus snorted in his attempt to hide his laughter. "Yeah, you're a real 'wear your heart on your sleeve' type, aren't you?"

Caius and Dora - 1100BC, January

Caius had been waiting by the well since daybreak. It hadn't been all that long, but he was cold and tired. The night before he'd spent staring at the skies, wondering how to rectify his latest fuck-up. Rectify it he must, he knew that.

His father had been apoplectic when he'd discovered Caius had got one of the rich, un-wedded girls pregnant. He still didn't know what he was going to do, but he hoped if he could speak to Jocasta, his young, pregnant lover, then he could work it out. He daren't go to Jocasta's home, so catching one of her friends at the well was his best shot. Half a dozen or so girls had been to the well that morning and he could have had any of them, he thought, with his self-inflated ego, but he needed a rich one to turn up. It was one of the few tasks the rich girls were permitted to complete, and they only did so at all because it was the only time they saw the outside of their homes. Jocasta fetched lots of water … where she would meet up with Caius to conduct their illicit love.

Finally! Caius though, seeing a slightly familiar face approach. He'd never spoken to her before, but he'd seen the girl with Jocasta. She will do. "Do you know Jocasta?" he asked, helping to pump water.

"Caius, I assume." The girl didn't even bother to fill her pail before walking away, shaking her head. "You'll not see her again. Nor will we ... because of you."

Caius rushed forward to get ahead of the girl. "So you know her?" he asked, holding his arms out wide to block her path. "Where is she? I need to find her."

The girl stopped clear of Caius' touch, as though if he were to lay a finger on her she, too, would be sullied in the same way as Jocasta.

"You won't find Jocasta - her father has made sure of that already."

Seeing the peasant boy look so downcast, the girl felt a pang in her heart. Jocasta had talked so often of her common love and he really was a good-looking boy. The fact that they were both willing to risk their lives for their love had been a tale all the girls had attached to in a wistful way. There was a group of them that socialised together, or rather, that were permitted to socialise together. All young teenage girls married to wealthy old men by money grabbing fathers. Their unfortunate circumstances, as they saw it, brought them together and they had all been living vicariously through Jocasta's illicit love life.

"The only one who might know where Jocasta has ended up is Athenodora. She's married to Jocasta's uncle. But even if she knows she may not tell you."

It was too late to offer any warnings, Caius was gone. He had a name, that was enough. He could find his lost love through this Athenodora, whoever she was.

He knew where the young brides spent their days weaving. The richest fucker in the land hosted the girls - and that fucker was Jocasta's uncle. If Athenodora was married to him, she would be in the weaving room. It was still early in the day. When Caius arrived at the window to the ground floor weaving room, he couldn't hear much movement within. Knowing he was risking life and limb, Caius warily peeked above the window ledge. As if timed by the gods, his eyes locked with the only girl in the room - Athenodora.

"Leave!" Dora commanded the few servants who attended her. They dutifully did so, without question. With a crooked finger, and far more confidence than a fourteen-year-old girl should really have, she beckoned the boy inside.

"Jocasta …" Caius didn't get to say anything else before Athenodora's tinkling laughter cut him off.

"So you're Caius?" Athenodora looked the common wretch up and down. She had advised Jocasta against a relationship with the drover's boy but seeing him in the flesh … not such a wretch after all.

Caius just stood there with his mouth half hanging open, looming unusually gormless. He was fairly adept at wooing women, even rich, posh women who shouldn't have looked at him twice. He had been the love of Jocasta's young life, and he'd loved her, too, in his own way. As he took in the vision of beauty before him, he damn near forgot about Jocasta completely. If it weren't for the fact that she carried his child, he might well have never mentioned her name again. It was only his feeling of duty that pushed him to ask the girl about his lost love. But, bless him, in his love-struck state for Athenodora, Caius' words came out as an utter cluster fuck.

"Jocasta … you know? Gone … fuck!"

"So, it speaks!" Athenodora nodded to herself. "Not very well, granted, but it speaks."

Caius cleared his throat and started over. "I'm looking for Jocasta," he explained with his cheeks a little flushed. "Do you know where she is?"

"I've heard things, none of them good, none of them a location." Athenodora folder her arms and looked down her nose to the drover's boy, which was difficult as the boy was at least a foot taller than her. "You may have cost her her life, you know?"

"Her father would really kill her for being with me?!" Jocasta had waxed lyrical to Caius about her father's ways, but to kill his own daughter for following her heart ... what kind of people are you? Being rich makes people cunts!

"Not for being with you, Caius," Dora explained. "But she's lost her worth now it's known about."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Aside from being offended, Caius was confused.

Dora huffed haughtily at the poor little commoner who didn't understand the wider world. "Jocasta's worth comes down to her virginity. That ship sailed by when the child you implanted in her started to show."

"Well, if she's not worth anything, I'll have her." It was simple for Caius.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Dora laughed back. "You are a drover …"

"My father's a drover, not me."

"Fine." Dora spoke ever so slowly so Caius wouldn't be confused. "You are a drover's boy. It would be a humiliation to Jocasta's family if she wedded you."

A humiliation, huh? Fucking self-inflated rich pricks.

"What about the baby?"

"If there is a baby, it won't be yours, or Jocasta's."

"Another humiliation, no doubt?" Caius spoke evenly but his heart ached for a child he'd never even known, nor would ever know, by the sound of it.

"There's a price on your head," Dora went on. "They don't know who you are, yet, but they will find out."

She quite liked that Caius hadn't back down yet, and she wondered how far he would go for Jocasta. He would never see her again, Dora knew that, but she was impressed by his resilience.

By 'they' Caius assumed Dora was talking about Jocasta's family. No doubt her sick fuck father. It wasn't too much of a surprise. Neither was losing Jocasta. Caius hadn't expected to ever marry the girl, or even for their fling to go on as long as it had. She was nice, too nice really, and that just didn't interest Caius. He'd only started seeing the girl after being dared to by Helios, his brother. He'd only continued seeing her because she was carrying his child. If both were now lost, Caius would move on quickly. But … a price on my head?

"So," Caius drawled leaning in very close to Dora. "I'm now worth more than Jocasta?"

"To some," Dora agreed.

She didn't pull back from his advances, Caius liked that very much. Wooing Jocasta had taken more effort than he'd liked. Dora already looked like a sure thing. Sadly, time was short, he had been expected home an hour before, at least. Hoping Helios would have covered for him with their father, Caius moved closer still, as close as he'd dare. Dora looked him dead in the eye and smiled confidently.Oh, I like that! Meek and mild was beyond boring to Caius.

"There are worse things than being married to a drover's boy."

"I know that well enough," Dora replied honestly.

There was little worse than being married to the fat grunting bastard to whom she'd been effectively sold. Worse than that, she knew she would soon be 'sold' again when the aging reprobate worked out that Dora couldn't give him a child. Like most wives, Dora hoped her husband wouldn't use a mistress, but Dora's worry was that he would impregnate another woman and then realise it was his wife's fault for their lack of issue, and not his. She was living on borrowed time.

Caius went in a little closer and tucked Dora's hair behind her ear, trying his luck. Dora laughed at such an obvious attempt, but she didn't stop him.

"Have you forgotten Jocasta already?" she asked, watching his reaction.

Caius looked away shyly. It was false, of course - Caius was never shy. "You told me to forget about her."

"Do you usually do as you're told?"

Caius could hear the disappointment behind Dora's voice. She was desperate for adventure, for excitement, and she appeared to be pinning her hopes on Caius to provide. He wrapped one arm around Dora's tiny waist and drew her in, pressing the length of his body against her.

Athenodora knew she was supposed to reject him, she was supposed to pull away, get away. Instead she parted her legs and squeezed his leg with her thighs.

"Dora!" One of the other young wives ran into the room in a panic. "We have company!" she blurted breathlessly.

Dismounting, Dora shoved Caius towards the window. "You need to go!"

Moments before he could be pushed out the building, Caius caught hold of Dora's hand and snatched her in close. "I'm coming back for you," he whispered into her ear, kissing her gently on the neck as he withdrew.

"You better had."

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Helios sprang out from behind the cattle pen and pulled his brother down to the ground. Caius deftly avoided the first slap his brother offered, but not he second.

"I'm not that late," Caius huffed. "I told you where I was going."

Helios shushed Caius quickly. Caius assumed his father was on the war path - he had been since Caius had explained about Jocasta … which he'd only done because his father had overheard a conversation on the matter between Caius and his brother.

The pair of them had copped a hiding for that with the cattle rod which was doubly shameful at their ages. The brothers thought at eighteen and twenty that their days of physical chastisement were over … they had been sadly mistaken. Helios pointed to their house. It was a good distance away from the cattle pen, but Caius could easily make out the men hanging around outside their home. That was unusual.

"That silly slag you shagged wasn't as discreet as you thought, brother," Helios said quietly. "Her father's cronies are after you."

Caius wore his horror on his face as he gulped down the air around him. Fuck! They know who I am … fuck! "What should I do? Helios, they've put a price on my head."

Helios was already racked with guilt over the beating Caius had taken for fucking Jocasta - he had pushed his brother into going for the girl in the first place. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, drunk fun, at that.

"We'll talk to Dad when they've gone. He'll know what to do."

Helios' faith in their father forever baffled Caius. Their father was a simple man, in Caius' mind, with simple dreams, simple plans. He wouldn't be much use.

They waited. Caius should have been more nervous, panicked, even, but all he could think about was Athenodora. Helios mocked his brother for his fleeting love, but Caius insisted Dora was different. She was a match for him, she excited him. Dora wasn't like the other girls they knew, or the other rich girls they knew of. When Jocasta's father's men left their homestead, the precarious situation Caius was in came rushing to the forefront of his mind. He suddenly felt quite foolish for telling his brother all the things he planned on doing with Dora when in all likelihood, he wouldn't live long enough to see the girl again, let alone fuck her!

"Come on," Helios said, pulling his brother to his feet.

Although Helios offered an optimistic smile, but Caius could see it didn't reach his brother's eyes. They both knew he was fucked.

When the brothers reached their home, they didn't have time to open the door themselves. It was thrown open, damn near hitting them in the face, and they were dragged inside by their father. He dumped the pair of them ceremoniously in the middle of the room, missing the fire by mere inches.

Caius nodded along to the barrage of abuse his father delivered for his complete and utter ineptitude. Helios stayed with him, but as always, only Caius received any scorn from their father. Still, he was glad his brother stuck by him. Helios was the apple of his father's eye and forever had been. Caius had never questioned it, he was the spare in his father's eyes and he'd long since learnt to live with it. He couldn't compare with Helios, so he never tried to. Helios was obedient, dutiful, respectful, mostly at least. Caius was none of those things. Fortunately, his mother doted on her sons equally, so Caius had some respite from his father's wrath. Even Caius didn't expect any help that time, however. He'd truly fucked up - not so much by fucking Jocasta, but getting her pregnant had been a huge mistake. Having his name known … that was the major fuck-up.

His father was winding down his rant, and he ended on the money shot. "You need to leave, Caius."

Leave? Caius felt punched in the guts. The only thing that made his father's decree slightly less painful was that the man sounded slightly reticent. Caius may not have been his favourite, but he didn't want to lose the boy. Still, there was no option.

"You've already brought shame on this house," he explained. "You'll not bring death to my door, too."

No one said so, but they all knew the consequences of messing with the rich girls. Their fathers would only relent their quest for killing off the wretches that chased them with a substantial payment. If Caius' father had enough gold or goods he could have paid Jocasta's family for their loss. The girl was useless to them now she had been sullied by a drover's boy. Of course, Caius' family had no such wealth, so he had to die. Simple as that.

Helios wrapped an arm around Caius' shoulders. "I'll come with you, brother."

"You will not!" Caius was ripped from his brother's hold as his father continued to bellow at Helios. "I'll not lose you for his folly."

Helios stood, too, and tried to reach Caius, but his brother was roughly shoved aside before he could touch him. "But it wasn't his fault, it was my fault."

"You aren't going anywhere, Helios. You hear me?!"

Helios gulped down the rising vomit in his throat. Caius knew any hope he had of a companion was lost - Helios had never stood up to their father in all his living days.

"Yes, sir."

Wimp, Caius thought, but he smiled and nodded to his brother anyway. He didn't blame Helios at all. Squaring his shoulders, and puffing out his chest a little, Caius was ready to go. But …

"Where should I go?" he asked. They had no extended family to speak of, nowhere he could hide.

His mother wiped at her face and started rushing around their home, putting together a package for Caius to take. Some food, blankets, nothing much. "Far, Caius. Very far," she told him through her tears.

"If they find you, they will kill you," his father explained. "So don't let them catch you."

The first time in my life you have sounded bothered about me, Caius thought. Typical. He would have liked to have stayed and seen where the new relationship with his father could go if the man did give a shit about him, but it was too late for that. As his mother started to bundle together what she had collected, his father added their entire worldly wealth to the pile. A few coins, some jewellery worth more for sentiment that anything else. Caius was touched regardless.

"Thank you," he said, accepting the bundle from his mother.

She threw a hooded cape around his shoulders and hugged him for the very last time. "It isn't much, but it's all we have," she said sadly.

"It's more than enough."

With tearful goodbyes said, Caius left.

He went straight back to Dora's villa, where he waited at the window until the girls were left alone in their weaving room. When the servants were sent out for more wine, he ducked inside and removed his hood.

Dora rushed to close the doors and demanded the other girls keep watch. They weren't so keen on Athenodora's 'management style', particularly with her being the youngest of them, but she was married to the most powerful man in their lands and they had to do as she said.

"You should run, Caius," she told the drover's boy. "They know who you are."

Caius smiled brightly, hiding any fear he felt. "I know that already, and I am leaving. I want you to come with me."

"Run away with you?" Dora asked with her head cocked to one side. She'd been up for some fun with Caius, but leaving with him? "Leave my life, for you?"

"You hate your life," Caius said, laughing. "You all do."

No one objected to that, not even Dora. Their days were spent weaving. Day after day, weave after weave. Night after night they serviced their husbands, and then back to their weaving. The most exciting thing that happened to any of them was when they were asked to fetch some water from the well.

A servant tried to open the door, only to find it pushed back at them. "You need to go," one of the girls hissed, holding it shut.

"Come with me, Dora," Caius insisted, taking her hand and holding on for dear life.

Looking into his eyes, Dora saw a thousand images rush through her mind - all the fun they could have, the adventure. But, looking back to the other girls … "I can't leave…"

"There aren't too many around here that will risk their neck for you cosseted brides," Caius said quickly, guiding Dora to the window. "If you stay now, you'll stay forever. Passed from miserable old man to miserable old man until they pass over you for a younger model."

"And what can you offer me more than these miserable old men?" Dora was used to being rich. She liked being cosseted. "At least they have money, they have property, they have station. They can make my life comfortable."

"Comfortable?!" Caius snorted as he repeated the word. "Where's the fun in comfortable?" he asked. Caius didn't want a comfortable life - it was boring. Something told him Dora didn't really want that either. "I have no money, I don't even have a home anymore but whatever I have is yours and I won't stop until I've given you the world. But if you'd rather stay here being a brood mare for these miserable old men until you can't …"

"Stop!" Dora snatched her hand back and held both up to halt Caius' words. "Just stop!"

Caius had been bang on the nail - Dora would be passed over, and soon, too. She couldn't produce a child, or rather, not another one. Being married off so young and giving the old man a son when she was still a child herself had ruined her chances of having another. And with the babe born blue, living no longer than an hour, her husband needed another heir. If Dora couldn't provide one, she would be moved on. If she were lucky she would be married to another old fool, if not, she would likely meet the same dark fate as Jocasta.

"You aren't happy here," Caius said. "I know how to make you happy. Come with me.

"Where will we go?" Dora asked.

Caius smiled and pulled her into his chest. "I would go to the end of the world with you."

Dora wasn't a fool. In her young life she had seen the way men treated women. None of them loved for long, they all moved on. Jocasta had been the love of Caius' life, apparently, and only days after her dismissal he was now looking at Dora.

"But would you stay with me?"

"I imagine I'd have to," Caius drawled. "You seem like the kind of girl who would be impossible to shake off once you've had a decent shag."

The tension shattered, and Dora laughed for the first time since … she couldn't remember when.

"They're coming!" "He has to leave!"

The girls at the door were doing a sterling job of keeping the servants out, but one of the traitorous cowards had gone to fetch help. The hall outside was filled with men, all pushing hard to break into the room.

Caius jumped over the window and held out his hand. "Dora?" he asked, for a final time.

The girls couldn't believe it - Dora was leaving with a drover's boy!

"Are you crazy?!" one of them asked.

Dora hiked up her dress and slipped her legs over the window ledge. She flashed them a broad smile, "Completely," she said, and was gone.

"They spent the next ten years on the run, by my count," Basileus said to his audience. "Before your brother tracked you down as a vampire and turned the pair of you."

"That's it," Caius agreed. "Our story ends there."

"So Caius used to be normal, even nice, sort of?!" Alec's mouth literally hung open after he'd spoke, such was his surprise.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Felix replied, nudging his little brother. Alec was doing his head in, but Felix did enjoy when his baby brother's annoyance was being turned on someone else.

"Do you need a slap for every story we tell?" Aro asked seeing Felix whispering god only knows what to Alec.

"Which one of them?" Caius huffed, losing another hand to Demetri. The boy was clearing up using the tricks Caius had taught him.

"Obviously me," Felix replied, glaring to his father. "Never Alec."

Aro looked around the room with a puzzled expression. "Where's that whining noise coming from?" he asked before his eyes rested on Felix. "Oh!" he exclaimed in mock surprise. "It's you!"

Funny fucker, Felix thought murderously as those around him laughed at his plight.

"So what happened to you?" Alec asked Caius innocently. Or rather, it would have been innocently had his smirk not given him away. "If you used to be nice …"

"Alec, enough." Basileus' unmoving glare focused on Alec, the boy quietened down quickly.

Caius answered Alec regardless as he dealt a new hand to himself and Demetri. "Once upon a time I gave a shit, now I don't. The end."

"Why do you say things like that?" Freyr asked, irritated by Caius' phrasing. "Do you really believe coming across as a cruel thug is preferable to someone possibly thinking you can be nice?"

"It isn't being nice he's worried about," Magnus said. "It's being vulnerable."

Caius, aghast, looked from Freyr to Magnus. What are you trying to do to me?! You're killing my cred! He was most put out when Marcus took over and continued the conversation.

"Extremes of nature produce extremes of men. The same can be said for the extremes of nurture."

Marcus?! Caius thought murderously to his co-master. Seriously?! Shut up!

"Indeed," Basileus nodded knowingly to his old friend. "I didn't treat Caius as well as I should, and I damaged him. I see that now." Hindsight's a bitch, he thought.

"Shit happens," Caius said quickly, hoping to end the conversation there.

"It needn't have," Basileus said truthfully, adding, "I'm sorry."

Caius offered the creator a tight smile. He knew Aro had mislead Basileus, he knew Basileus would do anything to protect his son, he knew he was way, way down in the pecking order in Basileus' mind. Caius didn't hold any of that against the creator, it was just the way it was. Basileus, reading such things in Caius' mind, went to say more. He wanted Caius to know that he did matter, that he really was sorry … he didn't get a single word out before Caius scooped up his coins and held them out in offering.

"I will pay you to stop talking about me."

"Oi!" Magnus knocked the money out of Caius' hands, so it landed in the master's lap. "That's my money, Caius!"

Demetri pulled in his own winnings to keep it separate from Caius' stash. "It will all be mine soon!" he said gleefully. The boy couldn't believe how well he was doing!

"Tell them what I did to my brother and his mate," Caius suggested to the creator. "That will set the record straight."

"Will it?" Basileus asked, suddenly sitting back in his seat wondering what Caius was talking about.

"It shows who I am," Caius explained. It was clear to him. "None of this weak slushy shit you're peddling."

Basileus furrowed his brow as he sought through Caius' memories to the event. "I think, perhaps, your guilt over leaving Dora in a precarious situation, and then having to kill your own brother, is skewing your memory on the matter, Caius." It was just another example of Caius' screwed up psychology Basileus realised. "From what I have seen in your head, it ripped you apart to do what you did, and you only did so at all because you love your mate so much."

Caius stopped dead still, hand in mid-air holding the card he was about to play. He hadn't thought of it that way before. Or at least, not for a very, very long time. In Caius' mind he had convinced himself that he'd ripped his brother and sister-in-law to pieces in an uncontrollable rage … he had, of course, but the reasoning was something he had ignored for a long time. Helios had raped Dora, and Caius had defended his mate. It was a valid course of action, especially for a highly emotive newborn, mated vampire. Caius had forgotten all that though, he'd internalised the 'uncontrollable rage' as a part of his personality, as part of who he was … that hadn't been the case. His actions had been a reasoned response, under the circumstances.

"Fuck."

Dora flashed to the creator's side and brought the whisky bottle to his cup. "Would you like another drink, my lord?" she asked, her eyes begging him to stop telling his tale before the details endangered her life.

"Thank you, my dear." Basileus held out his glass and watched as Dora filled it right to the top with a trembling hand.

"But what happened?!" Irina asked, annoyed to have the story stop before the juicy details were given. Irina was storing up all the information she was hearing for future use and knowing more about Dora was of particular interest for the Denali girl.

"I came home and caught my brother with my mate," Caius explained darkly. He didn't need to state what 'with' meant, everyone had an imagination to use and those that didn't weren't so crass to ask for details. "And then I killed him."

"You killed your brother," Magnus said aloud to himself. "But you sounded so close."

Caius nodded once. We were, he thought with a gulp.

"Why did you care?" Felix asked. "You two, both …" Even Felix wasn't crass enough to state what he was thinking - that both Dora and Caius practised an open relationship and therefore, why would Caius be bothered by Dora fucking Helios.

"I know what you're trying to say," Caius said to the boy. "But Helios was my brother and Dora wasn't willing."

"Oh!" Felix shut his mouth sharpish after that. He wasn't great with deep emotional stuff.

"Actually, Basileus," Caius turned to the creator with a curious expression. "As you know everything … was she willing?"

"Caius!" Dora shot across the room.

Although Dora was clearly appalled Caius would ask such a thing, Magnus' reading of the young woman's emotions revealed she was nervous of Basileus' verdict, too.

"Just a question," Caius shrugged to his mate. "Helios was my brother, after all. I did kill him on your say so." He waited a moment to give Dora chance to state her case if she wished. When nothing but stony silence came, Caius bobbed his head and looked to Basileus. "I'd like to know if I made the right decision."

"I cannot believe you would even ask the question!" Dora flashed to her feet but went no further, the rising panic giving her both momentum and an inability to move simultaneously. "After all this time …" Dora stalled. She didn't know what to say, what to do.

Basileus held up his hand to silence the woman and Dora's stomach twisted into a knot. He looked Caius dead in the eye before he spoke. Some things are better left unsaid, he thought. "You did make the right decision, Caius."

Oh for fuck sake, Magnus cursed. Reading Basileus' emotions, he knew the man was telling the truth - Basileus did feel Caius had made the right choice in killing Helios and his mate. That decision had led Caius to Aro and into the Volturi. For all Basileus' complaints about Caius over the years, he wouldn't have wanted to be without him. But Magnus was getting something else form the creator, and Basileus confirmed it when his eyes cut across to the juggernaut - Dora had lied all those years ago. Helios hadn't raped her at all … she had simply misjudged Caius' reaction to her fucking his brother. A misjudgement that cost Helios his life and, more than that, had started Caius down a very dangerous road, psychologically tortured for having executed his own brother on spurious grounds. Marvellous! Magnus said to himself in an unusually sarcastic moment of contemplation. Sometimes it was better not knowing the truth.

Dora flopped back onto the desk, releasing a shaky breath as she did so. "See?!" she barked at her mate.

"I had to ask," Caius replied completely unfazed by his mate's annoyance.

No you did not! Dora sensibly kept those thoughts in her head, though she still earned a stern eye from the creator for having the nerve to think it, what with him knowing the absolute truth of the matter.

Freyr was intuitive enough to work out what had gone on, and, like her mate, she wished she didn't know the truth. There was another point in Basileus' storytelling that Freyr was fixated on, however. Caius had been second best to his brother in is human life. Much like he had come second to Aro in his early vampiric life. Magnus had told Freyr of the pointed digs Caius had made about Odi already and they both expected some backlash from the younger master when they were alone, but Caius' attitude made sense to Freyr now. He feared being relegated again. Understanding the issue, Freyr felt better prepared to deal with it, but from all she'd learnt about Caius over recent years, she knew they had a long road ahead.

Feeling sorry for him, Freyr decided to do what she could to ease his feelings for the moment and direct attention away from Caius.

"Whats your story Sulpicia," she asked the coven queen.

The questions being thrown at Caius ceased and she watched as he visibly relaxed.

Sully smiled warmly to her mate. "I thought I had met a god," she said, thinking back to the first time she'd met Aro. "I was amazed by him. I still am, occasionally."

Kate sighed wistfully. "It sounds romantic," she said hoping for a happy tale where someone or other wasn't beaten or murdered!

Sulpicia chuckled. "That depends on the version, sweetheart."

"Sul!" Aro barked, gesturing to their very many guests who knew nothing of any version!

"Oh, come on," Sulpicia scoffed at her mate's reticence. "Half the people here know anyway."

Aro folded his arms in a huff. Magnus and Freyr didn't know, neither did Eleazar, Carmen, or Carlisle. Aro looked at his children, they didn't know, and it wasn't something he wanted them to hear, either.

"So there are different versions?" Eleazar mused. "Why ever would that be, little brother?" He knew Aro too well. If there was another version to the version he knew about - where Aro had simply asked Sulpicia to join him in immortality and she'd agreed, end of story - then there would be a juicy version hiding behind the scenes.

"Well …" Basileus barely got one word out before Aro shot to his feet.

"You aren't telling any versions with the kids in here." He shook his head, looking to the Denali girls and then doubly so looking to his own four young vampires. "Over my dead body are you telling them, Dad. They aren't old enough to understand."

"Night kids!" Eleazar sang out happily. He did enjoy tales about his little brother's downfalls.

Carlisle, too, was eager to hear all. "Yeah," he joined Eleazar. "Scram brats," he said, and playfully thumped Felix in the arm for good measure.

"Surely you count as one of the kids?" Felix said in reply, punching his uncle back with far more force than Carlisle had used. He made it past all the adults before anyone could rebuke him - not that they would have for simple play, but Felix was on edge after earlier events.

"He's not wrong, there," Aro sang out, smirking to his brother when no one else defended his status.

"Well I'm not going anywhere," Irina said haughtily, flicking her hair. She was annoyed that her sisters had so been so easily commanded from the room, though they both stood at the foot of the stairs waiting for Irina.

"Talk about loyalty?!" Tanya spat at the eldest Denali girl.

Shit. Irina was caught in her own double standard.

"Irina, come with us?" Kate pleaded, wanting to avoid the standoff between her sisters. She knew Tanya was close to completely rejecting Irina. "Please?"

She went with them.

"Are you going to tell them everything?" Aro asked his father when the room was clear of young ones. "You don't come off so well in the real version, either, Dad."

"Then it will be good for your father, too," Atia answered for her mate. She was already concerned about the secrets Basileus had revealed, and wondering about his motives for doing so, too, but if Sulpicia's story could bring her mate some shame she felt it would do him good to speak it. "It doesn't hurt to be reminded of your faults occasionally."

Freyr nudged Atia as she settled into her seat. "It's a shame, being women, that we have so few to think on."

Every guy left in the room rolled their eyes to that one.

"How bad is this story?" Magnus asked. He could sense the levels of anxiety rising in the room and it was coming from Basileus, Aro and Caius in droves.

"Bad," Caius offered.

"Brutal, more like!" Aro corrected his co-master. "He nearly killed me."

Magnus and Freyr were surprised when Basileus didn't try to deny such claims. Eleazar and Carmen, too.

"Before I start," Basileus said quickly. "I want you all to keep in mind that this happened a VERY long time ago and we have all mellowed with age."

Aro took a seat on the floor next to Caius where he stretched out his legs with a satisfying click. "There speaks the voice of regret," he tutted.

"Definitely," Basileus agreed. "I would handle the situation very differently if it happened now, but back then …"

SULPICIA - 1100s BC

Tiryns had once been the centre of the Mycenaean world, but by the time Basileus took his small coven to visit the place, the great palace had already been destroyed. Not that such wreckage had seen a decrease in population - the citadel and lower town still hosted fifteen thousand people, and the high walls of Tiryns offered plenty of shade for vampires to move around in daylight, unaccosted by the sun.

That day, the nobles of Tiryns were taking their weekly walk around the city and stopped to rest in the shade of the walls. Aro crept along the tree line from where, with his vampiric vision, he could soak up the beauty of one particular woman.

That was where Caius found him.

"Who are we perving on today?" he asked, sneaking up behind his brother-in-arms.

Aro flinched with surprise. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Caius' approach. Still, he didn't turn, his eyes remained fixed on the noble woman.

"Look at her, Caius," Aro sighed dreamily. "Have you ever seen such a vision walk this earth?"

"Yeah," Caius agreed half-heartedly. He preferred Dora. But then no one had ever matched up to his mate, in his eyes, nor would they. Still, he'd fuck Aro's find if it was on offer. "She's alright. Are you bringing her home to play?"

Aro scowled. "Hey, eyes off!" he said, giving Caius a shove. "This isn't one for you to drag into your sordid games. This one's mine."

MY sordid games?! Caius and Dora had never seen a good reason to limit their sex life to just the two of them and they enjoyed bringing in new players to the game - Aro being one of them. Although, that was becoming a problem for Caius and Dora.

Since they had met Aro and joined the creator's coven, their sex life had been all but ruined. They couldn't shake Aro's involvement! Dora was convinced Aro had a secret gift and somehow 'sensed' sex. Every time she and Caius made plans, Aro was there. Truthfully, Dora found it funny, but Caius was growing annoyed with it all. That was why he was there in the first place. He'd told Dora he was going to confront Aro. But if you have found your own toy … that will be less awkward for all!

Caius gave Aro a nudge forward. "Go and fetch her, then!" he said, full of excitement for the prospect of Aro having his own mate to use and abuse.

Aro was quick to pull himself back into the shadows. "I'm not turning her yet," he said with a shake of the head. "I want to give her the choice."

"Don't do that to yourself, Aro." Caius knew how such an idea could end and he wasn't letting the opportunity skip by so easily. "If you ask her to join us, and she doesn't want to, you will have to kill her."

"What makes you think she won't want to join us?"

"Most humans are scared of us," Caius reminded the man gently. "Not to mention what your father would do if he found out you revealed yourself and didn't turn her … or kill her."

"Kill her?!" Aro worse his disgust on his face. "I love her!"

Caius burst out laughing. Love lorne fool. "You've never even spoken to her, mate."

"I'm going to court her," Aro said, deciding on the spot in his course of action. "Basileus doesn't need to know about any of this."

He didn't want to take the woman in the night and turn her, he wanted her to love him, he wanted to love her. It was all very idealised for a man who's most romantic attachment to date had been with a regular prostitute back in his human life.

"How will you manage to court her?" Caius tutted into the air. If that's your plan I'll ended up sharing Dora forever, for fuck sake. "You're going after the most eligible woman in town - how will you even get to her, let alone in the hours of darkness?" Caius pulled Aro around by his shoulders to break the apparent entrancement the woman had over him. "Just flash in there, take her, bite her. It's very simple."

Aro looked back over his shoulder to the woman. She was a goddess in every way he could imagine one to be. He'd seen a fair few of them through his father's memories - but none of them could hold a torch to the one he was looking at.

"I can't just bite her, she's too special." Aro turned back to Caius. "How can I talk to a woman like that?"

Too special?! Caius was starting to seriously worry about Aro's mental state. One thing was clear - Aro wasn't going to approach the woman without a push in the right direction. Caius, being a typical man, the push he offered Aro was ridicule.

"What's wrong with you, you're not usually this awful with women."

"Not usually this awful?!" Aro repeated. "You cheeky bastard! I have an excellent track record, thank you very much."

"Excellent?! With the ones you pay, maybe." Caius burst out laughing at his own joke, cock that he was. It was doubly funny when Aro failed to offer a counter argument. Caius didn't want to put Aro off, though, not when he was so close to being able to enjoy his own mate in peace! "What's wrong with you?" He really had meant to sound supportive, but his tone left much to be desired.

"I really like this one," Aro answered, still staring at the woman as she giggled coyly to her aged husband.

"You haven't even spoken to her, Aro," Caius reminded him. "At the moment, she's just a potential fuck at best. Not even that if you keep glaring at her."

"I'm fine with potential fucks, but she is something else, her heart calls to me."

He must be drunk, Caius assumed, as the only possible reason Aro could be so soppy. "That will be the blood," he explained. "We are vampires."

"No, you dick." Aro turned and took a few steps closer through the trees. "It's not the blood. Her heart calls to my soul."

"Did you seriously just say that?" Caius all but doubled over laughing. "Oh brother! I am never going to let you live that one down!"

Aro didn't care. He had never been an overly emotional type, but he'd been secretly watching this woman since they'd arrived in Tiryns and each illicit, one-way encounter had seen him fall deeper and deeper in love.

"I've never felt this way before," he said, mainly to himself, barely above a whisper.

Whilst Aro was doing his best to stay quiet as he made small steps forwards, Caius damn near outed their presence with his guffaws of laughter. "You're being way too intense!"

The both dropped to the floor as the small group looked in their directed, alerted by Caius' unnecessarily loud comment.

"I'm a vampire, Caius," Aro hissed. "Intense is what we are."

Caius quickly returned the jab in the side Aro had offered, both staying low. "Only trying to help," he hissed back.

With the little group assuming they had heard an animal in the woods, they went back to their chatter and Aro helped Caius to his feet.

"What you need to do is …"

Aro's face cut Caius off in his stride. "You think I need to pick up tips from you?"

"Well …" Caius drawled. "I have a mate and at least one new conquest a week. How do you think that happens? Tip - it's not by staring at them and hoping their clothes drop off in the street."

"Fuck off! I'm not that bad."

Aro's swore his heart started beating when the men in the group broke away from their women. He couldn't make out why they had, not that he cared. It was the first time in his weeks of stalking that the woman had been on her own. Well, only one other woman accompanied her, plus a couple of servants milling around. That was almost alone. It was alone enough that he could talk to her …I can't talk to her! Aro stood statue still, frozen with anticipation.

"You're not even blinking, Aro," Caius whispered into his ear. "She's going to think you're a freak if you go over there like this."

"Thanks for the support, brother!"

"Let me help you."

Caius sussed out the surroundings. With a few vampiric flashes, he could make it to the woman and hang in the shade of the citadel buildings. Then he was gone!

"I don't need your help, Caius!" Aro followed his brother-in-arms out of the trees but stayed in the shade. "CAIUS!" he called in a half hiss, half growl that alerted too many passers-by to his odd behaviour. I am going to fucking slaughter you, Caius! Oh fuck, shes looking. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Okay, relax. Blink. How often do humans blink? What the fuck is wrong with me?!

Basileus had to end his storytelling - no one could hear him over the laughter and jibes being levied at Aro.

"I would like to point out that I was not that clueless with women," Aro told them all resolutely. "And he was not that good, either," he added, jabbing at Caius.

"I'd say it was a perfect rendition of what went on!" Dora could barely breathe for laughing as she flopped down in the free seat next to Sulpicia. "You were like a love-sick puppy lusting after Sully."

Caius was quick to agree. "If I hadn't introduced you, you never would have got together."

Aro shut out the taunts from his brother - the taunts from Dora and Sully were a little harder to ignore - and responded to Caius, "I was about to go and talk to her when you turned up, you just heard that."

"I heard you bottle it just before I turned up," Caius said, gloating a little. "Are you still bitter that Sulpicia fancied me more than you?"

"She did not." The sudden silence from his mate made Aro question his own surety. "Did you?" he asked Sulpicia

"Oh, I can't remember, my love," Sully replied, a hand to her mouth to hide her smile. "It was such a long time ago."

"Of course she fancied me more," Caius said with a wink to the coven queen. "Look in the mirror, Aro."

"You cheeky bastard!" Aro pushed Caius away by his head. "If you thought you had a chance with her you would have gone for it."

"Caius was desperate to set you up with a woman because he was so fed up of you joining in with us," Dora explained, much as Basileus had with his story telling.

"It's true," Caius said, backing her up. "You were doing my head in."

Aro wasn't having that. They were killing his cred. "Putting you to shame more like."

Caius looked to his mate expecting her to refute such claims. He was most put out to see her stumbling over her words and laughing back at him!

"Dora!" he exclaimed to the sound of Aro's jibes over his talents.

Sulpicia was perhaps a little too quick to join in. "She's being polite, Caius."

"Sul!" Aro damn near choked on his whiskey with that dig!

Caius threw an arm around his co-master. "You're just lucky I was desperate to fuck my own mate in peace or I wouldn't have passed Sully on to you."

"Excuse me!" Sulpicia looked aghast to Caius for his blatant crudity. "I think I had something to do with who I ended up with, thank you very much."

"You really didn't, Sul." Caius held his thumb and forefinger a smidge apart. "You were this close to being another notch on my bed post."

"Caius!" Sulpicia glared at her mate for his help. "Will you defend my honour please?"

"That depends on whether or not you would have been a willing notch on his bed post, my queen."

"She would still be a willing notch on my bed post, Aro."

"Dream on, Caius." Aro twisted Caius' wrist a little as he removed the man's arm from his shoulders. "You don't share well, do you, my queen?"

"Do you remember the first time we tried?!" Dora pipped up. "You nearly ripped my head off!"

Once Sulpicia had joined Aro in the afterlife, the foursome tried … well, a foursome. It had been a fairly enjoyable affair until Sulpicia realised Aro was actually having sex with Dora right next to her. At that point, her vampiric senses kicked in and it had taken both Aro and Caius considerable efforts to stop Sulpicia from killing Dora.

Sulpicia bit her lip as the memory formed in her mind. "I'm still so sorry about that, Dora," she said, grateful when Dora laughed away the awkwardness.

"You were a raging newborn, Sul," Caius said, shrugging and smirking from the floor as he looked up at the woman with playful eyes. "We could try again if you like? It would be a different experience now you're calmer. Not too calm, though, I hope?"

Sulpicia floundered in response to such a bold proposal.

Caius chuckled, pleased with himself for the effect he'd had on her. "She's thinking about it, Aro," he said, nudging the coven king. "This day is looking up."

Aro wasn't against sharing … in fact he quite missed it now he'd been reminded of those happy days. But that wasn't at the forefront of his mind. "Did you fancy him more than me?" he asked Sulpicia outright.

"I did a bit," Sully admitted. "Caius was very charming …"

"WAS very charming," Aro repeated with heavy emphasis on the 'was'. "Not so much now, huh?"

"She still would, and you know it." Caius was confident in few matters - sex was the top of the list.

"It's not as though Dora's ever turned me down," Aro huffed.

"Dora's never turned anyone down."

"Caius!" Dora wanted to say more but it was true. Sex was her thing, too. It's why she and Caius were so successful as mates!

"It's true, Dora," Caius shrugged. "Some of the guys you used to bring home to play …"

"Some of the women weren't much better," Aro reminded Caius of a particularly shocking encounter. Even with the dusky glow of a single candle in the dead of night, neither man had been able to get it up for that shocking specimen.

Dora wasn't having them castigating her alone. "Granted, love," she said to Caius. "You could charm the fish out of water, back in the day, but we can't all be as charming as you." She turned a smirk on Aro. "And your fishing generally resulted in fresh air," she reminded him.

Sulpicia found the whole thing hilarious.

"You're making out like I was totally clueless, but I got my queen."

Aro smiled lovingly to his mate in hope she would bolster his self-esteem a little. It might have worked had Caius not slipped in,

"Thanks to me!"

As their 'private' conversation had gone full circle, Basileus thought it time to remind the foursome of their presence.

"Do you think they've forgotten we're here?" he said to Magnus, loudly.

"I'd say so," Magnus replied, rolling his tongue around his cheek to keep the smile from forming.

Sulpicia and Dora searched the floor with their eyes to hide their embarrassment at such a carry on in front of half their family. Sully was particularly glad the children had been set to their rooms for the story! As Aro hadn't redeemed his manhood, he was glad they weren't there, too!

"Please do go on," Atia dared the four of them, hoping to illicit more shame from her son and daughter-in-law. "We're all ears."

Freyr could see Caius didn't feel a drop of shame. "Yes, we're learning so much about your early days."

Freyr was right - Caius didn't care. He found it quite funny, especially as he hadn't come off looking too bad, in his mind. In for a penny, in for a pound. He turned to Carmen and Eleazar. "You know, Carmen …"

"Don't even go there, Caius," Magnus called to end his play.

Eleazar merely smiled and wrapped a loving arm around his mate. He knew how Caius and Aro played and he knew it didn't mean anything - even if it had offended the older members of the group.

Sulpicia stood and smoothed down her dress. "Any more drinks, anyone?" she asked with a slightly shaky voice.

"I'd say you four have had enough for today," Atia injected, taking the bottle from Sulpicia's hands and excluding certain members from the top up. "Only the gods know where this will end if you drink anymore."

"I can tell you where it will end …" Caius drifted off as the shield maiden fixed him in her sights. Or maybe not, he thought, putting to rest his ideas of an impromptu orgy with his co-master's wife.

"I think you should continue, my dear," Atia prompted her mate.

Aro had been meeting Sulpicia under the cover of darkness for six months straight. The coven, Basileus, Marcus and Didyme, Caius and Dora, all knew he was meeting her in such a way. What they didn't know was that those illicit liaisons had shifted from night, to day.

At first Aro used the cyclopean tunnels to meet Sulpicia to hide his true nature from her, but soon enough he revealed to her what he was; a vampire. Sulpicia had taken the news in her stride, for she'd already fallen in love with the man … make that, vampire. The vampiric tricks Aro showed her had helped. He was so fast, so strong, and he knew everything about her. Her hopes, her dreams, her past … he'd even told Sulpicia of her future, which, naturally, involved her running away with him and living a fabulous immortality at his side.

Truthfully, Aro could have told Sulpicia she would be living in a mud hut and she would have wanted to be with him, but Sully knew it wasn't her choice. She was beholden to her husband. For all intents and purposes, he owned her. Of course, her husband was old, and ill, so she would soon be returned to her father's household. That had been her whole life. First married at the tender age of thirteen, and widowed by fourteen, her father had been quick to recognise the commodity that his daughters could be. With each new marriage he paid for their dowry, and with each widowing, he collected the dead man's estate. He had built up quite the empire trading his daughters in such a way.

Sulpicia, being the eldest of his daughters, was starting to lose her value. She had never had children - being married to flaccid old men hadn't leant well to procreation - but nearing twenty-eight was making her a less attractive marriage option. Sulpicia was aware of this, too. She knew what her father had done to her and her sisters, but being the dutiful daughter she was, she would never think to object.

Aro and Sulpicia were genuinely in love and she understood what he was, what she would have to be, too. He had money - her father's main motivator. But that wasn't enough for the man to hand over his daughter. 'Selling' Sulpicia to another man whilst she was still married was unthinkable - how would that look to other potential husbands of his other daughters?! Scandalous! Aro had been forced to meet with the man to plead his case. He'd spent the last month meeting with Sulpicia's father, in fact, and the rest of her family and friends. In the hope of tipping the scales in his interest, Aro had been a little lax with his vampiric state, and eventually, he'd shown them all what he was. He'd impressed them so much, in fact, that they ALL wanted to join his coven and enjoy immortality, too! Sulpicia thought it was a great idea, and Aro was left in a quandary. He wanted Sulpicia, not a host of vampiric in laws for eternity - who the fuck would want that?! - but he couldn't deny his new bride to be, either.

Aro returned from his meet up mentally exhausted to find naked dead bodies littering the coven's home. They were living out of town, for safety, in a small villa on the outskirts of the woods surrounding Tiryns. From the dead bodies, Aro knew only Caius and Dora were home - they liked to fuck their feeds before sending them to their deaths which Marcus and Basileus found distasteful. Didyme didn't care either way, but Caius and Dora's wouldn't have left such a mess if they were expecting to be disturbed. Aro noticed one of the humans was still alive, but he was head was too screwed up to feed, even with the smell of the blood permeating his senses.

Caius and Dora appeared in the doorway, swigging wine and looking content with themselves.

"You've left one breathing," Aro commented, nudging the poor fucker with his sandal. "You must be slipping."

Dora flashed to the half-dead wretch. He tried to resist her advance, but he had been too badly damaged to put up much of a fight. Dora quickly drained him of his entire life force.

Aro dragged a dead woman from the bench seat so he could lie down and contemplate his life. He didn't get the chance as Caius took the seat before Aro could, spreading himself out. "What's wrong with you?" he asked, reading Aro's melancholy expression.

"You'd better get these bodies out of here before Basileus gets home."

That wasn't much of an answer, Aro knew it, but he couldn't tell Caius what was really on his mind. He was scared to even think about his situation what with having a mind reading father!

"Have you not fucked her yet?" Caius asked. Whether Aro wanted to admit it or not, Caius knew the only thing on his mind was that damn woman.

"Her name is Sulpicia," Aro reminded him. He shoved Caius from the bench and made quick work of taking up all available space. "And I'm not discussing it with you."

"That's a no," Dora called to her mate, licking the last of her victim's blood from her lips. "A definite no."

"We don't all use sex as an ice breaker," Aro shot back.

"What else is there?" Caius quipped. Nothing better, in his mind.

"I'm impressing her," Aro told them both.

With his head to one side as he contemplated Aro's words, Caius tentatively asked him how, preying to all the gods that Aro wasn't doing something stupid.

Aro could have lied, perhaps he should have lied, but his head was overloaded with the crime he had committed. It was Basileus' only law - one laid down by Zeus, no less! Vampiric existence must remain secret from humans. He'd broken that law, and Aro knew he was in some damn deep waters if his father found out, but he needed to talk to someone.

"I have certain talents …" he said, looking to Caius pointedly.

"Tell me you are joking?!" Caius started to pace with his hands in his hair, tugging hard at the roots as if it would help. "Dora, get out of here," he demanded quickly.

"But …" Dora wasn't sure what was going on, having not clicked on to Aro's hidden message in the way her mate had.

"Go!" Caius roared, dragging Dora to the door and flinging her outside.

He hadn't meant to be quite so rough with the woman but if Dora didn't understand what Aro had possibly done, then she was in the clear. Caius understood how Basileus worked - he was to be obeyed completely. He and Dora had been with the coven less than a year, but Caius had seen Aro take a few hidings in that time. He'd received one himself for his disrespect when he'd first joined the coven - Caius wasn't willing to put his mate in the creator's path for something Aro had done. He had learnt that Basileus was a reasonable man, so he wouldn't punish Caius, or Dora for that matter, for something Aro had done. But Basileus would bollock Caius as an accomplice if he didn't go forward. There was no question in whether Caius would go forward - he wouldn't. Aro met Caius in the midst of grieving the loss of his brother, and soon replaced Helios in Caius' affections. Aro was firmly Caius' best friend, and Caius was loyal to a fault, regardless of the personal cost.

"Have you shown Sulpicia what you are?" he asked. Say no, for fuck sake, say no.

"What if I have?" Aro replied quietly, knowing full well what a ridiculous thing it was that he'd done.

"Are you insane?!" Caius growled, grabbing Aro by the shoulders and shaking him hard. "Your old man will kill you, Aro! You have to turn her, now!"

"No."

"Aro ..."

"No!" Aro flashed to the window. He needed air and he was slightly worried Caius was about to hit him. "Not yet," he said, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"There will be little point in you winning her heart when you lose your head for your efforts." Caius continued to pace as he spoke. It was beyond him how Aro could stay still! "Sulpicia has been passed from husband to husband for years - if you offer her father enough money he will marry her to you and we can leave this place with our heads on our shoulders."

"I'm not buying a woman, Caius," Aro spat.

Caius stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow to the man. "Because you've never done that before, have you?"

Aro laughed. He couldn't deny it. "That's not the reason … her heart … I already have her heart."

Aro went on to explain just how deep in the shit he really was, that her whole family, all her friends, hell, half of Tiryns wanted to join their coven because he'd shown them ALL who he was, what he was … he was truly fucked. But still, Aro refused to break Sulpicia's heart by telling her that her dream of taking family and friends into the vampiric life were utter folly. Caius tried to make him see reason, but Aro was having none of his logical good sense. Instead, Caius came up with a plan.

"We'll meet with these humans and we'll explain that we can't take them all in one go," Caius suggested as a way out. "We'll tell them we'll come back for them in a year, or something."

"And when we don't?" Aro asked. "How will Sulpicia deal with that?"

"By then we will be far away from here," Caius went on. "I'll leave the coven for a few weeks on my own. I'll return and tell her the whole city had been wiped out. It will work."

It didn't sound such a bad plan to Aro, actually. It was far better than anything he had come up with, at least. Agreeing with Caius, they decided to go and present their case to Sulpicia and her family.

It would have been a good plan, had Marcus not overheard the entire fiasco. Unlike Caius, his loyalty was not to Aro, but to Basileus. Even that may not have been enough for him to inform the creator of the drama Aro had created, but Marcus was loyal first and foremost to the greater good. Leaving a city half full of humans who knew about vampires could be disastrous for their kind and Marcus wasn't willing to do that. Regretfully, as he knew he was consigning his covenmates to severe punishment, he went to find the creator with the hope of intercepting the pair before Aro and Caius could make the situation even worse for themselves.

"You bastard!" Aro erupted, interrupting his father's tale. "You grassed on us?!"

Marcus held his hands up in the air and shrugged. "It was the right thing to do under the circumstances," he explained. "I'm sure everyone can see that."

Sadly for Aro and Caius, everyone there did agree with Marcus.

"You should be grateful to him," Basileus added to his son. "Not only did Marcus end your plan before it could destroy our kind …"

"Destroy?!" Aro repeated. "Doubtful."

"But," Basileus continued with a stern eye to his son. "He stopped me from killing the pair of you afterwards."

"I still don't see what I did so wrong."

"Oh really, Caius?" Basileus re-started his tale showing Caius, and anyone else who was wondering, exactly what he had done!

Basileus and the remainder of his coven arrived at Sulpicia's family home expecting to find Aro and Caius having some sort of sit down meeting with the woman's father. That is not what they found.

The streets lining the ostentatious home of the richest man in town, were filled with humans all jostling to get to the front and get a good look at the pair of semi-drunk vampires showing off their talents in front of the villa!

"What are they playing at?!" Basileus hissed to Marcus.

It was all Marcus could do to hold the creator back. "We must take reasoned action, my friend," he said quietly. "Let's not add flame to the fire."

"But look at them!"

Caius and Aro, stripped to the waist and glistening like diamonds in the sunlight, were entertaining their audience with their excessive strength and speed.

To begin with, Caius hadn't understood why Aro would want to reveal his nature to the humans. Doing so with Sulpicia made sense, a little - it was a sure way to win her over. But the rest of them? No, Caius hadn't understood it at all. However, after a few drinks whilst they talked, and with some encouragement from Aro and the humans, Caius had quickly got into the swing of things, enjoying the buzz of being applauded and cheered for.

"Selfish cretins!" Basileus raged.

Marcus took his mate's hand and sighed sadly. "How long could you keep those people deliriously happy for, my love?"

"As long as you need," Didyme replied.

Her heart ached for her brother, knowing Aro had hell to come from Basileus, but she believed he would live through it, which was more than Dora expected for her mate.

"Please, my lord …" Dora sobbed at the creator's side. "Please …" she couldn't formulate anything more loquacious as fear gripped her soul.

"Caius will live, Dora," Marcus assured her.

"Will he?!" Basileus shot out. He hadn't decided yet.

Marcus raised an eyebrow to his old friend and turned back to Athenodora. "They will both live," he assured, partly speaking to the creator, too. "But for now, you have work to do."

"Anything," Dora said gratefully. "I'll do anything."

"Whilst Didyme keeps the humans contained with her gift, you will have to make a start on the executions."

It was a tall order to place on the shoulders of barely five-foot-tall, seven stone wet through woman, but Dora agreed.

"What will you do, my love?" Didyme asked her mate.

"We will handle with Caius and Aro."

With there being no need to hide their vampiric nature - Aro and Caius had made sure of that - the four of them made their way out of the shadows and into the sunlight. Humans everywhere scattered to allow them to pass through and looked on adoringly. Each and every one of them fell under Didyme's spell and they flocked to her, following her as she walked.

Rounding the humans together, Didyme managed to break a sizable group of spectators away from the others, and Dora set to work moving through the town people, snapping necks as she went.

Basileus and Marcus stalked purposely towards Aro and Caius, neither of whom noticed their approach until it was too late.

It was Caius who noticed first. Dropping the sizable boulder he held in his showmanship, he swallowed hard and cursed. Basileus replied by slapping the young man so hard he went down to the ground with his face caved in on one side. Without breaking his stride, he continued on to Aro who looked similarly fearful, and did the same to his son.

"Your ego-fest has been cancelled," he told them both.

Cupping their busted cheeks, Aro and Caius stayed on the ground, spitting blood from their mouths into the dirt.

Basileus picked out Sulpicia easily enough and gave Aro's love to Marcus for safekeeping. He slaughtered the womans family and friends gruesomely. The growing dead bodies piled up in front of Aro. He wasn't too attached to the humans, but he wouldn't have wished such an end for them. Seeing the state his father made of Sulpicia's family had Aro worrying for himself, too. One look to Caius and it was clear he was running through the same fears in his mind.

Once they were all dead, and Basileus dripped with their blood, he went to Sulpicia. Only Marcus' strong arms kept her upright as she wailed over the brutal end to her family.

"Not her!" Aro called out. "I will never forgive you," he warned. It was a brave gesture for a man in his position.

"You cannot kill her, my friend," Marcus said quietly, holding Sulpicia away from Basileus.

The creator breathed fire through his nose in his rage, but he had no intention of executing the woman. Whilst Marcus still held her, Basileus swept Sulpicia's long chestnut hair from her neck and sunk his fangs into her flesh.

Behind him, Aro collapsed onto his back and smiled up at the skies. Okay, so it all went to shit, he thought of their foolish plan. But if he's turned her, he's not going to kill me.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you, son."

Basileus ripped Aro from the floor and threw him towards Sulpicia's family home. They were closely followed by Marcus carrying Aro's new bride to find her somewhere comfortable to go through the transformation.

"Caius, you had better help your mate!" Basileus called over his shoulder. "Leave no one alive, you hear me?!"

"Of course, my lord!" Caius fled from the spot to join Dora in killing off the humans.

"And don't you dare feed, you little shit!"

Caius doubted he could have stomached blood anyway, but with Basileus' voice ringing in his ears, there was no way he would even contemplate it.

Marcus had found a bed for Sulpicia upstairs and was waiting in the villa's grand ground floor with two slaves in his hold. "I suggest we keep these alive for the woman to feed on, my lord."

Basileus nodded and stamped at their knees, shattering the bones to keep them from running away.

"That wasn't necessary, my friend. I brought rope …" Marcus said, holding the roll out to Basileus as the slaves screamed at his feet.

"I can put that to better use," Basileus said, snatching the rope from Marcus.

The tatty length of rope was thinly spun, and roughly knotted. Perfect, Basileus thought, looking to his son. Without word or warning, he started laying into Aro, wielding the rope as a whip against his son. It took a few strikes for Aro to really register what was going on. A few more and he'd gone down to the floor, trying in vain to use his arms to protect his body. The knots on the rope thumbed against his bare skin - it was like being punched over and over again by tiny fists. With the creator's strength, the knot-free strands slashed into Aro's flesh, sending venomous blood splattering to the marble floor. The assault was relentless, and Aro blacked out a few times before being rudely awakened with another sharp strike.

Marcus tried not to watch, though from the corner of his eye he could see Aro twitching and convulsing, curled into the foetal position. His back laid bare without space for more lashes. He kept hoping Basileus would tire, or at least work out his rage. When neither seemed to be on the horizon, Marcus intervened.

"Don't try and stop me," Basileus roared, sensing Marcus approach.

"I wouldn't be so bold, my friend," Marcus said, carefully laying a hand on the creator's whip arm, doing exactly that. "But if you expend all your efforts on Aro you will have none left for Caius."

Basileus tugged his arm free of Marcus and hit Aro once more, a particularly vicious shot that saw Aro spewing his guts up over the floor.

"That's enough, my friend," Marcus said sternly, disapproving of the creator's force.

Basileus already felt guilty for what he'd done to his son, but the rage inside him hadn't quelled, yet. "Fetch Caius."

Marcus sighed in relief for Aro and went to the villa door to call Caius inside. Caius and Dora were still working through the humans and the strain of using her gift in such quantities wore heavily on Didyme's pretty face. The sooner Caius had been dealt with, the sooner Marcus could help his mate and bring an end to the day's disaster.

With a hand on his aching face, Caius warily approached the villa. He had heard the beating Aro had taken from clear across the street. Basileus loves Aro, he barely tolerates me, Caius thought, knowing he was in for a round of hell. He peered around Marcus to see Aro lying bloody and broken on the floor.

"Is he dead?" he whispered.

"Not quite," Marcus said with a sad smile. "It's your turn, I'm afraid."

Basileus paced the floor inside the villa, flexing his hand around the bundle of rope he held, which dripped Aro's blood to the floor. The noises coming from the creator were unnerving - he sounded feral!

"I'm not going in there!" Caius hissed back to Marcus, turning to leave.

"You have no choice, Caius." Sensibly, Marcus pulled the younger man back, knowing it wouldn't bode well for Caius should he run. "I won't let him kill you."

Basileus words floated invaded Caius' head. 'You'll be amazed what a vampire can live through.' It was a phrase he had heard the creator use a hundred times since Caius had joined the coven - usually when they were killing off rogue vampires. Caius feared that phrase would now apply to him.

"Maybe he will feed you both afterwards," Marcus whispered to Caius as he guided the man to his doom.

"Un-fucking-likely!" Basileus boomed, flashing to Caius and throwing him to the floor. "I have one rule!" he roared and laid the rope across Caius for the first of many strikes.

"I still don't know how you recovered from that, my love." Sulpicia wiped a stray tear from her cheek and shot Basileus a frosty glare into the bargain. "He's still scarred," she reminded the creator for good measure.

Basileus didn't need his daughter-in-law's help to feel guilty for his viciousness - he had beaten himself up for centuries over his actions.

"Are you really still scarred?!" Freyr asked, surprised to hear such a thing. Basileus painted quite the picture but she couldn't imagine how bad it would have been to scar a vampire.

Aro was only too happy to rub salt in his father's emotional wounds and remove his shirt, showing them all the everlasting damage.

Aro's back was a criss-cross of faint silver scarring. It perhaps wouldn't show to a human unless they really looked for it, but vampiric vision could easily pick them out.

"Not all of that was from me," Basileus said to the room, though he still felt an utter cunt.

"That's true," Aro agreed, redressing. "I have been blessed with two mean sons-of-bitches for fathers."

Retaking his spot next to Caius, he looked to his mate adoringly. "Some days I think she was worth it."

"Some days?!" Sulpicia repeated with a playful smirk.

Aro nodded. "Most days I know you were, my queen."

"Soppy cock," Caius grunted from his side.

"What about you, Caius?" Freyr asked.

"Sulpicia is lovely but I don't think she was worth it."

Caius received a cushion to the head from Sulpicia.

"Such insolence," she quipped. "I should act like a true queen and have your head removed."

"You aren't scarred like he is," Freyr said, getting back on track.

Caius shrugged his shoulders and furrowed his brow back to Freyr, thanking the gods that no one asked how she would know whether his back was scarred or not! His head was already swirling with the prospect of anyone finding out how informal his relationship had become with Magnus and Freyr. The fact that she had seen him half naked in her own home after Magnus had belted him was not something anyone would guess, but Caius' paranoia was working overtime anyway.

"I wasn't trying to kill Caius," Basileus explained. "Just hurt him … a lot."

Lucky me! Caius thought. "That was the day he started believing I was a bad influence on his precious son."

Basileus scoffed. No, that wasn't the day, he thought. "You can be so sullen at times," he told Caius.

"Sullen?!" Caius wasn't keen on this big family bullshit - it was relegating him to the kid's table. He was starting to understand Carlisle's complaint.

Magnus was doing well to keep the thoughts forming in his mind, but he had been quite shocked by Basileus' harshness. Disappointed, even. He was glad to hear the young vampires descending the stairs to give him something else to think about.

"What makes you think you can re-join the party?" Eleazar asked as Irina appeared, closely followed by the others.

"I'm not supervising the village idiot losing an argument to the witch."

"Village idiot?!" Felix said barging his shoulder into Irina as he passed her.

Jane, however, didn't pass, she shoved Irina in the back making her slip off the bottom step, which Irina, naturally, did dramatically.

"Did she call me a witch or a bitch?!" she asked her twin.

Oh no! Alec thought, knowing what his sister was about to do.

"Witch," Irina spat. "Though bitch works just as well."

Irina dropped to the floor, screaming!

"Jane!" Sulpicia, being closest, grabbed her daughter and tried to break the hold of her gift. Even shaking the child had no effect.

"I'm not taking that from her!" Jane said, fixated on the screams she was eliciting from Irina.

Aro took over from Sulpicia, throwing Jane over his shoulder and taking her clear across the room. It still wasn't enough for Jane to stop.

"Don't force my hand, Jane," he said to his girl. "I'm begging you."

With a huff at having her fun ended so soon, Jane withdrew her gift.

"Now apologise," Aro told her, happy that she had done as she was told and completely ignoring their cardinal rule about the twins not using their gifts uninvited.

"I'm so very, very sorry," Jane said sweetly, dripping contempt at Irina.

"Kate," Irina called to her sister, breathless from the pain. "Get her."

"What?!" Kate shook her head, blond hair covering her face.

"For fuck sake, Kate!" Irina called, picking herself up from the floor.

"Don't do it, Kate," Tanya said to her sister before turning on Irina. "You're the one pissing everyone off!"

"You are a pair of disloyal brats!" Irina glowered at the pair of them. "No wonder mother didn't think twice about leaving you!" she added spitefully.

"Jane!" Aro bellowed seeing Irina shaking, her eyes rolled back in her head and screaming again.

"It's not me!" Jane shot back to her father, annoyed that he would rebuke her regardless.

Atia quickly realised what was going on and removed Kate's hand from her Irina's arm. "Come along, my dear," she said gently to the girl. "Your gift won't work with me sweetheart."

Atia led Kate to Carmen so she could help calm her down and hissed at Eleazar to get off his backside and do something with Irina. Something, because even Atia wasn't sure what would be for the best by that point.

The younger two Denali girls were already setting themselves apart from their elder sister and Kate's actions confirmed to Basileus that they might be able to lose Irina at some point whilst keeping the little two. Two should be enough to keep Carmen happy without driving Eleazar insane, he mused.

"You bitch!" Irina roared at her sister.

She attempted to flash around Eleazar to get at Kate, but he caught her in time. Irina wasn't used to such treatment and ended up scratching at Eleazar for her freedom whilst she continued to bellow at her sister.

"To think I'm living in this shithole because you begged me to come with you!" she raged. "I could walk out that door right now, Kate, and never see you again."

"No, Irina, don't leave us!" Kate called back. That was the last thing she wanted.

Irina smirked evilly to herself knowing she'd found her sister's Achilles heel. That will come in handy, she thought. "You want to start thinking about whose side you're on!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kate sobbed.

Irina stopped fighting off Eleazar once she realised she had Kate under her control. When he released her, Irina waltzed over to Aro's desk and took a seat, lighting the hash pipe, as though nothing had happened.

Basileus huffed to himself seeing it would take longer than he thought to separate the Denali sisters. Still, Tanya stayed quiet, he thought, looking at the youngest one who had made a point of sitting next to Jane.

"You three are going to have to get your mouths under control, quickly," Atia told the girls. "And your tempers," she added, seeing the scratches on Eleazar's forearms.

"Begging?" Basileus said, rolling his eyes to the heavens at Aro when he retook his seat.

Aro tutted into the air. Yeah, it's my girl that's the problem, he thought sarcastically. Before Basileus could respond to his thoughts he tacked on, "Leave it, Dad, please."

"Is there anymore to your story, my dear?" Atia asked Basileus, hoping to resume some normality to the room.

"Not really," Basileus replied. He was already worried what the kids might have heard.

"When I woke up from my battering," Aro said, stressing the 'battering' to his father. "Sulpicia was just coming around from the transformation. The rest is history, as they say."

"It took Sully a while to forgive me for what I had done to her family." Basileus flashed a sad smile to his daughter-in-law.

"I do understand that it had to happen, Basileus," Sulpicia replied. "But you could have been more considerate with your method."

"I agree," Basileus nodded. "And I apologise."

"Erm …" Aro cleared his throat. "What about me - do you apologise to me?!"

"You?!" Caius shot out. "What about me?!"

"They are such whiny brats, aren't they?" Magnus said, laughing at his co-masters. "Half of these stories you pair have wanted an apology."

"I wouldn't do the same thing now as I did then," Basileus explained. "But under the circumstances, you got what you deserved at the time."

Irina pipped up from the desk. "It's disgusting behaviour towards someone you claim to love."

Shit! Basileus knew they were all listening to his tale. He should have seen that coming, really. Telling a bunch of kids that they couldn't listen and sending them to another floor wouldn't be quite enough to stop them from all keeping an ear on the conversation.

"What we think now is rather irrelevant to what happened then," Marcus offered the girl when no one else spoke up.

"So you once thought it okay to beat your supposed son to death?" Irina asked the creator.

Why won't you just shut up?! Basileus smiled tightly to Irina. "Clearly he didn't die. And he is my son, no supposing about it."

Irina had already learnt not to push the creator too far, satisfied with simply annoying him, she moved on to Sulpicia. "So he killed your mother, too?" she said to the coven queen.

"It was Aro's mistake that cost my family their lives," Sulpicia replied. "Not Basileus'."

"Just as it was your mother's mistake that killed her," Felix offered in support of his family.

"It was Basileus, actually," Irina spat back at the Volturi prince. "He killed her."

"You act like killing all those people bothers you," Tanya said. "Why?" It was clear the girl was wondering how that worked. She had killed hundreds of humans, probably thousands. "They're only humans. Who cares?"

Eleazar and Carmen shared a worried look. They maintained a totally animal diet - having three human blood drinking girls in their quarters would be difficult for them, but neither wished to bring up more potential confrontation at that point. Aro would usually have taken great delight in goading his brother over his diet but it would be better for him in the long run if he didn't have three little killing machines eating the local population.

"We care," he said. "All of us care. No one in this coven, or any civilised coven, would kill humans wantonly."

"It sounds like you two used to," Irina directed at Caius and Dora.

"Not anymore," Dora replied.

"But humans are the food source …" Tanya continued, still missing why they should be concerned about human death.

"Yes," Aro agreed with the girl. "But taking more than you need is unnecessary and damaging to the prospective food source."

That hadn't really been an issue for the Denali girls as they lived in such remote areas that killing off the closest hamlet every now and then had been a matter of survival.

"You can't tell me the vampires here don't feed on humans, I know they do, I can tell by your eyes." Irina pointed out Caius and Dora, the only others with red eyes in the room apart from the Denali girls. "Your eyes are bright red."

"We fed before the ball," Caius explained. "We usually drink bloodwine."

"Why did you go out to feed before the ball?" Irina asked.

Caius didn't answer her. He didn't want to tell anyone why he had insisted on feeding. Doing so to please Henri sounded beyond weak in his mind … because he was.

"Well?" Irina pushed.

"Just fancied some human blood," Caius grunted from the floor. "It's not a crime, is it? Let's all just start drinking from each other so we don't offend anyone."

"Is that an attempt at sarcasm?" Magnus asked the man. After what they had heard about Caius' exploits, Magnus wondered briefly if it was a serious suggestion.

"Sounds more like thinly veiled contempt to me," Basileus commented to Magnus.

"Who was asking either of you?" Caius muttered. He hadn't intended on being heard, but he was slightly too loud for that.

"Do you want to try that again?" Basileus barked in his direction.

"Caius," Magnus said quietly, leaning forwards to block Basileus' path to the man. "Sit back over here, I can help you relax."

It sounded like a genuine offer of help to everyone else, but Caius wasn't daft - it was a 'move over here and chill out now or we will be discussing it later' offer. He shuffled across the floor feeling like a prick, but soon enough enjoyed the relief Magnus offered by taking his tension away.

"I haven't had chance to tell you all yet," Basileus spoke up, "mainly because I didn't foresee an issue, but I want the coven on animal blood until further notice."

Tension returned! "Why?!" Caius asked.

"Because of us?" Kate whispered hoarsely. Sobbing over her sister had exhausted the poor girl.

"Nothing to do with you at all, my dear," Basileus replied honestly. "This is above you."

"Are you going to enlighten the rest of us?" Aro asked, wondering what his father was playing at this time.

Basileus simply smiled and shook his head. He had been speaking with the Amazonian coven during their visit and he foresaw a trip across the oceans coming their way soon. Knowing that the lands to the west were full of werewolves, and that the Amazonian coven passed freely amongst them due to their strict animal diet, Basileus knew his coven would have to have perfectly amber eyes if they were to pass freely, too. He wanted his family to be prepared, especially as he had yet to decide who would be going with him.

Aro tutted at his father's silence. "How long will this go on?" He wasn't bothered about the diet - being the one to police it bothered him much more than the lack of human blood ever could.

"Until I say otherwise."

"But the tribute ball …" Caius rushed his words in his panic. "The next one … we won't be on animal blood then, will we?"

"Perhaps," Basileus answered. "I'll see how I feel closer to the time."

"What's the big deal, Caius?" Magnus asked. How he hated that Caius felt the need to suck up to Henri!

"No big deal," Caius said, trying ... and failing ... to contain his emotions on the matter. "Let's go back to the storytelling."

Basileus looked around the room. "I'm running short of victims!"