AN: Hey guys, I'm so sorry it's been so long without an update, I've been really ill. No excuse, though. Hoping I'm through the worst of it now so will be back on form soon.
Awful Easter
The Easter celebrations were delayed that year by a few hours to give Aro and Caius time to prepare – they had been landed with a boat load of rogue vampires in the early hours of the morning to sort through, and as Caius returned to private quarters doused in blood, one can imagine how the 'sorting' had ended. Calling Caius' chamber private quarters might have been a stretch at that point – they were no longer private, in his mind. Always some fucker there who shouldn't be. Caius tried to be annoyed at Odi's presence in his chambers, but truth was, he was getting quite used to having the kid around. At least Irina isn't here, he said to himself. Still, he had an image to uphold.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the kid.
Odi threw him a cheeky grin. "Your wife."
Caius laughed despite himself. "I suppose someone should."
Dora dutifully passed Caius a glass of bloodwine, as she always did when he returned home, but she barely glanced at him.
"You look sad today," he said softly, catching her hand.
"I'm sad every day," she replied. "I just couldn't be bothered to hide it today."
Odi shifted uncomfortably in his seat, catching Caius' eye. Naturally that made the kid fair game. "You're having your usual effect on women, I see."
"It isn't him," Dora snapped.
Caius took a swig of his bloodwine and shrugged back at her. "Odi's the only one here and I know you aren't trying to blame me for your shitty mood."
He'd been battling rogue vampires in the dungeons all day - extraction and execution - he was the extractor of information, Aro was the executor. It had been a long and stressful day, and then I come home to this shit.
"Are you just going to stand there?" Dora asked, grimacing at the state of him.
"How remiss of me," Caius retorted, spitting sarcasm. "I know only too well that my presence offends you."
"You're dripping blood on the floor," she explained, pointing to the pool of pale purple vampiric body fluid at his feet.
"It's my floor to drip blood on, love," Caius reminded her before heading to the bathroom.
Caius didn't make it that far, however. He decided, instead, to listen in case Dora told Odi something more illuminating than she'd told him. After Valentine's, Caius had tried to accept Dora's friends in his chambers, truly. But their inane chatter about utter bullshit, or their perceived slights from adult coven members, or getting one over on their parents in Carlisle, Felix and Odi's case - his friends - left him feeling uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that he rarely stayed long. He felt not chucking the lot of them out on their ear was good enough. For Dora, it was not. Add to that, Irina was still dripping her poison in Dora's ear and Caius was being pushed further and further away.
"Why are you being such a bitch to him?" Odi asked when he thought Caius was clear of the room.
"I'm not," Dora insisted.
"So, this is your happy face?"
Dora flopped down next to her mate's faux little brother. She liked having Odi around. He was easy going, accepting, harmless. He argued with Irina a lot, which stressed Dora out, but her bond with the kid was strong enough that Irina hadn't managed to push him out entirely.
"It's complicated, Odi," she drawled, patronisingly, in an Irina-esq fashion.
"It's Irina, Dora," Odi replied, using the same tone.
"She hasn't said anything that isn't true."
Caius furrowed his brow. What the fuck does that mean? What is she saying?
"Maybe not," Odi agreed. "But she's said enough to make you miserable with your husband. I don't think Caius deserves it, that's all. He hasn't done anything wrong."
"Not recently, no."
"Oh!" Odi exclaimed. "So, you're pissed off about things he did years ago that you already forgave him for?" he nodded along to himself like a wise old sage. "That makes total sense."
Dora flicked her hand out to catch his thigh. "Dickhead," she said, softly, chuckling at the lad's appraisal. "You're only here because you're hiding from Magnus and he hasn't done anything wrong, either."
"Yes, he has!" Odi bustled and huffed. His old man was a prick of the highest order in Odi's opinion. "He's ruined my life."
Magnus had, for no good reason as far as Odi could see, ejected him from his bar job. Now he had no job, and no money. Well, he had some money - money that Magnus gave him from his own pocket - but nothing earned to call his own. If Magnus gave him more money, Odi might not have minded, but his father knew well enough that no amount would be quit his boy's whining.
"Dramatic as ever," Dora sniggered.
Odi jabbed his elbow into her ribs. "Cold as ever."
"I could throw you out, you know?" she told him, trying to sound ever so serious.
"Yeah, but you won't."
Caius doubted he would hear anything else of use, so he went to get ready for the Easter party. It was, quite frankly, the last thing he wanted to do. He knew being out with Dora would draw more attention to his shitty relationship, more gossip would spread about him. Add that to the gossip still running riot about Magnus threatening to whip Caius last Christmas and… well, Caius hardly relished the idea of adding more fuel to the fire.
It had been fifteen years since the first Easter party and, at the request of the younger Denali girls, the coven had decided to play dress up again. Caius arrived back in his living chamber ready for the ball in his Greek God get-up, consisting of his linen chiton embroidered in golden thread, and also, unbeknown to Caius, a patch of blood on his back. Dora followed him into the room and rushed to him from behind.
"You're bleeding!" she said, full of concern.
Caius tried to reach around to his shoulder. He thought he'd felt one of those Romanian rogues' rip into him but, as he'd walked-off the assault, he hadn't stopped to consider the damage.
With a flash Dora had fetched a cup of water and a washcloth to tend him properly.
"This looks deep, love," she said, wiping at the blood.
Caius didn't say anything. It was a rare moment of concern for him from his mate and he relished the affection she showed.
"What happened," Odi asked.
He'd never seen Caius with an injury - hell, no one really saw Caius with injuries! He was hard as nails and a skilled warrior.
"We had seventeen rogues in the dungeons between me and Aro. One of them managed to get to a dagger in the playroom and went for me."
Dora gasped. Caius liked that. She still cares.
"You idiot!"
Perhaps not, then? Caius said to himself.
"I'm always telling you that you take too many risks down there!" she ranted. "Seventeen between two of you?!" Suddenly her careful wiping became a little sharper. "And Aro's hardly well practiced anymore." Every time she moved the cloth, more blood came. "You could have got yourself killed, Caius."
Caius rolled his eyes but said nothing. You do care, he thought. It was an angry kind of care, but that's how they rolled.
"Why are you still bleeding?" Odi asked. Vampiric injuries, even deep ones, healed quicker than humans. Caius should have stopped bleeding by then.
"Probably all the bottles of whiskey I downed in the dungeons," Caius explained. "Thins the blood."
Dora directed Caius into a chair and had Odi hold the cloth to his shoulder blade. It needed stitching before they could leave, and she went to find supplies.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Caius said to the boy.
Odi wiggled his eyebrows. "I am ready."
"You're going in Volturi uniform?" Caius asked. "Aren't you supposed to put on your Viking garb for Easter?"
"I'm making a statement." Odi moved aside so Dora could work on Caius. "Easter is about beginnings, right? I'm not a Viking, I'm a Volturi guard."
"The only statement you're making is that you're a brat," Caius told him in return.
Odi continued smirking. "It will really annoy Dad." Which, after all, was Odi's current reason for living.
Dora and Caius sang out simultaneously, "Brat!"
Odi grinned back, full of youthful delight. Seeing Dora tending Caius, he decided to let them have some time alone (and hoped Irina wouldn't interrupt!) "See you there," he called, heading out the door.
Odi wasn't the only one using the Easter celebrations to make a statement.
Eleazar and Carmen arrived in the guard hall with the Denali girls, all dressed in their 'beginnings' outfits. Well, not all, exactly - Kate and Tanya's outfit choices had annoyed their older sister so much that Irina had refused to join in. Neither of the girls had worn anything relating to their homelands, their cultures, or their mother. Instead, they had styled themselves as modern princesses. And to make matters worse in Irina's eyes, her sisters had purposely chosen Spanish princess fashion!
Ironically, and though Irina couldn't see it, she was the biggest 'princess' of the lot!
The hall filled up quickly, only Caius and Dora missing, and Aro who had yet to arrive. Magnus hadn't said a word to Odi about his 'beginnings outfit', but Freyr had been uncharacteristically tearful when she'd seen what he was wearing. In his efforts to annoy his father Odi hadn't stopped to consider how his mother would feel. Freyr was good, she could deliver the equivalent of a whipping with just a single furrowed brow and the shake of her head. The disappointment radiated and Odi felt every ounce. It was almost bad enough for the boy to change his mind about giving free drinks to his friends.
Almost.
He'd struggled with the first he served to Irina, (though that may have been because it was Irina and he didn't like her!) but each fresh bloodwine he drew and gave away came easier. By the time Renata was at the bar, all his reticence had dissolved.
Renata took the free drink Odi offered and grinned. "I'm sooo glad you're back on the bar."
"You're telling me!" Odi pretended, with theatrical flair, to mark a bloodwine next to Renata's name. "This is the first shift I've had since Valentines."
That was only partly true - it was the first shift Odi had been given on the bar since the Valentines ball, sure, but Freyr had tried to give her son the odd shift on guard - all three had been failures. The first he 'forgot', the second he let Demetri out without his insignia for a few coins, and the third, neither him or Corin could do their duties due to the raging hangover they were suffering from.
"Magnus doesn't know about you slipping through drinks, does he?" Renata checked, one eye on the coven masters as she supped her free bloodwine. Why do free drinks always go down so much better than bought ones?
"Nah, no way," Odi said confidently. "If he knew, I'd have felt it by now." He took a drink for himself, triumphant in his deception.
"Turk," Magnus called, strolling over to the bar.
Odi and Renata started choking on their drinks hearing the man so close.
"You two need to go steady," Magnus told them, a hand on each shoulder. He could feel their guilt through his gift, but he said nothing. "How are we doing on the tally, Turk?"
"All good, Master," Turk replied, though his face told a different story.
"Have you got some numbers for me?" Magnus asked. He offered Renata a smile as she tried to slip away unnoticed, adding to the woman's guilt.
"I've been really busy, Master," Turk explained, holding up the glasses he was part way through washing.
"End of the night then, yes?" Magnus pushed. "Odi," he said, turning on his son.
Oh fuck. He knows about the freebies, he knows. How does he know?! Shit.
"You should swap over with Turk for a while - it's his bar, son."
"Of course," Odi said, visibly relieved that Magnus was only putting him on wash up rather than over his knee!
"What was that about?" Odi asked once his father was clear of the bar.
Turk passed him the empties from the bar to add to the pile. "Magnus wants to know how the takings are looking."
That saw the nerves rising in Odi's stomach along with the stolen bloodwine. "Why?"
"Because it's his bar, in his hall, and he has to sign off on the accounts."
"But… I… but…" Odi stuttered into a stop.
"I will cover the short fall, Odi," Turk told him to save his shame. "As always."
"Turk," Odi called, but the barman started walking away. "Turk, wait!" He dried his hands on his tunic and pulled Turk aside. "I didn't know you had been covering what I gave out. Why didn't you tell me?"
"What would be the point?" Turk asked. "You are more interested in impressing your new mates than doing the right thing by me." He started walking away again.
"Turk!" Odi pulled him back again. "I'll pay you back, I will."
Turk crossed his arms and looked Odi in the eye. "How?"
"Erm…"
"Exactly."
Turk softened his stance. He didn't really blame Odi for giving out free drinks to his friends. He knew how hard things were for him in the guard with many of their number distancing themselves from Odi, just to be safe. He had also heard Irina make the suggestion in the first place and just how reticent Odi had been to agree. Still, he had agreed, and now, as was usual with Odi, he was in over his head.
With a sigh, accepting his lot, Turk agreed to cover the till again and Odi gratefully agreed to put an end to the freebies. Turk put him to the test when Irina rocked up at the bar.
Dutifully, Odi served Irina to a drink and held out his hand expectantly.
"Seriously?" Irina hissed at him.
"You've had your two on Eleazar's tab," Odi replied, gesturing with his eyes to his father who had stayed frustratingly close to the bar.
Magnus looked over, "Problem?" he asked.
"No, sir," Irina spat, digging into her purse to pay for her drink.
"You don't have to call me sir," Magnus said, leaning in close to make sure Irina was paying the right amount. "It makes me feel old."
"You are old," Odi pointed out.
Magnus' eyes snapped to his son's. "Besides the point," he said. "Watch your cheek."
Satisfied that Irina was paying her way, Magnus retook his seat at the end of the bar.
"Does he know?" Irina mouthed across the bar.
Odi shrugged, though he pointed to Turk to say he knew - not that Irina cared if Turk knew and made her displeasure known by telling Odi how gutless he was.
"You're the one with all the cash anyway," Odi shot back. "I can't believe how much Eleazar gives…"
"Shush!" Irina's eyes widened dangerously and flashed between anger at Odi and concern towards Magnus in case he had heard. "Eleazar doesn't know how much he gives me, you moron," she said in hurried whispers. "Neither does Carmen, or anyone else for that matter."
A smile tugged at the corners of Odi's mouth. Finally, something he could hold over Irina. He didn't really know how to use such information, not being the conniving sort, but he was glad to have it in his back pocket, so to speak.
"If you aren't slipping drinks anymore you need to find another way to contribute or you're out."
"Out of what?" Odi asked.
"My group."
"Your group?" Odi questioned. "It isn't your group." If anyone's, it was Dora's, he felt.
Irina smirked at the bar boy. "You really are a simple little thing, aren't you?"
Eleazar had been avoiding his father as much as possible since Valentines, expecting a round of fucks for failing to bring Irina into line, but his luck ran out when, between dances with Carmen, the creator took the seat as his side.
"Who's paying for all that?" he asked. Basileus had kept an eye on the inbetweeners for the hour or so that they'd been there, all supping more than any of them could afford. "That lot have been drinking until dawn every night since new year."
Eleazar grimaced and threw a glance over his shoulder. Irina, Carlisle, Renata, Felix and Corin were a merry band, clearly drunk and drinking more. "It's not been every night," he said, a little weakly.
"Are you funding it?"
"No. I put Irina on my tab in here," Eleazar explained. "She hasn't asked for any cash so haven't given her any."
Aha! Basileus scoffed into the air as if all suddenly made sense. "Well no bloody wonder she's off her face every night if she's drinking on your tab!"
"She gets two bloodwines a day. That's it. I check."
Eleazar had assumed Irina wasn't much of a drinker. Or maybe that she was quick to become drunk. It was the first time he'd been in the guard hall at the same time as the girl since the inbetweeners had formed and he slowly realised his assumptions may have been foolhardy. She not only drank, but she drank a lot. He couldn't admit that to his father, however. With the way she's stumbling about its bloody obvious anyway!
"That is more than two bloodwines, El," Basileus helpfully crooned as Irina half danced, half fell with Carlisle.
"Your son is there, too, Dad," Eleazar pointed out. "Perhaps Carlisle is funding them all?"
Basileus threw his eldest a withering look. "Do you think I'm daft enough to give your little brother enough cash to fund a three-month long bender for him and all his friends?"
"You thought I was daft enough to just that with Irina."
"That is not an answer."
Before Basileus could push him into saying what he really thought, Eleazar tried to move the conversation on. "Why does it even matter?" he said. "They aren't causing any trouble, they are keeping to themselves. Just let them get on with it."
"They aren't causing any trouble, yet, son," Basileus replied, stressing the 'yet' and throwing in another 'yet' for good measure.
Aro joined them before Basileus could complain any further, much to Eleazar's relief. "What a day!" he exclaimed. "I've executed seventeen people today. Seventeen!"
"I heard about the Egyptians sending over a boat load of vampires," Basileus said. "Were there any problems?"
"No." Aro had thoroughly enjoyed his dungeon playtime battering the rogues with Caius. He didn't get the chance very often. "Amun flushed out a couple of covens scouting his lands. Turns out they were all working for the Romanians." Aro paused to take his goblet from the table and drank half of it in two gulps. "Vlad and Stefan are good," he said, going for another swig. "Fuckers." He went for another sip but realised he'd drank the cup empty. "They keep so much information back, they let so few inside their walls. All I get from these strays we kill is a tiny piece of the puzzle."
"Keep working at it, son, it will all come together at some point." A raucous cheer went up as Irina and Carlisle toppled to the floor, bringing Basileus' attention back to the inbetweeners. "How often are you letting Felix get involved with them?"
"A few nights a week," Aro shrugged. "Felix and Corin are back together," he explained. "He's doing really well, never had him so happy."
Basileus looked aghast to middle boy. "He's happy because he's wasted every night, Aro!"
"I said a few nights a week, Dad." Aro made eyes at his brother over their father's hyperbole. "I've told him he can only join in for as long as his behaviour is impeccable. So far it has been. I'm even getting good reports from Marcus about him with his studies."
Basileus still wasn't happy. "I don't like the idea of your sixteen-year-old drinking with a load of adults."
"They aren't adults, they're the inbetweeners - Felix fits in with them." Seeing his father continue to grumble, Aro felt the need to defend himself. "It wasn't long ago you were telling me to get off his back, I've taken your advice, it's worked."
Releasing a heavy sigh, Basileus looked over his grandson's drunken antics. That was not my advice, he thought.
"Except that Demetri is pissed off," Eleazar tagged on.
"I can't make all my kids happy in one go, where would the fun be in that?" Aro mouthed 'fuck off' to his brother before continuing, "Demetri is perfectly fine. He's hanging around with the twins…"
"And MY girls," Eleazar said.
"Demetri isn't doing anything with your precious girls, El." Aro looked over to his young son laughing with Kate and Tanya. "I'm more worried about what those little harlots will do to my boy!"
"How can he afford it?" Basileus wondered aloud.
Eleazar looked to him confused. Aro, too. "Demetri?" he asked.
"Felix!" Basileus boomed.
Aro tutted and shrugged. "I assume Carlisle is shouting Felix' drinks while he's with them. He hasn't come to me for extra any cash."
"And he's not on your tab?" Basileus checked, his eyes cutting across to Eleazar.
Good grief! Eleazar huffed. Give it a rest!
Aro smirked at his elder brother before answering his father. "Do you think I'm soft in the head?"
"Irina takes two drinks a day from the bar and I pay for them!" Eleazar vibrated for a moment, feeling so riled, before he got himself under control. "She might not be the most pleasant company for us, but she has friends in this coven, so she's clearly doing something right." With a sly look to Aro, he added, "And shes yet to cause any of the trouble your kids have caused."
"Yet, El," Aro said, sounding so very much like their father. "She's not caused any trouble, yet."
As the pair of brothers descended into yet another round of 'my kids are better than your kids', Basileus bolted from the table. It was that or crack their heads together.
"I hope you two aren't arguing again?" Atia asked her sons, taking her mate's place. Sulpicia and Carmen followed and joined their table.
Both Aro and Eleazar turned away from their mother. She wore her rather revealing outfit from the fifteen years before. They had only known Atia for eight years, then, and the outfit's first outing had been uncomfortable enough for her sons, but another fifteen years on and Atia was truly the mother they never had - her outfit now classed as painfully obscene! Atia found it quite amusing.
"Comparing, Mom," Aro lied. "Good-natured comparing, that El's losing."
"Losing?!" Eleazar repeated. He shook his head and looked out for Kate and Tanya in the crowd. They weren't dancing together, as he'd expected - Tanya sat with Jane, and seemed to be drinking yet another drink he hadn't supplied the girl, whilst Kate danced with Demetri. "I'm not keen on your Lothario being so close to my girl."
Aro cast a glance over his shoulder to the young pair, dancing harmlessly. "My Lothario is also your nephew and has been for hundreds of years."
"I love the boy, brother," Eleazar assured. "But I know him."
Aro didn't get chance to defend his son, neither did Sulpicia, Atia was straight in there was a sharp slap to his leg. "Eleazar!"
"Oh, come on!" Eleazar replied forcefully, though he instinctively moved back from his mother. "He'd give his right arm to have Kate or Tanya… or Kate and Tanya."
He received two slaps for that - one from Atia, the other from Sulpicia for casting aspersions about her baby… though she didn't disagree.
"Don't worry about Demetri," Aro said easily. "Hes happy with Adrianna."
That thought was even less palatable for Sulpicia. "I'm not keen on that woman," she said, watching Adrianna winning an arm-wrestling match against Mikhail. "She's far too aggressive for our boy. She's too old for him, as well."
"Those are the main reasons he likes her," Aro replied, wincing when Adrianna smashed Mik's hand into the table. Demetri liked them feisty - that's why he liked fucking the newborns. Adrianna was the first female they'd had in a long time who seemed to keep her newborn temperament in that regard. "I suppose we all have a type, my queen."
Eleazar folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "So long as his type isn't Kate or Tanya, we won't have a problem."
Aro scoffed at his brother's bravado. "Because the pair of them are vestal virgins?!"
"That's not fair, Aro," Atia said, holding a hand up to Eleazar's face to prevent him from replying. "You know how they lived, it wasn't their choice. They knew no better."
Aro rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny the fact. He knew what his mother was referring to, but it would have been depressing to talk about it, so instead, he took Sulpicia's hand and whisked her away to teach the kids how to dance.
"What do you mean, Atia?" Carmen asked once Aro and Sully were clear of their table.
"Mom," Eleazar pushed. "If you know something, please tell us."
"Children of their age are entirely vulnerable to suggestion. Even suggestions that aren't explicitly made."
Eleazar and Carmen shared a confused glance to each other before turning back to Atia.
"You're being as cryptic as Marcus. Mom, please."
Atia looked around cautiously for how close Basileus was. Seeing him clear across the room engrossed in conversation with Carlisle - Oh, Carlisle! What have you done this time? - she knew she could talk freely.
"You will not tell Basileus I spoke of this," she said, waiting for expressed agreement before she continued.
It frustrated her that her mate wouldn't hear a bad word about the Denali's mother, although she understood it was his guilt for having to execute Sasha. That said, there were certain matters regarding the girls' upbringing that needed discussing regardless of Basileus' feelings.
"Sasha didn't protect her young daughters from her private affairs in the way a mother usually would," she began. "They knew she had many lovers and what they didn't find out for themselves, Irina was only too quick to fill them in."
"Is a woman not entitled to have just as many lovers as men are?"
Eleazar looked askance to his mate. You're spending too much time with my bloody mother!
"Of course," Atia said with great certainty. "There is no issue in than, in and of itself." She took the chance to have another glance at her mate - still taken up quizzing Carlisle. "But those young and impressionable girls believed for a long time that sex was the only way to gain attention, to gain favour with men. They never had a father, a brother, not even a regular partner of their mothers. Any man they met, vampiric or otherwise, would be interested in one of the Denali coven, and they worked that interest to secure what they needed from them."
"Sasha prostituted her daughters?!" An elbow in the ribs from Carmen quietened Eleazar's voice, but his tone still rang out with disgust. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Hush!" Atia's eyebrows raised above her hairline! "Do not tell your father, don't even think on it again."
Eleazar scrubbed a hand down his face. Like that's possible.
"They know better now, my dear." Atia took her son's hand and offered him a comforting squeeze. "I've only shared this with you to allay your worries," she said softly. "Enjoy them for the young girls they are, because that is who they want to be. It's who they need to be."
"Two of them, at least," Carmen muttered.
After Caius had returned Irina to their quarters without a stitch of clothing at Valentine's, Carmen feared their eldest ward would be happy to continue using her tricks for a while to come.
"If only Felix and Demetri could be fixed so easily," she added, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Yes, well," Atia shuddered, thinking of how Aro had managed his children's early years in the Volturi coven.
Eleazar tutted into the air. "Those boys had a similar example to our girls."
Seeing Felix using the same 'wandering hands' on Corin as Aro used on Sulpicia, Atia had to agree. "Didn't they just!"
Finding Carlisle frustratingly honest about his contributions to the inbetweeners alcohol consumption, Basileus sent his boy back to his friends. Seeing Magnus hanging around the bar gave him somewhere to head next.
"How are your takings recently?" Basileus asked, ordering himself a drink as he spoke.
Everyone had an individual running tab on the bar, except for the coven's children… or rather, as Irina preferred to term her and her sisters' status', prisoners. Turk marked a line next to 'Creator' on the tab and delivered the bloodwine.
"Up!" Magnus replied. "Way up!" he nodded towards Irina and her not-so adoring fans. "The inbetweeners are good for business."
"So, all those drinks are being paid for by someone, then?" Basileus asked, briefly scanning the tab Turk had left on the bar for how many drinks had been taken under Eleazar's name. Not enough for the state Irina was in, that was for sure. There weren't too many next to Renata, Corin, or Carlisle, either. Somethings going on, he thought.
"Turk wouldn't dick about with the till," Magnus replied, purposefully loud enough for Odi to hear his words. "He values his position."
"Do you know who's funding them?"
"I've heard various things," Magnus said cryptically.
He didn't relish the idea of anyone else finding out that his son was a thieving little shite. How he'd managed to keep Odi's habits under wraps so far was anyone's guess, but Magnus hoped his luck lasted until he could find a way to stop his son's thievery for good. If such a thing is even possible!
"And the nightly sessions aren't causing trouble with the guards?"
Magnus hooked a hand around the back of his neck, feeling the stress rising. "I've had to ban anyone with an early start from drinking after dusk, which hasn't got down too well."
Drastic understatement there, Magnus!
The guards were seriously pissed off at such a ban, particularly as said ban only came about because Odi and Corin missed their shifts with hangovers from hell. Magnus knew he'd made the wrong decision, but he'd made it so he didn't have to single Odi out from the other guards. Of course, being the reason at least four guards a day were banned from the bottle, Odi was more singled out than ever! He only had Turk and Corin as his true friends, and Renata as his party friend, left. Odi was pissed off with Magnus for that, which was why he was hanging out with Dora so often who had been only too pleased to welcome the kid into her home. Caius was okay about it if it was just Odi. If it was Odi and anyone else, he left to save himself any potential embarrassment. With no explanation, it was confusing the hell out of the lad.
"Other than all that," Magnus said to Basileus, hoping he had been following his thoughts. "Theres no problem."
Basileus nodded curtly, he'd heard. Still, a couple of missed shifts wasn't enough to disband the inbetweeners, regardless of the ominous feeling he had when he looked at them.
"You're supposed to be serving, Odi," Magnus said, looking down his nose at the boy. "And not just your mates, either."
With Turk darting about between collecting goblets and washing glasses, quite a queue was forming whilst Odi tended solely to the inbetweeners needs. Odi had heard his father, but he did little more than roll his eyes to the heavens, serve a single drink to Richard, who had ordered two, and return to chatting with his mates.
Magnus had felt a burning rage inside him since Turk had confided about Odi's bar tricks. It had doubled that evening when he'd seen his boy wearing Volturi uniform to the Easter event. The complete disregard the boy showed him, however, proved to tip Magnus over the edge. He couldn't mention Odi stealing drinks, but the rest was fair game, and the kid was about to get both barrels.
"Turk!" Magnus bellowed. "Serve!"
He snatched Odi by his ear, dragging him around until he was clear of the bar and marched the kid into the masters' office.
Naturally, the guards found it quite funny. So did the inbetweeners, for that matter. Felix especially, being the one to usually suffer a semi-public round of fucks.
"Felix," Basileus called, breaking through the laughter. "A word."
"What did you do?" Corin hissed, as the creator moved to the side of the hall.
"Nothing?"
There was a definite hint of question in Felix' response, as the boy had usually done something, even if he wasn't sure which something his grandfather would be referring to. Apprehensively, he followed Basileus.
"How are you affording all those drinks?"
Oh, thank fuck! That was an easy question to answer. "We pay into a kitty and we drink from that."
Basileus crossed his arm, looking down at Felix a small smile crossed his lips. "And how much are you putting in?" he asked. Knowing how often the boy complained of being 'skint' he couldn't imagine Felix affording to go in rounds.
"Half my allowance."
That wasn't good enough. Basileus shook his head. "You're drinking more than half your allowance, Felix."
"I know!" Felix bounced he was so happy. "It's great! Pooling resources really works for me."
Basileus had to laugh at his grandson's enthusiasm. "So, you are all paying in what you can afford and sharing nicely, is that it?"
"Yup," Felix agreed, grinning. "Dora's loaded, don't forget."
"Hmmm." Basileus still wasn't sure.
Yes, Dora was 'loaded' as the boy had claimed - she had access to all Caius earned and until recently formed friendships, she had little to spend her great wealth on. But still… if Dora's funding them all, does Caius know? He toyed with asking Caius, or rather, asking Magnus to ask Caius, but seeing Magnus finishing up rounding out Odi, and knowing that Caius and Dora were currently travelling through troubled waters, he decided against it. It would have to wait for the time being.
With a squeeze to the boy's shoulder, Basileus sent him back to his worried girlfriend.
Odi returned to the guard hall ahead of Magnus, who steered the boy towards his mother.
"I have to do this now?!" Odi complained, glancing wistfully to his friends as he passed them. "Mom's at the elite table," he whined.
"Where else would she be?!" Magnus prodded him forwards with a finger to his back. "I'm already disappointed that you have needed to be told to consider your mother's feelings after arriving in this getup…"
"It's my uniform, I'm working…"
"Don't give me that crap!"
Odi had attempted to explain away his choice of outfit by telling Magnus he only wore the uniform because he would be working that evening. The blatant lie hadn't gone down too well. It had also rendered Odi's 'I'm a man, my own man', statement to fall flat on its arse. He'd never felt so immature. That was until he was stood before his mother making apologies for upsetting her with his… What did Dad call it? My disrespect.
"Are you rejecting us, Odi?" Freyr asked outright.
"No!" Odi rushed to say. "Of course not!"
All he'd wanted to do was stand up to his father a little, show the guards he was more them, than elite. And now I'm being publicly shamed? Great. Fucking brilliant. He'd ended up looking more elite and less guard and, naturally, he blamed Magnus for making such a show of him. The only saving grace was that Caius wasn't there, as he would definitely have ribbed him about the spectacle he was putting on once they were in private. Mind you, Aro's gurning was almost as annoying. Odi flooded with relief when Freyr released him and soon scooted back to the safety of the bar.
Finally, two hours late to the party, Caius and Dora arrived. They split up immediately as they walked through the door, much to Caius' annoyance. No sooner had Caius arrived at the elites table, Basileus turned attention onto him.
"Every time I see you lately you're sporting one injury or another."
That was enough to have everyone craning around to see what Basileus was talking about. Huffing at the indignity, Caius soon found himself being spun on the spot by the creator and the top of his chiton being moved about to expose his wound so everyone could get a good gawp.
"Why did you need stitching?" Freyr asked.
Magnus stayed quiet so he could read Caius' emotions in case he tried lying.
Caius just about stopped himself from rolling his eyes, because he knew Freyr's opinion on doing so, and replied, "We drank a lot today, thins the blood."
Freyr looked unconvinced for a moment before relaxing her gaze. "Maybe go steady tonight then," she suggested before going to run the gauntlet of the inbetweeners to greet Dora.
"What were you drinking?" Basileus asked, one eye on Aro.
"Whiskey, Dad," Aro replied for them both. "No dungeon blood, no need to panic."
"You pair would be the ones panicking if you had, son," Basileus said sternly. "Not me."
Caius felt a little nervous through Magnus' reading of him. What's more, Caius knew Magnus would be getting that reading. There were very few ways to fool a man with Magnus' gift, but misdirection occasionally worked. A tip he'd received from Odi. Caius looked over to Dora with a sad smile and then down at the floor. As Caius had intended, Magnus assumed his nerves, or whatever it was he'd picked up, were over his mate. Satisfied that Caius hadn't been drinking dungeon blood, Magnus relaxed.
"You and Dora came together," Basileus noted. "Should we take that as good news?"
Caius shrugged and took a bloodwine from the table. Leave me alone, please leave me alone!
"Well?" Magnus pushed, eager for an answer to the question.
Caius shrugged again. Their relationship was so up and down he really had no idea. They came together, yes, but Dora went to her friends as soon as she walked through the door. To be fair to Dora, Caius had done the exact same thing.
"Who knows?" he answered, watching his mate laugh along with the other inbetweeners as if she didn't have a care in the world.
When Marcus arrived, and Magnus and Basileus went to join him, Caius felt like he could breathe again. That's when he spotted Alec had been left with them. "Why are we babysitting?" he asked, pointing to the boy.
"I'm not a baby!"
"You're not old enough to be drinking that," Eleazar told his nephew seeing the boy had swapped cups with his father.
The cocky smirk on Eleazar's face riled Aro more than the boy sneaking his drink.
"Put it down, son," he hissed into Alec's ear.
Alec obliged, returning his father's strong bloodwine and retaking his own weak as piss bloodwine in its place. He was bored, so bored. Jane was off with Tanya, again, so he only had his father for company. He had tried to join in with his sister, but they set him away - girls-talk, they had told him. Alec went to his mother but Sulpicia had shooed him away, too. Apparently 'lady-talk' is not for little boys. Little boy? he thought, pouting. Now I'm stuck with him, he said to himself, looking up at his father. Alec couldn't see how listening to 'men-talk' was any more suitable, if his mother had shooed him away simply on age alone, but at least he was with the men, he had reasoned. Not that anyone was talking to him. So bored.
"You know, brother," Aro said turning on Eleazar. "Tanya and Kate look a little woozy to me."
"They wouldn't dare," Eleazar said confidently, believing his brother was simply stirring the pot.
Caius followed Aro's eyeline to the younger Denali girls just as Tanya swiped Chelsea's forgotten goblet when she'd gone to dance with Afton. "Oh really?" Caius asked the elder Volturi brother.
Damn it, Eleazar cursed to himself, before calling for Carmen to deal with the girl.
Aro and Caius burst out laughing as Eleazar, scorned, mumbled into his cup.
"Parenting hypothetical children is easier than real ones, brother," Aro explained in a tone to match any indignantly patronising school ma'am through the lands. "Try not to walk before you can crawl."
"Real ones?!" Eleazar scoffed. He pointed out his girls in the crowd. "What do you think they are, a mirage?"
"Ah, ah, ah," Aro replied, waving his finger from left to right. "Carmen is parenting those two," he said, pointing out the younger pair. "No one is parenting that one," he added pointing out Irina. "And you aren't parenting any of them."
"I'm the one stuck with Irina!" Caius complained.
Neither Caius or Eleazar had brought up the state Irina had been returned in after Valentine's, and no one else had, either. But as the girl's activities in the coven hadn't been affected, Caius assumed, correctly, that Eleazar had failed to act.
Eleazar didn't respond to Caius or Aro. Truth was, he was annoyed with himself for letting the Denali girls rule his roost, but he didn't have the confidence to deal with them in a meaningful way. Also, he was grateful Irina spent so much time with Dora because it gave him a break from at least one of them.
"How come Irina can get her own drinks and I can't?"
Eleazar spun to face Tanya. Oh hell, don't you start!
"Carmen said I can't take drinks…"
Eleazar pulled the girl in close, not that it helped with Tanya's natural volume being slightly above a dull roar!
"You can't take drinks from the guards," Eleazar explained tersely." Because they aren't your drinks."
"Put me and Kate on your tab then!" It was quite simple in Tanya's mind.
"Yeah, El," Aro encouraged. "Put the girls on your tab."
"Shut up, Aro!" Eleazar turned back to his young ward. "And you need to stop being such a princess, Tanya."
"Erm, hello!" Tanya held out her Spanish princess gown and spun on the spot. "I am an actual princess now. You're allowed to act like a princess when you're an actual princess."
Aro enjoyed his brother's annoyance too much to respond, Caius, however, found very little to be amused by - particularly coming from one of the Denali's. "Some people might be more reluctant to tell you that you're being difficult," he told the girl. "But they're just as inclined to think it."
"Princesses don't care what commoners think," Tanya replied, complete with a wrinkled-up nose and stuck out tongue in Caius' direction.
"Commoner?!" The word stuck in Caius' throat!
"That's what Irina said you are…"
Eleazar cut the girl off before she could do any more damage. But rather than reigning her in, or offering a rebuke of any kind, he gave the girl some coins for the drinks she had asked for and set her on her way.
Caius was flabbergasted. Aro, too, though he spoke up about the injustice. "If one of my lads spoke to you the way that girl speaks to us you would have knocked their teeth out."
"They're boys," Eleazar offered, knowing it was a weak response.
"Because you'd take it from Jane, would you?" Caius asked, knowing damn well he wouldn't.
"You wouldn't understand, Caius," Eleazar replied in a patronising tone. "You don't have children."
"I don't have a boat, either, but I know what it means when ones smashed up at the bottom of the ocean - someone fucked up."
Aro had tears running down his face with Caius' reply. "Brilliant!" he called out through his tittering.
"You think I'm fucking up the Denali girls?!"
When Caius shrugged and Aro continued his caterwauling, Eleazar slopped off before he twatted the pair of them.
The small win against his brother was good, but Aro wanted more. Seeing Jane stroll passed his table gave the coven king an idea.
"Jane," he hissed, bringing his girl in close. "How do you fancy helping your favourite parent win a bet?"
Jane smiled sweetly. "I'd do anything for my mother."
"Luckily for you, it's your cheek I need right now."
Aro handed over a fist ful of coins and instructed his girl to go drink for drink with Tanya - something he had expressly told her not to do before the party began.
Caius cringed from the side, shaking his head as Aro embroiled his child deeper and deeper into the not-so-friendly conflict between her father and uncle.
"…and if Eleazar says anything to you, tell him to get fucked."
Jane gasped! "I couldn't say that!"
Aro flashed his girl a knowing smile. "Let us not pretend that such things have never come from your mouth, my dear one."
"But… but…" Jane stuttered, unsure whether by agreeing she would be hanging herself or pleasing her father. "Uncle Eleazar will be angry…"
"Let me worry about him," Aro said, sending his confused daughter along to cause havoc.
Caius sighed deeply, releasing the breath he had unknowing held. "Well that was a stupid thing to do."
"I don't see why," Aro replied.
Caius downed his cup and stood to leave. "I'm sure you will before the night is out."
He decided to give Aro a wide berth for the rest of the evening to save being embroiled in the coming strife. It was an odd choice, then, that Caius chose to join his mate - a clear source of strife if ever there was one!
Steeling his nerve for a public rejection, Caius flashed behind his mate and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Shall we dance?" he crooned into her ear, pulling her into his chest.
"Not right now, love," Dora replied, wiggling free.
Caius pushed his fist into his stomach, feeling it lurch. He hadn't steeled himself quite well enough.
"We'll take a drink, though," Irina said sweetly, holding out her empty cup.
Caius glared at the Denali girl for a moment before snatching the cup from her hand. Without looking, he took Dora's too and headed to the bar.
"You don't know how to be around him, do you?" Irina said to Dora once Caius was out of the way.
Corin and Felix were far too concerned with each other, so only Renata and Odi were in listening distance. They looked to one another with worried eyes knowing Irina was about to twist the knife a little deeper into Dora's troubled relationship.
"Hes supposed to be your husband, isn't he?" Irina asked, barely suppressing the glee she felt seeing Dora's brow furrow in confusion.
"You know Caius is her husband, Irina," Renata slipped in, hoping to end the girls play.
"Then shouldn't Dora be happy around him?" Irina asked, voice dripping with poisonous nectar.
"We've been together a long time," Dora explained. "A lot of changes have happened recently… he's trying to change… I think."
"He's a coven master, you're his little wife. His life is always going to be bigger than yours no matter what he changes," Irina said, full of shrugs for the disparaging view of Dora's life she projected. "That's just the way it is."
Thankfully Dora hadn't really heard her. She watched Caius from behind ordering drinks - nine of them, so he must have been buying a round for all her friends and Dora hadn't even had to ask. Caius was known for being tight with money - Dora had suggested a few times that it would be worth feeding him a lump of coal to see if he could shit a diamond. But there he was, unasked, buying all her friends a drink.
"Maybe I wasn't unhappy with Caius," she mused. "Maybe I was just unhappy?"
"Same thing," Irina snapped.
Renata jumped in quickly. "Is it though?"
"No, it's not," Odi said, quite categorically, before Irina could say more to Dora.
Instead, Irina turned on Odi. "How would you know about adult relationships?"
"I've had relationships, thanks," Odi huffed, puffing out his chest.
"Name one," Irina scoffed, making no pains to hide her amusement at the idea. "Other than Turk, of course."
"Fuck off!" Odi snapped back, getting to his feet.
The very last thing he needed was more rumours going around the guard hall about him. Especially rumours that would put an end to his already depressing sex life.
Irina laughed at his undue bravado. "You're such a child, Odi," she said. "Is it nap time yet?"
Having cut Odi off at the balls, Irina turned back to Dora. "Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, 'Will you marry me?' and she said 'NO'." Irina snorted midway through her own joke! "The girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, drank until dawn, always had a clean house, and had sex with whomever she pleased whenever she wanted. THE END."
Only Irina laughed, not that she noticed. Renata stared at her blank faced. "Dora does all those things anyway," she reminded the girl.
Irina didn't give Renata the respect to look at her as she replied, instead she fixed her attention on Dora. "But wouldn't it be easier if Caius weren't around to moan about it?"
Renata stood and moved between Dora and Irina. "Why are you so intent on splitting them up?!" she asked, the accusation in her tone rising her voice.
"I'm not!" Irina snapped, stepping up to Renata.
She knew no guard would dare lay a finger on her, so all she had to do with Renata was show that she wouldn't back down. It worked. Renata caught the horrified glances of her coven mates, wondering if she had lost her mind to behave in such a way with Eleazar's ward in public viewing. Realising she was on a hiding to nothing, Renata stepped aside and excused herself from the conversation, though she bitterly resented that she had to do so.
Irina sat herself down pulling Dora to her side. "I'm just asking questions, aren't I?" she said to the woman. "It's not for me to answer them." She gave Dora a jostle. "That's your job."
Turk followed Caius with a tray of drinks for the inbetweeners, though with half of them missing, Caius wished he'd saved his money.
"What happened to the rest of you?" Caius asked, handing a drink to Irina, Odi and Dora - the only ones left as Renata had stalked away, Felix and Corin were half way to fucking at the back of the hall, and Carlisle was, from what Caius could tell, arguing with his father.
"Was it your charm, Odi?" Caius wondered aloud. "Or yours, Irina?"
"Not me," Odi said, looking darkly to the Denali girl.
Irina flicked out her long blonde hair and offered a hollow laugh in response. "Not everyone gets the same version of me," she said, full of her usual over confidence. "One person might tell you I have a beautiful soul, another will tell you I'm a complete bitch - you should believe them both, I act accordingly."
"Who exactly would say you have a beautiful soul?" Caius asked, looking perplexed.
"Yeah," Odi drawled. "I can't think of a single person who would describe you that way."
Irina gave them both the dead eye. "My mother, for one."
"No one anymore, then," Odi chuckled into his cup.
Irina heard him. Her eyes flashed black as night, she slammed her glass to the floor, shards and bloodwine scattered.
Instinctively, Caius moved himself in front of Odi.
"Are you taking the piss about my dead mother?!" she roared.
Music stopped. Everything stopped. Everyone turned to watch.
"Back the fuck up!" Caius warned. He shoved the girl back a step when she tried to reach around him to scrawp at Odi. "It's not his fault Sasha got herself killed off. Grow up."
"Are you seriously… have you just… you utter cunt!"
Irina flew forwards in a blind rage. She couldn't tell who she was hitting, who she was scratching, or biting. She gave it her all to bring harm to anything she contacted. With Caius holding her down in a full body lock, that harm was mostly directed at him.
It took some time to calm the girl. Magnus stepped in and used his gift on Irina to bring her back to normality. (Though Irina's normality was hardly a desired state for anyone.) Eventually, the crowed backed away and Caius disentangled himself so Eleazar could take over.
This should be good, Caius thought, doubting the elder Volturi brother had it in him to do much of anything about… well, anything.
"We will not accept this behaviour from you, Irina," Eleazar said sternly.
Had he been speaking to almost anyone else in the coven, they would have listened. Eleazar was the eldest son of Basileus and he used to convey the creator's authority. A word from Eleazar was almost as good as a word from Basileus, certainly as good as one from the king. However, Irina felt no such thing when Eleazar spoke.
Shrugging away Carmen's mithering, Irina pulled herself up to stand tall. "Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me," she said through gritted teeth, before spitting at Eleazar's feet. Whilst everyone else stood in disbelief, Irina turned on her heel and exited the guard hall with a defying swagger.
Atia collected Sulpicia and Carmen to follow the girl. Whatever they thought of Irina, the girl had lost her mother in the most awful circumstances and she deserved whatever comfort she would be willing to accept – as the girl's foster family, Atia felt it right that they should offer support. Dora tried to join them before Freyr said she should give them space to talk things through first.
"What the hell was that about?!" Magnus hissed. He was trying to be quiet, but his hurried whispers were so damn loud he might as well have stood on a table and made an announcement!
As Caius had stood up for Odi with Irina, the boy felt it his duty to offer Caius the same in return with Magnus. You had the easier deal, he thought to Caius as he looked up to his irate father.
"Well, you see…" Odi started, stuttering. "It was like this…" he drifted of as his eyes left his father and landed on the very many coven members eagerly watching the display. No doubt waiting for me to squirm and back down. I can't back down twice in one day, for fuck sake! Odi changed tack, he pulled his shoulders back. "Once upon a time there was an insufferable bitch, it was Irina, the end."
Caius scrubbed a hand down his face. He didn't? he thought, hoping he'd misheard. With Eleazar roaring at the kid Caius knew he'd heard correctly. Idiot.
Eleazar reared up. "You want to go down for him?!" he shot to Caius.
Caius hadn't even realised he'd moved, but he had, pushing Odi behind him for a second time that evening and facing Eleazar off. Magnus stood at his side, holding a strong arm out in front of Caius.
"Who's going to take me down?!" Caius asked, laughing. "You?!" More laughing… not helping!
Magnus cleared his throat looking down on Eleazar. "No one's fighting in my hall," he said, giving Caius an elbow to the chest to end his mocking chuckles. "I will deal with Odi, as you know," he offered in assurance. "But right now, I think Irina needs you, El."
Basileus had been watching from close by. He trusted his friend to deal with matters and prevent Caius from fighting, and he knew Eleazar wouldn't really want to get into it either. He just needed a nudge to do the right thing now and again.
"Magnus is right, son," Basileus called over. "The girls need to go home, too."
Eleazar glanced away from Magnus to be met with the frightened eyes of Kate and the curious ones of Tanya. That was all the pull he needed to break away from creating further disruption in the guard hall. Calling the girls to his side, Eleazar tried to take his young wards home. Tanya had other ideas.
"I'm not going home yet!" she said with an air of confidence few fourteen-year-old orphans could dream of. Tanya and Jane were having a grand old time - she wasn't' cutting the evening short for Irina. "Odi's right, Irina is an insufferable bitch!"
Odi snorted, suddenly really liking the youngest Denali. "That's from her own sister, Dad," he whispered, none too quietly.
From the uncomfortable whispers around the hall it was clear a good few other agreed with Tanya and Odi. Eleazar wasn't debating the truth of the mater, however, he saw it as a matter of respect. The coven didn't have to like Irina - he didn't like Irina! - but they had to respect her because she was his ward. Odi's outbursts were a sign of how little respect the girl had, and it was that which offended Eleazar.
Before he could say a word in this regard, Magnus had snatched his boy from the spot and propelled him towards the door with a clout to the back of his head. He needed control of the guard hall and he knew how to get it, though it pained him that he'd be offering his own son as a sacrifice to keep order. It's your own damn fault, though, he thought, looking at his boy.
"Guess who's grounded until Midsummer?" he asked the kid, seething.
Odi spun on the spot and his mouth dropped open. He felt the blood rush to his face in embarrassment. "Grounded?!" he repeated. "You mean restriction?" he said, looking to his father through dark, daring eyes.
Kids were grounded, guards were put on restriction. Granted, the outcome was the same, but the distinction was important, especially to Odi.
Magnus laughed. "I mean grounded," he replied, knowing full well the distinction he was making. Unbuckling his belt, he threw the fearsome instrument of pain to his boy's feet. "Take that with you and I'll deal with you when I get home."
Odi stayed rooted to the spot, sure he would die of shame at any moment if he stayed, but unable to move and save himself.
"Or I could tan your ass in here, if you'd prefer?"
"Dad!" Odi shot out, horrified! Why would you announce that?! How could you do that to me?! How could you even… why?! Bastard!
Magnus took a single purposeful step towards his boy and Odi's stomach lurched. Without taking his eyes off his father, he scooped the belt up, the object of his shame, and bolted from the guard hall. Magnus shook his head briefly fearing what dramas his son would create in return for the public scolding, before turning back to the room.
The guards, sensibly, kept a safe distance away, though Magnus saw their eyes dancing with excitement. Caius and Dora were apparently ripping each other to shreds in a hushed argument - Magnus headed over to help Freyr with diffusing the row.
"You wrestled her to the floor!" Dora spat at Caius, shoving him in the chest.
Caius shoved her back. "She was attacking me!"
"Because you were taking the piss about her dead mother!"
"You were doing what?!" Freyr asked, shocked.
"Both of them," Dora explained. "Him and Odi."
Magnus didn't say anything, but the thunderous expression as he rolled his tongue around his cheek was intimidating enough to force Caius to respond.
"No," Caius said quickly. "No, we weren't taking the piss." He had no desire to join in Odi in the round of hell he had coming from Magnus. Standing up for the kid was enough. "Merely making an observation."
As the four of them battled for understanding, Eleazar stood arguing with Tanya about whether they should leave or not. Kate, it seemed, would side with whoever won for an easy life. Eleazar's argument with the child had drawn in the remaining elite members, except Felix and Demetri, who had taken the opportunity to slip unnoticed to the dorm rooms with Corin and Adrianna.
"You should definitely go home," Alec said to Tanya, nodding to himself. If the Denalis were out of the way, he could have his sister back.
"Hey!" Aro cuffed the side of his boy's head. "It's got nothing to do with you."
Alec looked askance to his father and pointed out his twin who stood side by side with Tanya - arguing with Eleazar. Aro closed his eyes for a moment, knowing Jane was only arguing because he'd told his girl to copy Tanya, simply to show Eleazar up for the unjust prat he was. I need to pull her out before she says anything too…
"Get fucked!"
Oh, man! Aro scowled at the roof as though he could look right through and up to the gods. You had to let her do that, now? He questioned them. Useless bastards. This is why I don't bother with you anymore.
"Jane," he crooned, pulling his girl free of his brother's wrath. "Come with me, my princess."
"Did you hear what she said to me?!" Eleazar roared.
Aro spun on his heel to face his brother. "Jane, or Tanya?" he asked, making his point.
It was one thing leaving Magnus to deal with Eleazar versus Caius and Odi, quite another to expect him to prevent Eleazar and Aro going at one another - Basileus had to get involved.
"The two of you will drop this pointless game, right now," he said through gritted teeth.
"We're only messing around, Dad," Aro tried, stalling when Basileus filled Aro's personal space with his massive form.
"Well I'm not!" he boomed. "You need to get a grip on the twins," he told Aro, then turned to Eleazar, "And you need to keep a closer on those damn girls before I take over for the pair of you!"
Aro pulled Jane and Alec in close. "I don't think so," he said darkly, eying his father warily.
Basileus threw on a wicked smile. "Try me."
Atia returned, leading an exhausted looking Carmen and Sulpicia behind her - Irina had that sort of effect on people. "It would seem Irma would rather not see any of us," she explained.
Tanya twirled on the spot, allowing her dress to fan out around her, and walked away, delighted with her win. Eleazar followed her to their table intent on having a chat with the little darling about her attitude.
Carmen headed straight for Dora. Although she felt guilty, because Dora seemed to be lumbered with Irina a lot, she also believed Dora didn't' see it as being lumbered, and right then, Carmen needed her help.
"Irina is rather fraught…" Understatement! Carmen said to herself. "Could you come and talk to her with me, Dora? Please?"
Dora was only too happy to have a reason to leave the party and end her row with her mate, so she did, without a backwards glance for Caius.
Caius positively fumed! The golden goblet in his hand crushed to nothing as he tried to contain his rage.
"You don't want to do this, Caius," Magnus whispered. "Not here," he said. "Not. Here."
"Fucking help me then!"
Magnus sighed, but willing absorbed the younger master's ire through his gift until Caius at least looked less likely to go on a murderous rampage.
"Let's sit down and end the show, shall we?" he said, guiding Caius to the elite table which the guards usually avoided.
The closer guards sighed with the end of the entertainment. They were having a great time! They loved it when the elite brought the drama to the party.
Caius stretched out his neck as he walked feeling the tension leave his body. It gave him chance to see things with a clear head.
"I didn't do anything, Magnus," he insisted. "Don't get blaming Odi, either. It was Irina."
Magnus rolled his eyes. "You need to level things with Eleazar if you want me to go easy on Odi," he said, directing Caius into the seat next to the man in question before taking the stool opposite.
Magnus hadn't thought through his encouragement before it left his mouth. As soon as the words registered, he regretted them. Giving Caius the chance to reject Odi would only hurt Magnus more. Not that he was Odi's favourite person at that time, but the kid was his son, and he desperately wanted Caius and Odi to get on.
Caius sat where he was put and grudging turned to the Volturi prince. "I'm… erm… well…sorry, El."
Magnus smiled quietly to himself. Wow!
The whole elite table fell into silence. Almost silence. Eleazar choking on his bloodwine and that made quite a noise. He'd never heard Caius apologise before, at least not without Basileus looming over him issuing threats of some kind. Eleazar had been all for blaming the whole commotion on Caius - he was an easy target for blame - but the man's simple apology took the wind clean out of his sails.
"It's fine, Caius," he said, eyes darting about the group to see if everyone else was as shocked as he was.
Other than Magnus and Freyr, and possibly Basileus and Atia, he thought, they were all surprised.
"I'm sorry if Irina is causing trouble between you and Dora," he said, mainly because he had to say something after such a shock.
"Marriage!" Caius scoffed, clicking at a guard to send a drink his way. "Because your shitty day doesn't have to end at work."
Freyr looked down her nose, shaking her head and sighing. She reminded Caius of an annoyed horse when she did that, not that he would ever have the balls to tell the shield maiden.
"You need to grow up, Caius," she told him plainly.
"I am grown up, thanks."
It was Magnus' turn to scoff. "Not emotionally, you're not."
"When a man is fully grown, he understands the worth of a woman," Atia added.
Exactly! Freyr thought, nodding along. "He doesn't lie to her, or play games with her heart, or put her down or leaves her feeling unappreciated. Instead he cherishes her, respects her, honours her, lives for putting a smile on her face…"
"When a woman is fully grown does she do the same?" Caius asked, glowering at Freyr for saying such things before an audience. "Or is this solely about me being defective?"
"From our conversations, Dora has been doing all those for the majority of your relationship, has she not?"
Thanks, Freyr, thanks a lot, Caius thought, looking to the keen eyes of the elite all hanging on to the conversation and waiting for his response. "I suppose," he said with a shrug.
When he felt a kick in the shins, he amended his answer to a more certain, "Yes." Magnus didn't approve of 'supposing' things. It seemed to really piss him off. 'It's a yes, or a no,' he would tell Caius, 'supposing absolves you of responsibility - answer properly!'
"But I'm really trying now," Caius said, half whining.
"I know you are," Freyr agreed. "But that won't wash away years of hurt."
"It's like you think I deserve this," Caius huffed, whining again.
Most of the table made the right noises to say Caius didn't deserve the storm in his relationship. Most, not all. Magnus simply raised his eyebrows and looked away.
"Fucking hell, Magnus!"
The juggernaut held a hand up to end Caius' complaint before he could get started. "I don't wish bad upon anybody, but you reap what you sow," he explained. "You can't treat people like shit and expect to live a happy, carefree life."
"So, I do deserve it?" Caius asked, sounding wounded.
Magnus softened a little hearing Caius' hurt. "You've certainly earned it," he said gently.
Aro had watched the scene with torrid fascination. He'd counted at least three points where he'd expected Caius to tell Magnus and Freyr to get fucked. If that doesn't show Caius is a reformed character, Christ knows what will!
"I don't see what you've done that's so bad," he told his old friend.
Sulpicia scoffed at that. "You wouldn't!" she said, with similar assents coming from Atia, Basileus, Eleazar, Carmen, and just about anyone else in listening distance.
"I smashed my own hand into the wall at Valentines so I didn't smash it into Dora's face," Caius reminded them all as though it were a badge of honour. "How much more changed do you expect me to be?!"
Freyr was unimpressed. "If you have to hurt other people in order to feel powerful you are the very weakest of individuals."
"I didn't hurt her," Caius replied, growing agitated with having to defend himself so publicly. "That's my point."
"But you have hurt her, lots," Freyr reminded him. "That's my point."
Aro and Sulpicia looked to each other and then to Caius, and then to each other again. It would have been comical if the situation didn't seem to grave. Both were surprised at the scorn Caius had taken without eruption. Oh! Aro thought, seeing Caius rise to his feet. Perhaps it's coming now…
But no, Caius didn't say a word. If anything, he looked deep in thought as he began to drift away from their table.
"Where are you going?" Aro called after him.
"To see if Heidi fancies a throw down," Caius offered with a wink. "I need some stress relief."
That's more like it, Aro thought, happy to see the return of Caius as he knew him.
"I'm actually a little worried about Caius and Dora," Sulpicia said with genuine concern. "They seem close to splitting up!"
"It's just some rough waters," Aro said confidently. "Vampires mate for life."
"Vampires mate for as long as they wish to be mated," Freyr replied. "If someone would take a greater interest in one of his charges instead of pushing the girl onto Dora…" she shook her head and walked away before saying anything too damning.
If Eleazar and Carmen wouldn't help, and it was clear they would not, Freyr had an idea of her own to put into action.
"Ouch!" Aro chided his big brother. "You just got slammed by the shield maiden!"
Eleazar didn't reply. He picked up his cup to hide his face and grumbled into it as he took slow sips. He was glad of his nephew's reappearance to take the heat away from his failings.
"Are you limping, Demetri?" Sulpicia asked, pulling her boy into a chair.
"I've hurt my hip," he replied, shifting awkwardly in his seat.
Felix couldn't contain his laughter at his brother's condition, and though clearly sore, Demetri seemed to find it quite funny, too.
Sulpicia looked between her boys wondering what had gone on. "I do hope you haven't been fighting?"
Felix snorted as he tried to speak through his laughter. "That's not from fighting with me, mom," he said, looking to Adrianna pointedly.
Closing her eyes, shaking her head, Sulpicia wondered, not for the first time, exactly when they went so horribly wrong with their sons. Aro copped for a stern eye from her when he showed his amusement over his son's sexual tastes.
Alec didn't seem to understand all the inferences happening around him, but Jane cottoned on fairly quickly, aided by Tanya whispering in her ear, filling in any blanks. Jane's pretty little face screwed up like she'd sucked on a lemon.
"Please pray for my brothers," she said, or rather slurred, having stayed drink for drink with Tanya over the course of the evening. "Theres nothing wrong with them," she hastened to add. "They're just idiots."
Sulpicia's eyebrows met her hairline hearing her princess. Aro merely sighed, knowing it was his doing.
"Jane…" he began, chiding his girl gently.
"What?" Jane shot back with a defiant eye. "You said…"
"You are being incredibly rude, Jane," Sulpicia told her. Though she did wonder what her mate had told their young daughter.
Tanya threw an arm around Jane's shoulders. It helped to steady them both as they were worse for wear from the bloodwine. "People call me rude all the time. I call me direct," she said, loud and proud. "Plus, fuck people."
Eleazar slapped a hand to his own mouth in surprise. Sulpicia soon did the same.
"Yeah!" Jane agreed with an impish grin. "Fuck people!"
Aro released a guttural groan as he thought, you're going to get me hanged, drawn, and quartered at this rate! He was reminded of Caius' earlier warning that he would regret instructing his young daughter so foolishly. Yup, Aro said to himself, catching a glare from his father who had no doubt run through his every interaction with the Volturi princess that day. Definitely regret it now!
Still, Aro didn't do anything. He cringed listening to his girl explain to her mother that she couldn't be in trouble for her language, that it was approved! Aro was grateful for a moment that the girl was too tipsy to remember her conversation with her father in full. Another reason he left Jane to her own devices was due to his brother's actions, or lack of action. Eleazar sat across the table from Aro watching his brother right back, neither doing a damn thing to intervene as the rambunctious girls self-defence gained in tempo.
Atia hadn't quite caught up to what was going on through reading the minds of her sons, but she was sure of one thing - Tanya and Jane needed to go home, and Aro and Eleazar need to quit their puerile game of one-upmanship.
"Why are you sat there eyeballing each other when you should be dealing with those girls?!" she asked, voice more shrill than usual. "They are drunk, they are tired, and they are behaving inappropriately." Atia raised a hand to silence Aro before he could attempt some sort of witty deflection tactic, too annoyed to listen to such drivel. "Take them home and give yourselves a good talking to. If I see any more of this pathetic game of sibling rivalry I will be dealing with you two directly."
There was something so incredibly demeaning being issued such a warning from their mother, that both men jumped from their seats, springing into action.
"Jane!" Aro snapped, followed by a forceful, "Tanya!" from Eleazar.
Naturally both girls completely ignored the calls and continued arguing with Sulpicia. Jane kept one eye on Tanya to see how far she could go - Aro had told her to copy and she intended to do just that. In the death Aro threw the girl over his shoulder and stormed out of the guard hall. As he left, with Eleazar still fighting Tanya for control, he chuckled to himself. Another round to me, he thought childishly.
When Freyr had left the guard hall, she'd headed straight for Caius and Dora's suite, where she planned to wait for Dora to return. The long wait gave her time to solidify her plans.
"Oh!" Dora gasped, shocked to find her chambers occupied. "Hi," she said, glad it was Freyr and not Caius. She didn't want another row. "Is it just us?" she asked, listening out to hear if anyone else was home.
"It is," Freyr said, smiling and patting the free seat next to her. "Magnus and Odi are upstairs, I hope you don't mind if I stay for a while?"
Dora heard the muffled voices coming from the apartment above and though she couldn't make out the words, it sounded like Odi had taken leave of his senses and was arguing with his father over the evenings events.
"Of course not," she agreed, taking the seat Freyr had offered. Nerves struck her as she sat, wondering what Freyr's ulterior motive could be.
"Is Irina okay?" Freyr asked, taking Dora by surprise.
Dora looked to the shield maiden curiously. "Do you really care if Irina is okay?"
"I care about you," Freyr told her, taking Dora's hands in her own. "And you seem to care about Irina a great deal, so I care about her by proxy." The smile she offered broke through Dora's barriers, and Freyr watched as the young woman relaxed a little.
"She was strange, to be honest with you." Dora shrugged, though it was mainly to herself.
Irina had behaved bafflingly, and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Deciding Freyr was just about the only coven member she could talk with about things troubling her, Dora decided to be honest.
"Irina wanted to come here with me," she explained. "But when I agreed with Carmen that Irina should stay at her place, she turned on me."
Freyr gasped, full of faux surprise. Of course she did, she thought. Even if it were Caius and Odi who offended her, Irina still wanted to come here and keep her claws in you. Giving the younger woman's hands a gentle squeeze, Freyr pushed on,
"How do you feel about that."
"Fine," Dora replied quickly, clearly not fine. "Irina had a lot going on… I'm sure she didn't mean to be cruel…"
Cruel?! What has that little bitch put in your head now?! Quashing her maternal instinct to call Irina out for the bitch she was, because Freyr knew it would only see Dora batten down the hatches and fall further under the Denali girl's spell, she replied more evenly, sowing the seeds for her own manipulations.
"Maybe you should give her some space, Dora," Freyr suggested. "From what I saw today, Irina isn't connecting much with Eleazar and Carmen, and if she doesn't form a bond with them she won't be able to stay in the coven."
Dora snatched her hands back. "What do you mean?!"
"Calm down, I'm not trying to upset you," Freyr breezed, smoothing out Dora's hair with a loving touch. "All I mean is, Irina needs to bond with Eleazar and Carmen, they need to build a family. Be realistic here, sweetheart, they won't support her forever if she continues to treat them…" Freyr stalled, she wanted to say, 'so badly', 'abysmally', something like that, but it would only get Dora's back up. "Treat them as she is," she settled on.
"Irina doesn't want to spend any time with the Volturi family, though…"
"I know, sweetheart," Freyr agreed, showing her understanding, pulling Dora in a little more. "But that's because she has you to fall back on. If she didn't have access to you and these chambers at all times she would have to spend time with Carmen and Eleazar and then she would be more likely to form a bond with them and they will keep her."
"I'm not sure Irina will go for that, Freyr,"
"Then I suggest you don't tell her," Freyr stated. "You care about Irina, right?"
"Yes," Dora agreed, though she sounded unsure as to what exactly she was agreeing to.
"You want her to stay?"
"Yes." Of that Dora was certain.
"Then for her own good, you need to make yourself less available to her." Seeing Dora's mind turning over her instructions, Freyr tried to sweeten the deal by making it a temporary fix. "It will just be until she's happy with Carmen and Eleazar, my darling."
When Dora bobbed her head in agreement, Freyr had to place her own hands under her legs to prevent herself from throwing them up in the air in relief. Hearing Caius staggering drunkenly through door, Freyr quickly wrapped her arms around Dora.
"Trust me," she whispered to Dora, "This will help." Freyr hadn't said who it would help, so she wasn't lying. "It sounds quiet up there, I should go and check on Odi."
Reaching Caius at the door, she enveloped the young master in her arms, taking him by surprise. "Make some plans," she whispered into his ear. "Spend some time together, get out of the coven."
Caius wasn't entirely sure what had happened between Freyr and Dora whilst he'd been with Heidi, but he trusted Freyr completely, so he had no need to ask questions. He nodded and whispered back that he would do as she'd instructed before heading to Dora.
Freyr closed the door behind her and felt a pang of guilt for using Dora's naivety to fool her into pushing back against Irina. Does this make me as bad as Irina? she wondered. Disliking that she could even compare herself to the Denali girl, Freyr told herself that she was genuinely acting in Dora's best interest, and under the circumstances, that was the best she could do. Still, it felt rotten. She only hoped Caius would put the opportunity she had created for him to good use and reconnect with his mate before Dora, or anyone else, could realise what she'd done.