Warnings, Warnings, Everywhere - Part 3

The girls arrived next. All four, as Jane had gone to meet her cousins beforehand. Basileus was pleasantly surprised to see all three Denali girls in Volturi uniform. He heard Tanya grumbling about that fact as they walked.

"We've got training later and we can't train in dresses, Tan," Kate explained, her tone strained as she had said the same thing many times that morning.

"I won't ever be attacked because I'm never, ever leaving this place," said Tanya. She took a pointed glance at her sisters. "We aren't all dumb."

Irina growled under her breath. She'd never had Kate's patience for Tanya's whining. "And what if you were attacked in your precious prison?"

"Like that would ever happen. It wouldn't, right?"

Basileus observed the pretty little blonde looking up at him, her eyes revealing her insecurity as she asked for confirmation.

He nodded. "You have nothing to fear in our walls. So, stay inside of them." He, too, gave the two older Denali girls a pointed look, which they both shrank away from.

Tanya stuck her tongue out at Irina, making sure Basileus didn't catch her. She hadn't worked out whether he cared about her doing it, but Atia had threatened to cut her tongue off when she'd caught her, so Tanya thought it best to be safe.

"If someone ever attacks me, I will be wearing a dress. I should train in a dress."

Irina growled at princess perfect. "Then you should have stood up for yourself and told Carmen that this morning. Stop bitching to us about it."

With that, Irina shoved past her baby sister to stand the furthest away possible while they waited for the day's servitude to begin. She couldn't look Basileus in the eye after the night before…

In the middle floor suite of the West tower, an 'energetic disagreement' was in full swing when Basileus made his way up the tower staircase. He was returning home after dealing with his eldest grandson (and the boy's father for his over-the-top handling of said grandson) and wanted nothing more than to fall into the arms of his dear wife, and then fall straight into bed with her.

Basileus wavered outside Eleazar's door, torn between knocking or pretending he hadn't noticed the row within. He was sorely tempted to ignore the high-pitched screaming match that offended his ears so greatly.

What was it with those girls and the noise they made? It was unholy, he was sure of it. Even Kate, the meekest of the three, could be heard screeching through the door. A slightly lower pitched response from Carmen followed each of the girls' shouted demands and objections, with only the occasional sound of his eldest son dispersing the noise.

When Aro brought his four children to the coven, the creator had made it abundantly clear that he would have nothing to do with them - 'you should be damn grateful I've allowed them to live!' he had told his son. He'd quickly grown a fondness for them all, and that fondness turned to love soon after, but he hadn't really helped his son and daughter-in-law with them. Aro only brought the creator in when he wanted to scare his kids into better behaviour.

Basileus had some regrets over his initial distance, but not so many regrets that he wished to become a babysitter of vampiric youth, no matter how much he loved the four of them. It seemed fair to leave Eleazar to his own devices when it came to the girls, too. At least, that was how he explained his inaction to Atia. 'Aro and Sulpicia had no help, and they muddled through,' he'd said. 'Eleazar and Carmen will find their way if we leave them to it.'

Atia had been less than impressed with her husband's approach, but as her minor attempts to involve herself with Aro's children had seen the vampiric witch fall to the scorn of her daughter-in-law, she felt unable to intervene. 'Trust me,' Basileus told her. 'Eleazar and Carmen will work it out.' Truthfully, he knew Eleazar and Carmen could create a successful family. Whether they could do that with the Denali girls was a whole separate issue.

He had been far fonder of their previous surrogate mother than he was of the girls. Kate was relatively inoffensive when she was outside of her chambers - inside the middle floor suite she roared with the best of them. Tanya was an oddly endearing, if bratty, little princess - he found her willingness to become one of their table quite appealing. Irina, though…she was a hard one to love.

From his brief forays into her mind, instigated by his wife, Basileus knew she was more damaged than evil, but regardless, he maintained that there was a dangerous streak running through her core and she cared little for any member of the Volturi, guard or elite. Marcus said Irina had grown an attachment to Eleazar and Carmen, though no one else. Magnus said Irina felt desperately sad most of the time.

'Yes, except for when she's causing a shit storm in my coven,' Basileus had replied.

Magnus scratched his chin and read the girl's emotions again. 'Aye, she's a little eager when trouble is brewing, but the rest of the time… there's a sadness, an emptiness there.'

Like everyone else in the coven, Basileus struggled to feel much sympathy for the eldest Denali girl. Perhaps if she showed some keenness for Volturi life like Tanya, he might have been able to look past the trouble she caused the rest of the time? If Irina threw in a little of Kate's meekness, he might even grow to like her? But Irina wasn't keen, and she wasn't meek. She was an angry young madam who grated on his nerves and who he actively wished to avoid.

He hadn't paid much attention to the words emanating from Eleazar's apartment, and he had just about convinced himself to leave, to let Eleazar deal with the girls solo, to escape a headache…then he heard Irina's voice loud and clear.

"I don't care what your fucking father wants!"

His lip curled into a snarl, knowing he was the object of her ire. The cheeky little bitch, he thought viciously.

Throwing the door open wide, Basileus entered. His large frame filled the entire entry way, and then his voice filled the room.

"Is that so!?"

No one spoke as Basileus surveyed the scene.

Eleazar froze in a perfect action shot. He wore one slipper on his foot, the other in his hand, apparently going after Irina, who had flashed out of his reach. Carmen stood in the middle of the floor, with one hand on her hip, the other aiming a pointed finger at Tanya. The poor woman looked harassed, harangued, and a little bit scary.

The girls had scattered across the room. They were dressed for bed in their fine cotton nightgowns - or barely wearing a nightgown in Irina's case, as it was far too short and too low cut to be considered one outside of a whore house. She was near the table, though she'd only just made it there when Basileus arrived. Kate tucked herself protectively and sensibly behind a wooden carver chair near Eleazar's usual reading nook. Only Tanya was brave enough to remain fixed in her position. The fiery little demon was ready to spit venom at anyone who dared to resist her desires.

Oh, Basileus would dare!

"What on earth is going on in here?"

Despite herself, Irina took a cautious step away. She was already on the retreat from Eleazar. The man had set few rules for her and her sisters - cursing was against one of those few rules and he had sprung from his chair when she spoken so disparagingly about his father. Irina had been surprised to see Eleazar leave his seat as he'd barely acknowledged the argument she and her sisters were having with Carmen. Basileus entering the apartment seemed to have distracted Eleazar enough that he'd forgotten his quarry with the girl. Irina wouldn't admit it aloud, but she was actually glad the creator had arrived for that reason alone. Only for that reason, mind. She was doubly glad when her bratty baby sister diverted attention even further.

"I'm not wearing guard uniform," she wailed, as she'd been wailing for an hour, though now with added foot stomps like a raging toddler in a tiara. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!"

"Spoiled little princess," Irina sneered, her arms folded across her chest.

Kate turned on her eldest sister. "You said the same bloody thing!" She released a tiny gasp and whirled her head around to check whether Eleazar considered 'bloody' a curse word. If he'd said anything, she planned on reminding him what Irina had just got away with, but he didn't even blink in her direction?

Basileus reminded his son instead.

"I heard Irina say something else, too."

He raised an eyebrow at Eleazar, who, shrugging, looked wearily back. He had already taken his leather sole slipper to the girls - Irina twice, Tanya thrice, and even Kate once. It was making bugger all difference, and he was tiring of the evening's row.

"We are having some resistance with wardrobe choices for tomorrow," Carmen explained. She gestured to the guard uniforms laying on the table - two appeared to have been screwed up into balls and then laid flat again, though the creases remained.

As far as Basileus was aware, there had been no clothing guidance issued for the coming school day. But then why would there have been? All the other coven youth, including Aro's children, wore guard uniform day to day. They all owned smarter clothes for special occasions, and Jane had many dresses should she wish to wear them, but she chose to wear a uniform more often than not. Only the Denali girls would be affected by a request to wear something more appropriate, and sadly, no one considered them at all. Carmen had, obviously, as she'd arranged uniforms for the girls as she'd assumed they would need it for self-defence training with Freyr in the afternoon. The girls weren't as eager to receive their uniform as Carmen had been to give it to them.

"I can see that," Basileus replied to Carmen. He took one uniform from the table and shook it out to expose the Volturi crest emblazoned on the front. "This is my crest," he told the girls, catching each one eye-to-eye before turning on the next. "You should think yourselves lucky to be honoured with it after recent events."

Whilst Irina muttered darkly to herself and Tanya stood tapping her foot impatiently, Basileus turned on his Eleazar. "Is this acceptable to your eyes, son?" he asked. "I can see three immature little girls who need a smacked arse and to be sent to bed."

Behind him, Tanya's arms became rigid at her sides with her fists clenched and squealed through her frustration. She wasn't going to bed without a fight - that had constituted the bulk of her argument with Eleazar and Carmen. No one was going to bed until they realised how stupid they were being with the ugly uniform they were expected to wear.

Eleazar simply shrugged again. The shrugging was pissing his father off, but he had nothing else to offer the man. "I have punished them already," he said. "They don't care."

Basileus suddenly lost his cool. "Well bloody make them care!" he said. "If one smack isn't enough, then they clearly need more of them. Enough of them and they will soon bloody care!"

Eleazar didn't disagree, he just wasn't inclined to go there. Giving the girls the odd smack, even a few of them, he could deal with. Actually spanking them as he had his nephews in the past seemed too far for him. That only applied to Irina, actually. He would…not happily, but certainly easily spank Kate and Tanya (he just couldn't be bothered when it seemed a pointless activity). Irina was a different matter. She was a woman - a young one, but certainly a woman, not a girl like her sisters. It wasn't appropriate for him to spank her. He hoped Carmen would do the deed when it needed to be done. Basileus hoped so too, as his son was clearly too wet to do the job.

Seeing he was getting nowhere with Eleazar, Basileus turned on the girls. He took a few steps towards Irina. She backed away, but not too far. For self-preservation, she wouldn't concede any more ground than necessary.

"Do you have anything you'd like to say to me, girl?"

Irina rolled her eyes and tutted as loud as she dared, but she couldn't respond verbally. What could she say? Sorry? Absolutely not. Fuck you? Ill-advised. The words stuck in her throat in any case.

Sensible, Basileus thought to the girl. Though he was still tempted to smack her for even thinking of telling him to get fucked. If she had been one of his grandsons, he would have without blinking. He, like Aro, struggled to discipline the girls in the coven. Basileus knew neither Magnus nor Caius were so afflicted, and he briefly considered have one of them take on the onerous task on his behalf. Magnus would never let him live it down if he did.

Basileus smirked at Irina, letting her know he'd won that round. "I'll take your silence to mean you have nothing to say."

With Irina subdued, he turned to the next Denali girl. "What about you, Kate? Anything to say?"

Kate looked ready to throw up on her silk slippers. It appeared she could only confidently speak (shriek!) her mind in the privacy of her chambers with only her nearest and dearest around. Basileus wondered if there would ever be a day that they considered one another as such. Although, if he had to admit it, he was glad it was not that day.

"You pair happily donned that uniform to run across country chasing werewolves, did you not?"

Carmen stood a little taller with a satisfied grin growing on her face. "That's exactly what I told them, isn't it, girls?"

Irina's face scrunched up, her lip curling, one eye appeared to be twitching as she seethed on the spot. Basileus had never seen such contempt in one so young. Kate looked away, ashamed. No other would tell with mere vampiric vision, but Basileus saw the girl's cheeks flush with her pale-purple, venomous blood.

Tanya looked between her gutless, silent sisters. "I've got lots to say," she said. "If I can't wear my dress in self-defence class, I'm not going to self-defence class."

Basileus put a hand to his mouth to hide the smile that grew on the corners of his mouth. He did wonder if the little Denali princess even needed self-defence classes. Few would match her confidence and he liked that about her. Or rather, he would accept that from her because she was so small, so young to his aged eyes. In much the way he doted on Jane, turning a blind eye to her wicked ways. He wasn't so blatant with his favouritism as Aro was, but he couldn't deny it was there.

"You can stay at home with me, Tan." Irina began twirling her long blond hair around her fingers. First one way and then uncurled to pass back between them. She was still angry, terribly angry, and she needed something to do with her hands besides thumping the creator with one. "I'm not going to their stupid school, at all."

"Oh yes you are!" Carmen said, and soon another screeching match began, only this time Basileus had a front-row seat.

He couldn't understand why it mattered what the girls wore - all the women in the coven, young and old, wore a guard uniform when appropriate. Even Sulpicia—the queen!—wore guard uniform during the midsummer games and the occasional training session she attended. It shouldn't be an issue for the Denali girls. But as it had become a bone of contention with Eleazar, or more likely Carmen, deciding they were to wear it, he would provide some back up.

Eleazar flopped into his comfy chair and admitted defeat. Carmen reminded him of his brother when she interacted with their children - she enjoyed the argument with the girls as much as Aro enjoyed arguing with Felix, so what was the point in bringing it to an end? His eyes flickered to the candles on the fireplace. Their flickering flame and the wax dripping down the sides. He could take that soft warm wax and fill his ears with it…

Passing Eleazar and cuffing him hard across his lazy, good-for-nothing head, he got between the warring ladies of the west tower and pushed Irina back a step. She had the sense not to push him in retaliation, but oh my how she wanted to - it was written all over her face.

"They can go in their nightgowns for all I care," he said to Carmen, ignoring the girls for the moment. "They will be going all the same even if I have to drag them there."

Tanya became suddenly subdued. A nightgown was a kind of dress, but not one she wished to wear outside of their chambers. Checking Kate's reaction, Basileus could see the middle Denali felt the same. They were still upset, but the heat had fallen from their eyes.

Irina saw that she was losing the argument, and that she wouldn't allow. She changed tactics. With a smirk at the creator, she billowed out the bottom of her tiny nightgown and twirled around.

"Happily, my lord," she crooned in the seductive tone her first mother had taught her.

Hearing Sasha's voice come out of the girl's mouth threw Basileus off guard. It was an uncanny resemblance to his old lover and not one he appreciated. He was a happily married man now, and Sasha's charms held no power over him. Besides, Basileus had never been attracted to girls Irina's age. If a woman wasn't old enough as a mortal to be considered his peer by looks, if nothing else, then she was simply too young for him. And most importantly, he realised, he was repulsed by the very thought of Irina looking at him in such a way, even though he knew she was only doing so to evade his justice - she might not be yet, but she might soon be his granddaughter.

Since his own creation by the almighty Zeus, Basileus had been plagued with flashes in his mind, images, feelings where future events and situations became clear for a moment. With time, he came to understand these moments as fixed points in his future. He couldn't explain the phenomenon to others, though both Aro and Atia had witnessed these moments themselves through their gifts. They couldn't put the experience into words, either.

In that moment, as a glance at the future flashed through his mind, Irina was his granddaughter.

He silently hoped the memory of the night she came onto him would haunt the girl in her sleep once that future glance came to pass - she could cringe herself into oblivion on a daily basis.

Looking her up and down and shaking his head with a thoroughly patronising snort, he said, "I'd suggest bringing a cloak, as that is barely decent."

Irina had tried the same trick on Eleazar and got nowhere, and with Caius. So, it shouldn't have surprised her that Basileus refused her advances, too. Not surprising, although still frustrating.

"If you want to spare your blushes," she said, tracing the hem of her neckline and pulling it lower with a single digit, "You should probably leave."

Carmen slapped the girl on the hand and ground out her name between her teeth. Eleazar still did nothing.

Basileus took a step closer. He stared intently into Irina's eyes as she warred between the choice of standing her ground and backing away. Basileus had made grown men weep at his feet with little more than a step in their direction. Irina, though, stood tall. He raised an eyebrow at her defiance, as he saw it. He was a little proud of her though - the Denali girls were made of sterner stuff than the coven gave them credit for.

"I clearly have more respect for you than you have for yourself, my dear," he said, pulling the neckline back into its proper place (though it was still too low, in his opinion). "Dress yourself properly or we'll see how many blushes you have to spare when I tan your bare hide with a full coven assembled for the show."

Irina squeaked indignantly in response. Her eyes bulged first in shock, then in anger as she breathed fire through her nose with her shoulders squared.

Basileus tut, tut, tutted seeing the change in her demeanour. "I dare you to try me, girl."

She took a step forward with her hand raised. If she thought she'd have the chance to slap the creator of their world without recourse, she was sadly mistaken. Basileus might have liked her to connect that hand with his face - it would have given him the push he needed to wallop the disruptive girl. Sadly, Carmen caught her by the wrist in mid-flight. In one swift movement, she jerked Irina around to face her and landed her own hand hard across the girl's cheek with a slap that rebounded off the walls.

"How care you!" she growled, a finger in Irina's face daring her to retaliate.

"Nicely done, my dear," Basileus said as he nodded to himself.

Irina tried to flee to the privacy of her shared bedchamber so no one would see her tears, but she was fixed in place by her mother's (or whatever Carmen was to the girl) hand wrapped around her wrist. She tried to pull away, to prise Carmen's fingers apart, to free herself from this hateful family.

"You aren't going anywhere until you have apologised to everyone," Carmen told her, redoubling her efforts to hold the girl in place.

"I don't need an apology," Basileus said, and thanked his daughter-in-law for her quick reflexes. "I'll issue a warning instead, as it may do more good." He looked at Kate and Tanya first, so they knew they were included, then back to Irina. "You can expect the same as Aro's children. If you misbehave in your classes tomorrow, you'll be in my chambers by nightfall and I will ensure you are very, very sorry for your misdeeds."

Kate's cheeks flushed again. She would wear the uniform and she would even plaster a smile on her face when she did so. Tanya still planned on complaining about the whole thing, but she decided it was best not to do so in front of Basileus anymore. Irina, though…with hot tears stinging behind her eyes, she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay. Her cheek blazed with Carmen's handprint and her wrist was sore from the fingers wrapped around it. The two oval patches from Eleazar's slipper on the back of her left thigh singed and her embarrassment burned just as brightly.

"Did you hear me, girl?"

Self-preservation finally won the battle against her pride and Irina stayed silent, swallowing down any objection she thought of, nodding her assent.

Basileus stared into her eyes until the tears spilled over her lashes, and then he knew he'd won. Which was fortunate, as he had no idea how he'd deal with the Denali girls - he struggled to deal with Jane at all and Eleazar's girls were further removed from him than Aro's Princess of Darkness. He nodded his head and Carmen released her - Irina fled to her bedchamber without a backwards glance. Tanya and Kate followed closely and quietly behind.

Feeling relieved, Basileus bid them good night, but not before telling his son to get his act together or he'd be the one in his father's chambers and made to feel very, very sorry for his misdeeds.

Outside the library, Irina shuffled awkwardly as she replayed the same memory as Basileus. The creator silently congratulated himself on having brough the girl to heel for the moment.

Alec arrived at the library last, dragging his heels. "It's so early!"

"Another whinging brat," Irina said under her breath. Of course, Basileus heard her. Not that she cared.

"Nu uh, there will be none of that today. You have been warned already." Once Irina settled to muttering to herself, Basileus turned back to Alec, sulking and shoddily dressed. "Is it too early to dress yourself properly? Has your mother really let you leave the house like this?"

"Let him?" Demetri scoffed at his grandfather. "She threw him out the door!"

While the creator set to tidying Alec up a little, hiding his smile—he could imagine Sulpicia would enjoy a day without her children under her feet—Corin looked down the line at Irina and the uniform she wore. Renata had suggested that for an easy life she should try making peace with the eldest Denali girl. Corin hardly felt it worth the effort. She knew Irina would happily cross them all again the next chance she got, but she'd promised Ren she would try.

"Irina," she said softly, trying not to draw too much attention. "Your, um, your tunic. It's, well, it's inside out."

Corin would rather be told something like that than be left to walk around looking like a fool. She'd said it without scorn or ridicule. Just speaking to Irina was an olive branch, surely?

Irina didn't see it that way. She looked Corin up and down and scowled.

"I am aware," she said, flicking her long blonde hair out. She smoothed the ends that landed on her shoulder and rolled her eyes to the heavens. Irina did that so often that it was a wonder her eyes hadn't detached from the sockets. "I refuse to advertise the Volturi emblem."

Corin's nose ruffled up as she considered Irina's nonsensical reply. "You won't advertise the Volturi emblem to…the Volturi?" A nervous giggle escaped her lips.

Felix snorted beside his girl. "She's advertising that she's a twat." Though his grandfather appeared to be paying little attention, he whispered it just in case.

Corin's laugh moved from nervous to real, although she tried to hide it. She leaned closer to Felix and whispered into his ear.

"My Lord," Irina said, keeping her glare fixed on the pair of love birds. "She just said I don't need to advertise I'm a twat, because everyone already knows it."

Irina didn't even care that the other members of the oppressed coven youth were laughing at her - so long as someone knocked Corin and Felix down a peg, she'd bear their laughter. And once the creator rolled back the few moments in their memories, she was rewarded.

"You were warned." Basileus flashed in front of his grandson, snatching the book from his hands along with Corin's. "You were both warned. I'll make a note of this behaviour for your parents to read."

The whiskey Corin had drank in the guard hall last night travelled up her gullet and burned the back of her throat. She didn't exactly have parents, but Renata would be pissed and so would Freyr, and probably Magnus. That was way worse than just parents to report to - for one, there were more of them!

"Me? But I—"

The creator's growl cut her off. He raised his hand and Corin tried, and failed, to stand still. Her shoulder tucked behind her boyfriends and her eyes shone with desperation. Felix wasn't doing much better – he couldn't go toe-to-toe against his grandfather, not even for his beloved.

Basileus heard the pleas in his grandson's mind and relented, but he made sure to note the young lovers' misbehaviour in their reports.

"Get in there and wait for Marcus. All of you."

Irina stalked inside with her head held high. She couldn't care less what Felix or Corin thought of her or her choices, but Basileus rattling them pleased her all the same. For a brief moment, she wondered if she would enjoy these classes after all…not that she cared about enjoying them. Irina didn't care about anything. That's what she told herself, at least.

Corin seemed on the verge of a panic attack and Felix looked sick to his stomach. Turk and Odi joined them, mainly to support Corin - they believed Felix would be okay. The young prince walked on water in their eyes, but then they knew nothing of his ordeal the evening before, nor the threats looming over him about behaviour and attitude and decorum and all manner of other things.

"I was trying to be nice!" Corin explained to them both.

The young guards voice hitched a little higher, a little louder than intended, and Irina gleamed. She had scored her first point, and aside from the last point, the first was most important. It set the tone Irina wanted to project, one that said she was not to be messed with. Deep down inside, the mean but damaged girl was acting in self-defence. If no one likes you to begin with, then it is easier to dislike them in return. And it also meant she would not lose anyone she cared about ever again. She walked away, triumphant. Though there was a sadness there, too, as she heard everyone behind her rallying around Corin.

Odi and Felix did their best to get Corin to calm down, telling her that it wasn't a big deal, but the girl wouldn't hear it.

"I can't get in trouble on the first day. I don't have a family like you pair."

Turk nodded understandingly. The guards he and Corin had in their corners couldn't match the protectiveness of an actual family. Though he had guard/dads now—every time he thought the words, his insides cringed into a painful knot—their protectiveness already felt more suffocating than helpful. Corin had Renata, of course, which caused her less stress than Turk was feeling. Maybe he should have tried to get a mother instead? It was a ridiculous thought, he realised, as he hadn't tried to get a pair of fathers! They had been given to him, like a big scary surprise gift that he had no use for (except for defending him and helping him with his work and being supportive and company. But other than that…)

"Let us begin," Marcus said, announcing his arrival.

AN: Okay, so it's taken three chapters to get to 8am...but now their day begins :)