AN: Happy 2024 everyone! I hope its a good year for us all :)
Thank you, as always, to all readers/reviewers/messagers. It means so much to me - you guys keep me going!
This one is a little longer than the last few - unsurprisingly the guys kicked up more fuss with Aro and Caius than the girls did...
First Day of a New Order - Part 3
JANUARY 31st
You'd think winning the horse race that morning would have cheered Caius up a little, though…
The lads, escorted by Eleazar, headed to the front gates. No one knew what Aro had planned for them. Everyone assumed Aro would be the one planning and not Caius, as the latter had made it clear that educating the coven youth was entirely inappropriate for his status, his will, his desire, his personality, and just anything else he could think of.
"Don't give my book to my dad," Felix told his uncle.
"Give mine to Aro," said Odi.
"Give mine to me," said Carlisle.
Eleazar growled in response to all three. Alec bounced alongside them like a puppy - his exuberance was almost as annoying as the whinging from the rest. At least Turk and Demetri were nice and quiet.
Eleazar, much like Caius, had no desire to be involved in all these coven pursuits but, again, much like Caius, the creator had told him he was obliged, nonetheless. His father ordering him about was one thing, the royal brats was quite another. He growled much louder, when Felix threatened to start whining again.
He stopped dead and the lads stopped with him. Eyes on Felix, he dared the boy to 'say it again'.
"I didn't say anything!" Felix said, too insistently. "I didn't!"
Eleazar watched the boy until he had the good grace to search the ground with his eyes, and then he carried on walking.
The lads followed behind him like he was mother duck. He was nearly rid of them; the front gates were in sight and he could see Caius stood in the shadow of the walls talking to some poor human girl who'd passed by.
The castle walls weren't as high as Basileus would like - but then even Aurelian walls weren't high enough for him and his paranoia. They were plenty high enough to cast a shadow on the vampires below, however, so long as they stayed close to the wall. The scattered trees through the grounds and the forest beginning outside the gate provided the rest of the cover they needed. The Volturi knew where to walk to ensure their skin wouldn't startle any nearby humans.
The girl seemed quite smitten with Caius, giggling shying when he touched her hair. Getting a little closer, Eleazar could see Caius was quite smitten with her, too, but she was too young for him, surely? She bore a striking resemblance to Kate and suddenly Eleazar came over all protective.
He picked up the pace whilst still maintaining a realistic human speed and passed wordlessly through the gate Sadie held open with her head bowed. He stopped just short of shoving Caius away from the unsuspecting mortal.
"He's too old for you," he told the girl.
"You forget yourself, El - I'm not as old as you." Caius looked at Eleazar like he'd grown a second head. If the prince wanted a bit on-the-side, he could find his own - Caius wasn't doing his fishing for him. "He's already shacked up with a wife and three kids," he explained to the girl. "I'm free and single."
"Aside from Dora, you mean," Odi piped up. "Your wife?"
Caius continued unperturbed. "You don't mind that, do you?" he asked her, pulling her closer.
She looked like she might mind for a moment, scanning the faces of the men and boys before her with confusion and apprehension. When Caius took a gentle hold of her chin and directed her gaze his way, no. She didn't mind at all. She melted as he dazzle her with his eyes and her breathing hitched, her heart beating faster, and their lips met…
And then Eleazar, the goon, ruined it all and ripped the two apart.
"Wife or no wife, you are too young for him," he told the girl forcefully.
In complete contrast to Caius, Eleazar's eyes were dark and angry, scary even, and the girl backed away. Slowly at first, and when she felt safe, she turned and hurried away. But not before she'd took one last hungry look at Caius.
"You're supposed to set a better example than this," said Eleazar.
It was one thing sending the girl away—Caius knew he didn't have the time to fuck her then anyway—but quite another to reprimand him.
"Jealous, El?" Caius asked. "Aro is the same. I'm not shacked up with a family so I can fuck who I want, when I want."
"Oh yeah?" said Eleazar. He scratched his chin with his book free hand and looked Caius in the eye. "If what Aro has told me is true, it won't be long before you're shacked up with kids of your own."
Caius jumped to attention. "What? No. What has he said? No."
The lads bombarded Caius with questions like: "Are you starting a family?" "Does Dora know?" "How many are you getting?" "Boys or girls?" "We need more girls!" "Can you get some my age?"
They went on and on, riling Caius until he snapped and told them to hold their tongues before he ripped them out. They quit their verbal assault, choosing instead to smirk at him.
Caius growled at Eleazar. "Happy now?" He reached out and clipped Felix around the ear when he asked for a girl his age, as if Caius would go out 'child-shopping'!
"Very. Freyr said you need to play nicely," Eleazar added with a smirk at Caius.
"Me?"
It was a needless question. Freyr had told him so in his chambers that morning before her own class had begun.
"Odi would rather learn needle work than join your class today," said Freyr.
Caius laughed.
"I'm serious."
"Then he learns needle work," Caius had said with a shrug. "No skin off my nose."
He attempted to walk away. He hadn't even dressed for that day, so it was too early for an argument, but he wasn't agreeing to play nicely, either.
Freyr flashed around him, blocking his path to his bedchamber. "Will you be kind to my baby boy today, please?" her words were polite, but her tone brooked no argument.
She ground out his name when he failed to answer and threw her hands to her hips when he failed again.
"I know Magnus has already warned you, and I know Basileus will stalk you today, and…"
"Fine! Gods be damned! We haven't even started, and I'm pissed off already."
Caius threw up his hands and went back to the main chamber of his quarters. He would have preferred to retreat to his bedchamber, but he couldn't get there without barging past Freyr. Though he was sorely tempted, the effect of his last round with the shield maiden still lingered and he couldn't go there again. Actually, he had promised himself that he would do anything within his power to avoid going there with Freyr ever!
The haunting memory of Freyr's words after she'd taken him to task 'and next time you'll be bare' made him shiver to his soul - he couldn't risk there being a next time. The same memory also forced him to avoid the chair Magnus had claimed in his chambers, too. Caius used to sit there himself when Magnus wasn't around, but now he would walk halfway around his living chamber to avoid the damn thing. Magnus was welcome to the damn thing.
Caius went to the small pot hanging above the fire. Collecting a goblet from the mantle, he ladled it full of hot bloodwine. He and Dora had been drinking straight from the barrel but they'd grown used to having it hot with Magnus and Freyr and now they both preferred it that way, too.
He felt Freyr watching every move he made. Despite telling himself he didn't care, Caius did. His eyes were straining so hard to try to see her without turning to her that they soon ached.
"What?" he eventually asked, feeling her eyes bore into his back.
How he wished he'd dressed earlier that morning. Being lectured by the shield maiden in his own chambers was already bad, but it was even more humbling when he was only wearing linen shorts. It was too close for comfort, almost like being the 'bare' Freyr had warned him about.
"It costs nothing to be kind, Caius."
Caius refused to turn, but scoffed and spitefully replied, "It costs my prides, my sanity, my desire—"
"You really know how to sulk, don't you?" Freyr huffed and went to the door.
Good, Caius thought, glad she had given up. Then she ruined his triumph with a parting shot.
"I thought we'd established that I'm not someone you would like as your enemy?"
Caius damn near choked on his bloodwine and coughed his half-gulp back up. He would not respond to that. He absolutely would not. Hearing the door open and close behind him, breathed a sigh of relief, glad he was alone and could dress for the day in peace.
When he turned to head to his bedchamber, Freyr was still there, still watching him, still waiting for his response. Their eyes locked for only a moment, then Caius dropped his, ashamed of himself.
"Yes, my lady," he quietly said.
Eleazar nodded at Caius and said, "Yes, you. Freyr isn't pleased with you, is she?"
Caius offered a one-shouldered shrug. "Even I can't please all the women in the world, El."
He watched his young would-be conquest until she was out of sight. She'd turned to look at him a few times on her short walk, enough times for Caius to decide she be worth hunting down in a year or two when she was out of her teens.
"You need to take them to the guard hall when you're finished with them," Eleazar said, passing on Marcus' message. He could have a career as a town crier with all these messages he was relaying.
Caius said that sounded like an 'Aro job'.
"Speaking of Aro," Eleazar said, dumping the report books on Caius. "Tell him his son called me a prick on our walk over.
Felix's mouth hung open and he glowered at his uncle. What a cruel, cruel bastard! "I said I didn't say anything."
"And I heard you say it."
"Have you written it in here?" Caius asked the Volturi prince, taking the boys' books.
Eleazar shook his head. Telling Aro would be enough. He wanted to enjoy two blissful hours of peace with his wife whilst the girls were under Magnus' supervision. Maybe suffering the gifted kids for two hours a day would be worth it after all?
When Eleazar turned to walk back to the castle, Caius called him back. "Where are you going? Basileus said you'd be joining us."
"No…" Eleazar scrutinised Caius with his eyes. "When did he say that?"
"When he collared me in the dungeons half an hour ago," said Caius. "Basileus said something about you'd want to join us after such a relaxing morning."
As Caius stood smirking at the Volturi prince, Eleazar silently vibrated on the spot. His options were dire. He could ignore Caius and go home to relax and pretend he didn't get the message, or maybe he got the message and thought it was an offer to join in, rather than a demand. He soon sighed and knew it wouldn't wash with his father. Particularly as now he'd considered ignoring his father's request, those thoughts were in his mind for his father to find.
"For fuck's sake!" Eleazar hissed under his breath, and Caius smirked again.
Caius told the lads to head to the woods. "Aro is already there with the horses and guards."
"Horses?" Alec asked, excitement bursting in his eyes.
He didn't wait for a reply, and neither did anyone else. They all started off toward the woodland surrounding their castle home. All except Felix and Odi, the latter offering to carry the books for Caius.
Eleazar watched Odi carefully. "If I find out you've looked at those, I will rethink my kindness in the future."
Odi offered him a nervous smile, hoping his intentions weren't too obvious. When he received a stern raised eyebrow from the Volturi prince, he silently passed the books back to Caius, who gave him a patronising snort.
Eleazar left them to walk to the woods - his mother had requested he attend Aro's class with Carlisle to make sure his brothers didn't kill each other. Despite being humiliated by her in training, he reluctantly went to the forest, driven by his fear of further embarrassment. Especially now that his father had made the request, he couldn't ignore both. He wouldn't do it with a smile, though - that was too much to expect.
A little more casually, Caius, Odi, and Felix made their way, too, with the former flicking through the lads' books as they went. He shoved Felix away when the boy tried to peer over his shoulder.
"Could you look at mine?" Felix asked. "I'm not asking to see it myself," he added quickly. "I just need to know how bad it is. If it is. It might not be?"
Caius put his on top of the pile and leafed through the pages completed by Basileus, Marcus, and a small section from Eleazar. After scanning the pages, he gave Felix a look that could sour milk.
"Why do you make life harder on yourself?"
Felix had no answer to that. It was a question he asked himself regularly, and one most adults in his life asked him even more often.
"Are you going to tell my dad what Eleazar said?"
Caius thought for a moment. He could, or just as easily, he didn't have to. It seemed a thousand sunrises ago that he'd sat in Felix's room asking the boy to treat him differently and that he would go easier on him in return. An uncle, of sorts, he had explained to the boy.
"Make sure you behave now…"
"Thanks, Caius!"
Felix didn't wait for anything else. It sounded like a no, and that was all he needed to hear. Adults had a nasty habit of adding conditions to their promises if he stuck around for too long, so it was best to make a quick exit whilst he was winning. He bounced away into the trees.
He needn't have run - Caius wouldn't do Eleazar's dirty work for him. He barely liked doing his own work!
Odi hadn't planned on asking Caius for a look at his report, not with Eleazar's warning ringing in his ears. But Felix's approach seemed worth a shot.
"Could you, um, could you look at mine?"
Odi saw the glint in Caius' eye as he moved Odi's book to the top, and an uneasy feeling immediately settled in his stomach.
"Oh dear," the coven master said.
There were more entries than would be healthy for Odi's hide in his report, but they weren't any worse than the scorn Felix had attracted. Still, Caius' relationship with Odi wasn't like the one he had with Felix, and he saw no reason not to wind the kid up a little. He began to wince and gasp and shake his head as he read.
Odi stomped alongside, crunching through the frozen forest floor. The treetops, bare as they were, blocked the January sun from heating the earth below. What little grass there was remained frozen, as it would until spring.
"Stop it," he said in a whine. "It can't be that bad."
Caius sucked in his breath. "You've really pissed off Marcus."
"Really?" It shouldn't have been such a shock. Odi, much like the others, had hoped Marcus was using their books to make a point, not to actually record their misdeeds. "I haven't…I didn't…It was everyone…It wasn't just me…"
Caius kept wincing and gasping and sucking in his breath as they walked, quickly catching up with the others.
Aro joined them, with the rest milling about close by.
"That bad, huh?" the coven king asked.
Flipping the page, Caius started laughing.
Odi peered over the edge of the book to see Caius looking at a blank page. "Oh, just fuck off," he snapped at his cruelty and stormed over to his friends. Caius still laughed behind him.
"Are you going to let him get away with that?"
Odi wasn't far away, and he heard Aro's question. All too soon, he realised how foolish he'd been - it was one thing reacting to Caius in the safety of his chambers where his parents might protect him. It was quite another to do it outside of those chambers where he could expect to feel the full wrath of any coven masters in the vicinity. There were a good many of the guards around, too. Odi held his breath as he waited for Caius' response.
Caius eyed Odi, knowing exactly what was going through the kid's mind. Truthfully, he found it amusing - both his own joke and the Odi's petulant response. Telling a coven master to fuck off was not funny, though. Odi was on dangerous ground there. Had it been anyone else in the coven, including one of Aro's or Eleazar's kids, Caius would have given them a royal round of fucks for their efforts. Any coven master would. Freyr's words were floating around in Caius' mind, however, and he wouldn't risk pissing her off. Nor Magnus. He would have to be more careful…and so would Odi.
"For now," he told Aro, who looked back with confusion.
Odi had to turn away when Aro looked over at him - he wouldn't want the coven king to see the broad grin he wore. Caius couldn't touch him! Odi should have been more nervous, he should have felt sick with thoughts of consequences coming from Caius already. He should have, but he realised Caius couldn't do anything to him until they were in private. And maybe not even then? His mother had promised him that Caius would leave him be, and it seemed she had told the truth: 'I've warned him, my darling. So has your father and so has Basileus - you are safe'.
Safe.
A warm glow of confidence saw Odi pulling his shoulders back and standing a little taller than he had. He damn near swaggered passed some shocked guards and over to Carlisle.
Caius watched him go, sneering. "Marcus is right," he said, passing the books of doom to Aro. "They are all whinging, whining, spoiled…"
"Marcus said that?" Alec asked in a small voice, saddened to have his favourite coven master thinking of him so awfully.
Carlisle lifted his young nephew into the saddle of a leggy piebald gelding, who bobbed his head a little and whinnied, scraping a hoof in the dirt.
"Don't worry," he said. "Caius is paraphrasing, at best."
"What does that mean?"
Odi took over from Carlisle. "When it comes to Caius, it usually means he's talking shit."
Carlisle nudged him, mouthing 'what the fuck' with eyes darting toward Caius.
Odi shrugged. Caius would do nothing, and he might not have heard anyway. One look in the coven master's direction told Odi that he had, yet besides dark eyes in his direction, Caius didn't move a muscle.
Odi began grinning to himself again.
Carlisle released Alec's horse, and it turned in circles whilst the boy bounced up and down excitedly. He quickly grabbed the reins from Alec and offered them to the boy's father.
"I'm busy," said Aro, waving him away. He continued to read through his younger son's books. He'd already decided, for Felix's sake and his own sanity, to wait until they were safely at home before he read his eldest son's report.
"As am I," said Carlisle, thrusting them at Aro again. "You're the one who asked me to rig the horses, Aro."
Eleazar took them before the two could argue further, giving Carlisle the look. The look his father had given him many times and his mother often, too. Including that morning.
Alec clicked his feet into the sides of his pony, and it nearly took flight until Eleazar brought it under control and told him off. He was so eager that he didn't care.
"Can we keep the horses, Dad?" asked Alec.
"No. They are on loan so don't break them," he told the boy, and added to Eleazar holding his reins, "Or eat them."
Eleazar laughed, Carlisle did not.
"Why have you loaned them?" Carlisle asked his brother, answering before Aro had the chance, "You're so tight."
Aro raised his eyebrows at Carlisle, shaking his head. "No," he said. "Stop."
"No? Stop?" Carlisle repeated. "Are you claiming you can't afford to buy your kids some horses?"
"This isn't appropriate," Aro ground out.
Maybe Odi's bold confrontation with Caius had spurred him on, but Carlisle couldn't let Aro go unchallenged - Carlisle was higher up the ladder than Odi, and Caius was scarier than Aro.
"It's not appropriate to point out you're tight? You aren't my master, Aro."
Aro made eye contact with his big brother, and Eleazar understood. He prodded Carlisle away, telling him to knock it off and to get on with checking over the horses.
"And take Felix with you," said Eleazar. Felix had done nothing yet, but why take the risk?
"Can't we keep them, Dad?" Alec scratched his mount behind the ear in lieu of the treat he probably wanted more. "Just this one? He likes me."
Aro didn't answer. He was midway through Act 2 of Demetri and Alec arguing in the library, having finished Act 1 where it had been Demetri and Felix fighting.
"I bet Caius gets his kids' horses," Demetri said, leading his own over.
Caius threw him a withering glare. "I don't have any kids," he said. "Do you want a slap?"
There was no heat in Caius' threat, Demetri knew it. And because he knew it, he carried on, speaking loud enough for every Volturi vampire in the woods to hear, "You just told us you are starting a family."
The little liar! Caius reached out a lazy swat at the boy and he skipped around behind his father.
Alex and Afton, the only two guards Caius considered real friends, burst out laughing.
"Have you got something to tell us, Caius?" Afton asked.
"Does Dora know?" Alex asked. "Or isn't she the mommy?"
"You aren't bringing kids to cards night," said Afton.
"If it's a girl, he can," Alex said. "An older one, obviously," he added quickly, realising how awfully his words landed. He thanked God that Eleazar ignored the comment completely.
"You're getting nowhere near any girl of mine," said Caius, then baulked at his own words. "I mean, there is no girl. There won't be any, either." When Alex and Afton, along with a good many others, started tittering, Caius set his sights on Demetri again. "Come here, Dem," he crooned to the boy. "Don't be scared."
Demetri's eyes widened for a moment, as did his grin, then he took flight and Caius gave chased.
Everyone laughed. Everyone except for Odi.
Caius seemed to be so many people in Odi's eyes: he had one way of being with his wife, another with Magnus and Freyr, another with the royal family, yet another the kids, as coven master, as trainer, and even another one with his mates. Odi didn't fit in anywhere - there were pluses and minuses for each of those relationships, but Odi only got the negatives. Always. Odi had enjoyed a few great months on Caius' good side, but now all he was left with were Caius' bad moods.
Demetri returned laughing with a head full of forest floor which he scrubbed from his hair. Aro removed the leaves he'd missed and used the boy's own tunic to wipe the mud from his face.
Caius came back soon after, a little breathless from his exertions - Demetri was fast and it took some doing to catch the little sod.
"Sully will have your guts when he goes home looking like this," Aro told his co-master.
"She should be happy if he's able to go home at all," Caius replied. "I'm still thinking of stringing him up in the dungeons."
Alec waited patiently for his father to return to his conversation with him about getting his own pony. When the coven king finished with Demetri and began talking with Caius instead, Alec butted in with another sickly sweet 'please' and smiled expectantly.
Aro sighed. It wouldn't please him to disappoint his baby boy, but horses in a coven of vampires was not something he wished to deal with - they'd be replacing ponies weekly!
"We have nowhere to house them, son," he said, which to his mind ended the conversation.
"We could make space," the boy begged. "We could build stables."
"We have stables already, we just store stuff in them," Odi pointed out. He very nearly added that the stables had been the meeting place on the night of the outcast mission, stopping himself just in time. "We could clear them out."
Alec looked so excited, Aro looked pissed off.
"He said no," Caius hissed at the kid. "Keep your nose out of it."
"Yeah, but we could, that's all I'm saying. We have more than enough space in my opinion." Odi couldn't have known he was pointlessly raising Alec's hopes, but he might have realised he was annoying his king if his sights hadn't been set so resolutely on Caius. "I wasn't even talking to you anyway," he said sourly.
Alex and Afton quietly backed away a step, assuming Caius would knock them out of the way if they didn't, as surely, he'd seek retribution this time. They had, like everyone else had, heard Odi telling Caius to fuck off. A brave, if stupid, move. The kid seemed intent on forcing Caius' hand and they were happy to watch the show if Odi wanted to put one on.
Caius felt their eyes on him. All eyes were on him, in fact. Aro was doing a good job of pretending to read his son's book, but as it was upside down and he was looking above where the writing would be, he was fooling few.
Taking a step toward Odi with his head slightly cocked to one side, Caius snorted. "Who asked for your opinion?"
It was Odi's chance to back down. No one would think any less of him - few wouldn't do the same in his position. He couldn't, though. Why should he? He had no relationship with Caius to lose and he was assured of a good relationship with his parents now, so why not take a jab at the proverbial bear a little? Caius wasn't playing nicely, either. So why should he? Hearing a muffled chuckle coming from Afton and Alex, who were clearly talking about him, spurred Odi on.
"And who asked for your opinion on my opinion?"
"I thought Freyr was supposed to have reined you in," said Caius, looking Odi up and down. "Seems like you need another round to me."
Neither Afton nor Alex laughed that time. Renata had threatened to remove their balls if they mocked any of the kids for their mission, or more importantly, any punishments they had received for going on it. What Caius had said was a grey area, they assumed, but neither thought the risk worth their time if Ren might find out.
"What are we actually doing with these horses, my lord?" Afton asked, to distract himself more than to get an answer.
"Well—" Aro began.
He stopped before saying more as he saw Odi approaching Caius. He held his breath but took a step closer himself. Just in case. If Odi attacked Caius, they would all be in a difficult situation. Magnus and Freyr would deal with their kid, as would be expected, but that would require Caius to leave him alive long enough for them to do so. Aro was fairly certain these days that Caius wouldn't cause lasting damage to his children. But they were proper children, unlike Odi, who straddled the line of child/adult depending on the day.
Still, Aro doubted Caius would see Odi as a credible threat and he hoped that would be enough to keep his co-master's inner alpha at bay.
Odi didn't do what Aro expected or rather feared he might do. He didn't attack Caius. He did, however, purposely ram his shoulder into the coven master, which was nearly as bad. It wasn't hard, it wasn't even particularly aggressive, but it was still inappropriate and offensive to Caius' status.
Aro and Caius had been friends, brothers in arms for two thousand years and they knew each other's body language well enough to predict action before action occurred. It made it difficult to crown a winner in a fight between the two, though Caius would win if they were allowed to fight for long enough simply because Aro was less practiced. But it allowed Aro to know how close to death another coven member was by Caius' hand.
Caius was pissed, but he'd allowed Odi to barge his shoulder without tensing, without his jaw jutting, without his hands clenching. Odi was safe, if stupid. Aro had stored the lad's books with ink, quills, and penknives in a brown leather saddle bag on one of the doddery looking horses. He found Odi's and wrote a detailed message for the kid's parents to read.
He paused briefly seeing Odi fly face first into the frozen earth. Caius had shoved the kid so hard and so fast, and without enough warning for Odi to circumvent the attack or to save himself from landing in a heap on the ground. Knowing Odi would live through a few bruising, even those to his ego, Aro paid the scene little more attention and continued to write.
Caius stood over the miserable youth, watching for a hint of reprisal. When none came, he offered the Odi a hand which was accepted only grudgingly.
Odi released Caius' hand the second he was upright, and he couldn't look the man in the eye. It would have been advisable to offer an apology, Odi knew that. But he refused to. He felt bruises blooming on his knees, his elbows, even his face, and apologising was far from his mind. His hand went to his chin, sure it was bleeding. His fingers were wet when he pulled them away, but there was no blood - it seemed Caius had pushed him into the only patch of mud in a frozen forest.
Quietly, Odi said, "Touch me again and I'm telling my mom."
Caius stood back and narrowed his eyes. A threat? After he'd been so kind to the little bastard?
Just as quietly, Caius made the kid a little promise in return. "Touch me again and I'll rip your fucking arms off."
Aro couldn't hear the back and forth between the two of them, and he wanted no one else to hear it either. "As we will all be equal on horseback," he said, clapping his hands together. "We're going to race. And we're doing it through the woods, so try not to ride them into a tree."
"Because he's too tight to replace them," Carlisle continued to grumble. "These aren't even the right sort of horses for racing."
Aro heard him and planned on writing a few notes for his father to read about his baby boy before they left the forest. It had been a very long time since Aro had used horses properly, as was the same for most of their coven. He assumed big horses were best for pulling, but no idea what sort were bred for racing. He had, however, predicted the issue. When he instructed his human contacts in the town to round up forty horses, he'd told them to get 'matching ones'. The human gentleman receiving these instructions had looked peculiarly at the strange custodian of the Volterrian castle, but he hadn't questioned either the request or Aro, as he'd been paid quite handsomely for the job.
"It doesn't matter, so long as we're all riding the same type," Aro said confidently. "Pick one and get in the saddle."
Odi shifted awkwardly. They would race on horseback, two hours in the saddle. He couldn't do that. He'd die! Despite Caius' assertions, his mother had done a very good job of setting him straight, and Magnus had added to that job the night before. He couldn't cope with sitting on a horse - the library cushions had been torturing enough.
"My lord," Odi said, almost too quietly for Aro to hear. "Is it okay with you if I don't ride?"
Since Magnus and Freyr had taken office as coven masters, Odi only remembered his manners on the days he was after something, or in trouble, or both. Aro didn't comment on it, although it usually amused him. The kid seemed to have taken leave of his sense that afternoon so blatantly and purposely riling Caius, so he felt less amused than he normally would have.
Annoyed with the kid, Aro decided to play with Odi. He slapped a hand down on the kid's shoulder and said sure thing.
"We'll need someone to start us off and call when I win. That someone can be you."
"Brilliant!" Odi breathed a sigh of relief, although…"Um, how will I do both?"
"You'll have to run through the woods. With your speed it won't be a problem," said Aro, smiled widely. "You have been running for Eleazar for two hours with no trouble, have you not?"
"Yeah, yeah," Odi lied. "Of course."
Aro hummed along and the kid squirmed under his gaze. "I definitely didn't see you and Demetri flat on your backs behind the sheds."
Odi bit his lip, smiled coyly. "It's just that, I'm still suffering, and…" Aro's demeanour changed entirely and Odi's words fell away.
"Is that a defence?" Aro asked. The question required no answer as it had patently been the defence Odi put forward. "The others all worked for a week through their 'suffering', but you couldn't run for a while? Really?"
Odi slinked away like a beat dog. Before he went, he said he felt like he could ride after all, only to be told he'd lost his chance and would run for the rest of the afternoon. He passed Caius, who must have heard the entire conversation as he was laughing like a twat with Afton and Alex, all shooting wildly excited eyes at Odi.
Whilst the rest of the guards picked out their horses, Odi went to lick his wounds. He heard raised voices and turned towards them. His best mate Turk, who would have been Odi's first choice to hear his tales of woe, was engaged in an animated discussion with Richard. It was an argument Turk was both fuelling and losing. Odi wandered over to them to 'help', he told himself, and absolutely not because he was feeling in need of distraction.
"What's going on?" Odi asked Turk, who promptly ignored him.
"But why are you both here?" the normally subdued young guard asked. "Who's watching my bar while you are both here?"
"Magnus is watching his bar," Richard explained, running a hand through his hair and tugging a little at the roots.
Odi's eyes were wide, watching his mate squaring up to Richard. Sure, he'd just done the same to Caius, but that was a good five minutes ago, so well in the past. He tried to tell him Phil was approaching. Turk looked, shrugged, and continued setting Richard straight.
"I wouldn't have agreed to these classes if you weren't going to look after my bar properly."
Phil cuffed Turk as he strolled toward his husband and reminded the kid that he'd had no choice in the matter. Turk looked murderous! His eyebrows knitted together so tightly they looked like a unibrow.
"You spend half your days with us," Rich reminded the haughty young barkeep. "Happily, usually."
Turk scoffed at the very idea whilst knowing it was completely true.
On a good day, Rich could be as placid as Turk, but even he was losing his cool.
"You follow us around like a lost puppy," he said truthfully. "What's going on with you?"
"Rich!" Carlisle called through the trees. "You want these?"
Richard went to fetch three steeds, happy to leave Turk and his whining. He nodded glumly at his husband and wished him good luck settling the brat.
"I don't need setting straight, thanks. And I don't want you watching me!" Turk called after him. "You have no fucking right to watch me!"
Rich ignored him, shaking his head as he walked away.
"We aren't here to watch you," Phil answered. His voice came out in an angry, growled out whisper and he pulled Turk in closer to him by the front of his Volturi tunic. "Now watch your damn mouth!"
Once released, Turk smoothed out the creases Phil had made.
"You are," he hissed, trying to speak more quietly. "Like Magnus will watch Odi and Aro will watch Felix."
Odi scrubbed a hand down his face - Turk had already returned to his earlier volume, drawing everyone's attention anew.
"You're watching me as if I'm some sort of troublemaker like the rest of them, and I'm not, so you shouldn't."
"Hey!" Odi took immediate offence. Doubly so when Turk told him it was true and to butt out.
Alex ruffled Turk's hair, scrubbing his fingers hard across his skull. "The lady doth protest too much."
"Fuck you, Alex," Turk spat back, snapped his head away. He wished he'd been as brave as Corin the evening before – he'd like to bite Alex. Even just the nip Corin gave Afton would do. How he wished it!
Philippe pointed at Alex and Turk hoped he was about to bollock the guard for picking on him, but Phil continued pointing out other men, too. Afton, Lev, Mikhail and a good many others, even Caius and Eleazar.
"Who are they watching?" he asked, jabbing Turk in the shoulder. "Huh? Who are they watching?"
"How the hell would I know?" said Turk. "Guards are being put under other guards these days so they could watch anyone, couldn't they? Carlisle isn't much older than I am - maybe he's been given to a guard, too?"
He tried to jab Phillipe in the chest as Phil had done to him. Phil's shoulder didn't swing as Turk's had - it was like trying to poke at a brick wall. The only thing that moved was the muscles in Phillipe's jaw, which tightened as he snarled at the foolish young guard.
"Are you sure you want to do this here?" Phil asked as he continued to glare at Turk.
Turk vibrated on the spot. Yes! He wanted to 'do this here'. He wanted Phil and Rich to back off and know their place…which is what he told Phil when he was prompted to reply.
"Know our place?" Phil repeated and laughed mirthlessly. It took everything in his power to resist lamping the obstinate little shit.
Richard guided three horses over and Phil took the reins of the closest one, jumping into the saddle Carlisle had rigged.
Odi hoped that would be the end of Turk's whining. It couldn't end too soon in his mind. Odi knew he was playing with fire being an arse with Caius and he had more protection than Turk did. What would happen to Turk if the masters heard him arguing with Phil and Rich? Turk said he didn't care when Odi expressed these concerns. And he said it again even louder when Phil told him should care!
"You will care," said Caius, overhearing the argument. It wasn't hard to overhear - they weren't that far apart.
For a moment, no one spoke. Turk stopped breathing altogether. Odi was right - he cared what might happen if the masters overheard after all.
Odi went to stand in front of Turk. "My dad told you to leave him alone."
Aside from the rustling of leaves and the snorting of horses, there were no other sounds. Every vampire in attendance already had an ear on Turk's argument with Richard and Phillipe. Now, everyone's attention was drawn to a second standoff between Caius and Odi.
Neither Caius nor Odi made a move. They stared at each other whilst Caius waited for Odi to back down - everyone expected that to happen, at least. But Odi didn't back down. He appeared to be squaring his shoulders. Everyone moved a little closer, readying to end a brawl between the two. It would be a brawl that would last only seconds if it began, as everyone other than Odi seemed to know. Caius would snap him like a twig! The coven master had been exceptionally good natured about Odi squaring up to him once, twice was a piss take.
If Odi wanted to go there, Caius would do so happily. But…Odi would tell Freyr - he'd already alluded to as much. Caius didn't want that. She would know he'd broken his promise to her if he didn't make every effort to avoid a conflict with her precious baby boy. Caius thought of something better.
"Aro!" Caius called behind him without turning. "Bring me their books. I'd like to write a little note to his old man."
Odi's face collapsed. No, no, no. That wouldn't work out well for him.
"We'll see what Magnus thinks, shall we?" Caius went on. "I'm sure he'd love to hear all about his barkeep arguing with his elders and his son squaring up to a coven master. Twice."
Turk started breathing again, Odi could hear him. He was breathing so hard and so fast, in fact, that Odi could feel it on the back of his neck. It didn't help Odi's anxiety one bit.
"You idiot," Turk hissed into his ear.
Odi was sure it was Turk's fault for arguing with Phil and Rich.
Odi watched as Aro took the damn books from a saddlebag and flick through to find Odi's and Turk's. His insides knotted when the coven king produced a quill, a penknife, and a small vial of ink from the same bag.
Caius took them wordlessly and chose Odi's book first.
"You don't have to do that," he said in a small voice.
"If he doesn't, I will," Aro told him sternly.
Odi had used all the chances he was going to get. He found himself being escorted away from everyone else to the conspicuously old horses where Aro could keep an eye on him. Dicing with death—otherwise known as fucking with Caius—twice in one day was enough.
Caius scanned Aro's words in Odi's report before adding a brief note of his own, careful not to get carried away.
Turk watched in horror as Caius switched Odi's book with his own. The coven master quickly read through Marcus's complaints and threw Turk a look of bewilderment.
"I didn't know you had it in you, Turk."
Caius almost sounded impressed. Almost.
"I don't know whether you'll face Magnus for this," he continued, shaking Turk's report in the air. "Or someone else." His eyes drifted between Richard and Philippe. "Whoever it is will take the time to read every letter, I am sure."
And then Caius added a substantial number of letters of his own for whoever that lucky bugger would be.
Richard looked at his young charge sadly and passed a set of reins over before jumping into the saddle of his own horse.
"We've never had this sort of activities in the coven," he said. "We wanted to do something with you besides working in the guard hall. I'm sorry it's upset you so much."
Turk fiddled with the leather reins in his hands. "I didn't mean…"
Rich shook his head. He'd done talking. Steering his mount around, he pressed his heels in gently, and went to join everyone else.
"Right then," Aro called out. He quickly totted up the number of attendees. "Eleven each?" he asked Caius. "First full team across the line, wins."
Caius bobbed his head and safely added Odi and Turk's reports with the rest.
"You can have Felix," said Aro. Seeing his eldest son's face sour, he added, "Would you prefer it if I read your report now? I'm willing if you are."
Felix was not willing, no.
Aro went through them all, picking his team. "Demetri, Carlisle, Turk, Rich, El, Mikhail…"
Caius walked in front of Aro to stop him from picking anyone else. "My team is looking very heavy for this horse race, you cheating bastard."
Aro scanned the group. It was a fair comment - the likes of Phil, Afton, Alex, Lev, and Felix were all on the larger side of average. "Fine, you can have Alec, too."
Caius rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that will make all the difference."
"What's the prize?" Demetri asked his father. "You said it's a race, Dad."
Aro rolled his eyes. If they didn't start soon, the poor horses would die of old age. "In honour of this being our first session," he said. "When my team wins, Caius pays our tabs for the month."
Caius laughed. "I have the heavy drinkers, you fool!"
Aro laughed, too. "Heavy drinkers, or just heavy?"
"My lord," Afton called, his hand over his heart. "We have feelings."
"Some of us don't have bar tabs," Demetri reminded his father. He really wanted a prize, too!
"Like Odi?" said Alex with a grin.
Though he knew he should have, Odi couldn't hold his tongue. "Fuck off!" he barked in Alex's direction, baring his teeth.
"You're pissing me off now," Aro ground out in Odi's direction. He took the kid by his collar and dragged him back a step. "Keep it up and I'll have you running and riding until nightfall."
He hadn't been quiet in admonishing the truculent youth and neither did he pass comment on the tittering from the rest of the group when they heard. If Odi wanted to draw attention to himself, then he could suffer it all.
"If you don't have a tab," said Aro, to any whom it applied. "Caius will give you the cash."
Caius tutted at the continued implication that his team would fail. Seeing the chunky vampires on his side, he admitted it was likely, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion.
Standing with Alec, the only member of his team who weighed less than he did, Caius told the boy, "When we win, your old man will buy you a horse of your own." He saw Aro's face fall. "Where's the harm in saying you will if you're so convinced you'll win?"
"Fine," Aro ground out. "Alec gets a horse."
Alec damn near squealed! "I'd love a horse!" he rushed to say, thanking Caius for something he didn't yet, and might never have. "I can't ride very well, but…"
"You can't ride?" Caius watched the boy for a moment and realised how unnatural Alec appeared on horseback. How could it be possible that an 800-year-old being in their world could not ride a horse? "Move," Caius commanded. "Now, Alec."
He didn't wait for the boy to comply, instead pulling him down and half carrying, half dragging him along. Caius mounted his own horse and reached down to Alec.
"I want to ride on my own," Alec said as his body rose and then fell upon horseback again, this time to sit in front of Caius. It would have been more comfortable for Caius to have the boy sit behind him, but if Alec fell off, Sulpicia would bitch and whine until the cows came home, so in front it had to be. "I won't break it, I promise."
"I'm not forking out hundreds on bar bills for the privilege of losing this race."
He positioned Alec's legs evenly and made sure he was comfortable, then reached around him on either side to level out his hold on the reins. When Alec tried to join in and hold them himself, he received a few sharp slaps on his hands.
"Once we've won, you can ride."
…
Caius knocked back the last of his whiskey. He fancied another one, but ordered a bloodwine instead as it would draw less negative attention than a third whiskey in as many minutes.
"I still can't believe you've had Alec for 800 years and you've never taught him to ride a horse." Caius shook his head, but smiled briefly, remembering he'd won the race.
"I have!" Aro insisted. Then he paused and squinted into the air. He was sure he had at some point. "Well," he eventually said. "He's always been on my horse."
Caius laughed, but Magnus found it quite surprising. Vampires didn't need to ride horses, but it was a basic skill in his mind.
"That's pitiful, Aro."
Aro's shoulders dropped a little. It was now, he thought on it. "Caius has promised to teach him, anyway. Now I'm having to buy him a bloody horse."
Magnus side eyed the blond master. "That's unusually kind of you."
It had been a promise he'd made without thinking when Aro told the boy he wouldn't buy him a horse as he clearly couldn't ride one – evidenced by Alec riding with Caius which won them the race. Caius promised to teach him just to force Aro to put his hand in his pocket.
He was already regretting it.
"He was quite kind to your son today, too," Aro went on. "I was ready to murder the little sod. I don't know how Caius didn't!"
Again, Magus looked at Caius, and again, Caius offered no explanation.
As Basileus had finished picking through the kids' minds, he went picking through Caius' and then Aro's, too, for a better picture. Caius could have been nicer to Odi, but Odi needed a round of fucks for his lack of decorum.
"Some of it is in his report," the creator told Magnus, stressing heavily on 'some'. "I'm sure Caius will fill in any blanks."
Caius rolled his eyes and began muttering about stupid education programmes screwing with his life.
"They get two hours, then home," Aro continued, mainly to cover Caius' muttering. "And you need to pass on the reports from everyone else."
Magnus agreed. "Do you want Carlisle delivering, too?"
Basileus thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I think so, for the sake of ceremony. Although I won't stop him returning to the guard hall if all's well. I would suggest you do similarly with Odi, and I guess Corin - she's a tricky one, isn't she?"
"Aye. Turk, too. This is the problem with having young guards."
Aro helpfully suggested that the juggernaut should take both young guards out of the hall and into his own chambers to keep as his children. Magnus helpfully told him to sod off.
"Caius wants to start a family," said Aro. "He can take them."
Caius didn't get the chance to answer for himself - the juggernaut made a right old hash of it. "Absolutely not. That would effectively give them to me, so no."
"He means because we are in the same tower," Caius said quickly, covering for them both.
He shot a quick glare in the juggernaut's direction. Basileus watched both Caius' actions and Magnus glancing down momentarily before recovering himself. A clear, if momentary, sign of submission from the guard master for risking Caius' secrets in front of Aro. Very disappointing.
Aro might have noticed the interplay if he hadn't been drawn toward his eldest son attempting to sneak up the stairs to the guard dorms. "What were you told?" Aro snapped at the boy before vacating his seat to—as Felix would tell it—breath down his son's neck.
The creator remained fixed on Caius. When Freyr had told Odi earlier that day that Basileus was stalking Caius - she wasn't lying. He'd seen the cool, and occasionally cruel way Caius had treated the guard masters' son and he was displeased. To see him now treating Magnus similarly so increased that displeasure.
After a little more discussion, it was decided they would do the handover for Turk and Corin with Renata, Phillipe, and Richard. No one thought to ask Turk or Corin about it, but the older guards agreed to do their bit.
"So, Caius," said Basileus, now the questions about the young guards had been answered. "How were you and Odi together?"
'Why does everyone keep asking me that?' Caius didn't say it out loud, but Basileus heard him clearly. He also heard, 'and you fucking know, anyway'.
Seeing the creator's top lip twitch, Aro nudged his co-master. "Odi was spoiling for a fight, my lord," he answered when Caius still took too long. "I kept the kid busy. I thought it best."
"You are going to have to get better at playing with others, Caius," Magnus told the younger master. He could feel the tension rising through his emotional senses and worked on easing it a little.
"I don't want to play with others at all." Caius ordered another two whiskeys from Richard. "I want to be left alone."
"He'll have just the one, Rich, and make it his last," Basileus said. "Meet here, midnight. Bring their reports. I'd like to hear how today went from everyone involved. That includes you, Caius."
"Why?" Caius asked. It was closer to a whine than anyone had heard from him in a public forum for many years. He didn't care how he sounded - he was utterly exasperated with being forced to take a role he neither wanted nor felt required. "I've got no skin in this game and…"
"I've already told you why." Basileus could feel his cool walking right out the door. "I want to hear from everyone involved."
"They aren't my kids. It doesn't matter what I think."
"They are the kids in our family, Caius."
"Your family."
"You're all MY family and…" The creator paused and flexed his fists. Stretching out the tension in his neck, he leaned in close to Caius and growled down his ear. "You're getting on my last nerve, boy."
Standing tall again, Basileus dragged Aro in on his complaints. "Neither of you are sitting here drinking the evening away. Aro, you need to be home to receive them later…"
"I don't have anyone to receive," Caius muttered into his glass.
"I'm sure you have some work to do as you've done not a scrap today - too much time moaning about your time being wasted on pointless activities. To Freyr, to Atia, to Eleazar, to Aro, to Magnus—" Basileus stopped to check the master's thoughts again "—and to half the guards!"
The rumble in the creator's chest vibrated his core - he'd be roaring in the guard hall for all to hear if Caius didn't rein himself in quickly. When Caius shrugged and replied with 'not really," Basileus dragged him off the chair and to his feet.
"Then find somewhere quiet to sit and contemplate your current attitude problem."
Caius shook his head and began wiping the splash of whiskey on his tunic. "What attitude problem?"
"That one!" Basileus ground out. "Aro, I hope you're going to reinforce what a good opportunity this is to your children? They need to understand this is a positive thing, and that they have to give it their all."
"Of course," Aro readily agreed. He wasn't sure why Caius had decided on a death wish, but he wasn't going down with him. He kept a deferentially serious facade until his father turned on his heel and left the hall.
Once he believed Basileus was out of earshot, Aro asked his co-master what the hell was going on.
"You tell me - he's your old man!"
Aro wondered for a moment. Caius was certainly being abrasive, but Basileus also seemed to be on his back about something. "You exploded in the guard hall recently?"
Caius shrugged.
Basileus swung back around the corner. "That has been adequately dealt with," he said, startling Caius and Aro, who suddenly sat up rigidly straight on their bar stools. "Yet your attitude remains as you have proved with your abrasion towards our new plans."
Concentrating on keeping his mind clear of the obscenities he wished to say, Caius nodded once at the creator and turned away to concentrate on Rich washing glasses behind the bar.
Aro continued to watch the doorway to the guard hall for a while, listening hard to his father's footsteps as they moved away. He sighed to himself when the presence of his father's bad temper was quickly replaced with his dear mother's.
"We need to find your brother."
Aro tutted at his mother and made no effort to move. "I haven't laid a finger on your precious baby."
"Not that brother." Something about Atia's clipped tone and the stomp to her step unnerved the coven king. Trying to play it cool, he said his goodbyes to Caius and Magnus, neither of whom could prevent the smirk tugging at their lips and followed his mother dearest along like a puppy.