Nightly Lessons Book I: The Book of Beginnings

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal kept a firm eye on Janus before taking the brush from him and rinsing it. He then picked Janus up and willed a stool over to the same corner Lucy had pinned him during Valentine's visit. He forcefully set the seething boy dwn facing the corner with a quick and hard swat to his rear.

SMACK!

"You will stay here, nose in the corner and silent until I say otherwise, understood?" Mikeal ordered and then turned to Aleks and Alice as if nothing had happened. "I'm sorry, I'm being a poor host. Please, lets us retire to the sitting room."

"What about Jan...."

"Janus is being cranky and needs a time out," Mikeal started calmly. "I must ask you leave him alone, now shall we?"

"But.."

[Peeker]

Janus' only response to Mikeal's question was to slap the wall. He would have slapped the gate, making a much more satisfying noise, but he didn't want the hounds to get loose. His body hunched and tensed, and his cheeks flushed red.

"But nothing, Alice. A sire's duty is to care for his fledgling as he sees fit." The man considered Janus, his posture tense, though unpensive. "...if a little boy needs something, it is his father who gives it to him - whether he agrees with his father, or not, he is still a child - and must obey."

He stood, and offered the girl a hand. "Come along, dear. We'll go and sit in the other room, and leave Janus to his cornertime."

Cranky. The thought bubbled up. Janus felt so.... incapabable right now. His choices were to think he was cranky and cry, or know he was right, and seethe.

The puppies began to whine, smelling the rage in the air. Caboose barked.

Janus raged.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal turned and grabbed Janus' overall straps and lifted the boy just enough to give him two more firm swats.

SMACK! SMACK!

"Don't hit the walls," He stated in a firm voice that still sounded as if he was speaking to a very small child. "When naughty little boys and girlsare on the naughty stool they need to sit quietly and think about why they're sitting there."

He then sat Janus down on the stool again and then turned and walked into the sitting room.

Alice didn't miss that Mikeal had said 'boys and girls' about the stool but she became angry herself over the way he talked to Janus.

"That doesn't mean you guys get to bait him!" Alice argued, refusing Aleks' hand and glared at Mikeal. "And you don't have to be a jerk towards him Mikeal."

Mikeal stopped short of the livingroom and stiffened. He couldn't explain his reasons to Alice. It was a different world for her to understand why. He ignorred her and stepped into the livingroom and sat down, leaving Aleks to tell his Alice why.

[Peeker]

Janus flailed until Mikeal was out of his range.

His breathing started to get heavier. His eyes were flashing gold. The puppies were whimpering.

"Do you remember how angry I was at you, Alice?" Aleksandr asked, watching the man stiffen. He was truly a Dornell, in some ways no different than the day Aleksandr had met him. "That was because of how important this was to me. Right now, Mikeal is upset as well. I've just spanked you love. You need to believe me - this is not our business. We're going to listen to our host, sit down, and let him do his job."

Aleksandr put a soft hand on her shoulder and walked towards the sitting room.

Janus sat their quietly, eyes glowing brighter, listening to the dogs whine, and eventually, start to cry.

"I'm done with the corner, Mikeal!" He announced, cheerily. "You get over here and beat me now, or I swear, your dogs are going to hate both of us for a long time! They already hate me!" He didn't want to hurt anything innocent right now - he just wanted Mikeal's heart in his hands, and since he couldn't do it, he would settle for lying over Mikeal's lap, laughing at him.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

"No you're not," Mikeal called back as he took a seat. The puppies would have to accept it. "Now you will calm down and be silent!"

Mikeal looked at Aleks disheartedly.

"Tell me, is it always trying like this?"

Alice however didn't follow.

"You're both being unfair." She flinched at the puppies crying. "Janus stop it! You upsetting Klo!"

Lucy walked into the room looking upset. She gave a small growl and neared the gate to try and comfort her pups.

[Peeker]

Aleksandr snapped his fingers, and Alice found herself flung back into the room.

"I'm very sorry, Alice, but you've never seen an angry hound before." He immediately let the girl out of his arms, where she'd gone rushing to, and pointed.

Lucy was biting and snapping inches away from where Alice had been.

Janus bit back a curse - he wasn't in the mood for any more soap - and lifted himself up long enough to sit on his hands - he didn't want to hit the cage and let the animals loose.... He closed his eyes, and tried to breathe. Do it for Alice. Relax.

The boy wasn't exactly calming down - he pulled his hands back up, and crossed his arms. Closed his eyes, lowered his head.... brow furrowed, lip curled... he sat, and waited.

The dogs kept making noise.

"...early on? Oh my, yes. The only reason it doesn't happen to Razziel is because he puts fresh children into shock. To be frank, you can expect this often - especially if you use that spell... as you know. If your aim in all this is what I assume it is, then you're doing just fine." Aleksandr sat back, and exhaled.

"Did Edward get one of your new pups yet?"

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice yelped when she felt the sudden tug and found herself in Aleks' arms. Mikeal frowned and rose from his seat. Glaring, his eyes flashed green as he waked over to both Lucy and Caboose, grabbing them by the collars and forcing them back in the pen, although not without some battle wonds. Lucy turned her head quick and snapped her jaw shut on his hand and jerked her head, tearing it.

"Yes, he did," Mikeal looked passively at his hand and walked back to the kitchen to clean it. "And the fool gave me more trouble by appearing in my home without me being here."

Alice looked shell shocked as Mikeal's hand, and slowly reached out on to grasp Alek's pant leg.

"As for you..." Mikeal walked over and grabbed Janus by the scruff of his shirt and took three quick strides into the livingroom. "I think we may have to give you something else to think about while you're on that chair."

Mikeal didn't force Janus to look at him this time, merely undid the bo's overalls and pulled them down. with a shudder of magic, the paddle found itself in Mikeal hand and quickly desended onto the boy's rear.

"You CRACK will SMACK calm SMACK down!" Mikeal was quick, only giving the boy a warm up before he would be placed back on the stool. "Is CRACK that SMACK clear!"

[Peeker]

The boy smiled. Mikeal was angry.

Score one.

His eyes dug deep into the wall, and rode through the swats without a sound.

"....mhm." The boy hissed an affirmative. He exhaled, and his shoulders lowered. The pain was incredible for such a small bottom. Aleksandr's paddle was awful. He said nothing else, merely waited to be put back on the stool.


Aleksandr scooped Alice up, and wrapped his arms around her. "Sorry, love. Are you alright?"

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal was furious to say the lest, his temper almost matching Razziel. He gave the boy about ten more swats with the paddle when it suddenly was yanked voilently out of his hand. Glaring, Mikeal looked up, thinking Aleks had intervined only to see it was Alice who was holding out her tiny hand willing the paddle away from him.

"Stop it." She stated before Mikeal could say anything to her. She was shaking in Aleks hold, the man whom was looking crossly at her wasn't the Mikeal she knew.

Mikeal glared at her for a moment but never the lest stood up and placed Janus back on the stool with a lightly pink bottom.

"Sit and be silent!" He ordered and then looked at Aleks. "I do not apperciate this Aleksandr. not in the less."

Alice however had curled tighter to Aleks, knowing she shouldn't have done anything but at the same time was proud for having hit the target correctly on the first try.

[Peeker]

Janus was smiling widely. This was wonderful. Mikeal was livid. One of the puppies barked happily when Janus found himself (painfully) plopped onto the seat. His smile faded, and Lucy whined once sympathetically for him.

"Neither do I." Aleksandr said, tugging the paddle from Alice's hand. He never broke eyecontact with Alice. "...I suppose you've upset the girl. Perhaps, while Janus finishes his cornertime-"

Aleksandr wrapped his hands protectively over Alice, making his message clear. Mikeal's anger was a valuable tool for the man to learn how to use with his fledgling - but this was why Aleksandr had first doubted his ability to be a sire. This was an important test for Mikeal, whether he knew it or not.

"-perhaps we should let him listen, while we talk with my little Alice, and help her understand why you are in the right, and why she's being a very bad girl by testing your patience - and in turn mine. I would hope that after that little outburst, she would apologize to you and promise that she won't do anything else - even though she was very concerned right now."

Aleksandr was pulling every string he could to drop Alice a hint. The next button Alice pushed might require Aleksandr to use force against Mikeal to keep her safe. That was not something anyone needed right now - least of all Mikeal, who might not have anyone to care for his hounds while he recovered.