Nightly Lessons Book I: The Book of Beginnings

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice just cried into Aleks' chest. Her bottom hurt so badly, even the cool air of the room felt painful. She sobbed loudly like the five year old well punish child she looked and felt like, using what little energy she had in the current form.

SWAT!.................. SWAT!

Mikeal finally bannishing the ruler back to his office and pulled Janus into a hug as well, leaning back in the chair so that the boy lay resting against his chest. This way, the boy could be close without anything touching his well reddened rear.

"Sssssh, that's my good Janus," He patted the boy on the back and gingerly rocked him somewhat in the hold while petting his hair. "I love you so much, Janus, you took your spanking like a good boy. Ssssh, it's alright now, let everything out..."

He off handedly called upon two small pillows and a large banket. Again, the change of age often made fledglings highly emotional and with the spanking that Alice and Janus had had, it could easily make them more tired. It that was the case, He and Aleks could let them 'nap' in the livingroom where the two of them would be able to greet them again once they would awaken again.

[Peeker]

"Alice... my Alice... here's my good girl - right here with me.... shhh..... shhhhh....." Aleksandr stroked her hair, smiling at Mikeal - the love in the man's heart filled the air. He was proud of Mikeal, as proud as he was of his own Alice. Aleksandr had raised the man in his own way, from the shadows, whenever Razziel wasn't around to stop him... and he was proud to see his pupil had done well.


"Nngh! Unnnnhunnn! Whaaaaaaa!" The eight year old buried himself into Mikeal, sobbing louder now that it was over. "Be good! Will! L..... laaaaaaaannnnnnnnnhhhh!" His words crumbled back into incoherent sobbing as Janus held his sire tightly.

The man's large hands held him close, and already, Janus could feel his heart slowing down, his breathing starting to become regular... He never wanted to leave the man's arms, not ever. ....never wanted to do what he'd done again... never wanted to disappoint him, never wanted to get punished like that ever again.

...it would happen, of course. ...but now he couldn't imagine ever being anything but the best little boy Mikeal had ever seen - and he cried, and hugged, and hiccuped until it became easier to stay quiet, and whisper his apologies into Mikeal's neck.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice was still crying though not as strong as before,her one hand gripping Aleks' shirt as her other rubbed her eyes free of tears, making them redder then they would have been alone. Her small frame still jerked with the sob mixed breaths and the hic-ups she had gotten but she finally leaned into Aleks' hold and set about bitting her thumb to relocate the pain in her rear, not that it helped much.

"Sohicsohicsorry," She somehow managed to chock out and buried her face into Aleks' shirt. "A-A-Alice hic be good hic. Promhicmise."

She felt tired in his hold as she eyes drooped once more. Her body demanded rest so that it could focus on healing the aftermath of the brush to her backside.

Mikeal just rocked Janus softly in his arms, smiling at the proud look on Aleks' face. He felt a warm scense of pride fill him, knowing that Aleksandr was please with his work, pleased to see a caring sire comforting his fledgling and not that cold shadow of Razziel.

"Ssssh, it's okay... you're a good boy, I kow you are...." He looked at Alice for a second and smiled at the sight of her bitting her thumb so innocently in Aleks' hold.Despite her attitude she truely was a 'Daddy's girl' when her defenses were down. "Both you and Alice are our good Alice and Janus now. Shhhh, it's okay. You're forgiven..... i know you both will be on youyr bestest behavior for the rest of tonight. I'm sure Aleks does too, now shhhhhh...."

[Peeker]

"...that's my girl.... shhh....." Aleksandr knelt down next to the blanket Mikeal had provided as Alice fell asleep, and regretfully, carefully, gently slid her under it, changing her little-girl jumper into a simple nightgown in which she could rest without worrying about the many layers of fabric hurting her bottom further.


"Uh.. huh..." Janus gave a weak, semi-conscious smile at the word 'bestest', and found himself readily obeying his Sire, just like a good boy, and quieting down.

The child limply fell asleep without another word, the rocking all the push he needed to go somewhere his red bottom couldn't hurt him anymore: he was a good boy - he didn't need that. His sire had said so.


Aleksandr smiled at Mikeal again, and, never taking his eyes off Alice, slowly lowered himself to the ground, leaning against the wall behind him, looking at her sleep the sleep of angels.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal gently lifted Janus and waved his hand gently over the boy, changing the overalls and T shirt into long dark blue night shirt with black short on it. On the chest of the shirt was a picture of Tigger with a nightcap on saying 'Even Tiggers gotta sleep yah know'.

"...good boy, now you just take a nice nap here..." He lay Janus next to Alice noting the nightgown she now wore. "... how cute, Aleks. It really suits her..."

It was a classic period nightgown, the kind that was sweet but modest at the same time. Made of out cotton, the gown would allow Alice to sleep comfortly without over heating in it. a boxed lined set of frils and laces ran accross the chest ling and the sleeves were long and ended in frilly cuffs, even the hem had a frilly lining to it.

Alice turned in her sleep lightly from her stomach to her side, wincing in her sleep as her bottom lightly touched the flor but didn't awaken.

"I should have known..." Mikeal laughed softly under his breath as he lay Janus next to her. In place of where normally a small rosebud made of cloth would be was the Rastline crest in what appeared to be a plastic jewel on the center of her chest. "She''l always bare that crest if you can help it no?"

He gently tucked the two in and looked at Aleks calmly.

"Can I get you anything while we wait for them to recover? A cup of tea and a good book?"

[Peeker]

Aleksandr looked like a man giving his daughter away at a wedding. His face was lined with tension, a smile so deep on the inside, it threatened to crack him.

His Alice just looked so...

"Tea would be nice...." The man steepled his fingers, and brought his hands up to his mouth.

...so like Alice. Like the sweet girl he loved so dearly. He had met this Alice, this little girl, so long after he'd met the angry child he took in... but this little princess was the one on the inside, that kept tugging his heartstrings, the one who really ran the show.


Janus, fighting for affection even in his sleep, tightly gripped his pillow, pulling it underneath his chest, and squeezed it with all his little-boy might.

"......yes...." The boy affirmed to someone in some dream, head lolling over the edge of his pillow, pressing into the floor.


"....it suits him." Aleksandr said softly. "He...." The man shook his head, incredulous at his own ignorance. "He needs this. Just... look at him Mikeal. You two are... you're fit so well."

The man's face clouded, but softened, looking at the children. While he knew plenty about Alice's family and turning, Janus' past was not one he knew much about... other than that he had a father-musician, a mother, and a sister...

...they certainly sounded kind enough - they had a good son, that was for certain. Was it really just Razziel that had made Janus what he was? Or was there somehting more to the family Bell that he simply hadn't told them?

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal used the microwave this time to heat the water and brought two cups of Earl Grey and Darjeeling. He handed one cup to Aleks and took his place on the other side of the children where Alice had once again tangled Janus' long strands of hair into her fingers, her thumb still between her teeth although it was lax.

"Thank you Aleks. You have no idea how much that means for me to hear that," Mikeal gently brushed a few stray hairs out of Janus' face. "He's a good boy, I'm sure his parents weere very loving like Alice's... I must admit of all the people he could have gone to why Razziel I'll never know..."

He sipped his tea and smiled at Aleks fondly.

"But I guess I should be thankful. After all if not for that, I would never have had Janus in my home to begin with." He then looked at the elder closely and smiled. "Penny for your thoughts?"

[Peeker]

The man sipped his tea.

"..."

"In for a penny, in for a pound, Mikeal....." Aleksandr warned. The man, of course, made no attempt to cry off. "...I want them to stay like this. ....I want..." The man leaned his head back against the wall.

"I want to sit at a table again... with Lucy... Dimitrius... Razziel... ....Sara." The man's face hardened, that cracking look coming over it again. "I miss the old days, Mikeal. I feel.. lonely. Now that I have Alice.... its as though she's all I've got. My brother-in-arms has become a traitor, my love has gone away... my friends work with me out of love, but against me because... well... they know better..." Aleksandr sipped his tea again, grimacing. "...I just want an old bottle of wine... and to look at them all again... all of us old... but still young. I miss is. I really and truly do miss the old days..."

Aleksandr smiled grimly. "...but we don't die. The only thing that's really changed is how we treat each other." A shadow fell over the room, and for a moment, it seemed as though Aleksandr was thirty years younger, no older than Mikeal was. ...and then that glam vanished. "...everything else... we can bring back..."

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal looked knowingly at the man and nodded.

"I must admit I know little of the pain you suffered due to Razziel's cruelty, but I know the feeling of a lost love," Mikeal leaned back, resting against the sofa. "Gabby never looked at mee the same after she tasted the cane from Razziel's hand. I dare say she blamed me for what happened, I know that I did. After all what friend just stands to the side and allows a tyrrant to beat an innocent girl whom has done nothing except point out the truth. That we were in the house of Rastline and not Dornell.."

He sipped his tea and smiled at the man.

"You're daughters never forget you, nor hate you. They write and ask how you are. The sons of Dornell however..." Mikeal guestured towards Janus and himself. "... pertend that they never came from the housee and do all they can to distance themselves from it. Why do you think I live in Britan? I know that I have brothers besides Janus yet I have never met any of them."

Mikeal smiled at the old vampir before him.

"No my friend you are not alone. I'm sure after Alice 'grows up' she will visit ou often, dragging her own fledgings along so that they may get to know you as well," Mikeal smiled and placed a finger over his lips. "In fact, she writes highly of you in her letters to me. True there are a few where she's slightly upset and writes a few choice words words, but her next letter often takes them back. She compairs you often to her father."

He smiled at the elders surpirse.

"Don't tell her though that i have told you. I was sworen to secretcy," Mikeal grinned. "As for sitting about the table like old times, why not invite Dimitrius and Lucy over at the same time? It may help ease such pain, and I'm sure Alice would love to get to know her Grand Sire personaly rather then read about him and as for Lucy, she seems fond of the woman for having only met her a few times..."

Mikeal ddin't know that Alice had been spanked by the woman and harbored a few sour feelings towards her, nothing that wouldn't ease with a little time.

"... if it would make it easier on you, Janus and myself could possibly join you as soon as this fresh blood is free of his system. I'm sure they would both like it."

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

(Technical problem, please delet this)