Nightly Lessons Book I: The Book of Beginnings

[Peeker]

"First Magi Infernum... A Hell's magician?"

"Aye. He was the first to successfully plumb those depths, and actually create a system for it... and he's remained the most advanced master of them, for that matter. He's written books... I somehow doubt he'll want you looking at them for quite some time, though..."

"He... hadn't told me a whole lot about himself..."

"Well, he does appreciate his privacy...I'm sure you know that."

The two mopped in amiable (to Dimitrius, at least) silence for a bit.

"You really shouldn't be doing that. It's my chore..."

Dimitrius smiled, and imitated Alice, helping her clean the windows with magic of his own - moving no faster than she was, of course. "...chores are just that, Miss Harker. A chore. I am happy to help you with them. It is not as though you won't be doing it by yourself next time."

"Lets see.... there was Lucy, Carmilla, and... Sara I think. I don't remember the last one."

"So he's shown you the family?" He nodded, and shifted his weight a little, enjoying the feeling of throwing his body into the manipulation, leaning back and forth with the magic. "...wonderful. He usually shows his girls the latest picture of the House just before a Blood Moon Festival. ...I understand you'll be joining us at this one - I look forward to it... it is a wonderful event. Very important for us." The elder added.

He paused, for a moment, and his mop went still. "...Lady Lucy, Miss Carmilla... ...Lady Sara..." He stroked his beard. "...perhaps the last was the Duchess? Tanya Delclaire?" He smiled softly. "Wonderful lady. She is a member of our Defense Councils... Along with Warlord Dornell, who, as I understand it, you have already met?"

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice stiffened at the mention of Razziel. She had danced around his name because she still couldn't displace the memory of Janus beating from him at the table. What was worse, it hadn't been his fault at all the Razziel lashed out. If she ha dkept her loud trap shut maybe nothing would have happened, even if it wasn't likely. The man threatened to contine the matter on a later day.

"I wouldn't call anthing related to that being as 'met'," Alice couldn't hit her distaste for the man, the venom in her voice clear. Even calling a being was the closest to polite she could get unless he was standing in front of her. "The only good thing about meeting the S.O...." Alice felt the small hair on the back of her neck rise to a stand. Looking behind a little, she could see Dimitrius daring her to finish the insult. ".... was that I finally got to met someone my age."

She smiled a little, recalling how fun it had been to dance with him while Aleks and Mikeal playing, it had been fun, if not a little 'loving' on the fledglings side. Alice still wasn't aware of what she was doing to poor Janus sometimes.

Thinking for a moment, Alice suddered at the memory of the items Dimitrius gave Aleks and looked suddenly distrusting at him. Did he still use those horrible things? She wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to set him in the same place as Mathew and Razziel. He was more close to Lucy on her list, not exactly hated, not currently unliked.

"You said you turned Aleks right?" She hadn't realized she had stop using formalities with her Grandsire, although she wasn't using his name either. "He told me his had a kid once... a daughter..."

her throut tightened for a second, feeling that maybe it was getting to personal on Aleks' half and maybe she should be asking him instead.

"Why did you pick him? Of all the people in the world, why Aleks?"

She had stopped mopping, using the staff to support her weight and she lend on it.

[Peeker]

Dimitrius' face, which had been studying Alice a bit intently since her rant at Razziel, relaxed. He continued mopping.

"He'd been hit by an arrow. It might not have been fatal... but... perhaps it would have been. I was hungry. I smelt blood. I drank it. As we all do. He was a healthy young man. Women and children would not fit our needs - we were at war. So when I saw him injured, I took it upon myself to bring him into our fold."

He considered the mop, and raised it, letting it float back to its bucket. "...many of us had family, Miss Harker. Sons and daughters, parents, friends... what we do is make the best of what remains for us. ...and until recently, much of that involved the Hunt. People die. They have since I was mortal. ...some of them, however... some 'get better'... as it was. ...and you'll meet many of them at the Festival."

He cleared his throat, and looked back at the girl. "...and I have never felt ashamed for turning Aleksandr. He is a fine man - too fine to waste a mere few decades over. He is Worthy. Truly. You agree, yes?"

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

"Hunt?" Alice stiffened at the word and let it roll off her tongue like it was something foal. It reminded her too much of her own turning, what she remembered of it. "So you could justify it as a whim to bite him?"

She stopped short and looked at the floor, chasting herself.

"Sorry... I didn't mean for it to come out like that... it's just..." She chewed her lip a little and returned to mopping turning her back slightly onhim, though not as she had done of the bed. "... it just sounds soo... unreasonably of a reason."

She redipped the mop and allowed her hair to fall in front of her face, hiding it from sight. Women and children didn't fit their needs, huh? What about her and Janus then? Why had they been bitten of all people? Again she recalled the night when she had heard her attacker was found and the flare of her temper cause the staff of the mop to creak in her hands due to her grip.


"Yeah, he's okay I guess," She didn't want to say anything beyond that point. She did love Aleks, he was her 'daddy' after all, but the fact that he hadn't let her have a go at Mathew... "When he plays fair."

She began mopping once more, tossing a bit more water then need, as she suddenly lost the will for company. She wanted to be alone and let her temper cool, the pain in her rear gone as she had resently drunk her daily morning blood.

[Peeker]

All things considered, there was no need to answer Alice's first question. Dimitrius let her continue to talk.

"When he plays fair?" Dimitrius chuckled, and called his mop back to him to continue the work. "Miss Harker, in case you haven't noticed, 'fair' is not a requirement, neither in life, nor of a vampire. If Aleksandr has been fair to you, it is a great kindness he's done. ...not to mention a dangerous one. Being fair risks giving you the belief that you actually have rights in this place beyond those that Aleksandr gives to you... such as the right to lose your temper, or to talk about your Sire behind his back."

The man let the mop float off on its own. "I must admit, Miss Harker, I'm ashamed that you'd speak of Aleksi with such a tone in your voice. What could he have done that would even suggest you could be so insolent?"

He returned to the implement, and continued sweeping it across the floor. "If anything, a proper lady should spend her time praising her sire, regardless of how she feels. The very mention of his name should have drawn a compliment or anecdote from your lips, as you admitted your devotion to Leksi, for all his generosity..."

"If I'd heard such a noise from a girl I was raising, I'm afraid you'd have a hard time sitting for the rest of the day, I'll tell you." The man added, gruffly, as he continued to work.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

*SNAP!* *clatter clonk*

Half of Alice's mop fell the floor as her temper finally reached it's peek, causing her to tighten her grip so hard that the wood couldn't take it.

"Hey, I never asked for this you know," Alice growled, her hands bleeding lightly although they would heal quickly. "I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be back in my real home with my real family, but I know I can't because I'm not alive to them anymore, so don't think for a second I don't know life isn't fair! I accept that..."

She glared at him, the rage growing slightly more.

"... but Aleks doesn't play fair in the lest, escpecially when he won't even let me have the right to rip Mathew in half for what he did to me."

All logic went out the window as Alice tossed the broken peices of wood to the side, crossed her arms and sneer at him, she chances of stopping herself long gone as she put hte icing on the cake.

"Well welcome to the Twenty first centuary Mac," She guestured to herself. "I'm a mordern day teen, not some dress up doll from your time that spews up words just because somebody brain washed her too. There is no such thing as a Lady in the day and age so wake the fuck up!"

Her words rang in the large room and just as she finished her rant, Alice paled realizing what she had just said, or rather yelled at the elder. Without thinking more on it, Alice broke into a run and out the door while Dimitrius was still in shock over the language his granddaughter seemed to pocess.

[Peeker]

"......"

Aleksandr looked at the glass of water sitting on the table next to him. It had rippled. His nostrils flared. What.... what was going on?

The man stepped out of the room, into a hallways being charged down by a pair of screaming imps.

"KRgananh! Tiiiya! Yi-tor-Deeee!"

Boom.

The two went spiraling down the hallway in the direction they'd come, as Aleksandr turned and hurried down the stairs. He recognized this sensation. This was magic being pulled into his Sire. This was Dimitrius, upset. This was...

"Oh no.... Alice!" The man hurried down towards the ballroom, shuddering through the air, quick as the night itself.

He found the pair about ten strides into the Great Hall. Alice, from her... 'vantage point'... could make out the suit of armor she and Janus had knocked over a few days ago.

The girl was floating, her feet a foot in the air, bent over and hanging by her bottom. Her clothes were gone: not ripped, not torn, simply gone. She hung in the air, literally bright red with embarrassment.

Oh, and anger. Being stripped naked and forced to float, magically bound, in the air had a tendency to make Alice angry.

"....your little girl is about to be corrected, Aleksi. I am very disappointed in you."

Aleksandr paled. It wasn't Alice he'd said that to.

"Sire?"

"You heard me, Aleksi. You have been soft on this girl! She is a horrendously rude little creature! I know you love her, but by the Fires, boy! You are raising an imp, not a woman!"

"My Lord!" Aleksandr protested. "Absolutely-"

"Silence, Aleksi." The man warned, dangerously. "Worthy or not, you will speak when spoken to in your Sire's presence."

Aleksandr looked sharply at Dimitrius, but held his tongue.

"...now, Miss Har... I'm sorry, little Alice. I would have you tell your Sire just what you told me before I begin to correct you - and if I have to tell him what you said, you'll find yourself in much more trouble. Is that understood? You have one chance. Use it now: what did you say?"

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice looked look was going to burst into tears on the spot, her anger disappearing the moment she heard Aleks' voice. She had hoped to reach Aleks before Dimitirus had caught up with her, but being not only bound in the air and strippedas well... she honestly wanted to just crawl into her room and never come out again.

She couldn't even get herself to look Aleks in the eyes and tell him, once again her wonderful temper had gotten the better of her and her lovely old habit had just appeared in front of Dimitrius. Doing her best to cover her front and save some modesty, Alice focus her eyes on the floor.

'It's over... I know it. Now Dimitrius hates me, and Aleks is never going to speak to me again!' She didn't know what hurt more. The failure of showing Dimitrius that Aleks wasn't at fault for her behavior, or that she had managed to give Dimitrius the worest first impression since the time of the Crusades. 'Oh God, I'm sorry Aleks...'

She took several breaths, fighting back her tears of shame, before she finally repeated her words.

"I said... 'Well welcome to the Twenty first centuary Mac. I'm a mordern day teen, not some dress up doll from your time that..." She struggled for a moment, her throat locking up and gave a tiny whimper. "... that spews up words just because somebody brain washed her too...."

She finally bared to glance a little up, looking at Aleks' shoes, but couldn't bring herself to look any high as she finally forced the last bit out with much pain and difficulty.

"There is no such thing as a Lady in the day and age so wake the fuck up!"

The words hung in the air as she lowered her head completely, using her hair as a veil to hde her face. She couldn't look at either of them and hugged herself closer.

'I should have stay in bed,' She thought to herself. 'I should have stayed locked in my room, in bed, and never have come out... There's no way in hell I can fix this. No possible way.'

[Peeker]

The silence that filled the hallway was impressive. A grandfather clock twenty paces away was the only sound that filled Aleksandr's ears.

"...Do you doubt my judgment, 'Leksi?" Dimitrius' voice was grim, pounding the silence apart. "Your girl has spoken, without question, out of turn, and I will be punishing her for it."

Aleksandr knelt down, trying to get Alice to look at him.

"...I asked you a question Aleksandr."

Aleksandr stood. "...and I heard you, Sire. I understand that you are within your rights, and I heartily agree that my love deserves to be punished for her behavior... but..." He took a step closer to Alice. "...I do not need to read minds to know that she's already hurting far worse than what you'll be doing to her."

Aleksandr reached out behind him, and was suddenly sitting in a chair. He lifted one leg, and crossed it over the other.

"Alice."

Dimitrius looked at the man dryly, knowing that he'd been given everything he'd asked from Aleksandr, save that dedication he desired - that loyalty that he was currently showing to his girl. ...and while displeased, he could respect it.

"Alice."

Aleksandr leaned forward. "...so long as you hold yourself to my standards, you are a Lady. Just because our kind are rare does not mean they do not exist."

There was a silence.

"...and this is very important, Alice." A pause. "Are you listening to me?"

Aleksandr stretched further forward, hands pressed together. "You are always welcomed in this House. You are loved, and shall be loved forever. You are wanted, and shall never be unwanted. You are important. You are special. You are mine, no matter what you have done, or will do. ...and what I am most disappointed in is not your temper, nor your rudeness... and it is for that reason that I am not the one punishing you. Your offenses against Lord Dimitrius have garnered you a punishment. What you have done to me, however, has only earned my sadness."

"I am sad that you have forgotten this, Alice. I am sad that you would lower yourself, to forget the standard I hold you to, that you would doubt that I love you. For this, you need to be corrected."

Aleksandr straightened in his chair, and nodded to his Sire.

"...I am not going to leave you. ...I love you very much, my Alice."

Alice's sensitive ears could hear the muscles tensing in the men's bodies, as Dimitrius, unseen behind her, pulled his arm back.

"...now that you've had your heart-to-heart with your Sire, girl, I shall attend to the business at hand." Dimitrius lectured. "...correcting your mistake."

He swung.

The razor strop flexed like a belt, bit like a strap, and sounded like a cannon. The enormous piece of leather rode the arc of air that Dimitrius' insanely powerful arm cut for it, and struck Alice so hard that she swung back and forth through the air as though on a rocking chair.

WHAM.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice tensed at everything Aleks said. She couldn't look at him, unable to get herself to feel that she had that right to and when he knelt down to try and see her face, she curled up in the air and shut her eyes, bitting the tip of her tongue to stop herself from saying anything else or crying. She wanted to plead Aleks to at lest give her a T-shirt to wear or just something, so that she wouldn't be nude in front of either of them. She wanted to plead for Aleks not to let Dimitrius be her punisher but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

'I don't even have the right too...' she moved her hands so that they covered her breast and gripped her arms painfully, setting her claws into the flesh as tears leaked from her eyes. She want to be held by Aleks. 'Christ Alice, you retard! Why not just go the Vadican while you're at it!'

She was listening to what Aleks had to say, she just didn't give any visible or audio sound that she was. When his soft voice voice finally said those last words, "...I am not going to leave you. ...I love you very much, my Alice.", she couldn't help but release a small sob mixed with a frightened whimper as it felt like a knife was twisted deep into her heart.

"I'm sorry..." She voice was tiny, and soft, barely even a whisper by vapire standards so Aleks barely caught it as she heard both of them tense. "I'm so sorry..."

...now that you've had your heart-to-heart with your Sire, girl, I shall attend to the business at hand....correcting your mistake."

Dimitrius sounded more frightening to her then Razziel ever had at that very moment and like an idiot, Alice's body tense. Whether he was doing it on purpose or not, or if he knew how she was hearding him, Alice felt at it held a heavy air disappoint and coldness that made her feel hated in someway, which was half right. Dimitrius hated her behavior, but he didn't hate her as a whole.

WHAM.

"AGH!" Alice couldn't even bring a cry out at the feel of the razor strop, as it wrapped around her presented rear and left a long red strip in it's wake. It hurt like nothing else in the world and although the tears now where release as she couldn't help but snap open her eyes, the cry of pain was trapped inside of herself in some chock hold. "mmmmg..."

The tiny whimper of pain was the only thing that told her she had felt it, as tremors ran threw her bod, a mixture of fear, pain, and cold from the night air around her while her body rocked at the forced of the lash. She curled up tight, trying to made herself smaller then she ready was although her bottom was still and easy target.

WHAM.

Another strike fell on her, pulling another chocked cry from her followed by a whimper. She was so quiet, compared to the other times she was being punished for something, the time she had willingly come to Aleks on the night of her five spankings in a row, She had voiced her pain in some form. Here, she could bared get it out of her throut and even in her mind, the choas raged about only stopping for a second at the cannon like sound before it would continue.

WHAM.