Nightly Lessons Book I: The Book of Beginnings

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice looked at the words with confusion. He was right, she only knew a few words of Latin, liberate, tu, inferum, but none of them were on the pages.

"I... I see," She looked sadly at the book. "Alright, Aleksandr. I won't."

The truth was, she was just bored with the current lessons she had with him. They were so... first grade like in the feel of things.

[Peeker]

"Good." He stood up, gesturing to her to do the same. "What say we go to the ballroom, hm? We'll see if some music will cheer you up."

Aleksandr had been a musician even before his encounter with his sire, and had enthusiastically encouraged Alice to pick up an instrument from his collection. Unfortunately, that also meant it was pretty hard to fool him about how much practicing the girl had done between their lessons - not only could he smell fear, he could hear improvement.

Music always cheered him up, though, so he supposed she'd look forward to it.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice followed suit remembering she hadn't practiced any of her music since last month. She had been busy with other things, namely memorizing names that Aleksandr wanted her to remember, which wasn't going well either.

"Right... music..." Alice followed behind him. This was not good, not good at all. "Umm, how about you play something and I listen..."

They entered the ballroom where the grand piano stood ready for use. Aleksandr took special care of it, keeping it polished and tuned at all times, but Alice loathed the damn thing more then she did getting spanked. She wasn't sure if it was because he forced the lessons on her or it was the fact that when she played a wrong key, he would some times hit her hand with a ruler. It wasn't hard and it never left marks, it was just painful. Even if her healing was really good.

[Peeker]

"How about that four-hands piece I told you about?" Aleksandr sat on the left side of the bench, leaving plenty of room on the right. The idea being, of course, that both musicians could play at the same time, using the entire range of the piano to their advantage.

"You remember, the one you start with here, right?" Aleksandr played the first two bars, stretching past his spot on the piano to plink the keys and refresh her memory.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice paled at his suggestion and smiled nervously. The few notes brought nothing to her memory. The more she thought about it the more she realized that she still had trouble remember which keys were which.

"Err.... I think I'll pass, Sire..."

She eyed the piano as she played with her hand a bit. She didn't know if she should tell him or not. She was suppose to know the notes by now and she didn't.

"Sit down Alice." The order was stiff and left no room for argument.

Alice sat down beside him and placed her hands on what she believed were the right keys and as if by luck, she must have guessed right.

'Please remember, please remember...' Aleks started to play and Alice followed, hitting every wrong note possible. 'Dear god, he's going to kill me.'

[Peeker]

"Alright, that's enough..." With a sigh, Aleksandr began playing his side of the music by himself - the piece, of course, sounded half-finished, which made sense, since it wasn't the entire piece. "When's the last time you practiced, Alice?" The man was still in a good mood, even though it was obvious the girl hadn't done any of her work - music, even bad music, made him happy.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice shrank in her seat, hands folded in her lap and biting her lower lip.

"Welll.... not since last time..." She answered looking at the notes and then at him. "I've been busy, studying those names you gave me to memorise. It slipped..." She finched at the stern look he gave her. "I'm in trouble again aren't I?"

[Peeker]

"Well... yes, I suppose you are." Aleksandr stopped playing, and looked at the girl. "You might be. Do... do you want to play the piano? You certainly seemed interested in it when you came here. If... If you do want to play, and if you think you had time to practice, and simply chose not to, then yes, yes you are in trouble."

Aleksandr paused for a moment. "If that's the case, then I suppose we can kill two birds with one stone. You owe me two punishments for disobedience, do you not? Well, failing to practice your lessons for an entire month certainly sounds like disobedience to me. So what's your decision?"

A tiny smile flickered over his lips. At least he didn't have to ask her to tell him the truth.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Alice looked like she wanted to cry all over again. The thought of another spanking while she was still sore was horrible but he had a point. She wanted to point out that he had been the one that made her take the lessons, although it was true, he had only do so because he had caught her playing around on it.

"But that's not fair!" She whined looking at him and covered her bottom again. "You're the one that gave me all those names to remember, and you know I'm still having trouble with this... this... thing!"

She gave the piano leg a small kick for measure, not thinking about the fact she was kicking something Aleksander loved very dearly until it was too late.

"I... I'm sorry," She looked timidly at him again, unable to read his face.

[Peeker]

"Temper, Alice. I keep telling you that you have to exercise more control." It was a small kick, after all.

"Its entirely up to you." he repeated. "Did I give you too much work, or should you have made time for this? You only get this spanking if you think you deserve it Alice. Otherwise, I'll simply lock up the ballroom for good, and we can see how your history memorization has been going."