Nightly Lessons Book III - The Book of Brotherhood (old version/closed)

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

(Peeker, Alice isn't wearing a skirt. She's wearing over all)

"Don't tempt me."

Mikeal had never threatened to cane Janus before in his life, not even at his most angry. The truth was of course, Janus had scared Mikeal deeply when he had come back, the fear that the priest might decide that the care of his student's arm wasn't as important as his need to 'purify' the world was. Janus might have handled going against another vampire, at least he could match strength with them some what. But the members of the order... that was a whole different animal all together.

For as long as Mikeal had known of them, any meeting between their counsel and the Order had always ended in a blood bath of bodies with the Order as the victors.

Mikeal didn't want Janus to join those ranks of the dead.

"M-h! Mh-ikeal! C'mon! Let go or slow down. I'm not g-oing back!" the boy gasped as he tripped along with his protector. "Who were they?! What was all of that about?!"

Mikeal didn't stop though, not until he was sure they were deep in the heart of a busy street. He couldn't be sure that it would deter the wolves from attacking, the Order wasn't known for being clean with their kills, but they knew the church frowned upon them being sighted. But just as vampires had their bad apples, so did they.

"Remember when you were little and afraid of things that go bump in the night?" Mikeal demanded, turning fast into a café, the very same where one of Kaine's descendents worked. "They are the ones that bump back."

"Sir? We don't allow dogs-" A voice called after them, but Mikeal didn't listen. He simply plowed through the small crowd with Caboose and Lucy watching their flanks until all five of them walked out the back door which Mikeal slammed shut and blocked. With a quick movement of his hands, Mikeal practically tackled Lucy, locking her head in the nook of his arm. The bitch yelped in surprised while Caboose turned and barked at his master for man handling his mate, but Mikeal didn't give it a second thought.

"Hold onto Bru." Mikeal ordered firmly, taking care to hold Lucy tight but not so tight that she'd risk breaking her neck.

***

Alice yelped when she found herself tucked under Dimitrius' arm once more. It both humbled and annoyed her whenever he did sometihng like this, or that anyone managed to cart her off in some helpless manner. At least this time she didn't pitch a fit like normal, though her ears felt as if they were on fire when she felt her legs getting bared- wait a minute, when had he changed her clothing?

'Damn it,' She growled a little low in her throat, keeping the groan at bay. 'He did it again.'

"Tomorrow is Aleksi's Turning Day party, is it not?"

"Yes," Alice answered despite knowing it was rhetorical. Dimitrius had been in on her planning and preparation a little, helping her figure out what Aleks' favorite foods were, how to get the alcohol needed to make welcoming drinks as well as keeping Aleks busy while she worked on her pet project. "The imps are setting it all up back home."

Somehow, she knew she wasn't going to like this.

"I think we will give the imps orders to leave all the dishes and silverware for you to clean, as an extra reminder."

"That's over twenty-five sets!" Alice gapped at him, twisting in his hold so she could look at him. Klonoa followed closely behind them, watching curiously. He had grown use to his little mistress being carted around but for some reason it seemed that she wasn't yet. "Grandsire, I don't have time for-"

Swat

"OW!" She gave a jump a scowled at him the best she could, which wasn't a lot. From her position of hanging like a towel over a cloths line. "Dimitrius! Aw! Stop that. I don't have time for this."

Swat Smak Swat Spank

While she wasn't lying, it wasn't completely true either. All her chores, including her private To Do list, could easily wait til later. She still needed to repack her clothes, that which wasn't still soaking in wash bassin, and there were a few writing exercises she needed to get done. For all the important things that had to be written, Alice had of course cheated by Gabriel's rules. Since her skills were poor with the pen to start with, Alice had enlisted the aid of Rashel and her beautiful calligraphy. True, it was abusing her friendship a little since she knew Rashel couldn't say no to anyone, but Alice had to pick between using a friend to write for her or have it so that no one could read the invatations. She later asked Rashel to make the placement signs too which she happily did.

But regardless of this, Alice still had a ton of things she wanted to get done before bedtime rolled around and one of them was getting a lot more practice in.

"Dimitrius!" She protested in anger. "Put me down!"

***

True to her nature, the moment Mikeal had teleported them all back to the safety of their home, Lucy went ballistic. She was so panicked that Mikeal lost the grip on her and instantly she sank her teeth into the closest thing to her, which would have been Mikeal if Caboose didn't jump her. She still managed to claw Mikeal as Caboose tried push her away from both of their owners and pup.

"Son of a-" Mikeal hissed. Tossing the silver band onto the kitchen counter, he quickly walked over to the sink and ran cold water over his burnt hand. "Damn it! This is going to hurt for a while. Janus-" He never once looked up but there was a heavy warning in his tone that left no room for argument. "You are not allow outside anymore. Not until I say so. Got it?"

Hopefully, this would be a warning he would listen to this time.

[Peeker]

"......." Janus was busy easing Lucy back into the real world, so over the old girl's barking he wasn't entirely sure he'd heard properly. She finally licked his hand and whined, unhappy that she'd bitten her mate, and clawed at her master. But no, that was definintely what he'd said. Janus blinked. ---and that was totally silver, and Mikeal had just grabbed it. Holy smokes. Maybe Mikeal was super pissed off right now and listening to him was the best idea he could have at the moment.

"....yes sir."

Janus decided retreating to his room was the best course of action right now. He had no idea why he had just been super-grounded. Not that he went out of the house much at all anyway, but... well.... jeez. There was a difference between doing something normally, and doing something because the choice had been taken away from you.

Janus flopped on his bed, and looked up at the ceiling. Hadn't he been here just about ten minutes ago, before some crazy girl attacked him with a silver knife?

***

"Oh. Dimitrius, now, is it? Not Grandsire? Or Grandfather? Alice, I understand you are upset, but not half so upset as I am."

Swat Smack. Swat Splat. Smack Smack.

"You don't have time? For what, child? The dishes for tomorrow's party certainly aren't here yet. It just means that you have another chore to handle tomorrow."

Smack. Swat. Slap.

"Or do you mean for a spanking? Oh, I agree. It is rather time-consuming. But then again, you've been putting off your chores today - which again, I can understand you wanting to procrastinate a bit - but when such a decision 'bites' you, so to speak, because you put yourself in such danger...."

Smack Swat. Slap Smack. Swat Swat Slap.

"I know we do not need to tell you to be careful, and not to put yourself in danger. You've had enough of that this year. Why don't we just remember it from now on?"

Smack. Swat.

Smack!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Slap! Spank! Spank! Smak-Swat! Smak! Smak! Smak!

As Dimitrius' spanks grew faster, and more precicely-aimed, his walking pace slowed. He was moving leisurely now, his hand cracking against the girl's cheeks quite firmly as he did so.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

"Ow!"

Alice hissed and writhed in Dimitrius' hold, the burning ache in her rear growing more and more with every fanning swat. Her family, it seemed, never did anything half hearted. At least never when regarding her. Klonoa whined as he followed but stopped instantly as they crossed paths with Vangi who was rat hunting for the day. Instantly his confusion and worry about the girl was forgotten in favor of insuring him that he had Vangi's scent remembered down to a 'T', much to Vangi's confusion and annoyance.

"That's not what I meant at all!" Alice gave a small yelp every time a particularly sharp swat struck her thighs. It always seemed worse when she got a swat there, the sting sharp like a hornet's bite and longer lasting. "OW! Stop! It's not fair. I wasn't looking for danger. Any of those times."

For someone who wasn't looking for danger, Alice sure had a nasty ability in finding it. She really wasn't trying to, the hive was really the only time she had willingly walked into danger, but she and Janus had tried their best to be careful. True, that hadn't helped them in the least, but they had tried to. In truth, given just how much pain Alice had suffered the last year alone, she really didn't want to have another adventure for a long long time.

Their walk, brisk and painful as it was, ended with Alice finding herself set on her feet between a bathroom mirror and Dimitrius with a scowl on her face and a hand reaching back to rub the sting. At least no one had witnessed their little walk with her panties on display.

Well, no one who could speak English anyways.

***

In the basement of Mikeal and Janus' apartment building, there was a crackle of magic. It started with an electrical zap, sending small flashes of bluish light across the room, casting long shadows of the large collection of motorcycles Mikeal had gathered over the years. But with every snap of light, the bolts grew more and more vicious and with a final crack of brilliant blue that knocked over Mikeal's prized Harley, the Huntress Kaine Nosfurala found herself standing in the open space looking bored.

"... damn it..." She knew Mikeal was probably going to be annoyed about this, he had been the last time they knocked over, thought it had been his fault.

Without bothering to right the bike up, Kaine made her way to the lift and took it up to Mikeal's apartment and rang the door bell

"Captain..." She was greeted by a sour looking Mikeal who shot her an ugly look, clutching his hand. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Shit happened. That's what."

[Peeker]

"I love you, Alice. I am sorry that there was trouble today. Go wash your adventure away, and come find me after. I will help you with your evening's chores, yes?"

After all, Dimitrius reasoned, it was only fair that after 'stopping' her from getting her work done, he could at least spend a little time with her to smooth things over.

***

Janus sat up. The voice was faint, muffled by door and hallway (and barking hellpuppy), but familiar. The boy grinned: that sounded like Sir Kaine!

Kicking himself off his bed, the boy came back out of his room to greet the guest - and saw for himself just how bad Mikeal had hurt himself grabbing that silver collar. Well, crap. Why had he gone and done that, anyway? Besides it making the house stink of silver-burnt flesh, that had to hurt. As both he and Alice had 'enjoyed' a run in with silver in the past few days, he knew all about what his brother was feeling right now.

The boy stood himself straight, however, and bowed his head respectfully at the woman who'd just walked in like she owned the place.

"Good evening, Sir Kaine." he said, softly: he wasn't dumb enough to interrupt their conversation, but there was no reason for him to hide behind the wall like a ghost and eavesdrop, either. If Mikeal didn't want him to hear about what they were going to talk about, then he'd obviously say something.

He'd also totally piss his little brother off for hiding stuff from him, again.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

In the reflection, Alice didn't see a young vampire pouting at her Elder who was giving her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Instead some strange wild child creature hidden under a bushel of hair matted with twigs, leaves and moss, with a dirt covered face with a tiny smear of blood from her fall.

It made Alice huff was Dimitrius gently pulled the largest and most visible foliage out of her hair with a caring look in his eyes.

Damn him on making her feel guilty about yelling at him five minutes ago.

"Love you too," She mumbled as he gave her the needed space to wash up. "Just not a lot right now."

In truth what Alice really needed was a bath to get clean, but she didn't have time. Not to mention she still have plenty of other dirty chores that needed to be done before bedtime so she was bound to get messy again. So she settled to trying to brush her hair and wash her face. Once she looked semi civilized again, Alice made herway to the wash room.

She hated laundry day. It wasn't that Dimitrius was totally outdated regarding his house, he had a washing machine, and Alice didn't mind that did. What she did mind was having to wash the hand washable only clothes. It always left her with sore hands and reeking of laundry soap. And it was because of that she had left the whites soaking in a tube before having to wash them.

"Well... better get this over... with..." She stopped to stare at the water and frowned. "Why is the water pink?"

In fact it wasn't just pink, it was hot pink like the lights of Vegas.

***

At the sound of Janus voice both vampires shut up and looked at him. There was a tense feeling hanging in the air and from their earlier tones, they had been a stones toss away from a fight.

"Mr. Bell," Kaine greeted. She was still glaring at Mikeal whom looked like he wanted to snap something back at her, but instead left with a disgusted growl to go nurse his burn. "I understand you've been rather impatient for my arrival."

She paused for a moment and then reached into her cloak, pulling out something long and thin which was carefully wrapped.

"I... have some thing for you," She stated a little odd, unsure as to how to talk to him. "You will have to return it to your brother after our lessons but I refuse to teach using wooden toys."

[Peeker]

Janus' first impulse was to freak out like a kid at Christmas, but the way that Sir Kaine hesitated to talk to him was... well... he wasn't sure what that was. Was it a bad thing? Whether she saw the hesitation on his face or not, Janus knew Sir Kaine wasn't exactly going to.. well... care. So he settled on making the best of the observation for himself.

"Uhm. Yes sir. I understand. Thank you, I- ah - please, Sir, could you just call me Janus? I... my blood father - that is 'Mr. Bell' - not me." the boy gave a weak smile, hoping she would understand.

"...I know Elder Nosfurala said I am not to have my weapon for a long time. Does that me I cannot train?"

He didn't reach out for the sword yet. Even if it was for him, it wasn't something to snatch. It was a weapon - it was a tool - it was dangerous, and if he'd had it on him when those two weirdos found him in the alley, he might have used it.

...so he wasn't going to shame Mikeal by jumping all over it. Even if this was something he'd been wanting desperately for the past two years, ever since he first saw Razziel's armory.

His own sword.

***

"...burning sun, what a stink." Dimitrius grunted as he trod into the washroom. "I despise the scent of these rooms.. gah."

It took a moment for him to see Alice's puzzlement - and then the hot pink glow of colors running together. Alice and bleach seemed to mix as well as oil and water - she always used it wrong and always destroyed clothing.

As Dimitrius had just learned.

"....I... believe you are going to need to buy some new clothes, child." the man said, with a shake of his head. "Go on, pull something out of that mess and see for yourself."

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

"No."

While she wasn't angry or annoyed, there was still that authoritary tone in Kaine's voice which told Janus she wasn't going to comprimise. Kaine referred to people by name, but her pupils she refered to by their surnames. Normally she would call Janus 'Mr. Dornell' but since she knew his real name, it seemed more favorable.

Not to mention she felt she'd have trouble if she had another Dornell on her list of students.

"Formalities ensure progress. I am the teacher and you are the student, ergo Mr. Bell," Despite her reasonable logics, something sounded broken in them. regardless she held out the sword for him to take, pleased that he didn't tear it from her little some raven snatching shiny objects. "We'll practice on the roof-"

"You will not!" Mikeal barked from the bathroom. Kaine rolled her eyes annoyed but there was a look of understanding on her face.

"fine, we shall go to the basement and practice.... for now," She´pause, waiting to hear Mikeal protest but it never came. "Your... pet. Have you decided what to train her as? If you wish her to join you in battle like Caboose does your brother, it would be best to bring her along. The sooner she learns the sight of a blade the better."

***

"Oh no..."

Alice pushed about in the murky water only to grown. she had been sure she had removed anything with color on it but it seemed something had slipped in despite her efforts. Last time she had done the laundry, she had spilt bleach over the colored clothes. And while she had seen the bleach stains as a fashion statement on her jeans, Aleks had come off as a inverted dalmation with his black pants. This time, it had been her underwear.

Her brand new scarlet red underwear.

Or at least it use to be scarlet red, and it use to be underwear. The bleach had pretty much off the scrap of clothing.

Grabbing something random from the wet mess, Alice tried to think of what she had been washing.

'There were five of Grandsire's shirts.... two of Aleks' favorites, plus the night shirts, and then-' She moaned as the artical she pulled out was her gown. Her very expensive white gown Lucy had made. "Oh crap..."

She had muttered the thought out loud without knowing it. The gown itself wasn't bad looking, nor were any of the others if they just weren't dyed a perminate baby soft pink hue. It sort of added to the feminine charm Alice's dress already had if it wasn't for the fact that the teenager hated the girly color.

"It's ruined," Alice growned. "Aleks is going to killed me." she paused for a minute then added more to her self then Dimitrius. "Scratch that, Lucy's gonig to kill me."

[Peeker]

"I... I don't know." Janus frowned. "I - I want Bruja to be able to fight with me. I mean, no question - but she's small. And I don't think either Mikeal or I know anything about ghost hounds, so I don't know if she'll ever get big enough. I mean... her watching us isn't going to hurt her, I guess, but I don't want to put her in danger if she'll never grow big enough to protect herself." a pause. "...or me."

But to be honest he was already starting to feel invincible again, because there was a weapon in his hands. Maybe this wasn't the one that Mercury was going to make for him, but it would do in the meantime. After all, Sir Kaine didn't fool around. Even if this weapon wasn't 'his', it would still do the job.

...so just because he didn't know better yet, didn't mean he wasn't going to give Bruja the chance: he'd take her along and they would see what happened. Getting one of the stronger leashes, just in case he actually had to tie her off on something and keep her out of the way, Janus scooped Bruja up under his arm.

"I'll get my secondaries, sir." the boy said, turning quickly back into his room to fetch the leather-sheathed items. "Brother?" he called into the bathroom as he passed it. "Are you coming down with us?"

If only because Janus wasn't sure what basement Kaine was talking about - sure as heck not the one with Mikeal's motorcycles!

***

"...well you'll see her tomorrow. Hang it up and leave it to the side, girl. The clothes are ruined. We're all going to need to get some replacements."

The girl's anger was being met with sympathy - to a point, at least. Dimitrius reasoned her self-disappointment was punishment enough. He'd give her a moment to accept her mistake, and instead moved in to help her hang the ruined clothes. Perhaps once they'd dried, he'd decide whether he wanted to look good in pink, or not.

....and he was going to have a long talk with his worthy about the underthings he was letting his little girl buy herself.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

(I've done this with a brown skirt once. Everyone said my shirts had this 'poo' brown color)

"I'd prefer if he did not."

While Mikeal had looked out the bathroom door to peer at them, Kaine's face colored a little in a blush. It was an odd constrast to her, giving her a rather 'ugly pretty' look despite the still healing clouded eye.

"Where the Warlord is like like the dragon, routhless in it's strikes, the Captain is like a mother hen with their young," Kaine explained only to get a glare from the older brother. "No offense meant, but I prefer to teach directly and without interruption as it distracts when other's yell."

"You just don't want to stab a pupil again." Mikeal teased, though it make Kaine straighten her back and frown.

"It... would be rather unproductive if the first lessons lands the boy in my brother's care again. You're hound, Caboose however may join to help aid the pup."

At the sound of his name, Caboose rouse from his stop and moved to attention at Janus' flank. He knew that when this woman spoke his name it meant business. The two peered at each other for a moment, the red eyes meeting Kaine's single golden one. It felt like the pair were speaking with one another before Caboose woofed and turned his attention back on Janus.

"Shall we?" Kaine asked Janus and then looked at Mikeal with a fixed look. "Worry not. I will be gentle with him."

Mikeal watched them for a moment as they gathered the few things they needed and left.

"It's not you I'm worried about," He grimaced and looked at the crest burn in his hand. The scared skin was healing over the burn, in an hour it would be gone, but he could still see the crest. "It's your legacy."

***

"Great. My death can be the height of the party."

Wonderfully moody, Alice pulled the dress from the water and hung it up. Pink. It just had to be horribly, girlly, arch nemesis pink she'd managed to dye the white. Not powder blue. Not sea foam green. Not even poo brown. But pink.

Never mind she could look pretty in it, but it was just principle.

"Damn it... they new too," Alice moaned as she pulled the hot pants red hipsters. She had been curious about wearing a thong but she wasn't sure how Aleks would handle the idea of such modern clothing in her closet since he barely handled above the knee skirts and dresses. With these, she could claim they had just climbed up a little. "The beach pretty much ate them. Shot."

There was no saving them, the fabric was blotched with white spots and the strings that held it together had snapped. Pretty much, it had changed from a hipster pantie set, to a red white spotted expensive rag.

"Why is it always pink?" It wasn't exactly a happy sight to twenty sets of clothing dyed or tie-dyed pink.

[Peeker]

(Eep. I'm luckily not that bad! ^_^)


Dimitrius did what he could to help, but once he saw the state of the accident, there was really little to help. Other than promise Alice some in-depth tutorials in the art of doing whites and sorting colors for next laundry day - and a note to speak with Aleksandr about not only the girl's wardrobe selection but additional chores to help cement what she'd be taught - he left her to settle in and finish up in there.

Perhaps if she spent enough time looking at her dress, she'd find the color fetching. It would certainly lend a much-needed air of femininity to her. ....and didn't look half-bad, if not a bit of a rough job. Well, Lady Fairbrooke was sure to notice, at least. When she was done, perhaps they'd have time for a game of chess, if she ever finished her preparations. The night was still young, after all.

***

Janus was silent on the trip down to the basement. He wasn't sure what to think - for one thing he was rather unhappy that Mikeal couldn't join them. For another he wasn't quite 'ready' for dealing with Sir Kaine's rough way of things.

Her promising to be 'gentle' on him was confusing. He knew she wouldn't be gentle by anyone's definition of the term except Razziel. But he was also wondering why she'd say that - to rile him up? She wanted a student, not a moody teenager, so that didn't make sense, either. The elevator trembled slightly as it hit the bottom level, and Janus stepped out with one big dog, one little dog, and one scary instructor.

The basement was pretty ideal for this. About half of it was cluttered with junk and storage boxes, but the other half was flat and empty. They would have alot less room than on the roof, but as long as they didn't start leaping around, this was a start. There were a couple of support pillars to circle around and a few corners to be backed into. One of them was quickly Bruja's, her chain locked to a concrete hook which would keep in place unless she really tried to break free - and Caboose, of course, would be there to babysit.

Janus looked down at the wrapped sword in his hands, and finally, finding no other way around it, decided to see what his training blade looked like.