Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter 1

Caius let out a groan of frustration as he left his chambers and slammed the door behind him.

"I heard that!" Athenodora screeched through the closed door, her voice high, piercing his ears.

"Good!" he almost spat but he bit his tongue. Unlike her he wasn't the little kid anymore who insisted on having the last word. No, he wouldn't lower himself to her level.

But then again he knew having the last word - and winning their argument with that - filled her with satisfaction and he didn't want to give her that either.

A menacing growl erupted from his chest as he made his way to his study. He didn't feel much like working right now to be honest but at least he didn't have to spend time with the foolish woman he called his wife.

Why had he married her in the first place? Yes, she was quite pretty, or at least she had been a few decades ago. But with time her beauty had faded away and her bad sides had become more prominent.

Her vanity, her craving for power, her demanding attitude.

Once he had thought those characteristics attractive. He had admired her. Admired her enough to ask for her hand in marriage. Back then he had thought himself lucky to have a woman like her by his side.

But now, after almost 2000 years, they couldn't even spend one minute in the same room without getting at each other's throats.

Unless, of course, when they were having sex.
Sex was probably the only thing that kept them together. Whenever he needed to let off some steam he went to see Athena.

Their relationship - if there had ever been one - had become purely physical.

Unfortunately now, that he really needed to let off some steam, he couldn't turn to his wife.

He growled again as he sat back in his chair in his study and tried to focus on the stack of paper in front of him.

Someone knocked on the door.

"What?!" Caius barked. This'd better be not the human secretary. He felt like tearing someone's head off.

The door opened and Aro stepped in. The beast inside Caius roared. Aro was the last person he wanted to talk to right now.

He didn't want to hear comforting words or anything like that. All he wanted was to take out his anger in some way.

"So, you had another argument with Athenodora," it was a statement not a question.

"And why, pray tell, is this any of your business, brother?" Caius hissed.

"Well, it is not. But as your brother I am worried about your relationship and..."

"There is no relationship between Athena and me," Caius snapped at him, "We don't love each other, we merely tolerate each other."

"Yet your actions hurt her. Couldn't you try to be a bit more sensitive?"

"My actions? Do you think I don't know what she is doing behind my back? Do you think I'm an idiot? I know exactly that she is sleeping around with half of the guard."

"But you don't do anything about it," Aro countered causing Caius to snort.

"I believe killing every single one of them would hardly make you happy."

Aro sighed. This was leading nowhere. "No it wouldn't. But..."

"Enough already. I don't want to hear about it, Aro. Get out! I have work to do."

For a moment Aro looked like he wanted to respond something to that and maybe it would have been the right thing to do. Getting Caius in another fight so he could take out some anger.

But then he thought about their last fight and how his study had looked afterwards and quickly decided against it. Instead he left the room with one last pitiful look at his brother who was already trying to focus on the letter in front of him.

As soon as Caius heard the closing of the door he looked up and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm down.

The sounds and smells of the castle rushing down at him. He could hear Marcus in the gardens, smell the old stone walls, the old paint of the paintings in the corridors, the faint scent of the human secretary in the entry hall, Athena giggling as someone kissed her... he snapped back to reality his eyes flying open.

This did it. He needed to take his mind off things and since he couldn't go to his wife for that he had to go with the second option.

Long ago, when he had first found out about Athenodora's disloyalty he had promised himself that he would never lower himself as much as she had done.

However, after a couple of years with nomadic vampire women stopping in Volterra every now and then, he had changed his mind.

Of course he didn't feel anything for any of them but it was a nice change.

And if there wasn't any nomad around he would pay the bars in Volterra or in one of the villages close by a visit.

Human girls were much easier to seduce than vampire girls and on top of it if they annoyed him too much he could always turn them into a snack and get rid of them.

Yes, that's what he was going to do now. He hadn't been to the bars in Volterra for quite a while now. Time to change that.

A look through the windows of his study told him that the sun already was setting, dipping everything in gold with its last rays.

He got to his feet, grabbed his jacket and left the large room not intending to come back until the next morning.

"Where are you going?" Aro asked as he crossed his path on the way out. It was a rhetorical question though. He knew exactly where Caius was going but he was hoping that saying it out loud would make his brother feel at least a bit guilty.

But it was hopeless. Caius didn't even turn around as he answered.

"Out."