'Wow' was all my brain could think as I walked the cramped streets of Rome once again.
Following behind me was Julius and Jane, both wearing there white cloaks over their faces, Julius walked at a steady pace unconcerned of his surroundings, the sights and smells something he was used to seeing, Jane one the other hand was a different story, both Alexandria and now Rome, where whole new experiences for her, a girl born in a small village north of londinium, she had never left the village her whole life until she was saved by me and Julius.
Her head turned in every direction as she exorbed her new surroundings, and smells that came with it.
"This is where you were born?" Jane asked Julius.
"Yes, I was born farther to the east, but yes, Rome was my home." He said looking at her with a smile on his face.
Something I've picked up on more so lately was the bond both Jane and Julius were developing. for a long time, Jane was distant from both me and Julius, her hatred for humans divided them, but ever since I strongly persuaded her into changing her views of humans they have grown close, very close, they weren't in a relationship yet, that much I knew, I would hear it, but in my little expertise in the field of love, told me it was bound to happen, and the only thing keeping them apart was the fear they felt for meeting with the volturi, and the vampire war, that was about to be fought, they feared losing one another in the fight to come. It was in the hope that It would hurt less if they weren't in a relationship when one of them died.
But I could be wrong, I haven't been in a relationship for over 5 thousand years, so what do I know about it?
As we were walking you could see a massive structure in the distance in front of us, and as soon as Jane saw it she had to ask.
"What is that?" She asked in an awestruck tone.
"That would be my horse chariot arena, the imperator herena (emperor's arena)." I said, looking over my shoulder at her.
"How incredible." She said as she looked at it.
"I'm a little surprised it's still standing to be honest."
"Why." Jane asked.
"Well, it's a few hundred years old now, and still in use, it's bound to be in some bad shape." I said, as I looked at the structure from a distance, trying to see if I could see any cracks.
"It's actually in pretty good shape." Julius said.
Turning to look at him I asked.
"And how would you know?"
Julius shot me a wide smile.
"I get reports every new moon, any time there is any damage I approve funds for repairs."
I nodded my head, then shrugged my shoulders.
"In all truth I forgot about it for about a hundred years."
"How could you forget something like this?" Jane asked.
I chuckled.
"Well, when we had it built it was just a way for us to get rid of some money, by giving it to the people that needed it, that being the workers, it gave jobs to almost two generations of people."
Jane looked at the back of my head with wide eyes.
"How much gold do you have?"
"Too much." Julius answered her question with a chuckle.
"Too damn much."
After a few more hours of walking we made it to my old villa where we spent the night, or I spent the night, Jane and Julius went off to hunt.
The next morning, we headed north.
Thanks to our speed, we ate up the miles, the only problem was the fact that I'm still practically a human with human needs, so every now and then we would need to stop so I could eat or get a drink, and at night I needed to sleep, so with me holding the group back, we made it to volterra in four days.
long gone was the town with only one stone building with the rest being small wooden huts, now volterra was a large city of its time with stone buildings and homes.
I haven't been here for the last hundred years or so, but over the years I had been here to check on the volturi, I had seen the town grow.
Now most of the buildings were made of stone, with clay roofing. As we walked up the steep hill road that led to the city I spoke to Jane and Julius.
"Remember what I have told the both of you, they will try to anger you, make you do something with your powers, but you can't show them your powers, if you do Aro will try and make you come to his side." I said, stopping to look at the both of them.
"And let me do all the talking, the both of you just need to stay close to me, and to stay silent no matter what is said."
Looking at Julius I say, "now would be a good time to put on the mental shields."
Julius nodded his head, and closed his eyes, and in a matter of seconds both of them had the shields in place.
"Ready?" I asked them.
Both Jane and Julius nodded their heads in the affirmative.
So with a nod of my own head we continued up the cobbled road.
And within half an hour we were walking the heavily populated streets of volterra.
I led Jane and Julius expertly through the streets to the volturi's headquarters, it wasn't hard to do since it's been their headquarters since they came here, the only difference was that their headquarters has been improved greatly over the years into a small castle.
Finally after turning a corner it came into sight, the large stone building smack dab in the middle of the city.
With confident steps, I lead Julius and Jane to the large metal doors.
As we approached I could see a cloaked person standing in the shade the large building gave by the door.
As we came closer the person took a slight step forward away from the wall he was leaning against.
Stopping before the steps that lead to the door, I waited for the person to speak.
And like I knew they would, the person spoke first.
"What do you want?" the man said in a deep gruff voice.
"I'm here to see the volturi."
"What business do you have with the volturi?"
"Just tell them Adam is here, they will understand."
The cloaked man stayed silent for a moment before taking a step back, and knocking on the large metal doors twice, a moment later they opened slightly, and he had a quick conversation with someone on the other side of the door, once done the door was closed and the awkward silence began.
As we waited I looked at the cloaked figure, he was new, or relatively new, it had been a while since I ran into any of the volturi members, or came to check in with the volturi, the last time was when we saved Jane, and the members there were the volturi and there personal guards, not the freshly made vampires.
At least he wasn't trying and failing to intimidate me like the vampire who was on guard duty the first time I met the volturi.
After a few more minutes, the doors opened again, this time fully, revealing a nondescript female vampire, who wore the hood of her cloak down, revealing her perfect porcelain skin, and raven black hair.
"Please follow me." She said, taking a step to the side to allow us entrance.
Taking the steps up, we entered the half castle.
The inside was dark and gloomy, candles the only light, leaving long shadows and dark corners.
The female vampire led us through a long maze of hallways, past works of art on the walls, as well as stone statues that lined some of the walls.
After a few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at another pair of large metal doors.
"They are waiting for you." The female vampire said as she pushed one of the doors open, with almost no effort.
Without giving her a second glance, I stepped past her, and into the large throne room.
The soft footsteps of Jane and Julius behind me were the only conformation that they were following me.
Stepping in I looked around, clocking every person in the room.
To one side of the throne room was the massive 6 '7 figure of felix, next to him was a smaller man, by the name of Afton, on the other side of the room were two vampires I have never seen before. Both were also men, short and nondescript.
And of course like before in their thrones were the volturi heads, Aro, Marcus, and caius.
Walking steadily to the center of the room, I looked at the three of them without an ounce of fear in me or my eyes.
"Ahh if it isn't our oldest friend Adam." Aro said, in his snarky tone.
"I wouldn't say friend, we are acquaintances, nothing more, nothing less."
Aro let out a chuckle.
"Why of course Adam." He said, as he tapped one of his fingers to his gold throne.
Looking over my shoulder Aro spoke again.
"Ahh and I see you brought some friends."
"They are members of my own coven."
"How preposterous." caius cut in.
"In what way?" I asked.
"You are no vampire."
"Clearly I am not, but I am immortal like a vampire, I am as strong and as fast as a vampire, who says I cannot have a coven like a vampire."
"Humans are fallible which you are, it takes a vampire to run a coven without error." He snapped.
I let out a chuckle.
"So you call yourself infallible, if so, that is your greatest weakness. Because you do make mistakes."
"In what way." Marcus finally spoke.
"Let me break it down for you Barney style," I said with a chuckle that only I would understand.
"you have Limited Knowledge, you don't possess complete knowledge or understanding of all situations and individuals, It's impossible to. You rely on your own experiences, interpretations, and information sources, which can lead to errors in judgment.
Second, Subjectivity, your decisions are influenced by personal biases, beliefs, and emotions. Which can cloud your judgments and prevent all of you from making objective and impartial decisions.
Then my favorite is your Power Dynamic, your authority and power has led all of you to become arrogant with a sense of invincibility. Which clearly makes all of you overconfident and blind to your own weaknesses, making you susceptible to mistakes or miscalculations.
Then there's the Changing Circumstances. The world is constantly evolving, and new challenges and threats can emerge that you, the Volturi may not be fully prepared for. Your strategies and methods will become outdated or ineffective in the face of these changes.
And last but not least, the external opposition. Since you have formed the volturi, you have been fighting tooth and nail for every ounce of power you have received, but come on, how long will you keep pushing your luck before the other vampire covens get tired of your rule and oppression before they band together to take you down?"
The throne room was dead silent as I finished my long rant.
For a long full minute not a sound was made by anyone in the throne room, while a look of bewilderment grew on the faces of the three volturi heads.
Looking at caius I said.
"If you wish I could continue."
"I don't believe that will be necessary." Aro said, raising one of his hands.
After another moment of getting themselves mentally on track, after the hard facts I just dropped on their heads, Aro spoke again.
"And what brings you here Adam?"
"You know why I am here, Aro."
"Unfortunately I don't." He said, leaning back in his chair.
I let out a sigh.
"I know you are gathering your forces, which I'm guessing is to take on the Romanian coven, and like I told you all those years ago, I'm going to help take them down."
Once again, Aro tapped a finger to his throne.
"And why should I allow you to go."
I laughed.
"Like you could stop me from going. And let's be honest Aro, you could use every extra weapon on your side as you can get."
A corner of Aro's face rose slightly in a small smile.
"True."
"But how am I to know that your friends are strong enough to hold up in a fight." He asked, with a small smile on his lips.
I smirked.
"The only way you will find out is on the battlefield."
A sneer rose on caius's face.
"This is no game, we must know the powers of those we are bringing, we can't afford any weak links." He spat.
I pointed at myself.
"Do you consider that I am weak link?"
He didn't respond.
"I have trained them well, and I know I can trust them, and that's all that matters."
Caius opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by Aro's raised hand, then he turned his head to one of the nondescript vampires that was to our sides and behind us.
In a blurry, he was gone, and out the large metal doors.
Confused at the vampire's actions, I turned my head slightly to look at the large doors that were now slightly opened.
A moment later the sounds of footsteps could be heard in the hallway.
And a moment later walked in Alec, Jane's brother.
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