The iron bars in front had been twisted out of shape, and the wooden bed inside had been reduced to splinters. Not to mention the shocking and hideous scratches on the wall.
Jane's slight surprise was well - concealed. She turned to Demetri and said, "Go and tell the masters that the newborn has escaped."
Before Demetri could leave, Langdon, who had hastily inspected the cell, rushed out in a frenzy. Jane called him back unpleasantly, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Of course, to find her," Langdon replied, turning around. His eyes were not particularly friendly, and his golden pupils were as sharp as a hawk's.
After hearing this, Jane's face remained expressionless. Under the combined effect of light and shadow, she was eerily beautiful, "You don't need to worry about it. We'll catch her."
"So, you mean I should just wait here?!"
"If Aro also thinks that's the best."
Langdon's expression twisted once again. He clenched his fists tightly, and his whole body trembled slightly. He was trying his best to restrain himself because he had no chance or ability to resist in Volterra. The top priority was to find Catherine quickly. She was a newborn and couldn't control her instincts at all.
Jane said "Follow me" and walked past him. The sound of her heels echoed in the empty and gloomy underground prison and gradually disappeared with her.
Upon hearing the news of Catherine's escape, Langdon had thought that Volterra would issue a kill - on - sight order directly. After all, that was what happened to the vampire with the ability of duplication before.
However, surprisingly, Aro didn't show any sign of displeasure. Instead, he couldn't stop laughing. Caius, on the other hand, didn't look too good. Demetri tactfully suggested that they could recapture that alluring and restless little "dessert".
Langdon couldn't understand and had no mood to listen to the ambiguous riddles among them. All he was worried about now was that Catherine would expose her vampire identity because she couldn't control her instincts. Although Volterra would surely cover it up perfectly, cleaning up other people's messes was not their business, and there would be a price to pay.
Besides, he was also worried about what talent Catherine might have awakened. There was a vampire in Volterra named Chelsea who could sever the connections between people and make everyone remain as loyal as believers to the three elders of Volterra.
Langdon hardly dared to imagine Catherine with cold, blood - red eyes and an expressionless face after being severed from his connection. But he was even more afraid of seeing Catherine being torn apart and burned because she was of no use.
If that's the case, Cathy, you must run as far away as possible. You mustn't be found by Volterra!
However, before he could finish his prayer, Caius suddenly called out coldly to Demetri, who was walking out, "We don't know what abilities she has yet. Don't do anything if you find her. I'll handle it."
Aro immediately broke into a dream - like smile. Langdon suddenly realized what Caius meant by "handle it" and quickly said, "Maybe I can help. I can see through her abilities."
"Don't worry. She'll be fine as long as she's obedient," Aro said with a smile. "As for you, Leonardo, you might have to help with something else. For example, help our Catherine delete her information in the police station. After all, she's not suitable for her original place anymore, right? And the others in the police station also need you to show up."
"Jane, Alec, will you accompany Leonardo, okay?"
"Yes, master."
Langdon sneered, "Are you asking them to spy on me?" Aro shook his head, and his tone remained gentle, "No. Of course not, my friend. How could you think that? I know how sad you are that Catherine is gone. Believe me, Jane and Alec are going to help you, I promise."
"Thank you very much," Langdon said coldly and turned around to leave quickly. Jane and Alec quickly followed, and Demetri left as well.
"Be patient, my brother. She can't escape," Aro said with a smile as he watched the gradually closing door.
Caius turned his head to look at Aro. His cold, emotionless eyes didn't blink, and his emotions were inscrutable. It was only after Aro, who had read Langdon's memory yesterday, reminded him that he remembered that he had met this little girl named Catherine six years ago during the Festival of San Marcus.
He certainly didn't remember what Catherine looked like, but the unique sweet scent of her blood still lingered in his memory a little.
Three thousand years of time had been long and dull. Caius had long learned how to control his instincts. It seemed that only blood and killing could excite him, and these two were always connected. Therefore, only blood could interest Caius.
However, this girl's scent was indeed different from others. It was like this six years ago, and six years later, not only had it not changed, but it had become even more fascinating, like fresh and boiling blood.
He remembered that when he was a young lad less than a hundred years old, he had heard the ethereal legend of the vampire's one and only spiritual mate in a lifetime. Unfortunately, for Caius, who was now over three thousand years old, the allure of this legend was really not great, almost negligible.
However, as a disobedient newborn, an incomplete being with an insanely sweet scent and unknown abilities, Caius was quite willing to see how far she could struggle.
Admittedly, he enjoyed the process of directly driving his prey into despair and letting them die slowly. However, giving them hope and then crushing it, making them fail at the last moment, seemed even better.
Anyway, he had endless time, and Caius didn't mind conducting an experiment on this ungrateful newborn.
He wondered if her expression would satisfy him more?
Thinking like this, it seemed that these boring days were not so hard to endure.
...
Catherine's condition was not good. The burning sensation in her throat was getting stronger and stronger, and along with it, the string in her mind named "reason" was getting tighter and tighter, on the verge of snapping.
The movement of her palms on the stone wall changed from just touching to scratching, and five deep scratches advanced along with Catherine's path.
She tried her best to use some beautiful memories in her mind to distract herself, but sadly found that she didn't have many comforting memories. The only memory of her career as a forensic doctor, which used to comfort her, had also become torturous - scalpels, blood, corpses.
Ah, damn it! Stop thinking about it!
The blond ghost noticed that something was wrong with Catherine and was not too surprised, "Vampire instinct. There used to be many vampires in the dungeon who either couldn't survive the transformation or, even if they succeeded, couldn't control their instincts."
"And then?" Catherine thought that talking might also be a good option to divert attention.
"They all died, completely."
It seemed that finding a suitable topic was more important... Don't stay on any topic related to blood anymore!
So, Catherine endured the increasingly intense thirst with great effort and changed the topic, "Where are we going?"
"The tourist passage, miss," the blond ghost said lightly. "Only there do you have a chance to leave Volterra because the ones who brought them in were human guides, and those who walked that way were all humans."
"Yeah, right. I'm the only one who isn't," Catherine suddenly stopped, frowning, "I don't think I'm suitable to be with them right now. I mean, I'm really..."
"Getting thirstier..."
She was so thirsty that it seemed that this was the only feeling left in her whole body. Catherine didn't know much about the vampire's physiological structure, but this signal didn't seem like a good sign at all.
"You look really bad," the blond ghost's voice sounded a bit panicked. "Can you hold on? I mean, it's still quite a distance to the tourist passage..."
"Don't mention tourists! Don't mention anything related to humans!" Catherine almost gritted her teeth. "Isn't there even an animal in the whole of Volterra?!"
The ghost stared at her blankly, "You mean there are animals in the place where a group of vampires live?"
Catherine was also stunned. Then, a surging sense of restlessness hit her, and she almost fell to her knees. The blood - red mist in front of her eyes grew thicker, her whole body tensed up, and her voice trembled, "Why did they choose me... Why?"
"They've chosen many people, but most of them were killed because they had no special abilities or because they tried to escape but couldn't control their instincts and exposed the existence of vampires," the ghost said, stopping beside her.
"What if they don't escape?" Catherine had a tiny bit of regret for a moment, but soon felt terrified because the vampire's instincts were almost overpowering her own consciousness. She actually felt a little regret for escaping?
Are you kidding me?
"Become one of them, without emotions, only loyalty, forever."
Catherine's momentary regret disappeared - emotionless vampires, loyal forever?
She growled. Thirst, the restlessness of a newborn, and the fear of Volterra drove her to destroy the stone wall in front of her like a madman. The resistance of the stone wall to destruction had weakened with the passage of time in the Palazzo dei Priori. Catherine didn't need much effort to break through it.
There was dazzling sunlight streaming in from the other side. Catherine's already pale face became even paler - vampires couldn't be exposed to sunlight!
Or... maybe not?
She sat on the ground blankly, watching her hands and all the exposed skin that her tattered clothes couldn't cover shining like diamonds in the only sunlight of the setting sun, gorgeous and dazzling, and she herself didn't feel any discomfort - except for the thirst that had never disappeared.
"Hey, while there's no one around, you should leave quickly!" The little ghost pushed her. "You're lucky. This is their garden. There are usually no vampires here at this time."
Catherine couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was almost dying of this deadly thirst again, and the ghost called this lucky?
Thoughts aside, Catherine was still excited when she heard the word "garden". After all, having a garden meant there must be a sewer. Although she didn't know where it led, it was much better than staying here.
The excellent vision and hearing of a vampire enabled Catherine to quickly find the direction with the rather clear sound of running water. In just a second, her fingers grasped the holes in the sewer manhole cover, and with an easy pull, a dull metal - on - metal friction sound rang out, and the pitch - black sewer entrance appeared in front of her.
Catherine almost screamed. She could finally leave this damned - in the double sense of vampires and ghosts - Volterra! She swore that she hated Volterra and would never come back!
However, before the little person in her heart could finish being smug, the little companion who had been with her all the way tentatively said, "Can I go with you?"
"I want to see my mom and dad. I haven't seen them for almost ten years. Please."
Catherine put down the sewer manhole cover and asked in surprise, "Then why didn't you go back by yourself before?"
"Our souls are imprisoned here because our bones are here. So we had no choice but to keep waiting." The little ghost said sadly, but suddenly became excited again, "But you're different from them. You can see us and communicate with us. I don't know why, but when I'm with you, it's okay even if I'm a bit far from my body. Please!"
Catherine was stunned as she listened. It took her a while to digest this news. But she felt strange and was about to say something when a ghost suddenly floated out from the hole Catherine had smashed, "Hurry up! The people from Volterra are coming!"
"Please! We can't go anywhere without you!" The blond ghost almost begged. "We won't pester you. Once our wishes are fulfilled, we'll disappear."
With the approaching danger getting closer, Catherine couldn't care less. She gritted her teeth and said, "All of you, come with me!"
With that, she jumped into the sewer without looking back. The ghosts behind her followed like a tide and put the manhole cover back in place.
Catherine looked at the chattering army of ghosts behind her with a mixture of amusement and helplessness. It seemed that God hadn't treated her too badly. Escaping from prison with so many cellmates, she wouldn't be lonely at all.