Catherine had not failed to consider resistance. In the few seconds during which she was being lifted up, her mind presented dozens of resistance plans, thanks to her training in the police academy.
However, when forced to meet Caius's rose - red eyes, Catherine's rationality vetoed these plans one by one. The other's beauty was almost sharp, as dazzling and dangerous as a dagger in the sunlight, not to mention the faint smell of blood on his body.
After quick consideration, Catherine decided not to enrage him. An obedient and compliant fugitive always received relatively better treatment - an unchanging rule in prison. Moreover, Catherine had no idea why she had been targeted by the Volturi. Perhaps the answer to this question would be revealed soon.
Most importantly, there was Langdon. He was the last person Catherine had seen when she was human. She wondered if he had been turned into a vampire by the Volturi.
With these thoughts, she unconsciously bit her lower lip. Her sharp teeth, under the command of their owner, pierced through the granite - hard skin of her lip. The mixture of venom and the human blood that had not completely disappeared due to her newborn state flowed out and slid down her smooth chin.
Caius stared intently at the liquid flowing on Catherine's chin, which was like a drug to him. The black in the center of his pupils seemed to come alive and began to devour the surrounding rose - red color. It was the blackness of extreme thirst, the blackness that represented the approaching death of the prey.
Catherine noticed that Caius's arm, which had been holding her collar, was becoming stiffer and stiffer, and finally, it even began to tremble slightly. She looked up and saw her own reflection clearly in the other's black eyes. That ghostly black was like a crazy monster, locking her tightly within.
She had a feeling that Caius might tear her into pieces and burn her to ashes in the next second. Because his look was so sinister, just like the murderous fire boiling and leaping in the golden pupils of a lion when it saw its prey, an extremely cold flame, carrying an extreme... craving.
Craving?
Catherine's mind buzzed. It's over. This guy must be as crazy as she was before because of the lack of blood. She began to panic and quickly recalled if there were any terrifying descriptions of cannibalism among vampires in the records she had just read.
"Demi, can you smell it?" Caius said softly, interrupting Catherine's silent musings.
His voice sounded rather bewildered, as if it had been squeezed out from the depths of his throat, so repressed, as if he was trying hard to endure something that was almost unbearable to him.
Demetri was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why Caius's mood had suddenly become so abnormal, but he didn't dare not to answer, so he said, "Yes, it smells rather nice."
"Just rather nice?"
He stared at Catherine as if he wanted to pierce a hole in her with his eyes. Caius's cold fingers brushed against Catherine's chin, paused significantly for a moment, and then gently stroked her face as if he were touching a rare treasure. The slight tremble of his fingertips was so obvious.
His hands were as cold as a viper as they caressed Catherine's face. Then Catherine saw that he seemed to have been hit by a violent stimulus and suddenly went crazy. Extreme beauty combined with extreme madness was eerily terrifying, and he was like a dying man in the desert who had suddenly found clean and clear water.
"Impossible... Absolutely impossible! You're actually real? Catherine Windsor! You actually exist?!"
Even in a state of frenzy, Caius's voice was still captivating, like an excited siren screaming, creating huge waves that almost drowned Catherine. He gripped Catherine's shoulders. Even though Catherine's body was as hard as his, she still felt that her shoulders were about to be crushed by him.
His shadow and the aura of wildness were too much for Catherine to bear. Fear quickly took shape. Catherine heard her own scream. Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably, like a leaf being torn by a strong wind.
She had no idea what had made Caius suddenly change as if he were a different person, but instinctive fear made her struggle violently to escape from this terrifying man. Catherine did her best to break free from his restraint. Thanks to her advantage as a newborn vampire, she managed to break free from Caius's hands.
To hell with the rule that being obedient would be okay! Catherine was almost scared to death and had forgotten that the premise for this rule to work was that your prison warden was not a vampire who would go crazy for no reason.
After breaking free, Catherine turned and ran. Unfortunately, she was far less agile than Caius. Before she could escape from the library garden, Catherine was caught by the wrist again, lifted above her head, and her back hit the concrete wall with a dull thud. The beautiful face in front of her quickly enlarged, and finally, only those two pupils burning with black flames remained in her vision.
Everything happened so fast that Catherine had no time to react. She even forgot that she was a newborn vampire and that she was stronger than Caius in terms of strength. Unfortunately, she had been too scared to react.
"Caius?" Demetri was also at a loss. He had never seen Caius so crazy. He even thought that this newborn was going to be crushed to death by him.
Catherine almost heard the faint but clear creaking sound of her bones under his brutal pressure. When she opened her mouth, her voice was almost on the verge of crying, like a sharp, friction - filled sound after desperately breaking through the vocal cords. She couldn't even form a complete sentence: "Let me go... Let..."
Please...
This sentence lingered on Catherine's tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She watched as Caius got closer and closer, as if he was discerning a certain smell on her body, greedily devouring this scent. His cold nose occasionally brushed against the skin on her neck. His fingers were intertwined with Catherine's long hair, as if in a desperate entanglement.
Catherine regretted not rolling in the sewer just now. Even if she couldn't suffocate him, she might have been able to make him pass out.
Finally, after observing Caius for a long time, Demetri seemed to have finally realized something. His initial confusion and helplessness disappeared completely, and he regained his usual charming yet annoying smile: "Caius, you're really scaring her to death."
Catherine gritted her teeth and lifted her trembling knee with all her strength, trying to hit the abdomen of the person in front of her. Caius finally moved away from the shivering little thing's neck and stared at her instead: "Your transformer didn't completely suck your blood dry. You have quite a strong resistance."
My transformer?
Catherine was stunned for a moment. Before she had time to ask anything, she heard Caius's voice suddenly soften. However, the almost cruel violence in his eyes didn't subside at all. Instead, it was like a raging tide intensified by the full moon: "It doesn't matter. I'll finish what he didn't."
"What..."
In just an instant, Catherine felt the artery in her neck being torn open by his sharp fangs. The intense pain that only occurred during transformation once again rampaged through her body. Catherine's eyes widened, her pupils almost dilated, and she couldn't even scream.
The remaining human blood gushed into his mouth continuously, and Caius's newly stabilized rationality disappeared once again. He held the girl in his arms, and the light in his eyes was so violent that it was almost cruel, yet there was an unmistakable fascination.
Three thousand years. For a full three thousand years. Caius had long thought that it was an illusory and idiotic legend, so stupid that it was laughable.
However, this person, this reckless newborn, a fugitive of the Volturi, Catherine Windsor, her scent, her movements, all burned Caius's senses, which had been sealed more than three thousand years ago, like a fierce and violent fire.
He had thought that his sense of smell and touch, which had disappeared after he became a vampire, would never return. He had been numb for three thousand years and had long been in despair.
"Caius, perhaps, I think that's enough?" Demetri said nervously as he looked at the girl who was motionless in Caius's arms.
"Caius?"
"Pull me away!"
As a guard, Demetri couldn't disobey any order from the elders, even if that order was directed at them.
However, he was no match for Caius. Moreover, Caius was notoriously averse to any physical contact with others.
He hesitated for a moment and then decided to snatch Catherine away. Demetri took off his cape, knocked the unprepared Caius away with all his strength, quickly wrapped Catherine in the cape, picked her up, and jumped a considerable distance away, placing her on a nearby bench.
He teleported next to Caius but didn't dare to touch him: "Are you okay?"
Caius's originally neat and smooth beautiful silver - haired became a bit disheveled, and his breath was unstable. The corners of his lips were stained with a gorgeous blood - red color. Losing his sense of touch and smell again made his tone irritable: "Where is she?!"
"She passed out, but she should be fine," Demetri replied.
Caius was not close to Catherine, who was tightly wrapped in Demetri's cape. However, this distance seemed so insignificant under Caius's own speed and the fully awakened hunting instinct. He had already sucked as much of Catherine's blood as possible, making the drug - like scent on her less intense.
Unfortunately, the scent of the blood and the recovery of perception that seemed to have spanned eternity were like thorns that lingered in his heart, carrying light and heat, almost setting him on fire. He found that he was so obsessed with the feeling of touching Catherine, the only feeling he could have other than the blood. As long as she was there, he would completely lose control.
Previously, he had only thought that her scent was a bit stronger than that of ordinary prey. But now Caius realized that it was far from that simple. Perhaps he really should seriously reconsider the authenticity of that damn legend. Of course, the premise was that he had to calm down and not stay in this garden filled with that addictive scent.
"Take her back to Volterra!" Caius said quickly and left almost as if he were running away.
Demetri was dumbfounded. Judging by the speed of this guy, it must have been at least four hundred miles per hour. He was rather gloomy. When he returned to Volterra, he had no idea how to deal with this girl named Catherine. Caius hadn't said how to settle her in Volterra, and he didn't dare to make a decision on his own.
Send her back to the dark room? Demetri didn't think it was a good idea. Even without Marcus's ability, he could tell what this girl meant to Caius. When Caius calmed down, perhaps he would be the one thrown into the dark room.
After thinking it over, Demetri decided to take Catherine back and hand her over to the other two elders - Aro and Marcus - for handling. This way, he just had to follow orders and wouldn't offend anyone.
After making up his mind, Demetri picked up the still - unconscious girl and disappeared into the night with a light step.
After all the commotion had disappeared, a light - blue translucent figure, Ella, emerged from behind the tall olive tree.
...
It was already midnight when Demetri returned to Volterra. However, the boisterous at Piazza dei Priori hadn't come to an end yet. He looked at the gate not far away and saw Gianna and Heidi standing at the entrance. The former had her head down and said nothing, while the latter had her arms crossed and didn't look very natural.
"What's going on?" Demetri had a feeling that he was asking a question he already knew the answer to.
"Caius seems to be not quite right. He..." Alec paused and suddenly fixed his eyes on the girl in Demetri's arms. His tone was flat, "Dead? It seems that this newborn has caused Caius a lot of trouble."
"Actually, she's not dead," Demetri shrugged. Suddenly, as if he had remembered something, he broke into a charming smile, "I have to take her to Aro and Marcus. Talk to you later."
With that, he carried Catherine and arrived at the innermost gate with an extremely light step. The door opened, and Demetri walked in.
"A newborn who escaped and was caught again. Aren't you going to throw her directly into the dark room?" Heidi said. Then, as if she had realized something, she added, "It seems that she does have some special abilities. No wonder Caius didn't tear her to pieces."
"She's originally from Britain. You can tell from her surname. The surname Windsor isn't something that just anyone can have. It represents the inheritance rights of Windsor Castle," Alec said nonchalantly. "But someone who has been protected by Langdon for so many years must be different. That guy can see through other people's talents, whether they have developed or not."
"So, when that newborn who caused us a lot of trouble escaped before, you deliberately didn't catch her so quickly?" Felix asked curiously. After all, having a newborn cause so many serial murder cases and alert the police didn't seem to fit the Volturi's tradition at all.
Now he understood. Only in this way would Catherine and Langdon be forced to get involved.
"Aro's order," Jane replied simply. "He wanted to see what was so special about this person from the Windsor family."
"It turns out that Aro was right," Alec said as he looked at the always - closed gate.
Time has no meaning for vampires, just like the law of having to sleep when it's late at night has no meaning for them either. Their lives had been too unchanging for too long. The last major change was three years ago, far away on the North American continent.
In that small town of Forks, covered with Douglas firs, dark - green moss, thick fog, and rainy weather, there was a change brought about by the Cullen family.
Catherine's arrival had rarely added a topic for the guards to talk about. Although they knew that the sustainability of this topic wasn't long. At most, it would disappear in a few days, with the outcome of Catherine either joining their guard army due to obedience or being executed for disobedience.
However, having such a topic to talk about was already quite good. Most of the time, they just sat in various corners of the Palazzo dei Priori, staring blankly. If they wanted, they could remain motionless for days.
However, what happened next made the guards think that perhaps the sustainability of this topic could be a bit longer this time:
The door opened, and out came not only Demetri and Catherine, who seemed to have some consciousness but still remained motionless, but also Aro with an unfathomable gentle smile on his face.
Aro said, "Gianna, dear, could you prepare a warm and comfortable room for our poor, frightened young lady?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment. Gianna quickly reacted, and her smile was impeccable: "Yes, master. I'll do it right away."
Demetri swore that he saw Catherine, who had already opened her eyes a slit, tremble slightly and then quickly close her eyes again, remaining motionless.
Well, Aro was right. A poor, frightened young lady.
Author's Note: Somehow, I feel that this chapter is very strange, but I don't know how to revise it. Damn it...
Here, I'll explain my personal understanding of Caius. For those of you who think that I've made Caius go crazy like fireworks after reading this chapter (haven't you?), you can consider whether you want to abandon this story [crying].
My choice of Caius as the male lead is simple. Besides his handsomeness [get out!], it's also because his personality is very unique and interests me. As a three - thousand - year - old vampire, he still can't control his temper like a child. He's obviously a guy with a story.
There's no more self - willed vampire in the whole Twilight series than Caius. It's a very strange feeling.
So, in my setting, this has something to do with his abilities and the price he paid for having these abilities.
In this chapter, you should be able to see that Caius is a vampire who can't feel any temperature, has no perception, and no sense of smell except for blood.
So that's why he went so crazy when he realized that he could feel Catherine [maybe a bit too crazy... But, three thousand years of senseless days are really enough to drive a person crazy]. As for why he didn't have much of a reaction when Catherine was human, I think that for a three - thousand - year - old, Catherine's twenty - three - year - old self had too little influence on him.